Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

To Trap a Spider
By : VNex
Category: +G to L > Hunter x Hunter
Views: 4000 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter and do not profit from this.
Chapter List
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Chapter 1

Kurapika let Leorio lead him out of the book store and across the street for supper. He was a bit uncomfortable with Leorio’s hand on his lower back but figured that he had unintentionally caused enough trouble lately that he would let it slide… this time. Unless his hand slid any lower, then he would have no issues with putting Leorio back in his place.

The sun was starting to sink into the ocean, painting the buildings and landscape of the cape in reds and gold. He wasn’t hungry but knew Leorio was right and that he needed to eat something; he could feel his strength starting to flag as well.

Since it was just the start of the supper rush, the little bistro was still mostly empty and the duo had their pick of the place. They chose a table outside with a good view of the ocean and her sunset but just out of the reach of the sea spray. After ordering they sat in silence for a little while, watching the waves crash relentlessly against the cliffs near their seating.

Eventually Leorio broke the silence, “Anything in particular that you’ve been thinking so hard about?”

Kurapika continued to sit and drink his tea in silence. Leorio felt his eye twitch in irritation at being ignored and was about to spout off when the blond set his cup down and answered quietly, “Most recently about how lucky I am to have such good friends.” Honey colored eyes watched the surf play along the crags of the cape as he continued, “And that they’re right, on all counts.”

Their food came and they ate in amiable silence as the bistro filled up around them. Unsure if his friend’s silence was due to the growing crowd of people or a reluctance to share, Leorio tenderly offered, “I won’t pry if you really don’t want me to, but if you ever need an ear or a shoulder you know I’m always here for you.”

Kurapika nodded in acknowledgement and after they paid he motioned to the railing overlooking the cape far enough away from the general public so their conversation would be kept private. As they walked he spoke with an understated tone, not because he was afraid of being overheard so much as it was not an easy thing to speak of. “After my clan was massacred and I decided on the path of vengeance I had not intended on letting anyone close. To those unfeeling beings who revel in murder they would become exploitable flaws, as you saw.

“I have no idea how they can do it; to kill so many without feeling anything… At one point during my last confrontation with the over-sized spider, the one the head referred to as Uvo, I asked him why they killed my clan. He had no idea what I was talking about but agreed that if it was five years ago he would have definitely participated.

“One hundred and twenty-eight people were tortured, mutilated and ultimately killed, thirty-six of which had their eyes removed. It would not surprise me to find out that most, if not all of the eyes were removed while they were still alive. And to them, the event was not significant enough to bother to remember it.” Kurapika covered his eyes with the palm of his hand for a moment in obvious distress.

Before Leorio was able to overcome his shock and comfort his friend the blond took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. “Do you remember me telling you about the conditions for the Nen blade around my heart? There is another, more personal reason for its existence.

“The path of revenge is a dark and twisted one, and the longer one walks it the greater the chance you can lose yourself to the corruption. I chose that path to take monsters out of the world and would rather die by my own hand than to become a similar source of such pointless loss of life.”

The sun sank further into the watery horizon, bathing Kurapika in its golden light. Drops of the sea spray had caught in his hair as he leaned over the railing giving him an almost ethereal visage while gazing at the awakening stars. Leorio’s breath caught in his throat at the sight but he was glad his private friend was finally opening up and sharing some of his burdens.

Kurapika studied the faint stars for a moment before continuing, “My Nen master used to chastise me for following that path. He would always tell me that I was nothing more than a butterfly caught in the spider web of revenge whenever we would get into the argument. I have no idea if he knew who I was chasing when he would say that, or if it was just one more of his ‘poetic allusions’ he was so fond of.

“He also loved to tell me that I wasn’t strong enough for that path. Even back then I knew he was right but I stubbornly refused to admit it. If I didn’t go after the Genei Ryodan, who would? Not many people go after the members and the few who succeed, if I understand correctly, replace the ones they kill making the Spider stronger.” He paused for a moment before repeating an old adage that Leorio had heard once before, “’If not me, who; if not now, when.’

“Everything about the reality of the Genei Ryodan is a contradiction. They’re a band of individuals comprised of sadists, murderers and thieves. By all logical reasoning their first priority should be self-preservation; and yet both that giant, Uvo, and the woman, Pakunoda, chose to defy the conditions of the judgment chain and die rather betray their leader.”

“Wait,” Leorio interrupted, stunned. “The woman died?”

Kurapika nodded slightly. “I could feel the judgment chain activate shortly before I collapsed. She could see the memories of those she touched, so it would be logical to presume that she could have a way to transfer her memories to others by touch as well. If the memory transfer took less than a fraction of a second then it is quite possible that they know everything.”

Leorio felt his heart stop. If the Genei Ryodan knew everything, including that their leader had been effectively neutered and left on a mesa with a psychopath who wanted to kill him, then there was no way that Kurapika was not a high priority target. And yet his friend seemed completely unconcerned about it. “How can you be so calm about that!?”

Kurapika shrugged almost flippantly. “Call it a hunch, or just a feeling, but I do not think that the Genei Ryodan will actively pursue me unless their master orders it. If our paths cross, however, it could be a different story. The one I need to watch my back for is Hisoka.”

“Wait,” Leorio interjected, “isn’t he a Spider himself? And didn’t you form some sort of alliance with him?”

The blond shook his head slightly, still watching the sky darken around them as the sun sank lower into the depths of the ocean. “Hisoka’s only true loyalty lies with his perversions and desire to challenge himself against only the strongest of opponents.

“After he first approached me about a ‘mutually beneficial arrangement’ he told me that he had joined the Genei Ryodan for the purpose of fighting the leader. However, he then found that the leader, when the group was summoned together, was never without at least two other members. Likewise, when their goal was accomplished he would vanish completely until he summoned them together again. So he needed a distraction that would leave the leader alone, a distraction that I was willing to provide. That also meant he needed me alive long enough to ‘divide and conquer’, so to speak.”

“Okay,” Leorio interrupted again, “I can see how Hisoka would benefit from the arrangement but what did he offer you?”

Kurapika turned to glare at his tall friend for interrupting him for a moment before resuming his study of the stars. “Information. He offered to tell me what he knew about the individual members, their strengths, how they fought, etc. Though, he did admit that he only had information for about half of the members.

“I don’t trust him and never have; even when entering into a tentative alliance. While I do not know him completely, I do know him well enough to understand that if he found a ‘better alternative’ he would have no problem with dissolving our agreement and whatever happened next would be completely up to his whims.

“In the end I never officially agreed to the deal and was not given any information. I told him I would think about it and then got called away because Uvo had escaped while my direct superior was waiting to transfer him to the mafia society. And then of course, all hell broke loose. The only useful thing I got from Hisoka was that the bodies found after the attack at the underground auction were all fakes.”

“So, if you weren’t in a true alliance with Hisoka, why did you let him on the blimp during the hostage exchange?”

The blond grew quiet for a moment before replying, “Because the most probable outcome of denying his request to board would be that he would go on a rampage. Gon and Killua were bound and unable to defend themselves let alone assist, the leader of the Genei Ryodan was forced into a Zetsu state by my Nen, Pakunoda may have fought against Hisoka though most likely would take the opportunity to attack either Gon, Killua or myself, despite your determination you have no chance against him if he went all out and I was already at my limit. In case you haven’t realized it, when I become a specialist and activate Complete Mastery my energy burns at a much higher rate; staying in that state is… unwise. So I chose to let him onboard where he would be quiet and out of the way until he could get some ‘private time’ with the leader.

“He… the leader that is, is still alive. Or at least I can still feel that the Judgment Chain is still active. And before you ask, no, I cannot track him with it. He could be at the furthest reaches of the world or even that guy from the bookstore who’s reading on the bench just over there. All I can tell is that the Judgment Chain hasn’t been removed by death, activation or by someone who specializes in Nen removal.”

Leorio leaned backwards against the railing, his lanky form sprawled in a fairly comfortable position. By now the sun had almost fully sunk into the depths of the ocean, the stars shone brightly in the deepening blue sky while the crescent moon laughed silently. “I’ve been wondering; are those Spiders the first people you’ve killed? Not that it’s any of my business if you don’t want to share, of course. It’s just that I’m getting some mixed signals between what happened during the ‘Majority Rules’ section of the Hunter exam and now…” he trailed off letting Kurapika decide if he wanted to pursue the subject.

For a moment the blond remained quiet, gazing now at the ever-moving waves; “They were the first to die of my own volition as well as in such a detestable manner. They were not the first to die by my hand.”

“So I take it others left you no choice.”

A small nod, “I found out very quickly after leaving my village that there are a lot of bad people who want to do a lot of bad things to children when they’re alone and obviously not from the area; more so if they look like a helpless girl. Most left me alone after a few broken bones and several bruises, but a few were persistent and gave me no other option.

“Anyone that bent on raping and/or enslaving children is nothing but an oxygen thief. The world will not mourn them and neither will I.”

Leorio looked over his friend, inspecting him in a new light. With a frown he questioned, “Did they ever…”

“They tried. You of all people should know my temper. And no, my modesty is not a result of what happened after I left my village; it is because that is how I was raised.”

“So… since we’re kind of on the subject, and I’ve always wondered about it… how did you survive?” He held his hands up, waving them in front of his face in a mild panic, “Not that you have go into detail or anything, if you don’t want.”

Kurapika remained silent, watching the stars. The sun had fully sunk past the horizon and the pair was bathed in the edges of the streetlight they were near. “The short answer is that I wasn’t there. The full, drawn out story involves an accident, a best friend, a crappy Hunter and a book.”

“Wait, alone? Weren’t you, like, twelve?”

A small nod, barely perceptible, “It took two years to convince the village elder to let me take the exit test.”

“Eh?! What could possibly possess you to be that desperate to leave your village when you were ten?”

The blond bowed his head as he continued in a somber tone, “In a grand irony, I was looking for a doctor. Pairo’s degenerating condition was my fault so it was my responsibility to correct. The village healers couldn’t figure out the source and like hell I was going to sit still while there was even the slimmest chance that someone from Outside would be able to help.” He looked over momentarily at Leorio’s confused expression, “I guess I should start at the beginning so it makes sense.”

Leorio nodded and sat down on a bench relatively close to where Kurapika was standing. He knew that once Kurapika decided to explain something he would fully explain it, even if it did take forever to do; and since he rarely shares anything about himself before they met, his story would probably last well into the night.

“It might be hard to imagine, but before I left the village I was easily as energetic as Gon, if not more so. My best friend, however, was the only one who could keep up with me intellectually. Pairo… had a gentle heart, he would prefer to prostrate himself and apologize, even if he did nothing wrong, just to prevent violence from happening. He was a true pacifist. This, of course, meant he was perfect fodder for bullies.

“Yes, even in a small village hidden in a forest we still had bullies. Of course any time I caught them picking on Pairo I would beat the shit out of them…” Kurapika looked over at his friend and found Leorio staring at him, “What? I have always had issues when people would do something to harm the people I care about. It didn’t matter that they were older and stronger than me; if you fuck with my friends or family, I will kick your ass.”

That statement was made so matter of fact that words left Leorio’s mouth before his mind registered the question, “How often did you lose?”

Leorio swore he saw a slight smirk curl up the edges of the blonde’s mouth, “Never. They may have had size and strength on me, but they were slow… and stupid. I could easily use my smaller size and higher agility to dodge their blows and get in several shots to their exposed vital areas before having to dodge another shot.

“Before you ask, the unspoken rule of thumb was that adults stayed out of the squabbles of children in order for them to learn how to deal with various situations. The exceptions were if fights were witnessed or resulted in severe bodily damage. And honestly what teen, especially one who wants to look more macho then they could ever be, would go running to the elders because they got beaten up by a ten year old.”

Shaking his head Leorio had to fight the urge to laugh at the mental image. “Did they ever try to get back at you?”

“Of course; it never worked out well for them though. Occasionally they’d try to jump me as a group when I would take a shortcut home late at night. It took them about a half dozen tries before they learned that when they did that, I stopped fighting fair.

“Eventually they got smart with Pairo though; they would wait until I was either in a lesson or on the opposite side of the village before going after him. One day they took a locket from him, a memento of deceased relative, and led him on a chase to one of the two highly restricted areas of the forest. I think they had intended on throwing it over the edge of the cliff but it got caught in the tree branches instead.

“Near the edges of our ‘territory’ there is a giant waterfall; close to the top is an outcropping that holds an ancient oak tree who’s branches extend over a sheer cliff side that drops five hundred kilometers to the crags of the waterfall’s basin. The reason that area had been deemed restricted was because the constant spray from the waterfall, as well as the resulting moss and lichens make that area a deathtrap.

“By the time I found Pairo, he was still at the base of the oak but seemed to have already accepted his memento’s fate to be lost. I found that unacceptable.”

Leorio could feel his heart sink, certain that he had a good idea of what happened next. A part of him didn’t want his friend to relive that memory but another part of him knew that it was cathartic and needed in order to start the healing process; so he remained silent.

“I had climbed that tree before on a couple of occasions, though never that far over the ravine. I knew that I was light enough that the branches should be able to hold my weight and if I went slowly I would have a nominal chance of slipping on the lichen.

“It took a while but eventually I reached the locket and was able to untangle it from the branches. On the way back, however, I failed to realize that the limb I was about to use was dead and rotted through. It broke while I was still over the ravine and I couldn’t find a grip on any other branches as I fell.

“I don’t know how, but he caught me and he didn’t let go; even when the collision with the cliff face knocked me out cold for a few minutes. He didn’t let go until I was safely back on the ground, away from the outcropping and he had passed out from the exertion.

“I know I felt at least one bone break and I should have been covered in scrapes and bruises; but when I recovered enough to take stock of the situation I was completely unharmed. The only one injured was Pairo; it was almost as if he had been so focused on saving me that he had taken all of my injuries into himself.

“He didn’t wake up for a few days, and when he finally did he remembered nothing about that day. When we realized that, no one ever tried to make him remember. I decided that I would remember for the both of us.

“After that his eyesight began to fail. His bones also became brittle and wouldn’t grow properly. Because of that he was never allowed to participate in any physical activities or weapons training, basically treated as a cripple by almost everyone.

“Back then I knew nothing about Nen, but now I’m wondering if, in his panic to save me, Pairo somehow provoked his aura into opening his shouko but couldn’t control it. It might also explain how he was able to sense when my eyes turned scarlet even if our backs were turned to each other.”

“That was when I started to petition the village elder to be allowed Outside to find a doctor that could help Pairo’s condition. Two to three times a week, every week, I would try to reason with the elder; it usually ended up with the elder going ‘because I said so’ and me replying ‘that’s not good enough’. At which point I would be ushered out.

“Every once in a while I would argue that the reasons for our isolations have surely changed over the past century and that rules that were kept out of fear and can’t even convince a child are completely outdated and need to be changed. On those days I would be ‘forcibly ejected’ from the council hall.”

Leorio barely managed to keep his mouth shut, his howls of laughter turning into throaty snorts as he bit his lip while imagining a pint-sized version of Kurapika flying out a door and landing face first in muck. Over the next few minutes every time he tried to stop laughing the imagery popped back into his head and his amusement overflowed again. When he finally regained his composure he found the blond watching him stoically.

“Finished?”

The response was another round of guffaws and knee slapping.

“Sometimes you truly have a simple mind…”

Leorio finally managed to contain his mirth into a goofy grin. “Sorry, sorry…”

“No you’re not,” interrupted Kurapika.

“Am I that obvious?”

“Transparently so.

“To continue my explanation…,” Kurapika glared at Leorio for a moment to see if he would be interrupted once again by a fit of laughter. When he wasn’t he turned back to watching the ocean, “It was after one of those arguments that Pairo and I went exploring in the forest and found an injured Outsider.

“At that point neither Pairo nor I knew any language other than our native tongue. Outsiders were not allowed to learn our language and we were not allowed to learn any Outside language until we came of age. This proved to be problematic as she had broken her leg and was horrible at pantomiming.

“She was lucky that we were the ones to find her; anyone else probably would have reported her to the council or guards. Uninvited Outsiders were not tolerated and since she had found her way into our territory she would have been permanently silenced in order to keep our hidden village hidden. Instead she was found by two hyper-intelligent and insatiably curious kids; who just happened to know of a way to break the language barrier.

“My dad had something like a translation dictionary which I ‘borrowed indefinitely without permission’ when he wasn’t looking. With that we were finally able to communicate with her and read the book she gave us in thanks for helping her. We found out that she was a Hunter, or was at least aspiring to become one. How someone that accident prone could survive the Hunter exam I have no idea…

“Between Sheila and the book of adventures she gave us we grasped Common fairly quickly; we didn’t even need the dictionary to read her goodbye letter. We read and reread the stories in the book Sheila gave us for about a year before it disappeared.”

Kurapika gave a rueful smile as he was lost in his memories. He had bowed his head in a way that Leorio had eventually recognized as a way to hide his eyes when they were becoming, or had already turned, scarlet. “I went straight to the elder and demanded that he gave it back. He didn’t even ask what I was talking about, just that I could have it back sometime after I came of age.

“We started to get into the same arguments as before until I asked him if he had read it. When he admitted that he had we both started arguing our points using the book as references. Eventually he acquiesced and let me take the exit test. Though, knowing what I know now I believe that the only reason he did was because I promised to never ask again if I failed.”

Leorio sat forward as he tried to wrap his head around that last comment. “What difference would that make?”

“Because,” sighed Kurapika, “he set me up to fail.

“My exit test had three parts to it. The first two were ‘general knowledge’ skills such as language and regional customs.”

Leorio interrupted with a snort, “Let me guess, you not only aced those parts but corrected them on any mistakes they made.”

He was surprised when the blond gave a soft answering laugh, “They were not excessively happy when I did that. Though I don’t think they were that surprised when I did, either.

“The third part was what the elder called a ‘Test of Self Control’.

“Our eyes turn scarlet any time our emotions run high. Granted they turn easier when it’s due to negative emotions, but anything could trigger them: excitement, joy, anger, sorrow, desire, the spectrum of emotions could be reflected in shades of red. The test entailed that I choose a companion from the room and go to a nearby town and pick up supplies for the month, supplies that we couldn’t make ourselves. I would fail the test if either my companion or I let our eyes turn.

“He then ushered in a few adults I could choose from. Had he suspected I was going to choose Pairo I doubt he would have let him in the room as my ‘cheering squad’. The elder even tried to dissuade me, pointing out repeatedly that the task involved a lot of physical labor. By my mind was set, even if I failed at the task, so long as Pairo was with me I would have no regrets.”

Obviously confused Leorio interrupted yet again, “How could he prove something like that if he wasn’t there to witness it? Or was that what one of the adults for?”

Kurapika shook his head, “Apparently there was a formula for eye drops that last for 24 hours after applying; should our eyes turn scarlet at any point during those 24 hours then they would remain scarlet until they eye drops wore off. According to the elder the original intent was to hide the color change for 24 hours to help our nature stay hidden when Outside. Obviously it failed and was repurposed.

“Once we got to the town to get supplies we were targeted by a group of thugs twice. The first time they cornered Pairo in the store after we had split up and tripped him. I was about to lose my temper and do what I normally do to bullies when he stopped me and convinced me to calm down and take the pacifist route. The delinquents were about to continue but were stopped by the other store patrons, mostly elderly or housewives, who had seen them target Pairo.

“The second time was when we were leaving the town to go back to our village. Again Pairo convinced me to stay calm and just bypass them. But as I walked past one asked me how I could stand to be constantly saddled with a cripple.

“I lost it.

“They were on the ground, bleeding and with broken bones before I even realized I had lost my temper. The only reason I stopped was because Pairo got in front of me.

“While he made the delinquents call the village elder to tell him they weren’t able to get my eyes to change a crowd had formed behind us from the noise of the fight. It was mostly the patrons from the store we had just left, the same ones whom had helped us just an hour before. All they saw were the beaten thugs, my bloody hands and my damned eyes that were still scarlet.”

Kurapika went still for a moment, hands clenched unconsciously at his side. His body trembled slightly as he tried to contain the maelstrom of emotions the memories had dredged up, but he continued. “Let’s just say that was the first time I had to flee from a populated area or risk being stoned to death and leave it at that.”

Leorio knew his friend had reasons for keeping his past secret but had assumed that the reason was just the one he had given during the exam, that they were hunted for their eyes because they were worth a lot on the black market. He had never suspected that another reason was because of un-based superstition and fear. But, if he thought about it, such a reaction shouldn’t be that unexpected. He may not be as smart as Kurapika but even he knew that people feared things that were different or unexplainable. After all, that’s part of how phobias work.

He stood up and leaned against the railing next to the shaking blond. He rested his hand lightly on Kurapika’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, wordlessly letting him know whether or not he continued his story was up to him and he wasn’t going to judge him either way. Nor was he going to abandon him.

Kurapika turned his head slightly, head still bowed so his eyes were obscured, and gave a small nod of thanks. Soon the shaking stopped and he continued story, sadness and fatigue becoming evident in his voice. “On the way back to the village Pairo made me stop and explained the truth behind the final test. He knew because he had overheard the elder explain it.

“The thugs that targeted us had been hired by the village elder to provoke me into losing my temper. The adults that had been chosen by the elder had been informed of that and had been instructed to let their eyes turn scarlet if I somehow managed to remain calm enough through the day. Had I done what the elder had expected I would have failed one way or another.

“Instead of doing what he planned I did something that I rarely did; used a child’s logic.”

Even though the event was well in the past, Leorio couldn’t help but feel enraged. How could someone whom was in charge of the wellbeing of his people deliberately set up a child to fail? He couldn’t understand it and if that elder hadn’t already been killed Leorio was going to hunt down that hidden village and give him a piece of his mind. Preferably with violence.

“Wait, what about the eye drops? Wouldn’t your eyes have been red still by the time you got back to the village?”

Kurapika couldn’t help but give a mischievous smile, “Pairo used a bait and switch tactic. Because of his degenerating eyesight he had to use eye drops liberally throughout the day. The elder had given the drops to Pairo first and he ‘accidentally’ dropped the bottle under a dresser. Instead of pulling out the bottle with the drops for the test he pulled out his own bottle, using the elder’s distraction with my instruction for the test to mask what he was doing.

“Between Pairo making the thugs call the elder to say they failed and using normal eye drops, he was the reason I passed the test. He didn’t tell me about the elder’s deception before because he wanted me to pass it on my own. In his eyes I did pass it on my own as the reason I lost my temper was Pairo being referred to as a cripple, which they could not have known without information from the elder.

“And so, a few days later I left. The last thing the elder said to me was that there was no way I should ever be allowed to leave the village. He refused to explain it so I figured that it had to do with my excitable temper; though a part of me felt there was something more to it. Not like I can ask about it now. He didn’t say anything as he handed over a copy of the notes detailing Pairo’s condition, nor did say anything as they bolted these in my ears…”

Kurapika tucked his hair behind his ear and blatantly showed one of his earrings.

“What do you mean ‘bolted’?”

“You can check later, but there are no clasps. Even if I wanted to remove them, I can’t; at least not without ripping them out of my ears.

“Six weeks into my search the news about the Kurta massacre hit worldwide. One of the first things I did after getting my Hunter’s license was to read the report of the Hunter who had found the village. It happened approximately a week or two after I left.” He trailed off, not wanting to continue but eventually forced himself to finish.

Knuckles turned white as his hands clenched around the railing in a death grip. “When we bury our dead, we do not use cemeteries or cairns, they are returned to the earth in order to strengthen those still alive. Because no one outside of our village knew anything about our culture, the Hunter who found and documented the massacre… left them as they were found in order to not assume religious precedence or step on our native beliefs.

“After not finding any obvious places of burial they decided to leave the bodies to the elements and animals. They had failed to notice that once they entered our territory the aggressive, carnivorous and carrion eating animals were reduced to non-existent… When I finally got back to the village a few days after hearing the news there was hardly any sign of decomposition.

“It’s hard enough to have to bury your best friend, or a family member; but when you have to bury your best friend, your family… everyone you ever knew… it is impossible to walk away from something like that unchanged.”

Kurapika grew silent and sagged against the railing, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Leorio had suspected that the burden he bore was heavy, but it was far greater than he could have imagined. He squeezed the shoulder he still held onto supportively, “There is no way I could begin to understand the hell you’ve been through, but if it means anything, I’ve got your back. Any time you need it.”

“Me too!” piped up a young voice from behind them as a child-sized bundle collided with Kurapika’s back. The act was quickly followed by Gon’s arms wrapping around the blonde’s middle in a fierce hug.

“Oi, count me in as well,” came a laid-back seriousness that only Killua could pull off.

“It seems that the sentiment is unanimous, then,” the soft voice of Senritsu added.

“Eh?!” was the only response a dumbfounded Leorio could come up with. “How long have you guys been here? And why are you here anyways? I told you I found him!”

“You told us a couple of hours ago, old man,” Killua snipped playfully. “You were taking too long so we figured we would see if you went senile and got lost.”

Leorio’s face turned a tomato red in anger before he shouted at Killua, “I’m not that much older than you,” while twisting a bent knuckle joint into the crown of white hair. As the mock-fight and teasing continued on behind him, Kurapika couldn’t help but give a small laugh.

The diminutive woman moved to stand next to him against the railing, ignoring the scene behind her. “The painful melody your heart was making seems to have lessened, though it is still a troubled rhythm.”

Kurapika nodded, “I don’t think I could have asked for a better group of friends.”

Gon unwrapped himself from Kurapika’s back and flopped over the railing by Kurapika’s free side. He stood there for a few moments, lost in his own thoughts. Eventually his mind found a question it wanted answered, “Kurapika?”

“Hmm?”

“What was the last thing your friend said to you?”

Leorio and Killua stopped their play bickering the moment the question exited Gon’s mouth. Simultaneously they went to punch him on his head for his insensitivity, yet both stopped just shy of contact when they noticed a small but genuine smile from Kurapika.

“He told me that he would refuse to let me enter the village until I could truthfully answer ‘yes’ to one question.”

Gon tilted his head as he tried to figure out the question, but gave up rather quickly. “What question what that?”

“Was it fun…”

“And?”

“And, what, Gon?”

“Was it fun?”

The blond seemed surprised for a moment. “So far it has been a wild ride. And it has gotten a lot more interesting since meeting the four of you.”

“Have you decided what’s next for you, Kurapika?”

“Yes, I have decided to follow the advice Gon gave when we thought most of the Genei Ryodan were dead and focus on retrieving the eyes of my clan. One of the best chances of finding leads is to keep to my service contract with the Nostrade family.

“With receiving the field-promotion to head bodyguard after Dalzollene’s defeat as well as the deaths of the Ten Dons I find myself in a unique position. If I am careful, I can make use of Neon’s obsession with collecting body parts as well as Light’s growing reliance on my abilities to my benefit. I had planned on being in this position eventually, but to get here in just a few months is an opportunity I plan on taking advantage of.

“Though…” Kurapika drew silent for a moment, a somber expression on his face while he was deep in thought. After a few heartbeats his mouth turned down in displeasure, “I may have already completely fucked myself and have to accept the high probability that I may need to disappear completely for a while.”

Four pairs of eyes stared in shock at the blond as he said something like that as casually as one would mention constant snow in the weather forecast. Senritsu’s expression quickly turned into fear as she heard a stutter in Kurapika’s heartbeat that most likely meant one thing.

“Who saw?”

The gaze of the three others quickly snapped to Senritsu, wondering what she was talking about. When Kurapika quietly answered with “Zenji”, they failed to notice the shudder of horror that ran down her spine.

“Who’s that and what did they see?”

Kurapika pushed himself away from the railing and stood with his arms crossed over his chest as part of his mind tried to see if he could predict Zenji’s next move. “Zenji is one of, if not the highest ranking mafia boss under the, now deceased, Ten Dons. He gained his status by backstabbing and outpacing his competition and therefore hates the Nostrade family’s rise in influence due to Neon’s fortune-telling, and has no problem showing that hate openly.

“After… securing the pair of Scarlet Eyes from the underground auction I could no longer wear my black contacts and decided to walk back to the hotel in an attempt to calm down before arriving. Not too far outside the cemetery building, amid the debris from the night’s earlier chaos, Zenji was waiting. He had his gun drawn well before demanding the eyes.

“Whether he truly wanted the eyes or if they were just a way to humiliate the Nostrade family I don’t know. All I know is that he had every intention of killing me and taking the eyes, even if I had willingly surrendered them.

“Until I met his gaze.

“With the state of emotional unbalance I was in I have no doubt that my eyes were bright scarlet. I have no idea what I said to him, if I said anything at all as I walked past him. The only thing I know for certain was that he had pissed himself in fear.

“He may look less intelligent than a barnacle, but he reached his position by his own skills, I can almost guarantee it. Had he been using the skills of his subordinates, he would have been killed and replaced a long time ago.”

Killua shrugged and piped up nonchalantly, “Want me to kill him for you?”

Kurapika shook his head slightly, arms still folded across his chest, “Unfortunately that would just prove to be counter-productive. An assassination leaves a distinct feeling on a body and such a thing would lead straight to the Nostrade family, even if someone else hired them.”

Killua scratched the back of his head, trying to find the reasoning. “I don’t see the connection.”

“Then I take it you did not know your family had been hired by the Ten Dons to kill any Genei Ryodan that showed up at the underground auction after it had been rescheduled.”

“The hell? Dad always told us to stay away from those guys; no amount of money was worth the hassle.”

Kurapika was lost in thought as his mind went through several different scenarios. “Killua, would your family complete a contract if their employers died before it was finished?”

Killua shook his head, “No, assassination is a business transaction. The only way they would continue a contract would be if the target was stupid enough to go after them instead of fleeing.”

“Is payment for the contract due before or after the target is eliminated?”

“It depends on the contract. Usually half before and half with proof of completion, but for something like going after the Genei Ryodan it would most likely be paid in full before accepting.”

“If someone has made a contract with your family, could someone then take out a contract on them?”

“…yes… What are you getting at?”

“One more question. Can Illumi manipulate the dead with his pins? Or can he assume the voice of someone he recently killed?”

“No. Yes. Are you going to share with the rest of the class?”

The blond smiled slightly in amusement. “Clever, oh so very clever. No wonder you’re a top-ranked criminal mastermind. I can’t decide if he was able to plan it all in advance or if it had to be adapted after the Shadow Beasts secured the items from the original auction… No, they attacked the original auction with the intent of stealing everything and leaving no traces. Yet that would not explain why they had planned to leave the original auction in a hot air balloon, nor why all of the items were returned despite all of the Shadow Beasts being declared dead before the items were returned… Unless the one called Owl transported the items to a secure location determined by the Ten Dons before moving to engage the Genei Ryodan with the rest of the Shadow Beasts.”

The four surrounding Kurapika were absolutely stunned into silence as he seemingly admired what had recently taken place. “Eh, what do you mean, heist? The Genei Ryodan went on a rampage and the items were sold as scheduled… rescheduled.”

Kurapika looked over his friends for a moment, almost as if he was surprised that they hadn’t reached the same conclusion yet. “The items sold during the rescheduled auction were all fakes.”

He was greeted with only stupefied silence. Gon looked deep in concentration, honestly trying to figure out how Kurapika had reached that conclusion while Killua and Leorio were just waiting for the inevitable explanation.

“Let’s give him the ‘benefit of the doubt’ and say that the entire thing, including the auction being rescheduled was planned; which means he played the Ten Dons like an instrument. The original auction was an announcement that the Genei Ryodan were in town and targeting the auction and its items. By using a hot air balloon to ‘escape’, they could wipe out a vast majority of mafia guards as well as drag out the Shadow Beasts to get them out of the way before they could be a nuisance.

“After which, they could then flee into the desert leaving the auction items behind to be reclaimed. Knowing their auction is targeted by the Genei Ryodan, their front line forces basically decimated and the Shadow Beasts dead the Ten Dons realize they’re in over their heads. They can’t back out or cancel the auction, it would prove weakness on their part, and in a cutthroat business even the smallest exposed weakness is exploitable.

“So the Ten Dons decide to fight with a bigger stick. The heads of the high ranking mafia families offer up their best, either in house or hired out, and the Dons pull out what they believe to be their trump card: Silva and Zeno Zoldyck.

“However, the Ten Dons are actually highly predictable so the leader of the Genei Ryodan had already been in contact with Killua’s family and presented them with an irresistible offer. He took out a contract for all of the Ten Dons with the stipulation that once they were dead they would use a video conference to assure the mafia bosses that things were being taken care of and that the auction would go on as scheduled. He even offered to pay the full fee in advance if they accepted the contract and encouraged them to take the inevitable contract the Ten Dons would place on any Spider that made it into the auction. A win-win situation for Killua’s family.

“The rampage the Genei Ryodan members went on outside the building as well as the very real fight between the three inside the building lent credibility to the corpses found in the aftermath as being real. That took off pressure from the Genei Ryodan giving them the ability to move a bit more freely so long as they were smart about it.

“Not all of the Genei Ryodan were ‘killed’ that night so I am going to presume that the ones still listed as ‘alive’ were ones that needed to be able to move freely in society without being listed as a known member… as well as the one that can produce copies.

“Between the fake corpses and the multiple copies of their hideout, it is obvious they have a member that can produce exact, yet inanimate, copies of things; the most probable form being through touch and with the exception of their own person. The copies were made backstage right before an item was put up for bid. When I was reflecting earlier I realized that the person who pulled the items from backstage to be bid on was that memory manipulator, Pakunoda. If she was there, other members had to be there as well.

“This plan gave the Genei Ryodan a nice victory. They claimed all of the auction items, which could be sold at a tidy sum on the black market later, as well as the money from the mafia families that purchased the fake items thanks to access to the dead Dons’ accounts and they slaughtered a good portion of the mafia while sending the message that this was done by monsters they created and use. With the confirmation that the corpses had no IDs because they were from Meteor City, all bounties were dropped quickly.”

A ways down the street Kuroro couldn’t help but smile as he pretended to read a book. He was outside the normal range of hearing for humans and what he couldn’t hear he had been able to lip read. Yet another under-used skill that always came in so handy. He watched the group mess around with each other for a bit, mostly play-bickering, before they left the area.

Closing his book he couldn’t help but admire the entangling web his chain-using butterfly was weaving without knowing it. He knew where his prey was headed and that granted him some freedom to prepare his own portion of the trap; and he knew just where to start.

A few moments later, in an abandoned building near the edges of the desert and Yorknew City a particular sound cut through the night. Hearing an alert from a high priority client, a lively Shalnark excused himself from the game of cards he and a few other members of Genei Ryodan had been killing time with to check the message.

Green eyes grew wide as he read the message from someone he had not been expecting to hear from. He read and re-read the short message a few times then nodded to himself, understanding the unwritten request. Pulling out a highly encrypted cell phone that he used only for his secondary work as an information broker, Shalnark called his client.

After a few rings the call connected; with a smile Shalnark greeted his client, “Good evening Mr. Kristo, it has been a long time since you have had need of our services. I am always willing to work out a deal with one such as yourself; however, your request was vague. Could you please give me some further details as to the exact nature of the information you are looking for?”

An hour later he found himself tapping the shoulder of Feitan as he browsed through another art book. “Fei? Would you be willing to help me with a project of mine? I could really use your talents, and I’ll pay fairly.”

Not having anything else to do at the time he agreed. Once out of earshot of the rest of the Genei Ryodan he stopped Shalnark. “Tell me what you left out.”

The overly-cheerful blond just replied with a cryptic, “A high priority client is looking for very specific information from a very specific person.”

Seeing that the smaller man would require more information he added, “Let’s just say that so long as this information exchange can remain purely a business transaction, Danchou found an interesting loop-hole in the conditions set on him.”
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To Trap a Spider	By : VNex Category: +G to L > Hunter x Hunter Views: 4000 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter and do not profit from this.

To Trap a Spider