"You're a Zaoldyeck?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Isn't that a family of assassins?"

"Assassins? What are you talking about?"

"Dad told me once about meeting this boy from a family of assassins, the Zaoldyeck family. Maybe you're another Zaoldyeck, sorry…"

They soon lost interest about the Zaoldyeck talk, so they waited patiently for the long hand to strike twelve. And when it finally did, the remaining examinees stood up and chatted with excitement. The door of a huge building slowly lifted up, revealing two people. A posh and young lady was sitting leisurely on a couch, her hair was short, wild and pink, and her clothes showed too much skin. A massive old man sat behind her, his hair was grey from old age.

Gen gasped softly in astonishment, "Whoa…"

Yuujiro nodded in agreement, "He sure eats a lot…"

The stomach of the huge man groaned so loud, the examinees had to cover their ears, "Is it lunch time yet?"

"Shoosh, you old man. I wonder how mum was able to stand your annoying complaints…" the lady waved her hands dismissively. "ALRIGHT! EVERYONE BEQUIET!" she clapped her hands.

The candidates stopped abruptly and looked at her with eager eyes.

The lady began her introductory speech, "I am Katsuko and this is Buhara, and as culinary hunters, we will be in charge of the second exam. This year there will be a slight difference from the test from the previous years. Instead of two dishes specified by Buhara and I, you are to make one dish using only the limited ingredients and equipment that we have provided. Please come this way…"

She ushered the examinees into the large room. Each stood behind a bench, topped with a gas cook top, a cook pot, a plastic fork and a bamboo steamer. After they were settled, she sighed in satisfaction, "The exam will end after Buhara and I are full. The dishes that we have tasted and have pleasing content will pass. You may gather water from the river but nothing else. You may not help each other. All your ingredients are inside the bamboo steamer. On your marks…get set! GO!"

Immediately the people flipped open the lid and gasped in horror.

"How the hell are we gonna turn this into a dish?" a man cloaked in black, and a red band tied around his head, shouted out loud.

"Time is ticking! Tick tock tick tock…" Katsuko sang.

The others twitched and grimaced before they set off to work. Some was already heading out to the nearest river.

"I don't believe this!" Pietoro exclaimed. "I've never cooked before, and now they tell us to make some kind of delicacy out of this horrible thing which is the size of my hand? Unbelievable!"

Gen puffed up with pride, "I know how to cook! Dad taught me how to make raw egg over rice!"

"..." Yuujiro laughed at the boy's silly innocence. He glanced unsurely at the girl standing still on his left, her hand clutching her right eye. Since the time when she opened the steamer, her eyes were fixed onto the contents. She had not moved an inch…

"Something wrong?" he asked.

The girl held back a gasp. It was not the pile of uncooked rice that she was frightened of…it was the spider. Despite its huge size, it was already dead, so it was safe to handle. She knew it was coming soon, so she hid her right eye with her hand, a tear began to swell on her left.

"I…" but she cannot get the words out. She quickly snatched the cook pot with her free hand and ran towards the river. Yuujiro stood in a daze.

"C'mmon Yuujiro! You haven't started yet!" Gen nagged his friend.

"But Karuhi…." He pointed to the direction where she ran.

"Oh yeah! Where'd she go?"

"She ran up that way. Her actions were so weird…"

Gen headed towards the river. Yuujiro followed his friend.

"OI! We're in the middle of a test right now! What do you think you're doing?" Pietoro called out. Feeling left out, he caught up with them.

It wasn't long before they found a whimpering figure hunched up in a ball behind a bush. Both her hands were hiding her face, her fringe drooped with sweat.

"Karuhi…" Gen approached her. "What's wrong?"

Upon the call of her friend, she stiffened and remained silent.

"If you tell us what's wrong, we're here to solve it," he assured her.

And yet again she remained stubborn. Gen gazed at Yuujiro for help, but he shrugged. There was nothing he could do.

Pietoro stomped up towards her and crouched down in front, "Don't waste our time girl, just spit it out!" He grabbed her hands and wrenched them off her face.

Suddenly, he shrieked and jumped backwards. He crawled behind the boys, "WHAT THE...?"

There was nothing wrong with her face. It was her right eye that stood out. It was not in its original azure, but rather a fiery scarlet. The other three froze in shock. She simply turned her head to gaze tearfully at the ripples of water.

Gen began slowly, "Are you…a Kuruta?"

Karuhi nodded, "Not a pure one though…"

Pietoro finally gathered enough strength to speak up, "Um…explanations would be handy…"

Yuujiro started to explain, "The Kuruta clan is famous for their scarlet eyes. Their eyes turn scarlet when they feel emotional…"

The jet-hair boy continued, "Unfortunately, they were massacred a few decades ago. Although one boy survived…"

"And how do you guys know all this?" Pietoro demanded.

"Father told me," the boys answered in unison. They stared at each other in surprise.

"But…if one survived, you don't happen to be…his descendant?"

Karuhi managed to smile weakly at the confused teenager, "I'm hardly his descendant. I'm his only child."

There was a moment of silence exchanged between the four. It was until Gen finally sat down and interrupted, "What happened?" The others sat down and formed a circle.

"What happened?" the girl turned to face them; the right eye still scarlet, the left blue. She whispered, "This was how it began…"

He sat in the waiting room of the hospital, nervously fiddling his fingers. His first child was about to arrive, and he was to become a father. But he had a dreaded feeling. Something terrible was about to happen, something…

The door finally opened and the doctor gestured to him to come in. The frown on his face was an indication that something was wrong. He rushed in the room after the doctor. The doctor pointed at the young woman on the bed and shook his head, "She won't last any longer…we'll leave you two to talk," and he left. To his horror, he saw his wife breathing difficultly through an oxygen mask. And in her arms, was the child.

He hurried to her side. Before he could open his mouth, she smiled and spoke first in a raspy voice, "Kurapica…It's a girl. Here…take her."

He cradled the little sleeping bundle on his arms, "She's not crying."

"It's because she's a strong, just like her father…Isn't she adorable?" the woman coughed and wheezed.

"Please! Stop talking!" Kurapica begged her. He didn't know whether to be happy for the child, or be angry at his wife's stubbornness.

The woman began to breathe much faster, "It doesn't matter. I have not long to live anyway. Listen, Kurapica. Can you do me one last favour?"

Her husband nodded tearfully, "Anything."

"Promise me, that you will take good care of her. Promise me, that you will protect her. Promise me, no matter what happens…don't pass on your burden to her, even though she is part of your people…Her life depends on you…"

"I promise," Kurapica reached for her hand, and touched it gently.

She nodded her head weakly in approval. The machine measuring her heart-beats ran at a faster pace.

"No…" Kurapica whispered.

The woman's breathing grew rapid. "No…" he repeated.

Before she took in one last breath, a word escaped from her mouth, "Karuhi…"

Her hand dropped from his grasp, and her eyes glazed over. Responding to his emotions, his eyes turned scarlet. "NOOOOO!"

Hearing his cry, the doctor and nurses rushed in. To avoid them catching the state of his eyes, he tilted his head so his fringe would hide them. They lead him to a chair in the corridor, and rushed back in to remove the pale corpse. He shook violently with grief, until a soft movement on his arms broke off his painful feelings. Realising the bundle was still in his hands, he tried his best to rock the baby back to sleep. But he was unsuccessful. The child opened her eyes into a peep and began to cry. He gasped at his new discovery. The child was born with one Kuruta eye on her right. Her left was the same blue as his.

"Hush now, Karuhi…" he rocked the baby more gently and she eventually fell into a deep sleep. He stood up, and prepared to leave.

"Wait! She's not ready to leave the hospital yet! If you leave, who will breast-feed her? She needs to be put into intensive care right now!" a nurse called from the hospital ward.

"She's strong enough. I'll take care of her," Kurapica replied stiffly. He left the hospital.

"DAD! COME! I WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING!"

Kurapica sighed. Being a father is hard, let alone earning money and house-working at the same time. His apron flapping, he dashed out of the kitchen to the backyard where the seven-year-old girl was crouching down.

"Ne, ne…I caught it by myself!" she exclaimed childishly, pointing at the creature crawling on her palm. He followed her excited gaze and landed on a red-back. His eyes widened with disgust, "Karuhi! It's poisonous!" He pulled his daughter back and brushed off the spider.

She placed her hands on her hips and made a pouting face, "Aww…I had a hard time catching that spider, what a waste..."

He shook his head and ushered her back inside the house. Like every night, he would cook dinner and she would either read a book or watch television. Kurapica brought out two bowls of udon and placed them on the coffee table. "Itadakimasu."

Halfway through eating her udon, she asked her father, "Dad, why do our eyes turn red?"

"It's natural."

"Then why do I have to wear this blue contact lens on my right eye when I'm outside? That isn't normal."

"We were born with it but when other people see it they get scared."

"So why do our eyes turn red?"

I think it's time she knows…he thought. "Do you really want to know?"

Karuhi nodded enthusiastically.

Kurapica muted the television, and began his long lecture. He talked about the Kuruta Clan, the Phantom Brigade, and how he was the sole survivor of the clan. He talked about becoming a hunter, and the people he made friends with. And he talked about meeting her mother. Karuhi sat silently through the whole hour, dissolving in every word.

"-and you arrived at this world," he ended. He finished eating his udon, but Karuhi kept on staring at her father, her chopsticks dangling from her hand in mid-air. The flashing lights from the television danced on their faces.

"C'mmon! Eat up!" Kurapica tried to cheer up the mood, but her mother's death was still plastered onto Karuhi.

"I…I want to be a hunter." she mumbled. "I want to…avenge the Kuruta Clan. I want to kill those who killed our people…" Her right eye seemed to flash scarlet.

"You're too young. And don't use such harsh words. If your mother was here she'd not appreciate it."

"But I want to be a hunter! I want to be just like you dad!"

Although childish and naïve, those words struck him like ice. He remembered the promise he made to his wife, 'Don't pass on your burden to her…'

"If you want to be like me, you will carry a huge burden. You might regret it…" he told her in a serious tone. "I honestly do not want you to turn out like me. But…if that is your choice, I will not stop you."

Karuhi nodded, "When will I be able to take the hunter test?"

"When you're older." I'm sorry…I had to break the promise…but this is what our daughter chose. We should let her be.

Kurapica was proud of his seventeen-year-old daughter. After all those years of worth-while hard work and training, he was able to raise up a smart, pretty and skilful daughter.

"It's time to go…" Karuhi smiled.

Her father ruffled her hair affectionately, "You'll come back. Will you?"

"Of course! I promise you, I'll come back as a hunter!" She threw herself on Kurapica and gave him a bear-hug.

He laughed and whispered in her ear, "It doesn't matter whether you'll be a hunter or not. All that matters is that you'll return safely." He broke the embrace and added, "I'll miss you."

She opened her bag and handed the case that contained her contact lens, "I don't need these anymore."

"But…"

"You're such a worry-wart! I'm not a kid anymore, I can control my own feelings you know!"

He smiled and took the case, "Be careful…"

"I'll be back as soon as the exam is over!" The girl picked up her bag and shuffled her feet in her travelling boots. She opened the door and ran out joyfully in the open air, "Love you father! I'll be back!"

Plunged into the miseries of her past, the three boys sat dazed. There was a hint that Gen was about to cry.

"Mother died, because carrying the Kuruta blood was too much for her," the girl concluded. "I was a monster, it was my entire fault."

"Karuhi…" Pietoro called out softly.

"You're not a monster!" Gen bursted out angrily. "Just because your mother died giving birth to you doesn't mean it was your fault!"

The girl was taken aback a bit, "Gen…"

"You've got friends, and we're all here for you. So don't think badly of yourself! Karuhi, you promised your father that you will return as a hunter, just as I had. Therefore, we mustn't give up now. A promise is a promise!"

Slowly, she came to realise that Gen's words had more meaning than what he said. She looked up at him, and grinned, "Gen, I'm glad I had you as a friend."

He smiled and they embraced.

Pietoro looked away in irritation, "Tch."

"Hmm…?" Yuujiro cross his arms behind his head and smirked. "Didn't get a hug from the girl? Aww…"

The teenager protested, though there was an indication that he was slightly embarrassed, "N-NO! It's not that! We're in the middle of an exam and we're wasting our time here getting all chummy and mushy!"

The other three gawked.

Karuhi quickly brought her pot in the water and laughed, "C'mmon! You guys are WAY behind!"

They ran alongside each other, just as good friends would. Gen looked at the girl. When people are happy, he is happy.

"Oh yeah…can I ask you a question?"

"Mm?"

"What was your father's name again?"

"Kurapica."

"Kurapica…I think my dad mentioned him before."

"You think?"

"Well…I've got short-term memory, so maybe…I don't remember." Gen shrugged.