Kurapika claimed that Kuroro Lucifer was his archenemy, but lo and behold, here he was travelling with that man because of some stupid mistakes they did in a rush of moment.
His head throbbed as if his skull would split into two anytime. A thick layer of dusts obscured his vision, and some of them had gotten into his mouth, forcing him into a fit of coughing. He waved his hand around the cloud of dusts, trying to clear them. He was not supposed to be leisurely waving away the dusts. He was supposed to be doing his assigned task by his idiotic boss, who had his eyes fixed on a certain ancient relic. He was supposed to retrieve the relic from the ruin, and yet there he was, sitting in a God-forsaken underground floor of the forgotten ruin.
Kurapika shook his head vigorously, trying to get some of the dusts and debris off his blond hair. He tried to remember the chain of events that had been taking place. Ok, so his boss had gone desperate. Neon Nostrad, his so-called gold mine, had lost her ability and so his steady income had gone down the drain. He needed to pay for mountains of debts; which Kurapika himself had not the slightest idea on how he managed to accumulate such ridiculous sum of debts, but Nostrad did not have the money. Apparently, he came across a dusty archive which stated that there was a certain enchanted relic that could grant wishes of the owner. Thinking that he might be able to clear his debts and climbed up the social hierarchy once again once he possessed the magical relic, Nostrad set his eyes on the lamp and sent his best men; Kurapika included as one, to get the relic.
Unfortunately, Kurapika's luck had been running thin lately. Not only the Scarlet Eyes had disappeared from Nostrad's possession, he recently felt that the Restrictions he had placed upon Kuroro Lucifer, his mortal enemy, had been lifted. So technically, the head of the Spiders was out there, roaming freely with his Nen liberated. Instead of hunting him down, he was given the menial tasks of retrieving some relic. However, in the end Kurapika found himself wondering whether he should have counted himself as extremely lucky or unlucky. While begrudgingly trying to get his hands on the relic, he came across the unlikeliest group in his mind that he would ever bump into in such a deserted place; the Genei Ryodan itself. Complete with the head.
"So much for my luck." He muttered with a huff.
So, to cut long story short, they fought. A duel, one-on-one between him and Kuroro Lucifer. In the process, the ruin itself was half destroyed as the two were immersed in their duel, the floor collapsed beneath them, and they were swallowed into the underground cave of the ruin. So here he was, in the damp darkness. Kuroro should be near, so he could not afford to lower his guard.
Sure enough, he sensed movement to his left. The next second, Kuroro and Kurapika were already engaged in a furious deadlock; Kuroro holding a dagger aimed to his face, while Kurapika wrapped his chain around his wrist, trying to hold the dagger away from his face.
"You bastard…" He managed with a strain voice while shooting the man looming over him with a glare that could have killed a man, if looks could kill.
His eyes glowed eerily in the darkness of the tunnel, like a glowing ember. Kuroro peered into his eyes, taking in all the negative emotions; the hatred, the resentment, everything, with cold face. Looking into those scarlet eyes, he could not help but to smile. He had suspected that the Kuruta boy's eyes were the brightest among all that he had ever seen, and he was right. Enraged by his smile; which seemed twisted and wrong in his mind, Kurapika's eyes glowed even redder out of anger. Energy pulsed around him, and he began to push Kuroro, until they were of the same eye level.
"Oh?" Kuroro raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by his small feat of pushing him.
After some seemingly interminable seconds, they broke away. However, strange things never ceased to happen. As Kuroro jumped away from him, he felt a strong tug to his left wrist. All of the sudden, Kuroro stopped halfway in his jump as if someone had pulled his right wrist forward, while Kurapika was jerked forward as well.
Kuroro blinked in surprise, Kurapika frowned in confusion. They looked at each other, both noticing the strange phenomenon that happened just a fraction of second ago. Slowly, they both straightened while keeping a wary eye at each other. Kurapika raised his left arm and pulled. At the same time, Kuroro's right hand was jerked forward towards his direction.
Kurapika felt butterflies in his stomach and gulped hard. Whatever it was, it was not going to be a pleasant thing. Kuroro himself looked troubled. He used Gyo and looked at his wrist, and Kurapika saw his already big eyes widened ever so slightly. Imitating his gesture, Kurapika used Gyo and inspected his wrist.
"For the love of—" He could literally feel his blood freezing in his veins and the colour leaving his face. A manacle was clung around his left wrist, and much to his dismay, the other end was connected to Kuroro Lucifer's right wrist.
"What is happening here?" The older man voiced his thought out loud.
As if to answer his question, a blue light flickered in the darkness and hovered eerily around them. Kurapika had to narrow his eyes to get a better look at the ball of light. Apparently, after further observation, it was not a ball of light. It was a very small boy, the size of a grown man's open palm, encompassed in blue light. The boy itself had blue skin, with oversized, round, beady eyes. He looked at them with curious eyes, coupled with the mischievous glint.
Teehee…I'm so lucky. The first thing I found when I woke up from my deep slumber was the unlikeliest pair. He giggled with his ghastly voice. Now let's see how things will go.
"Wait a minute." Kurapika frowned. "Is this…" He lifted his manacled hand and pointed at it. "…your doing?"
Who else? Who else? Only I, the Great Genie Hassamunnin, can do such thing. Hehehehe… The genie continued giggling. He floated around them, looking at them with calculating eyes. "I see you hate him with all your heart. That won't do, that won't do."
The genie shook his head with mock sadness, and then with a snap of his tiny blue fingers, something really unpleasant happened. The chain of the manacle suddenly shrunk, dragging Kurapika and Kuroro forward towards each other. The chain had shortened considerably that they almost bumped each other's head. Kurapika looked up, and to his chagrin, Kuroro's face was just a metre away from his. He glared at him hatefully, but Kuroro just gave him an annoyed look. He turned to face the floating genie.
"Hassamunnin? Would you be so kind as to release this manacle from me?" He politely asked. Kurapika snorted in disdain with his use of polite manner. Kuroro ignored him.
No no no. I can't do that. I won't do that. I don't want to do that. The genie replied with amused voice, which echoed in the underground cave.
"Nothing will change your mind?" Kuroro asked again, his tone even.
Nothing, nothing. The boy sang his annoying song while continued hovering above them.
"What are the conditions to release the bind, then?" He asked again. Kurapika gave him a questioning look. He had no idea on what Kuroro was talking about.
Oooh, the long awaited question. That, I will tell you. Listen well, humans. The genie lowered himself to their eye levels and cleared his throat. First, you cannot forcefully release the bind. Nothing can break it or lift it, except me. But I am not going to do that, so don't count on it. Second, the chain binds your life to each other. If one dies, so does the other one.
Kurapika groaned loudly with exasperation at this, but the genie ignored him. Kuroro shifted uneasily in his position. Hassamunnin continued then.
Third, you cannot liberate yourself from the bind by cutting off your arm. The bind will protect your arms. Fourth, the chain represents how close the two of you to each other is.
"WHAT?" Kurapika did not bother to rein himself this time.
The closer you are to each other, Again, the genie ignored Kurapika's yell of indignation. The more flexible the bind will be.
"So if we don't hate each other anymore, the bind will disappear?" Kuroro asked to clarify with dry amusement.
No no, it's not that easy. It won't be fun that way. The genie grinned evilly at him. It requires more than that to make the bind disappear. Much much more. Much much more. With that, Hassamunnin floated up, performed a stunt in the air, and then poof! He disappeared in a thin blue cloud.
Suddenly, a pin-drop silence engulfed the darkness. Kurapika slumped in defeat, while Kuroro sat in a rigid position. Both stayed that way for a few more minute, before finally Kurapika spoke up.
"Now what?" He asked to nobody in particular.
"What indeed."
