Hi all, apologies for the delayed update, tests are a pain. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter and if you want to see more fight scenes, romance, etc., let me know so I can work it into the plot. Otherwise we'll continue to follow the course of the 2011 episodes!
"Follow the path and head for the mountain", Zebro instructed,"And the mansion should be up there somewhere."
"Wait", I interjected as my brow furrowed in confusion, "You don't know where the mansion is!?"
Zebro threw me an embarrassed smile. "I am ashamed to admit that even though I have worked here for twenty years, I've never been up the mountain. Sorry I couldn't be any help."
For the millionth time I looked up at the sky and wondered why I was here when I could be attempting to earn more money somewhere to pay my sister's ransom. One month. That was the deadline.
Gon's happy voice brought me back to reality, "No. You've both been a huge help."
Leorio blew a raspberry and elbowed me. "Not Seaquant!", he hissed loudly enough so Seaquant could hear.
"Agreed", I hissed in a not-so-quiet tone.
Kurapika sighed in frustration and sent me a look.
I responded by rolling my eyes and smiling angelically at him.
Being the awkward person that he is, Kurapika's cheeks were tinted pink until he shook his hair around his face to hide it from me. I smirked. I was winning!
Gon nudged me with his foot as he bowed in thanks to Zebro, luckily I caught on and quickly followed suit.
I sent a sideways glance at Kurapika only to find him staring at my butt. I giggled causing Kurapika's, Gon's, and Leorio's attention onto me. Zebro raised a knowing eyebrow and Seaquant shook his head.
Gon stood up and began to walk away. "Thank you and goodbye!" he shouted.
I turned to leave but Seaquant's hand on my arm stopped me.
"Yes?" I inquired.
Seaquant sighed and I saw his usual jaded expression become even more tired, if possible. "Look", he awkwardly began, "I know I've been hard on you while you were training but...I like that Gon kid. I want to help him and I know you're on his side. I don't know who trained you, but the way you move when you fight or use nen is simply...graceful but deadly. You have a gift or maybe you had intensive training but nevertheless, if anybody can take on the butler's apprentice, it's you. With your manipulation of that sand you should be able to manipulate her easily."
"She does not have the knowledge base yet to be able to manipulate conscious objects", Kurapika interrupted as he brushed Seaquant's had off my upper arm and replaced it with his own.
Unfortunately Kurapika was correct. My nen attack did have drawbacks, mainly control. Sand could get anywhere, through any crack, no matter how small. However it is difficult for me to control the sand. That's one of my limitations. The second is that I could only use my left hand. I could use a weapon in my dominant hand and my nen in my non-dominant hand. My third and final limitation was that I could only control the sand for so long and the sand could only move so fast.
It was difficult enough mastering the control needed to manipulate inanimate objects.
Seaquant gave me a steady look then glanced at Kurapika. "You're lucky your girlfriend here is strong and adaptable because boy," he pointed a finger at Kurapika,"You have this ugly darkness that seeps into your aura every so often which you can't control."
Kurapika's tan eyes began changing into their usual 'dark purple before they transition to scarlet' color.
I grabbed Kurapika's shoulder and shook him, hard. "Kurapika", I firmly stated, "What do we gain if we fight those who help us?"
Kurapika shot me an irritated glance. Of course I was right.
"Nothing whatsoever", he icily responded and he grabbed my upper arm and pulled me away from Zebro and Seaquant.
"Bye!" I shouted as I half tripped and half stumbled after Kurapika who was dragging me along.
"If you take one step past this line, I'll remove you by force", the small, angelic looking dark skinned girl coolly directed.
Sand hovered above my left palm as my bright green nen swirled around it. This sand blast was going straight at the girl's staff thing. I didn't like the idea of her having a weapon.
I jerked back as I felt Kurapika's arm brush mine. When had he gotten that close?
Suddenly, Gon threw his hand back. Stop.
I glared at Gon. What the fuck was he thinking!?
Nevertheless, my sand swooshed back into my pouch.
Gon's foot edged over the line and almost too fast for me to track, but not quite so (I proudly noted), the tiny girl's staff hit Gon's face.
Surprise filtered through me as I watched Gon become airborne...how hard had she hit him?
Then that surprise became rage as I flared my aura outwards. The girl's grey eyes narrowed and met mine. Then, they flickered toward the line. 'Come if you dare', she seemed to say mockingly toward me.
I sent her a chilling smirk and recalled what Hisoka and Illumi had taught me. Emotional Shutdown.
I coiled my sand around me and ran toward the girl.
"Avi!" howled Kurapika as he ran after me, katanas drawn.
"What are you doing!?" questioned Leorio, "Both of you can't attack her without a plan!"
But I was past caring, or feeling anything. My foot passed the line and I saw the girl's staff come up, which I dodged.
The girl was fast. She pushed off her left foot to intercept me. I watched her hips rotate and knew from experience that saw was going to try to kick me. The idea of her physical combat style being even close to that of Illumi's was laughable.
I effortlessly dodged and sent a sharp jab to her head with my sand to distract her and throw her off balance as I kicked her in the stomach. Like Gon, she was airborne. But unlike Gon, she wasn't hurt as badly. I was going to change that.
"Avi, stop!" Gon shouted desperately.
I ignored him and focused on the prey in front of me. It was showing signs of shock, shock that I even touched it, as well as a slight hunch from the pain caused by my kick to her stomach. Serves her right for becoming distracted by my little jab. Illumi would have criticized me for my sloppy form and probably dislocated my shoulder again to make sure I perfected the form. I cursed. I was slipping.
She would pay for what she did to Gon.
A blur of gold was to my left. Kurapika. He looked at me in amazement, respect, fear, and something else.
My mouth was set in a tight line. He better not interfere in between the fight.
Kurapika nodded and I watched as he, like me, methodically grasped his katanas more firmly and took a step forward towards the girl.
"Your aura", I hissed in surprise.
The girl smiled cruelly and slowly tilted her head to the side. "You underestimated me, it seems."
I didn't bother talking as I leapt at her except she somehow dodged around me and was heading for...Kurapika!
Her staff and his katanas were blurs as the two parried and jabbed at one another. I took a small step forward but then stopped. If I got involved then...I would only mess up Kurapika.
My sand slammed into the ground in frustration.
When I glanced back up I noticed Kurapika was moving slightly slower. The Illumi trained side of me noted: probably because of either an injury that hasn't fully formed or because she nicked his arm.
Either way, I had to intervene. Green glowing sand swirled around me as I ordered the sand to break into smaller fragments. They would be even harder to control but I think I can do it.
I arched my left wrist back and projected the sand at the girl's head-only to have her dodge and miss it by millimeters and have it hit Kurapika in the shoulder.
He yelped in shock and fell to the ground from the force.
My control over my emotions broke and the flooded me. What have I done!? Why did I think I even had control!? Hisoka told me it would take time but it had been sooo long that I...
My heart seemed to stop beating. The girl's staff was at Kurapika's throat. He dazedly looked at me, then up at her.
Her eyes were locked with mine. "Leave", she stated emotionlessly.
I nodded toward Kurapika. "Not without him."
She tilted her head and a small smile flitted across her lips. She stepped back and I rushed forward to grab Kurapika.
He groaned in confusion and stared at me groggily. "Did you hit me with sand?"
I giggled nervously. "Possibly...I thought I could control it but..."
His head fell backward and he groaned. "Avi! We promised no nen until we could learn how to fight together with hand-to-hand or weaponry combat!"
I shrugged and quickly crossed the line only to be greeted by an angry Gon.
Never before had I seen Gon so angry.
"Who gave you the right to interfere?" Gon accused me.
I glanced at Leorio. What was Gon's problem?
Leorio put a calming hand on Gon's shoulder. "She meant no disrespect to your honor. She only meant to protect you. Avi does tend to act without thinking things through sometimes."
I huffed and opened my mouth to respond but Gon beat me to it.
"First you beat me at the final phase, but not the way it should have been and now you try to fight my battles for me because I was hit once!" Gon shouted in rage at me.
I blinked. I hadn't thought of it from Gon's perspective before.
Because I hated apologies, I bit my lip, looked Gon square in the eye, and said, "I only had good intentions. I won't interfere again."
Kurapika groaned as I accidentally jostled him. "Watch the elbow."
I raised an eyebrow and let go of Kurapika who landed on the ground with a thump.
By sunset, the girl had cracked.
"Stop it!" she screamed at Gon,"Do you realize how futile this is?"
I pressed my palm, hard, against the muscular pane of Kurapika's back. He sharply inhaled a breath.
"Well if you would have had a doctor, as in Leorio, look at all these fractures and injuries, you wouldn't be in so much pain".
His tawny eyes glared at me. I raised an eyebrow. "Besides, you're the one who practically begged for a massage because you were too sore to even move your katana."
Kurapika shook his golden hair so it covered his face and said nothing.
His behavior had been so...odd lately.
A smirk crossed my lips as an idea lit up in my mind. I leaned close so that my lips were almost touching Kurapika's ear and whispered, "Something wrong?"
He stiffened but said nothing. Typical.
"Gon is bleeding", he whispered. I knew he hated, like I did, to see this girl hit Gon repeatedly with her staff all over his body.
I knew I could hit her and make her bleed, but Gon asked, well, demanded that I not intervene so...
"And your breasts are pressed again my back," Kurapika quietly told me with his face turned away from me.
"Breasts...why can't you say boobs", I mocked Kurapika as I enjoyed his discomfort. This was a great distraction from Gon being hit all over by that stupid girl who was 'just following orders'.
Kurapika looked back at me with slightly purple eyes. My smirk widened now that I knew he was affected.
But then Kurapika smirked back. Uncharacteristically. Where was this new-found confidence coming from?
"He's across", Leorio shouted, breaking the contact between Kurapika and me.
I glanced at the nen glowing around Gon's fist...that was...unusually powerful nen.
No wonder the girl had been shocked.
She and Gon exchanged a few words that became audible the closer Leorio, Kurapika, and I got.
But something flashed out of the corner of my eyes...a sickly yellow nen covered...something?
"Please help save Killua-", the girl began to say until she was hit in the head with the missile.
"Honestly", a woman's voice boomed in the dead silence, "What was that servant babbling about. She makes it sound like we're being mean to Killua."
Next to her side was a little...was that a boy or girl?
My spontaneous side leapt to action. "And who the fuck are you?"
The woman...robot...what the fuck? She glanced in my direction and I watched as her yellow nen powerfully pulsed as she threw a projectile at me which slammed into the sand blast I sent her direction. Green and yellow nen swirled everywhere, creating ugly shadows in the clearing.
"And you must be Gon", she chittered as she completely ignored me and look towards Gon,"I have a message for you from Killua: I really appreciate the visit, but I can't see you right now. Sorry."
"I'm calling bullshit", I shouted as pale, green nen swirled around me in anger.
The woman looked down at me, coldly smiled, ignored me, and proceeded to taunt Gon.
I was determined to help save Killua.