CHAPTER 23

Hayuri woke up to a sharp and numbing pain in her head. She softly groaned as her head felt incredibly dizzy, which forced her to keep her eyes closed. She breathed in and out for a while and, slowly, she felt her numb body start to feel. She was glad, for one part, since it meant the she was still alive. On the other hand, her whole body hurt like hell, especially her head; she felt as if she'd been hit by a train. She stayed still for a moment and noticed that she was laying on her back on a hard surface. After a while, she managed to move her numb fingers and slightly turn her head to the side. A wave of dizziness came over her and she moved her head back to the front. When her dizziness faded, she slowly opened up her eyes. At first, her sight was blurry, but it slowly came focused and she saw that she was right behind the hideout. From where she lay, she decided that here didn't seem to be anybody around her. However, it was almost dawn, so that wouldn't last long.

Hayuri slowly sat down holding her head with a hand as the other supported her weight. She took a deep breath in and felt the dizziness fade a bit. She achieved a half smile.

It worked.

Hayuri new that she needed to get out of there soon or she would get killed. She stood up drowsily, her body slightly leaning to one side, and headed towards the shelter of the trees. As she walked – barely - , the sun started rising and her heart sped up; she knew that every morning they would check their surroundings. Somehow, she managed to get out of their scouting range in a good fifteen minutes. However, her knees were weak and she was starting to see blurry once again. She had never been so thirsty in her life; her lips were dry and cracked, dried blood on them. Hayuri assumed that she was dehydrated due to blood loss, since she could also feel her body colder than it should've been in this climate and her skin itched like hell.

She closed her eyes for a couple seconds and concentrated. The sound of running water reached her ears and, with a sudden spark of energy, she stumbled towards the noise. Three minutes later, she was throwing her body heavily next to a stream and gulped down water like a madman. She lay there drinking and resting for ten minutes and then stood up.

She was feeling slightly better now – still terrible though - and decided to follow the stream downhill, further from the hideout. She had wanted to get away as much as she could, but after only one hour of walking slowly, her body was too sore and her head was in too much pain. She drank some more water and gathered some leaves under a tree to cover herself up. As soon as her body was camouflaged, she blacked out.

When she came to again, it was midday and she was feeling rather ok. Her head still hurt a bit and her body was still sore, but she could manage. She got up slowly, drank some more water and ate the fruits of a blackberry that she was glad she found. The sugar in her bloodstream and the great amount of water she drank did miracles to her. Not five minutes later, she was jogging through the forest at a medium speed.

Hayuri decided to head to a small town that was nine hours away from the hideout. There was another village closer, but she didn't want to push her luck. She took another whole day to get there, since her body was still weak and her head still ached from time to time. She stopped twice to eat, drink water and sleep for a couple more hours.

When the town finally came to view, her body was worn out and she was beat. She didn't even have the energy to think about anything, as her mind was numb and exhausted. Her legs were shaky and she could barely feel her own feet. Coming back from the dead had taken a huge toll on her body and mind. Whatever she could've done with little effort before, was now a heavy task for her.

The town wasn't big; probably around 10,000 habitants. However and if she recalled correctly, today was Sunday morning and the streets were packed with people. There were countless couples, families and various groups of people walking around the main street. As the sun was the highest, Hayuri walked past shops as she looked for a place to stay. She came across a regular looking house that had a poster, which read 'room available'. The place seemed cheap but decent, so she made up her mind in a second, not willing to waster any more energy. She softly knocked on the door and, not a minute later, an older woman opened up. Half of her hair was gray and she had a middle contexture that was dressed up in common and plain clothing. Her big brown eyes widened at the sight of the young woman at her door.

"Oh, my." She gasped. "You look terrible. Are you ok?"

"Kind of." Hayuri said with a raspy voice and wondered about her appearance. "Do you have any spare rooms?"

"I do. I'm sorry, but I would need you to pay in advance." The woman apologized. "I've received many travelers who took off before I even got to tell them how much they owed me."

"No problem. How much is it for a night?"

"It's $2 for one night, $10 for a week and $25 for a month."

"All right. I'll pay for one night, for now." Hayuri said as she reached into her pouch and retrieved the sum that the woman had asked for.

"Thank you." She smiled and moved aside. "Come on in, you look like you need a rest."

Hayuri nodded and stepped inside with a grateful smile. The place was simple but cozy and there was a small fireplace in the middle of the living room. The kitchen was in the rame room and it was rustic and kind of old, which it warmed the whole place up. Hayuri heard the woman walk towards her and she was handed a piece of bread.

"This is on me" she smiled as Hayuri took it with a nod and thanked her. "I hope that you rest well. Come, I'll show you where the bathroom and your bedroom are."

Hayuri followed the woman, thanked her once again, and entered the bathroom. When she finally looked at her reflection in the mirror her eyes widened; she was a mess. First of all, her whole body was dusty – even muddy – and the back of her head and her shoulder were covered in dried blood. Her brown skin looked pale and there were huge bags under her eyes. Her dried lips felt better than before, but they looked terrible. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was a complete mess. She wondered how come the lady had even allowed her inside. She quickly washed her hair and body, careful not to leave a mess in the small bathroom. She dried up and headed to her bedroom.

The room was not too small, and it had a single bed on one side, next to a window. There was also a chair, a small table and a wardrobe. Hayuri suddenly remembered that she had no clothes or belongings at all. She discarded the thought, deciding to deal with it the next day, and allowed herself to fall on the bed. She sighed with contentment and closed her eyes. She would finally get some well-deserved rest.

- Time skip –

The morning sun entered through the small window and warmed a bundle of covers that lay on the wooden bed. The bundle moved slightly and Hayur's head popped out with barely open eyes. She smiled softly, noticing that it was only 9 am and she still had plenty of time to get up. She yawned and stretched her body like a cat. She lay there for a while and looked at the old ceiling with a thoughtful expression.

She had been staying in the house for five days now, and had done nothing but rest. She had thought that she would've recovered by now, but it didn't seem to be the case. Hayuri was feeling quite all right, but no fully; her body felt weaker and more fragile, for some reason. She had assumed that making a vow involving nen would only suppress her aura for a while. She'd never thought that it would take a toll on her physical body. It wasn't that she felt sick, but she felt strange. Maybe her vow had had to take more of her than she'd originally thought, since it had repaired her brain after all.

Hayuri was quite proud of herself; she'd managed to find a new way to use her nen ability. She had always thought that the manipulation of the nen channels in the body could be only used for hurting and paralyzing. Only at the imminent knowledge of her own death had she wondered about its healing powers. It had taken only a while for her to decide on a way to test it out, and it would've meant her death if it hadn't worked. She had been lucky. Or capable. Or maybe both.

Unfortunately, she had never used this ability before and, therefore, she had no idea how long it would take for her nen to return. She was certain that it would not take less than a month, since her brain had to be practically reconstructed from scratch. Hayuri assumed that it would take around three months, from the amount of energy it must've drained from her. Maybe it would take less, maybe it would take more.

She had also been sort of worried; she had lost her cell phone and hadn't been able to get in touch with Killua. First of all, she wanted to make sure that he was fine. She knew that he'd managed to get out of the hideout, but she wasn't certain the he hadn't been caught later on. On the other hand, she wanted to clear things up with him. He clearly hadn't realized what she'd been doing for him and had even said some cruel things to her. She had been hurt by his words, but she knew that he'd done it out of spite. Hell, maybe she would've reacted the same way is it had been her in his place. She had already decided to go a find him – she had no clue where to find him though - as soon as she felt better and had her nen back.

Hayuri slowly stood up and walked to the bathroom. She stood under the warm water for ten minutes, thoroughly washing herself up, and then dried up. She dressed up with comfortable baggy pants and a loose shirt, glad that she didn't need to wear battle practical clothing for once.

She walked out and greeted the old lady that had taken her in – Laila - receiving a smile and a nod in return. Both of them had immediately gotten along, their personalities complementing since they first talked. Hayuri hadn't really told her anything about what had happened and the woman hadn't asked; she probably figured that it was a touchy or personal subject. Hayuri walked to the Laila and offered to help prepare breakfast. When they finished, they sat down together and ate in comfortable conversation, as they had been doing for the last couple days. Just as Hayuri was about to get some more tea, there was a commotion heard outside in the main street. Both women looked at each other and walked to the entrance, taking a peek outside. Everybody seemed to be talking about something important, since they were giddy and anxious.

"Excuse me." Laila stopped a woman who was walking just past the open door to the house. "May I ask what the commotion is about?"

"Oh! It's big news!" she said and clapped her hands together. "Word has just arrived that the monarchy has been overthrown."

"What?" both women widened their eyes and stepped out of the house.

"Yes. It's big news. Apparently the anti-monarchy rebels have taken over the country." The woman said with a wide smile.

"Oh, my." Layla covered her mouth with her hands. "I just hope this doesn't turn bad. I've heard plenty of rebellions becoming just another tyranny."

"Oh no, I don't think it will." The young woman said with a smile. "They're calling for elections in a week or so."

"Who will be the candidates?" Laila asked with a frown. "I don't think there will be enough time to find someone who represents all of us."

"Oh well, it can be done later, on the next elections." The woman shrugged. "At least we got a say in things now."

"Excuse me." Hayuri spoke up for the first time. "May I ask how they managed to overthrow the monarchy? I've heard that their security was impeccable."

"Oh, yes. I've heard that too. However, is appeared that it was not the case." the woman smirked. "The successor of the throne was assassinated as soon as he had been elected. No one knows how it was done or who did it. They say that it was a professional hitman or something."

Hayuri's eyes widened for a second and then nodded at the information. Soon the woman walked away and they went back inside. Hayuri served herself some more tea and sat down. She looked down to her cup and couldn't help the wide smile that appeared in her face. Her eyes almost teared up as she felt relief wash over her.

You're all right.

- Time skip –

Hayuri paid a man that stood behind a cart full of fresh vegetables and took two bags full of supplies for the week. She walked down the main street and looked at the cheerful faces of the people surrounding her. The general mood of the population had notoriously increased since the monarchy had been overthrown three weeks ago. Every town and village in the country had put up a voting post for presidential and senate elections.

A well-known business man had been elected as the leader of the country. He had the support of the rebels that had taken the monarchy out and his propaganda had been huge. He had won by a huge gap; he had doubled the second best candidate. Hayuri had been wondering about that, thinking that it was unfair. There hadn't even been a proper debate on the candidate's ideas or agendas. The business man had carried out a violent propaganda and buried his opponents. She had the sinking feeling, that this new president was the business man that she and Killua had heard about when they heard one of the rebel's reunions. She remembered that the man had wanted special treatment in order to help the rebels, and couldn't help but scowl every time the fact came to mind. Hayuri wanted to look more into the issue and find out if he was really up for a good cause or if he just wanted power.

However, Hayuri had dissuaded herself from doing that. Her nen still wasn't back yet; she couldn't use, Hatsu, Ten, Ren, or any other form of nen manipulation. It would be too risky to get involved in something if she wasn't capable of properly defending herself, especially in consideration of the fact that the rebels had nen users among them.

Unexpectedly, Hayuri stopped walking and had to lean on the wall of a shop. She felt dizzy and saw black dots as she put the grocery bags on the floor for a while. Half a minute later she felt her strength come back to her and picked the grocery bags up to resume walking.

That was also another reason why she'd decided not to investigate the elections further. Her body still felt off and she wasn't feeling at her fullest yet. Actually, she was growing worried for her own health. Sometimes she thought that she had the flu or some virus, but the ill feeling came only at times and it didn't last long. Her body felt as though there was some immune problem or some sort of organ failure. On that track, Hayuri wondered if the nen vow had taken a toll on her body. Maybe, in order to reconstruct her brain, her nen had somehow hurt another organ as a side effect.

The old woman, Laila, apparently hadn't realized that there was something up with her. On second thought, Hayuri decided that maybe she did, but didn't want to stick her nose up in her personal business. Hayuri also hadn't brought the issue up when they spoke, because she didn't want her to worry without need. However, the feeling of illness had only grown for the last couple weeks and she finally decided that there was something up with her.

By now, Hayuri actually felt a sufficient amount of trust in the woman to tell her about it. They had quickly become friends and had a really peaceful coexistence. Laila was a 65 year old woman, but her cheerful soul and sharp mind were those of a young woman. She was pretty humble and usually didn't take anything personal. Her sense of justice and loyalty were as strong a Hayuri's and she had a critical mind. Due to all of this, the both of them had immediately related to eachother and become friends in a matter of weeks.

As she opened the door to the house, she decided that she'd have to talk to someone about her physical issues. Hayuri left the grocery bags in the kitchen counter and helped Laila put the things away in the fridge and the pantry. When the last things were stored Hayuri looked at Laila shortly and decided that she was the only person that she could currently talk about. She would try to leave out nen as much as she could and explain her nen vow in an abstract and sketchy manner.

"Hey… Laila?" She said as she sat in front of the wooden table that they ate on every day. Laila was still standing in front of the counter, right next to her, as she cleaned some stains up.

"Yeah?" she said slightly turning her head to eye her briefly. For some reason, she immediately caught her serious manner and sat down in front of her.

"Well… I think there's something wrong with me." Hayuri said with a slight frown.

"I was wondering when you'd bring that up." The older woman smiled.

A/N: Well, this was a short chapter. YAY! Hayuri's alive. Next chapter you'll find out more about Killua.. probably.

MadokaMagica1998: Heh, she actually did kind of materialize her own brain. Also, thank you for your support. I'm glad that it doesn't look rushed. I've thought about things a lot,…. Up until to this point. XD So now I'm laying the outlines on what will happen in the next chapters.

Hexel-JustAnotherReader: Good. That was my goal this chapter. I wanted you all to be like.. DAMN NO!