DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything related to "Hunter x Hunter", Togashi owns them who's back from hiatus and is continuing the manga. The only thing I own are my original characters and the story itself. That's all and please enjoy. =D


Chapter Seven: Ambush

Instead of going back to the castle, Yuna led them to a small alley near the bar. She checked to see if there are any people around before proceeding deeper into the alley.

"Uh, Yuna? Where are we going? I thought we're headed for the village…" said Gon, confused.

"Oh, we are. You see, when my parents constructed that village, they made secret passages across the kingdom. So, if there's any need to, let's say, "escape" from the village for awhile, all they have to do is go through one of those passages. Most of them lead to the town and the urban district area. Some into the castle itself, but only few has access to it. It comes in handy sometimes when you want to get away from trouble." said Yuna, their path getting smaller and darker.

"I see. That's cool." said Killua.

"Amazing! I can't wait till' I see it!" said Gon, whose eyes were sparkling with excitement.

"Haaay… no horses…" mumbled Kurapika.

"What's the deal with you and horses anyways?" said Leorio.

"Ummm… nothing. Nevermind." said Kurapika, averting his gaze towards the walls.

The path gets deeper and deeper, sooner or later; they were getting squished by the walls that they get cramped up together. But, the walls soon widens again, reaching a dead end. With Yuna in front, she tapped a couple of bricks on the walls, in a sort of like clockwise pattern and slowly, the wall started to shake, moving away to reveal a dark tunnel. (A.N.: Yeah, it's a Harry Potter reference. I find it so cool that I just can't help putting it in the story. Plus, it sort of like a tribute since the last movie has been released.)

The group was practically gawking at her.

"Then, shall we go?" said Yuna, smiling at them.

"Still cool. I should tell Dad about this idea…" said Killua.

"It's well-hidden I say." said Leorio, studying the surrounding walls.

"You should stick close to me though. It gets pretty dark inside…" said Yuna as she entered the tunnel, the group following her.

The tunnel wasn't completely dark; torches were mounted on the walls, blazing with fire. Some pipelines can be seen on some of the walls, with rats scurrying on them. The tunnel wasn't really cramped, giving enough room for five people. Later, they came across two paths in front of them. One is going to the left while the other is going to the right.

"This way." said Yuna, going to the left.

"Why are there two paths?" asked Gon, catching up to Yuna.

"Just in case someone "accidentally" discovered this tunnel, then they would end-up getting lost." said Yuna, stopping. Apparently, another dead end was standing in the way.

She then tapped the wall in front of her, a small panel sliding open, revealing a numeric pad. She began entering a number code and slowly, the wall slid open, revealing another tunnel.

"At the end of this tunnel is our ride to the village. Let's go." she said, as she resumes walking.

They kept walking and walking, going down a few stairs as well on their way until they saw a bright light, the exit apparently close. They emerged into a small cavern and there, in front of them, was a pod-like vehicle. Not only was that but in fact, the entire cavern was filled with them, facing in other directions. The entire cavern was deserted except for them and a mechanic, who was walking nearby, apparently checking on the pods.

"Yo'! Tzubero! How are the pods doing?" said Yuna, waving at him to get his attention.

"Ah, princess! Everything's fine. Going to the village again? It's rare for you to be down here." he said as he looked up from one of the pods he's been checking on.

"Unfortunately, I have a lot of people with me this time. Meet Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio here. They're Hunters." she said as she points at them one by one.

"Oh? I see. Nice to meet ya'. Name's Tzubero, and I should probably get going. See ya' around, princess." he said as he stood up and left, attending to the other pods.

"We're gonna' ride that thing there?" said Leorio, pointing at the vehicle in front of them.

"Yep. They're all connected to a single cavern, but goes into one direction. And that is towards the village and back here." said Yuna.

"Then how come we didn't took this on our first visit?" said a dismayed Kurapika.

"I like riding the horses better." said Yuna, smirking at him.

"You just want to torture me…" mumbled Kurapika.

"What was that?" said Yuna.

"Nothing, nothing…" said Kurapika.

"I thought I heard something." she said, glaring at him.

"Are you guys gonna' get on or what?" said Gon, who was already sitting inside the capsule.

"Someone's excited. Ok, let's go then." said Yuna, taking the seat in front, the other three joining her and Gon as well.

"Ok…" she said as she began pushing some buttons and flipping some switches on the control panel in front of her. The machine began to hum as the engines blared.

"Everybody, hang on tight, things will get pretty wild from here." said Yuna, taking hold of the centre stick and pulling it, causing the machine to lurch forward, blasting down towards the tunnel heading for the village.


"Ok guys, we're here. You can open your eyes now." said Yuna, the pod pulling to a stop. They arrived at the end of the tunnel, another tunnel to their left.

"Is it over?" asked Kurapika, who slowly opened his eyes, not noticing he had his arms wrapped around Yuna's waist the entire ride.

"Yep. And, you can let go now, it's starting to hurt." said Yuna.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry…" said Kurapika, as he lets go of Yuna, blushing.

"It's ok. How's everyone doing back there?" she said, peering into the backseat.

"We're fine. A little dizzy though." said Leorio, who was clutching his head.

"Hmphmhp! Pftfth!"

"Oh, sorry Gon!" said Killua, who apparently squashed Gon. He sat-up, letting Gon breathe.

"I thought you would never get off." said Gon, rubbing his head.

"Hehe, sorry." said Killua, who was already out of the pod along with Yuna and the others. He held out his hand and helped Gon out.

"Come on guys, let's get going. We have to be back before dinner you know." said Yuna, going down into the tunnel, with them following her.

The tunnel wasn't long because in just a few minutes, they emerged outside of a small cave in the depths of the forest. They followed a single dirt path and found themselves into the village's outskirts. Sooner or later, Yuna led them and arrived at a small cottage.

"Ok guys, we're here. I'll let you explore the village awhile later, right now, I want you to meet somebody." said Yuna as she knocked on the cottage's front door.

"Who could this somebody be?" said Gon enthusiastically.

"Coming! Be there in just a sec!" shouted a voice from inside.

"Sounds like a girl." said Killua.

"Is that your girlfriend?" said Leorio, nudging Kurapika's ribs.

"No, she's not." said Kurapika, apparently annoyed.

"Oh? Really?" said Leorio, nudging him further, his grin widens.

A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a middle-aged woman with long, platinum blonde hair, stopping near her hips. She was wearing a sky blue dress with a white apron on top.

"Yuna! Kurapika! Nice to see you two again! And who are these people?" she said, greeting them with a smile.

"These are the Hunters I met on my journey, Mom." said Kurapika, giving his mother a hug.

"EH! MOM!" said Gon, Killua and Leorio at the same time.

"Hahaha! I knew that this would be their reaction. Why don't we all come inside and we will explain the whole thing to you guys." said Yuna, as they all headed inside.

They all settled down at the kitchen, with cups of tea in each of their hands. Yuna decided to do all of the explaining.

"So where do you guys wanna' start?" she said as she took a sip from her tea.

"Why don't start by filing us three on why his mother is still alive." said Killua. Gon and Leorio were still too dumbstrucked to speak.

"I guess that did come out as a shock for them after all." said Kaprika.

"Who wouldn't after blondie here told us that your tribe got massacred years ago." said Leorio, who was pointing accusingly at Kurapika.

"Ok, I guess it's better to start out on that." said Yuna as she began retelling them of the events that happened five years ago. How Kurapika got separated from Kaprika, how she and a couple of tribe members were saved by a mysterious person, how they drifted out into the sea for days and how they ended up in the kingdom of Paix, where they decided to revive their tribe.

"That's pretty much it." said Yuna, sipping from her tea.

"Wait, that person who saved you, what did he look like?" said Gon as he looked at Kaprika.

"I didn't see much at that time since it was night time when it happened. All I know is that he has black, spiky hair and has bright blue eyes. Oh! He also stated his name. What was it again… Fing? Sing? Wait…" said Kaprika as she scratches her head, digging deep into her memory for that name.

"Could it be Ging? Ging Freecss?" said Gon.

"That's it! Ging! He's the one who saved us from being killed by two members of the Ryodan." said Kaprika.

"I see. It's my father."

"Is that so? Well, I have to extend my thanks to you then. As well as the other tribe members he saved." said Kaprika as she lovingly took Gon's hands and shook them.

"You're father was a great man, for saving us." she said as she smiled at him warmly.

"I always knew he was a great man. That's why I dedicated my life in finding him. That's the real purpose of my journey and my becoming as a Hunter. To find Ging, my father." said Gon.

"That's a great dedication you have there. I hope you find him, good luck." said Kaprika as she lets go of his hands.

"What else do you guys want to know?" said Yuna.

"Nothing more. Although, whatever happened to the other tribe members? You said that after you escaped, Gon's father went back to stop the slaughter." said Leorio, already downing his cup of tea.

"I don't really know. We were already far-out into the sea to see." said Kaprika.

"It's likely that there were survivors. They might be stranded on an island or in another country or kingdom." said Yuna.

"Or there weren't any at all." said Killua.

"You're not helping." said Leorio.

"But, the important thing is there WERE survivors." said Yuna, finishing her tea.

"I'm thankful for that, really. But still, it would've been better if no one got killed in the first place." said Kurapika.

"Now, now. Enough of this talk. It's making the atmosphere around here gloomy. Who wants some more tea?" said Kaprika as she stood up to get some more.

"And besides, if you look at it this way, we wouldn't have met you then." said Gon, smiling at Kurapika.

"Yeah, you wouldn't have taken the Hunter exam if it wasn't for the Ryodan." said Killua.

"I guess so." said Kurapika, managing a smile.

"What do we do now? I really want to explore the village though." said Gon.

"Already? Can't we just stay here for awhile? My feet still hurt from all the walking we did…" whined Killua.

"Eh? Come on…" whined Gon also.

"I know, let's play cards." said Kaprika, bringing out a deck.

"Cards?" said Gon and Killua, perking up from the word.

"Yes, cards. In our tribe, we have our own way of playing. Let's say, kind of like a condition. If you lose, you will have to do whatever the winner says, and vice-versa. We also have our own game. It's called "Tong-its" by the way. I'll explain the rules to you…" said Kaprika, as she began shuffling the cards.

"I'll begin with the objective. The objective of the game is to empty your hand of all cards or minimize the count and the scores of unmatched cards that are still on the player's hand by forming card sets, dumping cards and calling a draw. The player who gets rid of all the cards or has the least number of total points wins the game." she said, as she began dealing out the cards. (A.N.: The rules of the game I will state here and on are all from Wikipedia. It's a game that originated from my country, the Philippines. I don't have much knowledge on it since I only played it once that's why I have to use a much more detailed explanation. Copy-paste really is the best. XD)

"It's kind of like Poker if you look at it someway." said Leorio, picking up his cards and arranging them.

"Yes, you can also use money as a gamble. But, we'd rather use the condition method instead." she said as she finished dealing the cards, placing the remaining cards in the centre of the table.

"Now, how do we play? Well, for starters, the game begins after the dealer dumps a card. The next person can either pick up the disposed card or get one from the central stack. Collect hand combinations and dump unnecessary cards. The picking and discarding of cards goes on until someone wins by Tong-its, calls a draw or until the central stack runs out of cards. If this happens, the players tally the points of the cards they have at hand." she explained

"You forgot to mention about the melds." said Kurapika.

"Oh yeah! Meld is a set of cards of matching cards a player needs to collect in order to win the game. When a player collects a meld, he has the option to either lay it down, or keep it. However, a player must expose at least one meld to call or challenge a draw. If a player fails to lay down a meld and the game ends, the player is considered "Burned" and will not be able to challenge a draw." said Kaprika.

"There are three types of a meld. First is the three-of-a-kind, which are three equally ranked cards. Next is the four-of-a-kind, four cards of the same rank or number. It is also called a "Secret". Last is the straight flush, at least three sequential cards of the same suit. Straight flush composed of 5 or more cards is also called "Escalera." That's it." said Kurapika.

"But how do we end the game?" said Gon.

"Well, if the player is able to use all of his or her cards in combinations, by connecting to opponents' or your exposed card sets or sapaw, or if the player gets rid of all his cards, then the player wins by Tong-its." said Kaprika.

"Or if it's a draw or if the deck pile runs out of cards." said Kurapika.

"Any more questions?" said Kaprika.

"None!" said Gon, Killua and Leorio.

"I already played it before anyways. Together with my sisters that is." said Yuna.

Then, an idea came-up in Killua's mind. A huge grin forming on his face.

"Say Yuna, if I win, you will do whatever I say, right?" he said.

"Huh? Uh yeah. That's the condition. Although not only me but pretty much everyone participating in the game. Why'd you ask?" she said.

"Hehe, you see, if I win, my first task for you is that you go on a date with blondie there." said Killua, grinning evilly.

"Eh!" said Yuna and Kurapika at the same time.

"Fufufu. I like that proposal." said Kaprika.

"Mother!" said Kurapika.

"Kaprika-san!" said Yuna, both of them furiously blushing.

"What? Yuna here hasn't gone on a serious date yet. And, Kurapika here, this boy, he hasn't even gone on one yet! And I almost died without even witnessing that." said Kaprika, who was laughing.

"I also like that idea." said Leorio.

"Me too." said Gon.

"Oy, you two, don't be too full of yourselves now. Remember, I'll make you do anything as I please too." said Killua.

"We know that. But, it will be worth it if it's that the way to have Kurapika here go on a date." said Leorio.

"Let's take pictures of it to commemorate the event! I'll even make an album saying, "Kurapika's First Date". Brilliant!" said Kaprika, laughing even more.

"Seriously, if I win, I'll make you pay Killua…" said Kurapika, who was clenching his fists now.

"Let's just see then. I'll make sure you don't win, Killua." said Yuna, her eyes now brimming with determination.

"Bring it on!" said Killua, getting fired-up as well.

"Let's start then. I'll go first…" said Kaprika as she drew out a card and laid it on the table.

The game went on for hours, with each of them laying out their cards, drawing from the pile. Especially Yuna and Killua, who was both determined on winning the game. The deck pile was decreasing as the minutes pass by. And, at last, the game ended when Killua ran out of cards, with him as the winner.

"Yes! Hahaha! I won!" he said, throwing his fists into the air.

"Damn it!" said Yuna, throwing her remaining cards onto the table.

"Hehe, about that condition…" said Killua, who's grin was so wide that it almost looks like a jack-o-lantern's.

"Fine, you won. I'll go on a date with Kurapika." she said, her face with a tinge of pink, same as Kurapika.

"But, do it seriously. As for the others, I'll have Kaprika-san do nothing." said Killua.

"Eh? Really now, give me something to do as well. All I ever do is sit around all-day." she said, her face full of exasperation.

"Fine, I'll leave you in charge of getting Kurapika get dressed up for their date. How's that?"

"It's a deal! This will be fun!" she said, giggling.

Kurapika was facepalming, while Yuna just sighed.

"For Gon, I want you to prank both Pierrette and Patricia." said Killua.

"Eh! I don't even know how to prank! Plus, do you remember what happened last time, Patricia was practically furious! It's scary…" said Gon, shivering from the thought.

"You can't back-out. As for Leorio, well, I don't have anything in mind right now so maybe I'll save yours for later."

"That's good. I can breathe easily, for now." said Leorio.

"Well, it's almost dinner time. Will you be staying?" said Kaprika.

"Sorry Kaprika-san, we have to get back." said Yuna.

"Well, next time, if you're going to drop by here again, please stay for dinner."

"We will." said Yuna.

"Ohhh, I didn't get to explore the village." said Gon, pouting.

"We still have some time left. Why don't we go now?" said Yuna.

"Yeah, my feet are feeling much better anyways." said Killua.

"Yehey! Let's go then!" said Gon as they all stood up from their seats.

As they made their way to the door, a furious knock came upon it. It went on and on continuously.

"I wonder who could that be..." said Kaprika, as she opens the door to find Lupe standing there, panting.

"Lupe! What's wrong? What brings you here?" said Yuna.

"Princess, I've been looking for you everywhere!" he said, trying his best to catch his breath.

"What's the emergency?"

"The village… it's… under attack…"

"Eh!" they all said at once.

"Where are they? Tell me! WHERE ARE THEY!" said Yuna, her sword was already drawn out.

"Follow me…" he said as he ran, with Yuna right behind him. Gon and the rest followed them.

Along their way, the villagers were practically fleeing, running off towards their respective houses. They ran and ran until they reached the village's front gates; there stood two muscular men, carrying a couple of swords and guns.

Yuna stopped in her tracks, her sword drawn out towards them.

"What do you want!" she said, her eyes full of anger.

"Oh? We're here for the scarlet eyes." said one of the men, who were holding two double-edged swords, grinning wildly.

"Why those-" said Kurapika, whose eyes were already glowing a scarlet color, who was about to rush-out and attack when he was held back by Lupe.

"Let the princess deal with this." he said, looking at Kurapika sternly.

Kaprika placed her hand on Kurapika's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Let's just see what will happen then." she said as they look towards the scene unfolding in front of them.

"What scarlet eyes? There is no such thing as that here!" said Yuna.

"No use lying to us, princess. Some fellow gave us a tip that they can be found here. The rare scarlet eyes of the Kuruta clan."

"I warn you, take one step further and I'll have to kill you two. Leave this village at once!" said Yuna.

"You heard that, Lysander? Princess here is threatening us. Very well, I guess we'll have to deal with her first…" he said as he took a step forward, his swords drawn out as well.

"I have no choice then… Prepare to die!" said Yuna as she leaped in to attack, her sword aiming towards them...


TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note: Finally, after a week I finished this chapter! Sorry if it's a bit late, I was too busy with school. Plus, I went into a state of writer's block for awhile.

You may have noticed how I went and use one of our culture's famous games. It's pretty popular around here, especially to men. You can read more about it on the Internet, just look-up its name "Tong-its". XD

Anyways, we just recently watched the last Harry Potter movie and it's sad to say that my childhood has come to an end. It's a great movie I say! Very tearjerking.

Finally, please feel free to submit a review on this chapter. I'll begin writing on the next chapter now. Thank you once again for all the support! =D