Ah, I want to thank everyone for the support so far. I am so happy you like this story, and your words encouraged me to write.

This chapter is a little longer than the first two chapters. I just hope you will enjoy it.

Happy reading everyone :)

Chapter 3: Apology

"Neon-sama, is something on your mind?" From the sound of Eliza's voice, Neon could tell she was worried. She didn't even need to turn her head around or disrupt Eliza's gentle hands; that were carefully combing her silky blue hair to see the older woman's brows knitted together with concern.

Neon was aware she hadn't been herself lately. Her mind constantly drifted someplace else entirely new. For as long as she'd lived in this world, it was the first time she had ever experienced such disturbance. She had always been a bubbly girl, couldn't careless whatever was happening to the world, as long as her desires were fulfilled- and that normally revolves around; body parts, dresses, shoes, accessories, basically everything Neon wants, Neon gets- then she'd be content.

"Where's Kurapika? I haven't seen him for days." She asked for the third time that day and the last time she did was an hour ago. It wasn't as if the boy in subject had always been there to guard her and frankly, she hadn't given it much thought, until the night after the auction. That night hadn't been a pleasant one; she didn't get to bring anything home for her collection, partly because of Kurapika and mainly because of that creepy bald man, whatever his name was. However, despite of those unpleasant things, that night she went to bed with a smile on her face. And it was all thanks to the magical, fairytale moment- like a knight in shining armor, Kurapika had shielded her from the perverted baldy. Of course it was obviously Kurapika's job to safeguard her from any harm, but she couldn't help but feel like a butterfly in a garden full of sunshine and flowers and it wasn't like this when Dalzollene or the other bodyguards did the same. When a handsome man your age was the one guarding you instead of some older guy in their late twenties or thirties, you can pretty much feel the difference between the experiences.

From the day after that night, she would –on instinct- be searching for the young bodyguard's presence, only to be disappointed when she found out that he wouldn't be guarding her for the day and she was getting impatient by the minute. She needed to see him, and have him do all sorts of things with her; things like playing poker, shopping and all other kinds of fun stuff.

Eliza quietly groaned, rolling her eyes with irritation. "He's with your father." she repeated the answer she gave her lady an hour ago, as she did an hour before that, yesterday, and the day before yesterday. She couldn't even count the number of times she had answered the same question for just one day with all her fingers, and that included her fingernails and toenails altogether. As sweet as young lady Neon could be, she was also a pain in the neck. And frankly, Eliza had almost given up on this job itself, and why she hadn't was a complete mystery. The first time she'd worked there, she thought she was only there for the money and Squala's company. Now that the Nostrade was technically bankrupt and the fact that her lover was dead, murdered tragically on duty, it was only sane that she should have just quit and get a new job. Maybe she should write a resignation letter later that night. Even with her gone, Neon would still have Lila and that is if Lila hadn't thought about resigning too.

Neon pouted and crossed her arms over her chest in a childish manner. "Seriously, is he my bodyguard or daddy's?" No one knows about this, but apparently, her daddy was the main reason behind why she hadn't gone over to Kurapika and asks him to play with her, instead of just sitting around in her room, waiting for him all day. Neon would not admit it herself, but she was afraid to see her father. Ever since they found out that she had suddenly unable to use her power or predict the future, it was no secret that Light Nostrade had been miserable. He refused to eat. He locked himself in his office and had been ignoring phone calls from his supposedly business partners. Neon was aware, she was the cause of all her father's troubles. She recently found out that he was unable to pay his debts and Kurapika was the reason why the Nostrade family was still living in their mansion and Neon eating well and groomed. Nobody dared to tell her and she was kept in the dark about everything, until two nights ago when she'd slipped into Kurapika's room –only to find it empty-, she overheard the conversation between Basho and Linssen in the Bodyguard's quarter's hallway. The fact had deeply perturbed her, first of all she was angry that everyone thought she didn't need to know about her family situation and secondly, she was angry at herself for being unable to summon her Lovely Ghostwriter. When she went back to her room that night, she didn't sleep. She was up all night, with a piece of paper and a pen, trying all her might with hope to finally be able to predict the future again. But of course, all those time she spent concentrating was in vain.

"Forgive me for being blunt Neon-sama, but why are you so eager to see Kurapika?" There, she'd said it. Eliza had been holding this question to herself for the past couple of days, for fear it would be inappropriate for a servant like her to ask her mistress. She was getting bolder, and all thanks to her will that she would finally quit this God forsaken job. Words were getting around that Neon Nostarde had a crush on Kurapika, her newly appointed head bodyguard. Eliza could not believe what she had heard, she was curious and nobody was foolish enough to put their job on the line over some silly teenage gossip. And she had a feeling that Lila and herself had something to do with it, because the rumor started from the night when they suggested to the lady that she should start getting friendly with Kurapika.

Neon hesitated for a moment, but she decided to just tell Eliza. She was -afterall- the closest person she would call a friend, aside from Lila. " Remember that auction night?"

"Uhum."

"I did as you and Lila had told me. Well, not the 'getting to know him' part, but the other one."

They did say those other unnecessary things about Kurapika- but wait a second- Lila was actually the one who planted that idea in the innocent little lady!

"You were right. He is… as handsome as an angel, and I almost forgot he's actually a mortal man." Neon folded her hands together in a ball and sighed dreamily. Meanwhile, Eliza sweat dropped behind her and thought the young miss was exaggerating. "At first I thought he was a huge jerk, but then he protected me from daddy's enemy. I don't know what his name was, but that guy was freaking me out. I mean-" she went on and on with her story and when she finished, she re-tell the entire story in a whole different way, she even jumped out of her bed and started acting.

When Eliza couldn't handle anymore of her repeating story, she forced a smile to her face and asked the one other thing she had on her mind, not far different from what she had asked earlier, but it was more straight forward. "Do you have a crush on him?"

Neon paused momentarily, stared blankly at the maid and when her question slowly registered in her mind, her face went pink. Eliza almost smirked in response, but tried to hold herself back until she heard the clear answer. "I- I don't know." Neon blurted, her face was getting hotter by the minute and she gripped on her skirt to control her sudden burst of emotion.

Eliza wanted to slap her own forehead with the palm of her hand for being one of the people who had caused this childish crush between a mistress and her bodyguard, although it was most likely one sided. She couldn't see Kurapika having return that childish crush. Well seriously, who in their right mind would have a crush on Neon Nostrade? Well, she's a beautiful young lady, I'll give her that. Other than that, she's a demanding, hard as nails little brat. Eliza beat herself for putting those thoughts into Neon's innocent mind. To hell with that! She would have a very long talk with Lila after this, because she was the one who actually implanted the very ideas in details. All Eliza did was, encouraging Neon to make friends with Kurapika, because she actually felt sorry for the young miss. The poor girl never hung out with anyone her age, she must be lonely.

Even though it's just a tiny little bit of a crush, Eliza seriously didn't know head start that Neon would actually feel at least something for Kurapika. The boy had been in this house for at least a couple of months, and Neon just realized his good looks now? And to the point of exaggerating? It was just plain weird. Was Neon really that ignorant of who was guarding her, that she didn't even took notice of even the obvious things like their looks? But despite being her bodyguard, he was rarely around Neon. Eliza could bet on her money, they had only seen each other a total of twenty four hours and all that put together from the day Kurapika started working here. She'd had to agree with Neon, Kurapika spent way too much time with Light Nostrade rather than with the daughter- who he was supposed to guard.

"Ha-ha, don't worry about it Neon-sama. It's normal for a teenage girl to feel something from just watching a pretty-boy."

"You think so?" Neon smiled in relief. "And does that mean he also has a crush on me? Since, well… He kind of told me that I looked beautiful that night."

That was not the impression Eliza was trying to get to Neon.

"Um…He did?" From what she'd heard, Neon demanded the poor boy to answer her truthfully and she did it in a rather– seductive way. Most likely unintentional, but who knows what's on the Boss mind.

"Yes, and I think he's telling the truth."

"But I don't think-" Eliza mumbled.

"What was that?" Neon pivoted her head and was eying her attendant carefully, as if she would jump and bite her head off if she said something she didn't want to hear.

"N-Nothing."

"You know what, I am going to see him right now." Neon declared and she got up from her bed carelessly. 'Maybe I'll go and check up on daddy too while I'm at it.' She noted to herself. As unnerving as the thought of facing her father with nothing to show of the future, there's no way they'd just avoid each other for the rest of their lives. They are still family afterall, and her daddy was the only family she had.

"But Neon-sama, I haven't done with your-" before Eliza could finish her sentence, Neon was already stormed out of her room, leaving the older woman sitting on the side of the bed with a wooden comb in her hand. "-hair."

As she was leaping her way upstairs, her hands were pulling up her long skirt high enough to avoid tripping herself. Her long hair was swaying in a graceful dance, free from the usual tight bandana that held them in place. Neon was elated, as she grew closer towards her destination, her heart leaped faster and faster and a wide smile graced her lips.

Kurapika sighed warily the moment he stepped outside of Light Nostrade's office. That useless old man could do nothing but worry about the future, stressing himself over what to do rather than do anything at all. Kurapika was unofficially the new head of the Nostrade's house, in other words, the Boss himself. He was doing all the illegal paper works, dealing with drug trafficking, gambling, not exactly doing those himself, but he did assign guards and foot soldiers to do those dirty works. And with the number of soldiers and associates they had right now, they are seriously at a disadvantage of falling into the Nostrade's enemies. This wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he said he wanted to work for the mafia. He was still here, helping Light, only because of her daughter's hobby of collecting body parts. It was the perfect chance to get closer to one of his goals, collecting the eyes of his brethren, the Scarlet eyes.

He heard loud and quick footsteps closing in, and he instantly knew who that was. There was only one person in this house who would run like that. The girl turned around the corner, and revealed Neon Nostrade waving at him with a wide smile on her face. What does she want now? Kurapika mentally groaned to himself. Not only did he have to deal with the older Nostrade, but also the young one and she's also the one who could cause him even more unnecessary trouble. And it was no secret she had been asking about him all around and she did sneak into his room two nights ago, traces of her was all over his room. She had been lying on his bed, playing with his things, trying on his outfit and her scent filled his entire room almost permanently. He could still smell her whenever he returned to his quarter. It was a sweet scent, yes. Even helped him sleep at night, but when he's conscious and wide awake in the morning, he felt like the Boss was with him in the room, sleeping on the same bed. Which was wrong, so, so terribly wrong. Whenever he stayed idle long enough, he would start to imagine improper things.

His behavior on the night of the auction was probably what triggered those thoughts. However, he had come to a conclusion -doing all sorts of research with books and magazines- that it was perfectly normal for a teenage boy like him to be captivated and –just a little- turned on from just watching a remarkably attractive young woman. It was also a form of evidence, despite popular opinions, Kurapika of the Kurta clan is definitely not gay.

Neon halted in front of him in a sudden stop and as she tried to regain her breath, she stared him in a way that gave him a tingling sensation. Her hair was disheveled and her cheeks tinted a light shade of red.

"You are here to see your father, I presume." Kurapika knew -in all certainty- that she had come for him and not her father, but he wanted to know why she hadn't come to him sooner. It was never a good idea to be too blunt and he didn't want to sound stuck up, thus he pretended he didn't know she had been looking for him. It was the only plausible course of action.

"Not really. I want you to come with me, so we can go shopping together." She told him eagerly.

Kurapika faked a smile and immediately lied through his teeth. "Sorry, but I still have things to do." There was no way in hell, he was going to go shopping with this ditzy narcissistic excuse of a woman. He had heard of the horrors about going on a shopping trip with her. Hours of going around the shopping mall, and by the end of the day, he'd be carrying countless of shopping bags, all stacked up in a mountain that could fall any minute. No way! He'd rather stay here and do her father's dirty work.

"You can do it later. Now, come on!" she pulled on his wrist unceremoniously.

"But-"

The door behind Kurapika suddenly shifted open. "Neon?" The voice belonged to Light Nostrade -who was then staring at the two teenagers in confusion. When his weary eyes lingered downwards and found her daughter's hand holding onto her bodyguard's wrist, the alarmed Kurapika immediately pulled his hand away and cleared his throat to disrupt the awkwardness.

"Daddy?"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I was just getting Kurapika to go shopping with me." Neon explained, afraid to look into her father's eyes and for what's to come next. He'll probably ask her about the future –can be anything related to the sensitive subject- and so she decided to get away from him as soon as possible. All thoughts about greeting the only family she had, was thrown out the window. "Alright then, we'll be going now. Bye daddy." She pulled on Kurapika's hand once again, but before they could take a step further Light stopped her daughter with a hard grip on her shoulder.

"Neon, have you been trying to summon your Ghostwriter?" his tone was rigid and it sounded like he had been expecting her to do so. He sounded like a teacher asking a student if she had done her homework. "You need to concentrate, maybe then it'll come out."

Neon cursed herself for being there right now. She even thought about greeting her father before she got there. What was she thinking? All her daddy wanted was for her to predict the future. The future, the future, the future, that was all Light Nostrade always worrying about. Neon was not oblivious to the fact that her father was only using her for his benefit. He would give her anything she wants, as long as she tells him the future. And now that she couldn't even use her power, she was scared that he would deny her of everything and abandon her.

"I can't do that anymore!" she yelled, as she spun around to give her father a brave look while tightening her grip on Kurapika's wrist.

"Then try harder!"

"There's no point in trying. All you ever think about is the future. Have you ever thought about how I feel?"

"You know I give you everything you want as long as you-"

"No! I hate you. I hate you. You always lie to me, and now you are acting like this. You wont eat, you lock yourself in and you won't even come over to my room to see me. I-" as she spoke, her eyes began to water and her lips were trembling.

Kurapika could do nothing but watch. It was definitely awkward, being caught in between a family argument and there was no way to escape Neon's iron grip. She may have a small frame, but her strength was of a silverback gorilla and if he might add, her temper was in the same classification too.

"Kurapika, escort her back to her room and make sure she gets back to actually trying." The older Nostrade enunciate the last word with full effect and before Kurapika could open his mouth for his answer, Light went back to his room and slammed the door out of frustration.

Neon was already sobbing and crying quietly and Kurapika took notice that it was not her usual childish cry. He never thought he would ever see her like this, seriously crying if that even makes sense to anyone.

"Boss…" he uttered with concern. Kurapika's a smart man, knew lots of things, but it was at times like this he needed someone's opinion… How does one handle a situation like this? He didn't know exactly what to do. Should he comfort her with a pat on her back? Offer her a handkerchief? Or a hug? No, the last one was out of the question.

Before he could think of an appropriate way to calm the poor girl, she suddenly took off from where she had been standing, leaving Kurapika slightly flabbergasted. "W-wait!" he called out and started after her before he could lose sight of where she was heading. He was supposed to be escorting her to her room, not running after her.

The young Boss led him to her room, and he grumbled to himself when he saw no one was there. He was stuck with the same situation once again. All that running, he was hoping he would bump into someone else and let them handle her instead, but unfortunately he wasn't that lucky.

He turned to shut the door behind them and sighed as he saw her shaking form; on the bed, weeping into her pillow.

There was no way he could do as Light told him to. How could that old man be so harsh on his own daughter –who had been trying so hard, wasted countless hours just on concentrating in hope to be able to use her power again. Which was a completely useless effort if anyone asked him. No one else other than him knew that her Lovely Ghostwriter was gone forever, stolen by the man he pursued to kill.

"Boss."

Sobbing.

Kurapika decided to approach the bed.

"Boss."

Sobbing.

He leaned forward, carefully patted Neon's shoulder. "Boss."

"What do you want?" she finally said in between sobs. Her voice sounded heavy, and her face still buried in the pillow.

"Your father, he-"

Kurapika jolted a little when Neon suddenly sat up on her bed, her lovely face was glistening with freshly shed tears and her eyes were glassy, the white surrounds her blue irises had turned red. "What am I suppose to do? I've tried so hard and I still can't do it." She continued weeping into the palm of her hands.

The young bodyguard stared wide-eyed at the girl, utterly muddled with the situation at hand. This wasn't in the job description, he reminded himself.

After a while, she just stopped crying entirely and she gave him a look as if she had realized something. "If I try harder, Ghostwriter will come back to me. Then daddy will be happy again and everything will go back to how it used to be…."

"Boss..." Kurapika was contemplating if he should just tell her the truth.

"And, and we can go to the auction together and I can go shopping everyday." Neon took her pink notebook and a pen layed on top of the bedside table. She was staring into the blank paper, holding the pen with her trembling hand, as her tears kept flowing like the waterfall.

"But-"

"I must try harder. I can't stop until-"

"Boss!" a pair of hands gripped on both sides of her arms and she glanced up to find her head bodyguard's face, her tears blurring her sight.

"Listen to me carefully. Your power is gone forever and it will never return, no matter how hard you try!" as he shoved those words in her face, she blinked a couple of times to shake the tears away and took note of the serious look on his delicate features.

"Why?"

"It's stolen."

"Stolen? By who?"

"Do you remember the man you went to the auction with, a couple of weeks back in Yorknew city?"

Neon sniffed and looked down on her floral printed bed cover to recall. "You mean Chrollo? Chrollo Lucifer?" she uttered with confound as she stared back at her bodyguard. What has Chrollo got anything to do with this?

Kurapika bit on his bottom lip at the mention of the name he detests more than anything before he answered her. "Yes. He is the one."

"But why? Chrollo is a very courteous guy. He helped me get into the building, took me to a fancy restaurant, we talked a lot and he was being very honest. He even cried in front of me. I don't think he would ever steal my ability. I am pretty sure he didn't." It was the first time Neon had ever seen a man cry, and not to mention he was a dashing gentleman. The entire scene was very touching, really. She even felt lucky, Chrollo was willing to openly cry in front of her. Therefore, there was no way he would ever have done that to her.

His anger and -surprisingly- jealously, brewing like a red tide with every word that came out of her mouth. He gritted his teeth, and he was pretty sure his eyes must have turned crimson.

"You must be mistaken." She was staring down at her lap, afraid to meet his eyes. She could feel he wasn't pleased with her answer even for the slightest. "One day, I will be able to use my ability again, I just need to-"

"What? Try harder? Are you really this innocent or are you just plain stupid?"

"Excuse me?!" Neon was clearly offended by his words. What's with this guy? Why the hell was he so angry? He didn't just yell at her once, but he had to do it twice now didn't he?

"Don't you get it? He is a bad guy! That man is a scumbag who would kill to get everything he wants. He is a criminal, the leader of the Phantom Troupe, the head of the spiders! He manipulated you, so he could get the right chance to steal your ability!" All those words came out spewing into space like a volcano that had finally burst out all of its pent up emotions. His eyes were flashing the strange light once again, his nostrils were flaring and his face flushed red with rage.

"No! You don't know that- kyaa!" the grip on both of her upper arms were tightened and Neon winced at the pain they caused.

He was so consumed in his anger to realize he had hurt the lady he was supposed to guard and protect. "He is the same guy who massacred my parents, my friends, the entire clan and stolen their eyes! You have no right to defend him." he hissed, his words filled with so much hate.

She stared at him bewildered. She had always thought he would never reveal his past to her and he just did, in a way that came down crashing together like a massive wave of tsunami. The fact that she had lost her power because of Chrollo Lucifer, the fact that the man she thought was a saint; was not only a thief, but also a murderer and the fact Kurapika's past was a nightmare compared to anything bad she had ever experienced. No, losing her chance with precious body parts or being lied to by her father was nothing compared to what he'd been through. Eliza lost a lover, and she cried for weeks. Neon couldn't imagine what her head bodyguard must have gone through, he didn't lose one, but everyone he'd ever known.

A new round of tears started brimming her eyelids as she chewed on her quivering lower lip. Her hands slowly went up to cupped his face, gently. "I'm sorry." She whimpered, a single tear dropped from her eyes. The words just spurted out of her mouth as if it was the only right thing to say.

Kurapika was stunned by her gentleness. His eyes doubled in size and his mouth went dry. Her hands were soothing his anger away and the warmth radiating from them slowly reminded him of his position in that house. He pushed the comfort away as realization dawned upon him, that he had yet again acted on impulse. He had to look away as he stood on his feet; his knees had somehow rested themselves on her bed during the explosion of his wrath.

Hee bowed his head apologetically. "I apologize for my indecency."

"No, I'm the one who should apologize! I'm an idiot for trusting Chrollo. I didn't know he-" she paused when she realized what she was about to say, afraid she would ignite the sensitive rage inside of him. "Still, I'm sorry for always causing you and the others so much trouble. Please understand that this is all new to me. Ever since Yorknew, I've felt things I've never felt before and I wish I had listened to daddy and get on the flight home that night. Because of me, because of me everyone-"

Her tears were threatening to fall and a light blue handkerchief came out of nowhere, drying her eyes and tear soaked face. Kurapika gave her a small smile, and Neon was mesmerized. He then opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came and she wondered why she had said all those things to him, of all people. She had been unsure of blaming herself for whatever happened to the people around her, but she did just poured that all out with a genuine sense of responsibility.

She caught his wrist and lightly took his handkerchief, holding them close to her nose and she took notice of its particular scent; a mixture of what she thought were of herbs and fresh laundry. It was of the simplest things, but she loved the smell of it and now she couldn't help but wondered if he smelled the same.

Kurapika watched her curiously with a raised brow, confused by her action.

"You don't mind if I keep this, do you?"

"I… don't really mind, but why?" he questioned with a disbelieving face. There was nothing special about his plain, cheap handkerchief he bought from the department store. It was a buy one get one free deal, and she couldn't understand why she took a liking to such thing.

Neon shrugged. "Because I like it."

"Huh?" Well, he just didn't get it.

"So, I'll take that as a yes." She declared and flashed her bodyguard the sweetest smile he had ever seen. "Thank you." She added, holding onto the piece of cloth in her hands like a treasured gift.

The display before him was entrancing and caused a rosy scarlet color to spread over his cheeks, making his face appeared childlike in an instant. He pulled his gaze away as he cleared his throat. "Y-you are welcome." He mumbled under his breath in a skittish way.

Before he knew it, Neon got up from her bed and pulled on his wrist like she did before. "Now let's go shopping, shall we?" she blinked at him coquettishly, but instead of blushing over her irresistibleness, Kurapika turned pale.

There was no way to get out of the incoming terror that was shopping with Neon Nostrade.

That night, Kurapika and his fellow bodyguards returned with terrible backache and wobbly legs.