A spider's heart and soul

End of the road

Addiction is mentioned in this chapter.

You ended up sleep longer than you had meant too. The sun was setting and your body was tight, you had probably slept at least a full day if not two. The effects of the nen bracelet hit harder than you expected. If the pursuers were truly tracking your nen then you lost a lot of valuable time. You didn't use your Safe Zone as you slept to make yourself harder to track, but that doesn't mean you were untraceable. They would have realized you were not in the city anymore.

Hopping down to the ground, you head back to the street and continue on foot. It would take a day of walking to get to the closest town, but since you weren't going to be using your nen to help reinforce your strength and stamina, you would have to plan for two. It's been about four days without food and about two without water. If you made it to the town you would be good, but you left in a hurry so hopefully you could find something to eat and drink along the way or it was going to get a lot harder. You excel in blending in and all, but you weren't really a survivalist. You had enough disposable income from fencing goods that if you ever could get a normal life, you would be set for the rest of your days. It's not like you used the money for hobbies or luxuries so after the years it ended up making a hefty sum in the bank.

You decided to take a risk, something you had  only done two or three times since you started this life. You grabbed a ride with a passing truck. You sat in the back after thanking the young woman driving and only hoped she wasn't connected to your pursuers. The risk of being this weak from your poor state of body well outweighed the risk of a random driver being tracked or pursuing you.

You got off at the next town and quickly rush to find a shelter. You didn't sense any malicious intent from the driver nor did you find a trace of nen, but the day you get sloppy is the day it all ends. You make sure to pay in cleaned cash for the food and motel room with the nen bracelet on before finally resting in the room. No finger prints, no trace of a person even remotely looking like you. you felt slightly safe.

While eating you debated putting up a safe room, but ultimately decided not to use your nen until you could be certain it wasn't being tracked. If it was then you would need to find a way to nullify whatever was tracking you before use. That made things a lot more uncertain for you and uncertainty was not good. You needed to be 100% sure on as many things as you could before making decisions. Unfortunately there was not much you could do in this situation with so little information to work with.

You take in a few deep breathes before deciding to shower and sleep while you could. Tomorrow you would start hopping around different cities until you could find someone who could make sure you couldn't be tracked by nen.

The spider on your back and the cross on your forehead began to tingle and warm up,  causing your light sleeping to stop. This had never happened before. You hold your hand up to your forehead and feel the heat radiating off of your tattoo, you assumed the same for your back. Once again, more uncertainty. More of the unknown. You felt panicked, like you would imagine a protagonist felt when they realized the killer was close in a horror story. Trust your instincts (Y/N).

You calmly put on the nen bracelet and feel all the energy you finally managed to gain drain from your body. Gathering your nerves, you walk out the door and head to another room you had purchased for your stay, closest to the road.

That's when you spot a strange group heading your direction. There was a man in a sweat suit and slicked back hair, a woman with a pants suit, and another woman in more worn and oriental styled clothing. You could feel your skin crawl, with the bracelet on you couldn't use or see nen, but you could feel it. The power they emitted. 

It was to late to turn back, it would be suspicious. You didn't want to have them notice you as anything more than a passing, sickly, boy though. You quickly think on the spot as they come closer with each step. Your shivers of fear wouldn't stop and so you quickly swallow the knot in your throat knowing they would notice. You would have to make the first move to convince them.

"She has to be here. Eight rooms were bought with cash around the same time yesterday. Why the fuck would eight different people want to come to this shoddy place." The blonde man sounded agitated.

"It would be nice to finally end this chase. I'm all for finding the boss's other half, but this is rather frustrating." The pink haired woman replied. You were finally close enough that the group took notice of you. You unlevel your breathing and shake a little harder, rubbing your arm with the other. Once within reach you tug on the man's jacket.

"H-hey," your voice cracks and breaks. Thankfully it added to the affect. "Got any spare cash on you?" He yanks his arm back and sneers.

"Fucking addict, lets find her and get the hell out of here." He shoves past you followed by the other two. Just as you pass the blonde woman in the pants suit, she brushes against you and suddenly you felt as if the world ended. You had just gotten past them, there was no reason to feel this way. You sneak a peek at the woman to see her wide eyed and standing where you had brushed past her just a second ago.

In a flash you bolt down the walk way and rip the bracelet off your arm. You would need all the strength you can get since you definitely just got found out. You got outside the motel and halfway down the street when you felt the presence of several strong nen user surrounding you. You place down a Safe room as wide as your strength would let you, about 13 feet radius of safe space between you and the now large group that surrounded your bubble of nen. 

1...2...6....7....11...12.... You counted your enemies. Just as you reached the last person a shudder runs through your body. Unlike the past several years though, this one was pleasant. He had black slicked back hair and piercing eyes, but the thing that grabbed your attention the most was the familiar cross like tattoo in the middle of his forehead. 

the 13th was your other half.