Sword and Shield [Chapter 1: Placing the Pieces]
Title: Sword and Shield
Series: Naruto and Hunter x Hunter crossover
Pairing: Eventual Sasuke/Kurapika
Rating: 18+ overall; this chapter 16+
Warnings For This Chapter: Human trafficking, creepy OC dude
"Thank you for taking the time to see me, Mr. Nostrad."
"The pleasure's all mine. Would you like something to drink?"
"Just water, thank you."
"What is it you wanted to talk about?"
"Well, as you know, I like to surround myself with beautiful things. Something of yours in particular caught my eye."
". . . What do you mean?"
"That blond young man that served as your bodyguard at that dinner last week. . . I'd like to buy him from you."
"His contract -"
"I don't think you understand, Mr. Nostrad. I don't want to buy his contract from you. I'd like to buy him."
". . . You realise what you're asking me to do here. I'd be betraying the trust of one of my best employees, all for -"
"Would two trillion jenni be enough?"
"T-two trillion?"
"As soon as I looked into his eyes, I knew I had to have him. Money is not an object."
". . . I don't know."
"Then what about three trillion?"
There was a long silence.
". . . Alright, you have a deal. . . but I can't just hand him over to you when he comes in for work tomorrow. It'll have to happen somewhere far away from the eyes of the Community."
"I think I know just the place."
"Where are you going?" Kabuto asked as Sasuke passed him in the hall, evidently on his way out of the hideout they were in.
"A walk," Sasuke said, not slowing for a moment.
Kabuto turned to call after him. "You know that a strange rift to another place sprung up in the forest last week, right? It might be dangerous out there. Who knows what might have come through?"
Sasuke scoffed. "Nothing I can't handle."
If Kabuto had a reply to that, Sasuke didn't hear it. He'd already sped up enough to be far down the hall and around a corner, before the medic-nin had a chance to worsen his mood further.
Kurapika stood in front of the stone archway that he'd been told to investigate. It was wide and tall enough to fit a horsedrawn cart of moderate size. He couldn't see any of the seven corpses that he'd heard were supposed to be on the other side, and it looked like the "spell circle" mentioned in the reports had already been trampled. One thing that was very consistent with the report, though, was that the trees in the forest on the other side were not only completely different from the trees in the forest he was currently standing in, but not of any species he could identify. Not wanting to actually risk getting too close just yet, he kicked a rock towards the opening; it skittered through to the other side unharmed.
He paced around to the other side. Only ominous, inky blackness could be seen through it from the back. He decided to back up a good deal further from it before repeating the same experiment he'd tried with the front. The rock bounced off this time, as if it had hit a solid wall, but nothing else happened. Prodding it further with a stick yielded similar results. Finally rapping on it lightly with his knuckles, Kurapika was unsettled by the lack of noise it made, but whatever the material was, he was fairly sure nothing was going to be getting through the gate from this side. Only one thing left to do, then.
Kurapika went back around to the front, and cautiously reached out his hand toward that strange forest on the other side. As soon as his fingertips started to enter the space under the archway, the air began to hum and his skin tingled with static. He immediately pulled back and inspected his hand for any injuries or numbness, but it seemed fine.
It was almost too late before he noticed a hand brush against his neck. He immediately sprung forward, without heed to the hair-raising energy that washed past him and receded as he moved through the archway, and a glance behind him confirmed that there was a greasy, but well-dressed man holding a heavy-looking leather collar now calmly striding through the archway after him. How had he not sensed that man's presence sooner?
At least five other presences spread out ahead of him began to move. He couldn't see them yet, and their auras were very well-hidden, but their movements were slow, clumsy, and, to a trained ear, more than loud enough. This was clearly an ambush, but by whom?
As the first of his additional pursuers came into view, Kurapika took note of both the collar around the woman's neck and the blank, glassy-eyed expression on her face. It was easy enough to knock her out, manoeuvre around her as she fell, and keep running, but he could hear even more starting to move and give chase.
"Kurapika," a man's voice - presumably belonging to the man who'd snuck up on him - drifted lazily through the trees, "it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Slow down."
The man's reassurances only prompted Kurapika to run faster.
Series: Naruto and Hunter x Hunter crossover
Pairing: Eventual Sasuke/Kurapika
Rating: 18+ overall; this chapter 16+
Warnings For This Chapter: Human trafficking, creepy OC dude
"Thank you for taking the time to see me, Mr. Nostrad."
"The pleasure's all mine. Would you like something to drink?"
"Just water, thank you."
"What is it you wanted to talk about?"
"Well, as you know, I like to surround myself with beautiful things. Something of yours in particular caught my eye."
". . . What do you mean?"
"That blond young man that served as your bodyguard at that dinner last week. . . I'd like to buy him from you."
"His contract -"
"I don't think you understand, Mr. Nostrad. I don't want to buy his contract from you. I'd like to buy him."
". . . You realise what you're asking me to do here. I'd be betraying the trust of one of my best employees, all for -"
"Would two trillion jenni be enough?"
"T-two trillion?"
"As soon as I looked into his eyes, I knew I had to have him. Money is not an object."
". . . I don't know."
"Then what about three trillion?"
There was a long silence.
". . . Alright, you have a deal. . . but I can't just hand him over to you when he comes in for work tomorrow. It'll have to happen somewhere far away from the eyes of the Community."
"I think I know just the place."
"Where are you going?" Kabuto asked as Sasuke passed him in the hall, evidently on his way out of the hideout they were in.
"A walk," Sasuke said, not slowing for a moment.
Kabuto turned to call after him. "You know that a strange rift to another place sprung up in the forest last week, right? It might be dangerous out there. Who knows what might have come through?"
Sasuke scoffed. "Nothing I can't handle."
If Kabuto had a reply to that, Sasuke didn't hear it. He'd already sped up enough to be far down the hall and around a corner, before the medic-nin had a chance to worsen his mood further.
Kurapika stood in front of the stone archway that he'd been told to investigate. It was wide and tall enough to fit a horsedrawn cart of moderate size. He couldn't see any of the seven corpses that he'd heard were supposed to be on the other side, and it looked like the "spell circle" mentioned in the reports had already been trampled. One thing that was very consistent with the report, though, was that the trees in the forest on the other side were not only completely different from the trees in the forest he was currently standing in, but not of any species he could identify. Not wanting to actually risk getting too close just yet, he kicked a rock towards the opening; it skittered through to the other side unharmed.
He paced around to the other side. Only ominous, inky blackness could be seen through it from the back. He decided to back up a good deal further from it before repeating the same experiment he'd tried with the front. The rock bounced off this time, as if it had hit a solid wall, but nothing else happened. Prodding it further with a stick yielded similar results. Finally rapping on it lightly with his knuckles, Kurapika was unsettled by the lack of noise it made, but whatever the material was, he was fairly sure nothing was going to be getting through the gate from this side. Only one thing left to do, then.
Kurapika went back around to the front, and cautiously reached out his hand toward that strange forest on the other side. As soon as his fingertips started to enter the space under the archway, the air began to hum and his skin tingled with static. He immediately pulled back and inspected his hand for any injuries or numbness, but it seemed fine.
It was almost too late before he noticed a hand brush against his neck. He immediately sprung forward, without heed to the hair-raising energy that washed past him and receded as he moved through the archway, and a glance behind him confirmed that there was a greasy, but well-dressed man holding a heavy-looking leather collar now calmly striding through the archway after him. How had he not sensed that man's presence sooner?
At least five other presences spread out ahead of him began to move. He couldn't see them yet, and their auras were very well-hidden, but their movements were slow, clumsy, and, to a trained ear, more than loud enough. This was clearly an ambush, but by whom?
As the first of his additional pursuers came into view, Kurapika took note of both the collar around the woman's neck and the blank, glassy-eyed expression on her face. It was easy enough to knock her out, manoeuvre around her as she fell, and keep running, but he could hear even more starting to move and give chase.
"Kurapika," a man's voice - presumably belonging to the man who'd snuck up on him - drifted lazily through the trees, "it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Slow down."
The man's reassurances only prompted Kurapika to run faster.