"I don't have much time for this Master Echlan. You've been dancing in
circles all morning, and my patience is wearing thin. Why have you
scheduled an appointment with me?" Kamus looked onto his train of house
servants with disapproval. Early this morning, they began to set up the
large dining table that had not been used since the beginning of the war
and Chef was extremely busy in the kitchen stirring up all sorts of
breakfast delicacies, their delicious aroma wafting to the hall making
Kamus realize that he hadn't had a proper meal in the past two days.
The eunuch gave a slight smile, his red painted lips deviously curled at the edges.
"Is the young lady in this morning?"
Kamus was fed up. "No Master Echlan, she went off this morning to find Arammi."
"She can catch up on the news later then." Echlan bowed slightly and gave a small cough. All house servants snapped to attention and lined against the far wall. The old eunuch then stood straight and regarded the busy General. "I would be pleased to announce to you Kamus, that your long lost sister Kikyou Kalinnan Kastro has finally returned to Arcadia."
Kamus barely managed to keep the cup of coffee in his hand from crashing to the ground. He mastered control over his trembling hand and stared hard at the well dressed eunuch.
"What are you saying?"
"Please bring them in." Master Echlan ordered his younger apprentice Koran. The young eunuch had been training under Echlan since the day Kim had died. Koran used to serve his sister with another young eunuch…whose name seemed to escape him right now. Koran was tall, lithe, lean and inherited the deadly skills of Echlan. Had he been a real man, he would have been able to share the status of General with him at the ripe young age of twenty seven. Koran's pale face disappeared from view as he bowed low before his mentor and General and turned around to repeat the orders to the house servants.
General Kamus didn't know what to believe or indeed, what was happening. He had spent the entire night finalizing the new route for the outer palace guards to patrol and finally finished his reports and other miscellaneous administrative work before deciding to stalk on a few hours sleep in time for the competition at the Auditorium tonight. He thought that Master Echlan had made the cruelest joke when he spoke of Kikyou's name, because it was well known that she was most likely killed the night the assassins came to destroy the Kastro family. He heard a multitude of footsteps approach and stood up slightly in anticipation.
A middle aged man, around the same age as himself, perhaps slightly younger, with flowing silver hair reaching his waist stepped into the room behind the young Koran. On his arm was perched a woman who appeared to be blind. When he saw her face, he was instantly reminded of his own daughter, and knew that Echlan could not possibly be lying. Behind her was a grossly fat boy, one in a wheelchair, a young girl that could pass off as a porcelain doll and the two kids he saw on the street the other day.
Kamus stood up straight with a weary smile on his lips. He hadn't smiled so sincerely for years it seemed and his cold heart thawed ever so slightly by the warmth. "Welcome home Kikyou." He outstretched his arms and embraced a sister he had not seen for perhaps forty years.
Kikyou would have tearfully returned her brothers embrace had she been able to shed tears. Her thin trembling fingers reached up to feel his face, one that had changed so much through the years that she could no longer recognize him.
"Gods Kikyou, what happened to your eyes?"
At this question, she beamed brightly. "Isn't the wound just brilliant? My precious, darling Killua inflicted these one me before he fled from home about last year."
The General calculated the priorities quickly in his mind. He abandoned his scowl at the assassin family and raised his voice. He indicated for the large group of people to seat themselves around the large table whilst suspiciously watching in the corner of his eye Master Echlan disappear into another room with another old man with dirty silver hair. He turned to the
"Immediately send for Doctor Faust."
Koran bowed low, his lightly blue hair flowing down with him. "Yes General."
"Ni-chan, let me introduce to you. This is my husband, Silva."
Both men eyed each other with caution and suspicion, trying to assess each other's power from the simple flow of nen emitted in their normal state.
"And this" she continued hastily "are my children. This is my second eldest son, Milluki, Killua, Alluka and Karuto. Bid goodday to your uncle children."
Kamus heard several discordant mumbles of greeting and good mornings and gave them a wry grin. He recognized Killua from yesterday, along with his friend Gon. Killua's siblings were…interesting. Milluki's pudgy face and small eyes barely squeaked danger and he was already helping himself to large slices of cream cake. Karuto looked like the silent type with a large pair of almost unblinking eyes fearlessly looking back into his. She did not touch the food until her mother nodded and gave her assent. She laid down onto the table the most hideous looking doll which she had carried in her arms when she arrived and Silva glared at the offending object but declined to comment. As to the pale boy in the wheelchair, he looked mighty uncomfortable.
"Are you unwell Alluka-kun?"
Alluka flinched and awkwardly shook his head from side to side. "It's getting rather…difficult to breathe in here…and cold…" his teeth chattered slightly to demonstrate his feelings.
"Milluki! You were supposed to have properly dressed your brother!" Kikyou scolded.
"I did kaa-san!" Milluki shot back with annoyance. "He's just doing this to get attention. Besides, big bro's the one who usually take care of Allu."
"Big bro…Illumi….is he your son too then?"
"Yes, a most reliable assassin he is too."
To a certain extent, that relieved one of Kamus' worries. He knew that his daughter was hanging around with not only a Zoldick family member, but at least he was her cousin. Alluka's wheezing worsened.
"I'm going…to…go outside…"
"Alluka-kun, you're obviously affected by the nen here. Kastro Court has at least three hundred years of history, so it's particularly strong here. Just release your ten, zetsu, ren and hatsu together and you'll be protected."
Alluka was unsure of whether to trust his uncle and he unwittingly looked to his father for reassurance. Silva gave a slight nod and consequently he adjusted his nen and felt the pressure lift off from his chest and he was able to breath in deeply again. Killua became puzzled.
"There it is again, almost just like Hisoka yesterday. Why don't we feel it uncle? Or are you going to lie to us again and tell us that we're insensitive?"
Kamus laughed out loud at Killua's penetrating gaze and his sister's shock at her son's behaviour. He put one hand on Kikyou's shoulder to calm her down and turned to Killua with a slightly apologetic look on his face.
"You're right, I did lie to you the other day. You probably have found out by now that the pride of Arcadian nen development is the product of the 'natural nen user'. Arcadia Central's nen IS structured around the natural nen user. The closer your ability to realize all your hatsu potentials – reinforcement, manipulation, materialization, control, specialization and emission determines how much the nen affects you. The closer you are to reaching Emperor time, the more sensitive and intuned you are to the nen around you. Of course, people who live here aren't bothered by it because our own nen automatically makes adjustments to protect us. It's very good training actually, but tourists like yourself would not know this small secret."
Gon hummed a bit in thinking. "Does that mean that Alluka would have greater nen abilities than Killua and me then?"
Killua bit down on his fork when he heard that and Silva glanced at his paralyzed son.
"To be frank with you, yes. It may be that Alluka-kun has some natural nen abilities. Perhaps he can master Emperor time for short periods, like your friend in the Arena yesterday?"
Alluka felt uncomfortable with all the eyes watching him. He was habitually cooped up in his room, free from the gazes of the world, no mocking looks on his inability to even walk or shower himself, no one to criticize him. But now, even his father was regarding him with interest, and he felt himself in fear.
"What…is a natural..nen user?" he managed to stutter.
Kamus thought about this only briefly. "A god who would walk the earth and feel it tremble beneath his feet. A god so powerful that all the obstacles of the world around him must fall to his whim. A very powerful figure indeed."
"Is the Emperor a natural nen user too?"
"That I'm afraid is classified information."
"Doctor Faust is here." Koran intoned and introduced the mad doctor to the Zoldick family.
They all recognized each other, and the stares were none too friendly.
"Faust, this is my sister, Kikyou. Please see if you can fix her eyes."
Fausts' jaw dropped open. "Your sister? That is unheard of General. I thought…"
"Please just do as I ask. I don't want to have any arguments this morning. These are Illumi's family members, understand?"
"The entire Zoldick family in Kastro Court having breakfast together?! The Emperor might not be pleased to hear things as such." Faust grumbled and took to examining Kikyou's wounds.
"Hmm…these look quiet old…2 years I reckon?" Killua lowered his head an nodded.
"But it's clean and quick…and the nerve endings….hmm…."
His hand swiped across her eyes with a speed that impressed Silva. Faust quickly and painlessly recreated the same wounds Killua had made two years ago and with the perfection and finesse of a Royal Doctor reattached each and every nerve ending, capillary and sensors within rapid fractions of a second with his glowing green nen. He stepped back and looked into a pair of coal coloured eyes that reminded him instantly of Karen's eyes.
"There we go. Simple task." He muttered and bowed low to Kamus whilst Kikyou quietly marveled at the ability to see colours with a 20/20 vision again. "If I may, I should like to go catch up on some sleep now…" his unsteady gaze caught Alluka's frightened ones and with the interest of a predator, he was immediately by the young boy's side.
"Ah, you're the one Karen-chan must be talking about." He started feeling Alluka's limbs, squeezing his arms, tracing his hands down his back, flexing the leg…
"Don't touch me!" Alluka whispered tearfully, but he managed to keep his emotions in check.
"Most fascinating indeed. To the lay doctor, they would have thought that you only broke your back yesterday, given the fine preservation of your muscles, the strength and rate of your heart flow…and general good health. I didn't believe what Karen-chan told me last night about your condition…but… hmmm…what have you done to maintain your growth?"
"Faust, perhaps later?" the General suggested. The mad doctor nodded fervently.
"I'll read up a bit more about the spinal nerves…and get some rest too. I think I'll be able to operate on you tonight kiddo."
"At last!" Milluki blurted with relief, specks of food spilling from his lips as he spoke. "I don't have to put up with his invalidity anymore! You hear that Allu? You can finally dress yourself at last."
Hurried steps raced towards the dining hall. Gon, having a keen eyesight, spotted a figure approaching them from the courtyard.
"Father!" Karen called out as soon as she saw her father's familiar figure in the hall which opened to the large, expansive stone courtyard. "Father! Oh gods, there's a man who's been following us for the past few days!"
She panted heavily and came to a halt to blurt out everything that Illumi had told her, and how she could no longer feel his presence when she came home.
"I know Karen honey, just calm down."
"You mean it's true then! You've arranged all this! You're using Illumi-san as bait!?"
"What's this about Ni-chan?" Kikyou demanded.
Kamus sighed. "Karen, this is your Aunty Kikyou Kalinnan Zoldick. This is your uncle and all your cousins."
"Aunty? Uncle? Cousins? I'm confused."
"You do remember that story I told you about…"
"Oh! The aunty that was kidnapped a long time ago! But…Illumi-san is my cousin then?!" she burst out laughing and gave Kikyou a big hug and kiss.
"But it should have been obvious! He reminds me so much of Aunt Kim anyway."
"Hey Karen-chan, I've checked. There is no one following us." Hisoka commented, making his way easily across the courtyard.
"Oh, let me introduce. Father, this is Illumi-san's hairdresser for tonight – Hisoka."
Koran's green eyes sparked at the mention of that name. He made his way across from his side of the room where he was standing dutifully, waiting for orders, and clasped both hands on either side of Hisoka's face.
"Hisoka! You're alive!"
"My god! Koran! You're alive too!"
Karen looked at both of them suspiciously. "You know each other?"
The eunuch gave a slight smile, his red painted lips deviously curled at the edges.
"Is the young lady in this morning?"
Kamus was fed up. "No Master Echlan, she went off this morning to find Arammi."
"She can catch up on the news later then." Echlan bowed slightly and gave a small cough. All house servants snapped to attention and lined against the far wall. The old eunuch then stood straight and regarded the busy General. "I would be pleased to announce to you Kamus, that your long lost sister Kikyou Kalinnan Kastro has finally returned to Arcadia."
Kamus barely managed to keep the cup of coffee in his hand from crashing to the ground. He mastered control over his trembling hand and stared hard at the well dressed eunuch.
"What are you saying?"
"Please bring them in." Master Echlan ordered his younger apprentice Koran. The young eunuch had been training under Echlan since the day Kim had died. Koran used to serve his sister with another young eunuch…whose name seemed to escape him right now. Koran was tall, lithe, lean and inherited the deadly skills of Echlan. Had he been a real man, he would have been able to share the status of General with him at the ripe young age of twenty seven. Koran's pale face disappeared from view as he bowed low before his mentor and General and turned around to repeat the orders to the house servants.
General Kamus didn't know what to believe or indeed, what was happening. He had spent the entire night finalizing the new route for the outer palace guards to patrol and finally finished his reports and other miscellaneous administrative work before deciding to stalk on a few hours sleep in time for the competition at the Auditorium tonight. He thought that Master Echlan had made the cruelest joke when he spoke of Kikyou's name, because it was well known that she was most likely killed the night the assassins came to destroy the Kastro family. He heard a multitude of footsteps approach and stood up slightly in anticipation.
A middle aged man, around the same age as himself, perhaps slightly younger, with flowing silver hair reaching his waist stepped into the room behind the young Koran. On his arm was perched a woman who appeared to be blind. When he saw her face, he was instantly reminded of his own daughter, and knew that Echlan could not possibly be lying. Behind her was a grossly fat boy, one in a wheelchair, a young girl that could pass off as a porcelain doll and the two kids he saw on the street the other day.
Kamus stood up straight with a weary smile on his lips. He hadn't smiled so sincerely for years it seemed and his cold heart thawed ever so slightly by the warmth. "Welcome home Kikyou." He outstretched his arms and embraced a sister he had not seen for perhaps forty years.
Kikyou would have tearfully returned her brothers embrace had she been able to shed tears. Her thin trembling fingers reached up to feel his face, one that had changed so much through the years that she could no longer recognize him.
"Gods Kikyou, what happened to your eyes?"
At this question, she beamed brightly. "Isn't the wound just brilliant? My precious, darling Killua inflicted these one me before he fled from home about last year."
The General calculated the priorities quickly in his mind. He abandoned his scowl at the assassin family and raised his voice. He indicated for the large group of people to seat themselves around the large table whilst suspiciously watching in the corner of his eye Master Echlan disappear into another room with another old man with dirty silver hair. He turned to the
"Immediately send for Doctor Faust."
Koran bowed low, his lightly blue hair flowing down with him. "Yes General."
"Ni-chan, let me introduce to you. This is my husband, Silva."
Both men eyed each other with caution and suspicion, trying to assess each other's power from the simple flow of nen emitted in their normal state.
"And this" she continued hastily "are my children. This is my second eldest son, Milluki, Killua, Alluka and Karuto. Bid goodday to your uncle children."
Kamus heard several discordant mumbles of greeting and good mornings and gave them a wry grin. He recognized Killua from yesterday, along with his friend Gon. Killua's siblings were…interesting. Milluki's pudgy face and small eyes barely squeaked danger and he was already helping himself to large slices of cream cake. Karuto looked like the silent type with a large pair of almost unblinking eyes fearlessly looking back into his. She did not touch the food until her mother nodded and gave her assent. She laid down onto the table the most hideous looking doll which she had carried in her arms when she arrived and Silva glared at the offending object but declined to comment. As to the pale boy in the wheelchair, he looked mighty uncomfortable.
"Are you unwell Alluka-kun?"
Alluka flinched and awkwardly shook his head from side to side. "It's getting rather…difficult to breathe in here…and cold…" his teeth chattered slightly to demonstrate his feelings.
"Milluki! You were supposed to have properly dressed your brother!" Kikyou scolded.
"I did kaa-san!" Milluki shot back with annoyance. "He's just doing this to get attention. Besides, big bro's the one who usually take care of Allu."
"Big bro…Illumi….is he your son too then?"
"Yes, a most reliable assassin he is too."
To a certain extent, that relieved one of Kamus' worries. He knew that his daughter was hanging around with not only a Zoldick family member, but at least he was her cousin. Alluka's wheezing worsened.
"I'm going…to…go outside…"
"Alluka-kun, you're obviously affected by the nen here. Kastro Court has at least three hundred years of history, so it's particularly strong here. Just release your ten, zetsu, ren and hatsu together and you'll be protected."
Alluka was unsure of whether to trust his uncle and he unwittingly looked to his father for reassurance. Silva gave a slight nod and consequently he adjusted his nen and felt the pressure lift off from his chest and he was able to breath in deeply again. Killua became puzzled.
"There it is again, almost just like Hisoka yesterday. Why don't we feel it uncle? Or are you going to lie to us again and tell us that we're insensitive?"
Kamus laughed out loud at Killua's penetrating gaze and his sister's shock at her son's behaviour. He put one hand on Kikyou's shoulder to calm her down and turned to Killua with a slightly apologetic look on his face.
"You're right, I did lie to you the other day. You probably have found out by now that the pride of Arcadian nen development is the product of the 'natural nen user'. Arcadia Central's nen IS structured around the natural nen user. The closer your ability to realize all your hatsu potentials – reinforcement, manipulation, materialization, control, specialization and emission determines how much the nen affects you. The closer you are to reaching Emperor time, the more sensitive and intuned you are to the nen around you. Of course, people who live here aren't bothered by it because our own nen automatically makes adjustments to protect us. It's very good training actually, but tourists like yourself would not know this small secret."
Gon hummed a bit in thinking. "Does that mean that Alluka would have greater nen abilities than Killua and me then?"
Killua bit down on his fork when he heard that and Silva glanced at his paralyzed son.
"To be frank with you, yes. It may be that Alluka-kun has some natural nen abilities. Perhaps he can master Emperor time for short periods, like your friend in the Arena yesterday?"
Alluka felt uncomfortable with all the eyes watching him. He was habitually cooped up in his room, free from the gazes of the world, no mocking looks on his inability to even walk or shower himself, no one to criticize him. But now, even his father was regarding him with interest, and he felt himself in fear.
"What…is a natural..nen user?" he managed to stutter.
Kamus thought about this only briefly. "A god who would walk the earth and feel it tremble beneath his feet. A god so powerful that all the obstacles of the world around him must fall to his whim. A very powerful figure indeed."
"Is the Emperor a natural nen user too?"
"That I'm afraid is classified information."
"Doctor Faust is here." Koran intoned and introduced the mad doctor to the Zoldick family.
They all recognized each other, and the stares were none too friendly.
"Faust, this is my sister, Kikyou. Please see if you can fix her eyes."
Fausts' jaw dropped open. "Your sister? That is unheard of General. I thought…"
"Please just do as I ask. I don't want to have any arguments this morning. These are Illumi's family members, understand?"
"The entire Zoldick family in Kastro Court having breakfast together?! The Emperor might not be pleased to hear things as such." Faust grumbled and took to examining Kikyou's wounds.
"Hmm…these look quiet old…2 years I reckon?" Killua lowered his head an nodded.
"But it's clean and quick…and the nerve endings….hmm…."
His hand swiped across her eyes with a speed that impressed Silva. Faust quickly and painlessly recreated the same wounds Killua had made two years ago and with the perfection and finesse of a Royal Doctor reattached each and every nerve ending, capillary and sensors within rapid fractions of a second with his glowing green nen. He stepped back and looked into a pair of coal coloured eyes that reminded him instantly of Karen's eyes.
"There we go. Simple task." He muttered and bowed low to Kamus whilst Kikyou quietly marveled at the ability to see colours with a 20/20 vision again. "If I may, I should like to go catch up on some sleep now…" his unsteady gaze caught Alluka's frightened ones and with the interest of a predator, he was immediately by the young boy's side.
"Ah, you're the one Karen-chan must be talking about." He started feeling Alluka's limbs, squeezing his arms, tracing his hands down his back, flexing the leg…
"Don't touch me!" Alluka whispered tearfully, but he managed to keep his emotions in check.
"Most fascinating indeed. To the lay doctor, they would have thought that you only broke your back yesterday, given the fine preservation of your muscles, the strength and rate of your heart flow…and general good health. I didn't believe what Karen-chan told me last night about your condition…but… hmmm…what have you done to maintain your growth?"
"Faust, perhaps later?" the General suggested. The mad doctor nodded fervently.
"I'll read up a bit more about the spinal nerves…and get some rest too. I think I'll be able to operate on you tonight kiddo."
"At last!" Milluki blurted with relief, specks of food spilling from his lips as he spoke. "I don't have to put up with his invalidity anymore! You hear that Allu? You can finally dress yourself at last."
Hurried steps raced towards the dining hall. Gon, having a keen eyesight, spotted a figure approaching them from the courtyard.
"Father!" Karen called out as soon as she saw her father's familiar figure in the hall which opened to the large, expansive stone courtyard. "Father! Oh gods, there's a man who's been following us for the past few days!"
She panted heavily and came to a halt to blurt out everything that Illumi had told her, and how she could no longer feel his presence when she came home.
"I know Karen honey, just calm down."
"You mean it's true then! You've arranged all this! You're using Illumi-san as bait!?"
"What's this about Ni-chan?" Kikyou demanded.
Kamus sighed. "Karen, this is your Aunty Kikyou Kalinnan Zoldick. This is your uncle and all your cousins."
"Aunty? Uncle? Cousins? I'm confused."
"You do remember that story I told you about…"
"Oh! The aunty that was kidnapped a long time ago! But…Illumi-san is my cousin then?!" she burst out laughing and gave Kikyou a big hug and kiss.
"But it should have been obvious! He reminds me so much of Aunt Kim anyway."
"Hey Karen-chan, I've checked. There is no one following us." Hisoka commented, making his way easily across the courtyard.
"Oh, let me introduce. Father, this is Illumi-san's hairdresser for tonight – Hisoka."
Koran's green eyes sparked at the mention of that name. He made his way across from his side of the room where he was standing dutifully, waiting for orders, and clasped both hands on either side of Hisoka's face.
"Hisoka! You're alive!"
"My god! Koran! You're alive too!"
Karen looked at both of them suspiciously. "You know each other?"