Scarlet Memories
Disclaimer: I do not own HxH
Reminiscence 07 – Five years worth of tears
"You might have known him; he's also from Ryusei Gai."
Flashback
It happened two years after the cursed massacre had occurred as Kurapika started to travel the outside world to look for a certain person. She went to different places which might be dangerous for someone of her age, but fortunately, Kurapika knows a lot of survival techniques and has an animalistic instinct that helped her on her journey.
She travelled many places and learned a lot of things about the outside world.
One day as she walked through the entrance of a town, she found herself amazed at the liveliness of the place. There are a lot of stalls of different kinds with people doing different kinds of activities. But this is not the time for amusement as she felt her hungry stomach.
She was walking through the crowded alley, looking for a good restaurant when she suddenly felt a presence following her.
Kurapika did not stop walking, not letting the stalker notice that she can feel its presence. She stopped into a mini restaurant and ordered for a set of meal, thinking that the stalker would not show itself for a while.
After finishing her meal, Kurapika immediately got out from the restaurant and headed outside the town to continue her journey. It doesn't seem like she will find the person she is looking for in that town, so she decided to leave immediately.
Kurapika continued on walking until she is far away from the town and decided to walk through the woods instead of the clear way as she tried to get the stalker lost its track.
The stalker is still following her, so Kurapika started to hasten her pace, up to the point that she needed to run and jump from tree to tree, but the stalker was still able to follow her, so she decided to stop and face the stranger.
Kurapika turned to her back upon stopping, but sees no one in front of her. But she can still feel the presence. She looked around her surrounding to find the stranger.
"Show yourself!" she ordered.
Truth to tell, a man of about 45 to 50, with long black hair and a pair of dark eyes and wearing a black coat reveled himself from the back of a tree, few meters away from Kurapika.
"Looks like you have discovered me from the beginning," the man said coolly. There is a small smile on his lips, as if he was glad that the girl noticed him.
"What do you want?" Kurapika asked, alert in her position and ignoring the man's comment.
"Just to confirm something," the man answered. "Tell me, you're a Kuruta, aren't you?"
Upon hearing the word 'Kuruta', Kurapika suddenly felt uneasy and immediately readied herself in a fighting stance with her twin sword as her eyes started to change their color.
"You don't have to answer me in that case," the man said, seeing Kurapika's eyes wavering from blue to scarlet. Then he put up a serious face. "Do you know the people who are responsible for you clans' murder?"
Kurapika frowned at the man. "What…. do you know about the massacre?" she hesitantly asked.
"Genei Ryodan," the man said as he started to walk toward Kurapika until he's just a foot away from her. "Look for them," he said, reaching Kurapika's head with his right hand.
"Who are you?" Kurapika asked in an almost inaudible whisper, unable to move her body, as if something is restraining her.
"Gale Altair."
End of flashback
"After that, my memory about myself became unclear," Kurapika said.
"Gale Altair," Kuroro murmured, placing his hand over his mouth as his usual thinking gesture. Yes, he knows that man, but not because of being a Ryusei Gai citizen. It is something more crucial. "He's a specialization type, but I do not know his full ability," he said afterward.
Kurapika nodded to him and suddenly removed the blanket out of her feet, got off from the bed and walked toward the table while Kuroro simply watched her, wondering about the girl's action.
The girl stood in front of the table, looking at her baggage atop. And after a few minutes of motionlessly standing there, she took the suitcase and immediately got out of the room.
Kuroro blink at Kurapika's action, but immediately followed the girl.
Kurapika continued walking to the corridor of the house until she arrived at a certain room. It is a room where handmade tools and equipments are stored and Kuroro cannot help but to be amazed at their intricate design. Actually, everything in the house is handmade and amusing on Kuroro's part.
Upon entering the room, Kurapika looked around to find something she needed and there she found at one corner of the room where shovels of different sizes are arranged.
Kuroro watched Kurapika as she walked toward the said corner, taking a small shovel. 'Now, what will she do with a small shovel?' he mentally asked.
After getting what she want, Kurapika immediately exited the room (followed by Kuroro) and walked again to the few corridors toward the exit of the house.
When they arrived outside the house, Kurapika went to the center of the village and stopped there for a while. Not far away from her, Kuroro is still watching her with a frown on his face.
Kurapika looked at Kuroro for a while, then, she put her attention on the suitcase that she was carrying with her right hand, dropping it carefully to the ground and seated herself in front of it. And then she started to undone the locks.
Wondering at what might be inside the suitcase, Kuroro put his attention at the said item and was a little bit surprised at what he saw. He did not expect that inside of that suitcase are scarlet eyes.
Recovering from the shock, his surprised look was replaced with a smile. 'Amazing!' he thought. Right, he was amazed at the scarlet eyes, but he was more amazed at the figure in front of the said items. 'Interesting,' he added.
The scarlet eyes are not easy to acquire. For Kurapika to have more or less ten pairs in a short period of time is not ordinary. But truth to tell, Kurapika is not ordinary, as well as Kuroro himself. Nevertheless, Kuroro was still amazed and curious on how Kurapika got those eyes.
After Kurapika got all the scarlet eyes out of the suitcase, she took her shovel which she placed on her left side a while ago and started digging.
"Gale Altair," Kurapika said as she continued of her task, "he messed up my memory and change my character." She took one of the double cylinders, opening the lid to remove the eyes that they contained and buried them to the hole she dug and continued the process up to the last pair of scarlet eyes that she managed to collect.
"He is a specialization type who can manipulate memory and change a person's character by touching the victim's head," she continued while still on the process of burying the other scarlet eyes.
"There are only two ways to remove his nen from the victim's body. First is to attack the victim with strong nen force just like what you did to me."
Kuroro chuckled at the memory. He did not do it in purpose after all.
"A dangerous process, especially if the victim is not a nen user," Kurapika said, not noticing Kuroro's action. "But if the victim survived, he/she will gain all the information about Gale's nen.
'I see' Kuroro thought. He is being silent as he listened intently to Kurapika's explanation.
"And the second one," Kurapika continued, "is for Gale himself to remove his nen, but the victim will not gain the nen information. Additionally, if the victim was released by the first method, Gale will never be able to victimize him/her again."
Kuroro placed his hand over his mouth for a while, "A risky but effective and fearsome technique," he said afterward.
"But I think…" Kurapika trailed off as she buried the last pair of scarlet eyes and dusted her hands. "I think he doesn't have any ill intention," she said as she looked at the sky. "But rather, he wanted to protect something," she finished her sentence, closing her eyes as she started a prayer.
"The shining sun of the sky,
The green trees of the earth.
Our bodies are created from the earth.
Our souls originated from the heavens.
The sun and moon shines on our limbs,
And the ground moistens our body,
Giving this body to the wind that blows across the world.
Thank God for the miracle,
And the Kuruta territories.
Wishing for everlasting peace in our souls,
I desire to share happiness with my people,
And desire to share their sadness.
Please bless the Kuruta tribe forever,
Let us pray this upon our scarlet eyes."
As she finished her prayer, Kurapika sighed in preparation of her next concern and looked at the man who is now standing in front of her. "Can I ask my question now?"
"Go on," Kuroro answered.
"Then," Kurapika started, looking intently at the man's eyes, "tell me what happened to the massacre five years ago," more like an order that a question.
"That is something I cannot answer," Kuroro said, "I never know it myself."
"Eh!? Why? Aren't you the mastermind of the massacre?" Kurapika asked in confusion, unable to believe at what she heard from the man, but found no deception on his eyes.
"I'm not," Kuroro answer as he turned his head at the direction of the houses, remembering a distant memory: a memory that he doesn't want to remember. Looking back at the girl, Kuroro seated himself, cross legged at the ground and continued his sentence. "I'm not even here when it happens," he paused, "instead, I was chasing for someone."
'I cannot believe this,' Kurapika thought, 'but he's not lying. If Kuroro is not the mastermind of the massacre, then, what was my revenge for?' And what about the person he was chasing? "Who is the person you are chasing?" she asked.
"Gale Altair."
Upon hearing the name, Kurapika's eyes widened in shock. Is that a coincidence or something? "Why are you chasing him?"
"Unfinished business," was Kuroro's only answer.
She doesn't want to hear that kind of answer. But, 'something is off,' Kurapika thought as she returned her eyes at Kuroro, 'why am I not getting any clear answer from him? As if he is hiding something. Or else… I am asking incorrectly.'
"Kuroro Lucifer," Kurapika called to get the man's attention.
Hearing Kurapika's determined voice, Kuroro cannot help but to expect something that he wouldn't be able to avoid answering this time. Right, he was, from the beginning, avoiding in actually giving a full answer to her questions, but this time, it was different. And unknown to him, that the next thing to happen will lead to something unexpected.
"I'll ask you once more, Kuroro," Kurapika said in a calm voice. "Please tell me everything you know that is related to the massacre."
There it is. The question that he really wanted to avoid answering, and Kuroro cannot help but to sigh in attempt to do so, but he cannot escape this time.
"I hope," Kurapika said, seeing the sigh that escaped Kuroro's mouth, "you would not violate the deal you made."
Of course, he would not violate the deal. He is a man of his word after all. And as he looked at Kurapika, Kuroro prop up his right foot in front of him and leaned his right arm on his knee. "Alright," he said, "I cannot tell you much that can relate to the Kuruta massacre, but one thing I know," he paused, "the council head was too desperate at that time."
"Ryusei Gai?" Kurapika guessed.
Nodding at the girl, Kuroro continued. "As you may know, Ryusei Gai, is a place where junk is made as a resources by its inhabitant. Everything that the other countries throw will be fully accepted by the people of the city. But it wasn't enough for the people," he stopped as he observed Kurapika to see her reaction.
Kuroro found the girl listening intently at him so he continued. "The council trained selected children to be summoned for the mafia community. They will employ those children for criminal activities and in return, the mafia will provide resources for the city. Due to the influence of the mafia, the city's council became greedy and they manage to induce the council on assaulting the Kuruta clan."
"To conduct the assault, the council summoned some of the trained children. And eventually, those children are members of Genei Ryodan, but I wasn't informed about their plan. At the time I learned it, it was too late."
Kuroro softly said his last sentence to end his story, but for Kurapika's ears, it was as if the man is trying to hide a hurt feeling like he had lost something important. Plus, he lowered his head a little, making it hard for Kurapika to see his expression as his bangs hid his eyes.
In Kurapika's point of view, Kuroro was really affected by the loss of the Kuruta clan as if he was a member himself. Is he…? But Kurapika doesn't remember anyone like Kuroro. Wait, something is amiss. It's like as if there is something in the edge of her memory that her brain is trying to recover, but she can't take it out.
"Ku-Kuroro," Kurapika hesitantly called and was answered as Kuroro looked back at her with his eyes clearly asking what she might need of him this time.
"What are you doing before the massacre had occurred?" she asked.
"I- I was," Kuroro hesitated at first, looking wide eyes at the girl, but there is nothing big about it anyway, or so he thought. "I was traveling."
"What were you traveling for?" somehow, her own questions brought back the piece of her memory that was clinging at the edge of her mind. As she looked closely on Kuroro, she realized that the memory is about a certain person she had met on the forest years back before the massacre occurred. And if that person was actually Kuroro, she would not be able to forgive herself for the wrong things she had done to him.
Why is she bringing up that now? Kuroro wondered as he looked away from Kurapika, trying to avoid eye contact. 'I cannot tell you everything yet,' he thought to himself. "It doesn't matter."
"You're lying," Kurapika said with a tinge of sadness in her voice and her eyes furrowing in an attempt to control her emotion.
Kuroro looked at her questioningly, trying to discern what had gotten into her. What is she trying to gain from knowing the past before the massacre? "Why are you asking me that anyway?" he asked instead.
"I just remembered," Kurapika paused, looking intently at Kuroro's eyes, "a person that I met years ago… It was to find to your family, isn't it?"
"You are," Kuroro's eyes widened as he remembered the same memory he had when he met a little girl wondering in the forest. He raised his left hand to his face and covered his eyes. "So you're that girl back then. I never thought I would ever meet you again. As for my family, they're gone. That's why it doesn't matter anymore."
Just hearing the word 'gone' made Kurapika's heart pound in hurt and guilt as her eyes widened in shock. 'This is awful. I never thought he was suffering all the time and I made it worst. But… why?' Kurapika thought, looking on the ground. "Why didn't you tell me anything?" her question came out raspy.
"What am I suppose to tell you?" Kuroro asked back, putting down his hand to look at Kurapika, but unable to see her expression because of her bangs.
Kurapika snapped as she suddenly pushed herself up to Kuroro and clutch the edge of the man's collar. "Why didn't you tell me that you're not the mastermind of the Kuruta massacre? Why didn't you tell me anything of that you told me a while ago? Why, Kuroro, why?! Back then, the night when I captured you, you didn't tell me anything!"
Taken aback at the girl's action, Kuroro barely managed to prevent himself from falling to the ground with Kurapika as he quickly move his hands behind him for support. He didn't expect the coming of the girl. But with their position right then, he can clearly see the girl expression who is trying to hold back her tears.
He sighed. "It's alright," he said softly as he raised his free hand to Kurapika's head, "It was in the past. You don't have to think about that anymore."
"How can you just accept everything like that?" she asked, still trying to hold her tears which made Kuroro sigh.
"It's alright," he repeated, "and Kurapika… it is better to cry sometimes."
Kurapika's eyes widened at the man's word. She never expects him to say something like that. She removed her hands from Kuroro's collar and seated herself again.
"But," she whispered, looking at the ground, and Kuroro's next action surprised her greatly for the man suddenly pulled her to his warm embrace.
Kurapika can't take it anymore; she wanted to cry. And so, for the five years of her life, she let everything out with her tears.
The sky began to slightly darken with the clouds as the rain started pouring on everything, as if to accompany Kurapika on crying.
Time passed by as the rain stopped and the sky started to clear slowly. The gray stratus clouds moved with the wind, giving way to the rays of sun, illuminating the ground warmly and the two figures sitting on each other's arms.
Kurapika was still sobbing weakly on Kuroro's chess when she pushed herself slightly to rub the tears off her eyes. Kuroro silently watched her figure as he loosen his hold, giving Kurapika a little space.
"I'm sorry," Kurapika suddenly said as she removed the tears from her eyes, looking down on her lap.
"You don't have to, it wasn't your fault… And I deserved it."
Kurapika returned her gaze at Kuroro, not understanding what the man is saying. "What do you mean you deserved it?" she asked.
Kuroro closed his eyes for a while to think how he should answer the girl. But, 'this is not the right time'. "Can I delay the answer for the meantime?"
"Why?"
"When the right time has come, I'll tell you everything,"
Kurapika hesitated at first, but she nodded after a while, thinking that, it is not right to force someone on answering. "It's okay; I will wait for the time when you're ready to tell me," she said. "But, what about your other family?"
Kuroro blink at the question, not really getting what the girl is talking about.
"Genei Ryodan," Kurapika stated, "I think they are like family to you. I killed two of them."
"It was their choice."
"But still-"
"I forgive you," Kuroro cut Kurapika's sentence, knowing that she would insist on the matter at no end if he would not say those words.
Taken aback at the man's words, Kurapika widened here eyes for the umpteenth time, and then stared at him.
"What is it?" Kuroro asked, seeing Kurapika's intense stare.
"Why?" she only asked.
Kuroro sighed at that as he closed his eyes for a while and looked at her again. "You asked for forgiveness so I gave it to you. Isn't that how it is supposed to be?"
Kurapika blinked. "But-"
"Or do you want me to punish you for something that you did not mean on doing?"
Kurapika opened her mouth to say something, but no word came out as she cannot think of anything to say, as if her mind stopped working. She resorted on looking at her lap, biting her lower lip.
Seeing that Kurapika have nothing to say anymore, Kuroro reached the top of Kurapika's head. "Let's go," he calmly said, but his eyes are reflecting a slight worry.
"Do you…really…forgive me?" Kurapika asked, moving her head a little to look at Kuroro.
The worried look ok Kuroro's face was replaced by a light smile on his lips. "Of course," he said. He shifted himself in a kneeling position and reached his hand for Kurapika. "Shall we go now?"
Nodding lightly, Kurapika took Kuroro's hand with a small smile on her lips. "Thanks."
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