Disclaimer: I don't own HxH

A/N: So, no Hunter x Hunter chapter next week. I'm gonna go and cry my river now until it comes out. Even when he's not on hiatus, we must wait. No one's gonna tell us we're not patient.

Chapter 35: Demons? Shiiiiiiiiiiii

Kurapika put a hand to her out-of-control heart. It was fine. She was stuck here. The woman glanced at the Pairo look-alike. Stuck here. With that thing.

Well, at least no one's life was in danger.

A roar crushed that one small pro to the whole situation. Kurapika whirled around on her heels to see a very angry-looking lizard thing that was definitely larger than most of the ones in the real world.

"What is that?" she yelled at Pairo, only slightly panicking as the lizard thing got closer. Pairo looked equally terrified, perhaps even more.

"Akuma no yume."

Her eyes widened. Dream demons? They were supposed to be an old folk tale. If this was one of them, she was in trouble.

It wasn't very fast though. Probably because it had short-stubby legs and easily weighed a few tons. He also didn't seem to need speed. He just crushed everything under his feet.

Well, she was not going to just wait for it to come and eat them.

The blonde turned around and ran into the Village, dragging Pairo with her.
"Where are we going?"

"The armory!"

"Are you insane?" he asked, trying to keep up with her and failing. "You can't kill an Akuma. They're immortal. They'd sooner kill you."

"We don't have to kill it," Kurapika said, breathing a bit labored from running. "We just have to keep running and defend ourselves if necessary." She threw him a spear.

"We!?"

Kurapika smiled at him, but it was a cold curve of the lips that told Pairo she blamed him for their situation. She took the spear away and replaced it with a pair of sheathed swords connected by a chain. "You brought me here, I'm not just going to let you off that easy. We're in this together."

"But . . . I don't know how to fight," he said, voice high with the prospect of pain and suffering at the hands, well, claws, of the Akuma outside.

"When it comes down to it, you're going to do what it takes to survive," Kurapika tried to reassure him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, you're in the guise of a Kurta. We're born fighters."

"You're also all dead," he muttered under his breath, certain she wouldn't hear. He thought wrong. A few seconds later, his back hit the wall of the armory and he felt cold metal at his throat. Shit, she was going to slit his throat! Maybe, he had crossed the line this time, but did he really deserve to die?

"I'll make this short, so listen closely," she said, her voice deadly quiet in the chaos outside. "If you ever speak ill of the Kurta Clan again, I will not be as lenient as I am now. As you clearly possess the mind of a child, I shall let you live. But, step out of line again, and I will kill you and damn the consequences."

Her eyes had turned bright red. They were as beautiful as they were terrifying. And as she peered up at him with that icy Scarlet stare, her humanity seemed compromised.

But then the knife at his throat was gone, and the woman made her way out of the armory.

"This is a warning," she continued. "I'm not trying to threaten you. My temper isn't in my control, so please watch your mouth from now on."

He placed a hand around his throat, rubbing it gently as if to make sure there wasn't some small wound she'd left behind as part of her 'warning'. It seemed fine. He bit his bottom lip, considering his chances of dying if he went with her. In the end, they were far lower than what they would've been if he just stayed behind and let her get killed. He followed her anyway.

. . . Back in the Real World . . .

The four of them watched as Kurapika was strapped to an IV drip. A heart rate and brain wave monitors stood on either side of her.

"Her heart rate's steady for now," the doctor said, checking her report. "You said she just fainted and hasn't woken up since?"

"That's what he said," Leorio answered, taking the role of answering questions.

"Did she have a concussion or similar brain trauma before?" the doctor continued his interview, still flipping through the pages on his clipboard. "She's in very good shape, so I don't see how she could've entered this state otherwise."

"No concussions, doctor," Leorio spoke, respectful to a fault. "She just fainted. I thought she might just be asleep, but then nothing woke her up and I checked for symptoms. No reaction to light from the eyes. No reaction to painful stimuli or sound."

"I see, we'll keep you all updated," the doctor informed, as he wrote some medical jargon in his notes. "It's late now, so it'd be best for you all to head home." The doctor paused, and for a second they thought he wouldn't say anything. But then, "young man. You're a doctor-in-training, yes?"

"Yes, sir," Leorio answered, stiffening under the doctor's analytical gaze. So, this was a true professional looked like. Leorio suddenly felt very small in comparison.

"When are you graduating from Pre-med?" he asked. Leorio's mind raced. Did he think he wasn't cut out for medicine? Did he say something wrong? What happened?

"I-in a year, sir," he stuttered, stumbling over his words in his attempt to not completely freak out. If Kurapika had been awake right now, she'd definitely laugh at him. The thought somehow both annoyed and comforted him.

"I see," he said, looking back down at his clipboard. He pushed some graying hair out of his eyes. "You've got talent. I look forward to working with you someday . . ."

"Ah, Leorio Paladiknight!" Leorio supplied, as his heart soared into the heavens and yelled at him to jump up and down in joy. His mind told him to keep a cool head, however, and a good doctor always used his head over his heart in situations like this.

"Well, Mr. Paladiknight," the doctor continued, looking up and giving him a smile. "I look forward to working with you soon. You'll be a great help, I'm sure."

And then he walked out, and Leorio was alone. Kurapika still lay silent on the hospital bed, and Gon and Killua had already gone back home.

The doctor-in-training looked around, making sure that absolutely no one saw what he was about to do, as a giant grin spread across his face. He threw his fist up in the air.

"YES!" he yelled, then turned to Kurapika's still form. "You hear that Kura? Of course not, you're unconscious, but I'm going to brag anyway! ME! A great help! Not so useless now, am I?"

"My, you are causing a ruckus," a suave, elegant voice remarked. Leorio's head turned almost robotically towards the source. Chrollo stood there, looking less composed than usual: His hair ever so slightly out-of-place, the fingers on his crossed arms tapping impatiently. He must be on the edge of sanity on the inside. Kurapika had fainted on his watch, after all.

Wait a minute.

Kurapika had fainted on Chrollo's watch.

"Hey, Lucilfer," Leorio started. Chrollo said nothing to acknowledge his words. "Did you put her in a coma?"

"And how would I have managed that?" Chrollo asked, walking into the room and sitting down at her bedside. He pushed some golden hair out of her eyes.

"I dunno. Maybe it's your nen power or something?" Leorio said, looking at the man nervously. He wouldn't actually place her in a comatose state, right? He had to know the health implications that came with being in a coma.

"No," Chrollo answered. "It's not."

"Oh, good, I was worried for a second there," Leorio said, noticing that Chrollo had only answered his second question. He guessed it was just Chrollo's cryptic way of answering. There was no way he'd be desperate enough to actually . . .

Then again, Chrollo's morality really was a gray area.

But as he watched the man gazed at her with so much worry mixed in with the gentleness he usually saved for her, he couldn't imagine someone who looked at her like that could do something so risky.
. . . Three Days Later . . .

"Heyo, Danchou," Shalnark greeted as he held the phone to his ear.

"Shalnark, have you found that Nen exorcist you told me about?" his Danchou asked, and Shalnark laughed at his straightforwardness. Someone's patience was failing him. Had something changed?

"Yup," he chirped, happily, as he and Machi walked up to the door of the exorcist. He knocked three times, taking in the strange, rickety old house. It was decidedly too tall and swayed slightly in the wind. It was also painted pitch black. Some of the windows looked broken as well. This was the house of a skilled nen-remover?

"GO AWAY!" an old, croaky voice shouted. "TOO MANY UNSATISFIED CUSTOMERS! I AM OUT OF BUSINESS, Y'HEAR? I'M DONE SOLVING OTHER PEOPLE'S SHITTY LIVES!"

"Well, you can't say she isn't a lively, old thing," Shalnark said, still smiling as the very annoyed Machi covered her ears. "Miss, we're really in need of your insistence. Could you please come out and talk with us?"

"NO! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME, BRAT? I AIN'T COMIN' OUT EVER! SHOW'S OVER! LAST TIME I EXORCISED SOMEONE, A MOB CAME TO KILL ME! AND THEN I WAS FORCED TO LIVE IN THIS DUSTBIN! DID YOU SEE THAT PAINT?"

They looked at the paint, hands still over their ears to protect their perfect hearing.

"It's chipped?" Shalnark asked. There were a lot of problems with this house. The paint chipping was hardly the worst offense.

"IT'S CHIPPED!" the woman cried in despair. "I KEEP TRYING TO FIX IT, BUT IT JUST KEEPS CHIP-CHIP-CHIP-CHIPPING." Now she was bawling her eyes out, no doubt. "I USED TO BE THE BEST EXORCIST IN TOWN! A PRODIGY! I USED TO HEAL PEOPLE FROM THE WORST NEN CURSES IMAGINABLE! AND-AND-AND NOW, I'M FORCED TO LIVE IN THIS THING IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE BECAUSE EVERYONE THINKS I'M A DEMON SPAWN!"

Couldn't she just have moved to a new city?

"She's not coming out," Machi deadpanned, she gave him the look that said 'we either do this my way, or we go back to Danchou and you tell him all about how much we failed'.

"Alright," he sighed, rubbing the back of his head, smile wavering for once. "Let's do this the hard way."

Machi jumped in through one of the windows. A pouting Shalnark followed her. Why couldn't they ever settle things with words? He coughed at the dust thrown up in the air. The place was absolutely filthy. Cobwebs hung from every corner, crevice, and crack they could. He was sure that the thing crawling on the floor was a centipede. And was that a rat he spotted in the corner. Shalnark had been born in Meteor City, but that didn't mean he was any more accepting of filthiness as the next fellow.

"Where d'you think she is?" Shalnark asked. Machi opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of frantic footsteps racing up the staircase. The door to the room they were in slammed open, kicking up more dust and revealing an old woman with long, white hair tied up in a bun atop her head. She wore the traditional clothing of the region: a plain, blue dress with a belt around her waist. She was short and stout and otherwise completely ordinary.

At least she would be if she wasn't holding a rifle in her hands. She aimed at him, and he raised his hands in front of him out of instinct. Bullets wouldn't hurt him, of course, but still, it was a rifle. Rifles were intimidating, especially when they're being held by angry old ladies with beady black eyes.

"GET OUT, FILTHY TRESPASSER!" she screamed. "THIS THING'S LOADED!"

Trespasser? Singular? But there were . . .

He looked to his side and saw that Machi had vanished. Nevermind, singular it was. He spotted her again, swinging by a thread from the wall, literally. And then, she fell down and kicked the woman in the back of the neck. The woman collapsed onto the floor, Machi landing behind her with deadly grace.

They just attacked a senior citizen. A new low.

. . . Back In The Dream World . . .

Goddammit.

They'd only been on the run for a few hours. Or at least it felt that way. Time in the Dream World, as Pairo creatively dubbed it, passed differently. She could've been in here for a year and would be none the wiser.

Not the time!

She skidded to a halt and started running back in the direction of the beast that had finally been able to catch one of them. Spoiler alert, it was Pairo.

"Kurapika!" he cried, as the T-rex-like creature swung him around in his claws. Then, the thing tossed him into the air and opened its jaw, ready to devour him. In that moment, Kurapika saw an opening. She jumped onto a tree branch nearest to the monster, pushed herself off, and kicked Pairo out of the way. The blonde herself landed between its eyes. She raised her unsheathed sword over its lidless eye and stabbed. The monster seemed particularly sensitive to eye injuries because the next thing she knew it was reeling its head and losing its balance. She refused to let go, twisting the sword in further until it finally toppled over onto the ground. She rolled onto the forest floor, ripped out the sword, and breaking into a run.

Now, where had she tossed Pairo again?

. . . Back In The Real World . . .

"You're sure she's not secretly dying?" Shalnark asked, nervously, as he looked down at the old woman they were now shoving in the trunk of the car.

Machi threw down the lid, and the exorcist disappeared from view. She turned to Shalnark with an irritated look in her eyes. "Her vitals are fine."

"Yeah, but are you sure she'll be fine. I mean, what if we just put her in a coma?" Shalnark jabbered on anxiously, as the much colder Machi walked around to the passenger's seat.

"Then we'll find someone else," she answered, her voice icy and emotionless. Machi truly was a ruthless Spider, cutting down her prey without hesitation. It would be frightening to watch if it had been anyone else, but Shalnark knew Machi was a huge softie on the inside. She'd do anything to help their Danchou, or the other Spiders, though she preferred not having to show that fact. This extended to the people who the other Spiders cared about, especially Danchou's girlfriend. Machi had indeed taken a liking to her, he could tell. It was probably because she saw a bit of herself in her, or that she seemed to make Danchou happy and that made her happy by association. Whatever the case, Machi was probably one of the nicer Spiders when it came down to it. Perhaps, not as nice as Shalnark, who tried to stay away from violent measures and often tried to get the other, more sadistic Spiders to do the same.

. . . In The Dream World . . .

"You saved my life," Pairo said, a bit breathless as they both collapsed in the shade of the trees. It was daytime now. It had looked like midnight just a few seconds ago. This world was quite strange.

"I don't know about that," Kurapika replied, her breath for once just as labored as his. She stood up again and stretched her hands towards the sky. "I mean, can you even be killed? You're not actually human. You're made of nen."

"Neither are you at the moment," Pairo shot back. Kurapika raised an eyebrow as a cue for a much-needed explanation. "The only thing present here right now is your soul, or conscious mind, whatever floats your boat. And normally, that would mean nothing could hurt your real body outside. Except, the Akuma no Yume don't work that way. If they eat you in your dream, they kill you in real life too."

"You know a lot about this Dream World," Kurapika said, finding it hard to keep the curiosity out of her voice. A world undocumented by books and scrolls. It was absolutely fascinating, and Kurapika couldn't help but want to know more.

Pairo blushed, embarrassed by the compliment. "Well, I have been at this for a few decades."

"A few decades?" Kurapika said, incredulously. She had forgotten that this was not Pairo, not another person running for his life. This was a manifestation of a dead person's Nen who had gained his own mind. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Well, my favorite color's blue and I like chocolate ice cream," he answered, a bit sheepish that she seemed so interested.

"Not about you," Kurapika waved the thought away. She gestured to the area around them. "About this world."

"Oh," he said, a bit disheartened. Here he thought she wanted to know more. "Well, everyone's Dream World is different. Since you have a lot of nightmares, your Dream World is a little darker than most. But lately, y'know, before I came in and messed up your whole track record, most of your dreams were becoming a lot more peaceful. So, that's why there aren't trails of blood everywhere."

"I see," she said, storing the information, tucking it away somewhere safe. "How come this was the first time I had Akuma enter my dreams?"

"Oh, that's because you're technically not asleep. At least, not naturally," he explained, playing with the flowers around them, weaving them into a flower crown. "It's easier for Akuma to come into your mind that way. I'm not sure how it works, exactly, but it does."

Kurapika sat there with a visibly forced smile. So, in the end, she would've either played right into this Roro character's hands or risked being eaten by wild Akuma. She didn't know which sounded better.

"Let's keep moving," she announced, getting up. "Do you know if there are any places Akumas can't reach?"

"I hear they hate caves," he answered, unsure if that was helpful.

"Then, we should head for the mountains in the East," Kurapika declared, authority ringing in her voice. "I'd rather stay as far away from those things as possible. Ready?"

"I guess," he said, though he dreaded the thought of more walking.

"By the way," the woman started again. He didn't look at her. "What should I call you?"

"Call me?" he asked, confused, as he twiddled with one of the purple flowers on the crown. It looked like a crocus and was orange in the middle. He'd never admit it, but flower assortment was his guilty pleasure.

"Don't you have a name?" Kurapika moved to tie her hair back into a ponytail. She'd grumbled something about long hair being impractical beforehand, and the took some blades of grass and turned them into a rather sturdy hair tie. He wondered where she'd learned how to make those. "I keep calling you Pairo in my head, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. So, what should I be calling you?"

Pairo chewed his bottom lip as he considered her question. His master had always called him his Dream Puppet. He didn't really like that name. But he'd never really thought about calling himself anything else.

"Call me whatever you want," was his answer. He didn't know what else to say. And somehow, he felt his mood sorrow at his inability to give her a proper answer. He really was just his master's puppet.

"Saffron," she suddenly said, putting a finger to her chin and nodding approvingly while her eyes inspected the starry sky above.

"What?"

"That's what I'll call you," she replied, simply, smiling as the name slipped off her tongue.

"But . . . that's a flower's name." His face scrunched up in distaste. He didn't want to be named after a flower. He was a manly man.

"So?"

"That's so . . . girly," he complained. This earned him a hit to the back of his head. "Ow."

"Don't be sexist. And besides, there's nothing wrong with a little femininity," she lectured, as he massaged his poor, aching head. This woman was so violent. Heck, he wasn't even sure she was a human. She acted more like a Valkyrie or something. Or maybe some kind of evil demon woman.

He pouted, and she rolled her eyes.

"If it makes you feel any better, Saffron is technically gender neutral."

"It doesn't."

"Too bad, Saffy."

"No," he whined. Saffy was even worse than Saffron. This woman was evil. He reevaluated their situation. She did save him from that Akuma. So, she wasn't pure evil, but just really, really mean and scary.

Like a bully.

. . .

Next On NAPP!:

Kurapika wakes up and everything has a price.

(A/N: I hope it's not too convoluted. In short, the Akuma are demons that steal into your nightmares, eat you in said nightmares, and then make your heart stop in your actual bodies. Akuma is also demon in Japanese. Not at all a reference to Miraculous Ladybug. Ask me any questions you still have about the Dream World in the comments and I'll answer them tomorrow.)

Question of the Day: What is the price?

~ Replies to Reviewers ~

Sweets Dreamer: Your comment about Kurapika needing more action screen time actually gave me this idea. I wasn't sure what I'd do about her being in the Dream World, but then I was like, why not put her in mortal danger thanks to these really scary dinosaur-like creatures? One more thing I guess I didn't make very clear. Likon is Chrollo's brother's accomplice who manipulates demons, and he's the one who died. Chrollo's brother killed him. Chrollo's brother himself is named Roro and is a total freak, but is also a genius freak. That's not a stupid idea at all. I kind of wish Pairo could come into the Real World. As always, thanks for reviewing. I hope you liked this chapter and the little Phantom Troupe action in it. I put Machi and Shalnark on another mission again. I just feel like they work really well together. Not as a couple per se, but just as friends and partners in crime. Yeah, Chrollo and Kurapika are definitely getting to the more physical side of relationships. I just wanted to show them happy together and in an established relationship. Love your comments.

guest: Hi again! I'm glad you found it funny cuz that was totally the point. Kurapika ain't gonna be fooled that easily. And Kurapika is totally the sass master this chapter. I'm glad you like Pairo, eh, Saffron. BTW, the flower in the flower crown he was talking about was actually a saffron flower, which is why Kurapika called him that. Nah, I'm pretty sure ninety percent of the people reading this and their mom want Kurapika to beat the shit out of him. Kurapika can relate. That man's goin' down. May Illumi and Roro bond over their unrequited brotherly love towards their respective siblings. Yay chain pair fluff. If you squint, you might be able to find some here. Kurapika definitely loves Chrollo. Love is just such a strong word to claim. Yeah, Kurapika in a suit is all Neon could ask for. Thanks so much for reviewing and I hope you liked this chapter. I'm interested to see what you thought.

~ End of Replies ~

To Everyone: Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There's only two left so brace yourself for the big finale. I'm Chocoholic221B and I'll see you next time on NAPP!