"Are you alright Lenalee?" Reever asked.
"...What's he doing here?" She mumbled, as if talking to herself. "Why is he here? Everything goes wrong when he's around…"
Reever had a pained look on his face.
Then Lenalee looked at Kurapika. "...Thank you."
The blonde merely nodded. He wasn't really sure how to respond to that.
"But you shouldn't have done that." Lenalee continued. "Really, he's dangerous. Now he might target you too."
"I don't care." Kurapika replied easily. "I'm not an Exorcist, he has no power over me."
Lenalee blinked in shock. "But he could still have you kicked out of the Order!"
'I'm not supposed to be here anyways.' Kurapika thought bitterly. But he didn't say it. "It doesn't matter." He answered. "I'm a Hunter, not an Exorcist."
He then proceeded to walk stiffly away as Lenalee and Reever watched in slight concern.
xxXXxx
Kurapika eventually found his way to the library. Libraries of any sort had always been a good place for him to calm him down.
The library of the Black Order was huge. The ceiling was so high, Kurapika had to crane his neck in order to see the very top. The shelves were enormous, and they almost touched the seemingly never ending ceiling.
Unfortunately, this particular library wasn't having the instant calming effect that Kurapika had wanted. He didn't even know why he was so flustered. Levierre was nothing but a bully in a nice suit, and Kurapika had met many men just like him. Expensive suits always thought that they could order people around.
Well Levierre was wrong.
Kurapika wandered until he was far back in the shelves, among books so dusty it was obvious they hadn't been touched in years. The Kurta didn't look for anything to read; he simply sat down in a dark corner and closed his eyes. Was there a way out of this? He wasn't an Exorcist, he was a Hunter.
As he sat there, the smell of aged leather, ink and paper invading his senses, Kurapika found himself pining for home. He missed his people, his friends…
This wasn't supposed to happen. He was wasting time. He should have been out there in the world, searching for another pair of Eyes.
He couldn't stay at the Order much longer.
Kurapika was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice a short figure appear from behind a bookshelf.
"Excuse me?"
The Kurta jumped slightly and looked at the stranger. He was wearing a lab coat, while looking slightly disheveled, was white and pristine. He had frizzy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, large glasses, and headphones. In his arms was a stack of thick leather bound books.
"I don't mean to disturb you, but I was just going to put these away and then I saw you and I was hoping you might help with this one, cause it's up really high."
The blonde blinked and was silent for a moment. "Oh…uh, sure." he replied as he stood up and took one of the books from the frizzy haired man.
"Thanks a lot." he sighed. "Chief Komui has us working overtime again, and it feels like forever since I got a good night's sleep."
"Really?" Kurapika said as he scanned the shelves for an empty slot. "Does that happen a lot?"
"Most of the time." the stranger replied disdainfully. Then he smiled. "But don't get me wrong; Chief Komui is the best supervisor we could ask for. Deep down, he really cares about us, and everyone else in the Order. You know his sister is an Exorcist here too."
"Sister?"
"Yeah, her name's Lenalee."
Well that certainly explained his reaction back in the office.
"I'm Johnny by the way." he said with a smile, holding out his free hand.
Kurapika took it and smiled back. "Kurapika."
"I haven't seen you around here before." Johnny commented as he put a book away. "Are you a new Exorcist?"
"...Not really." Kurapika replied with a slight frown. He took another book from the pile. "It's…it's complicated."
"You don't seem too thrilled to be here."
"Is it that obvious?" The Kurta asked with a deadpan expression.
Johnny smiled sheepishly. "A bit. Who'd you leave behind? Your family?"
Kurapika paused for a moment before he turned away, putting his back to Johnny as he shelved another book. "I don't have a family. They were murdered five years ago by a gang of theives."
"...I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Kurapika said, almost monotone. "It's not your fault, you have nothing to be sorry for."
Johnny had no idea how to reply to that, so he opted to stay silent and shelve a few more books. "...You know," he said after a minute or so. "I still have living family outside the Order. But…this place, these people…they've become like a second home." he looked at Kurapika with a small smile. "Maybe they can for you too."
Kurapika highly doubted that. He was still getting used to the idea of seeing Allen again. How could he ever even entertain the thought of letting these strangers become a second home? No one could replace the ones he'd lost. Not Gon, Killua, or Leorio.
"You wouldn't happen to know of any books on Innocence, would you?" Kurapika asked suddenly. A change of subject was dire.
Johnny seemed completely unfazed at the random question. He tilted his head in thought. "Hm…I'm not sure. But if you want to know more about Innocence, then you should come to the Science Division. Reever might be able to help you."
xxXXxx
"You want to know more about Innocence?" Reever said as he turned to the blonde.
"That's right." Kurapika nodded. "If you could help me, I'd be very grateful."
Reever scratched his chin in thought. "Well…I'm not quite sure what you're looking for. I mean, we actually know very little about Innocence. That's why we spend so much time researching. If you want, you can look through some old case files; maybe they'll help you get a better idea of what you're dealing with."
"Thank you very much." Kurapika answered as he followed Reever into a back room. It was dark, dusty, and filled with boxes. Upon opening the boxes, the Kurta discovered hundreds of files.
"Here," Reever said, leading him to a certain box. "These might help to start with."
"Thank you very much." Kurapika said as he picked up a file.
"If you need anything, just ask." Reever said as he walked out. "We'll all be here a while."
The Kurta nodded in acknowledgement as he opened the file and began reading. Reeve closed the door behind him, and Kurapika was left alone in the room.
xxXXxx
Truthfully, Kurapika had absolutely no idea what he was looking for. All he could find out was that Innocence was immensely powerful, sometimes caused strange things to happen, and was also known as the God Crystal. There were also only two definitely known types of accommodators: equipment and parasite.
Kurapika knew he didn't fit into either category. Allen was the perfect example of a parasitic type - which was the rarest and tended to be the most powerful - while Lavi and Kanda were prime examples of equipment types. The more he read, the more he was sure that he wasn't an Exorcist.
His internal clock told him that it had been a few hours since he entered the room, and his stomach was telling him to high-tail it to the cafeteria. He sighed as he put the lid back on the most recent box.
Then the door opened and Johnny poked his head inside. "Kurapika," he said. "Some of us are going to go get something to eat. Wanna come along?"
The Kurta smiles slightly. "Sure."
xxXXxx
The cafeteria was really busy since the Branch Heads were visiting. Kurapika looked around, but he couldn't see any of the other Exorcists. Most of the scientists were there though. Johnny happily chatted with Kurapika, who in reality was only half listening. They sat down at a table where Kurapika became acquainted with some of the other scientists. He met Tapp, Rob, and Marvin. It was easy to see that Tapp and Johnny were good friends from the way they interacted with each other.
Kurapika didn't talk much, and he hadn't grabbed any food for himself, but he did listen. He listened to the stories the scientists told about their experiences with the Order. The ones about Komui's giant robot, Komlin, were especially entertaining. Kurapika even laughed a little.
He also briefly met the Head of the Asia Branch, Bak Chan. The man was incredibly arrogant - yet somehow slightly charming about it? - and often referred to himself as 'The Great Me' - which did make Kurapika want to at least trip him down the stairs a little. Just a little. He never passed up an opportunity to mention how brilliant he was. His overall demeanor greatly reminded Kurapika of how Leorio had acted when they first met.
"Oh and Kurapika," Johnny said, leaning a bit closer so he could be easily heard. "I know you said that your being here was complicated, but do you want to look into getting a uniform?"
Kurapika blinked. "Why?"
"Just in case." Johnny replied.
"Johnny here makes them himself!" Rob said with just a hint of pride. "He comes from a family of tailors."
Johnny blushed slightly from the praise. "I do what I can. They're all custom made, so if you like, I could take your measurements tomorrow. And if you have any preferences about style just let me know!"
"Sure, thank you." Kurapika replied, knowing full well that he wouldn't want a uniform made. His future at the Order was still uncertain, and he felt like it would be a waste to get an entirely new uniform made.
The conversation resumed between the scientists, and once again, Kurapika was only half listening. He was wondering where Allen was when he became aware of whispering around him. He kept his expression carefully neutral; he hated it when people whispered behind his back. It was never a good thing, even if it had nothing to do with him. Soon enough, he was able to catch bits and pieces of what people were saying, but it didn't calm him down at all.
"Did you hear? Allen Walker may be one of the Noah!"
"The central agency is snooping around. General Cross and his pupil are both under suspicion."
"But they're Exorcists!"
Kurapika rubbed at his temple, attempting to ward off both the oncoming headache and the whispers.
"But the Noah have mysterious powers; maybe they got their hands on an Exorcist and planted him in the Order."
"I always thought that General Cross was…strange…and that kid, he always seemed…off…"
Kurapika bristled.
"What's going on here?" Bak asked from behind Kurapika.
"Everyone's gossiping about Walker and Cross." The Oceanic Branch Head answered.
"And they're getting worse all the time…" another Branch Head - the American one, Renee Epstein - said disdainfully.
It was all bullshit. Sure, Kurapika hadn't seen Allen for a few years, but he still knew him well. Allen would never intentionally hurt anyone.
Unless it had to do with poker. But that was another situation entirely.
Bak turned to Renee. "Huh? What's getting worse?"
"The story that Allen's left arm has begun to resemble the Earl's weapon." Renee replied. "They say it might not be Innocence."
"What?" Bak yelled. "They can't be serious!"
"Don't get mad at me! I'm just telling you what I heard!" Renee shot back. "Anyways, it'll blow over soon."
"I'm not so sure…" the Oceanic Branch Head said softly.
"What did you say?!" Bak - unnecessarily - shouted.
"They're also saying he helped the traitor Suman…who was responsible for many deaths."
Kurapika felt Johnny go rigid beside him.
"With this war going on…" the Oceanic Branch Head continued. "...If a rift develops among us, it would be disastrous…"
Then, very suddenly, Johnny stood from his chair, slammed both fists on the table, and shouted at the top of his lungs. "ALLEN'S A GOOD GUY!"
The entire cafeteria went dead silent as everyone turned to look at Johnny. He looked as though he was about to cry.
"Shut up scientist!" someone in the crowd yelled. "What do you know about anything?"
"I know you're wrong!" Johnny immediately shot back.
"Don't be stupid!" the guy yelled back.
"You don't know Allen!" Johnny cried. "You don't know him at all! All you know is rumors!"
The one who had started the argument made his way through the crowd towards the table. He was a large, imposing man, and was wearing the same uniform that Link had been wearing, which must have meant that he was from Central.
"All I know is rumors, huh?" he glared down threateningly at Johnny. "Do you have any idea how much evidence is against Walker? His left arm transforms into a weapon like the Earl's! He was able to control the Ark, which is something only a Noah is capable of!"
"Allen isn't a Noah!" Johnny cried.
"You had better shut up before I make you!" the man yelled.
"Shameful." Kurapika spat abruptly, glaring at the man.
"What did you just say?!" he yelled, turning his gaze to the Kurta.
Kurapika stood up as well, and the glare he was giving the man was so icy, it could have frozen Hell. "I said, shameful. It's ridiculous how grown men like yourselves are gossiping like children without any actual key facts." he then pushed away from the table and stormed out of the room.
xxXXxx
I'm sorry it's shorter, I'm sorry it's been so long, and I'm also sorry that there was no Allen in this chapter. A lot of things have happened. My friends and I put on a play all by ourselves in August, I got a girlfriend, and then she broke up with me about three weeks later because she realized that I really wasn't kidding around when I said I was asexual. It hurt, but I'll be alright. Then I quit my job, started another one (that turned out to be a terrible decision) so then I ended up quitting that one as well and getting a different one, which I absolutely love. I'm really going to try and keep updating this, but my mental health has been an absolute roller coaster the past few months. Thanks to everyone who has continued to read. I'd really love some reviews if you'd like to leave them :)
Also, just to reiterate, if this writing seems weird, that's because it is. I'm copying this (mostly) word for word from the binder I wrote it in back during 2012.
