AN: Just found out Hunter x Hunter is going on hiatus. Again. I'm bitter, but I expected this. Been a good two months or so. Also, sorry for not updating last week. Also, sorry this chapter is sort of fluff because I forgot the plot midway through writing it, but remembered it at the end kind of.
Twenty-One
Kurapika scrambled to silence his phone as Senritsu's melody filtered lightly through the air for a few seconds before he managed to finally shut the infernal device off. And curse himself for his awful carelessness.
Kuroro was side-eying him with a look that was a cross between annoyed and amused. Mostly amused if his slightly-teasing grin was anything to judge by.
"I know you're over there!" Officer Someone said, soft footsteps padding towards the window. "Put your hands up! Now! Or I'll shoot!"
Fat chance. Several ideas flashed through Kurapika's head, all of them resulting in more crimes being piled atop of what was becoming a mountain of vices. I don't want to hurt a cop though, so he motioned to the roof.
Kuroro stared at him and mouthed you sure? He wasn't, but he also wasn't about to try avoiding gunfire on the ledge of a window, twenty-some feet in the air. He looked up for something to grapple on to, finally finding a small nook his hand could fit into it. He pulled himself up, but somehow lost his footing and slipped.
With surprising speed, Kuroro grabbed him, and for the briefest of seconds he thought wow, he's actually strong enough to stop me from falling, but then he seemed to lose his footing too and fell after him.
Kurapika swung his chain towards the house. It stuck, stopping his fall with a jerk that made both his hands ache. At least, it stopped Kurapika's fall. Having not used enough lenth, Kuroro's feet hit the ground below them with a thud.
"Ouch," Kuroro said, standing upright.
"Sorry," Kurapika said, landing next to him. "You okay?"
"Surprisingly yes though I'm pretty sure I should've broken a leg or two." As if to assure him, the taller man shot him a lazy grin and took a few steps in a circle on the sandy shore. And he did seem fine, so Kurapika decided not to worry about it too much. They used Officer Somebody's boat to get back to shore.
Once inside a motel, Kurapika flopped down on the bed, shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. Not that he could get any sleep. Sleep was for the weak.
"Can I see your phone?" Kuroro asked.
He pointed to the nightstand. Kuroro seemed to make a point of leaning dramatically over him to pluck it up. And Kurapika pretended, eyes half-closed, that he wasn't studying the older man's grim expression intensely as he went through the pictures they'd taken. This man is Kuroro Lucilfer, and while he had known that already, it still seemed a difficult thing to wrap his mind around. What happens when he gets his memories back? What happens if the handcuffs don't come off?
"Got anything?" Kuroro asked.
"About what? You're the one with the phone."
"Don't pretend you're not looking." He glanced down at him, and pushed the phone in his face. "Any ideas or anything, you know about the fact that I may have a stalker."
"Jasper's in love with you," he replied, pushing the phone out of his face. "There, I solved the mystery."
"Well, who could blame him?" Kuroro gave him a sly grin.
"Don't flatter yourself." He sat upright and took the phone from him. "But seriously, he had a shrine dedicated to you and the Troupe...there's no way you would not notice someone taking pictures of you though. All of you are extremely skilled Nen users; if someone was following you, even for a second you'd know." He thought back to his own memories of following the Troupe through Yorkshin with Gon and Killua. Yeah, they would definitely know.
"Maybe Jasper can mimic someone's Nen?" Kururo said. "There were two Jaspers back there...maybe he had a twin?"
"Twins or shapeshifters, they're both dead now." But it was a thought. The men they'd given the fake book too seemed to know something, but did they really? He got the impression they wanted the book just to have it, not because they knew its significance.
"When we first met Jasper...that bizarre museum..." Kurapika said. "Was that some kind of clue?"
Kuroro gave a shrug and fell back onto the bed, his head nestled atop the large pillow. "I don't know. It's possible Jasper, or whoever he is, was following me even before I lost my memory. Or vice versa."
"I just don't see how you wouldn't notice that though." He opened up his missed calls. Twenty-seven new voicemails I should at least call Senritsu back…
"Maybe I did notice," Kuroro said. "I can imagine thinking I could outsmart him."
"Kuroro Lucilfer biting off more than he can chew?" Right, but then again Kurapika himself had been able to outsmart him, albeit using devious methods at best, despite not being more skilled in Nen than him. It's entirely possible. "What riddle did the riddler give us?" he asked.
"What goes up but doesn't come down." Kuroro frowned. "Smoke and mirrors."
"What?"
"Nothing. Was just thinking the riddler was smoking when we met him. Smoke and mirrors or hiding the truth with irrelevant or misleading information...which is exactly what keeps happening to us." His frown deepened and Kurapika was sure he'd never seen the man look quite this sober before. "Is there any more information on Jasper. Like what he does exactly?"
"Shipping company. Departure." But he was pretty sure most of what Jasper did was just a front for whatever shady, underground mess he was involved in. Maybe mafia.
Kurapika pressed the phone to his ear and listened.
"Hey Kurapika…just wanted to check on you. Uh not much is happening here, really. But Light is missing you badly. Apparently, one of his drug buddies just kicked the bucket and he's in disarray. You know the usual sketchy stuff and frankly it's no worst than his normal mental breakdowns. Anyway, give me a call when you get this. Just worried about you. Bye."
"Girlfriend?" Kuroro asked, peering over at him curiously.
Kurapika set his phone on the nightstand. "No. My boss is having a panic attack, apparently…I wonder if Light knew Jasper," Kurapika said that last bit mostly to himself.
"Light?" Kuroro's eyebrows narrowed.
"My…boss. Sort of. Don't give me that look. I don't have a significant other, okay."
"Relax, okay. I'm not giving you any look, you're projecting." Kuroro shook his head.
He refrained from rolling his eyes, or saying something snappy, and instead picked up his phone and looked up Departure Shipping Company, a search that resulted in zero new information. The company shipped things, sometimes rare things, and the Hunter's website revealed Jasper liked to collect rare items for his wife and had brought a museum for her too, nothing I didn't already know. With a sigh, he sat the phone down again and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I think our problem is we're rather desperate to separate ourselves from each other, so anything that seems even remotely like it will lead us to my memories we go after," Kuroro said. "Instead of us pausing to think critically about it."
He could only nod at that, because what started this mess was lack of thinking. "So what do you suggest? This seems like an actual lead, one we should try to follow."
"Does it?" Kuroro gave his signature quirk of an eyebrow. And Kurapika could only shoot him an annoyed look, because I'm pretty sure he knows what my answer will be. But smoke and mirrors.
"Okay, so let's assume this is a solid lead. What would be our first, natural step we'd take?" Kurapika asked, glancing at his phone. Why do I keep thinking about Senritsu? Damn it. "I guess…we'd more than likely either try to get that fake book back or find someone who knows what Jasper really does."
Kuroro nodded. "Which is why I'm going to suggest we do nothing for a little while. The riddler is watching us. If we don't do anything, he'll do something."
"What makes you so sure the riddler will act?"
"A hunch mostly, but I'm assuming that the riddler can't just keep us indefinitely chained together without it affecting him too and at some point he's got to reach his endgame, even if that endgame is just to mess with a couple of strangers," he said. "So let's say the riddler wasn't targeting us, we just got unlucky and ran into him, he might forget about us every, but he's bound to think of us at some point in time and check up on us. And being a riddler, his natural proclivity will be to egg us towards our goal. But the riddler knew I had lost my memories, meaning I encountered him at some point before meeting you."
"You think he's the reason you lost them?" Kurapika asked.
"Possibly...or he might just have some ability that allows him to know certain things," he replied.
Kurapika frowned. "Well I can't just sit here and do nothing, even if you're right, which I don't think you are."
"Then let's go out."
Going out to Kuroro meant trolling bars, which Kurapika found both interesting and tiring. Interesting in that apparently the leader of the Troupe likes to drink, which he found surprising for several reasons. Namely because what little he knew about Kuroro Lucilfer, he seemed to be a man who liked control. Tiring in that Kurapika rapidly realized he was not cut out for the bar life, nor the odd stares they got attached together like some weird S&M couple
"Do you drink often?" Kurapika asked, sitting at a round, wooden table. Has the chain gotten longer? He tugged on it slightly, then hid his arm under the table.
"Not sure," Kuroro replied. "You drink?"
"No. Drinking is unhealthy."
"Everything in moderation." Kuroro grinned at him, then flagged a waiter down and ordered two beers. That's right, he stole a bunch of money. He took a little comfort in knowing the stolen finds were from crooks, but still.
Kurapika leaned back against his seat, feeling oddly relaxed. Which he could only take as a sign that things were about to take a turn for the worst. He eyed the beer served to them for a moment, before risking a tentative sip which he nearly choked on. "That taste awful," he said.
"It's an acquired taste," Kuroro replied, taking a swig from his own bottle.
The silence settling between them was not the comfortable kind, oddly enough. Because despite all the time spent together, they hadn't really spent much time together. And Kurapika was still trying to ignore the fact that Kuroro really was Kuroro, because what bothered him more than anything that had happened to him thus far was that he didn't really mind that Kuroro is actually Kuroro, which sounded a bit like blasphemy.
"What'd you grab from Jasper's room?" Kurapika asked, nestling his beer in his hands. He wanted to at least give the appearance of drinking.
Both eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Hmm?"
"Don't play dumb."
Kuroro took a long drink from his bottle, nearly emptying it. He dropped the bottle on the table with a clunk. "Part of an article I thought might be useful, but I threw it away by mistake."
"Oh." He risked another sip. Still gross.
Several beers later, Kuroro was by all appearances no drunker than he had been at the start of the night, even walking upright without any apparent issues back to their motel. And Kurapika did feel slightly less stressed out in general, if not a little tipsy.
"I have to make a phone call," he said, sitting down on the bed.
"Want me to plug my ears?" Kuroro reached up and covered both ears with his hands.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Senritsu. "Just don't look at me. Or make any noise."
Kuroro snorted, but turned his head towards the sole window in the room. The phone rang a few times before she answered.
"Kurapika!" She sounded far too excited for the late hour. "Wow, I honestly didn't think you'd call me back."
"Well, I did." Inhale. Don't be rude to her. "So what's going on with Light?"
"One of his friends died earlier in the week, so he's just having a moment. Particularly now that you aren't around," she replied. "You really are his crutch."
"I did tell him I was leaving." Sort of.
"Yeah…I didn't call to talk about him though," she replied, sounding sullen. "What's going on with you?"
"Nothing much, honestly. I haven't had much luck with the Scarlet Eyes." He hoped the lie sounded as smooth to her ear as his own, but the fact that Kuroro snorted made him think probably not.
"Who's that?" she asked.
"Who's what?"
"Come on, you know I have super hearing. Someone snorted."
Kurapika cleared his throat, and Kuroro shot him a you're-not-doing-a-very good-job look. "I'm guessing it's room service, who just left." He put a finger to his lip.
"Oh okay," she said, sounding anything but convinced. "Well…just wanted to check on you. If you need anything, let me know."
"Sure thing," he said. "By the way, who was Light's acquaintance? And how badly will it hurt his business."
"Won't make things any better, that's for sure. And it's Sachiko…something."
"Jasper?"
"Yeah. You know him?"
"Uh….I was following a lead on the Scarlet Eyes and it led me to him- where he lives."
"Oh. Well, apparently someone killed him in his mansion. Light's worried because he isn't the first of his inner circle to have been murdered recently."
"Meaning?" he asked.
"Uh…I just mean since you left, well before you left but you weren't paying attention, a string of Light's cohorts and their families were murdered violently in their homes," she replied, her voice sounding sober. "Light is worried he's next. When you left, he had another bad mental breakdown. Not that I'm trying to guilt you into returning. I support your decision to leave, but…it's just been not that much fun."
Interesting. "Any idea on who might have killed Jasper?"
"Light thinks it's someone wanting to get revenge on them, but aside from the fact that they're all tied to the mafia, there's nothing really connecting them. They might all be in the Ritz Clan, but that's about it," she replied. "We've been looking into it."
Kurapika glanced at Kuroro. "I have to go, but thanks for the information. Could you do me a favor and send me everything about these murders you have?"
She let out a heavy sigh. "Only for you."
"I appreciate it."
"Pick up your phone…Kurapika." With that, she hung up.
Kurapika grimaced, mostly to himself, then explained to Kuroro what was going on.
That morning, they went to a library for lack of anywhere else that had access to the Internet.
"I can buy you a laptop," Kuroro said, as Kurapika logged into his e-mail address.
"I don't want your stolen goods," he replied. One-hundred eighty-seven unread e-mails. Great.
"I didn't say steal, I said buy. But I can do that too."
He shot him a dark look. "No!" An old lady with silver hair next to them grunted loudly. Damn, I can't wait to get these off of me. His wrist ached and the red bracelet on his skin was getting brighter each day.
Senritsu had sent him some things last night, which he perused through quietly while Kuroro read a book he'd plucked off the shelf. So he likes to read…? He shook himself and re-focused. There wasn't much. Light and some coworkers of his, including Jasper, had screwed someone out of a black market trade a month or so ago. Then, one by one, they began dying. All in a similar manner, murdered in their own homes alongside their entire families. The only thing connecting them besides their unfair deal, was the fact that each body was found alongside a doppelgänger, which disappeared shortly after being discovered.
"Read this," Kurapika said
Kuroro looked at the screen for a few seconds. "Interesting. So Jasper feat Light and crew screwed someone out of money and…think they've been cursed or something?"
"Sounds like it," Kurapika replied. And it certainly was within the realm of possibility. "How is that connected to you though?"
"Maybe it's not?"
The lady grunted again eying him and dropped a book on the floor, so he motioned for Kuroro to follow him to the history section of the library. He plucked a book off the shelf, opened it, and lowered his voice. "Maybe."
"Maybe Jasper was tracking me," Kuroro said, voice near a whisper. He leaned closer to him. "Maybe he thought I was the one killing his cohorts. I wonder how recent those pictures of the Troupe and me are."
Kurapika could only sigh. "Only one way to find out."