Hunter X Hunter Fan Fiction ❯ Idelian ❯ Shards of yesterday ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Idelian

Chapter 1: Shards of yesterday

Part 1: Eyes of Fire

Written by: Thanh Nhu

Translated by: Kal Kally

***

“Gon! Gon! Look!”

Gon was trying to insert the strawberry into the place that would be the snowman's nose when he heard Killua calling him from behind. He turned back, and got a cold snowball to his face. The impact made him fall to the snow-covered ground.

“Kiiillua!” Gon wiped the remaining of the snow on his face away with the back of his hand, half angry, half amused at the trick.

There under a pine tree, the little assassin was pointing at Gon, laughing like he had just seen something very funny. Standing in the middle of a white-filled place, with the white hair and pale skin, with the dangerous, yet innocent aura around him, Killua looked like a mysterious, but alluring picture.

“Nice Shot.” Killua yelled, his voice heavy with laughter. “Do you want to fight with me?” He suggested and bended down to scoop up a handful of snow, then rolled it into a ball.

Gon made a dismiss gesture. “No! You will ruin my snowman. But Killua, come here! We will make this snowman together. It only needs something to be a hat. Come here and help me?”

Killua scratched his head. He had seen snow many times before through films and books. But on mountain Kululu, snow never fell, and on the few occasions that he went on `missions' and happened to see snow, there was simply no time for playing around. So he really had no clue how to make a snowman. But…

He had never thought he would be able to play on a snowfield like this before. And more than that… to be able to stay with Gon, playing, chatting, and fighting…. It's just like a dream, which was even more wonderful than Christmas… than snow…

“I have no idea what we should use to make the hat, Killua.” Gon complained. “There's no bucket in the house!”

Killua just shrugged. Except pines and snow, what could they possibly find in this isolated place?

“I'll let you borrow this!” A voice called. The boys switched their attention to the forest's direction. There, Leorio was holding up a pineapple with one hand, the other hand waving at them.

“That's great! It will do!” Gon cried and caught the fruit Leorio threw to him. “Thank you, Leorio!” He placed the pineapple on the top of the snowman, completing his work: a fat but cute snowman with a strawberry as its nose, a pineapple as its head, two pinecones as its eyes and a lots of colorful sweets as its teeth.
But the pineapple decided that it didn't want to remain in place. It slowly slid down, pulling with it a large part of the snowman's head.

Killua burst out laughing and Gon pouted. The boys quickly became absorbed in repairing the snowman. Their voices and laughter seemed to brighten up the whole area.

`Really nothing more to say.' Leorio thought. `It doesn't seem that they remember why we are here.”

Lifting his sunglasses up a little, Leorio smiled. “But that's good for them, being able to be so comfortable like that. There's really no need to strain ourselves if we don't even know when it will start. At least until this Christmas…” Leorio headed back to the house. This place was just so boring. Everywhere was only snow and pine trees. He had intended to go out for a walk, but soon found himself fed up with the same scene replaying its self again and again.

The flickering flame in the fireplace was making small crackling noises, temporarily destroyed the icy silence in the living room. Its weak warmth crawled out and covered a small area around the fireplace.

Even when staying outside, Leorio didn't really feel cold thanks to his little knowledge about nen. But as he stood at the doorstep staring into the living room, suddenly he felt like he was embraced in freezing coldness. The flame reflected in the eyes of the last person of Kuruta tribe, adding to the crimson shade a glowing light. Yet, even when carrying the sheer color of flame, those eyes had never given a sense of warmth.

The room was dark. The only source of light in the room came from the fire in the fireplace. Kurapika huddled himself in the armchair. His face was hidden behind his arms, revealing only his burning eyes. So beautiful, so wild, yet so sorrowful…

Before Leorio could stop himself, a sigh escaped his mouth. Almost immediately, the glow of fire in that lonely person's eyes disappeared.

Leorio drop himself on the sofa.

Silence was like a thick wall between them. Time ticked away slowly… No one said a word…

How enormous the gap between the world outside and the world inside this room was, Leorio thought. The lonely house in this isolated place was so much like Kurapika. The world outside where Gon and Killua were playing was a very different world, a world that belonged to the innocent of childhood, the pureness of snow, a world that was free and full of laughter. But here, for the whole time Kurapika just tied himself with this fire, lived in a shell formed from shadow and loneliness.

It hurt. His heart hurt to see Kurapika like this, so lonely… so sorrowful…

There are people whose pain was so strong. The pain streamed out like a fall, seemingly never faded. But gradually, the pain became less. As life went on, those people learnt to accept reality and their pain soon became just a part of their memories… But with Kurapika, it was an invisible pain, a quiet sadness that kept smoldering no matter how much time passed.

And how Leorio wanted to chase that sadness away…

“In fact, there is something else, isn't it?” Leorio started the conversation.

“Just what is this `something'?' Kurapika answered with a question, detachment clearly in his voice.

“What had kindled the fire in your eyes.”

Kurapika fell silence. He never wanted to share his secret with anyone. But fate was playing such a cruel game to make the only people that he treasured in his lonely world come here now.

This dangerous work was what he had forced himself to enter. He had a reason. He didn't hesitate. He had no regret. But he didn't want it to involve his friends.

“Nothing. Only that I've just seen a spider on the wall.”

“You're lying!” Leorio interrupted. “But if you can't tell me now, I will wait.”

Leorio looked so serious, and it made Kurapika unable to find out what to do. Lying was not easy for him, and lying to a close friend was just ten times more difficult.

The day when he found the fateful classified advertisement on newspapers, he had been a solitary revenger, and had thought he would lead that lonely life forever. He had made contact with Kuroi and got an appointment with that man. But when the date was near, Gon, Killua and Leorio came, claiming that they couldn't let him face danger alone, claiming that they couldn't afford losing him. He tried to make them go back, but no matter what he said, they just refused to leave.

Kurapika was moved, yet worry and guilt filled his heart. Was it that destiny had tied him to these people, or that these people were tied to his revengeful battle? He didn't know, but there was something he knew for sure, he didn't want them to involve in his battle anymore.

He just couldn't lose any of these people… Kurapika closed his eyes.

Leorio tried to read Kurapika's expression, but failed. Kurapika's face was hid behind his arms, and his eyes had closed, refusing to reveal any emotion. But the doctor could still felt something, something that was heavy in the silence between them.

He still remembered the day when he received a short message from Gon and Killua on his hand phone, telling him that Kurapika was going to accept a dangerous job, and was staying here. They had come here, not willingly to let their friend be alone in whatever road he had chosen. That day… he found that something had changed in Kurapika's eyes. What was it? Something must have happened. But…

His hand rose, hitting his forehead lightly with his palm. He could only feel the change but he was unable to guess his friend's thoughts and intention. “If only I were as intelligent as him…” Leorio thought.

Darkness reached its arms out, embracing them as the fire was dying slowly in the fireplace. But no one, neither him nor Kurapika has the heart to kindle it.

Suddenly a scream erupted outside, tearing the peacefulness of the evening. Kurapika and Leorio startled, then paled. They flew out of the house, their hearts beating wildly in their chests.

It was Killua's scream, calling Gon's name…

Part 2: Crimson Dream

Written: Kellie

Translated: Kal Kall

***

Sometimes I wonder if time could blur the memories in my heart…

When I was small, I was often acknowledged in the village as a gifted child. My parents and the others in my village had all expected me to be a great fighter, a wise scholar, and the next leader of the Kuruta tribe.

How can I forget? No matter how much time passes, this sin cannot be erased. My greatest mistake… How can I forget…? The day of spiders… The bank of Rukuso River was stained in blood, and my village was lost in flames. I can still remember it vividly… a wild crimson shade… so beautiful… so beautiful… like the color of my eyes. Like the color of the flame embracing me.

Dancing…

The flame is dancing in my eyes...

The people of the Kuruta Tribe were famous for the color of their eyes.

The color of fire in the crimson eyes… Will time blur the sin of my past?… or Fate has tied me to them tightly?…

The flame is dancing in my eyes… Who will answer my question?…

***

“In fact, there is something else, isn't it?”

I hate it. I hate it so much when Leorio looks at me like that. I hate those eyes that bring me such a sense of insecurity. I don't want to share my little secret. Leorio is still staring at me, waiting for an answer. What should I say? I hate to be forced to give lies.

“Just what is this `something'?'

Leorio knows. He knows that I'm lying. The mask of apathy I wear has never been able to fool him.

“What had kindled the fire in your eyes.”

Leorio loves me. I know that. Leorio is the one understand me most. I know that too. Leorio has tried his best to stay by my side for a long time. But I only consider him a friend, a close friend. I love him. I really love him, but always as a brother.

To me, Leorio is the one most important, but…

His feeling for me… I cannot answer… For Fate is so ironic, my heart has belong to another person… My worst enemy…

***

My peaceful evening… The little house seems to shine in a white dusk… My unpeaceful evening…

I am a person of the Kuruta clan. The people of the Kuruta clan are not invincible fighters. But we are not cowards who only know to wait for rescue either. We know when to stand up and fight for our pride… for our homes… and that was the secret of our legendary shade of crimson. Just like everyone else in the clan, my eyes will also turn red when I'm angry, or… afraid. Right now, it's fear that's painting my eyes red. At my left side, Leorio looks pale.

“It can't be… I've just left them for several minutes! Killua only left him for a short while too!” The man stammers.

I observe the snow-covered ground carefully, my hand holding Gon's broken fishing rod. There are footprints on the snow, some of which are deeper than others. All of them seem to belong to Gon. Worry starts to claw at my inside, and I feel my hands slightly trembling. Killua has gone searching for Gon in other places, leaving Leorio and me here. The man also looks worried.

There are only several footprints, and there was just too little time for anything to happen. The kidnapper also didn't get near Gon, as his footprints are the only ones on the ground. The one who was capable of doing this must have a very strong manipulate nen, at least strong enough to repress Gon's own nen and command the boy to leave this area. To be able to command a human being without any intermediary and from such a long distance, this person must be a master of the manipulate nen type… A Ryodan member? May be… May be not. In my head suddenly appears a thought of a message on the computer screen and the appointment that I have got.

“Kurapika! KURAPIKA!”

The voice startles me. Killua has return.

“I don't find him anywhere. There aren't any vehicles or suspicious people around here either.” Killua panted, worry clearly shown on his face.

Leorio stares at me as if I could give him an answer. “But… that's impossible! That boy can't just disappear into the air! If this is a joke, I'll surely—“

“Leorio, this is not a joke.”

I interrupt him. Killua has paid attention to me, but there's something strange in his eyes. Something like… suspicion?

“Gon has been kidnapped by someone of the manipulate nen type. Look at the footprints on the ground. Some are deeper than the rest. He had tried to resist the hostile nen.”

I point at the traces that disappear near a pine tree. The last footprint is quite deeper than others.

“Gon must have jumped up here onto this pine tree, and left here by this way. The one who commanded him seemed not to want us to follow his footprints and find him…”

A hideous laughter interrupts me. I look up, unprepared to face with Killua's pale, strangely hateful face. He was laughing.

“It's YOU! It's YOU who harm Gon!”

“Killua ... I …” I stammer.

“DIE!”

Killua screams and lunges at me, his sharp claws aiming at my throat.

The intense pain when Killua crushes my throat with his claws is the last thing I feel before I fall into a dark, empty and silent abyss. And soon, a terrible coldness is all what's left. It feels like a rain of icy shards are falling on me, each shard cutting into my bones, tearing my skin and freezing my body into numbness. My screams are stuck in my throat, unable to come out, unable to voice my agony.

Suddenly I feel my body jerking up as if someone is trying to pull me back. The icy air becomes less and less cold. The pain also becomes less, replaced by a strange warmth. Someone is hugging me. I open my eyes, and see Leorio's worrying face.

“Thank God! You've woken up!”

I look around, recognizing the familiar room. Near the fireplace, Kuroro is observing me with his cold eyes…

It is only a dream…

A crimson dream…

TBC...