Folks, I've posted first chapter of the sequel for 'the Sun also Shines at Night.' And from the feedbacks I've got, I'm working on extra chapter for 'the Sun…' as well since there was a huge gap between prequel and sequel.
Anyways, continued from where I left off from, goodness, seven months ago!?
Sunshine 2 Lost Memories
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I hold you in my hands, a little animal.
And only some dumb idiot would let you go.
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"Who are you?" the boy questioned in a raspy voice as he glanced around. "Where am I? What…happened?"
Kuroro had yet to supply an answer. From quick observation, the boy looked completely lost; he wasn't faking it. This boy couldn't be feigning ignorance and stab him in the back once he turned around. No, this boy wasn't that type. Besides, the boy was scared…for real.
When the boy didn't stop searching Kuroro's eyes, he asked, "You don't remember?" The boy shook his head with a soft, "no," and Kuroro's assumption was confirmed. The boy had lost his memories. Silence hung in the air while Kuroro thought fast, and made up, "You were in an accident."
"What…" the boy said as he lowered his gaze to his clothes, and his hands. His face turned appalled. "What kind of accident? Why do I have…blood…?"
Kuroro observed, at the moment that the boy saw blood, he had expected that those eyes would turn red, but they didn't. He said smoothly, "You were attacked by a beast. That must have injured your memory. But you should be fine." It was good that Kuroro himself already changed into clean clothes, and the flame-colored eyes were placed in another room, or else it would beg one more question.
"A beast?" The boy shook his head violently, and regretted the consequence of his actions. He responded to Kuroro's last remark, "no, I won't…I can't even remember who I am…"
Quickly recalling how the boy's mother called for her son from the distance, Kuroro supplied, "You're Kurapika." When said Kurapika's expression implored for more explanation, Kuroro said, "I'm Kuroro." He gestured towards the window, directing the boy to take a look. As the boy did so, Kuroro introduced him their whereabouts, "We're in Ryuuseigai, the city where everything is dumped. You, Kurapika, were one of the things that had been abandoned here months ago." That said, Kurapika's head jerked back to look at him, an unbelieving and shocked look on his face. Kuroro showed no sympathy, and only continued with his invented story, "I found you amidst the dumping ground and took you under my wing. You don't remember anything before you were here. That's normal though, more often than not, they made you forget the past before leaving you to Ryuuseigai."
"They? Who's they?" The boy asked, apprehension still hanging upon his face.
"You never knew, no one knows," Kuroro easily brushed that aside. There, he made it. Now that they were in Ryuuseigai, things would be a lot easier since nothing ever existed here. There were plenty of humans without backgrounds at this junkyard.
"So…I was abandoned?" The boy asked, his voice heartbreaking.
"As I've said, everything here is abandoned from somewhere else. But here, we formed our own community. After all, this is a city." Kuroro studied the boy's stiffness, he looked as if he was about to cry. Kuroro didn't expect that from the boy who had achieved making him bleed. Would the memory loss change the personality? In any case, Kuroro decided to end the weighty discussion, and said, "You were with me, and still are. Don't go wracking your brains out for the past you don't need."
There was a quiet moment where the boy seemed to be thinking Kuroro's words over. Those ocean-green eyes, to Kuroro, were speculating deeply. One moment, Kuroro had anticipated that the boy would remember. At last, Kurapika nodded softly and seemed to accept that explanation; Kuroro's acts and dialogue had worked to ease the boy of his worries.
Kuroro got the boy a glass of water to wash down his hoarse throat. "I'll bring you some clean clothes, and you need rest."
This time, the boy nodded obediently.
Shortly after, Kuroro returned with a new set of clothes. He let the boy change in the adjoined washroom. But the boy seemed to be taking too long; Kuroro wondered if the boy did see the red in his eyes in the reflection. After all, the eyes would still activate should the Kuruta had emotional agitation. He gave the door an interrupting light knock, "You all right in there?"
The door creaked open ajar, and Kuroro glanced in to see Kurapika with a shirt that was obvioulsy too large for him. The boy didn't move, but seemed to be having a hard time buttoning the shirt with his injured hands.
"Here, let me," Kuroro stepped in, not waiting for a response and helped the boy with the shirt.
"Thank you," Kurapika said, somewhat embarrassed for his incapability. "I don't know what could have caused my hands to be like this."
"As I've said, accident. You don't need to know the details," Kuroro disregarded the boy's suspicion. He was suddenly aware that his act of covering things up could double the boy's doubt, so he was surprised when Kurapika only nodded in willing acceptance. And if Kuroro wasn't mistaken, 'was that a small smile I saw?' It was only a brief moment though.
Kurapika returned to his prior position, right beside the door where the sink situated with a mirror above it. Then the boy called out, "Big brother Kuroro."
The Spider head suppressed the urge to laugh, "Big brother?" 'Gives me itches. Well, from Paku's information, politeness is one of the Kuruta's traits.' He ended up chuckling nonetheless. "You don't need to use that term around here."
The boy gave him an uncertain look. "But…even if we knew each other before, I can't remember. And aren't you older than me?"
"Yes, yes," Kuroro affirmed with a smile, his eyes slid closed momentarily in a detached manner. Then he cast his eyes upon the image of the boy and himself in the mirror. "I'm twenty one. As for you, could be no older than twelve or thirteen. In any case, we don't bother with class or level here, and politeness is not necessary."
"Oh, okay. Well…Kuroro?" Kurapika tried again.
"Hmm?"
The boy's eyes trained back on Kuroro's reflection, seeing the man was standing behind him, watching him by the door frame. Then Kurapika posted, "What kind of person have I been since you've known me?"
'That's a difficult one.' For one thing, Kuroro had thought he could judge the boy from his actions back at Rukuso. But the boy had been behaving in a different way since he'd woken up. Although he could easily frame the boy's past few months to fit the way he wanted things to be, he didn't. Kuroro was interested to see how it would turn out. "It doesn't matter. You are what you are now."
"I am…what I am now?" the boy echoed as he reached to touch his reflection, "I'm not familiar with this face." He shifted his gaze to Kuroro's reflection, observing the man who had raven-colored hair, eyes as dark as the blackest night, skin paler than Kurapika's, and a deep tone of voice. Kurapika closed his eyes and sighed, "Then again, I'm not familiar with anyone's face."
The boy had made it ambiguous, but Kuroro could read between the lines. "Boy, you have doubts."
Returning the man's gaze for a while, Kurapika looked away. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be doubtful in you or your words. Just that…I'm so confused."
"Leave your worries behind for now. Get enough rest first and we'll talk about this later," Kuroro commanded as he led the boy to the cushion, tucked him in (just to make sure the boy stayed), and was about to leave, but a pull at the hem of his shirt stopped him. Surprised, he glanced down and saw the boy's small hand latched onto his shirt.
"Can you stay until I fall asleep?" Kurapika asked, voice tight with anxiety.
When people were scared, they didn't want to be alone. Kuroro knew this, although he never really understood them. But what an ironic twist of events. Here the boy named Kurapika who recently would have given everything to decapitate him, was now putting his trust in him entirely.
To gain that trust, Kuroro stayed.
The boy looked weak and broken. He was no longer a threat, only a delicate little thing. But in retrospect, Kuroro knew this boy could be much more than he appeared to be, and he would make the most out of it.
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"It must have been the shock from experiencing the massacre of his clan, leaving him with no memory. Thus, we keep him. We could easily feed him with our philosophies and manipulate him in our ways." Kuroro said flatly to his comrades who gawked at him as if he'd grown two heads. He knew…some, or most couldn't agree with him, so he stated, "Share your opinions."
The violet-haired girl made a face, "It's just a…feeling."
Kuroro waited but Machi said no more; he insisted, "Is it bad?"
The young lady face's fell into a deeper frown. "I'm not sure whether it's bad or good. I'm not even sure what it is about that boy that gives me the hunch." She turned sideways, and mumbled to herself, "Strange."
Strange indeed, Kuroro concurred mentally. More often than not, Machi could pinpoint about her hunch, what it was concerning and such. Even if she fell short on that part, she still could decide on which was a positive or negative intuition.
"Well," Machi sighed, "I can't put a finger on it, but I have confidence in your decision, so-" She lifted a palm towards her leader, as a gesture of leaving it all up to him.
Kuroro nodded, then shifted his attention to another person, Nobunaga, a man who wore a classic Japanese style robe. He had a long black hair tied in a ponytail, his beard and mustache unshaved. He said, "I just don't like him."
"Agreed, he seems like a weakling," sneered Feitan, the smallest male dressed in black cloak.
"Well, Fei. A weakling couldn't have left a scratch on my cheek," Kuroro jabbed his scratched cheek and smiled when Feitan whose eyes were so small widened at the revelation.
"I can't believe that was from the kid!" Ubogin blurted, downright surprised.
Kuroro shook his head and furthered, "Right, he's just a kid. Instead of drawing back in fear, he kept closing in on me. While other Kuruta kids were far from being cowards, they still didn't give any of you all they had even in the state of burning with anger, right? For them, the sight of blood and gore alone had interfered with their battle proficiencies. Fear would have done that to anyone, let alone children. But Kurapika is different."
"So he was good? Or probably that was just a fluke," Nobunaga remarked.
"No, it wasn't a fluke," Kuroro affirmed.
"If he could harm you, no matter how small that is, he shouldn't be overlooked. Even if he's lost his memories, there's always a chance that his memories could resurface," Pakunoda pointed out.
"Of course there is." Kuroro said, already thinking back: when Kurapika had woken up, he was scared by the sight of Kuroro. It raised a question of why was that? If the boy failed to remember anything, why was he afraid? Did Kuroro look scary? No, his features wasn't least bit like Ubogin. Or was that normal for anyone who was left with no memory? Perhaps, a memento condition? Kuroro had harmed Kurapika in the past, and Kurapika would likely have a feeling of general unease encountering him. Even amnesiacs, under the right circumstances, could remember their past feelings. Still, if that was the case, wouldn't Kurapika exhibit fury towards him rather than fear?
"Danchou?" Pakunoda called, seeing her leader sink into silence.
Looking back at his worried comrade, Kuroro reasoned, "From what I see, Kurapika's condition is more like repressed memory than a dissociative fugue. It's his own defense mechanism that prevented him from accessing his pain memory. In that case, his subconscious wouldn't want to recall it. Subsequently, it should be fine." He leveled his eyes to his comrade and concluded, "Should he remember his past and go against us, I'll just get rid of him. No complications."
"Well, I'll leave it up to you, Danchou," Franklin said as the last person.
Their opinions would be bear in the leader's mind, but in the end, the head's decision was all that mattered.
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Before he could recruit Kurapika for a position in Spiders, Kuroro needed the right information for the right introduction to his comrades. First, he needed to find out about the boy's frame of mind. For a matter of a week, he'd assigned his comrades to scatter to their own domiciles. Not that it was any peculiar order, since the six floors worn down warehouse was the Ryodan's rendezvous, and particularly Kuroro's place. The Spider members still had somewhere else to be, or their original abodes that they still went to.
When Kuroro allowed Kurapika to step out of the warehouse he'd been confined in for days, the boy had literally poked his head in every corner of the quarters. On the first impression, Kuroro had almost let himself think of Kurapika as a new pet kitten exploring the new environment. But when realization dawned on him, he was impressed. Kurapika was, in fact, looking for remnants of his prior stay. Fortunately, Kuroro had got some clothes and necessities that would fit him readied for this matter; successfully convincing Kurapika.
Most of his time was spent with the boy after that. Aside from that, he spent an alone time appreciating the beauty of the flame-colored eyes he'd robbed. Couldn't put the two together. Having Kuroro come and go had become a routine for Kurapika. Out of curiosity, he did ask. Kuroro only answered him that he went out for an errand, a job.
Along the way, he had become the boy's favorite person. Perhaps it was because he was the only one at Kurapika's side, yet they found they got along pretty well in almost every aspect, whether it was their choices of reading or their interest and intellectual capacity in the field of history and anthropology. The boy never found boredom in Kuroro's so-called library in the room on 6th floor and up in the tower when the man was away.
'This is normal. In most cases, people who lose their memories still retain everything else they learned in life except their own past. The wonders of the brain,' Kuroro mused. 'Then what about his conscience…?' Kuroro picked one of the books from a pile, the one chosen just for this set up. He opened the book to a certain page, raising it a bit to shroud the lower half of his face. His eyes locked onto the boy. "Kurapika."
"Hmm?" the boy shifted his sea green eyes from the book that he was engaged in and looked at Kuroro with his full attention. Kuroro always called his name first if things were in regard to something important.
"Answer me this," Kuroro began.
"Yes," Kurapika replied as his eyes strayed to the cover of the book, "Conscience."
"What do you think about stealing from other people?"
"It's wrong," Kurapika answered as soon as the question was finished.
"Why wrong? Is it wrong to you, to anyone?" Kuroro returned, and was surprised to see the look on the boy's face.
Kurapika's expression was something of disbelief and confusion. He shot back, "Of course it would be wrong. Why wouldn't it be wrong?"
Kuroro hadn't expected that the conversation would turn out this way. The boy looked dead serious about this, and stared at him as if the big word of 'wrong' was written on his face shining with neon light. Considering the fact that the boy didn't elaborate on his answer further, but instead stood firmly rooted on it with his body language, Kuroro believed it was just because his words of clarification were limited.
Nodding, Kuroro tried the alternative, "What about stealing from the people who don't rightfully own that particular something?"
Kurapika's eyes cast down again, then back up at Kuroro. "And to return it to the rightful owner?"
"Yes," Kuroro answered firmly, as if to prove his point was true, while in fact, it wasn't.
"Umm, it's probably okay. If it doesn't hurt anyone," the boy looked unsure.
Hidden from the boy, Kuroro's eyes narrowed. 'If it doesn't hurt anyone? That could be a bit difficult. Still, that would somehow do-'
"Uwah!"
"What?" Kuroro raised his eyebrows at the boy who suddenly bolted up as if the ground burned and proceed to leap on the cart box where Kuroro was seated. The boy pointed a shaking finger to the spot he had occupied earlier, and Kuroro was amused to see what it was all about.
A spider.
Kuroro chuckled, craning his head a bit to regard the boy behind him, "You're scared of spiders?"
The boy shook his head, "Not really, but I hate them!"
'What a coincidence,' Kuroro pondered as the boy continued to practically latch himself onto Kuroro. 'You don't know what you're doing. I'm the biggest Spider, kid. Anyways...let's see how you would react to this.' "I'll get rid of it. If you wouldn't like the sight, don't look."
"No, don't kill it!"
Kuroro stopped midway between getting up and looked back questioningly at the boy. "Why? You hate it, don't you?"
"Yes, but it doesn't mean that anyone has to kill it just because I hate it!" Kurapika threw himself down from the box and shoved past Kuroro with a thick scrap paper he had randomly grabbed among the unused. He slid the spider up on the paper, and hastened to the window, then flung the whole thing out. He let out a sound of distress, "Urg."
'And where did that courage come from after he hightailed away from it?' "You're a strange boy," Kuroro commented, "You hate it, yet you don't want to kill it."
"No, you'd be more strange if you go about killing anything just because you don't like it," Kurapika returned, huffing a bit.
Eyes narrowed slightly, Kuroro asked, "Why? Could you give me a specific reason? You're still young, I want to know how you think."
The boy was taken aback. One part of him wanted to fire back, 'how in the world could a person kill freely!?' But from one look at Kuroro, he realized that maybe Kuroro just wanted an answer. That was all. Kuroro had a knack for pushing him to the utmost of elaboration, probably just to know him - which Kurapika didn't really mind.
Kurapika's eyes cast down. "Because no one has a right to take anyone's life."
"Where did you get that from?" Now Kuroro was curious.
Kurapika shook his head. "I don't know. Probably from my par– I don't know."
Kuroro raised his brow, 'Was he going to say -parents-?' He delivered one more question to distract the boy from his background for the time being. "Why do you hate spiders?"
"I don't know, I just hate them," Kurapika shrugged, but his composure was far from carefree.
"Sickening? Ghastly? Filthy?" Kuroro provided.
"None of those reasons," the boy shook his head again, his eyes turned dark for a split second as he said in an ominous tone, "I just hate them."
"I see," Kuroro nodded as it was brought to mind, 'Come to think of it. Nobunaga, Ubogin, Feitan and I did announce to some of the good Kuruta warriors regarding who we are (we usually did whenever we came across someone worth telling): Genei Ryodan, Spiders. Somehow, I don't think this kid would know about this.'
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"Basically, just carry on like you already knew him from a past meeting. He's been with me for three months. And like most Ryuusegai citizens, no one has a clue about his past. I will play the part of feeding him with decorated lies, so you guys just be oblivious about his background. And don't ever mention things like 'Kuruta' or 'Rukuso,' so far he hasn't shown interest in finding out about his own past, but we better be on the safe side." Kuroro explained to Pakunoda, Machi, and Franklin. On the other hand, Nobunaga, Ubogin, and Feitan were absence due to his order.
"Are you seriously going to make him one of us, Danchou?" Machi asked. If she was worried, she didn't show it.
Kuroro nodded, "Intellectually, Kurapika has shown his wits, but I haven't seen the part of his combat skills. That will come after finding if he is capable of them or not, which I will by today."
"What about his frame of mind? Is the boy capable of being a Spider?" Franklin was interested.
This time, Kuroro shook his head. "I'm afraid not. The boy was strongly against stealing and killing. That is why he will learn that my job is retrieving the goods, stolen from the bandits, in order to return them to the rightful owners."
Unlike Machi, Pakunoda clearly had the expression of concern about this and pointed out the obvious. "Then we have to keep on going over the trouble of lying to the boy? Danchou, wouldn't it be easier to recruit someone with the Spider's frame of mind?"
"Paku," Kuroro called, his eyes strayed to the other two as well, knowing they all thought the same, "Even for us, it wasn't easy. You do remember the troubles each of us had to go through before becoming a gang as we are today. Now I'm not saying that Kurapika is exactly capable of being one of us, but he holds the potential. I will work on that part of his conscience. If it works, then fine. If not, his life is done for. Does that sound good?"
"Well, I really can't imagine how you would change his perception if you said he's strongly against stealing and killing. But maybe you could," Machi remarked. "Meanwhile, we can't do such things when the kid is around too, right?"
"We'll do what we can," Franklin easily accepted, he always did. "We normally don't steal and kill in Ryuuseigai, so that should be fine for now."
"I hope it works," Pakunoda said dejectedly, voice lowering into a whisper.
"Hopefully, it will. We need more people." Clasping his hands together, Kuroro rose from his seat, "Inform Nobunaga, Ubogin, and Feitan about this."
"Oh," Machi mouthed, and made a face, "Nobunaga and Ubogin wanted me to relay a message to you, when you required only the three of us. Umm, they said, 'We feel so ditched!'"
After blinking, Kuroro chuckled. "Can't help that. Those three are volatile; I didn't want to break everything to Kurapika all at once. That's why you three will meet him first."
"What!?" the three voiced in unison.
Kuroro already headed towards the stair while saying to his comrades, "I want you guys to remember his face. And Kurapika had been nagging me about my job; today he'll get the answer, the job that I steal back from bandits. More often than not, I don't work alone, that is where you guys come into the picture."
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"Kurapika, do you remember my comrades?"
Passing a glance over the three strangers, Kurapika shook his head. "I'm sorry."
The Spider comrades didn't really know how to react. Machi carried no knowledge at all of how to react with kids. Pakunoda, while she knew, didn't trust herself to do it. Only Franklin managed to wave amiably at the kid. But all in all, they weren't made for being frigging caregivers. Kuroro didn't expect anything from them either, except just to see each other, and mainly to know Kurapika's level of reading people.
"They are Pakunoda, Machi, and Franklin," Kuroro introduced accordingly.
"Comrades," Kurapika mumbled, as if to test the word. "As in friends?" he asked innocuously, which sent the room into silence.
'Well, not quite but.' "Something like that. You probably use a different term in your area."
Kuroro first planned not to let the boy know anything about him. But Kurapika wouldn't allow that. The boy had been posing him endless questions. Kuroro wouldn't take the boy for a curious type, but one with a vigilant desire to learn in order to protect himself. And maybe, that was just the way an amnesiac person would behave. He had to answer Kurapika accordingly, framing things to fit the boy's mind as much as possible.
"For my job, the question that you've been asking, I and my comrades go around the world to retrieve articles. They're mostly historical items stolen from the bandits that we then return them to the rightful owners. That is what we do."
"I see. That's why you asked me those questions," Kurapika responded, thinking back.
Words were barely exchanged between Kuroro's comrades and Kurapika. Once they left, Kuroro questioned the boy, "Well, what you think of them so far? You've just met them once, but there wasn't much interaction back then either."
Kurapika seemed to be scramble for words for quite a while before he answered, "I don't mean to be rude, but they seem cold." He fidgeted, glancing at Kuroro who waited patiently for his answer. "I'm not used to cold people." Here the boy noticed Kuroro leaning forward slightly, as if his answer had the man's interest to a great extent. Kurapika's face colored as he bowed his head, bangs shadowed his eyes, "or so I feel, even if I don't remember."
'Does it mean that I'm not cold?' the thought crossed Kuroro's mind, but he didn't bother about it. One more thing to find out about this boy before he could get to a next step, the setting of his plan lied outside the quarters. "Kurapika, how about coming with me into the city?"
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Having the boy in the middle of the city had shown him a lot. For sure, the boy disliked the environment. It was written all over his face when he saw the people littered on the ground. The sight of all the junkyards and everything else in Ryuuseigai made Kurapika grimace. But that wasn't what Kuroro was looking for.
"Are they dead?" Kurapika tugged at the hem of Kuroro's shirt, but his eyes never strayed away from the bodies on the ground.
"They're just sleeping. You scared?"
The boy nodded, "This…here, it just feels so wrong," the boy said.
"Ryuuseigai is an undeveloped city. This is normal here," Kuroro smiled at the boy, almost comfortingly, "Don't worry. Once the job here is done, we're leaving."
Kurapika nodded weakly as he put himself closer to the man.
'How come this kid is so attaching? I didn't think he'd be that type,' Kuroro pondered and came up with a simple plan. He reached into his coat pocket. He would let the kid hold a valuable item and leave him in the spot where muggings often took place. Once the item in the kid's hands was stolen, he'd see how the kid would react. 'For sure, he would go after them, but how fast could he go, how would he get it back from them?' That was what Kuroro was interested to learn.
He fished out that item and was about to call Kurapika when shouts and yells floated over, followed by a person who charged through and inadvertently threw Kurapika to the ground. As Kurapika pushed himself back up, Kuroro noted that the boy was quick, as if he was aware of things that just happened. When he came to the boy's side, they realized a group of gangsters was chasing down a little girl.
Kuroro knew it probably was because the girl might have held something valuable. Energetic kids here usually found more stuff than adults who only lazed around. Kuroro didn't give it a thought but-
"We have to help her!" Kurapika was fast on his feet, pursuing the group that chased down the girl around the corner of the building.
Plan being shelved, Kuroro stood transfixed for a split second before sprinting after Kurapika. When he made a turn at the corner of the building that led into the small alley, he saw all of them from afar. He sighed, 'Not what I've planned for, but this would do.' He hid himself in the shadow and waited. What he saw was the girl and Kurapika being cornered to the wall, nowhere left to run. 'Kurapika was that fast to catch up with the girl before those people did,' Kuroro noted. The girl was clutching something close to her, and Kurapika positioned himself in front of her. 'Now I know what kind of a person he is.'
One of the adults grabbed Kurapika by the collar and shoved him against the wall. The boy winced in pain and struggled in vain. Kuroro scrutinized, 'How quaint. The way he attempted to fight doesn't look like how he attacked me back there.' For a split second, Kurapika's eyes flashed red, but not enough to be noticed by anyone save for the observing Kuroro.
"Stay away from her!" Kurapika yelled despite being the first in the line of threat. Another man stepped in, a wooden plank in his hand. When he hoisted it up, ready to strike, Kurapika clamped his eyes shut. The blow never came. Kurapika cracked open one eye and saw a familiar poker face behind the struggling mugger.
That day, Kurapika discovered how strong Kuroro was, and how he was the complete opposite.
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After making sure the girl was okay, Kuroro took Kurapika home. All the way back, the boy was downcast and grim; Kuroro could see clouds above the blond head. But the boy himself kept his mouth tightly sealed, so Kuroro considered that the boy must still be bearing the pain of his injured back.
Once they reached their quarters, Kuroro sat a dull Kurapika down and instructed, "Take off your shirt."
Kurapika did as he was told and shivered a bit in the cold night air. He had his eyes trained on Kuroro who languidly sauntered over to the cabinet and grabbed the first-aid kit and back. When Kuroro realized the boy was watching him, he quirked one brow. "What?"
"With that kind of sluggish movement you always give an impression, I'd never know that you have such great skills in martial arts had we not been in that situation," Kurapika said softly, voice secretly holding admiration.
In response, Kuroro smiled as he mused, 'Certainly not martial arts, but just a miniature amount of means in killing.' Then he started conversationally, "Why? Do I not look like the type to pick a fight?"
"Not at all. You don't look like the type to harm anyone."
'Bad judge of character. This kid got everything all correct, save for the things about me…all so wrong.' Then Kuroro had to think again, 'Or is it only because my acting is paying off?' "But today I did and you don't mind? I hurt people," Kuroro countered, still wanting to learn the boy's perception.
"It's different. They started first, so they deserved it. I can't believe it, grown-ups robbing from a girl!" the boy voiced in frustration and hissed a bit when Kuroro ran a cotton ball wet with alcohol along his bare skin, where red spots had formed.
"Hmm," Kuroro responded. He would have killed them if Kurapika wasn't there. "You weren't that bad yourself, chasing after them to save that girl. It takes a lot of guts." 'Just what I'm looking for.'
Kurapika shook his head softly. "It didn't save anyone though, not even myself."
'I'm wondering. When you attacked me back there, I'm sure your strength was more than enough to wipe out those duds today, but you didn't. Perhaps you weren't angry enough?' Then Kuroro realized the real reason why the boy was so gloomy after the whole ordeal was over.
Kurapika was disappointed with himself for not being able to help someone out.
'Not the Spider-type exactly.'
Once Kuroro was done nursing the boy's wound, Kurapika turned around as he called, "Kuroro."
"Hmm?" the man responded airily as he organized the medication back into place. Then he sensed the boy's intense eyes on him.
Kurapika's eyes bore into Kuroro's as he said, "I want to become strong. Would you train me?"
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Two lines of music are from the song "Sunshine" by Keane. I always write fics with the name of the song because that particular song influences me on particular fic :)
Regarding memories, I got the info from Wiki. Repressed memory refers to the inability to recall information, usually about stressful or traumatic events in persons' lives. The memory is stored in long term memory, but access to it is impaired because of psychological defense mechanisms. As for Dissociative Fugue, it is caused by psychological trauma and is usually temporary, unresolved and therefore may return.
