Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter.

Story so far: After a series of problems, they finally resumed their journey. But bad luck always followed them, they got into more problems again. Who would have thought that in the midst of their troubles, they would once again remember a piece of their pasts?

Author's BIG NOTE: Sorry for a discrepancy with the story before, since the Injuu guy who originally owned the Fun Fun Cloth skill was supposedly dead in the previous chapter. You see, the Double Trouble chapter was added at very last minute on a whim, so yeah...Simply put I forgot to re-edit this chapter...


Chapter 8

A TOUCH OF THE PAST


"What happened to your chain?"

Kurapika stopped her chores and turned to look at Kuroro with bewildered eyes, asking him to elaborate. She was washing the blood stain on her clothes; again they had encountered some bounty hunters aiming for Kuroro's head. Much to her annoyance, Kuroro's clothes remained clean and stainless.

"Why didn't you use the chain you used on me back then in Yorkshin?" He clarified.

"Oh." She mumbled and continued rubbing the stain off her shirt. "I can't. There is a condition on it. You should already know about this."

"That you can only use it on the Genei Ryodan and no others, otherwise you will die?"

"Yes." She answered curtly. She got up and dusted the dry leaves off her pants, and Kuroro stood up.

Since the incident in The Prancing Pony inn, where she had caught fever and had some delirium, Kurapika had become somewhat less belligerent towards him, although she was still keeping her distance from him. Kuroro remained as he was, keeping to himself and detached, but he started warming up to her and talking with her more. Usually he would ask her questions out of curiosity, and sometimes, more often than not, those questions would earn him her warning glare; without the crimson shot, though.

"Why don't you change the conditions? It's getting too troublesome in combats. You can't fight full force."

Kurapika snorted softly. Of course she knew about it. It was not like she was ignorant or anything, but that was not an easy thing to do. Her heart was wrapped by a Judgment Chain, and she could not remove it just like that. Someone else had to remove it for her. She told Kuroro this with even tone, as if she cared nothing about it.

"Hmm…" Kuroro covered his mouth with his hand as they walked side by side across the forest. "If the Judgment Chain is removed, the chains will disappear as well. But you can make a new condition and a new pledge, don't you?"

"True. But truthfully, even if I manage to remove the Judgment Chain, I have no idea what new conditions I will make. At least ones that will grant my chain equal strength to the present one." Kurapika said.

For her, capturing the Genei Ryodan had been her lifetime goal. She was willing to discard anything in order to fulfil it; she had no other goal for her chain to serve that had equal weight to her quest of vendetta. Her eyes narrowed at this thought, and she became troubled again. Even though she had sworn to exterminate the Spiders to avenge her people, here she was strolling across a forest with the leader of the Spiders itself, and at a very close proximity to him, on top of that (not that she could help it). Kurapika looked down and absentmindedly fiddled with the ring on her index finger. Previously, she had never paid any close attention to it, but lately she always had the chance to stare at the ring and the features of the ring were soon embedded in her memory.

The ring was simple enough. It was silver, and in the middle of it was as aquamarine gemstone. Ishtar had purposely given her the one with aquamarine, because it matched her eyes, she had said. Along the body of the ring was the faint markings of some ancient language; the one dated back to the times where there was no books and thus the knowledge was forever lost. When Kurapika brushed the silver body of the ring, she could feel the smoothness and the flawlessness of the ring, perfectly moulded by the creator. She would feel a faint aura emitting from the ring, but that was all it did. Ishtar said that the stone would change colour if it detected any magical beings nearby, but so far there was none of it.

Kuroro observed Kurapika with the corner of his eyes. The girl had somehow turned quiet and had ceased with her harsh words. Every time she talked to him, there was always an edge in her voice, like she was putting effort just to talk to him. These days, notably after the incident at the inn, she talked to him with what he might call her normal voice. Kuroro also noticed her new habit of fingering the ring as if trying to distract herself from some dark thoughts. He looked at his ring; it was an identical ring to Kurapika's, except that the stone was an onyx.

However much I want to deny it, he is right. I can't keep up with this. I need to do something with my Nen chain. So far, the hunters that come after us are small fries, but if stronger hunters and Nen-users come…I don't want to depend on him. I need to be independent, therefore I need to be able to protect myself without needing him to protect me…Kurapika thought deeply. She frowned with bitterness. And it looks like that we won't finish this business soon.

"Get ready." Suddenly Kuroro told her with soft voice.

Kurapika flinched when she heard his voice so close to her ear, and she thanked Gods that she did not blush (she did not want unnecessary teasing from Kuroro anymore than he already did routinely, since the older man seemed to have a knack of teasing the wit out of her) because her Hunter instinct kicked in and she could feel the presence of the hunters surrounding them, waiting to ambush them.

"Three in front, two behind, two at each side." She muttered under her breath.

"Very good. I see you are a pro Hunter not for nothing."

"Don't mock me." She scowled at him, but kept her body relaxed, pretending that they did not notice the presence of the hunters. "I did capture you once."

"You're right, and you even rendered me powerless for weeks." He chuckled amusedly. Kurapika rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Just as she was about to hurl some insults, she sensed movements to her right. Kurapika flexed her wrists and her fingers, yet kept walking in a calm manner as if she had not noticed anything.

"First is from the sides." Kuroro mused as the bushes ruffled. As Kurapika had predicted, two men sprung from each side, their weapons ready to hack the two. Kuroro flicked his wrists and soon two of his special pins were embedded deep into their foreheads, kicking the life out of them in an instant. Kurapika summoned her Dowsing Chain and plunge the dowsing ball towards their faces in turns; knocking the light out of them. Kuroro sighed.

"Second wave from behind." He mumbled and threw two of his pins over his shoulder without even taking an aim. The two pins found their target accurately, killing another two. Kurapika flinched at Kuroro's display of cold-blooded killing. She looked at the bodies with mix of pity and disgust.

"Save the best for the last, eh?" Kuroro smiled and pivoted his weight to his left leg.

In response, three men jumped from the trees and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Kurapika recognised them straight away that they were Nen-users. She really wanted to groan. Troubles were the last thing she wanted, but Nen-users coming after them plus their blasted circumstances just spelled big T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

"You are really good, as the rumours said." One of them, a big hulking man with gruff voice said.

"As expected from the boss of the Genei Ryodan, eh?" The bearded man who looked like a Viking said.

"But I didn't expect you to be travelling with a girl. I thought you are the solitary type. Your girlfriend?" The smallest one, with impish face, sneered.

"Then you are in for a surprise." Kuroro merely responded as he reached out and locked Kurapika's slender fingers in his. "My girlfriend here is just as tough as any of you." He grinned, but his grin was directed to the seething Kuruta next to him.

"You jerk—" Kurapika gritted her teeth, trying to swallow the yell that was threatening to explode in her throats. Quarrelling with him now was not the best choice, given that there were Nen-users after them. She would settle the score with him later.

The fight began as HulkMan lunged at them, his fist raised to pound them. The fist met the empty ground and crushed it like mud. The next second, his temple was met with a hard blow from a knee and it sent him flying across the field. The couple landed on the now ruined ground with ease.

"I see he's not joking when he said the girl is tough." The ImpMan giggled impishly. "Interesting, really interesting." He chuckled as he leered at Kurapika, sending her goose-bumps.

The VikingMan let out a loud roar and charged at them, his gigantic axe ready in his hand. He swung the axe at them, but with one hand Kuroro stopped the axe, although the ground below him crunched upon impact. The VikingMan grunted and put in more strength in the axe, but it did not budge. Kuroro raised an eyebrow.

"This is nothing compared to Uvo's brute strength." He commented. He saw blurry movement to his right and saw a kick flying. Kurapika's heel met VikingMan's jaw hard, sending him somersaulting in the air, his axe forgotten in Kuroro's grip.

"You are really in a bad mood today." Kuroro said as he tossed aside the axe.

"And whose fault do you think it is?" She snarled unhappily at him, but kept her attention at the ImpMan.

The ImpMan grinned evilly at her, and suddenly she felt a quick movement on the ground. Before she could respond, the ground beneath her collapse and she was sucked into the gaping earth. She gasped in surprise, but Kuroro's grip tightened and she felt a strong pull upwards. The next moment, Kuroro had his arm wrapped around her thin waist and he jumped backwards to gauge a distance from the ImpMan.

"Oh, too bad. I almost got her." The ImpMan 'tsk'ed. A big creature that looked like a crab and a beetle screeched from the open ground and it retreated back into the darkness of the earth. "But as long as you are on the ground, I can get you."

The ground shook again, and Kuroro jumped to a tree branch, still with Kurapika in his arm, just as the ground collapsed. The earth creature screeched in annoyance as it lost its target once again. As Kuroro landed on the branch, Kurapika heard the voice of a sharp object cleaving the air, dashing towards them. She summoned her Dowsing Chain and repelled whatever projectile coming towards them. A pair of disc-like axes manipulated by Nen floated in the air for a moment and flew back to the owner. The VikingMan grabbed the two axes and licked his bleeding lips. Before the two on top of the tree could respond, the tree shook violently. In fact, the tree was falling down as the HulkMan had punched the tree trunk below them and shattered it; he was definitely from the Enhancement group.

Kuroro jumped from the falling tree; still carrying Kurapika in his one arm, and was about to land on the ground when the ground split open and the ImpMan's pet waited to swallow them. Kurapika responded quickly by extending and wrapping her Dowsing Chain around another branch of tree. She pulled the two of them away from the underground creature; this time Kuroro was dangling on her waist. Using the momentum, the two of them swung and landed on the tree branch.

"Hands off!" Kurapika hissed and swatted Kuroro's hand away as soon as their feet touched the branch. Kuroro only shrugged and complied nonetheless.

"You can't get away!" The VikingMan roared and threw his axes again towards them. This time, Kurapika did not only deflect the axes, but wrapped her chain around the hilts and threw them towards the crab-beetle creature still exposed on the gaping ground. The forest was soon filled by the deafening cry of the creature's dying scream; which lasted only for a few seconds.

"You—How dare you kill my lovely pet!" ImpMan screeched in indignation and at the same time HulkMan cut down the tree they were at.

This time, they landed on the safe ground, only to be greeted by VikingMan's cleaving moves. Both dodged VikingMan's attacked with a dance of their own, waltzing around the slow huge man. From the corner of her eyes, she saw something coming and with her Dowsing Chain intercepted it. She caught a few razor-sharp needles, treated with poisons at the end of each needle. The ImpMan kept showering them with his poisonous needles, and Kurapika had to keep on deflecting them. Meanwhile, Kuroro had to face the two men on his own. Both of them could only use one of their hands due to the restricted space allowed by Hassamunnin's bind, and it really limited their range of attack and defence.

Kuroro shot his pin at VikingMan and it stabbed his forehead deep, killing him in an instant. At the same time, HulkMan changed his target and aimed for Kurapika's defenceless head, since the girl was still occupied by ImpMan's torrent of needles. Kurapika noticed his attack and risked a second to kick the HulkMan in the face and dodged before his fist crushed her head. In this split second, ImpMan used his chance to send another shower of needles, and Kurapika had no time to block it. Kuroro saw the needles coming.

He deflected most of the needles with his pin, but some were still on their way to Kurapika's unprotected head. If they pierced her head, she would instantly die; which meant his death as well. Risking his arm, he used it as shield. The needles pierced his flesh deep and his face contorted in pain but he did not make any sound. Ignoring the pain, he threw his own pin and it successfully hit the target; ImpMan's forehead, with perfect accuracy in one shot. ImpMan dropped dead instantly.

A cracking sound was heard and the HulkMan dropped to the ground with his jaw broken by Kurapika's punch. Kurapika spun around as Kuroro let go of her hand and saw him plucking the needles from his limp arm that was hanging from his shoulder. She knew that she should have thanked him, but the thought of Kuroro Lucifer protecting her to the point of sacrificing his arm had been too far-fetched for her. She felt a wee-bit guilty, but quickly brushed it aside.

"Your arm." She managed.

"Finish him." Kuroro only said. Kurapika raised her eyebrow at his commanding voice. Kuroro looked at him and gestured at the unconscious HulkMan on the ground with his head. "Kill him."

"No." She responded quickly.

"Finish him like you did Uvo." He repeated, this time his tone colder

"No, I have no grudge against him." Kurapika said again stubbornly. Kuroro snorted contemptuously at her stubbornness; the first time he did so and it surprised her. She had been so used to Kuroro's usual easy attitude with her, she had never seen him so harsh on her before.

"So you will wait until he kills one of you friends, only then you will kill him?" He challenged her, his annoyance clearly broadcasted.

Kurapika held her breath in shock. Kuroro glared at her with his deep black eyes, those cold eyes disapproving her attitude. His words did make sense. How if the man woke up and was enraged by the humiliation and decided to take revenge. How if he decided to track down her friends and killed them to torture her? No, Gon, Killua and Leorio were not easy to defeat, but how if they did some dirty tricks against them? She knew that Kuroro was just being prudent and cautious. She just did not want to kill…She was afraid to kill; to dirty her hands with the blood of her opponents. But she did kill already. Uvogin and Pakunoda, she killed them.

Kuroro stared at her for a while, until he finally sighed and killed the HulkMan himself; by piercing his forehead with his pin. Kurapika noticed that he was using his unharmed left hand. She frowned slightly.

"Your arm." She stated again.

"Don't bother. The needles are treated with paralyzing poison, but it should be okay by two or three hours." He said, with a tinge of irritation in his deep voice.

Silently, they resumed their journey. For half a day they walked side-by-side in awkwardness. Actually, it was Kurapika who felt awkward mostly. She felt ashamed of herself; of her selfishness, of her childishness. She thought back of the time during the Hunter Exam, when they were in the Trick Tower and had to go through a tournament against the criminals. She had refused to kill the Ryodan-member-wannabe, because she did not want to hurt a harmless person. She remembered Leorio's words; who had kindly taken care of him for her.

"I've taken care of the baggage that your pride has left behind."

That was true. Clinging to her Kuruta pride, she refused to kill him for no reason. Killua had confronted her then.

"You are afraid to kill, aren't you?"

Yes, she was, but she made her excuse she named as her 'belief'. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, truth was truth. She held the pride of the Kuruta tribe highly, but at the end of the day, she was just an irresponsible person. Her pride did not allow her to kill the man, but she could have thought of something else to finish the match. In the end, Leorio had to do it for her. She was ashamed of herself.

Thunder rolled from distance away, and the sky was getting darker. Kuroro looked up and smelled the air. The rumbling sound of thunders again filled the sky.

"It's going to r—rain…" He muttered to Kurapika without turning around.

Kurapika frowned at his voice. He seemed to stutter but Kuroro Lucifer never stuttered. He was as confident as a cock could be, and would never display anything that implied any lack of confidence. She stared at Kuroro's back for a few second, but shook her head lightly. She might have imagined things, and Kuroro might have never stuttered anyway. She was not really focused at the moment, so Kurapika dismissed the thought.


The downpour soaked them thoroughly from head to toe, and they continued looking for shelter. Even the canopy of the forest was not enough to shelter them from the heavy rain. After a few minutes drenched in cold rainwater, Kurapika finally spotted a cave. They ran towards the cave, but along the way Kuroro stumbled a few times and it did not escape Kurapika's keen observation. She said nothing regarding it, though.

Once they reached the cave, they quickly settled further into the darkness of the cave, away from the splashing rainwater from the mouth of the cave. Kuroro sat down gracefully, although Kurapika did notice the slight stiffness in his usually smooth movements. Before Kurapika could sit down, Kuroro spoke up.

"Get changed."

Kurapika looked at him with slight frown, while the man turned around with his back facing her. Kurapika begrudgingly understood what he was telling her. He wanted her to dry herself and changed her soaked clothes with the dry ones. Both had no desire to catch cold, as both had no desire to nurse each other. Wordlessly, Kurapika turned her back towards him and rummaged through her soaked backpack in search for any suitable clothes and a towel. Lucky the backpack was made from waterproof material, so the content was dry. Kurapika changed her clothes quickly. She no longer threatened Kuroro from taking a peek at her, because somehow she trusted Kuroro enough not to do something so low. Kurapika realised of what she was thinking of and berated herself for it. Why was she thinking so highly of her enemy? But then again, her enemy was no ordinary enemy. He was, after all, Kuroro Lucifer.

"I'm done." She mumbled and kept her back towards Kuroro. She heard the rustles of clothes being taken off and put on, and the scrubbing sound of towel against flesh.

When both were done changing their clothes, they laid out their wet clothes on the ground to dry them. Kurapika settled down at the maximum distance their bind allowed them, finally realising that the bind had expanded last time; she sat down while hugging her legs close to her body to retain the little warmth the small cave provided them. Kuroro sat with one leg propped up and the other was laid on the level ground. He clenched and unclenched his fist, and she realised that his fist was shaking. He narrowed his dark eyes in what might be interpreted as annoyance. Kurapika stared at him for a few moments, debating with herself whether or not she should speak.

"What's wrong with you?" She finally asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Kuroro turned to look at her and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I'm not blind. I know something is wrong with your body." Kurapika said silently. Kuroro stared at her intensely for a moment, as if judging whether or not he should tell her of his predicament.

"Tetanus." He finally said.

"What?" Kurapika blinked.

"I think I might be getting tetanus." Kuroro said again with monotonous voice, as if it was no big deal.

"You are getting tetanus?" Kurapika shifted in her position to face Kuroro. "But how—the needles?"

"Maybe." Kuroro shrugged.

"But how can you be sure?"

"I'm not sure yet. My jaw muscles are getting stiffer since a few hours ago. If it really is tetanus, then the bacteria might have been modified to make it a few times stronger than the normal bacteria… Lockjaw usually occurs in 7 days, but in this case, it only takes half a day to reach lockjaw stage." Kuroro explained. "Which means…it may only take a few short days before this turns fatal."

"How can you say it so calmly as if you are not the contracted one?" Kurapika blurted out. She then remembered Senritsu's description of Kuroro's heartbeat. He lived side-by-side with death, accepting it as one would accept life. He did not fear death, and even embraced it. Kurapika shuddered involuntarily, and was thankful of the darkness of the cave that Kuroro did not notice the small gesture.

"Does it make any difference? I won't die because of this." He shrugged indifferently. "Besides, this also might not be tetanus. It's still guesswork so far."

"Yeah, right. Of course you won't die." Kurapika said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "If you really die, imagine how the world will react. Kuroro Lucifer dies of tetanus."

Kuroro raised an eyebrow. "Your mood is really foul today."

"And why do you think it is?" She snapped at him. "My, you sure talk a lot for someone who gets tetanus."

"Because they called you my girlfriend?"

"That, and because YOU called me your girlfriend." Kurapika glared at him; her scarlet eyes glowing eerily in the darkness of the cave. They looked like a pair of pale ruby floating in the air. "Like that will ever happen. Not in a million of years. Over my dead body."

"Phinks is right. You really have no sense of humour." Kuroro sighed.

"Excuse me? Why should I be fraternising with you and have some sense of humour when you are around? Besides, I have no time to develop some freaking sense of humour when I am supposed to collect my comrades' eyes and kill every single one of you!"

Her voice echoed in the small cave. Kuroro looked at her with straight eyes but said nothing. Kurapika gritted her teeth, pressed her eyes closed and turned away. She brought her knees closer to her chest and hugged them. She buried her face in her knees, trying to calm her anger. Goodness, she felt like crying out of her seething anger but she would never do that.

Kuroro looked at the girl closely. The Kuruta girl was becoming more open of her feelings; although most of them consisted of her contempt and hatred towards him and his gang. Still, he could not help but to realise how broken she was. There, less than one metre away from him, the girl was hugging herself, trying to contain her emotions on her own, fighting the world alone. If he had to compare her with, let say, Machi; the ground was not even. Machi was born in Ryuusei-gai, exposed to violence and the likes since the day she could talk and walk. Kurapika, on the other hand, had her peaceful world robbed away from her in the most violent way possible; and he was the mastermind behind it. The event traumatised her to the point that she could discard everything and walked down the path of vendetta.

"Kurapika." He heard himself muttering. The girl stiffened as he called her by her given name. "I've done you great harm." He said in a small and, surprisingly, gentle voice.

Kurapika looked up and stared at him with disbelieving eyes. In a split second, he thought he saw surprise in those eyes; but he was gravely mistaken. Her eyes turned deep crimson in a fraction of second, hatred overflowing from those beautiful pair of the brightest rubies he had ever seen in his life. In a blink of eye, she stood up and kicked him on the face hard. Kuroro stumbled and fell on his back. His head was dizzy and his eyes unfocused, but Kurapika grabbed him by his front collar and punched him with her fist. He could tell that she had mustered all strength she had on that one punch, and it hurt like hell.

"Great harm? DON'T MOCK ME!" She yelled. "What you have done is not even close to harm! You RUINED my world! You killed all my family and gouged out their eyes for the sake admiring them in a fleeing moment and then sold them away as if they are nothing but useless goods!"

She shook him violently, but Kuroro said nothing. He looked at those flaming eyes, receiving all hatred and despise she had towards him. He did not deny anything.

"If you are tying to apologize, don't bother! I will never ever forgive you, not in my lifetime! I'll be damned if I ever forgive you! My soul will never rest in peace before I have avenged my whole tribe!" She continued yelling and shouting at him.

For every words she screamed, the iris of her eyes were tinted with even deeper red as if they were bleeding and burning at the same time. Kurapika stopped yelling at one point and only the panting sound of her breath could be heard. Kuroro still had not uttered any single syllable, although his lips were bleeding and his face bruised from her abuse. Kurapika gritted her teeth in deep irritation and vexation as she saw her enemy in such an unresponsive manner. So angry and violated she was, that she could not hold back her tears anymore.

"Damn you, you bastard…" She sobbed. "You words have no meanings now…It will never…The dead will never come back…My family will still be dead…Damn it…"

Her fists that were holding Kuroro's shirt were now trembling. She ducked her head to avoid his gaze as she continued shedding her tears. Kuroro stayed muted and merely observed her closely. Her small shoulders were trembling visibly, and her voice had become very weak.

"You have no idea on how I felt back then…" She mumbled in her sobs, her fists still clutching Kuroro's shirt.

The heavy voice of the downpour filled the cave, muffling her sobs. Kuroro imagined if he was the one in her shoes. How if the whole Ryuusei-gai was wiped out, and he was the only survivor? How if all members of the Genei Ryodan were slaughtered, and he was the only one left? What would he feel? What if he knew who the killers were, and knew that they were out there in the world, still free and unpunished? Would he seek them for revenge?

Yes.

Just as how he did for Uvogin back then in Yorkshin.

Kuroro straightened up into a sitting position and peeled Kurapika's hands off his shirt. They were still tremulous in his hold. He had no idea on what had possessed him at that moment, but he pulled the girl closer and tucked her head to his chest, letting her cry on his chest. Kurapika had been too disoriented and overwhelmed by her emotions, that she did not even bother to retaliate. She continued crying, ignoring the fact that it was her enemy that was holding her.

"Aniki…" Kuroro heard her mumbling it a few times in her sobs. He felt her leaning against him and continue with her mourns. She might have mistaken him as her brother again, but it was fine. He would tolerate it again.

The older man stared into the darkness of the cave. He himself had no idea why he was doing what he was doing at the moment. One thing he knew; he could somehow relate to the girl's feeling of loss when she grieved for her tribe's massacre. He had cried when he read of Uvogin's death in the prediction by Neon Nostrad. He had specially held the requiem for Uvogin's death in a manner that would suit his taste. That was his revenge for Uvogin's death. He might be a cold, calculating Danchou of the Genei Ryodan, but he was a human capable of feelings.

The girl wanted to have her revenge for the death of her people. He knew better than anyone else that it was her right, no matter how selfish it seemed to be. He was selfish as well. The difference was, he did not hate her, but she hated him with all her soul. That hatred was so great that it could not be quelled; and ironically that strong negative emotion was the one that bound them to each other, not only physically but their lives as well.


They remained in that position for several moments, until Kurapika had finally calmed down. She straightened up and avoided his stare. She inched away from him and settled back at her previous spot, hugging her knees again. Kurapika looked away and said not a single word. Kuroro observed her every movement, but said and did nothing.

He leaned against the cold rock of the cave wall, sat with one knee propped up and turned his head to look at the curtain of rain outside the cave. He narrowed his eyes and suddenly an old memory came to his mind. It was a memory that he wished he had forgotten long time ago, but he simply could not. It always resurfaced when he was about to forget it, the presence of the memory kept lingering in his mind.

"It had been raining as well…" He found himself muttering. "…when Ishtar first found me." Kurapika stirred, but still did not look at him.

"I was only three years old... She found me among my parents' dead bodies. They had killed each other; my father tried to kill me, my mother tried to protect me." He paused for a while, before continuing with the same even voice. "Basille found me first, she was attracted by the smell of blood. Ishtar came shortly after, and that was how she adopted me."

Kurapika stared into the darkness, Kuroro's words were sinking into her mind. "You said children who were raised by their parents had little chance of surviving into adulthood."

"She trained me as well; both physical and Nen. I know she is not a human since the day she started training me. Her strength and abilities are far beyond any humans. You won't understand it before you face her yourself."

Kurapika listened to him intently. Kuroro did not elaborate on how she trained him, but she imagined that Ishtar had trained him hard and with great discipline, despite her kind and gentle look. Somehow, it was not hard to imagine her as a warrior.

"Why do you hate her?" She asked.

Kuroro turned his head and found Kurapika staring at him with her oceanic blue eyes. There was curiosity in her eyes, and a slight tinge of anger. He did not know what had made her angry, but her question was too personal. He was not going to answer her question, not yet. Kuroro instead just gave her a mystifying smile, and said nothing further. He looked away and closed his eyes, ending his short tale. Kurapika frowned at his attitude, but did not press him further. She knew, somehow, that if he wanted to talk, he would talk. She could only wait, then.


Shalnark looked out of the window of the blimp. He rested his chin on his palm and sighed. His danchou had suddenly called a day before, telling him to get a certain medicine for him and to bring it to him fast. He had noticed the strangeness and stiffness in Kuroro's voice, and he had spoken to him very briefly; which made him to conclude that the disease was starting to consume the man. Soon enough, Kuroro would not be able to talk at all. He had to get to his place as fast as possible. But there was one problem.

"Yo, Shal! What are you looking at?" Phinks slapped his shoulder hard.

Shalnark only turned and glared mildly at him, or more precisely pouted at him, while rubbing his sore shoulder where the man had slapped him before. Kuroro had told him to come alone, since he did not want them to attract attention. However, those block-heads had insisted on coming along since they wanted to see their Danchou.

"Hey, why are you sulking? It's not like Danchou prohibited us from coming. He only said: 'if possible', correct?" Phinks said in his defence.

"And it is possible that you all don't come with me." Shalnark said, still pouting.

"Hey, come one. Besides, it's not all of us who are coming; only me, you, Nobunaga, Machi, and Feitan."

Yeah, all the troublemakers…Shalnark fought his urge to claw at his cheeks in exasperation.

"We want to check Danchou, what's so wrong with that?" Nobunaga joined them. Actually, he was the one who insisted the most to come. "We never know what that chain-guy can do when Danchou is sick and all." He wrinkled his nose as if in disgust.

Shalnark sighed and said nothing more. If anything, he could only tell that the chain-guy had done nothing to Danchou. However, it did puzzle him how Kuroro Lucifer could be brought down by such a disease. The chance of someone contracting tetanus was quite small, except if the bacteria were modified. Even if it was the case, it was a minuscule of chance of hurting Kuroro with any poison-treated weapon. Their Danchou was a very careful person, and would not risk getting cut just for the sake of any show-off of his strength or endurance. Shalnark had suspected that Kuroro might have gotten hurt while trying to protect the chain-guy, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Their Danchou was not the type who protected anyone, much less an enemy. Besides, the chain-guy was not someone who needed any protection anyway.

A few hours later, they finally arrived in the airport. Once they were off the blimp, Shalnark opened his cell-phone and dialled Kuroro's number. It took quite a while before the call was picked up, and it was unusual. Kuroro was usually quick to pick their calls. What was more, when the call was answered, there were no greetings whatsoever. Usually Kuroro would address them by their names, but this time nothing came.

"Danchou?" Shalnark asked unsurely.

[…He can't speak right now.] A feminine voice answered instead of Kuroro's usual bass voice. Shalnark went rigid for a fraction of second, but before he could say anything, the voice continued. [We are in a cave, somewhere in the forest east of the port. I believe you are in Lucca Port?]

"Yes. I'll be going there right away." He said, trying to sound as normal as possible.

[Wait.] The voice called at him again before Shalnark could hang up. The voice hesitated for a second. [Before you go, bring plenty of water and some food. If possible, the ones that are easily digested.]

Shalnark was quite surprised by her request, but nonetheless nodded. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

[Good.]

"Hold on!" But he was too late, the line was already cut off. He sighed and pocketed his cell-phone.

"What did Danchou say?" Machi asked as she stood closer to him. The men, notably Nobunaga, Phinks, and Feitan were debating and placing bets on which direction they would be going.

"…Machi, do you have any intuitions so far?" Shalnark asked innocently. Machi narrowed her eyes.

"Tell me what's going on first."

"Well…someone answered the call, but it wasn't Danchou."

"The chain-guy?"

Shalnark gave her a small smile, and Machi raised an eyebrow. "The chain-assassin is a girl?"

"I don't know yet, but the once who answered is definitely a girl. And since Danchou is not the type who will travel with a girl, we can safely assume that the chain-assassin is a girl. Since they are stuck together anyway…"

"So what now?"

"I guess first we will need to buy some food and water for Danchou." Shalnark shrugged. "Or she'll kill me…" He mumbled to himself and shuddered at the thought of Kurapika torturing him with her Chain Jail.

Machi raised a perfect eyebrow, but before she could ask anything, Shalnark was attacked by Phinks and Nobunaga. They pestered him on which direction they were going to go, and they started bickering like little boys. Mach sighed, and walked ahead alone, ignoring the boys. If Shalnark asked her again of any intuition, she had one now.

And it was not a bad one. Not at all.


Kurapika placed the phone on the cold ground and sighed. It took her a lot of effort to talk to a member of Genei Ryodan in a civilised manner. Lucky the one who called was the most-normal looking one. She leaned against the rough wall of the cave and looked down at the sleeping man who was resting his head on her lap. She recalled the event yesterday, when Kuroro suddenly got a seizure.

xXx

When Kurapika woke up the other day, the rain had finally stopped. She looked at her companion, who was still sleeping with his head hung low and sitting cross-legged with his arms crossed in front of his chest. She peered at his face, and she noticed the unusual paleness in his ivory skin. Not bothering to wake him up, Kurapika had drifted off into light sleep again, but was awakened short after by movements near her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Kuroro on the floor, his back curved backwards and his whole body formed a stiff arc. The cave was dark, and Kurapika could not see his face from her spot. She noticed his arms twitching in a jerky, involuntary movement. Kurapika knew that the disease had almost reached its peak. Soon enough, he collapsed to the floor and lay motionless.

Too surprised to recall the fact that Kuroro Lucifer was her sworn enemy, her instinct kicked in and she rushed to his side. She checked his pulse out of habit, which was actually unnecessary. She was still alive, which meant he was still alive. When she touched his skin, however, she noticed that his body was slightly warm. He was catching a fever now. His eyebrows were furrowed in what might be deduced as pain as well.

"Kuroro." She called him, trying to wake him. The name tasted weird in her mouth, but she ignored it. The man stirred slightly, and fluttered his eyes open with efforts. He groaned softly and rolled to his side. He used his elbow to support his body and he used his other hand to rub his throbbing temple. Kurapika observed him closely, to see any other damages or any incoming symptoms.

"You got a seizure." She deliberately informed him.

"I know." He looked up and his gaze met Kurapika's gaze. He then mumbled something that might be some curses and tried to sit up. Kurapika did nothing to help him, but instead she clenched her hands on her laps. She eyed Kuroro's every movement. Kuroro took out his cell-phone and dialled a number. When Shalnark had finally answered the call, he briefly told him to get a medicine for tetanus and brought it to him fast.

Without telling Shalnark of his position, Kuroro hang up and let his arm fell to his side. He sighed softly and leaned against the cold wall of the cave. Kurapika still stared at him, as if anticipating his next move.

"You have a fever as well." She finally spoke again, her voice small. Kuroro looked at her but said nothing.

Kurapika knew what he was thinking. There was nothing they could do to quell the fever. They had no clean, cold water to give him a cold compress. They had no medicine for fever. All they could do was to wait for Shalnark and his medicine. Still, it made her uneasy. There was a sick person, and to sit there and did nothing was almost unbearable for her. But this was Kuroro Lucifer!

Suddenly, she felt him shifting beside her. Before she could do anything, however, he had fallen over and his head just happened to land on her lap, of all places. She went rigid for a moment, and had almost punched the light out of the man when she realised that he was already out. It seemed that his body was starting to give in to the disease. Seeing that there was nothing else she could do, she just let him have a bit of comfort this time round.

xXx

That was how they ended up in such position. Kurapika could feel the heat emitting from his feverish body even after hours had passed. If anything, she had the feelings that his fever was getting worse. She absentmindedly checked his temperature with her cool hand, and felt the heat burning her hand. Kurapika frowned uneasily. The man was sleeping as if he was not disturbed by the fever, but his face looked lifeless and pale, as if he was already dead, although she knew better than anyone else that he was alive. Kurapika brushed a few strands of black hair from his pale face and her gaze fell on the cross mark on his forehead. Her thought drifted back to the conversation they had a few hours ago.

xXx

Kurapika looked at his bandage and felt compelled to take it off. It would make the fever worse. She tried to do it as gently as possible, but her touch woke him up. He looked at her wearily, but without the suspicions. Without explaining anything, she peeled the bandage off his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He stiffened slightly at her gesture, but it only made her smile amusedly. She had no idea what she was smiling for, but she guessed it was just amusing to see him flinching upon her touch, whereas usually it was her who flinched from his touch.

Now that she looked his face closer, she realised that he looked way younger than his usual age, especially with his hair down. She remembered Neon rambling about a particular 26-years-old gentleman who had helped her sneaked into the Cemetery Building in order to attend the auction, and Kurapika knew that she was talking about Kuroro. She noticed Kuroro's hair getting damp from the sweat and her hand acted on its own. She stroked the raven hair and combed it; only seconds later she realised of the foolish actions she was doing. Her eyes widened in disbelief of herself and berated herself for doing such thing. Why was she doing it in the first place?

A cold hand grabbed her wrist. Kurapika noticed Kuroro's gaze at her, something was in his eyes but she could not read it. He opened her palm and wrote something with his finger on her palm. He could not speak anymore, not with the lockjaw. Kurapika frowned and tried to understand what he was writing.

"What…are…you…doing? What am I doing, are you asking me that?" She asked him, and he let go of her hand. Kurapika's brows furrowed slightly and she stared into the blank darkness of the cave. Why? The body remembered, but her mind did not remember. Why had she done it?

"Aniki…" She finally muttered, paused and gulped. Kuroro still had his gaze locked to Kurapika's face. "…used to do that whenever I was down with fever."

Kuroro held his dark gaze steady to her face, reading her thoughts from her facial expression. Her blue eyes shone with bitter nostalgia. Kurapika cocked her head sideways slightly, as if trying to remember something. "…He said it'll make me feel better."

xXx

And the conversation ended in such fashion. Truth be told, Kuroro did feel better when he had her cooling hand on his burning forehead. Furthermore, it was somewhat…reassuring? In his half-awake-half-asleep feverish state, Kuroro remembered—his body remembered—the gentle stroke of someone else; of another female, her hands larger than this one, and more mature. His body remembered sleeping on someone else's lap, his body remembered of his hair being stroked gently, his body remembered of someone else's gentle voice reassuring him that he would be alright the next day. Now Kuroro could not discern between memories and reality. Was the girl really talking to her, or was he only listening to the voice of someone from his childhood? In any case, it did not really matter for him. He was content enough in his position, and despite his sickness, he felt comfortable in his sleep.


Author's Note: I know they are both a bit out of characters here, but I can't help it! I just want to spill their past bits by bits, especially Kuroro's. Honestly, this chapter was inspired by a particular scene in Blade of the Immortal manga (truth to be told, I felt like I had committed plagiarism.) Although Kuroro always appears strong all the time, there have to be moments when he can be weak, right? It's just that he never shows it to anyone else. And Kurapika just happens to be lucky (or unlucky?) to see it. And since it has been emphasised in the manga that Kurapika is someone with high moral conscience, I just thought that she may not stand the sight of someone dying in front of him and did nothing about it. Well, I might be wrong since we're talking about Kuroro Lucifer here. I know, I know. Forgive me if this is counted as a mistake on my part -_- Also, I added a bit of Kuroro getting softer on her (if hugging her as she cried can be counted as one?) In any case, I did try, so don's slaughter me for a lousy job done.

Next: Shalnark arrived with the promised medicine, and it worked wonder. Just as Kuroro barely recovered, they had a small, little talk. And Kurapika was in for a surprise from Kuroro.