Chapter 10: The Breeze and Him

"You might as well come out. I know you're there." And with that, I walked out of my hiding place, from the dark corner to the illumination of a night lamp. The yellow-orange light illuminated my features. I clutched at my silk robe tighter as my heart seemed to have sunk deep.

"You're leaving already?" I asked, staring into the light.

"I have to. It's work after all and preparations have to be done." He replied, his cool, smooth voice sending chills down my spine.

I can feel his emotionless gaze on me. Why do I feel this way? Am I sad? Happy? I don't get it. Everything just seems so chaotic inside.

Somehow, I found the courage to look at him and there he was, right in front of me, wearing an unbuttoned waistcoat (it was probably the same one from earlier but of course he doesn't have the outer jacket anymore) revealing a firm chest, and the same trousers from earlier as well. Nevertheless, he looked… stunning and haunting. His jet-black hair draped over his shoulder, his skin as pale as porcelain. But his eyes… still cold and devoid of emotion. Despite this, I have somehow gotten used to them… and maybe… they're the very black holes in which I will find myself falling into.

"Does he really expect us to agree to those conditions?" Phinks's voice woke me up from that reverie.

We were waiting for Pakunoda to come back and in the process, I somehow found myself looking back into the past. It should be a miracle given the circumstances. But when we first arrived, Phinks's curiosity triggered more than a nerve.

"Oy, you're the Mortdeus girl, aren't you?" He asked. "You've been staring and glaring at us for a while now. Care to explain?"

"You killed him… You're the ones who killed my father!" I said, poison dripped from every word.

Phinks whistled his amusement. "Technically, I guess. But we hired someone to do that."

"And that would be?"

"Hmm… " He turned to the man clad in black whose name I found out to be Feitan. "Who was it again? I remember him being a Zoldyck."

Oh… It could be anyone of them. And I should have expected it. No one else could do such a fine job in that area.

"I think it was Illumi. Illumi Zoldyck." Feitan answered.

My eyes widened, then my gaze fell on the ground.

Illumi? Illumi's the one who killed dad? He killed dad… It was his job… but…

"This marriage is crucial to our safety, Aure." Were father's words. Was that it? Really? Was there nothing between us after all?

Then I remembered those hollow eyes.

That's right… It was all nothing. I was a girl, daughter of one of the Great Mafia Dons. And he was a boy, son of one of the greatest assassins in the greatest assassin family ever known. That was it. Title and gender.

Waking up to reality due to Phinks's rhetorical question, I wanted to smack myself or bang my head into the floor.

What if something happened? What if Killua and Gon were suddenly in danger?! And here I am! In the memories of the past that I have left behind! Idiot! I am an idiot!

"Tell us where he is, Pakunoda." Phinks demanded. "We'll kill the kids, then deal with the chain user."

Like hell, I'll let you. I glared at Phinks.

"Do you insist on such a thing?" Machi asked.

"I insist." Phinks answered. "If you don't tell us, I won't let you leave."

"I refuse to tell you where he is, and I am taking the kids and the Mortdeus girl alone." Pakunoda answered, straightfaced. "Don't interfere."

Observing the different reactions of the Troupe members, my expectations of them were both reached and the exact opposite. Yes, as expected, they wouldn't agree to Kurapika's terms. They are ruthless and the head is almost worthless. The spider is willing to abandon the head for its own sake. But the others… Members like Pakunoda surprised me.

"Interfere? Who's the one interfering with our plans?!" Great. Phinks is starting to snap.

"Go, Pakunoda. We'll stop them." Machi countered.

"Stop us?" Feitan, the man clad in black, seemed greatly offended. His aura starting pouring from his body. "Are you trying to insult us?"

Everyone else released their auras. A bloody battle is about to commence and I need to stay alert. They kept on making incorrect presumptions. In that battle, I can help Gon and Killua escape, at the same time, reduce the number of the Troupe members until the spider falls apart. I was about to release my own aura when Gon suddenly stepped in.

"Is it really so hard to understand?" he said, making everyone fall into silence and turn their eyes on him. Killua and I looked at him. "You don't understand why Pakunoda wants to leave without a word? You don't understand why Machi is stopping you? You honestly think they're being controlled? They want to rescue your boss! Is it so hard to understand the desire to save a friend?!"

"Shut up, kid!" Phinks yelled back. "Are you that desperate to be spared?"

Then and there, in anger, Gon broke the chains restraining him, surprising Phinks and Feitan.

"I'm not doing this for my sake!" Gon stood up and glared at them. "Take back what you said!"

"Good grief." Killua sighed and broke his chains with ease.

I took a deep breath and, combining my physical strength with my nen, broke my own chains.

Feitan's aura flowed steadily from his body.

"I don't think so. If you've a problem, come here" Phinks challenged. "The second you take a step, I'll rip your head off." And he cracked his knuckles.

"Then I won't budge an inch!" Gon replied.

"And I definitely won't let you!" I released my nen, a strong power surged through me but I didn't conjure my fans yet.

Phinks glared at the both of us.

"Kurapika isn't like you." Gon said. "No matter how much he hates someone, he wouldn't lose control and kill them without mercy."

"I've only met Kurapika for a short while but I know immediately that he's the type of person who keeps his word" I supported.

"And after meeting him in person," Gon glanced at Pakunoda. "Pakunoda also knows this. If you follow his conditions, he'll return your boss!"

"That's enough, kid" Phinks was getting full of it. I can see the veins on his forehead. "Don't think you can say anything you want!"

"That's enough." Interrupted a guy named Franklin, causing me to stop the aura flow in my body. "Let Pakunoda go."

"You're siding with them?" Phinks couldn't believe it.

"Shal, right now, what would our worst-case scenario be?" Franklin asked and we all turned to Shalnark.

"Hmm…" Shalnark thought. "The boss is already dead, Pakunoda and the others are being controlled, we can't find the chain user and the hostages escape."

"Then you've got it wrong." Franklin replied. "The worst-case scenario would be that we all die and the spider perishes. Compared to that, your scenario would be quite pleasant. Am I wrong?"

"N-no, you're right." Shalnark agreed.

"I don't care about your reasons. You're being too reliant on the boss." Then Franklin looked at Phinks, Machi and the others. "If the Troupe falls apart as a result, that's the greatest betrayal you could make toward the boss. If we keep bickering, that could well happen so cool off. Let them have their way. Pakunoda can take the hostages and if the boss doesn't return, we kill the members being controlled and start to rebuild the spider. It's extremely simple."

"I'm fine with that." Said Machi. "If that's what it takes to satisfy you. Besides, I'm not being controlled and it won't be easy to kill me."

"Tch" was all Phinks could say.

Just then, someone's phone rang. Phinks answered it.

"He-" before he could finish, Kurapika already gave an order. He grunted and threw the phone at Gon so hard that you could hear it slice the wind.

"Don't break it!" Shalnark exclaimed.

"Are you ok? Are they there?" I overheard.

"Yeah, they're all here." And Gon threw the phone back with equal force.

"Hey!" Shalnark reacted.

"We're following your orders." Phinks said and with that, the call ended.

Killua stood up and the three of us approached Pakunoda.

"Let's go." She said and we all started walking towards the exit.

What's weird was that, before I left the door, I felt a familiar presence but when I took a quick glance at the room, it was all the same. I just shrugged and continued walking. It was still raining hard and the ground was pretty muddy. Still, we made steady progress.

"Won't you try to escape?" Pakunoda asked. "In the condition I'm in, it should be easy for you to do so. I would lose my leverage, and the chain user could kill the boss."

The three of us looked at her.

"Aren't you on his side?" She asked again and the three of us stopped walking.

"Because we're his friends." Gon answered.

"We're his friends, as well as family, and we don't want him to kill anyone." I added.

"So we'd prefer this to be settled with an exchange." Killua finished and we all continued walking to the destination.

We soon arrived at the designated location which was Lingon airport. The rain didn't stop and we were soaked to the bone. Pakunoda was directing us to an airship when someone greeted us from nowhere.

"Hey!" a man who looks like a magician but not one little kids might want to run into, greeted as he emerged from the darkness.

"What are you doing here?!" Pakunoda yelled while Gon, Killua and I just looked at him.

He has his phone next to his ear so I couldn't exactly tell who he's talking to.

"No need to worry. I left a dummy behind." I suppose that was his answer to both the speaker on the phone and Pakunoda. "… Allow me on the airship with them. If you refuse, I'll kill Gon, Killua and that lovely girl with them."

Compliment or no, I glared at him. Now that I think about it, he was with the others back at the spider's hideout but he was quiet the whole time, I didn't exactly notice him.

"My target is the boss. Once he's released, I'll get off the airship" He added. "I want to fight him. That's all I want."

Oh, a psycho. Cool. And here I thought that the other Troupe members were psychotic enough. I never expected a person to join the Troupe for the sake of fighting (and possibly killing), the boss.

Call me intuitive, but I really think that it was Kurapika he's talking to. Well, it was sort of obvious. Anyway, we all boarded the yellow airship, not knowing where the destination will be. It just followed the blue airship.

Killua and Gon sat on the floor, near a door and joined them. Pakunoda sat on one of the benches fixed to the wall and the psychotic magician sat opposite to her, excited shuffling his cards. I eyed him warily but maybe I've been staring for too long because he stopped what he was doing and looked my way with a somewhat friendly smile, but honestly, I just found it creepy.

"I haven't introduced myself yet to you, have I? And I suppose not even Gon mentioned a thing about me?" he said.

I scanned my head for possible things that Gon said and then one clicked. Back when he sent us a letter at Whale Island, telling us about his encounter with a deadly magician named Hisoka.

I raised my eyebrow. "You're Hisoka?"

He seemed amused and continued shuffling his cards. "Care for a game of hearts or would you prefer to see a magic trick?"

"I don't think so." I answered cautiously.

He chuckled. "Did your father ever told you not to take candy from strangers? Or was it Illumi?"

Oh, boy, that's it!

I was so mad! I just couldn't take it anymore!

I released my nen and I could see Hisoka getting excited.

"He told me you're a very strong opponent. Why don't we see?" He took out a card and licked its edge.

Before I could conjure my fans, Killua put his hand on mine, causing me to stare into his blue eyes, eyes full of life, reflecting both sorrow and joy, innocence and the stains. The very eyes that looked at me in that rose garden a year ago. I calmed down. I couldn't let this get to me. I have to stay focused and be alert for any danger in order to protect Gon and Killua, not bring the danger to them.

Hisoka took his seat again and resumed shuffling his cards.

I looked at him. "How did you know?"

"About?" Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

"Everything." Simplest word for a very complicated answer.

Illumi. Illumi and me, and everything you could possibly have up your sleeve.

"Well… let's just say he and I go a few months back." Hisoka answered, still shuffling his cards and taking a look at a few then putting them back into the deck. "He was pretty talkative about you."

Ok, that really stirred my curiosity.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, at first he was quiet but we had a little conversation during the hunter exam's third phase. " He answered.

Normally, I would be settled with it but then… curiosity kills the cat.

"What… did he say?" I was reluctant. Definitely reluctant.

"Lots of things." Then he took out a card and showed it to me.

Ace of hearts.

Ok. End of conversation. No more. I don't want to hear any more of it.

I just stayed quiet for the whole trip and soon enough we arrived in somekind of canyon. We got off the airship and on the other side stood Kurapika with Leorio, a short girl whom I assumed to be Melody, and the Troupe's Boss. Shortly after, Kurapika called instructing Killua to place the phone next to his heart. Perhaps it's to see whether he was being manipulated.

"All right! Let's begin the exchange!" Kurapika yelled and we started walking, the boss in our direction and us in his.

Once we got to Kurapika, Gon and Leorio high-fived and all of us went back in the airship. The airship took off, leaving Hisoka, Pakunoda and the Troupe's leader. From the windows, we watched as Hisoka prepared to fight the leader, to the point that he actually took off his shirt. I can see how strong his aura is. This is going to be one hell of a fight. Then all of a sudden, Hisoka's expression changed and the boys and I fell to the floor laughing.

"I have no idea what's going on but Hisoka's expression was priceless! Haha!" I laughed so hard.

"Haha! Hisoka looked totally stoned! Literally!" Killua banged his fist on the floor.

Gon sat up and wiped a tear from his eye. "I wonder why?"

"Hisoka returned to the airship without fighting." Leorio was amazed.

"The leader realized that Hisoka wasn't a Troupe member, so he explained about my chains." Kurapika explained. "I'm not surprised that Hisoka wasn't interested in fighting someone without Nen."

"He wasn't a Troupe member?" Leorio was more surprised.

"No." Kurapika answered.

Killua and I had our fill in laughing so we decided to take it a little seriously.

"Oh well, Hisoka's plan was foiled and I thank you, Kurapika." I mocked a bow.

"What for?" Kurapika's mood lightened up a bit.

"Let's just say there are certain things better off not mentioned." I said and Killua grinned."Achoo!"

Killua laughed. "Onee-chan's sneeze is pretty cute!"

"Shut up!" I smacked him on the head. "Achoo!"

"Onee-chan, are you ok?" Gon was pretty concerned.

"Yeah, it's probably just a cold." I replied so as not to worry him.

"In that case," Kurapika went to the shelf near the door to the pilot's room and took a blue blanket. He approached me and wrapped it around me. "There."

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Kurapika."

We looked at each other for a moment, eye to eye.

"I'm sorry for putting you guys in danger." He said, not breaking the eye contact.

"it's fine" I said.

"Nah, it's ok, Kurapika. You used your chains on the boss, right?" Gon asked.

"Yeah, but… this isn't the end." He said.

Kurapika looked so exhausted. I've experienced that before during one of my trainings and I ended up having a high fever for weeks.

We arrived at Lingon airport. Before stepping out of the airport's exit, I told them, "It's time for me to leave. Good bye, everyone."