Disclaimer: I do not own HunterxHunter
Story so far: Another trouble was brewing. Lucian smelled a lot of Kurapika's blood, and something had definitely happened to Fino; who was supposed to accompany the Kuruta in her daily excursion.
Chapter 27
(NEVER) MY JUDAS
What they found downstairs was worse than they thought. Kurapika was nowhere to be seen, and there was a bloody, unconscious Fino on the floor. People were crowding around her to take a look and expressed their sympathy for the innkeeper. Kuroro and Lucian hurriedly knelt before Fino's body and checked her.
"Scuzati-mi intruziunea (excuse my intrusion)…" Lucian muttered while he began lightly checking Fino for any external injuries.
"Fino, oh Fino…" The old man chanted her name vehemently with hopes she might hear him and woke up. No such luck, though.
"She only has small scratches and slight concussion on the head. Other than that, she's fine. These are all Kurapika's blood." Lucian announced.
"Where's Kurapika?" Kuroro asked the innkeeper.
"Ku—Kurapika? Oh dear… Where is she? I don't know…" The poor old man looked too disoriented to properly answer questions.
"Where is the other girl?" Kuroro asked the crowd impatiently.
"I…I only found Fino alone." One of the youths answered; he had blood on his humble shirt and pants—Kurapika's blood if Lucian was right.
"Relax, Lucifer. Let me find out what happened." Lucian put a reassuring hand on Kuroro's shoulder and he took a sample of Fino's blood from one of the scratches she had with a finger and licked it.
Kuroro looked at the vampire with even eyes. He knew of his other capabilities. Lucian could extract memories of the person whose blood he tasted. Memories stored in brain could deteriorate over time, but the body retained the memories almost forever. The quality of the memories, however, was not as detailed and intricate as the brains' memories despite being accurate. They were, after all, based on feelings and senses.
Lucian pressed closed his eyes and tried to concentrate in sifting through the jumbled up memories and images that he extracted from Fino's blood. After arranging the relevant memories, he proceeded in deciphering them.
"Her memories are rather hazy, but I can conclude that they had been attacked by a group of people. Kurapika shielded her and that's why her blood on Fino. Looks like she was taken hostage to threaten Kurapika, so Kurapika relented. Wait—"
His eyebrows furrowed deeper.
"They drugged Kurapika, I think. Then…they bashed this girl on the head." He finished softly.
When he opened his eyes to look at Kuroro, he found the man had his dark eyes fixed on a certain spot. Curiously, Lucian looked at Kuroro's line of sight, and found jagged cuts on the back of Fino's hand. The cuts were deliberately left there and they formed an odd shape.
"Insignia of bloody 'M'…" Kuroro muttered almost inaudibly.
Lucian had no idea on why Kuroro seemed to taken by this M insignia thing, but when he turned to question him about it, he aborted his intention. Seeing the murderous look Kuroro was giving off, he knew better than to push him with non-crucial questions. Kuroro abruptly rose to his feet and dashed out of the inn. Lucian could only stare like a thunder-struck rabbit.
"Sir, are you a doctor?" The old innkeeper shyly asked the vampire.
"I don't have official certificate of a medical doctor, but yes I am knowledgeable in medicine and the likes."
"Th—then can you help Fino?"
"Like I said, bătrân (old man), Fino is fine." Lucian rolled his grey eyes. "But I'm going to attend to her, alright."
Because she is a human, like what I used to be, Lucian mused to himself, though I suspect that Lucifer doesn't give that a damn.
Kuroro stood on the rooftop on one of the tallest building in the vicinity. He was not sure on how he could track down the Mammon, but through gut feelings or instincts or whatsoever else, he could not care less. His hunt bore fruit and he found that the Mammon made their temporary hideout in that abandoned compound—much like what the Genei Ryodan always did.
Copy cats, he snorted in dry amusement and unusual resentment.
He could still sense his Nen within Kurapika. At least, he knew that the Kuruta was still alive.
He alone was enough to retrieve Kurapika. He alone, however, was not enough to incur total destruction upon the Mammon. No. He did not desire to simply get her back. He desired for the Mammon's thorough obliteration and ultimate annihilation. He would personally see to it.
Without averting his glare; which was so intense it could burn a hole through the concrete wall of the buildings, he fished out his cell phone and dialled a number he had memorised by heart. Shalnark's voice rang from the other end of the line. Kuroro's message was simple and clear.
"We have a mission."
After briefly telling Shalnark of his position, he hung up. He did not even bother telling the younger Spider about the new mission. His Spiders would always carry out the missions he gave them unquestioningly. They never questioned him. For their modus operandi, they knew what he required for them—acted without restraints, unless he said otherwise. It was a standard protocol among them; as Kurapika termed it.
He let out a small smile. He liked the girl's vocabularies.
"You don't have to come with me if you don't want to." Kuroro said flatly and disinterestedly to nobody in particular.
That 'nobody in particular' then stepped out of the shadows and produced himself as none other than Lucian. He eyed Kuroro critically, noting that the younger man had changed his attire back into his old Danchou attire. Even his hair was slick back, exposing the cross birthmark on his forehead for the world to see.
Like he's declaring official war with the Mammon, the vampire mused inwardly.
"No, I can't afford letting a highly homicidal man to go around trying to play the hero while he may just end up blowing the whole place into bits. No thanks. A vampire I may be, but I'm a pacifist and a peace-lover."
"Then your effort is pointless."
"La naiba! (dammit!) You are really planning to blow the whole place?"
"Not necessarily."
Lucian knew that Kuroro implied on him being in killing spree. Even if the vampire tried, he would not be able to stop the Spider Head anyway. Him coming along in this so-called rescue mission became something insignificant.
"Kurapika won't be happy if she knows." He pointed out, hoping to mellow him down.
"She won't even recognise what's going on around her at that moment." Kuroro said, his voice surprisingly grim and displeased. "I doubt she'll even remember anything at all."
"Meaning?" Lucian was totally clueless.
"The Mammon," he started with a slight spat, "consists of people who derive their pleasures from inflicting pain on others."
"Sounds like Feitan."
Kuroro nodded. "Imagine a group consisting of dozens of Feitan at worse scale."
"Sfinte sisoe. (holy shit)" Lucian shuddered.
Kuroro narrowed his eyes. He knew that at Kurapika might be enduring a series of torture at that very same moment—tortures that were beyond her imagination. He knew she would survive. She was too proud to allow herself to be killed by a bunch of 'no-taste criminals', and she might probably be scheming on how to get her revenge on them too, knowing her capability of holding grudges.
Still, he did not like the prospect.
During her brief stay with the bodyguard squad of the Nostrad family, now and then Kurapika had to go through a session of torture to extract information from the captives. She had anticipated that one day the position would be switched and she might be the one tortured for information. However, the torture session she had supervised before—she had never personally conducted the torturing with her own hands—seemed pale compared to what the Mammon was doing to her.
They had sealed away her Nen, broken her left arm, jabbed unsterilized needles between her fingernails and the flesh underneath it, plucked off the fingernails of her other hand, whipped her, kicked her everywhere their feet could reach, beat her senseless, slashed her with cat o' nine tails, and the list went on. Over the time, her sensory feelings started to numb and the pains started to come rather dull. She was grateful that the pains were not so agonising, but she still remembered vividly how excruciating it had been when they had just started the first session.
The first thing she did was to struggle and run away, but before she could do anything, one humongous man had pinned her down to the dusty floor; making her eat dirt, while the other man worked on her ankles. They then severed her Achilles tendons of both ankles so that she could not escape anymore. When they did this, she had screamed the life out of her lungs, the pain searing throughout her entire legs and shooting up to her upper body. Her legs had twitched violently, the spasms caused by the trauma in the muscles and nerves of her body.
"Now be a good girl and tell us all about the Genei Ryodan, girl." One of her torturers had said with sickeningly sweet voice.
Kurapika had not answered him—or rather, she had been unable to answer since she was still disoriented from the pain.
"Well?" The man had short patience and she grabbed a fistful of Kurapika's golden hair and yanked her head back, almost breaking her neck.
"How…am I…supposed to…know?" She spat those words, but they lost their power because her voice was simply too weakened.
"Don't play dumb, girl. We've been observing you and Kuroro Lucifer. You two are inseparable. We assume that you are his confidant or something. A member maybe?" A female that reminded her of Machi spoke up.
"I am NOT a Spider!" Kurapika started to regain her power in her speech as the pain was starting to dull, though still agonizingly painful.
"Hm? What then? A friend? Unlikely." She shook her head as she spoke to herself. "Kuroro Lucifer does not have friends."
Kurapika could not help but to smile to herself despite her situation.
You haven't done your homework thoroughly, then, she thought triumphantly as the image of Lucian flashed in her mind.
The female looked at Kurapika for the longest of time when she noticed the brief smirk that graced her bloodied face, before she strode towards her and studied her face with utmost curiosity.
"I heard he's a weird man. Suppose he has weird taste in women also? Say, are you his girlfriend?"
The question struck her silent, while the woman kept studying her feature.
"Strange. You aren't that bad face-wise, but you're flat!" She exclaimed that while sizing Kurapika's breasts with her both hands.
Kurapika yelped in surprise and out of reflex head-butted the woman hard on the nose. She could not give all she had given her constricting position, but it was enough to shove away the shameless woman.
"Aieee! You broke my nose!" The woman wailed.
"Quit bitching around. You won't break your nose just because of a lousy head-butt." A hooded man, who decided to sit in the corner of the dingy room, spoke up with authoritative and cold voice.
From the way the hooded man carried himself and from the way the others behaved around him, Kurapika could quickly conclude that HoodedMan was the leader of the pack. HoodedMan turned to Kurapika and gave her a cold stare. She did not flinch—cold stares were breakfast for her.
"That's quite some feistiness in you, little girl. How about you cooperate with us and tell us whatever you know about the Genei Ryodan, and we will let you go without further…injuries."
Kurapika snorted in utter contempt.
"You'll kill me regardless." She snapped at him.
HoodedMan smirked.
"Smart girl."
With a nod of his head, the men started the activity they relished so much—torturing. They only stopped after she had gained a few broken ribs, one broken arm, some nasty cuts, and vomited bloody phlegm—tell-tale sign of internal bleeding—before they tried interrogating her again.
"Still not talking?" HoodedMan asked with cool voice.
Kurapika clamped her mouth shut.
"Hmm… Strange." HoodedMan folded his arms and leaned back against the cold wall. "You said you are not a member but you travel with the leader. And now you won't say a thing about them? Why?"
Kurapika fought the urge to roll her eyes—she did not want to entertain them by telling how she got stuck with the Spider Head because of Hassamunni. Nonetheless, the Kuruta girl was profoundly relieved of those imbeciles' lack of attention for details—they had not realised that she was wearing black contact lens yet. If they knew that she was a Kuruta, things would get worse than ugly.
Noting her lack of response as stubbornness that had to be 'fixed', HoodedMan motioned at his men to continue torturing her. This time, she received more broken ribs and bones, as well as shattered patella, dislocated arms, and ruined fingernails.
"Still no?" HoodedMan nudged her head with the point of his shoes.
Kurapika gave him a strong hateful glare despite her wasted condition. Before succumbing to temporary darkness, she uttered five words:
"I…am not a Judas…"
"…'And said unto them, "What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?" And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver'…"
Kurapika turned to Kuroro, eyes quizzical and puzzled. Nonetheless, she finished his verse.
"Matthew 26: 15. What's with the biblical quote now?"
Kuroro glanced up and stared straight into Kurapika's oceanic blue eyes. When he said nothing, Kurapika turned around to face him fully and put her arms akimbo.
"The infamous verse about Judas Iscariot's betrayal against Jesus Christ. What's with that?"
"Betrayal? I'm more inclined to say that Judas is merely doing a fair trade. After all, the Bible itself described him as a businessman to the core, and that's why he was the treasurer of the group."
"Fair trade?" Kurapika widened her eyes. "You call selling a person for 30 measly pieces of silver as a fair trade?"
"At that time, 30 pieces of silver is quite a large some of money." Kuroro said coolly.
"He sold away his own teacher AND master!"
"And he received his punishment in the end, correct?" Kuroro had a small smile on his stoic face. "There are different versions of it. The Gospel of Matthew said that he returned the money to the priests and hung himself. The Act of the Apostles said that he bought a field with the money, but he fell down headfirst, and 'burst asunder in the midst and his bowels gushed out,' and hence the field was named Akeldama or Field of Blood. The Gospel of Judas testified that he was stoned to death by his fellow disciples of Jesus."
"The Gospel of Judas is the most dubious among all." Kurapika narrowed her eyes.
"Regardless," Kuroro closed his eyes as if preparing himself to plunge into a thoughtful trance, "they are irrelevant issues to us."
"So what IS your point?" Kurapika exclaimed, getting frustrated by his beating-around-the-bush manner of speaking.
"We are both capable to be a Judas, Kurapika." Kuroro finally said.
Kurapika froze, and Kuroro elaborated his point.
"We can be each other's Judas. I could have just captured you and sold you as the last living Kuruta to other collectors who are willing to pay for handsome amount of money. You, at the same time, could have sold information about the Ryodan to other Hunters to help you get rid of us."
"But we didn't." Kurapika said defensively, but soon her facial features softened up considerably. "And I don't think we will ever."
Regardless of the truce, she added mentally.
A content smile bloomed furtively on his lips as he heard her spoken words and sensed the unspoken ones.
"Agree."
Kuroro opened his eyes. That was the conversation they last had before Kurapika was abducted by the Mammon. How ironic it was that soon enough they were to prove that they were not Judases—or more specifically, it was Kurapika's turn.
"Danchou, everyone is here." Shalnark announced.
Lucian gave him a worried look. Despite his cool demeanour as per usual, the vampire could literally see the underlying murderous flames beneath those cold, obsidian eyes. If the moment came for those flames to escape in full-scale, he hoped he would not get scorched by it by accident—highly unlikely as it seemed.
Lucifer has never been this agitated, he mused and stole a glance at the other Spiders. Is that why he is giving them his back, so that they can't see his agitation?
"Annihilate everyone," was all Kuroro said.
The Spiders glanced at each other and then turned their heads to Nobunaga, giving him the look of you-know-that-this-mission-is-to-rescue-the-Kuruta-alive-although-he-didn't-say-it-out-loud-so-don't-you-play-dumb-and-kill-her-in-the-process. Nobunaga snorted in protest since they all seemed to be taking him as some imbeciles. It was unnerving, though, that his Danchou would assemble all Spiders to save the chain-assassin—the very same one who had killed Uvogin and Pakunoda.
"Mission initiated."
And all Spiders dispersed without leaving a trace. Lucian stepped closer to Kuroro and let out a whistle as he eyed the huge compound.
"How are you going to find her?"
"I can sense her." It was all thanks to his Nen he planted within her.
"She's alive and well?"
Kuroro shot him an are-you-an-idiot glare.
"Alive." But definitely not well.
They were driving her to her edge of sanity. She had been through so many hardships but this agony was beyond her experience, and it took all she had to remain alive and rebellious. She would never give in to low-lives such as them. When she had passed out the first time, they had given her a meagre ten minutes of respite before kicking her back into life. Another fruitless interrogation session came, followed by another more rigorous torturing session.
By then, her breathing sounded more like wheezing than anything. She could feel her lungs filled with blood—lungs haemorrhage.
To distract herself from the pain and to ignore the insults, vulgarities, and pestering questions being thrown around her, Kurapika decided to think about other issues. The first thing that came to her mind was, surprisingly, Ishtar's last words to her:
Look after him?
If she was anywhere near healthy, she would have snorted in dry amusement.
Ishtar definitely was asking A LOT from her by that request. 'Look after him' had so many implications for her. By agreeing to that request, Kurapika had practically promised 'not to kill him', 'not to let others kill him', and even 'always be by his side'. It was as if she was agreeing to stay with him and be his, what, protector? No. Babysitter or wife sounded more like it.
I screw up big time. She chastised herself, though she oddly had no sense of regret in agreeing to Isthar's dying wish.
Kurapika did not know whether it was because she was hallucinating from side-effect of the pain, or because she was earlier drugged with some nasty stuffs, or because she was half-dreaming and about to faint again, but she was almost sure that she heard her brother's playful chuckle and voice:
Oh, really?
Before Kurapika could further entertain that ghostly imagination of her deceased brother, she was showered with ice-cold water. The biting cold awakened her nerves and senses rudely, and she almost jolted up in shock.
"Wake up! You are not here to sleep all day!" One gruff voice reached her ears roughly.
"This is getting old and boring." ShamelessWoman who had groped her before pouted. "Can we just do it my way?"
"Go on." HoodedMan nodded his approval and permission.
ShamelessWoman squealed in delight and bounced her way to the dying, half-mutilated Kuruta.
"This won't hurt much, girlie." She cooed to her as she straightened her up uncaringly like she was a rag doll. For someone who looked thin and fragile, ShamelessWoman was strong in muscles.
The woman bared her teeth, and Kurapika noticed then that her canine had grown in length and sharpness. They looked more like Lucian's vampire fangs than anything else.
"I can extract aa~~ny information from anyone, as long as I drink their blood. Pretty cool, huh? Like a vampire." She giggled excitedly, before she sank her fangs into Kurapika's tender neck.
Kurapika only had time to gasp in surprise, but since her body was already too numbed from the repetitive and vicious beatings from earlier sessions, she did not really feel any shocking pain. It felt more like she was bitten by ant. The only thing that mortified her was that after all her efforts to endure the pain in order to fulfil her 'I am not a Judas' vow, the Mammon would still be gaining access to her memory.
She almost cried in despair when ShamelessWoman's scream of agony distracted her from her despondency and mortification.
"What now, woman?" One of the men exclaimed in exasperation. It looked like that ShamelessWoman had a knack of exaggerating things, so they never took her seriously.
"Her—her blood—" ShamelessWoman choked and soon she was vomiting blood.
Kurapika, equally shocked and puzzled, could only lie on the cold floor while witnessing the woman emptying the blood out of her internal organs. Soon enough she was reduced to twitching figure of a woman and before long, ShamelessWoman was as good as dead.
The Mammon all stared speechless at ShamelessWoman's corpse, and then they averted their attention to Kurapika; who by then was still stunned. HoodedMan smirked in amusement and wonderment. The gears in Kurapika's minds then started to move and soon she recalled some conversations committed to her memories.
…blood that tastes like poison to me…mixed with a nasty stuff…Ishtar's blood…you two are barely pure humans…
Conclusion: ShamelessWoman was poisoned by Ishtar's essence flowing in her blood.
"Looks like Kuroro Lucifer's woman have more tricks up her sleeves than we have anticipated." HoodedMan said with soft chuckle.
"I am not his woman…" She hissed in annoyance as she recovered from her shock. The bite wound on her neck was still open and blood was flowing freely from it. She had already lost so much from previous torture sessions and added with this, she would soon die from blood loss rather than anything else.
Another male barked a laugh. "I see! Since she travels with that Kuroro Lucifer but claims that she's not his woman, she must be his whore!"
The others laughed merrily, as if that was a very amusing joke AND they were unfazed by ShamelessWoman's unfortunate death by Kurapika's poisonous blood. For Kurapika, that was a thoroughly humiliating insult. She wanted to shot back a harsh retaliation that she was no such thing and Kuroro Lucifer was nowhere near lustful, but her damaged lungs would not allow her such things. Heck, he treated her with respect that she had come to realise that nobody else in his criminal record calibre would have given her. Granted that he was known to be an actor and a deceiver, but she knew—she simply knew—that he had always been sincere to her.
Up until that very moment, he had never lied to her.
"If she can keep his attention to her for so long, it means she must be a damn good fucker. Let's check her out ourselves." One of the fattest, obviously most lecherous with excessive libido, hairy man among the Mammon stepped forward and began unbuttoning his pants.
"Don't kill her in the process." HoodedMan said, his voice devoid of any emotions.
"Nah, she won't die because he simply screwed her. You've seen her endurance." Another woman, who had been silent all the time that Kurapika failed to notice her, said with a shrug.
The man dropped his pants to the side and his erection was so prominent that everyone in the room could see it without even trying to.
"Heh, I wonder where do you hide that monstrous strength and endurance of yours in this little body?" He scooted closer to her and roughly took her chin in his calloused, fat-ridden hand. "I wonder how 'strong' you will be in beds… Although unfortunately there are no beds here."
To be honest, Kurapika was freaked out—so freaked out that her eyes turned scarlet but was fortunately concealed by her contact lenses. She wanted to break down in tears and cried to lament her extremely bad luck and demise which never ceased to haunt her. Why her? She wanted to drop all her tough-girl persona and simply gave in to her fear, but she would not let it go that way. She was a proud Kuruta, and would remain one until death claimed her. Death would be more acceptable than to live a life haunted by unredeemable shame.
Giving the fat man a hateful glare and mustering all courage she had, Kurapika muttered beneath her haggard breath:
"Du-te la dracu '…"
"What?" Her tormentor gave an idiotic bewildered look.
One of the females of the Mammon snickered amusedly.
"So she can speak Romanian, eh?"
Truthfully, she could not. That was only because Lucian had often muttered some profanities and curses in Romanian, and Kuroro had translated it for her at her request, that she began learning one or two of them.
"And what the fuck does that mean?"
"Hmm… Something along the line 'Go to hell'." The woman shrugged.
A punch across her cheek was delivered with no mercy, and the impact was so strong that her contact lens dropped. Fortunately, she was so disoriented and her minds were so clouded that for that moment her rage was forgotten and her eyes had turned back to their normal blue hue.
"Being a smart-ass, aren't you?" The fat man snarled at her. "Let see if we can teach some manners into you."
You lot are the ones in dire need of some manners! She screamed in her mind, but she was too dizzy to utter a word of it.
"Here." Another man tossed the fat man something that looked like a piece of iron. "I made that in my free time when you guys are having your fun with her."
The fat man studied the object closely, and when he finally grinned evilly in satisfaction, Kurapika knew that she was in for another round of painful torture. The fat man turned to one of his comrades and asked for fire. The other man simply shrugged and lit it up with ease as by his Nen ability. When the iron was blazing, only then Kurapika noticed that it had been forged into a kind of branding device. Her eyes widened exponentially in horror. It was not the prospect of being branded that terrorised her; it was the design that scared the life out of her.
A brand of a crudely-shaped 12-legged spider.
"We'll help you become an official Spider." The man giggled happily as he announced his twisted version of assistance for her.
Unable to hold it back any longer, Kurapika's eyes burned scarlet, betraying her true identity. HoodedMan's eyes widened.
"HOLD IT!"
If he was any Kurutan, his eyes would have blazed beyond scarlet. He had never felt so wrathful before in his lifetime.
The white-hot iron was still sizzling from use, and smoke was hovering near Kurapika's bare chest. It took no genius to figure out what had just happened. He could smell the strong scent of freshly burnt flesh. A hooded man was holding Kurapika by her hair, taking a fistful of her delicate golden hair while leaving her hanging a few inches from the ground. Her jeans were tattered and her shirt was only a piece of rag hanging loosely from her body, barely covering her bruised and bloodied upper torso. The back of the shirt was soaked red in blood, while the front was deliberately torn apart.
She was so broken; so very much broken and damaged that the word 'irreparable' flashed in his mind.
His fists were clenched into balls so tightly that his knuckled turned white. Lucian noticed him bristling in uncontainable anger that he took some measurable steps backward, before finally turning to the other Spiders.
"Take cover!"
It was known to the Spiders that Lucian was somewhat their Danchou's company during his free time and had accepted him as 'Danchou's friend' in a way. They all also knew that the man was a joker, and so when he told them to scram with such serious face, they knew better than to disobey.
In the nick of time, just as all Spiders were behind a cover of some sorts, Kuroro Lucifer's fuse blew violently.
They were not sure on what had actually happened. They only knew that there was a violent explosion, and there were fires and roars of beasts and smokes rising from the hungry flames, coupled with the sound of crumbling structure. Also, aside from the screams of terrors and death, they heard their Danchou's steely voice:
"Lemegeton: Ars Goetia."
Behind an enormous piece of slug stone used as a shield, Lucian and few others Spiders; namely Phinks, Machi, Shalnark, Feitan, and Kalluto, took their chance for some chit-chat.
"That was close! The idiot really uses the Solomon Ring!" Lucian then uttered some curses in Romanian; which was ignored by the rest.
"This is the second time Danchou loses control of his anger." Machi noted with cool voice.
"That first time Danchou was pissed off (only), he flattened a whole clan like crushing a bug." Feitan said, almost proudly.
Kalluto gave an involuntary shiver. "How?"
"Who knows? He only told us to get away before he unleashed his power. None of us dare to disobey him when it comes to safety measure. He knows the extent of his power best."
Kalluto felt his blood ran cold at the mention of it. To think that these strange people with unbelievable strength would fear a single man's power, it could only give him the chill. Kalluto threw a hesitant glance over his shoulder.
And he survived from encounters with both Father and Grandfather. What a monster, Kalluto said to himself.
"Still, I cant' believe he can be that upset because of that brat." Nobunaga said derisively.
Shalnark and Machi sighed. Nobunaga was still resentful towards the blonde. Lucian, however, was not interested in their conversation so he took a sneak peak at the ravaging Armageddon. From distance and among the dusty smokes that covered the entire place, he could catch the twinkling of the blue globular earrings that were trademarks of Kuroro Lucifer. Lucian sighed in relief.
Anansi, those earrings you gave him better have colossal endurance, otherwise only God knows what will happen when Lucifer lost those custom-made restrainers, Lucian whimpered inwardly.
The extent of Kuroro's wrath could be seen from the extent of damage that the compound—not only the torture/interrogation room—sustained from his fury.
Almost all members of the Mammon were reduced to unrecognizable forms and shapes, while the buildings had given in to the power of the Solomon Ring's unleashed demons. Kuroro stood amidst the sea of smokes and dusts with some of his demons still standing by his side. As the dirt and dusts settled down back to the ground, only three figures remained standing—Kuroro, HoodedMan, and Kurapika who was still in HoodedMan's grip.
Despite his face being hidden under the shade of his hood, Kuroro could sense his awe directed towards his demons. HoodedMan carelessly dropped the burden in his hand to the ground, and Kurapika collapsed into a heap. She had fulfilled her role as his shield, so he had no further need of her in his hands.
"My, my… What amazing power you have there." HoodedMan stepped forwards and dared to face Kuroro in his wrathful-yet-somewhat-slightly-sedated state. "Imagine what kind of incredible goal you can achieve with that power alone!"
Kuroro narrowed his eyes into dangerous slits.
"Your point?"
"Straight to the point, aren't you? Well, suit me just fine." HoodedMan shrugged coolly, as if unaffected by the pressure in the air that Kuroro was giving off. "You know, you can easily dominate the world with your power. Have you thought of that?"
Kuroro only stared at him disinterestedly.
"Why don't you join me in that quest?"
Without any hesitation or faltering, Kuroro gave one of his demons a silent order and the demon threw a hellish fire towards the hooded man. Despite his big talk and huge composure, the hooded man was indeed a weakling. In no time, he was reduced to cinders.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Kuroro said coldly as he watched the hooded man's remains blown by the dusty wind and disappeared traceless. "The Mammon, patron of avarice. Your greed will be your downfall."
Then, all was silent—save only the sound of night wind blowing past the debris and what left of the compound.
"Lucifer, we need to take her to the hospital." Lucian was the first one to break the heavy silence.
"No." came his harsh and quick reply.
Lucian only had time to blink in confusion when in a whirlwind of movement Kuroro already had Kurapika secure in his arms.
"Machi." Kuroro suddenly called out to her.
"Yes." She quickly appeared next to him in the instant.
"Follow me. The rest of you, hunt down every single one of the Mammon."
Then, without wasting another second, Machi and Kuroro took off, leaving Lucian and the other Spiders in the much wasted compound.
"Well…" Lucian scratched the back of his head nervously. "I'll be after them. Good luck, boys."
And Lucian took off as well.
"Why does Danchou bother to rescue that brat?" Nobunaga spat.
"I think it has something to do with their agreement." Shalnark piped in as he wandered about the place, checking to make sure that the dead were really dead for good.
"Agreement?"
"I once asked Danchou on how he could get the Kuruta so cooperative, and he told me that they had an agreement. He never disclosed the details to me, though."
"Danchou is only keeping his end of the bargain. He is a man of his words." Franklin said confidently and eerily serenely.
"By keeping her alive?" Nobunaga sounded more disgusted than anything.
"I suppose that's part of the agreement itself."
"Whatever it is, we have a job to do here." Shizuku chirped innocently as she summoned forth her Deme-chan. "I suppose I should clean them up?"
While Shizuku worked on swallowing what remained of the Mammon, Feitan approached one of the charred bodies. His hand glowed eerily purple as he touched one of the bodies that had not been mangled beyond recognition by an enraged, bloodthirsty Kuroro. He then proceeded with his 'unauthorized' silent interrogation.
Once they reached a random hotel, Kuroro and Machi barged into an unoccupied room, leaving Lucian to deal with the booking and other menial tasks. ("Me again! I'm not their bell boy, pentru numele lui Dumnezeu! (for God's sake!)") After ripping off Kurapika's useless shirt, Machi performed first-aid to sew together Kurapika's severed Achilles tendons and the other huge deep cuts all over her body. When Machi rolled Kurapika's battered body over to check her back, her eyebrows twitched slightly as she saw a gashing bloody M etched on her back. It filled her entire back, stretching from her upper shoulder to her upper waist.
Kurapika gave no reactions whatsoever when Machi treated her. Unsurely, Machi stole a glance to the direction of her Danchou, and found him staring into empty space. His face was devoid of any emotion, and his presence was so detached from the world. It seemed that he was driving all his brain cells into thinking of what else to do in that situation. Machi turned to study Kurapika—she looked as if her soul was in the verge of departing from her body.
"Danchou, this is all I can do." She finally spoke softly.
Kuroro gave no response.
"Give her this." Lucian, who had again miraculously popped out of nowhere, handed a syringe filled with odd-coloured liquid to Machi.
The female shot him a dubious look.
"They are painkillers." Lucian rolled his eyes.
Machi did as she was told, and administered the drug into Kurapika's system. She still gave no apparent reaction.
"Machi, go and get Kurapika's friend. Especially the doctor. Bring them here by all means, but keep them unharmed."
"Okay."
And she went off.
"Lucian. Do me another favour." He still had not averted his blank gaze from the empty space he had been staring at.
"Care este? (which is?)"
"Go back to that compound and find Kurapika's ring. They must have looted it from her. It's the exact replica of this one, but with blue stone." He tossed his own ring to Lucian.
Lucian was dying to question many of his decisions, but he knew better than anyone else that the time was not right. He would have other times to interrogate the younger man. Wordlessly, he departed from the hotel room, leaving Kuroro with the once-again dying Kuruta.
The room fell into pregnant silence, and still Kuroro was standing in the exact same position he had assumed since he arrived to the room. He fingered the Solomon Ring enveloping his finger, feeling the cold touch.
"Why didn't you protect her?" He spoke.
A thin wispy smoke appeared and the Ifrit showed himself in much subtler fashion than before.
My command is not to harm her. You never order me to protect her.
Kuroro narrowed his eyes, but nonetheless admitted that his wordings when he declared the rules had been rather incomplete.
"I'll give you a new order." He finally turned to spare a glance at Kurapika's still form on the bed. "Protect her."
Forever?
"If needs be."
What about you?
Realizing it for the first time, Kuroro concluded that one of the reasons that he was so invincible was not because of his sole efforts and powers. There were other external factors that contributed to it—notably from certain black-haired woman and golden-haired man.
"I have enough protection as it is."
When Lucian reached the destroyed site ("So in the end he really blew the entire place to bits," Lucian rolled his eyes), all the Spiders had disappeared and none of the bodies of the Mammon was left behind. There was only one living creature there, and it was apparently waiting for him.
"Look at this wreck!" Lucian huffed. "What was Ishtar thinking about? Giving him her blood and the Solomon Ring. Did she intend to make him a demigod or something?"
"Hardly." Anansi shook his head, and his pale golden hair swayed gently. "Both are for his protection and survival."
The vampire frowned at the spider incarnation.
"Y'know. The way you behave around Lucifer is thoroughly different when you are alone with anyone else. De ce? (Why?)"
"Because he is such a cute ki~~d." Anansi put up a cutesy face, which gave Lucian goose-bumps.
Doting parent…was what came across Lucian's thought instantly.
"Anyway, here's the ring. Bet he asked you to look for this." Anansi tossed him Kurapika's ring.
Lucian caught the ring with one hand and pocketed it. He did not even bother to check it again. He eyed Anansi with critical eyes, before sighing heavily.
"Good thing your earrings work wonders."
Anansi gave a small smile.
"They have to. Being a human with blood mixed with blood of a Goddess, albeit a fallen one, has some dire risks in it. In essence, it's a lethal poison despite the power in it—the power that allows Kuroro to master the Solomon Ring. If the human is not strong enough mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically, the blood will destroy him. Mentally and physically, Kuroro was beyond average human. But psychologically…" Anansi turned hesitant.
"Psychologically?" Lucian encouraged.
"His psychology develops late and slow—stagnant. A genius he may be, but he lacks the ability to differentiate right from wrong. They are inconsequential to him and his thinking-process."
"Conscience deficit?"
"Roughly speaking," Anansi nodded in grim acknowledgement. "And that's why he needs the restrainers—only God above and Satan below know what he'll do when Ishtar's essence finally overwhelms him."
When Leorio came and upon one glance on his beaten up friend, he vehemently suggested bringing Kurapika to the hospital but Kuroro told him that it was impossible. In the record, Kurapika Kuruta was supposed to be dead and she would have to remained dead forever for her own safety. While Leorio thoroughly checked on Kurapika's sustained injuries, Killua began interrogating the Spider Head.
"Okay, so I won't take no for this: how the hell did she end up like that?" Killua spun on his heels and glared at the older man. Gon also gave him a demandingly questioningly look.
Kuroro sighed silently. It was their rights to know what had really happened that Kurapika fell into such awful state. He then told them the general idea about the Mammon, and that she was already in a better state since Machi had already tended to her cuts.
"If it wasn't for Machi, Kurapika might have been dead or at best crippled for the rest of her life." He was referring to her severed Achilles tendons.
"You think she'll be okay? She won't be crippled?" Gon's eyes were already glassy from tears.
"I trust Machi's abilities." Kuroro said dismissively. "But now it all depends on your friend's abilities as a doctor."
"He's still a trainee!" Killua protested. Leorio thanked Killua for giving him an excuse, because he himself was not very confident of his capability so far.
Kuroro did not respond to Killua's protests. Instead, he folded his arms across his chest and took a seat on one chair at the corner of the room. He then closed his eyes and refused any conversations with the other boys. Killua and Gon exchanged anxious looks.
They could only wait.
"What about Kurapika?" Lucian asked.
"The side-effect of Ishtar's blood on her shouldn't be that as significant as on Kuroro, since she received it from Kuroro. Nevertheless, a safety precaution will be in order since she's not that emotionally stable," he paused, and added, "yet."
Perfect match. They complement each other, Lucian thought fleetingly.
"Side-effect, side-effect. You've been blabbering about side-effects. What are the side-effects, really?" Lucian stomped his foot lightly as a sign of his frustration.
"It can be anything, both beneficial and detrimental. Extraordinary recovery, death and insanity are the simplest ones." Anansi said with a shrug, and he had no wish to elaborate more on other possible gruesome side-effects.
"Holy crap!"
Leorio's rude exclamation attracted the attention of all occupants of the room. He was still crouching over Kurapika's body, examining her once again with very deep frown etched on his forehead. He seemed puzzled above worried.
"What's wrong, Leorio?" Gon was the first one to squeak the question.
"I…" He was hesitant at first, but he eventually turned to address Kuroro. "Did she learn some new skills along the travel?"
This time it was Kuroro's turn to frown.
"Explain."
"Well…See here." Leorio lifted Kurapika's broken arm and to Kuroro's amazement the arm looked simply brand new.
"What's so wrong with her arm?" Killua asked.
"Killua, it was BROKEN into a strange angle just some minutes ago if you haven't noticed (which you obviously haven't), and now it's perfectly well!" Leorio rolled his eyes in exasperation at the boy's ignorance. "Also, she has been suffering from lungs haemorrhage, five broken ribs and the rest are fractured, broken upper arm bone, fractured and shattered kneecaps, fractured scapula, internal bleeding, severe head concussions, trauma around the solar plexus, fractured skull, fingernails…uuh…" Leorio cringed upon recalling the horrid deformity of Kurapika's fingernails—or lack thereof.
Those beasts! They actually plucked off her fingernails! He was actually close to vomiting.
"That sounds awful…" Gon made a sad puppy face.
"And now they are all healed!" Leorio ignored Gon's remark.
"All healed?" Killua asked for verification.
"One hundred percent! So," Leorio turned to Kuroro again. "Are you sure she is the normal Kurapika we know? We know she's got skills, but this is just too weird and…" He cast an uneasy glance at the girl, "…inhuman."
Something clicked in Kuroro's minds upon hearing the word 'inhuman'.
Ishtar's blood…
"So what's the problem with that? Isn't that a good thing?" Gon asked innocently, his face was bright.
"It's well, Gon, but it's too strange." Killua poked the other boy's head. "What if it's a 'calm before storm' kind of situation?"
"She's not waking up."
Kuroro words were more of a question than a statement. The older man looked at Kurapika with critical eyes, while the other three exchanged worried glances.
"Well…" The lanky boy scratched the back of his head nervously. "That is the part that I do not understand. By right, she's supposed to be awake by now. Maybe a little dizzy and disoriented but…yeah…"
Kuroro frowned at this. Something was missing.
"Lucifer."
A voice unfamiliar to the three yet familiar to Kuroro rang in the darkness of the room. The three whipped their head towards the direction of the balcony of the hotel room, and found a strange man standing there. Just a second ago there was nobody there.
"Took you long enough." Kuroro said quietly.
"Here's the rings." Lucian said as he tossed the said rings carelessly at Kuroro's direction; which the man caught singlehandedly without even looking at them.
Lucian looked at Kurapika's sleeping form.
"How's dragă (darling)?"
"She isn't waking up." Kuroro answered with rather grim voice.
Lucian's shoulders sagged slightly, and muttered, "Cum era de aşteptat… (As expected)"
Kuroro raised an eyebrow but before he could ask anything, Lucian was already marching towards Kurapika's bed. The trio quickly shifted and made a barricade between the vampire and the Kuruta girl. Lucian blinked once.
"They are her close friends." Kuroro then turned to the three. "He is an acquaintance to Kurapika."
The three eyed Lucian warily and with suspicions, and they still refuse to budge from their spots. Lucian only shrugged nonchalantly.
"The Zaoldyck boy, the doctor-to-be, and Ging's boy?" The vampire turned to ask Kuroro; which he answered with a silent nod.
Gon's face lit up.
"You know my father?"
"Somewhat, but let's save that for later." Lucian put up a stopping hand before Gon could torrent him with questions regarding the elusive Hunter. He regarded Kuroro with even eyes.
"Hey, since they distrust me so much, why don't you put her ring on her?"
Kuroro raised an eyebrow.
"Will that make a difference?"
"Who knows?" The vampire gave him an unsure grin, pretending to be innocent but was a poor attempt.
Kuroro looked down at the blazing red rings in his hand, and then up at Lucian. He narrowed his eyes at the vampire.
"An explanation is in order, Lucian."
Lucian gave an 'eep' squeak and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily out of nervousness. Kuroro then slid the ring from Ishtar to Kurapika's thin finger. Lucian crossed his fingers behind his back. The other three, clueless as they were, still held their breath in anticipation.
A minute passed, and Kurapika opened her eyes.
Author's Note: I got some polling to do here, guys. First, do you want a ShalnarkxFino pairing? Some reviewers actually like that idea. Also, do you honestly want Kuroro and Kurapika as one family? Personally, I think that'll be awkward, but hey I'll try to please you guys. So, do tell me of your preferences by reviewing, okay? Oh, and by the way, some sites said that 30 pieces of silver is equivalent to about US$11,000 - $15,000.
Next: Kurapika finally opened her eyes! But what kind of explanation did Lucian have to offer for Kuroro? What about Ishtar's blood and its side-effects on Kurapika? What about the restrainers?
