At long last! I have rewritten Mischief And Love! As I've said before, due to privacy issues I will not go into detail about, I deleted my first three fics. For those of you who read it before I deleted it, I'm sorry if it's not exactly as you remembered it. I tried to rewrite it to the best of what I could remember, but I'm not sure how well it would compare to the orignal. On the bright side, my writing ability has improved since I first wrote this fic and considering it was one of the first I ever published, this one should be at least somewhat better.
"Gon, please. I'm tired."
"But Kurapika!" Begged Gon, gripping the pika's skirt in an attempt to keep him from entering the bedroom. He pulled back on the blonde, Killua right beside him, also taking part in the 'Keep The Pika Captive' game. "Just for a little longer, please?" Kurapika looked from the pleading eyes of Gon, to staring longingly into the bedroom; where a soft, clean bed was ready and waiting.
He was tired. Normally he still had plenty of engery left at this hour, but today had been an unsuspected drain on him. Why? Well because today had been Gon's birthday. Excited and uncontainable, the duo had decided, partially due to one white-haired kid's influence, to get Leorio and Kurapika up at the crack of dawn to start celebrating the occassion. Given that it was Gon's birthday, and for once the group had some time to finally relax a bit, Kurpika had just gone with the flow to make the two of them happy. And they certainly were happy. Throughout the day, Gon and Killua ran them all over the city, going from one place then deciding to go to another. And Leorio had been absolutly no help in calming them down at all. While Kurapika tried to keep the peace, and not get them banned from whatever building they currently where in, Leorio had kept a good few paces behind. Personally, he had a good deal of fun keeping some distance. The way Killua and Gon ran around Kurapika in circles in some game of tag reminded Leorio strongly of mother trying to calm her children down. It didn't help that Kurapika's outfit made him look like he was wearing a skirt.
Kurapika rubbed his temple, feeling his head become more clouded with sleep by the second. He so desperatly wanted sleep. "Ask Leorio to play with you."
"But he's boring! All he wants to do is play with his ties and look at himself in the mirror." Said Killua, still tugging on Kurapika's blue and gold clothes with much more force then Gon was using. Apparently he felt that knocking the poor sleepy blonde down was a much more efficient way of keeping him captive then just holding onto his clothes.
"Hey!" Said Leorio from the couch in the mini living room of their hotel room, looking up from the fixing his tie in the built-in mirror of his briefcase that was currently placed in front of him on the coffee table. "I am not."
"You so are." Said Killua.
"I am not!"
"You are."
"You are a little boring." Said Gon innocently.
Leorio opened his mouth to argue back, but the glare Kurapika gave him from behind the two kids told him not to push it. Whether it was because the agruing was giving him an even bigger headach or just because he personally felt it to be true too was hard to tell. Leorio decided to assume it was some maternal feeling in the blonde that made him glare like that instead. Kurapika might tolerate him and Killua fighting, but that didn't mean he gonna stand agruing with Gon. At least not when he felt Gon was in the right anyway.
Gently removing their hands from his clothes, Kurapika walked into the bedroom. "I'm sorry, Gon. But I'm just too tired right now."
Seeing no way to convince him otherwise, Gon let him.
Several hours later, Leorio, Gon, and Killua sat on the couch together, watching the TV. After Kurapika retreated into the bedroom for some much needed sleep, Killua had suggested a movie to watch and Gon made some popcorn to eat. The movie was now long over however, and all the fun and excitement was gone. On the right end of the couch sat Killua, staring boredly at the screen as he flipped through the channels. Unabled to find anything worth watching, the white haired assassin shut off the TV and tossed the remote onto the coffee table in front of them. Glancing at the other two, he found Gon beside him, slumped sideways with an empty bowl on his lap after falling asleep near the end of the movie. At the other end of the couch sat Leorio, staring at something in his hand very intently. He was so focused on it, he hadn't even noticed that Killua had turned off the TV.
Feeling his interest peaked, Killua silently got off the couch, being careful not to wake up Gon or alert Leorio to his presence, he snuck around behind the couch until he was behind the doctor-to-be. Moving slowly, he moved slightly to the left behind him and peeked over his shoulder at whatever was in his hands.
"Wha'cha looking at?" He asked.
Leorio yelled and jumped up in surprise, painfully knocking his leg against the coffee table before spinning around to look at him. "Nothing!" He said quickly. Whatever he had been looking at was now safely hidden behind his back.
Killua narrowed his eyes. Leorio was hiding something, and he wanted to know what. "Really?" He asked.
"Yup! Nothing at all."
"I don't believe you." Said Killua, walking around the couch and up to Leorio. He backed away into the wall behind him, still holding whatever it was behind his back. "Let me have a look." He made to reach for it, but Leorio quickly dodged to the side.
"No way!" Said Leorio, his face starting to become tinted with a light red blush. Now Killua was really curious. He tried to grab for it again, but Leorio, having backed himself into a corner with no way to escape, raised it above his head and out of Killua's reach. Not to be stopped by something as trite as a height disavantage, Killua kicked Leorio in the shin as hard as he could. Leorio groaned in pain as his leg buckled and he fell forward. Killua grabbing the object from his hand and ran over to the other side of the room. Gon, having fallen over on the couch in his sleep, looked up over the armrest at him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Ha!" He said in triumph. Leorio glared at him from the other side of the room, gripping his poor hurt leg, but Killua only stuck his tongue out at him. Finally he took a look at what Leorio had been so desperately trying to keep secret.
It was a photo of a young blond haired girl, sitting on a bed while dressed up in an overly pink and white lacy dress that was falling off one shoulder as she looked at the camera. She was very pretty thought Killua, but something was off about the face. It was familiar, and her expression, one of mild surprise as though the current state of her appearnce wasn't at all suggestive, didn't match with the message that the rest of her body was conveying. And those blue eyes—Killua swore he had seen those eyes somewhere before but he couldn't place his finger on it.
Gon, now awake after all the noise the other two had made in their stuggle for the picture, appeared beside Killua to look at the photo too despite the cries of Leorio, who was trying to limp over to them, to not look. After staring at it for a moment, he blinked and said, "Isn't that Kurapika?"
"What?" Asked Killua in disbelief.
Leorio stopped limping over to them and a look that clearly said 'Oh, shit!' appeared on his face. Killua, too stunned to speak, looked back down at the photo. Now that Gon had pointed it out, it clearly was Kurapika in the picture! Or at least the head was. Looking more closely, he realized that the picture was photoshopped. That was why the face seemed off to him. Somehow Leorio either got a picutre of Kurapika or took one himself (Killua was guessing the latter due to the Kurapika's look of surprise) and combined it this picture of some unknown girl.
Finally Leorio made it over to them and snatched the photo out of Killua's hand, but the white haired kid didn't make a move to take it back. Trembling slightly, he brust out into laughter. He fall over onto the floor, unable to control his laughter while Gon attempted to help him breath. Leorio, blushing even more now, quickly stuffed the photo into his pocket, mumbling under his breath about bratty snoppers.
"Oh shut up." Snapped Leorio.
"Ha! I can't believe it!" Said Killua, still doubled over in laughter. "You—you do know...that Kurapika is a guy,...right?" He barely got his sentence out, finding it hard to speak when laughing so hard.
"Of course I know!" Said Leorio. He stomped over to the couch and sat down, pulling out the photo again to look at it. "But you have to admit that it is pretty hard to tell sometimes."
"Oh please." Said Killua, sitting up and now able to form complete sentences normally. "Anyone can tell just by looking at him." He started laughing again at the annoyed expression that appeared on Leorio's face.
"But Killua, you didn't know if Kurapika was a girl or a boy at first either, remember? You had to ask me." Killua's face froze in mid giggle, one eye twitching slightly as Leorio started laughing at him from the couch.
"To think someone from your bloodline can't even tell the difference between a male and female." Said Leorio none-to-casually, trying to contain his own laughter.
"Shut up!" Killua stood up, no longer amused by the situation. "How do we even know for sure that Kurapika is a guy?"
Leorio stopped laughing and looked at Killua slightly confused. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"Well, have you ever seen him naked?"
Leorio's face went red once more as he registered the question. He looked strongly embarrassed. "What? Of course I haven't!" He said. "Kurapika always changes in the bathroom and it's not like we're such good friends to bath together."
"There you go." Said Killua. "We haven't either so for all we know he could really be a she."
Gon stood up as well. "I don't think so, Killua." He said. "I'm pretty sure Kurapika is a boy."
"Yeah!" Agreed Leorio, his face still red from earlier. "There have been plenty of times when he only had one shirt on and he obvisouly didn't have breasts."
Killua just shrugged, heading towards the bedroom door where the topic of their conversation currently slept. "He could be flat chested, or maybe he wraps them. Female fighters often do, you know."
Leorio poundered that for a moment, but then noticed where Killua was heading. "What are you doing?" Asked Leorio curiously.
Killua cracked open the door and peeked inside. Kurapika was still sound asleep, somehow not awoken by all the noise from the other room. Killua assumed he must be used to it to not have even stirred. "Well, we gotta find out, don't we?" He asked, signalling to Gon to follow him.
"What? No! We can't!" Cried Leorio, leaning over the back of the couch while reaching out an arm to try and stop them. "He'll murder us! I don't want to die!"
"Oh? So you don't want to know?" Asked Killua, a sly smile forming on his face. "But what if he is? Then you would have a chance, you know."
Leorio stopped, taking in that information. "A chance?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah." Confirmed Killua. "If he's really a girl, then you could pursue him instead of having to hide your crush." Tempted Killua, opening the door a little more so Leorio could catch a glimps of the blond inside but then moved in the way so he couldn't see. "What do you say now?"
He stayed silent for a moment, thinking it over. Find out what he probably already knew? Or don't do anything and pretend this whole conversation didn't even happen. Take the slight chance Kurapika is a girl? Or seal his fate to be violently murdered beyound recognition. Hmm.
"Well?"
Leorio looked up, having been lost in thought. "I think I rather live." He said. "Even if Kurapika was a girl, you know he would find out somehow and just murder us then."
"Fine." Said Killua, pushing open the door and dragging Gon inside with him. He gently pushed the door so it swung almost all the way closed, but remained open just a bit.
"Killua, what are you planning?" Asked Gon in a whisper. Being so close to the sleeping blond now, talking normally would wake him. "You know Kurapika isn't a girl."
Killua just shushed him, winking at him as he smiled almost evilly. "Revenge for keeping secrets." He said. "And to help the poor guy out." Gon looked confused, not sure what Killua meant or how he planned to do it. "Just watch." Said Killua, walking over to the blond. Gon couldn't see what Killua was doing exactly, but he could hear the almost silent sound of fabic being moved. Kurapika even mumbled something in his sleep and shifted a bit in the bed, surprising both kids and scaring them into unmoving status until it became obvious that the pika was not awaking up. The white haired boy breathed a sigh of relief and after a few more 'adjustments', finished his task. He walked back over to Gon, the smile on his face even bigger now.
"Watch this." He whispered.
Outside bedroom, Leorio stared at the door and waited restlessly. He couldn't see much inside the room and so far everything had remained silent. Prehaps Killua had chickened out? Leorio would have. He may not look like the smartest person around, but he knew a suicide mission when he saw one. Yet so far there was no screams of murderous rage or of bones being broken by one angry, red eyed blonde. Maybe Killua was just stalling inorder to build suspense. And it was working. Halfway between deciding to go in there himself or stay where he wasn't going to get killed, Leorio wasn't sure how much longer he could wait. Suddenly a gasp broke the doctor out of his thoughts.
"Oh my god!" It was Killua's voice alright, and he sounded shocked in a way Leorio had never heard before. Unable to stand it any longer, Leorio jumped over the couch and slammed opened the door to see. Unfortuantly, instead of seeing anything, something tripped him and he went flying over the short distance to land on top of the bed. And a wide eyed Kurapika. Slightly dazed by the unsuspected fall, Leorio took a moment to regain himself and realized with great horror, and he'll-never-admit-to delite, of his and the blonde's current position.
The covers had been pulled most of the way, leaving Kurapika almost completely uncovered. His shirt had been slightly pulled up to reveale his stomach and nicely defined chest. One of Kurapika's hands laid beside his head next to the pillow, which Leorio was unconsciously holding onto with one of his own. But prehaps the best, or worst part if considering Leorio's lifespan, was the fact that he somehow landed right between the blonde's legs.
"Um...This really isn't what it looks like!" Explained Leorio. Now over the initial shock, Kurapaika's eyes were quickly turning scarlet, a shade which in Leorio's opinion complemented his blush nicely.
"What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing?" Asked Kurapika.
"Nothing! I swear!" He said. Quickly he got off the other so the blonde could sit up. Kurapika immediately pulled his shirt back down and pressed his legs closed in embrassement. "I-I-I tripped!"
"Who the hell trips and lands in a position like this?!" Asked Kurapika, standing up and glaring at the other man.
"Wah!"
Outside the bedroom, Killua and Gon peeked inside. Leorio was now the one underneather Kurapika, who had him trapped in a boston crab lock and was threatening to rip his legs off. Leorio clawed at the floor in an attempt to escape.
"So because you can't get a girlfriend makes you think can just attack me IN MY SLEEP?!"
"I swear! It isn't like that. It's all Killua's fault!" Explained Leorio. "Owww owww owww!" Kurapika pulled even harder, clearly not in the mood to hear any explanations, true or false.
"Don't you dare try to blame this on him! Prevert! Creeper! Baka!" The sounds of something made of wood and metal being ripped apart filled the air, followed by said thing being thrown and landing outside on the pavement of the street below.
"No, not my briefcase! NO!" Leorio tried to run after his briefcase but fell flat on his face. He fearfully looked back to see his ankle tried to a the desk leg with one of Kurapika's cloth belts. The owner of said belt stood above him, a pissed off yet smiling face looked down at him. Kurapika, another belt in hand, looked ready to massacre him.
"Where do you think you're going?" Asked Kurapika, an almost kind looking smile on his face. But his scarlet red eyes revealed his murderous intent. "You wanted to 'play', right? Well, let's play."
"AAAHHHHHHHH!"
Killua slowly closed the door, almost unable to stand from trying to keep his laughter under control. That was awesome! Who would have thought that Kurapika knew some wrestling moves? And poor Leorio. Killua wondered if anything would be left of him once Kurapika was through with him. Gon stared at the door, listening to what sounded like someone crying on the other side along with the voice of a tormentor telling them to shut up. Gon tapped Killua's shoulder, who had given up his fight to keep quiet and was rolling around on the floor laughing.
"Killua, what was that!" Asked Gon, pointing at the door. "I though you said you were helping him out?"
Killua sat up, still laughing. "I was. Or at least I thought I was. Kurapika is such a straightforward person so I figured that just letting him know would work best, but apparently a straightforward approach isn't the right way to court him." He fell over laughing again. The look on Leorio's and Kurapika's faces; the whole scene was just to funny. If only he had had a camera.
"How is that a straightforward approach? You're gonna get Leorio killed!"
Killua shrugged. "So it skipped a few steps, but you know they'll get there inventually."
"Not if one of them is dead!" Remined Gon.
Killua just turned towards the couch and jumped over the back to land on the cushion. He grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels once more. "Eh, details." He muttered.
If memory serves me correctly, in the orignal fic, Killua immediately recongized that it was Kurapika in the photo due to how poorly it had been photoshopped. Not sure why I changed it, for some reason while writting this it started on that path and I felt it didn't take anything away from the story so I left it like that. As for the whole checking to see if Kurapika is really a guy thing, I couldn't remember how I had worked their arguement to that point but I guess it doesn't matter since the end result is still the same: A poor, tricked Leorio getting a beat down from an highly enraged pika. So, those of you who read the first verison, how do you like this one? Worse? Same? Better? And if you haven't, what do you think anyway? Please R&R.
