Repentance
by SMYGO4EVA
When violence was towards the path of vengeance, it contained, for Kurapika, a sickening solace.
Though he didn't want to admit it, not to himself anyway, Kurapika knew that it would never go away. The wrought hatred that had been locked away, only released when his eyes burned blood-red. The hatred would never stop moving like a storm, threatening to swallow him whole, to be quelled when he struck down those who signed their death warrants. The rage howled, roaring inside him, searing crimson, until gore caked his hands. His eyes burned until he screamed, not long after his opponent had stopped breathing.
Kurapika wouldn't admit it, not even to Leorio, but he couldn't lie to himself. He felt something the times he took a life, between a crackling regret and a deepening, buried, twisted enjoyment. The thrill of taking of life was a solace in a way, if only to suppress the rage inside his heart for the time being.
Killua knew how to take a life, as he had the potential for greatness. He knew how to fight for what he assigned, as an assassin, for what he wanted. His movements were frenzied with his quicksilver strikes, his claws sharpened and his stare razor-sharp. He took down his targets, his enemies, even when his own dark blood cascaded down his flesh. That was what his family wanted, yet it wasn't what Killua wanted. Not a life of killing, not anymore.
Kurapika saw that Killua was still young, with inexperience, despite his tough exterior and attitude. He still had much to learn about his own humanity, to unlearn what he was taught all those years. That wasn't the case with Kurapika, not anymore. Once he walked down his own path, he chose his fate, to retrieve the honor of his clan, to avenge them, he knew that he was far from saving.