Robin's Baby
by amiwakawaiidesu
(Based on characters and situations from "Witch Hunter Robin", created by Hajime Yatate and Shuko Murase)
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About four months after the collapse of the Factory, Robin returned to Raven's Flat as a hunter and was welcomed by her former colleagues. Although Amon's continuing absence cast a shadow over the STN-J, his former colleagues did their best to carry on without him, and Robin herself eventually appeared to accept that she wouldn't see her old partner again. In the small apartment complex where she lived, Robin soon became fast friends with a middle-aged widow named Saeko Sakurada, whom Robin helped with all sorts of errands and odd jobs, while at work Robin was now paired with Doujima - a combination that was surprisingly effective despite Doujima's reputation for wasting time and goofing off.
"That was the old Doujima," Doujima reassured Robin, one day after work; "I was just playing a role, remember...?
"So, can I offer you a ride home? Or maybe you'd like to go shopping with me!"
"No, that's all right," Robin said to Doujima. "I don't live too far away, and I like to walk."
"Oh. Well, all right...but maybe tomorrow?"
"Perhaps. Ja ne, Doujima."
Doujima, for her part, wasn't sure why anyone would want to walk when they could drive. But then again, Doujima's high heels weren't very practical for walking; Doujima often suggested that Robin should exchange her dowdy blackconvent dress and sensible shoes for a sporty top and miniskirt with high heels, but Robin just looked at her oddly whenever she suggested that.
Doujima soon had more than just Robin's fashion sense to be suspicious about, though. About a week later, as the weather turned colder, Doujima contracted a bad case of flu and Robin went with her to the local clinic and pharmacy while Doujima saw her doctor and obtained a prescription for antibiotics; that wasn't suspicious, nor was Robin kindly dropping in at Doujima's apartment after work to check on her while she was sick. But something peculiar did happen the next time Doujima was well enough to get to the pharmacy on her own. After the pharmacy tech recognized Doujima as Robin's partner, she asked Doujima if she could take a prescription to Robin now, instead of waiting until the next day for Robin to pick it up.
"Is Robin sick?" Doujima asked.
"No, it's nothing like that," the technician said, handing Doujima a white paper bag. "Please just get this to Sena-san as soon as possible."
Doujima, naturally, was curious to know what was in the bag but she resolved to be good and not sneak a peek inside the bag as she set it on the front passenger seat of her car. As Doujima wove her way through traffic on the way to Robin's apartment, though, the bag rolled off the seat and then fellon the floor, discharging a circular plastic pill dispenser.
Doujima, of course, immediately recognized the purpose of the dispenser, but that didn't keep her from freaking out and nearly causing an accident as she swerved across three lanes of traffic.
"Oh my God - ! BIRTH CONTROL PILLS? Our sweet little Robin is taking BIRTH CONTROL PILLS...?"
Amidst honking horns, Doujima then guided her car to the side of the road and waited for her heart rate to slow down, but even after several minutes she was still too shaken up to hold the steering wheel properly. Many thoughts then swirled through her mind, not least of which was who in the world 16-year old Robin might be having sex with; she thought briefly about Sakaki, but that was too humorous to be plausible. So perhaps Nagira...?
Eww, ick! With those creepy sideburns and that ugly-ass pimp coat...?
Indeed, the thought was enough to make Doujima shudder, but even more troubling was how Karasuma and Chief Kosaka would react if they found out about this. Although Robin was 16 now - and legally of age in Japan - Karasuma and Kosaka would be sure to roast Doujima alive if they suspected Robin had been somehow influenced by Doujima's poor example of personal conduct; Doujima didn't exactly make a secret of the fact that she'd dated a lot of men.
Finally, after about a half-hour, Doujima felt well enough to drive again and resolved to confront Robin about this matter. As Doujima approached Robin's apartment complex in her car, though, she was surprised to see Robin walking briskly away from the complex and looking around furtively, as if she were concerned about somebody seeing her.
A-ha! I'll bet she's off to see her lover right now...
I'll just follow her and see what she's up to.
Doujima's earlier clumsiness at the wheel notwithstanding, she managed to tail Robin successfully for several blocks without apparently being seen, crawling along the side of the road and stopping periodically to keep from overtaking Robin. Eventually, though, Robin came to a narrow alleyway that Doujima was reluctant to drive her car down (Doujima was, after all, well aware of Robin's ability to incinerate witches with just a thought, and didn't want to panic the powerful craft-user by tailing her too closely); so instead, Doujima parked her car outside the alleyway and then (after taking off her noisy sandals) she followed Robin with a small laser microphone which Michael had provided to help hunters listen in on conversations through closed windows.
Apparently still unaware she was being followed, Robin then climbed a rickety set of wooden stairs at the end of the alleyway until she came to a door and knocked on it. Doujima, meanwhile, moved behind the cover of a nearby garbage dumpster and then watched intently as the door opened and a handsome man in black embraced Robin.
Oh my God! Amon...?
Robin disappearedthrough the door a moment later, so Doujima couldn't be sure if she'd really seen Amon or just imagined it. There was a window near the door, though, and Doujima quickly remembered the microphone as the shadows of two figures fell on the window. She put an earphone from the device in her ear, then rested the device on the side of the dumpster and aimed a laser beam at the window, which then picked up the sound of voices speaking behind the window.
"...honestly, Amon," Robin could be heard to say, "you could have fed the baby before I got here."
"Yes," Amon said, "but I think she'd rather be fed by her mother. She's fussy that way."
"Oh, fine, let me have her then..."
Oh my God! Doujima thought (also muttering the words out loud); they have a BABY...?
Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick...!
Doujima then jerked her head backward, which had the unfortunate effect of pulling the laser microphone off its perch and sending it crashing to the ground next to the dumpster. Doujima only barely noticed, though, as the rising gorge she was feeling finally overwhelmed her and burst forth as a gush of vomit.
A moment later, the window at the end of the alleyway opened and Amon looked out to see what all the commotion was about. By then, though, Doujima had already scooped up what was left of the microphone and tottered weakly out of sight around the corner.
X O X O X
Two hours later, a knock came at the door of Robin's apartment - to which she had just returned - and she was surprised to see Doujima standing there with a white paper bag. Doujima appeared quite pale and weak, and her normally spotless clothing was rumpled and stained in many places.
"Doujima? Are you all right?"
"Oh, sure, I'm fine..." Doujima said; "I just came to give you this..."
Doujima handed Robin the bag, and Robin brightened as she looked inside.
"Oh, thanks," Robin said. "Um...would you like a cup of coffee...?"
Doujima could barely bring herself to speak, though; poor Robin...not only was Amon coercing her into having a sexual relationship, but she'd even had a baby with the bastard! It was no wonder he was hiding; he was probably afraid of being hauled off to jail!
"Oh, Robin!" Doujima said, suddenly lunging forward to embrace Robin. "I'm so sorry!"
Then, suddenly, Doujima let go of Robin and ran quickly downstairs, her high heels click-clacking all the way to the street.
"Well, that was peculiar," Robin said to herself, before glancing into the bag again and withdrawing back inside her apartment.
X O X O X
The next day, Doujima arrived at Raven's Flat a full hour before she was scheduled to come in, which naturally stunned Chief Kosaka, Karasuma, Michael and Sakaki.
"Listen everybody," Doujima said, "there's something I have to tell you: Robin is having an affair with Amon, and I think they have a baby."
Doujima's co-workers looked at her curiously for a long moment, then Sakaki burst out laughing.
"Oh, that's funny; is it April Fool's Day already...?"
"Listen, you idiot," Doujima said; "I followed Robin to the flat where Amon is hiding, and I heard them talking about the baby myself! Plus Robin is taking birth control pills; why would a 16-year old girl be taking birth control pills unless she was...well...concerned about getting pregnant?"
Karasuma nodded gravely.
"Are you serious about this?" Karasuma asked.
"I'm completely serious!Although I'll admit I wasn't sure I should tell you, because I knew you'd all blame me for not being a better role model for Robin. Plus too, Amon's probably going to go to jail now..."
"Wait a minute," Michael interjected. "Am I missing something? Robin was only gone for four months, so when did she have time to have a baby?"
"Well, I suppose it is possible," Chief Kosaka mused. "My own wife didn't get very big until right before she had our son."
"That's right," Doujima said, nodding agreement; "Robin could have been four or five months pregnant at the time of the Factory incident, then she could have had the baby just before she came back to us."
"Oh, sick!" Michael said. "You mean her and Amon were doing it the whole time they were here?"
"That is strange," Karasuma said. "I never figured Amon for the type to molest a teenage girl. I don't suppose you have any actual evidence to back this up, do you, Doujima?"
Doujima nodded, bringing forth the shattered remains of the laser microphone.
"Hey, you broke my microphone!" Michael said.
"Oh, we'll get you a new one," Doujima said, as she removed the recording cartridge and inserted it into a player next to Michael's computer. She then recovered the same snippet of conversation she had overheard the night before, regarding the feeding of Robin and Amon's baby.
"I see," Karasuma said, as Kosaka nodded grimly.
"Well," Kosaka said, "Robin is scheduled to be here any minute. Let's just behave professionally and I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this."
X O X O X
After arriving at Raven's Flat and greeting the front doorman as usual, Robin then ascended the elevator to the main office and noticed that the entire staff was now sitting in the main office watching her as she came in.
"Good morning," Robin said.
"Good morning," Karasuma said. "How are you feeling?"
"Er...well, I suppose. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason."
Robin then proceeded to the coffee maker, which was empty, and decided to make a fresh pot. As she measured out the coffee and poured it into the filter, though, she was aware that Chief Kosaka, Karasuma, Michael, Sakaki and Doujima were now standing behind her and watching her intently without speaking.
"Um...is something the matter?" Robin asked, turning around and looking down at her dress after the coffee started brewing. "Do I have something on my dress?"
Doujima suddenly became teary-eyed and came forward to put a hand on Robin's shoulder.
"Oh, Robin, you're so brave! Going all this time without telling us!"
"Without telling you what?"
"There's no need to keep it secret any longer," Kosaka then said earnestly. "Why don't you just go ahead and tell us all about it."
"Yes," Karasuma said, nodding; "this sort of thing happens to young girls all the time, so it's nothing to be ashamed of."
Robin looked at Karasuma curiously, then looked at the rest of her colleagues with confusion, wondering perhaps if this was some kind of weird Japanese initiation ritual nobody had told her about.
"Michael," Robin said, "do you know what this is about?"
"Well," Michael said, "I think we're all just concerned about the fact that you've had a baby without telling anyone, plus the fact that Amon was molesting you practically the whole time you've been here in Japan. I think it's natural for us to be concerned about that."
Robin looked at Michael for a long while, trying to ascertain if he was kidding.
"A baby...? What...? I don't have a baby - !
"And Amon molesting me? What made you think that?"
"Didn't I say she was brave?" Doujima said. "But you don't have to deal with this all by yourself any more, Robin. Amon will probably have to go to jail, but we'll make sure there's someone to look after the baby, and I'm sure Chief Kosaka will let you have extra time off too, right, Chief?"
"Oh, yes, of course," Kosaka said.
By now, Robin had gone beyond curiosity to irritation and an ominous red glow began to form around her.
"Now that isn't very funny, Doujima," Robin said. "You know I don't plan to fool around with anyone until I'm properly married!"
"Well, then, how do you explain this?" Doujima asked, playing the sound clip.
The reddish glow disappeared instantly as Robin started laughing.
"Doujima, the 'baby' is a baby kitten! It started hanging around Amon's flat, so we took it in and called it our baby, that's all."
"Doujima..." Karasuma said, suddenly giving Doujima a sharp look.
"Yeah, but wait," Doujima said, "what about those birth control pills? I know that's what they were because I...uh...have a friend who uses those too..."
Robin shook her head sympathetically.
"Doujima, those weren't for me; Sakurada-san - my neighbor - takes those for her menopause symptoms, and her doctor just gave them to me because it's hard for Sakurada-san to get around with her rheumatism and it's easier for me to pick up her prescriptions for her."
Karasuma's sharp look now turned into outright glaring and Doujima shrank backward accordingly.
"Oh..." Doujima said. "But what about Amon? I mean, why were you seeing him in the first place? We all thought he was dead, but here you've been seeing him secretly and you never told us about it!"
"Actually, there is a good reason for that," Robin said. "I was going to tell you all, really, but I wanted to wait until Amon was well enough to come in here himself before I did that..."
Robin then went on to explain how she had come to meet Amon again, after they were separated in the Factory collapse. Like the others at Raven's Flat, Robin thought that Amon might be dead, and thus she hid a long while on her own (with Nagira's help) until she believed that Solomon had canceled its orders to have her hunted, and it was safe to return to the STN-J. Then one day after work, Robin was ambushed by a witch with telekinetic powers who had previously been hunted by the STN-J, and had since eluded capture; Robin was briefly stunned and unable to immediately counterattack, but then Amon appeared and distracted the witch with his conventional sidearm - keeping the witch busy until Robin could evaporate the foe with her craft, but also suffering serious injuries in the process. As Amon then explained to Robin, he had been in Japan all along, fulfilling one last mission for Solomon HQ by secretly watching STN-J operations to determine if the STN-J posed any further threat to the mother organization; when Amon saw that Robin was in danger, however, he came out of hiding in order to save her.
Now Amon was too hurt to continue his covert operation, but even so he asked Robin to continue to keep his secret even as Robin helped him back to his flat behind the alleyway, which Robin would continue to visit periodically in order to tend to Amon's injuries, and also to feed the stray kitten which they adopted as their 'baby'. Amon promised that he would reveal his presence to the STN-J once he had recovered all his strength, though, and Robin had been looking forward to bringing Amon back to Raven's Flat once he was ready to do so.
"Well, I guess I owe you an apology," Doujima then said to Robin, sheepishly. "I should have known you wouldn't do anything inappropriate."
Robin smiled at that.
"That's all right, Doujima; when I do something inappropriate, I'm sure you'll be the first to know."
X O X O X
The next day, as Robin promised, she came to work with Amon and all of Raven's Flat was stunned all over again. All of them had mourned Amon when they thought he was dead, and they were glad to know he was still among them.
"If you don't mind," Amon said to Chief Kosaka, "I'd like to come back to work here, if you have room for another hunter."
"What about your work with Solomon HQ?" Kosaka asked. "Will that be a conflict?"
"I think I'm done with Solomon HQ now," Amon said. "I've delivered my last report, and they can make of it what they will."
"Very good, then. We're glad to have you back."
Amidst this happiness, only Doujima was uncharacteristically reluctant to come forward and congratulate Amon on his return. When Amon asked Robin about that, Robin replied with poorly-concealed amusement.
"She thought you molested me," Robin said, "but I'm sure she meant well, being concerned about our baby and all."
"We have a baby?"
"Well, yeah; the kitten, remember?"
"Oh, right."
Amon then sought out Doujima and offered her a hand.
"Doujima," Amon said, "I'd like to thank you for looking after Robin while I was away."
"Oh...sure, no problem," Doujima said with a nervous laugh. "You know me, always responsible."
"Indeed. So I was wondering, until we can find another hunter to pair up with one of us, would you mind if I went out on assignment with you and Robin?"
"Oh, sure! That would be fun!"
A long moment passed, then Doujima leaned in close to Amon.
"So, Amon," Doujima whispered, "just between you and me, did anything happen between you and Robin...you know, all those times you were alone together while she was taking care of you?"
Amon just smiled.
"I'll have you know Amon was a perfect gentleman," Robin said.
"One hopes," Amon said, lifting Doujima's hand to give it a kiss. "And besides, you should know I've always been more attracted to older women."
"You don't say," Doujima said, her face suddenly turning a bright red.
"So," Robin said to Amon and Doujima, "shall we go to work?"
"Oh, right," Doujima said, pulling her hand back, "work. Didn't Michael say he had something unusual for us today, Robin?"
"That's right; some kind of craft-vampire, I think he said, who hypnotizes his victims, then drains their blood."
"Interesting. You know, Amon, now that I think about it, you never have told us what your craft is, have you?"
"Well, I suppose it's time to come clean about that," Amon said to Doujima with utter seriousness. "My craft is hypnotizing women."
"That's right," Robin said, "none of us are safe."
"I guess not," Doujima said, as she moved to follow Robin and Doujima to the briefing room.
He might be kidding, Doujima thought, but just in case, I'm glad I have my own birth control pills!
THE END