Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter…

Story so far: Finally it was revealed that Kurapika was in fact, and indeed, a girl. With the way things were now, changes were bound to happen between the two of them. How would they adapt to the new situation?


Chapter 6

DELIRIUM


"Welcome! What kind of room do you want?" A red-haired teenage girl with ponytail about Kurapika's age welcomed them with a huge grin as soon as they entered the inn. She looked at Kuroro first and blushed slightly upon seeing his handsome face; which made Kurapika rolled her eyes in annoyance. However, when she looked at them more closely, she seemed surprised and she stared at them for a long three seconds, before she grinned widely again at them. Kurapika felt butterflies in her stomach.

"One room with two beds." Kuroro said deadpan, his face impassive as he scanned the living room of the inn.

"Two beds?" The girl now sounded confused. Kurapika felt like smacking her forehead. "Oh, okay. Make yourself at home, I will arrange your room."

She turned around and skipped her way towards the counter, where her father was busy with the guest book. Now Kurapika knew why the inn was named the Prancing Pony; the daughter was one. She cast a few curious glances towards them, with the grin never leaving her upturned lips. She whispered something to her father, which made the old man to look up and glance at them, scold the girl mildly and shoo her to do her job. He stole a quick glance at them again, before shaking his head and returned his attention to his guest book. By then Kurapika's hands were already itching to strangle the man next to her. She followed Kuroro as he approached the counter while she tried to control her temper.

"Good evening. How long do you plan to stay here?" The old man looked up and smiled warmly at them.

"Good evening to you, too. We may be staying for one night only." He responded politely as he gave him a small smile. The old man looked at his face closely, and then he turned to Kurapika.

"Is the miss there okay? She looks a bit pale." He asked with concern.

"My companion is just tired. We have just come down from the forest up there, you see." Kuroro said easily as he put a hand on her head. Kurapika stiffened under his touch, but the innkeeper did not notice that.

"Oh, poor girl. If you want I can have my daughter to deliver your dinner to your room. How about that?" The old man offered kindly.

"That's very kind of you. Thank you, we appreciate that." Kuroro bowed his head slightly in a thanking gesture, while Kurapika was still standing stiff although Kuroro had removed his hand from the golden crown of her head.

"The room's ready! Come up here, I'll take you to your room." The girl from earlier ran down the stairs and beamed at them. Kuroro excused themselves from the old man and followed the energetic girl up to the second floor. As the climbed the staircase, Kurapika glared at Kuroro fiercely, but she did not let her eyes turned crimson. Kuroro still had his mask of indifference on, and betrayed nothing of his glee at the situation.

"Come in, come in. The window is facing the forest up on the hill. The bathroom is over there. If you need any assistance, you can call me. My name is Fino, by the way." The girl skipped in and introduced them to their room with her bubbly speech. Kurapika scanned the room tiredly. Suddenly she just wanted to flop down to the bed and never getting up again.

"Can the beds be moved?" Kuroro asked as he looked at the separated beds. The young girl's eyes widened at Kuroro's seemingly innocent question and blushed. Kurapika stared at her with horror.

"O, of—of course you can." She stuttered, her face still blushing furiously. "But you could've requested for a room with single queen-sized bed." Fino continued as her gaze shifted to Kurapika. Kurapika was covering her face with her hand, trying not to glare daggers at the innocent girl who had no idea on the complexity of her relationship with the bastard.

"No, it will inconvenience my companion. We'll take this room, thank you." Kuroro smiled at Fino warmly, and she was almost swooned by his charm. Kurapika fortunately did not see that.

"I, I—en—enjoy your stay here!" Fino bowed deeply at them and scurried away from the room, her face as red as tomato.

The room fell into a heavy silence as Fino closed the door with a soft click. The silence was later broken by Kuroro's soft chuckle.

"And that's how it turns out if you choose the 'companion' option." He said as he looked at the still mortified Kuruta girl. Kurapika responded by roughly grabbing the lapel of his coat.

"You knew this would happen!" She hissed venomously.

"You should know as well. Did you forget that you are a girl now?" Kuroro smiled mockingly at her.

Kurapika's eyes widened at his question, the anger replaced by a daze. True, in the split moment in front of the inn before they entered, in her mind she thought that she was still the Kurapika boy, so she had thought being companion would be best. Having a girl as travelling companion was sure to raise unwanted assumptions from the innkeepers. Kurapika froze at her own stupidity, while Kuroro chuckled again and took her hands to peel them off his coat. Just then, there was a knock on the door and without waiting for any answer, the door was flung open.

"Dinner's here—oh!" Fino waltzed in with a tray of food in her hands but stopped midway as she saw the two. From her perspective, it looked that Kuroro was affectionately holding the worn out girl's hands for some assurance, since the girl looked paler than before; which was actually caused by Fino barging in when they were in such a compromising position. Moreover, she spotted the identical silver rings on their fingers; Kuroro's on the middle finger of his right hand, and Kurapika's on the index finger of her left hand. Fino blushed again furiously, and Kurapika sighed heavily before wrenching her hands from Kuroro's grip.

"Thank you. You can put it on the table over there." Kuroro motioned at the table.

"Ah! Y—yes!" Hurriedly she put the tray on the table and bowed an apology. "I'm so sorry to have interrupted you. Please continue."

With that, she ran out of the room and closed the door louder than before. They could hear her running down the staircase excitedly. Kurapika felt really dizzy and she squatted on the floor, burying her face in her knees with a long, heavy sigh. Kuroro looked down to her with a questioning look.

"Come on, let's eat our dinner."

"I'm tired, I'm not hungry." Kurapika said in a muffled voice.

"But you still must eat." Kuroro insisted.

"I don't want to eat." She replied stubbornly.

"Well, if you are not going to eat, I am going to eat, so get up." Kuroro bent down and took her by her elbow and made her stand. With a yelp Kurapika was already on her feet, surprised by the strength that the man used to lift her. Kuroro frowned at her. "I really think you should eat more. You are too light."

"It's none of your concern." She said again, red colour creeping stealthily to her pale cheeks. Kuroro sighed.

"Look, Kurapika. We travel together not by our choice, so I do not want to waste my time and energy looking after a sick girl. Understand?" He said sternly as he looked straight into her oceanic blue eyes with his big dark eyes.

"I won't get sick." She retorted, daring to stare into his eyes. She failed to notice that it was only the second time Kuroro called her by name since the first time she insisted that he called her not by her tribe name.

"You will if you don't eat." He said in a dismissive tone and dragged her by her elbow to the table and made her sit opposite him. "Now eat."

Kurapika looked at Kuroro with her most annoyed look, glaring mildly at him. Why was the man being such a Mother-Hen? She was his enemy, he should not care less about her. It was true, though, that they would inconvenience each other if one of them got sick. She herself had no desire to nurse him if he ever got sick.

She looked down at her food; the rice steaming warm and the fragrance made her mouth watery. Suddenly she heard her stomach growling in protest. Reluctantly she picked the utensils and shoved a small amount of food into her mouth. She chewed slowly as she savoured the flavour, her initial intention not to eat forgotten. Her shoulder slumped in a relaxed manner and she began eating her food steadily, though slowly. When Kuroro was satisfied and sure that she would eat her food, he began eating his. They ate in silence, and both finished their food clean.

"Do you want to take your bath now?" Kuroro offered as he saw sleepiness started to hang around the tired girl.

Kurapika, too tired to be obnoxious just to spite him, nodded wordlessly. Kuroro took out his Fun Fun Cloth and handed her pyjamas along with the 'special' bundle. They walked towards the bathroom, and while Kurapika bathed inside, he sat down on the floor while leaning against the wall. After a moment, the girl emerged from the bathroom in her new pyjamas, cradling her bundle closely. Without an exchange of a single word, Kuroro slipped into the bathroom while Kurapika sat against the wall. She tried to dry her wet blonde hair with the bath towel, but soon she yawned and drowsiness took over. A minute or two of sleep would not hurt.


So far it had been good. At least he was still in control of situation. Although the Kuruta turned back into her original gender, it still did not cause much hassle so far. Kuroro looked up and let the warm water from the shower pour unto his face. He could not imagine how the rest of their journey would be, with the Kuruta being a girl now. One thing for sure, he could not let the news reached his comrades' ears. They would fuss about it, and it would only give him extra headache. Especially Nobunaga; oh what a nightmare he would be.

When he was done, he dried himself and put on his sleeping attire. He unlocked the door and stepped out, only to find Kurapika sleeping while leaning against the wall, the towel draped on her still wet hair. The bundle was forgotten by her side, her legs sprawled on the wooden floor. Kuroro frowned at her careless attitude and squatted down next to her. He took his chance to study the girl's visage without earning a glare from her.

Her skin was amazingly smooth and flawless, although they were too pale. He also noticed that she had long eyelashes, forming thick, dark curtain from her eyelids. Her lips were rather thin and pale, and she looked terribly exhausted. When she was asleep, with the absence of the scowls and looks of consternation, she was actually quite pretty; angelic even. Kuroro tapped her shoulder lightly to wake her up, but she did not stir.

"Kurapika." He called at her softly, so as not to surprise the wit out of her. She did not respond. "Kurapika." This time, he called at her and tapped her lightly. Still no response.

Kuroro raised an eyebrow. It was really unusual that the Kuruta would sleep so deeply, while usually the slightest touch from him would jolt her awake. The girl was really full of surprise; one time she would be really wary and suspicious of him, mistrusting him for everything he did; the next time she would completely drop her guard, revealing the young child she was. Chuckling softly in amusement, Kuroro slipped a hand beneath her knees and another on her shoulder. Gently, he lifted her off the floor and walked towards the bed, intending to drop her there, when a knock stopped him. Without thinking twice, he called the person in.

"Excuse me, I'm here to—" Fino, for the umpteenth time of the day, froze on her spot as she stopped mid-sentence. She saw the older man carrying the sleeping young girl, both fresh from bathroom, bridal style to the beds. She blushed furiously and started stuttering incoherently.

"I—I—tray—" She grappled for words, but her tongue seemed laden.

"You are here to get the tray back." Kuroro finished for her. Fino nodded vigorously. Without wasting her time like an idiot, she grabbed the tray with the empty plates and rushed out of the room, her footsteps echoing in the staircase.

Kuroro shook his head at the girl's antics. She looked as if she had seen something so outrageous, but then again if she had known the context of their relationship, by right it was supposed to be more than outrageous. At least for Kurapika's part it was. He turned and looked back at the still slumbering girl in his arms. She slept peacefully as if the little fuss the innkeeper's 'prancing pony' daughter had caused earlier was non-existence for her. Kuroro really wondered how the girl could be really light. It almost took him no effort at all to lift her off the floor.

He deposited her to the bed, but noticed that her hair was still very wet. He 'tsk'ed at her recklessness, but nonetheless made her sat up against the wall and began drying her hair with her towel. Let her sleep with wet hair, the next day she would get bad headache, or worse she would catch cold. He did not want to have a sick girl tagging along, honestly. He did so most gently so as not to wake the exhausted girl. Even the girl did not respond when he shook her hair to dry it. He wondered on how exhausted the girl was really; physically and mentally. She must be really tired to her soul, since she was really unaware that her so-called nemesis was ruffling her hair just to get it dry. Kuroro even sniffed in amusement. Imagine how his comrades would react if they saw their Danchou doing such civilised and down-to-earth gesture. Nobunaga would probably faint with bubbles in his mouth.

When he was done; the hair was still damp but at least it was not soaking wet, he tossed the wet towels to the chair nearby and lie the girl down on her back. He looked at the girl again, feeling uneasy. Somehow, Kurapika seemed very tired that day, while he was not at all. He knew the girl had very good stamina, so by right she should not be so exhausted. Her face also looked paler than usual.

Brushing aside those thought, thinking that he was getting soft on the girl, Kuroro pushed the beds to join them and sat on his bed. Not feeling sleepy yet, he took out his book and began reading while sitting close (because of the bind) to the sleeping Kuruta.


Kurapika felt her head spinning, her whole body burning unpleasantly, her stomach churning uneasily. She tried to shake away the feelings, but they would not go. She felt someone sitting close to her, as if keeping vigil for her. Prying open her eyes, although they felt laden, she saw the blurry figure of a man. He had a book open in his hand and was reading it. The man seemed to notice her waking up and said something. She could not catch what he was saying so she said nothing in return. A few seconds later the man turned to look at her. He put down his book and bent towards her, put a palm on her burning forehead and said something again.

His cooling hand calmed her throbbing head, and she felt like she remembered that hand. Big and kind, she remembered the owner of those hands. It was so long ago, her heart ached badly that she could not restrain her tears from flowing.

"A…aniki…(it means big brother in Japanese)" She choked the word. Suddenly, the man's face became visible, and once again she was looking at her brother's face. His kind smile warmed her heart, his hand on her forehead. His hair; the golden locks identical to hers, framed his handsome face. "Aniki, you are here…" She grabbed his hand.

"Kurapika, I'm dead." He whispered to her, his smile turned sorrowful.

"Bu—but you are here." She started to panic. She grasped his arm firmer, but he drew back from her.

"No, Kurapika. I died 5 years ago." He said again, trying to peel her hands from his arm. He started to pull away, and Kurapika's heart burst into fear, the same fear that struck her 5 years ago when she saw her village burned down and her people reduced into eyeless corpses. The fear of being abandoned.

"NO!" She screamed, jolted up and hugged his arm desperately. "No, don't go! Don't leave me alone!" She started crying uncontrollably.

"Kurapika, you can't do this." Her brother said again, but this time he did not push her away. "You must be strong."

"No, don't abandon me. I don't want to be alone. Aniki!" She screamed and cried at the same time. Her wail was heart wrenching, and she clung to her brother's arm as if it was her life line.

"No…don't leave me…I will be strong, I promise… So don't leave me now…" She sobbed miserably. Her brother looked at her with sad eyes, but he reached out and patted her head gently.

"I won't leave you, Kurapika." He whispered to her in reassurance.

"Promise?" She asked in her sobs. She looked up at her brother, but her vision was obscured by her tears.

"Promise." He nodded and patted Kurapika's head. "Now you lie down and rest."

Feeling reassured by his gentle words and soothing touch, Kurapika nodded weakly and smiled childishly at him. Still not letting go his hand, Kurapika lay down and drifted back to sleep.


Kuroro was reading his book at peace when he felt slight movement next to him. Even without having to look, he knew the girl had woken up. He could literally feel her stare at him.

"Awake?" He had asked easily. Receiving none of the usual fierce response from her, he turned around and looked at her quizzically. Only then he realized that her face had turned slightly red. Putting down his book, he reached out and touched her forehead. As he had suspected, she was having a fever.

"You have a fever." He said with an I-told-you-so tone. He knew it was coming, since he had noticed her getting weaker for the last few days. He wanted to chastise her right away, but that would not do her any good. She would not even understand half of what he would be saying anyway, with her head burning in such fever. Then, it suddenly came.

"A…Aniki…" She whispered. Kuroro froze in his spot. He looked at her with wide eyes. The girl's teary eyes looked hopeful. "Aniki, you are here…" She grabbed his hand firmly. Kuroro frowned at her.

"Kurapika, your brother is dead." He tried telling her.

"Bu—but you are here…" She responded, her eyes grew wider with fear. Kuroro raised an eyebrow. Somehow, she understood what he was saying but it was twisted such that as if Kuroro was speaking as his brother.

"No, Kurapika. He died 5 years ago." He reasoned with her again. And I was probably the one who killed him, he added in his mind. Feeling uneasy and annoyed at the same time, Kuroro pulled away from her as he tried to extract her grip from her hand. Pure terror flooded the girl's blue eyes and she suddenly sat up and hugged his arm. He stiffened under her touch, but she started screaming denials and pleaded for him not to go away.

"I'm not your brother. You are hallucinating because of your fever." He told her in strained voice, but she kept pleading for him not to go, his words no longer reached her minds. She clung at him as if for her dear life and wailed miserably, plunging into a frenzied hysteria. He let her cried her eyes out, hoping that when she had tired herself, she would drift back into sleep, leaving him peacefully.

"…I will be strong, I promise…So don't leave me now…" She pleaded again, her voice cracking in her sobs. She gripped Kuroro's arm tightly, fearing that he would escape and vaporise into thin air.

Suddenly, she looked like a broken toy in Kuroro's eyes. So weak and fragile, haunted by her brother's ghost. Her shivering shoulders gave no traces of her previous strength that he had silently and secretly approved of. She looked so small, clinging at him desperately. He had wanted to shove her aside, to leave her deal with her own problems on her own. He himself had never had a blissful childhood like any normal kids. Growing up in Ryuusei-gai had never been accounted as normal by people outside Ryuusei-gai, anyway. He had thought he would not be able to sympathise with the girl, so he had decided to leave her on her own devices since he would not be able to offer any comforts. But after hearing her pleas, her promise to be strong, suddenly Kuroro realised that while she might look strong, there was a big scar in her heart, in her soul. It was a scar that could not be healed, which forever would cripple her unless someone went to mend it. And he was the one who had brutally left the scar 5 years ago.

Kuroro shook his head lightly to dissolve such thoughts. It was not like him to be thinking of that kind of thing. In any case, the girl seemed restless and would not give up unless he did something to calm her down.

"I won't leave you, Kurapika." He whispered, trying to sound as reassuring as possible; although he felt that he had failed miserably.

"Promise?" She asked tearfully.

"Promise." He nodded and patted her head. "Now you lie down and rest."

She nodded weakly and gave him a childish smile, which took him by surprise. When she had finally drifted into a deep sleep, she still did not let go of her grip on his hand. Kuroro eyed her warily, but made no attempt to extract his hand from her hand. He sighed heavily and immediately his thought rushed to his cell phone.

"When there is an abnormal change to that child, call me immediately. Understood?"

That was what Ishtar had said. Did she mean this delirious reaction? Kuroro covered his mouth with his free hand and thought it over. Come to think of it, Kurapika's stamina dropped after the earring was destroyed and she reverted back into her original gender. When they ran down the hill to save time, he had noticed that her breathings were more laborious. He had thought that she was just losing her edge because she had turned back into a girl, and thus her stamina that she had retained when she was still a boy had diminished. It was highly probable that the cause of her fever and delirium was the side-effect of the earring being destroyed. Her Nen was still the same as when she was still a boy, but the physical change that her body undergone was might be too much to bear, and finally her mental and body took the toll after two days.

He looked again at the sleeping girl. No, he would not call Ishtar now. Not if he could help it. If the fever was really due to the sudden release of the disguise, the fever would go down soon enough when her body and mental had rested enough. If by tomorrow noon her fever still had not receded, then he might resort to medicine. If by tomorrow night she was still burning up, only then he would give Ishtar a call.

Suddenly feeling tired because he had to handle a delirious and hysterical girl, Kuroro decided to sleep. He lay down on his bed and turned around to face the sleeping girl. Gingerly he touched her forehead; the high fever was still there but somehow Kurapika was able to sleep peacefully. He pulled away his hand and could only hope that she would get better soon. He did not want to nurse a delirious feverish girl. He was a killer, a thief, not a nurse.


A soft knock on the door woke him up. He sat up and the first thing he did was to check on Kurapika. She was still sleeping, still holding his hand. He checked her temperature, but much to his disappointment she was still feverish. The person behind the door knocked again, and Kuroro called the person in. The door opened slightly and a head peeked in carefully. Fino looked at them curiously; Kuroro still had his hand on her forehead, and he did not look up.

"Em…Mom said breakfast is ready." She said sheepishly.

"Can you bring it here?" Kuroro asked distractedly, his eyebrow furrowed as he was trying to think on how to get the girl better as soon as possible. It would be highly inconvenient if the girl kept burning up. He had no wish to contact Ishtar, either.

"Sure. But, umm…." Fino gazed at the sleeping Kuruta curiously. "Is…Is she okay?"

Kuroro looked up and stared at her. Fino gasped and blushed. Even when Kuroro had just got up, he still looked dead handsome.

"She is having fever." He said as he observed her reaction.

"Fever? Oh no." Fino suddenly became bold and she entered the room, rushing to Kurapika's bed hurriedly. She checked her temperature by touching her cheek, and was surprised to feel her hot skin. "She's burning up! When did she get the fever?"

"Last night."

"Last night?" She exclaimed. "Did you give her a cold compress?"

"No." He admitted. Somehow, he had not thought of it.

"NO?" Fino was close to shouting now. "That won't do! Wait here!" She got up and dashed into the bathroom. Kuroro heard the girl rummaging through the bathroom, heard the sound of water pouring from the tap into some kind of container, and soon Fino emerged from the bathroom holding a pail of cold water. She brought a small towel and dipped it into the cold water, squeezed the excess water and draped the wet towel on Kurapika's forehead.

"When the towel has gotten warm, dip it in the cold water and put it back again." She instructed, while Kuroro just nodded silently.

"I'll bring the breakfast to your room." She got up, and looked at them again. "Are you going to stay by her side for the rest of the day?"

"Yes." It was not like he had any choice, anyway. The bind bound him to her, so as long as she was bedridden, he would be stuck in the room. He did not bother to elaborate more, though.

"Then I'll bring your lunch and dinner up, too." Fino said again. There was an admiring look on her face; she had totally gotten the wrong idea. She retreated from the room quietly, leaving Kuroro with the feverish Kurapika. She only came back to deliver his lunch, and wordlessly left them alone. She felt that she had to respect Kuroro's devotion for Kurapika; a complete misunderstanding.


It was around noon when Kurapika opened her eyes again. She blinked twice, her puffy eyes adjusting to the light in the room. She had no idea why her eyes were puffy, and why there was a damp towel on her forehead. She glanced to her side, and saw Kuroro sitting next to her and reading his book peacefully, his fingers intertwined with hers. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw herself holding Kuroro's hand.

"Awake? Are you yourself now?" Kuroro asked impassively, showing no gentleness he had (in pretence) shown her when she was in her delirious state.

"What do you mean?" Kurapika asked in raspy voice as she let go of her grip on Kuroro's hand hurriedly, as if his hand was infected. Ignoring her rudeness, Kuroro turned around and looked at him with curious dark eyes.

"You don't remember?"

"What had happened when I was sleeping? What's with this cold compress?" She asked with mild irritation in her voice as she sat up and let the towel dropped to her lap.

Kuroro put down his book and reached out to touch her forehead with his hand. Her temperature had miraculously dropped back to normal, while all he did was to change the towel routinely whenever it had gotten too warm, and it was just slightly past noon. Kurapika flinched when Kuroro had unabashedly touched her forehead; and she did not forget to glare at him, which he only ignored. He frowned when he felt her temperature; it was almost too good to be true. But then again, assuming her fever was really caused by the sudden removal of her disguise, it made sense that the fever would be gone once she had had enough rest. He looked at her face; it was still flushed from her fever, but definitely healthy. Kurapika inched away from his scrutiny.

"Excuse me? Do you mind explaining what is going on?" Kurapika demanded, unhappy that she was at loss about the situation.

"You had fever last night." He said deadpan. There was a short pause before he added, "And you were delirious."

"Fever? Delirious? I—Did I say anything strange?" Her face turned red.

"Strange?" Kuroro smirked. Kurapika frowned at him, with slight twist in her stomach. By then, she could tell that if the older man started to smirk, he was up to a mischief against her.

"What did I ramble about?" She demanded, bracing herself to receive some embarrassing recollections of her babblings.

"Nothing much. You were hallucinating about your brother." Her face turned ashen and she bit her lower lip.

"And?"

"You were begging him not to leave you alone." He said as he observed her reaction closely.

"Did I do anything?"

Kuroro raised an eyebrow. Now that's an interesting question, and right on the mark, he thought. He tried his best to hide his gleeful smirk, he so wanted to see her reaction.

"You hugged my arm."

"I DID WHAT?"

"You hugged my arm." He repeated, trying not to laugh out loud. "And you wouldn't let go of my hand all night."

Kurapika slumped back to her bed as if she had fainted. She groaned loudly and covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. Her face was blushing furiously, and she heard Kuroro chuckling.

"You're lying." She accused.

"No, I'm telling the truth." He defended himself calmly.

"I would never do that!"

"You mistook me as your brother."

That sent the girl into a silence state. She stopped her denial, peeked from between her fingers and saw Kuroro looking at her. They stared for a few seconds, before she finally looked away.

"Sorry." She mumbled, embarrassed of herself.

"Why?" Kuroro asked, not understanding her sudden apology.

"I did get sick."

"It can't be helped. Your body is shocked by the sudden change, it needs to adjust and so does your mental." He paused for a while, before continuing. "Speaking of which, how are you feeling now?"

Kurapika looked at him with mild bewilderment; not understanding his sudden concern, but nonetheless put her hands on her chest, as if feeling her beating heart and closed her eyes. She felt her heartbeats were much calmer than before; the last few days her heartbeats were somewhat erratic, and she was in constant uneasiness. Now she felt strangely peaceful and calm.

"I'm okay." She finally said and opened up her eyes, only to see Kuroro looming over her. He looked at her curiously with his big, soulful eyes. "What?" She asked nervously.

"Do you want to rest for another day? Or do you want to continue our trip today?" He asked as he retreated back to his sitting position.

Kurapika looked at him with confusion. Again, she frowned at his sudden concern of her welfare. It disturbed her. "Why with the sudden concern?"

Kuroro contemplated her question. Indeed, why was he being concerned of her? She had been a nuisance so far. There was this nagging feeling that he had to at least do something about her. Was he feeling responsible for her? She was 9 good years younger than him, after all. Although he was troubled within, he still put up his mask of indifference. He turned to look at Kurapika, who was still anticipating his answer.

"For practical reason, I don't want to have a half sick girl tagging along." He said without a hint of emotion.

"I see." Kurapika responded, somehow relieved that it was a really practical reason. If she heard answer any other than that, she did not know how she would take it. She did not want the Spider Head to start swaying her with his genuine kindness and concerns for her. "I think I still want to rest."

"Go ahead." Kuroro said and he returned to his book.

Kurapika shut her eyes and tried to ignore Kuroro's close presence. In no time, she drifted back to the comforting darkness of her sleep.


Faint clutters of metal utensils echoed in her half-asleep mind. She heard distant voices talking softly, as if afraid that they would wake her up. One was a female, the other one was a male. She was familiar with the male one, his voice deep and pleasant to her ears. His voice was gentle yet controlled, as if he was talking in an act. She realised then that she had seldom detected such detachment in his voice before when he talked to her. Begrudgingly for her part, he had always been honest to her, although he would refuse to tell her some things, he never lied. He just did not tell her. When he talked to her, he sounded more…genuine.

"…when she is awake." She heard him saying.

Her eyes fluttered open in response of his words. The first thing she saw was his back towards her as he was sitting at the edge of her bed. A pony-tailed girl, whom she recognised as the daughter of the innkeeper, was standing in front of him, holding a tray on one hand and handing him a plate of food with the other. Fino noticed her waking up first, and she burst into a wide grin.

"Oh, she is awake!" She chirped happily.

Kuroro turned around in surprise. He immediately checked her temperature with his hand, and was unconsciously relieved to feel her normal temperature. At least her condition had stabilised now. Again, Kurapika stiffened under his touch; his hand was cold.

"How are you feeling now?" The innkeeper's daughter asked kindly as she put down the tray of food on the bed.

"I'm fine." Kurapika answered, her voice raspy due to lack of moisture. The cheerful girl leaned forward towards Kurapika, her face only a mere inch from hers.

"Your boyfriend stays by your side all day to take care of you." Fino whispered to Kurapika, winking at her playfully. Kurapika wanted to roll her eyes but she refrained herself from doing so; that would be rude. After all, Fino was just a simple town girl.

"He is not my boyfriend." She whispered back, rather annoyed by the false assumption.

"Really?" Fino whispered back fiercely, not believing Kurapika's denial.

"Honestly, it's none of your business." Kurapika said somewhat harshly. She gave the young girl a sharp look, and Fino backed away nervously.

"Oh…I—I will take my leave now. Enjoy your dinner." She bowed politely and hurriedly rushed out of the room with flustered face.

Kurapika sighed and rolled to her back, her eyes scanning the ceiling above her absentmindedly. Kuroro looked at her with curious eyes. The Kuruta girl was usually very polite to other people.

"That isn't so nice to her." He commented as he put down his plate of food.

"She is meddling in other people's business." Kurapika reasoned.

"What did she tell you?"

"She said you were waiting by my side all day to take care of me. Yeah right, all you did was to put the cold towel on my forehead and you went on reading. Besides, there is the stupid bind. Of course you can't leave my side, in a sense." Kurapika ranted irritably.

"What more did she tell you?"

Kurapika turned to look at him sharply. She had purposely left behind a tiny fragment of Fino's words, because she wanted to save herself from the embarrassment, but somehow the annoying man knew. Kuroro knew that she would not be so annoyed if the innkeeper's daughter had mentioned only such trivial things; there had to be something else that irked her.

"She said you are my boyfriend." She mumbled, with certain redness crept up her cheeks.

"Ah…" Kuroro snickered at her words.

Kurapika glared at him, but he had turned around, his back facing her. As dusk had passed, the room turned dim, the only light came from the small lamp near their beds. Kurapika looked at Kuroro's back. He was only wearing a plain black t-shirt. She could see his broad shoulders, strong and independent. However, she could also spot a loneliness in them; a solitary back. Suddenly, Ishtar's voice echoed in her head.

"I raised him, but the boy won't call me mother. I don't think he will ever do… Regarding his past, his childhood, his history, it is not my right to tell them to you. If you want to know, ask him"

Kurapika scowled. As if it would be that easy to ask. She figured the man would just turn mute and give her the cold shoulder, or would just change the subject. It was not like it was an important matter for her, but she was just curious… Kuroro Lucifer was a mysterious man, too mysterious to be left alone. She was drawn to him; to his detachment. Things were contradictory about him. He was cold and calculating; able to kill without thinking twice, no guilt or remorse whatsoever. He felt nothing when he killed, as he had answered when she asked.

xXx

"Don't you feel anything when you kill?" She had asked with repulsion as she looked around the bloody masses; the aftermath of their retaliation against some bounty hunters who were after Kuroro's head.

"Nothing." He responded without batting an eyelid.

"Have you no heart? How can you kill a life without feeling anything?" She asked derisively.

"You asked the same question as your little friend did." He said with an amused smile. He was referring to Gon, but of course Kurapika had no idea who he was talking about. "Because they do not concern me. They are nothing for me, so I have no qualms in killing them. Satisfied?"

xXx

Without noticing it, Kurapika's eyes had turned red, glowing subtly in the dimly lit room. She was upset by his indifferent answer. He was too cold, too inhumane. She could not relate to him, but precisely because of that, she wanted to know why. Why had he become the person he was? He had a mother figure, so why? Just because he grew up in Ryuusei-gai, that he automatically became such a cold-blooded killer with no feelings?

"Kurapika."

She blinked in surprise and turned her face to see Kuroro staring at her, his expression unreadable. He seemed to be frowning, but it was too dark to tell for sure. Her eyes turned back to their blue hues. Her eyes met his dark eyes. He looked like he wanted to ask something, but decided against it. He pushed a plate of food towards her.

"Your dinner." He simply said, and turned around to finish his own food.

Without saying anything, the girl pushed herself up into a sitting position and began eating the food silently. If she was to refuse eating again, Kuroro would just chastise her again, and she had had enough of that. What she did not know was that Kuroro deliberately did not mention the fact that their bind had once again expanded. Earlier he had tried to measure it while she was sleeping, and much to his surprise, it had expanded up to 60 cm. He had thought that if he mentioned it, the blonde would think that she was warming up to him, consequently she would start distancing herself from him again. He did not want the bind to shrink again, it was most uncomfortable.

Or was he only feeling comfortable having her around?


Author's Note: Yeah, this chapter is a mix of comedy and tragedy (maybe?). Heh… I guess it's pretty clear here that Kurapika's brother is really important to her. And there's not much to say about this chapter, otherwise it'll spoil the plot. Hehehe… Anticipate the next chapter, which will be full of comedy revolving around this Prancing Pony inn!

Next: They were just about to continue with their journey scouring the world for solution for their 'problem', but chains of problems just had to happen.