The Reason We Fight

Chapter 48. The Turncoat

Kakume told them she would stay still, but she was a stubborn girl. She had rested a great deal and woke up early in the morning. Yesterday Leorio removed her cast at her insistence... she was a very fast healer, no doubt a result of her Nen which required consistent injury. She still stayed in Leorio's apartments. He slept on the couch and insisted she stay in his rooms so he could monitor her in post-op. Kurapika stayed in a nearby hotel, and also had some Mafia lair where he spent a great deal of time, doing some dirty business, she suspected. He was a mob boss, now, if you could believe it.

She had to go to the Red Hands base in the city and find out who betrayed her. Willat is the one who told her of the Scarlet Eyes drop at the detention center, but she didn't want to believe that he is the one who was in contact with Tam.

Kakume just had to know, so she figured the best way to go about it was to sneak out before dawn. She tip toed barefoot through the apartment, quiet as a mouse.

"Where do you think you're going?", she heard Leorio's voice ring in the silence of night.

Drat. The man has ears like a bat, she thought, annoyed. She turned slowly, glowering at him. "Errands".

"Oh no, you don't", he replied, standing up and blocking her way.

That comment irritated her to no end. "What are you, my mom? It's a free country. Let me pass".

However, he wouldn't let it go. Kakume narrowed her eyes. Leorio pressed on, "If you get yourself killed on that errand of yours, you know I won't hear the end of it. Unfortunately for you, Kurapika frightens me much more than you do. Wherever you have to go, I'm coming with".

She rolled her eyes and made a head signal for him to follow. "Fine", she said, visibly cheesed off. "But you better not drag me down".

-

"Where are you going?", Leorio asked the Kurta girl, whom Kurapika called Kakume in Yorkshin.

She was walking through the city with a fast, heavy step, not wasting any time. He got the sense that she was raging, somewhat. Are all Kurta so thin-skinned?

"I'm gonna find out who betrayed me, and kill them", she said, casually. But the content of her words was anything but casual. It was the Phantom Troupe all over again...

"Oi! This is a human life we're talking about. Aren't you a little gung ho about this?"

"I didn't ask you to come with me. Feel free to leave."

Leorio jogged to reach her. "I'm not going to, damnit! I'll follow you whether you like it or not". Kakume let him follow him without a word. She led them to a seedy bar, populated with suspicious characters. Dim, flickering lights cast uneven shadows across the worn, wooden surfaces, creating an ambiance that was both inviting and clandestine. She walked to the counter.

Behind the bar, a rather small, unassuming man in a Hawaiian shirt, stood, his brown hair greasy and slicked back. When he saw her come in, he seemed ill at ease. "Who was it?", is all she asked him.

Leorio followed close behind. The man bristled tensely, and said, "What am I getting out of it? What I mean is... superior information like that is going to cost you".

So, he was an informant. Kakume gripped his throat with one hand, seemingly not feeling cooperative. "What you get, Manny, is I won't ground that ugly mug of yours into a patty and make a hamburger out of it. Now, speak".

He pushed her away, brandishing his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright! Jeez... It was the doctor. Varga. He got in contact with the Hunter through his clinic, as usual, and..."

"Elias?", Kakume interrupted him. "Are you sure?"

"Cross my heart".

The girl made a face, a face Leorio couldn't decipher. "And Arlan? Where is he right now?"

-

Kakume pressed on. She entered the anarchist bookstore, which was apparently their center of operations in the city, and asked the clerk for Arlan. Apparently, he came here when he learned of the incident at the night club, and likely suspected that she was involved. Manny said he spent a great deal of time checking out all the local hospitals for her. If he knows something about the nightclub... could it be that he's aware that there's a turncoat in the Red Hands?

She recognized the weaselly man at the counter, a man with sharp features, a slight build and a pointed beard. Snipe, she remembered his name was. Kakume worked with him and a few others on the sabotage assignment on that dam in Kukan'yu. "Password?", he asked.

"I don't need no damn password, Snipe. I need to see Arlan, is he in?"

The man raised his hands. "No can do. Sorry, Kakume, but you're out. Arlan's orders. See ya". He appeared to derive genuine pleasure from relaying her the news.

Kakume was seeing red. "Out? Don't give me that, asshole". She jumped at the back of the counter and kicked the door behind it down. "Arlan!", she yelled, furious. "Show yourself, you piece of shit!"

She heard a scandalized Leorio mutter to himself, "I can't believe such a foulmouthed girl is related to prim-and-proper Kurapika". However, he seemed to relish in the matter, observing her with fascination.

Arlan finally came out of hiding, a horrified expression on his face. He shook his head in disbelief. "I'm happy to see you alive and well, Kakume, I truly am. Or alive, at least. Are you really going to make a scene now?"

She frowned deeply. "One of your people ratted me out to a Hunter who tried to kill me!"

"Not under my command. What they choose to do of their personal time is no business of mine".

"You must have heard something! Was it Varga? Willat? How did they know about the Scarlet Eyes?"

Arlan sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I had Willat keep tabs on you. Seeing how you decide to go rogue every other month or so. Thought it would be prudent. Either way, it's no skin off my nose. You're not a member of the Red Hands anymore, I suggest you take your leave".

Kakume pouted and crossed her arms, looking to the side. "Well, my nose skin is hurt. How could you kick me out, after all we've been through? I took the fall for you..."

"You broke out of prison, and got the entire courtroom killed!", he interrupted her, incredulous. He exhaled loudly. "Look, you know I like you, but, put simply, you're too reckless, too unpredictable. You are constantly trying to make a martyr out of yourself, and that self-destructive impulse is going to get us all caught or worse, killed. Until you can finally let go of that death wish of yours, you're considered a danger to the organization. Kakume... you simply cannot be tamed." He hesitated, then put a hand on her shoulder and smiled sadly. "For what it's worth, I truly was worried for you. I thought you might have actually died, this time. But I tire of this emotional rollercoaster. In truth, it would be best for everyone if you just left and never came back".

It had soured her taste for vengeance.