An Amusing Interlude: Part 13: Catastrophe: In which we learn that some people just don't give up.
By
Deborah (Kosagi) Brown

Hunter X Hunter is copyright Yoshihiro Togashi. Quoll and Kurapika aren't mine more's the pity.


QUOLL:
I gaze up mildly at Nobunaga as he glares past me at Kurapika. If looks could kill, I have a feeling both of us would be dead now. As it is, the only thing that's stopping him from attacking out of hand is the fact that I'm standing in his way. "It's good to see you."

"Never mind that! What's he doing here?"

Sighing, I glance back at Kurapika. My companion has a wary, ready look that says he fully expects to be attacked. It's a reasonable expectation – Nobunaga is about the angriest I've ever seen him. Small wonder, Ubogin was his best friend, after all. The rage in his face tells me that I'm going to have a hard time defusing the situation.

"He's here," I tell Nobunaga, "because the two of us have come to terms."

"The hell with that! HE KILLED UBO!"

I can practically taste Kurapika's response. Guilt, mixed with anger, mixed with other darker emotions. He's fighting back his own anger and need for revenge. Coming to terms with me doesn't mean he doesn't still feel the anguish of losing his family or the longing to beat their killers straight down to the hell a part of him feels they belong.

Choosing my words carefully, I gaze at Nobunaga levelly. "Yes. And we killed his entire family. All things considered, perhaps it's best we call it even."

Nobunaga leaps down and sideways, swords drawn, moving in for the attack. I move in turn, putting myself in his way again. "Are you questioning my judgment?" I ask as his weapons cut through the air.

KURAPIKA:
For the first time I see Quoll as something other than the humorous, off-beat and downright silly creature he's come to appear to me. I realize as he speaks and moves, that while those things are very much part of who Quoll is, they don't define him. No one is of a piece, I remember him saying. The realization cuts through my mixed emotions, leaving me watching him, stunned at the transformation.

The man blocking Nobunaga's attack is the Genei Ryodan's Danchou. Calm, calculating and bloody dangerous. If Nobunaga had sense, he'd back off immediately. I can see, though, that his anger is stronger than his sense for the moment. His attack shows it, being a thing more of strength than judgment. As his swords come down, Quoll's hand goes out and he dodges sideways, twisting as he grasps Nobunaga's wrist.

One sword falls from Nobunaga's hand to Quoll's and as Nobunaga spins around, attempting to recover, attempting to reach me, Quoll comes up behind him. The blade in his hand flashes in the sunlight as he places it at Nobunaga's throat. "Who is Danchou here?" Quoll's voice is all the more terrifying for the utter calm and quiet with which he asks the question. If he is angry, he's covering it well. He isn't though. He's not even using Ten to control himself.

Nobunaga stops dead. "You are." The admission is made begrudgingly, but it's clear he has suddenly realized what he's doing.

"I seem to recall already discussing this matter. The Ryodan are not simply about revenge. Ubo took his risks and knew he might die for them. If you cannot accept my ruling, then it's time for us to part ways. Shall I remove your spider for you? Or are you still one of us?"

A long moment of silence follows before Nobunaga shakes his head. "I'm still a Spider," he whispers.

Quoll steps back and flips the sword in his hand, returning it. "Then you accept my judgment." It's not a question. As Nobunaga nods, Quoll continues, "Settle it as if he were one of us."

QUOLL:
I'm getting two of the strangest looks from Nobunaga and Kurapika. Neither of them had expected that and I have to fight back a little grin. The trouble with being Danchou is that one's sense of humor has to be kept under control, and that means I can't just break into relieved laughter. I didn't want to fight Nobunaga if I didn't have to. Some fights you can't win even when you do.

Noting that Nobunaga has – almost automatically – pulled out a coin from a pocket, I give Kurapika an inquisitive look. "You win the toss, he apologizes to you for his part in you know. He wins, you apologize for Ubo."

Kurapika's expression says that I'm going to end up paying for my sense of humor, but his only comment is, "I'm not a Spider. Why should I follow your rules?"

Before Nobunaga can interject anything, I shrug. "Because it simplifies matters? I'm not asking you to join us. I understand your reservations regarding that step. On the other hand, do you really want to fight him hand to hand? I suspect you'd win, especially considering that somebody seems to be thinking with his swords instead of his brain, but why put yourself at risk?" I ignore the little indignant noise Nobunaga makes as I gaze seriously at Kurapika.

After a moment's hesitation Kurapika nods. "All right. Tails, then."

Nobunaga flips the coin in the air and grabs it, slapping it onto the back of his hand. "Tails," he sighs, tone half disappointed. "Okay. I apologize." If his tone doesn't sound very apologetic, I hope that Kurapika will accept it and understand that – at least for Nobunaga – the matter is settled.

Rather to my surprise, Kurapika looks embarrassed. "I I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to kill him, to be honest. Or I did, but not not the way I did." I nearly interrupt, tell him that his words aren't necessary, that the matter is closed and over, but I realize that – for Kurapika – it isn't. "I didn't know you Spiders then. Still don't really understand you, but I especially didn't know you'd die before revealing your secrets. Ubo Pakunoda I'd have killed them in a fair fight. I never thought they'd defy the Judgment."

"We're just a slimy bunch of thieves, with no honor or principles." Nobunaga's sour words cause Kurapika to wince and I have to fight back a sharp surge of pain as memories try to work their way past the blocks I've placed on them.

"What else was I supposed to think?" Kurapika shoots a look at me and something in my expression must make him realize what this is doing to me. "Look, I am sorry. Sorry for what happened and sorry for my part in it."

I take a deep breath. "Kurapika, Nobunaga, enough. Both of you. Apologies have been made. Consider the matter settled." I look at Nobunaga. "Now that Pakunoda is gone, the memories she took from you should be back. Would you tell Kurapika what happened to his people's eyes?" Those memories are easier to deal with than what preceded them. I hadn't actually been involved, after all.

Nobunaga's eyes widen. "But you You remember?"

"Pakunoda didn't touch my memories, Nobunaga. It was too risky. Her death would have destroyed my mind." I shake my head, using ten to control myself and my Eyes. "I won't stay to listen. That's more than I think I can manage." It's only been a week since Kurapika and I had our little walk down memory lane and I have to work harder than usual to keep those other thoughts from intruding. "I'll be in my rooms. Come up when you're done."

KURAPIKA:
I watch Quoll go with a frown. His movements are perfectly regular and easy, but I can tell he's deeply shaken, that the entire situation is putting a strain on him. He's strong, stronger than I am in some ways, but he's had so many upsets that I'm not really surprised that he's still having difficulties. He needs time to rest and he's not getting it. It's just been one thing after another, damnit!

Nobunaga coughs. "I guess I should start with saying that even if we were the slimy bunch of thieves without honor or principles that you thought we were, Ubo wouldn't have been able to tell you what you wanted to know."

I stare at him. "He he was already under a judgment I mean a geas?" I could see how that would have put him in an impossible position. Talk and die for talking. Refuse to talk and die for that.

Nobunaga shakes his head. "No. We don't do that to each other. Frankly, I hadn't heard of such a thing as your judgment thingie until you used it on that slimeball Hisoka and kept him from warning us." At my stare he blinks at me. "You mean you didn't?"

I shake my head. "He told me what he could because he wanted a chance at Quoll."

Nobunaga snarls a few unpleasant things under his breath. "He's Danchou's meat or I'd." With a sigh, he shrugs. "Never mind that. Pakunoda used her ability to wipe memories to clear out what happened. Ubo knew – in general – that we'd fought and killed the Kurota. We all remember that much. But the specifics were wiped. We do that for all our jobs so we can't betray Ryodan secrets. Danchou and Shizuku's the only ones who don't get it done and that's because he needs to remember and she can't."

As I raise a brow, Nobunaga shrugs. "Danchou's fault. Her mind got messed up by his Eyes when we were fighting your people."

I remember now, he'd linked up with the ones helping him escape. The one had died and the other, Shizuku, must have taken the backlash. Nobunaga rolls his eyes. "Frankly, it's a pain. She's just about impossible the way she is now." Going over to a rock, he sits down and starts cleaning his swords. "Anyway. Your people's eyes."

"Yes," I agree, sitting close, but not too close. "Please. That's the one thing in all this I find hardest to deal with. Why? Why take them."

"Simple answer," Nobunaga glances up at me. "We didn't."

QUOLL:
I don't have to listen to Nobunaga to know what he's telling Kurapika. It's painful to remember, but not as bad as what had preceded it. As I make my way to the kitchen to heat up some tea I recall what I was told – once my tangled and knotted brain had managed to find a way past all the things that had happened to it. How, when I'd been incapacitated, Phinx had thought to go back to the village a few days later. He'd been hoping to find something that could help me. What they found was the houses pillaged and the bodies – still where they were – all missing their eyes.

"It had to have happened soon after we left," I remember Phinx telling me when I'd recovered enough to communicate. "The eyes would have been valueless otherwise."

"So the culprits almost had to have shown up within hours of our leaving," I'd answered. Phinx wasn't always the brightest member of the group but he knew I'd want to know who the strangers had been and what they were up to. Using Bonorenolf's tracking ability, combined with what few things Phinx had been able to find at the village, he was able to trace the path the rest of the Kurota belongings had followed.

I glance sideways at the cabinet where my stash of Kurota scrolls and those notebooks are stored. Phinx and those he'd chosen to go after the strangers had caught up before they'd reached whatever bolt-hole they'd been headed for. My Spider is nothing if not thorough and though they had quite a fight on their hands, they'd won, taking back everything that had been stolen.

Kurapika isn't going to like what we did about the eyes, I think ruefully. The thing was, to us, the things were just baubles and though we're thieves and murderers, we don't have much use for body parts. Phinx had sent them off to be sold, using the money the way we usually did, to benefit Comet Star City. He'd known better than to get rid of the records though. I would have been furious when I'd recovered.

The only real mistake Phinx made was not to keep someone alive. Not that I could really blame him. The strangers hadn't been human, products of the same laboratory that had created me, I suspected. They'd been close to impossible to fight, had nearly killed Phinx and his companions. When it comes to a choice between my Spider and getting information, I'll take my Spiders any day.

The tea kettle hisses, reminding me of the present and I turn to it, only to pause as a sound draws my attention sideways. One of the bookcases in the room is swinging around, revealing the passage behind it. I don't relax as Johan steps into the room. He almost never comes up this way and he certainly wouldn't have done so without warning me. That there seem to be needles poking out from behind his head at intervals only makes my fears more certain.

As a tiny girl steps into the room behind him, feline ears pointing upwards in an oddly perky fashion, I know there's trouble. "Meow," she says, or rather purrs. "Our masters would like to have a word with you, Number Q013."

KURAPIKA:
I can sense it before the explosion even draws our attention upwards. Quoll, suddenly wary, his pulse racing. He's in danger. As I rise to my feet something detonates somewhere inside Quoll's refuge, sending dust, rocks and other debris flying out of the windows. As a ripped up book lands at my feet I stare upwards.

Nobunaga swears and starts towards the wreckage. That's when the first beast-creature comes flying over the wreckage of the building and at Nobunaga and me. "Don't go in!" I yell at Nobunaga. "Defend yourself first!"

"But"

"DAMNIT NOBUNAGA, WOULD HE WANT YOU TO RISK YOUR LIFE IN AN UNSTABLE RUIN?" I swing a nen-chain at the first beast-man rushing me. "YOU CAN'T FIGHT IN THERE AND THEY'LL FOLLOW YOU!"

With an oath that would melt the concrete, Nobunaga turns and begins fighting. As his sword slices through a buzzing insect I cudgel another beast into unconsciousness. Dodge and strike. Strike and dodge. Every sense alive and my sight blurring into red and black as I shift my eyes. This isn't the time to worry about being traced. If I'm right, we've been traced already. The only thing to do is to fight.

*Slice* Another beast downed by the sword.

*Ka-thump* I shatter an insect's wing, leaving it twitching on the ground.

One after another Nobunaga and I handle our attackers. From above I can hear a fight. Quoll's still with us, then. I want nothing more than to get up there, but I don't dare, not until we've gotten our own opponents down. Too much fighting in that shattered room and we could end up brought down entirely.

At last, however, there are no more beast-creatures. I take several deep breaths, then start up the ruined stairs to the second level. As I do, however, a peculiar buzzing sound starts in my brain. A sensation I'd only felt twice before. Twice was quite enough and I know what it has to be. No. I rush towards the entrance and start coughing as the dust hits me.

I don't have time to cough, though, and I hurry past as quickly as possible. As I enter the room I see a frail thin figure lying on the ground. "Johan!" Nobunaga gasps rushing to his side. As I join the swordsman I feel a surge of horror as I realize what's been done to the back of the old man's head. His skull was cut open, permitting someone to reach the brain inside. Long slender needles are thrust at intervals into the tissue.

A sound draws my attention sideways and I see the passage that the invaders must have used to get in. Two figures are moving down it. One humanoid, but I recognize it as the same 'android' thing that we've been dealing with. I start to my feet as I realize that it's carrying Quoll over its shoulder.

Before I can head after Quoll's captor the other figure turns towards me. It has a feminine form, but she's no more human than those that had attacked us earlier. "Meow," she says sweetly. "No time to play. Too bad we don't have your pattern. You'd be a good addition." She lifts her hand and throws something. Quickly, I realize what she's about to do and I dodge backwards, yelling, "NOBUNAGA, GET JOHAN OUT!" He's already moving as I speak.

As the explosion shatters the passageway between the feline beast and myself, I run after Nobunaga, my chains spinning rapidly behind me, blocking the shrapnel and creating a tunnel of safety behind us. A second later, as the rooms collapse behind us, we land in the open area outside.

Gasping for air, Nobunaga looks at me. "Danchou?"

I take several deep breaths and return the look as calmly as I can. "They have him." As his expression turns angry, I continue. "Get your friends. We're going to get him back."

To Be Continued


Author's Notes:

Heh. A little bit shorter interval between chapters. I don't know how, but this thing keeps growing. My brain hurts, but I know where I'm going, just not how long it's going to take to get there.

Hikaru: Yeah, 3 months is a long wait. I have a few favorites who take longer, though.//Kurapika x Quoll pairing. Er Next chapter should reveal why I'm not going to. (Apologizes to the yaoi fans and points at LynLyn's fic as an excellent opportunity for good yaoi for Quoll and Kurapika.)

Sasori, Bleeding Heart12, Hareta: Glad you're glad it's back.

Shinomori No Kami Daiji: I hope to have the cool competent Quoll in full operation next chapter. A bit of him is showing up here. Of course, part of the problem is that if I show anything of what's going on in his head it gets difficult to stick with just the Cool, Competent Quoll.//I'll be revealing more about Quoll's origin next chapter, since he's being dragged back 'home'.//I think his book fondness is endearing too. There's a lot I like about the character I liked. One of the reasons Togashi's current game of bait and switch is getting annoying.

XD: I'll have to find time (Time? What's that?) to post your pic and the other. *sigh* I have a life. It's just a bit too full at the moment.//Kurapkika? Ouch. I'll have to remember to catch that. There's some foreshadowing I mean to insert into a finalized version of the story later on, so I'll be doing another full edit then.

Yukitsu: Yeah, grammar and I aren't always good friends and writing in present tense makes it even harder for me to catch the silly things.//I always felt Kurapika was operating in the classic Hero vs. Villain mode when he's dealing with people who operate in the Shades of Grey Morality mode. The two perspectives don't interact well. Which means Kura-chan is going to have an interesting time of it next episode.

Flidget: Hey, a name I know from Twig's blog! Nice to see you and thanks!

Okay, enough for now. It's too close to Christmas out here to do much writing and I have an APA to do, too, so the next chapter probably won't be until January. Hopefully a shorter interval than the last one, though.