Full Moon: The Reforming of the Spiders

a Hunter X Hunter fanfic

by Ongaku no Usagi

Disclaimer: Hunter X Hunter belongs to Togashi Yoshihiro. This applies for all subsequent chapters of "Full Moon: The Reforming of the Spiders"

Chapter 1:

Music Suggestion: Butterflies and Hurricanes by Muse

"It is time to reband the Spiders."

His words fell on ears that, although half-expecting his announcement, yet were surprised all the same. The Chain-User, dreaded man, delicate boy-child, calmly telling them of his intent to bring the Spiders back from headless destruction.

Shalnark was the first to respond. The rest of the Spiders, who had not already been destroyed by Kurapika before he had killed Kuroro, looked to him as their leader because of his superior intellect, decision making and natural charisma. It was to be expected that if anyone had anything to say to Kurapika's proposition, it would be him. So they all waited for him to speak and voice their intentions, unspoken or not yet put into thought.

"What is your purpose in rebanding the Spiders?" he asked, dead seriously, also curiously. If he could guess anything from his second-hand encounters with the Chain User, it was that this young man rivaled Ubo in strength, Danchou in cunning, and himself in intellect. Whatever he said was well worth considering and also testing for traps.

The Kuruta standing before them sighed as he looked down, clearly deciding how he should carefully word his intentions, his lips silently forming the beginning of words and his eyes searching back and forth in the manner of one who is thinking deeply. Finally, he looked up and said, simply, "The original intent of the Spider will not change." He met the shocked gazes of his future compatriots calmly. "Yes, the Spiders will continue as thieves, as murderers, and philanthropists. The missions will be my decision. What you do in the remaining time is up to you." He casually flexed the fingers of his right hand, letting the soft jingle of the miniature chains ring in the broken cement room they were meeting in. "Are there any disagreements?" he asked softly, even effeminately, threat lingering in every smooth vowel.

Shalnark heard Bolonolev swallow uncertainly next to him as Coltopi and Kalluto shifted. He caught Shizuku's eye quickly. All of their eyes were trained on those chains. They knew what Paku had sacrificed her life to warn them about; there was a specific chain which they could only use against them, but which Ubo could not even break. In other words, any argument with him could only end in their demise. Even if they attacked stealthily and simultaneously. Shalnark could guess that the blond standing in front of them was the kind to hide one invincible technique behind another; in other words, if he had an invincible chain and knew that they knew about it, he had something even more threatening which none of them knew about.

"What are your conditions?" Coltopi asked.

"Complete devotion to the Spider," Kurapika said simply. "And allegiance to the Head."

"Who is?"

He looked at each them, with a smile which was neither evil nor threatening, but an unnamed mixture of both. "That should be obvious already," he whispered. "After all, did I not defeat your previous Head? His number goes to me. Or rather, I will remake his number."

Shalnark knew there was no choice available to them but the one he wanted them to pick. Furthermore, the five of them together had discussed what they would do if such a situation arose. Their answer had been unanimous: It is not the individual to survive, but the Spider. There would be no more Pakunodas.

"We accept."

.

He was there again, as he had been every night since his death. At first the other deceased Spiders had showed up, too, but after Danchou's death, they had faded away, at his posthumous command.

Kurapika had attempted to nullify the effects. He had tried to force himself to stay awake, or to drop off to sleep instantaneously, but to no avail. Thus, at this semi-conscious state just before dreamland intervened, that form, like a half-developed 3-D photograph, yet still completely corporeal, appeared in his mind's eye as though it were a physical place.

Kuroro Lucifer.

It was because he knew that he had the tendency to respond half-audibly that he insisted on spending the night alone by himself. His paranoia of any of the other Spiders hearing any incriminating words of passion and doubt, removed from his cold, calculating exterior, made him actually threaten to kill anyone who entered the room he chose at their various locations.

Kurapika was always aware of a sort of out-of-body experience during these times; even though he controlled what he said and did, he could see himself do them. There had been fights in the past, physically destroying each other, though never actually able to kill each other. After awhile, they both grew tired of the never-ending cycle of relentless blows, and had settled on mentally tormenting the other. At least until Kurapika really fell asleep.

Tonight was no exception. As he opened the mental door that lead to his self-conscious (it was always a black door, inlaid with mother-of-pearl geometrical designs, like fine antique furniture), he saw Kuroro standing there in that room, devoid of walls, ceiling, floor; only another door on the other side which he would pass through into actual sleep. Kurapika's dream-state was ridiculously formatted, though he could never figure out why.

Kuroro was sitting (on what?) and staring at him. Was he two feet away? Twenty? Kurapika never knew, not even when they fought. There was long silence.

"Say something," said the Kuruta at last, irritated with Kuroro's unblinking stare.

The other man gave no response except a small curved smile. An immaterial clock ticked somewhere in the room with no walls.

"You realize I just reformed the Spider today."

"I noticed."

"And? You have nothing to say about it?"

Silence.

Kurapika couldn't hold in the irritation any longer and crossed the indeterminable non-space between the two of them in a single step. He grabbed Kuroro by the lapels of his non-existent shirt and drew him up to standing position. "Well? Doesn't it sicken you that I've taken the place of Head of your Spiders?"

The smile continued. Kurapika drew back an arm and struck him across the face, hard. It left a red swelling on the other man's cheek, but he continued smiling and did nothing in retaliation.

"Argh!" Kurapika tossed him away, so that he flew through space and then resumed his sitting position. He angrily crossed the room to where the second door (which was always the faded, chipped blue of an oceanside cottage) and sighed as he stared at it. It wouldn't open to his will; he had to wait for it to open, and in the meantime he was stuck with a mocking haunt.

As he leaned against the frameless door, he heard a voice from behind him, "Kuruta."

"What."

"You reforming the Spiders will only benefit me and them, and only harm you. That's why I don't care."

He raised eyes, burning red, even in his dream-state, and shot fiery daggers of thought at the other man. They came to corporeal form and pierced through the other man's pale form, passing harmlessly through. "What do you mean."

"Isn't it obvious? The Spider needs a head to continue. The other members can't function without one. You are the most suitable choice for it. You have skill, intelligence, and hatred in abundance. They are all necessary qualities for the man who would take my place."

Kurapika gritted his teeth. "You're wrong. Wrong!" The last shout echoed in a room without corners for sound to bounce off of. "I'm not filled with hatred, I've already taken it out on you! And your Spiders!"

"No, you are becoming Us."

Kurapika would have slaughtered the other undead man there, but the blue door opened and ushered him into blissful oblivion.

.

"I distrust him."

Shizuku put down the book she had been reading and continued her nonchalant gaze at Coltopi.

"We all do," Shalnark answered, from where he sat next to her. "But the Head of the Spiders should be a man who is untrustworthy."

"Untrustworthy, yes. But the untrustworthy naturally trust one another, and we are all untrustworthy. I still distrust him." He looked up at Kalluto, who entered the room with his usual uncanny silence and shut the door silently behind him. "Well?"

"Couldn't hear or sense anything through the door. But I didn't want to try that hard, either. No point getting killed over something like that."

Shalnark sighed. "It's not like it matters much, anyway. Who knows why he needs such privacy?"

"Maybe he's a girl and doesn't want us to find out," commented Bolonolev, picking up a rare gold coin he'd picked up somewhere while raiding and scrutinizing it disinterestedly. Coltopi snorted.

"Yeah, like that never happens with effeminate guys. It's too obvious. He's hiding something else."

"Well, no use worrying over it," said Shizuku, who had picked her book up again and was reading as she spoke. "I'm tired, anyway. Why don't we follow Tenno's example and get to sleep?"

"You're already calling him by that ridiculous name?"

"Why not?"

Coltopi sighed, blowing out his breath afterward so that his long green hair parted, granting a rare view of the lower portion of his mouth. "Why doesn't he just go by 'Danchou'? Exactly how much ego does he have, anyway, that he asks us to call him 'emperor'?"

"Perhaps he hates to be reminded of killing Danchou and doesn't want to take his name as a memento."

"Not likely. If he really felt remorse over killing Danchou, that sort of person would take the name to be constantly be punished by the reminder. No," Coltopi continued, "this is definitely a very different sort of person than the one we dealt with at York Shin. He has no conscience."

"Hmm," mused Bolonolev, touching his bandaged chin thoughtfully. "I really don't think a person can lose a conscience. He's either born with one or without. We were, Danchou was, all born without a conscience."

"Really?" whispered Shalnark, so that only Shizuku could hear. No, he thought to himself, we all have consciences. It's a matter of what has been locked away. If "Tenno" has locked away his conscience, something terrible must have happened to make it so. In any case, once that dam breaks, for any of us...He shuddered. He didn't want to consider the consequences.

Shizuku noticed his slight movement and touched his shoulder gently. "Shalnark, you okay? I'm heading to bed, why don't you come along?"

He sighed and rose. "You're right. In the morning, everyone."

After the two of them had left, the remaining three pondered for a moment. "Those two, they seem to be more in tune with each other recently," remarked Kalluto. Coltopi agreed with a silent nod. "All the recent missions, they've stuck close to each other and covered for one another constantly. Actually, they're a pretty ideal fighting team, don't you think."

"How so?"

"Shizuku is about the strongest, ditsiest girl of her type that come along. She specializes in instinctive physical battle. Shalnark is brainy, but in order to hatch his plans and use his manipulation, he needs cover. The two of them, they work well together."

"True."

"Well, I'm off," said Kalluto. "No telling what Tenno will be like in the morning, and I'd rather be rested for whatever it is."

Soon, the Spider nest slumbered.

.

Kurapika eyed the new marking carefully. Five years ago, no, even two years ago, he would absolutely have blanched if he could see what his future self had done. Now, there was little interest except in the peculiar design that now spread out over the back of his right hand.

It was small, especially compared to the designs Ubo and Hisoka had chosen, but it was much more elegant and intricate. The small black spider was no rakish replica of straight lines and bold curves, but looked so similar to a real spider that he wasn't quite sure how he'd manage to keep from smacking his hand with his other everything he saw it. Surrounding it were delicate chains, like a jeweled necklace, intertwining between the legs. In the middle was a large 0. In the end, he refused to take the former Danchou's number afterall.

"Thank you," he said briefly to the man who had done it. Said man leaned over the counter he was standing behind with a grin.

"Say, that's quite an obsession you've got, there," he said. "To actually get a Spider tattoo...that is the sort of tattoo they use, right? They're a tough group, but there are a lot of people who admire them. I've never actually seen anyone go so far as to get a tattoo with a number in it, though."

"I'm a Spider," said Kurapika, again briefly. The other man's eyes widened and he backed up instantly.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean any offense, really..."

"It doesn't matter," he said, and walked out.

The others were waiting for him at a cafe, drinking coffee which they had paid for (since they didn't want to attract attention and it wasn't really worth it to steal a two-hundred zeni cup of coffee, anyway). "So you actually did it," said Coltopi, inspecting the new mark which peaked out from behind the chains. "I didn't actually think you would do it."

The challenge in his voice elicited a distinct rattling of chains which warned him to shut up. There was no need for any actual threat.

"So, Tenno, what's our first line of business?" asked Shalnark, apparently at ease. Kurapika gave him an even look which may possibly have had the slightest hint of "thank you" present.

"The first order of business is to recruit others," he said evenly. "Although I don't doubt my own abilities, or the rest of yours, there are some gaps in the types of abilities which we need to fill. Certainly we need more strength-type fighters, and at least one more intelligence. We also need additional stealth. I've already considered a candidate for that." He thought to himself for a moment, wondering how Hanzo would take the news that he was leading the very group he had sought to annihilate five years ago. The secret had not been kept under wraps long after his fight with Hisoka during the final round of the Hunter exam. Furthermore, he was uncertain of Hanzo's moral inclinations. He knew that he would have all of his conditions fulfilled if he recruited his former friends, but that they would be outraged at the suggestion.

He sighed to himself, though he kept his face expressionless. Even his ideas for reform wouldn't actually change the fact that the Spiders would continue carrying out illegal activities.

So instead he settled with starting somewhere he knew. "In order to spark the interest of other extraordinary nen users, we need to publicly carry out a particularly 'flashy' mission. I've already got that planned. Shalnark, I'll need you to bring me up to date on everyone's hidden abilities so that I can fill in the last details of the plan. Everyone will meet on the first of this upcoming month, at the Dunnolttar Castle in northern Scotland. I'll inform you of the mission there. Until then, do what you please. Just be there. Break."

Author's Notes: This is obviously a sequel to "Waning Moon, Waxing Moon," in which Kurapika fights and kills Kuroro, five years after the York Shin incident. I recommend that you read that one first if you haven't already. This is my first attempt at writing a story "chapter by chapter" (usually I finish the entire thing before publishing and release each chapter individually), but I will do my best to complete it if possible. I anticipate this one being quite a bit darker than "Notes on a Kuruta" or even "Waning Moon, Waxing Moon". Thanks very much for reading!