A/N: [[updated with edited version: 23.10.11]]

Please tell me if I wrote the action scene right o3o

Disclaimer: Yoshihiro Togashi owns HxH

OWC: 2,498

A Dangerous Jester

Kurapika stood there, watching the scene unfold in front of his eyes. Something dazzling, somehow, in the present situation, caught his wary attention. Blue eyes not exactly fearing about what will happen next, he looked around.

"He's scary," Akane whispered to Killua after having witnessed what Hisoka had successfully done. There was fear in her voice, laden under the rippling of her throat as she tried to hide behind Killua.

Indeed, it was an amazing feat for someone—anyone. And he had such a murderous aura. Kurapika could feel it all the way from where he stood, far enough, from the top of his scalp to the tip of his toes. He shuddered at the thought of it, but as a warrior he ignored that. He was strong. He had to be.

The conversation went on. Killua shrugged as if he didn't give so much damn about it. "He's got talent. I wonder what else he can do. Interesting. But not quite scary," he said pretty blankly, his tone nonchalant.

Akane's expression changed. Her eyebrows furrowed, causing creases on her porcelain-smooth forehead. "Well, Sorry for letting my emotions overwhelm me," she said sarcastically, and sauntered away from Killua. Turning her attention away from the Killua who was a bit surprised at her reaction to his statement, she saw Kurapika and went near him instead. "Kurapika?" she asked, calling his attention.

"Akane?" Kurapika glanced down into her gazing, curious sapphire eyes. Inside, though he never would've told her, not in the near future, they reminded him so much of his family, especially of his mother, that every time he looked at them, he couldn't help but reminisce. Reminisce about what he wanted to do but couldn't do. By all means, she looked so familiar to him! He wondered secretly if she realized that, if she knew she looked like them…

She nudged Kurapika's shoulders a little tensely. "What do you think of that weird guy?" she asked, a little panicky, pointing at the aqua-haired man who was playing silently with his cards. Then, right at that moment, he cast a very playful grin at her; and that made her hide behind Kurapika's back fearfully.

"Hisoka," Kurapika told her, very honestly, "in my opinion, is a threat. Murderous aura flying all around, he's surely something different…" he rattled off, feeling the goose bumps that rose on my arm. Oh, you'll grow out of that, his mind told him.

"So…what do we do?" She asked, tugging nervously on the sleeve of his long-sleeved white undershirt.

"I suggest… we just avoid him at all costs, at least most of the time." He turned to her and gave a brotherly squeeze to her trembling hand. He felt it freeze then loosen up. "That's the best thing you can do," Kurapika told her, at the moment. He didn't even bother look at her; he was too busy focusing at Hisoka's odd look toward them. What was he thinking?

"Hai, hai…" she said, in that usual boring tone children gave when parents told them that long line of orders before going to school or leaving them at home. She finally calmed down when Hisoka stopped looking at her… maniacally. "Arigato, Kurapika," she said, squeezed his hand and let go, running to Killua again.

Kurapika closed his eyes and let the fresh air cleanse and wash away his fears. But somehow, something continued to nibble at him. And he wondered, would he be able to return to thinking like that—innocently and carefree—after five painstaking years of carrying around a burden which he will not be able to erase unless he does the undoable? His mind wandered back to thoughts of reclaiming himself, that childish Kurapika that used to be just another of those ratty kids in their village, back in his very normal childhood past.

That was shattered into a tiny million pieces.

The next test was pretty much just another extension of the first test. The order for the examines was to run across a big, foggy, muddy marsh. However, it wasn't an ordinary run. Other than to test their endurance, it was also a test of stamina and of strength. And of course, of agility.

Kurapika had wondered what the second test would be like.

I wonder… how it would be after it all?

His mind wandered as he paced for the test. He wondered… would he be able to achieve what he'd always wanted to achieve in his life? Will I be able to do what I've set myself to do for the past five years? Will I be able to save that vow I kept to myself? Will I really be able to…

"Kurapika!" Akane called. "Can you help me?"

Kurapika turned around to see and blinked. "Oh," he said, remembering, and took Leorio back on my shoulder. He was limping, but he tried as hard as he could to keep in pace with us so that he wuld not be so much as a baggage.

Letting his mind fade away, Kurapika started to think again. He was always thinking. That time, he thought that satotsu, the examiner, was being easy on them. The marsh, however, wasn't as thinking. The mud seemed to get stickier at every step, and the fog was closing in on them. Also, the surroundings around them had to be taken note–creatures seemed to come out of nowhere and eat out candidates.

And Kurapika also had another problem. He had to stay with Leorio because he was ailed, and Akane, for that matter, for she wanted to stay with Leorio too. Leorio had a really hard time walking, and Akane and Kurapika braced him on their shoulders once in a while; sometimes alternately, sometimes at the same time.

But Kurapika's last problem was Hisoka. He was closing in on them, and if they didn't catch up to the bigger group, there was a large chance that they'd be bitten by Hisoka at their necks—literally.

Then, out of the blue, the silence was broken. "KURAPIKA! LEORIO! AKANE! KILLUA SAYS IT'S BETTER IF YOU WOULD STAY IN FRONT!" Gon's shrill, childlike voice rang out. Kurapika tried to stifle his laughter because he could almost feel the reverberating stare that came from Killua's instant reaction of, 'Oh god GON are you THAT stupid?'

"We got it, Gon!" Akane said, but then as if something stuck in her throat, she started coughing. She had a hard time breathing. "Aack!" She wheezed.

Kurapika was taken off guard. "Akane?" His eyebrows furrowed in deep concern. It must be the fog, or the dust in the fog…

"Hard…" Akane murmured, a pleading look in both her eyes as both her knees buckled, making her stumble and meet the ground head-first. "…I…can't…breathe!"

Kurapika immediately rushed in to help her, but of course not letting Leorio stumble too hard. He rushed to her, patting her back. "Akane? Akane…!"

She fainted in his arms.

No, no, no… he thought, murmuring silent prayers in his mind as he started trying to shake her awake. What about the exam, her taking of the exam, if she was to fall in this part? Crap… "Akane?"

Then, in that gloomy atmosphere, what they wished wouldn't happen… happened.

"Let go of her." It was a voice, teasing and mocking. Then, a shrill laugh rang throughout, like the laugh of the devil maybe.

Kurapika looked up to face the demented joker.

Hisoka.

Everything happened really, really fast.

He stared at Kurapika, eyes set on the blonde-haired and blue-eyed girl that lay limp in his arms. She was at her most vulnerable moment that time and he just couldn't give up on her. His eyes glimmered with a silent kind of evil mischief that Kurapika somehow knew could send shudders to the toughest soldier's spine.

"Let go of her," he said once more. His voice had a cackle hiding somewhere beneath it. "Or else I will…"

"Will what, Hisoka? What are you doing anyway?" Leorio asked angrily from behind Kurapika. He tried to stand as straight as he could despite the pain attacking him badly.

"I'm helping the examiners," he said. Then, he licked his lips in anticipation before letting yet another maniacal laugh ring through the air. Kurapika didn't like a single second of it. He didn't like Hisoka. "It's Judgment Day," Hisoka said. And at the very next moment, Hisoka had Akane on his shoulder. "I'll play with my doll now," he said, and winked. "Bye-bye!"

Kurapika staggered to get up on his feet and followed the trail that Hisoka left with his almost-too-fast movement. The mere movements of the leaves led the ever observant Kurapika to him. Kurapika wondered why he slowed down when he could do much faster than that. Maybe he was trying to tease Kurapika into the fight, after all. It was Akane's life in the line, in that gamble, and Kurapika just couldn't risk that.

Somehow, she was and had become really important to the distraught teenager. Just by looking at her, Kurapika had a link to his broken past.

(And by being with her, Kurapika didn't know though, he had found a link to his still-to-be-written future.)

"Akane?" Kurapika shouted in a strained and panicked voice. "Akane?"

Then, he started coughing because of the heavy, rotten-smelling sulphur that reeked in the air. He didn't know where the ugly smell came from, but he felt the pain attack his nose, throat, lungs, and even his head.

But still he had to find Akane.

He was starting to get desperate. He clutched my unsheathed double kan in a grip that would mean life and death.

"HISOKA!" He tried to shout his battle song, but it came out as a hoarse cry. "BRING HER OUT!"

Kurapika's words were not even echoed by the damp air of the marsh, no little clue if someone even heard him. His vision dazed. He felt that it was turning red.

"Hiso…ka…" Kurapika tried again, but his call was barely uttered, being suffocated by the sulphur-like-stench that covered the air. "Aka—"

"AKANEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

He was cut off by the loud scream, but his delayed mind took him five whole seconds to finally register that it was Leorio. His eyes popped open, and so did his mouth, in utter surprise, and an intake of sulphur go in his throat. He coughed for a second, but dashed to where the sound came from even with it starting to burn his throat like an acid, suffocating him.

And finally he saw Akane, leaning on a thick bark of a shady tree. A thin line of blood dripped from her neck, down to trickling on her maroon sweatshirt. Her hands were rolled into fists by her white pants, and her feet trembled in her gray shoes. Her eyes were filled with fear. Kurapika tightened his already steel-strong grip on his kan, his only weapon.

Leorio ran toward Hisoka, and for someone who was having trouble earlier, he quite cunningly avoided the cards. Hisoka licked his lips, and the bulge in Leorio's throat jumped.

"You want to play with me first?" the clown asked.

Kurapika then noticed Akane suddenly crumpled down the ground, her blood now dripping to her pants. I saw the wound on her neck. Kurapika headed toward her direction, aiming to hurry and assist her, but then he was suddenly stopped by a flying card—a joker.

"No step closer," Hisoka hissed, his tone sounded purely of murderous intent, no jokes. "You're spoiling the fun."

Kurapika glared at him. No, this can't happen. I won't allow him to.

And then, everything turned red before the avenger's eyes.

Everything happened in a dazy. Kurapika dashed, flinging his double swords at him, just as Leorio flung his small dagger. They fought like animals. Hisoka was fast, faster than anything. He avoided all their attacks. They knew it was vain. Yet they continued. Kurapika and Leorio tried hard to search for openings. There were almost none. Hisoka was a good fighter, and that much both of them could tell. He swung his swords with all his might.

I have to fight with him. I will make him pay for what he did to Akane.

Something in the back of his mind told him that no matter what would happen to him, he had to protect her. He could swear that all his being—his thoughts, mind, and soul—even if he didn't understand why, shouted that she was his only link to the forgotten heritage of the past he had left behind for vengeance. And despite the strong bitterness and pain the memories brought, he knew it was real. So he continued to battle.

It was like avenging what he couldn't protect before.

Sword met card, sword met flesh. Clash, clash – the sword blades met at some point. Everything was too quick; the human eyes would not be able to follow. He used his mind before every attack – sense him, differentiate his actions from Leorio's. Hisoka's was fast. Leorio's was a bit staggered and tired, incapacitated by the sulphur and his lack of stamina.

Attack at the right moment.

When Leorio attacked, Kurapika stood to wait for an opening, making only minor hits to empty air. It was almost like they were synchronized, like a dance. There were times that Hisoka was by a hair's breadth close to Kurapika, but for some reason that escaped him, he just couldn't hit the sick clown. The jester was literally playing tricks to their eyes.

The sulphur stench reeked more in the air, and Kurapika then only realized they were jumping to a creature. He leapt away, avoiding the creature's huge mouth. None of them got hurt. The battle continued.

One strike, Leorio's dagger hit Hisoka's hair. Two, Kurapika almost hit his wrist. Three, both of them almost hit his chest. But there wasn't any proper hit, none fatal enough to incapacitate him.

Then, everything was shortly paused as a newcomer stepped in. "LEORIO! KURAPIKA! AKANE!" Gon's voice called from a distance. "AKANE!" He dashed toward Akane, and Leorioa and Kurapika got the meta-message – distract Hisoka.

Kurapika continued the battle with Hisoka, but soon he stopped too. Kurapika and Leorio tensed, knowing that chance that he might just decide to pounce on Gon instead for not respecting his doll. Kurapika and Leorio raised their daggers in preparation. They watched Hisoka. He was talking to his phone.

Then he just grinned. "…Ja ne!" he said, and that was the only thing Kurapika could catch in his unintelligible murmur before he finally hopped away.

And finally after the long decisive battle, Kurapika dashed to Akane, eyes bent with concern. "Akane?"

Akane's eyelids fluttered open. "Kurapika, I'm…fine…" she forced to say, and smiled. "Thanks."

Kurapika smiled at her, and gave a gentle, brotherly squeeze on her right hand. "Don't worry," he said. It was a halfway lie. "It'll be over soon."

How it hurt him to lie to someone he had just tried to protect.