By Yomi
Chapter 19
Pre-Emptive Strikes
"I don't want to know," Lola turned away, clamping her hands to her ears as Karasu put down the receiver and gave her 'that' look. He fared no better, a pained twitch in his mouth and his usual languid countenance now dark and tight around the eyes.
"Lola," he said, patiently, exasperatedly, "Kaéry has done something seriously wrong this time. We can't turn a blind eye."
She glared at him because he had made it sound like it was her fault with his overtly calm expression and his expectedness for her to handle the situation. It was just another incidence of Kay going just a bit too far and if her records were right, it was supposed to be Karasu's turn to have a quiet word with whoever Kay had stepped on. "Why not?" she challenged.
"He's taken a serrated saw to Filia's tail and that'd be ok if he didn't take her son with him."
She raised an eyebrow. "Take her son with him?"
Karasu sighed and nodded, unbuttoning his cuffs and his top button which was digging irritably into his neck. "Yeah - according to Mu, Kay took Xe and 'ran like the wind'."
"Where'd they go?"
"Shura was with them; Shura kicked Mu and tripped up Fi's new boyfriend as well - gah! What are you laughing at woman?"
He dubiously watched his wife double over, peals of laughter bubbling forth in an unoccasasional bout of reckless release. He crossed his arms. "I so wish you wouldn't do that. I'm trying to be serious here."
She stood up and wiped the corner of her eyes on her sleeve and regulated her breathing. "Shura's a kid with spunk. I admire that - he's got potential. So, he was in it with Kay - anyone checked his house then?"
"Neither Yomi or Mistress is home right now and if the kids don't want to pick up the phone, nothing's going to stop them. We could drive over and check."
"No, lets not bother Karasu. This is Kaéry we're talking about, the most obnoxiously devious little brat we're trying to control here. You understand that for all our good intentions, the chances of getting him to apologize for whatever wrong he committed are close to nil."
"The voice of sensibility tells me that I, no we, can't think like that. We're parents Lola - we've got duties and responsibilities; this isn't Northside, we've got to teach children differently."
She bristled and sharply sucked in a furious breath as Karasu made reference to her past. Karasu saw her look and quickly continued: "Our society has laws and rules that Kay will eventually have to learn not to flout. I know he's got a brilliant mind, but lets make sure he grows up to be a respectable man who realizes that the limitations and boundaries are for the good of society."
He held her in his arms and tentatively pressed his lips to her forehead. "Lola, Kay lives in a different world to you; he lives in a world that he has to share with many other people. This is a lesson he's got to learn."
"No Karasu," Lola whispered, responding to his embrace, "he'll never share this world with its people. He'll either rule over it and play with it, or he'll abandon it and watch it turn whilst he stands apart and aloof, pursuing endeavours that the world won't understand."
"That's just denying responsibility on our part Lola. He's a part of us, no matter what."
"Don't say that Karasu, don't say that at all. It's only going to make him hate the boundaries and the so-called limits even more. I'd rather a Kaéry who goes through life a bit aimless, drifting from one obsession to another rather than see him actively try to smash anything in his path."
He held her tighter and shared her fears, the words 'Kaéry' and 'smash' in the same sentence making him break into cold sweat. "You're afraid he's going to turn out like Salar aren't you, that something is going to provoke him one day and give his brilliant mind a destructive purpose. But we can stop Kay from becoming like that Lola - none of us could do anything to influence Salar because he was too old already, his mind too firmly established. Kay is different - Kay is our son and I'm willing to resort to wringing the same emotional blackmail that he pulls on us all the time. He loves us Lola - something we didn't have over Salar. Lets bring him back under our fold."
She didn't look convinced and her eyes were downcast if not miserable. She said nothing and only buried her face into the crook of his neck, breathing in that familiar and comforting scent, wishing that everyone wouldn't make such a fuss over Kay's antics. They were harmless antics right? mere annoyances that pissed some people off but never did any harm.
She'd let them all try though, even Karasu, but soon they'd realize the futility of trying to control a creature as free and wild as people like Kaéry or his friend Xelan. Nature graced them with an intelligence beyond human envy and with that came the unnatural destiny of solitude and alienation. As a mother, the most she could do was to make sure that he would find at least one person on this earth who could share his burden and understand him through and through; know that his tiny frown conveyed great anger, that his pout revealed bitter disappointment, that his cruel smirk was a sign of hell to come.
She wouldn't let Kay be alone - ever. She'd stand with Kaéry even if the whole world was against them. Just like the old times.
* * * *
Shura handed his two guests spare sets of clothes and giggled when they stepped out. His top was too big for Kay and Xe nearly tripped over the legs of his pants. The purple haired boy gave a sheepish smile, which was heartening given the look of permanent heartbreak on his face earlier.
"You guys took long enough," Shura grinned, rolling his eyes as Kaéry accepted another towel and worked at drying Xelan's thick mane. "Want me to get a hairdryer?"
"The hairdryer's bad for Xe's hair. I always dry it for him," Kaéry declared and he pulled the younger boy over to the guest room bed, smoothing the sheets for Xelan to sit on.
Shura had always heard from ill-tempered rumours that Prince Kaéry and Xelan were a natural disaster together and were undeniably close. 'Close' had many definitions however, and the older boy certainly never expected this kind of intimacy. The two sometimes held hands, as if the physical contact alone allowed them to transfer their thoughts without the need for the ungraceful clumsiness of speech. Xe for most part acted like a submissive housewife and Kay would be egged on to dangerous extremes with Xe's barest smile of encouragement.
There were several terms he could use to describe them: nutcase, crackpots, looney tunes.
The scene on the bed right now was leaning more towards a name that had yet to be created in order to perfectly suit the pair.
Kay worked the brush through the shiny purple mass of satin hair like he was refining a master piece, a maestro feverishly labouring over a work of art. Xelan sat cross legged, his eyes fluttering shut as he enjoyed the ministrations of his friend whilst basking in the rays of the late afternoon sun streaking through the window.
"Look guys, I don't know how long you can hide out in here for."
Kay lifted his violet gaze towards him and Shura gulped, wishing he could have swallowed down those words as well before they came out. "Not long at all Shura, and I thank you for your hospitality. We just need about a day or so to draw up our strategies and regroup."
The older boy threw himself onto the king sized bed and lay on his back, watching the lazy dustmotes drifting in line with the sun. "Kay, you're smart and all, but they're adults. You might have kick-ass reasoning, but you know the big people - they don't talk reason with kids."
Kaéry gave a cruel laugh that sent sharp cold pains shooting up Shura's spine. "Oh, but I was never thinking of using reason. It was patently clear that they all have no inkling of honour or decency, thinking of ganging up on poor Xe like that. I'm going to hit them back where it hurts."
"Apart from physically hiring thugs to take out that Valgarv, attractive as that suggestion may sound, how are you going to hurt him?"
Shura thought that Kaéry sometimes talked bigger than he could actually act, and this was one such instance. In the end, didn't they end up fleeing from the scene just an hour or so earlier, unable to withstand the dominance of the parents and the adults? Kay was smart, his tongue sharp and his words witty but when Mu picked him off the ground, his grasp of the situation instantly fell apart and his plans (if he hand any) went straight to hell in a handcart. At present, Kaéry was calm and collected once more, indifferent to the pressing issues and spoke with an embellished air of a successful gentleman.
"Xe, would you like to do the honours?"
Xelan hummed a bit and he leaned back resting his head on Kaéry's shoulder. "I suppose we could launch a smear campaign against him, provide the magazines with gossip and dirt, and if there isn't any, I'm not ruling out the necessity of fabricating evidence."
Kay's dropped the brush and his arms slowly wrapped around the figure in his lap; his smile was all the crueler, all the more malicious and his lips all the more bloody against his pale skin. He breathed in deeply the elusive fragrance of the shampoo still in Xelan's hair and his light laughter contained no humour.
"Why Xe, spinning up dirt on him is never going to work in the long run, and might even turn your dear mother angry at you, which is a big negative, and the artificiality of the plan is distasteful, amateurish. We're going to hit him where it hurts - we are going to make sure that your mother will be forced to choose between you or him."
"That's not such a good idea," Shura bit his lip, propping himself onto his elbows and wincing at the unnatural scene, "I mean, how clichéd is the threat of suicide?"
"Suicide and death is only for those not skilled in the art of manipulation and have to resort to such uncouth and dissatisfactory means of securing attention," Kay murmured, captivated by the sensation of running his delicate fingers through his friend's luxurious hair. "We deal with the real dirt, we stir up real controversy, we plunge everyone who wants to have a hand in this matter into a chaotic maelstrom of angst and hatred that they'll learn never to meddle in other's private affairs again. I'm sure you've done your research Xe?"
Xelan's brows knotted together in a rare show of annoyance and he squirmed further into Kaéry's lap. "He's clean. He hasn't got any bastard children, no criminal record - not even for drink driving and doesn't have a habit of visiting the more disreputable nightclubs in town. He comes from a humble family, nothing flashy but nothing ugly."
Shura groaned and flipped onto his side. "You mean he's clean."
"That's what I said."
"Ah, but Xe, what of his person? Like I said, his history, his habits - those aren't enough for me. I want to rip him to shreds Xe, I have to see him crawl through the bowels of Hell and then beg for my forgiveness."
"For goodness sakes Kaéry, isn't ruining someone's reputation enough?" Shura fixed an exasperated glance at him, his limbs suddenly drained of energy. Xelan grumbled, something incoherent, and became restless.
"If you're asking me whether he drinks, smokes, takes drugs or likes to chase women - the answers are all no."
"Xe, not just his ostensible bad points. You failed to mention that he is devoutly religious, goes to Sunday Church and is very much a conservative," the last word said with a great amount of malevolent relish.
Shura rolled his eyes, "Great. So he's a bloody saint as well."
Kay stole a kiss from Xelan's cheek, causing Shura to hurriedly find something else that was interesting to study. "No Shura - he's a homophobic little chauvinist pig who probably doesn't even believe in contraception, sex before marriage and harbours an inherent intolerance towards all other forms of belief."
"So?"
"We're going to directly attack his character and make sure he's entirely incompatible to Xelan, thus unsuited to even stand in the same picture together. And if he persists in this self-destructive crusade, he's going to have to change into a person that goes completely against everything that he's been taught – to become a person he was instructed to abhor and loathe through and through – all for the sake of love of course, if it's that's strong, which I hardly doubt. We're going to win Xe - and it's going to be damn easy."
"I still don't see how," Shura said archly, offended that Kaéry still wouldn't relieve him of the suspense.
"Tell me Kay, I want to know too. I can't think straight right now; not with all my feelings in the way."
Kay kissed him again, this time closer to Xelan's pink lips and his grin broadened. "We're gay. You and I. We're lovers who refuse to be separated. If my premise is unshakably correct - that parents love their children unconditionally - our path to victory and success is insured."
Xelan gave a faint smile and he opened up his cerulean blue eyes. He caressed Kaéry's face with cold fingertips, brushed aside some of the overhanging fringe tickling his friend's cheeks and returned the kiss. In a soft and sultry voice laced with velvet smoothness, he said: "I'll be an affront to everything that Valgarv believes in and stands for. He'll either hate me or try to convert me, but when I cannot be converted, he'll hate me even more - and what's worse, it's entirely personal. What sort of position will that put my mother in?"
"Between a rock and a hard place," Shura looked away again but snorted in disgust at the same time. Kay was a demon, truly, a child prodigy who could metamorph into a fiend, seemingly at will, and attack the fundaments of decency without an iota of hesitation. Religion has always been a touchy subject, dispute in religious ideology even more so, and this was what Prince Kaéry was threatening to stir up - a very real and material clash on the most intimate and personal level. The kid was a bloody genius.
"So now," Kaéry continued, rubbing noses with Xelan, "we just have to drum up support from our peers at Saturday school so that they all give our parents the same story when they start asking around - "
"Before people get the story right, do you two actually plan on acting...well, you know...gay?"
The two children balked. Kaéry apparently hadn't thought that far ahead. He hummed a bit, suddenly lost for words and bit is lips in thought.
"If the act is to be convincing, I think we will need to drop some hints. Oh dear – "
"What is it Kay?"
"I'm just wondering Xe, whether I need to or how I am going to set up a scene where my mother will bang open my bedroom door and find us both naked and engaging in sexual intercourse. Oh dear," he repeated once more, with worry, "getting our act to work is very…difficult."
Shura slapped his head and raked a hand through his hair. "For goodness sakes Kay, I seriously don't think you have to go that far. Why don't you start with some small but noticeable actions and behaviour?" He crossed his legs and faced the pair, his face perfectly serious but he couldn't conceal the excitement from his voice. He was starting to understand now why Kaéry and Xelan loved to engage in conspiracies all the time - it wasn't just the adrenaline rush, it was also the fact that there was secrecy and conniving undercurrents behind their actions which made it all the more forbidden and daring.
Kay pondered on the idea though with reserved enthusiasm than Shura would have liked - it was as if Kaéry didn't really trust Shura to be able to come up with the goods. "I suppose you have already brainstormed a list?"
"Yup - try something simple first - will you two be ok with holding hands?"
Xe squirmed around uncomfortably in Kay's lap so that the sun did not directly blind his eyes. "Kay and I hold hands sometimes. No problem there."
"There's got to be the dominant and subservient one - you'll have to work that out amongst yourselves."
"What's there to work out?" Kaéry gruffly said, "Xe follows my lead all the time, right?"
His friend agreed and left Shura groping for words. "Ok...do you guys take baths together often?"
"All the time - Kay's house has this really big and spiffy spa. I'm going to ask dad to install one for Christmas so that I don't have to go to Kay's place all the time."
Unnerved by the casualty of all the replies, Shura dared himself to stray into some darker territories. "And you guys seem to have the kisses going already..."
"We do?" Kay blinked.
"Yeah, you do."
"Since when!?" Shura caught a tinge of outrage in the raven haired boy's voice. He blinked but had enough composure not to…do something which would embarrass himself.
"You just kissed him...one minute ago."
Kaéry pursed his lips together, unimpressed and disturbed. "Those aren't kisses Shura - I nuzzle Xe when he's particularly affectionate."
"Oooh - the way you describe Xe is also suggestive as well. That's good!"
"Hang on a minute here!" Xelan interrupted sharply, sitting upright despite Kaéry's silent protests. "Kay! Shura's saying that we act gay already!"
Kaéry's jaw hung open as he quickly reviewed the questions he was just asked, the affirmative answers he and Xe had given and made a strangled noise. "But...we're not gay...are we?"
Xe flicked his hair back and boldly settled back into his lap with his head leaning on his shoulder but his blue eyes were furiously determined. "It doesn't matter Kay, so long as our act is convincing and it repulses Valgarv, they can all call me gay, fag, homo, poof or bitch for all I care." He glanced at Kaéry's indecisive expression and 'nuzzled' him on the cheek again. "Don't get sidetracked by the irrelevant things too much Kay. We've got a job to do, remember?"
His friend nodded and sank his face into the crook of his neck and breathed in deeply. "You're more ruthless and frightening than I can ever be when you set your mind to things Xe," he whispered, "but you're right - it matters not whether people already see us that way, so long as our objective is achieved. We do what we want, and we don't have to explain it to anyone."
Kaéry suddenly looked up, pale and shocked eyes widely staring past Shura. "Dear lords - I must have sounded a lot like my mother just then."
"Aunty Lola is gay too?" said Shura incredulously.
"No - my mum and my uncle are close, which is one of the reasons why my dad dislikes my uncle so. Dad asked mum once to explain, but she said replied with what I had just said: 'We do what we want and so long as we're not hurting anyone, we don't have to explain it.'" Kaéry set his jaw and Xelan felt the body against him become rigid and tense. "Mum's right - what we have is our business and no one else's; if we don't feel like sharing, then we don't share. If they try to force it out of us, we'd cut our tongues first before we talk. Are you with me on this Xe?"
Xelan's soft hand crawled into Kaéry's clawed ones and he gave a small squeeze coupled with one of his infamously sweet smiles. He wrapped his arms around Kay's neck and nodded whilst making contented, purring noises.
"Don't you dare back out on me with this one either," he whispered.
"Of course Xe - I've already made up my mind that we'll be together for the rest of our lives. Stuck together with super glue, you and I, through thick and thin and nothing can ever tear us apart. Those who try..."
The threat was left unspoken, hanging in the air like the blade of the guillotine ready to plunge at a moment's notice. Kaéry had a fanatic's gleam in his eyes but it did not perturb Xelan the least. He settled comfortably back in Kaéry's lap and entwined his fingers tightly with Kaéry's. Shura had a gut feeling that they were not acting or rehearsing the lines that they would say to Valgarv in order to make him hate them some more (as if Kaéry hadn't given Valgarv a lot to hate already). It was real, raw emotion that he was being subjected to and he was appalled that the two could tap into the intensity of an emotion so strong as to allow them to confront an overwhelming adversity.
Admittedly, Shura felt uncomfortable at first, to be in the presence of such unsightly and beyond-the-norm behaviour, yet the two had their ways. He put it to their naturalness - it must be something that the two constantly engage in without sparing a thought to the implications behind their actions that gave it the light of innocence. He steered his mind back onto the issue.
"Ok - but you can't just go up to your parents and say: 'ma, pa, I regret to inform you that I'm gay and in love with Kay.' That's gonna look like you made it up to piss them off and grab attention. Supposing that our parents haven't caught on to the suggestive nature of your behaviour, how else are you going to get the message across?"
"He's got a point Kay."
"Shura's practical and thinks of practical things. I like that in you. But that part's not going to be hard. I guess a setting could be arranged, but it has to be subtle and - "
They were all interrupted when the door to the guestroom flung open with considerable force and Mistress barged in, her cheeks tainted pink from exertion. She panted, her gaze instantly stolen by the scene of Xelan snuggled tightly in Kaéry's arms and Shura lying on his back oblivious to the awkward situation just a mere foot away. Her bottom lip trembled and she fought to produce some words.
"So that's where you are! Filia and Xelloss have gone crazy out there trying to look for you Xelan. You could have given them a call to tell them you came here at least!" she finally remembered what she was here for, thus exclaimed, and walked hurriedly over to them. She cupped the young boy's cheek and noted the pink, fading veins in his eyes that had once been bloodshot. She sighed.
"Your parents are going through rough times Xelan, and I guess it's terribly hard for you too. Look - I'll give your parents a call and tell them that you are staying here for a few days, if that's what you want. But you young man - " she pinned a severe look on the innocently smiling Kay, "you are apparently in big trouble."
"Who me?"
"Yes you - Mu says that you manipulated Shura into kicking him and Valgarv says you made some very inappropriate and very nasty comments."
"Why Aunty Mistress, Valgarv would say that, if only because he's unable to redeem his tattered image (not that he had a good one to start off with) in any other way. It's not my fault that he made himself look stupid and incompetent."
Mistress bit her lip and helplessly turned to Shura for assistance but seeing none other than a hapless shrug, she racked her brains and irritably ran a hand through her head. "Yes Kay," she plaintively said, "but Valgarv is still an elder, thus you still have to respect him, despite what Xe feels. You give your parents a call young man, and see if they want you to go home or not. Xe I'm keeping."
"Aww.." Kaéry laughed, "I've become the villain here! No one wants to shelter me lest the stink of my evil rubs off on them."
"This is no laughing matter." Mistress gravely studied the three children who didn't understand just how entangled they had caused themselves to become in the already complicated mess and only felt immeasurable pity for them, even Kaéry. He was probably the most innocent of the three, his motivations and actions springing from his naive desire to help his one and only friend. Who would want to see their friend suffer the grief of a parent's separation or the herald of a new life and the drastic change? Some people would be supportive and urge their friend to accept change and ride with the currents of time whilst Kaéry in this instance threw in his lot with Xelan's determination that things should remain as they are, should remain as they have known all their lives. Xelan was known to be a quiet boy, shy and soft spoken, so he left his expressions and thoughts to Kay, who inevitably bore the brunt of the anger for them. Willing too, she added.
Those thoughts were for another day, for the parents of the children when their heads were cool and calm enough to engage in a proper conversation without seeing each sentence as a personal attack ending in a debacle of men and women launching themselves at each other's throats.
"Shura - a private word with you outside?"
Shura meekly followed his mother's swaying hips out into the corridor. Mistress made sure the door was firmly shut behind her and took Shura by the arm, pulling him a good distance away.
"You mister! I've heard about your good deeds for the day as well!"
Shura raised his arms and wrapped them around his head, mistakenly thinking that his mother was going to slap him. "Before you get angry mum, please hear me out. The adults were all getting physical and violent - I swore that Valgarv would have strangled and killed Kaéry if he thought he could get away with it and Mu was being rough too. He manhandled Kaéry, and what proper gentlemen would do such a thing to a young, innocent kid?"
Mistress gave her son a flat stare which communicated her refusal of his acceptance, but ruffled his hair nonetheless. "First, Kaéry is not an innocent kid, and two, he could drive a saint to bloody murder. Divorce and separation are an unhappy business, so whilst I do not agree with what you did, I still understand how you felt. Try not to do that next time though ok? They're mum's friends too."
"Okay," Shura nodded, crossing his fingers behind his back.
Mistress then warily checked to see that the two other boys hadn't come out of the guest room and leaned in closer to Shura, whispering into his ear: "Son, do your friends...you know..."
Shura gave his mother his most understanding look. "Yes, apparently they do. Close, aren't they."
"Yes," Mistress blinked, hurriedly looking away to hide the embarrassment, "I was...just surprised. But they don't...you know..."
"They do mum, they do. They were doing it in front of me like it was the most natural thing in the world - they say they're nuzzling each other."
Her pale hand flew up to cover her mouth. "You're kidding me." She'd known they were close, but certainly not that close.
"Nope," he shook his head, his cheeks threatening to crack from all the strength of will that he put behind to keep it straight.
"At their age? Gosh...maybe I should...have a word with their parents."
"But mum, isn't this a kind of…private thing?" Good one Shura! Reverse psychology is the way to go!
Mistress looked down, like she had just remembered that Shura was still standing there. "Of course Shura dear...but this is something which shouldn't be concealed...actively disclosed...I'll have to think about it. But get Kay to call his parents ok? I don't want a lynch mob outside my house demanding that I hand him over so they can hang him and decide to tear down my house just so they can get to him. I don't have a moat to fend them off and your dad's not back yet either."
Shura gave him mum a quick hug and raced back to his room with a firm
mind not to convey the news. Let things roll out naturally, keep
Kay and Xe in the dark so that they wouldn't consciously act out their
peculiar form of friendship, and victory had become just that much more
inevitable and he will have had a hand in it too. Did he also have a particular
dislike for Valgarv? Not in the least - didn't even know the man but the
call of adventure got the better of him. He wanted to see how far the two
could go, and he wanted to be with them by their side, if not just two
steps behind, just so he too could see the world from an entirely different
and refreshingly unique perspective.
* * * *
Killua found Kurapika with his head hanging and his hands sullenly caught in his pockets. He called out to his co-actor.
"Hey Killua," Kurapika barely raised his eyes to greet him and went back to staring disinterestedly at the road. Killua gave him a hearty slap on the back.
"Why so glum? You look like you've just been to a funeral!"
"No, I didn't go to a funeral," Kurapika responded, literally construing Killua's small joke, "but my aunt's son has problems."
"Which aunt?" Kurapika's family was big, so one could never tell with much certainty just who Kurpaika was referring to.
"Aunty Filia."
Killua cocked an eyebrow and nodded, "Ah...Xelan, the devil incarnate. What'd he do this time?"
Kurapika sighed, long and glum, "Aunty Filia was going to introduce her new boyfriend to Xe this afternoon, but he ran away with Kaéry instead and Shura kicked Mu and Valgarv."
The blonde wondered why the director's son would find the situation amusing, to the degree that it warranted large explosive laughter which required large draughts of air thereafter to refill the lungs to reproduce the same sound. He chewed on the insides of his cheeks and continued to plod along to a destination he was compelled to reach.
"Ah, Shura - good for him! Anyway, what's this got to do with you?"
"Aunty Filia thinks I'm good with children, and I am since I spent so much time at Dr Slump's Community Center, so she thought I could help her persuade Xelan not to hate Valgarv so much."
"You'll have to be Mother Theresa to achieve tumultuous feats as such, and even Mother Theresa could fail. Kurapika, this is Xelan we're talking about - the kid who made us afraid of our own shadow when Kaéry thought he should change some company and hang around Karuto. What do you think you could do?"
Kurapika pursed his lips, "I know he's intelligent, but he's still got childish feelings and emotions. That's why he acted the way they did. Filia has called me - Mistress rang her up and told her that all three of them were at her house and now all the parents are going there to sort things out." He looked like he had a stomach ache at the next bit of information: "Aunty Filia still wants me to go - she's convinced that Xelan's going to be going home with her tonight and that the three of them, her new boyfriend that is, are going to have dinner to 'get to know each other'. I don't approve of that."
"Neither do I," Killua screwed up his face and snarled, "in fact, it sounds heavy handed to me. If Kaéry's with Xelan, the two of them are going to shake the heavens to have their way. Someone might even end up getting killed if she pursues her son like this and I can tell you I certainly won't be sorry about any tragic ending."
His words sparked some life back in Kurapika although paradoxically, the blonde boy's face paled beyond the white of a hospital's walls. His sudden agitation and urgency in his once plodding footsteps unnerved Killua.
"You go to Saturday school with them - what kind of trouble do you think they will give us?"
Killua's laughter became so loud that several people stopped on the other side of the road to openly stare. Killua couldn't care - the question was too damn outrageous.
"Fathom the way Kay and Xe's minds work?" he cried out, his legs giving way causing him to collapsed in the middle of the sidewalk, still oblivious to the growing looks. "Are you asking me to be insane?! No - that question would ask me to see the world in five dimensions, to see humans as a bunch of mindless meat puppets and to see time as a distorted spectrum which neither comprises of future, past and present."
Killua accepted Kurapika's hand to help him up but his head was still whizzing in all directions. He dusted his pants off and straightened his shirt with shaking hands and let out a trembling breath.
"The two of them make demons look like fluffy bunnies when they put their minds to stuffing up someone's day. I merely pull out pranks and step on a few tails, enough to make people squeal, but I can't profile those two. The best I can do is put myself in Xelan's shoes and give you an idea of what I'd do - then I'll leave it to your imagination to magnify it by ten, fifty or a hundred times, depending on how pissed off both of them are."
Kurapika wanted to throw up. Now he had an excuse not to attend.
* * * *
Yomi's residence hadn't been this boisterous and lively for a long time. Unfortunately, today was for all the wrong reasons. Xelloss instantly got into a shouting match with Filia because she'd bought her boyfriend Valgarv to a meeting that Xelloss didn't think he had a right to attend, and whilst Karasu and Mu attempted to mediate between the pair, Lola helped herself to his wine cupboard and was pouring large glasses of whiskey for herself already. Alcoholic.
He felt Mistress' warm body pressed close against his, taunt and stiff - a sign of unease on her behalf. He patted her arm soothingly and told her to bring out the tea cups otherwise Lola would seriously go through all their best vintage.
"I can't believe you were going to gang up on Xelan like that, just so he could meet your new playboy," Xelloss angrily retorted to Filia's last comment and he let his harsh purple stare hit home at Valgarv. The latter opened his mouth to speak then decided against it and clanged it shut, receiving a beaming look of approval from Filia. Xelloss bristled at the exchange and turned his irritation onto his brother instead.
"Whose side are you on anyway Mu? I can't believe you let yourself get involved in such an ugly mess!"
"I'm on Xelan's side," Mu calmly informed his brother with a note of sadness in his voice. "You guys all seem to think that you have Xelan's best interests at heart, but think about it, from all I've heard, it's always: me, me and more me. If you really had cared about my nephew's precious feelings, then you wouldn't have separated in the first place. But since it looks like reconciliation between both of you is impossible, I'm helping Xelan to see the most painless path - that is to accept that things are changing and that his mother can love another man."
Xelloss couldn't argue with that reason and could only settle for looking away with vodka bitterness.
"Well," Lola brightly interjected, "now that your family has sorted out the issues and problems, remind me again why Kay is involved?"
Mu let his brows furrow, "Mrs Lola, your son unfortunately, is the biggest path blocking Xelan to appreciate his new and changing life."
"Or how about Mu," she replied evenly, "that he's only conveying the wishes of Xelan. Xe is such a quiet boy, he hardly speaks unless it is absolutely necessary, so Kaéry acts as his mouth most of the time. I should know."
"What I'm suggesting, Lola," Filia spoke up and not afraid to hide her true feelings of dislike for Kaéry's mother, "is that perhaps you should stop Kaéry from seeing Xelan for a while whilst we sort this little problem out - "
"I like it when we all play fair," Lola smiled as one would to someone you hated with a passion, the artificial brightness in her voice disbanded, "and Xelan seems to be highly disadvantaged when you take his strongest communication device away from him."
Filia impatiently turned to Karasu, "Talk some sense into your wife."
"Whilst I agree in principle with you Filia, you've got to consider the realities. This is Kaéry and Xelan we're talking about - they can't be separated. It's going to be frightening if they are and the insurance companies might decide that it is a catastrophic event apt to explain a rise in my hideous insurance premiums. Personally, I'm shit scared about the idea of keeping them apart - we've only recently experienced for ourselves how unstable the two can become without each other," he shuddered at the memory.
"I say it's unnatural," Valgarv bluntly interjected, crossing his arms over his chest, "not even siblings are so close, let alone two young boys."
Lola steadily looked at him like a panther fixated by his prey, "Well they are, so deal with it."
"Karasu is exaggerating things here - Xelan can be perfectly fine without Kay."
Xelloss snorted at Filia's dismissive denials and bitterly wished that none of this was happening right now. "Right," he drawled sarcastically, "and where were you when Kay found a girlfriend and Xe was hassling me with the most obtuse topics of interest? Oh, that's right, you were out chasing after men."
"Lets not get personal," Mu held up a hand of peace and sharply glared at his brother in reprimand to leave out the personal attacks, "and focus on the problem. So our troubles are that we cannot get Xelan alone without Kaéry and if we do, both of them - "
"Become unmanageable," Karasu shortly finished, nodding vigorously in conformity with Xelloss. They both simultaneously reached out for strong drinks that Lola had poured for them and downed it in one go, feeling sick at a vivid memory of locking themselves in the room (hiding in the closet for Xelloss) when Kaéry and Xelan were engaged in Cold War II.
Mistress gently set her cup of tea down and warily studied all the tense faces. She swallowed and coughed delicately to attract some attention. "Speaking of close, I know that this is not really my place to interfere, but perhaps you should know that Kaéry and Xelan are very close, in a different sort of way than you could have imagined."
"Enlighten me Mistress," Filia said. Her irritation for the matter was starting to itch her in the most uncomfortable places and the problem was blown entirely out of proportion - thanks to Xelloss. She just wanted to take Xelan out with Valgarv for the evening, and somehow, it became a 'we've got to get the ultimate Prince of Brats away from Xe' topic that neither Karasu nor Xelloss wanted to tackle, even with a ten thousand foot barge pole. "How have we imagined close?"
Mistress felt pity for Filia - her crimson flushed cheeks and her wheezing breath gave her a torn and worn look, a woman old before her time. "Well," she gently began, "first and foremost they are the best of friends. Second, they are each other's only friends - take one away from the other, and think how lonely the other would be. Third...well...I saw Xelan in Kaéry's arms just an hour earlier...if that means anything."
"In his arms?!" Filia shrieked then wisely tugged her voice down to an outraged whisper.
Lola shrugged and finished her sixth glass of whiskey, her hand now moving to the bourbon. "So?"
"What do you mean so?" Filia demanded in horror for the other woman's casualness or her genuine inability to grasp the problem. Lola frankly looked like she didn't care - and she didn't care for a lot of things in fact, being able to see through the flimsy acts and facades that all the people in Anime City put on. Filia suspected that Lola only held such independent airs was because Karasu failed to properly assert his authority over her, and the fact that the woman from Northside still retained a dark side to her nature that didn't care for things as petty as relationship problems. Lola's lips sank into an uncompromising and blunt line, and her tone was brusque and dismissive.
"That's exactly what I mean - I see Kay and Xe holding hands all the time. I mean, you should see them during one of their book reading sessions," Lola gave a small chuckle at the memory, "Xe reads whilst Kay brushes his hair, and afterwards Xe hops into Kay's lap and they fall asleep, nestled in each other's arms."
"And you didn't even think about telling them off?!"
Lola's shrugging was getting on Filia's nerves and it made the blond woman's eyes twitch at irregular intervals. "I think it's cute. Reminds me of kittens and puppies growing up together, " Lola simply said, draining the glass and refilling it in one fluid gesture.
"CUTE?"
"Well, yeah. Don't you?"
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? No - why were you so irresponsible not to say anything about it at all?!"
Lola smacked her lips, relishing the taste of the liquor on her lips. "Because I see nothing wrong."
"Fucking blazes are you quite mad woman? How can two boys cuddling in each other's arms NOT be wrong?"
"Hey - that's my view and my business. It was something that I thought they would tell you about or that you should have known about already, if you aren't always - "
"Out chasing younger men," Xelloss softly mumbled, throwing Lola a wink. Filia slammed her hand onto the table.
"Karasu! Reprimand your wife! She's let this atrocity slip by us all without a word and you're going to let her get away with it?"
The poor man looked helplessly between his impassive wife, impervious to and unaffected by the gravity of the situation, and his friend's wife who was going to combust like Krakatoa and destroy Pompei.
"Lola - why didn't you make a comment at least?"
"Because I didn't think I needed to comment," she snapped, flashing her angry blue eyes at him for taking Filia's side. "They're just kids mucking about, being playful, being friendly, being comfortable with each other. I'm not going to destroy that."
"And neither should you Karasu."
Everyone jumped at the voice and was horrified by the delicate figure silhouetted in the doorway. Salar casually strode forward, swaying slightly, and smiled at them all, formal and detached as always.
"How did you get in?"
Salar threw the blind man a wink that could be heard from his smug tone. "Picked the lock dear boy. Old habits die hard you see, and one of my informants in the city couldn't help recording a snippet of a very interesting conversation just hours earlier and I naturally assumed that my nephew and my brother, no, not you Karasu, don't flatter yourself, are in a doo-hickey of trouble."
Lola looked like she had already won the battle when Salar approached the table of parents and instantly stood up in greeting. Salar beckoned her to sit with one of his older, humane and friendlier smiles that gave every cause to breath, a mute sigh of relief and the easing of many stomach cramps.
Although elegant and refined as always, Salar looked tired even though we went as far as using concealer to eradicate the lines around his eyes. The corners of his lips wouldn't rise up enough to give the bright smile its finishing touches and there was a way his hand would start trembling if he didn't find something to hold on to. He declined a seat, indicating that he wouldn't be staying for long, and withdrew an MD player from the inside of his jacket pocket.
He pressed the play button and held up the compact device, letting scratched sounds trickle into the deathly silent room. It began with the scream of the damned and on recognizing it, Karasu had to restrain his wife's murderous advance towards Mu. Xelan's hoarse voice, emotionally dead, crept into their minds and provoked their most frightening nightmares. After the sound of Mu's howl of pain and a 'whump' of a body crashing to the ground (which caused Yomi to snicker), the recording stopped.
"It's sketchy and the words hardly discernible, but it looks like the boys are going to the opera tonight?"
Xelloss stole another glare at Filia, who in turn bared her teeth. "Yes, that's what they had originally planned, except someone obviously doesn't respect people's fixed appointments and selfishly insists on disturbing their evening for her personal gain. So how'd you know about it Salar?"
"Those words came straight from Cossi fan tutti, which I was also going to attend tonight with…never mind about me. Ladies and Gentlemen, because you're not me, I suggest you start feeling very frightened."
Karasu immediately groaned and Xelloss hugged himself, gesturing to Lola to pour him another large drink.
Mu clasped his hands under the table to stop them from shaking. As he watched Salar, the noticed that with every passing second, the man shed his humanity aside like a cloak and after listening to the playback, his blue eyes, which had been mild and relaxing when he sauntered in, were harder than diamonds, less compassionate than an iceberg. His smile remained, but the humour had long departed.
Guess it takes one devil to deal with a small one, he jokingly thought, attempting to steady his nerves, but one glance from the man a mere meter or two away from him ripped away all his courage.
Salar repeated the first Italian words, relishing the musicality of the language as he smirked at them all. "Come scoglio immoto resta contra i venti, e la tempesta – is something that you don't really want to hear Xelan ever saying, and if I hadn't been so damn smart, I'd be taking the next plane out of the country to the farthest corners of the earth after what my nephew said in response. But because you're not me Mr Valgarv, I suggest you head straight to the airport if you so value your life."
"I thought you were here to help us solve the problem," Filia rigidly said, thrusting her chin out despite her shivers but was the first to turn away from the staring competition.
Salar's pleasant smile did not waver. "No, I'm not here to help. I'm here to interpret and help to distribute blame. One would have thought that if you asked the right questions, the solution would be obvious."
"Brother, what did the children say?"
"Like a mountain, we stand immobile against the tempest winds and storms."
Karasu and Xelloss visibly paled.
"Then my nephew replied with: And only the power of death alone can change the determination and affections that we share in our hearts."
Karasu and Xelloss paled an extra shade.
"Salar's right," Karasu croaked, "I don't like you or hate you buddy, but you best take the next plane outta here and don't come back. Ever."
"I agree," Xellos said in the same broken voice, "As much as I hate you pal, Kay and Xe will eat you for breakfast and there won't be enough bones left for us to bury."
Lola held out her hand for them to shut up and turned to Salar more seriously. "Xe said more stuff towards the end there – can you finish the translation?"
"Vorrei dir, e cor non ho: balbettando il labbro va. Fuor la voce uscir non può Ma mi resta mezza quà. Che farete, che farò ? goes along the lines of : I would speak but I do not have the heart and my lips stammer. My voice cannot come forth and it remains trapped within. What will you do? What shall I do?"
"Poor kid…" Lola said after a moment of uncomfortable silence and looked down onto her whiskey glass with fascination as white cracks began to fountain around her fingers until it shattered under the pressure of her grip and the champagne coloured liquid spilled onto the table.
"Any…other advice other than to tell the city to evacuate?" Mistress politely inquired.
"Therapy won't work, they'll end up driving their counsellors insane and from the sounds of it, the probability of reconcilliation between the two children and this situation is about as close to negative infinite as you can achieve. You've really opened up a kettle of fish this time Mrs. Filia."
She sarcastically thanked him and said: "Well since you're the brilliant one around here, have you got an answer to all this?"
Salar cocked his head to one side. "I've got several actually – three of which could end up with the city in a mushroom cloud, two of which could end up getting one of them killed, and the last one would have Lola turn around to kill me instead."
"You want to break them up don't you!" his sister-in-law fixed her gaze on him with horror. "You want to tear them apart and make them hate each other. I'll kill you if you so much as sow one lie between them, do you hear me! I won't let you do it even if you're my brother and if I die trying, I'm going to take you down with me!"
"Relax brother – if this is your will, then I won't say a thing. And besides, I've got better things to do with my time than play around with dirt. Well, I'm here for an exchange of information; I gave you a translation, now it's time for you to answer some of my questions. A word outside please Lola?"
When the pair disappeared from view, Mu slumped in his chair and beside
him, Valgarv crossed himself. Karasu and Xelloss were content to drink
themselves out of the situation, leaving Filia to fluster and stress.
Kaéry pulled his ear from the door and cheekily grinned. "We're
going to win Xe – mum and Uncle Salar are on our side; the only two people
who could have ever thwarted us have decided to align themselves with us.
I guess the heavens are afraid of us after all."
Author's notes
My god! How is this still a Hunter fanfic?! There was hardly any Hunter participation at all! à My apologies and I promise the next chapter will be full of Illumi and Hisoka and Machi and Kuroro and just about everyone else who didn't make it to this chapter. Next chapter will be very Hunter orientated so please just bear with this chapter.
This chapter is hardly edited – but I will shortly come back to revise it. As you all know, my obsessive compulsive behaviour won't let me get back to work until I've got this up, so here it is.
And thanks for the reviews! Please leave me a note to let me know that you're reading and following this story!
Translations are courtesy of the aria-database.com, but I took the liberty in tweaking a word or two.