Kurapika awoke with a start.
The same dream again.
There was fire, suffocating heat, stench of burning bodies that were strewn as far as his eyes could see.
The Eyes
The bodies of his clansmen were disposed of differently; some were pulled apart, some were left intact but whatever manner the bodies were left in, they all had one thing in common - the eyes were missing.
For a lot of people, dreams contained a hodgepodge of different snippets of their waking life; some were about mundane things like working in an office while some dreamt about normal things in a not-so-normal setting like riding a bike through the ocean.
Lucky bastards Kurapika thought to himself
For a few people like Kurapika, dreams were nothing more than a high-definition recording of the bitter past; a movie the brain plays during his sleep. His dream was reliving that moment of him coming home to a burning wasteland that not too long ago was his home.
As if I don't remember enough during my waking hours he thought wryly to himself.
There was a time he thought maybe the dreams decided to leave him alone. He had less of it during the hunter exams, but recently the dreams have returned with a vengeance.
Kurapika stood up to draw the curtains and let the light flood in. He surveyed York Shin City from his hotel room window and tried to remember how to go through this day. Truth be told, he'd not been feeling well lately. Physically, he was as fit as ever, but something was off.
Maybe the dreams are having their effect on me.
He felt hollow and heavy at the same time, he was drained. All that and he hasn't even started day 1 of his job yet.
Just last night he passed a test to one be of Neon Nostrade's security staff. He didn't particularly care about the spoiled child of a sleazy billionaire, but working for the Nostrade's would increase his chances of finding his clan's scarlet eyes. The young Nostrade has a penchant for collecting rare body parts, if there was a chance of him finding the eyes, it was here. And really, his clan's eyes is almost all that he lived for these days. Almost.
The auction happening tonight is the biggest in the world, not to mention the most prestigious. The auction boasts some of the world's most exotic, rare and beautiful artifacts. Big money was involved, exchanged by big names. With so much at stake, it was natural for families to hire big guns to protect their assets against those who would want to take it from them. Rumors abounded that skilled criminals and thieves would attempt to interrupt the auction proceedings. Kurapika would never say it out loud, but he was hoping that one of the criminals would be Genei Ryodan. Avenging his clansmen was just as important to him as retrieving the eyes.
Kurapika chuckled to himself. a moment ago you were complaining about how you were drained, and yet you're excited at the prospect of facing world class criminals. You're going insane.
Maybe he has. Since when did he exhibit near-joy at the thought of facing murderers and thieves? Maybe his mind is going. A few months back, just the mere thought of the Phantom Troupe sent his eyes blazing red. He openly declared to his friends and nen master that he will wage a war and bring forth destruction upon the criminal group.
His nen master had warned the young blonde against this plan of revenge. He made sure that not a day goes by that the young kuruta didn't hear of how pointless it was. In the end Kurapika ended up agreeing just to calm his master down. But deep inside he knew, there would be no forgiving the Ryodan, and he certainly won't forget.
So with as much effort as it took to open the gates of the Zoldyck household, he prepared for his day.