Author's Note:

Sorry it's taken me awhile to post this chapter. I've been a little distracted with health insurance issues, of all things. Being in the real world and acting like a responsible adult really sucks sometimes, you know?

I also had some things to work out in the plot of the story overall before I felt like I could post this chapter anyway since it forced me to make a few decisions. I apologize in advance for Touko OOC in this chapter --though I suppose some of you might feel like it's in character! :) Also, I wanted to thank all of you for your reviews. Your feedback keeps me inspired in spite of the annoyance of real world shit!

Chapter 9

Yo-Yo

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Robin suppressed a yawn as she worked her way through the halls of the hospital. She had gone home and attempted to follow Dante's and Karasuma's instructions to rest, but sleep had refused her. She had only dozed off once, and then only to slip into a nightmare which left her feeling more exhausted than before. The content of the dream was unimportant, except that it had recalled those last few moments in the briefing room before Amon's collapse with such clarity she felt as if she had experienced the event all over again. This time around, she found herself noticing minutiae within the memory which shock and fear had hidden from her at the time. She remembered the sensation of Amon's mouth burning against her own . . . his hands reaching for her, and the feel of his lips moving against her neck as he mumbled something incoherent. Something which sounded like--but no, it couldn't have been. He couldn't have whispered those words. The thought was ridiculous.

She shook herself out of the memory as she paused in front of his room, steeling herself for the pain of seeing him lying there so vulnerable and weak. Vulnerability was not a word she could associate easily with Amon, and seeing him in such a state pushed her to the verge of tears almost immediately. Taking a deep breath, she turned the doorknob and silently pushed open the door, only to pause awkwardly at the sight before her.

Amon was stirring slightly in his sleep, his eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks. A woman was standing over him--a woman she recognized as Touko. As Robin watched, Touko leaned over the bed and kissed Amon passionately, one of her hands tracing down his side. The intimacy of the situation made Robin feel like an intruder for the second time this week, and she had been about to close the door again and take a walk when she noticed what Touko was holding in her other hand. It looked like a syringe. Robin's breath caught in her throat.

"I'm sorry I have to do this, Amon," Touko said wistfully, reaching for his IV. "But you just can't wake up yet. You'll only get in the way." She inserted the needle in the IV, but before she could depress it, her sleeve caught on fire. The syringe flew across the room to embed itself in the wall where Robin's head had been. "You!" Touko spat as she put out the flames on her shirt. "You little witch! My master will deal with you soon enough."

Robin's eyes widened. This didn't sound like the Touko she knew. Why was she acting like this? And what had she been about to do to Amon? "Touko," Robin breathed as she dodged another thrown object. She tripped over a track in the floor made for a curtain and knocked her glasses off her face as she hit the foot of the bed.

"You and your new half-demon boyfriend," Touko continued in a rage, "ruining all my master's plans! You will both suffer the consequences." Ripping the phone out of the wall, Touko lobbed it at Robin, forcing her to dodge yet again.

Robin searched frantically for her glasses, reluctant to use her craft in a hospital without complete control. Suddenly Robin felt one of Touko's thin arms clamp around her waist as she pressed a cold, blunt object against Robin's side. Robin looked down to see an orbo gun in Touko's hand--Amon's orbo gun. Robin struggled desperately to free herself, but her roommate seemed to have miraculously developed super human strength.

"My master says you will die when they are through using you," Touko whispered into Robin's hair, "but that's not soon enough for me. I can't tell you how tired I am of the way you're always giving him those innocent looks. Those looks that make him act as if you're the last pure thing in the universe. I'm tired of hearing him call out your name at night instead of mine, though he denies it every time. And I'm tired of doing my father's bidding and keeping an eye on you all the time for the sake of some marvelous plot against . . . whoever it is. I don't even know or care anymore." The gun pressed harder into Robin's ribs, causing her to whimper. "Except that I've decided to rid him of the trouble of finding someone else to watch you. I'll kill you myself so you're no longer a problem to anyone. My master will just have to make his plans work without you because I can't wait any longer for you to die. Amon will forget you eventually. He'll learn to scream my name again."

A hollow thud followed by a grunt from Touko was all the warning Robin had before the gun skidded off across the floor and Touko crumpled in a heap behind her. Spinning around to face her savior, knowing it could also be a possible enemy, she nearly toppled over at the sight of Amon standing there with the vase of flowers the STN-J members had brought him in his hands. His hair was disheveled and tubes hung from his wrist, but he was awake, and the flush was fading from his face. He placed the vase down on a table near him, his hands trembling slightly.

Unable to restrain her relief any longer, Robin felt tears track down her cheeks. "Amon!" Despite his expression of confusion, she launched herself at him, nearly knocking him off his feet as she slammed into him. Wanting so badly to feel safe and protected--and to be assured he was safe and alive--she wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face against his chest. She could feel his heart racing in surprise at her actions, and she sensed him struggling in his decision of how to respond. At the moment though, she didn't care. She didn't care even a little if he thought she was being childish, or if he was affronted by her presumption, or if he was angry with her for invading his personal space. It didn't matter to her in the least, because, for once, she had given in to her desire to touch him. And now that she could feel the solidness of him in her arms and breathe the scent of him into her lungs, she found she never wanted to let go. The only way the moment could have gotten any better would have been if he had returned the embrace.

He pushed her away firmly; though he only managed to loosen her hold on him, not break it. "Robin?" His gaze was distant and cold. "What happened? What are we doing here?"

She felt some of her resolve waver and she pulled away a little, her cheeks coloring as she realized the back of his hospital gown had opened slightly and her hands were resting against his bare skin. "You mean you don't remember?" She felt lost suddenly.

"The last thing I remember . . . I was standing in the briefing room with Michael . . . and then I heard your voice, and . . ." He shook his head. "The rest is just a blur."

She nodded silently, stepping away from him entirely and feeling a chill wash over her. "You had a fever," she explained simply. Pulling the syringe out of the wall and showing it to him, she added. "It seems Touko was the one causing it. I still don't understand why." She glanced down at her roommate. "It looks like she stole your orbo gun as well."

"She was angry with me," he commented emotionlessly, his gaze falling on Touko. "Though I don't remember much about what happened after leaving the party." Looking back up at her with narrowed eyes, he added, "I didn't realize just how angry she was with you though."

Robin looked away from his frosty stare, shivering. Clasping her pendant in her hands, she replied slowly, "I don't know why she was angry with me. I never meant to do anything to hurt her, yet she seems to hate me so much."

Unexpectedly, she felt the warmth of his body press against her back as he placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "It's not your fault," he whispered, his voice deeper than usual and filled with some emotion she couldn't identify. His hands slid down over her arms lightly before dropping to her waist and pulling her closer. Goosebumps spread across her skin as he pressed a series of gentle kisses against the nape of her neck, his nose and mouth grazing against the sensitive skin right below her hairline. She didn't know what to do, or whether to do anything at all for fear of causing him to stop. His complete shift in demeanor from the harsh Amon she was used to dealing with to the strange, gentle one she had glimpsed only in scattered moments over the last few days was almost too much for her to handle. Her head was spinning and she feared that if he hadn't been holding her up, she would have collapsed to the floor next to Touko.

"This is the reason she hates you," he whispered into her ear before placing another gentle kiss just below her ear. "She hates you for what you can do to me without even trying." One of his hands slid a little bit lower over her hip as his lips found a spot just below her jawbone, sending fire burning through her veins at the touch

"Amon?" Her voice sounded childlike and frightened in the deathly quiet of the room.

He pulled away from her so swiftly she had to lean against the wall to regain her balance.

"Your phone is ringing," he commented, slipping back into his customary composed tone again. He didn't even look at her when she turned around, keeping his gaze focused on the window, his face as blank as the white walls of the room. "You're not supposed to use cell phones in hospitals, you know."

Feeling the sudden intense desire to cry, Robin nodded silently and hurried out of the room. Reaching in her pocket for her phone once she was outside the building, she saw that the missed call was from STN-J's number and dialed it back.

Michael answered the phone almost immediately. "Michael," she responded, her voice quavering despite her attempt to control it. "What's going on?"

"Robin?" Michael's voice was worried. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Amon just woke up, that's all."

"Really? Is he okay?"

"Seems to be just fine . . ."

"Oh! Wow."

"Why did you call me?" she prompted him finally.

"Oh yeah! Um, I've got some more information about the witch. Doujima and Sakaki ran into some guy who was working for her. Well, I suppose he wasn't voluntarily working for her, but it didn't seem like he had much choice. The guy wasn't on my list of possible connections; in fact he seemed to have nothing in common with the witch at all except Dante had mentioned Beatrice's talent for manipulating people. This guy was kind of an easy target, I guess, since he was sort of resentful, and carrying around a lot of repressed anger--Dante said negative emotions are far easier for an outside source to control. Anyway, they found some strange symbols like the ones Amon and Sakaki found in the cemetery, and they want you to take a look at them."

"Touko," Robin whispered, her mind still a sentence behind him as his words gave her the answer to her why her roommate had gone out of control so suddenly. "Michael, I think Touko was manipulated by this witch as well."

"Your roommate?!"

"Yes. She attacked me in Amon's hospital room." Robin wondered suddenly what Amon intended to do about Touko's unconscious body. Then a thought occurred to her. "Michael, can you find out if the man Sakaki and Doujima ran across was at the party the other night? Touko was there too, and Dante had gone there thinking he'd find the witch. If the witch was actually at the party, it would explain how they both came in contact with her."

"Yikes! If that is the case, I wonder how many other people she came in contact with too." Michael paused. "Wait a minute, you actually did go to that party with Doujima? I thought she was just pulling my leg."

"You said something about symbols?" she asked, avoiding his question. "What symbols did Amon find in the cemetery?"

He hesitated before replying. "You mean he didn't mention them to you?"

Robin frowned. "No."

" . . . Oh. Well, I guess he just forgot. They, uh . . ." She could hear some shuffling of papers on the other end of the line. "They looked like they formed an Ogham wheel, though I haven't managed to track down all the elements within it. Some of the symbols are pretty archaic. As for the strange artifacts they found around the wheel, I just got back the tests today. But I haven't gotten a chance to go through them yet."

Her throat tight, Robin suddenly found breathing to be a difficult task.

"Are you still there, Robin?" Michael asked, worried.

I don't know if I'm still here, Michael. Maybe not. It's pretty easy for some people to forget I exist, it seems. She shuddered as she remembered the way Amon had embraced her in the hospital room. He could hold her like that, and yet he could not share information about the case with her, even when it was in her area of expertise? His lack of trust never ceased to amaze her. Remembering Michael was still waiting for her response, she swallowed her hurt and came up with a change of topic quickly, "Have you heard back from Karasuma and Dante yet?"

"Hmph."

"What is it?"

"You're starting to sound like Amon."

"What do you mean?" The comment felt like an insult to her, considering her present opinion of her partner.

"Never mind . . . Anyway, they're still working through their list. They said they'd check back in if they found anything. Hey, do you know why Dante is always calling women 'babe?'' Do you like it when he calls you that?"

Michael's attempt to lighten the mood caught her off guard, though now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure why Dante used that term. Normally it would feel offensive to her, yet somehow he managed to get away with it. "I don't know," she replied honestly.

"Well, either way, it's too bad we can't trade in Amon for Dante, isn't it? At least he's got a sense of humor, you know? Amon's always so--"

The unexpected pause made Robin's heart stop for a moment. "Michael?!"

"Director," she heard Michael say with his mouth away from the microphone, obviously not speaking to her. "We didn't expect you back until next week. No, I didn't mean . . . I mean, I . . . I know." Michael's tone had descended into shame. "Yes . . . . Yes. I understand. I won't--but I . . ." Then his voice came back. "Robin? I have to go." The line disconnected, leaving Robin with a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Suddenly Amon appeared next to her, pushing a wheelchair ahead of him into which he had propped up Touko. He was dressed in his usual clothes though they were a little more wrinkled than normal. Robin looked at him in surprise, amazed that he had managed to get checked out of the hospital so quickly. "I called Karasuma from the phone in the room," he stated. "She's on her way to pick us up."

"I drove my Vespa," Robin replied faintly, not feeling up to sharing the backseat of a car with Amon and his unconscious lover, especially with the volatility of her emotions at the moment. She took a few steps away only to be pulled to a stop, Amon's steely grip on her arm.

"We'll pick it up later."

Robin glanced at Touko, diverting his attention. "What are you going to do with her?"

He didn't answer her question. Instead, he released her arm and combed his hand through his hair in an attempt to put it in order. "Did you speak with Michael?"

She almost responded out of habit, but decided two could play at his game and clamped her mouth shut. His eyes bored into the back of her head, but he did not repeat the question. Feeling a small satisfaction at her refusal to let him dictate all the rules, she decided to push the boundaries a little more. "Sakaki and Doujima want me to check out something they found." Cutting in front of the wheelchair so he couldn't easily follow, Robin hopped down the steps toward her Vespa. "I'll see you back at Raven's flat later," she called over her shoulder without turning around. He did not follow, but she knew there would be consequences for her actions back at the office.

At the moment though, she no longer cared. She was growing weary of always bending whichever way he decided the wind should blow. His shifts in demeanor lately were getting too extreme for even her to deal with. She cared for him, it was true. And now she could surmise from Touko's words as well as his own actions, that he cared for her as well, but it wasn't enough to care about someone if you still treated them like a chunk of mud caked on your shoe the rest of the time. Though she often had a terrible time reading his reactions, she knew enough now to realize his facade of apathy and indifference was not the entirety of his feelings. But his feelings mattered little when he continued putting so much time and effort into keeping her at a distance, and continued refusing to trust her as a colleague and a partner. She had finally decided she deserved more than his selfish tantrums when he lost control. If he wanted her, as she was slowly beginning to realize he did on some level at least, he would have to earn the right to touch her.

-------

Hope you all enjoyed it. I promise to get the next chapter up soon!

To Cali1043: Did I answer your question about the pictures? I had actually inserted a reference to them in a later chapter, but when I was revising this one, I found the reference fit better here and actually strengthened where I was going with things in the first place. Don't know if I would have thought of it though if you hadn't brought it up.

To Pyrosa: I apologize for keeping you up late with my story! I can relate though. I was up until at least 2am every night the week I first started writing this fic. Insomnia can be strangely inspiring. Or maybe inspiration causes insomnia . . .