Reunion

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And so they met again. Whether this was an encounter by choice or fate, Aurora greeted the Leader of the Spider's, once she entered the hall.

Debris and dust flew everywhere. The back of the building had been completely crushed from the destructive force of the fight. Chrollo lay on the floor with his face towards the ceiling.

"It was but a short goodbye~", Aurora approached with a smile.

"... It's you," Chrollo said as he sat up. He crossed his legs with an arm bend over his knee. His eyes focused on the woman with red. "You troubled my team quite a bit."

"Hahaha...," she chuckled shortly, "Sorry, I needed a guarantee. In order to live."

"I'm back now, though," she said. 'And I won't be leaving soon, too.'

"We can't have you running off whenvever you want to. It's troublesome." He said with a light, exasperated sigh. A tiny smile appeared, but his eyes remained cold.

"Why? Were you provoked by it?" She retorted slyly and elegantly brushed aside a strand of her hair. A hint of apology and shrewdness showed in her eyes.

'Interesting,' Chrollo thought.

Her confidence seeped into his bones, making him wonder about the depths of her knowledge and skills.

"You aren't surprised to see me," he said, "which means, you already know who I am. Should I congratulate you?"

She smiled a little when she heard his question. There was a hint of sarcasm and malice hiding behind his polite interior. He was dangerous, like a poisonous viper hiding behind the sweet fruit of an apple tree.

"No. Forget it, " she said.

"You're scared," he countered.

Aurora bit down her inner-check.

"That's ridiculous. I am not! Afraid." She took a step forward with a little huff of her chest, as if to cement herself and her opinion onto the ground.

"If this truly was our first meeting, I wouldn't say this. But it's not! I don't need your charity."

'No...' There she goes again.

That stubborness and refusal that she'd shown him from their first meeting on.

Just like the fierceness of fire, to him, she resembled a blaze. Passionate, fierce, uncontrollable... and yet so devastingly stunning and beautiful. She was out of control. Out of his hands...

Had he ever met such a person before? Certainly. And he had yet to fail taming even one of them.

What was it that made her different from everyone else he had met?

He didn't know. And it fascinated him. Just a little.

'No, is it?' Chrollo thought.

He smiled, a soft chuckle that came from the depth of his throat. He watched the way her eyes narrow slightly in surprise, "You're misunderstanding something, Aurora-san. It wasn't me you met before."

"...What do you mean?" she asked with narrowed eyes, "You're making things confusing."

'Unneccessary so,' she whispered to herself. How bad for him (or for her) that she was the curious type.

Chrollo didn't reply. He took a few steps towards her and closed the gap between them. His steps were slow and steady.

Not wanting to relent, she stubbornly stood her ground and glared at him. Her eyes carefully followed every movement of his. She was by no means small, and yet Chrollo was still a head taller than her.

She shrugged her arms in front of her chest as if that could give her any leverage against being looked down at by him.

'This is infuriating,' she thought.

Chrollo closed in enough for her to feel the echoes of his steps through the floor. What's worst is that it didn't seem like he would stop soon.

"Just what are you doing?", she demanded.

'Just a little bit more and-'

- he would run into her.

She felt uneasy and flared her Nen. Chrollo did the same and easily protected himself against hers. During the whole time, his eyes never gazed away from her, and she did the same.

Chrollo's dark eyes were deep like a swamp. She felt herself drawn to them in a gravital pull that she could not escape from. She sank into them, sank into the darkness, sank into the shallow, the abyss; the depths of Chrollo's being.

It was already too late when she realized the fear.

It had slowly seeped into her heart like venom in her veins. Deep, dark, mysterious. Painful...

He was a frozen lake.

'It's cold.'

'So cold...' Aurora shuddered. Her whole body felt frozen: and a familiar saying she once read flashed in her mind.

If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss too shall gaze back at you.

'No. Snap out of it!'

Slap!

'Ow-' Her cheeks stung from the force she used to slap herself awake. They had become swollen in a red that lightly resembled her hair. But at least with the pain, came back the much needed warmth. She may have lost the battle, but not the war.

Before Aurora could fully enjoy her victory, the inevitable happened and she came face to face with his chest.

He didn't show skin but through the white shirt she could very well see the well-defined muscles. Big chest muscles, toned arms, broad shoulders... guys and girls alike would go crazy for him.

As her thoughts wandered around in a blissful tangent from the eyecandy in front of her, Aurora couldn't help the slight smug smile that appeared on her lips.

'Hm~ He's certainly a ten out of ten!' she mumbled to herself, not noticing the weird look Chrollo was giving her.

'This woman...' he thought. Was she fawning over his body? In this situation...

If her little smile, pondering gaze and with interest shimmering eyes were any indication for that then Chrollo was dealing with a weirdo. Or frankly said: a pervert.

He decided that he did not like that.

With a hand reached out he covered her sight and flicked that forehead of hers. Flick.

"Ow!" Aurora scowled up at him. A little red mark was already showing on her forehead.

She looked back up and saw Chrollo facing her sideways.

'Hm~' she mused at the hint of shyness.

Even as she faced his side, she couldn't help but nod in affirmation to herself. Amongst all the dudes she had met in her life, he was definitely a top scorer! Resisting the urge to take a picture, Aurora resumed the conversation.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat. "What did you mean with-"

Unable to finish her question, the doors opened and the rest of the Troupe members came.

'They sure like to interrupt me.'

She watched as they gathered around Chrollo like a herd of sheep.

"Hm?" A few questioning gazes came her way.

"Hello~" Aurora greeted heartily with a big smile and wave at them.

"Hello, my ass!" The Troupe thought in unison.

Phinks cracked his knuckles and smiled lowly. "So you came here to die, how nice of you."

"Hahaha..." Aurora laughed and slowly retreated behind Chrollo's back.

He watched her from the corner of his eyes.

"So... uhm... listen," she said in a whisper. "We are kinda friends now, aren't we? Acquitances even? I mean look, you even recommended me a book! Doesn't this make us book buddies?"

'You wouldn't kill your book buddy, wouldn't you?' She quietly insinuated as she stared up at him with wide innoccent eyes.

Chrollo looked down at her blankly for a quiet second. It was not like she had the ability to sway him in anyway. If she was useless to the group, he would discard of her right away. But for now..., well, for now she might be useful.

The corner of Chrollo's lips lifted slightly into a miniscule smile. It was not often that he'd would meet someone who was brave enough to challenge him and skillfull enough to do so.

'She did not budge at all.' He remembered.

This little oddball of a woman was challenging him in all of her ways. And he knew, someone as stubborn as her would not stop to pursue them until she got what she wanted.

"She's coming with us. For now."

Hearing his words Aurora threw a mental fist pump into the air.

Yes, score! My interview with the Troupe, I'm coming!~

Unbeknowst to her, a small blissful look was forming on her face when she celebrated her success mentally. She quickly caught herself hoping that no one noticed.

However, she was facing the formidable Troupe. Of course, they saw it.

Notes

Thank you for your reviews! I just read through all of them and I appreciate them. While going through them, here are a few responses to your comments and thoughts.

- Aurora's licorice-red hair was chosen on purpose and will be expanded/explained on later as the plot progresses. This arc will come much later.

- In the initial stage, I did play with the idea of making her in some way related to Hisoka but I discarded it fairly early. There's a huge chance that the role of "Hisoka's relative" will be given to someone else in another upcoming work.

- Aurora's backstory is coming fairly soon. Until then, please enjoy the mystery and intricacies of this arc to your heart's content.

- I love seeing fictional characters loved! Thank you! As long as Aurora is involved with the Spiders, Kurapika is bound to appear here and there. He might not agree with it, but she's interested in him and considers him a friend.

- The mood will take a heavy shift from chapter 10 onwards! I'm sorry for the things that are about to happen but I promise that it will all pay off moving onwards!

In which Aurora gets taken under Chrollo's wing.

- DawnAsterism

I threw in some more candies in this chapter woohoo! The next chapters are going to get crazy! Please look forward to it!

Did any of you catch the underlying meaning of Chrollo's words? Feel free to comment your ideas!

Please continue to support HxH and Lycoris. Thank you !