Hunters X and X Heroes

Empty Wells X Clipped Wings

   Rukei slowly sat up, carefully pressing her hand against her head to alleviate the migraine piercing its claws into her skull. She was half aware of where she was- yet she didn't care so much about that over the situation she had left behind when she fell unconscious.

   The first face she found in what was some equivalent of a hospital room for the Alliance was the steady Wren's. The girl straightened her posture the best she could with her aching body.

   "Why did Kurapika become a Hunter?"

   The younger did not flinch. It was her instinctual habit towards the bird-like woman. Had someone like Jen or Marron asked the question, Rukei might have shown the slight discomfort. Rukei had forgotten that it was unacceptable.

   Rukei opened her mouth hesitantly, and her voice wavered when she spoke. "It is a personal matter."

   Thoughts of the blonde and the conversation they shared in the small room of Trick Tower strengthened and evened her words. The expression on her face seemed to brighten somehow.

   "It may have been a good dream."

   "Without his approval, I would rather not say," Rukei stated.

   Wren's impatience was clear, though it was muddled with the confused way she studied the younger girl in front of her. "You misunderstand, Rukei. You don't have a choice in this matter, and neither does he."

   Her brief moment of victory fled from her. Carefully, she asked. "What does that mean?"

   "You do not need to understand further than the question that I am asking you and the fact that you must answer," Wren informed her coldly, dark eyes steely trained on the child, "Why did Kurapika become a Hunter?"

   Rukei understood.

   "Kurapika wishes to avenge the Kurta Clan," Rukei answered.

   "He is a part of it?"

   "Yes."

   "Is that all?"

   What did that mean? What did they want to know? What did Kurapika have to do with them?

   The short moment of silence that Rukei took to think and regret was the beginning of the last stretch in the starless night.

   Wren took her hesitance as the girl stalling to make up an excuse to cover up for her friend. It was a shame, but Wren supposed it was natural for a child of her age to find both her view of reality and ideals twisted out of shape. With a little bending, that child could certainly be put upright again. "This is a disappointment, Rukei."

   The brunette sat up rigidly, and her gaze was still fixed on the woman's face.

   "You used to be so obedient."

   Wren noticed the stains of the unnaturally colored blood against the thin, coarse blanket. The pink color was not actually so many shades away from the original red, yet there was something glaringly unnatural about it that a glance was all it took to know that something wrong was placed inside their bodies.

   The woman stood, leaving the girl's side and for the door. "I will speak with Shichi."

   "About Kurapika?" The girl managed out just above a whisper, "What for? Where is he?"

   Wren sighed deeply, wondering wether or not she could really be wasting her time here and if she could tell the child, "He is in a holding area currently," a cell, "with suspected accomplices."