Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter! I love Kurapika and Kuroro!
Warning:I turned Kurapika into a girl here because I don't want my parents catching me writing yaoi. Sorry! Don't Kill ME! And expect wrong spelling and grammars since I did not properly edit this! Thanks!
Summary: Eight months after Kurapika's encounter with the Genei Ryodan, she found her long lost uncle and finally focused in finding her clan's eyes. What she didn't know is that Kuroro Lucifer already found someone who could lift the nen curse. RnR!
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Chapter 10: Piano and Poison
Phinx seated himself at the corner of Room 1207 where the Spiders and Elite Seven usually hang out during break time and talk about random things. Today is their third day in vacation and somehow, he felt not so relaxed like what others are. The main reason might be because of what he secretly witnessed last night.
Shalnark must have noticed his unusually gloomy attitude so he approached Phinx to infect him his contagious sunny personality.
"It's early in the morning, Phinx. You look like you didn't have enough sleep last night." He greeted and sat down beside the eyebrow-less man with a hot cup of coffee in his hands.
Phinx grunted miserably and buried his face in his hands. Shalnark furrowed his brows at this. "What's wrong, Phinx?" he asked.
"Danchou... and the Kuruta." Phinx whispered.
"Huh?" Shalnark leaned further to hear his voice.
"I saw them...last night... they..."
"What? Did something happen?" the sandy-blonde guy sipped his coffee.
"They...k...kissed."
Shalnark suddenly spit his coffee out upon hearing his comrade's words. The other people inside the room looked at him with confused looks while Feitan and Kenji snickered at him sputtering the contents of his cup.
"Clean that up." Aki ordered coldly and continued eating her breakfast while chatting with Seiya.
Shalnark casted an apologetic and silly smile to the others. Then, he leaned further towards Phinx. "What did you just say?"
"Don't you understand? The two of them! I had trouble sleeping last night! They kis-" Shalnark was able to cup his mouth forcefully before he goes insane and blurt out everything. He looked at the others and found them staring at him again rather suspiciously. The techy guy gave out a nervous chuckle before dragging the sleepless Phinx out of the room.
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Kuroro furrowed his eyebrows as he stood and waited for a certain blonde girl to emerge out of the comfort room. Kurapika has been spending too much time inside and it's certainly not something she would do. Her typical morning routine would be wake up, take a shower, and change into comfortable clothes. She does not stay inside the comfort room for more than an hour and as Kuroro looked at the clock, he realized that the Kuruta has locked herself inside for more than two hours now.
Sensing that something must be wrong with her, Kuroro stood up from where he seated himself and walked towards the comfort room's door. He was about to knock when it swung open and his fiancée finally stepped out. What his onyx eyes witnessed surprised him; Kurapika cut her shoulder-length hair short.
"What did you do?" he asked calmly and followed the Kuruta with his eyes as she approached the wardrobe and picked out certain clothes.
"Don't you think that's pretty obvious?" she asked coldly and finally pulled out a polo shirt and a pair of jeans.
"That's men's clothing." Kuroro stated and went back to where he sat, resuming reading his book.
"I know." The blonde replied curtly and put down the garments on top of the bed.
"Mhmm.." the Spider head hummed and looked up from his book. "Are you going to disguise yourself as a boy during the mission?" he asked rather disapprovingly.
"Do you have any problem with that?"
"You're more beautiful with long hair." He complimented which made the blonde blush slightly. "And besides, I was planning that we go on a disguise as a married couple who both love artefacts." Kuroro grinned impishly.
Kurpika spun on her heels and faced him. "That a great idea!" she remarked sarcastically. "So, why don't you go and dress yourself as a girl to make the disguise perfect!"
Kuroro chuckled. "Yeah, fine. That would be nice." He said and decided to play along with her but he will never, ever do that.
With a 'hmph', the Kuruta returned to folding and preparing her things. Last night, though it was very awkward for the two of them, Kuroro had summarized everything that they planned at the meeting to her. She was silent the whole time but she's listening intently. After the briefing, they went to sleep without as much as a good night and refused to talk about anything related to what she had blurted out to him at the beach. Although they both share one room, Kuroro actually sleeps on the sofa while Kurapika takes her place on the bed.
After finishing her work, she went to the balcony to continue her painting that she had forgotten yesterday. Kuroro on the other hand closed the book and decided to follow her. He sat on the same chair like yesterday and there, he kept on reading. A question suddenly came up into his head.
"Do you know how to play any instruments?" he asked without taking his eyes off from the book.
"Why do you ask?" Kurapika replied and dipped her paintbrush on the blue paint.
"Just curious."
The blonde sighed slightly. "I play the piano and a bit of guitar." She replied and recalled the moments when Senritsu had insisted on teaching her how to play. It was one of those fun times.
"That's pretty interesting." Kuroro commented.
They spent the rest of the morning that way.
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"I will now start this important meeting." Shalnark declared and looked at the people occupying his own hotel room. "Do you have any idea why I called you here?" It was already their noon time break when he managed to gather all five Spiders for an assembly.
"Where is Danchou?" Machi asked coldly and stared at Shalnark with a hint of disapproval. "We shouldn't be holding meetings without him."
"This meeting is about him." The sandy-blond guy replied which caught the attention of his fellow Spiders.
After Shalnark heard Phinx's story about what happened between the Kuruta and their Danchou, he decided not to jump into conclusions and just share it with the other Spiders to hear their opinions about it. This is a very crucial subject that they will tackle about and it requires greater thinking and right decision making.
"Phinx." He called out and his fellow member stood up to face the others. "Tell them what you saw last night."
Hearing how serious the usually sunny and cheerful Shalnark, all three remaining Spiders kept themselves alert to digest anything that Phinx will say. As the eyebrow-less man talked, he managed to extract different reactions from his comrades. Nobunaga would shout angrily at no one in particular, Feitan's eyes twitched ever so slightly and Machi would cross her arms and close her eyes to ponder.
After Phinx had finished his story, Nobunaga was immediately the one who voiced out what he was thinking.
"That's the most insulting lie I've ever heard from you, Phinx!" he bellowed. Thankfully, the room is sound proof.
"Damn it, Nobunaga!" Phinx replied and stood up. "I know I'm a pretty good liar but this one is different! I've seen it with my own two eyes!"
"Shut up!" the samurai retorted.
"You shut up!" the other stubbornly replied.
"You two shut up!" It was Machi who shouted angrily and stood up too. The two arguing Spiders looked at her shockingly and so did the rest. "If you two continue acting like children, I won't have any second thoughts in using the nen strings on you!"
Both Nobunaga and Phinx gulped nervously and sat back down to their seats. The last thing they wanted is to anger the usually calm and cold girl.
After seeing that no one would burst out again, Machi sat back down, fuming. She gestured at Shalnark to continue the meeting.
"Umm... right." Shalnark stuttered but instantly regained his composure. "What do you guys think?"
"I think Danchou is in love." Feitan sneered. "It was obvious to us save for those who have slow brains." He was actually referring to Nobu but the latter didn't seem to get it.
"That's what I have concluded too." The techy guy replied. "Last night, I asked Danchou if he's serious in marrying the Kuruta. He said 'no' but I just can feel that he's not sincere in his answer."
"What are you trying to say?" surprisingly, Nobunaga was a bit calm when he asked.
"What I'm trying to say is that, Danchou enjoys the Kuruta's company. I mean, he's happy when he's around her."
"Che." The samurai crossed his arms defiantly.
Shalnark heaved a deep and almost defeated sigh and decided to elaborate his point. "Danchou is always putting the best interest of the Ryodan fist. He's very selfless to the point that he didn't mind sacrificing himself for us. He works so hard for Ryuusegai too." The young man paused and looked at Nobunaga. "For once, let him be happy." He said the last sentence with all solemnity he could gather up. As far as he's concerned, he had never seen Kuroro Lucifer truly enjoy his life that's why he will do anything for their Danchou even if it means going to hell for it.
Phinx stood up again. "I can't believe I'm saying this but Shalnark is right. The least we could do for Danchou is to not give him a reason to stay away from the Kuruta."
Machi nodded at her comrade's wise words. "If Danchou finds out one of us is against his feelings for her, he won't have any second thoughts and cut his connection with her as soon as possible."
"You're all insane!" Nobu angrily shouted and stood up once again, gritting his teeth. "Shal, you're also close to Ubo! How could you say that? I've been planning to wait patiently until I can have another opportunity to avenge him!"
"Nobu..." Shalnark tried to calm him down but his attempts are futile.
"That chain assassin killed my best friend!"
"And we killed her entire family." Feitan snarled at him, finally deciding to join the heated debate. "Do you realize how selfish you sounded?"
"No you too, Fei!" the samurai angrily growled at his friend. "I thought you're on my side!"
"You thought wrong." He replied with sarcasm.
"Nobunaga." Phinx called out. "Calm yourself, will you? Think about it. We killed her clan, took their eyes, sold them all over the world and sent her on a wild goose chase after us."
"At least when Kurapika had killed Ubo, she buried him as a sign of respect." Shalnark stated and at the mention of his best friend's name, the samurai's fuming subsided a bit.
Machi turned to look at Nobunaga. "The Kuruta also no longer poses as a threat to Danchou's life, remember?"
Nobunaga was finally cornered and Shalnark went over to his place and patted his shoulder. "We also dreaded the loss of Ubo but we have to move on someday and sometime. I guess now is the right time."
The samurai gave out an audible 'tsk', swatted Shalnark's hand away and glared at him. "I'll decide when that right time is." He said menacingly and sauntered out of the room, gnashing his teeth.
I seems like it will be a hard task trying to convince him.
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"Kurapika!" Kairo Bethel cried out when his niece showed up with her new look. "Your hair! Your precious golden hair! You... what did you do?"
"I cut it." Kurapika replied curtly. "And there's no need to react that way, dad." She added and sat down on the couch opposite Kuroro. The latter was smiling broadly as he silently followed his fiancée with his eyes.
The three Spiders who're involved in the scarlet eyes retrieval mission can't help but notice how their Danchou only focused his attention to the Kuruta who clearly did not notice (or rather just pretending not to notice) his close scrutiny. They're currently at the hotel lobby, silently discussing some final preparations for the operation.
"And what's with the get-up?" Kairo asked once again when he notice what Kurapika is wearing for the mission; blue long-sleeved polo and a pair of black jeans. "Are those men's clothes?" he pointed out.
Kurapika sighed inwardly and looked at her uncle. "It's just for the night." She said but her uncle still pouted slightly. "Dad, that's really childish."
"Alright. Fine." He then sighed too and smiled. "Just be careful out there, okay?" the man turned to Kuroro. "You'll protect her, right?"
"Of course." Kuroro replied and looked at Kurapika.
Feeling his eyes on her, the blonde Kuruta looked back at him. They stared at each other for a few seconds until Kurapika broke the contact by looking away. She glanced at her wrist watch.
"It's time."
Kuroro nodded to himself and turned to the others. "Get ready." He stated, stood up and walked towards the exit door of the hotel. Kurapika followed suit with the other members trailing behind her.
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"Ah! Welcome, welcome!" Congressman Tsuboya warmly greeted them when Kuroro and Kurapika arrived at the politician's main manor. "Feel free to admire my collection!" he proudly said and briefly toured them around the place.
According to Kuroro's gathered information, the scarlet eyes are one of the artefacts that the Congressman hides inside a safe on the third floor of the mansion. All the while, the Spider head listened intently as to how the Congressman acquired the precious relics that were displayed around them.
They had notified the man that they will be coming as 'historians' and artefact collectors and he gladly invited them to his place, feeling proud of his hard work in accumulating the relics.
"Are these authentic? The original ones?" Kuroro asked. The Kuruta beside him didn't seem to look that interested. She's focusing more on the plan they had in her head.
"Of course! Took me billions to buy them." The Congressman replied and pointed at a certain artefact which was actually a book. "That book is the legendary manuscript of witches 10000 years ago. That's the last surviving copy of it."
"Really?" Kuroro asked and pretended to take down notes. "That's really very precious then."
"Yes, yes! Bought it for 4.7 billion zennis."
They walked around a little more until Kuroro popped the most awaited question. "Of all these collections, surely you have one that you're most proud of, am I right?" he asked and Kurapika tensed up a bit.
"Oh yes! I have one that I just acquired a two weeks ago." Congressman Tsuboya nodded eagerly. "However, I do not want to display it here so if you'd like to see it, let us proceed to the third floor."
The three of them ascended the stair case and headed towards the room at the very end of the hallway. As they were walking, both Kurapika and Kuroro sensed something is odd. For a person who values his collection more than his life, the security sure is light and the guards are too care free. The two raised up their alertness when they finally entered the room.
As predicted, the room only contained the safe that has the scarlet eyes inside and nothing else; no furniture nor decorations in it. The Congressman kneeled in front of the safe to turn and dial its combination locks. When the vault door opened, Kurapika's heart skipped a beat.
Right in front of her is one pair of beautiful scarlet eyes. Her hands twitched and she badly wanted to get those relics as soon as possible.
But before anything could happen, Congressman Tsuboya suddenly turned around with guns in both hands, pointing them at Kurapika and Kuroro. He was angrily gritting his teeth while threathening to pull the trigger.
"You think you two can fool me, huh?" he snarled at them.
"Sir, what do you mean?" Kuroro asked, acting as if he was confused by the man's impulse action. Any moment now, the blackout will begin and things will not go well if the Tsuboya is acting this way.
"The person who gave me these scarlet eyes tipped that two people might come and steal them away from me!" he shouted angrily. "And I reckon it's you two! Guards!"
Swarm of armed men in black suit entered the room and pointed high calibre of guns at the two. Kuroro looked at Kurapika who was readying herself to summon her chains. Then, he took a quick glance at his wrist watch and smiled.
Three...
"I will never let you get away with this." Tsuboya barked.
Two...
Kurapika finally summoned her chains that were clanking wildly on her right hand.
One...
"Fire!"
The moment the Congressman gave out his orders, all the lights in the entire manor died out. Fortunately, no one pulled their trigger and the couple took this opportunity to escape. The blackout lasted for exactly five seconds as planned and when the electricity returned, they were already long gone and Tsuboya cried out in anger.
"My scarlet eyes!" he yelled wildly. "My scarlet eyes! Get them!"
The guards inside the room bolted out and tried to chase the duo who're already by the second floor, knocking out the guards who're not there when they passed by a few moments ago.
Kurapika threw her dowsing chain at one man and hit him on his temple very hard which knocked the light out of him. At the same time, Kuroro had his Skill book open and is trying really hard not to strengthen each of his attacks to prevent himself from killing them.
It took them almost a minute in doing so and after the struggle, they resumed their escape. Machi and Sato had with them the scarlet eyes and they're already long gone now, probably meeting up with their team mates as planned.
Kuroro flipped the pages of his Skill Book and finally found the teleportation technique he stole. He grabbed Kurapika by her waist and the later gave out a surprised gasp as she blushed furiously.
"Hold on tight." He whispered.
But suddenly, a guard whom they thought they had knocked unconscious suddenly pushed himself up from the ground, took out a gun and fired a bullet at Kurapika. It happened so fast and the couple did not have enough time to dodge the attack. But Kuroro knew he can do something at the little time given. With his quick reflexes, he managed to turn and exchange positions with Kurapika, receiving the flying bullet in her place and it hit him on his right shoulder.
Kurapika felt his body stiffen a bit when she heard metal hitting his flesh. The next thing she knew, Kuroro took out a needle from his pocket using his left hand and threw it at the man, instantly killing him.
"Y... Your shoulder!" She gasped and drew back from Kuroro's hug.
"It's fine." The Spider head declared nonchalantly and used his nen to cover the wound and stop the bleeding. "Let's go." He ordered but it was too late. Congressman Tsuboya and the rest of his armed men had already caught up with them and pointed their guns at Kuroro and Kurapika.
"Give me my scarlet eyes back!" the man immediately demanded.
Kuroro seemed really annoyed right now for he took out another set of needles and readied himself.
"What are you trying to do?" the blonde asked. "I thought no killing!"
"This is what happens if you leave them alive." The man replied, referring to his wound and took a few steps back.
"But..."
"Kurapika, listen. I won't allow anything to happen to you. I'll keep you safe no matter what." Before his fiancée can even respond, Kuroro quickly delivered a hit on her neck with enough force to make her pass out. Kuroro decided that she had seen enough bloodshed already.
The Spider head gently caught her as she fell and put her on the ground, her back leaning on a wall. Then, he turned to glare at the Congressman and finally threw his needles at one of the man covering him. Kuroro used his teleportation skill and disappeared only to reappear behind the Congressman. He pointed a needle at the man's head.
"Tell your men to disarm themselves or I'll kill you." He threatened.
"Wh—what?"
"NOW!"
Without even waiting for their boss' orders, the guards threw their guns and other weapons on the ground and raised both their hands as a gesture of surrendering. Kuroro smirked evilly. Without batting an eyelash, he threw all his remaining needles at the guards and there were enough for all of them. Each one fell dead instantly. Then, he took a knife from Tsuboya's pocket and used it to slit the man's throat. Blood sputtered all over the place and it was a very good decision that he decided to knock Kurapika out.
After cleaning his hands, Kuroro took out his cell phone and dialled Sato's number. "Sato." He muttered after his call was answered. "Come with Jo and get Kurapika out of here. She's on the second floor." Then, he pressed the end call button.
"Good evening, Danchou." Kuroro looked up and was not so surprised when he saw Hisoka's grinning figure sitting standing a few feet away from him.
"So, you're the one who tipped him." He said and the clown chuckled nastily.
"You're still as sharp as ever, Kuroro." Hisoka replied and looked at the unconscious form of Kurapika. He licked his lips and when he did so, the Spider head furrowed his brows slightly.
"Not here, Hisoka." He said and the jester nodded.
"I see... worried about your fiancée?" he asked.
Sato suddenly arrived with Jo and they stopped on their tracks when their eyes landed on the scene before them. The head butler looked at Kuroro but the latter only shrugged away the man's questioning look. Instead, he ordered them to take Kurapika back to the hotel and he will just follow soon enough after sorting out some things with the demented jester.
After Jo had teleported away, Kuroro turned his attention to Hisoka. "What do you want? I've already fought you."
Hisoka nodded and crossed his rams. "That battle was unsatisfactory, Kuroro. You only focused yourself in stealing my ability and did not fight me with all you've got."
"Still, a fight is a fight. I'm no longer indebt to you."
"I know..." the clown nodded knowingly but soon broke into a corrupted smile. "But I'm sure there's something that will provoke you into willingly engaging yourself in a battle with me. The Kuruta, perhaps?" Kuroro remained silent and Hisoka continued. "Very well then, that's all I came to say. I'll see you around, Danchou."
The Spider head remained standing, watching his figure slowly being swallowed by the darkness.
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The last thing she could remember before sinking into oblivion was Kuroro's eyes, looking at her thoughtfully and the pain on her neck that she felt. Kurapika slowly fluttered her eyes open when she regained consciousness and twitched her head sideways (an action she partially regretted because it immediately gave her a massive headache). She found a glass of clear water and some pills on the bedside table. Her throat suddenly felt dry as she unconsciously craved for that glass of water.
"Kurapika." A familiar voice called out and the person on owns it was immediately by her side.
"Dad..." she called out.
"Yes, it's me, my dear." Kairo replied to her call. "How are you feeling?"
"Where's Kuroro?" It was Kuroro whom she asked about first thing she woke up and somehow, something felt amiss. He was hit and it worried her.
"He hasn't come back yet." Her uncle replied.
"What time is it?"
"Seven in the morning."
Kurapika tried to sit up and her uncle aided her in doing so. She then turned to him. "It's seven in the morning and he hasn't come back?" she asked again for confirmation.
To her dismay, Kairo nodded. When he saw his niece's face, he smiled. "Don't worry too much, my dear. It's Kuroro Lucifer we're talking about. He'll be okay."
The girl could only nod in disappointment. There are so many question inside her it's making her head hurt more. Where is he? What is he doing? What happened to him? Surprisingly, all those questions are all about one important person.
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It's already ten in the morning but still no sign of Kuroro. Kurapika sighed as she entered the elevator to go down and wait at the hotel lobby for him. Somehow, she felt guilty for Kuroro received a wound because of shielding her from a bullet. Though for a man of his level, it's just a small scratch.
As she sat down on one of the couches, Kurapika contemplated on random things, trying to distract herself from thinking about Kuroro.
Stop it! She berated herself inwardly.
To make her distraction more effective, Kurapika roamed her eyes around the hotel lobby and noticed something she did not see there before; a piano standing alone near one of the pillars. The piano reminded her of Senritsu and so she walked towards it and decided to play something relaxing. The hotel receptionists looked at her with a smile and she responded by greeting them.
Kurapika took her seat in front of the grand piano and pressed one key. She had been practicing one particular song that Senritsu wanted her to learn but being a beginner in the field of music, the Kuruta only managed to learn and play the right-hand part of the composition.
As she stroke one key, the rest followed. The receptionists stopped working and turned to listen to her. Even if she can't play the left-hand part in synch with the right-hand, the piece still sounded melodious and relaxing. Kurapika closed he eyes as she played the keys gently.
Suddenly, she felt someone bending behind her and played the familiar left-hand part of the composition. Kurapika opened her eyes and saw Kuroro's left hand synchronizing along with her right. Even without looking at the face of the person, she knew it was Kuroro for he was wearing the onyx ring that she gave him.
They silently played the song together in harmony and it was as if they were combined together as one. Playing this piece with him made her feel the same unfamiliar emotion in her chest. Her heart raced when she felt Kuroro's breathing on her neck and the thought of his body pressed closely against hers made her flush. When they finished, the receptionists and other workers who stopped to listen to them clapped their hands in amazement. Kurapika blushed further and turned around to look at the man behind her.
"You play the piano?" she asked and Kuroro smiled at her. "And where have you been?"
"Looting the whole mansion." The Spider head replied.
"And the scarlet eyes?"
"Safe and sound."
Kurapika nodded and stood up. "In that case, I'm going back."
"Were you waiting for me?" Kuroro asked with a hint of mischievousness in his voice.
"No." The blonde lied and looked at him. She then saw that the wound from last night was not yet healed. "Your wound." She whispered.
"It's fine. I can have Machi sew it up for me." He said and walked towards the elevator with her.
Kurapika felt something is definitely wrong. For one thing, she noticed that Kuroro's breathing sometimes become uneven and his skin is hot as if he was having a fever. When they stepped out of the elevator, Kuroro suddenly lost balance of himself and he clung to Kurapika to regain it again. Shocked, the blonde immediately supported his body.
"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly as Kuroro tried to stand up by himself again.
"It's nothing. I just felt suddenly dizzy." The man admitted and Kurapika chuckled inwardly at the thought that only dizziness can make the strong Spider head stumble like that. But then, she reprimanded herself for she was supposed to help him.
"I'm calling the doctor after arriving in the room." She declared but Kuroro shook his head.
"No. I don't need a doctor." He whispered.
"Just shut up, will you?" Kurapika retorted, annoyed. "It might be that-"
But the blonde Kuruta was not able to finish her sentence for Kuroro already gave away and collapsed weakly on the ground.
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Author's Note: Yes! Chapter 10! Finally! Haha! Thank you so much my dear readers for your reviews! Special thanks to whitypearl for offering to translate this fic in Indonesian! And also to Harco8059 for reading this fic from the beginning until now. And some of you requested a bonding between the Spiders and Kurapika. That bond will be slowly developed in beginning from this chapter. And also, I included Hisoka for Yuthero because he will also play some key parts in the fic.
Trivia: The piano piece that Kuroro and Kurapika played is the piano version of Arashi's "One Love". Here is the link in youtube if you want to listen to it: www (dot) youtube (dot) com/watch?v=xic5XEjiDMI
Next: What happened to Kuroro? How will our couple spend the rest of their vacation days in Lanikai?