Well, so much for having extra time for the story—well, I mean, I do have time, but I got a small bout of writer's block and then it didn't help that my loading document thing was messed up. I actually finished this chapter half a week ago...I just couldn't load it, sorry. Okay well, it was fixed by the wonderful support technitians of the site or whatnot (you guys are my heros). Thingies are gonna happen in this chapter, then again thingies happen in every chapter. Oh well, enjoy the joy of it all people and don't forget to give me a penny for your thoughts afterwards--review!

Midnight darkness was upon them as they reached their destination. It was far out in the country where no city light pollution infested the night sky letting abundant stars show of their eternal brilliance, but none could simply stop and admire them. Doujima stared out the window to the pitch black scenery vaguely aware of her reflection blinking back at her.

"If you keep sighing like that I'm gonna have to tape your mouth shut," Sakaki said turning on the bright lights on the headlights to see farther. The road was made out of dirt and the occasional pothole, and they could only see as far as the lights would brighten, aside from that they were going blind.

"I'm sorry, I feel so bad," Doujima said quietly turning to him.

Sakaki risked a glance off the road to look at her hastily, "I didn't mean it, don't feel bad about it."

"Not about the sighing dork, I meant about Robin," she shook her head turning to the window again, "She is younger than all of us, she doesn't have to be going through this, it's not fair."

The car rocked while going through four shallow holes at a time. Sakaki managed the steering wheel furiously while replying calmly, "It is not fair and it is not your place to be beating yourself about it either. Robin is younger, that was probably why they thought she was the weakest link of all of us."

Doujima closed her eyes briefly and wiped them impatiently with the back of her hand, "She's my friend you know."

"She's a friend to all of us," he said patiently throwing her a wrinkled napkin he had stuffed in his jeans' pocket while at Harry's earlier.

"No, you don't get it," she sniffled, "She's my friend, just so that you know, I don't have many of those."

"I'm your friend too," he reminded her wryly, "That is if you like me…I don't think you like me."

"Yeah, well what you think doesn't matter," she replied shortly.

"So you do?"

They drove in silence after that paying attention to the occasional pebble that would bounce of their windows. The headlights of Amon's car were right behind them, having as much difficulty with the road as them.

"Robin is important to Amon, I'm not even good enough to be a friend to Amon let alone important," Doujima continued.

"No one is good enough for Amon," Sakaki corrected.

"Well, Robin is! She got here and—and he just folded, you know?" she blew her nose loudly before adding, "Totally unexpected and weird, he's at least ten years older than her."

Sakaki blinked confusedly, "How is that relevant if they're just friends?"

Doujima shook her head in mock disappointment, "Guys are so dense."

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'You know it's not love…'

"Take my hand and squeeze."

Robin blinked behind the bandana aroused from a stupor of memories. She tried to clear her throat but it was closed up and dry.

"Take my hand girl, with your burned one and squeeze, see how it's healing," Masuo's gentle voice repeated. She obliged unwillingly, the pain returned practically every time she breathed, applying pressure couldn't possibly make it better. He reached over and nudged his hand just barely so that she could feel it by her finger tips.

As expected, Robin almost keeled over from the pain as she squeezed his elderly hand delicately.

"Shh, it's okay," he ushered kindly as she began to whimper in agony.

Pain

'He put them through the pain because he felt he had to…'

'Why? You know it's not love Amon, it can't be'

'Love? No, his own mania and selfishness led him to it, he's a witch Robin.'

Masuo retrieved his hand but brushed her palm accidentally making her hold her breath. With the small amount of medicine Louis had forced to take now her mounting cold symptoms had stopped but she could still feel discomfort in her lungs. They hurt slightly as if she had just finished having another coughing fit or had done a triathlon. She would hold her breath for periods at a time so that the pain would lessen but her brain would protest sending stomach-flipping dizzy spells. Robin found herself wondering ever since if that is what they had felt—the children.

Robin shuddered at the memory. Three children, no older than six, suffocated along with their mother in a small apartment on the suburbs of Tokyo. The father had had his powers emerge from him without warning. He could suck the breath out of people by just putting his hand on their chests. The mere power had driven him mad making him rampage about the apartment building. When the STN had arrived and he felt surrounded without any hopes of escape, he had shut himself on the small bathroom with his wife and children, and killed them one by one. Robin had cried she hadn't exactly known why at the time. It hurt to see those little kids on the floor and their mother holding them lovingly even in death. Her emotions had gone overboard for some reason or other and she had cried with true inner pain for the first time since her phase of childhood and scabbed knees had ended.

When the witch had been captured he admitted to have killed them because he knew he would be going to 'jail' and if he wouldn't be happy on the inside then he didn't see how they deserved to be happy on the outside without him. It had been a heart wrenching case; Karasuma and Doujima had cried as well and even Sakaki hadn't managed to mask the rage he was feeling at the time.

'Emotions can't be part of the job as a hunter,' Amon had told her while watching the Factory take the crazed witch away. 'Crying won't bring them back Robin, crying doesn't make anything better.'

But the tears trickling from her eyes did make her feel better at least. Amon knew this and didn't say more. He disapproved of her getting emotionally involved but what about him? Wasn't he emotionally involved? It had been him who had offered his shoulder for her to cry on after noticing that she wasn't going to stop weeping any time soon after all.

That had been the first and only time she had been held by him even though somewhat stiffly. At home upon going to sleep Robin realized he had tried extremely hard to comfort her in his own Amonish way. She had never thanked him…

Now, kidnapped and kept from everything she held dear, Robin felt like crying like she had back then. For herself this time not for poor young children…herself.

But she would cry alone, Amon's shoulders weren't here.

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"Don't stray too far, we must stay together," Karasuma ordered so quietly the others had to hold their breath in order to hear her, "Sakaki, keep the flashlight leveled."

The moon was nowhere to be seen therefore they were out and about in the wilderness with no light source except for a small hand flashlight Amon kept in his glove compartment. They walked steadily to the pond tripping occasionally on abandoned rabbit holes.

The soft glimmer of water announced their arrival twenty minutes later. It was a great sight that stretched for over a hundred yards or at least that was Michael had said being as how they couldn't see it completely themselves in the darkness.

"Do you think Robin is here somewhere?" Sakaki whispered tripping and griping Doujima's elbow for balance on the process.

"Don't touch me, what's wrong with you?"

"Shh," Amon wrenched the flashlight from Sakaki and pointed it frantically to the shadows behind them, "Did you hear that?"

In unison the four hunters pointed their guns to a pair of trees where movement stirred behind them. With their guns cocked they stood like statues daring whatever it was to step out. To their displeasure and shock a flock of ravens took of from the tree's branches into the night filling the space with sounds of flapping wings and fierce bird calls. The four hunters cursed under their breaths but not before noticing a persisting sound that they thought had belonged to the fleeing birds but now with the birds gone…

"It's the water," Sakaki muttered unnecessarily since their gazes had drifted to the body of water already.

Roughly to the middle of the pond they could see a whirlpool was forming like that of an empting sink. They watched entranced as it spun furiously even in the dim glare of the flashlight. Just when they thought it couldn't get any stranger, the water stopped its' movement.

"A witch must be close by," Karasuma said, not bothering to keep her voice down any longer, "Lets separate and search the perimeter."

"Or we could just stay together," Doujima pointed to the shore where the ponds' water touched land. The water seemed to be retreating in a swift pace.

"I don't like this," Karasuma turned to Amon who pointed the flashlight hastily to the water beyond. Sounds of small waves crashing into one another scared small animals and birds making them scurry out of their homes, or maybe it was something else…

Far off in the pool the water was collecting, getting higher by the second.

"It's going to hit us," Sakaki gasped taking a step back into a rabbit hole and falling right on his rear. Amon reached down without taking his eyes of the growing tide and gripped his forearm tightly and pulled him up.

"Run!" Doujima shrieked pushing them all which served to wake them from the stupefied trance the oncoming threat had created. They all turned on their heels feeling the tides' magnitude and danger spike some adrenaline into them.

They hadn't gone more than five yards when a light flashed before them. It was spontaneous causing them to halt immediately. Similar light spurted all around them blurring and hurting their eyes. It took them another of Doujima's terrified shrieks to make them realize that it wasn't simple light, it was fire. It was a trap.

The fire blazed and crackled as if it had been burning for hours. Thick smoke that added to the nights' darkness collected in their noses making them choke and stung their eyes. The night was no longer silent but filled with the sounds of crashing waves, roaring flames and coughs.

"Amon, what do we do?" Karasuma managed to yell above all the other noise.

Amon shook his head pointedly while covering his mouth and nose with his arm as if saying, 'Don't panic, anything else but that.'

He held his gun up looking about for something useful, anything that might help them. His eyes fell on two figures beyond the inferno. He squinted and approached the fire closely as he dared to make them out. The smoldering heat seared the bottom seam of his trench coat but he didn't back off especially when a familiar pale face became clear beyond the dancing flames.

Robin stood placidly in a safe distant. A breeze he couldn't feel because of the heat ruffled her loose hair and lengthy dress. Her hands were clasped into one another as she looked back directly at him. Beside her was a man with wild curly hair and an inane grin plastered on his face smoking a cigarette. They stood side by side looking at the pitiful sight of the four hunters about to be burned or drowned to death.

Doujima yelled in fright the arrival of the tide but Amon didn't bother to look back. Instead he aimed and shot continuously. The man dropped his cigarette and clutched at his ribs. Robin's calm face became angry in the glow of the fire and she turned to him. He could see it coming from her eyes just like he'd seen it dozen of other times before. But not one single time since he had gotten to know her had Amon thought it possible for her to use it on him…to turn those emerald eyes on him. The power of the craft caught him square in the chest and he gasped in a breath-full of smoke and flying ash. He felt his gun drop form his grip before he could feel the burn. All at once a force from behind threw him forward and pain without breath became his whole world.

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"He—got me."

Jung saw the tide hit the mark perfectly making her smile wide. It was done, the hunters were down…for now. She sighed and let her craft wash all over her, shape-shifting her to her true self. Her whole body became numb at the change as she pictured carefully herself in her mind. An uncomfortable tingle announced the end of the change. When done she sighed and giggled, it had all been too perfect.

"It hurts…"

Her self-control had been tested as she had tried to not laugh like an idiot at the trapped hunters like the moron Doyle had done. The hunter Amon had seen them which wasn't all that bad, that was why she had taken the girl's features after all. She could see the disbelieve and confusion surface on his face…and she loved it.

"Jung…help me—."

"Oh shut up already," she snapped looking down at Doyle who was withering on the grass clutching his side. "You're kinda ruining this for me."

"That…bastard, I'll kill…kill," Doyle panted, drops of sweat forming on his brow.

Jung rolled her eyes and scooted down to search around his coat pockets, "How, are you going to kill him huh? By breathing heavily at him, perhaps? Or no—I know! By giving him cancer with your second hand smoke."

"Don't…be a…bitch," he wheezed glaring daggers at her.

"Oh honey, what else can I be?" she stood up with a pair of keys jingling freely in her hand, "I'd love to stay and watch you die slowly but my beauty sleep calls me, bye!"

"Help—me," he gasped his eyes beginning to widen in sudden despair.

"Why?" Jung turned looking down at him fiercely in repulsion, "You're tainted."

With that she tossed her long hair casually to the side and marched of to his car, hers was just across the pond but it was much older and more beat up than his so she could easily take his as a token of their past friendship. It wasn't like he would need it in the next life anyways.

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Amon opened his eyes to a blinding brightness. He winced and tried to lift one of his arms to cover his face only to yell out in pain.

"You dislocated your shoulder, don't try and move it," a faint voice ordered beside him. As if the discomfort in his eyes wasn't enough, the person prodded them open with nimble fingers and flashed another piercing light in. "Your torso has small burns and you cut your eyebrow open but we stitched it shut."

With great effort and fight against pain Amon forced his eyes open. He was in a plain white, sanitary hospital room. His pulse beeped in the machines beside him and the IV in his arm was something else to add to the soreness. The light that had bothered him before was the shining sun bursting through a large window to the side. It looked like the beginning of a new day.

"Where are the others?" he grunted trying to sit up with the help of his uninjured arm. The doctor marked something in his clipboard while looking at his watch. He was an elderly man with snow white hair and quick black eyes and had the look of a man who had lost weight in a short time. His eyes had large bags under them, probably from a continuous lack of sleep. "Your friends are awake too with the exception of one. I'm afraid her condition is critical."

After several minutes of argument and severe warnings about his injuries, Amon had been led in a wheel chair to a room in intensive care. Sakaki was there already in crutches with a brace on his right leg and a bruised lip. There were several little cuts around his face that made it look like he had tried to cut rose bushes with his face. He smiled faintly in greeting at Amon and made a gesture with his head to the inside of the room.

Doujima, who seemed to have escaped with only cuts to her face and arms, stood by the bed crying softly. A fragile looking woman with a broken arm and, according to the doctor, broken ribs laid on the bed looking as if she was in a peaceful sleep. Her pulse in the machine was slow and weak.

Amon stood up from his wheelchair despite the protests of the young nurse who had brought him. He walked stiffly into the room to stand by Doujima's side, closely followed by the limping Sakaki.

"The water made her hit a tree," Doujima said gravely, "She hit her head really hard…her brain's swelling."

Unable to say more Doujima backed off the bed and leaned her head against the window sobbing freely.

Amon and Sakaki looked down at the shadow of the strong woman Karasuma used to be. They had never seen her this way. It seemed perfectly inconceivable for her to look so vulnerable. Not Karasuma…

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"One hunter down, three more to go," Louis muttered distractedly after Jung had completed her full report of last night. He looked down at his solitaire game wondering if there were any more moves.

"Yes but we lost Doyle," Jung counteracted annoyed at his lack of attention. "One of the hunters shot him before the wave hit…poor Doyle died instantaneously."

"Mmh," Louis nodded in agreement of whatever she had just said.

"Oh well, a loss, is a loss," he finally announced collecting his game cards, apparently disappointed he had lost.

"Yes, is it my turn sir?" Jung asked her pale eyes wide with anticipation.

"We can't do the next step right away," Masuo argued interrupting their conversation for the first time. "The hunters are injured; we need to give them time to heal, maybe another week."

"Another week?" Jung repeated incredulously eyeing the bald man with venom. "They're weak; this is the time to strike."

"Louis, you said in the beginning of this that you would beat them at their own game," Masuo urged Louis before he could agree with Jung, "If they are crawling in the ground too early in the game, you won't enjoy it at all."

This seemed to ring truer than Jung's logic to Louis who gave a single nod in agreement, "One week to the idiots, then your turn will come Jung."

He began a whole new game, indicating that the discussion was over. Jung bit her lip fuming at them both and stormed out the warehouse sending pieces of grass flying everywhere.

"What a feisty child, that Jung," Louis commented entranced in his game.

Masuo sighed in a private relief and turned to Robin who had gone even more white than before. Her hands were clutched into tight fists that shook with cold, anger, or fear, he couldn't tell which.

A hunter was down, which one? And if they were 'down', what exactly did it imply? None of them could possibly be—?

No, not that, anything but that. Robin cursed silently in her mind. Cursed these witches,cursed herself for being so weak...and afraid.

She could burn the bandana and burn her face in the process but it would be worth it if she could simply escape. Or maybe she could talk Masuo into something, he seemed nice enough, he pitied her.

Do something—anything, by the sounds of it time was running out. People she cared about were dying, in order to protect and save her.

Blood would be shed probably at her mercy. After hours of simply sitting and hearing the things that were going on because of her, Robin had come to that conclusion. She would stain her hands, soak them if needed but she would get free and all the pain would stop.

I'll be back in a short amount of time, no--please don't cry, it's okay. I don't want to cause heartache. In a lighter note, I had begun to notice Robin was acting like a damsel in distress with no back bone. I mean, she's not completely helpless so I really have to stop making her seem like it. I admit it was my fault poor Robin turned into a cry baby and I apologize, but we still have to see how this will all turn out. Bis Spater!