Sword and Shield [Chapter 6: Seeing Red]
Title: Sword and Shield
Series: Naruto and Hunter x Hunter crossover
Pairing: Eventual Sasuke/Kurapika
Rating: 18+ overall; this chapter 16+
Warnings For This Chapter: Graphic violence, non-graphic violence, more OCs meeting untimely demises, Kabuto and Orochimaru still not getting Kurapika's pronouns right except to humor Sasuke (see Note 4), and Kurapika getting triggered and entering an altered state of consciousness(moderate spoiler) that's not entirely attributable to just PTSD. Also, it is very late and I'm a third asleep posting this, so I might have missed something.
Notes:
1.I'm probably not going to ever outright pin down a diagnosis for Kurapika's symptom cluster just because I don't feel comfortable diagnosing things I don't have first-hand experience with. But to give y'all an idea, I'm taking the premise that all the freaky symbolic stuff that starts happening in the first anime's York Shin arc when Kurapika's in a lot of emotional distress (like the moon turning into a Scarlet Eye and crying scarlet blood) are actual hallucinations Kurapika is having at the time, rather than the artists just having fun with symbolism, and trying to see where that goes. (major spoiler that actually gets into stuff that's going to happen in future chapters, as well as explaining the hows and whys of stuff from an out-of-universe perspective)
2. A kago is like a carriage, except it's carried by people instead of having wheels and being drawn by a horse. They were used primarily for the transport of nobles and members of the warrior class, as Japan's human population had grown large enough to preclude setting land aside to raise horses for non-military purposes. Gaara travels in a kago at least once in Shippuden.
3. I would like to thank Seventh Sanctum for its Evil-Sounding Name Generator and its surprisingly not-too-evil-sounding results. The OCs in this chapter would all be nameless goons without it. Since it is a random generator, though, please let me know if any of the names I chose actually mean something bad in some language, so I can change it.
4. Translation Convention is getting kinda weird for me here. Japanese doesn't have gendered third-person pronouns, so the lines wouldn't actually change in Japanese, but if they were speaking English, they'd be using the wrong pronouns, so that's how I'm rendering it, even though in-universe no-one can hear the difference. When there's characters who misgender Kurapika talking with characters who don't, though, I'm going to default them all to using "he" to make it less confusing.
"Hey, Kurapika," Sasuke said, knocking on the locked door with his free hand. An armful of scrolls was somewhat precariously held against his chest with his other arm. "Can I come in?"
There was a pause, then, "Go ahead."
Sasuke unlocked the door - with the key, this time - and opened it. "This was the best I could do."
Kurapika smiled from his spot sitting on the floor, and wiped some sweat from his brow with his sleeve. "Thanks."
"Been training?" Sasuke asked rhetorically. He got a nod. "You should start packing up your things."
Kurapika looked surprised. "Why? Are we going somewhere?"
"Orochimaru insists on changing hideouts every week," Sasuke said as he walked towards the neatly-made bed. He set down the scrolls, then righted himself and looked back towards Kurapika. His eyes lingered a fraction of a second too long on the sweat-slicked locks of hair clinging to Kurapika's neck before lifting his gaze to make eye contact. "We're leaving tomorrow morning."
Thankfully, Kurapika either didn't notice the (admittedly minute) slip-up, or he didn't want to confront Sasuke about it, because he just smiled and said, "Thanks for letting me know."
Sasuke returned the smile. "When it's time to leave, I'll come get you." He paused, unsure of whether or not to ask the question on his mind. "Do you. . . have any plans for today?"
"Not really."
"I could use a sparring partner." It was a mostly-true excuse for them to spend time together. Finding a fellow survivor, a kindred spirit who truly understood, who shared the pain and hatred he felt every moment of every day, had awakened the realisation in Sasuke of just how lonely an existence he'd been leading up to that point.
Maybe Kurapika was lonely, too, because his cerulean eyes immediately brightened and he got to his feet with a smile. "Alright. Same training field as before?"
It didn't take long for them to strike a balance between their strengths when sparring. They didn't need to talk it over; they both already knew that Sasuke was too fast and Kurapika was too strong for sparring to really work if they both gave it their all, so it just happened. Sasuke slowed down nearly to Kurapika's pace, and Kurapika pulled his punches down to only slightly above what Sasuke could pack. Everything, then, came down to technique and skill, which they both had a lot of, when it came down to it.
"You go for the face a lot," Sasuke observed several minutes in, leaning back to just barely dodge Kurapika's foot as it swept past him. "Is that something you normally do, or are you just jealous of my good looks?"
"Why would I need to be jealous?" Kurapika asked back as way of answer, following up the kick with an elbow jab.
"Touché." Sasuke dodged to the side, but then grabbed Kurapika by the crook of the arm and started to turn in order to get leverage for a throw. Kurapika deliberately let his footing slip as he got dragged along with the movement, hooked one foot around Sasuke's ankle, and pulled. A victim of his own momentum, Sasuke wasn't able to catch himself in time, and fell backwards onto Kurapika, who immediately rolled them both over so he had Sasuke in a pin.
"Do I win this round?" Kurapika asked, leaning his other elbow firmly between Sasuke's shoulder blades.
"Yeah. . ." he conceded grudgingly. "I'll get you next time, though."
Three hours later, the both of them were equally dirty, battered, and exhausted. Without the added variables of their powers or respective unfair advantages, they were fairly evenly matched in raw martial arts skill.
"Don't bother," Sasuke said as he noticed Kurapika summoning the Holy Chain. "We have Kabuto around for a reason."
The chain vanished as quickly as it had come. They were both silent for a moment before Kurapika spoke. ". . . This means walking, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. . . . Yeah, it does." With a groan, Sasuke dragged himself to his feet, and offered Kurapika a hand up. "C'mon. It's not too far."
Indeed, the infirmary had been intentionally placed quite close to the training field. Kabuto gave them both an exasperated look as he took note of their sorry state. "Do I want to know?"
"Sparring," was the only token of explanation Sasuke offered. "Patch Kurapika up first."
"But -" Kurapika started to protest, but fell silent when Sasuke gave him a meaningful look. This was the only way to guarantee that Kabuto would treat him at all. ". . . Alright."
Kabuto sighed, and adjusted his glasses as he picked up a clip board. "Please take a seat over there," he said, indicating the examination table.
"While I'm glad you're giving yourselves a challenge, try to run each other a little less ragged next time, okay?" Kabuto said as he ushered the two teens - now only dirty and exhausted - out the door. "Now both of you get back to your rooms and rest."
"Yeah, yeah. . ." Sasuke muttered. He still went out of his way to walk Kurapika back to his room - not that he was worried or feeling protective or anything; he was just. . . well, he was worried that Kurapika might run into some of Orochimaru's more belligerent minions, and was feeling protective of his newfound friend - before returning to his own, locking the door, and promptly collapsing on the bed in a dead faint.
The next day, Sasuke knocked lightly on Kurapika's door. "You dressed?"
"Almost," Kurapika called back. There was a pause of a few seconds. "Okay. You can come in."
Sasuke unlocked the door and let it swing open. Kurapika was dressed in a pair of white trousers from the closet, one of his own dark undershirts, and his sleeveless white V-neck. He was still pulling on a third shirt with long sleeves.
By comparison, Sasuke was wearing relatively little: the only not-strictly-necessary pieces of clothing he had on were his wrist guards and the blue cloth under his rope belt. Well, and his open white yukata top, which really was optional. The level two form of his Cursed Seal didn't exactly lend itself toward prioritising modesty. "You really need that many layers?"
"Yes," Kurapika answered without hesitation, and started putting on his tunic.
Curiosity unsatisfied and no elaboration apparently forthcoming, Sasuke decided to prod further. "Do you get cold easily?" It seemed somewhat plausible to him that someone whose bloodline limit seemed so fiery might have a poor tolerance for low temperatures.
"No," Kurapika said, expertly tying the bow at his neck by touch rather than needing a mirror, "but these are the traditional clothes of my clan."
He didn't need to say more. Sasuke understood. It was the same reason why every shirt of his had the clan symbol on the back, and why he'd been reluctant to give up wide, high collars; it was part of their identities, and giving it up would mean giving up on their clans' memory.
"I'll see about getting you fabric and supplies to make more," Sasuke said, noting that the tunic was rather dusty. "Are you packed?"
Kurapika nodded as he picked up his messenger bag and ducked under the strap. He glanced over Sasuke and noticed a distinct lack of any bags or suitcases. "What about you?"
Sasuke pulled a scroll from his belt. "It's all in here." He paused in thought. "You know, you might be able to do scroll storage. It's all just applying enough chakra to trigger the seals."
"Do we have time to try?" Kurapika asked.
"Sasuke, hurry up!" Kabuto's voice rang down the hall. "We were supposed to be leaving five minutes ago!"
"I guess that's a 'no'," Kurapika said with a frown, giving Sasuke a look that spoke volumes of his disappointment in the other young man's time management skills.
"Okay, so I slept through my alarm once," Sasuke said defensively. He turned and started walking down the hall. "C'mon."
Once they got outside, Kabuto immediately approached them. "Lord Orochimaru wishes to speak to you."
"Fine," Sasuke said. He motioned to the smaller of the two kago in the convoy. "Kurapika, that's the one we'll be riding in, so you go on ahead. I'll --"
"Both of you," Kabuto clarified with a smile that gave Kurapika cold chills.
The three of them made their way to the larger kago, and a servant opened the door to let them in. A ghastly-pale, willowy man with heavily discoloured hands sat on an opulent couch across from a much more paltry wooden bench. Golden eyes with slitted pupils turned to Kurapika appraisingly.
"So. . . you're the one Sasuke's been paying so much attention to. . ." the man - who Kurapika could only assume was Orochimaru - said. "Sit down."
Sasuke sat down on the bench, and Kurapika followed suit. Kabuto signalled to the servant before taking a seat on the other side of Sasuke, and the door closed. A few seconds later, the kago was lifted up off the ground, and it - presumably along with the rest of the convoy - started moving.
"What do you think of Sasuke?" Orochimaru asked. "I hear the two of you really did a number on each other yesterday."
Kurapika chose his words carefully. "He's very skilled. However, I'm not familiar enough with what the baseline for this world is to make a judgement regarding his physical strength."
"I left baseline in the dust a long time ago," Sasuke huffed.
"And how is he compared to your world's baseline?" Orochimaru prodded.
"Hmmm. . ." Kurapika pondered that question for a bit. "Well, he's clearly above and beyond normal people with no training, but. . ." He glanced over at Sasuke. "How much weight can you push?"
"I can bench-press 117.3 kilos," Sasuke said.
That made Kurapika do a double-take. "Wait, only that much?"
Sasuke gave him a sidelong glare. "What do you mean 'only'?"
"Well, I knew that you were somewhat weaker physically, but that's less than a tenth of what I was expecting."
Now it was Sasuke's turn to look flabbergasted. ". . . Y-you're kidding, right?"
"Why would I be kidding?" Kurapika asked, confusion clearly giving away his sincerity. "Even without nen, a stringent enough weight training regimen can get someone our age strong enough to move a few tons."
"Ku ku ku. . ." Orochimaru chuckled, already planning ways he could use this to his advantage. He'd definitely want to start recruiting from the other side of the rift as soon as possible. "Your world sounds interesting."
"Although I haven't seen much of it yet, your world seems very interesting to me as well," Kurapika replied politely, although he was getting chills down his spine similar to, but worse than, the ones he felt when talking to Kabuto.
The conversation descended into smalltalk - very careful smalltalk on Kurapika's part, but still smalltalk - for a while, then silence. However, the silence didn't last very long.
Kurapika was the first to notice it. "Two people with nen are approaching from my right and a bit ahead of us."
Instantly, the atmosphere in the kago grew tense.
"How far?" Kabuto asked, adjusting his glasses and reaching for his curved kunai.
"About twenty metres, but closing fas--"
There was a scream from outside, and the kago suddenly lurched toward one corner.
Sasuke and Kurapika both stood simultaneously. "I'll handle this." Other than their using different "I"s ("ore" and "watashi" respectively), they spoke and then gave each other disapproving looks in almost perfect unison.
"I'll be fine on my own," Sasuke said, and pushed past Kurapika to the door. He kicked it open and jumped out.
Despite Sasuke's declaration, Kurapika hopped down right behind him.
"I said that I'll be fine on my own," Sasuke growled as he dodged out of the way of a nen-imbued dart, and threw a kunai in the direction it came from. "Get back inside."
"They're probably here for me," Kurapika said. "I can't in good faith leave it to someone else."
"Hmm? It sounds like someone's confused," a voice mused. A large, hulking man stepped out into view. He caught the shuriken Sasuke threw at his face in his bare hand. "Probably Uian's fault; the sleazy bastard always was good at scaring people." Giant fingers tightened around the shuriken's bladed edges without bleeding, and the metal buckled, then crushed. He opened his hand, and a long, thin sliver of twisted metal was all that was left of the weapon. "You're Kurapika, right? My name's Lancami. I'm a two-star Living Relic Hunter. You should come with me."
"He's not going anywhere with you," Sasuke said, drawing his chokutou.
Dark grey eyes narrowed. "Are you going to stop him?"
"I'm going to stop you."
Lancami sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that." He flicked the crumpled shuriken at Sasuke point-first.
It was an easy shot for Sasuke to follow with his eyes, and he leaned out of the way with almost no effort.
The projectile didn't so much strike the tree behind him as it obliterated it.
Sasuke glanced back at the damage in surprise, then had to jump back quickly to avoid a punch as Lancami closed the distance between them in an instant. Almost immediately, Kurapika put himself between the two of them, eyes aglow and Dowsing Chain at the ready.
After meeting Kurapika's defiant, unafraid gaze for a moment, Lancami relaxed his stance slightly. "You're using yourself as a shield for him, even after seeing what I can do? I know you're not a Reinforcement type."
"And I know that your goal is to capture me relatively unharmed," Kurapika replied. "You won't actually attack me with your full strength."
"Capture?" Lancami's bushy brown eyebrows shot up. "Oh, no, no," he said in what was probably supposed to be a soothing voice. "My plan from the start has been to persuade you to come with me willingly."
The half-truth in that statement didn't escape Kurapika's notice. Unswayed, but willing to stall while Sasuke engaged the dart-throwing woman who'd finished scattering or disabling the less capable Sound-nin who weren't just clustering defensively around the kago, Kurapika pretended to be curious. "And why would I want to do that?"
With all the practiced enthusiasm of someone who'd delivered his sales pitch many times before, Lancami started talking. "Well, for one, our facilities don't use nen- or drug-based control tactics like a lot of other Living Relic Hunters do. You'll be as lucid and free-willed as you are now. For two, there's the benefits. You'll live in a five-star luxury suite with waiting staff. All of your meals will be prepared by a world-class chef. Each of our facilities has a live-in doctor and psychiatrist, both of whom specialise in working with exotic human subspecies. You will also have access to an indoor pool and exercise rooms with trainers, an ebook library with a selection in the tens of millions, and a rec center for playing games and socialising with your fellow guests. All of our staff have passed the five most extensive background checks in the world, and every measure will be taken to ensure your safety. Additionally, you are entitled to a 20% cut of all profits made by your attendance of events, fund raisers, and other functions."
Kurapika's brow furrowed in disapproval. "You plan to rent me out."
"Only if you choose to do so," Lancami said. "In your case, all you'd have to do is stand there, looks pretty, and let the Scarlet Eyes do the rest."
That did it. The thin veneer of composure Kurapika had been clinging to snapped. He grit his teeth in anger, and his next words were a low growl. "I'm just a decoration to you. . . ."
Lancami frowned. "Well, not just a decoration, but -"
"NO!" Kurapika shouted. "I'm not going with someone like you." He tilted his wrist, and was about to unleash the full force of the Dowsing chain. . .
The dart-throwing woman slumped to the ground, and Sasuke returned his attention to Lancami. "Kurapika, get back."
"But -"
Sasuke finished his seals and inhaled. "Katon -"
Not wanting to get caught in the resulting fireball, Kurapika had no choice but to move out of the way quickly. Unfortunately, almost as soon as he realised what it was, Lancami charged right through the heart of it, searing his hair and clothes but suffering only minor burns as he made a swing for Sasuke's throat. This time, Sasuke didn't have quite enough time to react.
A sickening crunch cut through the sudden silence. Leaves settled. For a fleeting instant, everyone was still as they tried to process what had just happened.
Kurapika's forearms were already starting to swell and bruise from the shattered bones within them as he stood between Lancami and Sasuke. Lancami's eyes were wide as he started pulling his punch a millisecond too late. The stream of fire from Sasuke's mouth ceased as he breathlessly realised what Kurapika was doing.
Then, that moment ended, and everything was in motion again. Sasuke regained his bearings a half-blink before Lancami did, and that was more than enough time to form his chakra into a Chidori blade and stab it between the vital structures in Kurapika's chest to get a surprise attack into the Living Relic Hunter's throat.
When he dematerialised it, both Lancami's corpse and Kurapika slumped down, unable to bear their own weights. While Lancami his the ground unceremoniously, Sasuke caught Kurapika in his arms and hastily spirited him back to the kago. "Kabuto, heal him."
"You could have said 'please'," Kabuto sighed, but simultaneously hurried to mend the bleeding in Kurapika's chest cavity. He smiled slightly as the blond's breathing began to sound less pained, and glanced back towards Sasuke. "You know, it's really irresponsible to do something like that to. . . him. He could have died."
Sasuke gave a snort of disgust. "Don't insult me like that. I know anatomy well enough to intentionally miss someone's vitals, and I knew you were right here to heal him afterward. He wasn't ever in any danger."
"While that's true," Kurapika whispered, still trying not to breathe too deeply, "I'd prefer if you try to stab around rather than through me in the future, if at all possible."
"I'll try," Sasuke said. He paused, then added, "Thanks for saving me back there."
"No problem." One corner of Kurapika's mouth quirked up. "Besides, how could I live with myself if I knew you'd been turned into a bloody smear on the ground because of me?"
Quite the laugh crawled its way out of Orochimaru's throat at that. "Amazing. . . ."
Between Kabuto's healing abilities and Kurapika's Holy Chain, mending the damage from the fight proved trivial. When they were done, Kabuto looked back at Sasuke. "You should get him back to your kago to lie down and change out of those blood-spattered clothes."
"Blood?" Kurapika's eyes widened slightly. Memories of killing Ubogin flooded his mind, and his eyes, which had returned to blue while he was being healed, became red again as he reached up to feel his face. His fingers came away wet and sticky with partially-congealed blood. He'd been so caught up in the adrenaline of having to save Sasuke, and then of the fact he'd been stabbed, that he hadn't even noticed the spray of Lancami's wound at the time. Now, however, he found he couldn't take his eyes off it.
Then, suddenly, everything went dark, and all he could see was the light from his own corneas. He jerked upwards reflexively, but met resistance on the upper half of his face.
"Kurapika?" Sasuke's concerned voice cut through the red haze of confusion and mounting panic, and Kurapika realised belatedly that Sasuke had covered his eyes with one hand.
"What was that for?" Kurapika complained as he tugged Sasuke's hand away with his own free one. He vaguely noticed that Sasuke was also holding his other wrist down, but he couldn't fathom why.
"Calling your name and shaking you wasn't working," Kabuto said with an entirely too pleasant smile.
"Oh. . ." Kurapika's brow furrowed with worry. "Um. . . can I have my hand back?"
For once, Sasuke deferred to Kabuto, giving him a questioning look. The medic shook his head, then turned slightly to address Kurapika.
"Not yet. It would probably be best if you closed your eyes for a bit," he said in his best soothing voice. Once Kurapika obeyed, he pushed up Kurapika's sleeve and splashed a little rubbing alcohol on the inside of his elbow. Then, he filled a syringe from a small vial. "Now, you're going to feel a small pinch, but this should help you calm down."
The injection went smoothly, and, within seconds, Sasuke saw Kurapika's aura return to normal, accompanied by a slight easing of the shoulders. Kabuto then quickly wiped the blood droplets from Kurapika's face with a damp cloth, and started to pack things back into his first aid kit.
"Alright. I trust you can take care of the rest, Sasuke," Kabuto said.
Sasuke nodded, and carefully picked Kurapika back up again. He took the distinct lack of protest as a sign that whatever Kabuto had given him was working. There was a slight displacement of air, and, in half the time it would take to blink, they'd both vanished off.
"You weren't exaggerating about the beauty of those eyes," Orochimaru murmured once he was sure the two had gone, "but I think you underestimated her potential value as a combat tool."
"I think I underestimated it, too. . ." Kabuto agreed.
Series: Naruto and Hunter x Hunter crossover
Pairing: Eventual Sasuke/Kurapika
Rating: 18+ overall; this chapter 16+
Warnings For This Chapter: Graphic violence, non-graphic violence, more OCs meeting untimely demises, Kabuto and Orochimaru still not getting Kurapika's pronouns right except to humor Sasuke (see Note 4), and Kurapika getting triggered and entering an altered state of consciousness(moderate spoiler) that's not entirely attributable to just PTSD. Also, it is very late and I'm a third asleep posting this, so I might have missed something.
Notes:
1.I'm probably not going to ever outright pin down a diagnosis for Kurapika's symptom cluster just because I don't feel comfortable diagnosing things I don't have first-hand experience with. But to give y'all an idea, I'm taking the premise that all the freaky symbolic stuff that starts happening in the first anime's York Shin arc when Kurapika's in a lot of emotional distress (like the moon turning into a Scarlet Eye and crying scarlet blood) are actual hallucinations Kurapika is having at the time, rather than the artists just having fun with symbolism, and trying to see where that goes. (major spoiler that actually gets into stuff that's going to happen in future chapters, as well as explaining the hows and whys of stuff from an out-of-universe perspective)
2. A kago is like a carriage, except it's carried by people instead of having wheels and being drawn by a horse. They were used primarily for the transport of nobles and members of the warrior class, as Japan's human population had grown large enough to preclude setting land aside to raise horses for non-military purposes. Gaara travels in a kago at least once in Shippuden.
3. I would like to thank Seventh Sanctum for its Evil-Sounding Name Generator and its surprisingly not-too-evil-sounding results. The OCs in this chapter would all be nameless goons without it. Since it is a random generator, though, please let me know if any of the names I chose actually mean something bad in some language, so I can change it.
4. Translation Convention is getting kinda weird for me here. Japanese doesn't have gendered third-person pronouns, so the lines wouldn't actually change in Japanese, but if they were speaking English, they'd be using the wrong pronouns, so that's how I'm rendering it, even though in-universe no-one can hear the difference. When there's characters who misgender Kurapika talking with characters who don't, though, I'm going to default them all to using "he" to make it less confusing.
"Hey, Kurapika," Sasuke said, knocking on the locked door with his free hand. An armful of scrolls was somewhat precariously held against his chest with his other arm. "Can I come in?"
There was a pause, then, "Go ahead."
Sasuke unlocked the door - with the key, this time - and opened it. "This was the best I could do."
Kurapika smiled from his spot sitting on the floor, and wiped some sweat from his brow with his sleeve. "Thanks."
"Been training?" Sasuke asked rhetorically. He got a nod. "You should start packing up your things."
Kurapika looked surprised. "Why? Are we going somewhere?"
"Orochimaru insists on changing hideouts every week," Sasuke said as he walked towards the neatly-made bed. He set down the scrolls, then righted himself and looked back towards Kurapika. His eyes lingered a fraction of a second too long on the sweat-slicked locks of hair clinging to Kurapika's neck before lifting his gaze to make eye contact. "We're leaving tomorrow morning."
Thankfully, Kurapika either didn't notice the (admittedly minute) slip-up, or he didn't want to confront Sasuke about it, because he just smiled and said, "Thanks for letting me know."
Sasuke returned the smile. "When it's time to leave, I'll come get you." He paused, unsure of whether or not to ask the question on his mind. "Do you. . . have any plans for today?"
"Not really."
"I could use a sparring partner." It was a mostly-true excuse for them to spend time together. Finding a fellow survivor, a kindred spirit who truly understood, who shared the pain and hatred he felt every moment of every day, had awakened the realisation in Sasuke of just how lonely an existence he'd been leading up to that point.
Maybe Kurapika was lonely, too, because his cerulean eyes immediately brightened and he got to his feet with a smile. "Alright. Same training field as before?"
It didn't take long for them to strike a balance between their strengths when sparring. They didn't need to talk it over; they both already knew that Sasuke was too fast and Kurapika was too strong for sparring to really work if they both gave it their all, so it just happened. Sasuke slowed down nearly to Kurapika's pace, and Kurapika pulled his punches down to only slightly above what Sasuke could pack. Everything, then, came down to technique and skill, which they both had a lot of, when it came down to it.
"You go for the face a lot," Sasuke observed several minutes in, leaning back to just barely dodge Kurapika's foot as it swept past him. "Is that something you normally do, or are you just jealous of my good looks?"
"Why would I need to be jealous?" Kurapika asked back as way of answer, following up the kick with an elbow jab.
"Touché." Sasuke dodged to the side, but then grabbed Kurapika by the crook of the arm and started to turn in order to get leverage for a throw. Kurapika deliberately let his footing slip as he got dragged along with the movement, hooked one foot around Sasuke's ankle, and pulled. A victim of his own momentum, Sasuke wasn't able to catch himself in time, and fell backwards onto Kurapika, who immediately rolled them both over so he had Sasuke in a pin.
"Do I win this round?" Kurapika asked, leaning his other elbow firmly between Sasuke's shoulder blades.
"Yeah. . ." he conceded grudgingly. "I'll get you next time, though."
Three hours later, the both of them were equally dirty, battered, and exhausted. Without the added variables of their powers or respective unfair advantages, they were fairly evenly matched in raw martial arts skill.
"Don't bother," Sasuke said as he noticed Kurapika summoning the Holy Chain. "We have Kabuto around for a reason."
The chain vanished as quickly as it had come. They were both silent for a moment before Kurapika spoke. ". . . This means walking, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. . . . Yeah, it does." With a groan, Sasuke dragged himself to his feet, and offered Kurapika a hand up. "C'mon. It's not too far."
Indeed, the infirmary had been intentionally placed quite close to the training field. Kabuto gave them both an exasperated look as he took note of their sorry state. "Do I want to know?"
"Sparring," was the only token of explanation Sasuke offered. "Patch Kurapika up first."
"But -" Kurapika started to protest, but fell silent when Sasuke gave him a meaningful look. This was the only way to guarantee that Kabuto would treat him at all. ". . . Alright."
Kabuto sighed, and adjusted his glasses as he picked up a clip board. "Please take a seat over there," he said, indicating the examination table.
"While I'm glad you're giving yourselves a challenge, try to run each other a little less ragged next time, okay?" Kabuto said as he ushered the two teens - now only dirty and exhausted - out the door. "Now both of you get back to your rooms and rest."
"Yeah, yeah. . ." Sasuke muttered. He still went out of his way to walk Kurapika back to his room - not that he was worried or feeling protective or anything; he was just. . . well, he was worried that Kurapika might run into some of Orochimaru's more belligerent minions, and was feeling protective of his newfound friend - before returning to his own, locking the door, and promptly collapsing on the bed in a dead faint.
The next day, Sasuke knocked lightly on Kurapika's door. "You dressed?"
"Almost," Kurapika called back. There was a pause of a few seconds. "Okay. You can come in."
Sasuke unlocked the door and let it swing open. Kurapika was dressed in a pair of white trousers from the closet, one of his own dark undershirts, and his sleeveless white V-neck. He was still pulling on a third shirt with long sleeves.
By comparison, Sasuke was wearing relatively little: the only not-strictly-necessary pieces of clothing he had on were his wrist guards and the blue cloth under his rope belt. Well, and his open white yukata top, which really was optional. The level two form of his Cursed Seal didn't exactly lend itself toward prioritising modesty. "You really need that many layers?"
"Yes," Kurapika answered without hesitation, and started putting on his tunic.
Curiosity unsatisfied and no elaboration apparently forthcoming, Sasuke decided to prod further. "Do you get cold easily?" It seemed somewhat plausible to him that someone whose bloodline limit seemed so fiery might have a poor tolerance for low temperatures.
"No," Kurapika said, expertly tying the bow at his neck by touch rather than needing a mirror, "but these are the traditional clothes of my clan."
He didn't need to say more. Sasuke understood. It was the same reason why every shirt of his had the clan symbol on the back, and why he'd been reluctant to give up wide, high collars; it was part of their identities, and giving it up would mean giving up on their clans' memory.
"I'll see about getting you fabric and supplies to make more," Sasuke said, noting that the tunic was rather dusty. "Are you packed?"
Kurapika nodded as he picked up his messenger bag and ducked under the strap. He glanced over Sasuke and noticed a distinct lack of any bags or suitcases. "What about you?"
Sasuke pulled a scroll from his belt. "It's all in here." He paused in thought. "You know, you might be able to do scroll storage. It's all just applying enough chakra to trigger the seals."
"Do we have time to try?" Kurapika asked.
"Sasuke, hurry up!" Kabuto's voice rang down the hall. "We were supposed to be leaving five minutes ago!"
"I guess that's a 'no'," Kurapika said with a frown, giving Sasuke a look that spoke volumes of his disappointment in the other young man's time management skills.
"Okay, so I slept through my alarm once," Sasuke said defensively. He turned and started walking down the hall. "C'mon."
Once they got outside, Kabuto immediately approached them. "Lord Orochimaru wishes to speak to you."
"Fine," Sasuke said. He motioned to the smaller of the two kago in the convoy. "Kurapika, that's the one we'll be riding in, so you go on ahead. I'll --"
"Both of you," Kabuto clarified with a smile that gave Kurapika cold chills.
The three of them made their way to the larger kago, and a servant opened the door to let them in. A ghastly-pale, willowy man with heavily discoloured hands sat on an opulent couch across from a much more paltry wooden bench. Golden eyes with slitted pupils turned to Kurapika appraisingly.
"So. . . you're the one Sasuke's been paying so much attention to. . ." the man - who Kurapika could only assume was Orochimaru - said. "Sit down."
Sasuke sat down on the bench, and Kurapika followed suit. Kabuto signalled to the servant before taking a seat on the other side of Sasuke, and the door closed. A few seconds later, the kago was lifted up off the ground, and it - presumably along with the rest of the convoy - started moving.
"What do you think of Sasuke?" Orochimaru asked. "I hear the two of you really did a number on each other yesterday."
Kurapika chose his words carefully. "He's very skilled. However, I'm not familiar enough with what the baseline for this world is to make a judgement regarding his physical strength."
"I left baseline in the dust a long time ago," Sasuke huffed.
"And how is he compared to your world's baseline?" Orochimaru prodded.
"Hmmm. . ." Kurapika pondered that question for a bit. "Well, he's clearly above and beyond normal people with no training, but. . ." He glanced over at Sasuke. "How much weight can you push?"
"I can bench-press 117.3 kilos," Sasuke said.
That made Kurapika do a double-take. "Wait, only that much?"
Sasuke gave him a sidelong glare. "What do you mean 'only'?"
"Well, I knew that you were somewhat weaker physically, but that's less than a tenth of what I was expecting."
Now it was Sasuke's turn to look flabbergasted. ". . . Y-you're kidding, right?"
"Why would I be kidding?" Kurapika asked, confusion clearly giving away his sincerity. "Even without nen, a stringent enough weight training regimen can get someone our age strong enough to move a few tons."
"Ku ku ku. . ." Orochimaru chuckled, already planning ways he could use this to his advantage. He'd definitely want to start recruiting from the other side of the rift as soon as possible. "Your world sounds interesting."
"Although I haven't seen much of it yet, your world seems very interesting to me as well," Kurapika replied politely, although he was getting chills down his spine similar to, but worse than, the ones he felt when talking to Kabuto.
The conversation descended into smalltalk - very careful smalltalk on Kurapika's part, but still smalltalk - for a while, then silence. However, the silence didn't last very long.
Kurapika was the first to notice it. "Two people with nen are approaching from my right and a bit ahead of us."
Instantly, the atmosphere in the kago grew tense.
"How far?" Kabuto asked, adjusting his glasses and reaching for his curved kunai.
"About twenty metres, but closing fas--"
There was a scream from outside, and the kago suddenly lurched toward one corner.
Sasuke and Kurapika both stood simultaneously. "I'll handle this." Other than their using different "I"s ("ore" and "watashi" respectively), they spoke and then gave each other disapproving looks in almost perfect unison.
"I'll be fine on my own," Sasuke said, and pushed past Kurapika to the door. He kicked it open and jumped out.
Despite Sasuke's declaration, Kurapika hopped down right behind him.
"I said that I'll be fine on my own," Sasuke growled as he dodged out of the way of a nen-imbued dart, and threw a kunai in the direction it came from. "Get back inside."
"They're probably here for me," Kurapika said. "I can't in good faith leave it to someone else."
"Hmm? It sounds like someone's confused," a voice mused. A large, hulking man stepped out into view. He caught the shuriken Sasuke threw at his face in his bare hand. "Probably Uian's fault; the sleazy bastard always was good at scaring people." Giant fingers tightened around the shuriken's bladed edges without bleeding, and the metal buckled, then crushed. He opened his hand, and a long, thin sliver of twisted metal was all that was left of the weapon. "You're Kurapika, right? My name's Lancami. I'm a two-star Living Relic Hunter. You should come with me."
"He's not going anywhere with you," Sasuke said, drawing his chokutou.
Dark grey eyes narrowed. "Are you going to stop him?"
"I'm going to stop you."
Lancami sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that." He flicked the crumpled shuriken at Sasuke point-first.
It was an easy shot for Sasuke to follow with his eyes, and he leaned out of the way with almost no effort.
The projectile didn't so much strike the tree behind him as it obliterated it.
Sasuke glanced back at the damage in surprise, then had to jump back quickly to avoid a punch as Lancami closed the distance between them in an instant. Almost immediately, Kurapika put himself between the two of them, eyes aglow and Dowsing Chain at the ready.
After meeting Kurapika's defiant, unafraid gaze for a moment, Lancami relaxed his stance slightly. "You're using yourself as a shield for him, even after seeing what I can do? I know you're not a Reinforcement type."
"And I know that your goal is to capture me relatively unharmed," Kurapika replied. "You won't actually attack me with your full strength."
"Capture?" Lancami's bushy brown eyebrows shot up. "Oh, no, no," he said in what was probably supposed to be a soothing voice. "My plan from the start has been to persuade you to come with me willingly."
The half-truth in that statement didn't escape Kurapika's notice. Unswayed, but willing to stall while Sasuke engaged the dart-throwing woman who'd finished scattering or disabling the less capable Sound-nin who weren't just clustering defensively around the kago, Kurapika pretended to be curious. "And why would I want to do that?"
With all the practiced enthusiasm of someone who'd delivered his sales pitch many times before, Lancami started talking. "Well, for one, our facilities don't use nen- or drug-based control tactics like a lot of other Living Relic Hunters do. You'll be as lucid and free-willed as you are now. For two, there's the benefits. You'll live in a five-star luxury suite with waiting staff. All of your meals will be prepared by a world-class chef. Each of our facilities has a live-in doctor and psychiatrist, both of whom specialise in working with exotic human subspecies. You will also have access to an indoor pool and exercise rooms with trainers, an ebook library with a selection in the tens of millions, and a rec center for playing games and socialising with your fellow guests. All of our staff have passed the five most extensive background checks in the world, and every measure will be taken to ensure your safety. Additionally, you are entitled to a 20% cut of all profits made by your attendance of events, fund raisers, and other functions."
Kurapika's brow furrowed in disapproval. "You plan to rent me out."
"Only if you choose to do so," Lancami said. "In your case, all you'd have to do is stand there, looks pretty, and let the Scarlet Eyes do the rest."
That did it. The thin veneer of composure Kurapika had been clinging to snapped. He grit his teeth in anger, and his next words were a low growl. "I'm just a decoration to you. . . ."
Lancami frowned. "Well, not just a decoration, but -"
"NO!" Kurapika shouted. "I'm not going with someone like you." He tilted his wrist, and was about to unleash the full force of the Dowsing chain. . .
The dart-throwing woman slumped to the ground, and Sasuke returned his attention to Lancami. "Kurapika, get back."
"But -"
Sasuke finished his seals and inhaled. "Katon -"
Not wanting to get caught in the resulting fireball, Kurapika had no choice but to move out of the way quickly. Unfortunately, almost as soon as he realised what it was, Lancami charged right through the heart of it, searing his hair and clothes but suffering only minor burns as he made a swing for Sasuke's throat. This time, Sasuke didn't have quite enough time to react.
A sickening crunch cut through the sudden silence. Leaves settled. For a fleeting instant, everyone was still as they tried to process what had just happened.
Kurapika's forearms were already starting to swell and bruise from the shattered bones within them as he stood between Lancami and Sasuke. Lancami's eyes were wide as he started pulling his punch a millisecond too late. The stream of fire from Sasuke's mouth ceased as he breathlessly realised what Kurapika was doing.
Then, that moment ended, and everything was in motion again. Sasuke regained his bearings a half-blink before Lancami did, and that was more than enough time to form his chakra into a Chidori blade and stab it between the vital structures in Kurapika's chest to get a surprise attack into the Living Relic Hunter's throat.
When he dematerialised it, both Lancami's corpse and Kurapika slumped down, unable to bear their own weights. While Lancami his the ground unceremoniously, Sasuke caught Kurapika in his arms and hastily spirited him back to the kago. "Kabuto, heal him."
"You could have said 'please'," Kabuto sighed, but simultaneously hurried to mend the bleeding in Kurapika's chest cavity. He smiled slightly as the blond's breathing began to sound less pained, and glanced back towards Sasuke. "You know, it's really irresponsible to do something like that to. . . him. He could have died."
Sasuke gave a snort of disgust. "Don't insult me like that. I know anatomy well enough to intentionally miss someone's vitals, and I knew you were right here to heal him afterward. He wasn't ever in any danger."
"While that's true," Kurapika whispered, still trying not to breathe too deeply, "I'd prefer if you try to stab around rather than through me in the future, if at all possible."
"I'll try," Sasuke said. He paused, then added, "Thanks for saving me back there."
"No problem." One corner of Kurapika's mouth quirked up. "Besides, how could I live with myself if I knew you'd been turned into a bloody smear on the ground because of me?"
Quite the laugh crawled its way out of Orochimaru's throat at that. "Amazing. . . ."
Between Kabuto's healing abilities and Kurapika's Holy Chain, mending the damage from the fight proved trivial. When they were done, Kabuto looked back at Sasuke. "You should get him back to your kago to lie down and change out of those blood-spattered clothes."
"Blood?" Kurapika's eyes widened slightly. Memories of killing Ubogin flooded his mind, and his eyes, which had returned to blue while he was being healed, became red again as he reached up to feel his face. His fingers came away wet and sticky with partially-congealed blood. He'd been so caught up in the adrenaline of having to save Sasuke, and then of the fact he'd been stabbed, that he hadn't even noticed the spray of Lancami's wound at the time. Now, however, he found he couldn't take his eyes off it.
Then, suddenly, everything went dark, and all he could see was the light from his own corneas. He jerked upwards reflexively, but met resistance on the upper half of his face.
"Kurapika?" Sasuke's concerned voice cut through the red haze of confusion and mounting panic, and Kurapika realised belatedly that Sasuke had covered his eyes with one hand.
"What was that for?" Kurapika complained as he tugged Sasuke's hand away with his own free one. He vaguely noticed that Sasuke was also holding his other wrist down, but he couldn't fathom why.
"Calling your name and shaking you wasn't working," Kabuto said with an entirely too pleasant smile.
"Oh. . ." Kurapika's brow furrowed with worry. "Um. . . can I have my hand back?"
For once, Sasuke deferred to Kabuto, giving him a questioning look. The medic shook his head, then turned slightly to address Kurapika.
"Not yet. It would probably be best if you closed your eyes for a bit," he said in his best soothing voice. Once Kurapika obeyed, he pushed up Kurapika's sleeve and splashed a little rubbing alcohol on the inside of his elbow. Then, he filled a syringe from a small vial. "Now, you're going to feel a small pinch, but this should help you calm down."
The injection went smoothly, and, within seconds, Sasuke saw Kurapika's aura return to normal, accompanied by a slight easing of the shoulders. Kabuto then quickly wiped the blood droplets from Kurapika's face with a damp cloth, and started to pack things back into his first aid kit.
"Alright. I trust you can take care of the rest, Sasuke," Kabuto said.
Sasuke nodded, and carefully picked Kurapika back up again. He took the distinct lack of protest as a sign that whatever Kabuto had given him was working. There was a slight displacement of air, and, in half the time it would take to blink, they'd both vanished off.
"You weren't exaggerating about the beauty of those eyes," Orochimaru murmured once he was sure the two had gone, "but I think you underestimated her potential value as a combat tool."
"I think I underestimated it, too. . ." Kabuto agreed.