Book 2: Malum

Chapter 20: Anxiety

"People respect it when someone they are distant from is boring and harmless. However, they only like that person because he or she doesn't get in their way. No human would want to hang around a boring person."
- Featherine Augustus Aurora (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)

"What are you scheming."

It's dead quiet, and from what Rita estimates, the clock had struck twelve approximately fifteen minutes ago. More than that, she's surprised that the Kuruta could tell that she was not truly asleep. Props to him.

"I'm just trying to catch some shut eye, little one."

He bristles visibly at the demeaning comment, clenching his fists.

"If I were you, I would keep those eyes under strict control, or at least pop some contacts into them." She motions with her chin toward his eyes. Rita knows it is against her best interest to continue to spite the boy in such a manner, but really, she hasn't had so much freedom and entertainment since the last time she had been separated from Pariston for three or four weeks at a time, and so she finds she can hardly help herself.

"Just to make clear, I don't trust you." He spits with venom laced in his voice, his irises fuming an enraged scarlet.

"After we save Killua, I'll take you to get some; contacts that is."

"After we save Killua I'd actually like to never see you again."

"Ah, of course." She nods with mock understanding. "That's understandable."

"Why are you here?" He demands angrily. "You hardly know Killua. In fact you've spoken to him a grand total of four times throughout the progression of the entire exam."

"I'm hurt." Rita sticks out her lower lip. "I'm good friends with the kid." Or so the silver-haired assassin seemed to think. He had insisted the two had met before, and Rita was beginning to realize that such a proposition was not nearly as far-fetched as she once thought it to be. "And besides, Gittarackur was the one who wanted me to tag along."

Kurapika only narrows his eyes further.

The girl scoffs to herself internally. If these children thought that the Hunter Exam was over and began to allow their egos to swell because of it, they were walking on thin ice. It was far from over, and in reality, the hardest portion of the damn thing had yet to even begin.

She was placing her hopes on somehow becoming a mentor for Kurapika, but was beginning to realize that with the amount of antipathy their relationship had started off, her chances were becoming narrower by the day; perhaps even by the hour.

"I'm here because I can be, and because I have ambitions, just like you do." She breathes on a more serious, reaching into her backpack and lighting a cigarette in her mouth. "They're not as powerful as yours, my ambitions, but it's still a powerful curiosity that moves me."

"Excuse me," a blimp aide dressed crisply in uniform suddenly pops out from nowhere and shoots her an icy glance, "there is no smoking on the blimp. We apologize for the inconvenience." She bows slightly.

Rita tsks and frowns. There's almost no place where she can fuel her addiction, her coping mechanism if one would, in peace anymore. "I understand. Sorry."

The attendant briskly leaves.

Rita takes one more very long drag and slowly puts out the light from the joint by taking the energy from it.

Kurapika takes one step back. "How did you do that?" He demands.

"Mm?" She asks, confused. "Do what?"

"You just-" He eyes her suspiciously. "How did you do that?"

"What, with this?" She lifts her useless cigarette. "It's something I've always been able to do."

"Put out a cigarette?" The blonde laughs sharply in disbelief. "Sometimes you have the feeling Illumi does; when you look at someone it's like you send something invisible to crawl all over them."

"Oh that." She supposes to the ignorant non-Nen user, that's what malicious Nen can feel like, like something slimy and disgusting and painful boring into you. She clears her throat and puts out her hand.

He seems confused.

Sighing in exasperation, Rita grabs his hands and urges him to stand still. She slowly activates her own Nen so as to not shock the poor child and envelops him in it.

"Th-This is.."

"The same damn thing that creep uses, but utilized in a beneficial way." Rita finishes his sentence. "So yes, I can be like Illumi when I want to, but I can also be this. My putting out that cigarette has nothing to do with this however. That's an ability I was born with; this is something I've learned."

The clock strikes one, bringing her back to reality, wrenching them from that strangely intimate moment.

"Why are you still up, boy?" She looks at him, this tiny child bearing the enormous burden of vengeance for his entire clan. "You should get your rest while you can."

"Why the sudden kindness?" He stares at her.

"Not kindness, more like common sense." She snorts. "Get some rest, like I was trying to do before you interrupted mine."

"You weren't sleeping." He points out.

"I don't get more than three hours of shut-eye at a time." He comments. "There's not that much of a point."

Rita vaguely contemplates the trauma that one needs to experience in order to be unable to get more than short bursts of respite, especially at that age. Though, she can't exactly blame him; she's in the same situation.

Gon and Leorio passed out about four hours ago and had been sleeping soundly. Rita doesn't like to sleep with newcomers firstly because it's hard for her to place her wholehearted trust in them, and secondly because if she is to be attacked, she can't have others restricting her movements. She came out into the hallway to admire the view at this time of night and she must say that she isn't disappointed.

As the blimp travels above the clouds, Rita sees a beautiful tranquil in the sky. The moon is full and there are countless scores of stars in the sky one is unable to see due to city lights below cloud cover. The window is enormous and so Rita can stargaze to her heart's content. The blimp was quiet, an added bonus until Kurapika also exited the room and sat next to her on the bench in front of the window.

She had been slightly offended, as Kurapika hadn't struck her as the type to hurl baseless accusations around carelessly. But it was only natural that he distrusted her; she had been extremely rude from the get go.

"Kurapika…" She blinks several times. "I was thinking… If you ever need any help with anything…" She scratches the back of her head, never having been all that great with words.

Her diction puts him on the immediate defensive again; though not visibly, Rita senses him tense up. The notion of confiding in someone must be as painful for the blonde as it is with her.

"Thanks." He says stiffly, turning around as well. "I'll see you in the morning." And then he abruptly walks away.

Rita closes her eyes in frustration. That could have gone better.

Those who close their eyes to the past, become blind to the future.
- Juzo Okita (Spaceship Battleship Yamato)

"A tour bus?" Rita asks, crossing her arms. "Why don't we just go ourselves?"

"A tour bus would be a lot easier," Kurapika says pointedly, holding her with his gaze. "We wouldn't have to cover as much land, and we could conserve our strength. After all, I doubt his family will let him come waltzing right back with us should we manage to get in there."

"Kurapika's right," Leorio pipes up, for once without any palpable aggression in his voice. "The bus will take us up to where his family is. From what I can see, Kukuroo Mountain is surrounded by a dense forest. Who knows what's in there."

Rita closes her eyes to ponder for a moment, and nods to give her consent. "Okay, that makes sense. Let's grab a tour bus and get going."

Thirty minutes later finds them on a loosely packed bus with a very loud announcer who doesn't stop talking.

Rita looks at Gon and sees his fidgeting quite palpably. He must be anxious to get his friend back, she thinks to her herself. He had been abnormally quiet on the way here too.

"Rita-san."

"Mm?" She turns toward the voice that called her name. Lo and behold, it is the sassy blonde. "Oh, Kurapika, what is it?"

She realizes that it is the first time he has ever addressed with a respectful honorific, and this surprises her. Now that she actually thinks about it, it is the first time he has said her name to get her attention.

"I feel as if I misjudged you during the Hunter Exam," he admits, looking at the floor of the rumbling bus.

It is awkward as the silence looms heavy. They are sitting behind Gon and Leorio, and though there is some chatter between passengers, it is for the most part, very very quiet.

"There's no need to apologize," Rita jumps in, nearly flabbergasted. "I could say the same about myself."

"I suppose I didn't stop to stop to consider your situation," Kurapika continues. "It didn't occur to me that you might have your own reasons to have taken that exam, and perhaps even your own reasons to want to see Killua again. I'm sorry."

She hates situations like these. She laughs uncomfortably: "Kurapika please, don't apologize, it's really okay. That's usually how most of my friendships start out. I'm not a very agreeable person most of the time, so it was only natural."

"If you don't mind me asking, it feels as if you're looking for something. You're always deep in thought. What is it that you're searching for?"

At this, the girl takes a heavy breath and searches for the words to innocuously answer his important question. "I…" She scratches her head. "I'm looking for peace of mind."

Aren't we all, she retorts snarkily to her own response.

"I mean," she herself fidgets as well, "what I'm trying to say is… I lost my memory about four years ago." Rita finds she cannot make eye contact with him anymore; talking about her amnesia has always been hard for her. "I'm still looking for pieces that can trigger it again."

"Four years?" He frowns at this, confused. "Retrograde amnesia recedes by the two month mark at its latest in most cases."

"It's frustrating," she confesses, "not knowing who I really am. I'm certain Rita isn't my true name either. But after three years of fruitless searching, I think I'm finally beginning to find some leads. Just yesterday, I got to talk to chairman Netero about something."

"Is that why you were late?"

She nods. "It was about a board game I used to play. It was always with the same person, always." She looks out the window. "He was very kind, and incredibly intelligent. I don't remember who it was, and even in my dreams, he's figureless, but I remember being very fond of him." Then she swallows, being snapped back to reality. "I-I'm sorry, this must sound silly to you-"

"I don't think it's silly at all." For the time first, Rita sees him smile tenderly. "I think it's important to have people dear to you. And I'm glad you decided to tell someone like me."

"Do you have anyone dear to you?"

The air suddenly turns very thick. "..."

"You don't have to say anything," she jumps in. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"No, it's good for me, talking about the past. I should practice more anyways." He laughs in a forced way. "My clan was slaughtered by the Phantom Troupe a while back. I want to reclaim my brethren's eyes. They turn in their graves," his hands clench in his lap, "they want their eyes back."

A vendetta? At his age?

"The Phantom Troupe," she breathes,and suddenly, her fingers itch like mad for a cigarette; but, of course, there is no smoking on the bus. "The Geneiryodan, was the group responsible for my memory loss." She swallows. "A detestable pack of thieves." Who stabbed me against a tree and left me for dead. Guess I wasn't worth much.

"Ah!" The announcer's shrill voice pierces their strangely intimate moment. "We're here everyone!"

Rita suddenly flushes, appalled at her lack of self-control. Normally she is very closed off from other company, and for good reason too. Should anyone find out about her origins -origins used loosely in this concept, as her origins entailed what she's certain would have been petri dishes and test tubes- there would be no end to headaches and running from Mafia scum, she's sure. And then Pariston, oh Pariston would have her head for it.

She's glad though, because between Kurapika and herself, they've overcome the initial wave of general dislike and antipathy. Still, the blonde has such a mature way of sitting there and listening, giving feedback every once in awhile… She has not had such valuable company since… Well, from she can remember, since before the memory wipe, since she had had a valuable chess companion who she cannot recall.

Slowly, they file off of the bus, and when Rita steps outside, she is hit full on the face with a powerful gale of wind. There are dragons that sit atop the massive, perhaps steel gates that impede the path to Killua. Immediately, she begins to analyze.

There are two men, obviously dressed to pick a fight, and the rest of the fifteen-ish of them are simple, innocuous tourists. The entire 'base of operations' as Illumi and tour guide had so eloquently put it, emits an extremely… intimidating sort of feel, as if to ward off any of the faint of heart. Next to the guard station are two, locked, wooden double doors. Obviously not the way to go, if common sense held any footing at all here.

"That's really something…" Leorio blinks rapidly several times as he shields his eyes with his right hand.

"This is the front gate of the Zoldyck estate," the tour guide motions with her hand as other tourists go mad snapping photos. "Also known as the Door to Hades, because no one who's entered has ever returned alive."

Prepare to be shocked by the anomaly that is Gon Freecs, Rita rolls her eyes so hard she's sure they'll fall out of her head. If he's anything like his father, the kid'll smash that record.

"To enter," the woman drawls on, "You must enter via the double doors next to the security checkpoint, but the area beyond the gate is private property so we can't proceed."

My ass, you need to either scale the wall or go in ostentatiously.

Leorio raises his voice in disbelief; and indeed, it warrants disbelief, and also a major irritation for the orangette. There is still quite the distance to scale should the posse of four somehow manage to cross the gates, a major test in and of itself.

The rowdiness from the two "tourists" from the back of the bus before snap Rita from her mental musings.

Ten minutes later finds them as skeletons before the wooden double doors, a product of having bullied the key to the wrong door out of the security guard. The rest of the tourists scurry off out of sheer panic.

"We're good," Rita waves them off with a scowl. "We're staying, since we have to get inside." Kurapika and Leorio, she's not too sure about however; they seem just as terrified themselves.

"Well," the security guard scratches his head, confused, after the tour bus leaves them behind. "Why don't you come inside?"

And the four are obliged to do so.

"What brings you four here, all so determined to get a glimpse of what's beyond those double doors?"

Kurapika pipes up before Gon does, which Rita is silently thankful for. The blonde is more level headed, and perhaps a bit better with words than the twelve year old, and though his natural charisma might charm some, she doubts it'll do much to sway a bodyguard of the Zoldyck's.

"We're here for Killua. It seems as if his older brother forced him home against his will; hypnosis, perhaps, or simple terror might have done the trick. Regardless, it wasn't pleasant."

"I see," the guard smiles tenderly, and Rita feels her heart clench badly for some unknown reason; the elderly smiling face elicits physical pain near her heart, but she makes no outward indication of it. "You're young master Killua's friends. I've worked here for twenty years, but this is the first time any friends have come to visit."

They sit down.

"Hey, old geezer." Rita sighs. "It's okay if I have a smoke here right?"

"Yes, yes," he relents, letting his tea cool. "Help yourself, but keep away from the young ones. The smoke is bad for the lungs."

"Young ones?" Leorio snickers. "How old are you Rita-san?"

"More than double Gon's age. Probably near the creepy clown's age." She closes her eyes and sits down in a corner of the small, cramped room, lighting a joint. "Now shut up and stop gloating. I know I'm old."

The three balk and begin to giggle.

And with this, Rita falls asleep for thirty minutes.

Strange. She hadn't had a sleep so fulfilling in over several months. Strange.

Everyone, everything is happy!
- Alois Trancy (Black Butler)

"You don't seem yourself lately Chrollo."

He doesn't like the way the other pronounces his name. It is too smooth, like it doesn't mean anything. If there's anything he learned in Meteor City, it was the value of a name. Everyone else with the Japanese tongue had always said the deliberate Ku-ro-ro, three distinct syllables; but here, the man's Russian tongue shortens it to two, truncates it, and it feels as if it's cutting into him.

"Enlighten me." Kuroro feels the heavy glass in his hand and swirls the bourbon around; he's taken a total of two sips, and he doesn't think he'll be taking many more tonight. "Talk to me, Peter."

It's so bright, much to the well-hidden irritation of the Phantom Troupe head. He closes his eyes.

"You just seem like you're missing something; one would think you'd lost your dominant hand."

He resists the terrible urge to pour the bourbon on the nobleman's hand and march out of the party right then and there. Exquisite choice of words… But he reminds himself that he is a guest in Peter Dimitrova's presence, and he is not here for idle chatter, nor is he here for the expensive alcohol, as wonderful and absolutely disgusting it is; he is here for information.

"You could say that." He takes another sip. Kuroro will not admit it verbally, but he's debating the possibility that he has a drinking problem. "Continue."

"You've always been a quiet person Chrollo," he inwardly cringes. "But now it seems… you're not quiet, you're reticent."

"Forgive my ignorance, but aren't those two the same thing, my Lord?"

"Reticence is a more permanent silence, and it eats away at a person. It is defined as the act of hiding one's feelings, often synonymous with introvertedness." The noble finishes his glass and pours himself some more; how he can keep his consciousness after all of that undiluted alcohol is beyond Kuroro, but as long as he gets what he came for…

Eating away at me is right, he thinks to himself. How the mighty have fallen.

"Talk to me, my friend." He is rudy in the face and all smiles. "What's troubling you so?"

Kuroro finds he cannot answer directly.

"It's been so long since we've last sat down and had a talk."

"I exchanged words with you just two weeks ago my Lord."

"Ah," he waves his hand in the air as if to dissipate the thought, "But that was over the phone, and is altogether very different from face-to-face contact. And the last time you met me was little over five years ago, was it not?

Four, he thinks bitterly, laughing inwardly, but he nods. Four years ago at the Zoldyck estate where I fought Silva. And he tries to associate the event with the assassin in order to keep himself from associating it with another someone.

"Speaking of which, where is your companion? She was quite a beauty."

"She couldn't be here today." Kuroro simply opts to stare down at his cup. "Occupied with something."

"A shame. Ah, Chrollo I see; you need a woman."

"Preposterous." He scoffs. "I consider myself married to my work, and even that is pushing the boundaries of my capability for sentiment."

"Bah! Sentiment, who needs something like that! I meant someone to clear your mind of all the… That," the lord gestures at Kuroro's head, "swirling around in there. You must get tired, denying yourself of human solace every once in awhile."

The concept amuses Kuroro to no end, surprisingly. "Lord, I am a Spider first, a human second." And the phrase stings his tongue much more than he thought it would for having said it for merely the second time.

"You are so hardened to to the world; hold someone soft for once!" Peter Dimitrova gets up; Kuroro does the same out of some semblance of nominal respect. "Take your pick; I'll introduce you two."

Again, Kuroro is reminded of how much light there is in the enclosed space and it is slightly overpowering; he and his Spiders are so accustomed to the nocturnal workings, the Underworld of businesses, the dim lighting of their bases of operations…

As much as he hated to admit it, Kuroro was in dire need of reckless company, and Dimitrova owed him for numerous things -though the reverse also held true. The Lord was known for extravagant parties -extravagant, pronounced risqué- and so he had simply invited himself, for he knew he was always welcome.

"Lord Dimitrova…" He protests, but is cut off.

"I insist." The lord holds up his hand to Kuroro. "Now let me think, let me think." A pause; and then: "Anastasia, she's young and healthy; quite the stamina…" He rambles on and on, and Kuroro closes his eyes once more, this time in utter exasperation…. Women? Why? He wasn't interested in women, and certainly not for any cosmetic reason… Much less for comfort away from the stresses of his life. Kuroro had made his decision and he would have to atone for it.

"...formation broker, and the-"

"Say that again." He was suddenly on high alert.

"Information broker." The lord frowned.

"That woman?" Kuroro blinks. She's easy on the eyes is certain, figurewise that is, but she is dressed so ostentatiously, head to toe in bright red, the color of the flame he once knew so well. "An information broker? Specializing in what?"

"They call her Lady Liquorice. No one know's what her real name is, but she's very informed… In everything really. Especially underground dealings."

"The Mafia?"

"Oh yes," he laughs. "That's where she hails from. I'm sure she knows more about your half-brother than you yourself do."

And let's keep it that way, for Heaven's sake.

"Do you fancy her?"

"Fancy, sir? No sir." But Kuroro cannot keep the half-smirk off of his face.

TO BE CONTINUED

"My heart was entwined in a spider web. You'll always be my Highness. I wanted your love."
- Alois Trancy (Black Butler)

A/N: Wow, fast update this time. I was trying to put off studying for exams and this was the result haha. So this is the best writing I've cranked out (in my opinion) and several weeks... Maybe even months. And it's more than a thousand words longer than the previous chapter, so I hope this makes up for a little bit of the writing I won't be doing in the next two or three weeks, hhahaha (im sorry -.-).

Guys I hit chapter 20! Thanks for your continued support :) It means a lot to me. Please continue reviewing, it makes me so so happy when I get feedback 3 I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) UNTIL NEXT TIME ~