Disclaimer: I do not own HunterxHunter, much to my dismay.
Story so far: Searching for the Scarlet Eyes in the foreign land, they were destined to meet yet another set of the local mythical creatures. But what would they do if one particular demonic spirit had taken great, pernicious interest in them?
WARNING: There will be some graphic violence in this chapter. You have been warned. Don't blame me if you lose your eating appetite.
Chapter 19
THE SPIDER LADY
"A—Anansi boy?" Kurapika stuttered in confusion. What the heck did that mean?
Kuroro narrowed his eyes even more.
"Jorou-gumo…" He said with glacial voice. Even if she was an evil spirit of some sort, the woman could sense the underlying icy threaten in that velvety voice. It was a final ultimatum, and she understood that it would be complete foolishness not to bend to the boy's wish; for the moment, at least.
With a flick of Jorou-gumo's twig-thin wrist, Kurapika was at once released from the spider webs that hugged her like a protective layer. She was let go all too sudden that she was not prepared for any landing at all. She landed unceremoniously with a loud thud on the soft ground. She saw twinkling stars for a moment, before she finally shook her head to clear her vision. When she scrambled up from the ground, Kuroro was already in front of her, his back towards her.
"What's Anansi?" Kurapika said in irritation.
"Anansi is a person; or to be exact, he is the incarnation of spider spirit." Kuroro turned to look at Kurapika in the eyes. "He was the one who told me of the 12-legged spider."
Kurapika's heart missed a beat for a fraction of second. She knew that what Kuroro was trying to tell her was that this Anansi person was his inspiration for the Genei Ryodan; the group was based on that idea. Kurapika narrowed her eyes as a thought crossed her mind.
"Was he your mentor, too?" She asked with low voice.
"Sort of." He answered with a nonchalant shrug. "But he didn't stay long. He was with me only for a few months, and then he went away and has never visited."
There was no sadness or regret in his voice. It was as if he could not care less about his mentor visiting him or not, as if it did not even matter whether his former mentor remembered him or not.
Well then, Anansi boy…What brings you here to this land? The woman inquired as she turned to fully face Kuroro. She swayed her voluptuous body sensuously, indiscreetly showing off the prominent cleavage that peeked from her loose kimono. The sight discomforted Kurapika, but she said nothing.
"I am here for a business." He said curtly. "And stop calling me that."
Why? It suits you… She snickered. After all, you reek of him…
Kuroro narrowed his eyes into dangerous slits, whereas Kurapika raised her eyebrows. It seemed that Anansi was quite the sensitive topic for Kuroro; for a reason that she had yet to find out.
At any rate, what business do you have here? I have to know because I am a native and you are an outsider. I have to know of what is going on here in my territory. She continued.
"Your territory?" Kuroro openly scoffed. "You speak as if you are the owner of this land when you are actually just a bakemono."
Mm-hmm… She grinned demonically at him. And this bakemono surely knows this territory like the back of her hand. And perhaps… She inched closer to him, her body movin in such a sultry way that it made Kurapika feel giddy. This bakemono can be of any help in terms of your so-called business?
"What do you offer?" Kuroro said, turning into bargaining mode all of the sudden. All the time, he never flinched even as the woman's ghastly face was a mere inch from his face.
Hmm…Depends on what you require. She drew back and straightened her back, rather insulted with the fact that he was impervious to her charm.
"We are looking for a certain item. The Scarlet Eyes; although I don't know what it is called here."
A treasure? She said with piqued interest.
"Of some kind." He nodded. He stole a glance at Kurapika, who had been listening intently all the while. He understood that those Eyes were not merely treasures; they meant the world for that girl.
I see… The woman hummed as she tapped her chin delicately with her spidery fingers. That kind of items can only be possibly stored in the castle.
"So what can you do about it?" Kuroro challenged her with his arms across his chest.
And how do you plan to get the item first, boy? Jorou-gumo asked back.
"Who knows? We are going to look for information in the city." Kuroro started to take firm steps.
Kurapika followed after him in silence, but she kept glancing over her shoulders towards the Spider Lady, who kept a vigilant eye on them even as they walked down the hill towards the crowded city. Everything about her was suspicious, and everything about her gave her the chill. She did not like that woman, not even a tiny bit.
From such distance, even Kurapika's keen eyes failed to catch the malicious grin that the bakemono had and the gesture wherein she licked her heavily rouged thin lips hungrily.
It was surprisingly easy to get information of the Scarlet Eyes in that bustling city. All they did was to go into a restaurant, ask the waitress fleetingly (which was a job wonderfully done by Kuroro's implacable charms) of any news about peculiar items circulating in the city, and voila! The information inundated them like a flood from a broken dam.
Apparently, the Scarlet Eyes had been the hot topic of the lively city for quite a few months already. It seemed that the lord of the castle had acquired the eyes and since then he had been quite fortunate in his dealings with business and politics. The curious item had since been proclaimed by the lord as his personal lucky charm.
"In other words…" Kuroro said with low voice as he picked a dish with his chopsticks, "it is impossible to get it by negotiation. There is no way that the lord would relinquish such highly-regarded item."
Kurapika only sat in front of him and stared at her food. She had not touched it and merely looked at it with gloomy eyes. Kuroro chose to let her to her own devices; she would speak when she wanted to speak. It was a custom and habit that had been built between the two of them.
"It…" she started with a husky voice that was barely a whisper, "is not supposed to be any lucky charms…"
And then she fell into another long interval of heavy silence. A thick dark cloud of despondency hung about her gloomily, and Kuroro thought that she might break apart at any given time due to the burden of those despair alone.
"I suppose it is not." Kuroro finally said with quite voice. "And that's why we are getting them back."
Kurapika glanced up towards Kuroro from beneath the shadow of her bangs. Was he trying to cheer her up? The man was still enjoying his food, as if his fleeing comment had just been a discarded afterthought.
"Eat up. You can't fight with empty stomach." He said as he motioned at her untouched plate with his chopsticks.
Kurapika stared at her food that was getting cold. Suddenly, her forgotten hunger assaulted her with vengeance and she could hear the faint growl of her protesting stomach. With her face flushed beetroot, Kurapika picked her chopsticks and began to quietly eat her portion of food.
Things had been somewhat peaceful between him and her, and she was starting to enjoy it.
They rented a room in a humble inn, and to Kurapika's despair and exasperation, the maids giggled when they heard and saw the two of them sharing the same bedroom. They could have not exaggerated thing, could they?
"It can't be helped." Kuroro said with a soft chuckle as he saw Kurapika's face contorted into a deep scowl.
Kurapika glared daggers at Kuroro. "You look like you are enjoying this." She accused him.
"Mm-hmm… Perhaps." He muttered softly and with a grin on his handsome face.
God, give me strength. Kurapika massaged the bridge of her nose with deep irritation. This man is annoying the hell out of me, and he is having fun at my expense.
And so they slept on separate futon without any 'goodnight' being exchanged.
Kuroro had just slept for a few meagre hours when he heard unsettling rustles coming from the futon next to him. He thought that the girl was having yet another nightmare; it was getting like an occasional habit. At the beginning of their journey, the occurrence was quite often that Kuroro had thought that he might never be able to get any undisturbed sleep as long as she was with him. Over time, the nightmares started to come less often and less intense. Sometimes he just caught the girl hugging her knees quietly and seldom spotted her frail-looking shoulders tremble ever so slightly.
He decided to leave her alone, for she had the tendency to shrug him aside crudely when he prodded her about it. He had no wish to volunteer to become the victim of her verbal abuse again. However, the rustlings never ceased and instead it was getting more and more noisy and unsettling.
"Kuroro?"
The said man flashed his eyes open. He knew that his hearing was still perfect, but he was dubious of himself when he thought that Kurapika's voice almost sounded pleading. That girl never pleaded to him. With suspicions, Kuroro turned around to see what had gotten the girl so nervous, and when he did see, he found himself beholding a very peculiar scene.
Kurapika was standing on top of her futon, her sleeping yukata hugging her thin form loosely. What made him dumbfounded was the impossible number of tiny spiders surrounding her futon. Strangely, his futon had been left out to his peace. He looked at Kurapika, and the moment their eyes locked on each other, he was looking straight into her magnificent Scarlet Eyes. Kuroro took this chance to marvel at the beauty of her eyes; they never bored him. He was convinced that Kurapika's pale face and her golden crown of hair completed the beauty of her priceless eyes.
"Do something!" She hissed.
Apparently, as he quickly noted, she was fighting the urge to turn the whole room into a ship-wreck state. She was not afraid of those spiders; she was fighting the demons in her self; her wrath and bloodlust that were revived every time she saw a spider. This time, by golly, she was looking at thousands of them.
Kuroro himself was not very sure on what he should do in that situation. If he made any sudden movements, those arachnids might just jump at the Kuruta girl and drove her into frenzy. Very quietly and slowly, Kuroro sat up and conjured his Skill Hunter book. He flipped the pages until he found the page he desired, and he looked at the spiders with a degree of uncertainty.
I have never tried this, but it never hurts to experiment, he thought.
Very quickly then, he used Teleportation on those spiders. He managed to send away most of them, but quite a few of those eight-legged creatures were left behind. They scurried towards Kurapika, but the girl quickly conjured her Dowsing Chain and bashed those small insects into unrecognised bits and juices. Unfortunately, she had not seen one huge spider crawling behind her. Kuroro spotted it and was about to alert her when it suddenly jumped onto her back. Kuroro widened his eyes in horror.
Kurapika screamed at the top of her lungs; a scream that could have awakened the dead inhabitants of a whole graveyard.
"Where, where?" She screeched as she frantically jumped about, trying to shake off the spider crawling all over her body. "Get it off me, get it off me!"
"Kurapika, calm down!" Kuroro quickly got up and tried to take hold of her but she swatted his hands away.
"Get it off me!" She continued screaming. "AAAAAAH!"
Her movements became even more vigorous as the spider crawled on her back underneath her sleeping yukata. Hoping to prevent her from destroying the whole room in her attempt to get the creature off her body, Kuroro seized and locked her waist with his left arm while he pressed her head to the crook of his neck with his right hand.
"Quiet." He ordered firmly. "I'm taking it off you."
Kurapika immediately turned as stiff as a stick and whimpered pitifully in his arms. She grabbed two fistful of his yukata as she clung to his back. Kurapika buried her face into the crook of his neck, trying to suppress her terror. Carefully, Kuroro started to slide the sleeping yukata off her shoulders, taking care not to disturb the arachnid perching on her back. He spotted the creature right away as it was a stark contrast in colour with Kurapika's milky white skin.
Kuroro's right hand carefully approached the spider by tracing Kurapika's smooth back down from her shoulder. The girl herself was too preoccupied with the thought of a spider plaguing her back that she took no notice of Kuroro's hand which was inadvertently caressing her back.
As soon as the spider was within reach, Kuroro grabbed it and squished it until its juice was all over his hand, ending its pathetic life almost instantly. He could feel Kurapika melting into jelly in his arms out of relief that the spider was finally off her back. It was only then that he realised that she was practically a quarter naked as half of her upper torso was exposed.
Wait, not yet, he suddenly told himself as he remembered one thing. He began tracing Kurapika's back with his left hand's fingers as he tried to locate any possible bite marks on her back. The girl, however, shuddered when Kuroro did it so delicately that she had to push him away and slapped him hard on the face.
SLAP!
"Sexual harassment!" She screamed.
"Don't get me wrong!" Kuroro rubbed his abused cheek as he protested. "I was trying to find if you have been bitten or not!"
"I have not!" She retorted, but her face was already glowing red in embarrassment, like a neon lamp.
"You never know. You were concentrating so much on getting this," he brandished whatever left of the spider in his right hand, "off your back that you did not pay attention to anything else."
"What is going on?" The door to their room was already crowded with the neighbouring guests and the maids.
"Spiders." Kuroro flailed the corpse of the spider at them in annoyance.
The quests and maids screeched as they beheld the gruesome remains of the spider and flew from the scene with great haste. Kuroro sighed; suddenly he felt so tired. He walked to the window that overlooked the garden and tossed the corpse carelessly out of the window. He wiped clean his hand with the tissue papers that were provided in the room.
"Come on, let me check." He said softly to Kurapika as he turned to her again.
"Why do you care?"
Kuroro rolled his eyes heavenwards and instead of answering her sceptical questions, he grabber her by her shoulders and spun her so that her back was towards him. He began to quickly scan the whole back with his eyes and trace it with his sinewy fingers.
"H—hey!" Kurapika began to protest as her face started to blush furiously. She had to suppress a shudder that threatened to come when Kuroro's cold fingers touched her lustrous skin.
"Nil." Kuroro said sharply. "Next."
He straightened up and used Gyo on Kurapika. He looked at her closely from head to toe and upon seeing that there was nothing out of place about her, he only then allowed himself to relax a bit.
"Now you use your Gyo on me and see if there is anything odd." He told Kurapika firmly.
Kurapika could feel the air of authority in his speech, and she decided not to be defiant this time. If Kuroro was that serious, surely it was something important. Obediently Kurapika looked at him closely with her Gyo, but only after she had adjusted her sleeping yukata; with a blush still on her visage, into its proper place. Sure enough, she spotted a very fine thread that clung to Kuroro's shoulder.
"A thread?" She muttered as she picked the thread gingerly from his shoulder.
"Spider web." Kuroro said flatly as he examined the thread with his Gyo. "Jorou-gumo's doing."
"But why?"
"A simple trick, it is a trademark of many spider spirits or incarnations." Kuroro said as he flicked away the thread and it soon dissolved into nothingness. "They usually distract their preys and attach that kind of web on the preys, which ultimately will serve to either trap them or to gain control of them."
Kurapika gave him a look.
"Anansi's teaching?" She asked with trained voice.
Kuroro gave her a mystifying smile.
"In any case," he said with quiet voice, "Jorou-gumo owes us an explanation."
I was curious. She answered them when they came to interrogate her the next day at the same hill where they had left her before. I want to see how she will react to that many spiders. Your reaction will be a boring one, boy, seeing that you have spent considerable amount of time with Anansi-sama, you ought to be very used to the sight of multitude of spiders.
Despite her haughtiness, Jorou-gumo was obliged to respect Anansi to some extent since Anansi was, in all truth, of a higher office than she was.
Kuroro knew that the woman was not telling all the truth, but he said nothing of it. He had also notified Kurapika not to mention anything about the thread, for a purpose that he wanted to pretend not to know of it in order to catch her off guard.
And so how about the item that you seek?
"It's in the castle." Kuroro said as he gestured at the tall castle sitting at the heart of the city.
How do you plan to take it, then? Surely it is not for public display? Jorou-gumo taunted him with a sneer.
"Break in and steal it. Quite a straight forward method." Kuroro shrugged uncaringly.
Kurapika felt squeamish at the thought of her degrading herself into some burglar, but she was determined to steel her hearts in order to fulfil her vows. Like Suzaku had said; the result justified the means.
In that case, Jorou-gumo said as she approached and touched Kuroro's shoulder. She then leaned to his shoulder seductively and whispered to him with her sensual voice. I can help you a great deal, boy, provided that you can get those annoying insects out of the safety of the castle.
"You mean the guards? Surely you can take care of them easily anywhere, seeing that you consider this territory as yours." Kuroro said with a wry smile directed at her, while again he seemed unaffected with the Spider Lady's attempt to charm him.
Jorou-gumo's face darkened as she gave a terrible scowl.
I would have made them into a dish long time ago if not for those accursed, filthy incantation papers! She hissed with hostility.
"The o-fuda?" Kurapika piped in. "They employ monks and exorcists as guards of the palace?"
Them, and people like 'you'. The whole castle is invested by those o-fuda, I can't take a single step in the castle's compound. She spat the words with vengeance as she glared at the castle with her faceted eyes burning with hateful rage.
When the spider woman mentioned 'people like 'you'', both of them understood that she referred to Nen users. Without telling each other, the two of them shared the same thought; they would be up against quite a number of troublesome people.
In any case, Anansi boy. Jorou-gumo turned to Kuroro once again, the raging loathing in her eyes had turned into measuring cold light. If you want my help, shepherd those who pursue you to the waterfall that is in this forest. I will get rid of them for you.
"I suppose this is not a free-of-charge service?" Kuroro shifted so that he supported his whole weight on one leg.
It goes without saying that I do not do charity works, the demonic spider incarnation said with a smirk and Kurapika caught a flash of hunger in those otherworldly eyes. But I will have my rewards at the end of the day.
Kuroro narrowed his eyes in suspicions. "…I see." He said after a short pause.
So it's a deal? Jorou-gumo asked with eagerness in her ghastly voice.
"Deal."
Kurapika sighed heavily as she looked at the towering castle before her. She was going to commit another robbery, but no matter how much she loathed the job, she was well aware that she had little choice in the matter. Nothing ventured, nothing gained; as the old adage said.
"Ready?" Kuroro asked beside her.
She sighed again as she willed her eyes to turn bright scarlet. "I guess so."
"Let's go, then."
With that, the two daredevils marched towards the front gate of the castle. The guards stopped them as they brandished their katana. By then, Kurapika had her eyes closed as if she was blind while Kuroro led her by her hand.
"Halt! State your names and business!" One of the guards said with loud voice.
"I am here to show something that will surely interest the honoured Lord of this castle." Kuroro said with perfectly trained and smooth voice.
"Show us first." They demanded strictly.
"If you insist." Kuroro said with a thin smile as he turned to Kurapika. "Open your eyes."
Obediently, as if she was the servant and he was the master, Kurapika fluttered her eyes open and gazed at the guards with her burning scarlet eyes. The guards gasped unceremoniously and they exchanged a quick look at each other before they sent a messenger to the lord.
In no time, Kuroro and Kurapika found themselves inside the compound of the majestic castle. They were brought into one of the two towers of the castle. Kuroro looked around and spotted numerous o-fuda plastered here and there in every corners of the castle. He also saw the monks and exorcists, and some Nen users who were standing guards everywhere. It seemed that Jorou-gumo had not been joking when she said that the defence of the castle was terribly thick.
They were ushered to the lord's office for a private meeting. The lord, a middle-aged man with a thick black bush of beard clinging to his face, was sitting at the furthest end of the grand office, with two Nen-user guards by his side. Inside the office was a mixture of Nen-users, monks, and exorcists who all guarded the exits and the windows. Kuroro noted that it was all as he had predicted.
"My guards said you have something very interesting to show me?" The Lord inquired while keeping a sharp, penetrating eye on Kuroro. His eyes were like that of a hawk, but Kuroro gave him a daring, polite smile.
"Indeed, Honoured Lord." He bowed as per the custom of the people there.
Without being told to, Kurapika once again pried open her eyes slowly but surely, and directed her piercing gaze at the lord of the castle. The Lord gasped in delight and surprise as he beheld those burning orbs of hers. He looked at her eyes with openly awe-stricken visage. Her eyes even earned the fierce whispers of praise from the guards who happened to catch a glimpse of her eyes.
"What will you have in exchange of her?" The lord asked while still keeping his eyes on Kurapika.
"First, may I inspect the pair of Eyes that is in your possession?" Kuroro asked with his head still bowed.
Without hesitating, the Lord motioned at his slave boy to bring the Scarlet Eyes from the safety fault. The boy scurried away and soon returned with the Eyes perching in his small hands. Kurapika's gaze shifted at those eyes, but she reined her emotions with perfect control and resumed her bored, expressionless mask of indifference.
Kuroro received the item and in no time affirmed that it was indeed the original Eyes. His lips curled up in satisfaction, and upon seeing this, Kurapika knew that it was her cue. She took the Eyes with her and tucked it in the safety of her left arm, while her right hand held on to Kuroro's left hand. The Lord raised an eyebrow at their antics.
"Well?" He asked impatiently. In his mind, he thought that if the Eyes alone could bring him such fortunes, imagine what kind of lucks would shower him once he had the living girl with those alive Eyes in his possession. The thought itself distracted him from any good senses.
"Well then, we shall take our leave."
With that, Kuroro summoned forth his Skill Hunter book and opened the Teleportation page. Before the guards could react, they had disappeared into thin air. In no time, the castle was plunged into untold chaos as they scoured the castle for those insolent thieves, but they were nowhere to be found.
"The city! Search the city!" Coarse voices could be heard from the streets of the busy city of Saikyo.
"They are coming." Kuroro said with cool voice.
Kurapika stuffed the Scarlet Eyes into her backpack and tied it securely. Kuroro already had his backpack with him and he was ready to move any time. They had teleported directly to the room they rented in the inn. With great haste, Kurapika packed everything and when she was ready anytime, she gave Kuroro a look of determination.
"Let's move on."
"Delegating the dirty work to me, aren't you?" He said casually as he dispatched another man to his death.
Kurapika frowned at the sight. "I vow to kill only the Spiders." She said deadpan as she knocked out another guard with her Counterattack Chain.
"Hmm…" He hummed in a sing-song tone. "But you have already killed a man before, you know? The day when you turned back into your girl identity."
The image of the dead man she killed quickly flashed in her mind. In her panic at that time, she had accidentally crushed the man's skull. Kurapika cringed at the unpleasant memory.
"It was unintentional." She said in her defence.
"Of course." He said, mocking her.
They were already on their way to the forest where the Jorou-gumo was residing. True to their predictions, the Nen-users were in hot pursuit of them. The better ones managed to catch up with them and attempted to take them down but instead they were unluckily eliminated by Kuroro. The lucky ones might only get slight concussions or several deep lacerations from Kurapika's merciful attacks.
"Stop, you thieving rogues!" One of the pursuing men shouted at them.
"Right. Like we will stop." Kurapika rolled her eyes.
Soon enough, the waterfall was within their eyesight and both of them eagerly made their way to the said waterfall. When they were really close, Kuroro narrowed his eyes and upon realising something crucial, he went closer to Kurapika and held his left hand to her.
"Give me your hand."
Without giving a second thought; something that she would later berate herself as it showed her trust in him, Kurapika grabbed Kuroro's hand. Just as they were about to jump to the waterfall, Kuroro used Teleportation. The men who were behind them skidded into a halt very near the waterfall. Still huffing and wheezing from their vigorous activities, they tried combing the area near the waterfall for any sign of the two burglars.
A branch of the tree near the waterfall quivered slightly as two people suddenly landed on one of the high branches. Both of them quickly turned into Zetsu mode. Kuroro quickly moved stealthily so that he could take a peek at what was going on below there. Kurapika looked at him with confusion.
"What's wrong?" She asked in a whisper.
"Watch." He motioned at her to come closer and take a look. "And use your Gyo."
Down there, near the waterfall, just as the men were looking around for them, fine threads could be seen attached to those men; either to their legs, or arms, or neck, or heads. Kurapika frowned at the scene. Suddenly, she got a very bad feeling.
True enough, as if they were irons attracted by strong magnet, those men were dragged into the clear water of the stream just below the waterfall. They could only manage to scream in surprise, and once they were underwater, the water and the roaring sound of the waterfall muffled all screams and shouting. Soon, bodies floated on the surface of the water and were carried down the stream.
With their keen eyes, they both could see that the corpses were no ordinary corpses. They looked as if their life essences had been sucked dry, leaving them withered like dry leaves. Kurapika cringed as she felt butterflies in her stomach. She had to grab the branch to steady her footing.
"What…" She started with weak voice. "…was that?"
"Jorou-gumo." Kuroro flatly said, although there were unhappy glints in those dark orbs of his. "She drained their life essences, and intended to drain ours as well."
"But...Where is she?" Kurapika looked around the waterfall from the branch, but the demonic spider woman was nowhere to be spotted.
"Let's go. We have no more business here." Kuroro said.
Thinking that there was a sense in his words, Kurapika only nodded silently and followed along as the older man jumped down from the branch. As soon as her legs touched the ground, however, a horrid realization dawned at her.
"The castle." She muttered softly as her eyes widened in terror.
"Kurapika." Kuroro turned to give her a stern look, like a parent warning his child. "We absolutely have nothing to do with this."
"The city!"
As if she had not heard him, Kurapika dashed towards the direction of the city. Kuroro shook his head in distress and followed after her. He would not shield her from any gruesome facts that she would encounter very soon enough.
When they reached the border of the city, the people were already running away for their lives. The castle, which had stood mighty and grand before, was now encased in thick layers of silvery spider webs. Kurapika swallowed hard at the scene and without saying anything to Kuroro, made her way towards the castle as fast as her legs could carry her. She was, however, stopped by an unseen force and could not move further. When she turned around, she saw Kuroro rooting his legs firmly to the ground, not letting her to take further step.
I never thought the bind can come handy in such situations, he thought wryly.
"It will be imprudent to go there, Kurapika." He warned her.
"I can't stand still and do nothing! It's not only the castle; it's the whole city that is in danger!" She retorted, her face was already flushing in anger.
Kuroro regarded her coldly; it was something that he very rarely did to her.
"Whatever you find out in there, you cannot blame anyone else." He said with icy voice. "Only yourself."
Kurapika at that time did not know of what he meant by it but she gave no second thought of it. For her, there were multitude of lives in danger and she felt compelled to rescue them. She shrugged aside Kuroro's nonsensical statements; but it was something that she would later regret. She should have listened to him.
"Whatever." She snapped at him with impatience.
"It's your choice." He said again, before he finally moved and followed her towards the castle.
"Oh. My. God." She had to cover her mouth with her hands to reduce the nauseous sensation that ragged her whole body. Kuroro, meanwhile, stood next to her straight and composed with his hands shoved into his pockets. He looked around with slight disgust in his dark eyes.
There were bodies everywhere, and they did not look pretty at all. Some of them were wrapped in tight, fat bundle of spider webs that they looked more like silk worm cocoon than anything. The most hideous part of the scene was the corpses which had been reduced into either unrecognisable lumps of meat or those dead bodies with their stomach ripped open and their innards scattered everywhere in a gruesome manner.
"Oh God…" Kurapika whispered as she looked at one of the corpses. "How can she…"
"She is a bakemono; a demonic spirit. What do you expect?" Kuroro said with flat voice, and his tone was almost mocking.
Kurapika had already opened her mouth to revile him, but she stopped when she heard the sickening lips-smacking sounds and the chewing sound from the upper floor. Ignoring Kuroro and bracing herself to behold yet another monstrous scene, Kurapika dashed to the upper floor.
There, before her, was Jorou-gumo hunching over something. Her silken black kimono was drenched in gore and innards, and her jet-black hair was almost dyed entirely crimson. She did not seem to pay any heeds on the filth and instead focused on her task on hand. Kurapika's face turned ashen white when she took a better look on what the spider incarnation was doing.
She was sucking the intestine of the lord of the castle; who was lying supine with his ribcages forcefully ripped open and his entrails exposed for the world to see. His eyes were bulging out in pure terror and his mouth was agape but no sound came from it. When Jorou-gumo finally noticed Kurapika's presence, she dropped the intestine and turned her head slowly to face her. She grinned from ear to ear sinisterly at her with her mouth smeared in a messy dark crimson. Kurapika held her breath as Jorou-gumo stared at her with the hungry glints dominating her faceted eyes.
Little giiiiiirlll…She hissed and giggled eerily.
Apparently, she was more interested in Kurapika's horror-stricken face than Kuroro's composed one. Kurapika opened her mouth but not a single syllable came out. Her words were chocked in her throat as she beheld Jorou-gumo macabre appearance.
"That is very unsightly of you, Jorou-gumo." Kuroro said calmly.
Anansi booooy…She giggled even louder. Look at the poor little giiirl…She looks so upseeeet…Why are you upset, little giiirll?
Kurapika could only muster enough strength to open and close her mouth like a goldfish.
Why are you so upseeet? I thought you know that this is my goal since the beginiiiingg? Her grins spread broader in every word she hissed.
"Si—since the beginning?" Kurapika finally managed to choke out a sentence with effort.
Aaah…You don't knooow… She turned to Kuroro. She doesn't knoooow…Why, Anansi booooy?
Kurapika turned to stare at the man with equal terror, as if Kuroro had morphed into a monstrous form like Jorou-gumo did.
"Since the beginning, she wanted to use us as a bait to lure those Nen-users out the safety of the castle," He turned to look at her with those cold obsidian eyes, "to feast on them."
Kurapika gave a sharp gasp.
"You knew." She whispered fiercely. "You knew since the beginning."
"I did." He nodded in perfect composure.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She was close to yelling at him, her eyes turning into raging scarlet.
"If I had, you wouldn't have cooperated, and the whole country would be after you."
"So you are trying to wipe away any witnesses." It was more of a question than a statement.
"Simply put, yes."
"YOU—!"
So pretty…Jorou-gumo's hair-raising voice dissolved Kurapika's wrathful anger in almost an instant. She turned to look at the spider woman, who was staring at her with twisted jealousy.
You have such pretty eyeeeess…She hissed as she started to crawl on the floor towards her. Another pair of arms protruded from her flanks. I wonder if I eat you alive…Another pair of arms appeared. Will I have your pretty eyeeess? Another pair of arms appeared yet again.
Her evil aura was so intense that it seemed to crush Kurapika's fighting spirit into nothingness. She could feel her knees shaking in terror.
Little giiiirlll… She hissed again, and her face started to contort into a very ugly deformity.
"Kurapika, get a grip." Kuroro said to her while taking her arm.
"I—I…"
LITTLE GIIIIRRLLL! With a blood-curdling screech, the Spider Lady's body seemed to have burst and ballooned at the same time. The spirit that once had been a gorgeous, alluring lady had morphed into a gruesome slick-black arachnid of monstrous size.
The humongous spider monster lunged at Kurapika, but her fangs only found empty air. Kuroro had once again teleported them out of danger.
Anansi booooy… The spider demon clicked her massive fangs hungrily and impatiently. I will get you… She shoved her massive body and crawled her way out of the barren castle. And that pretty little giiirl…
Kuroro teleported to the forest. He knew that they were safe from the crazed spider demon for the short time being only. He had to do something about Kurapika. She seemed defeated and lifeless; she could barely stand on her own feet. He nudged her in the arm, but he was rewarded with a very hard slap on his cheek.
"How could you?" She hissed venomously, her eyes still bright scarlet.
Kuroro said nothing.
"So many people…So, so many innocent people…" Kurapika closed her eyes and slumped to the ground helplessly. "Because of me…"
Kuroro frowned at her, yet still he said nothing.
"That's why you don't want me to go to the castle…Because you don't want me to find out…" She muttered weakly.
"Like I said; you can only blame yourself. If you have thought further, you might have discovered her goal earlier." He said coldly.
Kuroro had never treated her so coldly and indifferently before. It felt almost like she deserved it; because she was too weak, because she was too soft-hearted, because she was too short-thinking. He allowed everything to happen, for the odds to be against her, so that she would learn.
"All these can wait. We must move on first." He said calmly.
"Where to?" She mumbled.
Where indeed? He thought bitterly. The Jorou-gumo had her power increased manifold after she devoured all those Nen-users. That was why she managed to penetrate the defence of the o-fuda-invested castle. Right now, they had no chance of outrunning her. She would be able to track them down eventually, except if they received some divine aids. Those celestial creatures, they are absent when they are most needed. Kuroro tsk-ed.
Go North, a deep, smooth voice suddenly spoke in Kuroro's mind. It was a man's voice, one that he did not know of. Alerted, Kuroro whipped his heads sideways to search for the owner of the voice, but it was to no avail.
Just suddenly, something landed on the ground with a loud shake and the trees around it were blown away as if they had been dry leaves.
LITTLE GIIIRLL…ANANSI BOOOY… Jorou-gumo screeched hungrily as she clicked her fangs repeatedly. FOUND YOOOU…
Kuroro tsk-ed again and grabbed Kurapika roughly by arm. He then started running blindly, dragging Kurapika along.
"Where are we going?" Kurapika asked in their frenzied escape. Adrenaline rush seemed to have cured her of her despair.
"North." He simply answered.
"Oh dear…Look at what they did." Seiryuu sighed forlornly as he looked at the wretched city and castle. It was fortunate that the city did not suffer much damage from the Jorou-gumo.
Seiryuu-sama, you should be in the East; your territory. But more importantly, you could have helped them. It would be a child's play for you to finish off Jorou-gumo. A small girl dressed in white Shikigami garment spoke softly.
"Well…" Seiryuu folded his arms across his chest. "It's too interesting to watch. I want to see how they can handle that scary woman."
How cruel of you. The Shikigami shook her head as she sighed.
"Oh come on. I already hinted to him to go to your place. It's not like I didn't help them at all, okay?" He retorted with a childish pout.
All you did was to tell that child to go North, she replied sceptically.
"I believe that is sufficient enough. Besides, I'm sure you'll know what to do, right," he turned to grin at the Shikigami child, "Kuzunoha-chan?"
The Shikigami sighed once again. You are impossible, Seiryuu-sama.
"That Suzaku is impossible!"
"Why?" Kuroro asked as he dodged another round of spider webs that were shot his way.
"The charm he gave me works for naught!" She screamed as she jumped from a tree that was soon encased in Jorou-gumo's spider webs and consequently withered. "It's completely useless!"
Kurapika summoned her Counterattack Chain and attempted to give the spider monster a payback. The blade struck her giant faceted eyes, and she screamed in agony. Accumulating her raw strength in her fist as she enhanced her Reinforcement type Nen with her Emperor Time Nen ability, Kurapika blew a hard blow to the spider's massive abdomen. With a shriek, the spider was thrown off and hit the trees, flattening a section of the forest in no time.
"Lively, aren't you?" Kuroro commented amusedly.
"Shut up." She snapped curtly at him.
After gathering her monstrous body from the dirt, Jorou-gumo bellowed in rage and showered them with spider web again. Both dodged well, and this time Kurapika used her Counterattack Chain to dismember one of her eight legs. The monster screamed in agony.
LITTLE GIIIRRLLLL! She screamed in vengeance. With rage, she seized her dismembered leg and started devouring it.
Kurapika cringed at the grotesque scene. When Jorou-gumo had finished eating her own flesh, she inhaled deeply and started to choke. She seemed to be struggling to get something out of her mouth, and when she finally did, oh how gross it was. Billions of minute spiders swarmed the ground and the trees. The spidery incident in the inn last night was nothing compared to this.
"Move away." Kuroro commanded.
He stepped in front of Kurapika, took out his Skill Hunter book and flipped open a new page; a page that Kurapika had never seen before. Kuroro inhaled deeply and when he breathed out, fire escaped his mouth like a flamethrower and he burned those creepy spiders into crisp. When he was finished, half of the forest before him was like victim of forest fire. The trees had all but turned into charcoal.
He coughed smokes when he was finished.
"This is why I prefer not to use this Flamethrower skill." He complained as he coughed yet another round of smoke as if he was a fire dragon that had just emptied his ammunition.
"You could have used this skill last night." Kurapika remarked.
"And risked burning down the entire inn?" He replied deadpan in between his coughs.
HOW DARE YOOOU! Jorou-gumo wailed in both despair and rage as she saw her children being toasted.
She vomited yet another battalion of tiny spiders, and Kuroro again used his Flamethrower skill. This time, however, they fell into her trap. As the fire and the smoke obscured their visions, Jorou-gumo threw her special poisonous webs towards them. Kurapika was the first to spot the webs, and she dragged Kuroro away by his collar. The escaped the first round of the lethal webs; which melted even the ground with its corrosive acid, but at the price of Kurapika's ankle. She sprained one of her ankles badly.
They stumbled to the ground in a heap with a thud, and before they could pick themselves up from the ground, the second round of the venomous webs were already on above them. Seeing that there was no way to avoid it this time, Kurapika braced herself for the impending doom.
What she did not expect was that Kuroro would tuck her beneath his body, so that he received the full blow with his back.
It was the first time that a cry of agony ever escaped his mouth since the day that he 'graduated' from Ishtar's hellish trainings. The pain was driving his mind over the edge of his sanity, and it was nothing he had experienced before. Even as he blanketed his whole back with Kou, it was of only little help. His legs, which were not shielded with Kou at all, suffered the most. He could feel his flesh burning and corroding, almost reaching his bone. The pain seared throughout his entire being, racking his body.
Kurapika, who was stunned beneath him, had a full view of his torn expression. It was a face she had never imagined to see, although she often dreamed that she would be able to inflict enough damage on him to such extent.
Without her being aware of it, a drop of warm precipitate escaped from the corner of her eye and trickled down her pale face.
Author's Note: Gah, so many things to research for this Arc. Anyway, the rating of this fic will have to change due to the graphic violence. I apologise for those who are offended, but please do not stop reading. There won't be so much of gory violence in the future. All these are happening in the Kyoto prefecture, and the castle is inspired by the Fushimi Momoyama Castle in Kyoto. I know Kuroro crying out in pain is so OOC, but well…Imagine the pain as when you are sprayed with hard water, or concentrated sulphuric acid perhaps.
Next: Kuroro was dying, and for the first time Kurapika shed a tear for that man. What would become of them? Was this really the end?
