Twisted
.
.
.
What happened was only between the two of them, yet fate had different plans. To hate the monster that killed her whole family was the acceptable thing. But to undeniably fall for him was nothing short of traitorous. It's twisted.
.
.
.
chapter fourteen
.
.
.
"Danchou's gone..." Shizuku had Shalnark's pink phone on her right hand. She continued looking around the area looking for her friend while looking like a lost puppy, she had not seen him for more than three hours since Shalnark volunteered to scout the surrounding sea with a smaller boat to find their comrades. He said he would be back soon and Shizuku was waiting patiently for him. Nobunaga started to raise his voice, Shizuku winced at the sudden change of decibels.
"What do you mean Danchou's gone?! He can't be gone!" A fuming Nobunaga shouted on the other line. Shizuku wisely placed the phone a foot away from her ear where she could still perfectly hear Nobunaga ask them incoherent questions and make promises that he would come find them and he'd be taking Phinks along with him "What did that bastard do?!"
Shizuku did not know the complete story about what really happened with their haywire member. All she knew was people started yelling stop and stop but she was busy pulling down a flank to actually pay attention to the really rowdy crew ship, so she didn't know what happened. When Shalnark called her attention to take care of the crew in lieu of him, that's when she was only informed on the latest happenings. She saw Shalnark walk up the plank wearing a tired expression on his face, she waved back and mouthed a Nobu before throwing Shalnark's phone back.
Shalnark gave a worried glance and a relieved sigh when he finally caught his phone in mid-air. He gave a short disapproving look at Shizuku who just shrugged him off and before going back to her favorite past time, which composed of looking at the silhouette of the mountains.
"That won't be a good idea Nobu-san." Shalnark started apologetically, it would complicate matters more if Nobunaga brought Phinks of all people to their current and unknown whereabouts. The two of them were not exactly patient people and they got lost a little more than what we can call reasonable. Shalnark didn't even have an idea were they were, the unexpected storm threw them off track and right now, he was just plotting their location along while looking for their Danchou. Hopefully, he and Kurapika-san have not yet slit each others' throat. He could only wish as much but in no way ever would he tell the others how their Danchou fell of ship. There suspicions was bad enough as it is, no need to confirm them all and prevent an internal war. "We're lost ourselves, It would take another four hours to finally plot where we are... We can't exactly lose more time waiting for you guys.."
"Then, we'll go now and when you finally know where you are we'll be in the nearest port!" Nobunaga will put his foot down on this one. They were purposely excusing him out on work that had teaming up with their Danchou, since Kuroro currently has a 'precious' member with him, but no more! The chain-bastard tried to kill their Danchou from how things sounded and how his brain had processed every God damned fact! Therefore he'll make no more room for another slip-up. Oh, his blood is boiling too much!
"Ehm... Nobu-san, that would actually complicate things..." Shalnark tried his best to imitate and channel a Pakunoda. She knew just what to say to about every spider to diffuse the tempers they were throwing. She knew how to calm down the erratic besties, Nobu and Uvo, the often pissed Feitan, moody Machi and sometimes.. on the very rare times their Danchou was ticked of with one of the spiders, she knew just what to do, a touch in the hand, a reproving look. She just knew what to do. Thinking about it now, she really did suit their Danchou in more ways than one.
He couldn't believe it... how their Danchou reacted to Paku's death like it was nothing... It didn't even bother him the slightest bit. When Danchou first found out about it, he shrugged it off like he never knew Paku on a personal level. Which, Shalnark knew was a total lie. They knew each other very, very much.
Nobunaga mumbled something that made Shalnark smile, "I''m glad you understand, I'll call you when we find him..."
A couple of promises later, Nobunaga finally hung up. And Shalnark felt extremely proud of himself, he had channeled Pakunoda very well, he deserved a pat on the back, if he may say so himself.
.
.
.
Morning came agonizingly slow for both of them. As the sun veiled over the fields and finally their small refuge center, the wild animals that hunted the woods came into their hiding as fast as their legs and hinds could carry them. Kuroro and Kurapika's temporary truce was finally effective. Somewhere along the night, Kuroro got off of Kurapika and they both left the tension alone. The smirk Kurapika had on her face was ignored by Kuroro who dropped down on his respective bed and bluntly acted as if nothing happened. And somewhere that time both of them fell fast asleep, no nightmares or dreams that kept them up and company.
Kurapika was first to wake up, she didn't sleep much at all last night while Kuroro woke up a few seconds after her, mapping away how they would spend the day. They both looked tired but their day had to pass and they needed at least the basic supplies for both of them to finally heal, if possible fast and effectively.
He took it as good sign that she wasn't hysterical when she saw him stir in the bed opposite hers. Kurapika was pointedly ignoring him. That or, she was preventing her tongue from saying something biting against him.
"I'm going to go look for food." Kuroro knew were the animals, that were just about the right size and level of tolerable hostility, hid. They were in the meadow roughly just two hundred fifty meters from the river where her share of work would be. "While you secure at least three days of clean water."
The empty pales were on the left, near the stove and chimney as both of them had noticed. It was a sustainable hut, they noted approvingly. It also had a happy little stove and laundry line. It was very foolish of them to think the area was uninhibited by humans like them.
Kurapika could already move her whole body, the poison was gone from her system and all they needed was to make sure their wounds remained clean and they would need sanitary water for that. Both of them tried to use their nen, but once again nothing came out, they were still nen-blocked. It would be a little hard to track them without their nen. Kuroro had enough belief in Shalnark and his technology and as he phrased 'Spider senses' that would allow him to find them.
Kurapika still suffered from a slight temperature but aside from that she was good to go. The after effects of her emperor time always had a big toll on her body but by tomorrow her temperature would be back to normal, she was sure of it.
"Shalnark would come find us anytime soon, until then we'd only have to make do." There search for Tupig is obviously on hold. Kuroro had computed they were behind by at least three days worth of trip. By now, Tupig would have landed sometime last night and hid in the darker parts of the continents where he had enough time to familiarize himself and set up traps for them.
Kuroro sighed, they were off their course and the only thing they could do was wait for Shalnark to come and get them. How helpless they were and how annoying it was to feel that helplessness. Especially they were in an altogether different area, uninhibited except for the abandoned cottage with wild beasts in their range and unseen people who had made this sustainable hut. They didn't even know whether the people were hostile or not. The list of wrong things could go on and on but for the moment, they needed to do their respective menial tasks.
They went out together, Kurapika carrying two buckets with her. Halfway through when they were on the pathway separating the meadow from the river, they went their separate ways but not before Kurapika was able to give a long hard look at Kuroro as he told her, they would meet in that intersection an hour from now. If the other does not show up on time, then they would go look to see what's wrong. The buddy, buddy pair they like to call it. Kuroro had also added he would help with the buckets if by that time she was not done yet. He knew the after effects of the antidote better than her, he said.
Kurapika was at least happy to note that he didn't fault her scarlet eyes for her fever, just the antidote he had.
The water was refreshingly cool and it tasted very sweet. The river had no fishes or the usual squids living in it but it had a variety of herbal plants she could at least name and point out. For added measure and security, she picked a couple of them and placed the herbs at the bottom of the pale. The ones she knew could be preserved for future use and some of the herbs that could ease up and fasten their healing process. Kurapika took another drink from her cupped hands before finally filling the buckets and started carrying it towards the intersection. With her added weight it took her a little longer to reach the crossroad. When she reached her destination, she was shocked to see it empty. She had expected to see Kuroro idly waiting for her with lumps of lumps of dead meat. When she was sure she was not hiding she sat down at the middle and waited.
She sat at the crossroad, kicking pebbles to pass her time. She had forty minutes to wait for him. With her hands limp on her knees, she waited and waited.
She saw a few small animals along the way, none of them looked anything like the animals she saw back home and if Gon was here he would have termed them 'cute' and made happy friends with them. But in their survival mode those cute things would be in one way or another become their savored next meal. They look fat and meaty too. It wasn't animal cruelty, she told herself. Just nature taking its course.
She didn't have a watch with her but she guessed Kuroro was late for more than ten minutes already. She sighed. A deal is a deal and now she would have to put up with the end of her bargain. Kurapika did not want to leave the buckets of fresh water she had just harvested unattended. So she took big, clean looking leaves to act as its cover.
She mentally cursed Kuroro and made notes that he should have at least two days worth of food, if not and he was only dawdling his time and teasing her... then their would be hell to pay.
The stinging in Kuroro's eyes worsened as he blinked. He could feel his eyes prickle at the foreign invasion of the fine, powdered material. He was able to kill three wild boars before the last one had accidentally pushed him in this ditch were the leaves have powdered poison that left him temporarily (hopefully) blind. If somebody was looking at him without knowledge on what was happening, they would have described him as crying.
He didn't scrub his eyes, it would only make the sting and the damage worse. He had never been blind in his life and for the moment he could only forget his sense of sight to heighten his other senses. Mainly touch and hearing. His sense of smell was whacked out, he lived in Ryuuseigai after all. With his heightened touch, he avoided going nearer the walls of the ditches were most of the unnamed plant thrived.
He was helpless against his body's natural way of fighting the poison, so he just let the tears flow out of his eyes and hopefully it would wash away majority of the poison. Dammit. He was not one for cussing but how funny it was, having cured the Kuruta of her poisoning and now having himself poisoned by some unknown material. He had some all-purpose antidote left but that was safely hidden in the bed he occupied, very far away from his reach. Even if he did have it, how would he inject it in his system? He would have no trouble stabbing himself with it, but he knew he would have trouble putting the medicine in the syringe.
He sighed, it was way past their meeting time. When not even a chirp of a lone bird was heard, he knew she was not coming. If she was as valiant with him in their truce as she was in fighting, disagreeing with him then he was safe. Kuroro Lucifer wanted to think that way, to doubt her loyalty and her word. But he knew her now better than he did in the past. The girl would come look for him because she said so. Cheesy, as it may be but the thought was fleeting across his mind.
She would be looking for him right about now. He only needed to wait. So far, to pass his time, he diagnosed himself for anymore damages. Extra careful not to put any poison to his not yet healed wounds. His left hand had most of the powdered poison which explained the sting it had, so he used his right hand.
After his initial diagnosis, the gash on his leg reopened, that too had powdered poison on it. The fall he took probed his flesh to bleed and he didn't have anything that won't worsen the wound. His shirt was too torn and too dirty to tie around it while his pants... Well, he won't part with it. He won't bleed to death, he was in a much much more injured situation without any food, water and medicine for eight days and he survived. How much more this? He finished his self-check up and was not surprised to know that aside from that he suffered no more injuries.
He laid on the ground, meditating. He won't be able to do anything, until the girl comes or his body heals itself. It would take him at least a day to heal his leg for him to walk and his sight... just about a week and a half before he could see silhouettes. That would help, and if his sight would never return again, he could make do.
.
.
.
"Where the hell are you?!" Kurapika was pissed to find no hair or hide of Kuroro, she found tracks of wild boars but aside from that found nothing that indicated he was there. She was yelling more and more now, calling for him with threats attached to it. She was even willing to do all the threats she just promised. She balled her fists and sighed. Frustrated at the thought he might be playing a stupid game with her, she stopped and maneuvered away from the meadow back to the crossing where she would get a couple of animals and the pales and go back to cook herself a happy meal.
The thought made her happy but something was nagging at the back of her mind. Kuroro was not one to prank or play games with her. Debates and the usual arguments, but this..? Something was wrong and she hoped she was wrong.
Kurapika stopped when she saw something that pointed towards wherever the possible location of Kuroro was. She saw three dead boar- look alike things that were just lying around. Their dead bodies looked like they were really killed by Kuroro since they had impaled objects on their bodies. She walked towards it with her forehead scrunched up, coming up with various explanations why this were just left alone. Leaving everything in such disarray was not how he liked to do his assignments and mission. Heck, he even had a way of eating a simple sandwich. So the three boars lying around?
She got behind the unruly pile and looked at where the grass too out of place. Kurapika got a long stick from the side and poked through the area. As she guessed, she saw who she was looking for at the bottom of the ditch, looking for once in his life, more worn out than her. Kurapika gave a fast look at her appearance and compared it with his.
Here she was, still a little feverish yet somehow doing much more better than him by a thousand miles. He looked up at her voice and she noted, his eyes were closed and as he opened them they look red and angry. Angry in the sense, his cornea was obviously infected. Badly infected.
"..." She didn't know what words to say. She wanted to burst out to conniptions, looking at him made her laugh but she was not that cruel yet. From how his ears were moving slightly, he was picking everything she did. His heightened hearing picked up he slight hitch in her voice. He was that sharp and she must be careful not to make any funny remarks or even just the slightest giggle at his look. " You have a premature, second-hand copy of my scarlet eyes."
She was not one to reign her temper or tongue in check, especially when it concerned him of all people.
"The truce, Kuruta. The truce." He reminded her in a very dry tone. He had expected this jibe from her. As she commented about his eyes, it was a combination of bitterness and mockery and just a plain tease that his eyes looked terrible. Nobody had dared make fun of him before but he had a good idea on how to hush the situation. He would ignore her.
"I know." Kurapika snickered at him. She was slightly irritated he was snapping at her about their agreement. "How do you think I should get you up five meters up from my current location?"
That made him think about the things they could do to get him up. Knowing how far down he was, helped. When he fell, he was not able to guess how much he fell. He tried to stand up and his bad leg almost gave way. With his extreme tolerance to pain, he was able to stand up without even wavering.
From how she asked him, she was not yet aware that he was blind. He didn't fancy telling her that but the dilemma at hand called for it. He figured he would just give it to her to figure out while he would use the remaining of his senses past its limit.
"Can you see anything long enough to pull me up?"
Kurapika looked around her and saw long vines that were all covered in white powdery substance, the vine looked sturdy enough, "I can see a white vine."
"If it is covered in some kind of powder, forget it." Kuroro muttered dryly. If she had another wound on her hand, then it would poison her again, that would make it hard for them to recover from their situation. Kurapika mumbled something he didn't quite catch. It wasn't the poison affecting him, he was slightly immune to it. He was blind because it had direct contact with the substance.
"I can push this boars off and you stand on them." Kurapika remembered the prank Killua had pulled on Leorio. Leorio was stuck in a ditch similar to this, while Killua refused to offer any help to their protesting friend. Kurapika did not blame Killua for doing what he did, Leorio had over crossed his bounds when he played a stupid prank on an April Fool's day. A protesting Gon was tied on a pole by Killua, who wanted to punish Leorio for eating his beloved stash of chocolate which he spent his last jennies on. Leorio got out when Kurapika, finally having had enough of his whining, pushed all the pillows she could find at Leorio, who used it as boost to help him up. Clever move out of him.
Instead of white fluffy pillows, here she was rolling off dead piggies to Kuroro. On a normal, sunny day, she would want nothing more than to squish him with the said pigs. She frowned when she saw Kuroro had a slightly hard time avoiding the pigs she threw down at him.
"What's wrong with you?" She didn't hiss it too much but she demanded an answer. He wasn't telling her something very important and it was annoying.
"I'm blind." Kuroro said it with so much impassiveness, somebody else would think he was not so bothered about it. But the slight movement in his shoulders meant he was not as relaxed as he was portraying to be. With an airy wave of his hand, he dismissed it. "I'm hoping its temporary."
Kurapika did not say anything to him about his current blindness. Courtesy of what he did earlier last night, he at least deserved that much decency from her. The pigs were piled up to boost two meters for him. Leaving him three meters to do on his own. Today was his first time at not being able to see, she experienced that once and it did not feel good. She felt a small ounce of pity for him but did not allow to give any more than that. She had other things to occupy her mind, the first being she'd have to find a way to pull him up.
The stick she held earlier would never do, she needed something long... preferably something that would bend and something she had on hand. She didn't want to travel back to the cottage since she might meet the herd of the boars Kuroro just killed. It would take too much time.
"Remove your shirt and throw it up." Kurapika told him in a barking tone. He gave her an incredulous look and did not do anything to comply with her request. Even though he was blind and currently had no line of vision, the way he looked at her made her feel he was faking it, like he was faking everything. "I said throw it up."
"I always wanted to play with a Dominatrix." The jibe at her was payback for her cheap shot about his eyes being a second-rate scarlet ones. He swiftly peeled his shirt away from his body before balling it and throwing it up, just like what she said. His long-sleeved, tattered shirt hit her square in the face. When he knew she was fuming widely at him, he shrugged her off as if to say, 'I'm blind'. He stood shirtless down below, waiting for her to make her next move. It would be faster if he helped or even just contribute a little in her plan to get him out but it was very rare when she was not too bent on hating him and he won't let the opportunity pass. He figured he would abuse this 'truce' until it would be last effective.
Kurapika straightened the shirt Kuroro was previously wearing. She would get back at him with the Dominatrix comment... She would... Just he wait. Kurapika ignored the blood creeping up her face at the sexual implications he was having. The shirt was too short when she finally threw it down while holding the sleeve of the other. She needed another article of clothing to use as a rope. Dammit. Dam this nen-block. Damn it. Damn everything.
She looked at him and saw his pants. It would make all their problems go away. But, with his dirty mind and his very lewd comments. It would probably give her a heart attack. He was standing shirtless now and her decency and up-bringing would never permit her to ask for somebody else's pants. Much less his.
She looked around and can only think of one thing. Her own shirt. No, she wouldn't. She just couldn't. What if somebody passes by? What if, in some ungodly turn of events, he regained his vision? Oh the humiliation.. But.. she wanted this done and over with. It would only take a maximum of three minutes exposure for her before he was finally on dry land. She got a rock and threw it down. It hit him square in the face.
He didn't comment about it, but looked annoyed. "Ooops."
That was a test to see whether he was really blind of just plainly, as she put it before, faking it. When he was not able to avoid him and looked pissingly at her direction, she knew it was genuine. Kurapika sighed and the redness around her cheeks was something she would never ever forget.
It took a lot of time before he finally felt something hit him on his head. When he touched it, it was the familiar soft fabric of his shirt, tainted with a little of his blood. He levered himself and tugged at it, an indication he was going to climb up already. Kurapika, without her full strength could not pull him up herself and could only stop the make-shift rope from slipping past her hands, she would have tied it around the tree if it were longer.
As Kuroro gripped the shirt he felt a knot on his left hand. When he touched it again to make sure, he was confident that something else was tied along with his shirt. The rope was too long to be made only out of one clothing. He thought of another painful tease that would sure infuriate her.
Out of all the timings they have, today was the worst. As Kuroro was almost up and out of the ditch, a herd of rampaging boars came and stopped near them, surrounding the ditch as they continued stomping in place. Kurapika yelled for Kuroro to at least go a little more faster. She can't fight them all with her hands occupied. A small boar, definitely a young one, rushed in towards Kurapika with his head pushing towards her. Kurapika thought fast and moved a step back, pulling the rope with her.
Instead of hitting her square in the stomach, the boar hit the rope and with his force, was able to pull up Kuroro without any difficulty. The boar freed itself from the tied clothing but not without sending Kuroro flying towards Kurapika, who in all her life, was stunned to see a wild boar with a yellow star printed at its buttom.
As the young boar continued to trudge past the heavy part of the woods, the other boars followed closely behind, no longer minding them.
Kuroro and Kurapika laid side by side in the forest. Just a little stunned at had happened.
.
.
.
"Allie, go check your parent's hut. Some burglars might have come and gotten the wee bit of things your parents left behind for you." A small little boy, with brown hair and sky blue eyes happily agreed with what his beloved grandmother told him. He finished the last of his sandwich before walking towards the familiar abandoned trail he knew ever since as a child. He sometimes visited the little hut he grew up in, sometimes twice a week, just to make sure everything was still into place.
He is an orphan now, his Mommy and Daddy were killed by a wild beast just a few months before.
Allie was very upset by what had happened. Out of all the couples walking in the forest, why did it have to be his parents? He knew his grandmother loved him but not as much as the love she gives his other cousins. But at least he was with people he knew as a child... right? But how he missed his parents so terribly.
He waved goodbye to his grandmother before finally taking the first turn towards his home. It didn't occur to him how a little careless his grandmother was compared to her other grandchildren. He always reasoned with himself, she just loved them more that's why she always kept them closer. His parents were just killed by a wild animal, yet here he was, alone and simply too vulnerable for any attacks. He hummed to himself and along the way, willing for his fright to vanish. Songs always help him calm down. Among his cousins, he was the only one who can sing, he feels a little smug because of it. He was happy to be back and take a break away from his grandmother and unruly cousins.
When he was finally back into his home, the happy bubble he had himself in was popped. He was more than shocked and angry to see smoke coming out of the chimney. His grandmother is right! There are thieves inside!
With shaking hands, he grabbed a crooked stick across the yard. He took a few gulps of air to calm his nerves and remembered how his father taught him to protect his now dead mother every time his father was away on a journey. Allie felt his heart twist to see the door knob turned into an unknown way, he didn't leave his house like this and it reminded him, that someday other people would come live in this place he had called home, and now that someday has come.
Allie burst inside the door and became angrier to see two unfamiliar people wearing extremely funny (tattered) clothing lying down on his parents' respective beds. A quick glance around the room, he saw their family pot being used to cook something. A quick sniff told him it was stew. A delicious stew. But it was made by people who were not his parents, they shouldn't even be here in the first place. His brows furrowed together as he thought of ways to drive them away from his hut.
The man, who had an equally funny cross shape mark on his forehead raised an eyebrow at him and Allie raised an eyebrow back.
"You're trespassing on my parents' house!" Allie cried obnoxiously and tried hitting the girl on his mother's bed with the stick he had. The blond girl easily avoided it by moving her head to the left and gave him a glare usually reserved for people she extremely disliked.
Allie gulped and took a step back.
The two people ignored him and continued to do what they were previously doing before the brat barged inside. Kurapika continued lying down on the bed and threw the stick poking her back to her side, scowling at the ceiling while Kuroro was pleasantly sitting on the bed waiting for the stew to cook, he had just injected himself with the antidote with barely little help from Kurapika. Currently, he could feel a burning sensation in his cornea, but that was just the antidote doing its job. The pain meant his nerves were healing and that was good news for him. He was still blind though.
They were both wrong in assuming the area was entirely uninhibited. But it was dark and they were both mortally wounded, so he'd forget their current lapse of judgment. He felt something against his knee and didn't take long for him to realize the boy was abusing him with a stick. It didn't hurt but it was annoying, more so the boy was hitting him on his bad leg. He heard Kurapika snicker at him and when he faced her direction he got a scoff from her.
"That woman wants to play." Kuroro grabbed the boy by his shoulders, turned him around and gently pushed him towards Kurapika's general direction. The boy stopped whipping him to now strike Kurapika with the said stick in the same manner the boy hit him. Kurapika tried to pry the stick off gently but seeing the kid was just too much and plainly too aggressive and somehow reminded her of the spoiled boss she once upon a time had, her irritation got the better of her as she got the stick and broke in into two before throwing it away in opposite directions.
Instead of crying like what Kurapika thought, the boy sat down next to her and pointed an accusing finger.
"I want you out of my house." No matter how small or young the child was it was still embarrassing to be thrown out of their temporary shelter they thought nobody occupied. The thought was not troubling to Kuroro, who had no second objections plainly ignoring the boy.
But to Kurapika who was raised in a very different environment who respected personal space and property, she sighed. If they don't comply with the boy, other villagers from where he came from might show up at their door step, with many questions and suspicions. If they go out, she would not be able to fend off the wild beasts along with dragging a blind, nen-blocked Kuroro while she was nen-blocked herself... Kuroro would not really be a hindrance since he could handle himself but that did not lessen the wilderness they were in. "What do you want in exchange then, for us to at least stay a couple of nights?"
"Maximum three days and four nights." Was the curfew he had before his older, rowdy cousins would come 'pick' him up and make a game out of him. It was all that he could offer and he had this childhood dream he always wanted to experience. Was this the last gift his parents were offering him? It's almost Christmas too... After all.. this strangers were in his own home, making themselves comfortable and using things that were obviously not theirs. They might be his Christmas gifts, poorly wrapped but still gifts.. Both Kuroro and Kurapika shared the same sentiments and none of them resembled what the boy thought. They computed in their minds, three days...By that time, they would have already healed, it was a generous offer, they only needed to try and please the boy. "Pretend to be my family."
Kuroro stifled a mocking laugh as he heard the child utter the word family. He never had one, how was he supposed to play father to a wayward child who had just been playing 'whip your knee' with him? Kurapika did not bother her look of disgust as she stared at the boy who looked too eager on what he had said. She didn't sleep so well last night, because of that trick Kuroro pulled, her energy was drained out earlier when he was stuck in a ditch and she was forced to do things so out of her own principles. It had been a very tiring day and sad to say it had not ended yet. The final trial came in the form of a little boy.. And now here she was, playing deal with a child who did not know what he was asking for.
"How old are you?" Kurapika started. The boy gave a small grin before proudly stating, he just turned five years old.
"I'm only nineteen. I can't be your mom. Pretend or not." Kurapika said disdainfully. She was not ignorant with what happened between a married couple, and no, she had never ever done it when she was twelve. Much less, with a twenty-one year old Kuroro Lucifer. The thought made her shudder, with his earlier comments it just made her imagination more vivid than it actually was.
That thought was just wrong in so many different levels.
"Who said anything about being my parents? I had one though they're dead." Allie said it in bypassing but Kurapika felt a little sorry for him. That explained why he was really searching for attention. He also said it like it was natural for them to think he wanted them as his siblings and not something else. "I always wanted older siblings. You'd be a perfect older sister for me. Look, we even share the same eyes!"
Allie pushed his face towards her and opened his eyes wide, willing her to actually examine it.
Kurapika sighed before humoring the child and annoyingly peered at his blue orbs, Kurapika grudgingly admitted the shade was as light as hers, rare as it was, but that's were all the similarities ended. Her eyes were much more unique way too much for him to catch up. But she didn't tell him that. A kid that he was would result in more tiresome questions.
"Told you didn't I? That's the first thing I noticed as you glared at me." The boy said smugly before going up the bed to sit beside her. His eyes were the only things they shared in common, he was way too angular to possess any more than the shape of her eyes. "I'm called Allie. What are your names?"
"My name is Kurapika,"Allie did what he always wanted when he finally had a sibling. His mother was pregnant with his younger sibling when she was eaten. He always wanted to hug one, his cousins were not people he wanted to hug, only people he would love to rough house with.. And now that he had 'sister', even if she is as temporary as they come, he finally did it. He hugged her by her waist and buried his face in her stomach. It was a nice feeling to hug a sister, even when she had her arms awkwardly wrapped around his shoulder. The other nice feeling he got were the times he was being hugged by his aunt, who in all her kindness was out of town, the same time his parents were killed. She should be back soon, hopefully in time for Christmas.
The stew started to boil, instead of Kurapika going to simmer it, Allie got off the bed and took out a wooden ladle from a hidden cupboards and stirred it with much practice. "Since we're family now, I can cook for you."
The boy was very insistent on them being a 'family'. Kuroro stayed on the bed, half-blocking everything the boy was saying. He got pieces of it though, words like Christmas, two days, spend it together. Allie, as he had introduced himself, wanted to do a picnic outing at the top of the mountain. Kuroro wanted nothing more than to stay put in this hut where Shalnark would be able to find them easily. Kurapika diffused the situation by pretending to sleep and paying so little attention to him.
As the boy continued to ramble on about what he wanted to do with them, Kuroro rested his head against the pillow and slept. He didn't know whether his eye lids were closed or not since everything was still as pitch black. When in the darkness, Kuroro was able to make out shapes and colors that turned to things he could finally recognize that's when he knew he was finally asleep and dreaming. He rarely dreamed and mostly if he had, it would be a lucid dream.
In this dream he was having, he was in a middle of a rocky field. The same one where he buried Menma's body. The familiar contour of the land was a slight nostalgic feeling for him. It's been almost six years now and he could still remember his friend. He sat down on the grass just in front the area he buried his dead.
His nose may not be as sharp as his other senses but he just knew the sweet smell of the grass, the smell which was unimaginable when he was a child.
'Better than all those trashes, isn't it?' Menma was beside him, his head pillowed by his hands. Menma closed his eyes as he continued to savor the clean smell of fresh air, the light breeze that passed by rumpled their clothing and their hair. Menma's brown hair was a contrast to the green grass. A topic of their teasing. Menma cracked an eye open to look at him and gave a light hearted smirk.
Kuroro smirked back, feeling like they were teenagers again. This time line Kuroro had procured, was the same one when Menma had refused to be a spider. Kuroro did not feel any bitterness or remorse that his friend did not want to join his plight. He knew the answer well enough even before he asked. Menma was not as hard as the usual children of Ryuuseigai. He retained a part of him that Kuroro and the others had lost as they grew up. Kuroro pushed this thought out of his mind and he wondered why he had subconsciously wanted to experience this again. This happened how long ago? Kuroro closed his eyes and counted back the years. More than ten years already...
'Damn right, you are.' The new booming voice came from his left. Jedis laid down on Kuroro's left. Unlike Kuroro and Menma, Jedis possessed a brass tongue and an even more brass attitude, he fought where Kuroro would have simply outsmarted the enemy. They were opposites yet they formed this strong friendship through the thickest bonds formed in Ryuuseigai. Kuroro stared right ahead of him, knowing where exactly this talk was going. He could hear the playful banter Menma and Jedis had exchanged. Dreamed it as exactly what happened because he knew the exact words they said. They were asking him questions again. Laughing even when he did not say anything and remained stoic, sitting down on the grass in between them but already worlds away.
It was useless to reply to the figments of his imagination.
Along his lucid dreaming, he lost control and it turned into an ordinary dream. The slight breeze he had only a second ago controlled turned into heavy gushes until he thought it was the same typhoon he had just weathered out some nights ago. The three of them remained sitting in the same area, even as the green grass started to peel off and the blue skies turned into blackest black. The lucid dream he had was gone and here was a nightmare in the making. Except Kuroro never liked nightmares and he could forced himself to wake up before the dream gets to worsen itself.
Kuroro wanted to wake up. He willed his mind to do so.
Just before he lost the grip he had on his sleep, when he was at the edge of waking up. He felt a steely grip on his hand, that won't let go. When ahead of him, he saw the face of Menma, confused and torn. Kuroro was lost for words, in this dream he had, this friend of his had haunted him. He believed in souls and the life there after, was this Menma's way of talking to him? Menma looked too haunted.
"What had you done?" Menma asked.
Kuroro had a lump on his throat that just wouldn't go away, wouldn't let him talk. Before Kuroro could answer, he woke up. The lump on his throat was gone. As he opened his eyes, his vision was still black but he could see a faint silhouette of Menma looking at him.
He tried his best not to rub the sleep off his eyes, so he blinked his lids slowly until he could see clearly the faint shadows. It was not Menma as he'd thought but the little boy who was looking at him.
.
.
.
A/n
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY! Thank you very much for the support. :D We have reached the two hundred mark last chapter, thank you very much for all the love and support. *hugs everybody*
Thank you to:
MelonBerry- I'm sorry if you became hysterical. :( That happens sometimes I think. If that happens again, just pm or comment with your email and I'll send you the chapter. :D Thank you!
Nobody Knows- the lemon will come soon. ;D I'm reading lemons right now to educate myself on the right way. Yes, I see what you want to point out and I was smiling as I read it. Hihi. XD Thank you for the inspirations, it shall be used on the later chapter with credit to you, of course. Thank you! :D
freddiethegoat & SpadePirates4Eva - Thank you Freddie and Spades! :D
I'oOoMoOo – I'm glad you think so. :D
Ayumika - Thank you too Ayumika! :D
Shingeki no brocolli- They shall be used. :D Thank you!
Smile-Smile-Smile Thank you!
LunaNymph - You're welcome and thank you! :D The revelation *If the chapters have names it shall be called that, hihi* is going to happen soon. :D
BabyBOOOOM - Thank you!
Favor girl , , Guest , hitomi65 , . .ribbons ,Guest , alltheothernamesaretaken – Thank you! :D
KaRisa-Hime- Thank you Krs! :D
Guest- I update about a week. :D Sorry if I made you wait.
Thank you for all those who faved, followed, read and reviewed! :D
A very, very happy holidays to you all, I hope you spend it just the way you want to. More blessings to you and your loved ones. And once again thank you for reading!
:D
*Insert a Christmas tree with lots and lots of hearts.*