AN: Thanks Amezardh for leaving a review! I really appreciate it!

Five: Blood

Senritsu opened her mouth to say something, and then shut it just as quickly. Not speaking turned out to be a wise idea once she caught a glimpse of Kurapika's dour expression.

Dropping to her feet, she placed two fingers on Father Ariale's neck, the body closest to the door. Nothing, although she knew that already. The man was very dead.

"Did you know him well?" she asked. And it was probably one of the dumbest things she could have asked at that moment, because obviously not. Kurapika had only known him for a couple of days at most.

"Not really." Kurapika shot her a look, and his previous expression had already been replaced with one less sober.

There was blood. All over the place. And it wasn't normal spillage, if someone being murdered could be considered normal at all. It looked like someone had made a point to decorate the walls in a festoon of crimson and guts. Not that there was any sort of discernible pattern to it, but those splatters didn't get there by accident, someone tried really hard to create a mess because they wanted us to notice it. And it wasn't just Ariale's remains or blood littering the room either. These must be some of the others that were staying here…

Clearing her throat, she took a second look around, listening for any heart beats. The room was a basement turned into some kind of sleeping quarters. Three beds lined either side of the wall, and several shelves had been put up above them. And everything looked neat and orderly, the beds were all made with not a speck of red on them, the shelves were lined neatly with clothes and other things; other than the walls, nothing looks out of place…was there no fight?

"I think whoever killed them lived here," Kurapika said. And he seemed to be making a general observation, but still she was surprised that even with no memories, he's the same old Kurapika.

She looked up at him, still hunched of Ariale's body. "What gives you that impression? Any clue who it might be?"

He shrugged. "It's just a guess. And no, I didn't really get to see any of the others living here that often. I can't recognize them now anyway."

Senritsu stood up and wiped her hands along her pants. "Oh…why do you think it's someone who lived here though?"

"I really don't know. Just a feeling I get."

She shot him a look, but decided not to press it. Not quite the old Kurapika, who would've spouted off some theory, even if it was slightly wrong. Still, she could see wheels turning in his head as his eyes darted around and I gotta stop staring at him like that. He didn't know who she was really and was probably still mildly suspicious of her, if the way he looked at her was anything to judge by.

She pulled the phone out of her pocket and dialed emergency services. "…Yes, I'd like to report a murder. Uh at Thaddeus of Life Temple…in….yes, no I'm here. Yes, I'll be here when you arrive…I'd rather not stay on the line, ma'am. My name's Senritsu…sure." She hung up. "Let's go."

"We're not staying?" he asked.

"No, I'd rather not explain that we had nothing to do with their murders. Our DNA's all over the place, but…that might not matter because we were here earlier, and you loved here for a while." She started heading for the stairs. "You coming?"

"…We're just going to leave?"

"Yes, we're just going to leave. We don't have anything to do with this…and if we do, we're going to catch the culprit." What is wrong with you? It's what she wanted to say as insensitive as it was, but she had to remember he was probably just confused in general, and he doesn't know who you are, Senritsu. Why would he trust you?

Or is something wrong with me? Was she being too insensitive?

"Come on or you're explaining to the cops how you were the sole survivor on your own." Turning on her heels, she went up the steps.

Once upstairs, the two of them went out into the cool night. Night? That's right, it was night now. It seemed like not long ago it had been day, but that was when they were talking to Chief Swartzenburger or something like that. The sound of sirens howling through the night reached her ears, so they hurried onto the main street and into the crowd of people going in and out of buildings.

Casting a tentative glance at her blonde companion, she wondered why does he look so sad? It was something about him that just seemed uncomfortably different, beyond the death of the people at the chapel and losing his memories. It was like a weight, or cloud hovering over top of him.

"So did that jog your memory at all?" Senritsu asked, looking down at the sidewalk.

"Maybe."

"Really?" She perked up at that. "What do you remember?"

He scrunched his nose. "I'm not sure…I remember a bloody wall like the one back there. But this one had words on it."

"Wait what?" she stopped in the middle of the street. "We need to go somewhere and talk, because that sounds freaky."

He let out a rather uncharacteristic sigh. And it was the tiniest of sighs, but she could tell he was annoyed. "Alright," he said. "Somewhere quiet."

"This is my place." Senritsu unlocked her front door and held it open. Kurapika had been here before, of course, but he wouldn't remember it. Not that they had spent much time here, maybe once or twice when they weren't off looking for the Eyes.

"It's nice," he replied, without even bothering to sound like he meant it.

"Yeah." She followed him inside and waved at her couch. "I'll make you some tea."

He sat. And she boiled water in her tiny kitchen, from which she could see Kurapika. Though it was hard not to study him for the n'teenth time, she focused on the busy task of picking out two matching, black mugs and placing leaves of green tea in her strainer and plopping them in the cup. The kettle whistled after a few moments and she poured out the water, and let the tea steep while searching for honey. Kurapika got one half of a spoonful, but she liked hers sweet so two, on second thought three spoonfuls. She carried the cups back to him and sat them on her coffee table.

"So…what do you remember?" she sat on the couch, as far away from him as possible.

"I remember being at the chapel before I woke up there and couldn't remember anything." He picked up the cup and held it under his nose. "It was like a vision flashed through my mind when I reached the bottom of the steps. Like... I've just walked inside the chapel. Father Ariale is there in the sanctuary and he's cleaning the wall, because there's blood everywhere, but they spell out something. I can't really tell what it says. He looks surprised to see me, like he recognizes me from somewhere. And there's someone behind me, but before I can turn around the memory ends."

Senritsu took a sip of tea and burned her tongue, but she took a second sip anyway. "That's odd." It was all she had to say really, because it was very strange. But it made her wonder if by going to the last twelve…or is it thirteen places Kurapika had been, he would remember things related to how he ended up losing his memory. "What were the words?"

He shrugged. "I can't make them out; I just know it says something."

"Like a dream," she replied. "You know when you have a dream and even though you don't see something, you know it's there."

"Yeah, sort of," Kurapika replied, the mug still covering half his face. "Think it means anything?"

"You're asking me, Wise One?" But this wasn't Kurapika she was talking to. "Sorry, it's an inside joke between the two of us. Frankly, I'm not sure. But if that really is a memory, that means Father Ariale did know who you were and was lying…maybe. Did we ever directly ask him if he knew you or not?"

"I did. And he said no and that I basically just showed up there one day." He frowned.

She frowned too. Tomin and Father Ariale? Are the two of them connected somehow…? Now, that was two people who had been killed under unusual circumstances, and while she had likely been deluding herself thinking Tomin's death was not related to them, there is no doubt that Father's Ariale's death is…but how? Furthermore, Tomin knew Kurapika had gone there... so it seems he went there willingly for some reason... was Tomin helping him with something?

"I feel bad." Kurapika lowered the mug slightly.

"It's not your fault," she said, glancing up at him.

"But it probably is."

She wanted to reach over and hug him, but something told her don't do that. He doesn't even know who you are, really.

"Well what, you want me to say it's your fault?" She sat her mug down and realized she'd burned the tips of her fingers slightly.

"You wouldn't be lying," he replied.

"Oh stop it. It's not your fault he died. Or Tomin for that matter. It's the fault of whoever killed them, and we're going to find out who did it." And I will, no matter how long it took, because there was no way she was going to let someone get away with putting that look on Kurapika's face.

He lifted the mug up and took a long drink from it before sitting it down on her table with a clink. "Whatever you say."