Disclaimer: Below me
A/N: Another apology from me as always. I've been very busy with both school, work, an evil car, and production. Since I'm not on a set schedule, it's sometimes hard for me to get new chapters out. I'm trying to keep up with everything I do as best I can. No Omake this time. Sorry. I know I promised it last time, but just do without for now. I'm also working on Omake Theater Visual Session. It's Omake in the form of a comic strip. So if I get my site up, it will be there. I'll let you know. K?
Meant to Live
by ShiroKitsune
Chapter 9 : A BRAND IN MONO
Amon kicked the folded blankets at the end of the bed sulkily. He knew it didn't matter if they fell off the bed. Tomorrow morning Lao would be in to bring breakfast and neaten the room. In fact, Amon could probably tell the schedule of everyone the next day within 10 minutes of accuracy.
Lao would come in at 9 am with breakfast for Amon and Robin, leaving both trays in the room. He would then go down to the kitchen to get Mandarin's breakfast of either a few pieces of fruit, or toast with jam, depending on the day. Lao would come back and retrieve the trays then spend the rest of the morning handling routine correspondence aside from another trip to the kitchen for Mandarin's mid morning snack and Robin.
Jun's day starts earlier, at 8 am when he went to the control room and turned on all of the surveillance cameras and unlocked the front and back doors for house traffic. He would then take the visitor count and daily food plans to Haru for the lunch and dinner specifications to be made. He would spend the rest of his morning in surveillance of the property and scanning information for friendly witches.
Haru, the house cook, would start his day at 6. He would fix a buffet breakfast for the household visitors and staff. Then he would make up trays for Amon, Robin, and Mandarin. He would begin on preparations for lunch and dinner while waiting for Robin and Lao to come down. He would talk with Robin and continue basic preparations until Jun came down with the food count. Lao would follow within a half hour to pick up Mandarin's snack and Robin. The two would depart and Haru would finish making a simple lunch.
It was quite impressive to know so well the routines of the household. And knowing them would have brought Amon a little sense of pride if it were not for one little fact. He didn't learn any of this on his own. It seemed that the quiet and polite little Robin had a knack for information gathering. She didn't have to try.
Robin started her morning shortly after 9 when Amon woke her up. She would eat with Amon then help take the dishes with Lao to Haru. She would spend an hour listening to Haru tell her stories and current events before accompanying Lao with midmorning snacks to Mandarin in the garden where she would sit and talk until lunch. There was another stretch in mid afternoon where she would return to Haru and his stories. And thus it was that all of the current information known to Mandarin, Lao, and Haru, came quickly to Robin's ears. Information she would pass on to Amon after dinner.
She didn't even have to try, a fact Amon found decidedly unfair.
And now here he was, awake at 4 in the morning pondering all of the information Robin had been given by Mandarin, Haru, Lao, and gleaned from Jun.
It had been four days since Amon had managed to get a full night of sleep. In fact, the last four nights had been spent lying in bed desperately trying to suppress the hunter instincts that kept him awake as people roamed the halls throughout the night.
He blamed Zakuro.
And he worried because she was over a week late in arriving.
Her lateness was at first passed off. After all, she could have been delayed, or tossing Solomon off of her tail. But the act of ignoring her absence had been becoming more and more difficult for the house to do. Now the brothers, Mandarin, and Haru, had been taking turns staying awake at night waiting for her and more often than not, the brothers took to pacing the hall, and subsequently keeping Amon awake.
This was the fourth night of Amon laying awake because of the brothers' pacing.
It would also be the last.
A bone jarring crash sounded through the house causing Amon to bolt up with heart racing.
Amon was halfway to the door before he realized that something had happened. Footsteps pounded down the hall accompanied by rapid Chinese and one word he recognized, 'Zakuro.' He hurried out of the room and followed one of the brothers, was it Jun, down the hall and eventually to the kitchen.
Amon decided it had been good that he had recognized the word Zakuro, because he doubted he would have recognized the girl. At least not until the blood had been washed off.
Was it Jun, or Lao, who had said Zakuro threw a mean punch?
How mean must the other guy's punch been?
There was no deference to modesty in their movements. Lao tore the shirt from her body. The shirt and the horrible half dried blood that had run down her shoulder from the gunshot wound.
Amon would know it was her first. Robin said that Zakuro had never been injured badly before. She was too smart, too tactically inclined.
It would be her first scar.
A gasp rose from his side and Amon looked down at a wide eyed Robin, then back to Zakuro. Haru had a towel, wet and steaming, proffered to Mandarin who knelt in front of the girl with his mouth working hurried sentences in English.
"He's telling her" Amon began to translate but Robin cut him off.
"it's okay. Are you hurt anywhere else? Close your eyes not. Take a breath with care" Robin finished.
Mandarin cleaned the blood and spoke calmingly to the girl. Jun tore into the room with a first aid kit and towels and a wild look on his face.
"It's okay. Are you hurt anywhere" Mandarin asked.
"Mandarin" Zakuro asked and he sat up sharply.
"Yes"
"Doko wa? Where is Era"
Mandarin and the rest of the men froze dead in their places. Haru walked up Zakuro and took her good hand. She lifted it to her face and closed her eyes. Two trails of tears started down her face and she sighed.
"He should be here" she choked out.
"Aa, he should" Haru agreed and nodded to Mandarin to continue.
No one spoke after that.
Amon grabbed Robin's hand and took her back to her room.
It would be her first scar.
It had been two days since Zakuro had appeared, bleeding from a gunshot wound.
Amon had hurried Robin away from the kitchen where Zakuro had been being tended. Robin had abruptly altered her routine upon Zakuro's return. She no longer spent her morning going from place to place but rather started out her morning eating with Amon, then she went directly to Zakuro's room where she would stay until lunchtime, just watching the woman, and pacing about until Mandarin came to chase her out for lunch. After lunch, Robin had taken to staying in the kitchen and helping Haru to prepare dinner.
Perhaps her routine was not so different except for one thing. Robin had nearly stopped speaking. She would answer any question posed to her, but shortly.
She was standing now in Zakuro's room, midmorning as usual. However, this time she had company. It had been suggested by Mandarin that Zakuro be woken up and now Robin, Amon, Lao, Haru, and Mandarin were all standing close to the foot of Zakuro's bed discussing ways of awakening her. Each person, excepting Robin and Amon, had a widely varying idea to accomplish the task and each person was adamant about their idea.
Perhaps it was the argument, steadily rising in volume that did it. Or maybe somehow the woman possessed a sense for what was occurring and took it upon herself to stop the dissention. Whatever the reason, the outcome was surprising to all in the room. Instead of waiting for someone's idea to win out, Zakuro woke herself up, cussing.
Now Robin, being the kind of girl that she was, was not familiar with all of the curses being spewed in both English, Japanese, and German from the pale woman. Amon, however being the kind of man he was, was familiar with nearly all of the expressions although a few of the English ones and most of the German ones escaped him. Haru, having the best command of English out of all of them, and also having known Zakuro the longest was fully aware of the filthy nasty comments emanating from her lips and exactly what they meant. He also realized the point in which she stopped even saying real curses and began to make new ones up whole-cloth.
The fact she woke up cursing, while amusing, would not give much merit but for the fact that, when she woke up, she stunned every one in the room into stock still inactivity before Haru hurried over to her to keep her from moving to much and reopening her wound. He managed to get her settled back against the pillows, but too late. Hot wet blood had leaked through the bandages on her shoulder and had begun to stain the shirt over top.
Amon stood looking at the injured woman with typical cool eyes. If she could cuss like that, chances for her health were quite good as far as he was concerned. Though there was a strange flitting feeling up his spine and he couldn't help somehow feeling responsible for the woman's wound. Little of the story had emerged with her unconscious for so long, but the story threatened out of the man she had saved had definitely pointed to an organization with no ties to Solomon being involved. He remembered the brother's on the train and the gunshots as they fled. Had someone, somehow, infiltrated their things and found out where they were going? Was that the reason for the lack of pursuit as they fled to Mandarin? Did this other group already know about Mandarin, and Zakuro? But what was the reason for attacking her?
Solomon was after Zakuro.
Solomon was after Robin and Amon.
This other group was after Robin and Amon but this second group was not after Zakuro. So why would they shoot her? Or were they after the man? But what connection did the man have to them?
Amon rubbed the bridge of his nose. Insufficient evidence made his head hurt. And then upon that declaration of an impending migraine, came someone that Amon was positive would only worsen matters. Jun pushed his was into the room and passed Amon. A general dislike of the man, dislike at first sight, had blossomed since Amon had met Jun and was now a fully developed hatred. It started with the man's general standoffish and pushy behavior. His overall rudeness. And his obvious dislike and rude treatment of Robin that made Amon wonder if it really wouldn't be a gift to the world to put Jun out of commission. Permanently.
The story, and reason for Jun's behavior, somehow again ferreted out by Robin placed Jun no farther in Amon's graces. It turned out that Jun was in love with Zakuro.
The same Zakuro whose traditional room Robin was inhabiting. Whose friends Robin was befriending, and whose story Robin was slowly piecing together. The same Zakuro whose yukata now adorned Robin on her late night walks. Whose favorite foods were being served instead of Zakuro's favorites. It would seem, to someone unbalanced in love, that Robin was taking over Zakuro's existence. And Jun was hell bent of preventing that from ever occurring.
He muscled his way over to the bed and immediately began haranguing Mandarin for information. Haru took one look at Jun and shook his head lightly.
"I have to start dinner" he announced. He straightened for a moment, about to leave before he paused. His lips descended swiftly onto the forehead of the injured girl and she smiled in a warm, unusual way. He stood and smiled back.
"When you can sit at the table with everyone else" he spoke while walking to the door"I'll make you Chicken Parmigiana. Until then..." Haru trailed off and walked down the hall.
There was silence for several minutes as the group watched for her reaction.
"Oh, evil" Zakuro muttered. "Damn, now I want that."
But Haru's last message brought pause to Mandarin. How long could he keep her, Amon, and Robin safe?
"This has complicated the matter" Mandarin said. "I can't keep you all safe indefinitely." He nodded his head to himself and Zakuro scowled. Her eyebrows were knit, in pain or in annoyance, Amon would place his money on the latter.
"It's complicated nothing. I need two days. Two days and I can go with them" Zakuro said and clenched the fist on her good arm. The flesh on her palms dimpled in beneath her sharp nails.
"Two days" Jun said becoming upset. "You've been shot. More than that, you've been running around with the bullet in you shoulder for at least how long? Two days? Three"
Zakuro refused even to look at the ranting man, instead keeping her eyes solely on Mandarin. "Two days. That's all I need" Zakuro paused. "They are my responsibility. Just give me two days."
Robin shifted uncomfortably. Zakuro had yet to divulge the story of her injury but she had a feeling that whatever happened, happened because of her and Amon. Mandarin sighed and looked at Lao who was, at the moment, attempting to placate his brother. Lao closed his eyes for a moment.
"I can" Lao paused. His eyes reopened and met with Zakuro's eyes. "I can give you four days more absolute safety here. I can guarantee you four days."
A small sincere smile drew at Zakuro's lips. Her right hand reached up to lay softly on her wound. She looked over to Amon and Robin, standing quietly behind the brothers.
"The other group after you is called 'R3'. They are comprised of all witches." The smile remained on her face. Her hand brushed the bandages on her shoulder.
"They're armed."
A/N: Not much action this time or anything. Just background and some plot to move the story farther along. The action will pick up from here as Zakuro's story comes out along with the story of R3. I'm sorry for the wait and this chapter seems to me, unsatisfying. I like moral supports and was lacking. Plus I've been so busy. I cannot even relate it. Ah well.