The whole village stared down at the creature in wonder as Gon grinned proudly. Rin ruffled his hair.
"Good job, kiddo."
"Rin, you're not that much older than me! But thanks!"
Gon ran up to where Mito was standing with an unhappy expression on her face. He spoke to her in a chipper tone, and ran off with the tiniest stiff nod from her. Rin followed after the boy, stopping briefly to pat Mito on the shoulder.
"I'll look after him."
Then she passed.
The inhabitants of Whale Island were all on the docks, seeing Rin and Gon off. A tearful goodbye had been had between the two and their aunt earlier in the day. Gon waved enthusiastically to the crowd, proclaiming that once he was the best Hunter in the world, he'd return. Rin made no such claim and just waved half-heartedly from beside the boy.
There were snickers from the other men on the deck, and statements meant to put Gon down. Gon ignored them all and started looking around.
"And you? Are you also going to become the best Hunter in the world?" sneered the men at Rin. She lazily waved a hand in the air.
"I have no such ambition. Besides, didn't you hear him? And there can only be one 'best Hunter in the world'." After that statement, she sat down with her bag and leant against the side of the boat, ignoring the world around her and drifting off to sleep.
Instant sleep was a skill she had gained in the five years she had been in this world. Those five years had been pretty good.
Her introduction to Whale Island began when she had been washed ashore - very cliché - and Gon, who was playing on the beach at the time, had found her. He had called Aunt Mito, and she had brought the girl to the hospital. Rin had stayed in the hospital, and when she was released Aunt Mito decided to take her in after finding out she had nowhere to go.
From then on, she had lived with them and spent her days sleeping, following Gon around, and occasionally doing typical child things.
"Rin! Rin!"
Said person was shaken awake by Gon. Blearily rubbing her eyes, she yawned and responded, "Whazzit?"
"A big storm's coming, you should go sleep inside."
A big storm, huh? Groaning, Rin stood up and followed the green- black- whatever haired boy inside.
The storm was indeed 'big'. And extremely violent too. Men and furniture and beer went flying around the area. A stool smacked her in the face, causing Rin to awaken.
She sighed. Couldn't a girl get any decent sleep around here? Another stool flew at her and she narrowly dodged it. Guess not.
The storm raged on, and the ship lurched about the waves, causing its passengers to lurch about too. This continued for some time, then the ship finally reached relatively calm waters.
Finally. Rin decided to go back to sleep.
The captain of the ship grumbled under his breath about his lousy crew as he walked to the area where the wannabe Hunters were staying. Opening the door, he was not surprised to see not one of the men able to stand. Hmph, how pathetic.
Then he heard a young voice offering herbs to someone and turned his head towards the sound. A young boy was handing herbs to someone and telling him to chew them. That boy...
Looking more closely around the cabin, he saw two more people who were unaffected by the storm. One young man was reading on a hammock. Another was sitting in the corner, taking a bite of an apple and complaining about the sourness.
I see. So there were a couple of tough nuts on board.
A young crew member rushed past him, causing him to cling to the doorway for support. The red-head - Katzo, his name was - handed the boy a cup of water, which was then passed to the seasick patient.
He raised an eyebrow at them quizzically, and the others who were unaffected noticed the boy as well.
"Thanks, I really appreciate it!"
The boy handed the cup back to Katzo. Another voice spoke from above.
"Here, have a candy bar as thanks." A person dropped upside down right in front of the crewman's face, causing him to startle. In their hands was a wrapped candy bar. The young boy looked to the newcomer.
"Sleeping upside down isn't healthy, you know," he admonished.
His friend dropped to the ground right side up and shrugged. "It was the only way I was going to get any sleep. I got hit with a stool, can you believe that? That hurt."
As they continued complaining, the captain walked back to the navigation room. There were indeed some tough nuts this year.
Gon stood with three others in front of the captain, who wanted their names.
"I'm Gon!"
"I'm Kurapika."
"It's Leorio."
"The name's," she stopped to yawn, "Rin."
Next, the captain wanted their motivations for becoming a hunter. Leorio protested but Gon cheerfully told the captain his reason. He was berated by Leorio. Kurapikia agreed with Leorio, but was yelled at for disrespect. He ignored the man.
The captain told Katzo to write down that there were more dropouts. Kurapika and Leorio stopped arguing to ask. The old man explained everything to them.
Kurapika finally relented, and told the captain his reasons. Leorio followed soon after. Then the blond insulted him, he insulted the blond right back, and the two stepped outside to settle their differences. The captain tried to call them back, but was stopped by Gon's words. The man sighed, and turned to Rin.
"And you? You haven't said another word since your introduction. Why do you want to become a Hunter?"
Rin just stood there, staying silent.
"Are you not going to answer?"
Rin still didn't give an answer. Gon nudged the girl. "Rin, wake up. The captain's asking you a question."
Rin blinked, and her eyes focused on the captain.
"Sorry, I fell asleep. What was your question?"
The captain raised an eyebrow, but repeated his question. Rin placed her elbow on Gon's shoulder and leant on him. "I decided it'd be interesting to follow his guy for life. You understand, right?"
The captain nodded. It seemed like he understood.
"Captain!"
The man he had assigned to the helm called for his attention, and directed it to the waterspout quite close to the ship. He ordered the sails to be lowered, and Gon offered to help. Rin sighed, but half-heartedly offered to help as well. The two followed Katzo onto the deck, where men were straining with the ropes to lower the sails. Rin worked on the same rope as Katzo, while Gon worked on the one beside.
Rin suddenly remembered something. She managed to get out an "Oh, crap." before the rope was ripped out of her hands, with a screaming Katzo still holding onto it. Leorio and Kurapika's eyes widened and they ran for the man, but failed to reach him in time.
"Damn it!"
Then Gon leapt off the deck for Katzo, triumphant music began playing, and Rin sweatdropped. Leorio and Kurapika gaped at Gon's apparent lack of self-preservation and grabbed for his feet. However, something stopped them from reaching the boy in time. Rin swore. They were here.
"They weren't supposed to appear this early!" she muttered and dived over the edge of the ship as well. Leorio and Kurapika managed to grab onto her legs just as she managed to grab onto Gon's. The five slammed against the side of the ship, and Gon hoisted the unconscious Katzo up. They were safe. Rin breathed a sigh of relief.
"Rin! Rin!" She was woken up by someone yelling her name. Probably Gon, she thought, as she opened her eyes and poked her head out of the shadows she had been hiding in.
"What now?" grumbled Rin, wanting to go back to sleep badly.
"Whoa!" Ah, that was Katzo. "Where'd you…?"
"Rin! Katzo wants to say something!"
Katzo bowed to her. "Thank you for saving my life!"
"Don't mention it. Can I go back to sleep now?" she asked Gon, ignoring the people staring at her strange napping spot.
"Sure, I'll wake you up when we get to port!"
"Please let that be the only time you'll wake me up for the rest of the journey," she muttered, then withdrew her head and nodded back off to sleep.
'Oi, Kami-sama.' Rin called to the blank space around her.
'What is it?' The grumpy god appeared in front of her, scowling.
'They've already appeared.'
His scowl became an expression of shock. 'What?! But it's still so early!'
'That's what I thought too. Do you know why?'
The god frowned. 'I don't, but I'll look it up. What exactly happened?'
'When Gon dove after Katzo who fell overboard, Kurapika and Leorio didn't manage to grab his legs in time and I had to leap off the boat as well,' explained Rin, and the god nodded.
'I see. Anything else?'
'No, I don't think so.'
'Good. Ah, Gon's calling you, you need to wake up now.'
'I can hear him. Bye.'
'Goodbye.'
"Rin, wake up. We're at the port." A pleasant voice woke her up. She groaned and rubbed her eyes, before opening them to find Kurapika peering at her.
"I'm awake, I'm awake." She yawned, then asked, "Anything interesting happen while I was asleep?"
"The captain passed the four of us."
"I see." Rin stood up and stretched. "Ugh, I want to go back to sleep."
"You always want to sleep." Gon pulled at her arm. "Look, Rin, we're here!" He pointed at the port town.
"I can see that." She yawned again.
As they finally exited the ship, light music began playing and a disembodied voice began speaking.
'After winning the captain's favour, the trio of Gon, Kurapika and Leorio plus one Rin arrived safely at Dolle Harbor.'
Great, now she had to hear the background music and listen to the narrator. Rin sighed, and was drawn back to reality when Gon said, "Rin, let's go!" after finishing his talk with the captain.
"Okay." She bowed to the captain with a "Thanks for everything~" then followed after Gon.
The four stood in front of the map. Rin spaced out as Leorio began mulling over the captain's advice and the notice he had been given. This was actually pretty boring. She'd have to find a way to entertain herself while the story went on. Or she could always go to sleep. That sounded like a better idea.
She went with Gon when he started heading for the cedar tree on the hill, and Kurapika followed soon after. Leorio hmphed and went towards the bus, but also joined them a minute later, spouting some nonsense about them being lonely without him. She said she thought it was the other way around, and got smacked on the head with his briefcase.
"Ouch. You hit me."
"You deserved it."
Rin decided to space out for the rest of the journey, and completely missed the old woman's quiz.
"Rin, wake up, we're here." Gon nudged her, and she blinked and refocused on the world.
"How do you even fall asleep while walking?!" Leorio gaped at her.
"I'm a special person," she replied. "Let's go in."
The doors were pushed open, to reveal an injured man lying on the floor and a woman being gripped in the giant hand of a yellow beast. The original trio shifted into fighting stance, while Rin simply stood behind Gon and surveyed the scene. The beast took off, and Gon and Kurapika chased after it, leaving Leorio and her behind to look after the man. She sighed.
"Well, I'm really not of any use in this situation, so I guess I'll just go with them." She leapt out of the window as well, and quickly caught up with the two.
"Wow, he can talk!" Gon had missed the branch in shock and fallen to the ground. "Rin, you caught up!"
"Yeah, I did. You think I'll be able to catch him if I fly?"
"You can try!"
"What are you-" Kurapika tried to ask, but Rin had already stopped running and started concentrating on her palms. They began to emit orange fire, much to Kurapika's shock.
"Go, Rin!" Rin was about to oblige, but then stopped in mid-air as she remembered and sensed something wrong coming from the direction of Leorio.
"Sorry, Gon, but I have to go. You'll have to take care of him yourself."
"Aw, okay. Bye!"
Rin flew off.
"How did Rin do that?" asked Kurapika.
"How did Rin do what?" questioned Gon.
"How did he make fire come out of his hands?"
"He?"
"Rin."
"Oh! Rin's not a he, Kurapika." The blond almost tripped in shock. "And Rin says she's from another world, and that's why she has all these cool powers! She also says she has a secret mission to complete."
Kurapika nodded. "I see," even though he did not see, "but should you be telling me this?"
"It's alright, Rin said I could tell you when you asked."
"I see," Kurapika said again.
There was a moment of silence, then Gon asked how the Kiriko could talk, and all returned to canon.
sorry. i just love siocs.
i wrote this ages ago, and will probably never continue