Hey guys!

So I realized that my older brother and Kurapika share a birthday - April 4th - which is pretty cool! Also, both are blonde, athletic, and have names that start with K! O.o

Thanks so much for reading, and please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter in any way, shape, or form. If I did, Hisoka would be in every episode (even if he wasn't doing anything), shirtless.

Enjoy!

X

Riven's mother accidentally told her about her christening while she was delusional from the Witch's Fever.

"He was perfect," her mother moaned, speaking to nobody except for the voices in her head, virtually unaware of her eldest daughter at her side. Riven was force-feeding the woman some stew, since her deteriorating mind forgot food was a good thing - an essential thing - and had refused to eat for two whole days.

"He was so perfect, and beautiful, and charming," her mother cried out. Sweat dripped from her forehead. "He promised he'd marry me. He even gave me this stupid necklace in place of an engagement ring." The woman's face morphed from longing to bitter. "But as soon as I told him I carried his child, he gathered his crew and set sail."

She screamed again, but Riven didn't jump this time; she was used to it by then.

Riven had heard down the Grapevine of her father's occupation, because he was handsome and handsome people had lives worthy of gossip. He was was a Pirate captain, though not the kind with an eye patch and a peg-leg. He and his crew were spic and span, usually clad in suits like lawyers. They would pretend to be travelling businessmen, as sharp and as straight as arrows, who had lost their way or needed assistance. They raided and plundered those who offered their help.

Riven had also heard, from the same grapevine, that he had been a lady killer, and Riven's mother had fallen for his charms. Hard. He had promised to marry her only to use her body.

But that didn't explain why he had given her a priceless necklace. Maybe he truly felt something for the poor woman, but the prospect of a family scared him off, or maybe the necklace gave reason for a hunt on his head, and he was just getting rid of it. Riven would probably never know which was true, because Riven's mother was obviously delusional about the whole situation even before she contracted the fever. Unfortunately, the gossipers didn't know any solid details.

Riven's mother, in times of great distress - such as her illness - would clutch the blue topaz over her heart, bring it to her lips to kiss it, and then press it on her heart again. It reminded Riven of rosaries, or prayer beads. If Riven hadn't witnessed how attached she was to the necklace, she would have been furious at her for not selling the thing for food money, or maybe for tickets out of the Dark Place; she had heard that the few wealthy had bribed their way out of the quarantine. She wondered how much freedom cost.

Riven's mother, drenched in sweat, continued to tell her story in between her bouts of screaming.

"He wouldn't have left if…" she gasped for breath to no avail, "if I hadn't told him I was with child. But I did, and he was taken from me - we were torn apart. So I named the child Riven, because that's what she did to us."

Riven didn't notice her tears as she dumped the remainder of the stew on her mother's face.

"You're crazy," Riven said, finally taking pity on the screaming woman and wiping broth and meat off of her face. Rabbit meat was tangled in her dark hair.

Her mother curled up on her side and whimpered like a child.

"He'll come back for me, and take me away," she sniffled, as if it would teach Riven a lesson. "Why else would he give me such a precious treasure?"

Her mother nuzzled the topaz to her cheek, careful to avoid any stew that was streaking down her brow.

"Hold still," was all Riven said as she tried to pick meat from the blankets. What a waste of food.

Riven could still hear Rene's and Senette's cries of hunger in her head, and she kicked herself for letting her emotions get the best of her.

"It looks just like his eyes," her mother whispered, a salty tear dropping down her cheek as she drifted off into sleep. Before she was gone for good, she murmured, "He was the only blast of color in this damned place."

Riven paused for a moment, a tad jealous of the adoration that the necklace received. Because when it came to her blue eyes - the same as her father's - she apparently reminded her mother of nothing but pain.

X

Her mother wasn't always that terrible to her, but that's not to say she was much better, even when her mind wasn't clouded by fever. But the woman's last moments were not honorable ones. At least she treated Senette and Rene better, even if it may have been because their fathers were different; they were men their mother didn't actually love and obsess over, if the fact that she never married either them proved anything. Riven heard the grapevine women call her mother loose, whatever that meant.

Two days later, when her mother had stopped screaming, and breathing, Riven stripped her of her valuables and raided her closets and drawers for anything useful. When the room had become desolate, she left, shutting the door behind her for good.

The Necklace had been the last thing she grabbed, with the full intention of selling it. However, she returned to her sisters in their kitchen, she saw that Senette wanted her mommy.

Sighing, Riven took a spot on the floor and plopped the child on her crossed legs. She had discarded her mother's belonging at her feet so she could stroke her sisters cropped hair.

"I want Mommy," Senette struggled in Riven's arm, about to dash in the direction of the house's master bedroom. Riven held fast, crushing Senette to her torso.

"Mommy's not here," Riven stated, using child terminology but not a child's tone of voice. Her harshness made tears plop down Senette's pale cheeks. Even though she did not understand death, she knew something was wrong. She stared up at her older sister with watery black eyes, her mother's eyes, as her lips began to quiver.

Sighing once more, Riven fished her hand into her pocket and slipped her fingers around a cold stone and chain. She removed the necklace and pressed it into her sister's grasp.

"Mommy told me to give this to you," Riven fibbed, falling into a rhythm of hair stroking. "She said whenever you wear this, she'll be able to see you."

Senette whimpered and cried for her mother again, but accepted the gift all the same.

Riven could never see it when she wore it, for she kept it under her shirt, but she knew for fact that Senette was never without it.

X

Riven wasn't strong enough to even think about carrying the body, much less bury it. Even when the smell of decomposition made Rene cry from across their entire house, Riven made no attempt to return to her mother's bedroom.

But as luck would have it, their old neighbor could smell it too, and in a few days' time, the three sisters found themselves in the care of a dull woman named Diana.

X

When Riven went to close the bathroom door, she had to pause when she noticed Karasu lingering outside.

"Are you coming?" she asked the raven. He clicked his beak, but didn't move from his spot.

Riven smiled at him.

"You're my little guard dog, huh?" she giggled, shaking her head. "Suit yourself." She closed the door softly behind her.

The first thing Riven did when she got inside was brush her teeth with a disposable toothbrush she found in the cupboard behind the mirror. She nearly sang for joy when she saw them, packaged together in plastic. She saw that it was still sealed, and shuddered when she realized Tonpa didn't use one. She selected the pink brush, out of consideration for the boys. After that, she braced herself so she could check her reflection.

Riven looked about as good as she felt, which was absolutely horrible. Her face was shiny from sweat and grime, and her complexion was ashy. Her bangs needed a serious trimming, not to mention a wash. She was surprised to see white gauze crowing her temple, and then she remembered that she was injured. The pressure in her head was lessening to the point that she was adjusting to it. With tentative hands, Riven unwrapped the bandages, discarding them by the sink for later use. She would ask Leorio to rewrap them later.

Purple and green bruises covered her neck, reminding her of the noose she had been acquainted with. She shivered, opening the cabinet once again so she didn't have to look at herself anymore. She began to dig through bottles to distract herself, focusing on preparing for a shower. Much to her utter relief and joy, there were multiple bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

Peeling off her grubby clothes was a wonderful feeling. Riven felt light without her buckled boots, heavy jacket, and tunic. She also felt exposed, so she quickly turned the shower on, testing its temperature with her hand. Freezing cold water made her fingers turn blue, and goose bumps traveled up her arm, so Riven cranked the heat up as high as it would go. When it had warmed up enough, she retched it back a few notches so she wouldn't scald her skin.

The water felt wonderful and steamy. Riven lathered her hair and skin with shampoo and soap, excited to finally be clean. She hummed happily as she scrubbed, even bending over and running her fingers through her toes.

When she was finished, she toweled herself dry, wrapped it around her torso, cracked open the door, and scooped her Spirit Raven up. Riven took him to the sink, rinsed his feathers until they were as white as snow, and wrapped him in her moist towel. Dressing her newly clean body into her filthy clothes made her wince, but nothing could ruin her good mood.

She was just about to leave when a loud bang outside her door made her jump. Riven opened the door to find Leorio at the entrance. She blinked.

"Uh," Leorio grunted.

"Uh," Riven grabbed her bundled bird. "I'm done now," she smiled. Leorio nodded and walked past her, grumbling angrily. She could tell that it wasn't directed at her.

She slipped into the lounging room to see Tonpa using his sleeve to hold his nose, which was bleeding slightly. He looked just as angry as Leorio had. Oh. The two must have gotten into a fight. It didn't really surprise her, actually.

She noticed Kurapika had moved from his original spot on the couch to the opposite end. Gon and Killua, also, had ceased all conversation and leaned against the wall beside Tonpa on either side. It finally dawned on her that they were watching the Rookie Crusher, supervising him. No one looked very happy, and Riven didn't like it.

Thankfully, when Gon noticed her standing awkwardly with Karasu in her arms, happily tucked in a makeshift blanket, he pushed himself off the wall.

"Karasu looks much cleaner now," he grinned, clicking his tongue. Much to Riven's surprise, her bird fluttered out of her arms and towel, landing on Gon's shoulder. She stared at him in shock, unsure of whether she was amazed or jealous. Karasu never landed on anyone other than her, until he met Gon. But Gon was laughing, and she was sore and tired, so she decided to sort through her feelings later. She gave the boy a smile and a nod when he asked if he and Killua could play with Karasu some more. Then she plopped down onto the couch next to Kurapika, who smiled at her in greeting.

"There are toothbrushes in the bathroom," Riven informed him dreamingly, a silly grin on her face. Kurapika chuckled, looking relieved, and Riven had a strange feeling it wasn't about the fact that he could brush his teeth.

After a moment, Kurapika shifted. "I almost forgot," he murmured. Leorio's briefcase was at his feet, a roll of white placed on top. It was a roll of bandages. Riven realized she had accidentally left her only slightly used ones in the bathroom.

"I know how to wrap them, a bit at least, but I wouldn't be offended if you wanted to wait for Leorio to do it," Kurapika half-smiled.

"I'll take your offer," Riven breathed gratefully. She couldn't imagine doing it herself. That would be a disaster.

Kurapika was careful and much slower than Leorio when he doctored her head. A part of her was half expecting Karasu to shoot out of her jacket and attack him, since he was so close to her for so long. But the bird remained comfortable at Gon's side.

Unfortunately, when that train of thought broke, she became aware of herself and was unsure of where she should rest her eyes. Closing them would be too intense, glancing to the side would make Kurapika think she was uncomfortable, and staring straight ahead meant looking at his lips. She almost wished she had waited for Leorio. She shook her head internally, because she had no reason to think like that. After a few moments of test runs, she finally decided to focus on the corner of his eye. When he was finished, Kurapika leaned back. The finished product was much too loose, but she had felt no pain, save for a slight headache.

"Thank you," Riven said, although she had almost forgotten to say anything at all. He just nodded.

Riven hadn't noticed it before, or rather, had assumed it gone, but there was a tenseness hidden deep within his every little action. He was acting the same way when they had first met, before they had been friends. Was it about what happened with Tonpa when she was in the bathroom? No, that didn't seem right. Riven thought about it while a heavy silence fell on the two. She pretended she was watching Killua try and pet Karasu, then get annoyed when he hopped from one of Gon's shoulder, as if to tease him.

It hit her. She had asked him to kill someone, hadn't she? And she had never apologized for it, either. She had probably hurt him, or broken a little of the trust he had given her.

Riven glanced at the blond, who was also watching the younger boys. No matter what had happened, she didn't want to break the bonds she had just formed. Now that she had some, she couldn't imagine living without them. Leaving this crack unattended didn't sit well with her.

"Kurapika," she started. Kurapika turned his attention to her. He didn't seem mad, or expectant, and that made a fire churn in her gut. She was probably the worst friend in the world. Riven swallowed.

"About before, when we were waiting for Majitani to wake, and I asked you to… I shouldn't have done that. It was awful, and I'm sorry." There was a pause. Then Kurapika smiled, and his eyes said he was relieved.

"Thank you, Riven."

I am so, so sorry this took so long! (I didn't have a laptop all summer). Also, the duplicated chapter issue should be fixed, and thank you for letting me know what was up.

And thanks so much for reading!

~Mao