🚧Taken🚧

17

Kurapika let out a deep sigh, lounging on his couch with his friend Leorio. "Work again?" He asked tiredly, sipping some wine. I'm so close, yet so far away. He'd gone to his aunt's house and asked her a few questions, apparently he'd come out as gay 5 years ago. There's nothing fucking wrong with it. Hell, I'm gay. Kurapika blushed slightly as he thought that, the person who he was gay for sitting a few feet away from him. Damn it he's such an idiot, but he's kind and hard working. Goddamn it focus on the question! "Case went cold a while ago, just got some new info. Sometimes I hate my line of work" but in order to bring justice to his clan, he needed to do this. Besides, it was making the world a better place anyways. "Oh, what was your assignment again?" He asked, sipping some more wine. If he's not careful he's gonna get himself drunk. "Missing kid. Gon went missing 2 months ago-" Leorio spit his wine out and Kurapika jumped slightly. "Who again?" He blinked. "Gon? Gon Freeces?" Leorio dropped his wine cup and turned to him with an alarmed expression. "He went missing?"

"yes? Do you not read the news? The amber alert was on live T.V at 10:30 for an entire week" Leorio rubbed the back of his head. "I have class during that time and phones aren't allowed" Wait...he recognized that name. "You know him" He sighed. "I did. We were friends, used to go to school with him a while ago" Kurapika froze, eyes snapping up. Leorio caught his expression, it was his 'working' expression. "When?" he thought for a moment. "I was 16, so about 6 years ago" they were friends before the incident happened, perfect. "Was there an issue that happened approximately 5 years ago?" Leorio winced slightly, that was a yes. "Well...yeah" He grabbed his notepad, Kurapika always had it on him. "Give me details, I know something's tied to it somehow" He nodded, "Surprisingly I actually remember it really well, probably because I feel guilty about it" Kurapika frowned slightly. Why?

"Gon said he wanted to talk to me after school, so we hung out behind the school to chat. He...he said that his aunt mito told him to tell people he trusted about his sexuality, I saw nothing wrong with it because hey, I'm gay too" Oh- I didn't know that. Kurapika didn't write that last part down but he definitely filed that last bit of information away for later. "the next day I decided to tell one of my friends and..." He trailed off with a slight scowl. Kurapika wasn't liking where this was going. "He said it was disgusting and...we aren't friends anymore." Kurapika's teeth gritted slightly. Must've been how it started. "I didn't think much of it for a while but then...I started hearing rumors" Leorio continued, shifting a little. "I didn't want to believe they were true, but I had no way to know. I decided to focus on classes for my senior year, we didn't part on bad terms though" He didn't do anything about it? Kurapika's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

He huffed. "All the teachers were homophobic too, except the principal." he couldn't believe his ears. "I know it was bad, I heard people talking about sending him hate notes and shoving him in the hallways" Kurapika paused, glancing up at Leorio's slightly guilty expression. "that was it? Shoving in the hallways and hate letters?" Leorio frowned slightly. "Well...yeah? There was a lot of name calling though, I felt awful for ignoring him but if I was going to get through my senior year with good grades..." He clenched his fist, Leorio suddenly noticed his expression and got a little worried. "Why? Did it...get worse?" he gritted his teeth. I shouldn't tell him, I really shouldn't. I should wait until I can get solid evidence and clear it all up. But... Leorio deserved to know, he seemed to be the only person that didn't have a bad view of Gon. "I...visited the school" He said, grabbing his phone and scrolling through. He wouldn't tell him about Gon's suicide attempt, or that he'd seen him recently.

"This is what the inside of his locker looked like" Leorio's eyes widened in shock and dismay when he looked over Kurapika's shoulder. "I- what- WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" He said, voice rising in anger. Kurapika glared down at the picture. "it has gotten worse. Apparently this type of bullshit has been going on for years." He scrolled through the pictures of the desks, and Leorio put a hand to his mouth with a horrified expression. "I...this was my fault wasn't it" He mumbled. Kurapika shook his head. "No, it's your friend's fault. Do you remember his name?" Leorio bit his lip. "Uhh... Zaban. I can't remember a last time" He cursed under his breath, "Damn it. I can't get any solid names for people" He spat, "This'll take a lot more digging, thanks for the help Leorio" he nodded, settling back on the couch with a slight frown. "Did he run away?" No...but that could've been a possibility. Instead he tried to take his own life, then ended up getting taken in by one of the most wanted criminals in japan. "Possibly"

893 words

To be continued...