Itsy Bitsy Spider

22. Meaning "to [ ]"

It was during the seventh grade, when a classmate from his geometry class came up to him after school while he was walking home. Lucky had had a history of being picked on, but he dealt with it as best he could, and fortunately, this new middle school rival had only started partaking in verbal abuse. Lucky found a sense of smugness as he purposely walked the street that lead away from the bully's house, meaning said bully would have to walk even longer to get back home after he was done with his harassment. So Lucky was able to put up with the next few minutes as he was called trash and 'scrawny raccoon', plus a few other things that left him to wonder what kind of foul mouth had raised him. Lucky tried to laugh it off, tell him off, and he almost went as far as to flip him off, but he refrained. He had standards (or maybe he was just scared). It was hard though, not being able to defend himself properly.

Fortunately, the bully suddenly stopped harassing him just a few minutes in —for once he was happy when a lamppost fell around him—and Lucky was able to walk home. The bully never tried talking to him again.

The point was, Lucky couldn't deny "trash". He jokingly supported that statement and found no offense in it whatsoever. So yes, he wholeheartedly supported the bully's point of "trash". But up until this point, he never really understood why he'd been called a "raccoon". It had been a new insult in the list of what he'd been called. Sure, he had dark hair and usually didn't get much sleep at night and napped as much as he could during the day, but that was about as close as you could get. He was human. He couldn't possibly be a raccoon.

Except that now, while he threw himself behind rubble and practically hissed at anyone who came close to him, he could see it. He could really see it. Crud, he was turning into a raccoon, and the funny part was he had no intention of stopping.

Blazer reached out toward him again, but he scurried back, like the trash panda he was. He supposed the point of not being able to defend himself properly applied to this situation as well.

She sighed. "He's wary again."

"Just when we were starting to make progress." Pinky clucked her tongue. "Paku, what did you see of most importance?"

Realization washed over him, and never before had he been so horrified that he was in the right. Blazer was a sort of mind reader!

She started to answer, and he listened intently, trying to be positive.

"The jewel around his wrist is something he's been entrusted with. It seems there's a nen power surrounding it from what I saw, but no specifics were mentioned."

Well at least it stopped there, Lucky tried to reason with himself before flinging the truth right into his own face so he could get a grip. No matter how much Blazer knew now, he was screwed.

"So?" Devil asked Lucky. His straight-on, seemingly carefree smile scared him. "What's up with that bracelet of yours?"

"Jewelry." Crud, his answer was too loud and too quick and too hasty and panicked and he wanted to die.

"Use Gyo," Pinky said simply, and nodded toward his wrist.

He tried to casually hide the bracelet behind his back, but he was too slow. For some reason, they all seemed to know one thing even though all they'd done was glance at it.

"Nen-infused?" Danchou asked, though in context, it was more a statement. He turned his eyes up to meet Lucky's, and Lucky found himself unable to tear his gaze away. "What is it?"

"I already told you!" Lucky's mind was racing. His great-uncle had never told him much about the jewels, except that they held power and were to be protected at all costs. He had left a few messages as well, most of which had been encrypted with words he hadn't understood in context. He hadn't thought much of it. But now with his knowledge of nen, the puzzle pieces were coming to light, turning themselves over onto their painted sides and clicking together. So much more made sense now. "It's just normal jewelry, okay?"