Hello! Sorry I didn't update last week. Had a rough time and had to take a break after being put on suicide watch. But I'm back now and here's the next chapter! Thanks for the review and all the faves and follows. It really makes me happy! Big hugs!
Killua tried not to smirk as he made his way to the elevator in Regent Hotel. He was pleased to see that he hadn't lost his touch, and had accomplished his goals with minimum violence.
He found Dr. Matts in his luxurious apartment downtown. After a phonecall to his brother, Milluki, just to ensure that Dr. Matts wasn't an ally of sorts, and in exchange for a rare figma, Killua entered the apartment and got to work.
Within ten minutes, he had managed to scare the living out of the doctor and retrieved the money from him, including the cost for Nikita's broken leg, twice over. He could have gotten more money to help Gon out with his game, but he knew Gon wouldn't accept that kind of aid.
Killua had threatened the doctor with his life if he went after Nikita again. He didn't want to hurt him unnecessarily, that part of himself he was trying to put behind him, but he did do a little damage to show him he meant it.
Dr. Matts seemed more than willing to co-operate with Killua, and Killua knew that he would make a run for his life the next day. Their paths wouldn't cross again in the near future.
But, the doctor had said something unsettling. As he lay there, broken and bleeding from some minor wounds, the assassin remembered how the doctor had looked at Killua and gulped. "I can promise I won't go after her. But if someone else does, you have to believe me it's not any of my people," he pleaded, and Killua glared at him.
"Explain," he ordered, and the doctor took a few shaky breaths to calm himself down.
"The girl caught some people's eyes. I don't know who they are, just that they work in the energy business. I heard they're interested in her," he told the assassin. "I swear I don't have any more details. I would have given them to you to clear my name if I did," the doctor continued, looking quite panicky. "You got your money. So, please. Spare me."
Killua crouched down next to him and took a fistful of his hair. "You will contact us when you know who they are," Killua told him, throwing him a business card with Killua's number on it. "Then, maybe I'll spare you," he added ominously, before walking out.
After ensuring the money was indeed returned to him, Killua wound up at the hotel.
He made his way back to the suite and opened the door quietly, thinking everyone would be asleep by now. He was surprised that the entire group, with the exception of Nikita, was up and wide-awake. Leorio and Senritsu, as he had overheard her name being, were polishing off a bottle of red wine while Kurapika and Gon were drinking tea.
"Welcome back!" Gon greeted, causing everyone to turn. Without replying, Killua threw his phone at him.
"I got the money back," he announced, and Gon looked at the account page that was open on Killua's phone. True enough, the money they spent on Nikita's auction, plus a bit more, was there. "The auction and her medical bills," Killua explained, and Gon beamed at him.
"So, what happened?" Leorio asked, sitting up straighter.
"I roughed him up a bit. He won't be bothering us again," Killua said, plopping down on the couch and eyeing Kurapika. "Thanks for getting her back," he gave in, acknowledging how grateful he was to the Kurta. Kurapika nodded, looking serious. "So you filled them in?" he asked, and Leorio and Gon nodded. He'd have to hear what happened at the auction from them another time. "Good. The doctor bastard mentioned some people heard about her and might be out to get her," Killua told them vaguely, sighing in irritation. "His auction gave her quite a bit of publicity…"
The atmosphere got tense after that, so Gon tried to ease it. "Kurapika and Senritsu are staying over with us for a while!"
"What? Why?!" Killua asked, not intending it to sound as mean as it did. Senritsu chuckled softly.
"Boss wants us between our original hotel and the exits of this city in case the person we're body guarding gets kidnapped," Senritsu explained, and Killua nodded.
"Okay, then," he said, before standing up. "I'll go to bed," he announced to the group. He had to resist the urge of checking on Nikita, but he knew Leorio had already tended to her leg. Instead, he bid everyone good night and went to his room, feeling completely exhausted from a night of stress.
She knew where she was before she opened her eyes. She heard the beeping from the machines that were connect to her pulse and her father's. She could smell the antiseptics in the air.
She was lying on her side, something she hadn't been doing last time. She tried to move- her right arm had fallen asleep under the weight of her body, but just like last time, she couldn't. The only part of her body that responded was her eyes.
So she opened them. Her eyes blinked slowly as they got used to the bright white light of the room. She could hear shuffling. Before her, nurses were working on her father. She wasn't sure what they were doing until she saw one of them carrying bloodied strips of cloth. They were changing bandages.
Two nurses blocked her view of her father. She wanted to crane her neck, or move slightly so she could see him, but her body wouldn't listen to her. Her throat was dry and she couldn't form a word. She felt tubes running through her nostrils. It was an uncomfortable sensation.
The nurses were speaking in a familiar language, but she couldn't make sense of anything. Her head felt foggy, like it was filled with cotton. Several moments passed before one of them moved to the left slightly.
And then she saw a sight from what could only be a nightmare.
And she screamed.
Senritsu walked into the room to fix her bed. Kurapika had done so before breakfast, while Senritsu had decided to leave it till after. She had hoped the girl would have woken up by then, so the noise wouldn't disturb her. But her hopes were to no avail.
The first thing that overcame Senritsu was the quietness of the room. Senritsu wasn't used to this kind of silence, and it took her a while to understand why.
Her eyes opened wide at the realization, and she stared at the girl's face. Her face was contorted in pain, but she wasn't breathing.
"Leorio!" Senritsu called out in panic. "Leorio, she's not breathing!"
Immediately, everyone was in the room, with Killua showing up first. He'd burst through the door at lightning speed. Gon and Leorio came next, with Kurapika behind them.
"What happened?" Leorio asked, running forward and checking the girl's pulse. Her heart had stopped. "Oh no. Nikita! Nikita, wake up!" he tried to wake the girl, but she didn't respond. He didn't know how long she'd been in this state, but the longer she stayed in it, the more damage her brain would receive from the lack of oxygen.
"I don't know. I walked in and she was like this!" Senritsu replied. Kurapika walked up beside Leorio, surveying the girl. Her chest wasn't rising and falling like it should. He wondered if he could use his chains to heal her, but he didn't know what was broken in the first place.
All of a sudden, the girl's eyes opened wide. A blood-curling scream filled their ears before it even registered to them that Nikita had parted her lips.
She screamed and screamed. Senritsu was the first to cover her ears- their sensitivity meant that it hurt her more than the others, but they followed suit, too.
Nikita had shot up into a sitting position the moment she woke up, and Kurapika tried to get her to stop screaming. He got in front of her, and was about to grab her shoulders when she grabbed him instead. Her hands balled the material of his Kurta over-part into fistfuls as her screams turned to chest-racking sobs.
Kurapika was stunned as he felt her death grip on his clothes, but the feeling didn't last long. With a start, the girl jumped off the bed, tears streaming down her face, a hand over her mouth, as she sprinted to the bathroom. The door closed behind her and the group heard her retch.
Senritsu exchanged a glance with the boys, who all looked as surprised as she did.
"At least she's alive?" Gon said tentatively.
"I'll go check on her," Senritsu announced. Leorio nodded while Kurapika smoothed the creases from his blue and gold garb. Killua was standing beside Gon, unsure of what to do.
Senritsu made her way to the en suite bathroom and opened the door. It was unlocked, thankfully, so she entered and found the girl on her knees, her head hovering over the toilet. She had a hand pressed to her forehead, trying to keep the hair from falling over her face.
Quietly, Senritsu moved the stray locks from the girl's face and neck and held her hair with one hand. Nikita leaned over once more and threw up. Senritsu made a move to caress the girl's back.
A moment later, she withdrew her hand as though she'd been electrified. Senritsu had to take in a deep breath and her mouth involuntarily went to her mouth as she felt nausea take over her body.
Despite the fact that her eyes had been wide open, she'd felt herself become teleported to a different place. She had no longer been in the bathroom, alongside the broken girl who was hunched over the toilet seat.
She was in a hospital, and what she saw sent shivers down her spine. There was a man on a hospital bed, groaning pitifully as nurses worked on changing his bandages. To Senritsu's horror, his lower jaw was missing. His skin was a mass of burns and open wounds, and his mouth was a mess of flesh and blood. There was nothing to separate his mouth from his neck. Everything hung out and Senritsu could see what was left of his tongue and teeth hang out in brutal, bloody chaos.
The man was conscious and clearly in pain. He tried to speak but couldn't.
That was what Senritsu had seen when she touched the girl, but as soon as she broke contact, the image disappeared and she was back in the hotel bathroom. Nikita threw up again, sobs wracking her body in between.
The music hunter was not sure why her body had been hammered by nausea and pain and disgust. She had seen worst sights than a man missing half his face, but as she thought harder, she realized it must have been connected to what Nikita had been feeling. Somehow, her thoughts and feelings had been transferred to Senritsu the moment they touched.
She didn't know how it was possible, but at least she understood why the girl had reacted the way she did. She knew that the man was her father. How, she couldn't tell, but again, it was probably related to everything else that had been shared to her.
Senritsu also knew that what she had seen was real. Despite the fact that the girl's body had not moved from the bed, Senritsu knew that what she had experienced had truly happened, but somewhere else. She needed to ask Leorio and the others for some explanation. Had this happened before?
Getting her shaking under control, Senritsu continued to care for the girl, who didn't have anything left in her stomach. Yet, she continued dry heaving. Senritsu avoided contact with her skin, choosing instead to pat the girl's back over her tank top. That worked well enough, since Senritsu wasn't thrown into another painful scene from Nikita's mind.
It took a few minutes, but eventually, Nikita turned her head slightly and tried to give Senritsu a smile.
"I'm sorry. I'll be fine on my own. I'll be out in a few minutes," Nikita told her, and Senritsu nodded. She understood that the girl wanted to be alone, and if she was able to talk and fake a smile, she should be able to handle a few minutes on her own.
Senritsu slowly exited the bathroom, only to be met by four expectant pairs of eyes. The poor musician was still feeling shaken from her experience, even though she shouldn't be so sensitive to that kind of imagery. She let out a shaky sigh, feeling almost relieved to have a wall put between her and the eccentric girl.
"What happened?" Kurapika asked, instantly noting the obvious paling of her complexion.
Senritsu didn't really know where to began, but she tried to tell it chronologically.
"I don't know how it happened, but when I touched her… I saw what she saw," Senritsu told them, and the boys all looked at her in disbelief.
"W-what do you mean?" Leorio questioned, moving towards Senritsu's bed closest to the bathroom and sitting on it.
"It doesn't feel like it was a dream. More… like it was real life, but just not here? It's very difficult to explain…" Senritsu furrowed her eyebrows but before anyone could speak, she continued. "I think I saw her father. We were in a hospital. And I understand why she's feeling nauseous…"
"Oh no…" came Gon's automatic response.
"This doesn't make sense? She told me a few days ago that she'd been to "visit" him and that he was still alive?" Killua argued, expecting an answer quickly.
"So this has happened before?" Kurapika nonchalantly spoke over Killua's questions.
"Killua told me she said that. But we hadn't been in contact with her then, so nothing happened to us…" Leorio responded. Over the two of them speaking, Killua fixed his stare at Senritsu, who smiled at his haste.
"He's alive, like she said. But in bad condition. I don't know how it happened, but half his face was missing. It was just a mess of flesh and blood and bandages. I should be immune to those things, but when I touched her… it was like I wasn't just getting what she was seeing, but what she was feeling, too. Everything was just transferred to me, and I feel like experienced the situation the same way she did." Senritsu paused when there was a flushing sound from the bathroom. "And I don't think she was expecting anything like this, hence how sick and in shock she is."
"Maybe we shouldn't all be standing here when she comes out. She must be feeling bad," Gon spoke up as the flushing noise died down.
"Not to mention embarrassed," Killua grunted, before making his way out the room.
"I'll stay behind. She didn't even try to be careful with her leg in her hurry, so I should take a look at it," Leorio said, and the others nodded as they headed out. Kurapika stayed behind a moment, opening his mouth as if to say something, but when he heard the bathroom's door rattle, he shook his head and continued his way to the living room.
Leorio continued sitting on Senritsu's bed as Nikita opened the door and stumbled out. She felt completely out of it, so the pain from her broken leg didn't register until it was too late.
"Damn it," Leorio muttered, getting up immediately as Nikita fell face first on the carpeted floor. She broke out into sobs, curling her fingers against the soft green material of the carpet. Leorio felt sorry for her, but didn't know how to help. Instead, he focused on getting her back to bed, so he picked her up tenderly. She didn't protest, or even seem to notice.
Leorio carried her the few meters to her bed and laid her down over the covers. He sat down close to her, holding her against him as she continued to cry.