Of Lions and Blonde Avengers:

Chapter 14:

Of Scarlet Eyes and Inverted Crosses

"Chrollo," his brother called out to him. The young Lucilfer zipped through the area, vigilant and wary until he was safe in Roro's arms again. The older boy stroked his filthy hair, holding him close. "Silly, I told you to stay inside. You know how dangerous it is out here."

Chrollo gazed up at him with that blank, dark gaze. The gaze of a true Lucilfer. "Sorry, Roro. I just wanted to help. I got something from the junkyard, see?" The six-year-old raised a tiny hand, showing his big brother a pearl necklace. Roro took it with a glimmer of interest.

"Now, why would anyone throw this away?" Roro wondered aloud, and Chrollo remembered that he'd looked at it with a mixture of resentment and fascination, before looking back down to his brother. "Good job, Chrollo. We'll be able to sell this for a lot of money. But try to be a bit more careful next time. People are dangerous."

"I understand, brother," Chrollo replied, as polite and distant as ever, though he felt himself grow stronger at the compliment. Roro didn't give out compliments willy-nilly, so when he did, he meant them.

The green-eyed boy ruffled up his hair again. "Remember our promise?"

"Never forget," the boy answered, black eyes deep and empty, but it only took the slightest spark to light the darkest coal.

. . .

"Whaaaat?!" Gon squealed, clearly not caring the effect her screaming had on her companion's ears, too preoccupied with Kurapika's situation. "She's going to lure him out?!"

He shushed her, "you have no idea what kind of people he's got with him. What if he heard you?"

Her brow furrowed, and yes, it was adorable. "But wouldn't he have heard Mr. Lucilfer's explanation too?"

"Don't worry," Lucilfer cut in. "My brother has no such power. Kurapika was just being careful." As usual.

There was still one question lingering in the back of Killua's mind.

"Is there anything else you want to tell us?" he asked because really, Kurapika was acting strangely. Maybe it was an act, but there was truth even in acting.

Lucilfer looked surprised. "Pardon?"

"Why is Kurapika so angry at you?"

He had been ready to lie, Killua was sure of that, by the way he so clearly had to reconsider his words. "She found out about my position as the leader of the Phantom Troupe." Such a simple sentence, so many complicated implications.

Gon gasped. "You mean Kurapika's been in love with a super-villain this whole time? She can't be in love with a super-villain! That's not fair!"

Killua face-palmed. Love wasn't meant to be fair, Gon, but even he had to admit this was excessive. It had probably been difficult for Kurapika to learn how to trust again. Lucilfer had been at the center of her healing process along with her friends, only to turn out to be her worst enemy. That was cruel.

"Ok, cool. You're evil, how do we save her?" Killua, straight to the point as ever. It was clear to the silver-haired assassin that the man hadn't been playing with their friend, otherwise one of them would be dead by now. No one crossed Killua's friends and got away with it. Nah, this was probably a simple communication probably wanted to hold off on telling Kurapika because she'd try to kill him and he'd have to decide between his gang and the Kurta, but then Kurapika found out on her own somehow. They had a falling out somewhere in the middle, and Kurapika stormed out, Lucilfer thought she'd prefer to be alone, leading to a lack of protection around blondie that eventually made it easier for Kurapika to be kidnapped.

In other words, he messed up, but he wasn't a bad guy. Well, he was a bad guy, but not in regards to Kurapika, and that was all that mattered in the end.

"We'll just have to follow her instructions," Lucilfer answered, lifting a piece of paper, the one Chrollo noticed them exchange when he was giving her her clothes.

Killua raised a dubious eyebrow. What? No brilliant plan from the criminal mastermind? How strange.

The thief caught onto the silent question. "My brother raised me. He knows how I think. Kurapika, on the other hand, is a complete mystery. If he could predict her actions, he wouldn't be so intent on killing her. He'd manipulate her instead."

That sucked. This guy might be worse than even Illumi.

Nah.

"So, you're just gonna trust her?" Gon asked, cocking her head to the side in curiosity.

"It's the only thing I can do."

With his answer, Gon perked up, turning to Killua expectantly. The boy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, we're gonna help him. This is Kurapika we're talking about. We'll get Leorio in on it too. He can be our getaway car," he reassured, and Gon made the sweetest face. Her eyes all wide and perfectly amber in the lighting shadowed slightly by perfectly long dark eyelashes, and so incredibly radiant and happy. A wide grin had overtaken her face and the edges of her mouth dimpled as a result.

"Are you alright, Killua?" Gon asked, touching his arm gently. He all but jumped away, face heating up to an absurd degree. The silver-haired assassin cursed his own hormones. The two of them have practically been living together. Why is he still so . . . so . . . well, so hopeless.

"I'm fine!" he managed, raising his arms in an x as if to defend himself. By the look on his face, Lucilfer knew exactly how fine he was.

Gon didn't. As usual. She just gave him another smile and turned back to Lucilfer.

"So, where do we start?" she asked.

Lucilfer held up the paper in between his middle and index finger. "Read it for yourself. Ask me questions after if you still have questions."

Gon took it and gasped as if someone had dropped a cake into her hands instead of a piece of paper. She held it out at arm's length, eyes shining. "Kurapika has such pretty handwriting!"

He rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's antics as he peered over her shoulder. "You've seen it before, like, a thousand times."

Gon laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly (adorable). "Sorry."

His eyes glossed over the lines of text. Without a doubt, Kurapika came up with it. He found a few flaws in the reasoning, but then, she clearly improvised and trusted them to fill in any gaps she couldn't in the few minutes she had.

"Let's not waste any more time then," Lucilfer said, clearly ready to get Kurapika back to safety as soon as possible. For once, they had something to agree on.

Leorio was gonna freak out again.

. . .

"SHE DID WHAT?!" Leorio's voice rang loud and clear. "WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HER? What is she thinking? What am I thinking? Am I supposed to be thinking? OH GOD, THIS SHIT NEVER HAPPENED WHEN KURAPIKA WAS AROUND! IMA GO INSANE IF SHE DIES!"

Killua brought the phone back up to his ear, rolling his eyes. As expected, Leorio freaked out the moment he told him that Kurapika had thrust herself into the 'super villain's' path again. First, he hyperventilated. Second, he started talking in gibberish. Third, he started screaming bloody murder into the phone, which brings us to said moment.

"Shut up, old man!" Killua yelled back, albeit not with the mindless fervor of the 'old man'. "You're gonna give us away. We'll explain everything in Central Park."

And he hung up, not planning on listening to any more rants from the doctor-in-training.

By the time they got to Central Park, Gon had jumped into a run as Leorio came into view as well. The two of them entered a hugging session that lasted far longer than it should have. They saw each other just yesterday, after all. Lucilfer took this opportunity to have a heart-to-heart with him.

"Not very good at dealing with them, are you?" he asked, voice filled with mirth.

"With who?"

"Feelings," Lucilfer replied, airily, gaze still on the two hugging friends. "I can relate."

Killua wasn't sure how he felt about that. Especially with how Kurapika and Lucilfer's relationship turned out.

"What's holding you back?" the older of the two asked, and Killua couldn't believe he was really going to accept love advice from a criminal mastermind. Then again, he came from a family of criminal masterminds and Hisoka had given his some unwanted advice before, which was, unfortunately, the only advice he ever really got from someone else. Kurapika had been clearly supportive, but she wasn't much of a love expert. He suspected Lucilfer was the first guy she really liked. Leorio wanted to keep them as far apart as possible, so he was out thanks to the belief that seventeen-year-olds shouldn't fall in love. So, currently, it seemed Lucilfer the Psychopath was the best option thanks to experience (he was an adult after all) and a similar sort of upbringing. And anything was better than Hisoka's advice.

Killua shrugged, nonchalantly, though inside the words of his father, mother, brothers, they all told him one thing. "I'm afraid of hurting her, I guess."

"That your feelings will hurt her?" Lucilfer continued prying.

"Not really," he answered, eyes downcast.

"That your instincts will act up and end up with her getting hurt?"

Killua didn't answer, but he flinched, and that was enough answer for Lucilfer.

His next question came swiftly. "Do you trust her?"

Cerulean eyes widened in surprise, before they landed on the other man. But the boy quickly turned away and crossed his arms haughtily. "Ye-yeah, obviously. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here."

"Then that's all that matters," Lucilfer responded, stepping toward the two dark-haired hunters. "You'll probably always going to be ridiculously affected by her presence. That's how it should be."

What did that mean?!

Killua analyzed the words. Lucilfer hadn't trusted Kurapika enough to let her in on the truth, nor had he trusted himself enough to be with her when she found out, and that fact was what almost led to one of their deaths. Not Lucilfer's darkness and murdering instincts. Not Kurapika's revenge and obsession. It was a lack of communication and trust. And that last part. Well, that was self-explanatory.

So, now he knew what to avoid. Heh, this guy might be worth something after all. Not that he couldn't have reached that conclusion on his own. He would've. Eventually.

"YOU?!" Leorio yelled, pointing at Lucilfer, right before running up to him and swiftly punching him in the face. Ouch, man. Wasn't Leorio supposed to be the nice guy in their group? You've got hyper happy Gon, cold with a heart of gold Killua, polite and well-mannered but totally gonna kick your ass if she has to Kurapika, nice but annoying guy Leorio, and Lucilfer, who floats between serial killer and romantic renaissance man. Sometimes they would add Neon into the gang, but that was far and few between.

Back to Leorio punching Lucilfer. Well, Leorio was still seething but clearly also fearing for his life as Lucilfer slowly turned his face back to him, dark eyes landing on the poor doctor, making him squirm under his gaze.

Leorio cleared his throat. "That was for Kura." The man's eyes darted from side to side, before he hesitantly asked, "are you okay?"

"Fine, Kurapika did a number on me yesterday," Lucilfer replied, easily, as if he hadn't been punched in the face a few seconds before. A darkening bruise started forming on his right cheek.

"How many times?"

"I stopped counting after the tenth or so."

Shit. How come his face wasn't all bruised from all those punches? What's that saying again? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned - William Congreve, The Mourning Bride, Act III, Scene VIII. Only burned into his memory because Kurapika had him recite all of Congreve's most notable works for his exams.

"Um," Gon intervened, "shouldn't we start on the saving bit?"

Gon certainly had a way of putting things in motion.

. . .

It took them just a few seconds to reach Kurapika, from a safe distance as she was talking with Lucilfer's crazy brother at the moment. They both looked unharmed, as Kurapika had planned. The man looked strikingly similar to Chrollo, skinnier and a bit unkempt, though he clearly wasn't lazy or unhygienic. His eyes were a startling green, a contrast to his pale skin and dark hair, too bright, too alive to belong to someone that looked like a bloodsucking vampire. Kurapika stood facing him, creamy skin almost glowing in the moonlight and clothed in that green attire Gon had picked out. Her eyes, like his, were startling. Scarlet rubies embedded in a pretty face, ethereal, they didn't look like they belonged on the face of a human. Indeed, in that light, with those eyes, Kurapika looked like some sort of demon.

Killua strained his ears to catch onto the words falling from Kurapika's mouth. He was almost certain she knew they were there. "That prophecy you spoke of. What exactly does it say?"

Roro sighed, almost fondly, "always after the details, aren't you?" He stepped closer to her, too close for all their comforts, but Kurapika didn't move away, her steely Scarlet Eyes transfixed on their target. Killua almost expected him to turn to ashes under that glare. "The prophecy foretold the death of Chrollo Lucilfer at the hands of a Kurta."

"You speak of us as if we were demons," Kurapika scoffed, the distaste clear in her voice.

"The Kurta. A humanoid species from the Dark Continent that was brought to our world after a journey that took place almost a millennia ago. Also known as the Gatekeepers of the Dark Continent. We're lead to believe most of them were killed off, but as we can see, a small clan settled in the mountains, finding it very much similar to their old home. Those eyes made you strong, and dangerous, so dangerous in fact that the Kurtas had been labeled a Class A calamity, on par with humans themselves. Dangerous creatures, you are."

Kurapika seemed bored out of her mind during all this, though Killua himself wanted to know more. He was friends with a . . . well, what was she, anyway?

"Yes, yes, we were natural warriors," the blonde cut in. "Kurtas are taught about this stuff since age five."

"Including the bloody bits?"

"That's more like age nine, I'd say. They really get into it after we turn fifteen, or at least that's what I heard, I mean," insert casual laugh here, "they were all kind of gone by the time I turned fifteen."

"And here I thought I was being dramatic," the man muttered, woefully. "That's my entire speech down the drain."

"Hmm, about the prophecy?" Kurapika continued, sounding perfectly impatient.

The man pouted. "So rude. Are you like this to everyone, or am I just special?"

"Everyone."

"Charming."

Holy shit, was . . . this guy hitting on Kurapika? His brother's girlfriend? This, unfortunately, put the horrible image of Illumi flirting with Gon in his head and he almost vomited on the spot. It must be a thousand times worse for Lucilfer.

He glanced at the man, but he seemed to be in complete analyzing mode, too busy with carrying out the plan flawlessly to actually care about his brother possibly flirting with his partner. Speaking of which.

"And Chrollo?" Kurapika continued. "Do you really think I'll be able to kill him?"

The man's eyes took her in as if for the first time, analyzing her chances. "No. No, not yet. But someday. That's why I needed to kill you beforehand. I knew Chrollo wouldn't be able to do it. He's become too weak."

"Really, I find him far stronger than he had been that day in the forest," she spat back, getting strangely defensive of the man.

"He's supposed to be the greatest thief in the world, not dancing around with a woman that is destined to kill him someday," the man replied.

"Okay, first of all, we do not dance around, alright? And second, he already is the greatest thief in the world. What rock have you been hiding under?"

Killua almost let out a snicker, but then the man lifted a gun and laughing seemed inappropriate.

"These bullets are reinforced with Nen and laced with poison. Even an enforcer wouldn't be able to stop them."

"There's this thing called dodging -"

"Okay, you really need to stop talking," the man intervened. "You might be pretty, but you're equally impudent."

She clasped her hands behind her back. Killua glanced at Lucilfer to see if he caught onto the signal. By the look on his face, he had.

"Yes, well, if you wanted my respect, killing me is probably not the best way to go about it," Kurapika snarked. She sure did know how to amplify that side of her.

He raised the gun again. "Alright, that's enough chit-chat." The next few things happened in a blur. Lucilfer jumped in front of Kurapika, Roro dropped the gun in shock, Kurapika looked up at the sky gratefully. Oh, and apparently Lucilfer was shot in the leg. He seemed fine, though.

Roro staggered back, almost tripping over his own feet.

"Lucilfer," he managed, eyes on the ugly wound forming, dripping blood into the yellowing grass.

"Hello, brother."

The older brother, currently preoccupied with his younger brother's injury, failed to realize Kurapika falling into a Zetsu state and retreating into the woods. So, she was right. Lucilfer was his weakness.

"Your leg -"

"It's a flesh wound," Lucilfer shrugged.

Roro looked downright panicky. "No, it's not. That bullet was laced with enhanced maitotoxin. You'll be dead within the hour." Well, shit. Even his family didn't risk poisoning him with maitotoxin. It was a death sentence waiting to be committed. A few grains were enough to kill an adult within seconds.

"Better me than her."

Roro's jaw set. "That woman is nothing but trouble. How many times have I told you? Letting her live is like letting you die."

"I couldn't think of a more suitable punishment."

"You're a fool."

"At least I'm not foolish enough to base my whole life around a single prophecy."

"That prophecy is the only reason we've survived this long!" Someone was getting angry.

"That man was insane. He had no idea what he was saying."

"His fortunes were always fulfilled."

"Because you wanted them to be. Have you ever heard of the placebo effect?"

"She is a demon."

Said demon suddenly removed her Zetsu state and thrust one of her chains at the man. An attack from behind. Stage three complete. It embedded itself in his back, the blade vanishing as it sunk into his chest and the man fell to his knees, clutching his heart, before whipping his head around to face the blonde.

"You!" he shouted. "What are you doing?"

"I just pricked you with my judgment chain," Kurapika explained, generously. "I'll give you two conditions. If you break one of them, you'll die."

He stood, glaring at the girl, his hatred clear for once. Killua felt Gon stiffen next to him almost protectively. She'd done so a few times before, eyes darkening as their friend's life hung in the balance, but it had never been so bad.

"And your conditions are?"

"One, I want you to tell us the truth, should we ever ask for it. And second, I want you to leave us both alone unless we require your assistance." Why would they need him? They should just get it over with and kill him.

The man's lips curled into a smirk before his gaze softened. Lucilfer watched on with something akin to wariness as if his brother might suddenly whip out a knife and stab the Kurta. Would that even work? How did the Kurta differ from actual humans? Did they have super healing or something?

Unfortunately for Lucilfer, he had one wounded leg and a lethal dose of maitotoxin flowing through his veins and probably couldn't do much in the way of helping her out. This was where trust came in, yes?

Instead of a knife, Roro lifted his hand to Kurapika's cheek, brushing it gently, as a lover would. Which made everyone watching throw up a little in their mouths. Lucilfer looked ready to shove him away. But Kurapika seemed to understand something more, and therefore, didn't signal for them to come out and help her.

"I'm afraid I made a promise," he started, "and agreeing with this would mean breaking it." The man looked over her shoulder, to his younger brother.

"Then, you refuse?"

"Yes." He let out a strangled gasp, before going limp. Kurapika instinctively caught him in her arms, eyes widened in shock, before she dropped him to the floor and staggered away. Her back hit the tree, and even Killua could see the pure disgust on her face. It was like she couldn't even process what had happened. He didn't quite understand. It was just another life. But then, he remembered. Kurapika was driven by justice and compassion. Killing was the exact opposite. Cognitive dissonance, he believed it to be called.

It was Lucilfer who broke her out of the trance, his voice gentle from his spot on the grass. "Kurapika."

The woman's eyes snapped up before she crossed the expanse of grass and kneeled down beside. "Your leg," she whispered, the guilt clear in her voice.

The man shook his head, caressing her cheek. "Don't worry about it. What about you? Are you alright?"

"Why," she started, voice cracking ever-so-slightly, as she bit her lip, "do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

Kurapika didn't get to respond because just then, a sleek black car came speeding through the park.

"KURAPIKA!"

"Leorio?"

The car came to a stop by the dead body of Roro. The door to the driver's side slid open and . . .

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Leorio yelled, taking in the sight of the dead guy. He reluctantly nudged the body, as if to check if it was still alive. But all his worries vanished at the sight of his best friend. "KURAPIKA!"

"Oh no," Kurapika managed, before being tackled to the ground by a six foot four stick man.

"Well, that was boring," Killua sighed, standing and stretching his sore muscles.

"It's true we didn't get to do much," Gon said, pouting a bit, "but at least everyone is safe."

"Almost everyone," he amended, eyes falling on Lucilfer again. He was clearly trying not to worry Kurapika, but no one could get a full dose of maitotoxin and be alright. Try as he might, he wouldn't be able to hide for long.

Twelve minutes to be exact. He collapsed on the way to the car, and Kurapika nearly had a nervous breakdown, managing to keep the hysteria at bay only because Leorio was there and Lucilfer wasn't dead yet. She spent the ride to the hospital between cross-examining different possible antidotes and casting fidgety glances to her ex-boyfriend.

Something told him this hadn't been part of her plan.

. . .

Next on Lions!:

The mission to save Chrollo's life.

(A/N: I considered adding another part at the end of this, but then it wouldn't be a cliffhanger. So I guess we'll find out what Chrollo's reaction to the kiss next chapter. I'm sorry! I'll try to work faster this time. Maitotoxin is a real thing, but I'm just gonna treat it as a thing I came up with so any inconsistencies aren't real inconsistencies.)

Question of the Day: Ummm . . . I don't know. Surprise me? Write a few headcanons for this fanfic? I didn't know how happy those made me until Sweets Dreamer wrote one. Like, people make headcanons of my stuff? That's awesome. And if you haven't already, read Assume Nothing by Sweets Dreamer. It's divine. Also, look out for my one shot Halloween fanfic about Witch!Kurapika in High School. I couldn't help myself.

~ Replies to Reviewers ~

Sweets Dreamer: Yeah, Hisoka's really fun to write. He's just so weird and shameless and has strange fantasies about Chrollo. I love your headcanon by the way. That's super cute. Unfortunately, HisoMachi is looking bleak thanks to Hisoka's actions in recent HxH chapters. But if ChrolloPika can get together, they might as well too. YinYang pair has always been a little protective of their friends, it's just becoming clearer now that one of them almost died. Nah, you're not a crazy stalker, you're just an amazingly loyal fan. Never change. I'll have you know I only spent half a month freaking out over Kurapika! You'll find out how angry Chrollo gets over that kiss next chapter, but as an apology for being late by a couple hours, I'll give you a snippet.

She averted her eyes and pursed her lips, but he didn't notice her discomfort. He was too busy trying to figure out a way to bring his brother dearest back from the dead so he could torture him properly.

"He did what?" he hissed, voice low and deadly, as he imagined his brother forcing a kiss on the woman he loved. The very thought made his blood boil.

"It was more of a poisoning. It doesn't even qualify as a . . ." she trailed off at the look on his face. That's a new one. What shall she call it? The I'm-gonna-bring-that-bastard-back-and-kill-him-again look?

But he took a breath and took in her face. "Are you alright?"

"Yes?"

"Then, I suppose, that's all that matters," he sighed, moving past her, but right as she thought the conversation was over, he took her wrist and spun her around and pressed his lips to hers.

Thanks so much for reviewing. It means so much honestly and brings me unimaginable joy. I hope you liked this chapter and I'm looking forward to Chapter 3 of Assume Nothing! I'm counting on you!

MedusaLegend: Thank you, thank you. Hisoka's gonna use Kurapika soon and Chrollo is not gonna like it. You'll see it soon. Perhaps, in a few chapters when we'll get a few breaks in Greed Island. Not many breaks. Maybe one or two when KilluGon gets in touch with Kurapika by phone. She's breaking up with Chrollo for real, but she's spicing it up a bit. They're gonna be in the just-friends zone for now. They're both obsessed with their brothers, guided by a false sense of destiny, and overly dramatic, They're basically the same person. Anyway thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much for reviewing. It always puts me in a great mood to read these, really. Kurapika is always going to be stubborn, but that's why we love him/her. See you next chapter (hopefully) and I hope you liked this one!

~ End of Replies ~

To Everyone: Please review, favorite, and follow. November's gonna be a dark month due to NaNoWriMo unfortunately, and I'm gonna need all the motivation I can get on this story. I might be able to only squeeze in three or so chapters next month.