Book 2: Malum
Chapter 23: Who Are You?
Crisp September air lashes hair against her chilled face and rubicund nose. The sky is clear and the sun is shining but the air is clean and cold, just how she likes it.
"You seem to be in a good mood, Rita-san."
She frowns suddenly. "I keep telling you to just call me Rita, for the love of God."
The blonde laughs and his eyes squeeze shut.
Rita is frightened. The Yorkshin auction is now in a matter of hours, and she is frightened. Not for herself, but for Kurapika.
Naturally, the blonde's aura is one that is clean, just like the air today. It's the kind nothing can really defile; he is kind, caring, and righteous with a strong sense of moral justice. The last two or three months traveling together and teaching him has taught her this much.
But one mention of the Genei Ryodan and the kid loses his shit.
Not that she blames him. They had only raped and pillaged everything he ever loved, and that was understandable, especially since she herself also felt a certain degree of acerbic emotion and unsettledness at their mention-but the degree of his shift in mood was unfathomable.
Really, he was scary when mad.
They are in a coffee shop and Kurapika has received a well-deserved break from his duty as bodyguard for some rich man's daughter. Rita allows herself to unwind a bit, but not very much. The gathering in York Shin will bring not only prestigious, but also powerful people and she has made it a point to never make laxity in discipline a habit.
"It's been awhile," he smiles at her.
"It has." She agrees, sipping her drink. "Nice to see you. I'm certain Gon and Killua will be ecstatic to see you too. I don't think you've done all that great of a job keeping in touch."
"I was preoccupied." He shrugs but the shadow flickering over his eyes as he says it gives her chills.
They both sit there sipping their Americanos, letting the silence settle comfortably between them.
"Apprehensive?" He asks, putting his cup down.
Rita does the same, blinking. She takes a long, hard stare at him, scrutinizing how much he has changed. His facial expressions, though still there, have hardened, and so have his eyes to something steely.
She sighs. "I am. Why are you asking?"
"I feel like something large is going to happen at this auction."
"The gut feeling is never wrong, Kurapika." She puts her chin on top her hand and stares out the window. Rita knows he's right though. Something big is brewing. "Have you been taking care of yourself?"
"I've met some crazy people. I must say though, I'm glad you dragged me aside for a few weeks and pounded your Nen knowledge into me. I thought I was very prepared by the time I left your side but there are strong people out there." `
"Given that your power is for use solely against the Phantom Brigade, I'm not worried about your battles against them, so long as you keep your cool."
"You know," he brushes his hair out of his face and takes another sip. "You're the only person I've met who isn't incredibly against my vendetta."
"Oh don't get me wrong, I am." Rita rolls her eyes. "I definitely am. I think a better way to phrase it is that I think I understand."
"What do you understand?"
"That it's honestly pointless to convince you out of it. Also, the feeling itself, I think, is something I can relate to."
"Interesting," he nods, and returns his attention to his coffee.
Several months have passed since any of the original five have kept in touch, excepting Gon and Killua, since Rita is certain they have stuck together. She wonders what it's like to have a friendship as pure and as genuine as theirs is, and she can't help but feel that she probably had one like it, back when her memory was still fully up and running- but it's not something she can recall now, and if its not there for her to draw back on, then really, it's basically as if it never existed.
Shortly after they had saved Killua from his borderline abusive family -really, it wasn't borderline at all, it was outright, but Killua detested the phrase as if it said something bad about himself as a person- and Rita had seen neither Leorio nor the two of them since that time.
Killua had seemed mentally stable enough to be allowed to run amok with his companion and though Rita had had her doubts, she had to remind herself that the silver-haired assassin was not a person's typical twelve-year-old boy. Gon had been overjoyed at their reunion and Rita had chuckled to herself, guessing that from now on and for many years later, the two would be inseparable.
Leorio had made it plenty clear that he wished to pursue the course of being a doctor and she had also laughed at that remark the first time he had made it because really, the amount of learning one was required to do in that profession was nothing short of absolutely ridiculous and she would never be able to imagine Leorio of all people sit down for hours on end, face stern with steely determination. The man definitely had the drive however, and most of all, he had the real compassion that would get him through the trying times. She hopes he will surprise her.
As for Kurapika… Oh for Kurapika… The blonde had really caused her plenty of headaches, and coupled with the added stress of carrying out Pariston's little mission, Rita definitely had had her plate full.
Perhaps out of the desire to spite Pariston, Rita had decided to become the Kurta's Nen teacher. It would make Pariston's job several times harder, which was half of the point, but it would also help her gain the trust of the blonde, which covered the other half, or the actual task,
His resolve had astounded her the first time they had met up. Originally everyone had decided to go their separate ways, but Rita had been surreptitiously keeping tabs of Kurapika since she couldn't very well lose his trail- answering to Pariston's wrath was the one thing she wasn't up for. After going to a job matchmaker in some shady part of town and failing the Nen test, he had exited the building in a flurry of rage, upset and angry, believing himself to be a fully qualified Hunter.
She had crept into that dilapidated building several minutes after he had left and talked to the woman sitting at the secretary's desk.
"What kind of job was he looking for?"
"He?" The purple-skinned woman had fixed her with a look.
"The boy that just left. Didn't know his Nen."
"Mmm," she put her chin on her left hand. "Why should I tell you?"
"For the hell of it." Rita crossed her arms. "Also because I'm his friend and I want to help him out. We passed the Hunter Exam together." She put her Hunter License on the desk.
"Same date of graduation indeed. Fine then. He's looking for something that might grant him access to anything with the Scarlet Eyes. But I couldn't give him the job. He's not ready yet and if I sent him in like that, he'd get killed very quickly."
"Oh you don't have to justify yourself to me. I understand wholeheartedly. Thank you for the information. So long."
And that had been that.
Except it hadn't because shortly after that she had caught up to Kurapika and grabbed him by the wrist.
"Rita-san?!" He seemed thunderstruck.
"Hey pretty-boy," she had smirked. "How you doing?"
A lot had gone on in the several days after she had pulled him aside in order to teach him Nen. The first of these many events was that Rita had learned the extents to which the blonde was prepared to go to in order to extract his revenge.
Though no one had taught her how to activate Nen properties in other people, Rita felt as if it was something she had always inherently known, now that she was a Nen user with an acute awareness of her body. There were certain areas that her aura had a tendency to concentrate around, the body's micropyles that needed to be opened.
After having forcibly opened them in Kurapika, he took a rather long time adjusting to the new changes in his body, nearly passing out due to being initially unable to stopper the rush of aura exiting his body.
Upon completing that task however, the orangette came to realize that Kurapika was a natural.
TWO MONTHS PRIOR
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I was hit by a truck and left on the asphalt to die."
Rita blinks and stiffles a chuckle. He sounds like her. "That's awfully specific."
"That's specifically what I feel like." She doesn't miss the subtle growling in the back of his throat to signify that she should probably shut up for awhile.
He's tired and it's understandable; learning to cope with having to constantly keep your life force from leaving one's body was almost always an exhausting and full-time task when initially begun.
Kurapika sits in his ascetic white clothing, having discarded his colorful robe in order to better focus on meditating. She feels his aura fluctuating wildly as he struggles to put a reign around it. A sudden rush, and then a frantic restraining before he seems to lose control of it to release another torrent of Nen.
He releases an incredibly frustrated hiss when he can't seem to get the hang of it, angry more with himself and his clumsiness than anything else.
Rita stands up from her own meditating position beside Kurapika and gently places her hands on his shoulders.
"Shhh." She closes her eyes. "This typically happens when your emotions are in turmoil and your thoughts are too turbulent for you to focus one-hundred percent."
"Sounds about right," he makes a tsk sound with his tongue, teeth gritted.
Rita can figure out what to do. The process of Nen for her has been one that had always been inherent; unlike others, she had had control of her Nen for as long as she could remember- funny because she couldn't remember much.
"I know it's stifling for you but put your robe back on." Rita tells him. "It might be hot but it will give your Nen something to cling to and you won't lose your energy quite as rapidly. I don't want you passing out on me."
"I'm not going to pass out." He grumbles.
"It wasn't a request, Kurapika."
And so he grudgingly obliges.
Rita sits down criss-cross in front of him and steadies her own aura so it won't be impacted by Kurapika's chaotic one. She takes a deep breath. "Give me your hands."
At this he hesitates.
All of Kurapika's actions, Rita understands painfully well, but that isn't to say it doesn't irk her to some extent. For beginners, the hands are the main outlet for escaping Nen, the hands and the bare back, so they become incredibly sensitive- the body's defense mechanism to deter the user from offering them to anyone who might take advantage of the fact.
Rita knows the sensation of being wary with the hands very well herself. She does not make physical contact at all if possible with other living beings. Though her natural ability, at this point, is well-controlled, but it can never hurt to be too careful; she didn't want to accidently suck the life out of anything without due reason.
"Kurapika," she closes her eyes. "Trust me."
Ten seconds later he does, closing his eyes as well and placing his hands very tenderly on top of hers. Their fingertips barely touch but it is enough to make him start back like he's been electrocuted.
"Shit!" He curses and subconsciously scrambles to put distance between them.
"Shh." She coaxes him again, as if he's some injured dog. Rita hasn't moved an inch, hasn't opened her eyes, hasn't altered her breathing pattern. "Come back here and try again."
"Not until you explain to me what that was!"
"You'll get an explanation once you learn how to depend a little on your friends pretty boy. Come back and try again. It'll take several attempts, so be patient with yourself and overcome your fear. I promise anything I do won't kill you. Also, it's in your best interest to hurry up because at this point if you don't you're in danger of fainting. You've exhausted a lot of Nen."
She's obviously pissed him off with her attitude, but Rita reasons to herself that she's almost twice his age and with more than twice the experience in Nen, so she needs to take charge here.
Indeed, it takes seven tries for them to get it right. The blonde flinches away each time, accusing her of literally ripping his aura away from her, each time Rita explaining that that is not what's going on and that he needs to have some faith in her.
On the seventh try, Kurapika shudders intensely but keeps his sitting position. He is concentrating intensely, eyes screwed shut, teeth worrying his lip. Their hands are barely making slight contact.
"Wait." She prompts. "Wait. Be patient."
He squirms.
"Wait."
And then he slowly opens his eyes, tension leaving his body through his shoulders.
"What's happening?" He's baffled.
At this point Rita opens her eyes and looks at him. The two sit, in the middle of a dying forest in drizzling rain, facing each other and holding each other's hands. Comical really. But peaceful.
Rita begins to explain.
"From what I can remember, I was born with two abilities. You need to understand that by born, I mean the earliest memory I can recall. The ability to control my Nen at will, and an inherent ability, distinctly inhuman. Through my hands, I can take the life energy of any living thing and utilize it to my own benefit. If I were to be too exhausted, I could put my hand on a tree and sap it to replenish my energy.
"There's a drawback to this though, and it's that if I am to take, I take everything. If I am to take the energy of a poisoned person, the poison at that point enters my body as well. I need to be careful about what I put my hands on too, so I understand your wariness, but trust me Kurapika. I'm here to help.
"I found out awhile ago that the process is reversible as well. I can put my own energy into things through my hands. So really, if I want to bring a wilting flower back to full health, I can do that pretty quickly. It's worth noting though that this ability is useless if a person is dead. I can't bring those that have died back to life.
"The reason why I'm having you do this is so that I can take your escaping Nen and channel it back into you through your hands. I can't rechannel all of it, but I can help with the majority of it. Can you feel it?"
Kurapika seems a little overwhelmed at all of this information and simply opts to say nothing for a few moments.
"It…" He tries to start forming a coherent sentence. "It feels weird. Like there's something sliding up and down my arms."
Rita nods, since his description matches what it's supposed to feel like, what it feels like for her.
"Do you think you've calmed down a little?" She asks him, now that the amount of Nen escaping from him has been brought under some semblance of control, though it is dependent on her.
He nods. His eyes have cleared up a bit, beginning to revert back to the crystalline blue they usually are.
"Good, let's go on…"
He's a conjurer, she realizes. All he can think about are chains, day in or day out, chaining this force of evil to the ninth layer of Hell where Phantom Troupe members all apparently belong. Rita has never hated someone this much -except perhaps Pariston, but even that was a stretch- so she finds it hard to understand, but she does know the feeling of being willing to put everything to your name on the line for something; she tells herself this is why she helps him closer to his own destruction but also to his own salvation. His revenge; but also his ability to fend for himself.
He is specialist, however, when his eyes turn that pretty scarlet hue, and he can use every nen property at 100%.
It's such a waste.
Such latent talent, Rita had never before seen in her entire life, and if Kurapika would just have the patience to sit down and hone it carefully, precisely, delicately… He could probably do just about anything he ever wanted, especially if he could get his eyes to bend to his will, instead of the other way around.
It doesn't matter though. She teaches him the Nen he wants to learn the way he wants to learn it. With his mindset, Rita knows he will not live long, even if his vendetta succeeds. Such was life.
And after the training is done, after she has successfully pounded the principles of Nen into his small body, Kurapika can quickly and skillfully pull his Nen chain from thin air in less than a fraction of a second; he can summon his rage in that window of time as well.
So she lets him go, to meet him again in September at the world's largest -and perhaps most dangerous- auction. He doesn't look back after the first word of "goodbye."
She knows that one day, he'll probably kill all of the Spiders.
Even if he stops wanting to.
He sips his Americano, brushing his long hair behind his ear with his left hand. Rita watches him pensively. Her coffee has long since gone cold. It sucks, quality-wise, and she's never been one for cheap coffee anyways.
"Do you think you're ready?"
"No one knows whether they'll show up here at all." Kurapika seems to be trying to hard to convince himself, much less her. It's as if he doesn't want to give himself false hope.
She looks toward the ceiling of the cafe where two ceiling fans are spinning in perfect unison with one another. And then she looks to the clock above the entrance, which reads 2:30 PM. The other clock above the order station reads the same. They tick in conjunction with one another, immaculately, neither falling out of sync.
But its only a matter of time before time takes its toll on the man-made failures to harness it. One will eventually run out of battery, or be affected by the force of nature, or…
She blinks.
"I know." And then she gets up and pays for both of them, throwing her hood up before exiting the cafe.
On the way out she passes a trio, two adolescents and one older man. Strangely familiar auras.
Rita leaves them to Kurapika.
Rita opts to find herself a library to hole up in until the auction starts. She is exhausted really. The previous months not having the Hunters around to use as an excuse against receiving Pariston's calls had drained the living fuck out of her.
Eight times in a matter of several short months he had asked for her favors. Five of them had been assassination missions. Three of them intel gathering. It was like each mission took ten years off of her lifespan.
It was impossible of course, but it sure as hell felt like it.
She couldn't even meet up with Ging except for on occasion afterward, because firstly, the man was so hard to find, and secondly, because his senses were as sharp as ever. Pariston always left malicious Nen clinging to her, though she was sure it was involuntary.
Honestly, she is so tired, so so weary. She contemplates booking a hotel room but she knows that she won't get much sleep over the course of these next three days anyways. Pariston will be sure to call her for something and she knows she will have to engage in combat with someone sooner or later.
And the matter of the Spiders and her past.
She is not sure she wants to know how they have anything to do with her identity if it means recovering her memory. Though Ging definitely had not believed her when she said she did not mind not having a memory, Rita had been deadpan honest.
It was frightening. Finding out who a person was. Who she was. Who she could be.
Aggghh, she wants to tear all of these intrusive thoughts out of her mind.
Three blocks away she spots a library. Rita picks up the pace so she can scamper inside and until the main show starts.
The library is enormous, but dim. She curls up in a musty corner to sleep for about 45 minutes. Any longer than that would be dangerous; her body would wake her up on its own after that as well, sensing an unusually long bout of naptime.
When she gets up she decides to wander through the aisles and look at the grandeur of man's knowledge bound and ready for her to take in.
She spends two or three hours scouring the books for everything she pleases, releasing her inhibitions and just allowing herself some enjoyment. She reasons she should for now, seeing as the auction will probably suck ass.
"You're not attending the auction Miss?"
Rita turns around to find a frail old woman, well-aged, perhaps about 75 years old, smiling at her tenderly. The orangette is inexplicably touched.
"Oh, I am," she quickly reassures her. "I am, it's just that it gets really chaotic in the hours leading up. I've always enjoyed the library anyways. I can get there in less than ten minutes so I'll just wait until it begins."
"Oh how nice." She's short, with the whitest hair and most genuine smile. "It's hard to find people your age who spend a lot of time around here anymore. It's nice to see."
"Am I the only one here?" Rita asks as she pulls a book about ancient board games from the musty shelves. Brushing her hand over the multitude of both new and worn spines in the dim glow of the warm lights, it's hard not to feel the presence of kindred spirits lift her up.
The librarian needs to think about it before she answers. "No actually. There's another man here, but he's kind of funny-looking so I couldn't quite bring myself to talk to him." She catches sight of the book in Rita's hands. "Are you looking into buying a board game for the auction?"
"No, I'm not. I just realized I didn't catch your name," Rita says, realizing her pretentiousness. "I'm Rita. What's yours?"
The old woman seems to be very happy she asked. "Call me Kelly, sweetheart. Now that I think about it, that other man was looking about a chess book or some sort, if you're into that."
Rita's heart leaps up into her throat. There aren't been many things she could be sure about herself up to this point, but whenever a headache is triggered, Rita knows she is on the right track. Anything about chess always brought the worst wave of sadness and nostalgia crashing over her.
"Where exactly was the section? I'm looking into chess actually."
"Oh ho, I'm glad I told you then." She smiles, holding a finger up and turning around. "Follow me."
They walk for what must be a full two minutes. The library is spacious and large, something that she does not realize until she is really scrutinizing it; there is a lot of room between the shelves to move around. Her only complaint is the amount of dust.
"Oh dear, he's still there."
Rita almost slams into the old woman's back; she had stopped abruptly right before they rounded the corner of the shelf to turn into the aisle.
"I'm going to leave you to it deary, I get the chills around his type."
"I understand. Thank you Kelly," Rita smiles at her and watches her leave, though a bit confused.
His type?
A Nen user maybe. Malicious Nen could feel positively terrifying around those who didn't have it to use at their disposal. Rita ponders this as she rounds the shelf and begins walking down the long aisle toward the middle where there is a figure standing with an open book.
Chess, chess, chess…
It's hard to see because the lighting is awfully dim and flickers every once in awhile. The library, though soothing, is somewhat creepy.
Gradually she creeps closer to the man.
Rita's breath is driven from her body all at once and she has to stop walking for several long seconds. She is being attacked.
Not five feet away he stands, calmly looking through his book about chess. He flips the page. One would never guess that his Nen would encompass such a large radius around his body unless using Gyo.
If Nen is normally a pale white color, his has to be an opaque black. It feels slippery, sharp, and strangely fragmented in certain places.
Pull yourself together.
Rita takes a deep breath blasts Ren, increasing her Ten output and forcibly bringing her heart rate back down. She resumes walking.
Step, step, step, step…
"That was a rude greeting." Rita decides to speak to him outrightly, in English. The auction is an international one and she supposes that's the most widely used language up to date. She purses her lips as she pulls a book by the spine from the shelves right next to him. Purposely, to spite him, she stands very close to him.
"Forgive me," he shuts his book and shelves it for another one. His own English is as flawless as hers. "I couldn't help myself."
"Not true," she states as she flips through the pages of her own. "Twelve year old boys can't help themselves and you look to be least mid-twenty."
"You're not taking part in the auction?"
"Oh I am. I'm sure you heard our conversation a few minutes ago. And what about you?"
"I'll be there later. I suppose I'll be seeing you there."
Her heart pounds against her ribcage like it wants to tear itself away from its confines, and it irks her because really, she has nothing to be afraid of. She is not cocky, but rather self-assured in her Nen abilities, and though this man had taken her off-guard, it wouldn't happen again.
"Do I…?" He runs his fingers over the text in his book. The air is stagnant, still, incredibly tense; almost electric. "..."
"Perhaps." Rita answers, knowing how the question will go. "I get that a lot. But the fact remains that I don't know you, unfortunately."
There is excruciating silence.
"For the love of god, didn't anyone ever teach you any manners?" Rita frowns, crossing her arms to face him.
His Nen is entwining itself with hers. Unlike Kurapika's and Gon's, this man's aura is more like Pariston's -though not quite as revolting- in that it moves in tendrils, independent almost with a mind of its own. She can't help but get the vague notion that he is touching her all over.
For the first time she gets a good look at his face. Deep, endless onyx eyes stare and bore into her. On his forehead is the mark of Christ and his dark hair is slicked back. Like her, he is self-assured, but not arrogant.
"Wh-Who," she curses her stuttering voice. "Who are you?"
He sighs a long-suffering sigh, one that nearly makes her feel some semblance of sympathy for him. "I would like to know that too."
He grabs her left hands and presses a very precisely folded piece of paper into it. Rita is surprised and confused. Slowly she opens it.
Funeral song; dirge, is written in Kanji at the top, in beautiful calligraphy. Right below, in normal pen ink reads pawn to C2.
When she looks up to ask him about it, he has disappeared.
TO BE CONTINUED.
A/N: Aghhafkdfssnd ! It's been more than three months, I know ;^; I'm so so sorry. I've been so crazy busy and I've been freaking out because people are getting so impatient for Kuroro and Rita to meet up. I had so much more planned but I knew I couldn't keep you all on the edge forever, so I tried to make a chapter that covered this enormous time skip after saving Killua all the way to the auction. It's very rushed, I know, and I didn't even have the patience to slap quotes in there, please forgive me. It's not the longest chapter I could have given you but I hope you enjoy it. What did you guys think? Did you make the connections?
Please read and review c: Sorry for the wait again. Until next time.