Disclaimer: Again and again, I don't own HunterxHunter (nor will I in the near future…)

Story so far: So Kuroro was determined to keep the truce down to the last letter, but how about Kurapika? Also, when the last pair of Scarlet Eyes was finally in their hands, what would be next?

WARNING: This is a very LONG chapter.


Chapter29

A LOOP OF INFINITY


Two figures silently crossed the empty street of the seemingly dead town without much exchange of words. They sauntered towards a certain inn, taking their sweet time. They both were wearing formal attire, as if they had just come back from a grand party. One of them, however, was limping awkwardly with occasional frowns and scowls on her smooth face.

"Damn stiletto…Whoever invented this blasted thing must have been wishing to torture women in the most slow-yet-painful way…" She muttered softly as she visibly flinched upon taking a certain step.

She was wearing a dark royal blue halter-neck satin dress with partition on the sides from the bottom of the knee-length dress going up to her mid-thigh. Her white gloves were extended to reach her elbows. As she walked, her dress billowed around her legs, exposing a bit of her milky thighs but she could not care less about this since the street was as empty as any graveyards. The presence of the man beside her did not bother her at the very least as she did not feel the need to act self-conscious around him—even as she was fully aware that the man could get a very good deal of glimpse at her exposed skin. Not that he would ever do that, though. He could look at it all day without showing any reactions, for all she cared.

"If you ask me, the reason of your suffering now is preferably because of the fact that you have strained your legs by running all over the place and fighting with those heels on." Her companion commented airily.

The man was wearing a tuxedo, and looked like just any normal, standard gentleman if not for the headband that obscured his forehead and the blue globular earrings that inevitably stood out in the simplicity of his appearance. In one of his arms was a precious small cargo that he handled with sufficient care. He kept his gaze straight, not even trying to ogle at his companion's exposed skin—the thought had never even crossed his mind—as if he was already used to seeing them anyway.

Her scowls deepened as she fixed her hateful gaze on the said heels-straight-from-the-bowel-of-Hell, wishing that she could get rid of it as soon as possible.

"Do I have any choices? With all these straps, I'd get killed before I could even take them off properly." She hissed as her calf muscles twitched from obvious overexertion.

He raised a hand to cover his mouth and his chin as he recalled the disastrous event that turned into battlefield. He remembered the most notable moment of the event that concerned the said stiletto.


The man let out a huff as he landed on the solid, carpeted ground. He had knocked his head on the floor, but the carpet had cushioned the fall and absorbed the impact and so he was only having a slight headache from it. Before he could even do as much as lifting his head off the carpet, a sharp pointy object was shoved to his fat belly, almost making a hole through his stomach right into his gut.

The man cracked open his eyes to see his attacker, and was surprised to see the blonde girl in blue dress looming over him ominously. Her hands were akimbo and her face was virtually emitting the very essence of evil.

"Now, if you kindly give me the key to the treasuries, I may refrain myself from gutting you with my stiletto. It's especially made for this kind of occasion, you know?"

Had the man been trained enough in the art of acting and pretence, he would have noticed that the girl had not meant her words and that she had no murderous intent at all in her aura. Unfortunately, Kurapika had learned to marvellously act 'evil' due to travelling with a certain S-class criminal for prolonged period of time.

Receiving no answer from the fat man, Kurapika impatiently thrust her stiletto harder into his stomach while refraining herself from really impaling the poor, scared-witless man with her stiletto. The man let out a whimper and yelp, before he started rummaging through his pocket and tossed the key to her.

Kurapika caught the key singlehandedly and grinned in satisfaction.

"How very wise of you." The man who accompanied her gave him a very cold smile.

The fat man shrunk even further when he gazed into the obsidian eyes of that handsome man—they were cold and unfeeling. He even had the impression that the man was slightly disappointed that the girl had actually not gut him like a fish with the heel of her stiletto.

The last thing he saw before he succumbed into total oblivion was the girl's face looming over his with a kind of spray ready in her hand. She gave him an almost apologetic smile, before spraying the liquid right to his face.

"Good night."

And then darkness swallowed him whole while erasing the memory of that horrid encounter with the two persons.


"But you were on Una's back all the way from the mansion to this town." He reminded her after he was finished reliving the memory, and apparently she was not too happy to be reminded.

"You," she hissed while rudely pointing her index finger to his face, "DO NOT know how painful this is since you have NEVER worn high heels before, so shut up."

"I'm surprised that you can complain so much about this trivial pain while you had endured so much more during the Mammon incident without a word of complaints."

Kurapika's heart missed a beat, and her jaws immediately were set into tight lock. Despite her giving no complaints about the torture by the Mammon, it was still a highly disturbing memory that she would gladly forget and deleted from the memory-storage part of her brains.

She fell into heavy silence. She tried to walk as normally as she could despite the mind-numbing throbbing sensation coming from her calves. Her calf muscles were practically screaming EXHAUSTION.

Her walk was stopped when something was held up right in front of her face. She blinked once. It was the box containing the pair of Scarlet Eyes. Kurapika gave Kuroro a sideways questioning glance.

"Hold it for me for a while." He merely said.

Wordlessly, she obeyed him and took the box securely in her gloved hands. Before she knew it, however, she felt weightless as a floating sensation overcame her. The next second, realization dawned to her: she was being carried bridal style by Kuroro. She shot the man another questioning glance, but the older man was again wearing his mask of stoicism and indifference.

A small, crooked smile graced her visage.

"I'll take this as a compensation for bringing up a certain unpleasant memory."

"By all means." Came his short reply as he walked towards the Prancing Pony Inn with a new 'cargo' in his arms.


Once they were at the doorstep of their own rented room (which hosted the trap door that led to the secret storage room of their collected Scarlet Eyes), Kuroro put Kurapika down and the Kuruta girl wasted no time—aside from the several seconds used to shove the box to Kuroro's chest, forcing him to hold it—to detach the accursed heels-from-Hell and threw the said things as far away from her as possible. Kuroro observed as the unfortunate heels indiscreetly flew across the air to hit the wall in the corner of the bedroom. It seemed that those heels would have to stay there for quite a while, if not forever.

Kurapika stormed towards the bed and flopped herself down on the edge of the bed as if she had no care of the world and started relieving her calves of the throbbing sensation and her feet of the numbness by rolling her ankles slowly. She even gave a sigh of content.

Inwardly smiling to himself out of amusement, Kuroro put the box carefully on the nearest table and proceeded in 'dismantling' the accessories off him. First was the tie; which he carelessly tossed to the table and gave it no further thought. He then unbuttoned the first two buttons of his white shirt after he took off the black suit and draped it over the support of a chair.

At the same time, Kurapika began 'dismantling' her own accessories as well—earrings, necklaces, bracelets, gloves—which all were supplied by Kuroro from God-knows-where; which she did not want to find out in any ways. As she folded the gloves into a neat roll, the scars on her palms attracted her attention.

Kurapika lifted up her hands and examined the scars on her palms.

"I'm surprised that these scars didn't go away." She commented, indirectly referring to her body's extraordinary healing capability she had just discovered.

"Maybe because you don't want them to go away." Kuroro responded without looking at her direction, knowing which scars that had not gone away.

She only shrugged noncommittally.

"I guess."

Kurapika stood up and began pacing around the room aimlessly like some nervous person, but she actually was trying to accustom her legs to the level ground once more after the excruciating hours of torture with the high-heels. She felt like she was walking on clouds. Kuroro observed him as discreetly as he could.

He noticed her golden hair that now reached past her shoulder. He noticed that she had gained more curves on her slender body.

"How old are you, Kurapika?" He asked rather absentmindedly.

"…I'll be 19 soon, I suppose." She answered uncaringly, still pacing about the room incessantly.

Kuroro took one step back to deliberately study the Kuruta's whole features. Almost one and a half years had passed since the time they were bound by Hassamunnin's magic, and all those time he was almost constantly by her side, and vice versa. She was still a teenager, she was still growing up. Kuroro somehow knew (judging from her attitude, personality, and circumstances) that Kurapika was a late bloomer for a girl, but he did not care. However so, seeing the Kuruta maturing both physically and mentally gave him a strange pleasure of satisfaction.

"I'm taking the first shower." She declared, oblivious to Kuroro's stealthy scrutiny on her.

He only gave a vague "Hm" to indicate that he heard her. Kurapika then disappeared into the confinement of the bathroom attached to their bedroom. It was just convenient that the bedroom with the trap door happened to be a room for two with attached bathroom. Kurapika did have a hard time accepting the "There is only ONE freaking bed in this room!" part, though (and it was replied by a "But it's a queen-sized bed, so it should be more than enough for the two of you." from Fino, and Fino was responded by a "That is not the point!" from Kurapika).

Kuroro, on the other hand, had no objection against it.

"Prude." He had teased Kurapika about it at that time, and he earned a very 'pretty' glare from her.

Silently, Kuroro took a seat and his gaze landed on the box that contained the Scarlet Eyes. He took out the Eyes from the box, put it on the table and studied it closely. It looked just the same as the others that he had collected, but this particular one seemed to bear a certain meaning to him.

He knew why, and he unconsciously muttered the reason out loud:

"The last pair of Scarlet Eyes…"


"The last pair of Scarlet Eyes…" She found herself muttering to nobody in particular in the bathroom.

Her voice was drowned by the loud splashing water from the shower against the tiled floor of the bathroom. She had undressed and was enjoying herself in the hot shower. She looked down and her finger absentmindedly traced a certain spot on her chest where her heart lay.

The brand was supposed to be here…she thought with slight shudder as she remembered the terrifying experience with the Mammon.

She was profoundly glad that her body—or Ishtar's essence within her, in her case—decided to heal the brand mark. If the mark had stayed, she had no idea on how she would be living her life. She might probably be haunted by nightmares more often than she already was.

She looked at her palms—the scars that Kuroro had given her in their latest battle seemed to be permanent. She recalled Kuroro's words:

Maybe because you don't want them to go away.

Kurapika closed her eyes. Yes, that was right. She did not want the scars to go away. Let it be the reminder of her powerlessness before the Spider Head and her foolishness for letting her emotions get the better of her usually sound judgement.

She vaguely wondered if such extraordinary recovery had ever happened to Kuroro before. However, considering the old scars that were all over his body, she decided that it might have never happened. After all, Kuroro Lucifer never allowed himself to get bested by any of his opponents.

When she was done with her shower, she stepped out of the bathroom fully clothed with her hair still dripping wet. Her eyes automatically landed on the last pair of Scarlet Eyes that was perching on the table. She narrowed her eyes as an alien feelings washed over her. She was supposed to be happy now that all of her comrades' eyes had been collected, so why was she not jubilant?

"They will all be here in two more days." Kuroro informed her all of the sudden as he put down his phone.

Kurapika turned and blinked at him, not understanding the implication of his words.

"The Spiders."

Muttering a vague "Oh.", Kurapika absentmindedly took a look at the calendar in their room, but suddenly her expression turned serious and she frowned.

"Did you say two more days?"

Kuroro glanced at her. There was something unusual in her voice.

"Yes. Is something the matter?"

"Look at the date here."

Kuroro quirked one eyebrow, but nonetheless he approached Kurapika and stood right behind her. He leaned forward slightly while he took one quick look at the calendar. The moment his eyes landed on the date, a realization dawned on him.

"Ah…" He muttered as he straightened up.

Kurapika looked at him over her shoulder and gave him a knowing look.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"


Kuroro was taking his shower and Kurapika was left alone in the room to ponder about one matter.

Kurapika wondered if she ought to inform Fino of the Spiders' imminent arrival or not, since the girl was the owner of the inn in a sense, after all. Deciding that it would be best for the country girl to be informed; lest she freaked out when a bunch of nasty-looking men and women came barging into the inn, Kurapika walked out of the bedroom and down the staircase.

It was in the dead of the night and so Kurapika tried to be as silent as possible as she descended the staircase. When she almost reached the bottom of the staircase, she heard voices from the dining hall of the Inn. She frowned.

Who?

She could only think of Fino. That girl was still wide awake when they came back; she had insisted on waiting for them with the reason that she could not lock the door before they were back. However, the question now became: Who is Fino talking to at this hour of time?

Kurapika tiptoed and stealthily peeked into the hall. She was surprised to see Fino alone. She fleetingly thought that the girl might have gotten drunk and was talking to herself, but she caught no smell of booze or the likes—besides, Fino was absolutely not the drinking type of girl; she was such a good girl. More curious than ever, Kurapika craned her neck further to see what the girl was up to exactly.

Her jaw almost dropped when she saw Fino holding to a certain gadget and was talking to it.

A cell phone? Since when—

Fino was the typical country bumpkin girl who lived in a remote countryside. Kurapika was sure that Fino had never even touched a cell phone before, much less owning it or even operating it. She figured that the clueless girl might just inundate her with some silly questions about the gadget such as "What are the buttons for?" or "It can speak?" or "What kind of magic do you employ to use this candy-bar look alike thingie?"

Suddenly, a thought occurred in her mind.

Cell phone?

Talking about cell phone, only one figure came to her mind.

Without wasting another second, Kurapika hurried back into her—and Kuroro's—bedroom. She was still aware enough to make no noise when she retreated to her room, though, so as not to startle the life out of the innkeeper's daughter.

"Kuroro!" She partially bellowed once she was in the room.

The said man turned his head to give her a very surprised and bewildered look. Kuroro had just finished his shower and his hair was still dripping wet, with a towel hanging around his neck. By the God's grace he was fully clothed and Kurapika was profoundly grateful for that. She did not want to have another scene like when Leorio sauntered out of the bathroom stark naked. Only God knew how she would react to that—and this was Kuroro Lucifer she was dealing with.

Kuroro raised an eyebrow when he saw Kurapika's flushed face and the flustered expression on her face.

"Is something wrong?" He asked calmly.

"Fin—" She paused.

Kuroro raised both eyebrows.

"Fin?"

"No, no, no. I mean—Shalnark!"

Kuroro turned around to fully face the girl—she was talking rather incoherently and it seemed to require his full attention to actually comprehend her.

"Shalnark?"

Kurapika squeezed shut her eyes and rubbed her temples, obviously trying to calm down whatever whirlwind of matters that was whacking her minds. She tried sorting out the innumerable questions in mind and began with the easiest one.

"Has…No. When was the last time Shalnark come here?"

Kuroro frowned. What was with the question?

"I'm not sure. We, Spiders, do not tell each other of our private business. Why do you ask?"

Kurapika frowned and bit her lower lips, showing her hesitance to voice out her question.

"Do you know, by any chance, if Shalnark and Fino happen to know each other?"

Ah.

Kuroro smiled at this. He knew where she was getting at.

"Mmhmm…" He hummed playfully while crossing his arms and resting most of his weight on one leg. "I happen to know that." He still remembered the time when Shalnark commented that 'Fino is such a good girl'. "So what happened downstairs?"

Kurapika narrowed her eyes.

I knew it. It really was Shalnark.

And so Kurapika began telling him of what she had seen downstairs concerning Fino. By the time Kurapika was finished with her short recount, Kuroro had his eyebrows quirked into quizzical yet amused arches. He could not help but to be ridiculously amused although he had seen it coming since the beginning.

"A country bumpkin girl like Fino with a tech-savvy man like Shalnark? That is…" his lips twisted into a mischievous smile, "…highly entertaining."

"Don't make people's relationship your entertainment!" She chided him lightly. "Besides, I don't approve of their relationship!"

Kuroro regarded her with a very questioning look.

"Reason being?"

"Fino is such an innocent girl. I can't let her be associated, much less in a relationship, with a criminal like Shalnark."

Despite Shalnark's boyish appearance and innocent impression, she knew better that he was still Genei Ryodan's cold-blooded member who was perfectly capable of murdering the masses when ordered to.

"You are such a Mother Hen." Kuroro sighed. "You should just mind your own business."

"Well, sorry for being such a worry-wart but I can't help it." She huffed and had spun on her heels.

She walked towards the only door of their bedroom and tried opening the door but it surprisingly would not budge. Only then she belatedly took note of the shadow looming over her and the presence of an arm next to her head and pressed against the solid form of the door. Kurapika glanced over her shoulder to throw a nasty glare at Kuroro; who was obviously the one 'locking' the door with his arm.

"And where are you going, young lady?" He asked with velvety voice.

Kurapika flinched. The last time he used that voice and the word 'young lady', she had ended up losing a portion of her fringe in the hands of the Spider Head (that was the time when Kuroro had trimmed her fringe without her permission). She had badly needed an emergency hair trim at that time, though. This time she was unsure on what would happen.

"Downstairs. To Fino. Obviously." She stated each word firmly.

"And what are you going to do?" He asked with the same velvety tone that was making the hair on her nape rose.

"Warn her of a danger called 'Shalnark'." She answered as-a-matter-of-factly.

"I believe that such action is unnecessary."

"You have no right to say that. After all, you are Shalnark's boss." She said fiercely.

The hard-to-argue-against Kurapika was resurfacing, and Kuroro was pleased. He was going to have another fun night arguing with her. It was never boring to argue against her.

"That may be right, but what makes you have the right to decide what is good and what is bad for Fino?" He countered with even voice.

"Fino knows nothing of the Genei Ryodan. Obviously I have to at least give her the rough idea on what Shalnark's real job is. That isn't fair. I don't want her to feel cheated by him."

"What makes you think that she doesn't know of Shalnark's occupation?"

Kurapika froze. "She knows?"

"I wasn't saying that." Kuroro's grin widened.

Kurapika scowled deeply. "Then I am going to find out about that."

She turned her attention to the doorknob and tried pulling it again but the door still would not budge.

"Kuroro!" She cried out in exasperation. The man could be so annoyingly childish at times.

"I propose that we observe how things go first." He said coolly.

"And wait until the worst come? No. I don't want to risk anything. Let me off to her, Kuroro." She growled to him.

"No."

"Get your hand off the door."

"Make me."

Kurapika spun on her heels and turned to glare daggers at him. If she was serious, she could employ her Emperor Time ability and with her Reinforcement Nen she could easily beat Kuroro in terms of raw strength. But if she was to do that, a certain door might get wasted and she knew that the man was aware of that fact as well—he knew that she would not do such rash action.

The devil…she cussed in her mind.

Taking a very deep breath to calm down while closing her eyes, Kurapika began racking her brains to find solution to this delicate situation. When she finally opened her eyes with a renewed resolution, Kuroro was still in the exact same position he had been assuming for the past few minutes. He still had that cheeky grin on his face. Oh, how she was so itching to punch that grin off his face.

"Fine." She finally breathed out. "I will not bother them for now. BUT—" She rewarded him a death glare. "I am going to interrogate Shalnark the moment he reaches this place AND you are not allowed to inform him beforehand of my intention. Agreed?"

Kuroro used his other hand to cover his mouth—his trademark thinking gesture—and thought over it for a few seconds before nodding.

"Agreed."

Then he released his hold on the door and went over to the bed. The queen-sized bed.

Oh, great.

Kurapika rolled her eyes. Begrudgingly, she had actually gotten SO used to sleeping in the same bed with Kuroro that it finally came to alarm her. She realised this as one of the symptoms of attachment, and attachment to Kuroro Lucifer would bring nothing but misery to her in the future.

Nevertheless, without even voicing that thought for the last one and a half year, Kurapika climbed to bed and took her own designated place at the opposite end of the bed. They usually slept with their backs facing each other. Personally to Kurapika, it gave her a feeling of security.

Without sparing each other a 'Goodnight', they both drifted to their own peaceful slumber.


"We are getting married."

That was what Kuroro Lucifer told his Spiders the moment they all assembled before him in the Prancing Pony Inn. At that time, however, Kurapika was absent as she was helping Fino with something. The hall was still relatively quiet and scarce of customers since it was still in a very early morning.

Every Spider stopped doing whatever business they were doing and froze. Every single one of them held their breath. Nobunaga was the one making the loudest—and the only—noise in the room as he began tripping over his own foot and scrambled into a heap onto the wooden floor.

"Come again?" Phinks managed to ask, but his voice sounded more like the squeaky voice of a squashed rat.

"We are getting married." Kuroro generously repeated, articulating every word and emphasising the last word purposefully.

This time, his words without fail earned the satisfactory reaction he had expected—every each one of them had their mouths hanging agape gracelessly and their eyes were bulging, threatening to pop out of their sockets at any given time.

At the same time, Kurapika entered the hall in her usual fashion, clueless about the 'calm before storm' condition that the Spiders were in at that time. All eyes were averted to her and she immediately stiffened in her tracks. She looked up and noticed the strange looks that the Spiders were giving her. She frowned at them, a bit warily and suspiciously.

Nobunaga was still recovering from the shock on the floor, and was quite forgotten by his fellow Spiders.

"What?" She demanded.

"Is it true?" Shalnark finally spoke up, his voice trembling in something akin to nervousness and excitement at the same time.

Kurapika's frown deepened.

"What are you talking about?"

"You are getting married to Danchou?" Phinks asked with his eyes as wide as a saucer.

The Kuruta girl's eyes widened to their maximum size, before she turned to Kuroro and gave him a deathly glare. Kuroro remained unfazed, though.

"YOU TOLD THEM?"

Loud gasps came from the Spiders. Nobunaga was on the verge of passing out again, the colour had all but completely drained from his face. Kurapika's cry of indignation only served to confirm Kuroro's earlier declaration of their marriage.

Then, a whole lot of activities happened at the same time.

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

"WHAT THE—? NO WAY! You gotta be joking!"

"Are you kidding, Danchou?"

"I knew this! I saw this coming!"

"You should've told us sooner, Danchou."

"Wow…"

"When is the party?"

"Since when have you two decided?"

"Took you long enough to reach that stage."

"Parties!"

Ten different reactions from ten different people at the exact same time—even Coltopi and Bonolenov had contributed to the 'ten responses'. That was a very rare thing to happen. It seemed that the news was so unexpected that the two seemingly-mute Spiders decided to speak up at very long last.

Kurapika was clearly overwhelmed by the reactions she was receiving as she could only manage to stand in a shocked daze, but Kuroro was utterly calm and collected as if he had anticipated this outrageous reception from the very beginning. Wordlessly he raised his hand to the air and the room immediately fell into pin-drop silence.

"One by one." He simply said.

And everyone began talking at the same time again.

Kuroro narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits, and the room fell into heavy silence once again.

"I'm first!" Nobunaga exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet and marched towards his Danchou with his jaws set with determination yet his big, round eyes were clearly reflecting the horror within him.

"Yes, Nobu?" Kuroro asked coolly.

"Tell me that this is just some sick joke." He said, and added, "please?"

"Unfortunately," Kuroro smiled almost too kindly—which sent shivers down the samurai's back—and reached to lift Kurapika's hand while lifting his other hand as well. He showed them the almost identical rings they both wore in their ring fingers. "It's not."

Kurapika scowled as Kuroro did this and looked away, but she did not snap her hand away from the older man's clutch.

Then Nobunaga passed out for real.

And nobody bothered to catch him in his fall.

"Since when are you two together, Danchou?" Machi took one step, taking her turn to question the supposedly newlyweds.

Kuroro and Kurapika exchanged a quick look.

"Since when, Kurapika?"

The said girl only shrugged uncaringly. "I don't remember. Didn't even record down the exact date."

Loud murmurs of heated discussion on "how" and "when" erupted amongst the Spiders. Kurapika only rolled her eyes and announced that she was going back to her room. She quickly took her leave, a bit too hastily, and was soon joined by Kuroro. When she reached the staircase, she was already half-jogging. When she reached the room, she quickly sat on the bed while Kuroro calmly closed the door behind him

Unable to hold it anymore, Kurapika let out the suppressed bone-jarring laughter out of her system; which soon turned into hysterics. Even Kuroro had to join in the laughing session upon recalling the myriads of priceless expressions on the faces of his Spiders.

"That—" Kurapika started with shaky voice, still unstable from the overexcitement, "was the best April Fools joke I have ever done."

She then fell into the laughing spell again, this time tearfully.

"I am surprised that you were more than willing to go with my plan."

"Is that something wrong?" Kurapika asked while wiping away the tears from her face. "Besides, it's really worth the act."

"No. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that." Kuroro chuckled.

Inwardly, Kuroro was generously triumphant though he knew that the girl might not be aware of it. He had killed two birds with one stone—while executing the wonderfully-beyond-convincing April Fools prank on his own Spiders, at the same time he had distracted her enough with meticulous planning and the resulting commotions to make her forget about interrogating Shalnark about his 'relationship or whatever else' with Fino. He had just spared him some absolute tortures in the hand of a certain Kuruta.

He should really thank me, he fleetingly thought.

However, there was one error in their plan: they didn't tell them at the end of their prank that it was an April Fools joke.


"Kuruta."

The said Kuruta; who was currently reading newspaper, looked up and was honestly surprised to see a certain samurai standing right in front of her. Her expression instantly turned blatantly wary. She had not seen any other Spiders nearby. Now what in the blazes did this occasionally-maniacal-and-homicidal samurai want to do with her?

"Yes?" She responded coolly.

Nobunaga raised an eyebrow.

"Being very civilised, aren't we?"

Kurapika frowned.

"If you are here just to have some verbal spars me, then you are wasting your time. Go away, Nobunaga." Kurapika gave a short snort and went back to her newspaper. "I'm not in the mood."

Nobunaga gave her a grand scowl, but said nothing as he dragged a chair and flopped down right in front of her. Kurapika looked up from her newspaper again and gave him a questioning look. Nobunaga said nothing but his expression showed the inner struggle he was having. He folded his arms across his chest and stared down at the table.

It was remarkably plain and clean.

"I've been thinking since this morning…"

Do I care what you're thinking about? Kurapika wanted to retort, but politely kept it to her own heart. It was only the evening of the infamous April Fools Day. Kurapika wanted to prepare herself in case Nobunaga was up for another prank for revenge.

"You didn't betray any information about us to the Mammon."

"No, I didn't." She shrugged uncaringly. Apparently, half-listening to the half-hearted samurai would suffice. It would seem that Nobunaga's rambling did not require as much attention from her.

Nobunaga's eyes were still fixed on a certain spot on the table.

"About you and Danchou…"

Kurapika's eyebrows quirked. Somehow, she felt a bad wind coming her way.

"So you are part of us now…Right?" He asked with small voice, as if afraid of even asking it out loud.

"No." She answered curtly.

"But you are married to Danchou!" He exclaimed.

Kurapika looked up from her newspaper for the third time since Nobunaga had appeared and gave him a very horrified look. Nobunaga sank in his chair upon seeing that look. It gave him the impression that he had just uttered something ultimately ridiculous and beyond stupid. It made him feel very self-conscious and defensive.

"You two said it this morning!"

"Oh, God…" Kurapika muttered almost inaudibly, but inwardly she did not know whether she was supposed to be gleeful at the samurai's unexpected gullibility or to feel exasperated and embarrassed.

"What is today's date?" She asked slowly.

"Huh? What does that—"

"Just answer me." She cut off.

Nobunaga scowled, but answered nonetheless. "1st of April. So what?"

Kurapika slapped her forehead not too forcefully.

"What? What's your problem?" Nobunaga exclaimed in honest bewilderment. He started to think that he was missing some very crucial information here.

"Have you ever heard of April Fools Day?"

"Duh, of course." Nobunaga rolled his eyes. "So what—" He stopped. "Wait a goddamn minute…"

Kurapika gave him a wry smile.

"Get it?"

"SO IT'S A JOKE, AFTER ALL?" He roared, startling the life out of the few customers present in the dining hall.

"Keep your volume down!" Kurapika hissed as she threw worried glances to those frightened customers.

"THE HELL! And to think that I'm already preparing myself to accept it!"

Now it was Kurapika who was genuinely startled.

"You accept it?" She asked with an expression of I-am-seeing-a-two-headed-Nobunaga.

"Y—yeah! To be honest, damn, yeah! Everyone else does, too! Damn! Shit! You're all sick!"

When Nobunaga stormed out of the inn with face flushed beetroot, Kurapika was rendered utterly speechless. Nobunaga, of all people, accepted the (untrue) fact that they were getting married? Wow, that was really something worth recognising. However astounded Kurapika was, she knew that negative implication of Nobunaga's statement.

Everyone else does, too!

"Oh, no, no, no…"

Abruptly Kurapika stood up from her seat and rushed like a demon possessed searching for the other Spiders—that would be the first time she ever searched for Ryodan members without intention of killing them. The whole ruse was a miscalculation and it was backfiring—Kurapika Kuruta was in panic of setting things right.

When she spotted Shalnark—her first victim to-be—she hurried towards him. All matter about interrogating him about his relationship (or the likes) with Fino was thrown out of the window.

"Shalnark!"

The said young man turned to look at her direction upon hearing his name. He gave a mortified expression and his face visibly blanched.

"I need to talk with y—" Kurapika was already snarling viciously, but she never managed to finish the sentence as a bulk of something crashed into her, sending the blessed air out of her lungs.

"KURAPIKA!" It was Fino, and her expression was so beaming with joy it was virtually shining like the Buddha's face.

Kurapika; who was still disoriented and dizzy from the impact of the collision, hardly registered the jubilance in Fino's expression and voice.

"YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED!"

That got her full attention. All colours were drained from her face but she still had not found her voice yet. By then Fino was already squealing in delight and was holding her hands, bouncing in overflowing joy and looking at her onyx-silver ring (which belonged to Kuroro and she had conveniently forgotten to remove) endearingly while exclaiming:

"I knew it! So this is your engagement ring, huh? How inattentive of me. I should have known ages ago!"

"N—No. Fino, that's not it. You are getting the wrong ide—"

"Oh, this calls for a celebration! Right?" Fino turned to Shalnark, who by then had recovered himself and was grinning mischievously.

"Of course! I will call the others!"

"NO! SHALNARK, YOU STAY RIGHT HERE AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!"

But her yell fell on deaf ears. In less than a minute, all Spiders had gathered together (she had no idea on how the hell he managed to achieve that kind of efficiency) for a celebration—minus Nobunaga who was still contemplating hara-kiri for committing such embarrassing mistake of not realizing the April Fools prank—and Kuroro who had gone for some 'business' he had not specified. Kurapika had not bothered to ask him of what kind of business, but now she highly suspected that this turn of event was in his calculation.

"That sly devil!" Kurapika got her new cell phone—the previous one was looted by the Mammon and was destroyed in the process—and began dialling a number when the phone was snatched away from her hand.

"Nope. You are not calling for help." Phinks had an ear-to-ear Cheshire-cat grin on his eyebrow-less face, while tucking the phone into his own pocket.

Suddenly, Kurapika found herself surrounded by the Spiders and a dangerously enthusiastic Fino. She had never been in a more perilous situation before. This was beyond life-threatening. This was sanity-threatening and to Kurapika, losing her sanity was worse than losing her life.

"LET'S PARTY!"


"…Do I want to know what has exactly happened while I was away?"

The Prancing Pony Inn looked perfectly fine from the outside, and so did the interior. However, everything changed the moment Kuroro stepped into his bedroom. Well, it was not such an outrageous change; in fact, there were only some slight changes in the room.

One, he noticed some very fine article of what he suspected was the forgotten remnants of a party of some sort—confetti. Two, he noticed that the room had been tidied up in a very rushed manner (it was not so obvious to commoner's eyes but he was Kuroro Lucifer and of course he noticed the handiwork of his own Spiders). Three, Kurapika was curling like a ball on the bed with Fino tending to her.

Right. Something disastrous had happened. There was no mistaking it.

"…Oh, you don't want to know but you must know of what your Spiders have done to me…" Kurapika answered with sickly voice.

I knew it.

"What happened, Fino?" He asked the innkeeper's daughter, whom he could see was having a guilty conscience.

"Um…Well…" Fino could not look at him in the eyes, so she told the whole story to Kuroro while keeping her stare to the bed sheet which had suddenly become very eye-catching.

Long story cut short, they all had swung a party in the room and some of them had forced champagne—provided by Fino and thus the reason for her guilty conscience—down Kurapika's throat. Despite being the chain-assassin, Kurapika could do nothing against a throng of Spiders who were determined to make her swallow the wretched drink. Some of them were genuinely clueless that Kurapika had extremely low tolerance to alcohols and wines. Shalnark had been too belated in informing them of that very crucial piece of information. Kurapika had instantly turned very ill the moment the champagne was in her gut. Hastily, all Spiders had retreated while clearing away all evidence but unfortunately they had missed a few pieces of confetti.

"I see." Kuroro muttered once she was done with the whole party fiasco.

"Really, Kuroro…" Kurapika started with the still-very-sickly voice. "If you don't tell your blasted Spiders…" she groaned, "… to leave me alone…I may end up making a new vow of taking my revenge on them for all these hassles…and sufferings they've inflicted upon me!"

"I'll keep that in mind." He said with a light chuckle.

Kurapika turned to give him a glare.

"Why do I have the feeling that you sound so happy to see me in this pitiful state?" She accused him.

"Do I sound happy?" Kuroro mustered an incredulous expression.

Kurapika narrowed her eyes.

"Where were you?"

"You don't have to know. It's private business." He said with dismissive tone, signalling that he would not talk more than he already did about his 'private business'.

Kurapika caught on the message crystal-clear and thus she did not pursue the matter further. With an irritated "Hn.", she dropped the matter. In Fino's eyes, as the third person in the room, all she saw was an agreeable couple who knew exactly how to handle each other. Suddenly feeling that she might not be wanted in the room, Fino sheepishly excused herself from their presence and scurried away from the bedroom.

Kuroro studied Kurapika's curling figure. Honestly, he had not expected things to turn out this way, but conveniently it was all going in his favour.

"With the way things are, I suppose we need to change the arrangement."

A groan escaped Kurapika's mouth.

"I'll leave that to you. Just give me some time to recover from this ridiculous hangover…"

Wordlessly he took out his cell phone and sent a message to one of his Spiders. In a few minutes, all of them were already faithfully assembled before him—and all of them could not quite look at him in the eyes.

"I have nothing to say about what has occurred in this room." He generously stated.

A look of relief washed over the faces of the Spiders, except for Nobunaga who was blinking in confusion and was asking around: "What the hell happened?" Nobody answered him, though.

"I will brief you about your assignment."

At the mention of it, all of them snapped into attention. Kurapika; sick as she was, observed them silently as Kuroro gave out his order.

"Shalnark, Machi, Franklin, Phinks, Shizuku and Nobunaga. Six of you are to take four pairs of Scarlet Eyes each ("Why me?" came from Nobunaga). The rest are to take three pairs of Scarlet Eyes and bring them to the Kuruta Village. Form a group of two or three. Take any routes and modes of transportation of your preference. Time limit is three days starting tomorrow. You may leave today or tomorrow. Any questions?"

Silence ensued. The order was simple and crystal-clear.

"Good. Mission initiated."

Without further exchange of words they all grabbed their assigned number of pairs of Scarlet Eyes for each one of them and split up, leaving Kuroro with Kurapika once again.

"Why are you making them carry all of the Eyes? You slave-driver." Kurapika muttered.

"I will have my hands full with you. You don't seem like you will recover in due time."

"Due time? What are you talking about?" Her voice was rather slurry from her hangover. "Wait... Come to think of it, you only give three days for them to reach Rukuso Mountain. Isn't that too little?"

"No. They will make it on time." He responded confidently. He knew his Spiders' capabilities well enough to make a sound judgement that they would not protest against.

"Why the rush?" She asked again, unable to grasp any plans that the Spider Head might have.

Kuroro only gave her a mystifying smile.

"That is for you to find out."


"Now will you honestly tell me what on Earth is this rushing all about?" Kurapika demanded to the man holding her as she staggered on the solid ground.

She was dizzy and disoriented. Three full days of mad horse-riding at neck-breaking speed! They rarely stopped, only did so to take a short break for meal and sleep, before they took off with the same demon-possessed speed again. The morning after the April Fools Day, Kurapika had woken up to find herself in Kuroro's arms, dressed in her tribal attire (Kuroro had generously informed that Fino was the one who changed her clothes) and they were already riding Una. She had been freaked out, but her hangover had not receded yet and so she could not make any fuss about it. She could only helplessly stay in his arms while battling her hangover.

Kuroro was of no help either. He had been unnervingly silent during the whole journey, only speaking when he was checking on Una to make sure that she was still up for the gallop-as-if-your-life-depends-on-it job. Kurapika had been astounded that the Unicorn was nowhere near exhausted. She had yet to break a sweat, even.

"Honestly…" Kuroro started. He let go of Kurapika and studied her briefly, before he spoke up again, "I don't know whether to be surprised or not to find that you have forgotten your own birthday."

Kurapika blinked.

"What?"

Kuroro did not respond to her forthwith; instead, he walked away into the destroyed village, hands in pockets. Snapping herself into focus once more, she quickly caught up with the man and walked a few paces behind him. They walked in silence as Kuroro led the way.

When the Spider Head finally stopped walking, Kurapika was surprised to find themselves standing before the crude graveyards that she had made almost six years ago. They were still in their original appearance; as if nature had not been able to touched them.

Kurapika took one shaky step as she scanned the slightly messy graveyards. When she looked up to her side, she found Kuroro observing her face. His face was expressionless and betrayed nothing of his feelings or emotions; if he had any at the moment. From the looks on her face, Kuroro knew that she wanted some explanation.

"I thought perhaps you might want to bury the Eyes near where you buried the bodies. So I told my Spiders to find the graves." He turned to look at the graves. "They really are made by the hands of a kid."

"This is…" Her voice was quivering. She swallowed once before she asked again in a whispery voice: "Why?"

"I suppose I've already told you long time ago that from time to time the Genei Ryodan does charity works as well?" He offered.

"Y—yes but—" She did not know what to say.

"Don't fret too much about it, Kurapika. Just do whatever you need to do. Take all the time you need."

He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and then he slid them off her shoulder and he began walking away. In the instant, Kurapika felt a pang of panic as she heard him pacing away from her. She whirled her body to face him and without thinking further she cried out:

"WAIT!"

Kuroro did stop in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder and saw the Kuruta girl surprised by her own action. Apparently she had done it out of pure instinct; she seemed so lost on what to say.

"I'll be waiting for you until you are finished." He reassured her, knowing of why she had called out to him.

With that, he turned around and disappeared among the clusters of trees of the forest that surrounded the deserted village.

Kurapika was left alone to do all she desired with the Eyes. She looked around and noticed that a spade had been kindly put nearby, no doubt by one of the Spiders. Her guess had been Shalnark—he seemed to be the most considerate among the others. She looked at the Eyes; all staring blankly at her. She looked at the graveyards; lonely and sad.

Slowly, she made her way to the Scarlet Eyes and knelt in front of the largest compartment: the one that contained her brother's head. She took it in her hands and spoke to it softly.

"Aniki, that man is insane. To think that this is my birthday gift from him…"

It was the first birthday gift she had ever received after six long years.

Kurapika could not help but to cry.


When Kurapika finally found Kuroro, it was already late evening. The sky was basked in its orange hue, with the clouds gathered low around the horizon. The man was standing at the edge of a hill that overlooked the valley. He stood facing the valley, his back to Kurapika when she approached him silently.

She only stood by his side briefly before she took a seat on the grassy ground next to him. She then hugged her knees as the chilly evening blew across the hill. Kuroro looked down and observed her.

Her eyes were bloodshot; the tell-tale sign that she had cried river. He was not surprised to see it. It was just normal; she was a human after all—a human brought up in a normal society much unlike him. Her hands were rather calloused and dirty and so was her tribal attire, no doubt the result of digging and handling dirt as she buried those Eyes.

He then averted his gaze from the girl and studied the landscape absentmindedly once more. After a few minutes of amiable silence, he finally spoke up:

"Now all that's left is to finalise the truce."

"…Yeah…" She muttered half-heartedly.

Truth to be said, Kuroro had desired to get her to join the Genei Ryodan so that he could always keep her near him and had her entertain him with their silly-trivial squabbles, BUT he was NOT going to do that. As Kurapika busied herself with her Scarlet Eyes affair, Kuroro had used those hours to ponder on what he wanted to do next. As far as Kurapika was concerned, he knew for sure that he wanted her to have nothing to do with any strange encounters they had been dealing with. He wanted her to go back to her normal life, and had nothing to do with him and the abnormalities around him.

As much as he enjoyed her companionship, he knew that things would not work out smoothly. The difference between them was too great. They lived in different worlds. As he had mentioned before, things were getting out of hands as of late.

Simply put, he wanted her out of his life for the betterment of both of them.

But at the same time, a piece of him wanted her all for himself.

In the end, the logical and selfless part of him won the argument.

"What are you going to do onwards?"

"Why do you care?" She asked, her voice flat and emotionless.

He shrugged. "Habits, I suppose."

Kurapika allowed herself a small smile.

"Honestly, I don't know. I have no idea…"

Even her voice seemed lost and aimless, as was her coming life without her revenge-filled goal. She recalled her promise to Ishtar to 'look after' Kuroro, but she knew that it was not going to happen. Somehow, she knew that it would be best for them to stay away from each other; and she knew that Kuroro felt the same way too.

"A zenni for your thought?" Kuroro suddenly inquired.

Kurapika stayed silence for so long that Kuroro thought that she was not going to answer, when she suddenly spoke up: "…My promise to Ishtar…"

"Consider it done."

The response came so abruptly and firm that it had Kurapika taken aback.

"But—"

"You have done your part, Kurapika. You owe her nothing more." He said with finality in his voice.

She knew that he would not have any further argument against his decision. Kurapika decided not to be difficult. She then remained silent.

Her thoughts then drifted to her past times. She remembered the times when she fought with her parents, when they scolded her for being utterly careless, and when they showered her with unconditional love. She remembered the blissful time she spent with her brother. She remembered the fun with her friends. She remembered the harsh training with her Master. She remembered her carefree life during that peaceful time.

But all those had been shattered into splinters by the Genei Ryodan; the Spiders.

And here, standing next to her in her destroyed village, was the head of them.

And he was the same person who had repeatedly saved her life and helped her collected ALL of the Scarlet Eyes in less than two years—a feat that would have taken more then a decade to finish if she was to do it on her own.

Kurapika shook her head slowly to rid herself of that bitterness. She had had enough of living a bitter life. She could not help, though, to imagine how things would have been if the Genei Ryodan had not massacred her tribe.

"If the massacre hadn't occurred…" She heard herself muttering softly. It was loud enough to reach Kuroro's ears, making the man turned around the look at her with his dark eyes.

"If it hadn't happened…" She repeated with a faraway look on her face, "I would have grown as a very normal girl…Perhaps I'd be a country bumpkin girl like Fino."

She smiled upon remembering Fino.

"I'd grow up ignorant of the issues and conflicts in the world, living a carefree life in a secluded village surrounded by thick forests in the middle of a mountain." She continued. "A normal teenager with average fighting skill. Growing up, studying with friends, having fun, falling in love, have a boyfriend, getting married," she paused for a moment and narrowed her eyes slightly, giving a sleepy impression on her face, "having children, taking care of my own family."

"A very normal life." He concluded.

"Very much normal, indeed." She nodded in affirmation.

"But it never happened." He said softly.

Kurapika shook her head in silence, and her gaze landed on the onyx-silver ring that encircled her ring finger—a ring to protect her from Ishtar's essence in her blood. She gave a husky whisper:

"It will never."

Silence filled the space between them again. Kuroro looked away, observing the sky that had been tinted orangey red by the setting sun in the horizon. The red light cast a forlorn shade on the Kuruta girl sitting on the grass on top of the small hill.

A scene fitting for weeping and mourning, he commented dryly with almost bored tone. Not that he disrespected the Kuruta, though.

"Looks like…" Kurapika started again.

It appeared that she was really in the mood of having a soliloquy. Out of respect, Kuroro listened to her and showed that he really was paying attention. After all, if she was feeling distraught, he was the one to blame—he was the one who had planned the massacre of her tribe.

"…my life is a complete, twisted loop…"

With that sentence escaping from her mouth, Kurapika absentmindedly fingered Ishtar's memento ring in her finger. Kuroro waited patiently as she had yet to finish her sentence.

"I set out from the village as a boy, determined to collect my comrades' eyes and hunted down every single member of the Genei Ryodan. Now I come back as my original female self with all Scarlet Eyes collected, accompanied by none of other than the head of the Genei Ryodan…"

What an irony, Kuroro thought fleetingly.

He was not too sure on what to make of Kurapika's words. Her words had very vague implication, if nothing at all. It sounded more like a random thought with no real purpose. What was her point? Dismissing it as the expression of her melancholy, Kuroro turned to study her briefly, before asking:

"Do you still want your revenge?"

Kurapika stayed silence for a while, not giving him the answer forthwith, before she finally shook her head slowly. She then buried her face in her knees and hugged her legs closer to her—as if she was cold. Kuroro stared at her for a while longer, before he shifted so that he was kneeling right in front of her. He snaked one hand into the opening between her lowered head and her arm, taking hold of her chin and tilted her head up so that his gaze met her.

The girl gave no resistance whatsoever against his gesture and touch.

He searched into her oceanic blue eyes for something she could not really tell, while she merely gazed back into the bottomless abyss of his obsidian eyes.

"Remember the time when I told you that you are free to get your revenge?"

Kurapika blinked at his unexpected question. The scene then flashed before her eyes as if it happened just yesterday, the conversation forever committed to her memory:

They had been traversing a forest in search of the nearest civilization after they had revisited their pasts by means of the Phoenix's fire.

"Kurapika. When we are done with all these…binding matters, you are free to solicit your revenge from me."

"What?"

"It is your right. After all, I might have done the same, if I were you. But when the time comes, don't think that I'll go easy on you."

"Hmph! Be my guest."

"I remember." She answered without looking away from him.

Kuroro smiled at her, obviously pleased that she remembered though she wondered on why it even remotely pleased him.

"That promise still holds true." He said.

Is that even a promise? She wondered inwardly.

As she pondered over it rather slowly, Kuroro took his time taking Kurapika's hand with his other hand and fingered her ring finger. She had not replaced his onyx-silver ring from her ring finger. He did not know whether she had purposely and conveniently forgotten to replace the ring or not, but it did not matter. In fact, he had not removed her aquamarine-silver ring from his ring finger, either.

Somehow, both unanimously decided to keep the rings where they were.

Both are restrainers, so it doesn't really matter even if we exchange our rings, Kuroro had thought.

"The moment I step out of this village, the truce will be finalised and in effect." He said while fixing his gaze on the ring.

Kurapika looked up and gave him a questioning look.

Without elaborating more, Kuroro bent down and kissed the ring on her finger lightly. Kurapika's eyes widened. He then raised his head and leaned forward to place a very gentle, chaste kiss on her cheek. Kurapika by then was as still as a marble statue.

When Kuroro withdrew slightly from her face, he could see the utter bewilderment and puzzlement in her expression, but he sighted no fury or indignation at the slightest tinge at all. He gave her a thin sincere smile.

"Goodbye."

Then he stood up, letting her hand slid off from his, and walked away. Kurapika was speechless and she could only stare dumbly at his retreating back.

He never looked back until he completely disappeared from her view.

He never waited for her response.


She knelt in front of the roughly 6-years-old grave of her older brother. Dusk was already falling and the village was completely dark with no light whatsoever to shed even the faintest illumination. Kurapika, however, had no problem with the darkness.

"I guess it's a 'turning a new leaf and start over on a new empty page', huh?" She muttered softly and almost inaudibly, "…aniki…"

Only the wind answered him with its wordless howl and breeze. Her golden strands of hair danced along with the wind. After a while of silence, Kurapika stood up and took a deep breath. It was time to start a new life, but a disturbing question kept tugging at her mind persistently and Kuroro was not there anymore to supply her with his answer which he usually gave her with that characteristic smug expression of his.

Kurapika narrowed her eyes and shook her head slowly as if attempting to rid her minds of all thoughts concerning the raven-haired man. They had said their goodbyes—or to be exact he had said his—and they had agreed they would leave each other alone forever. She was going to keep her words, since she knew that he would do the same as well.

Now back to the question that had been bothering her about starting a new life, Kurapika looked up to the twilight sky and thought out loud:

"How?"


Author's Note: Okay, some of you may not be happy with the ending of this chapter, but relax, people. This is not the end YET. There are still two more chapters to come before I close this 1001 Nights story. Whether or not a sequel is to be issued afterwards, it will be entirely up to your reviews and suggestions. So, better give me a piece of your mind and suggestion before that fated day come. Anyway, the 'how?' question at the very ending is a 'how do I start a new life' question—just to make it clear before you all start asking me the same question in your reviews. And again, remember: your REVIEWS will determine the ENDING and SEQUEL of this story.

Next: And so Kurapika and Kuroro really did part ways, but it left Kurapika wondering on what she would do next now that she had lost the reason of her living. She had not expected, however, to have the truce broken in less than one year—accident or not.