Sakurai: I'm here! In one of the reviews it asked me to explain the specifics of the game. So I will!
Kazuki: Why don't you just do that in the story instead of the disclaimer?
Sakurai: I guess you're right. People don't really read my disclaimers anyway…
Kazuki: Sakurai does not own HxH or any of the characters except for Riku.
Sakurai: I wish more people would read my disclaimers…
Riku's PoV
I was sitting in a tree in a park. If you're wondering why I'm here or what I'm doing in a tree: the answer is simple. I was the target for a game.
Still confused? Well then here are the rules: The game is Capture the Flag. The players are my childhood friend Shiro and my new friend and bodyguard Killua. I was the flag.
Both of them had to run around the city and try to find me before the other does. Whoever finds me first wins the game. So it's sort of like hid-and-seek too. Only with one person who was hiding and everyone else was it. The game started about five minutes ago and I was already feeling jumpy and itchy with excitement.
I didn't have a favorite to win. Actually, I didn't want them playing this game at all. I'd really like it if we could all just get along and be friends. Is that too much to ask for?
Leorio and Kurapika, who had to be with me because I was outside where there were possible threats, were in disguises sitting on a bench across the park. The disguises were my idea. I didn't want Killua or Shiro to find me because of Leorio or Kurapika. That would be cheating.
I clung to a nearby branch with all my might. I don't usually tell people this, but: I have horrible balance. Truly the worst. I can just be standing somewhere then fall over with no warning. Since I fall so often, high places weren't my favorite. So being up in a tree wasn't exactly an ideal situation.
I decided to just sit and wait until one of them finds me.
Shiro's PoV
I quickly ran through some random people's lawns. I'm glad I'm fast because otherwise there would be a lot of people calling the police and reporting burglars.
Actually, I hate to brag, but I'm more than just fast. Thanks to a certain person, I'm superhuman fast. I can easily out run a fighter jet. That Killua kid is pretty fast, but I still beat him.
I ran through a park and caught a glimpse of blond hair in one of the trees. I stopped immediately, startling a few people. Target found.
Killua's PoV
I turned another corner. My plan: Run up and down all the streets, that way I can't miss her. She's not on this block or the next one. I have to find her before that irritating Shiro does. I don't know what it is, but something out him just bugs me.
I came to a park and stopped dead. I got the feeling that someone was watching me so I did a quick visual scan. Found it. One of Shiro's sneakers was in a tree with its owner. I ran away from the park and around the block, out of Shiro's sight. I quickly jumped into the trees and started foreword.
With a loud thud I landed on a branch in front of Shiro. Riku was with him. Dammit, I lost. Quietly I held out a hand, admitting defeat. Shiro raised an eyebrow, but eventually took it.
"Do you still doubt me?" He asked honestly. No hint of sarcasm or bragging could be heard from his voice.
"I admit you are talented." I answered with the same honesty. The three of us sat in silence, watching the people wandering around the park. Shiro stood so I did the same. Riku began to stand, but slipped. Before she fell, two pairs of hands caught her.
"Spaz. As usual." Shiro said, helping Riku right herself on the branch.
"I am not!" We hopped down from the branch, Shiro holding Riku with one arm around her stomach so she wouldn't fall.
"Fine, you're not a spaz, you're just plain clumsy." Shiro and I walked side by side. It felt like I had just grown a strange new respect for him.
"I AM NOT CLUM-" Since Riku's sentence had stopped short, we stopped walking and turned around. Only, when we turned, we didn't see her.
I looked down and saw Riku sprawled out on the ground. Shiro began laughing hysterically. "And… you still… try… to admit… you're not… clumsy!" He gasped between laughter. Smirking I helped her up.
"Both of you! Quit laughing right now!"
I put my hands up in defense. "But I wasn't laughing!" She punched my arm angrily. "Oww! That hurts! You don't have to be so mean!" Hearing my sarcasm, she started pounding on the top of my head. It still didn't hurt.
Shiro, almost rolling on the floor he was laughing so hard, waved to Kurapika and Leorio who were walking up to us.
"So who won?" Leorio asked smiling at Riku, who was still pounding on my head.
"I did!" Shiro said proudly. Kurapika's eyes widened in surprise and Leorio congratulated him with a big pat on the back.
We all walked back to Riku's house. I stared at the street lights as they came on.
"Guess what I learned about Riku today guys." She looked at me with an expression that read 'say-it-and-it'll-be-the-last-thing-you-so.'
I went ahead and said it anyway. "She's clumsy. Like beyond the normal level of clumsiness. She fell walking on flat ground."
"I AM NOT CLUMSY DAMMIT!"
"You forgot to mention stubborn. Riku is definitely stubborn." Shiro said with a grin.
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!"
"If we had no proof, I could easily understand why you are fighting us, but I saw you clearly. You fell down with nothing in front of you. You didn't even trip on your feet, you just went down. I'm sorry to say it Riku, but I agree with Killua and Shiro.
"It's a conspiracy!"
"I don't think you are using that word correctly…"
"SHUT YOUR FACE!"
"Ne, Killua," Shiro asked in a mocking tone. "What do you think shut your face means? It's clearly not something normal people say."
"I'm not sure. Maybe it's a special code for air-heads only."
"You guys are dead!" With that, she began chasing us the whole way home. Everyone was happy and carefree. Little did we know, something or someone was going to try and change that forever.
Nobody's PoV
A stout man in a long coat shuffled nervously down the hall of a special research building, holding a few important files close to his short body. He came to two very heavy-looking metal doors. With a glace to his right and left he entered a password on a keypad nearby.
They slid open and he quickly walked inside, the doors closing shut behind him. The dimly-lit room revealed a small desk surrounded by rows of filing cabinets. The man sat down at the desk and opened up the lap-top. The logo for RANE appeared on the screen. He sorted through a few things until a thin woman poked her head through the doorway.
"You are needed in Boss's office." She said with sympathy. The boss was a feared and hated man and, for most employees, going to his office never resulted in something good. The man followed the woman out his office door, bringing the important files with him.
They walked down two hallways and through a door into a large room. It smelled like a zoo in there, but that was because it was a zoo. The room was filled cages among cages among cages of animals. They ranged from mice all the way to a gorilla. Many of the animals stared at them silently as they passed, aura seeping out from each of them.
The woman and the man went down another hallway. They passed many closed door. From the one labeled "Testing" they heard the screech of an animal as its Nen was being enhanced. They came to the last door at the end of the hallway. The man started sweating nervously as he knocked gently on the door.
"Enter." said a deep voice, almost like a growl. The short man entered the Boss's office and closed the door quietly behind him.
"Do you have the files?" Asked Boss, his back facing the short man. Boss never showed his face to anyone and didn't give a reason why. From the back, he was a tall broad-shouldered man with thick, dark blackish-grayish hair.
The short man slid the papers on the desk and Boss easily grabbed them without turning even a little bit. As boss read the files, the short man dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief and began twisting it through his fingers nervously.
"Sir, um, if you don't mind me asking, what do you need these files for?"
"To get revenge for something that should have been mine. Some people need to learn that things can't always go the way they like." The short man started dabbing away more sweat at his nervousness grew.
"But, sir, are you sure these are the right people? They're children."
Boss chuckled slowly. "They may look like just children to you, but they are monsters. Monsters capable of destroying us all."
"I don't quite understand what you mean."
"You don't have to. Now get out of my office!" Startled, the man quickly fled back to his own office. He thought about the boss. Was he really going to get his revenge on children? Then a spark of remembrance shined in his eyes. He flipped open the lap-top and went to through the RANE files until he found what he was looking for.
More files on people shone through the screen. In one picture, a man and a woman, a married couple, and another man stood next to each other. Behind them was a gorilla in a cage. The nameplate read Lucy.
He remembered this well. Lucy had been their greatest project. Arato and Miyu Shirasai and Monta Hazuki worked on enhancing her Nen for months. Everything had been going well, then the accident. The company shushed it up because if word of it leaked out, the reputation of the company would be destroyed.
The files he had just given to the boss were on their children. A son and a daughter about the same age. The children's whereabouts were currently unknown, but the man knew that I wouldn't be long until Boss found out.
Being an old friend of Arato, Miyu, and Monta's the man had worked his hardest on destroying all files about the children. It was his duty to protect them in his friend's place.
A few days later…
Riku's PoV
I walked into the kitchen yawning, smelling bacon and sausage cooking. I saw Shiro and Kurapika chopping breakfast stuff and chatting happily. They had become fast friend in the few days that Shiro had been staying with us.
Shiro was staying with us because his apartment building had been flooded and they had to get rid of the water before people could live in it again. I don't think anyone minded that he was here though.
Even though it was actually starting to feel like a family around here, it didn't stop us from smacking Leorio when he started walking around in his underwear. Even the guys said that it was gross.
I started setting the table and waved as Killua walked in yawning.
"Mornin." He mumbled then walked over to the fridge and poured himself a glass of juice. After chugging his drink he looked into the fridge and his eyes widened.
"Where did you get these?" He asked excitedly.
"Get what?" I asked walking up behind him and peering over his shoulder. It didn't work because he was taller than me, so I bent down and looked under his shoulder into the fridge.
There was nothing out of the ordinary in there so I asked again. "Where did I get what?"
Killua looked at me then reached into the fridge and pulled out a box of chocolate. He held it in front of my eyes and shook it back and forth. He was acting like a little kid and I had to suppress a giggle. "Where did you get these chocolate robots?"
"Mrs. Damizaki in the apartment under us gave them to me. What's so important about them?"
"Killua has an obsession with chocolate robots." Leorio explained tiredly as he walked into the room.
Killua shot his a look and then turned back to me. Or should I say, turned back to the chocolate. "It's not about that. These are special!" He said excitedly with sparkles in his eyes. "These are the limited edition dark coco mint chocolate robots!"
"Would you like them?" I asked, already knowing the answer. He nodded vigorously and then ripped open the lid. He popped one in his mouth and chewed slowly, savoring the taste.
He held one out to me and I immediately covered my nose. Shiro laughed at me and explained that I hated mint.
Leorio looked at me surprised. "How can you hate mint? It's good!"
"No it's not! It's gross and smells bad and leaves a bad taste in your mouth and it's usually green! What good food is green?"
"Celery?" Kurapika suggested innocently. I glared at him and he went back to frying the bacon.
"I don't care what you think but just keep that mint away from me!" I screeched. Killua smirked. Uh-oh. I've only lived with him for one week, but I've already learned that smirks mean bad. Sure enough, Killua held up the mint in front of my nose.
Yuck! I ran away so he followed me, chasing me with that disgusting mint.
"Eat the mint and I'll leave you alone!" He said happily.
"Never!" I ran as fast as I could, but because life is unfair, he caught me with ease.
"Just eat the mint!"
"No!" Then I tripped and fell flat on my face. I rolled over and started to get up, but was stopped by Killua. He held my head down, so naturally, the rest of my body followed.
I tried to make him let me go, but he was so much stronger than me. Why can't I be stronger? Is that so much to ask for? I opened my mouth to speak, but never got the chance to because, at that moment, Killua popped the chocolate mint robot in my mouth.
Killua's PoV
I popped the robot in Riku's mouth and before she could spit it out, put my hand over her mouth and held her still. She tried to punch and kick, but wasn't strong enough.
"Just swallow the candy Riku." I said playfully. She fought back harder. Teasing Riku was almost as fun as teasing Gon.
She tried to yell at me, but since I was still covering her mouth, it sounded more like this: "Gme yur hamf ohf meh!"
"I'll take my hand away, as soon as you eat the mint. It's that easy."
She stopped struggling and stared at me with those bright blue eyes. Were they always that pretty? Ah, whatever. Finally, she swallowed the candy. As soon as I took my hand away, she jumped on top of me and started punching.
Shiro started laughing and then Riku glared at him. "Why didn't you help me?"
"Because I wanted to see what would happen if you ate it."
She got off of me and walked over to Shiro, he hands balled into fists. "You wanted to see what would happen?" She asked. Then she attacked him the same way she attacked me, punching his head without stoping. "THIS IS WHAT WOULD FREAKING HAPPEN!"
I walked up and peeled Riku off of him, only to be attacked again. Eventually, Shiro and I ran around the apartment while Riku chased us. She was so angry, for once in my life, I felt scared of what could happen. Not that I think she can beat me or anything. It's just that… women are scary when they're angry.
Shiro and I ran, Riku chased us, Leorio sipped his coffee in front of the paper, and Kurapika was reading. Yup, it was a pretty normal morning for us.
Sakurai: Phew, I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written.
Kazuki: What the heck was the random PoV in the middle? With the research building?
Sakurai: Oh that! That is going to play a huge part in this story! So if you skipped it, (Don't worry, I skip random PoV's sometimes too) then you have to scroll back up and read it.
Kazuki: To those of you who reviewed or sent us an email (No. Random people can't email us. We're talking about our friends.) asking questions or giving advice, thank you.
Sakurai: To these people:
1) Tusyoshi95: I hope I gave enough detail in my ideas. Sorry if you don't get it, but everything will fall into place eventually.
2) RedMahlova: I hope you understand the game they were playing a bit better now. Tell me if I was too confusing on anything else
3)Minami-chan2: Maybe you like Shiro just a bit better now? Maybe?
4) Friend: I hope you like the more Killua X Riku time I put in there. I can't put too much before chapter 6 or it'll ruin the plot. You'll see why later.
Thank you again all of you! You guys are the greatest! I will try to update more often!
Kazuki: And I hope people review more! Please!
Sakurai: Ne, readers? I have a question for you. If Riku had to go shopping with one of the boys, who do you want it to be? Shiro or Killua? Answer truthfully because it will help me write the next chapter. If you just read this, please ignore what I am writing next. It's for the people who skipped this.
HEY PUNK!
GO BACK UP!
NOW!
AND READ THAT LAST CHAPTER!
READ IT NOW!
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DON'T GET ME ANGRY!
YOU WON'T LIKE ME WHEN I'M ANGRY!
SO SCROLL UP NOW! :(
I'm watching you in your sleep… so you better do it… hehehe…