I just realized. Is Senritsu a girl? Ahhh… And so Senritsu is a girl! I'll edit the 'he's' on earlier chapters when I find the time. XD

Ah, thanks for those who supported me thus far and I hope you enjoy this chapter! ;D And please don't hesitate to review. Each one makes me feel all giddy inside, even if they're fangirling, rants, or flames. I LOVE READING 'EM ALL.

DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Hunter X Hunter

...

CHAPTER 13: Auction X Busy X Despair

YORK SHIN CITY

A week had passed since he and Gon arrived at the agreed city. They had to be there earlier to get ready, and they did not fail to… well, look around. It was a very amazing place with its density and modernity. She kind of missed her home already, though, especially with the goodbye they had with her aunt. Provincial life really had its own charms.

Still, it turned out it was good they went there so early. The 800 million they earned from the tower, in an attempt to earn 10 billion for the game, dropped to 20 million or so. Seriously… what was Gon's father thinking when he made that insanely expensive game!? He could have at least increased the supply, so the price would be a little more affordable.

But obviously, where would the challenge in that be?

And so, there they were… with barely a few million left in stock. First they were scammed, leaving them with less than a quarter of what they used to. Next, they split it in half and had a bet. The bet was about whoever earns the least amount of profit would follow an order from the winner.

Killua was soon broke since he gambled it, and Gon- having minimal talent in actual entrepreneurship, only earned tens of thousands.

But then as Killua observed Gon, he realized that slowly (but surely) she was getting to know her father through these tasks. He could even say she was getting to understand him better and better every single hour- to the point that she was having so much fun. Not that she wasn't always having fun with anything, of course.

They went through a lot of things in an attempt to actually get that game without having to buy it, but they all proved to be for naught. Killua had little doubt that his brother, Milluki, would fail in cracking the data. Considering how famous and 'legendary' the game was, even his computer-genius brother would probably have nothing on it.

They stopped by a cell phone shop. He had lost the bet, but she had yet to give him the absolute order. She had been out of it since that morning but Killua couldn't bring himself to ask about it, so he decided to ask about something else.

"Finally going to buy a phone?"

"Hai." She nodded. "Kurapika should be able to contact us anytime."

"Kurapika?" What… about Leorio?

"He said he's busy with work." She said and stared at the clerk. "He said he'll contact us when he finds the time, so…"

"I see…" he turned to the clerk too, and the man flinched. The man cleared his throat and introduced the latest model his shop could offer. Gon was enticed and was about to buy it, when someone so graciously interrupted them.

"This is the one you want." Leorio grinned proudly, and the two kids beamed at the sound of the familiar voice. "Golden Beatle." The newcomer said and introduced how awesome it was and the best model to date despite being a little more expensive, heavy, and… not the latest.

"Let me handle this." He said proudly and went to the clerk. And bargained.

And so after a long session of shameless bargaining (which earned them quite a bit of audience), he ended up getting a 70% discount.

Seventy Percent

Killua stared at the raven-head with incredulity while Gon's eyes twinkled with amazement. "Sugoi, Leorio!" she exclaimed, after giving him a high-five.

Leorio smirked. "Thanks. I'm always awesome, though."

"Che." Killua muttered from the side. "But that wouldn't help much with the auction…"

"Ungrateful as always, little Killua?" Leorio grinned, "But aren't you in an especially bad mood today?"

"No I'm not, old man."

Leorio shook his head, pushing his popping vein back inside. He was in a good mood, anyway, he missed them very much.

"I wonder when we'll see Kurapik-" he was cut by Killua's glare. The silver-headed boy 'hmped' and hastened his pace so that he was ahead of them. They couldn't see his expression, but they could tell he was mad. He started muttering about 'busy my ass'.

"What's with him?"

"Kurapika's busy with work. I think Killua's mad…"

"Hell I am."

"Now, now. I'm disappointed, too, but he didn't become a hunter for us you know. He had a clear goal in mind. I don't think he's going to change that."

"That's true…" Gon mumbled, but still very sad. She really wanted to see him again, after all. And she simply could not shake the feeling that had been attacking her for a while. She wasn't sure if she was just looking for an excuse, but she thought that he needed her help during those times.

She wondered if it was time she follow her intuition…

"Gon."

"Hai?"

"I was explaining to him what we were here so early for." Killua stated as they walked across town. She looked around and saw that she was in a very different part of town as a second ago. Looking at Killua and Leorio's puzzled stares, she realized that she had been in a trance for quite some time.

"I see…" she muttered (idiotically, mind you)and it made Killua's eyebrow furrow. The silver-head paused his steps and crossed his arms.

"Actually I was telling him about how much Nen I learned."

"You were?" Gon voiced out, quite interested. She forgot that she just revealed she wasn't listening. But as Leorio bragged about how not-so-hard it was (since he trained himself with it), she suddenly remembered why she was in daze in the first place.

A grim expression conquered her face making Leorio sigh, while Killua puffed his cheek in annoyance. The older man patted her head. "Let's just give him support when we meet him, okay? He's a big guy. He can take care of himself."

Gon nodded lightly.

"You think too much (about him)." Killua stated, suddenly appearing behind her. "He was going after his goal here. Why not we do the same?"

Leorio stifled a knowing cackled and forced himself to look at this 'maturely'. He scanned his brain for a change of topic and fortunately it didn't take long for him to find one. He cleared his throat.

"Speaking of that… why were you here so early?" Killua never did tell him yet. The discussion on nen (and the frequent looking back and watching Gon) was what ate their time.

The kids stared at him, and then to each other. "Should we tell him?" Killua asked, pointing rudely at him- as if he didn't need to know.

Leorio gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Then you just passed off the number one helper." Leorio crossed his arms and 'feigned' annoyance.

So much for being mature…

Gon twitched. "W-We will tell!"

And that they did. They told him about the game, the supply, the money-

Leorio could not believe what he just heard.

So. Much. Money.

The aspiring doctor could no longer keep in the vent up emotions those numbers had roused in him.

PAK!

Nice little punches landed on the kids' heads.

"You Idiots!"

*Meanwhile*

Kurapika stared by the window of the limousine. The blimp landed several minutes prior and now a line of limos were heading towards York Shin. He was now officially a bodyguard for a girl around his age, the daughter of their boss with great influence in the Mafia.

During his time there, he had learned that the boss was using his daughter's prophetic abilities to gain influence and money so he was especially protective of her. A lot of bodyguards were hired, especially due to the dangerous auction coming up.

He willed himself to concentrate. His mind kept wondering way too often than normal that day. That call he got when he was on the blimp from Gon really shook him. He wanted to meet them, he really did… but he wasn't lying about being busy. He could not see the logic in spending so much time and effort into making a loophole himself, despite wanting to do so badly.

In any case, he needed to calm down, especially since they were nearing the hotel. When they get down from the car, he would be standing by Senritsu again and who knew what she would hear.

He composed himself as he felt the car stop. He forgot about every… distraction from his goal, and willed himself not to think about them for a while. He had already made his life's purpose solely for his clan, and he would even take the evil path to accomplish this if he had to.

He did not see why putting them to his least important priorities, at least for now, would be so hard.

Clack

He heard the vehicle's doors open, and he too went out. He opened his eyes and caught Senritsu's anxious stare.

Senritsu held her chest in worry.

Kurapika was colder than ever.

…

ROOFTOP

Later that night, the auction was finally scheduled to start. Kurapika and Senritsu were assigned for a stake-out. While Dalzollene assigned Veise, and two others to bid in their boss's stead.

The girl was especially excited for the auction, so for them to make such an effort to prevent the girl from going meant that certain danger would happen that night.

Kurapika frowned. Their leader was obviously hiding something; he looked especially worried and held a bunch of papers. Kurapika's intuition was telling him it was the young Nostrade's predictions.

But then… he recalled what Dalzollene said. It didn't matter who the opponent was, anyone who approached Ms. Neon was to be killed.

Kurapika sighed. It was a stupid and arrogant- emphasis on the arrogant- thing to believe. It would get that man killed someday… He mused before letting out a sigh and willing his thoughts to focus on his mission.

unfortunately, that proved to be much harder than he anticipated.

The mere fact that those three were in the same city enticed too many... hopeful thoughts. They made it extremely hard, even for him, to concentrate..

"Kurapika?" a voice from beside him called. He had forgotten about her. Or, rather, her ability. Kurapika was certain he wasn't showing any facial changes, but Senritsu's ability to hear so strongly proved extremely troublesome and impressive at the same time.

"Ah. Your heartbeat sounded so strained, Kurapika."

"I assure you it won't affect my job." He said, almost snapping.

Senritsu laughed, trying to lighten up the mood. "I didn't mean that." She said, but decided not to push that issue. The small woman, instead, asked what was bothering him earlier. "What connection do you have with the crimson eyes?"

Kurapika was silent and looked at him analytically. He could not lie to him because of her ability, but then he could always say that it was none of his business. So Senritsu was a bit surprised when he actually told her he was from the Kuruta Clan, and why he became a hunter in the first place.

Kurapika was surprised, too. He didn't think he wanted to tell that to someone after all this time. He was a little thankful that he could not lie to this person for that. He guessed he needed to vent it out. It just added to the dilemma he was adding to his friends-

Wait. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around…?

"Something else is bothering you, it seems." The petite girl said, but Kurapika decided to shift the topic. "What about you?" he inquired. "Why did you take this job?"

Senritsu smiled in understanding and told him everything. She was a Professional Hunter. A Music Hunter to be exact… and she was looking for a cursed scroll. A composition by the devil, and hearing a single note already cursed her so badly. It promised great abilities, but it was never worth it.

From one note, she had lost her old body and became an odd elf. She wanted to be a normal human again, even without the extreme hearing that he had obtained from the curse.

And it was obvious, Kurapika wanted something, too. And it had nothing to do with revenge. But Senritsu just met Kurapika… so despite the new-found friendship she felt with him, there was a limit to how deeply she could pry.

And so, she could only pray for Kurapika to get through this safely.

Meanwhile, on another side of the city- near an alleyway within the slums, a lively event was being held. Cheers and 'Boos' filled the air. Most of them of incredulity and amazement, though.

BAM!

Gon massaged her arm. She must have defeated a few hundred men in arm wrestling. She felt guilty… it felt like she was stealing their money.

There was one contender though, the sole female so far, who really made her try. She was extremely strong, and she almost lost.

And if she lost, a huge percentage of their already little money would go poof! They were, after all, currently doing a conditional auction. And they got their profits from the try-out fee. She was only sweating because of the heat now, and a lot of things had been bothering her.

"GYA!"

Oops

She broke his arm. Darnit. And she was supposed to pretend she was in pain, too. She was really not a good actress. She never was. And thoughts that kept attacking her weren't making her concentration any better.

"Oi, oi. Gon. If you break too many arms, it will scare the costumers off." Leorio whispered and Killua sighed.

"I'll take your position for a while. Go meditate."

"Ah." She agreed but a rude finger caught their attention.

"Ora! That's not fai-"

"What?" Killua snapped, and they all flinched at the irritated aura he emitted. "You're scared old man?"

"N-No."

And so...,

"GYA!"

"AHHH!"

"ITTE!"

"D-DASKETE!"

...Killua's venting begun.

Back at the rooftop, Kurapika and Senritsu entered a comfortable moment of silence. When Senritsu opened a conversation about her accidentally telling others about his secret, he said it was fine.

He'll just have to kill her first.

And Senritsu knew that, of course. She even voiced it out jokingly.

A silence passed that moment, and it was only broken when Kurapika's phone rang all of a sudden. It was their leader and he called for them to run to the scene of the auction.

They quickly arrived in the scene and they could not believe what they saw: Everything, be they guests or chairs… gone. Kurapika clenched his fist and willed himself to calm. Obviously, thinking his comrades were dead from the start would not calm him down. So he took a deep breath and held his chain, hoping it found a clue.

It didn't take long for it to do so. It was Veise's bangle, with blood. And there was no doubt they had died.

Genei Ryonan. They were the culprit, and this magic trick had to be their ability. Anger welled up inside of him, and he felt like he was being sucked in space-

RIIING!

It was ringing again. The tone meant it was an email though, and under normal circumstances he would not have taken notice of it. The emotional turmoil he was having within was too much, and yet his body moved on its own to check.

His eyes widened. There were at least a dozen missed calls from Gon. He didn't notice in their hurry, so she sent him a message instead.

He was surprised, of course, since when they had a talk he was sure he implied he was very busy and they shouldn't contact him often. It was like they could only contact him when he did. It was cold… very cold, even for him, but it was his best option at the time.

He thought she'd get his message- that he did not want to be bothered. He assumed she would wait for him to contact them… that was what he thought Gon would do. But she didn't. It wasn't like her not to sense what he really wanted to say…

But in reality… did she really misunderstood what he wanted?

And so he pondered on whether or not opening the email would be a choice.

"Better open it." It was Senritsu again, and she answered her question before Kurapika could utter it. "I can hear the tone of your heartbeat. You will not be able to relax if you continue denying it."

"…"

Kurapika glared but the little one, who did not even falter, laughed. "Hai, Hai. I'll go now."

Kurapika watched Senritsu leave, and soon walked away to an isolated corridor and held his hand to a wall, as if to support him before he dared to open the message. He shivered.

Don't push yourself, Kurapika.

His back hit the wall, and his legs lost strength so the next thing he knew he was on the floor. Why was he such in a distraught state with just a few words…?

Why?

He did not notice that a concerned comrade followed him there.

Senritsu smiled as he watched her friend stare into space as he sat at the building's trademark soft carpet. There were no tears, but his heart beat sounded like he was crying. Kurapika was crying about many things, he knew. He was crying for the loss of his comrades, he was crying out of anger… and he was crying of confusion and despair.

He could hear it, Senritsu…

That whoever sent him that message could save the blonde from the fate he coldly put upon himself.

* A Few Hours Later*

They drove to where the mafia groups seemed to have cornered the culprits. It was in the middle of nowhere, and they hid at the hole of a canyon with their balloon just lying there.

Kurapika and his group were a little late, and he asked his companions to stop moving. It was better to watch what happened with the first group and he took out his binoculars.

From there he watched them perish. That bastard was strong. Even bazookas, that could take down tanks, was no match for him. A monster.

Genei Ryodan…

They all were.

It didn't take long for the Injyuu to come. There were 4 of them, out of 10. Two did not look human. More like humanoid animals with rational thought. He had read about these odd creatures from books before, but it was the first time he actually saw one. He placed a mental note to get top secret information about them since he was a hunter now. One might never know when information would be useful.

Crack

The underground Injyuu went back down and Kurapika let out a deep breath.

They were all strong, he could tell, and this relaxed him by a bit. But were they a match to that monster? And not to mention the fact that his comrades had yet to take action. If one more spider made a move, then he thought the injyuus would stand no chance.

He did want to take care of them himself but at the moment it was not his chance. He would wait, but it didn't mean he wanted them to lose. Too many had died. So he rode Squala and the other's ray of hope- that the Injyuus would take care of this monster.

But several minutes later, the proud warriors died at the hands of the bastard. He watched them, too. That animal was enjoying himself, and he suddenly remembered that event 5 years ago. His comrades died meaninglessly in their hands and he would never forgive them-

He paused at the sound of the flute. He realized he was walking towards the scene of action without noticing it. He was thinking of actually going there and killing him thoughtlessly, wasn't he?

"Have we all calmed now?" Senritsu smiled putting away her flute. It was her ability, apparently, to change atmospheres depending on the piece.

Kurapika thanked him, and watched Squala report to the leader. He had, indeed, calmed- but it didn't mean he was going to run. His mind was just clearer and thought that it was no use attacking now, when he had to go against 7 A-class criminals.

So… he held up his chain, told himself not to kill the large pest just yet, and finally kidnapped the wretched psychopath.

…

It was that very same night that he officially became the leader.

Everything happened so quickly. They kidnapped Uvogin and brought him to the basement of hotel they were staying at, he was to be taken care of by Dalzollene. They tortured him, but he didn't budge. In fact, they could barely hurt him. His body was much tougher than anticipated.

He did not think of it explicitly, but the monster had extreme will that would not waver no matter what the circumstances. He was not about to compare him to Gon.

They left Dalzollene alone to take care of Uvogin, him telling them that he'd prefer torturing the criminal alone. They actually did just that, and Kurapika left a little earlier since he had an appointment.

But... if he hadn't left that time to meet with Hisoka for a secret meeting of alliance- if he had stayed- maybe the leader and so many others could have been saved. But he wasn't. And he paid with it by wallowing in regret and guilt. Not that it added much to the already torturous amount of negative emotions he was experiencing since his clan was killed.

But no other emotion can exceed the pure rage that engulfed Kurapika's whole being.

He wanted to hunt that monster down and kill him with his own hands. His thought process actually focused on how he would kill the bastard. How slowly, and how painfully he'd go about it.

But when he was officially assigned as the leader, he willed himself to calm down. He was responsible for his team now, and he could not act so impulsively. He would kill Uvogin that day, but he had to be ready.

He arranged for different room assignments to keep the others safe and waited at the room for Uvogin. It was easy to assume at least one other person there had a hunter license after all. It would be easy to find him.

He waited alone, in the room, ignoring all external stimuli except the opening of the door.

CRACK

And there he was arriving not a moment late, and pompously challenged him to a match as soon as their eyes met. Kurapika ignored his incessantly ringing phone and stared at the bastard. The man growled in arrogance while Kurapika remained impassive, willing himself to calm down as he had trained himself to. They headed to an abandoned area for an all out-battle.

BOOM!

CRASH

BAM!

Kurapika huffed as stood up and healed his broken bone. It got a direct hit from Uvogin. The direct hit that caused an earthquake earlier on.

It was amazing- his power, and he got to test it out with the physically strongest member of the Spider. His Hatsu had been maximization of all the groups, but the targets were only a small group otherwise he would die. It was fine, of course, it was that he needed. Killing the spiders was something he was meant to do until he died.

It had been relatively easy, despite what people would expect. His abilities had no flaws, and with his skills he had battle Uvogin hand-in-hand and emerged much stronger. He trapped him within his materialized chain, and his Hatsu went on its full effect.

His ability was meant for them, so if he chained them they would never be able to maximize their ability. They would become caged canaries minus the lovely sound.

He punched him as he was free from his own nen, defenseless. It had been painful for both of them. He could feel it- the burning of his blood as he heard the cries of pain.

How could they not feel anything?

BAM!

Another punch came, with another of his interrogations. "Kill me." Was all he said once more before Kurapika finally snapped.

BAM!

The large man's eyes bulged due to the final shock he would ever receive. He did not even feel pain anymore.

And a millisecond later, Uvogin was no more.

"This is your last chance Kurapika. Even if you succeed in this revenge, you will be left but nothing but emptiness and your bloodstained hands.

"Turn back, Kurapika."

Those were his master's last words to him.

Of course, he did not listen.

So now he stood there staring at the moon that, in his eyes, looked crimson. It felt like it was crying, and he gripped the shovel in his hand tighter. He had just buried Uvogin, a sign of respect despite all the madness he had felt for what he did. He was human, too, after all and Kurapika would never forget that.

And with that thought, a lot followed. He had now killed someone. He had become a murderer. Kurapika had indeed took the evil path., for it was something necessary for him to reach his goal.

He looked at the moon again.

He prayed to his clan before the battle started, and now that he had won with minimal damage surely it meant that if spirits were real than they gave him their blessings… right?

Why was the crimson moon crying in despair, then? He did not know. Nor as the state of his mind was at the time, he barely cared… or, rather, listened.

Kurapika deprived his heart of such petty emotions once again. He did not need those. He was taking the dark path, after all, something so… humane… was but a mere distraction to him now.

His goal.

And he told himself that it was the only thing that kept him sane.

.
.

END OF CHAPTER 13

Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 14: Cold X Nostrade X Trapped

REPLIES TO ANGELS

Phoenix-Thunder - You should! And I saw that you already did mention pairing names now. lol. And thanks for the luck you sent. XD Sure did use it. Hehe. And thank you for the review~

naruke3176- Ah~ I love that song! haha. Maybe that's why we got it in both our heads. XDD Thank you for the comment~!

Aria of the Sky- The threating Killua part'll happen in a different way, I suppose. I will focus on Kurapika for a while, hope it's fine! XD And thank you for the reviews! ;D

Pure. White. Junction . - Lol. Good luck with ur stories~ And I don't think I'd enter many writing breaks, but my update rates'll definitely remain slow. =.= Thx for the review!

KuroHana- Sorry! T_T I won't quit this story Hehe. Update rates would just be epically slow at times. Hehe. And why are you apologizing for ur long review? XD Thank you for reviewing btw~

mai-chan265- You have asked who Antigone was before. XD It's a feminine version of Gon's name. So Gon is her nickname. lololol. And thx for pointing Senritsu's gender out as well as for the commentary. ; )

TiraLu- Banzai for GI arc! I can tell you it'll be extended. It'll feel like there'll be a lot of fillers because of it though. Haha. Thanks for the review, btw~

Lapsis Angelus Jullienne- *Blushes* T-Too many compliments! Hahah. Thank you for the review and I love you too~ XDDD

Butterfree- (Ch1) Glad to hear that! And I haven't read the manga at the time and I haven't watched the 2011 version yet. (ch9) Yep~ I agree. I'll try to improve the sequence of events (and the skipping thing) during my revamping sessions in the near future. (ch10) HAHAHAHA. Actually, maybe ur right! The mangaka was afraid he'd get sued for causing nosebleeds? lol.

SelfcreatedCharacter- I really like writing scenes where characters are in denial. Haha. Glad y' liked it and thanks for the review~

the-ultimate-star- Sorry for the loong waiitttt! D: Hope it was worth it but feel free to tell me otherwise. XD Thx for the review!

...

Arigatou Minna-san for reading so far!

Please pause for a moment and let me know your reactions/ what you thought~ :D

: Cold X Nostrade X Trapped