*Finding Leorio*

by: WhiteGloves

"I fear I've created an incredible monster..."

-Wing in reference to Gon

Chapter 10: His Enemies

Kurapika's group found themselves on the way back to the hotel. The blonde boy has been on his phone for the last couple of minutes on their way back. Gon, Killua and Senritsu have been very quiet along the trip.

Finally, Kurapika hung his phone. Killua glanced at him.

"Your boss?" he asked quietly. The blonde boy nodded while Senritsu looked at him.

"The Nostrades wants to transport to Otto City tomorrow morning."

Gon and Killua stared at him in attention but it was the white haired boy who spoke next.

"So now what? Are we still going to go after the old man?"

"What are you talking about?" Gon almost snapped as he launched himself on his friend's direction. "of course we are!"

"Don't bite my head off," Killua muttered, pushing Gon's face away, "Kurapika?"

Kurapika considered for a moment, before answering, "I think that is the only option. Before long the Ryodan will be after him… and he'll be after them. I suppose going after the two is a big job already so I need to get my hands on Leorio first. That idiot."

Gon gave the blonde boy a reproachful look. Killua sat back with crossed arms and legs.

"But if the Ryodan doesn't learn about him then we don't need to worry about them."

Kurapika shook his head.

"I don't think the Ryodan would be deceived. They'll know about him sooner or later so we have to stop him before they do. Just imagine if they found out about him. They'll be hunting for a kill. I don't think even Leorio could face them all at once… his enemies are formidable opponents."

"We shouldn't trust Hisoka," Killua muttered sounding skeptical, "neither that Rye dude."

"We don't have to," Kurapika glanced at him, "but we don't have a choice. Hisoka knows his game. I doubt he'd let those guys get to Leorio or Rye before himself."

"Heh," Killua snorted with a sweatdrop at the side of his face, "so Hisoka's finally after him? If it's the old Leorio he'd be dying to dig his grave."

Kurapika looked at him from the mirror and then looked back at the road.

"I don't think so…" he whispered remembering how his friend foolishly and bravely returned to face Hisoka off when they first encountered him in the forest in the first part of the Hunter's exam. He was the only idiot who'd do that. It was a nostalgic memory.

"So what do we do?" Gon asked after a few moments with a troubled look.

"Senritsu and I will have to join with the Nostrades," Kurapika answered without looking at him, "I don't know what will happen, but I'm sure Leorio will be around me. I'll know when he's around. Right now we don't have any other leads so all we can do is wait… when the time comes and he contacts me again, I'll let you know. What are you two planning?"

He gazed at them this time and caught as the two boys exchange looks.

"We finished the game," Gon told him earnestly, "I haven't seen Ging, but I want to look for Leorio first. It won't feel right if I don't… Leorio's a good friend."

"What he said," Killua mumbled with eyes on the on one side looking sheepish, "Besides, it's not like he was doing this for his own. He just wanted to help, right? In a very scary way. So maybe we'll search for more information about him and inform you about it. We'll follow you to Otto in no time."

Kurapika stared at the two and nodded in gratitude.

Inside an unknown hotel from a far, a man was sitting by the window with a dark gleam on his eyes as he watched the city and its bright lights during the night. He was simply sitting there, seemingly entranced by what he was seeing.

Then a door opened from one side and another man came out wearing nothing but a towel on the top of his head and around his waist. He was a tall man with plentiful of scars all over his body. He walked silently around and then stopped near a chair where his clothes were. Without a word, he started putting them on.

The man by the window looked up quietly and stared at the glass window where he could see the tall man's reflection.

"The troupe's moving," he told him languidly, "they've seen what we did. They are enraged, Leorio. They're seeking information about us."

Leorio glanced at him and then dropped himself on the bed. He then put one hand on his head and spoke hoarsely, "I hear you. It's as expected. We'll do it as usual... I'll handle the rest. You don't need to get your hands all bloody. That's my job."

Rye turned his head on the man.

"Still as selfish as ever?" he went on, "I don't underestimate your power now, but it's still unlikely that you're already on par with their strongest. A year's training is not enough for you to defeat the kinds of Feitan."

Leorio glanced behind him with a dark look, "We'll see about that."

Rye smiled from the window.

"You sound too confident but I'm serious when I said your killing intent is not enough. You need to have more on your hands if you want your nen to be enough… That reminds me, I have to give it to our friends. They found us in a very short time."

Leorio looked down his hands and remembered indistinctly how for a moment he heard Kurapika's voice coming from a far. He was in haze then. He knew he was under Rye's control and it was impossible to distract him once he was under it. But then he really heard Kurapika's voice for a moment there. He had wanted to ask what happened but the next thing he remembered Rye had ordered him to retreat. Rye also said his friend came.

"Your friend?" Leorio found himself asking, "You said he came? Didn't you want me to meet him someday?"

Rye didn't answer as he continued to gaze out on the glass window. Leorio was left to ponder on his thoughts which were not easy since he knew his thoughts weren't his anymore. That was when Rye spoke.

"He is my friend but he is your enemy. We'll save the best for the last. I'm sure my old friend's dying to meet you but I suggest otherwise. Not yet. You'll fight him, won't you?" he glanced at Leorio with a slick smile, "like what I told you to?"

Leorio didn't react but quietly closed his eyes. It was part of their deal. Rye wasn't just helping him out of whim. In reality, Rye had wanted him to be a playmate to a certain someone. Leorio had some ideas about who Rye's old friend was but he had been postponing to think about it for later. With hands forming into fists, he opened his eyes and stared darkly into a space.

"By the way, Leorio," came Rye's voice again that made the man raise his head a little, "about the next targets. I hope you're more prepared. The last time you did, you ended up in such a mess."

"I got it," Leorio answered, "but it's not like you want to get involve with the eyes anyways. You only want to join me whenever I kill."

"How cruel of you," Rye smiled, "and I was about to help you on your final plot."

Leorio didn't say a thing.

It was true. Rye had never joined him in his soul objective to retrieve all the Kuruta eyes. Rye would only give him information about the classified owners but after that he, Leorio, was on his own. Not that it matters. He had learned plenty of tricks from his master. Pretty good and nasty ones. His past target so happened to have hired an extremely powerful guard that was why he was caught off guard. He fought bloodily. Without Rye's control on him his nen was considerably weaker. But be it for his lust for blood or whatever he felt during that battle—he won. He was wounded but he won.

So even without Rye's help regarding the scarlet eyes, Leorio knew he was good enough. The next information has been given. His job today will decide his next final move for the Kuruta eyes. It will soon take place. And all the eyes will fall on Kurapika in a matter of a week. Leorio's eyes flickered as he concentrated on this.

Only one week left.

A week has passed since Kurapika left Gon and Killua at Naria and heard little information from the two. Although they did provide him the info that they spotted some Ryodan marauding the said city, this only guaranteed that they have been on the hunt for the person killing their members. Kurapika had never let it pass Leorio to do another kill, but was glad there was no evidence that he did. He had hoped the man would come to his senses more than once, but knew it was futile to believe.

So with his eyes and ears open for more information about his strange friend, Kurapika had settled in the easiest way to track his friend's movements—to keep track of the nearest holder of the Kuruta eyes.

He was alone in his room with eyes on the screen of his desktop. The room was dark and only the light from the screen flickering on his reading glass was shedding little light in the room. He was in the middle of his hunt and scrolling down the page he was reading on. The profile of another billionaire owning a pair or rare scarlet eyes was in front of him. Kurapika was dead sure that out of the five people who still have scarlet eyes with them—this billionaire would be Leorio's target.

Well, it was only a hunch, but out of the five people, this guy, Max Gates, was the only one remaining with a pair while the others only has one each.

That was when Kurapika's phone started buzzing. Immediately taking the call with the hope that it was news from Gon and Killua, the blonde boy put it on his ear with eyes on the screen.

"Hello? Ah… Mr. Nostrade… now? I'll be right up."

Kurapika hung his phone and looked at it for awhile. His boss sounded different. Wondering what has gotten his boss worked up, he restored down the window on the screen and put his glasses off. He then stood up and walked around the table to where he saw three vessels with three pairs of red eyes staring at him blankly. Without glancing at the eyes, Kurapika headed for the door and locked the room.

He took the elevator and headed for his boss's room where two guards were securing the area. With a slight nod in their direction, Kurapika knocked and entered Light Nostrade's room. The room was grand and equal to the status of his Mafia boss, but Kurapika was surprised to see him standing by his table looking agitated.

"Mr. Nostrade?" he called quietly as he stood in front of his table.

Light Nostrade didn't look at the blonde boy but merely continued clicking on his screen.

"Do we still have the pair?" he asked that made Kurapika frown, "Kuruta eyes, I mean."

Kurapika's eyes flickered.

"…yes."

Mr. Nostrade's eyes narrowed looking alarmed which made Kurapika alert.

"What is the problem, Mr. Nostrade?"

"Prepare to transport it," the boss suddenly said that made the blonde boy looked up, startled, "didn't you hear me? I said prepare it."

Kurapika was beside himself as he argued, "With all due respect, your daughter would not approved—"

"Then we have to give her everything she asks for except for those eyes," Mr. Nostrade went on looking wild at the head of his security, "those damn eyes are on the news—haven't you heard!?"

Kurapika's confusion was visible as he rounded behind his boss and surveyed what was on the screen. There he saw the headline about attacks on four billionaires. Kurapika's eyes widened as he recognized the four. He saw their dead bodies on the screen that indicated a bloody end. If he wasn't reading the profiles of these four people just the other day before he focused on Max Gates, Kurapika would not have known that they were connected because of the scarlet eyes.

"What happened…?" he whispered more to himself.

"They were attacked by an unknown creature," Mr. Nostrade clicked on an image of a flaming dark shadow. It was not clear but the shape of a man could be discerned from the image, "this creature attacked these four at the break of dawn and stole all the four scarlet eyes they posses. Then he left a message—

He showed an image of writings on the wall written in blood that says—I'll take them all.

Kurapika gasped.

"This news is spreading like wild fire among the underground community," Mr. Nostrade went on with a sweat drop at the side of his face, "the media doesn't know it… but to us this is a threat. There were other news like this for the past months—about stolen red eyes— but nothing as audacious as this!"

He clicked on the dead bodies. Kurapika couldn't imagine any person doing it. The bodies were disassembled like they were toys torn apart. It was a hideous sight no human eyes could last. And yet, Kurapika stared as hard as he could… he can't seem to remove his eyes off them.

"This is no human act," Mr. Nostrade hissed looking frantic, "I want you to order the tightening of the security. This animal is our enemy!"

Kurapika's eyes flickered. Mr. Nostrade continued to breathe on the screen.

"If I didn't know better… it's those phantoms on the move again…"

Kurapika pressed his lips closed. If only that was true.

"Prepare the eyes," Mr. Nostrade looked up sharply at Kurapika, "Max Gates is going to hold a meeting for everyone who has them this evening. We are going to attend it."

Kurapika nodded quietly and then headed out of the room looking fazed. His hand was already on his phone by the time he reached the elevator and was contacting Killua by the time he was walking toward his room.

"Killua," he broke in, feeling sick at the idea of Leorio's latest act, "… this is bad… no, I'm not fine at all… it's serious. Yeah, it's that dumbass! Have you heard about the death of four billionaires this morning? He stole it from them… and he killed them off… it's him!"

There was a pause on Killua's side as Kurapika blindly reach his door with gritted teeth. Just as he was about to reach the handle, he noticed that it was unlocked. Blinking to himself, Kurapika heard Killua question the whereabouts of the stolen red eyes.

"If he's planning to send it to you then there's still the chance to catch him!" Killua was shouting on the other side of the phone, "hey—Kurapika? Are you listening?"

Kurapika pushed his door open and turned on the lights. His eyes sought for any movements on the room, until it rested on one area where his eyes flickered—and then turned raw red.

"Kurapika!?" it was Gon's voice as the blonde boy remained silent. Kurapika clutched the phone to his ear with his jaw tight, his eye balls thumping to be let out of its sockets.

"It's no use…" he whispered as he leaned his back on the door and shut it close. "They're already here."

And there, sitting together with the other three vessels that contains three pairs of Kuruta red eyes, were the newly retrieved four more containers with one eyeball each swimming inside.

The containers were bloody.

Kurapika slid down the floor and shut his eyes close in defeat.

Inside a dark and unknown hotel, we see a shadow of a man lingering by the window. He was quietly standing there, as he always did, staring into the bright lights of the dark city ahead.

His eyes suddenly narrowed as he heard approaching footsteps from outside the room. Within moments, he heard the running footsteps getting closer and then the door blasting open and snapping close.

Rye, the guy by the window, slowly looked at the tall man breathing heavily by the door. Something was dripping on the floor after him which made the black list hunter's eyes flicker in amusement.

"My, my… Leorio…" he started sounding unconcerned, "got carried away, didn't we?"

Leorio, whose clothes were drenched in blood, clenched his bloody hands and then ran toward the bathroom where he shut himself in. Rye looked back at the window quietly without much as a blink.

There was the sound of the shower turning, a wall shattering and then a man shouting.

A small smile played on Rye's mysterious face.

-To Be Continued-

Kurapika catches up one more time in the next chapter:

His Retrieval

Thanks for Reading!