I wanted you to know…that I love the way you laugh. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away – Broken by Seether ft. Amy Lee of Evanescence

Chapter 28: Insanity

Someone was watching us.

I spun in a slow circle, as if admiring our surroundings. The ship wasn't crowded, per say, but it certainly did have quite the number of passengers.

"Gon." I leaned against the side railing, where he was seated. He nodded, smiling out at the waves. So he felt it, too.

The class trip for winter break, it was an optional field trip. Not to mention pricey. Though it had originally been destined to take place on a nearby island, it was amazingly simple to hack into the school system.

We were on our way to Yorkshiin.

"Do you think we'll see him?" Gon asked, looking down at me. I blinked, momentarily distracted from the eyes staring at the back of my head. "Him? Oh, you mean Kurapika."

Now it was his turn to blink. "What? I meant Santa Claus!"

"Gon!"

"Ow! Why'd you hit me?"

"Because you're AN IDIOT!"

"EH? But I wanna see Santa!"

"THERE'S NO SUCH THING!"

My face began burning as he fell back onto the deck, holding his sides and laughing. "W-what's so funny?" I demanded, cursing myself for stuttering.

"Nothing~" He sang, grinning. I glared at him in embarrassment, to which Gon just laughed.

XXX ~POV~

"We're back!" Yuei kicked off her shoes, leaving her two companions as she hurried to the bedroom of the suite. "Pika-chan, I thought you'd be hungry so I got-…you…"

She frowned upon entering the room, finding it empty. The bed was made, but the blond's bag was still sitting on the desk. With narrowed eyes, she observed Saki snacking on a butterfly in the corner for a moment before exiting the room.

"Aniki! Where's Kurapika?" She peeked into each room, finding each the same. Backtracking to the door, she sorted through the coats and shoes, finding them all there. Except for her Aniki's boots.

Cheeks puffed out like a pouting child, Yuei went to the main room. "Guys, did you see where Aniki ran off to?"

"Who's Aniki?" Red-rimmed glasses looked up from a book as she poked her head inside. Yuei sighed, "Nobody, Shizuku. Where's Danchou?" After seconds of silence ticked by, she added, "Danchou. As in, Kuroro. Kuroro Lucifer."

Shizuku tilted her head to the side. Looking heavenward with an exasperated groan, Yuei muttered. "Don't tell me you've forgotten who he is…Can somebody just answer my question?"

"I know who Danchou is." The girl mumbled, burying her nose in her book. "You never asked a question…that's all."

"How should we know where he is?" Phinx raised an eyebrow-less eyebrow. "We don't stalk Danchou, you know. Unlike some people…"

"I do not stalk him!" Yuei growled, stomping from the room. Shizuku blinked, "Why's she so angry?"

"Must be that time of the month." The man concluded. He did not expect the girl in question to march back into the room just to whack him over the head with a bagged lunch.

Veins pulsing across her forehead, Yuei searched again throughout the entire suite, then the lobby, before returning to the room. Saki had, by then, finished eating and was sitting contentedly on her web.

"Where are they?" She chewed on a fingernail, examining the room for any evidence. But it was exactly as it had been before she had left that morning. Minus the occupants, of course.

Turning around, she was just about to resume her search when she collided with a familiar person.

"Aniki!" Yuei gaped, taking in the scene before her. Usually very pale, Kuroro's cheeks were slightly flustered due to being out in the cold for so long. Water dripped from his clothes and snow dotted his hair. Not only that, but there was a certain shivering blond in his arms. Blinking rapidly, she stepped back as he made his way into the room. "Aniki!" She repeated.

"Yes?" Ever so gently, he placed the Kuruta into the bed and pulled the covers over him. To which the poor girl's jaw dropped further. Never, ever, ever, ever, had she seen him do anything so gently. Now, he was treating Kurapika as if he were some delicate piece of art?

"Y-y-y-you…you're wet!" In her shock and bewilderment, Yuei flailed her arms as she stated the very much obvious. She could almost hear the sarcastic, classic-Killua retort of no, really? I hadn't noticed! Congratulations, Sherlock!

Carefully sweeping soaked strands of hair from Kurapika's forehead, he turned to regard her directly for the first time since arriving back. "It's snowing outside."

"I can see that." She motioned towards the floor-to-ceiling windows across the room. "What did you do?"

"Your friend wanted some fresh air."

"So you let him out? In the snow?" Sputtering in disbelief, Yuei attempted to keep her mouth from falling open again. "You yourself said he should stay in bed! Are you insane?"

The black-haired man almost sighed as she marched closer.

XXX

It had been an hour – an hour – of nonstop screaming from the room next door. And then, suddenly, without warning, it had stopped. And now, an unsettling feeling had begun as the source of the racket entered the main room.

Machi watched the girl saunter over to the cabinet and pull out a box of hot chocolate powder. A grin was plastered on her face and her violet eyes were now gleaming with happiness.

As she passed, the blue-haired woman asked casually. "What was the noise about?" She wasn't normally the one to ask the questions, to be curious. But it had been anything but normal these past few days.

"Oh, that's simple." Yuei grinned. "Aniki asked me what I wanted so I asked him to lie to me. Just to see if there was any difference, you know? So then he told me he loved me. More than that Kuruta girl from a few years ago. You want some hot chocolate?"

XXX ~Killua's POV~

"Killua," Gon whined, "I'm bored."

"Go fish or something." I muttered distractedly, trying to hone in on the watching eyes. He pouted, "But Mito-san didn't let me bring my fishing rod."

"Tough luck."

"How mean." He mumbled, poking the ground. Glancing at him from the corner of my eye, I raised an eyebrow. "Gon." He nodded, continuing to poke the wooden floor. I was right, then, he couldn't find the source either.

XXX ~POV~

"Do you remember what that old hag said?"

Shalnark inwardly sighed, realizing he would be brought away from his work once again. With a quirked eyebrow, he looked up at the intimidating woman beside him. "Which one?"

"At that stupid Whale Island circus." Machi crossed her arms. "The superstitious old witch with the weird shop."

"Oh, that one." He leaned his elbows against the desk and stretched his legs out in front of him. "Yeah. She rambled about spirits and stuff. Like how there are ghosts and some can possess people or animals."

"Would you consider Danchou a superstitious person?"

"Whoa, whoa." Shalnark spun his chair to face her fully. "Since when did you care to pry into Danchou's beliefs?"

Ignoring this, she leaned back against a wall. "I've never talked to the kid much, but Yuei's been closer to Danchou than most of us. You could tell just by looking at her, she's suspicious of Danchou's interest in the Kuruta. I mean, she traded her memories to him, after all."

"I have two…no, three things to say." The smile vanished from his face. "I don't see why you would tell me, of all people, this. I also don't get how your two questions connect. And I think it's obvious why Danchou's paying so much attention to the Kuruta kid."

Narrowing her eyes, Machi frowned deeper. "If I told Nobu, Ubo, Phinx, or Feitan, it'd be like telling a wall. Shizuku wouldn't remember three seconds later and Paku would go straight to Danchou. Coltopi and Bonolenov wouldn't care. I don't trust Kalluto."

"I'm sorry." Shalnark leaned back, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm just so used to the silent or two-worded answers from you. These lengthy sentences are melting my brain."

"Yes, yes, we all remember the Kuruta woman incident." She ignored his comment, continuing with a bitter smirk. "Even if most choose to not mention it. But it's specifically because of the Kuruta that I'm suspicious. Danchou spent too much time on Whale Island visiting that old witch."

Eyes widening for a millisecond, the sandy-haired man got to his feet. "You don't mean…"

Finally, we're getting somewhere. She nodded, pushing away from the wall to exit the room.

XXX ~Killua's POV~

My face hardened into an unreadable mask as he approached.

Hisoka raised a hand in a quick wave as he got closer, lips twisted in a self-assured smirk. But no, he wasn't the one who had been watching us all day. Even now, I could still feel eyes burning into my skull.

"Gon." I muttered, tapping his hand as we slowly progressed towards the food tables. He smiled as we passed Hisoka, and the demented magician snickered behind a fan of cards. I wasn't completely sure why, but a bead of nervous sweat ran down my back as we went by. Whatever the clown was planning, I wouldn't like it.

"-you like?"

I jumped, cursed myself for doing so, and turned to face Gon with a nervous smile. "Huh?" He tilted his head innocently towards the food. "I asked what you would like."

"LADIESANDGENTLEMAN!"

Jumping at least five feet higher than last time, I spun in the direction of the booming voice. A man stood on a small platform, microphone held too close to his lips. "IT'S TIME TO PASS THE TIME! LET'S DANCE!"

Multiple groans (one of which belonged to me) along with amused giggles rose from across the room. The teachers began scolding anyone who decided to slink away, forcing them to dance with said educators and, deciding I did not want to dance with the large boulder-of-a-man approaching, I dragged Gon from the cake table. Met with a disappointed whine, I stood awkwardly with the rest of the student body as a song began to play.

Please don't be a slow song, please don't be a slow song…

Then an even scarier thought.

Please don't be a romantic song, please don't be a romantic song!

It was times like these that I wish we had female friends.

"Killua, I want cake!" Gon complained, completely unaware of my inner conflicts. I sighed. "We have to dance, Gon. We can get cake later." He blinked, watching a few dance partners weave their giggling way around us. With a shrug, he wrapped one arm around my waist and began imitating them.

"Gon!"

"What? You wanted to dance!"

"I don't want to dance! And why am I the GIRL?"

Yes, I truly, deeply, honestly wished we had female friends.

XXX ~Kurapika's POV~

"So, what's your name?"

"Kuroro."

"Kuroro." I repeated, tasting the familiarity on my tongue as my head rested against his shoulder. "Kuroro…" I watched as he played with my hand, slowly interlacing our fingers together.

Though I was speaking, breathing, it was as if my actions were controlled from some other source than my brain. And it was slowly becoming harder to think straight as I fought to keep my mind in check.

I had been told I had passed out last night after hallucinating due to some sort of drugs the auctioneers had given me, but I couldn't recall being fed anything too strange. While I had been awake, at least.

A headache began building against my head and I winced, sinking further against the warm body beside me. There was something I should be remembering, something I was supposed to do. What was it? Something important…

The spider was still in the corner of the room, watching with beady eyes as we lounged back on the hotel bed. Saki clicked her legs together, turning away. I blinked, turning to face Kuroro, "Where's Yu-"

"Let's not talk." He smiled, running a hand up and down my arm. Any argument died on my lips as my eyes narrowed. I remained silent and watched, again, as he slipped a finger underneath the bracelet on my wrist.

Eyes widening, I almost gaped as this man easily removed the skin-tight bracelet that had been nearly impossible to remove only moments before. The skin underneath, I could see, was slightly lighter than the rest of my arm. "How did you-"

"You ask a lot of questions." He chuckled, lips brushing my ear. I shivered, uneasily pushing away from him. "We're still wet from the snow, I should take a shower…" Before he could open his mouth, I had already power walked over to the bathroom and locked the door with a slam.

Blood pounding in my ears, I looked around before pushing a chair and small cabinet in front of the door. Half-convinced it would keep any lock-pickers out, I left the water running as I threw a towel over the rack. Slipping off my shirt, I realized there was no soap.

Sighing, I leaned against the sink counter. I frowned, leaning closer to the mirror. Feet nearly slipping out from beneath me, I gasped as I backed away from it.

Crimson, blood-shot eyes stared back at me, glowing eerily in the fogging room. They stood out from my blond hair and pale skin. But the scarlet eyes stood out even more from the black, 12-legged spider tattoo printed across the side of my stomach.

The headache came back with a vengeance, threatening to make me lose consciousness altogether. And then I laughed.

TBC…

Yuuki: pfft…he laughed…u crazy, man! CRAZY!

Kurapika: you wrote it

Yuuki: *cries* I'm so used to Killua answering me

Kurapika: well, I'm sorry for not being Killua *sweat drop*

Killua: *walks into room* 'sup

Gon: KILLUA! *glomps*

Killua: WTF!

Yuuki: it was hug an Asian day…again…for the fifth time this week o.o

Leorio: I'M ASIAN DEN ARU!

*crickets*

Leorio: *sulks in corner* where's da love, where's da love…?

Kaida: bark bark! *puppy face* review pwease!

Killua: …did she just bark? –A–