This isn't the M rated one I promised you guys, but it's still shonen ai. Get over it.

I don't own Hunter x Hunter. Or Kurapika. Or Leorio. I do own most of the other characters, though. I made them up. Along with Kurapika's past. I own that too. Though, I don't own the idea. And I don't own the Phantom Troupe (who would want to?).

Warnings: Voilence, Shonen Ai, Swearing, Slight Romance. ₪

When Leorio asked me what happened the day my clan was attacked, I was startled. No, more then startled— I was horrified. No one had asked me that, ever. They seemed to realize the matter was far too personal and far too sensitive to ask about, but Leorio had asked it anyway. He waited patiently for me to answer, but I remained silent. He insisted that he was a friend who had a right to know, but he wouldn't pester me if the subject was too sensitive. He assured me that I hadn't a need to tell him, but he was curious.

We were hardly considered friends. So I told him.

It was thirteen when it happened. I was at school when it started. It was the oldest child in my village and had the highest educator. The Village Elder, my great-grandfather, was my teacher. We learned the history of our people together, the today of our people, and how our people thrived.

Our people were allowed to only have two children every five years: hopefully one male, one female. If it happens to be two males or two females, then we would wait another five years for the opposite gender. As the oldest child in my village, that meant that the other child had died. Indeed she had, young Elinora. She came down with a fever six years ago and there was nothing anyone could do for her. Elinora died from the fever. It was decided that I would marry the youngest adult female in the village, Manan. Manan was eighteen years old. Her twin sister, Litan was the other child born in that year.

As I discovered my fate, I took it with honor. I would pass on the Kurta gene of the red eyes onto an offspring at the age of twenty.

We were studying the history of the world when it happened. I heard a scream of a child. It wasn't a scream of laughter, but rather fear. The Elder looked up from his book. I felt something terrifying surround me as his eyes turned from brown to red (only later did I learn the Elder was a Nen user). His face looked oddly young for a man of over one-hundred. Again, it was only later did I learn he obtained that through Nen. He got to his feet quickly and ran to the door, ordering me to hide in the wispy, aged voice of his.

Of course, out of curiosity, I disobeyed. I, instead, went to the window and peeked out of the edge. I watched a rather muscular man strangling the young child whose eyes had turned red. There was a crack and the struggling child went limp. The child slipped out of the man's grip and slumped into a heap on the dirt ground. My own eyes were widened in fear at what I saw.

The man had grabbed another child who was playing with the first. He smirked as he repeated the process. The Elder approached the man with aggression I had never seen in him or any other person in our clan. I closed my eyes, awaiting the snap that would surely have been Kuraleon's neck. It didn't come, but I didn't care. I slumped below the window, covering my ears as more screams reached me.

At that moment, my mother entered the room; her eyes were red in fear. I looked up at her, but she was blurry.

"Kurapika, we must go! The Phantom Troupe has found us!" She took my hand and helped me stand. She knelt in front of me and held my hands reassuringly in her warm ones. "Kurapika, you must be brave. Please, for the sake of our people and culture, you must be brave."

I nodded and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "Don't leave me, Mother."

She gave me an affectionate smile, but didn't respond. She took my hand and led me to the back of the house. I heard an explosion and more screams as we moved. We went into the basement and my mother led me to a wall with unreadable runes. Elder said we were going to decipher them when I became sixteen. My mother placed a hand on a circle in the middle of the wall and it fell away into nothing. She gave me a brief, but tight hug. I inhaled her scent deeply before she pushed me into the hidden room that was behind the wall with ruins. I was confused and wrought with fear. The wall began to morph again. My eyes widened as my mother watched with sadness.

"Mother!" I called to her and made to run at her. As I reached where the wall should have been, I was pushed back by an invisible force. My mother's eyes were wet and puffy.

"The Phantom Troupe is going to destroy us all, Kurapika," she said to me calmly. "You were chosen to be our last hope. We only wish it was later then sooner."

"Mother, get in here! Please! I don't want to be alone!" I was being childish when I should have been a man, but I didn't want to loose the one woman that truly cared for me. My future wife thought of me as a child, and I knew it. She would never change her mind. I wanted my mother above all. I watched as the wall closed so only a hole about the side of my head was left behind. I had to stand on tip-toe to see my mother properly.

"I am sorry, Kurapika. I love you. Be good for mother, will you?" I called to my mother as I watched my mother's eyes change from the brown color I had failed to acquire at birth to red. She lowered her head to hide those beautiful scarlet eyes of hers behind a curtain of brown hair. She didn't look up as I called to her for the very last time. The wall closed completely and I let out a sob.

How childish I was being, I thought back then. Mother had asked me to be brave, but I knew I would probably never see her again. I turned to face the new room I was occupying. It was dark with only one source of light from the outside. There was a slit near the ceiling that gave way to what was happening on the outside world. The only things in the room were a lumpy cot, a spindly chair, a side table with a drawer, and a hole in the floor corner. I dragged the chair towards the slit. I took a few minutes to calm myself before I climbed onto the chair and peeked out the bright slit of light.

Outside was a war-zone. I saw Elder fighting a man with black hair and rather large earrings. His shirt was ripped down the back. A spider tattoo was visible through the white. The man was holding a book and carried a red whip, but it was no ordinary whip. The whip looked like a flexible laser from a laser pointer. The whip hit a post and the post came crashing to the ground. I saw Elder jump to the wrong side as the strange man attacked him, but the man had done a feint. Elder's throat was slit wide open by the red whip and fell right off, rolling towards me. I covered my mouth to muffle a scream. Mother had run towards Elder's fallen body, screaming "Grandfather!"

She knelt beside Elder and glared at the man. Elder's body gave a compulsive twitch that I would never forget as blood gushed from his neck. My mother came at the man and a chain appeared out of nowhere that she threw at him. It was probably hidden in her kimono. The dark-haired man deflected the chain with the whip at the same time he stabbed my mother with it.

That was enough. I began to slump as I caught a better glimpse of the blue tattoo and saw the number inscribed in it.

1

I fell to the dirt floor and just laid there, staring at the ceiling. My life, my past, my future… what was going to happen? I didn't have anyone that loved me. My father disappeared years ago. My grandparents really did not care. My friends were either too young or too old. The only friend I ever had that was my age was Elinora.

I knew no one would care if I was alive or dead now. Maybe I would die. There was no door. I could starve to death or become dehydrated.

I cried for God knows how long, muttering the prayer of my clan over and over until it hurt to talk:

"Sun in the sky, trees on the ground.
Our bodies created from earth,
Our souls form the heavens.
The sun and moon shines on our limbs
And the ground moistens our body.
Giving this body the wind that blows,
Thank God for the miracle
And the Kurutabou territories.
Wishing for everlasting peace in our souls
I desire to share happiness with my people
And desire to share their sadness.
God, please praise eternally
The Kurutabou People.
Let us use our Scarlet Eyes."

My voice was raspy and barely heard by my own ears as my own sobs drowned out the screams of my people and the laughter of the large man… the one who snapped the children's necks. My mind was blank for the hours I lay still on the dirt floor. I didn't even bother to pick myself up and put my tired, useless body on the lumpy, old cot. Why wasn't I out there, defending my people? I know my mother wanted to save me, but what did she mean I was their last hope? Did she already know of this? How would she know of this? What was this room? Was is specially created to save me? It was in our basement. Why save me of all people?

I started to feel something other than confusion or sadness. I felt angry. I bared my teeth and sat up quickly. I felt dizzy at the quickness I sat up with, but I ignored it. I got to my feet and with a shout of rage, I flipped the bed over. The metal and springs clanged and banged as they made an impact with the wall. I screamed as I threw the table by the legs across the small room and it cracked, breaking apart. I did the same thing with the chair. Amazingly it didn't break. I smashed the table more then it already was. The drawer slid out of the table and fell to the ground with a thunk.

I gasped for breath as I paced the room. WHY?! WHY ME?! The younger generation should be right where I am! Not ME! I'm THIRTEEN! I'm going to be an adult in FIVE YEARS!

Anger clouded my mind and eyes as I threw myself against the wall that I was pushed through. I screamed curses at it as I pushed against it, trying to reopen it. I threw my whole weight onto the wall and heard a significant CRACK. I yelped and grabbed my shoulder in pain.

I breathed heavily as I slumped against the wall, holding my shoulder. After I caught my breath, I decided I didn't need to let my anger out on the furniture. I had difficulty putting the bed right, but as soon as it was on all four legs, I floppy into it and went back to staring at the ceiling. I winced at the pain my shoulder as bone ground against bone. I felt it swelling and I pushed my tunic and white shirt aside to see the bone almost poking through the skin. I swore sourly. I pulled my tunic off and ripped it to make a sling.

Dusk came sooner then I thought. Sooner than that, it was dark, almost black. The screams had almost ceased. I heard a scream here and there for the next hour before it was completely silent.

I listened intently for a sound… any sound. There wasn't anything until almost midnight according to my watch. Then, I heard shuffling feet. They were coming from the slit by the ceiling. I grabbed the chair and stood on it once more. There was a congregation of one… two… three… … … eleven… twelve… thirteen people. They were all shirtless, even the women. They all had tattoos on their backs. Every tattoo was a spider with a number in it. I felt my anger boiling again at the site of the tattoo.

"Do we have them all?" the man that killed Elder asked.

"Stupid question, Chrollo." A girl with blue hair said as she opened a sack she and all the others were carrying. She lifted the sack and dumped it on the ground. Three heads rolled out of the sack and a pile of red eyes fell along with it. I gasped at the site.

"I hope you will clean those," the man dubbed Chrollo said with amusement in his voice.

"Did anyone find the Elder of the village?" a man covered in belts asked the group at large.

"I did. I took care of him." Chrollo dug into his sack and pulled out Elder's head. "I also found his granddaughter." He pulled out my mother's head. I wanted to scream at them, but my voice was caught in my throat. I swallowed hard, choking back a cry of despair.

I continued with watch them. They conversed and told each other how many eyes they had obtained. I listened without hearing.

After what seemed to be hours, there was a disturbance in the shadows. A man seemed to appear out of nowhere as he growled in anger. His was determined and angry, I could tell from his body language. He wasn't one of them. But his eyes weren't red.

I stared at him, wondering. There was no glowing red, there was no angry brown they were different. The man stepped forward, standing in a stance that told me he was planning on fighting and killing every last one of those people.

He held out his hand to Chrollo. "Give her to me," he demanded.

Chrollo smirked. "Why should I?"

"Give her here!" the man shouted.

"Oh," Chrollo looked into the eyes of my mother then into the eyes of the man. "You aren't one of them, but let me geuss. You discovered this place, helped them thrive, and married one of them. You are Neropika."

My body stiffened. My father? What was he doing here? I looked into the man's eyes and saw they surely were the same eyes as mine. The same shape and color. His hair was blonde, just like mine. It was even the same style.

Another come from the shadows behind my father. It was Manan. Manan stood beside him, her eyes blazing red.

"How did you know of him?" Manan asked.

"You think we come to school without doing our homework? We may be bullies, but we are intelligent bullies." Said a man whose face I couldn't see. His back was to me, but his tattoo read the number eight.

"We know everything about this place, even if it was a bitch to find," said the man who killed the first children.

My father and Manan growled. How Manan had survived was beyond me. I watched as Manan and my father lunged forward, ready to fight. Before my father attacked he looked towards me, making eye contact. It surprised me so much, that I fell backwards. The rest of it was darkness.

I awoke on the ground with a pounding headache. I sat up and my shoulder throbbed painfully. I yelped out and grabbed my shoulder.

I cursed as I looked around, almost forgetting where I was. The chair I was standing on fell over. I noticed the wall disappeared. I rubbed my head with my uninjured arm and stood up. I groaned when I noticed the light coming through the slit. It was either morning or afternoon. I looked around the room to see if any other damage was done. Amazingly, it was just my damage. Had they not seen me? Had they not bothered to look for me? Or had they found me and thought I wasn't worth it? I noticed the drawer and a paper inside it. I went over and picked up the paper, reading it.

Dear Kurapika,
My son, my life. You were chosen by the Elder to be the sole survivor of the clan if and when they were attacked. If more then one person were missing, they would be sure to notice. Elder saw much potential in you.

Do you want to know how we knew the Phantom Troupe would attack? If you keep this paper and learn to use Gyô through Nen, you will know.

I love you very much,
Mother

I looked at the back of the paper and examined it. There wasn't anything. "That the hell is Gyô?" I asked no one in particular. I reread the paper again. "Nen?" None of this made sense! I hit myself in the forehead and automatically regret it. My head exploded in pain. I stumbled backwards out of the room. I must have attained a concussion in my fall. I sat on my heels, holding my head. It was only then that I realized how tired I was. I staggered the entire way to my room. I crumpled onto my bad and curled into a ball, being careful of my arm. I succumbed to sleep.

When I roused I felt like I hadn't slept a wink, although I noticed the ruby red sun outside of my window. I decided to get up anyway. I changed and fixed my sling on my arm. I had already broken my collarbone before. I knew how to treat myself. If I hadn't, I probably would have been screwed. I went into the kitchen and nibbled on some crackers before stepping outside to see the damage. I was avoiding it as much as I could. I couldn't avoid it any longer.

I opened the front door carefully. I thought I was prepared. I wasn't.

I screamed and fell back onto my backside, crawling back from the blood and gore that would haunt my eyes forever. I rolled over, supporting myself with my unhurt arm. I vomited the little food I had eaten. My throat burned as I peeked through my bangs back at the mess the Troupe had created. I wanted to cry but my tear ducts were dry. I kicked the door closed and rolled onto my back. I took a minute to think things through.

I ran around the house, closing all of the blinds. I ran back into my safe room in the basement. I curled onto the lumpy bed, shivering. I couldn't deal with it anymore! I just couldn't! I wanted to die like my brethren! I just couldn't take it anymore!

I don't know how long I stayed there in that state. After a while, I became numb to everything. I decided against killing myself. I spent three days burying the dead, marking the graves, and praying for the departed. The Elder was in the front of the rows and rows of the deceased. My father was buried next to him.

I found a journal my father wrote. It was in my mother's room in her side table drawer. The logs were about the journey to our town and what he had done to help it thrive. He helped more than any other outsider. That is why Elder allowed him to marry my mother. When I was four, the logs stopped. There was one sentence: I am needed elsewhere.

Once I read this, my icy numbness melted. I broke down.

"That was when I swore revenge…." I told Leorio. "I knew I wouldn't stop until the Kurta clan was avenged."

I refused to look at him. Instead, I looked at the floor. I turned to my left to look at myself in the reflection the window offered. My eyes had changed from blue to red as well as dry to wet. I hid my tears from Leorio. I refused to show him I was weak.

"I'm almost sorry I asked…." He muttered, scratching his head.

"Why's that? You figured out I was once engaged to a woman?" I asked, chuckling darkly.

"Well, there's that," he said, but his voice even shrugged it off. "But, that's not it." His rough hand forced me to look at him. I closed my eyes in fear of him mocking me. "I'm sorry I asked because it made you cry." He cupped my face in his palms. His calloused thumbs brushed the tears on my soft skin away. More tears boiled to the surface at this comment. He kissed them away, or hoped to with his chapped lips.

I leaned into his chest, letting my tears soak through his oxford shirt. Then he asked me a second question that startled me: "Are you sure you want this?"

I hesitated before answering. "Want what?"

"Us." His voice was barely a whisper.

"Why would you ask such a question, Leorio?" I sat straight, looking him in the eye.

"We're both guys," he mumbled, breaking eye contact.

"We both decided that did not matter," I pecked his lips before finishing the sentence. "Ages ago."

"But… your genes."

I chuckled, and then started laughing. As I straddled his waist I wiped my tears, cupped his scratchy face with my hands, and looked at him with my blue eyes, "Have you forgotten? I don't wear jeans." I forced my lips onto his, pushing my tongue into his mouth.

Leorio's well-known smirk peaked through as he pushed me onto the bed in our hotel suite and forced kisses onto me. In between kisses he managed to say, "I love you."

This is kinda a mix between the anime and manga. I watched all the anime, but I haven't gotten far with the manga. rAwR. Yeah, and the prayer thing, I got that from the anime.

Please press the little purple submit button on the bottom left hand side of the screen. You know it's calling to you.₪