C H A P T E R S I X
Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter. The wonderful characters are the creation of Togashi-sama. Any original characters who do appear however (and there will be plenty) belong to me.
Summary: It all began when Illumi was caught wearing women's clothes and competing in a beauty competition. However, it would seem that there are other reasons for his cross-dressing, and winning the prize not all that important.
Rating: M 15+
Karen looked about her fervently. She heard a series of loud crashes in her home and knew it was a sign of her mentor becoming angry – most likely at his new student. Doctor Faust had a disposition towards violence whenever he became slightly annoyed. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what this Leorio could have done wrong to work up her mentor to the stage where he saw physical violence as the only solution to his problems. The conclusion she was left with was not the most comforting one, namely because it shifted the blame on her. She had lost control of her temper and became upset, leaving the table without a word. And all over something that had not been confirmed. But the more she thought about the revelation, she began to see some truth in Leorio's words. Well, truth would be giving him too much credit, but like her father, it drove a wedge of suspicion between her friendship with Miss Arammi.
Must a Kastro to have so little faith in the goodwill of humanity, so much that the poisonous words of a stranger could make them distrust their own friends? Karen felt helpless to defy this particular value; their family didn't survive the bleak years of Rodimostev II's reign by being trusting – they survived because they had no friends, trusted no one and suspected everyone. And look what this kind of life has bought them – General-hood and a prominent place by the Emperor's side in the new Greater Arcadia. It had to be worth it, right?
Trust no one, suspect everyone, and you're guaranteed to survive Arcadian politics.
Karen snorted as she dashed out of Kastro Court to follow the trail of destruction. How many times had her father and her aunt said that to her? Certainly more than too many for she never knew how to properly react to a 'genuine' gesture of friendship and conciliation. No, she thought grimly, whenever someone smiled sincerely at her, the first thought was to count the number of daggers that the person could stick into her back in the future if she replied with a smile of her own.
Arammi…Illumi…who gives a dodo if Illumi's 'his' real name anyway? Fact is, he's had many chances to quietly get rid of me but he's done nothing and I sense no ill will. Yes, I'm relying on my natural human instincts and succumbing to a desire to have one real friend. Why do you think I went into medicine father, and did not follow in Aunty Kim's footsteps?
She was now out in the maze of Arcadia Central's network of streets, her targets having all but vanished into thin air. Karen futilely stood on her tiptoes to look above the bobbing sea of heads but could not glean an extra clue as to where her mentor had charged off to. Just as the last shreds of hope were waning, she heard a man's womanly shrill scream. No respectable Arcadian man would embarrass himself like that by emitting such an atrocious sound and she instantly took up the new lead, hoping to be able to catch up with her mentor and tell him that she was feeling all right after all. She literally flew down the street into the Market Square, nimbly threaded her way through the crowds gathered jam packed near the food court and discovered a small clearing where Doctor Faust lay unconscious on the ground at the feet of a group of people.
She abruptly stopped in her tracks still some distance away. A sense of wariness spread over her mind, pulled a misty veil in front of her eyes and left her feeling numb and cold. How did it happen? Only a handful of people could approach her mentor without being caught in a rain of scalpels, let alone pulverize him to pulp. Panic seized her as she suddenly composed a dozen conspiracy theories in her mind: Leorio deliberately got her upset knowing that Faust would give chase. Then he led her mentor into an ambush, a trap, but to what end? Was this really a ploy to destabilize and thus destroy the Kastro family by knocking away its potential supporters first?
A surging tide of intimidating aura drowned out her panic but also threatened to wash her away as well, leaving her feeling thoroughly vulnerable and helpless. She tuned her senses to detect the direction of the nen and discovered that it was coming from up the other side of the road. Whoever that person was, they certainly knew how to cause a stir. People hushed up and parted like the waves as two individual figures calmly headed towards the group at whose feet her mentor lay. Karen squinted to see a figure clad in the distinctive eunuch's uniform striding purposefully towards the scene.
Hang on! Were those sleeves lined with gold?
Yes, they were, and that meant it could only be one person: the head of the eunuch's in the Forbidden Palace - Master Echlan. Beside him, walking with a slightly hunched back was a silver-haired old man who, astonishingly, wasn't impressed by the effect that the old Master Echlan had on the citizens of Arcadia Central.
Karen didn't let herself be intimidated by the arrival of the eunuch and she held her head up high, walking towards the center of rowdiness without fear or hesitation. No way was she, Karen Kalinnan Kastro, going to back down and avoid meeting the wily old fox. They reached the rowdy scene together, wary eyes unwaveringly studied the other as if they were a potential threat. Their reserved caution and cold formalities told of many silent battles of will as neither wished to submit to the other's influence. Master Echlan could be the head eunuch of the Forbidden Palace but that didn't mean Karen had to bow down to him. Eunuchs weren't allowed to be given ministerial positions of power and they were after all, just house servants. However, Master Echlan was the personal attendant to the Emperor and that meant he spent a lot of time with the Emperor, long enough to promote or destroy the Emperor's opinions on any given subject.
Karen gave a nod which was dipped precisely low enough to be polite but did not gratify him with another inch of respect and briefly curtsied. "Good afternoon Master Echlan," she said airily, deliberately looking at Faust who needed her immediate aid. She couldn't care less if the eunuch was offended by her haughtiness – she had a right to be; her father was one of the Emperor's Ten Generals, a man who fought on without end during the Decade Long War for a dynasty that everyone cursed and a system of governance that was rotten right to the heart of its structure. But for all of the Kastro family's heroic deeds, time was something that you couldn't compete against.
Master Echlan had been the head eunuch for a record of sixty years. Although his age neared eighty, he certainly didn't look a day over fifty. Rumors circulating amongst the younger eunuchs were that he could look even younger if he wanted, possibly even revert back to the days of his prime, but he preferred the look of an old man to make opponents underestimate him. Currently, he acted as the personal bodyguard-cum-caretaker to the Emperor and thus commanded great respect (read: sucking up) from the inhabitants of the Forbidden Palace. Apart from the Interior Minister, no one else could come close to him in the field of nen. As an eunuch, he had access to a set of formidable martial arts skills that incorporated the release of nen and made him one of the strongest (non)man on earth.
He was dressed in the Palace uniform of royal purple with a light pink sash around the waist, its ends just dangling mere inches from the ground. And even though he had a tendency to apply sparse makeup on these trips out of the Palace, no one dared to laugh. His keen eyes scanned the situation, noting that one of the Forbidden Palace's royal doctors was lying unconscious on the floor. His mildly menacing glare sent every other person on their way again, back to what they were doing before the commotion began. He then turned around again and faced the guilty party.
Echlan took his time to adjust the brocade of silk laced carefully around his arms, flicking away the specks of dust or dirt. He was mindful that Kamus' daughter was already on the retreat from his presence with an unconscious Royal Doctor slung over her shoulder and another man dressed in the robes of an apprentice trailing behind her. All the pity, but there were plenty of other opportunities for him to reassert his dominance and power over a Kastro that he let this minor transgression pass. Kastro Court would bow down to him soon, so let them struggle in the last throes of life.
He looked at the gathering of people about him with an air of unperturbed calm and commanded the supreme confidence that he had the situation completely under his control; that people were going to answer his questions; that people thereafter would take his orders. "What's going on. I heard screaming all the way from the museum."
"Killu! You're here too!" Zeno stood forward from Echlan's side, his eyebrows raised.
"You know these people Zeno?" the eunuch's eyes were filled with intensity for the briefest moments before anyone could notice that there had been a flicker at all. Although he considered Zeno to be a friend, it was still in his interests that Zeno did not know what was going on in his mind.
"Why yes Echlan. That's my son," he pointed at the Silva who unaware that his father was addressing him because his gaze had been captured by a shocking image and it lingered with unwholesome interest on the girl's retreating figure. Zeno sighed at Silva's lack of response and managed to put on an even smile to continue. "This my daughter in law - that's my son's wife, and this is my grandson, Killua. Kikyou, you know where Millu has taken Allu and Karuto?"
She shrugged carelessly, irritated by the black and white static that her visor was only capable of producing. She guessed that it was starting to malfunction due to the interference of the strong concentration of everyone's auras. "Probably around the food court at this time," she sighed in defeat, taking the visor off to stow away into her handbag. "Millu will have to fix this."
"Excuse me Zeno…. but did you call your daughter-in-law Kikyou?"
Zeno blinked. Echlan's always had good hearing and hesitancy was not in his vocabulary, "Yes, that's her name," he nodded.
Killua was getting bored, not to mention disappointed that an old geezer who dressed like a transvestite had come to quell the excitement. He felt himself ready to growl at his grandpa's friend though for gawking at his mother like she was some terrifying beast. True, she could act that way, but still, his mother was pretty for her age and he expected more civility from a person that grandpa Zeno had chosen for a friend.
Master Echlan delicately stepped forward, his every motion a movement
of elegance and grace, to look carefully at Silva's wife, who, only being
able to see vague shapes and blurs of colour tugged at her husband's arm
uneasily. "Kikyou….Princess Kikyou? Do you remember me?"
* * * *
"Who were those people?" Karen asked Leorio as they laid down the limp body of the doctor onto the spare bed.
"They were my friends. It's amazing how they all chose to turn up for the Coronation Festival, but for entirely different reasons of course," he hastily added the last part in, recalling Kurapika's words. Killua and Gon were certainly not here for the history and culture and the day that happens, is the day that he, Leorio, will surpass Doctor Faust's skills and have the latter groveling to him.
"They must be powerful nen users to be able to do this to mentor."
Leorio laughed and shook his hands in front of him as an indication of innocence. "No no, Kurapika stopped those killer scalpels all right, but it was actually Killua's mum who…um…how to put this devastatingly…beat the living crap out of Sensei." He puffed his chest. "Mind you though I felt sympathy for him when I saw him go down."
Karen frowned at those words. "Killua was the young boy, with white hair? He's the assassin, the Zoldick that you spoke of earlier at afternoon tea?"
"Why yes, and the older man with long white hair was his dad, and the strange woman with the eye guard was his mother. It's all quite coincidental how we all seem to meet together heh?"
The older man with long white hair…
He was distinctly looking at her funny when she arrived at the scene of Faust's defeat. It was not a look unfamiliar to her, a horrid and abhorrent look which she had come to hate with fierce passion over the years. She'd seen it on men who lusted after women, raped them, then laughed and spat in their faces afterwards. Over and over again, how many women during the war had endured that look of unhealthy longing and had their bodies ravished? How many of those mutilated bodies did she have to deal with over the ten years, day after day, night after night, forced to witness one outrage after another? Sobbing, tears, depression, suicide, insanity – all because of that look, all because those women and girls were weak and defenseless…all because of war.
She suddenly felt her head swimming and her blood felt so warm, so comfortable. Her nostrils flared as she breathed in deeply and she could smell the salty sweat and the sickly sweet aroma of blood emanating strongly from the man with the round sunglasses standing opposite her. She could see where his heart was, inside the cage of bone pumping away, the source of life. How she wanted to tear it out and sink her teeth in for a delicious bite and to feel the warm, sweet blood flow down her chin.
"Karen-san, you're looking awfully pale. I know this is all a big shock to you. Would you like a seat?" Leorio asked, looking flustered by her ghostly pallor and the way her eyes somehow sunk further into their sockets and looked so old. Eyes which had seen a dozen lifetime's worth of blood and killings and loved every moment of it.
…Fallen Angel, Demoness born on the Battlefields of Holt…
Karen thoroughly ignored his last comment; her heightened senses and awareness were translating each sight, sound and smell into information that blared through her mind like a hundred sets of stereo blasters. At that moment, overwhelmed by the sound, she found a certain, quiet peace that left her free, unbound from the shackles of human limitation, and the things which denied her her desires crumbled effortlessly beneath her gaze. As long as the ringing of something akin to feedback continued to ring in her mind, she was something more than human and a little bit less. This feeling was the ultimate release, the never-ending high that got you addicted from the first taste alone. Power now coursed through her veins and to rip the man's heart out required only one simple, beautiful act of murder. As her mind was taken away by the intoxicating scent of blood, it left her in a field of crimson, alone, sustained only by the endless need to feel the thick source of life through her fingers, to see it splayed around her, to live with that wonderful fragrance on her skin.
"Karen-san?"
But her aunt had returned to her now hadn't she, the mother that she never had. Her face was exactly as youthful and vibrant as she had pictured in her memory. They spent their weekends out in the private gardens of green leaves and brown earth and blue sky. They made daisy chains if aunt Kim wasn't busy, which she hardly was because she made sure that weekends were reserved for her favourite niece.
…Karen Kalinnan Kastro…Royal Doctor in training…
The dripping blood dissipated from the walls and the ceiling and the light of the mid afternoon caught up to her again, showing her the brilliance of colours compared to the red of blood.
Karen smiled a little and chucked. "Ara…no, Illumi-san really is a boy then?"
Leorio was sure that Karen was trying to be brave and strong about the matter, and he felt bad about how the day had turned out. It was supposed to be a cheerful festive season, yet here they were, with one injured man and a young girl with a heart broken by betrayal.
"I guess it sort of all makes sense now, just the small things that Illumi did," she looked at him with all seriousness which did not suit her gentle face, "He is a good friend. I haven't been able to talk to people much after the war. Ever since I joined the front line, I've always felt so cold and bitter. Seeing Illumi reminded me so much of my aunt. He let me relive a lot of my childhood days, and they were the best…" she finished off with a shuddering breath, then bent over Faust's unresponsive form and ripped apart his shirt revealing bruises of deep purple, black and blue that made Leorio flinch.
"What are we going to do? Roll boiled eggs on those bruises to make the swelling go away?"
Karen rolled her eyes and sighed with varying degrees of exasperation. Her hand glowed white and it gradually became more intense until the light stabbed at the naked eyes and caused Leorio to turn away. "Nothing of that sort," she murmured, then without hesitation, plunged the hand into Faust's open chest. Leorio's eyes widened as the hand sank in beneath the skin and every trace of injury on Faust rapidly disappeared as he too was outlined with a strong incandescent white aura. His jaw went slack and he stepped back when Karen pulled her hand back out and proffered it to him.
"This is what I do. It is the most effective and efficient method of healing these injuries. Anything can be repaired from the inside - broken capillaries, fractured bones, ruptured organs, torn muscles - all can be fixed by the direct transmission of my nen and applied directly to the damage areas. I did this every day for ten years during the war."
She made a sharp twisting gesture and the cleansing white nen suddenly discoloured into a vile, dried blood red. Her gaze hadn't change, but Leorio found that his forehead was beaded with sweat.
"And if I told my nen to destroy, rather than to heal, guess what would happen when I stick my hand into you?"
Leorio knew that there were some solemn moments in life where the still quietness around you marked you as near your death. The red nen coated on that fine hand, sluggishly twisting and writhing like a sick, dying animal, was death. "I'd die," he answered simply, for the monstrosity of crimson dripping in front of him only bought the one uncherished gift.
The nen violently dispersed and the effort to dismiss it seemed to take a lot out of Karen. She wordlessly turned to the drawers and began to rummage for another shirt.
"Karen-san, does Illumi really look like your aunt?"
She decided that he was worthy of an answer, having demonstrated some sense under her threat. "Actually, I have two aunts, one of them I've never met. Father says that his youngest sister was four when she was kidnapped in an assassination plot against our family that went astray – much to the chagrin of our political enemies. Father escaped with his second sister, the aunt that I knew, who passed away ten years ago. She too died for political reasons. When father bought Illumi-san home the other day, it just felt like the war never occurred, and we were one big happy family again. His eyes were just as warm as my aunt."
Plagued by guilt, although Leorio was adamant that Illumi was mostly at fault for concealing his gender, he offered his most sincere explanations. "Hey, I'm sorry about all this. It's just that Killua's bastard brother is beyond redemption and you had to be aware of who you were hanging out with." And thus, he proceeded to recount to Karen the disturbing conversation that occurred between the Zoldick brothers during the final Hunter examination approximately a year and a half ago.
Assassin's don't need friends; friends will only hinder you and pull you back; we are nothing but puppets in darkness; when we see a person, we should only think: to kill or not to kill.
…Trust no one, suspect everyone, and you're guaranteed to survive Arcadian politics.
"An assassin kills not because he has to, but because he's accepted filthy money to do so. 'Assassin' is just a glamorous catchword to replace 'murderer'. He was born into a family of assassins, has assassin's blood flowing within him and became professional at the age of three. What I'm saying is Karen-san, is that who you know as Illumi is probably just a filthy charade…an act to deceive…"
Karen listened the whole time with her eyes closed. Leorio's words echoed in her head and seemed to make no sense at all, serving only to confuse her. How come Leorio's description of this Illumi was so completely different to the gentle, soft and understanding Arammi? He had even comforted her when she confessed that she had killed many people in war when the soldiers under her father's command always found a need to be elsewhere whenever she approached them; he had laughed with her when they inspected the brood of puppies for sale in the Market Square; he had even taught her how to apply makeup in a way to better accentuate her features. A doctor is the master analyst who does not let one detail, one small or feint movement, slip by without noticing and observing. She could tell if someone was lying, and her success rate was known to have surpassed the polygraph machine. Illumi was not lying to her. She detected no malice in his will. He was not the person that Leorio had described – one beyond redemption.
She laughed aloud, a harsh but untroubled sound.
…Fallen Angel…Karen Kalinnan Kastro
…Demoness born on the Battlefields of Holt…Royal Doctor in training
"Our Emperor says that there can be redemption for all of us, that nothing is absolute and life is in our hands for the taking. We make life what we want it to be for it is in our hands where fate and destiny are shaped. Salvation will be granted, but that's only if we want it."
Grant me my redemption Sire; take me from the merciless field of blood that I've been wallowing in for the past decade and let me be human again so that humanity won't shy away from me. I just don't want to live alone with the stench of blood, forever tainted on my soul, as my lonely companion down the roads of eternity.
Having said that, Karen stood up and left the room.
* * * *
Xeno pulled the eunuch back, "Echlan, what are you talking about?"
"I can speak for myself grandpa Xeno. I don't remember you, and I can barely make out your face."
The eunuch persisted and shook free of the old Zoldick's grip. "You remember my voice? Remember when you were only four years old this mean old man began to tell you off about your behaviour in the palace when you threw water-bombs at all the other young ladies? And instead of making your apologies like all little nice young girls are wont to do, you kicked the man in the shins, then said - "
"Take that you stupid old fart, and serves you right not to have a dick…" Kikyou gasped, trembling at the memory of a fairytale childhood that had ended all too abruptly. She covered her mouth with a shaking hand and an overpowering sensation of nostalgia choked her words.
"Master Echlan? You're still alive after all these years?"
"Yes my most disagreeable child. I've braved all the winds and storms of Rodimostev II's turbulent years and still kicking today." He gave Kikyou a small bow.
Kikyou sniffed, her grip tightening almost uncomfortably on Silva's arm. "And you still remember me…"
"But of course Princess. Your brother is held in high regard in Greater Arcadia. Who would not know of the famous General Kamus Kalinnan Kastro who so bravely defended and held the capital in the Battle of Arcadia Central five years ago? Or his wonderfully capable daughter – doctor and fighter, dubbed the Fallen Angel – who fought alongside the 61st Army and was one of the first to storm and lay waste to the enemy's capital. We do not forget relatives of those who hold such high positions of power."
"Nii-chan is…still alive? Didn't the Empress get rid of our family?"
Zeno cut in, looking warily about at the people lingering just a bit too long around them for his liking. "We should find a quieter place to talk about this."
"Killua, you can go if you want and join your friends." Silva instructed, but the young lad shook his head.
"Can I come listen?"
Kikyou hesitated slightly, still holding onto Silva as her guide. She leaned over, earrings twinkling, feeling for Killua. "Maybe not darling. Mamma will tell you everything later ok? And then introduce Mamma to your friends as well."
"This is where we are staying. Come meet us there for dinner at eight." Silva handed Killua a small slip of paper with the details inscribed in his usual, painstakingly neat handwriting.
Killua nodded, smiling at the information. "Gon and I are staying at that hotel as well. All right everyone, fun's over, what should we do till dinner?"
Kurapika flipped through his bundle of flyers and brochures. "We can go to the Arena. Apparently, General Misha has decided to hold a small tournament. Let's see what that's about."
Zuuchi's ears pricked up at the words 'tournament' and 'arena' and he punched his fist in the air, bellowing a loud "Ousch!"
"Hey Killua, I also want to say that your mum sure is powerful. Did you see the way she handled that crazy man before?"
Killua had to laugh at Zuuchi's awe, bordering on admiration, for his deranged mother. At home, people usually flinched for she spoke too loud, or bit their lips in frustration for she nagged. "That's only the tip of the iceberg. You should see what happens when she's really angry, like the time when I was eight and – "
They happily laughed their way to the Arena with Killua providing much of the laughter, usually at his own expense.
"Hey Gon! You coming or not!" Zuuchi yelled out to Gon who was unusually lagging behind, lost in his thoughts. The boy snapped to attention and saw that his friends were already some distance down the road. He jumped a little and sprinted to catch up, spurred on by his sudden mental breakthrough.
"I've got it Killua! I remembered where I saw it!"
Killua sighed. He knew not to ask otherwise Gon would take him on a strange discourse of abstract logic.