H x H- Chapter 16:

Song of two, Anger of one

and curiosity from another.

A/N: For those of you who are reading this, I have fixed a few things in chapter 13 (Don't pay much attention to the 'jump' or 'drop down' list of chapters. It's messed up since I made part 1 and 2 of a single chapter... but anyway~) Poku left with Rui & Illumi, by nestling on Rui's back. Tis a heads up, just to prevent future confusion. :)

In Ruby's mind, there is nothing but light surrounding her; Bright light, clouds and the golden sun beamed in the middle. Ruby blinked in amaze from the beauty but, only to be knocked out of her gawk, by a silhouette high above in the sky. She stared at the figure, wide eyes and a slightly open mouth, whilst stumbling back a bit from the sudden occurrence. "Who...are you...?" She asked, with a dumbfounded expression.

*The pallid figure just hovered there, staring down at her. "Your time has not come... Live for those who care and love you..." It spoke; By it's voice, Ruby could tell it was a woman. She blinked in response, then went from shocked to strict.

"Who are you...?" The twin asked, she aimed to grab the hilt of her blade, only to realize it wasn't there and looked down to see if it was, herself.

"Leave the violence for the evil that awaits... Death will befall countless lives but... Will you over come the evil, that will cause the death of many...?" The mysterious female asked; Her voice were monotonous, soft yet sounded content, unlike most monotonous people...which sound more cold..

"Wait, what do you mean by 'the evil that awaits'?!" Ruby asked, this time anger built up. Her teeth clenched, as well her fists and her eyes narrowed.

"Save those around you... The vow you've made, with your nen... Shall not be in vain. Doth thou wish to protect...? Or to cower in fear of thy life..? The choice is thy's to make...Arch...Angeeeel~..." The woman softly spoke but extended the word 'Angel', more into a loud whisper. She floated away from the twin, as the golden sun behind her made her blend in more and more.

"Wait, WHO ARE YOU?!" Ruby shouted to the woman, her own vision began to fade as a bright light took over her site.

Outside of Ruby's mind, her sister laid by her side and was curled up against her. Rui noticed her twin's arm twitch, making her jerk up to see. Ruby kept twitching her head left and right whilst mumbling sounds, as if she were talking in her sleep.

*Ruby's vision went from light to black, consciousness barely there. Through her ears a faint voice echoed, as her hearing slowly came back. "Never say never, when we are together...Our hearts are linked, so we'll protect each other. Never say never, when our hearts beat together... Our sisterly-bond will never- sever~..." Ruby's memories made its way into her mind, her childhood in SGSF. They were children, playing around in their secluded room, while laughing together.

*A few days after, the two children got in trouble. They got put into their confinement, with a crying Rui, Ruby didn't know what to do. The only idea she had was to hold her twin and comfort her, while singing a little rhyme; She thought of it when she decided to protect her, for as long as she lived. "Never say never, when we are together...Our hearts are linked, so we'll protect each other. Never say never, when our hearts beat together... Our sisterly-bond will never- sever~... We are not to blame, the world should be shamed...the pain that we gain, we'll them make go away.." Her song had soothed her sister into deep slumber, with her continuous singing.

*Hearing that faint voice echo from her ears, made her come back to consciousness and open her eyes slowly. She seen Rui's head towering over hers a bit, her eyes closed and her voice singing the one song, that she had forgotten long ago.

Rui looked up, hoping that the song made her wake up. She had seen her twitch over and over, so she thought- singing their childhood rhyme, would wake her. Surprisingly it did; Rui perked up after seeing her twin's eyes, groggily open. Her mournful expression, changed to tears of joy.

"Ru-i... I... No- we... will never...sever..." Ruby's voice were hoarse, she tried speaking the best she could but, her voice hurt too much from the lack of use.

*Outside of the room, in front of the door, Rui could be heard through out the halls. She screamed loudly from glee, happy to know her sister wasn't dead. Illumi told her about Ruby's near death position, after she woke up from her sleep. She had rushed down to her twin's room after she had heard the news and cried for hours, then stayed there by her side for a long time.

The scene changed back to show Ruby with a worried look to her and a crying Rui, who was nuzzled against her arm. "Rui...-chan..." Her hoarse voice mumbled but, got cut off by Rui's hand.

"Iiee-! I..I mean- NO! Don't speak, your throat lacks usage. I know you were attacked, Illumi-kun had told me about your situation. None of it was your fault..." Rui replied with a hiccup here and there, from crying.

Ruby felt the need to tear up as well, but held it all back. She was about to ask her twin, where Hisoka was but immediately got her answer. "Hisoka has gone to find the guy who did this to you... I've never seen him look so angry... I tried to stop him too but..he insisted in going after him. All he said was... 'He almost tore up my precious doll...'.. Then he just slammed the door shut and left... Of course, that was after I came rushing in here to be at your side." Rui explained, her soft and innocent voice shown more sorrow than glee.

"I see...How... long have i-...been out?" She tried to speak, only to have her throat hurt in the end.

Illumi came into the room and spoke in Rui's place, whilst keeping his emotionless demeanor "About three days..." He replied, then made his way over to Rui's side.

This news shocked Ruby and made her eyes widen, it was no wonder why her throat hurt so bad.

Hisoka jumped from roof-top to roof-top, scoping out the snake. His golden orbs shifting in many directions, hoping to spot the man. "It's been two days, since I've left to go find that garden-snake... Oh, my dear Ruby-Gem... I hope your awake by now~" He mused in his head, holding a stern look to him.

A flower caught him off guard, when it flew passed his cheek and into the surface of the roof. He looked down and seen the corn-cockle flower from before; He smirked at knowing who it was, while blood trickled down his cheek from a horizontal cut.

"Dear-oh-dear... It seems one of my prey, hadn't taken in enough toxin~ No matter, I'll fix that...~" The familiar disembodied voice, echoed through the air around Hisoka, making the joker pop out a card in preparation. "It's a shame, really... You would've made an excellent specimen to try and break... To see you curl up and cry on the floor.. Hmm...-Better yet- Seeing you covered in blood and roses, perhaps a limb or two gone as well~.." The General flashed behind Hisoka and towered over his six foot figure.

Hisoka didn't budge, he knew the snake was behind him, thus he waited to react at the right moment. "It's more of a shame, that he doesn't know, how much I can really handle~ I fear no one..." He thought to himself, as his grin grew a bit more.

Servine rose his hand up, with the tip of a stem sticking out from between his fingers. He was just about to stab Hisoka from behind, until he turned his head over his shoulder and smirked. He swiped his arm from behind with a card at hand, just barely missing the snake.

Servine had jumped backwards to avoid the slice and popped more of his flowers out, between his fingers. "How amusing...~" The General spoke, he struck the building's gable with one of his blossoms, only to have it take root and grow from within. Many screams were heard from inside, while every now and then- sounds of bone crushing, gore gush and ripping tones would occur. "Now tell me, why have you been after me this whole time- hmm?~"

Hisoka narrowed his eyes but kept a passive smirk, as well unfazed by the death from below. "You've nearly torn my Angelic-doll... She was covered in filth by your hands.. but luckily I was able to clean her up... So it'll be your hands, that will get torn and possibly, a bit more.~" Hisoka replied darkly, keeping his grin as he popped another card in his opposite free hand.

"Hoo~? Looks like I'm going to have some fun, heeheeheehee~" He laughed a bit insanely under his breath; Raising one of his hands, he snapped his index and thumb together, as if to summon something.

Hisoka smirked a bit more, getting thrill chills down his spine. The surface below, shook suddenly, making the joker stumble a bit. His eyes widened and his mouth frowned from the site before him; Bloodied hands burst out from the gable, one by one like daisies would. He jerked his head up toward the roof's exit door, after hearing groans from behind. The moaning reminded him of zombies, which made him quirk a brow.

"How will you fair, against countless vessels- hmmm~?" The snake asked whilst tilting his head; Corpses bashed down the door and made their way passed the General, their bodies were covered in blood, while some of them lacked certain limbs. Vines and roots could be seen sticking out of their skin and the lining of them underneath. Each vessel had a sprouted flower somewhere on their bodies, some on their heads and some on their arms.

Hisoka grew a bored look to him and just swiped his cards at blinding speed, making all the dead vessels around him collapse, with blood gushing out of a few of them. Servine chuckled to himself and snapped his fingers once more, the cut up bodies just got back up and walked towards the joker again.

Hisoka popped out more cards into his hands, then stepped back; His expression changed from boredom to amused. "I see, so when his flowers are attached to a body- he can control it... like a puppeteer... interesting~" He spoke in his mind, before jumping into the air. He shot out numerous amount of cards down, to strike the dead below. Though not striking the actual vessels, he aimed for the blossom buds. All the buds got cut off and after he had landed- all the bodies dropped.

The General smirked slightly, knowing that the joker was unaware of a little trick up his sleeve. "Ho-ho..~.. Excellent but, you've missed one minor detail~..." He said darkly as he tilted his head more toward the ground, at Hisoka. A shadow formed over his face and Hisoka just stood there, waiting for what there was to come.

The Joker thought about what he meant, until it was almost too late. One purple flower were a ways away from them, sticking out of the gable. His eyes widened and watched as it emitted toxin, through out the air; He felt roots snatch him, making him immovable. The air became thick and got into his lungs; To Servine's surprise, it didn't make Hisoka gag and gasp for air. Instead he just grinned real big, then cut up the roots that held him. "Hmm... I wonder why that poison didn't effect me?~ I may have a strong immune system... but I'm sure poison could have made its way into me, regardless.~" He mused, rather pleased at learning that he could handle Allarie's toxin.

Allarie held no expression as usual; As he peered at the Joker before him, a beeping tone snapped him out of his hidden train of thought. He reached into his loose robes and took out a pager, clicking it- he seen the message. After reading it he chuckled under his breath and tucked it back into his baggy attire. "Let us continue this at a later time... I have business elsewhere...~ So long, red head...~" Allarie mused all of a sudden, then vanished out of site. Sirens were heard from afar, making their way to the structure; Hisoka appeared a bit angry, upset that Servine had left without another word. He wanted to tear that poisonous garden snake apart, for what he did to his precious gem.

The Joker disappeared instantaneously, leaving the bodies there to rot and for the police to clean up. "Just you wait, snake... No one gets away, with touching my treasure..." Hisoka's disembodied voice echoed, as the view of the city zoomed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Elsewhere~~~~

Ruby sat up in bed with her wings curled up around her form, her golden irises peering up at the ceiling in thought and Rui slept at the end of her bed. "Where's Soren...and Poku...?" She asked in her mind, trying to trace back to when she last seen them. "Considering I didn't really make it home last night, I worry that Soren is still all alone at our apartment... Luckily I left him out of his cage. Poku... Did Rui take it with her..?" Ruby looked around, hoping to see the little critter but, unfortunately it were no where in site. She closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose then sighed. "I just hope it's somewhere within this mansion... If not then, Rui must not care too much..." She voiced in her head, though hearing a few squeaks and small flutter sounds, made her look up. In the door way stood Illumi, with Poku on his shoulder

"It appears Rui had forgotten something, in her guest room... " Illumi stated, as he stood there with his expressionless feature. The moth flew of his 'post' and over to Rui, landing on her head. It sat there with its beady eyes, staring forward towards nothing.

"Where's Soren...?" Ruby demanded an answer, she actually felt really attached to Soren, though sadly... lacked the time to spend with him. She wanted to pet it and care for it, worried that it felt abandoned or worse... afraid.

"I had sent one of my servants to get him... While you were unconscious, Rui asked of me to get him." He replied with his oh-so monotonous voice, thrn moved his blank gaze to Rui's sleeping figure, curious as to why she decided to nap there. "He is in Rui's guest room... Fussing over the fact that, you're not around him..." He said, he made his way over to Rui and stared at her slumbering face. He felt his cheeks go red a bit, just by looking at her cute and innocent features. Considering the fact that he had trashed all of his emotions in the garbage years before, it still surprised him that this woman... made him feel this way. "These emotions...I feel, only when Rui is around me... It is, as if she got into my trash and carried those emotions back to me... How strange, most others cannot do that..." He mentioned in his mind, as he gazed upon Rui's features.