Title: Blood Pact

Author:Blitz Magnus

Chapter:5/?

Status:newly uploaded

Pairings:future Kuroro x Kurapika

Genre:Humor/Romance + 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. OOC Feitan on the loose, as well as tortured Shalnark.

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 off during his 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 Five: The Eye of the Storm

It was hard to tell who looked the grimmest at the moment, since everyone was as jittery as rabbits trapped inside a hungry wolf's den. It was impossible to tell what could, and would possibly happen next.

Kuroro had been sporting the most intense and piercing stare plastered on his face while Kurapika's ashen complexion looked as though he'd gone through hell and back, as his features were as inscrutable as a newly polished slate of tabula rasa. Hell, even Hisoka was keeping his mouth shut, and that was saying something.

The infamous group was now currently staying at a rundown inn near the border of the city after their purge in the auction house. Once Pakunoda and Phinx had informed their Danchou-via cellular phone, that they'd finished planting the necessary arrangements inside the Mafia holding, the remaining group had immediately moved on to the next stage of their operation.

They'd broken off into pairs and trios as they waded in and out of daylight traffic. It was too conspicuous to travel by train now, considering that Nobunaga's frayed sleeves were damp with freshly spilt blood and Franklin was by no means to be qualified as an everyday individual, so they opted to travel by foot, as they could outrun any ordinary human being with their unnatural speed without being seen. Most of all, they wanted to keep a low profile, having one blustering, cantankerous samurai carrying a katana and the Frankenstein wannabe as travel company was alarming enough, and although Kurapika wasn't doing any waterworks or spewing out curses at the event prior to that, it was still quite a fright to see him in his current state. He was walking in a daze and paid no attention at all as to whom he was travelling with even as Kuroro nodded at the rest to take off and leave the pair of them alone.

Shalnark was damn sure Kuroro was the bravest, if not the unluckiest and craziest man on earth, to volunteer to be the one saddled with the burden of coaxing the zoned-out Kurapika of travelling with him of all people-there was no telling what was going on inside the Kuruta's mind right now, and Shalnark, being a cautious being by nature that he was, was feeling quite uneasy about the entire situation. Oh well, it was a whole lot better than letting Nobunaga handle the job, as simple things such as coaxing could get instantly gory in less than two seconds flat. Nobunaga was the type of guy who blew insignificant things out of proportion… And come to think of it, weren't all kyouka (strengthen) users that obnoxious in their personality? Ubogin certainly was no exception to that flaw, and the pint-sized spiky-haired brat Nobunaga was hell-bent on replacing Ubo with also acted first without bothering to think about the possible consequences.

"I'll see you back at the inn."

At Kuroro's suggestion, the group had taken immediate refuge under the shelter of the shabby, but spacious inn located in the outskirts of the city. Though the makeshift motel was not entirely pleasing to the eye with regards to its surroundings, it still made do since it was probably the most secluded shelter they could find in the vicinity and the least cramped as well. At least the accommodations comprised of warm baths and properly furnished bedrooms, and they couldn't ask for anything better as they've practically been living off rubble and cement slabs during their stay at the abandoned warehouse.

Kurapika had been eerily silent throughout the entire journey, which completely spooked Shalnark out considering the fact that they had to knock down the two unsuspecting guards at the backdoor of the auction building earlier during their escape from the premises. It was a hell of a lot scarier than having Ubogin attempting to shower him with kisses in gratitude.

Franklin and Nobunaga had also swiped out a barrage of attacks in the middle of the unprepared encounter, and the samurai had 'accidentally' severed off one of the guards' head in the process just to deliberately goad the blonde. Kurapika had shocked everyone senseless in the vicinity when his eyes remained tightly shuttered and walked away from the bloody scene without emitting a single word of outrage or protest.

Shalnark had exchanged nervous looks with their Danchou the moment the blonde turned the corner, though Kuroro gave no sign of discomfort at the Kuruta's odd behaviour. The computer prodigy scratched his head and shrugged, before nudging Franklin and beckoned at him to restrain Nobunaga's more than predictable outburst at the blonde's lack of reaction.

True enough, the samurai didn't disappoint anyone and instantly transformed into a raving lunatic preaching about how combatants ought to react when faced with a challenge and launched into a series of so on and so forth. Bloody hell, the man could go on for hours without hyperventilating if they let him-Franklin remedied that dilemma by simply plucking the blustering swordsman off his feet and swung him onto one broad shoulder-knocking the air out of the perpetual ranting machine's lungs.

"The hell do you think you're doing, Franklin?!" Nobunaga had sputtered out incredulously as he fought against a smothering pair of hefty biceps.

"Shutting you up, you're giving everyone a massive headache."

Shalnark had agreed inwardly with the demi-giant, though he didn't voice it out loud, knowing he'd further provoke the red-faced Nobunaga into launching into another spitting bout of freshly induced outrage. The sandy blonde-haired man jerked a thumb at Franklin and the trio had immediately taken off at a fast sprint. The rest had followed suit, leaving Kuroro to deal with the tight-lipped Kurapika.

He decided to pretend as though nothing had happened, knowing no other way to get the Kuruta to comply without creating a ruckus, he merely stepped over to the blonde's side and murmured an order in an almost indistinct voice, "Let's go."

And so they had ended up walking together in the streets of York Shin City under the sweltering heat of the sun, with Kuroro in the lead while the silent blonde trailed behind him.

Upon reaching their destination, the two had parted with each other towards their designated rooms to seek refuge in their own private thoughts. Shalnark had the misfortune to come across an ashen-faced Kurapika when he'd sought solace in his room with his laptop and very nearly freaked out.

The blonde's pale pallor had gotten worse compared to his initial reaction when he saw the amulet earlier. Shalnark had stood very still in the archway of his own quarters next to the Kuruta's while keeping an observant eye at his would-be neighbour as Kurapika padded his way into the room.

"Kurapika-san?" the computer prodigy dared a tiny amount of worry to lace his otherwise calm voice while addressing the dull-eyed blonde.

Kurapika didn't bother to give him the courtesy of a decent reply, but promptly shut the door to his own chamber and it remained locked after that. Shalnark let out his breath in a relieved whoosh, before jogging down to the adjacent room across his own, intending to track down Franklin-only to barge in on a half-naked, still dripping wet Hisoka.

An automated response seemed to work mechanically inside the genius' brain, as he bowed stiffly and exited the premises under a pretense of dignified air-though his brain had stopped working altogether when he saw the leer on the demented clown's face when his eyes had landed on him.

The moment he had the door closed, he had immediately bolted out of peripheral sight and had gone back into his own room. Goosebumps covered his skin as he shuddered visibly, walking in on a pissed off Kurapika and Nobunaga engaged in combat was sheer heaven compared to what he had just experienced. It was the most frightening experience of a lifetime, and the look on Hisoka's face was bound to give him nightmares even in broad daylight, how he was ever going to be able to look at the clown in the eye again, he didn't know. He only knew that he'd rather be dead and buried twenty feet underground before coming within ten-meter radius contact of the lunatic pervert ever again.

It was nearly midday when Machi had pounded on his and Kurapika's door to tell them that they were having an impromptu meeting in the den of the holding. The penny-pinching innkeeper had graciously allowed Kuroro to make use of the spacious den (probably the only part of the inn decent enough to hold a discussion in) only after he'd charmed her into letting them use it free of charge by flashing a killer smile at her.

When Shalnark opened his door, the adjoining room beside his also opened and Kurapika emerged from it, and though the disoriented blonde still looked disturbingly dishevelled, he had monotonously made his way towards the direction of the den. Shalnark had discreetly followed behind him so as not to further irritate the foul-tempered blonde.

Upon entering the den, the computer prodigy felt the hair at the back of his neck prickle. He thoroughly ignored the annoying sensation, knowing there would be no one else doing it but the damned jester trying to catch him off guard. Of all the people he could've walked in on, why did it have to be the perverted freak? Hell, he'd rather be beaten into a bloody pulp by Pakunoda or Machi rather than see Hisoka-much less without clothes on-the mere memory of it made him want to puke.

Pakunoda, Phinx and Feitan had already arrived, and by the looks of it, had the time of their lives, as Phinx was nowhere to be seen voicing out smart-mouthed comments at anyone and Feitan was blissfully silent for once. Grudgingly, Shalnark admitted that his own activities hadn't been too bad, if only Kurapika hadn't pulled that heart-palpitating stunt and was looking grimmer every damn moment as he sat there by the far corner of the room.

Kuroro hadn't spoken a single word during the entire exchange of murmurs and whispers by his comrades. Pakunoda, Phinx and Feitan had been given a brief rundown of events that had happened by Machi and Shizuku. The tall female had given no outward reaction except to touch Machi's arm-who had given her permission to read her memories, using her nen ability to replay today's earlier events blow by blow inside the healer's mind to get a photographic idea of the surprising incident.

Franklin and Nobunaga had long since abandoned their earlier spat during the swordsman's square off with the chain assassin at the vault incident and were now diligently keeping watchful eyes on the two brooding figures of their Danchou and Kuruta 'member'.

"What are the odds all hell will break loose once that diminutive blondie opens his mouth?" Feitan whispered from the corner of his mouth at Phinx.

Phinx raised an incredulous eyebrow at the description of Kurapika by their resident sadist. He had the nerve to comment about the blonde's lack of height when he was practically the shortest excuse for a man he'd ever seen in his entire lifetime. The taller man didn't grace his companion with an answer.

Shalnark had approached the stone-silent Kurapika tentatively while trying to decipher the unreadable expression on the blonde's face. Either he was stupid or crazy, but one way or another, he'd have to do it. He'd only started to open his mouth when a sharp word of caution from the Danchou jerked him back.

"Shalnark."

The computer prodigy gave a startled jump at Kuroro's intrusion and nearly yelped in surprise. It was the first eloquent word Kuroro had ever spoken out loud since their arrival.

"Just leave him be."

Seeing the wisdom of Kuroro's suggestion, Shalnark nodded in silent agreement with his Danchou's order and distanced himself from the quiet blonde. Although he allowed his point of vision to stray as far as making eye contact solely with Kuroro alone, as the computer prodigy still hadn't had the gumption to look at Hisoka squarely in the eye after that fateful shower incident.

It didn't sit well with Kuroro to just leave things unsettled, but at the moment, it was the lesser of the two evils.

"We will be leaving for Lufa tomorrow at daybreak. Time is of utmost importance if we want to make it in time for the festival. We should be travelling lightly on foot, but it would be better to stock on your winter gear."

Everyone had nodded almost immediately, save Kurapika-who couldn't care less if he were present in the conference or not-though he was most curious about the festival the Spider leader was referring to. After all, the Genei Ryodan doesn't just drop in on country festivals for the mere sake of free food and entertainment.

"We will also be travelling the usual way-in pairs of twos and threes. Bonorenofu, Shizuku, and Coltopi will be the first to depart at the crack of dawn. Machi and Hisoka will be next, followed by Paku and Phinx. Nobunaga and Franklin will be catching up with you later on and then they should be on the lead by the third day."

Machi had scowled fiercely at her assigned travel arrangements, but had chosen to keep silent about her obvious disapproval of the Danchou's choice. Shalnark, on the other hand, had been inwardly relieved he wouldn't be placed in the same travel group with the freaky clown. There was no telling what sorts of devious stunts the demented jester could cook up in the middle of the journey, it was bad enough experiencing it once, a second one would probably mean his doom. The techno-genius could only sympathize with Machi's rotten luck at getting partners.

"Feitan, Shalnark, you two will be the last to depart, after Kurapika and I check out."

A movement by the corner of the room caught their rapt attention, as the blonde finally stood up from his slouched position and, from the looks of it, was back to his normal, reserved self again. Kurapika's eyes had returned to their usual blue-green color and if the slight sneer playing at the corner of his mouth was any indication of it, Shalnark would bet anything he had in his possession that the blonde was dying to leave the room right that moment without risking any privy interrogation directed at him. That shunted, dull look was gone from his face and his eyes were slowly regaining their former glimmer of wariness and caution as he pondered whether or not to voice out his displeasure at his travel arrangements, and finally, opted to stay stonily silent at the end of his internal debate.

For a moment there, Shalnark thought the blonde was about to open his mouth and comment sarcastically about his travel company, but he surprised all of them by giving them a cool, bland stare instead-that was totally unnerving considering his former demeanor of mental instability, and spoke levelly, "Are we finished?"

Kuroro nodded in affirmation to his demand, and after a heartbeat of seconds, he voiced out everyone's silent question in a soft-spoken request, "Would you mind telling us what happened back there?"

Obviously expecting the inevitable interrogation, though he was quite surprised the Spider head had asked for his consent to open up to them rather than demand it from him, Kurapika held out the confiscated amulet in his hand and released the verbal bomb to his 'cohorts' in an indifferent manner, "It belonged to my mother."

The fake gesture of casual indifference didn't fool Kuroro one bit, for he knew an underlying amount of pent-up suppressed hatred laced that deceptive statement. One just had to read between the lines to get the gist of it.

Most of them had been taken aback by the abrupt confession; leaving only Kuroro to remain calm at the shocking reply. Shalnark had looked thunderstruck when the blonde had spoken out loud, and even Pakunoda had been stunned speechless by the declaration. Nobunaga's face was screwed up into a frown while Phinx was mulling over the discovery seconds after Kurapika uttered the words. Machi blinked once, and it was the only outward sign of telltale awkwardness at the topic she had ever shown.

Hisoka didn't so much as blink, but he had the grace to temporarily wipe off that permanent smirk on his face in respect for the dearly departed and henceforth maintained a sober attitude so unsuited for the likes of him-Feitan was the only one who noticed the subtle change and nearly doubled back in disbelief as the look on the clown's face appeared to be so out of place that it took a whole minute for his brain to process that single piece of information. It was absolutely priceless.

"How did it end up in the hands of the Mafia?" Shizuku asked Kurapika innocently-obviously unaware of the sensitivity of the topic. Shalnark chanced a look of hopelessness towards the oblivious girl as mental gears inside his brain stopped functioning altogether. Dear Lord, how much denser could the girl get?

Kurapika gave her a careless shrug of his shoulders and muttered an almost inaudible, "No idea."

"We took no baubles nor valuables from the Kuruta during the siege, only the eyes, that I can assure you."

Kurapika wasn't sure who felt more shocked by Kuroro's revelation-him or the other Spider members. Though it was obvious that the man hadn't exactly mentioned it just for the heck of saying something plausible from the hard tone of his voice, it was still the first time the Spider leader had ever volunteered information concerning their role in the Kuruta massacre without Kurapika drilling it into him. Shalnark, Pakunoda and Franklin had looked uneasy about the topic, but nevertheless kept stiff composure during their leader's statement of the facts.

"I wasn't accusing you of it."

For the second time that day, Kurapika had shocked everyone senseless with his unpredictable train of thoughts.

Rendered speechless, Kuroro could only give the blonde a piercing, perusal stare while everyone looked on. It was evident that nobody could rouse a proper reply to the outspoken statement-it was too shocking to believe, much less absorb since the Kuruta had literally damned their existence since he'd heard of them.

"I buried my mother with it before I left to become a hunter," the blonde explained curtly in answer to everyone's dazed looks.

Even Nobunaga had trouble stringing words together, the blonde had not only spoken of the matter calmly, but he was actually clearing them of the damning crime of stealing his mother's jewelry?! Good grief, what in the whole wide world was going on?

Nearly everyone who had actively participated in the massacre had remained tongue-tied, as no one else dared to speak about it in front of the Kuruta survivor after recent events.

"I'd like to keep it if you don't mind," Kurapika suddenly blurted out in a neutral and modulated tone, keeping in mind to choose his words carefully and delivered them in a courteous manner, lest the raven-haired man refuses his request.

Kuroro had given him an even, unblinking stare, and the blonde nearly thought he was about to tell him to go to hell when the Spider head nodded amiably and stood up, "Do as you please."

Kurapika relaxed his tense shoulders, before making a beeline back to his room with the amulet clutched tight in his fist. Shalnark was quite sure he wasn't the only who noticed the blonde's restrained actions, he'd caught the strange, guarded look in the Kuruta's inscrutable eyes and his eyes immediately zeroed in on Kurapika's clenched fingers. When he turned to gauge his comrades' reactions, he noticed that nearly everyone was avoiding to make eye contact with the blonde-only Hisoka dared to look at him squarely in the eye, but was wise enough not to say anything at all.

Nobody had the guts to object to that particularly sensitive subject after that, unless of course they wanted to be flayed and skewered alive by none other than Kuroro himself.

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Everything seemed to be going back to normalcy once more, as Nobunaga had once again engaged the furious blonde into a shouting match and was making such a bloody uproar that everyone in the inn had woken up grumbling and groggily left their rooms to find the source of the commotion.

They found the two bellowing at the top of their voices by the entrance of the bathroom. Apparently, Kurapika had decided to take a midnight stroll to visit the chamber pot and had walked in on Nobunaga-again.

"It's not my fault you don't know the fundamental functions of a door as well as a lock!" the blonde roared out indignantly.

"Don't start using those smart-ass words at me, you goddamn know-it-all brat! The least you could do was have the decency to knock!" Nobunaga yelled in the same ominous tone.

"I knocked, you knucklehead! You must be as deaf as a post if you didn't hear it!"

"You purposely barged through that door, so admit it!" the red-faced samurai bellowed back.

"How many times do I have to tell you, you old, insufferable goat! I didn't do it on purpose!" The term 'old' seemed to hit a nerve, as Nobunaga's red face turned purple with barely suppressed anger.

The swordsman seethed as he glared resentfully at the equally enraged blonde. It was the second time the blonde had walked in on him in the bathroom, and it has got to be the most humiliating position anyone had ever seen him in. Curse the streak of bad luck that seemed to be jinxing him, he still hadn't forgotten that embarrassing incident-as Phinx never failed to remind him of it everyday. He was rather thankful he had foregone his usual loincloth this time and opted to wear boxers, else he'll never hear the end of it from Phinx and Feitan.

"What the hell's going on, you loud blokes?! You're waking up even the dead with that racket!" a bleary-eyed Phinx demanded in a near shout-he was dreadfully cranky when he was deprived of sleep.

Kurapika remained stubbornly silent, but Nobunaga obviously wanted the entire world to know his distress when he literally advertised it in his booming voice, "Stupid git barged in on me!"

"For the last time, you thick-headed numbskull, I did not barge in!"

"The results prove to be otherwise!"

An eyebrow twitched violently above the blonde's right eye, "What sort of mentally sane person would deliberately walk in on someone else's bathroom activities?!"

"A perverted one?" Hisoka called out slyly in between the hurls of insults.

Kurapika and Nobunaga growled simultaneously and shot the clown murderous looks that spelled instant death before resuming their pointless argument. Kuroro resisted the urge to stare disbelievingly at the gall of Hisoka to call anyone perverted when he was practically the epitome of a full-fledged perverted maniac ever to walk the land. Shalnark's pallor had turned milk white and Pakunoda was close to choking in an attempt to cover up her cough of incredulity. Machi pointedly ignored the ironic comment, as she had had enough experience dealing with the perverted clown to last anyone an entire lifetime.

After successfully shutting Hisoka off, Kuroro had taken one look at the dishevelled appearances of the group and promptly called an immediate halt to the shouting contest, "Kurapika, would you care to explain?"

Obligingly, Kurapika relayed the events prior to the incident, from his knocking of the open bathroom door to entering it when he had received no reply in return, but upon his entrance, Nobunaga had yelled in outrage and startled the sleepy Kurapika into alertness. The Kuruta had obviously walked in on Nobunaga while he was doing his lavatory activities and therefore had resulted into another round of hurling obscenities and threats at each other.

"Nobu, did you lock the door?" Shalnark asked with a sleepy yawn.

"Obviously not, would he be able to enter if it were?" Nobunaga barked sarcastically and glared at him as though he was the dumbest creature alive-he was ready to jump at somebody's throat and rip it out by now.

"Why didn't you?" the sandy blonde-haired man prodded in exasperation even as everyone rolled their eyes in the same sentiment.

"Er… the lights were out."

"Nobu, we have a power shortage in case you're too thick to notice. And what connection is there between busted lights and unlocked doors?"

"I don't see in the dark!"

Shalnark gave him an I-don't believe-you-look before relenting, "Your point is?"

"I didn't lock it because I didn't want to grope around in the dark!"

The room remained eerily silent after that particular statement, though Nobunaga looked very much like a fish floundering out of water with the way he was going on with his tirade. If looks could kill, Nobunaga would very much be dead and buried by now with the way the other Spiders were glaring at him. The rest of the Spiders seem to think so, as they realized that the samurai's lack of logical reasoning skills couldn't get any lamer.

"I still don't see the connection between locks and darkness."

"Are you trying to tell me I'm being pointless?!" the blustering swordsman hurled back.

Or maybe it could get lamer…

Phinx let out a loud yawn while the rest had chosen to turn temporarily deaf at the statement. Sure the swordsman didn't claim to be the smartest man to walk this earth, but for some instances such as this, his lack of common sense was proving to be the death of them.

Shalnark gave the samurai a baleful look of exasperation, "Did you close it then?"

"…… no."

"You should close the door when you occupy a bathroom so people don't walk in on you unexpectedly. It's called common sense."

Franklin, who had been grumbling incoherently behind Kuroro suddenly shoved their Danchou aside and cuffed Nobunaga's head with quick flick of his wrist even as he swayed dangerously on his footing. Pakunoda had been startled awake when Kuroro was suddenly sidled up against her, and her astonished gaze lifted to the enormous man who had pushed at their leader. Phinx and Shalnark had also been shocked by Franklin's movements, but only Shizuku let out a whooshing air of defeat and turned to Coltopi, "Franklin's having another one of his spells again."

"Goddamn it, Franklin, why the hell do you keep on-" the frustrated swordsman trailed off when he angled his head up to look at his friend's face. "Never mind."

Kuroro, amazed that the enormous man had actually dared to lay a finger on him, asked the clueless girl, "What spells?"

"He's still sleeping, Danchou."

The Spider head raised an amused eyebrow, and true enough, when he looked at Franklin's face, the demi-giant's eyes were still closed in deep sleep even as he had Nobunaga in a headlock. "Is he always like this?"

"Only when you wake him up in the middle of the night."

Kurapika had been struck dumb at the entire scenario, and shook his head in hopeless exasperation. First off, the situation was as ludicrous as seeing Kuroro doing a tap dance right that moment; the Spiders actually had their fair share of humor, and it was highly unnerving. Hell, even Feitan had the grace to look merely disgruntled at the commotion and was muttering under his breath about obsessive samurais and their never-ending quest for power domination by waking up the dead. The blonde nearly face-vaulted at the sadist's logic, it was nearly as warped up as Hisoka's unstable mind.

It was also one hell of a night, just a minute ago Nobunaga had been threatening to take a swing to decapitate him, but now, it looked as though a carnival had gone through the middle of it with the samurai being the clown of the show and bungled up in his juggling act. One thing for certain, the Spider members were still human, as deprivation of sufficient sleep made them as surly as grizzly bears in heat. Every single one of them sported identical traces of lack of sleep on their faces as they stood by in their sleeping gear and mutinous, silent murder was evident on their irritated faces at the disruption of their rest, even Hisoka had looked normal in the state of his sleepy half-lidded eyes as he stood by the door of his room watching the impromptu pyjama party.

"Shizuku, get Franklin back into his room and tuck him in," Kuroro murmured as he grabbed hold of Kurapika's arm and all but shoved him at the surprised Shalnark and addressed a similar order, "Take him back to his."

Satisfied that he'd sorted out the problem, Kuroro raised his eyes to look at the ticking clock hanging on the far side of the wall, "It looks like nobody's going to be sleeping well tonight."

Grunts and incoherent babbles emitted from the retreating group as they filed their way back into their respective quarters.

"Goddamn prick, he woke everyone up just for that?" Phinx grumbled loudly enough for everyone within earshot to hear as he stumbled his way back to his room.

Rubbing the top of his nose, the raven-haired man let out a relieved sigh and made his way back to his room. As he passed by the door of Kurapika's room, his eyes strayed back to the wooden obstacle and paused in his wake to stare at it for a moment. After a few moments' thoughts, he shook his head in hesitation and proceeded to walk the rest of the way back to his quarters.

Midway through his walk, he remembered the winter clothes he had purchased for the blonde earlier on. Kuroro made a mental note to persuade the stubborn Kuruta to take it whether he needed or not, after all, the size of the garments was nowhere near his own, let alone his height.

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Silence the morning after was too much to hope for, as Kurapika had obviously not been entirely spacing off during Nobunaga's decapitation escapade with the Mafia guards and was diligently proceeding to lecture the once-again raving samurai about the matter by giving him hell.

The swordsman's face was a shade of blotchy red as he sputtered out in between yet another one of the blonde's blistering tongue-lashings and was giving him living hell from the looks of it.

"And he's off and running," Feitan swore ripely when Nobunaga also started foaming at the mouth again.

Phinx muttered his concealed exasperation under his breath, "Why the hell does he always have to go mouthing off this early? It's not even close to daybreak."

A working muscle ticked beneath Feitan's jaw as the argument raged on in front of them. Shizuku, Coltopi and Bonorenofu helplessly looked on, as there was simply no opening for them to intervene with the continuing battle and most of them hadn't had the guts to do so-Nobunaga was certainly in a mood foul enough to chew everyone out and cheerfully decapitate them one by one.

And so the morning started off with Kurapika efficiently washing down everyone's short breakfast with his blistering lecture. Everyone looked so stressed out that if it wouldn't look humiliating, they'd be throwing up their breakfast right that very moment-though Feitan briefly considered barfing out his morning intake on top of the Kuruta's blonde locks.

When Kuroro heard the word 'murder' mentioned for the third time since his arrival at the reception area, he was positive Nobunaga was more than ready to blanch and consider reforming his bloodthirsty ways into enjoying to beat the living daylights out of Kurapika and turn him into a bloody pulp. Still, the Kuruta could give him a run of his money with the way he was carrying on like that, the tireless blonde seemed intent on drilling the deafening lecture into every occupant of the room as well by the pained expressions on everyone's face as he droned on. Apparently, the blonde was the only one who had a good night's rest and was on a dangerous crusade of pissing everyone off early in the morning as an appetizer.

"Good morning," the Spider head greeted in a forced tone of pleasantry in an attempt to divert the blonde's attention.

His attempt went entirely unnoticed, as Kurapika didn't even bother to acknowledge his greeting since the blonde was still too busy going on with his tirade about morals and ethics in his drill with Nobunaga. Only this time, Franklin was included in the verbal abuse as well and was taking it none too lightly. By the looks of it, the normally silent giant who advocated violence-is-not-allowed-among-members was at the brink of discarding his qualms about resolving problems with brute strength and was briefly contemplating the act of actually pounding the spewing blonde into oblivion if given the chance.

Without a change in expression, Kuroro stepped forward and covered a gentle hand over Kurapika's mouth. The blonde started jerkily, before tilting his head back to glare at him. The Spider head only placed one finger of his free hand in a gesture of silence as reply.

"Bonorefu, Shizuku, Coltopi, get going. Use the north route." Seeing no way out to escape the blonde's rapier-sharp tongue without drawing blood, Kuroro interceded gracefully, placing his head and ear at risk, to put a temporary halt to the verbal assaults-Shalnark thought it was very brave of their Danchou to actually dare put off Kurapika in the middle of his rant.

Franklin had looked vastly relieved when Kuroro mediated between the blonde's verbal hurls, as it was getting rather out of hand-he had a migraine as proof of that. The Frankenstein wannabe immediately grabbed the still sputtering Nobunaga and pulled him into a far corner of the room to put a permanent halt to the verbal exchange, though the samurai still hurled muffled oaths at the blonde despite the human barricade.

"Machi, Hisoka, you'll be taking the long route towards south."

The indigo-haired woman nodded grimly before turning on her heel, while Hisoka whistled merrily behind her as they started to leave the holding. With an irritated twitch of an eyelid and a disdainful curl on her lips, Machi had glared warning icicle daggers at her companion and without warning, immediately took off with a light-footed leap over the rickety fence.

Hisoka merely crossed his arms in front of his torso at the sudden abandonment as the remaining Spider members looked on.

"She must be afraid she'll fall for my irresistible charms," the demented jester commented loud enough for everyone within peripheral distance to hear. "Wait for me, darling," he ended with a seductive purr and sped off after her.

Shalnark and Phinx had shuddered visibly while Nobunaga snorted violently into the cup of tea Franklin had shoved earlier at him. Franklin managed to keep an impassive, straight face despite the goosebumps and the change of pallor on his skin. Kurapika's complexion had turned slightly green and his face was screwed up into a disgusted grimace, whereas Pakunoda felt the hairs at her nape bristle in uprising as she fought down the urge to vomit. Hell, even Feitan looked sickened by the jester's words, as his already-sallow complexion had turned slightly paler than usual and was rapidly turning stark white.

Kuroro's face had been completely bland and devoid of emotion during the clown's self-ego boost, though he was beginning to doubt the wisdom of his decision in putting Machi and Hisoka together without so much as a chaperone. The woman looked as though she had been sentenced to hang a while ago and was forced to swallow a mouthful of hemlock when Hisoka leered at her.

Making a mental note to discreetly apologize to the would-be traumatized woman the next time they meet, Kuroro had nodded to Phinx and Pakunoda, "Head east, then catch up with Machi and Hisoka by sundown tomorrow. Make sure she's… all right-mentally."

Nobunaga and Franklin were given the same directions as Shizuku's group, though they were given specific instructions to stay a day apart from each other.

"The road to Lufa is sturdy enough, but we all have to pass through Necrovalley in the middle of the journey before we can reach the Glacier Forest in the outskirts of the city. I wouldn't let anyone venture into that fork, but seeing as there's no other way to get to Lufa except taking that route…" Kuroro trailed off.

Nobunaga mumbled something unintelligible under his breath before nodding, "Do we pass through Necropolis as well?"

"Yes." The Spider head's silky voice sounded about as cheerfully warm as a snow blizzard striking in full force when he gave his damning answer.

Franklin had a shunted look on his face, but he carefully wiped it blank when Kuroro faced him, "I'll trust you two to make it there first. Remember to leave a nen trail behind the Peak, just to make sure the others know you've passed through there."

Nobunaga nodded grimly in silent response before jabbing a sharp elbow at his partner, "Let's get going."

If Kurapika had been confused by the turn of events, he didn't let it show on his face. Though he had been puzzled by the samurai's reaction to Kuroro's cryptic responses, the blonde refrained from voicing out his questions and carefully observed the departing duo before turning back to the Spider leader-who was now giving the final pair, apart from Kurapika and himself, orders.

"Shalnark, Feitan, you know what to do." Kuroro's voice was deadly calmm his face held the same intense look the blonde had seen before when he'd tried to goad the unpredictable man's temper-it was a dead giveaway to the seriousness of the situation, though Kurapika was dubious it was because of temper that he was sporting that pessimistic attitude now.

"Failure is not an option," Kuroro's voice dropped several degrees lower.

Shalnark and Feitan nodded in agreement, knowing failure meant jeopardizing the entire situation, and the resulting scenario would be twice as unpleasant as carrying out the task at hand. Kuroro would be after their blood and hell-bent on tearing them to pieces before they could even blink twice, regardless of his usual calm-exterior façade.

Kurapika eyed the conversing trio warily, and when Kuroro motioned for him, he slowly trudged up next to the Spider head's frame.

"Ready?"

As the blonde had already foregone his usual tribal robes and settled with his replacement wardrobe composed of a grey turtleneck and a pair of loose black jeans instead, he concluded that he was. After all, ready in the vocabulary of a Genei Ryodan member meant preparing for a journey that wasn't meant for fun unless you counted killing sprees as an everyday habit, and there was no way in hell that they could afford anyone noticing them, as there were still bounty hunters out there at large who hadn't given up looking for surviving Genei Ryodan members.

"Yes," the blonde confirmed and lightly patted the sling bag resting by his side that contained his newly acquired winter gear. After all, Kuroro had literally made it his personal mission two hours before dawn to force the Kuruta into accepting the jacket and mink hat he'd bought in the night market before, and he had seen to it with determined gusto. Until finally, after three gruelling hours of tiresome debacles, Kurapika had conceded grudgingly and stoically received the folded garment and hat from Kuroro's outstretched hand.

At the blonde's nod, Kuroro placed both hands inside the pockets of his fur-leather coat and stepped onto the porch before turning his head back slightly, "Then what are we waiting here for?" The raven-haired man had started walking on the damp earth before Kurapika had the chance to open his mouth to respond.

"For the grass to grow," Kurapika muttered sarcastically under his breath before swiftly following suit.

Feitan and Shalnark had held back choked laughter at Kurapika's mumbled reply, though the computer prodigy would never dare answer back to Kuroro like that, it was still a refreshing thing to see someone being able to do it without batting an eyelash.

"There's grass out here?" Feitan suddenly asked as he chanced a look at the grass-deprived earth then back at the barren terrain complementing it.

Shalnark gave him a disgruntled look before slapping his forehead with an open palm and muttered lowly, "The wonders of sadism… your lack of a decent sense of humor amazes me, Feitan. It goes beyond even the range of Kukulu Mountains."

 (To be continued…)

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Notes: I know, bad chapter as this could be counted as a filler chapter.

(10-30-2004) Argh!! The heat here is driving me crazy! I swear Buddha's testing my endurance for masochism. And well, here you go, finally, chapter five is out after having a gruelling writer's block in its making. If you wanna complain about how lousy this is, grab a mallet and start pounding at me with it. All my brain cells have been officially pulverized anyway, what's the harm of causing more damage to it?

(10-31-2004) Sorry for being so…  irritatingly wordy in this installment. It's just that the angst was getting to me and I couldn't string two words of humor together when I started writing the draft out.

(11-03-2004) I'm currently addicted to Get Backers right now, after re-watching all 49 episodes in a marathon. Kazuki and Juubee romantic sappiness had been implanted inside my deceased brain. Those two have just got to be the cutest pair ever. I sure hope Kazuki-sama's presence will revive me… (stares at chibi-Kazuki button pin) Oh damn, I just love episodes 26, 27, 39 and 40-never failed to make me laugh-a guaranteed source of laughter, not to mention stress reliever. Argh, enough with the mooning, I'm going to work on Blood Pact now. (cracks knuckles)

(11-04-2004) Finally, the perfect atmosphere to write fics in: no sweltering sun and rain in sight, just the cool breeze of refreshing November air. Now this is what I call good weather, that way, I won't get too cranky due to heat. The heck with this, I'm somewhere near the third-quarter of this fic anyway.

(11-08-2004) I've got something up my sleeve, and I'm finished doing an illustrated sketch of them already. However, they won't be appearing anytime soon. (grin) Appearances will be made in succeeding chapters. It's been such a long time since I've held a pencil and sketched with it, let's not mention the period of time I haven't touched my poster and watercolors, so you'll have to bear with my half-hearted attempts to make it look decent. The heck, you won't be seeing it now anyway… oh shit, I'm babbling… this is enough. Don't sue me.

(11-12-2004) Oh my shit… it's 4am here and I'm still turning my brains inside out writing out the entire scenario. One of these days, I'm going to get that blasted notebook and burn it, damn useless stuff… I end up revising everything I've ever written on it anyway. It's driving me up a wall, and I'm definitely going to become one more likely candidate confined to the mental ward by the time I finish this darn chapter.

(11-13-2004) I believe I've just had experienced the most traumatic day of my life… the details I won't bother to disclose, I'm still having living nightmares about it…

(11-15-2004) It's finally done! Whew! It's a few pages shorter than what I had originally planned, but this is the finished product. After re-editing over and over again… it's finally done!!! And now on to the next chapter… I'm gonna die all over again.