CHAPTER 4

The Magical Beasts

"Minna! I found the tree!" Gon shouted as he waved his hands up in the air enthusiastically, happy to finally reach their destination. He was standing near a house just below the tree.

Leila chuckled at Gon's actions. They just walked for hours and there he is, still full of energy with probably much more to spare.

"Alright, alright, we get it. Don't shout. Geez." Leorio said as he walked towards the two.

Seeing Leorio made Leila immediately think of the other two members of their group. She turned her head around to check on Iris and Kurapika.

"Iris! Hur…" Leila begun but stopped as the other two appeared on her line of sight. There's definitely something wrong with this picture. 'No, not wrong…more like…unusual…'

It was Iris holding hands with Kurapika. Iris, the same girl who usually runs away from boys her age is now holding hands with a boy definitely around her age. She even seemed comfortable with it. Just what on earth happened? She knew that Iris is quite friendly providing that you don't get on her bad side but still…holding hands with a boy she just met for about a day is definitely, no matter how you look at it, unusual.

"OI! KURAPIKA!" Seems like Leorio also noticed. "WHY ARE YOU HOL…"

"AAAAH!" A woman's shout suddenly came from the wooden house, alerting the group.

They immediately dashed towards the house to help. When they opened the door, debris from broken furniture, an injured man on the floor and a woman held by strange creature caught their eyes.

"It's a magical beast called Kiriko." Kurapika informed the others.

The Kiriko glanced at their way then the next second, it went out of the window taking the woman with it. The others immediately went in pursuit of the creature.

"Leorio, I'll leave the injured man to you." Kurapika commanded as he followed Leila, Gon and Iris out of the window.

"You can count on me." Leorio responded as he kneeled beside the injured man, taking out bandages from his briefcase.

The other four continued to chase the Kiriko to the forest. Gon and Leila were jumping from tree to tree up above while Iris and Kurapika ran below.

'Those two are quite impressive, being able to see in this dark forest.' Kurapika thought as he observed Leila and Gon. He noticed that those two kind of move the same. 'Hmm…probably because they grew up together.' He reasoned.

"Catch me if you can!" The creature taunted, surprising Gon and Leila.

"It can talk?!" Leila exclaimed, quite shocked.

"Amazing! It can talk like us!" Gon commented, impressed.

"They use human language to imitate people, Gon." Kurapika informed.

Iris admired Kurapika's intelligence as he told Gon about the information. Iris knew about the magical beast, being a reader herself, but the first one who actually recognized it was Kurapika. 'Kurapika's really amazing…'

"Then it makes it easier." Gon said as he sped up after the creature. "Oi! Baka Kiriko!"

The beast paused as it heard Gon's taunt which gave Gon the chance to pounce his fishing rod onto the creature's head.

"Good job, Gon!" Leila complimented.

The creature's hold on the woman loosened and the woman began to fall down to the forest floor. Kurapika instantly moved to catch the woman. The creature continued to run to the forest. Gon and Leila chased after it while Kurapika and Iris stopped to tend at the woman.

"My husband, is he okay?" The woman asked.

Kurapika prepared himself to console her when he noticed the symbols written around her wrist. "Those tattoos…"

"Get away from her, Kurapika!" Iris suddenly cried out.

Kurapika turned his head to Iris and saw her glaring at the woman with a long steel pole on her hands pointed at the woman. The steel pole was Iris's weapon. It normally rested on the side of her thigh as a quite small metal object but it extends when she wills it to.

"That tattoo on your wrist is a symbol of an oath of chastity, yet you have a husband." Iris narrowed her eyes at the woman. "Why are you deceiving us? Are you one of them?" Iris knew perfectly well that Kirikos can impersonate humans meaning this woman could really be a magical beast instead of a human.

"There you are, Iris, Kurapika."

"Leorio!" Iris and Kurapika exclaimed at the new arrival.

"What are you doing here?" Kurapika asked.

"The man seemed okay so I left to find you. More importantly, why are you holding that weap…" Before Leorio could continue Kurapika stroke Leorio with his own weapon. It was two pieces of wood shaped like a sword with a string connecting it.

"How did you know?" This Leorio was definitely an imposter.

"He said I could count on him to take care of the man." Kurapika responded. "Regardless of whether I knew or not, I would've hit him for leaving an injured man alone."

Meanwhile Gon and Leila chased after the Kiriko. Gon was ahead with Leila not far behind. The Kiriko moved from tree to tree and sometimes some branches would block their sight but they could still hear so the chase was still good. Then Leila noticed a large shadow at the side. Its silhouette was similar to the Kiriko.

"Don't tell me, it's another one." Leila thought. "If this one came for the other's rescue then Gon might be in trouble."

With one glance back at Gon, Leila turned to follow the shadow. As Leila neared it, she became positive that it's another Kiriko. The other Kiriko didn't seem to notice she was following it which made the job easier. It was easier to catch it if it's caught off guard. She jumped on the higher branches as she did her best to catch up then she saw her chance.

"KIRIKO!" Leila shouted from above as she let herself fall to her target. The Kiriko, as expected, was too surprised to move and a second later Leila had her arms around the creature's neck. "Got you! Sorry, but I won't let you help your friend." Leila declared as she stubbornly held on to the creature as it tried to shake her off.

Then suddenly a loud call shook the dark forest. "Hey, honey! Come see this! This boy's really amusing!"

"Huh? What happened?" Leila wondered out loud, startled by the call and the Kiriko also stopped shaking her off. Then suddenly the Kiriko took off jumping from branches to branches towards the direction of the call carrying Leila along. "Hey, wait…where are you…" Leaves and small branches slapped Leila on the unexpected ride preventing her to coherently ask her unexpected escort. Then suddenly, there were no trees or leaves ahead anymore only the dark blue sky and its constant residents.

"Leila?" A familiar voice unexpectedly called out to her.

Leila's eyes widened as she turned her head to the left. There was Gon in front of another Kiriko both staring at her.

"Gon?" Leila replied returning Gon's inquisitive look with a surprised look of her own.