An Amusing Interlude: Part 14: Cooperation – In which Kurapika steps into a role he never planned to take.
By
Deborah (Kosagi) Brown

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


QUOLL:
Just give me that old time rock and roll
That kind of music really sooths my soul
I reminisce about the days of old
Just give me that old time rock and roll

Exactly why Kurapika is singing and dancing in his underwear is a mystery. One that isn't really resolved as he drops the air guitar with a thud and yells at me, ::CUT IT OUT, QUOLL. We don't have time for this!::

The scene changes and I find myself blinking at Kurapika as he hops down the path towards me. Oh, that's a cute outfit. What's with the pocket watch? His glare is growing more aggravated, even as the music in my head shifts to something about going under. His rabbit ears twitch angrily and I ask, ::What?::

::You're dreaming.::

::Oh. I knew that.:: The surroundings flicker again and now we're on stage, dressed in something out of Grimm's fairy tales. Though I'm pretty sure none of their princesses wore spiked bracelets or slit skirts. I'm sort of glad I can't see more of myself right now. The imagination is, apparently, deeply confused. Kurapika, at least, makes a much better looking prince. ::I'd better wake up then.:: Before things get even more surreal.

Kurapika shakes his head as the scene changes yet again to a café. He changes clothing to match. Black shirt and pants, a beret and a little mustache and goatee. ::Not yet. We need to talk. But could you focus? This thing itches.:: He rubs at his chin ruefully.

Somehow I work myself into a bit more into control. I'm confused, but getting less so. Kurapika is connecting to me through our link. I can't quite remember what has happened, but a vague memory of fighting and being knocked cold is forming. ::Sorry. This better?:: We're in the middle of the forest, not my favorite environment, but I think his thoughts have shaped the dream somehow. Oddly, I seem to be dressed like he is, and shorter than I know I ought to be. ::What's going on?::

::You've been captured. Nobunaga's getting the rest of the Spider together. As soon as we can, we'll be coming after you. Don't do anything precipitate.::

Now memory returns entirely. Captured indeed. I can remember fighting that cat-woman, nearly killing her, only to be incapacitated by her assistants. Two more of those damned androids, using the electronic signal adjusted to my brainwaves, a sound whose frequency leaves me utterly incapable of using my eyes or, for that matter, moving at all. ::Damn.::

::Indeed.:: Kurapika looks at me. ::Do you have to look like Never mind. Just stay calm. We will rescue you.::

::No.:: I object. There's no point in putting him and my Spider in danger. ::It's too risky.::

::I'm not part of your Spider. I don't leave anyone behind. If they won't help me, I'll come by myself. But I will find you.:: His anger is palpable and I realize that there's no point in arguing. A faint smile crosses his face. ::You're blood and kin, remember? And a friend.::

I want to tell him how much that means to me, but I can't. It's too strong an emotion for me to deal with, even here in dreams. At last I nod. ::If you insist, then. I'll wait for you.:: Until I have a better idea of my situation I don't have much choice. ::You'll be using our link to find me?::

::It and my chains. There's no more point in hiding.:: Kurapika sighs. ::Anything I should know about your people?::

I consider that, hopping up onto a tree branch and perching there and eliciting a strange look from my companion. A voice is speaking in my ear. "Wake up." The dream's going to fade off any minute now, breaking our link. ::Don't expect Shizuka to remember much more than her name. If you can get Phinx on your side he'll be the one to ask. Tell him Tell him:: I realize I have no clue what to tell Phinx and smile wryly. ::Good luck. You're going to need it.:: Something tugs at me and I barely have time to add, ::Feitan. Get him on your side first:: Then I'm pulled out of dream and into a nightmare.

KURAPIKA:
My eyes snap open and I take several deep breaths. If Quoll were here I'd smack him upside the head for putting me through that. The dancing in underwear wasn't so bad – it wasn't like I lived in a complete vacuum and I knew the movie he'd gotten it from – but for him to take on Jurik's appearance No. I did that, didn't I? I could remember wanting to be home right at that moment and he really wasn't controlling the dream all that much. The fact that I'd seen him as my younger brother simply reflected the way I'd been feeling about him.

Quite a change from a week or so ago, I thought, sitting up and finding Nobunaga sitting in guard over Johan amid the wreckage. "How is he?"

Nobunaga looks at me. "Better. Your healing chain did a good job on his skull. He's still sleeping though." The swordsman turns a worried look on the old man. "He's been around for forever. I can't imagine life here without him."

I nod. I had only known Johan for a brief time, but I'd liked him. "I got the impression he's known Quoll for a while." Sitting across from Nobunaga, I use my healing chain again, searching out infection.

"Johan raised him," Nobunaga answers, watching my chain as it hovers over the old man's body. "Found him when Quoll was a kid and took him in." He glances at me. "He was a Hunter once. He taught Quoll a lot. Quoll had to find out about Nen, though. He trained that elsewhere."

I'm not really surprised. It seems to be a Hunter thing, the existence of Nen is kept hidden until a person is considered ready to learn it. I ran into that during my training as well. Putting my chain away after another minute or so, I look at Nobunaga. "The others?"

"I've called Phinx. He's headed this way. The others too, though it may take a while." At my raised brow, Nobunaga explains. "We'd tried to get on Greed Island by a back door and got kicked out. Whatever that yarad – sorry, that bastard – used scattered us all over the Ajin continent. We decided to meet here and regroup."

That makes as much sense as everything else that's been going on. I have no idea what's up with Greed Island or why the Ryodan think it's so important, but I also don't care. I want to get Quoll out of his captor's hands, get him back safe and sound. I say as much, "Can whatever you bunch are doing there be put off?"

Nobunaga looks helplessly at me. "I don't know. It's important. They have our people." At my raised brow, he continues, "Someone kidnapped a bunch of Star City citizens a while back. Shalnark could explain better, but apparently some of them are being used as part of that game."

"I see." I don't entirely, but figure Shalnark will be able to explain. "All right. When the others get here we can work out what to do next."

QUOLL:
Nightmare isn't quite the right word. A scene from Dante's Inferno.
I'm hanging from chains in a large room. Rusted metal walls surround me and the room is filled with creatures that look like someone chopped up every animal and human they could get their hands on and threw them in a vat, then poured the resulting mess into molds. From somewhere I hear a radio blaring. That must be where the music was coming from. Beneath the sound of the music is a rumbling. We're aboard some sort of transport then. Flying, I think, because our movements are too regular for a roadway.

Standing in front of me is the cat-girl. I smile at her. "Well now. And you would be?"

"Meow, I don't understand." She stares at me curiously, moving around and plucking lightly at my clothing. "I am of the brood. Meow. What more do I need to be?"

I raise a brow. "Yourself?" I suggest. A faint frown crosses her pretty features, then she shrugs. Still, something tells me that I've hit on something important. "For instance," I tell her, "My name is Lucifer Quoll. That helps define who I am and what I am."

"You were, meow, designated Q013," she protests.

"Ahhh, but then I got to decide on a name for myself. A nice perquisite to being a person," I explain, smiling sweetly at her. "If I don't like what I was designated, I can re-designate myself. Can you do that?"

Her expression is troubled. "Why re-designate? Why Lucifer Quoll, meow?"

I'm definitely getting to her. "Lucifer was an angel of the Lord, a fallen angel. I live in the hell called Comet Star City, and I have made myself its defender." That's not quite who Lucifer was, actually, the mythologies vary so much from place to place and time to time, but it's enough. Particularly when you consider how far I've fallen. "As for Quoll, well that silly number they gave me wasn't really all that pronounceable. So I just turned the three around and made it an 'e'."

"You, meow, are what you were made to be." I've confused the kitty nicely, I see. She's falling back on what she knows. "A weapon. Meow."

"A weapon, yes. A weapon that can think for itself and decide who to protect and who to hurt. Can do that, kitten?"

"Enough, Q013." The voice that interrupts is more human than the other voices around me. "Don't confuse the chimera ants." I glance sideways and find myself looking at the smallest and oldest man I've seen in a long while. He looks a lot like Johan, but with more hair and an expression that would be friendly if I couldn't see that – behind it – is cold calculation. "All of you," he orders. "Leave the specimen alone. He's been promised to your Queen after we're done with him. Not before."

"Meow. Very well."

Chimera ants? Some vague memory is returning to me. One of the books I'd read about animal species. An insect that would absorb genetic material from the other insects it ate, taking on the appearance and characteristics. Who the hell's been feeding 'em up to sentience? Not that I really needed to ask who would do such a thing. My captors and quite likely the same people who decided it would be a good idea to breed their own pet Ruby Eye Kurota.

KURAPIKA:
"The only thing I want from you is for you to break that curse you put on our Danchou!"

I force myself not to sigh, wondering how Quoll puts up with this bunch. "Curse?" I ask, puzzled. Then I realize, "Oh, you mean the Judgment Chain. Sorry. Can't do that." I'd thought of it as a control device, not a curse, but of course Phinx and the others would see things differently.

Phinx's face is suffused with a bright magenta. Before he can yell, though, I add, "Because it's already removed."

Rather surprisingly, I hear Feitan chuckle underneath his face mask. "Told ya," he mutters under his breath at his taller companion. "Pay me." My confusion over the latter remark is resolved as, angry and grumbling mightily, Phinx pulls a handful of change out of his pants pocket and hands it to Feitan. Apparently they'd had some sort of bet on.

"Then where the hell is he?" Phinx demands, after the formalities are over. "All Nobunaga would say was that you were here, that he didn't want us hurting you and that you would explain everything else."

I settle onto a nearby bit of broken building, looking down into the courtyard where they're standing. I'm still wary of these two but I don't want them to realize just how wary. "Quoll has been kidnapped," I explain. "By the people involved in his creation, quite probably." At Phinx's startled expression I add, "I know a lot more about the situation now. Enough to be able to accept what happened between the Ryodan and my people as having been out of anyone's control."

"So we all become buddy buddy and waltz off down lollipop lane together?" Feitan asks, voice quiet and very calm. Too calm, in fact. He's the one I need to watch even more carefully than either Phinx or Nobunaga. Those two will telegraph their thoughts and feelings without much in the way of self control. Feitan will make his decisions without ever letting you see what they are until he's done what has to be done. "Well?"

I realize I have no really good way of getting these people to listen to me. "Do you want Quoll back?" I ask finally? "I'm about the only one able to find him right now. His Eyes and mine are linked now."

"How th'hell did that happen?" Nobunaga breaks in. "You didn't say anything about that earlier."

"For the very good reason that I didn't want to have to explain" I pause to count on my fingers, "nine times, how all of this has come about. You three can explain it to the others when they get here."

Feitan gives me a considering look and pulls the mask down from his face, surprising both his compatriots. I'm surprised as well. He's younger than I'd expected – or at least looks it. "Strictly speaking, eight times. No point in trying to get Shizuka to understand. She's already forgotten what happened to Pakunoda." Before Phinx can erupt again he adds to the blonde, "Paku made her choice, Phinx. Her life for the Danchou's. Just as I suspect Ubo made his choice back then." The small slender, figure climbs up towards me and stops a few feet away. "Okay, Chain Guy. What happened?"

It takes me a good twenty minutes to explain the last week or so, minutes that I don't want to waste, but would have to anyway. Johan hasn't woken up yet and I don't want to leave him until I know he's okay. When I'm done, Feitan gives me a long, considering, look. "So. The Danchou's been captured and you think we should all go traipsing off looking for him?"

"Whether or not you come along, I'm going to find him."

I didn't think Feitan's eyes could get any narrower. I was wrong. "Why?" his tone is quiet, seemingly casual, but it holds a world of danger nonetheless and I'm reminded of Quoll's last thought before he'd woken.

"Because I can't leave someone to die that way," I tell him as directly as possible. "Or worse. We don't know what they'll do to him. It isn't right."

"Right?" Shaking his head, the smaller man puts his hands on his hips. "Your tribe spent centuries hidden away on a remote mountain while the rest of the world just got worse. For what? A bunch of words on a piece of paper. They were ready to kill our Danchou for no better reason than the fact that he'd dared share your blood. The mafia use us as weapons and tools and throw us away when they're done. Or we get taken into a game and get made into toys for other people's amusement. Don't talk to me about 'Right'. The only thing in this world that makes 'right' is might!"

As I open my mouth to protest, he continues, "You know how many do-gooders come in to the City every year? Fifty or so, all expecting to somehow make a change in this place. Most leave within a month, because their idea of a change is to make us over into their image." A mocking look crosses his face. "The few who stay either end up changed themselves or killed when their idea of what's 'right' conflicts with the real world."

I take a deep breath. "I have no wish to change or use any of you. I've seen what's out there and if you grew up with that I'm sorry. I have no words to express how I feel about it. Other than respect for those of you who can survive in a place like this and still care about each other."

Feitan spits. "Shyeah. Right."

"I mean it. Maybe I'm too naïve or too stiff-necked to understand why you think it's necessary to do what you do to survive, but I can see that nothing else is working for you." I shake my head. "I'm not here to change anything. I'm here to understand. I'm here to learn as much as I can about why things are the way they are, or at least one small part of it. I'm naïve, but I'm not so naïve that I can't understand one thing. Things aren't going to change here, not without a major change on both sides of the equation." With a sigh, I continue, "Look. This has nothing to do with the question of rescuing Quoll. If you don't like my first answer, how about because I care what happens to him?"

There's a long silence and, finally, Feitan says. "Why? Aside from the fact that he and you have some sort of mind link. Aside from his being part Kurota. What does all of that matter to you? Afraid you'll get hurt when he dies?"

"I will be hurt. You don't kill half of a mind-link like ours off without causing a lot of pain to the other half," I tell him quietly. "But that's not why. I don't know what it is. I like him as a person. His lifestyle bugs me, yeah, but I can see how he got there and I'm not the one to tell him – or you – how to resolve that one. He's become a friend and he matters to me. Okay? Is that enough for you?"

At last Feitan nods. "It'll have to be," he agrees grimly.

QUOLL:
"I don't suppose there's a chance I could be chained up more comfortably?" I ask my captor as he examines me. I wriggle my fingers. They're starting to get cold from lack of circulation.

Absently, the old man murmurs, "It's hardly going to matter. You're going to be dinner for the Queen soon enough." He cocks his head at me. "After, of course, we've gotten what we need from you." He sticks a thermometer in my mouth, silencing me for a few minutes.

When I can speak again, I ask, "And that would be?"

Rheumy eyes blink at me. "What? Oh, what we need from you? Your genetic material. Fortunately for her majesty, we only need a portion for our breeding project." At my rolled eyes, he smiles, even as he puts an ice-cold stethoscope on my chest. A sharp memory comes back to me, the same eyes, the same cold, calculating expression and the same damned ice-cold stethoscope. "You didn't think we thought we could control you anymore, did you?"

"I could always bargain," I answer, shrugging a little. "I can bargain quite well when my life is on the line."

"No doubt. It was part of your training, though I get the impression you've forgotten that."

I don't answer, allowing an puzzled frown to cross my face. I haven't forgotten nearly as much as the old man thinks and I'm beginning to remember more every minute. Not that I intend him to realize that. Instead I tell him, "Well, if you really intended me to keep my training in mind, maybe you shouldn't have dumped me like so much garbage."

A startled expression crosses the old man's face and he stops prodding my stomach momentarily. "You've blocked quite a bit more than I'd thought," he says quietly. "If we'd had no use for you, boy, we would have destroyed you. Not left you out where you could be causing us trouble. Admittedly, we wouldn't have found the Kurota tribe's home otherwise, but still." He shrugs. "Doesn't really matter. You've far passed any point where we can trust you. Our tools can't be permitted to think for themselves."

I glance around at the chimera ants surrounding us. Ten or so, listening to the sounds of the music from the radio or eating something that I really don't want to identify. Someone, rather. At least I understand why the old guy wasn't too happy with my efforts to affect the kitty. Especially since I think I would have succeeded. There had been a light in her eyes that I thought might turn to outright interest if given the chance. Considering what she is, though, maybe it's better I don't succeed there. Her kind is likely to be enough trouble without the ability to think for themselves. "So," I say, forcing my voice to stay casual. "If you didn't dump me, then, how did I get to Comet Star City? And why didn't you take me back sooner?"

A dry chuckle comes from behind me and an exhausted sounding voice gasps, "Because, boy. I had a Nen shield put on you before I left you with Johan." Somehow I manage to spin around enough to see who spoke and find a grey haired man hanging from another set of chains. "Not that that did much good when your eyes kicked in. My fault, I fear. Mine too for being such a damnfool as to get captured again."

I can't help but stare for a long silent moment. I know the face, despite the years. An image flashes through the minefields of my memory. Crouched in a darkened corner, sirens blaring, lights flashing above us. That face above mine, expression angry and distant, eyes gleaming a bright ruby red. The face of the man who'd gotten me out of the hands of my creators.

My father.

KURAPIKA:
"We were friends, Lucifer's father and I," Johan explains quietly. "He'd left home for a time and had been fascinated by the outside world. I trained him in nen and helped him get his Hunter's license. Then he disappeared for a while – twenty six years ago. When he reappeared a few years later he refused to discuss what happened and went back home for almost ten years. When he came back again, he had a boy in tow, a ten year old with a weird tattoo on his forehead."

I nod, finishing the last healing session and sitting back. "He was Kurota, then?" At Johan's murmured agreement, I continue. "And he left Quoll with you because he couldn't have taken him home." That made sense. He must not have been able to kill his own son but he couldn't possibly have brought him to our people. Not with the prophecy.

"He told me that he had escaped his captors for a while and had spent those years back with your people before guilt got the better of him and he'd tried to find the child created from his genes." Johan sighed. "But he could hardly stand to look at the boy and asked me to take him in. He never ever told me what would happen if Quoll found his family or I would have kept the boy from ever trying to find them."

It wasn't hard for me to understand why Quoll had gone looking. The same reason I'd left home, or partly. Looking for his family. Looking for his past. I'd been training but I'd also hoped to find a clue to where my own father had gone. I'd not seen him since I was three years old and Jurik just barely one A strange thought occurs to me and I swallow, hard. No. It's not that easy. Surely.

Johan's eyes are on me though and he smiles wryly. "He showed me a picture of his wife and sons before leaving again. Said it was because of the younger one that he'd not been able to handle the guilt. Apparently the boy looked a lot the child he'd left behind. Too much so. He couldn't leave Lucifer in the hands of people like the ones who'd captured him, even though he knew what the prophecy said." The old man sighs. "You favor your mother, of course, but your little brother looked like your father. And Lucifer."

To Be Continued:


Author's Note: Well, I trust this episode explains exactly why I won't be going the Yaoi route. Not that I particularly object to such. (Waves at Lynlyn.) I just wanted to see if I could establish a close, bickering, relationship that wasn't going to end up with the two characters in love with each other.

Strictly speaking I ought to have made some effort to foreshadow the relationship in earlier chapters. When I'm finished with the whole thing I'll go back and fix some of the more obvious errors, that included. For now, though, figure that somewhere earlier the fact that Kurapika's father has been missing for years has been alluded to. Anyway they are close kin. Still at least one more revelation to come, but that'll have to wait another episode. Maybe in February, the Gods willing and the other stuff I'm doing doesn't rise up and bite me in the rear.

Hikaru: Well, here it is January and here's an update. Happy?

Kasugai Gumi: Y'know, my older son is a wibbler. It's a scary sound and I don't want you to have to wibble any more, so here we are. I waffled over the decision to make the two of them close kinfolk for a while there. I have to agree that they make a good couple too, just not in this particular fic, I fear.

Shinomori no Kami Daji: I hope the explanation Quoll gave in the story explains exactly why he ended up calling himself that. Q013 became Quole, but he didn't like the way it would be pronounced so dropped the e. It's leet speak, something I don't use myself, but he'd be aware of it and chose it more out of sheer perversity than anything else.

Miyoshi: Actually, if you check some of the Japanese sites you'll find a lot of them use the Quoll spelling. Since the name is spelled using katakana in the original manga it becomes a matter of choice as to where you want to go with it.

Windlion: I think you're the first one to pick up the clue as to their relationships. You are hereby No-Prized. grin Oh, and I would love to see some more good Quoll (or Kuroro or whatever)/Kurapika fics out there, so Flidge isn't the only one who gets to say, "Write!"

Bleeding Heart12: Yep. January and here it is.