Two Graves

Chapter three: Hatred

Kurapika was standing in the middle of the dimly lit room, his head bowed to the floor, his face expressionless. As Chrollo approached, the other man didn't even bother lifting his head.

Chrollo's stomach gave a slight twist. Kurapika struck him as a broken doll in that moment. Not a spark of his fighting spirit, his emotions, just standing there like an empty husk.

Not acceptable. Chrollo had to reignite the fire somehow. He made an effort to make his voice as arrogant as possible, as he taunted the Kurta softly: "Where's your card, sweetie?"

Chrollo himself didn't exactly know why and how he came up with that pet name. Kurapika wasn't sweet, he was quite the opposite, all elbows and hatred. But somehow the name stuck with him, like honey stuck to one's finger.

With a flick of his hand, Chrollo produced a hunter's license card and tossed it on the floor before Kurapika's feet: "Congratulations on joining the Phantom Troupe, then!"

Kurapika looked slightly sickened at the sight of the card, his face became pale and he put a hand to his stomach. Chrollo smirked, Kurapika was probably imagining what grewsome things Chrollo had done to obtain the item. He would leave him to his imagination, it probably was a whole more interesting than the truth.

"Machi, could you come in here?"

Machi entered the room, her purple hair framing a face that bore an uninterested expression. She let a big bag, that she was carrying over her shoulder fall to the floor with a thud and started rummaging through it. Finally, she retrieved a small, black machine out of its depths and made her way behind Kurapika. "Lift your shirt, chain-user, you're getting a tattoo."

Finally, that had done it. The spark ignited, Chrollo could sense it even though he couldn't see the Kurta's eyes through his lashes. His body straightened up, his Nen becoming spiky, as he clenched his hands to a tight fist: "No. I told you already I'd rather rot in hell than join you."

Machi gave Chrollo a side glance, folding her arms over her chest. The I told you this was a bad idea was edged across her sharp features. But it was fine. Chrollo had made sure of that.

Kurapika pierced him with his scarlet eyes again, his eyebrows knitted tightly, highlighting the brightness of the eyes with shadow. Chrollo suppressed a grin: "I thought we had a deal?"

"Eat shit." Kurapika summoned his chains, taking a step towards him.

Then it happened.

Kurapika froze. Not a single strand on his head moved, the lashes didn't lower themselves once over blazing eyes, even his chest wasn't rising and lowering with breath. A single Nen-string spun its way down from the ceiling, like being produced by a spider and stuck itself on Kurapika's arm. It pulled and the arm followed.

Chrollo smiled at Machi, who couldn't hide her astonished expression under uninterested eyes anymore: "A new ability?"

Kurapika's arm was now at his chest, new strings came from the ceiling and put his fingers to work on the topmost button.

"Yeah, quite useful wouldn't you say?"

The ability was called 'Eternal Contract' but it was more widely known under the term 'Puppet Master'. Chrollo had stolen it from an unsuspecting blacklist hunter only a few months ago. He hadn't used it so far, since it was spiked with flaws, but it worked perfectly on Kurapika.

Finally, with a deep gasp, the Kurta snapped out of the trance, his breath coming out in ragged bursts, as he stumbled back, nearly falling to the ground due to his shaking legs: "What the fuck was that?"