Drabble 2: Revenge
Word Count: 522
Characters: Kurapika
Notes: It was going to be a fic, but I ran out of ideas and was too lazy to think of more. Sadly.
For Kurapika, the whole revenge plan was simple. He had two goals, and two goals only: Kill the Genei Ryodan and find all the eyes of his clan. How to do it? Get powerful. How to get powerful? Learn to fight. Become a Hunter. Do whatever it takes to achieve his goal.
It was a simple plan, easy to follow—or so Kurapika thought. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would be able to make friends in the Hunter Exam. Gon, Killua, and Leorio weren't part of the plan, part of the script. Never, in his sleepless nights of plotting and tears and frustration, had he thought that he would feel happiness again. And even as he laughed, and talked, and made pictures of them to forever be imprinted in his mind, he knew it wouldn't last.
Too soon, the exam was over, he and Gon and Leorio successfully 'rescued' Killua from Kukulu Mountain, and his obligation to his friends was done. Forgetting was easy, he told himself. Forgetting? I can do that. Even as his heart protested, he shoved his memories of the Hunter Exam away in an imagined casket to store away in his mind, not be brought out again for many years. But completely to his own surprise, as though his body and voice were making a move of their own, he found himself making a promise to meet them again, in Yorkshire.
It was harder then he'd imagined, with the addition of the whole friends thing, but not too big a problem. He could still follow his plan. The script was a bit torn, a bit rewritten, but it wouldn't be a big deal. The play could still go on. His friends wouldn't have to play a part in his quest for revenge—he wouldn't let them. Work by yourself. Don't risk having your friends' lives in danger, he reminded himself.
He trained. And trained and trained and trained and trained and trained. He let his anger lead, reminded himself over and over again of his plan. Of course the months passed slowly, ever so slowly, as he bled and cried and exhausted himself with his efforts at achieving enough power.
September 1st—Yorkshire City. His plan was almost to it's final stage. And all went smoothly—somewhat. Until he killed. And had blood on his hands. And found that his moral standards weren't quite so securely locked in his mental casket. Until Leorio and Gon and Killua pushed their way in again, and he found himself giving in to their request and allowing them to help him. Until Gon and Killua got themselves captured and he found himself trading the leader of the group he had sworn to kill—for his friends. And discovered the startling fact that the Genei Ryodan actually cared for their leader, opposed to the emotionless killing machines he had imagined them to be.
Revenge wasn't quite so easy as he'd imagined it—and although for many, many years after he'd still be trying to achieve his goal, he found out it wasn't quite as satisfying as he'd hoped.