Vacation Time, Please

Chapter 17: Revelations

IMBSA: After a long, long, long hiatus, this puppy is up and running! See, I told you I'd update!

Disclaimer: "It may be your sole purpose in life to serve as a warning to others."

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The four young adults turned away morosely from the lounge after Karasuma entered. She gave Robin the van keys just before she went into the lounge. They didn't know whose wrath would be worse, Karasuma or Amon. Slowly, they started towards the parking lot when Sakaki's phone rang. The phone screen identified the caller as Amon. He let it go to voice mail. He wasn't in the mood for being berated by the brooding senior hunter. Yet he felt compelled to listen to it.

"Hey, you know I gotta make myself scarce!" Sakaki called out suddenly to the three others as he put his phone back in its case and quickly walked to the lounge parking lot.

"What about Karasuma and Amon?" Michael queried along side a worrisome Sakaki who seemed ready to rush away.

"What about them? They're big kids. They don't need anything from us. C'mon let's get the van," Sakaki suggested, Robin handed Sakaki the keys. As the four made their way to the orange heap in the hotel parking lot, Michael shot Doujima a momentary glare and shook his head.

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"Sakaki…This whole thing reeks of him," Amon stated, as if the very name left a bitter taste in his mouth. Yes, Michael did say Sakaki talked to Dawn. He should have known better.

"So what really happened? That…that…woman isn't your type, is she?" Karasuma pried.

Amon stared scathingly at the oysters. He asked a waiter to take the tray of the smelly shellfish away. Karasuma kept an eye on Amon. Her peering eyes grilled his cheek.

"I was inadvertently placed on a blind date with her," he said abruptly. Karasuma smirked dubiously.

"How could a blind date be inadvertent?" she asked not comprehending how this could possibly happen, especially to Amon.

"Well, perhaps the one who asked me was not that particular woman, but a younger, much prettier lady who questioned me about my plans for tonight."

"And?" she pressed on.

"And so the younger, prettier one met me here at 8PM, which happened to coincide with a meeting that said lady set up with her lonely step-mother. I thought the daughter was just going to introduce me ….I didn't think I was set up on a date with her step-mother,"

Amon explained, his voice fading off bitterly.

"So what happened to the daughter?" Karasuma asked, taking a bite out her chicken wing, watching Amon intensely, hanging on his every word.

"She left me in the lounge with her step-mother," Amon explained and gulped down a swallow of his drink, as if recalling that experience would be difficult on his system.

Any way you look at it, Amon got ditched. Dawn definitely bailed on him.

"Why didn't you go after her?...You know, the daughter?" Karasuma asked with a matter-of-fact tone. She continued to eat, as she waited for his answer. Amon was quiet for a second. She knew he was in a pensive moment, with a faraway look in his eyes.

Amon's dark eyes shifted to Karasuma's. He took another sip of his drink still maintaining eye contact over the rim of his glass. He placed the glass down and sighed.

"Perhaps she's really not the one I'm after…. Maybe she's not the one I want." There was a pause as Karasuma blinked away any type of misinterpretation or connotation his last sentence could make. But a piece of chicken caught in her throat and she began to cough. Her eyes watered as she coughed some more. She picked up her glass of water with flailing hands and sipped it down to help wash away any debris.

"Wow!" she said putting the glass down on the table and clearing her throat, "That chicken's pretty spicy," she lied. Amon's eye brows furrowed.

"They're naked."

"What?!..Naked?!" Karasuma asked, voice raising several octaves due to shock, as if not believing her ears, looking around the lounge. For some reason that word had the most awkward ring to it at this point.

"The wings…They're naked," Amon said. Karasuma was still looking wide eyed and curious, Amon finally clarified himself. "The chicken wings are naked. They have no hot spices on them."

"Oh," she replied bashfully sipping her water, looking furtively around.

"I meant…temperature hot," she corrected herself with a fib. Amon smirked. He enjoyed making the conservative Karasuma blush.

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Sakaki sat in the driver's seat as the other three loaded the van. Doujima sat beside him in the front passenger chair. Michael found himself in the middle seat. Robin rode in the rear bench seat by herself.

"Let's go to the beach or something. How does that sound?" Sakaki asked, words flowing together, so it sounded like, "LetsgotothebeachorsomethingHowdoesthatsound?" He drove as if his life depended on it, and in his mind, after hearing Amon's message, it did.

"What beach are we going to Haruto?" Doujima asked, concern growing in her voice. She looked out the window.

"Oh-I don't know maybe one on the other side of the Seven Mile Bridge. How does Miami Beach sound?" he quickly answered.

"What? What're you doing that for?" Michael asked quizzically. There was no answer. "We could just hang out at the beach over here," Michael stiffly suggested.

"No…I –I don't think so…Key West isn't big enough for the both of us."

"Who are you talking about? Amon?" Robin's mild voice called from the back of the van. Silence pervaded the van.

"Listen to my voice mail, Michael. Tell me why he thinks I'm behind all this?" Sakaki asked. How could you NOT think that is the question. It wouldn't take a brain surgeon to come up with that scenario. Michael thought to himself. He took the phone from Sakaki and listened. Michael suddenly jerked upright.

"See?... What did I tell you?" Michael re-hashed his warnings, fingers shaking cautionarily. "He's probably sitting on top of a roof this minute with a scoped rifle ready to---"

"Oh, Michael! You aren't helping!" Doujima broke in suddenly to prevent any needless details from spilling into Sakaki's mind. "Let me see his phone!" She said. Doujima listened and she too shuddered just a bit at Amon's message. "No matter what, I still think this turned out to be so funny! That's what he gets for trying to ditch my bags... Instead he got ditched with an old bag!" Doujima started to giggle wildly.

"Amon tried to ditch your luggage?" Michael asked in shock. Doujima nodded self-righteously, still trying to hold her composure of the new found irony.

"Karasuma and I already got everything regarding his orbo gun taken cared of while we were still in Atlanta!….He even did something nasty with my toothbrush, didn't he Haruto?" Sakaki shrugged his shoulders quickly.

"I just want to know how he found out I'm linked to all this….Do you know, Michael?"

Michael thought for a second squinting his eye in deep concentration. But should he tell him that he just happened to mention that little itty bit of information to Amon?

"No, I don't…." Michael quickly replied. Sakaki ended up parking by some dunes. He took Doujima's hand, tucking a beach towel underneath the other arm.

"We're going for a walk," he said morosely. He grabbed the keys and slammed the door of the van. Only the sound of waves lapping on the shore line could be heard. Michael turned to the rear of the vehicle. He had almost forgotten Robin was back there. She was so quiet for a majority of the ride.

"So what did you do today, Robin?" he asked smiling. Robin stared at him blankly. She blinked her eyes and looked down. She was conflicted, but managed to speak up.

"Miho and I went for a late breakfast and then we did some shopping," she explained, thinking back to what Miho had told her in her big sisterly manner. You can't be upset with Michael if he doesn't know how you feel about him. Michael could sense Robin's tension.

"What's wrong?" Michael asked. Robin was about to pose a question, but decided differently.

"How did Amon find out Sakaki was involved in this?" Robin asked.

"Sakaki talked to Dawn the other day while the rest of you guys were at the Jet-ski place and we were at lunch. He met Dawn there at that seafood restaurant by chance. She was asking all sorts of things about Amon. Then I was there when Dawn asked Amon out to go to the lounge. So I told Amon how interested she was in him. He asked what I told her. I told him that Haruto was the one who talked to Dawn."

"She asked Amon on a date?" Robin asked, tipping her head to one side.

"Yep…Amon agreed to see her at 8 in the lounge."

"Why did Sakaki and Doujima set him up with that old lady, then?"

"Well, they didn't….I think they just sorta wanted Amon to be caught in the middle of some love triangle or something. But apparently Dawn was the one who fixed Amon up with that old lady and bailed on Amon." Robin's hands went up to her mouth.

"So Sakaki didn't do that?" Robin surmised.

"No…not that part anyway."

Robin sighed. In her curiosity, her malcontent seemed momentarily nonexistent. Robin realized that she could talk with so much ease with Michael. Only the shore's crashing waves broke any total silence. Robin took in a deep breath to muster up a brave nerve.

"So I heard that Tracey left," Robin stated, biting her bottom lip in an effort to keep her composure.

"Yeah…She left back to Tokyo this morning."

"Tokyo?" Robin's heart sank. Michael nodded quickly.

"She's interning at some company over there. Her friends flew over to visit and then they flew back here."

"Do you think you'll…look her up when you get back?" Robin asked quietly.

Michael was silent for a moment.

"No. It's not that kind of relationship, Robin. Besides, she'd be hard pressed to hang out at Raven's Flat all the time. She was a lot of fun. It was great spending time with her and her friends," he explained with a satisfying smile, obviously reminiscing about his activities for the past few nights. Then a wave of guilt surged through him as the word "slut-puppy" somehow came to mind. Michael noticed a begrudging sigh came from Robin that matched the crumpled eyebrows on her usually serene face. He felt he had to defend himself. "What? Isn't that what we're here for…vacation? Fun?" He scowled at her for judging him so harshly. Robin's head shook slowly.

"We're supposed to be here for team building…and you can't build when you end up hurting a teammate." Michael thought about Robin's words closely. After hearing this, his features softened. It started to make sense: how she was there to share her jet-ski, how she helped him with the self tanning ointment. He moved to the rear seat to sit beside her.

"Oh Robin…"he sighed. "I'm so sorry…I never knew you –" he couldn't even bring himself to say it as tears rolled down Robin's soft cheeks. She nodded, pursing her lips to hold back the tears. Michael reached his hand to touch her face gently with his palm. She turned towards it and held it closely to her cheek with her own hand as if she didn't want him to let go. Witnessing her quiet anguish was painful to watch, as she sobbed quietly.

"Robin, why didn't you tell me?" Tears gathered in the crook of his thumb and forefinger as she mumbled.

"You were having too much fun."

He let out a sigh and pulled her head towards his chest to embrace her. They held each other for a moment. She sobbed in his chest, until it gradually subsided.

"Robin, you wanna go out for a walk?" he asked. Robin nodded.

"Good….My ass is hurting again." Michael joked. She let out a stifled giggle and wiped her face with her palms, trying to gain some composure.

"I don't want them to know I was crying," she said softly sniffling slightly. Michael studied Robin: her eyes were puffy and red. Her face still looked flushed.

"C'mon. It's dark. I doubt they'll notice…Your secret's safe with me," Michael noted and pulled her by the hand, out of the orange vehicle to walk the sands of the beach in the balmy, tropical breeze.

They walked side by side for a few yards before Michael caught sight of a couple's silhouette sitting on a towel in the sand sharing a heavy kiss in the darkness of the night. Michael always had an inkling, but this time he knew for sure. Witnessing this kiss only put to rest the rumors he had about Doujima and Sakaki. He stopped and looked at Robin. She hadn't seemed to notice the lip-locked couple on the sand.

"I'll race you to the van!" Michael suggested quickly, turning in the other direction. Robin sported a mischievous grin, took off her sandals, gave a backward glance and at once started off to the van, "Wait! I didn't even say 'go' yet!" He ran after her.

By the time he reached the van Robin was already there. Her sandals were off her minute feet and she was sitting on the van's bumper. Robin was taking her red hair down. Michael watched from a distance how her beautiful red tresses whipped in the breeze and wondered what it would be like to touch her hair. He walked slowly towards her not wanting to ruin the moment by catching her off guard. Yet as if caught doing something forbidden, Robin slightly blushed seeing Michael stand a few feet away just watching her.

"This breeze and all that running sort of made them fall," she explained away, pushing her hair away from her chin. The moonlight playing upon her tresses somehow made her so much more appealing. Was it the new found knowledge that she was indeed attracted to Michael that made him feel this way? Maybe it was seeing her for the first time without a hair bun or the usual "handle-bar" coiffure that did it? Or was it once again his teenage hormones that gave him that excited feeling? He smiled as he approached her. Suddenly an alarm went off in his phone. He quickly grabbed it to shut it off.

"What's that?" Robin asked. Michael looked at the screen on his phone.

"It's my alarm," he replied. He punched in some numbers.

"Amon?...It's Michael, just checking in…Yeah, I'm here at the beach…with Robin," he flashed a smile at her and turned. "Sakaki and Doujima? I'm not sure," he answered with a grimace, "If I run into them, I'll be sure to let them know you want to see them….I'll check in again before midnight." He hung up the phone.

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"So where are they?" Karasuma asked as the waiter took away the empty tray that lay on their table.

"Michael and Robin are at the beach. He claims he isn't sure where Sakaki and Doujima are," Amon replied putting away his phone. Neither Sakaki nor Doujima were answering their cell phones.

"Michael and Robin are at the beach…that's interesting," Karasuma grinned to herself nodding thoughtfully being reminded of the conversations she had earlier with the young red-head

"We need to pay this beach a visit," Amon stated, "I'm not happy with that situation."

"You mean Michael and Robin?"

"Yes; let's go," Amon said signing the receipt for his tab, then extending a helping hand to Karasuma. She tried to keep in stride with Amon, who practically jogged across the parking lot. Karasuma was wondering what could make Amon so mission oriented when it came to the hacker and the young hunter.

"Why? Michael's harmless."

"Not to Robin." Amon said curtly. They walked towards the parking lot to get the van

But it was not where Karasuma left it.

"You know, I did give Robin the keys before I went into the lounge this evening," Karasuma mentioned casually.

Looking irritated, Amon had his hands at his waist. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the parking lot proclaiming, "He left with the van…Michael and Robin are at the beach with a VAN!"

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It wasn't long before Robin and Michael spied two silhouettes walking towards them. Michael recognized the moppy hair of Sakaki and the long flowing hair of Doujima.

"Hey, Michael, everything going okay?" Sakaki called out. Michael smirked and shook his head.

"Oh yeah…" Michael replied with a grin and shot Robin an even bigger smile, looking at his watch with a hint.

"What can I say?…We had a lot of things to talk about," Sakaki explained.

"Speaking in tongues, eh Haruto?" Michael teased. Doujima frowned at him. Sakaki glared.

"Lem'me have the keys, Man-whore!" Sakaki requested.

"I don't have them…You took them with you," Michael replied.

"No, I didn't I gave them to you," Sakaki corrected searching his pockets.

"Dude, you were driving. Why would I have them?" Michael answered.

"Sakaki! I just gave them to you when you were pulling on your pa-," Doujima cut herself short, "Never mind," she continued, furtive glance to Sakaki all too apparent.

Michael snickered and Robin once again had a bewildered look on her face as if she wasn't sure she if she heard Doujima correctly. There was a slight pause as Sakaki still searched his pockets for the keys.

"Dammit! I must've dropped them! C'mon we gotta find those keys! Amon's gonna shit a brick if they're lost!" He and Doujima ran back to where they had laid the beach towel.

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Amon and Karasuma decided to take a cab in search of Robin and Michael. Karasuma was holding her nose and mouth. "It smells like someone got sick in this car," she said nasally. Amon said nothing, but had his head sticking out of the window for most of the drive. It was quite dark outside and scanning for the van was becoming very difficult. "Maybe we should call Michael….Ask him what beach he went to," Karasuma suggested. Just then, they passed an orange heap parked by the dunes of the beach not too far from their hotel. Amon signaled for the cabdriver to let them off.

"Well, there it is!" Karasuma stated the obvious as her eyes scanned the sandy shore. She spied a flow of red hair just at the other side of the vehicle. Karasuma took off her sandals and walked towards the van with Amon.

"I don't know why you're so paranoid of the two…They're just teenagers."

"They're teen-agers with a van on a beach…on a beautiful night… by themselves." Amon stated.

"Amon this is Michael were talking about…You remember, the hacker?" She reminded.

"Precisely," was all he replied.

"Well, as long as there are no hot tubs involved!" Karasuma stated.

The two senior hunters walked towards the familiar vehicle. The side sliding door was wide open. Michael was sitting inside on the van's floor, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles. Robin stood by him, her red hair flowing with the breeze.

"Amon!" Michael announced in half surprise, "What brings you here?" Michael asked.

Amon said nothing and walked to the driver's side of the van. The keys were not in the ignition.

"Where are the keys?" Amon asked. Michael, still sitting at the inside edge of the vehicle grimaced and looked at him confusedly. He wasn't sure what Amon said, but he was sure it was about the keys.

"Where…are…the keys?" Amon repeated slowly and emphatically. Michael gulped as he stood up, rubbing his brow.

Just then a familiar voice cried out in the tropical darkness. "Mojo Michael…We could use some help over here, manwhore!" Sakaki shouted unaware of Amon's arrival.

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"I gave them to you Haruto…What did you do with them?" Doujima asked, using an annoyed tone, and grazed her fingers through the sand.

"Well, that seems to be the question for the ages, Einstein….If I knew that, we wouldn't be searching for them, now would we?" Both hunters were crouched down, scrambling the sands beneath them, hoping to find the missing keys.

"Stop being an ass! This sand is making a mockery of my manicure. Maybe it's by that trashcan over there!" Doujima pointed a few yards away to a trashcan with a lighted pole. Sakaki vaguely remembered walking there. They ran towards it. The blue barrel-like can stood forlornly by itself. A metallic glint caught their eyes. Sakaki smiled and let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Yes…This is awesome!" He said as he bent down to pick them up. He turned to Doujima, whose huge eyes looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"Give me the keys," Amon's voice calmly commanded. Sakaki's ears perked as he stood up to find Amon standing just on the other side of the huge can. Amon's dark eyes were narrowed and his breathing seemed a bit labored as he held his outstretched hand over the can towards Sakaki. Sakaki took in a breath, closed his eyes for a second and dropped the keys over Amon's hand. Either his aim was slightly off or someone's hand moved, in any case the keys fell into the trashcan with a dull ring.

"Oh shit!" Sakaki called out as he faced down towards the bottom of the can. Amon's hand was turned towards its side and was suddenly in a perfect position to backhand the young hunter. But Amon restrained himself.

"Give me the keys," Amon repeated in his usual eerie calmness.

"YOU get the keys if you want them so bad…" Sakaki's comment was met by a wall of cold silence. "I mean…They're at the bottom of this can!" Sakaki answered, surveying the barrel to see if it can be overturned. To his dismay, it was too large and heavy to pick up by himself. "Maybe we can lift it up by the base if we all took a grip of it here," Sakaki suggested pushing on it slightly, giving Doujima a pair of pleading eyes. She shot him her incredulous roll of her eyes. Amon just stared. He was not about to touch that can. Sakaki bent himself over the top looking in saying, "I don't know how you expect me to get those keys when—"

Before he could finish his sentence the contents of the trashcan met Sakaki's hands and face with a quickness. Amon had lifted the rookie hunter headfirst into the huge blue barrel. Doujima held her face in horror staring at Sakaki's wiggling legs. She was obviously conflicted between saving Sakaki from the putrid punishment or being associated with it.

"It smells like ass in here! I can't breathe!" His voice echoed form the bottom of the public access trashcan. They heard the scrambling of miscellaneous items echo as Sakaki's arms both waged for balance and searched blindly for the keys. "Amon, get me out of here!" Sakaki was shouting half-panicked, as he continued to stir things up from the bottom of the rubbish. Sakaki's fingers took hold of something hard, flat and metallic. He managed to push himself up and out from the sticky bottom and greasy-feeling sides of the can. He held the keys in his hand like a champion trophy. Sakaki's hands, arms and elbows were grimy. Bits and pieces of old, moldy food stuck to his hair. A condom and a French fry appeared glued to his shoulder which he quickly brushed off in disgust. Doujima still looked like she was in shock staring at the filth ridden Sakaki.

"Give me the keys," Amon asked for the third time.

"Like hell!" Sakaki shouted and ran towards the van. He had a good head start on Amon, whom he knew could easily over take him. Amon was already at his heels when he turned for a second. He knew Amon would try to nab him quickly. And when he does, Sakaki wasn't sure what would happen. He decided to kick things up a notch and ran as hard as he could. Sure enough Amon made a dive for Sakaki's ankles but missed by mere inches, coming up with hands full of sand. Sakaki started laughing as he looked back at Amon, who was dusting himself off and ready to run some more. Robin, Michael, and Karasuma watched Sakaki dash by them as they stood away from the van readying themselves to assist in locating the keys. He jumped in the driver's seat, clipped his seatbelt and started the engine. He put the van in reverse, and then placed it in drive and tried to peel away. Sakaki looked in the rearview mirror to see Amon running behind the van like an angst stricken child chasing down an ice cream truck. He laughed to himself as a figure of Amon with his hands on his hips grew smaller. He slowed down when he realized Amon could no longer be a harmful factor. But he turned to face some rocks from a nearby jetty. There was no where for the van to go, but into the huge rocks. He tried to avoid hitting them, but he didn't have enough time to react and ran the van into the side of a dune. All four tires were surrounded by unforgiving, wet sand. Every push of the accelerator only dug the tires in deeper. The engine began to smoke. Sakaki was

stuck.

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Red and blue lights flashed as they signaled police presence.

"Are you responsible for this young man?" the officer asked Amon.

"Yes."

"Was he driving under the influence?" The officer asked writing some notes on a small pad.

"Yes."

"Drugs or alcohol?"

"Stupidity," Amon replied.

The officer chuckled. "Unfortunately, that ain't an influence we could ticket someone with, otherwise I'd never get out from under the paperwork!"

"He needs to be taught a lesson," Amon said, narrowing his eyes at Sakaki.

"Well, hell put him on restriction, ground him or something. You're the dad…Right?" The officer assumed. Amon closed his eyes in exasperation. Perhaps all this team building really made him look like a forty year old father of a rebellious son.

"No…He's not my son," Amon replied, thinking how incredibly ridiculous that was. "There is no way I fathered that hell spawn," he angrily stated.

"God, if he was my dad……" Sakaki began. A chilled look came over Amon's narrowed eyes.

Before things got too heated the officer called out to the one in the patrol car, "Dee?" The officer asked referring to his partner who sat quietly talking in the car. "Dee?..Double Dee? I'm talking to you!" The man in the car was on his cell phone, speaking to his wife. The officer wagged his head, "That Dee is on call all the time…to his family!... talking about his girls."

"Did you say Double D?" Sakaki intruded.

"Yeah…He likes to brag on his family so much, you'd think he was royalty."

Sakaki smiled. He wanted to get a jump on things before Amon had any ideas. But he was too late. Like before, Dee got out of the car and migrated towards Amon.

"I thought I recognized that orange heap of a van! How're you doing?" Dee said to Amon and slapped his back, as if they were long time buddies. There was an awkward silence, so Dee continued. "Looks like the rocks from the jetties took the driver by surprise. What was the fella running from?"

An antisocial psychotic maniac assassin. Sakaki thought. He considered telling them that

But that little smidgeon of common sense put a bug in his ear NOT to say anything.

"And why does he smell like a dumpster?" Sakaki and Amon exchanged narrow-eyed glances. "...Lucky he didn't roll it over….and that the tide is lowering." A small smirk began to make itself known on Sakaki's lips. What would the authorities do if they found out that it was Amon who placed him in the public trash can and was the person chasing him down? Sakaki felt like he held an ace card.

"Well, you see officer…" Sakaki cleared his throat. He started looking at Dee, then exchanged a scathing glance at Amon, before continuing. "The keys to the van dropped into the trashcan. So then …"

"Got it! You tried to retrieve them by doing a little dumpster diving," Dee interrupted nodding knowingly, "Yeah…What a strapping young man like you wouldn't do to show off to your girlfriends!"

"Huh?" Sakaki puzzledly responded.

Dee continued his story to Sakaki's dismay, "I remember a while back there was this tourist a lot like you who had to retrieve his fiancee's ring from a mailbox and was trying the darnedest to get it. 'Course a mailbox is Federal property and…."

"Well, no! No, actually what happen after that was—"Sakaki tried to get a word in edgewise, but Dee's story-telling out thundered his. Everyone was focused on Officer Dugan's animated tale. Sakaki realized the effect was lost on the last scathing glance he gave Amon. Even Amon was giving an ass-kissing nod of approval to Dee's ditty. After a short obligatory peal of laughter, Officer Dugan looked at Sakaki.

"I'm sorry, now what were you saying?" The refocus on Sakaki was awkward, but he continued,

"I was running from HIM!" Sakaki disclosed, waving an accusatory finger at Amon.

But somehow this powerful statement was uprooted by his powerful odor.

"Of course you were…But with your essence boy, he should have been running from you! Good Lord you smell bad! You could use a good scrubbing. It reminds me of the time when I changed by little twins' diapers. Being a first time daddy, I thought that chili might not be a bad thing to feed a little one, but boy did I learn fast!" Thank goodness he stopped short of getting too offensive, "I'll spare you the details! You reek to high heaven, but that smell really takes me back. So whose van is it anyway?"

Sakaki quickly interjected, "It really doesn't belong to any of us. We rented it from…"

"Whose name is it under?" Dee fired back quickly.

"Mine," Amon stated.

"Yeah, but—" Sakaki tried to engage.

"Pipe down, Bucky," Dee told Sakaki. "I'm asking him the questions, now. Did you have the keys without your knowledge?" The officer asked.

"Well, really I- " Sakaki tried to explain, but not without an interruption form Amon.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. I had asked for the keys and-"

"He refused to give them to you, is that right?" Dee interjected. He started to tell another one of his stories about a young man taking his dad's car for a joyride. Sakaki forced a smile as did everyone else. Little by little he felt his opportunity was slowly slipping away. He had to say his piece, but how? A surge of panic ran through his veins. He knew he needed to get Dee's attention quickly before this ADHD inflicted officer found something else to talk about.

Filled with desperation, Sakaki pushed Dee simultaneously shouting, "Would you friggin' listen to me!"

As the jovial officer found himself in a prone position in the sand, a huge force thrust towards Sakaki's legs and knocked him mercilessly into the ground. His face was swiftly planted in the Key West shore. Sakaki found it difficult to breathe. The pain in his back he was sure was the other officer's knee. Sakaki, face covered by sand, began coughing.

"Get off of him now," Dee commanded the young officer as Dee dusted his slacks off. Looking down at Sakaki whose eye lashes sported a light layer of sand on their tips, Dee continued, "Unfortunately, that last move could be construed as disorderly conduct, bordering on assaulting a police officer." He turned towards Amon and continued, "I could take him in or I could leave him under your recognizance … Just give me the word." Either Dee was giving an "out" or he really thought Sakaki was a minor, it was difficult to tell. Amon smirked knowing full well that Sakaki was aware Amon had the power to place his ass in a cell.

"Take him," Amon responded.

"Wait—now wait a minute," Sakaki remarked as the stern faced officer placed a pair of hand-cuffs, practically picked up Sakaki by his collar and began reading his rights. Surprisingly, Michael spoke up,

"You know, this might NOT be a bad idea," Michael glanced at Sakaki who was wide eyed with surprise at this betrayal. "He could really used some alone time," Michael continued. In truth, the cell was possibly the safest place Sakaki could be without being stalked by Amon. Sakaki didn't know whether to say thanks or go to hell.

"What?!" Doujima objected from behind them, "What do you mean putting him in a holding cell? You're not serious, are you? Are you outta your mind?" Amon gave her a cold steely look. Unrelenting, Doujima walked up to Amon, "Who died and made YOU God?" she asked sarcastically. Amon ignored her irritating rancor. "This is ridiculous! You've got to be kidding me! I cannot believe you're doing this, Amon! You insensitive, control freak asshole! Egotistical-"

"Would you like to join him?" Amon finally asked. Her interjected remarks stopped at once. Doujima just rolled her eyes, heavily sighed and crossed her arms defensively. She walked away fuming, yet musing at the same time. She really wanted to be jailed just because she knew Amon would think Doujima Yurika would never do such a thing. Maybe this was a way to make a stand.

"You know, I think I'll take you up on that, Amon. I think I will spend a night in a cell!"

"Fine. I may need more papers to sign for the spoiled-rotten blonde one," Amon baited, directing his comments to an officer. Doujima's mouth fell agape. If she was going to spend a night in a cell, she felt that it should at least be for a good reason. She chucked one of her famous Prada heals at him, barely missing his smirking face. Seeing her flying sandal missed its mark, she menacingly walked over to him with the other sandal in hand, heal pointing towards its intended victim. At mid-strike, Officer Dugan grabbed the perpetrator's arm and shook the heel out of her hands.

"Bastard!" She hissed at Amon, just as she was going through the Miranda routine.

"Rancid bitch," he murmured back in his eerily calm manner as he looked through the sheets of paperwork and signed them. He handed Officer Dugan the packets, as Doujima struggled to get a few fingers on Amon's hair. She was denied that action by a hand that cuffed hers together. Both young hunters were placed in the backseat of a squad car. A familiar roar of the temperamental van announced to the others that it was doing just fine after the minor collision with a beastly dune of wet sand.

"We got the van out! Miho and I got the van out!" Robin excitedly announced, running to the rest of the group. But her celebration was short lived. "Where are the officers taking them?" Robin asked quietly, eyeing the squad car as it slowly pulled away with Doujima and Sakaki sitting in the caged back seat.

"To the station… for a little quiet time," Michael responded as they all watched the car disappear with the rest of the traffic.

"Amon!" Karasuma's voice bellowed in an unfriendly tone. "What part of team building does incarceration fall under?"

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IMBSA: We made this chapter extra long just for you! It's a sort of apology for not updating for two years. Hopefully you guys are still out there and ready for new madness in the Keys!