A/N: This story is a sequel to A Series of Beautiful Contradictions. If you want to understand Kuroro's relationship with Midoya, you will have to read that first. Also, this story is rated M for adult themes. Lastly, the opinions of the characters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the author.
Thank you to all the readers who read and enjoyed A Series of Beautiful Contradictions. I hope you enjoy the sequel as much, though the writing style differs from the first story, due to the nature/genre differences. Please enjoy!
I do not own Hunter X Hunter or any other mentioned literature/books in this story.
Prologue: Snippets of a Very Long Night
Kuroro Lucifer had been too careless. One moment, he had been standing in the hotel, eyeing two suspicious kids and wondering when he would get a chance to eat dinner. The next, he had been blinded, tied up and throw into the backseat of a car that smelled of fear, anger and old socks. It was the first big disaster to occur since the Kito mansion incident two years ago, but all things considered, it could have been worse. He could have been sitting next to the ugly man in the driver's seat instead of the relatively less ugly young lady currently holding him with chains.
Subtly, Kuroro tested the chains around him, first with Nen and then with his own physical strength. None worked. He could not even expand his aura, and his physical strength was by no means terribly impressive. For the first time in a long while, Kuroro was trapped with almost no hope of getting himself out of the situation.
Well, well, well.
He felt eyes on him but ignored them, choosing instead to stare at the young woman next to him. She in turn ignored him. There was something ironically karmaic about the situation.
"Don't worry," the young woman suddenly said, in response to the nervousness radiating from the driver. "Some of their members are injured; they will not come after us so quickly."
Oh, they've better. This was their chance to get the chain-guy. Besides, Kuroro didn't like being tied up. The faster he got out of this, dead or alive, the better. Kuroro glanced at the young woman. Oops. Chain-girl. Oh no, wait. It should be chain-woman. Machi had pounded that into him frequently and he respected her superior arm-strength enough to abide by her demands.
"What are you looking at?" the chain-woman demanded coldly.
"Nothing," Kuroro replied calmly. "I just never thought the chain-guy was actually a woman." Be proud, Machi.
"Did I ever say I am a woman?" the chain-woman said sharply, pulling the wig off her head. "Do not judge people so easily by their appearances."
Oh. It's not chain-woman either. It's chain-transvestite. Kuroro fought the smile that threatened to appear on his face and tried to pay attention to what the chain-t… chain-guy… chain-person was saying. It had been a while since his life was in such immediate danger; it was making him feel a little bit giddy with excitement.
"Be careful of what you say," the chain-person was saying. "Your next words could be your last."
"You wouldn't kill me," Kuroro replied with great certainty. "Your friends are still with my Ryodan. They are important to you."
"Do not provoke me," the chain-person grinded out through gritted teeth. "I am not able to remain calm now."
"Kurapika!" the ugly driver protested. "Calm down!"
Ah. A name. Hot-headed despite his cool, rational appearance. This could be made use of. If Kuroro died, the Ryodan would not hesitate to move against him. This was their chance. "The girl's prediction did not mention this," Kuroro said, smiling coldly. "If I did not need to be warned then this event must be so insignificant there was no need to warn me at all."
The chain-person's eyes widened in fury and Kuroro smiled to himself. He had pricked the inner caveman. "You are the 'hot old guy' Miss Neon was talking about!" the chain-person snarled, eyes blazing. "You are the one who used her to access the auction! Despicable! Using a young girl like that!"
Hot, old guy. Huh. Well, to a young teenager like the Nostrad girl, maybe. "Yes," Kuroro said, smiling blandly. "Young, sheltered girls like her are the best type of prey."
For a moment, he was convinced the chain-person was going to hit him. Instead, the wild-eyed teen inhaled deeply then exhaled slowly. He wasn't going to take the bait. Aww. Kuroro needed to try harder, it seemed.
"Where is your phone?" the chain-person asked coldly.
Kuroro pursed his lips in thought. Another chance to push the chain-guy's buttons. "Why should I tell you?" he asked, smiling faintly.
Yet again, the eyes widened in anger and Kuroro braced himself for a blow. None came. Instead the chain-person snarled, "Tell me or I will hurt you." The chains around him jerked violently and it hurt – a lot. That wasn't enough to deter someone as stubborn as Kuroro Lucifer though. How else did he get hot-heads like Phinx and Nobunaga to start addressing him as "Dancho" in the first place? Certainly not through gentle pleas and polite requests.
Kuroro smiled and shook his head. The chain-person's Nen flared but he remained sitting still, glaring at Kuroro. Okay… he needed to push this a little. "Why don't you try looking for it yourself?" he suggested, still smiling the smile of a dead shark. "A little independence will do you good. You can't rely on your friends forever, boy. Friends die so easily."
With a snarl, the chain-person moved towards Kuroro and the driver cried, "Kurapika!" in alarm. However, the chain-person merely plunged his hand into Kuroro's pants pocket. Kuroro smiled calmly through the awkward experience of having another man (and a much younger man at that) grope through his clothes. It was easier than expected; he simply imagined the chain-person with breasts.
Finally, with a furious and somewhat embarrassed expression on his face, the chain-person yanked Kuroro's phone out of his coat's inner pocket and started to flip through the Contacts. After a few seconds, he growled, "I am going to call a Ryodan member. Give me a name."
Yet another chance to drive the chain-person over the edge. How delightful. "You already have one: Kurapika," Kuroro said cheerfully.
The chain-person turned wild eyes on him. "What did you say?" he asked, his voice low and threatening.
"Oh, you meant a Ryodan member's name," Kuroro said, projecting unconvincing surprise. "Your syntax is terrible. You may be a mafia thug, but surely there is no need for you to speak like one." The chains around him suddenly tightened and took his breath away.
"Kurapika!" the driver shouted again, as the short woman in front exclaimed, "No! Don't! It's a trap! If you kill him, we wouldn't be able to get Gon and Killua back!"
"I know!" the chain-person shouted. "I know that!" The chains loosened and Kuroro leaned back, trying to catch his breath. As he breathed deeply, he listened to the chain-person randomly dial a number and start rattling off instructions to the Ryodan. He could already imagine the fights the instructions were going to cause.
This was going to be a very long night.
A few hours later, Kuroro found himself standing untied in the airship, waiting to be 'exchanged'. Paku had betrayed the Ryodan for him. He didn't know how he felt about that just yet, so he put it out of his mind. Instead, he touched his bruised face, the result of not just pricking the chain-person's inner caveman, but peeing all over its territory, flinging manure at it and then running off with its woman. Prodding gently at his cheekbones, he could already tell that it was going to bruise terribly. He might have to walk around wearing bandages all the time which would just be plain unpleasant. Bandages always gave him rash. Well, on the bright side, at least he definitely knew how he felt about his injured face.
"We are ready to touch down," a feminine voice said softly, a distance away. Kuroro glanced at the short, ugly woman standing next to the chain-person. Her eyes darted to him, sensing his gaze. He smiled at her, a cold yet friendly smile, and she looked away immediately, alarmed. The chain-person evidently noticed the exchange because he glared at Kuroro.
"What do you want now?" he snarled, red eyes blazing.
"I want to a syringe of morphine and a warm bed to sleep in, but that doesn't seem likely to happen" Kuroro replied, smiling humourlessly. "I would settle for a cup of tea."
"A drug addict," the chain-person sneered hatefully. "I would have expected nothing less from a Spider."
Kuroro's smile widened fractionally. Did the chain-person really think that was insulting? Kuroro was a citizen of Meteor City, the lowest of scums; he could make such criminals look like saints. Really now, moralistic people were just too adorable.
He saw when the chain-person noticed his amusement, but before anymore bruising could occur, the airship touched down. The chain-person's eyes flickered to the ground below and then back to Kuroro. Yet again, he could see the chain-person contemplating socking him one, just for the principle of it. Finally, the chain-person shrugged angrily and said, "Move if you want your freedom."
"But of course. Who wouldn't?" Kuroro replied wryly and moved to join the progression.
Hopefully this long night was about to end.
Apparently not.
Kuroro eyed Hisoka as the deranged clown started rambling about wanting to kill him. Things were going to get messy. He could not explain his situation to Hisoka; communication with a Ryodan member would get him killed. He could only hope that he could last long enough for Hisoka to realize that he was not a worthy opponent at the moment. Knowing Hisoka, once he realized he could not use his Nen, he would surely…
"When I tricked you into thinking I joined the Ryodan…"
Kuroro blinked. Did Hisoka just…?
Spinning around melodramatically, Hisoka reached behind and plucked the tattoo off. "There," Hisoka purred. "Now this is no longer a fight between comrades. Now you can fight freely. Come for me, Kuroro! Come for me!"
Hmm. That was marginally more awkward than having the chain-person groping through his pants. Well, when in doubt, smile. "Ah, excellent," Kuroro said genially, smiling. "Since you are not a Ryodan member, I can tell you." Watching Hisoka's face drop was somewhat entertaining.
Then Hisoka's face hardened again. "Are you trying to tease me? Or buy time to steal my nen ability?" Hisoka demanded. Okay. Things were not going well again. "Don't waste my time! I don't have time for jokes! The magical ability of stealing Nen, the ability that only you possess! Yes! You! You, my special one, are my target!" Hisoka's hips thrust forward in anticipation.
That was a lot more awkward than having the chain-person groping through his pants.
Then suddenly, a card was flying straight at his face. Kuroro didn't even have time to blink before it stopped short of him, fluttering away into the wind. His poker face stayed on as Hisoka turned around and mournfully tossed his cards to the wind.
"You are worthless to me now," Hisoka said sadly. "It would have been fun too, and now it's over." He turned and walked away without looking back.
Finally, Kuroro remembered to breathe again. "Don't bother waiting for me," he said, his voice calm and even. Hisoka wriggled his fingers, both in acknowledgement and in farewell, and stepped into the airship.
Kuroro watched the airship leave, taking off into the night sky. Closing his eyes, he felt the night wind brush against him, as he planned his next step. He stood absolutely still, resting his body as his mind worked furiously. An hour passed, and Kuroro finally opened his eyes and turned towards the rising sun. That would be where he finds his new comrade.
Slowly, he walked towards the edge of the plateau, eyes still fixed on the rising sun. "To the East," he murmured.
Then he realized with a shock that without his Nen, he had no way of jumping off the plateau.
Living without his Nen was going to take some getting used to, evidently. Silently fuming, Kuroro whipped out his phone that he had liberated from the pocket of the chain-person (hey two can play the same trick) and looked at it for a while. He did not have many contacts; there had never been a need to collect new comrades. The Spiders had an expert on every single subject any good bandit organization needed to know. Now that he was separated from his limbs, he was not sure who he could reach out to. He could call Hisoka and get him to turn back the air ship, but it was likely Hisoka would ignore his call, having deemed him 'broken' and 'useless'.
Grimacing, Kuroro opened the Contacts on his phone and started to flip through it. Who could he call? Who… oh. He stared at the name. He hadn't thought of her in a while, had never thought of contacting her. It just seemed polite to leave her alone, given how he had almost killed her. Periodically, he heard about her through the Hunter website, but he never bothered to actively keep track of her. He wasn't even sure if she was still in York Shin. Giving her unpredictable temperament, it was just as likely she had decided to join a nudist colony on a whim.
Well, he was not exactly bursting with options.
Kuroro raised the phone to his ear, listening to it ring. He waited patiently; it was still early in York Shin, and if she was there she was most likely still asleep.
"Hello." Ah, he hasn't heard that voice in a while.
"Hello Midoya."
"What is it?" She didn't sound surprise, just sleepy. He could picture her sprawled on her perpetually unmade bed, eyes half-closed and hair spilling about in messy curls.
"An emergency."
"Ah." She still remembered.
"I am in the desert near York Shin." Kuroro bit down on his pride. "Stuck on top of a plateau as a matter of fact."
"Okay." Oh yes; he remembered now. This was the woman who could accept the most absurd and bizarre of explanations without even blinking.
"You will come?" He merely wanted to confirm her impending arrival. In no way did he sound like he was begging.
"But of course." He could hear the smile in her voice, the lazy, confident smile that she often wore. He found himself smiling in response.
"Excellent. Goodnight, Midoya. See you soon."
"See you soon, Kuroro."
And soon it was. Within half an hour of hanging up on her, Kuroro looked up to see a blimp moving in his general direction. He peered at it as best as he could in the light of dawn. It looked like an unmarked blimp, probably a private blimp then. Midoya was Midoya June Kito after all, heiress to a fortune and owner of most of the tasteful establishments in the red-light district of York Shin; she probably had a whole fleet of them at her disposal.
Briefly, Kuroro considered waving his arms to attract the attention of the blimp, but decided against it. A lone man in a fur coat standing in a desert was probably distinctive enough. Besides, he did not want to damage his pride any further by jumping up and down like a little kid.
Sure enough, the blimp started to slow down as it approached him. Hooks erupted from the sides of the blimp and brought it down. As soon as it touched down, a short flight of stairs descended and Midoya exited the blimp, heading straight for him.
She looked just how he remembered her; short and plump, with pleasant curves that were more matronly than bombshell babe. Her hair was still a messy pile of wild curls that tended to fall over her calm, cool black eyes. Her skin still looked pale and delicate, and was still largely marred by near-disfiguring acne and battle scars. She still moved with the grace and alertness of an apex predator, her entire being radiating the confidence of someone at the very top of the food chain.
When she was near enough, a friendly smile lit up her face. "Kuroro," she said pleasantly, as if they had just happened to meet by chance at a café.
"Midoya," he replied just as warmly with a nod. "Thank you for coming. You look good."
"Not a problem," Midoya said, smiling. "You look terrible."
"I normally look like this without makeup on," he replied in a solemn voice and she laughed. Her eyes were painted a vivid lime green and her lips were a bright orange. Somehow, she made the colours look aesthetically pleasing on her face.
"If it's just your face, I wouldn't have said a thing," Midoya finally said, smiling wryly. "Your Nen is a mess." She leaned closer and peered at him, her eyes glowing with Gyo. "In fact, it's so messy it doesn't exist anymore. Your Nen got sealed? No, more like, it has been overwhelmed by someone else's Nen. My goodness, someone is using Nen to control you. Should I be worried about you attacking me and restrain you until you explain yourself?"
"No, goodness, no. Not necessary," Kuroro said, feeling both alarmed and somewhat relieved at the same time. At the very least, it would not take him long to explain the situation to Midoya; the woman was sharp enough to understand it quickly. He gave her a quick rundown of the situation, starting with Ubogin's capture and culminating in his almost-fight with Hisoka. Midoya nodded at key points, but did not interrupt him.
When he finished, the first thing she said was, "You said his name is Kurapika? A surviving member of the Kuruta tribe?" No condolences for the dead Spider, for which Kuroro was immensely grateful.
"Yes. Why?"
"Netero mentioned him before," Midoya said. "Praised his intellect and talent as a fighter. I know about the two kids you mentioned too. Gon Freecs and Killua Zoldyck. They took part in the most recent Hunter Exam. At least you did not run into the older Zoldycks. That would have been disastrous." She paused then added, "But of course you did run into the older Zoldycks and it would have been disastrous if you hadn't run into another one of the older Zoldycks previously and hired him to kill the Ten Godfathers. Your life is so complicated, Kuroro."
"Oh," Kuroro said, feeling somewhat miffed. If he had remained in contact with Midoya, they would have been able to learn about the chain-person much earlier.
"So," Midoya went on, hands in the pockets of her black pants. "What do you need from me, Kuroro?"
"Help," he said immediately. "I can pay you for it."
"Help? That's rather vague."
"I only have a vague idea of how I want to make use of your talents," Kuroro informed her.
Midoya smiled back. "Interesting. Well then," she said agreeably. "Let's start by patching you up. Hope on my blimp, handsome." She winked at him and started back for the blimp. Kuroro followed, a smile on his face.
"My pleasure."
A/N: This prologue is only the beginning of a fairly long adventure! Things should get better as the story picks up! Read and Review!
Trivial: Midoya does own a fleet of blimps. She once used it to take over a small country. It was very exciting.