"It's very strange. I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it's over, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life."

-Inigo Montoya-

CHAPTER 14: THE FIRST PAIR OF SCARLET EYES

Clandestia stomped down the lobby of Yorknew Medical Center. Hospital staffs and patients were goggling at her either curiously or disapprovingly. Some elders shook their head, murmuring "youngsters nowadays really need some etiquette".

The young brunette couldn't care less. Her blood was boiling with so much irritation that their peculiar gazes wouldn't help to kill her temper. Her restless feet finally brought her to the door of a private room for VIP in-patients.

Being a university professor at a young age, she went on countless extensive training to deal with the tough students in her classes that constantly tested her patience. Her cousin, Neon, was on a completely different level or perhaps, belonged to a superior caliber of trouble-makers. Like... some kind of divine challenges from God to forge her mental strength, she presumed. The brat was just impossible!

She took a deep breath and chanted a few stress relief mantras to herself.

Oh, screw it! She silently cursed as she practically flung the door open.

There were the Nostrade staffs gathering inside. A pink haired girl, a.k.a her dear cousin, was sitting on the hospital bed, chatting merrily to her maids. Then there was her uncle perching on the sofa, laughing and eagerly entertaining his daughter.

Everyone went quiet at the sudden burst of the door.

"Neon Nostrade!" She gritted her teeth.

"Ah, Tia! Come play with me. I'm so bored." Neon chirped, feigning ignorance of the young professor's bad mood. But in fact, she was secretly sweating on the inside. Her elder cousin can be really evil when she's out for blood.

"Yeah, how are you feeling, dear cousin?" Clandestia sneered menacingly.

"You see, I'm totally fine." Neon smiled reassuringly. "The doctor said I only fainted. I'm actually unscathed."

"Oh, good to hear." Clandestia scoffed and immediately approached Neon. "But you'd better wipe that smile right off your pretty face or I'll do it for you!"

"Waaa… Tia is so scary, daddy!" Neon squeaked, cowering behind the old mafia Don.

"Ah, calm down, Tia. Neon's still shocked from what happened." Light anxiously stepped in between the girls, shielding Neon from his fuming niece.

"Uncle, she needs to learn her lesson! You know how much we were all worried about her? I couldn't even get a wink of sleep last night!"

"I know, Tia. I'll give her a good scolding later, I promise!"

"Well, I'm fed up to the back teeth with her thoughtlessness! And because of your leniency, she keeps giving us trouble." Clandestia threw her hands up in exasperation. If she could, she would love to drill some senses into that little head of Neon but her uncle would efficiently pacify her every single time.

"Haha, she promised me she won't do it again. Right, Neon?" Light laughed awkwardly in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I've got it, ok?" Neon reluctantly replied, sticking her tongue out.

"Right. Everything is ok now, Tia." Light smiled ingratiatingly.

"Ha, fine, whatever!" Clandestia let out a heavy huff and slumped into a chair.

She wasn't exaggerating. She was dead worried about her crazy little cousin. Someone with absolutely zero common sense like Neon could have gotten into serious troubles with a little bad luck. Yesterday, the underground auction turned into a battle field and ended with a thorough bloodbath of all parties involved. With all those holy gore reported on Yorknew's top headlines in full details, she was nervously pulling her hair out hoping for a miracle to bring her cousin home. She did not remember which gods she prayed to but a miracle indeed happened. Neon came out unscathed out of sheer luck.

Damn it, I still want to strangle that brat of a cousin so much right now! Clandestia thought, gritting her teeth again.

Suddenly, there was a clicking sound as the door cracked open.

Everyone's attention immediately shifted to the one person just entered the room.

A blond young man walked in with a disturbingly vacant look on his face, a carton box in his hands.

"I've brought the item here, Sir." He promptly reported to Light Nostrade in a monotone.

"Good work, Kurapika!" Light beamed pleasantly.

"Quick, show it to my daughter!" The old mafia boss exclaimed eagerly.

There were a pair of cylinder-shaped bottles promptly taken out of the package in his hands.

Clandestia's eyes shot up in horror at the sight of the contents.

A pair of bright scarlet eyes were floating hauntingly in the preservative filled bottles.

The young professor's face instantly twisted. The memories she read from Kurapika instantly resurfaced in her mind. Bright, angry scarlet eyes. The proof of a clan's gruesome and tragic massacre. So dreadful that she had to shut her eyes for a moment.

In contrast to Clandestia's deeply disturbed expression, Kurapika remained unfazed but his eyes showed visible dark bags underneath them, like he had not gotten a wink of sleep for days.

"Ahhh! My god, IT'S SO CUTEEE! Thank you, daddy!" Neon's excited voice immersed the small hospital room. She hugged the object and squealed gleefully as if she had gotten the cutest puppy from her father.

"Haha, I told you. I always keep my promises, right?" Light burst into a hearty laugh.

"Okay, I forgive you this time, daddy!" Neon grinned from ear to ear.

A shiver ran down Clandestia's spine as the father-daughter happy exchanges rang in her ears. Neon's cheery voice made every single hair on her body fiercely stand on end. Something churned inside her stomach. So sick. She just wanted to get out of here.

Her gaze anxiously shifted to the blond bodyguard standing dutifully beside them. His black contact lens- covered eyes looked hauntingly empty and utterly lifeless like a corpse's. But underneath that blank expression, she knew very well that his real eyes had already turned fiery red, identically to the pair of eyes Neon was holding.

After a few minutes which felt like decades, the blond Kuruta finally gave a quick bow to Light and excused himself. Some of his colleagues quietly slipped out of the room.

Clandestia hesitated for a moment before she decided to follow them. As her feet brought her to the hallway, she found Melody and Basho lingering around the blond Kuruta with worries apparent in their eyes. She immediately halted in her steps and watched them from the distance with a heavy heart.

"Kurapika, we'll take care of the auction tomorrow and the rest." Melody said gently. "You can take that time to rest, if you want."

Kurapika, who had been staring out into space, resignedly raised his head up to look at his teammates. "Really? Thank you!" He replied, his voice was barely audible.

He quietly dragged himself away, leaving his weary colleagues behind.

"You think he'll be okay?" Basho asked.

Melody only sighed. Of course he's not okay.

The group of bodyguards gradually split up to take care of their respective jobs. As the music hunter made her way back to Neon's room, she stopped in her track as she discovered a certain girl standing alone in the hallway.

"Lady Clandestia?" Melody softly regarded her.

"Will he be alright?" Clandestia uttered but instantly berated herself for asking the obvious.

"I know this is sudden of me but… would you mind keeping him company for a little while for us?" Melody said after a brief silence.

"We wanted to but we're still busy with the auction and other errands." The tiny woman added, her voice filled with tremendous kindness.

Clandestia hesitated. She had no confidence that she could be of any help in this case. Kurapika looked like he seriously needed some rest. Other than that, considering her position and what happened back in the hospital room, she did not consider herself an appropriate company for him right now.

"I don't think it's a good idea since I…" The teenage professor hesitated.

But Melody reassured her with a soothing smile. "Don't worry. He'll be okay with you around, Milady."

A lone silhouette stood silently on the hospital's rooftop.

He dialed a number and the line was finally coming through.

"Kurapika?" A cheery boyish voice greeted him.

"You said you wanted to arrest the Phantom Troupe, didn't you?" His gruff and peculiarly low voice confused the person on the other end of the line.

"You don't need to bother anymore." The words coldly rolled off his tongue as his heart grew heavier. "All the Spiders are dead."

The last sentence came out strangely morose for some reason beyond his comprehension. There was a brief silence, then came a staggering response: "Kurapika, you mean…?"

Too worn-out to explain the rest of it, he brusquely switched off his phone. The Kuruta lone survivor took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Why does everything seem meaningless now?

After a few minutes, he heaved a sigh. "Don't just stand there. Come out."

The person from the shadow promptly showed herself. "Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

Clandestia moved to stand beside the blond Kurta without facing him. They instantly fell into a prolonged silence as their gazes wandered the buzzing Yorknew city below their feet, watching its nighttime hectic movements while pursuing their own separate thoughts.

"Don't be bothered by it." He said. His voice was monotonous and barely audible.

"My timing was bad." She smiled grimly.

"I'm not talking about the call." At last, his vacant black orbs met hers.

She tilted her head and looked at him, confusion flashed through her deep violet eyes.

"The scarlet eyes." He explained. "I understand your dilemma. So you don't have to look so troubled by it."

Her eyes widened at his words. He meant the scarlet eyes incident with Neon.

Why does he even care about this? She grimaced. She's a Nostrade, too. It was a fact that her uncle treated everyone who served athe Nostrades like disposable junks and Neon cared about nothing but her own morbid, gruesome hobby. No matter how much she hated what they did, she didn't do anything but idly watched like an ignorant bystander. Even if he was to never talk to her again, it'd still make sense and she'd accept it without any complaint.
It was so unfair for him!

Even though he was constantly snarky and always seemed full of hatred, she knew that he was truly a kind person at heart and it frustrated her not knowing what to do in this situation.
Without another word, she turned to face him and reached a hand up to cup his face. His eyes were so dead. Like everything was drained out and there was nothing left but a hollow shell.

"I'm sorry." She uttered, trying to swallow lump in her throat. Sorry I couldn't do anything for you.

Surprisingly he did not shy away from her touch like the last time.

"They are all dead. I confirmed it with my own eyes." He said, with a vacant look that never left his face.

Dead? The news sounded rather uncanny to her since she didn't get any prophecy this time. If there was death related to anyone close to her, she'd likely get a prediction. At least that was how it had always been.
Strange, indeed! She thought. But it wasn't entirely impossible so she quickly dismissed the nagging doubt.

Clandestia finally got a clear grasp of what happened. Everything suddenly made perfect sense. One who was suddenly robbed of his life's only purpose. What was he feeling, she wondered?

Empty.
Vengeance surely feels empty.

It's like a poison. A poison that feeds you nothing but endless angers. And as absurd as sounds, it could be insanely addictive. You'd be obsessed with it and you'd justify everything for it. Or worse, you might forge it into the only purpose of your existence. At the end of the road, either you'd die trying to sate the vengeful addiction or you'd end up not knowing how to live on when you finally got your revenge.

Things should not go down that road for an honorable man like Kurapika!

Clandestia closed her eyes for a brief second. And as she met his eyes again, a gentle expression flooded her face.
"I'm glad! It's all over now!" She said and his expression turned bewildered.

"You can finally begin the journey you and Pairo had always wanted!" Her smile was unfolding like epiphyllum in the soft twilight.

"And I know it might sound a little cynical coming from me but-." The slender brunette said hesitantly. "-Maybe I could help you retrieve your clan's stolen eyes. Somehow, maybe?"

"No! I can! Definitely!" She rephrased, with finality in her voice. "Please count on me!"

The young Kuruta's eyes widened in astonishment.

"That is if…you don't mind me being nosy." She added, casting her eyes down her feet with a bashful look. The teenage professor has to admit that she was not confident this time. Considering her being a Nostrade, even she herself found her words quite hollow but she saw no other way to show her sincerity. There was no easy or simple solution when it came to the invisible, thick wall that Kurapika built around his heart.

Surprisingly, she heard a faint snicker. As she shifted her eyes up to meet his, she was immediately awe-struck by the blonde's change in expression.

It wasn't her imagination. Though it was faint, he was truly smiling.

"It's true." He said with a hint of delightful sarcasm. "-I already know that you're meddlesome."

"But I'm not saying that it's bad." He added. Warmth and light seemed to have returned to his eyes.

There, he should be smiling more often. It really suits him. Clandestia quietly beheld the sight.

After the initial awe subsided, she beamed at him."Ha, I see. Better live up to your expectations then." She chuckled. "There's only one thing to do now."

"Your phone, please." She held out her palm, grinning at him with mischief. "I will be a REAL meddler then!"

"What?" He inquired, unsure of what she meant.

As a response to his quizzical look, she simply snatched the Beetle phone out of his hand. The young professor calmly switched it on and started typing in a series of numbers.

Kurapika didn't have to wait long. She promptly showed him a contact entry that has just been added to his phone.

"Tia?" He read it while retrieving the phone from her.

"That's how my family and friends call me." She smiled gently. "Please call me by that name, too."

"Actually, I'm so done with all that "miss" or "lady" coming from you." She added, scrunching her nose in disapproval. He set boundaries between them way too often that it's almost impossible to think of them as allies.

"Only when we're alone." He said firmly. It's unprofessional. Friends or not, they're still boss and bodyguard.

Clandestia rolled her eyes. What did she expect? Her blond bodyguard was as rigid as that judgment chain he had wrapping around his heart. He was all about rules and logic!

"Whenever my uncle is not around."

"That's no good!"

"Alright, when the other Nostrades are not with us, too!" She said impatiently.

Not wanting to give him another chance to retort, Clandestia pivoted her steps and exclaimed. '"I gotta join Neon now. Have fun on your day off tomorrow, Kurapika!"

"Fine, be careful on your way back." Kurapika sighed, then smiled faintly as his eyes briefly followed the sight of her strolling away and disappearing into the stairs.

It felt like, somehow, he was starting to look forwards to tomorrow.