Title: Blood Pact

Author:Blitz Magnus

Chapter:3/?

Status:completed

Pairings:future Kuroro x Kurapika

Genre:Romance/Humor + a bit of Drama/Adventure

Warnings:This fic contains shounen-ai (male x male relationship). So if you don't and can't stomach this kind of genre, don't read. Characters are major OOC. This is a product of boredom, an endless spiral of empty space, and a lame attempt at making fiction. You have been forewarned, so no flames regarding these matters. Nobunaga is very, very, very OOC here! But I can't help it! So there, you have been warned!

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Hunter x Hunter©original story and characters belong not to me, but to the legendary Yoshihiro Togashi.

Author's Notes: The timeline is set at the end of the OVA, right after Kuroro's capture by Kurapika, and picks up in between the OVA and the Greed Island arc. The events of the story take place after the negotiations between Pakunoda and Kurapika are over, as well as the exchange of hostages. Changes made in the actual series for the purpose of writing this fic are as follows: 1.) Kurapika was not able to seal Kuroro's nen during Kuroro's confinement, 2.) Kurapika did not take off his disguise as a female hotel receptionist during the entire confrontation between him and the Danchou, 3.) Pakunoda never revealed Kurapika's weakness to the spiders (meaning she didn't die), 4.) Hisoka has yet to uncover his betrayal to the Genei Ryodan (meaning he didn't show up during the hostage exchange).

Summary: With Gon and Killua safely back into the fold and out of harm's way after negotiations with the Genei Ryodan were concluded, Kuroro Lucifer makes his move on the unsuspecting Kurapika and roped him into becoming a part of them, indirectly, on the aftermath of their encounter. Kurapika, in turn, manages to learn more about the Kuruta Red-Eyes in his stay with the Genei Ryodan and he's less than happy with the results as he got more than what he'd bargained for. Never did he dream that he'd turn into one of them, and things get more complicated when he realized he'd fallen for the enemy.

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Chapter Three: Farfetched

Kurapika had groggily woken up when the first seams of daylight filtered through the blinds of his dusty room. His blue-green eyes blinked several more times to adjust to the intruding light, and rubbed them tiredly get rid of the last remnants of sleep.

Normally, he'd have gotten up, proceed to the adjoining chamber pot to wash his face and start the day, but staring up at the blank, torn ceiling above him, he recalled why he was there in the first place. It was not a good thought.

When he moved to get up, he was deterred from lifting his body off the makeshift bed by a dead weight lying on his flat middle.

The Kuruta's eyes swiveled towards his waist, his face turning beet red when he located the cause of his temporary immobility.

Kuroro had, sometime during the night, rolled over in his sleep and cuddled up next to him, in an attempt to get warm probably because of the coldness of the air seeping into every chamber in the warehouse. Of course the man just had to wear nothing save his snug-fitting leather pants when going to sleep at this drop of temperature during the night.

Said man also had his arm circling his waist in a rather tight grip while he slept on, and Kurapika, appalled, had absolutely no idea on what to do next.

Mentally cursing to himself why he hadn't fought every inch of the way in the first place when Kuroro had suggested that they were to share the same room, giving the absurd reason that he was keeping an eye on his movements, but being the 'outcast' of the group, he'd had no say in the matter. Kurapika had snorted in disbelief at the arrangements, the man had already coerced him into joining them, threatened Gon and Killua's life in the process, forced him to use his own Judgment Chain on himself, and he had the guts to question his honor in keeping his word?

If Kurapika was a different person, he might have looked past the misgivings, but taking advantage of him during his sleep was way out of the question. Genei Ryodan head or not, he'd cut the man's arm off if he pulls out another stunt like that again.

Kurapika bit his lip, placed a tentative hand on the arm holding him captive and lifted it off him while he held his breath.

"Good morning," a gratingly sleepy but cheerful voice greeted him.

The blonde nearly jumped out of his skin at the sleepy, but alert voice. He immediately focused his irritated eyes on Kuroro's amused, albeit sleepy ones, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Waking up?" Kuroro murmured lazily in a half-dazed state as he brought his free hand to idly scratch at his head.

"I meant your arm," Kurapika answered back, deadpanned, though he was itching to tear his tormentor into pieces limb by limb with his bare hands.

Kuroro belatedly realized their awkward position, but made no move to retrieve his arm.

Frustration was eating at the Kuruta's nerves, "Well?"

Deciding to indulge to his own need for amusement at the blonde's expense, he decided to reveal his rather 'unusual' sleeping habits to his already irritated company just for the fun of it.

"I always cuddle up to something warm and soft whenever I sleep."

That explains the fetish for leather and fur coats.

Kuroro's last statement had been the last straw.

"Well, you're awake. Now get your arm off me before I amputate it," the blonde warned menacingly.

"But of course, your highness," Kuroro mockingly obliged him with a suave lift of his arm and gracefully lifted himself off the makeshift bed, "Someone certainly woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Kurapika wisely refrained from snapping back with his usual retorts, knowing he'd just encourage the Spider head to gloat at his predictable behavior.

He'd had a throbbing headache the night before when Pakunoda had launched into a series of complaints right after the row with Nobunaga, which could be described as tyrannical in nature. He'd been shocked speechless that the usually stoic woman who ignored him most of the time had actually opened her mouth to voice out her opinions to him of all people. When she'd finished, Kurapika was sure now why the Genei Ryodan considered her as second-in-command.

Goodness, aside from her rapier-sharp skills and wit, not to mention a hell of curvaceous body assets save her nose, the woman was certainly gifted with a healthy set of lungs; she didn't even stop to breath during her lengthy speech and proceeded to give him, and Nobunaga hell.

Groaning with frustration, Kurapika was about to get up from his sleeping pallet when two things hit him simultaneously: First, it was his fifteenth day of staying with the Genei Ryodan. And second, it was a Friday.

And since it was a Friday, it was his and Kuroro's turn to make breakfast.

"Breakfast will be served in ten minutes, so you'd better get up and help me make it. Phinx and Franklin get cranky when breakfast is served late."

Eyelid twitching visibly, he'd briefly considered adding poison to the food, before shoving the idea aside. With Kuroro and Nobunaga standing guard, he'd never get past the two with a concealed box of detergent powder on his way to the kitchen.

Heaving out a defeated sigh, Kurapika found himself staring at thin air as Kuroro disappeared into the hallway.

After getting to his feet, Kurapika had literally prowled into the adjoining room and washed his face while devising numerous ways to get back at the bane of his existence-without having to involve the use of deadly firearms and poison.

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Patience is a virtue. One of the things Kuroro Lucifer had prided himself upon was the impeccable amount of patience he possessed. But as of the moment, it was rapidly depleting in its vast deposits. The cause was calmly sitting right in front of him.

Normally, he'd never have let anyone gotten under his skin, but the Kuruta proved to be very tenacious in his outlook. Two weeks within the span of his stay in their tight circle, Kurapika had managed to piss off Nobunaga in ways no one could ever imagine possible, sending the ballistic samurai at the edge of committing cold-blooded murder right then and there, regardless of the consequences -the blonde had accomplished the one feat they had never been able and ever dared to do: catch Nobunaga off-guard when he was butt-naked in his loincloth and lived to see the next day.

It was a trivial thing, actually, and all of them had known Hisoka had a major role in that prank. The loose screw of their group obviously had a death wish when he 'accidentally' dropped a jarful of honey-lemon drops he'd bought in a nearby sweet shop and told Kurapika to sweep them up in a deceptively sweet singsong tone of voice.

The Kuruta had immediately suspected something up the joker's sleeve but paid no heed to it. Gritting his teeth in anger, Kurapika had no choice but to comply-as Hisoka had subtly pointed out that Shizuku was currently indisposed that moment because she was on an errand, and that he was to be the stand-in for the ditzy girl in cleaning duties whenever she's not available. Shalnark had discovered that he was a neat freak a few days ago and volunteered him for the job.

Two minutes before that incident, Hisoka had also caused another 'mishap'-he'd caught a yellow hummingbird near the vicinity of the warehouse and had been fooling around with the creature when the bird decided to unload 'something'.

The poor unsuspecting victim of that ordeal had been Nobunaga, whose hair had been trussed up in its usual high ponytail, and was poking at a pile of rubble with his feet when the airborne creature swooped down and ejected a pile of bird droppings all over him.

Two seconds later, a bird screeched angrily and shot out of the ventilation duct of the abandoned warehouse, sporting a bare-naked ass while Nobunaga was left fuming and covered in the smelly, sticky white substance, the ground noticeably cluttered by bits of yellow feathers.

Hisoka had giggled uncontrollably and chanted 'bad little birdie' between bouts of suppressed mirth.

Nobunaga had huffed into the chamber pot and began tearing off his feces-infested robe. Immersing the soiled garment in a bucket of water, he began scrubbing, and cursed violently when a large portion of the mess refused to come off.

Goddamn bird, if this stain doesn't come off, I'll mutilate that dratted creature.

Two minutes later, Kurapika was heading towards the direction of the very same chamber to wash his honey-lemon coated hands while imagining several ingenious ways to torture the troublemaker clown. Nobunaga had apparently forgotten that he'd left the door ajar when the blonde entered, which was why it had been the very first time anyone in the vicinity ever heard a manly screech pitch to an indignant squeal and resonate within four walls, leaving a distinct echo at it.

Phinx had tripped over Franklin's foot when he heard the first shriek, Bonorenofu toppled over to one side when the commotion jarred him awake, and Shalnark's laptop screen blinked red with the big, bold capital letters spelling 'game over'. Machi, who was counting her savings, lost count when the scream subsided.

Pakunoda and Kuroro had been poring over new plans when the shrill sound reached them, Kuroro swiftly surging to his feet, and the two had immediately taken off at a run. Feitan was nowhere to be seen, as he'd already disappeared into the Greed Island console and was missing out on all the action.

When Pakunoda reached the source of the uproar, she'd had to practically staple her mouth shut to keep herself from laughing at the scene. var oReplyTop = MenuButton('replytop',Reply_Click,'replymenu',ReplyMenu_Click); var oReplyBottom = MenuButton('replybottom',Reply_Click,'replymenu',ReplyMenu_Click); var oForwardTop = MenuButton('forwardtop',Forward_Click,'forwardmenu',ForwardMenu_Click); var oForwardBottom = MenuButton('forwardbottom',Forward_Click,'forwardmenu',ForwardMenu_Click); var oMoveTop = MenuButton('movetop',Move_Click,'movemenu',DestinationFolder_Click); var oMoveBottom = MenuButton('movebottom',Move_Click,'movemenu',DestinationFolder_Click);

Nobunaga, in all his naked glory while sitting on his bare ass on the cold floor, was now beet-red in embarrassment and was flapping his arms violently while screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs at the stunned Kurapika-who didn't move a muscle except for his taut shoulders that were shaking rather abnormally.

Two things hit her that instant: one, Nobunaga, save that tiny strip of loincloth, was butt-naked on the hard floor; and two, Kurapika was in the verge of actually laughing.

She was still deciding which was more hilarious, Nobunaga screeching like a banshee or Kurapika resembling a pile of imbalanced rocks while trying hard not to laugh, when Kuroro took one look at the scene and promptly exited the premises.

Hisoka had roared with laughter when Nobunaga's screech of indignation had subsided, earning a few frightened looks in return. Merciful heavens, was the clown that slow in reaction to his own practical jokes when he could easily cut off the heads of an entire crowd in less than a second?

Kurapika and Pakunoda had bolted out of sight from Nobunaga's line of vision and made a beeline for the 'conference area' where five stunned members of the Spider-Shalnark, Franklin, Phinx, Bonorenofu, and a recently arrived Kuroro, were spending the time. Hisoka was beaming with a contented smile on his face.

Kuroro, who'd walked in on the previous encounter and hastened immediately to get out of harm's way, was now dreading the next scene.

Is it any wonder that Hisoka was to be conveniently blamed as the mastermind in this prank? The demented psychopath deserved top honors in a mental asylum.

"We will forget this ever happened," Kuroro announced five minutes later when the initial bloodshed had worn off.

And that had been the end of it, though Hisoka never let Nobunaga live it down, which resulted in several catastrophes for all of them, since getting caught in the middle of pre-meditated murder was probably their job by now-most of them just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Nobunaga was vehemently adamant in his belief that the Kuruta had pulled off the prank, regardless of how many times Shalnark and Franklin pointed out that Hisoka was the one who started the 'incident' and not Kurapika. Nobunaga was also convinced that Kurapika had deliberately walked in on him and intentionally wanted to make him lose face. Thus, Nobunaga never let Kurapika off the hook, which further increased the heart-palpitating tension between the two, and made the other Genei Ryodan members' lives a living nightmare.

Kuroro had immediately forced a truce between Kurapika, Hisoka and Nobunaga. Nobunaga was itching to tear Kurapika apart; Kurapika was on the verge of strangling the laughing Hisoka while the main culprit was grinning from ear to ear and piling yet another stack of cards, acting as though nothing had happened.

For the first time in his life, Kuroro was thinking hard about some things to he'd be regretful about, and three of those certain things were now occupying the space in front of him.

Life was interesting enough, if only he didn't have to worry about Neon's prediction about the future of the group every damn breath he takes when Kurapika, Hisoka and Nobunaga come within three-meter radius of each other. The Genei Ryodan would be reduced to half its number before the month was over, and Kurapika wouldn't have to bat an eyelash over the deed.

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It was a balmy afternoon in mid-September when Kuroro decided to announce his plans for the group-which for Kurapika, it looked more like he had dropped a bomb on him. Their next mission as well as their upcoming departure from York Shin City was well under way. Apparently, their main priority was to first snatch the goods being auctioned off by the Mafia the day after, and leave York Shin City to a city called Lufa in the western continent.

He'd been horrified when Kuroro had pointedly zeroed in on him and issued out direct orders for him. Dear Lord, the man had actually expected him to perform a major role in their vile deeds without anticipating bloodshed-he had actually told the blonde to kill anyone standing in their way, and had also made it clear that he wanted Kurapika to 'browse' for the goods right after they penetrate the building.

Not bloody likely to happen. If the Spider head wanted him to do it, then he'd have to drag and carry his rotting carcass to the auction building before he'd ever agree to step foot inside the area to help them do their dirty work.

By the end of the day, he'd mustered up enough courage to confront Kuroro. There was no way in nine hells was he going to kill anyone for the sake of the Genei Ryodan, it was enough that he had to co-exist with them in the same roof and planet, but to help them rob the Mafia blind, one of them being his employer, was altogether another matter. Sure he had no love for the Mafia, as they were just a more elegant and sophisticated form of criminals, but underneath all that façade of glittering glamour was the stench of blood money that was used to become the steppingstone for their financial 'achievements', after all, the term 'crime lords' was their namesake.

The Mafia played every bit as dirty as any hardened criminal, and hypocrisy was just one of their distinct characteristics. They're flamboyant for an unearthly cause, and would leave even their own kin in the dumps to save their own hides if it meant becoming sole survivor in their corrupt world.

At least the Spiders valued honor-they have the decency to admit to their own handiworks, but the Mafia evaded accusations to them like the plague as they valued reputation and fame more than honor.

If he'd been any other man except being the sole survivor of the Kuruta tribe, he'd have turn a blind eye over the matter and gone his own way. He would've considered saving the lives of greedy and power-hungry filthy rich crime lords as a waste of his time, if he'd known better, it would have been good riddance for the world to lessen its defilers.

Scornfully, Kurapika briefly recalled his employer's spoilt daughter Neon and her annoying self-centered attitude. The girl had absolutely the most narrow-minded brain a person could ever possess when it came to her personal wants. Her father given her every material thing that she wanted and it still wasn't enough, but since her upbringing had been a bit harsh at being neglected in terms of parental love most of her life because her father had literally used her as a tool in his financial empire, her selfish attitude had to be overlooked. Even if her father was a jackass, he was still his employer; after all, his contract was still in effect up to this day.

If the Spiders have no decency in repenting for their sins, the least they could do is let him honor his responsibilities. He was still the head of the Nostrad bodyguards, and technically, he'd been neglecting his duty for weeks now because of his untimely and unexpected 'involvement' with the Spiders.

Bounding up the stairs in his usual brisk fashion, Kurapika sucked in a deep breath and entered the brightly illuminated room. He'd then proceeded to give a blistering lecture about morals and principles to his unsuspecting victim: the head of the Genei Ryodan.

"… … have absolutely no fucking morals! … … pathetic! Have you no shame…! … bunch of bloodthirsty cutthroats!!! And you actually expect me to stand by meekly while you murder those people in front of me and lend you a hand in locating the items?! …gone out of mind?!!"

Shalnark and Pakunoda caught fragments of that heated 'conversation' as they had been shamelessly eavesdropping on them. They had noticed the fierce and determined scowl on Kurapika's face when he marched into the Danchou's quarters and mental alarm bells had immediately gone off.

Kurapika was getting all riled up, "How dare you tell me to kill others when it's you I want dead! Of all the insufferable, obnoxious notions you've managed to spout, this has got to be the worst you've come up with! If you even dare to think I'll be doing it, then you're sorely mistaken. I'd rather end my own life than turn into one of you, Judgment Chain or not! It's bad enough I have to live with the lot of you, but don't ever expect me to conform to your goddamn principles! You murdered my family, wiped out my entire clan, and you…!"

Merciful heavens, the blonde was like a devil possessed, when he'd started in on his tirade, there was no stopping him, not to mention the Kuruta possessed a tongue like a sharp scalpel and had lashed out at him like a mother would a naughty child caught in a prank. Kuroro had reacted as though his skin had been scalded by hot water and immediately leapt out of his chair and bolted out of the room.

And slammed right into a brick wall of muscled torso.

Retreating back a step, he stared up at the stupefied Franklin, who paid no notice that he'd been rammed into by their leader because he was still fully occupied staring open-mouthed at the pissed-off Kurapika-who was obviously not at all pleased when Kuroro had walked out in the middle of his 'lecture'. Pakunoda had a horrified look on her face when she realized who the Kuruta was 'speaking' to, and Machi, who usually ignored most of the uproars occurring in the premises, was also astonished that the Danchou had actually allowed the Kuruta brat to drill him like that.

Kuroro would bet his life Franklin was already pleading at him to get the chain-user to stop his verbal attacks, the Frankenstein rip-off had endured enough of Kurapika breathing down his throat every time he and the others came back covered in blood and blasting the living daylights out of everyone by brutally giving them an earful of blistering lectures on morals and ethics. It was enough to last him a lifetime.

"Danchou, can't we just let-?"

Kuroro shook his head in a silent gesture of 'no', he'd known what Franklin wanted to say even before the gigantic man had finished his thoughts. The Frankenstein wannabe already experienced a dose of Kurapika's verbal tongue-lashing, and it had not been a pretty sight when the blonde was through with him.

"Make yourselves scarce."

Motioning for Franklin to leave the hallway, he turned to face the full blast of Kurapika's ire.

For some unexplainable reason, he'd felt challenged by the Kuruta's unwavering outlook in life, as he was never fazed even by the threat of his own life and had stuck to his own beliefs regardless of how others looked at him. The only time he'd allowed himself to contradict his own principles was when his friends' lives were placed at stake. Kuroro's curiosity was peaked at how advanced Kurapika's gugenka ability was, especially during Red-Eyes state, considering the fact that it had only been less than a year when he'd actually learned about nen and how to use it.

He'd seen how those chains of his work in action, and was duly impressed by the blonde's mastery of his chosen weapon. To be able to unleash the hundred percent potential of all forms of nen in tokushitsu mode was indeed an accomplishment in a short span of seven months or so.

Kuroro had Skill Hunter, enabling him to rob any nen ability for his own use, causing the victim to be unable to use it any longer, with the stolen ability recorded in the pages of his book. Thus, even if he had managed to steal Kurapika's skills, it would still be useless for him because of the lack of the Kuruta Red Eyes in his biological makeup.

Unless he would be able to…

Pushing his thoughts aside, the Spider head had finally realized Kurapika had already stopped chewing out on him and was actually looking at him as though he'd grown another head.

"Are you quite finished?"

Kurapika nodded, still puzzled by the mulling look on Kuroro's face a few moments ago. Unless his instincts were wrong, he'd been dead sure that Kuroro had been sizing him up as though preparing for battle.

"Good. Then I suggest you prepare yourself for tomorrow, it's going to be a long day once we get on that train. We'll be leaving as a group to the center of the city, and split up into pairs when we get there. Naturally, you'll be partnered with me while Shalnark and Nobunaga stake out the building. Phinx and Feitan will enter as bidders and provide us with the layout of the building so you can start locating the items."

Good grief, did the man even bother to digest a single word he'd just said?

"We'll both be on standby until Shizuku and Franklin give us the signal to move. Coltopi and Bonorenofu will be joining us once we enter the building."

Kurapika had been too shocked to react to his detailed explanation of his plans.

"I also understand that Nostrad is your employer and you cannot violate your obligations to him. However, by tonight," Kuroro slapped his cellular phone into Kurapika's palm, "he'll be your former employer, so you won't worry at having to do any stabbing in the back."

"What the hell are you planning?" Suspicion made the hair on Kurapika's nape prickle and stand up to its end.

"Ask no questions and I will tell you no lies."

"I can't just-" Kurapika started to protest.

"You can and you will," came the firm response.

"What good will that do?"

"Just a precaution," Kuroro gestured to the device, "Make that call."

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The first call he made had been to Senritsu-whose soothing voice had immediately calmed down his frazzled nerves, and he had launched to explain the purpose of his call to the ever-reliable music hunter.

Senritsu had told him that Gon, Killua and Leorio had been worried sick about him for weeks when they didn't hear any word from him, but being the calm and reliable person that she was, had reassured them that he was still alive and breathing. With her sensitive ability to locate any sound she'd want, she had immediately picked up on Kurapika's heartbeat and was relieved to find out that he was still alive and told the trio that he was well.

Kurapika had given strict instructions to her to firmly tell Gon and Killua that they were not to do anything to find him. When Senritsu had listened to his heartbeat after a few seconds, she'd immediately agreed.

/But what about Leorio?/

Kurapika pondered over the matter, "Tell him to help Gon and Killua with their business here in York Shin City, and that, he is never to participate in anything as brash as trying to rescue me."

A commotion was heard over at the other end of the line.

/Killua and Gon have just arrived. Gon wants to talk to you./

"All right, give him the phone."

/Kurapika! Are you all right? The Spiders didn't do anything to you, did they?/

"Gon, I want you to listen carefully to what I'm going to say. It's very important."

/Okay, I'm listening./

"Do not attempt to seek out the Spider or me."

/What? But why? Are they forcing you to do something you don't want to do? Did they threaten you?/

Killua had chosen that moment to tap on Gon's shoulder, grab the phone and held it over his ear, while shoving the indignant Gon away from him.

/Kurapika, it's Killua. If you're being watched, don't answer my questions./

Kurapika, glad to finally be able to talk to the more rational of the two, immediately pounced on the chance, "No, coast's clear. Listen Killua, I want you and Gon to concentrate on your whatever business you're doing and stay out of mine from now on. Do not try to find the Spider or me. If I want to meet you in person, I will call you, otherwise, don't do anything stupid."

Pause. /Are you goddamn out of your friggin' mind?! The Spider will kill you sooner or later, we-/

"Killua, having my life on the line is enough. I do not want the burden of endangering yours as well."

/You really are serious about this, aren't you?/

"Would I joke about something like this?"

/Anything I say won't be able to sway your decision?/

"Yes."

/Alright. You have my word./

"Keep an eye on Gon and Leorio for me, I'm trusting you on this, don't let me down."

/You'll have to promise me something, too./

"What is it?"

/If your life is placed in jeopardy in any way, you won't hesitate to call us for help./

"Deal."

/I'm holding you to your promise, if I hear news that you didn't live up to your word, I'll personally see to it that I'll be the one dragging your soul back from Hades to kick your sorry ass to oblivion./

"I swear. And Killua?"

/What?/

"Thank you for everything."

/Tch, whatever. I'll give the phone back to Gon now./

"Okay."

Gon had gotten the gist of the previous conversation, and was desperately praying that he'd be making the right decision as well.

/Kurapika, are you sure about this?/

"Yes."

/I'll never forgive myself if something bad happens to you./

"Trust me on this, Gon."

/Alright. I respect your decision, I just hope you know what you're doing./

"I appreciate it."

/ What do I tell Leorio? You know he'll be freaking out when he hears this./

Kurapika had briefly envisioned Leorio behaving like a raving lunatic upon hearing the news, and coughed to cover his amusement, "Tell Leorio that the next time I'll be seeing him is when he gets that doctor's license. And if he's not a doctor by then, I'll feed him to the sharks."

/Okay. Kurapika?/

"Yes?"

/Take care of yourself./

Kurapika's mouth softened into a gentle smile, "I will. Now give the phone back to Senritsu."

/Senritsu speaking./

"Listen carefully to my instructions. Tell Nostrad and the others not to set foot inside the auction house to be held tomorrow. If they do, then they're doomed. They won't live to see the next sunrise. And if it's possible, get them out of York Shin City as soon as possible."

/But why?/

"Spider."

/I see. Are they… treating you well?/ came the tentative voice.

Kurapika chose to ignore the inquiry and tersely changed the topic as though the question was never raised, "You are not to tell anyone you got this information from me."

/I understand./

"Remember what I told you, and if Nostrad asks you why, just tell him it's for the brat's safety."

/Won't news about the Spiders' return complicate things?/

"I don't think they plan to openly reveal themselves in public. They've gone too far as to pretending that they're all dead, they won't risk getting caught. News won't be able to leak out if they finish off the people who are unfortunate enough to see their faces."

/I see./

Kurapika unleashed a bomb with his next words.

Senritsu had turned pale at his words, /What? Are you certain?/

Knowing that the only way to sever ties with Nostrad family without the risk of loose ends was news of his 'demise', involving his friends in his insatiable thirst for revenge had been enough, he did not want to risk anyone else's life, and he'd given specific instructions for Senritsu to do exactly that.

"That's right, you heard me. I want you to tell them that I'm dead."

(To be continued…)

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Notes: Not much of an update, but still… third chapter up, though this is just my initial draft, so expect the presence of several open-ended statements. Sorry about some spelling and grammatical blunders, English isn't my native tongue, so please, just bear with me. I'm also starting to work on the fourth installment, but I'm being held back by a major-no, scratch that-a severe case of writer's block. I've gotten stuck a quarter mile to the cut-off… so I guess the next chapter will be posted up a bit later than what I had originally planned.

As for the romance part between Kuroro and Kurapika, I'll be focusing on that in the latter chapters, it's too awkward to start the romantic interlude this early in the story. However, I'll be developing it bit by bit as inserts in the next chapters. Keep your fingers crossed, and pray I'll be able to spare more time with this.