Setting: A wasteland on the outskirts of York Shin City, in close proximity to the rocky slope of a small mountain. It is night time.
The battle raged as the two nen titans of York Shin City fought. As they fought, one of the fighters, a blond man with chains on his hand and blood red eyes, known as Kurapika, stared with a hateful glance at the other. The other man, supporting black hair and a more conventional style of fighting who went by the name Kuroro, responded to his competitor's glare with a confident smirk. As their battle led them closer to the rocky slope, Kurapika worriedly thought to himself.
Maybe this wasn't the best place to fight him.
But he knew he couldn't stop now and would have to relax and focus. Now was neither the time nor the place to worry about such things. All that he could do now was try to stay alive and if possible, knock Kuroro off the slope.
The two remained at it. Kurapika lost his footing on the edge of the slope but got it back a second later. Augmenting his attacks, the Kurata flung his chains at the Genei Ryodan leader like a whip.
Focused on avoiding and counter-attacking the Kurata's chain attacks, Kuroro was helpless to stop him from falling off the mountain's slope. Kuroro tried to grab on to a rock to support himself, but the rocks only injured his hands and slowed down his further attempts, until he hit his head and fell momentarily unconscious as he continued to fall down the mountain's slope.
Not believing for a second that his arch enemy would be killed in such a simple way, Kurapika headed for the tiny mountain's base, still having an angered face and red eyes. When he reached the base 10 minutes later, he looked viciously for the other man until he found him, lying unconsciously on the ground.
Kurapika walked over to him and checked Kuroro's arm for his pulse, feeling repulsed as he did so. It's still beating, Kurapika thought. Damn it, how did you survive? Are you just invincible or something?
Just then, Kuroro's arm moved as he moved his hand towards his aching head. Then, his eyes fluttered open. The Kurata's eyes instantly turned back to their natural color instantly upon seeing Kuroro's eyes. Kurapika knew just by looking in his eyes that this was not the same Kuroro Lucifer that he had just been fighting. He didn't even need to hear him say anything. This was someone else entirely.
"Where…where am I, and," he looked at his bleeding hands, "how did I get like this?" He looked at Kurapika, thinking that he'd probably answer. Kurapika's eyes further widened as he came to the only possible conclusion that he could concerning his enemy; amnesia.
Avoiding both of the man's questions, he responded, "Let's get you to a hospital. Can you walk?" Though his feet and legs were experiencing immense amounts of pain, he could at least stand up.
The only transportation that Kurapika knew that they had used was a car that he had earlier jacked in order to chase Kuroro to the wasteland in the first place. To get there, they had to walk back up the mountain and 2 miles. While walking, Kuroro lost his balance and leaned on Kurapika the rest of the way. On the way there, Kurapika hesitantly asked the man leaning on him something.
"You don't remember your name, do you?" The question was returned with a shake of the head.
They drove to the hospital in silence. Kurapika needed the quiet to think about what had just happened. One hour ago, he was fighting Kuroro to the death and now he was taking him to a hospital. The Kurata asked himself, how does that make sense? Had Kuroro died at the base, Kurapika would have had considered it a victory on his part and a step closer to defeating the Genei Ryodan. If he had lived and still retained his memory, Kurapika would have still continued the fight that until God knew when.
But neither of those things happened. Instead, Kuroro Lucifer had amnesia, and here he was, being driven to the hospital and being driven by his worst enemy.
At the hospital, the doctor had inquired what exactly happened to cause such injuries on Kuroro. Kurapika had to lie and say that they were walking together on the side of the mountain and Kuroro had lost his footing and fell. After chastising Kurapika for the act, saying how it was a miracle that his "friend" had even lived, the doctor took Kuroro for a CAT scan, while Kurapika waited in a designated room.
Kuroro met with him after the CAT scan had finished. The two timidly waited for the doctor to call them back in. Feeling this was the best opportunity that Kuroro would get to find out answers, Kuroro turned to Kurapika and asked:
"Do you know?"
Being caught off guard as well as confused by the other man's vague question, Kurapika responded in such a manner:
"Excuse me?"
"While we were walking, you asked if I remembered my name and I said no. I was just wondering if you knew my name. If you don't, that's ok."
Kurapika had no idea how to respond. If he told him the truth, then it might start giving him clues to his identity, and Kurapika didn't know whether or not that was a good or bad thing. Also, Kurapika knew that Kuroro was wanted throughout York Shin City and the world. Kurapika did not want him, a man without a clue as to his identity to be chased throughout town for crimes that he never even knew were committed. On the other hand, Kuroro deserved to know his name. Knowing one's name is a basic human right, and this Kuroro was a human. He wished that he didn't have to answer the question but he knew that he did. After a few seconds of mulling, Kurapika decided on an answer.
"Your name is Kuroro, but I don't know your last name," Kurapika finally answered with light guilt. Kuroro figured that the guilt was caused more by the boy's lack of knowledge than anything else.
"What about you," he asked coolly. "What's your name?"
"Kurapika."
"Gentlemen," a nurse called before Kuroro could further his questions. "The doctor has the test results. He's in the third room on the right."
"Thank you" Kurapika said, as the two gentlemen headed to the room.
Upon arriving in the room, the boys saw a desk with two chairs meant for patients. The two sat down. A moment later, the doctor walked in.
"I'm sorry to say this, but," the doctor said as he began to face Kuroro, "you have amnesia. It will take months for your memories to return, considering that they return at all."
Kuroro's eyes widened. He knew he had amnesia, but he figured that it would return in a short amount of time. He was not prepared for this news. Kurapika looked at Kuroro's sad face, with a little bit of grief. It looked like he was going to cry almost.
When the pair left the hospital, they got back into the car. They sat in the darkness of the car for a few minutes until Kuroro finally spoke.
"What now?"
Kurapika thought to himself, he's right. What now? What would he do with Kuroro? Certainly he was not going to bring him to the Genei Ryodan, but they were his family, or the closest thing that Kurapika knew Kuroro had to a family. Kurapika also know he couldn't throw him out into the streets of York Shin. He'd die in les than a day there in his condition. Also he thought about what his dead tribe would say at the idea of Kurapika caring for the man that assaulted them. He remembered his hatred for the man. He hated the smirks he gave him while battling, the sarcasm in his voice, and the pleasure he took in outsmarting the Kurata.
Then he remembered one important thing; this wasn't the same Kuroro. This wasn't the same man who violently slaughtered his entire tribe and made it a hobby to murder people and steal treasure. This man wasn't the emotionless sadist who ran the worst organization ever to have been created. This man hadn't done any of that. This man had a clean slate and was innocent. This man could feel scared, confused, and vulnerable. This man didn't want trouble and would try his best not to cause it. If this man knew his true origins, he'd probably be freaked out by it.
"Let's get some rest. We've both had a long day," Kurapika said with a flat tone of voice.
"Where do we live," Kuroro inquired further.
"Uhh… we don't have homes." The blond answered, looking down at the steering wheel.
"Are we travelers?"
"You could say that." Well, Kurapika thought, it is true. You travel to steal valuable artifacts and I travel to kill you and your entire organization.
Seeing that Kurapika did not want to be asked anymore questions, Kuroro decided to hold off until morning. They headed to a hotel and rented a room for the night. Before going to bed, Kuroro realized that there was one more thing that he needed to say.
"Kurapika?"
"Yea?" Not another question, the Kurata pleaded.
"Thanks for helping me through all this. You're a really good friend."
Kurapika instantly felt a ton of guilt being put on her already heavy-with-guilt heart.
"No problem." He had no idea how he was going to sleep tonight.