"No."
Feitan couldn't believe his ears. Veins appeared on his temple.
The brat has the nerve to—I'll fucking kill him. Feitan considered darkly, glaring at the face with similar features he used to adore. But, before he could proceed with murder, Aki spoke again.
"I... I have people to return to." Aki said in a small, but determined voice. She swallowed her... fear of the man, opting to refuse the opportunity of a lifetime: the answers to her questions. Something didn't feel right...
But, Feitan was not satisfied with her answer.
"Then leave them." He deadpanned.
Aki's eyes hardened. If there was anything she hated most, it was being told what to do. So, she jutted her chest out proudly—then made a run for it.
Running away—one of the most orthodox ways of escaping one's problem. Still, the most convenient one so far.
Aki knew from Feitan's moves earlier, that he was a veteran fighter—much stronger that she was. She knew, from her countless experiences, that Feitan was nothing like the opponents she's faced in the Heaven's Arena. Thus, a tactical retreat was better than weighing her chances on a one-on-one fight with the man.
Besides, Aki was confident with her ability to lose her pursuers (it comes with being a ninja).
What a jinx.
Aki didn't take into account, that the guy could go faster.
"You call that running away? Pathetic." Feitan irked, face donning an almost disgusted expression. He was behind Aki in less than a second. The man kept up with Aki's speed, running a feet ahead of her. Feitan attacked.
Immediately, Aki changed her course, avoiding a punch on the face. (A/N: literally what I'm feeling right now 😭. I wanna change my course #CollegeStudentTroubles)
She pivoted on her right heel, then swung her left leg towards Feitan. The man blocked her, but she expected that. With Feitan's hand clasped on Aki's ankle, the girl twisted her torso and pulled her fist back.
However, Feitan dodged, releasing Aki's leg. That didn't deter Aki from launching her next attack. Similarly, Feitan closed-in for a counterattack, aiming for Aki's face.
Aki couldn't stop herself in time, due to inertia. So, she twisted her head, and using the momentum, she twirled her body and landed her elbow on Feitan's face. A perfect back-spin elbow.
Feitan took a few steps back, obviously stunned by the blow as blood trickled from his nose. And Aki resumed to running away from that lapse. The man watched Aki's retreating back. He couldn't stop his snort of amusement, lips twisted in a smirk.
How interesting.
In the blink of an eye, Feitan closed the distance between them. But before Aki could retaliate like last time, Feitan knocked her out.
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The moment Aki opened her eyes, she was met by the darkness. She moved around, a fiber-like material covering her sight—and her whole body. Then, a voice came.
"—Feitan, what's inside that sack?"
Sack?
Aki realized the fiber-like material was the sack. She was inside the sack.
"Woah! It moved!" A different voice exclaimed—this one, a tone higher, but still a male's voice. Aki didn't waste time, ripping the material with her bare hands. She was met with a different view than expected.
Rather than street lights, Aki saw stars—literal, freaking stars that littered the night sky.
It stunned her for a few seconds. Along with the new orchestra of people that stared at her in mingled curiosity and... surprise. She glanced at each one of them. It didn't take Aki long to find the same black-smokey thing swirling in most of their eyes.
Shinikage.
The girl fought the shiver the ran down her spine in terror. Most of them donned faces befitting of murders. The burly man in white tank top stood out most. He was even taller than the guy with long earlobes (the guy Aki saw before)!
And most of them exuded the aura of death.
"Why the hell was I in a sack?" Aki berated, glaring at 'Feitan'. However, the man merely snickered before a grungy man with long hair stepped in front of him.
"What's this? Is he a new one joining us?" Nobunaga asked, scratching his chin.
"Oh, he certainly does seem strong." Another man remarked, Shalnark. The buff man, Uvogin, guffawed and said something about Aki being small. From the side, Aki frowned. What's the deal with them? Aki scanned them once again, and noted the presence of two women who silently judged her.
One with familiar pink hair and another one with glasses—the arm-wrestle girl.
"You're that woman from before." Aki realized. Machi, the pink haired woman, immediately recognized the specimen of a child. The pink-haired woman raised a brow.
"Hisoka's brat...?" Machi trailed off. The whole Troupe suddenly fell silent, their boisterous chatting cut off like thin paper.
"Wait, wait, Hisoka? The Hisoka we know has a child?" Shalnark asked, incredulous.
"That can't be." Feitan finally spoke up, "This is Akira-san's kid." More surprised yells resounded in their small air balloon.
"Akira-san's—! That means he's—" Shalnark exclaimed, excited.
"First things first, what's your name, little guy?" Nobunaga cut off.
"... I'm Aki." She managed to squeeze out . All the adults seemed so curious of her, and it honestly freaked her out to know that most of them were Shinikage—people from her clan. It felt surreal and... just not right.
She's been getting those vibes for a while now.
"And you're related to Hisoka, how...?" Franklin, long earlobes guy, asked.
"He's my... old man. Adoptive." Everyone nearly cried out in—in what seemed like relief...? Aki frowned.
"Someone explain to me why you guys are acting like I was cured from a disease or something." Aki deadpanned. "And how do you guys know Hisoka??"
"How, you say... he's part of the Phantom Troupe—like us." Machi provided, a little skeptical. If 'he' really was the child of Akira-san as Feitan claimed... then they were facing the kid of their former leader.
The former head of the spider.
"It's not like you have a disease but, Hisoka is a bit of a creep. We were only surprised that he hasn't killed you yet." Shalnark embarked to explain.
"Gee..." Was all that Aki could muster. She's heard of the Phantom Troupe from Hisoka. But, she didn't expect that the spider would have people with the same black-smokey thing in their eyes.
Really, what's the 'Troupe'?
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To Kurapika, the Troupe was both his burden and freedom.
Kurapika was livid.
Seeing the spiders 'crawling' around at the canyon was enough to make his blood boil with hate. Kurapika stared at the pandemonium below as hundreds mafia men were annihilated by a spider. Uvogin ripped through the flesh and bones of people in gleeful manner—all with his bare hands. As the Shadow Beasts approached, Uvogin only grinned maliciously in welcome.
"Uvo! Here they come!" A blonde spider warned, Shalnark.
"He's going to fight them all by himself?!" Kurapika's companion exclaimed in disbelief. The blonde lad averted his scope to where the other spiders watched.
Kurapika pursed his lips. As he scanned the enemy ground, he was surprised to see a kid amidst them. What's more, he was bound. But, for a moment, Kurapika was staggered.
Wisps of midnight black hair gently caressed 'his' face while his skin that glistened under the light of the moon. He was the living definition of beauty. Kurapika was captured by the onyx eyes, putting him under a spell.
"Kurapika?" Melody asked, concerned with Kurapika's demeanour. The lad seemed to break out of whatever spell captivated him. Kurapika frowned.
Weird.
Nonetheless, the kid changed things.
"Leader, it looks like they have a hostage. What's more, a child." Kurapika announced. Of course, one would think so, with the binding put on the kid. The 'Leader' took the binoculars from Kurapika's hand and took a peak. He frowned.
"You're right. We'll need to rescue the child. He could be the son of one of the guests." The man speculated. Kurapika could only frown deeper.
Aki felt violated.
After trying to jump off the balloon (a couple of times), Feitan tied her up like a war-prisoner. She felt so offended.
When Uvogin started the full out fight, Aki slipped into her own train of thoughts. The whole ordeal with the Shinikage consumed most of her thoughts. Then there's the lingering memories she had of her past... and boy, there's also her growing feelings for Killua to think about. Gon and Leorio tagged along with him.
But, at the forefront of it all was Hisoka.
She wondered what he would do, if they met earlier than expected. True to Aki's intuition, the Troupe was fearsome.
Uvogin's fist had connected to the ground and Aki was overwhelmed. The ground trembled magnanimously. When the dust had cleared off, nothing much was left of the man who had called himself 'Worm.'
This was the power of a high caliber Nen user. It certainly packed a punch. And Aki thought, that the man must have been an Enhancer.
The dark-haired girl stared as the last piece of Uvogin's tank top slid down to reveal that same tattoo on Hisoka's back—a black spider with a number. From the gist of things, the Troupe wanted to bring her back to their 'boss'—probably to make her join or something. Or maybe to get answers.
The Troupe members tried their best to hide it, but Aki noticed how they kept on looking at her. At one point, Nobunaga offered her a comfy seat made out of his yukata (the best he got), which Aki declined. Machi would talk to Aki about Hisoka to ease tension. And, even Feitan tugged her down to sit on the floor beside him when they started playing card games.
Despite their rough edges, the Troupe seemed to be treating her nicely. Aki looked at Uvogin as he single-handedly defeated the rest of the enemy line. Her eyes were drawn to the tattoo on his back. For a moment, Aki felt an odd sense of deja vu.
Then the headache came, like all the previous ones. This one, seemed to take the cake.
In her mind, she saw a woman. From the outline of her doll-like face, to the way her brows meet, Aki didn't need to question who she was. It was her mom—Akira Shinikage.
There was no voice to be heard—seemingly muted. A static ran from her fingertips to Aki's own small hands. Aki realized it was an old memory, possibly... from her earliest days in this world.
Your turn.
It was the voice—her voice—echoing inside her head in broken timbre. Still, the memory played itself. There was her mom, and then there's Aki. Her pudgy hands wrapped around Akira's slender fingers.
The headache seemed to intensify. Aki crumbled to her knees, head down. Her scream pierced through the night, alerting both foe and ally.
A ruckus seemed to be happening around Aki, as the members tried to ask her what was wrong. And the enemy took advantage of that moment to snatch their prey.
Kurapika's chains appeared above the spiders' heads, taking them by surprise. A chain wrapped around Uvogin's torso, rendering his Nen impuissant. A different one wrapped around Aki, dragging her along with Uvogin.
And together, they disappeared into the deep of the night.
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Kurapika drove like the devil was on his trail.
Considering the nature of the Troupe, it might as well be true. Kurapika stole quick glances from Melody and the 'hostage.' The kid was unconscious. Kurapika's forehead creased, half-worried.
"The child is okay." Melody stated out loud, noticing Kurapika's mood. The blonde lad nodded in response, thankful to his companion, and concentrated on his driving instead.
Still, Melody was worried about the child for a different reason. Aki's heartbeat was so melancholic, playing a perfect melody of D minor. The sound made Melody want to cry in grief. It made her wonder...
What did this child have to go through to produce such rich sound of sadness? What was it that made this child's heartbeat sound so heart breaking?
"Hey, driver. You think these chains can hold me down?" Uvogin taunted, "If you don't kill me now, you'll regret it later." He added smugly. Uvogin didn't care as much about the kid of their dead leader. He was aiming for the blonde lad to lose control.
Kurapika frowned.
"Shut up." The lad spit out, rage pilling up. The man took notice, smirking as he continued to exploit Kurapika's fury.
"Don't you understand? This is a golden opportunity. Stop wasting time and just—" Uvogin couldn't continue his words. The chains wrapped around him tighter, chocking him up. He grunted in pain.
"I told you to shut up!" Kurapika exploded, looking at the man with absolute hate.
"Kurapika, watch... watch the road!" Melody warned, clutching the child in her arms. Uvogin grunted in pain as the chains wrapped even tighter around him. His brows furrowed in confusion.
How can he be this strong? Even if my body weren't paralysed, I'd still be having trouble... He's put enough Nen in these chains to keep a master enhancer in check?
Uvogin thought to himself, glaring at Kurapika. He didn't like the vibes he was getting from Kurapika. His guts told him this guy was dangerous.
This guy was out for blood.
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"I'll be back."
Killua clenched his teeth.
"Why is Aki still not back?" Gon asked, pestering the light-haired boy.
"Do you think he's okay?"
"What if he's in trouble?"
"Don't you think you were too mean to him?"
Killua snapped. "HAH?!" Gon inched away from the volcano eruption that was Killua. The light-haired boy was about to retort, when he realized that he was a bit mean. Maybe. Killua shook his head.
"Stop asking questions I don't know the answer to. Just go to sleep or something." Killua grumbled, turning his back on Gon.
"Then, do you like Aki?" Gon asked. Killua froze, then turned back to Gon. But, before he could refute, Gon talked.
"You told me to ask a question you know an answer to." Gon followed up, grinning. For a moment, Killua was silent.
"I—"
"Oi~ Look what I got!" Leorio barged in, holding two bottles of champagne, unknowingly cutting Killua's words short. The man's goofy smile soon faded when he noticed the awkward air between Killua and Gon.
"What happened? Is Aki still not back?" Leorio asked. Killua made a beeline for the door.
"I'll go look for him."
"Wait—!" The door slammed on Gon's face. Leorio and Gon shared a look before staring at the door in worry.
Killua couldn't believe what he was going to say.
He liked Aki.
He liked him.
Killua felt his cheeks redden. An entire zoo seemed to stomp around in his gut. It was different from the butterflies. The feeling made him wanna curl up in shame, guilt, and... giddiness. It was almost akin to buying a decade worth of robo-chocos—his admitted guilty pleasure.
As the light-haired boy roamed the night streets, his eyes searched for that familiar mop of dark hair. Like he'd see Aki randomly walk up to him.
Killua shook the thought away. He decided to be more logical, going back to where their stall was and starting his search from there. What he found, however, was the old man with the voodoo charms. One who was supposed to be detained.
Immediately, Killua felt his face redden in both anger and embarrassment at the reminder of the clip. The light-haired boy charged to the old man.
"OI!! You stinky old man—!"
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"We have guests." The guard informed in the intercom. "Looks like the kid's parents are finally here."
"Have you identified them?" Dalzollene, the lead bodyguard, asked.
"... Yes. The kid is from the Kreinos Household. It's Madam Hazel."
"What?!" The bodyguard exclaimed, alarming Kurapika who was beside him. Uvogin stiffened at the name. If it weren't for the sedatives and the constrictions, he would have busted out of there and hunted that person down. But, as it was, the sedative was already wearing down his tongue and muscles.
Gotta... tell Danchou... they're back...
"—bring them up here."
That was the last thing Uvogin heard before his body betrayed him and he fell unconscious.
Melody waited in the break room, along with the other guards, when she heard it—the pitter-patter of heartbeats. For a moment, Melody felt confused. Their footsteps were... controlled, like they were forcing themselves to leave sounds at their walk.
From the other room, Kurapika went out to greet the kid's parents. The first time he saw Haizel, he was surprised at her youthful face that he asked for another ID check. True to what they claim, it really did seem like the rescued child was part of the Kreinos Household. They even presented an ID for the kid.
Aki Kreinos, it said—with Aki's face on the upper right corner.
"This way ma'am."
"Thank you!" Madam Haizel, the mom, exclaimed. The dad lagged a few feet behind her.
"Oh, dear heavens. I was so worried! I don't know what I would have done without you guards from the Nostrade Family." Haizel babbled, befitting the role of a worried mom. "I'll be sure to compensate all of you." She carried on. Kurapika forced a business smile.
"It's not much, Madam. We were only doing our job as part of the Nostrade Family."
"Nonesense! I'll be sure that the Kreinos Household will remember this debt forever." The lady transgressed. Kurapika didn't know how to react, opting to thank them instead.
"The child is inside this room. He's unconscious, but all in good health." Kurapika explained after reaching the separate hotel room they prepared for the kid.
"Thank you~!" Haizel pressed, grabbing both Kurapika's hands. The dad nodded timidly.
"Then, I shall leave the kid in your care." Kurapika managed, slipping out of the woman's hold.
He didn't know that he was handing the kid to the worst hands.
(A/N: Yeah!!!! I FINALLY UPDATED!!! Banzai!!! Banzai! ^-^ I'm so sorry for not being able to update in such a long time. T-T I was busy with school and at one point, I was stuck with the plot...
This is the back spin elbow I've mentioned in Aki and Feitan's fight hehe. It's from the webtoon titled 'Lookism'. The story and art is really good. I've been basing some of my 'action' scenes from this webtoon so, if you find some time, it wouldn't hurt to read it :3)
~ End of #26 ~