Thank you for reading! Sorry for the effing long update, and thx for bearing with me. Lol. Anyway, special hugs to those who reviewed, faved, followed, and/or C2d the story~
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Hunter X Hunter
…
CHAPTER 6:
Chains – Part 2
"We found that one student's family is being blackmailed. They need us to investigate."
The teenagers stared at Bisuke as she read the details of the, as she would say it, 'mission'. It sounded quite… troublesome.
"It's not our problem is it?" And Neon was never quite shy to point that out.
"But it's part of your training." Bisuke shrugged. "Besides, in real life, you'd be able to use the skills you will get here. And perhaps more importantly…" The trainer-dressed-up-as-a-student stared at every one of the members. "The chairman wouldn't give you assignments you won't be able to do at your current level of Nen."
'Might as well', Kurapika nodded in agreement. "In that case, however, it is good to know who this student is, and how much—" She paused to look at Bisuke.
"He."
"…and how much he knows about his family situation."
"Let's go and speak with this student, then." Killua agreed and looked at Bisuke. She should know more, right?
"I already did my research," Bisuke said, answering his unvoiced question. "He should be on his way to his car at this moment."
Gon, Killua, Bisuke, and Kurapika looked at each other knowingly, and without another word they headed to the parking lot. They sprinted really, practically disappearing in a blink-of-an-eye, and Banshou found himself laughing in the face of his master who looked absolutely dumbstruck. Vaise was giggling, too.
Neon's eyes twitched. "Shut up!"
…
Neon huffed when he finally reached a spot where he could see their backs, the first time since they disappeared on him. Kurapika and the others were forming a circle, chatting, with another person he couldn't see yet. He walked to them, but before that he huffed again.
He winced when he saw his club mates did not even break a freaking sweat. And he winced even more when he saw exactly who they were talking to. It was that annoying raven haired brat from before.
"Wha—you're!"
"You two know each other too?" Gon blinked and Killua looked at the sky for a second in ponder.
"Well, they are of the same year…"
And surprisingly, it was actually Kurapika who elucidated their relationship. "He's the person who embarrassed Neon 2 years ago."
"He did not." Neon corrected, blushing at the recollection. He quickly pulled back his aristocratic composure and arranged his tie by reflex. "In any case," He said coolly. "I'd pass this job."
"Oi, oi." Bisuke frowned. "You're not in the position to choose assignments as you please."
"Well, I never did want to be in this club." And he walked away. When he was a few meters away, everyone turned at Kurapika as she sighed. She followed him and his guards momentarily stopped their steps when they noticed. They suddenly wore very interested faces.
In the end though they followed, but it wasn't because of their job—it was because they wanted to watch.
As proof, Banshou even whispered: "Quick. Grab some popcorn" to Vaise jokingly before they disappeared with the two teens.
…
"Neon…" Kurapika finally voiced out and Neon answered without looking at her.
"…what?"
"Don't you think running away like this is cowardly?" She asked bluntly, making him halt his steps.
"What? No." He said defensively and turned to look at her. She was as pretty as always, and at the moment it was not helping him maintain his self-esteem.
"Neon. Not doing this will only show your bitterness." She said and walked closer. He stepped back by reflex. "Besides—think about it. We probably never would have talked if they never did what they did."
He blushed. "W-What was that supposed to mean?"
Kurapika tilted her head innocently. "Didn't you say we were friends?"
"But t-that—" Neon paused to catch his breath. "THAT—
"GAH!" And finally succumbed.
…
"Look they're back." Gon smiled and turned her head to their direction. The other three followed her line of sight. Killua raised a brow of disbelief as soon as he saw the bodyguards behind them.
"Oi, oi. You actually got some popcorn?"
"We knew we'd need it as soon as he joined this club." Banshou shrugged and extended the paper container to them. "Want some?"
"Sure."
Neon, on the other hand, retained his serious façade all the way and the first thing he did was stand assertively in front of the raven-haired boy and glare at him. "You owe me—big time."
"H-Hai!"
…
It seemed that the boy had utterly no idea what was happening to his family, they soon realized, which explained why he didn't look that puzzled when they, a club of ambiguous functions, started questioning him.
Honestly, Kurapika expected more from a boy with an alpha-male attitude. Then again, she wasn't surprised. There were countless of misplaced confidence in this world, and she had had her fair share of witnessing them.
In any case, they only decided to end the conversation with some thanks, telling him they were a sort of information club—in-charge of updating school records, which wasn't that much of a lie, anyway.
"So, since the heir himself is fairy useless," Bisuke said as soon as the aforementioned uninformed boy left for home. "We'll have to make do with what I know."
"Who sent us to this assignment anyway?"
"No one did."
"HA?"
"So much for the 'chairman won't give you missions you can't do'."
"I'm a pathological liar." She shrugged. "It sounded so cool that I had to say it. It's not 100% lie anyway.
"I was in-charge of everything with the promise I'd train you kids to be good hunters. I found out about this and decided to take it on." She raised her paperwork to make her point. "For a first job, I thought it was easy enough."
"How'd you get wind of this issue, then?" Vaise asked curiously.
"See this?" Bisuke asked pointing at her face. Everyone else looked at each other in wander. "My face. My beautiful, youthful, and innocent fac—"
Banshou, Neon, and Killua barfed.
Twitch
And after three successive BAM, BAM, BAMs! The three boys flew to the sky.
"Moving on," Bisuke cleared her throat and managed to keep the vein from popping. "There was this gathering in a noble's house last night and I happened to be invited. Using my communication skills, I managed to chat around and find a few more things from the business—some even bordering the underground world.
"But when I was on my way to the ladies' room, I overheard a conversation." She paused and held a finger up against her lips for effect. "The head of the Hanabusa was consulting the person who hosted the party.
"He said the Mafia will assassinate someone from his family if they didn't sell 'The Fire of London' to the blackmailer, and it is a family heirloom. He feared his ancestors will curse him if he sold it.
"So he asked the host, a great artist, to copy the artwork—and he said he would pay him ample, he just couldn't bear give the Ryoudan family the artwork beloved by his clan."
They were already in the three men's earshot, then. Bisuke turned, especially at Killua. "Speaking of Mafias… do you think your former family is the Mafia group talked about here?"
Everyone stared at him. Killua's eyes darkened but in the end he shook his head. "I don't know."
"You were from a mafia?"
"Hmn." He paused monotonously. "They were called the Zoldycks."
"EH?" Banshou and Vaise exclaimed immediately upping their guards. Gon flinched when this happened and she frowned at the guards.
"Killua's not a bad person!" She said and looked at him worriedly. But his eyes were wide and he was quick to look away. Gon tried not to show the slight tug of pain in her chest when he did so.
"A-Ah…" Banshou said, sitting back down, and Vaise soon followed. The guards looked at each other and sighed, continuing the conversation from what they knew about the family. "The Hanabusa group was one of the very few groups that belong in the periphery of web of connections around the Nostrade's, to the point they could be cut from it.
"Seeing that they're in the Arts business, the need for abnormal foresight isn't as critical as that of the others." Vaise nodded at a recollection. "It was why the boy was so brave to go against Neon-sama back then."
"I'm curious what he did." Bisuke cackled and Neon's eye twitched involuntarily.
"He did nothing note worthy."
"Uh-huh." Bisuke said mockingly. But then she looked at everyone else in alteration. "Well, our assignment for now is to figure out more about this issue. I think I did my part, and it's time for you kids to start training."
She looked at the four. "I'll be counting on you, then?" And three of the four nodded. Kurapika looked at his club mates and was about to ask if they wanted to do their research together or not, but Killua intervened before she could say anything.
"I'll do my own research." Killua said, "I'll tap a few of my sources," and walked away.
Bisuke sighed at this and followed him, making Gon frown as she watched their figures disappear from sight. But in the end she looked down. She wanted to say it out loud, but she didn't even understand it—let alone the fact that she felt these feelings was troublesome for others, so she kept her mouth shut.
She didn't even absorb anything Kurapika said afterwards. Perhaps they were too complicated in themselves already anyway.
"Did you understand anything I said, Gon?" Kurapika asked as she watched Neon and his guards walk away after the meeting. "Is there anything wrong?"
"It's nothing."
"It seems like something you need to talk with someone." Kurapika said bluntly and patted her head. "I understand it may not be me—"
"N-No." Gon said immediately, not wanting Kurapika to feel sad because of her seeming lack of trust towards a friend. "You see…I… well, whenever I see Killua and Bisuke together being so close…" She huffed. "I feel very odd.
"I feel sad when he ignores me, too." She said, unconsciously holding her chest since the weird feelings were often felt there. "But when he couldn't do the same with Bisuke, I even feel a little annoyed."
The younger girl looked at Kurapika in blunt confusion. "This is the first time something like this happened…." and looked down again. "I don't know what is the best way to react."
Gon's perplexity was broken, or heightened, by Kurapika's soft chuckle. Gon looked at her and tilted her head, feeling even more confused. "I'm sorry." Kurapika said and smiled empathically. "Gon… that's called jealousy."
"…eh?" Gon blinked. How could that be? "Are you sure?"
Kurapika nodded. "I remember feeling jealous over a dog, once."
"Eh?" Kurapika? Jealous?
The blonde chuckled once more at her reaction, and paused to think whether or not to continue her story. But in the end? It didn't seem to matter.
Those were the thoughts running through her head as she petted cute little Gon's head. "When I was a child… I got everything she wanted. But I still treasured a few things, like my friends and family.
"One of the most treasured persons I had then was… " She stopped herself and she could swear she could see floating question marks popping up like bubbles around Gon. "He was giving his full attention to me—as he always did." She continued regardless, it felt nice that she could speak about it so casually now. "But then this dog came by, during one of our walks, it was helpless and hungry. I felt pity of course, but soon enough it grew healthy again but he was still paying more attention to it.
"I was childish, but I got over it eventually." She smiled and her head slowly lifted so she could distract herself with the puffiness of the clouds. "I realized I was just afraid I'd lose his attention—something he didn't hesitate to point out to the little me.
Kurapika looked at Gon kindly. "It's basically a manifestation of our insecurities with our relationships—like a strong chain holding us back from stability. You just met Killua so I'm not surprised." She smiled. "My case on the other hand was a little shameful. I knew this person for years, and apparently I didn't trust him as much as I thought—
And I would realize a few years later that I was right.
.
"Is there anything wrong?" Gon flinched and sweat-dropped as she saw—for a second—Kurapika's eyes turn red. She shook her head; it must have been her imagination.
"No." Kurapika managed to utter and took a quick inhale. "I just thought it's a pity that I don't even remember his face anymore."
"We don't know if Killua's worth this feeling yet, but I know you're a good judge of character."Unlike me, she noted bitterly. "Besides, this can be fixed with better communication. In other words… just ask him why he was ignoring you."
And Kurapika let out a knowing smile. "I'm fairly sure you wouldn't dislike his answer."
…
That was an understatement, Gon found out the next day.
"I couldn't face you after I hurt you."
It was morning and she managed to ambush him before they got into class. She dragged him to a spot in the garden where they'd be alone and asked him straight out why he was still ignoring her.
"That's it?" She voiced out in surprise. She knew he felt guilty, but to the point he couldn't look at her?
"…"
She beamed. "I thought you started hating me…"
"I wouldn't—"Killua caught himself and sighed softly. "I'm sorry."
"Ne, will you tell me someday why you reacted like that?"
"My family—they're Nen users. I didn't know then." He paused. "I have… associations with the ability I didn't want to remember."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry. I hurt you just because of my cowardice."
"I'm sure you'd be able to face them soon. You can use Nen now, right?"She smiled and held up her hand. "It's almost healed. The bruise is really light colored now." And it was true—much to Killua's amazement and relief.
"Bisuke taught me how to focus a little more of my aura there so it'll heal even faster." She grinned. "Awesome isn't it?"
'Speaking of Bisuke…'Her expression changed a bit and she stepped closer to Killua. "Bisuke and you seem close."
"What?" Killua almost barfed at that. "No, we're not. She's annoying as hell."
"But she's a good person." She said. "I don't think you dislike her at all."
Killua frowned and crossed his arms in suspicion. "Why is this even a topic?"
Gon blushed a bit and absent-mindedly scratched her cheek. "It just makes me feel weird when you look at her more."
Killua's face wore several more shades of red.
"K-Killua?"
"W-W-We'll be l-late."
"Oiiiii, Killua!" But he already sprinted to the classroom… and disappeared. Gon could only puff her cheek in response.
"Mou!"
…
They discussed the data they gathered after classes. Killua was the one who got most information, and he tried his best not to worry Gon by ignoring her again. It was seriously hard, especially when that blasted blush kept creeping up his face.
He could even see it in the old people's faces—those knowing smirks and the popcorns in their pockets. Damn it.
And, still, he realized he was just too happy. He couldn't even visualize himself hiding them all.
"The Ryoudan Family." He said, forcing his thoughts straight. "The family's clean business was the shell. It is very much connected to a hidden syndicate."
He showed them some paperwork he got from the archives of one of the people he was sent to kill back then, a high-ranking person within the family. He never put much importance so he never really took it anywhere. It just stayed where it was all those years ago, fortunately, and now his former job was actually of use.
He found the archives and the people they asked this mysterious syndicate to kill—and he confirmed they all died of mysterious deaths, albeit almost each one were obviously murders.
"To murder so many…" Bisuke whispered sadly as she skimmed. It was true, if anything, the assassination threat really would happen. "Looks like this is more than just an investigative case, after all."
"What's wrong Kurapika?"
Kurapika was brought back to reality, hoping no one saw her eyes turning red. They were just worried and a bit surprised so, thankfully, no one did. She trained herself to keep the emotions in so her eyes wouldn't change. If only her eyes weren't so dry—she'd wear black contact lenses for additional safety. But there were always these types of unexpected events that would destroy her equilibrium.
"Excuse me." She said turning around, feeling another seep of uncontrollable emotions flow through her. "I have to go to the rest room.
And she disappeared into the building.
…
Kurapika threw a palm-full of water on her face, as if the coldness of the liquid could wake her up from a nightmare, and let the water run without her having the energy to care for the waste, as she usually did.
Murders. Assassinations. Betrayals.
Mysterious syndicate.
Key words that summarized why she was working so hard—working so hard to reach the top, to be the best, to be professional. And, oh, how they enticed so much emotions within her...
She splashed some more water on her face again before she entered another disturbing reverie. But it was no use—she would note to herself as she looked deep into her crimson eyes in the mirror. She remembered how dark it was…, and how the only color she could see was red.
Her father was black, her mother was black, every servant was black, and all of them covered in red. There was only one person standing amongst the dark corpses and it was him.
It took her a long time to recover—too long for her to want to remember. And when she finally did she tried to find out as much as she could about her family's massacre. The likely suspect was a mysterious syndicate—almost an urban legend—named 'Spider' by the Police. And this spider… was somehow connected to 'that' person.
And now there was finally a lead.
And yet… she only vaguely remembered that person's face, and she hated herself for it.
Kurapika's hands clinched the cold marble sink by reflex, as if it would transfer all the anger inside her to the ground, and she closed her eyes—afraid to see any more. But there was one image that never failed in showing itself, a horrid after image… and her only clue.
It was everything she could recall in that accursed face of his—
That blasted cross on his forehead.
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 6
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 7: Chains – Part 3
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Papilio. Ageha – You know the phrase 'smiling with his eyes' right? xD I do it a lot with Tezuka. *cackles* Btw, I still don't get the author's pride thing. I mean… how many roles can Bisuke actually get in an HS AU story? xD Anyone could think of making Bisuke the student. Ahaha~ Thanks for the comment, btw. ;)
April Catastrophe- Hahahaha. Thanks for the review~! And yeah I like putting my penname everywhere. Hahahah. Hope the assignment was good enough! xD
Asdfghjkl- Yeah! xD I thought Jelly Gon's cute~ Hope you thought so too. xD And yes~ Neon's starting to kinda-pass his tsundere stage. Lol. Thx for the review~
Butterfree- Thank you for the review~! I'm very glad you liked the developments and the tension I squeeze in. xD Bisuke is now, well, more or less in her 60s now. Hahaha
Scarlet Lawliet- Yes~! Gon-chan's jealous of Bisuke. Hihihihihi. Thank you for the review, btw~! :D
LordOfTheWest- Mayyyybbeee? Lololol. I won't spoil~ Anyway, hope this chapter was worth the wait and Thank you for the comment~
Phoenix-Thunder – Thank you for the review~! I'm hoping that the first assignment is… er… interesting enough~! Hahahha
Guest [6/11/13]- NOW! xDD So sorry it took so long and I hope this was worth the wait~ Thx for the comment. ;D
AsukaSaru- Yay~! xD We just love 'cute', huh, Asuka-chan? xD *high-five* Glad you liked the development and thanks for the review~! xD
RaWindsG-ing – D'aw. You're so sweet. xD And here's the update~ Again, I hope it was worth the wait and thank you for the review! :D
Zozikoozy- Thanks for the review~! But, really, I don't mind reviews on non-latest chapters at all. Hahah. And yes, hopefully it'll be long and I'm glad you thought it was cool~
MaiAkikoChan- (ch2) lololol Hai~ xD It's one of the reason why Gon's so cute! xD Always excited~ And yes! It is Feitan. xD And hahahaha Glad you find this chap so cute. *cackles* (ch3) Yesh~! xD Gon's awesomeness and Kurapika is pretty sneaky, isn't she? Fufufufu~ (ch4) lololol. Tsundere fever strikes again! Poor Neon for being the target... and over ever-stoic Kurapika, too! Hahaha (ch5) Aww~ Thanks for still reviewing. I know it must have been annoying to lose what you type like that. xD And yep~ Bisuke's pretty weird. xD She wanna be a student! Glad you liked the chapters, and thank you for the reviews~!
Countess Caramel – (ch1) Really? Lol. I'm glad you think my English is good, then! xD And yay! You reread this? And you even left a review. *hugs* (ch2) Glad you felt that way~! It's an achievement as a writer. ^^ (ch3) lol. Probably one of my careless mistakes. xD (ch4) Yaay~! It's great to hear I make you visualize these things. And btw, writing such long chapters take a long time. xD We can chat about it in FB. xD And finally, thank you for the reviews~!
Rodessalorenzo – (ch4) hahahaha. Thank you for the review! And fluff scenes are my specialty. *cackles* Glad you liked 'em~(ch5) Indeed! Actually, the apocalypse concept IS the inspiration behind the great fire. So this is kinda like a post-apocalypse thing. Thanks for the reviews, btw~
Nicole tan- Thank you for the review, and I am glad you liked the story~! And I will keep writing stories cuz' you people are awesome readers. xD
…
THANKS FOR READING~!
It would be sooo lovely if you pause for a little while longer,
And write your thoughts in this beautiful box below. xD
