A little bit of context since it may seem weird or ooc without it! I was talking about an hxh crossover a friend and I have- I don’t remember which one?? since we have a lot tbh but we ended up going down a route with Kurapica slowly but surely being able to get closure and move on due to events that happen in the crossover.
Thank you to @ddarker-dreams for giving me the confidence to actually post this instead of just staring at it!
Chrollo hums, musing that Kurapica seems to be faltering. A calm, unaffected gaze stares up at him. It's infuriating. Why is killing an enemy so accepting of death so hard? Perhaps he knew that Kurapica was having misgivings about taking his life?
"Aren't you going to end it?"
Kurapica grinds his teeth together, chest heaving along in time to each harsh breath. His eyes burn an even more brilliant red. This ends here, this has to end here. The blood will stop, the pain will leave. Crush the spider's head and the body will flounder; they'll have no hope of his return after this.
Will it leave, he wonders? Uvogin still weighed on his mind as heavily as he did the day he killed him. Even that woman, Pakunoda...the fact that a murderer would give her life to warn the others. How could one such as her take life with no regard but still concern herself over others?
Kurapica has to admit that even before this has been wondering if this is truly the path he should be going down.
With an almost feral cry, he drives the bokken downwards. He plunges it past Chrollo's head and into the soft earth beside it. Kurapica remains there, hunched over the chain-bound man beneath him while his breathing begins to even out. He doesn't miss the surprise that flashes over Chrollo's face briefly. At the very least Kurapica is satisfied by it. Chrollo had still expected to be killed.
The Kurtian closes his eyes and releases a tremulous breath. "Most of me still wants to but...this /won't/ end." Killing him, Kurapica murmurs, will do nothing but stain his hands with Chrollo's blood. In effect, he'll never escape the spider's shadow that ever looms over him. "I've come to realize that my mother and father...my family and everyone you took from me in one night...they would weep upon seeing me now." When he opens them to look down at Chrollo his eyes have settled into a scarlet not of burning flames ready to engulf everything in its path and leave naught but destruction in its wake, but the smoldering of the embers left behind. His fatigue is starting to show "Not for that I had taken your life, but for the fact I would have carried this on my back for the rest of mine."
A life taken out of revenge, hate, and anger can no longer be justified, he states. If he kills this man here and now it would be for himself: not out of retribution for the genocide of his clan, but to sate his own need to eradicate the group that twisted him into something he would have never believed he would become.
The lives of thirteen murderers could never bring back the lives of all one hundred and twenty-eight of his brethren. They would never allow him to reclaim the eleven years of his life spent on his own and lost, disgusted with himself for not being with his clanmates and disgusted at the world around him for having allowed this to happen.
"Chrollo..." The name feels as though he's never spoken it before. It's the first time he has uttered it without malice or anger. It feels empty to him; it sounds empty when it leaves him. "I'm tired of the blood, of the death, of the pain." Put simply, he's tired. He wants nothing more than for this cycle to end itself then and there. "The eyes have been returned, my brethren can rest finally, and I, as the one who escaped the Kurtian massacre, the last I can do for their sake is to allow myself to live as they would have wanted me to."
Chrollo, for the first time breaks his own silence and speaks, asking if this meant he was being forgiven out of genuine curiosity of the Kurtian's motives.
"Don't make that mistake." His voice is sharp as he corrects Chrollo. There is no way this is forgiveness. The only ones who would be able to pardon him for his sins are the lives his hands have taken. Kurapica, however, doesn't believe forgiveness was anything Chrollo was interested in.
"More than anything this is me releasing the chains I have placed on myself."
Summary: SasuIsa. Cute morning shenanigans with Sasuke and Isanami turn disastrous
Word Count: 986
Written for @xisanamii, reposting from my writing blog
In any normal circumstance, Sasuke is out of bed not long after his eyes open, but on the mornings he finds himself beside Isanami like this? It proves much harder for him to start moving. He loves every moment spent with her of course, but he especially cherishes these. It's warm, quiet, and she's just so peaceful. These are the times when he doesn't even feel the particular need to start his day early, just content to watch over her and almost be lulled back to sleep by the sound of his partner's soft breaths beside him. He knows he should be getting up, there are important things to do after all but...just this once.
It's what he tells himself every time.
Isanami groans, signifying the end of her sleep as she sits up, stretches her arms up above her head, and heaves a yawn. Her eyes are still riddled with sleep as she begins to blink them open.
"Mnn….mornin', Sasuke,"
No response. He doesn't even stir, he's so caught up in the moment.
"Huh...? Still asleep?" She laughs ever so softly and turns a gentle gaze over onto him. "What a sleepy-head,"
He feels like he might die from his heart exploding as she reaches out and brushes some of his hair from his face.
"Thooough...shouldn't we be getting up? Saizo'll get all grouchy if we sleep in..." She huffs.
He doesn't do this normally. Out of the two of them Isanami is by far the spontaneous one but...even he's allowed to have his moments. Right? Is this really alright?
"Sa-su-ke...come on..!"
Every rise and fall of his chest remains even and his body remains limp as though he was still fast asleep. Even as Isanami begins to shake him lightly.
"Don't make me be the responsible one…!"
Even despite the smile threatening to force its way forward, spread across his face, and reveal that he is, in fact, only feigning to still be asleep.
"Hey, hey...! Sasuke!"
Isanami childishly pounds away at his chest now. Hard enough it should have been able to rouse him, but not enough to be anymore than a nuisance. "Wake u~up-!"
She flops backwards down on the bed with a huff and goes silent and still, one arm and leg thrown haphazardly over Sasuke. "There's no way you're still asleep! Even I'd be up by now, jeez...!"
Then there's a frustrated whine, almost as though she truly has given up. "Okay...maybe I'd still be asleep. Just maybe!" He can just hear the pout in her voice. He feels bad, almost as though he's leading her on with this. But she's being almost too cute for him to handle and he can't stop now.
It's only a second after that she's back to her antics with an indignant "hmph" as she sits back up.
"Well then, Sarutobi Sasuke..." her voice lowers to a playful growl, "It seems you've withstood everything I've thrown at you...but!"
What?
"There's one thing no one has survived yet. Don't blame me for what happens." After all, he made her do this. He's brought this upon himself.
Sasuke feels her shift beside him again, leaning over, a hand pressing down next to him, and...now she's on top of him.
Now she's on top of him.
He, in the best way to phrase it, is in the process of short circuiting. What is she doing? What is he doing? He hadn't been prepared for this at all!
Isanami takes a breath, placing her hands on his sides to prepare herself, a wicked grin befitting the role she's inserted herself into spreads across her lips.
Wait…!
He really hadn't planned for this, he's frozen! Does he do something? What does he do!
His eyes clench shut and he snaps upright with a cry; a cry of protest against the onslaught on his sides he had just managed to prevent that covers the thud of Isanami hitting the ground. The initial panic is replaced by an even more intense panic when he actually notices her on her side, thrashing about while clutching her face, drowning out the dull throbbing spreading across his forehead. "I-Isanami--!"
"That hurt…! I'll be fine but I really might die…!"
She might die--!!
He's hovering over her, arms flailing in in sheer terror that she may truly die from this. There's no place to gather himself, what with the incoherent screaming flooding his head and replacing what would have been his internal monologue.
He knows logically there's no way she'd die from something like this, it hadn't even been that hard of a collision to begin with, but the very idea that he had in fact done this to her overwhelms everything else. It's a well known fact he's never been the most rational when it comes to Isanami and this certainly is not an exception.
"I could be concussed!" She cries, quieting down and peeking through her fingers up at him. "The only way to fix that is with a kiss, isn't it?"
She could be--!
His hands drop down to his sides and the worry leaves him. His back straightens up.
She's fine. Definitely.
A frown pulls the corners of his mouth downwards. It's a failed attempt to seem upset with how worried she had gotten him and she sees right through it. "Please?"
Sasuke concedes defeat with a sigh and lets his eyes drift shut. It's those big puppy eyes. As soon as she flashes them it's over no ifs, ands, or buts. After a second he offers his hands to Isanami, helping her up onto her knees in front of him. Sasuke looks her over, brushing a few strands away before pressing his lips to her forehead.
He pulls back.
"Better?"
Isanami nods once, and leans in to sneak a quick peck upon Sasuke's cheek.
