CHAPTER NINETEEN

Remissionem

Aki wiped her tears as she gave him a sincere smile; nothing could compare to the ultimate relief and happiness she felt right now.

"You jerk, what took you so long?"

He glared at her in response, although internally he felt warm inside— another foreign feeling he could not comprehend.

But then again, maybe it was worth trying to understand these feelings, he though, after contemplating upon them for weeks.

Aki puffed her cheeks before beaming at him once again, her cheeks staining red for some reason.

"You don't know how much I missed you, Feitan."

The room was still crowded, with the twanging of the guitars and beating of the drums resounding harmoniously in the background.

Aki continued to shed tears of joy while smiling sincerely at Feitan; she was honestly glad that he actually came, despite the cold shoulder in the past weeks.

Between the two, she honestly thought that Feitan would not come.

But then again, life is full of surprises.

Feitan's eyes twitched at Aki's reaction, amused at how his mere presence seemed to have made some tremendous change in Aki's disposition.

But before he could open his mouth to give an acid retort, Shiro suddenly appeared, putting an arm over Aki while grinning widely.

"I guess you were able to hit one bird, eh? I'm so happy for you! Who knew that things would actually turn for the better?"

Aki smiled sheepishly and shook him off, playfully punching him afterwards.

Feitan started to glare at them both the whole time their interaction occurred.

Shiro felt his hairs stand on end at the small man's greeting stare, but smiled at him nevertheless.

"Heya there! It's a real pleasure of you to drop by, our precious lead and vocalist was close to crying bloody tears, in all honestly. I am Shiro by the way, the bass player. I believe you name is Feitan, yes?" He jokingly grinned.

Feitan returned the favor with a glare.

Aki soon felt the mood tense up, and had a feeling that Shiro may be having buckets of cold sweat by now, so she decided that maybe it was time for the both of them to leave.

"W-well, now that you guys seem to be well-*coughs* acquainted with each other. I think it's time for Feitan and I to head home and catch up." 'Since technically it's been the first time since weeks that we have properly faced each other' She silently added.

Shiro, relieved that the storm had finally come to pass, gave Aki a big thumbs up, and gently shooed her away.

Aki waved back and motioned to Feitan that it was now time to go home, by which the latter merely gave her a death glare before zooming out.

'Who knew that he'd actually come?' she thought.

She honestly felt as if the heavens were finally rewarding her after a long time of mental and emotional torture.

The two walked home silently, none of them daring to speak, which made Aki a bit uncomfortable, despite the ultimate happiness she had just a while back.

She made a sideways glance to Feitan, and as compared to her internal jumble of nerves and cold sweat, he seemed to be doing just fine, save for the seemingly permanent glare he had on.

If only Aki knew, it was quite the opposite.

Feitan, at the moment, was continuously cursing himself for having gone to the gig. For a reason he didn't know why, his body seemed to move on its own five minutes after he read the note.

And honestly, he felt very ashamed at letting his instincts make the decision.

It was not in his personality to do something as reckless like that, he thought.

Definitely not.

Moreover, he was one not to give in so easily to the requests of other people, most especially those who were not part of the Genei Ryodan.

Well… with the exception of matters in relation to food.

Which brings us back to his current predicament, accompanied by a question he repeatedly asks himself, but could not answer:

Why did he do it?

Feitan honestly felt like kicking the ground, or throwing a tantrum at Aki for being the cause of the dilemma; if she didn't post the damned note on the fridge, he most definitely wouldn't see it or give a damn about it either.

But then again, it happened, and he did.

Never in his life had he felt so… embarrassed.

But of course, this is Feitan we are talking about. Letting his current emotions slip out was definitely out of the question.

After minutes of the seemingly long and agonizing way home, they have finally arrived. Aki anxiously opened the front door and went straight to her room, feeling mixed emotions of awkwardness, happiness, and anxiety.

Feitan, on the other hand, felt nothing but embarrassment and irritation.

"Shit shit. I know I should be so happy, but why can't I shake off this tense atmosphere? It's practically driving me nuts!" Aki grumbled as she decided to release her steam on the poor plush toy by repeatedly banging it towards her pillow.

And to think he actually went… her mind continued to trail off, surprise never leaving her system.

But then again, it left her wondering why Taka himself has not made an appearance.

Aki frowned at this thought; to be honest, she was expecting Taka to come, not him.

But as always, Taka decided to be the absent bastard that he is.

She shook her head in disappointment and took out her phone, somewhat eager to tell Momo about the news.

But as soon as she took hold of her phone, she was left in utter surprise.

From: Taka

Subject: Sorry

Aki, I am so sorry to have responded so late. I know how much that gig means to you, but unfortunately, I cannot go due to my work— I cannot pass up the offer of an important client. I really regret not being able to go. Is there any way I can make it up to you?

From: Taka

Subject: Please respond

Aki… I'm worried now. What you wrote on the note isn't a joke, yeah? Please hear me out.

23 Missed Calls: Taka

Aki couldn't believe her eyes as soon as she saw who messaged her and gave her numerous missed calls.

In all honesty, she never expected Taka to do something like this, to give out effort to contact her.

But he did.

She was about to hurriedly respond, until she remembered her promise to herself.

If he doesn't come, then let him go.

She sighed, and slumped back towards her pillows once again; despite his efforts, it all bore down to one thing:

He still did not come.

Although Aki kept on reasoning out that it was due to work, and work spared no excuses, she still could not bring herself to accept his excuse, regardless of how seemingly valid it may be.

It just proved as if work was far more important than their relationship.

"I guess I'm just not that important after all." She sighed.

Taka has always been like this, she thought. At times the lad would seemingly be there for her, but most of the time he wasn't.

She felt as if he deliberately tries to 'stay' for his own personal gain, to make it appear as some assurance of sorts, should she suddenly want to give him up and leave.

Aki's heart ached at the thought that she was cheated on, and it was a first at that.

She really never expected any of this to happen, especially now how he had ditched her, when she had give the said gig utmost importance.

"I can't blame him though, if I'm really not important to him. If I was, he would have treasured the things I have treasured the most." she sadly said, as she gazed at her star-clad ceiling.

Her thoughts then briefly wandered towards Feitan.

Feitan.

She silently chuckled as she finally decided to get some shut eye. Screw cleaning up, she thought. She was most definitely tired and would prefer sleep above anything else at the moment.

Who'd ever thought, eh? As always, he never left.

Aki then smiled herself to sleep.

Feitan, on the other hand, was staring at the ceiling as well. Up until know he still could not come up with an explanation for his answers.

Yes, he should still be mad at her, he thought. Yes, he felt that their reconciliation indeed seemed quite rushed.

But then again, he felt as if that was the perfect moment for him to finally regain contact with Aki.

He could not explain why, but his gut feels definitely felt that it was right.

This was so not him, he thought, internally mocking himself. Feitan, the merciless torturer, allowing himself to forgive a person?

Rubbish.

But then again, he did.

Which frustrated him to the very core.

Ultimately.

"Stupid girl giving me stupid emotions." He frustratingly grumbled as he willed himself to sleep, tossing aside his thoughts for the moment.

Screw this, he thought.

"I give up."

"I told you your plan was stupid."

"Is not! At least we're one step closer to being able to get our reward. It's just one photo. One photo!"

"Tss. That hefty reward would be useless if we'd end up getting ourselves killed."

"But still!"

Killua rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time; he knew from the start that this plan was screwed, and he was perfectly right.

Not that it made anything better to their current situation.

Gon and Killua were once again abducted by the Genei Ryodan, much to the latter's disappointment. In the back of his mind, he thought that it was better to be roaming around the Dark Continent instead than here.

But thanks to Gon and his nature for attracting trouble, here they are.

Nobunaga was boisterously laughing at the two's quarrel.

"Quit it, you two. The both of you seem to be having a lover's spat to me. Haha!" He laughed, wiping the tears off his eyes from exerting too much effort on his diaphragm.

Killua glared at him, while Gon immediately got over worrying and straightforwardly asked for Feitan instead.

"Hey, I really don't know why we're kidnapped, but can you please bring Feitan out for me? You see… we really need to take his picture right now.

All Gon got back was more fits of laughter from Nobunaga.

Shalnark kept on chuckling as well as soon as he entered the room.

"Weellll… I don't want to burst your bubble but… it was actually I who sent that ad on the Hunter Website."

Killua sharply turned his head towards the blonde as soon as his ears heard what he said.

"WHAAAAAT?!"

Gon's eyes widened in surprise as he let out an echo of Killua's first statement.

"WHAAAAAAAATTTT?!"

Shalnark and Nobunaga laughed harder at their response.

"Hahaha I'm sorry Ha-but you guys- Hahaha –aww man hahaha but you guys look so hilarious right now. Hahaha!" Shalnark laughed, Nobunaga giving him a slap on the back; he was laughing like mad as well.

Killua's right eye twitched in annoyance as he shouted towards Gon's ear.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT YOU DUMBASS! IF ONLY YOU HAD LISTENED TO ME!"

Gon stumbled to the floor upon the impact; Killua's shouting seemed to have damaged his eardrums.

"Whaaa— hey! It's your fault you agreed to this!" He retorted, frowning.

"BUT YOU FORCED ME TO!"

"But you still could have said no!"

"BUT— ARGH WHY BOTHER!" Killua responded, exasperated. It was no use arguing with a stubborn person such as Gon.

The laughter soon stopped as soon as Kuroro went in, causing the two to temporarily stop the bickering and give him a seemingly intimidating glare, by which the person concerned merely shrugged it off and smiled.

"It seems that we meet again. Life is indeed full of surprises, isn't it?"

"To me it seems as if this was deliberately planned." Killua spat.

Kuroro merely smirked in response. "But then again, here you are again, in the clutches of the dear Genei Ryodan. It seems that you two still have a bit of growing up to do… it was very reckless indeed. I wonder what that chain user friend of yours would have to say about this?"

Gon and Killua scowled at him, the former responding, "Don't tell me you planned this all along! You guys are really evil!"

"That is to be expected from my organization. However, I think evil is a rather broad term, considering that there are different kinds of evil in this world. Perhaps, for you, this may be evil, but for others, they might have a different concept of evil."

Killua rolled his eyes in irritation. Him and his twisted words.

Kuroro calmly strode and stood in front of them.

"As you can see, we require of your assistance right now, as our precious comrade is surprisingly missing at the moment. And who would be more than capable of tracking someone down, a Spider at that?"

Gon's eyes widened in surprise and horror. Killua gulped down as well, cold sweat trickling down his face.

"You don't mean…"

"Oh yes, I do. And I am quite sure that you know what I am referring to, yes?"

"This seems stupid. For how long are we going to be standing here?"

Phinks grumbled. Kalluto and him have been waiting for hours up the tree.

And currently, they were in their 13th hour of waiting.

"Ssh. I'm still waiting for the perfect opportunity. Keep still and be quiet."

"Perfect opportunity my ass! Why can't we just grab the damn chick and get this over with! No one would dare to retaliate to the Genei Ryodan anyway!"

Kalluto glared daggers at Phinks, desperately trying to calm himself down before giving a response.

"It's because, she is exactly the type to retaliate. And I don't want to waste this chance after painstakingly following her for weeks now without getting noticed."

"Who the heck is this girl anyway? I can't see her face!"

"You will soon enough. I also believe that she will be very useful in finding Feitan."

Phinks raised a brow-less brow skeptically. "How so?"

"You will see soon enough."

The conversation was cut abruptly as soon as the female concerned left the building and was now in sight; she still had a cloak, rendering her facial features as impossible to see.

Phinks stared amusingly at his companion, while the said companions started to tense his muscles, ready for attack.

Kalluto gestured for Phinks to get ready as they started to prepare themselves for the assault.

Just a few steps more… Kalluto thought, furrowing his brows in concentration as sweat trickled down his nape.

One…

Two…

Now!

As soon as the female took five steps further, her vision immediately turned upside down as she was suddenly pinned to the ground by Phinks, assisted by Kalluto, holding a dagger over her throat.

"Don't speak a word, or you will be silenced forever."

However, in the female's vocabulary, the word 'silence' isn't to be registered at the moment.

"Time tra—MMF!"

"Damn women and their nagging mouths." Phinks irritatingly said as he put a piece of balled cloth in the female's mouth, rendering her from saying another word. Her hands were securely held tight by Phinks, while her legs were restrained by Kalluto's own.

"Good. Now all we have to do now is bring her to Danchou." Kalluto smiled triumphantly. If there were any answers to the millions of questions the members of Genei Ryodan had, this female was surely able to answer a few, if not, all of them.

"Riiiiight. Fuck this, who knew this chick would look so hot?" Phinks smirked, his eyes seemingly undressing her.

All the female could do in response was to whimper in fear.

Four months after the gig, Aki was gradually returning to normal. It was still a bit hard to reconnect with Feitan, after everything they have been through in the past few weeks, but slowly and surely, the two were starting to be comfortable with each other again.

Or so it seems.

"I'm so tired now! Can't I at least take a break?"

"Again."

"Please?"

"One more word deal is over."

Aki whined in annoyance; here they were, practicing once again in her backyard. To Aki's relief, Feitan finally allowed her to be his 'pupil' once again in regards to sword fighting, after bribing him with a dozen of meals, around 20 new games, as well as new editions of Trevor Brown books.

It actually took her 6 weeks to be able to gain the annoyed "yes" of the man.

Feitan glared at Aki at his her head with the tip of his umbrella.

"Lazy scum."

"Tch. Is it a crime to stop and relax for even five minutes? Come on five minutes won't hurt some measly trai—OUCH!" She responded, glaring daggers at him after receiving another whack on the head.

Sometimes, she wonders if it was a good plan to ask help from him again.

After all, it was her brain and mental capacity at stake. One more hard blow on the head, she might have a concussion and die, she thought.

But then again, Aki was very happy that somehow, they have been warming up again, after the many mishaps they have had.

It almost seems like yesterday, since she last remembered the restart of their normalcy.

And believe it or not, Feitan was the one who broke the ice for once.

She chuckled as she reminisced their reconciliation.

Well, to cut the long story short, it basically started with the sentence, "Stupid girl you owe me good food"

Priceless and romantic.

Oh-so-Feitan.

Aki was brought out of her thoughts as Feitan got impatient and lifted her up, throwing her on the rooftop as if she was a ragdoll.

"WHAT THE FUCK! FEITAN!" She screamed as she finally got out of her reverie, surprise and physical pain immediately overcoming her senses. She was practically massaging her aching behind as she looked down to give him her so-called evil glare.

Feitan snorted and gave her a mocking look in return, earning a scowl from the said female.

"You so stupid. You waste time and it's now night." He snickered. As he was about to go inside, Aki, surprisingly, called out for him.

"Hey, can you come up here for a sec?"

Feitan glared at her, suspicious of what she may do, by which the latter sweat-dropped.

"Relax, I'm not going to do anything to you. I just want us to see the starts. It's pretty ironic that the last time I saw a night sky as beautiful as this, I was crying."

Briefly, Feitan lifted his head towards the sky and momentarily gazed at it— the brat was definitely right, he thought.

But then again, Feitan being Feitan, the antisocial person he is, merely scoffed and marched back instead, ignoring the gape and glare from Aki.

Just because they were on good terms now doesn't mean that she could act all chummy with him, he thought.

Nope. Never happening anytime soon.

"Tss" she cussed, leaning down, putting her arms above her head as a cushion.

"And I thought we could now be considered as friends."

"Hey Aki, are you really sure about this?"

"Yes, I am. I've been thinking about this for so long now, and I think it's time to move forward."

"Alright… I wish you the best of luck."

A/N: Argh… This seems to be a very short chapter for me. Gomen gomen. TwT I know I deserve a whack or two for updating so late, I honestly feel as if I'm a bundle of excuses right now. *cries*

Anyways, I am very much not satisfied with this length, and I will be updating this soon enough I promise!

~ Juuno