Disclaimer: Never mine, and like I've said before: tragic.

Setting: Somewhere before the Epilogue.

Introduction: Kurapika had no idea how she ended up to a time eight years to the future. Wait, wait. If that was the case, then why the hell did she look older than she had to be? Or maybe…instead of time-skipping, she had lost her memories?

Part 1

THE MISSING EIGHT YEARS

She looked almost suspiciously at the silver ring adorned with a singular onyx stone sitting meekly on her scarred palm. The scars… She shifted her attention to the scars that seemingly glared at her. Identical scars on her two hands; her hands had been pierced by something and those scars had stubbornly stayed.

But who did it? When did it happen? How? Where?

She pressed shut her eyes as a whirlpool of questions started to flood her weary mind. It was frustrating—no, scratch that; it was beyond that. It was maddening.

Briskly she got up from the bed and darted towards the bathroom. For the moment, she had rented a room in that small inn in the middle of a small town that she did not even recognise. No. In the first place, she did not even know why she was there. When she woke up, the landlady of the inn told her that some townspeople saw her unconscious by the roadside and so they kindly took her to the inn since there were no external injuries on her body.

She splashed cold water to her face in attempt to clear her clouded mind, but it did little. She looked up and stared at her own face. She gnashed her teeth as she looked at the pair of Scarlet Eyes glaring back at her from the mirror in contemptuous glow.

How did it come to this? She thought bitterly.

She did not look her age. She looked older than her supposed age. Her hair was darker than she remembered. Her earring; the last gift from his deceased brother, was missing. She had those abominable scars on her hands and the questionable ring on her ring finger. She was back to her female persona. She could not believe it.

The last time she remembered, she was still in her male—boy—guise, still roughly 17-years-old and had just joined the Nostrad bodyguard team.

The drumming sounds of his fingers were ever so faint and they were hardly audible, but it was there nonetheless. Resting his chin on the other hand, Kuroro Lucifer stared at the page of the ancient book before him unfocusedly. At the moment he was doing his (part-time) job as Abelard Constantin's researcher, and he was in the duke's grand library; filtering through the numerous books available there. However, his mind was somewhere else.

The day before, he had felt a big shift in her Nen inside him. It ceaselessly squirmed in uneasiness, as if she was in constant agitation. Something had happened, and at first he dismissed the sudden violent shift as her getting into yet another trouble since he knew that she could be reckless at certain times.

But the squirming was not something that he could just disregard. There was this foreboding feeling that came with it.

He knew that Kurapika had gone off for another Hunter mission, but she had told him that it would be a short one. The children had been put in Fino's care for the time being, and Shalnark had been staying there as well. He had no reason to worry for the children. But Kurapika…

DRRRR—!

The train of his thoughts were interrupted rudely by the vibration of his cell phone. One look at the Caller ID, and he answered it in an instant.

"Yes, Shalnark?"

[Uh, Danchou…I've got news. Kurapika, she…]

Kuroro listened to what Shalnark had to tell him. When Shalnark was done, Kuroro Lucifer was convinced that in the future he might have to trust his instinct more.

He was blissfully taking a nap in his small office when his alarm buzzed. The alarm did not ring noisily or shrilly like normal alarms did, because his alarm was not just some standard alarms. It was bodiless, since it was a warning sent to his nerves from the invisible electromagnetic field he set around his small house. The said house; however, was more like a home cum workshop cum office for him.

It embarrassed him to admit that he learned the technique of that invisible field from his mute 'little' sister. He thought that it was perhaps a habit brewed from the insecurity she felt ever since she was freed from that tank in Bensalem. Nevertheless, regardless the origin of that technique, he found it remarkably useful. It allowed him to know how many guests; or unwelcomed intruders alike, that had come into his abode for business, and he could also find out the basic information of their identities.

Heen stretched his lazy body with a huge yawn. Information was still spilling into his mind through the electromagnetic waves from the invisible field; courtesy to his Nen. It was a group of Hunter; black-list Hunters, to be specific. All burly, disgustingly muscular men; except for a few scrawny-looking ones, and except for one female that…

"Goodness gracious me…" He whispered to himself as his eyes shot open in disbelief.

The door was flung open rather rashly and a man strolled in. The men behind him spilled into Heen's office like ants raiding a fully-stocked fridge. Heen did not even bother to study each one of them as his eyes darted among these men until he finally found who he was looking for.

What the hell is Kurapika doing with this shady bunch of men? He thought as he straightened up and put on an all-business face.

Kurapika looked at him with what he thought was disinterest, before she turned away and looked around the room with bored expression, until her eyes were finally fixed on the calendar hanging on the wall. She frowned slightly, but that was all. There was an air of detachment around her, and certain callousness that he had never felt in her before. She felt so distant now, and she did not even acknowledge him in the eyes. It was as if he was a complete stranger to him.

Which he was far from being one.

"Yer Heen, the one who forges weaponries that best suit a man's combat ability?" The bearded man; who seemed to be the leader of the pack, demanded him as he stood imposingly in front of Heen's desk.

"Mmhmm. That's me, alright. What's your request?" He entertained the man easily.

With his electromagnetic Nen abilities, and his specialty in extracting memories from people's neutrons in their bodies—he had trained to do so without screwing their alignments as he did to Kurapika and Kuroro back then in Bensalem—he could design weapons that would perfectly matched the client's attributes. Suffice to say that he created weapons that could only be used to utmost potential by the requesting client and nobody else. Each individual had different data regarding their physical attributes and mentalities, and he could create weapons that best suited those data.

"Easy. Make each of us a weapon of our specialties." BeardedMan said gruffly.

"Hmm… It'll cost you high, y'know." Heen reminded him with a smirk.

"We can pay." BeardedMan flashed his Hunter licence at him with a malicious grin, and quickly hid it in his breast pocket.

"Very well. Give me ten days." When the BeardedMan raised his two great bushy eyebrows, Heen raised a hand and quickly added, "What do you expect? I work alone and there are ten weapons I have to make. I still need some rest and meals, dude. Besides, it's all about the quality as well. The less time I have with those weapons, the poor the quality. Now you decide." Heen finished with a triumphant smirk.

"Fine." BeardedMan groused as he crossed his arms irritably.

"Deal, then. Now, first of all, I need to acquire your data one by one." He stood up and walked to another door. "Who's going first?"

So Heen extracted their data one by one and stored them in his electric memory storage—one that Shalnark had helped built—though he was so bored while doing so. He could not wait until it was Kurapika's turn, and he knew that she was coming in last. A particular air of suspicion was hanging around her like second skin, after all.

"You're the last one, right? Finally!" He said cheerfully as he waved his hands dramatically when Kurapika stepped into the separate room. Inwardly, however, he was still mulling over on how to act around this strange Kurapika. She did not seem like her usual self.

Instead of sitting down on the chair provided in front of him, Kurapika stared at Heen with narrowed eyes. She was studying the olive-skinned man with unsure eyes.

"Something on my face?" Heen asked as he touched his face experimentally.

"…Have we ever met before?"

"Have we?" Heen cocked his head to one side. A good thing of being Bensalem's spy was that he was really good at acting now. "Well, I don't think so, since I wouldn't forget ever meeting a young lady as charming as you are."

"Hmph." Kurapika scoffed openly. "That is a very bad use of cliché."

"Oh, you've just stabbed my heart!" He put a hand on his chest in a mock hurt. "But it's okay, I won't go after you since someone has already claimed you."

Kurapika's eyes widened slightly, and her expression was as if shouting "What on Earth are you babbling about?" Heen raised a fine eyebrow at this.

"You're married, right?" He asked in pretended confirmation as he pointed as her hand that had the silver-onyx ring on her ring finger.

Her hand quickly covered the other 'guilty' hand and she glanced furtively at the said hand. There was a look of consternation on her face, and a tinge of panic in those oceanic blue eyes. Heen caught all these subtle hints, and he came into a conclusion—a very unpleasant conclusion.

"Sit down, will you? I can't begin unless you sit here. Don't worry, I don't bite." He said with gentler tone. "But if you want to talk the night away like this, I don't mind at all. I always welcome the company of lovely young lady like you." He grinned cheekily at her.

Kurapika scowled at him—a scowl he had seen before in Bensalem—but nevertheless she brusquely and unwillingly sat down on the chair.

"How are you going to do it?" She asked him, suspicion lacing her tone thickly like undiluted syrup.

"Well, just watch. Oh, first of all, please don't whack me out of your reflex, ok? I have already had my share of being punched, kicked, whacked—you name it—because of my first-time clients' marvellous reflexes." Heen said; cringing as he remembered the time when he was kicked in the stomach by a client during the early days of this new business. "Come, give me your hand," he said while reaching out to her.

Kurapika regarded his hand with very suspecting eyes, as if she was expecting that hand to suddenly grow an extra finger. Warily she placed her hand on top of his, and then she felt electric surge travelling in her body. It was extremely unpleasant and her other hand moved without her mind telling it to do so. She would have slapped him right on the cheek if the mahogany-haired man had not ducked just in time.

"Sheesh…I should've known…" Heen rolled his eyes, but he continued extracting information with his Nen.

With Kurapika, he took longer than the people before her since he was also extracting information about her current state—the obvious memory loss, that is. She did not remember him, she did not remember the significance of the ring she was wearing, and—if his observation on her staring at the calendar earlier was correct—she did not even remember today's date. Heck, she might even not understand why several years had skipped from her last memory.

The more information he extracted, however, the more he grew agitated. When he deemed it as enough, he withdrew from her.

"What was that?" She demanded hotly while rubbing her arm. Her skin and flesh still tingled from the after-effect of his Nen.

"Business secret." He grinned at her smoothly, though internally he was mildly cursing.

"Hmph." Kurapika tsk-ed, but did not pursue the matter further.

"By the way," Heen said as casually as possible as he turned to his computer desktop, "what are you guys going to do? Suddenly coming in and demanding specialty weapons from me for each one of you. Are you going to hunt something big?"

"That is none of your business." She replied gelidly.

"Now, now, don't be so cold to me, dear. That information may help me in designing better weapons for all of you, y'know." He winked at her.

Kurapika scrunched up her nose in disgust at his blatant flirtation with her, but she decided that his reasoning made perfect sense. She contemplated between telling him or not, until she finally made her decision.

"The Spiders." She said with low voice.

"Come again? Spiders? You are hunting spiders? Why do you need specially weapons to—" Of course he knew what she was talking about, but he decided to play ignorant for his own safety. He was a Spider himself, after all.

"The Genei Ryodan." Kurapika interrupted, and though she was wearing her black contact-lenses, the scarlet hue of her burning eyes could still penetrate the lenses faintly. "We are hunting Genei Ryodan."

There was so much venom in her voice that it took all he had to whistle casually as if in admiration while inwardly he was cursing.

Oh, craaaap…

[Heen can actually finish those weapons in less than a week, but he's buying time. He also said that they're staying in a local hotel. What should we do, Danchou?] Shalnark's voice perfectly reflected his 'I'm at loss on what to do, please enlighten me' mood.

Kuroro had been covering his mouth as Shalnark recounted Heen's story to him. Memory loss? Now that was one of the worst troubles that Kurapika could get herself into, and trust her to bring troubles with her whenever wherever whatever and however. With a sigh, he asked more questions to poor Shalnark.

"How strong are these Hunters?"

[Um, according to Heen, they aren't much of a sport. He said Kurapika's still the strongest among all of them.]

As expected of her, of course.

"How severe is the memory loss?"

[He's not sure himself. I don't understand the details, but I think he said something along the line of the body remembering but the mind forgetting. He didn't dare question her about anything personal, so he doesn't know the extent.]

"Which is wise of him." Kuroro commented. Had Heen tried to prod a very much confused and insecure-feeling Kurapika, she would not have hesitated to beat the living daylight out of him.

The problem now was that he did not know how to approach her in current situation. If Kurapika did not even remember the ring, then the amnesia might go as far as prior the Hassamunnin-fiasco. Further evidence was that she was willing to join a group of Hunters who were going after him and his gang. If any of his Spiders were to encounter her by accident, it might end up in inevitable bloodshed.

In any case, though, he had to separate her from those good-for-nothing Hunters first, exterminate those insignificant threats for the sake of prudency, and then deal with the rest of the situation. The problem was now how to separate her. Knowing her personality, she would be likely to stay in-door for the rest of the ten days and pondered about her situation. He could imagine that she would be largely at loss as well. He would be counting on that disorientation then, since she was highly likely to be less rationale and logical. He could take advantage of that.

"Machi and Shizuku should be enough to eliminate them, with Heen acting as their back-up. I'll deal with her personally. Tell them that I'll be seeing them at Heen's place." Kuroro decided.

[Ok, Danchou.] Shalnark chirped; obviously eager to take action—although it only involved contacting several Spiders.

"Oh, and Shalnark?"

[Yeah?]

"Make sure to keep the children out of this." Kuroro added as he leaned back in his chair with a vague sigh.

[Huh? Oh. Oh! Yeah, sure. I know…]

Though Shalnark did not explicitly express it, Kuroro knew that he regarded that last order as the hardest to carry out of all. Why? Because while Shalnark could steel his resolve to negate Meta's empathic ability (with great effort), Bia was another problem with her Nen that was similar to Heen's. Not only that, Meta could literally sniff secrets as if they were hanging in the air, and Bia could act as the 'extortionist'. What a dangerous duo.

If those two found out about the situation, thing would only go downhill and all Hell would break loose. Again.

[Um, Danchou?]

"Yes?"

[Do you think…this memory loss thing is…well…permanent?]

That was the question that Kuroro himself dreaded.

"Ugh…Insufferable men with no manners whatsoever… So revolting…" She muttered under her breath as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Third day of staying in that local hotel as they waited for that Heen person to finish their requested weapons and those shameless Hunters started flirting with her as if they had never seen a female before. How disgusting.

She reached out and turned the faucet of the basin, letting the water to wash away all that she had just vomited. Ever since the day she woke up in that inn in the remote town, she had been suffering from this occasional nauseas. Not to mention that her tempers could fluctuate so drastically, and there was this persistent presence inside her chest. She could not identify it, and it made her feel as if she understood herself even less day by day. Something was amiss, but she could not grasp it.

Kurapika looked up and stared at the reflection of her own face in the mirror. If the calendar at that Heen person's office was correct, she was supposed to be 25 this coming April, but she could not remember the eight years that had apparently passed. The more she tried to dig among the memories in her mind, the more the memories of those years seemed to slip from her fingers. It was infuriating.

She looked down at the hands that were clutching the porcelain basin. She stared at the ring that she was wearing. Although she did not know how and where she got that ring, but when she took it off she felt insecure and more ill in the inside.

"You're married, right?" The olive-skinned man's voice echoed in the back of her mind.

Not only that the man's face seemed slightly familiar, as if she had seen that face before in the distant past, but he also pointed out something that she had been trying to deny. A ring on her ring finger. Yes, it was a symbol that one was married, but whom was she married to? The mere thought of it made her shudder in dreadful anticipation.

The more she thought of the situation, the more she felt like she was going to lose herself and sanity amidst this confusion. The only thing that managed to keep her focused and clear-headed was the fact that she was about to begin her hunt for the Genei Ryodan. She had been waiting for so long for this kind of hunt, but it brought up yet another question.

If these people were still going after the Genei Ryodan, then what had she been doing these past eight years? What about the eyes of her people that she had promised to collect?

It did not make sense if she had been doing nothing regarding those two goals for the past eight years. It was unacceptable for her. Where had her memories gone to? Did she hit her head? But there was no concussion on her head when she first woke up in that humble inn; and the landlady said that she had no external injuries. Her memories could not just vaporise on their own, right?

Stolen…The word suddenly flashed in her mind. At this realization, Kurapika felt strangely energized. That's right! Someone must have stolen my memories. Most likely a Nen-user. But…What for? Besides, I should've put up resistance against whoever tried to steal my memories. But I have no injuries. Was I tricked?

Kurapika exited the bathroom and began pacing in her bedroom. It was late night and she had not bothered turning on the main lamp and so the room was dimly lit; perfect for musings and deep thoughts.

There was another oddity that she found out about herself. She did try her Nen chain, and was mortified to find that she had lost the Nen blade in her heart. Whatever happened to it? Moreover, she discovered that her index finger now had a chain assigned to it while previously it was still empty. She was not sure what the role of the chain, but she felt that she might know it once she tried using it in a fight.

Oh, this is so frustrating…

Suddenly, the 'persistent presence' inside her chest stirred and she felt a newcomer in the room.

"You look appropriately frustrated."

That new unfamiliar voice froze the blood in her veins—as if it was giving creepy testimony of her gut feeling of a sudden new presence in the room—and she spun on her heels with her Nen chain instantly summoned; ready to strike at any given time.

Sitting on the chair leisurely in her bedroom was a raven-haired man in black suit, with white bandana wrapping his forehead. In the dimly-lit room, she could see the faint glints coming from the odd blue globular earrings that he wore. The man's skin was pale, and his eyes were like obsidian stones; they were pitch-black but there were gleams that she felt like she had seen before. She had not felt his presence at all even as she paced in the room like a madwoman. She had not even heard him coming into the room.

So many things that I feel I've seen before, and yet I don't remember ever seeing them before. This is ridiculous, Kurapika spat inwardly.

"'Appropriately', you said?" She asked him warily.

"Appropriately." The stranger said pleasantly while nodding his head and with a knowing smile gracing his handsome feature.

"What do you know?" She demanded with harsh tone.

"That is not a nice way of asking people, Kurapika." He said, and he smirked amusedly as he noted how Kurapika stiffened at the mention of her name. "You are Kurapika Kuruta, the last of the Kuruta clan. Your home was in Rukuso Mountain. Your tribe was massacred by the Genei Ryodan and their renowned Scarlet Eyes were taken as trophies, and they were circulated in the underworld."

Hearing all those, Kurapika visibly bristled and her eyes threatened to turn scarlet but she fought to rein in her emotions. She even withdrew her Nen chain. She looked at the man with level eyes. The man regarded her with calculating eyes,

"That much I am sure you remember. Currently you have lost parts of your memories, correct? Now, a question to you since I have answered yours: how much do you remember?"

"Who are you?" Kurapika practically snarled defensively.

"Now, now, Kurapika. One answer, one question. Answer my question first, and then I'll answer yours." He responded patiently. Kurapika noted how easily this man handled her temper, as if he was accustomed to dealing with her.

"The last thing I remember…" Kurapika began hesitantly, and suddenly she combed her golden hair in obvious irritation. "I should've just turned 17. I should be in Nostrad's bodyguard squad. I should be in Yorkshin City, and not in that remote small town. I…"

Her eyes darted around the room in blatant confusion. She realised that she was rambling like some insane woman, but she could not help it. She was too panicked with this sudden feeling of helplessness.

"So you lost your memories of around the time of the Yorkshin Auction. Most probably before the day of the auction since you don't seem to recognise this face. Not yet, at least." The man said contemplatively as he covered his mouth with his hand and his gaze fell on the carpeted floor of the hotel room.

"And who are you? I've answered your question."

"Impatient as ever, aren't we?" He chuckled. "Well, I don't see the point of telling you who I am since you won't remember anyway."

"You sound as if you know so much about me." She accused him.

"Oh, I do." He smiled charmingly at her, and she suddenly felt like scratching that smirk off his face. His attitude was getting on her nerves! "What do you want to know about yourself? I may be able to answer some."

"You think I will trust your words? I don't even know who you are. And how the hell did you get into my room?"

"Pretty slow, aren't you? How unusual of you. I guess you are too distraught." He chuckled, which made her blush in anger.

"You still haven't answered my question properly. Who are you?" She barked at him.

"I told you, you won't remember."

"I don't care."

"Stubborn as a mule, expectedly." The man chuckled amusedly. "But I won't be answering that question here, seeing that your temper is especially volatile recently, with your body condition and your memory loss. I don't wish for collateral damage here."

"My body condition?" Kurapika echoed him with blinking eyes. What was wrong with her body? She had no external injuries whatsoever.

"You haven't realised? Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it. Never mind that." The man waved a dismissive hand—a gesture that grandly ticked her off.

He got up and walked towards the balcony of the room. He stepped out and jumped so that he stood on the railing of the balcony quite comfortably. His figure seemed to blend with the black background of the night.

"If you are willing to follow me, then I'll answer your questions." He turned his back to her. "I'll be waiting."

And he leapt from the balcony.

Kurapika was torn. She felt compelled to follow that man, but she was hesitant to do so. True that the stranger seemed to know her quite well, but there was no guarantee that he meant well. For all she knew, he might be an enemy posing as a friendly acquaintance from the piece of her past that she had forgotten. Even worse, he could be the one who had stolen her memories!

Suddenly realising how foolish and useless it was to stay rooted there like some dumb duck, Kurapika leapt from the balcony as well with determination to catch up with the strange man. She could pick up his Nen quite easily, as if the man purposely left a track for her to follow.

However, that was not the reason why she could blindly pick the position of the man. Something stirred inside her, somewhere in her chest, giving her directions. It was a strange sensation, but she felt that she could at least trust this…instinct.

Several metres ahead of her, the man could feel Kurapika's presence and he let out a tiny relieved smile. Goodness knew that she could be so hard to handle sometimes.

"FINOOOOOO!"

The said girl jumped from her tall chair as the scream virtually shook the entire kitchen; if not the entire inn. No sooner after she managed to regain her composure, a certain young-looking man burst into the kitchen; panting and huffing and pale as if he had been chased by Death itself.

"S—Shal? What's wrong? It's not like you to yell so loudly like that." Fino said incredulously.

"T, the—*wheeze*—the kids…Where—*wheeze*—are the kids?" He asked with strained voice as he held on to the door frame to support his body.

"Meta and Bia? An hour ago they went to the forest to play with the horses." Fino blinked, not understanding why Shalnark was panicked.

"Did…did they carry…any bags…?" He asked gaspingly like an oxygen-lacking goldfish as he staggered towards the window that faced the forest.

"Hng…I guess? Why?"

"Oh, God…" Shalnark put his forehead on the window glass. "Danchou's going to kill me…"

"W, why? What happened?" Suddenly, it dawned to her. "Oh! Don't tell me they're running off again!" She rushed out of the kitchen to look around the outskirt of the forest, but there were no children in sight.

"That is what I fear. Oh no…"

"But where are they going to?"

"Heen's place." Those kids must have investigated me when I was sleeping! Dammit! "I gotta go and catch up with them before it's too late."

"…Uh, Shal?" Fino's voice was small.

"Yeah?"

"I think it's too late."

"What?" Shalnark rushed out of the house.

"Look there." Fino pointed her finger to the sky.

Shalnark looked at what she was pointing at, and he wanted to faint on the spot there and then. Flying from the forest was a certain black unicorn with two figures sitting on its back.

"COME BACK HERE!" Shalnark shouted at them, but of course his voice did not reach them.

"It's useless…" Fino came to his side and patted his shoulders. "Let's just tell Kuroro and Kurapika?"

Shalnark turned to look at Fino with a guilty expression. He had not told her about Kurapika's memory loss since he did not want her to worry too much. Fino raised a quizzical eyebrow at this expression, and was about to question him when Shalnark suddenly pulled her and rested his forehead on her shoulder. He still would not tell her.

"Yeah…I think I'll tell Danchou…and wait for the worst." He muttered to her.

Fino could only pat his shoulders sympathetically. While she knew that Kuroro would not do anything to Shalnark regarding the children running off—though she knew that he would impose some sort of punishment on them; she saw him doing that once before—she knew that Shalnark's concern was Kurapika's temper.

Or at least that was what she assumed due to her ignorance of the truth of the situation.

When she finally caught up with him, she was panting as if she had run twice the distance she had just travelled. For some reasons, she would get tired very easily these few days. Not to mention the frequent nauseas. When she reached him, he was already standing there composedly; no sweats whatsoever. It seemed that he had just sent a message to someone, but he pocketed his cell phone as soon as she had arrived and looked up. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her slightly heavy breathing, but commented nothing about it.

"So." He started. "You want to know who I am, correct?"

She could only nod.

"I believe you are after the Genei Ryodan with those Hunters, yes?"

She nodded again, but frowned at the way he stretched the conversation.

"Do you honestly believe that the rag-tag group of Hunters you are with can kill any of the Spiders?" There was a cold glint of amusement in those obsidian eyes.

"Who…knows…" She answered patchily, still trying to calm her erratic breathing. "Are you…going to answer…my question…or not…?" She asked irritably.

"Of course. My name is Kuroro Lucifer."

Kurapika stiffened.

"Leader of the Genei Ryodan; whose blood you are after." Kuroro declared while spreading his arms widely in a welcoming manner; it looked almost embracing, even.

To Kurapika's eyes, this antic looked sickeningly like a twisted messianic gesture, and it fuelled the bristling rage inside her. Her rationale fleeing her mind in an instant, she summoned her Chain Jail in a millisecond and aimed the deadly hook towards Kuroro. Without even the slightest worry or surprise; as if it was planned, Kuroro raised an arm and let the chain wrapped itself around his arm. Kurapika had a triumphant grin that was bordering maniacal on her face, but soon enough she discovered something odd.

Kuroro had summoned his Skill Hunter book, and his Nen remained activated despite being touched by her Chain Jail.

"Surprised?" He said almost mockingly.

"H, how—?"

"The Nen Blade in your heart was released years ago. You no longer hunt the Ryodan, before your memory loss, that is."

Too shocked, Kurapika could only shake her head in disbelief as she tightened the chain's hold around Kuroro's arm. The chain did tighten, and Kuroro had to purposely strengthen his muscle to avoid having his bones crushed into smithereens. He maintained his observation at the Kuruta standing before him.

"LIES!" She suddenly yelled at him, and her Scarlet Eyes grew fiercer by each second.

Kuroro remained undaunted by this sudden outburst. He had anticipated it.

"YOU'RE LYING!" Kurapika clenched her hand, and the Chain Jail around Kuroro's arm tightened even more.

"Am I?" He questioned her smoothly. "Use your logic, Kurapika. The Nen Blade responds to your heart and resolve. You should understand the implication if it has really disappeared. What else can explain its disappearance, then?"

"I—I—" She stuttered, and her hand began to tremble. She looked at the ground beneath her with wide eyes. "No…I—Urk!"

Suddenly, Kurapika doubled up and her Chain Jail disappeared in an instant. She fell to her knees and started retching violently but nothing came out; she had already emptied everything from her system earlier on. These nauseous attacks were getting more and more frequent. Kuroro observed her from his spot, never moving an inch and he still kept his Skill Hunter book open.

"Forget about the hunt, Kurapika. You are in no condition." He finally said when te 'attack' had calmed down.

"Shut up! Why do you care, anyway?" She snapped at him.

Oh, it had been really long since the last time he heard those words from her mouth. It really reminded him of the early days of their journey eight years ago.

"Well, I am responsible for you." He shrugged, stating it as if it was the most obvious fact on Earth except for the fact that the Sun rose from the East and set on the West.

"What?" Her voice sounded squashed. "You? Responsible for me? That's ridi—" She was interrupted by a mild nauseous feeling, but it ended shortly. "W, wait a minute… First of all, what's wrong with my body?"

"…Now is not the time to know that." Not yet, at least, he thought.

Without allowing Kurapika any time to utter a single syllable of protest or whatever else she was capable of uttering, Kuroro used his Teleportation skill and appeared behind her. With deft movement of his hand, he took something from his breast pocket and pricked her neck with it. There was only a wince from Kurapika, and the next moment she was as limp as a doll. She fell back to him, and he caught her easily in his arms.

Kuroro looked at the small needle that he had just used on Kurapika.

Lucian better be sure that whatever he put on this needle has no other funny side-effects, he thought before he pocketed back the needle and carried Kurapika bridal style to the direction of the hotel again.

"Crazy! They are crazy, I swear! Troubles after troubles, problems after problems. The lot of them are all magnets of problems!" He muttered vehemently under his breath. "But that isn't just the worst part; which is that I always get dragged into the whole mess!"

"Sheesh, stop bitching like some pregnant woman, will you? You're hurting my ears. B'sides, you like it. Just admit it, you masochistic vampire." A female voice scoffed at him.

"Shut up, little girl. I'm not in any good mood right now." Lucian continued grousing as he packed his 'first aid kit' into travelling bag.

"I'm not a little girl!"

Lucian snorted mockingly.

"Yeah right." He said while rolling his grey eyes. "Now shut up, Yorn, or I'll shot you with my strongest tranquiliser that, I can assure you, will knock you out for a good few days."

"Try me." Yorn; the chieftain daughter of the Unicorn Tribe, stuck her tongue at him.

Lucian's temper barometer shattered into pieces.

"KYAAA! WHAT THE HELL?"

"You ask for it." He growled while stuffing the last of his emergency medical supplies into his bag. "You're lucky that I deliberately missed."

Yorn, on the other hand, was sprawled on the carpeted floor of Lucian's office quite ungracefully as she had just narrowly avoided the tranquiliser darts by a hair's breadth.

"Why are you so pissed off, anyway?"

"First," he turned to her abruptly and raised a very stiff finger, "Lucifer called and demanded that I made a kind of harmless tranquiliser for Kurapika since something happened to her and he would NOT elaborate about it. And second, YOU," he jabbed a finger to her face; causing her to cringe, "barged in here, bombarded me with stories about how you saw what happened to Kurapika in such long-winded way I could hardly understand what you were babbling about and now you demand that I accompany you to them so that you can tell them what had happened that night to Kurapika."

Yorn blinked.

"So?"

"SO," he was close to screeching, "my question is, why do everyone treat me like I'm their friggin' bellboy?"

"But you can just turn down those demands if you really don't want to get involved. It's not like they're your boss, right?" Yorn said confusedly.

"!" Lucian looked like he was chocked.

Yorn blinked several times again, and then suddenly she smirked really widely. Then she started giggling in a very conspiring manner.

"Aha~~ Someone's painfully shy heee~~re~~" She giggled while covering her mouth with the tip of her fingers.

"W, WHAT?"

"Oh! Look at your face! I'm right on the money! Bull's eyes!" Yorn pointed a finger at his face, and now it was Lucian's turn to wince at this gesture. "You're happy to get involved, right? It's just that 'coz I'm here so you don't want to show how happy you are! Sheesh! Shy boy, aren't you?"

"Y, you little—" Lucian's pale face turned so red he looked more like a lobster. "Oh, mă rog! Spune ce vrei! (whatever! Say whatever you want)" He threw his hands heavenward in exasperation.

"Denial~~Deniaa~~aal~~" Yorn sang as she twirled her index fingers as if she was a conductor.

"Shut up and get you sorry behind off my couch. We're going now." Lucian grumbled as he snatched his travelling bag from his desk and marched to the door.

Yorn quickly skipped after him and was humming along the way as they descended the stone staircase and out of the mansion. Just a few hours ago; as Lucian had pointed out, Yorn had barged into his domicile and showered him with torrents of jumbles of words that supposedly described the incident that had caused Kurapika's memory loss.

"So…You were saying that you and Kurapika had agreed to meet in a forest near that town because of your…appearance."

"Uh-huh."

"Then you saw someone—"

"Looks like a wrinkly ancient old woman in gypsy outfit. She looks like the evil witches in fairy tale." Yorn added.

"And this…old woman approached her and talked with her, and suddenly there's a bird-like creature that swooped down and did something to Kurapika, and then Kurapika collapsed, and when the bird flew off that old woman ran off as well?"

"Yep. I tried following that old witch since she ran off into the forest and I'm good at tracking in forest, but I lost signs of her halfway through the forest. When I came back to get Kurapika, she's already disappeared."

"Mm-hmm…" Lucian nodded. "I think we can get the rest of the story from Lucifer. After that we'll try to put the pieces together."

Lucifer should be able to do it in a snap of finger…Lucian fought the urge to roll his eyes at this thought.

They had reached the peak of the hill where the mansion was sitting, and Lucian tugged out a necklace from underneath his pristine white shirt. The pendulum of the necklace spilled out; it was a smooth spherical purplish black gem with metal decoration around it. It glowed solemnly in Lucian's fingers. Lucian whispered something in a language that Yorn did not recognise but she suspected that it was not Romanian. The pendulum's glow brightened, before it suddenly dimmed rapidly as if the fire kindling inside it had been extinguished.

In exchange for the extinguished 'fire', however, a massive bird with colour palette identical to that of the gem suddenly sprung forth from the gem with a great cry. It did a somersault in the air ("show-off," Yorn muttered) before it landed on the ground in front of Lucian with surprising grace and care.

"Ready?" Lucian turned to Yorn; who was staring at the suspicious-looking (in her opinion) bird.

"We're riding that?"

"What else? Did you see an airport or blimps around here?" Lucian questioned her flatly.

"Er…Well…"

"C'mon then, or I'll leave you behind." The vampire suddenly narrowed his eyes as a thought struck him. "Or are you afraid of heights or flying?"

"Ukh…" Well, that was not really true since she really did not mind heights or flying, but she preferred to use that method as the really last resort. "Not really."

"Really? Come to think of it, if my memory serves me right—which it does—the first we meet you were sky-diving while screaming very girlishly."

"Hey! That wasn't my fault! It was Paralda's—"

"Whoever is that? Don't blame others for your actions, will you?" Lucian said as he walked towards the great purplish black bird.

"Paralda is the King of Sylph!" Yorn stomped after him. "He controls the wind and at that time he dropped me—"

"Uh-huh."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"You think so?"

"It's so damn obvious, you—"

And so they kept bickering along the way, and there were hardly any silent moments or even pauses. Even as the wind roared around them due to the incredibly fast speed that Lucian's familiar had picked, they still screamed at each other as their means of conversing.

The poor familiar could only put up with this headache-inspiring annoyance as best as it could.

Kuroro leaned back in his chair as he stared at the ceiling of the hotel bedroom. Kurapika was still unconscious; laying prone on the bed, and Kuroro was processing the information that he had managed to gather.

Heen had told him that the neurons in her brains registered no memories post Yorkshin Auction onwards; which meant his deduction was right. However, oddly enough, Heen also said that Kurapika's body still remembered habits that she had developed during the last eight years; which brought him to a conclusion that the damage was only done to the memory-storing part of her brain and nothing on her body. Most probably, Kuroro deduced, that her memory had been stolen instead of an after-effect of some external damages.

A vibration coming from his cell phone broke his train of thoughts (again). He looked at the Caller ID and was not surprised to see a certain cockroach-like person calling him.

[Lucifer, open the window, please!] Lucian practically yelled at him, and Kuroro could hear the roaring of the wind in the background of the call.

He did not have to ask the reason for the request, since he more or less had it figured in his head. Knowing the full details of Lucian's occasional stupidity would be a welcomed entertainment, though. Without bothering to reply, Kuroro walked to the window of the hotel room and opened it widely. He promptly moved aside as he anticipated something zooming right into the room from the said window.

Which was what exactly happened about a second later.

A flurry of black and brown invaded the hotel room, and it stumbled to the carpeted floor quite noiselessly since the carpet cushioned the landing. Nonetheless, a mixture of female and male voices shouting "Ouch!" and "Ow!" was inevitable. When whatever it was that had just barged in to the room had settled, Kuroro calmly closed the window and drew the curtain. He turned around and regarded the heap on the floor with a raised quizzical eyebrow.

"Sfinte sisoe (holy shit)! That hurts!" He cursed.

"Your damn fault! Why did we have to crash into this room like that? I could've broken my horn if we had landed wrongly. If that happened, I'm gonna skin you alive!" She complained.

"You think my familiar can just magically stop after flying in breakneck speed like that? You were the one who requested; I quote: 'at top speed'!" He scolded her.

"You could've decelerated way before, you dolt!" She shoved him aside rudely by his shoulder.

"Why do you think I couldn't order my familiar to decelerate earlier, huh?" He poked her between her eyes with his sinewy finger.

"Because you were distracted by her, I presume?" Kuroro decided to join their ridiculous 'chat'—and effectively put an end to it.

Both Lucian and Yorn turned their heads so abruptly to his direction that they almost cracked their necks. Yorn had an expression of indignation on her face, while Lucian had a look of…well…it was hard to describe but he looked kind of torn in the inside; as if he was happy yet pissed off at his comment.

"Yes! She wouldn't stop chit-chattering, as if tomorrow's Dooms Day." Lucian said as he got up and dusted himself.

"Feh! Look who's talking!"

"Lucian, two questions: why are you here, and who is this lady?" Kuroro regarded Yorn with a calculating look; which earned him a frown from the Unicorn girl. "And I see that she is from the Unicorn tribe."

"Name's Yorn. She's Kurapika's…" Lucian turned to Yorn. "I don't think 'friend' is the correct term."

"Colleague?" She offered, though she did not seem sure about it either.

"Have I seen you before, Yorn?" Kuroro turned to fully face her.

"You should have, during the time when Silva Zaoldyck tried to loop off your head in Yorkshin City. This klutz had stumbled into that Ground Zero, screaming threats at Silva Zaoldyck if he dared hurt ta dragă (your darling)" Lucian shrugged.

"Ah, now I remember." Kuroro nodded, and turned to Lucian again. "And my first question?"

"Oh. Um. Well…" The raven-haired vampire scratched the back of his head. "It's about Kurapika. Yorn said she saw what happened to Kurapika a few days ago."

"Oh? Did she?" Kuroro regarded Yorn with a renewed interest then; which made Yorn cringed uncomfortably. Something about his eyes discomforted her, and it felt as if he was seeing right through her with those obsidian-eyes of his. "Why don't you sit down so that you're more comfortable when you tell me your story?"

Yorn edged herself warily to the chair that Kuroro had pointed; as if the chair itself could eat her alive when she was off-guard. Lucian rolled his eyes when he saw her antic, but understood her reaction at Kuroro's (annoying) debonair attitude. For someone growing up in the wild and in rural tribe, people like Kuroro absolutely put her on edge.

She then began telling (or re-telling, since she had already bombarded Lucian with that story twice in his mansion) the incident she had witnessed. She tried to tell him as detailed as possible, since earlier (during their breakneck ride) Lucian had warned him that Kuroro Lucifer was meticulous with details. Unless she wanted to be interrogated ceaselessly and relentlessly for details, it would be better for her to simply tell him everything.

When she was done, Kuroro covered his mouth with his hand and closed his eyes. In this instance, Yorn pulled at Lucian's sleeve and gestured at him to bend down so she could whisper to him.

"He's freaking me out." She told him with low voice.

"Is he? That's just how he is."

"I don't understand why Kurapika loves him. Their personalities don't match! Nope-nope!" She whispered again to him furiously.

"Beats me. I don't think they have ever told each other 'I like you', let alone 'I love you'."

"Seriously?" Yorn stared at him wide-eye.

"Not sure. If you want, ask him yourself."

"No! He's too creepy! You ask him!"

"What's so creepy about him, honestly? He looks normal for a normal human. Unlike you." Lucian flicked her horn with one pale finger.

"How rude! This is our pride, you doodoohead!"

"Doodoohead? Look who's talking, you nincompoop!"

"Yorn." A cool voice drowned their furious whispered bickering.

"Y, y, yes?" Yorn suddenly sat up straight. Something about this man really unnerved her; was her huntress instinct to blame?

"Are you sure the bird is just a normal bird?" Kuroro asked, his eyes staring straight to her bright green eyes.

"Uh…" Yorn closed her eyes and tried to recall the scene in her mind. "Come to think of it…" She drawled unsurely. "…the bird looked kinda…odd…"

"How odd?"

"Well…Lemme remember…" She paused for a long time, before finally she clapped her hands. "I know! It's the leg! The legs are human arms instead of normal bird legs!"

"Ouch!" Lucian made a disgusted expression. "Now that is what I call creepy."

"Does that bird feel like normal bird? Or do you think it's made of pure Nen?" Kuroro asked her again.

"Hng…" Yorn crossed her arms and cocked her head sideways. "It's not made out of Nen. Nope." She shook her head.

"What kind of a bird is that? I've never heard of a creepy bird species like that in my entire life!" Lucian exclaimed in disbelief.

"Seeing is believing. Go and look for it. I'm sure it has human arms for its legs!"

"Then," Kuroro intercepted them, and the two of them fell quiet and observed him, "that bird is a chimera. Most probably assembled from different parts using Nen.

"You mean…That old witch cut off someone's arms and replace the bird's legs with those arms?"

"Possible." Kuroro shrugged, as if that gross notion did not bother him in the slightest.

"The wonder of human's minds and their creativity…" Lucian shook his head and shuddered, while Yorn gave a very loud "Eeew!" sound. "So what do we do now, Lucifer? Kurapika's still out cold, right?"

"You should know how long she'll be out." Kuroro narrowed his eyes at the vampire.

Lucian gulped. Kuroro sighed but said nothing. He took out his cell phone and dialled a number.

"Shalnark." He said flatly.

[H—hi, Danchou!]

Kuroro raised a quizzical eyebrow as he noted the painfully obvious nervous pitch in his voice. Deciding to ignore it for the time being, Kuroro proceeded with his orders.

"Shalnark. Try to find out about information brokers; individual and groups, especially those who deal with specific and particular information. If possible, try to find those that steal information and memories."

[H, huh? So Kurapika's memories are stolen?]

"Most probably so."

[But if that's the case, then isn't it impossible for her to regain those memories since they're basically taken out of her brains?]

Shalnark, do you really need to tell me the unpleasant probabilities that I have already known since the beginning? Kuroro fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Maybe." Kuroro simply replied coolly, and his face was a mask of indifference. "And Shalnark?"

[Y, yes?]

"Do you mind telling what has happened there?" Kuroro said 'sweetly', but to Shalnark it sounded like the threatening voice of a court judge.

[Uh…Well…You see…I, um…]

"Shalnark." Kuroro steeled his tone slightly, and rather impatiently.

[They ran away, Danchou…with Bara…] Shalnark finally spoke up in a there-I-tell-you-so-you-can-butcher-me-or-punish-me-in-any-manners-that-you-want-since-I-have-epicly-failed-your-order tone, and pretty much resigned manner.

Kuroro sighed, and Shalnark gave a funny strangled sound.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Kuroro muttered, and on the other side of the line Shalnark could only grimace a bit sheepishly. "Fine then. I'll deal with it. Get me the information as soon as possible."

[Sure no problem, Danchou!] Shalnark said very enthusiastically, and Kuroro figured that he really was going to do it with gusto like never before; probably as an apology for his 'failure' of keeping the children out of trouble.

"Those runts ran off again?" Lucian inquired him curiously.

"As you have heard." Kuroro shrugged while pocketing his cell phone.

He was not surprised to hear that it was Bara who had complied with the children's ridiculous wish—who else, anyway? Una was too timid to do such outrageous thing. He could imagine the poor young unicorn pleading her father not to go along with the children's request and was largely ignored.

Not long after he had just put his cell phone in the pocket of his pants, an apparition made its grand appearance—namely a 'tiny' firework—inside the hotel room; scaring the living hell out of Yorn and sending Lucian sputtering some mild Romanian curses.

Bossman, I've got news for you. Deifri the Ifrit said with proud tone—proud because he managed to fluster the wits out of two people.

"Which is?" Kuroro asked composedly, while inside he was cringing, Now what?

That stupid winged, horned black horse and your reckless brats got themselves in deep shit. To be specific, they're having a wild-goose chase around a particular forest not far from here,Deifri said with a snicker while pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

Kuroro raised an eyebrow.

"Who's chasing them?"

Dunno. Bara did mention that he's so going to kick the crap out of any old witches he's going to encounter from now on. So I guess it's a witch. Deifri shrugged noncommittally.

Lucian and Yorn exchanged looks that practically screamed 'A clue! Hallelujah!' and they beamed at each other as if the world was a field of pretty flowers.

"And it turns out that the children's getaway is not such a bad thing after all." Kuroro grinned in satisfaction. "Can you teleport us there?"

Sure no problem, bossman. They coming along?

"Yes." Kuroro said without even asking for their opinions. ("Oi!" coming in unison from the two of them)

How about your sleeping beauty there?

"Take her along as well." Kuroro said without hesitation as he walked towards the bed and scooped her in his arms. Kurapika gave a soft groan, but before she could completely wake up Deifri had impatiently started his magic.

Okie dokie. On my mark! Deifri raised his hands in exaggeration.

However, there were never any marks from him, since he immediately spirited them away from that place to somewhere else some good miles away from that hotel.

Author's Note: Cliffy, cliffy… Hehehe… This is just part one. Part two is coming real soon… Only if you review first XD *evil grin* At first this was intended to be a one-shot, but I guess now it has become a three-shot…if there's such thing. So now I have to put it on different title.

I feel like an idiot, for having written the epilogue and yet still posted more chapters that could've been put before the epilogue. Oh well… The damage's done and all…

Just enjoy it for now. If you don't enjoy it…well…by all means complain to me in your reviews =P