Yuuki: Okay, this writer's block isn't gonna go away on its own, so hopefully this lil' thing will help get those plot bunnies growing and sorry about the very uncreative title! But I couldn't think of anything and again, this is just to help those plot bunnies!
Amu: -crossing fingers- not amuto, not amuto, not amuto, not amuto…
Ikuto: -crossing fingers- amuto, amuto, amuto, amuto…
Yuuki: -pats Ikuto's head- sorry, Ikuto-chan, but not this time
Amu: YES! =D
Ikuto: nuuuuuuuuu!
Yuuki: this isn't even Shugo Chara…wait, what are you guys doing here in the first place? O.o
Amu, Ikuto: -shrug-
Gon: On with the story!
Yuuki: hey, that's my line!
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The smell of smoke woke him up, and Kurapika realized he should never have fallen asleep in the first place. He got onto his knees and brushed leaves and pine needles off his clothes. Above him, snow started falling, and Kurapika left the forest clearing behind, heading towards his village. Playing with the earring on his ear that he had gotten as a birthday present the other day, a habit which didn't show any sign of going away anytime soon, the small boy yawned.
The drift of the wind brought the smoke back to him, and as it entered the 12-year-old's nose, he picked up the pace. Kurapika turned slowly, letting his senses tell him which way to go. Then, with a feeling of dread building in him, he started to run, tears threatening to blind him the whole way.
The closer he got, the stronger then stench of fire and blood got. And the faster he ran, the louder the screams and battle cries. He knew what it meant, but refused to listen to the voice in his head telling him to run and hide. He hesitated only for a second before bursting through the gates that blocked him from home. Only to find his world on fire.
Clear blue eyes took on a red hue as the blond pushed on. Bodies littered the floor, eyes gouged out of their sockets. The bullet-firing had stopped, and so had the screams. Coughing, Kurapika finally made it to the house he'd called home for the last 12 years.
"Mom! Dad!" The blond pushed the door open and fell back as the fire jumped with the sudden rush of air. Struggling back to his feet, he crawled inside, wondering how there could be a fire with the snow falling.
Now scarlet eyes widened as he stumbled upon a figure hanging from the ceiling on a thin string, spinning slightly as flames licked at their clothes. "Mother!" Kurapika chocked on a sob as the woman's face came into view, holes where her eyes once sat.
Forcing his shaking legs to move, the boy scrambled over burning furniture until he was in his own room. His father and a man with slicked back black hair were fighting, dodging and trying to find an opening for attack. Upon his arrival, his father spun around to face him, eyes going red, "Get out of here, Kura-"
Slash.
Kurapika jumped back, a wail escaping his lips as his father's head landed beside him. A man with fathomless black eyes leaned down and picked up the head, sighing in disappointment, "They finally turn scarlet, but then they have to go and get cracked." The man dropped the head and looked at the blond boy shaking uncontrollably near him as if noticing him for the first time.
"Hello there, pretty Kuruta." The man took a step forward and Kurapika dived for his father's weapon, holding the swords in a shaking X in front of him, "S-stay away." Dark eyes stared at him for endless moments before the man burst out laughing, "This little Kuruta girl thinks she can take me on?"
Despite his situation, Kurapika jumped up, a vein popping on his forehead, "I'm not a girl!"
"Oh really?" The teen leaned down to his level, a hand on his chin as he studied the blond, "Hmm….are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure!" The boy huffed, "Just because I'm not as good at fighting as some of the other boys doesn't mean I'm a girl! You-…" Kurapika cut off as he began coughing at the intake of smoke, almost to the point of vomiting.
Taking gasping breaths that did nothing to stop the coughing, Kurapika barely registered the arms that picked him up off the floor. Barely able to hang on to his father's twin swords and his small red bag at the same time, he let himself be carried out of the burning house on a shoulder, no longer sure on his surroundings as the blond slid into sweet unconsciousness. The last this he saw was the spider tattoo on the man's back.
xXx
Kuroro dropped his burden close to the house from which they'd just came, but not close enough to be caught by the flames. Studying the blond's dirty face a little closer, he realized the truth of the kid's words. Inwardly smiling to himself, he turned and walked away. He guessed wrong. This was new. And this was also the reason for sparing the boy's life. One Kuruta left in the world wouldn't do much harm, now would it? Chuckling to himself, Kuroro caught up with his companions. It's not like the Kuruta boy would one day be able to capture and kill him, of course. Or, at the very least, even manage to render him powerless for even a moment.
"What's so funny, Dancho?" Nobunaga noticed the laughter first, stopping in his argument with Ubogin on whether that certain pair of scarlet eyes was a darker shade of red than the others. Returning to his usual poker face, Kuroro continued walking, "Nothing. Let's go." Machi, Feitan, Pakunoda, and Franklin exchanged glances before following after their Dancho.
xXx
"Mmmm…" Kurapika groaned, rolling over to face the snowy sky. It was dark, cold, and he hurt all over. Now why would he be out in the cold at night…? Looking at his hands, he examined the soot that covered him from head to toe and the little splotches of blood that covered his hands.
Brushing snow off as he stood up slowly, sky blue eyes widened in horror as he took in the burnt down houses. The fire was gone, but smoke still rose from the place he'd called home, and he remembered what has just taken place.
Falling back to his knees, Kurapika just stared. Not moving, not crying, not doing anything. He just sat there until once again he slipped into oblivion.
In a few hours, the blond once again woke up to the horrible scene. Then he set out to work. First, finding all of the bodies and dragging them to a hole he'd freshly dug. He couldn't find all of the heads, and he didn't dare imagine where they were.
After setting a cross on what felt like the millionth grave he'd dug and covered up, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and searched for the last of his tribe. Counting off the names on his fingers, he realized there should be one more besides himself.
Puzzled, the young boy searched once again the area and found nothing. He pushed the hope that they had escaped away.
"The higher you hope, the worse the fall of disappointment will be." He muttered to himself over and over again, not that it helped at all. A bark sounded behind him and a dog as large as him knocked the boy over, licking at his face and tail wagging.
"H-hey, cut that out!" Kurapika pushed the big furball off of him, and jumped back to his feet. The dog stopped wagging its tail and cocked its head to the side before racing off. Once again confused, the blond walked in the opposite direction, searching again for his missing grandmother.
"Kura…pika…?" A dry, rasping voice called, limping out of a burned house. "Obaa-san!" Kurapika hurried over and helped the old woman to sit down on a nearby rock. She coughed, shivering and murmuring prayers with blue lips.
"Obaa-san, are you okay?"
"Kurapika, listen to me, this is important. You have to continue living on." The old woman rasped on, ignoring the scared look on the boy's face, "Do not go after the Genei Ryoden, Kurapika. Whatever you do, don't go after them. Revenge is not the answer and will bring nothing but grief! I know that's the path you'd choose, and now I'm begging you to do otherwise!"
"Y-you're speaking as if saying goodbye!" The younger Kuruta sniffled, close to breaking down into sobs, "Obaa-san, I'm scared."
"It's okay, Kurapika. Everything will be okay." The old woman hugged him tightly for a long moment before drifting off into eternal sleep. "Obaa-san? Obaa-san, hey, Obaa-san!"
xXx
"Did you hear about the forest fire? Heard it destroyed one of 'em tribes up there." A man smoking a cigarette shared his news with some others. Another man laughed, "Serves 'em right! That's whatcha get for doin' devil worship or somethin' like that!"
Little did the men know that a very tired Kuruta just so happened to walk past at that moment. Pulling his grandmother's tribal cloak closer to hide his eyes that burned scarlet, Kurapika continued on his journey, wanting to go back and punch the men. Something to vent his tiredness and anger on…
"Ow!" The blond rubbed his head where a rock had just hit him. A few boys started laughing and the one who'd thrown the rock punched the air, "Yeah! I told you guys I could hit a moving target!"
Shuffling on, Kurapika once again wished he'd just give into the voice in his head that wanted violence.
Sitting on the side of the road, the blond dropped his head into his hands, suddenly exhausted. But barking brought him back into the waking world. The big dog from before licked at his face and wagged its tail, barking happily. This time, a man followed behind.
"You lost, little kid?" The man ran a hand through messy brown hair, "It's not a good idea to be out alone around here."
"I'm not lost." Kurapika muttered, "To be lost, you have to have somewhere you're supposed to be." The man knelt down to examine the blond a little closer, "Hmm….that accent… you wouldn't happen to be from the Kuruta Tribe, would you?"
"No." The boy blinked furiously. To his horror, tears leaked from his eyes anyways, "There is no Kuruta Tribe anymore!" He sobbed, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hands, "It's only me now, everyone's gone…they're all gone!" The dog nudged his cheek with its nose, whimpering.
xXx
"Dad, is she dead?"
"Mika, don't say that!"
"But, Mom, she…"
….
"It's been a whole day! How long is the girl gonna sleep!?"
"I thought Dad said it was a boy…?"
"Well, Haru, it's obviously…"
…
"Mika, Haru, get to school!"
"But, Mooooom…."
…
"Hey, she just said something, Haru!"
"It sounded kinda like 'mumer', right?"
…
"It's been three whole days, Dad!"
"Mika, this boy has been through a lot, he's not gonna wake up for a while yet."
"Told ya it was a boy…"
…
Kurapika blinked, staring at the ceiling with confused blue eyes. He was on a clean bed, in a clean house. And five pairs of eyes were staring intently at him…
"Gah!" The blond shot up, trying to get to the window and escape. "Whoa there! It's okay!" The man with messy brown hair caught him, trying to calm the struggling boy.
Shaking violently, Kurapika was forced to sit back down and the dog nudged his foot. A woman with light brown hair handed him a glass of water, "Oh you poor thing! You must be scared to death!"
"Hey, blondie, what's your name?" A girl around his age jumped up from her chair, leaning towards him with her hands folded behind her back, light brown hair framed her face, "My name's Mika. And this is my brother Haru, our puppy Chiko, and Mom and Dad."
The blond realized how thirsty he was and gulped down the water quickly. After he was done, he rubbed at his mouth and looked off to the side, "I'm…Kurapika."
"Hey, Kurapika-chan, how old are you?" The older boy – Haru – asked, looking the kid in question up and down.
"Am I obligated to answer you?" Kurapika fidgeted nervously. He'd always been taught to stay away from strangers…only the adults were allowed away from home…and only for short periods of time….
"Of course not, honey." The woman handed him his red bag with the swords poking out of the side, "I believe this is yours."
"Thank you…" The boy took back his bag and searched through it until he was sure everything was still in there.
"You can stay here as long as you want." Mika was babbling on, "Dad said he found you on the street. So you don't have a home, right? Oh and there was a hole in your bag, I patched it up for you. No need to thank me, I'm just that kind of person. Hey, where are your parents? Why were you on the street? Were you abandoned? Oh, Mom told us that you were a Kuruta. Is that true? Dad's a Hunter, and he looks for old stuff. He says you're a living arti….artifart."
"Artifact." Haru corrected. Kurapika pulled the blanket around him, "What's a Hunter?" The two kids stared at him as if he'd just grown two heads.
"What!? You don't know!? Hunters are like the coolest people ever! They have to pass the extra hard test and then they get a card! And they get to be rich eventually!" Mika started ranting on and on about the coolness of having a Hunter License.
"Do you…know anything about the Genei Ryoden?" Kurapika murmured to their father. The man's hazel eyes widened, "What? Why would you want to know about them? They're a band of thieves that are known as the Genei Ryoden or Spiders."
xXx
It's been five years since the massacre of the Kuruta Tribe.
"Good night, Kurapika-chan!" Mika called from the door, now 16 years old. She hugged him quickly before leaving the room, braiding her light brown hair along the way. Haru sighed, shutting the door behind his sister and turning off the lights before the soon-to-be 18 year old flopped onto his bed, "G'night."
"Haru-san?" Kurapika murmured.
"Hmm?"
"…Nevermind…thank you for everything you guys have done for me…"
"Mm…sure…You know, it's been five years. Quit being so damn polite."
Chiko curled up at the foot of the bed and yawned.
As soon as he was sure everyone was asleep, Kurapika slipped out of bed and quickly pulled on his clothes. Leaving a note on his pillow, he grabbed his bag and swords before sneaking out through the window.
The blond held the authorization paper tightly in his hand as he began on his journey towards the port on Whale Island where there'd be a boat to the Hunter Exams.
"I'm sorry, Obaa-san." He whispered, "But I'll get back everyone's eyes and avenge their deaths. That's a promise."
THE END
Yuuki: ….the plot bunnies ran away again…
Amu: so you're saying this was for nothing?
Yuuki: No! D: I LOVE writing about Kurapika-chan! It's just that…now I can't think of anything for my stories…cause they keep leading back to Hunter X Hunter…
Killua: cause we have cards! –Holds up Gon's Hunter License-
Leorio: and CHAINS! –Holds up Kurapika's hand-
Gon: and-…uh….
Kurapika: and creepy magicians –holds up picture of Hisoka-
Hisoka: and yummy apples =) –holds up Gon-
Gon: uhhhh….
Illumi: and assassins
Kuroro: and spiders
Gon: -trying to think of something- eto…
Wingu: and nen
Hanzo: don't forget me! The talkative ninja!
Gon: … oh and an island shaped like a WHALE!
Amu: oh yeah!? Well we have…eggs! What now!?
Niki: ooh, ooh! 8D you both have blond pretty boys that have female Japanese voice actors AND have red eyes AND can be mistaken for GIRLS!
Tadase: okay, for the last time, just because my Chara Nari has lots of frills does not mean I can be mistaken for a girl!
Ikuto: …
Kurapika: -_-
Yuuki: okay…anyways… review please! Oh and I don't own Hunter X Hunter or anything else! Just the plot! Well…sort of…since Togashi-sensei came up with the Kuruta massacre…and the Ryoden…and Kurapika being the last survivor… But I DO get to claim Mika, Haru, Chiko, and all those OC's that shall remain un-named for the rest of their OC lives!
Everyone: Arigatou!