Chapter 5: Confrontation
Steeling his resolve, he got up. No time to wallow in his misery. He had strategies to plan-- even if he may abandon them at the last moment, at least that would give him something productive to do.
Kurapika stared at his phone in near disbelief. It was half past eleven and he was about fifteen minutes away from the location he had been sent. Panicking had severely clouded his evaluation of the situation and he had completely overlooked a huge factor. Hisoka.
'The corpses are fake -_-' was the simple message he had sent only seconds ago. Of course they were. Kurapika literally got called by one of the 'dead people'. What was, then, the point of the message? Was Hisoka in the dark about the leader calling him? Did that mean he wasn't that reliable as a source of information?
Still, it was possible he meant something else. Kurapika slowed his pace down, stopping next to a tall abandoned building-- there were way too many of those around-- and decided to take another risk. Dialling Hisoka's number, he put the phone up to his ear.
One thing he was sure of was that Hisoka had a great interest in Gon and Killua's future. So, surely he would try to protect them in some way, right? Unless it endangered his chances of fighting Chrollo? Who would he choose then?
"I really didn't expect you to get so bold so as to call." Hisoka's crisp voice carried through the phone. "Nonetheless, I'm pleased and intrigued too. Did you--"
"Hisoka." Kurapika gritted out, already tired of his bullshit. "Are Gon and Killua safe?"
Hisoka chuckled. "My name comes out so cutely out of your mouth. I can't wait to--"
"Are Gon and Killua safe?" He was losing his patience.
Hisoka let out a dramatic sigh. "Oh, you'll just have to find that out yourself."
"Bastard--"
"I don't appreciate being talked down like that. Besides, we're supposed to be exchanging information, and I have given you enough. Moreover, telling you about this only ruins my interests." Kurapika genuinely wanted to do horrific things to the man. "Now, if you'd like to spend the remaining half an hour chatting, I'd certainly welcome the invitation--"
Kurapika ended the call, shoving the phone back into his pocket. Useless clown.
Hisoka walked back into the hideout, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Who the hell were you talking to outside, huh?" Phinks growled.
"Strange timing." Feitan added.
Hisoka tilted his head to the side, holding a proud cheshire grin. With a wink in Chrollo's direction, he replied. "My ex. The poor darling is quite desperate."
Overhead, lightning flashed, thunder following soon behind.
Feitan frowned, reducing his eyes to even smaller slits. "Bad omen. He lying."
Machi huffed. "When ever does he not?"
Hisoka only chuckled and sat back down.
By the time Kurapika neared his destination, the rain was pouring down in torrents. Paired with the ridiculous amount of suspiciously similar building around, it was making his visibility go dangerously low.
He kept himself extremely alert, readying for a possible ambush on his journey. He couldn't trust those bastards one bit.
Finally, the GPS on his phone let out a small cheery ping, indicating that he'd reached the destination. As he switched his phone off, he saw his vision already going bright red. His eyes must be glowing in the dark at this point.
With one final scan of his surroundings, sensing only a single source of aura inside the building, he entered.
The chains on his hand clinked ominously in the dark silence, announcing his arrival before his aura could. He wasn't trying to hide anyway.
The aura he had sensed earlier nearly quadrupled in power, ready for battle. Kurapika was ready too.
A slight shift in the aura and dust flew. A man was coming towards him with great speed, a hand on the hilt of his sword.
At the last moment, Kurapika smashed his chains into the rocky floor between them, hard enough to create a smoke screen. En. His eyes widened as he leapt up through a hole onto the second floor, effortlessly landing on his feet. The man was using En, huh. His master had told him about the technique once before. The amount of skill required to pull off even the smallest sphere of En was--
"You came here to fight, didn't you?" Kurapika stepped back as the floor began to crack, struggling to figure out the man's position due to his zetsu. "Then quit running the fuck away, chain bastard!" A great crash and the swordsman emerged from the rubble of freshly broken stone, right behind Kurapika. One swing and--
Kurapika jumped back down the hole, the swordsman following closely behind. Due to his En, he likely won't be able to pull off the same trick he did on the other Spider to capture him. He could either weaken him enough or find the perfect moment to strike. The former was certainly a clearer way to do it. Nonetheless, he still needed more space--
"FIGHT ME!" The moment he landed, the swordsman swung his sword, already envisioning his opponent's decapitated head rolling away.
Avoid close combat. Kurapika reminded himself, reluctantly retreating once more. The swordsman followed, tracking his every move as Kurapika gradually led him outside, dodging every attack.
Right as he got out the door, he whipped around, slamming his dowsing chain into the swordsman. As the man struggled to block it with his sword, Kurapika kept pushing on, applying more and more nen to his attack. If he could get the sword away... the man's combative power would likely be halved at the least...
Nobunaga scowled. The chains were slowly creeping up, wrapping themselves around hia arm. Not good. Despite himself being an enhancer and the chain bastard likely being a manipulator, the nen in the chains was enough to nearly crush his bones. He could already feel the bruises that were sure to form on his flesh. With another scowl in the chain bastard's direction, he loosened his grip, letting the chains slam his shodachi away.
Kurapika gave an almost disappointed hum, eyes tracking the sword crash into the back wall. Too easy--
Instead of retreating, the swordsman unexpectedly leapt forward. But his sword--
Nobunaga grinned. Mere inches away from his opponent's red eyes, he extended his free hand back.
What the fu-- Kurapika barely had time to shift his aura before the man brought his sword down on his shoulder. Pain and warmth pulsed from his shoulder as blood soaked his white shirt.
Kurapika took a deep breath. This spider was certainly faster than the previous one.
"I'm surprised you haven't asked about it yet, chain bastard." The swordsman smirked, tugging on the chains to prevent Kurapika from retreating. "Or maybe you just don't care."
"What the fuck are you babbling about?"
"Is that really a good way to talk to your elders, kiddo?" Nobunaga looked down on him, dark shadows under narrowed eyes.
Kurapika gritted his teeth. "Just spit it out."
"Aren't you wondering where and how your little friends are, hm? Spiky hair and cat-eyes are your friends, aren't they?"
Crimson eyes flared up. "I intend to leave my interrogation for when I have you properly chained up."
"In that case, you'll never actually find out, huh."
"Bastard--"
"So, I'll just be nice and tell you." Nobunaga continued, ignoring the tightening grip of the chains around his arm. How the hell was this brat able to match an enhancer's skills? "They're dead."
Kurapika's vision pulsed. He could only see in shades of red now. His chest tightened to the point that he could barely suck in a breath. "What?" He croaked out, growing dizzier and dizzier by the moment.
"Your two little friends are dead." Nobunaga leaned down, enjoying the pure terror and fury in his opponent's features. "We killed them. Their already rotting bodies are in the building we just left."
"No." Kurapika shuddered, drawing every bit of aura available out of his body, focusing it all on crushing the spider-- obliterating the man in front of him.
With a sickening crunch, Nobunaga's arm shattered, a groan of pain following that neither had time to register.
"Liar." Kurapika yelled out, voice hoarse.
Abandoning his sword in the Kurta's shoulder, Nobunaga prepared to leap back. Too late. Kurapika's bloodlust swallowed him whole, rendering him motionless.
That moment of hesitation was all that Kurapika needed. Extending his right hand forward, he thrust the judgement chain into the man's chest. "Move, and you die." He snarled. "My chains will crush your heart in an instant."
Nobunaga's eyes widened, a bead of sweat sliding down his neck. What kind of broken ability does this bastard have?!
"Five years ago," his voice shook with each syllable, "were you a member of the phantom troupe?"
"Hm? Of course. I've been with the troupe from the start. So, you've been doing all of this for revenge or something?"
"The Kurta clan."
"Oh." Nobunaga grinned. "I remember those folks. Ah. The red makes sense now. I'm surprised I didn't realise it earlier. Your eyes are just as pretty as--"
Kurapika tugged on the chains, bringing his opponent stumbling forward. As Nobunaga moved to steady himself, the stake of retribution pierced his heart.
Kurapika gasped, releasing his emperor time as his knees hit the ground. Red Red Red Red red red red eredredredredredredred He had gotten his revenge from one more. He had- He had killed once more...
[A/N: Soo one more spider dead (yay?). A chapter that took me wayyy too long to write because yea I suck THAT much at writing even simple fight scenes *sigh*. Also yess angst is my bread and butter, and there's gon be more of it in the next chapters.
Ps. I used Kurapika's name about twenty five times in this chapter. heh.
Diamond Hero: Thank you so much ] I argued with myself for a bit on whether to make him that reckless/spunky or not but then i decided to just go for it. I'm glad you liked it!
Springdawnlotus: The hamster in Chrollo's head is about to be very upset :) Thank youuu for your kind words!]