(A/N: First of all, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Don't worry, Kurapika's giving me whiplash with all her conflicting feelings as well. Let's just say that for the moment she is mildly uncomfortable around the Spiders and hates the fact that she's in love with Chrollo. I need to rewrite this stuff. Anyway, I thought it was kind of unfair to go on an editing spree and never update this again so I'm just gonna try to form a cohesive updating schedule and see where that goes).

Locking of the Heart:

Chapter Twenty

Breakfast consisted of oatmeal, flavored with honey, enhanced with fresh blueberries. Kurapika ate slowly, and Chrollo gazed at her curiously from the other side of the kitchen, already looking up recipes for dinner.

"What?" Kurapika snapped, finally.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright, Kurapika?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

Chrollo raised a dubious eyebrow, and Kurapika felt her cheeks heat up. She averted her eyes, taking a spoonful of oatmeal and shoving it in her mouth. Did he notice? She was certain he did. It was rare for something like this to slip under his radar. Kurapika could only hope he didn't bring it up.

The door to the living room slammed open, and three spiders filtered in, two of them arguing still, and Shalnark trying to calm them down in vain. "Good morning, Miss Kurapika!"

"Hey," Kurapika replied, feeling strangely awkward as the man sat down beside her. It was a mixture of reasons really: He massacred her clan (and the details for that were blurry), she nearly got his boss killed several times, and was currently lusting after said boss as well. No, not lusting, eh, entertaining impure thoughts. She certainly wasn't lusting after him. She would never objectify another human being in such a way.

"Danchou!" Nobunaga finally cried, pointing at Phinks. "Is it or is it not true that Hisoka has been deemed a traitor."

Chrollo leaned against the counter, his arms crossed. "Are you two fighting again?"

"Has he been?" Nobunaga repeated, looking much like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Yes," Chrollo replied. "On charges of conspiring against the Troupe with Kurapika. Didn't I explain this last meeting?"

"Tch," Feitan said, appearing behind them, "he was never true Spider anyway. Lucky we let him go."

Shalnark chuckled. "That's pretty harsh." The other Spiders turned to him with clear disagreement written on their faces and Shalnark raced to correct himself. "Don't get me wrong! I'm glad he's gone! It's just . . . he was one of us once."

A foreign, familiar aura mingled with their own, and they all stiffened and turned to the source. Hisoka stood behind them with a large grin on his face, leaning against the doorway.

"How sweet of you, Shal~" he purred. Nobunaga reached for his katana, bristling with anger and bloodlust.

"What are you doing here, Hisoka?" Chrollo asked, calmly. It seemed to work well on Nobunaga, who retreated back from his fighting stance.

Hisoka was beside her in seconds, and she nearly jumped back at the sudden movement. Behind her, Shalnark had taken hold of her shoulders to keep her from falling. The magician leaned in close, a smile on his face as he analyzed hers.

"Tsk, tsk, you've lost it, Pika," he chided, playfully, tapping her cheek. Not quite liking the fact that she was being assaulted by a homicidal clown, she reached for the closest weapon around. A nearby kitchen knife was put to his throat and he laughed, bowing his head. "Well, perhaps not completely."

He met Chrollo's eyes, and an understanding seemed to pass between them. Hisoka shrugged.

"I am known to be a patient man," Hisoka started, pleasantly. "I'll let you all finish your little side quests." He cast a coy glance over at Kurapika. "And if you ever need me, you have me on speed dial."

He disappeared, and Kurapika breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn bastard," Nobunaga muttered, sheathing his sword. "I should've cut him in two. Who does he think he is, barging in here?"

"A worthy opponent," Chrollo said, drying a glass with a dish towel and placing it back into one of the cabinets. "It was a show of his network. He's getting better at finding me."

"Ah, it's probably because we're with you," Shalnark theorized, leaning his elbow on the marble countertop. "We're easier to spot that way. Especially since Kurapika is here . . ." He trailed off toward the end, giving Kurapika a weary glance. "Not that you're a problem or anything. It's just that you're probably the least experienced of us, and, well, Hisoka probably can keep tabs on you pretty easily, with the mafia connections and all –"

"I know," Kurapika cut him off. "It's fine. I'm not one to take offense to such trivial matters."

The room fell silent

"I'm not that bad!" Kurapika insisted. Chrollo pursed his lips, and her jaw nearly dropped. Honestly! The nerve of these people!

"So, when's the training start, Danchou?" Shalnark asked.

Chrollo glanced down at her, a smirk spreading across his lips. "Immediately."

If she was of lesser spirit, she would've shrunk back, but she just held his gaze with a glare. Uvogin whooped behind her.

"Finally! It's been forever since I got to fight someone interesting!"

Kurapika glanced at the monster of a man. He was twice as tall as her, and often said to be the strongest of the entire Phantom Troupe. That meant his main strategy would be built upon the foundation of his strength.

"Let's head out to the forest," Chrollo said, taking her empty bowl and rinsing it off. He looked so accustomed to playing the role of a caretaker. It was most endearing, and strange. The other members followed his orders like school children. Paku gave her a reassuring smile as they walked out.

"Don't worry. None of us are out to hurt you. We just want to polish up your skills a bit so Danchou can stop worrying so much," Paku said, linking their arms. Kurapika wasn't sure how she felt about that. Again, there was that gnawing guilt eating at her. Chrollo had been manipulated into committing the massacre and for that reason, she was able to forgive him. But the rest of the Spiders were a different story. They were merely following his orders, but they were conscious of his actions and quite obviously showed no signs of real remorse. And why would she expect anything different? They were murderers and thieves. They had lost count of how many they had killed long ago.

And yet, she was in love with one of them. It sickened her, but it was a consequence of loving him before knowing of his career choice. Love one held for another was so difficult to throw away, even when it turned out that the part loved was only a small fraction of them.

"That's a lot of memories going through your head right now," Paku said. Kurapika glanced at her, and the woman added, "I can see other people's memories when I touch them."

Kurapika withdrew her arm automatically. Most of her memories were probably nothing special. Blood, gore, among other, happier memories of her family and friends. But there were also things she was less inclined to share, particularly regarding Chrollo.

"To be honest," Pakunoda said. They'd broken away from the rest of the group, and Kurapika guessed it was for privacy's sake. "I'm glad you and Danchou have broken up."

Kurapika glanced at her. Most of the Spiders had been nothing less than friendly to her, which was surprising, considering the impact she had on Chrollo. This was more of what she expected.

"I don't care what he does when he's not with us." They entered the shade of the forest, but Kurapika hardly noticed. "You're the one who I'm worried about, strangely."

"Pardon?" They were heading back into the strange territory of the Spiders caring about her outside of Chrollo's influence.

"What was he thinking, anyway? Seducing a woman who wanted to kill him." She was ranting. The Spider was ranting. "The emotional baggage would be bad enough with just an old friendship in the mix. Now he's added romance in the picture. I swear, he always makes things more complicated on purpose."

Kurapika felt a bit slighted. After all, she had pursued a relationship as well, and she would not be written of as a simple victim. "It's not all his fault. I was careless."

"Well, I suppose it's not worth worrying about now that everything is sorted out," Paku sighed.

There was quiet for a few minutes, as Paku massaged the bridge of her nose, her face appearing agitated.

"Can I ask you something?" Kurapika asked, the anxiety of the upcoming training getting to her again.

"Ask away."

"Regarding restrictions, how does one learn about another person's nen conditions, barring the other person telling them?" Kurapika asked, her blond hair shielding her eyes from any unnecessary scrutinization.

Paku didn't answer, gathering her words. This probably deepened their suspicions, but Kurapika had to know.

"There's no way of knowing for sure, unless you have a nen ability that explains the ins and outs of another nen user's power. Those are rare, though. Most of us are just left with guesswork," Paku explained. "By comparing the nen user's aura from when they were just starting out to now, we can guess how severe their restrictions might've been. For example, with you, Danchou noticed an instant spike in your aura depending on the nen ability you use. That, coupled with the fact that you've placed a judgment chain on your own heart, tells us you must've set up conditions for yourself. And if you break them, you die."

On point. It was incredible, and frightening, but Kurapika wouldn't cave. There was no way they could find out about her eyes. "You're certainly being generous with your information."

"Danchou's good at figuring this sort of thing out," Paku replied. "Even if you try to alter your nen behavior based on this information, I doubt it'll make much of a difference."

They were right. Even if Chrollo didn't find out the exact details of her draining ability, he would still figure out life was being used as bargaining chips. After that, he'd slowly pry the rest of the rules from her lips. And then . . .

Perhaps he already knew. Perhaps this was the prying.

Kurapika bit her lip. If she could distract him somehow. Derail his attention from her nen abilities. And then get back to Neon and the others. But how?

They'd come to a stop in a clearing. Chrollo stood in the center, surveying the area. Kurapika followed suit, and a twinge of guilt struck her at the thought of destroying such a beautiful forest. It reminded her of Lukso a bit, down to the circular patterns on the trees. Quite odd, considering they weren't able to grow anywhere other than the surrounding mountains in her village.

"Alright, who wants to go first?"

One-on-one fights? That wasn't so bad. Kurapika was at her best in one-on-one confrontations, after all.

"I'll go," Uvogin said. Kurapika grimaced. The rest of the Spiders got out of their general vicinity. Kurapika felt the summer wind nuzzle her ankles, the rustle of leaves singing in the late morning, her heart beating in the steady motion of her careful mind. And then, Uvogin charged for a punch. So quickly that she hardly noticed. She covered her face as she jumped away. Grass and dirt tangled in her hair and clothes. Even so, she was unscathed, save for the bruise from a loose pebble, but that hardly mattered in a fight.

Kurapika balanced on the branch of the nearest tree, flicking off a piece of mud on her cheek. She didn't last long on the branch however, as the man only hurled forward with another punch. The tree splintered, and the pieces scattered through the air, towards anything they might catch onto. He might be a one-trick pony, but he knew how to use that one trick in different ways.

She jumped behind him, a good few meters away. Uvogin grinned.

"Heh, you're not half bad!"

Well, she had been training to kill all of them for the last six years.

"Guess I can go to 30% then!"

Lovely. She moved to put even more distance between them, determined not to use her chains if she could help it. A moment later she vanished back into the trees. Fingers wrapped around her wrist.

"You're not fighting back at all?" Chrollo asked, his lips too close to her ear. "Are you so worried about how I might react that you'd rather lose a limb than have me find out about your hatsu?"

"In essence," she said, her voice coming out a bit breathy. Her wrist was released, and she returned to evading Uvogin. But Chrollo's eyes were still following her.

. End of Chapter .

(A/N: Yeah, I left it on a cliffhanger. I rather wanted to finish it up quickly. Next chapter will be about Kurapika distracting Chrollo. And yeah, it's as suggestive as it sounds. Time for Kurapika to put her skills of seduction to good use. That being said, I'm thinking about going through a complete revision of both sequels (at least before I start on the third book). I think I might finish this fic first, and then go through a deep cleaning of both books, just for the sake of a better reading experience for you guys.)