Beta: TaintedLetter

(≧ڡ≦*)

Once they had finished stealing the items, Miwa watched them fake their deaths and then headed back to the hotel. She was excited to tell her friends about everything that had happened.

To her delight, Kurapika was already in the hotel room. She was surprised he had stopped by so late.

Kurapika's eyes bulged when Miwa walked in holding a jar of scarlet eyes. "Wha—?"

"Here you go," said Miwa, holding out the jar with a big smile. "It's from the auction."

"But I—these were—these were bought," stumbled Kurapika, accepting the eyes of his dead clan mate. "The—The Phantom Troupe—"

Kurapika fell silent as a hollowed expression washed over him. His eyes dulled, he clutched tightly at the jar. He looked closer to a corpse than a living human.

"What's wrong?" asked Miwa, tilting her head curiously.

"He's sad the Phantom Troupe died," explained Gon from his seat on the bed.

"Oh," Miwa said, brightening. "Then I've got great news for you! They aren't. They were at the auction. They made copies of everything there and sold the fakes while stealing the originals. They let me take the eyes though."

Kurapika slowly raised his head to look at her, a myriad of emotions flickering over his face. Disbelief; joy; fury; bitterness; and everything in between. He eventually schooled his features to that closer of apathy, his nen cooling rapidly.

The sharp decrease in temperature of his nen alarmed Miwa, her heart jumped and for a moment—

'Sasuke?'

"Wh—What's wrong?" she asked again uneasily.

"Thank you." His words were that of gratitude, but his tone was detached and the chains in his nen rattled ominously.

"For what? What is the Troupe to you?"

"It is my purpose to destroy the Phantom Troupe. They are instruments of destruction and hunted down my clan for our eyes. They deserve death," Kurapika sternly said, the chill in his nen only worsening.

Miwa's mind blanked for a moment until she asked in a quiet, trembling voice, "This is for revenge?"

Kurapika nodded curtly, and at once Miwa was filled with a surge of pure frustration.

Revenge.

'REVENGE?!'

OOooooOOOOOooo.

Kurama started to play boss battle music in their shared mind.

An instant overwhelming rage exploded inside Miwa's heart. That single word coming out of a boy whose red eyes gleamed of hurt and kindness triggered something inside the jinchūriki. She couldn't resist the hot anger that burned her from the inside out as her emotions surged forth without consent and she unleashed them onto the boy before her.

"Are you stupid?" she couldn't help but hiss out, her tone raised to a shrill pitch. "Revenge? Revenge?"

Kurapika paled with anger at her remarks but she stampeded on before he could say anything.

"Let me get this straight," Miwa said again, trying in vain to reign in her flood of fury. She glowered with seething disgust as she snapped at him, "Your entire revenge is centered on trying to get back at the tools that destroyed your clan."

Kurapika's eyes narrowed. "The Phantom Troupe—"

"Are a symptom of the problem," Miwa hotly barked out. "Answer me right now: would you rather a.) kill the Phantom Troupe or b.) have your entire clan revived and restored."

"Of course I'd rather they were alive!" Kurapika snarled out.

"Then your revenge is fucking pointless," she growled back. "Kill the troupe and then what? Another group will take its place and another clan with different pretty eyes or pretty teeth or whatever will be murdered instead. Your revenge is entirely focused on a selfish desire to strike out mindlessly. If you would rather have your damn clan back, then shouldn't you be more focused on trying to prevent such tragedies from happening again? Shouldn't you be targeting the flesh market itself, skinning and slaughtering those who hired the Phantom Troupe instead? Those who gave motivation, desire, need for your eyes? Instead, you put all your efforts into destroying the weapon used instead of the wielder! You moron. You absolute idiot."

He fell silent, paled with rage, and quivering with absolute fury as he scowled at her.

"Gon said you were smart. Tell me, smart one, when you inevitably kill yourself trying to shatter a damn weapon, will you feel better? Will all your aches and pains go away? Or are you honestly trying to delude yourself into thinking that this was for them? For bags of meat that have already rotted away. Tell me, smart one, if you were to ask them would they wish for the Phantom Troupe's death, or would they wish for the flesh market to be abolished?"

Kurapika's eyes shone red underneath the contact lenses. His animosity was palpable. There might have been heat behind his gaze, but his nen was colder than a glacier.

And starting to crack like one, too.

"You are clouded by your hurt," Miwa went on, restraining her desire to snap at him. She worked hard to soften her tone, unintentionally seeing a different boy in front of her. One that she loved very much, and one who had already died after a childhood of misery. "You're focusing on a tree when you should be looking at the forest. The Phantom Troupe is a symptom, not the cause. Why put yourself through so much misery for an attempt to wipe away one symptom? You know—you know—once they're gone another will take their place. The cycle will go on and on."

"The flesh—the flesh market is too wide for one person to deal with," Kurapika spoke slowly, his tone coated with venomous ice.

"You don't have to be one person," she reminded him.

"The Phantom Troupe is something I can do."

"And destroying the flesh market isn't?"

He didn't answer.

"How did you feel when you found out they were dead?" she pressed. "Did it make you feel better, or only more pathetic?"

Kurapika abruptly stood up, terrible pain on his face as his eyes burned with scarlet fury. He trembled from the weight of his anger, but none of it was directed at Miwa. He stared at her, words failing him as he tried to combat her words with logic.

There was no logic to his emotions, though, and he knew that.

He felt like a child, one who was just scolded over something so inanely stupid it filled him with shame.

He left.

"Ahhhh that was heavy," whispered Gon uncomfortably when Kurapika slammed the hotel door shut behind him.

"I don't think I ever want to get a lecture from Miwa," Killua commented, eliciting a firm nod from Gon.

Miwa huffed, her mood sour. "I'm going to take a bath."

"Ah, I could use a bath too," Gon said, rotating his shoulders.

"Wanna join? I stole some bath bombs."

"Sure," Gon chirped as Killua's face turned ten sheds of red.

As soon as Gon said yes, Killua turned back to Gon in disbelief. "What?"

"What?" Gon and Miwa stared at Killua in confusion.

"You can't—you're—Gon you're a boy and Miwa's a girl!"

"So?" Miwa retorted, her eyes narrowed in frustration. "You two got to take a bath together at Gon's place while I had to help his aunt with dinner! Why can't I?"

"Yeah, Killua, stop excluding her," Gon said with a wide grin.

"You know exactly why!" Killua said, his face molten.

"Whatever. If you wanna stop being a sourpuss you can join in," Miwa said dismissively, tired from getting so worked up earlier. She just wanted a bubble bath with yummy scents. She didn't see why Killua was getting so worked up. She remembered bathing with her (faceless) friends before, it was common for teams to bathe together on long or dangerous missions.

"Woo-hoo bubble bath time!" Gon cheered as he followed behind her.

Killua fidgeted from one foot to the other until he let out a groan and followed after them, "Don't leave me out!"

(≧ڡ≦*)

Chrollo

"You're leaving tonight," said Chrollo.

Chrollo would send the Troupe away. He would linger near the city to watch the fox girl for a few more days. He was admittedly intrigued by the child, and the potential fortune she would bring him. Even if she did know the chain-user, Chrollo saw little value in risking the Troupe's existence to chase revenge.

There wasn't even a guarantee the boy she knew was the one who killed Uvogin. Or, worse, it was the same boy and the chain-user was too big of a threat for his Troupe to handle. Chrollo had confidence, but he wasn't arrogant. He led a successful and thriving thieving life by carefully picking his fights. The chain-user was an unknown variable who was already strong enough to deal with Uvogin on his own.

Chrollo could not, in sound mind, dismiss the possibility that the chain-user could defeat his Troupe.

Therefore, the best decision would be to send them away while he personally gathered further intel. He could use the fox girl to ascertain if the boy she knew was the chain-user. From there, he could manipulate her into divulging further secrets about the boy or—

Join hands with the golden fox, lead it to the city that fell from the sky. It will show you a lifelong sun.

'Join hands?'

That line from his fortune nettled him. Joining hands implied friendship. Chrollo thought it would have been more fitting if it said Pull the strings of the golden fox as that would have been closer to manipulate. The fact that it said join hands, though..

Perturbing, to say the least.

"We'll take the rest of the treasure tonight," Chrollo went on to address his Troupe members back in their dilapidated warehouse. "And that's the end of it."

He did not see fit to tell the entire troupe he planned on lingering behind to play with the fox girl. Only Feitan and Phinks were informed before Chrollo made the address. Feitan, because if Chrollo decided to manipulate her he could be an easy way to do so, and Phinks because he was good with kids for that same reason.

Nobunaga stood up from the concrete floor as lightning flashed behind Chrollo from the broken window. "Not yet."

"What else is there?" Chrollo asked, hoping he wouldn't bring up the fox girl.

"We have to find the chain-user."

"You seem obsessed," observed Chrollo.

"Yes, I am. We're going to leave without avenging Uvo? Uvo will be bored in the next world if we don't send the chain-user to join him."

Franklin cut in, "Cut it out, Nobunaga. The boss issued an order."

Nobunaga nodded curtly. "Yeah, and an order from the boss is absolute. But are you really speaking as our leader, Chrollo?"

"Nobunaga," growled Franklin.

"Shut up," snarled Nobunaga. "I'm talking to Chrollo."

'Hmm,' thought Chrollo.

It was good that Nobunaga wasn't using the fox girl as a reason to stay. That meant even Nobugana didn't blindly trust her information and wasn't willing to stay behind for her. Which in turn meant that his desire to hunt down the chain-user was fueled entirely by his thirst for vengeance... and he'd be willing to put the entire Troupe at risk for it.

Nobunaga was a strong nen-user, but an awful tactician.

In fighting would only hurt them further. They had already lost Uvogin, one of their better fighters. Being forced to kill Nobunaga for insubordination would be... unsavory.

Unfortunately, Nobunaga was not the type to be reasoned with. If he were, he wouldn't have spoken up in the first place. He was short-sighted, blinded from his loyalty to his friend. To Nobunaga, the troupe was a family first, group of thieves second.

To Chrollo, the Phantom Troupe was a legacy first, a group of thieves second, and a family third. The bigger picture mattered the most in the end. The spider had to survive.

Nobunaga wanted the troupe to stay in a situation where they lacked intel in a city they weren't prepared to fight in. Chrollo wanted them to leave and reassess the situation after more information had been gathered.

Chrollo knew from his first fortune that members would die if they stayed in the City—

'Ah.'

The solution became obvious.

Chrollo stood up from his stone seat under the stormy window and he hopped down to join his followers. He approached Nobunaga, summoning his nen-book in his right hand. "Before I answer that, I need you to answer my question, Nobunaga. When is your birthday?"

"Huh?"

"The day you were born?" Chrollo clarified for the confused samurai.

"September 8th, in the year 70," answered Nobunaga.

"Blood type?"

"B."

"Name?"

"Nobunaga Hazama! You already know that! The hell is this about? What do you wanna know next?"

"No, that's enough," said Chrollo, pulling out a sheet of paper from his nen book. "Write all of that down on this paper."

"Why didn't you tell me to do that in the first place?" asked Nobunaga, exasperated.

After Nobunaga had done so, Chrollo took a seat on one of the boxes. He placed the paper in front of him on another box, summoned his nen book once more and triggered the fortune-telling nen ability he had stolen previously. His right hand wrote on its own as it laid out Nobunaga's fortune. Upon completion, Chrollo handed it back to Nobunaga.

Nobunaga accepted it with a confused face. "Huh? What's this?"

"A completely accurate fortune written in verse form. The ability to see the future. I stole this power from Nostrade's daughter."

"A completely accurate fortune?"

"Each of the four verses predicts what will happen in that week."

"This is the fortune the daughter gave me yesterday," Chrollo said, holding out his own fortune for Nobunaga to read.

The calendar loses a precious component. The remaining months gather to mourn.

The mourners play a melody, while the eleventh moon quietly rises.

The chrysanthemum withers and falls to lie on the ground beside bloody Scarlet Eyes. But you will remain supreme.

After losing half your limbs, join hands with the golden fox, lead it to the city that fell from the sky. It will show you a lifelong sun.

"Is loses a precious component relating to—?"

Chrollo nodded. "Uvo. That girl didn't know anything about Uvo. In other words, she predicted our attack on the Mafia auction. And there were fans of her fortune telling among the Ten Dons."

"Ah. That explains why the Dons wanted the merchandise to move. I guess they weren't fast enough for that girl, though."

"What does Nobunga's fortune say?" asked Shizuku.

"My hand wrote it on its own. Ask Nobunaga."

"Well?"

"What does it say, Nobunaga?"

Nobunaga peered at his fortune. "Next week, five of us will probably die."

"Which five?" asked Franklin.

"No idea. I can't figure out what it all means. I kind of understand the second poem: the spider loses half its limbs—"

Phinks cut in, "The spider would be us?"

"Yeah. The limbs would be the members, so half would be six. That means five more after losing Uvo."

"The same line was in my fortune," affirmed Chrollo.

"That girl's in here, too," said Nobunaga, tapping at the last line.

Chrollo looked up at that, curious. "She was in mine as well. What did yours say?"

"The spider watches over the golden fox," read Nobunaga.

'Not join hands?' Chrollo thought, curious. 'Watches over... implies paternity. Nobunaga was the first to take an interest in her. He never struck me as a father-figure.'

"Can I see?" Shizuku asked, approaching Nobunaga. Nobunaga handed her his fortune and she read it over. She looked over at Chrollo. "Boss, can you tell my fortune?"

After completing the fortune, Shizuku read her's out loud.

The calendar loses a precious component. The remaining months gather to mourn.

You join your ally as an offering to keep him from being lonely.

In the chamber of black merchandise you will find endless sleep.

Your greatest fear should be solitude. You have the most to fear when you are alone with another.

"I knew it," Shizuku said. "I'm going to die next week."

"Seriously?" asked Franklin.

"Yeah, because I only got two poems," she said, holding up the paper. "And Pakunoda and Shalnark will die, as well."

"How do you know that?" Nobunaga asked as Shalnark went "Ooooooo spooky."

Shizuku held up her poem. "It seems the numbered months here refer to troupe members. November is the eleventh month, Uvo was member eleven."

"Yes," agreed Chrollo. "The chrysanthemum is the flower of September, it blooms in August the eighth month and withers in June. This refers to members six, eight, and nine. And since the word falls is used, it implies death."

"The Scarlet-Eyes... it matches up with a surviving member of the Kura Clan," commented Phinks. "That fox girl said her friend was a Kura member. That gives motive, and now with this fortune it's likely he's the chain-user."

"Does he die?"

"How can I know? It only calls him bloody so he'll probably survive."

"Nobunga, this means we'll suffer serious casualties if we fight the chain-user," Shalnark pointed out. "We'll lose half our members. You and I have abilities that can be easily replaced, but Shizuku and Pakunoda's are rare. The troupe can't afford to lose them.

Lightning and thunder cracked above them. Chrollo said, "Today is Saturday of the first week. If we return home today, we won't run into the chain-user next week. The best thing about these fortunes is that they tell us how to avoid catastrophes. If we leave here without fighting the chain-user, this fortune is one hundred percent certain to not come true. Nobunaga you and Uvo were our attack unit. Dying is just part of your job. I believe you both chose that role voluntarily."

"Yeah, that's right..."

Rain fell through the cracks in the ceiling above.

"Shizuku, Paku, and Shal collect intelligence. They provide our support. You could say they're our lifelines. Isn't it your job to serve as their shield?"

"Yeah, it is," Nobunaga said firmly, his conviction wavering.

'Family first, vengeance second,' Chrollo thought. He had successfully persuaded Nobunaga.

"Hold on," drawled Hisoka. "You should tell some of the other members' fortunes. Perhaps we could gather additional clues for avoiding the prophecy."

Chrollo had a very firm suspicion that Hisoka was up to something, but—

'It's not a bad a idea. More information shouldn't hurt the situation.'

(≧ڡ≦*)

Once the fortunes were passed around and everyone read theirs, Pakunoda approached Hisoka and asked to read his. She sucked in air sharply in surprise when she read his fortune, and asked everyone to gather around.

A red-eyed customer will visit your shop, seeking to make a trade.

The customer will use the sword of law upon you, taking the calendar's secrets with him.

The eleven-legged spider grows homesick, losing five more legs.

Do not leave your temporary shelter, for you are one of those legs.

'Odd,' Chrollo thought. He had been certain the fortunes implied staying in the city would lead to death. He could have been wrong, but—

'Do the fortunes change upon actions? Because I decided for us to leave they adjusted, or was I wrong in the first place?'

As soon as it was read aloud, Nobunaga approached Hisoka dangerously. "Hisoka! Did you sell him out?!"

Hisoka did not verbally respond. He continued to shuffle his cards while Nobunaga drew his sword. Infuriated, Nobunaga launched himself at Hisoka, swinging his katana but before any connection could be made he was teleported to the ledge above.

"Nobunaga, be quiet," ordered Chrollo. "Hisoka, I'm going to ask you some questions. You don't have to answer if you can't. In the fortune, what does the taking secrets part mean?"

"The powers of the troupe's members."

"Of how many members?"

"Seven, no eight. You, Uvogin, Shizuku, Machi, Franklin, Pakunoda, Shalnark, and I add up to eight."

Chrollo leaned back in surprise. "So you only found out about Kortopi's ability yesterday?"

"That is correct."

Chrollo went on with his questions, "What is his ability?"

"I can't say."

"What does he look like?"

"I can't say."

"What is your relationship to him?"

"I can't say."

Chrollo looked away. "I see. The red-eyed customer, the chain-user, has two abilities at the very least. One would be the ability he used to capture Uvogin. The other would be the ability that restricts Hisoka's actions. Since the fortune uses the phrase sword of law it must force a person to obey a set of rules. Like: don't lie to me, or do not reveal anything about me. Something like that. I would also guess that he planted something inside of Hisoka. The first half of the poem mentions a trade, but the second half only describes what the customer took. This suggests the sword of law attacked Hisoka. In other words, the sword of law attacked Hisoka and forced him to betray us. The sword that can restrict Hisoka's speech is powerful."

Shalnark cleared his throat, "To review: the enemy uses chains. A Manipulator would be using real chains. If he's a Conjurer, he killed Uvo with nen chains. A Conjurer could appear empty-handed at any moment which would give them a huge advantage. We might be able to find out more from that fox, but it's too early to make an assumption."

"The second half of his poem talks about being home-sick," Phinks pointed out. "If he leaves this hideout, he could die."

"That sword of law probably means he can't fight against the chain-user," guessed Franklin.

"Uvo, Hisoka, Shizuku, Pakunoda, Shalnark. One more for half of the members... No one else's fortune predicted their death?" Chrollo asked.

"Then it has to be Feitan, Kortopi, or me," said Phinks. "We didn't get our fortunes told because we lacked the data."

"I will be staying here. There are things I want to do before I die. I will not leave the temporary shelter," said Hisoka as he sat back down.

"Boss, what should we do?"

Chrollo considered it for another minute. "We stay. Let's split into groups. We'll spend the next week operating in these groups. Avoid being alone. Shizuku, Pakunoda, and Machi. Kortopi, Phinks, and Feitan. Nobunaga and Shalnark are with me. Bonolenov, Franklin, and Hisoka will stay here. To play it safe, 'well make some dummy hideouts. Kortopi, can you make ten?"

"I can make fifty. The instant anyone enters a fake hideout, I'll know," said Kortopi.

There was a ding. A message from Chrollo's phone.

Message: can meet ? .

Chrollo read over the message. Only one person had been given this phone's number outside the Troupe. He replied with a yes, as he considered the time and place—

To his surprise, she appeared before them in a flash of golden light. Her hair was slightly wet, and she wore a pink night dress with white butterflies on it. Her cerulean eyes looked around the place until she spotted—

"AH!" she let out a shriek, jumping away and pointing dramatically at Hisoka. "YOU STALKED US HERE?!"

"Stalked?" Nobunaga asked in surprise.

"You're stalking kids?" Shalnark questioned Hisoka, a touch of disdain in his tone.

"Don't worry, kitten, I'll protect you," Miwa coached, leaping in front of Feitan.

"I don't need protection," hissed Feitan, clearly offended by her insinuation.

Chrollo coughed to cover up his amused smile. "You wanted to talk, Miwa?"

"Oh... right," she said, still glaring suspiciously at Hisoka.

"He won't attack," Chrollo tried to soothe.

"If he does, say the word and I'll kick his ass. I'm not supposed to kill him 'til Gon kicks his butt, but I can definitely maim," she said.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't maim any members of the troupe," said Chrollo.

Her face screwed up like she bit into a rotten lemon. "Ugh. He's a member? I have to say, I am severely disappointed by your judgment."

Chrollo did not smile, but he was amused by her. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah. Um... is now okay?" she asked, curiously tilting her head. She twitched in surprise when Nobunaga draped an extra blanket over her shoulders. She looked up at him, blinking. "Huh?"

"Little girls shouldn't be teleporting into hideouts with nothing but a nightgown," said Nobunaga, his tone slightly scolding.

"Oh," she said.

Chrollo beckoned for her to take a seat beside him. "Come. Let us talk."

"Not with him anywhere near me," Miwa firmly rejected, giving Hisoka a stink eye.

"Hisoka, go stand outside," said Nobunaga.

"It's raining."

"Take an umbrella."

(≧ڡ≦*)

Original fortunes that follow the timeline of Kurapika fighting the Phantom Troupe:

Nobunaga's fortune:

The calendar loses a precious component. The remaining months gather to mourn.

The first moon, having missed his opportunity, continues to pursue the eleventh moon's shadow alone.

The chrysanthemum withers and falls to lie on the ground beside bloody Scarlet Eyes.

But the spider does not stop even after losing half its limbs. The spider watches over the golden fox.

Shizuku's fortune:

The calendar loses a precious component. The remaining months gather to mourn.

You join your ally as an offering to keep him from being lonely.

In the chamber of black merchandise you will find endless sleep.

Your greatest fear should be solitude. You have the most to fear when you are alone with another.

Pakunoda's fortune:

The calendar loses a precious component. The remaining months gather to mourn.

On a dark day with very little light, you will face two choices within a small room.

You must choose between pride and betrayal.

The hidden choice is with the fox. Place your heart in its hands, and it will burn away the darkness.

Shalnark's fortune:

The calendar loses a precious component. The remaining months gather to mourn.

Do not make any calls. When it matters most, you will be unable to connect.

It would be unwise to answer the phone, for the reaper will come calling one time in three.

(≧ڡ≦*)

Answer: Most Ghibli movies. Howl's Moving Castle & Spirited Away have some of the loveliest musical scores to listen to. Just... *chef's kiss* beautiful.

Question: Who from HxH would you want to be your personal eternally loyal maid/butler?

Bonus question: Are we pro saving Kurapika, or are we pro killing him?

Reviews are love!