Author's notes: Woo this chapter took long to write. It has more Gon in it yeay. Less Raiha but there'll be a lot of her in the next chapter. I'm kind of afraid of the next chapter cause I'm sure that will be longer and *sly smile* there's a reveallllllll. That whole mysterious phone call with Raiha's mom and the *special* thing about the swords shall be brought to light. PS I wanna acknowledge my bro J for helping me out with the processing of the next chapter and for reading this story.

Thank you for the new follows and favorites! Much love! 3

the-ultimate-star: Another speedy updateeeee.

kieyuuMizumi: Yeay thank you! 3 I haven't seen arcana famiglia. Might look into it. :) Here's the newest chapter!

Disclaimer: I think I forgot to do this for chapter 8. mehehe. I don't own Hunter x Hunter!

Gon bent his head from left to right and yawned. His neck muscles felt stiff. His legs felt stiff as well, so he gave them a few good stretches. Come to think of it, his whole body felt stiff. Sitting down in a rigid wooden chair for some time did that to you. He yawned. That auction took too long. It was already 4:00. The three of them had agreed to regroup in the hotel by 5:00, to update each other in the day's events. Not that there was much to tell about Gon's day.

At 11:00, a private car came to pick up Foxbear. Gon followed suit in a taxi. The ride wasn't too long and the vehicle soon arrived in a three-story marble building with long towering columns. Men and women clad in suits and crisp dresses were ascending the stone steps. Gon suddenly became conscious of his own clothes. He stood out like a bad stain on a newly bought white shirt. He shrugged. He would wing it.

Foxbear closed the door of the convertible and headed up the steps. Gon waited for a minute or two before following him. Once inside he saw Foxbear talking to a short pudgy brunette man with a moustache. He tried to get closer, but a tall man blocked his way. The man was looking at him with disdain, scanning him from his ratty black sneakers, his loose jeans, up to his faded green shirt,

'Excuse me sir, would it be possible for me to check your name in our attendance list?'

Gon didn't count on this happening. How was he supposed to wing this? If he gave a fake name, he would be kicked out. But the only real name he knows here is Foxbear's. What were the chances that Foxbear wouldn't find out that he used his name? This guy probably just wanted to make sure he wasn't lost;he did look as if he wandered in the wrong building. He straightened up, and casually pointed over to Foxbear, a smile on his face. 'I'm with my uncle, Fo-, I mean, Mr. Linar.'

The tall man looked over his shoulder at the muscular man, then back at Gon, then back at the muscular man. He seemed to doubt what Gon had said, but luckily another man, possibly his co-worker called out to him.

'Hey, what are you still doing here? We need to set up behind the auction room.'

'Oh. Sorry, I was-'

The man turned to look at Gon again but he had disappeared. The crowd was already shuffling towards the entrance to the auction room. The inappropriately dressed boy was swallowed by myriads of suits and designer label garments. Next to an old woman wearing a rather loud purple dress and matching hat, Gon breathed a sigh of relief. He searched the crowd for Foxbear, which wasn't hard to do as the crowd was composed of mostly short rich senior citizens. He moved closer til he was fairly near the man.

The seats inside the room were already occupied when he got inside. The room was a large one, but there were still around 20 people who weren't able to get a seat, him and Foxbear included. The host of the auction entered the room and greeted the guests. Two women in black gowns brought out two vases, each one a majestic shade of green. The host began calling out bids. The auction had begun.

Gon watched Foxbear carefully. He didn't seem to be interested in the artifacts that had been shown so far. Gon wanted to yawn, so so very badly, but he blinked rapidly to will the sensation to go away. How long did he have to endure this? This morning he thought this assigment would have been...less sleep inducing. He felt his mind going farther and farther away as the clock ticked on. At first he could still pay attention to each artifact but after a while they just started to look the same. He didn't know how much time had passed but the host announced that the next item would be second to the last. Gon glanced at Foxbear. He saw him nudge his short companion slightly. The women were bringing out a long wooden box.

He could hear Foxbear whisper to his companion, 'This is what I wanted to show you.'

Gon tensed as the women opened the lid slowly holding up….

A very wide sword, with a bright red jewel in the middle.

Gon's thoughts blocked out the host's words. It wasn't the sword he was looking for. Raiha had described the Umi sword as being shorter than the Tsuki one, and the blade was slightly curved inward, almost resembling a crescent moon. He closed his eyes. Wait a second, wasn't it strange how the sword that resembled the moon was named after the sea? He couldn't see the resemblance of the long slim sword Raiha carried with the moon. But a curved blade would look like the moon when it was in its crescent phase. Maybe there was another story behind it. Oh, he had let his thoughts run wild again. He glanced at Foxbear again and listened carefully.

'….That sword was owned by a former royal who renounced his title to live as a monk.'

'Very interesting indeed. You've always picked swords with strange histories Linar.'

'An artifact is only as valuable as the story it represents.'

'Were you ever able to get that pair you had your eye on?'

'Pair? Oh the Kanakiri swords. No. Those swords… That family would never let anyone touch them. Oh, but I want to see touch them least once. They're famous in collector circles.'

'A pity. But if it's the Kanakiris there's nothing to do.'

Foxbear nodded and the two men turned their attention back to the auction.

Gon sighed inwardly. Foxbear was out.


Raiha looked at the leaf pattern printed delicately on top of her coffee. This café was quite cute. Long shelves cluttered with books were on the walls. The wooden furniture were all white, and aged, with just the right amount of scratches here and there. The plates and cups were of various pastel colors. It was a strange café for someone like Smite to pick. It was too feminine, too delicate.

'You must be wondering why I know this café.'

Raiha looked up and nodded.

'This is my daughter's favorite café. She always drops by here whenever we come to York Shin.'

'I didn't know you had a daughter.'

'I should've introduced you two. She's around your age.'

Raiha sipped her coffee and nodded. Enough of the small talk and onto business.

'Mr. Smite, I'm going to ask you right out. Did you…have any involvement with a theft that recently occurred in our house?'

The man leaned back into his chair and laughed. This Kanakiri girl was amusing indeed.

'I'll reward your frankness with the same. No, I have not been involved in any theft…recently….in your home.'

Raiha observed his face for any signs of lying. He was facing her, eyes straight locked with hers. He didn't move them at all. When people were lying, they usually moved their eyes to the right indicating fabrication or the use of the imagination. His hands were placed lightly on the table on either sides of the cup. They didn't move nor attempt to cover any part of his face. He was being very open.

'Could I ask what was stolen?'

'I'd rather not tell. You don't need to know if you're not involved…sir.'

'I wish you luck on this matter. It must be an important item if you had to visit me personally.'

Raiha nodded.

'It's unfortunate our companies were unable to work together. An interesting partnership it would have made, I believe.'

'Perhaps.' Raiha's mind had already left the confines of the quaint coffee shop and was drifting off to Gon and Killua. She hoped they had more luck.


Hands locked, elbows on hard wood, sleeves rolled up, Killua and Tora sat face to face, a confident smile on both.

'You're going down blondie.'

'We'll see about that, friend.'

And so it began. The smiles on their faces grew wider as they realized their opponent was putting up a fight. They were enjoying this. Their hands were only shaking slightly on the table but neither was moving significantly. Tora was surprised at the amount of power the guy in front of him had. Appearance wise, he seemed the to be the fitter one, but he should've known better than judge by appearances. He had done that before, and he was proven wrong. Horribly wrong. He smiled at the thought. Raiha. He hadn't seen her ever since their family had that…thing. It was easy to misjudge Raiha as being one of those well-mannered, gentle ladies rich families liked to churn out. She dressed the part at least. Even her body guard costume was girly. It was hard to take her seriously when she was wearing that. Come on, can a skinny girl wearing half a kimono really put up a fight? He had pegged her as more of an ornamental bodyguard, for appearances sake, almost a mascot. An image model for the Kanakiris. But oh how he had been proven wrong. He should've realized earlier really. That defiant expression in her eyes when they first met should have been hint enough.

Killua could see that Tora's concentration wasn't as strong as earlier and he took the opportunity to strike. Slowly his hand pushed Tora's downward. Tora regained quickly and added more pressure bringing their hands to the starting level again. The two kept pushing. Soon a crowd had gathered. They weren't aware of their surroundings by that time though. Killua was surprised that he was holding out this long. Just how strong was this guy? Was he as strong as him? Maybe not in other aspects but in terms of arm strength…He had to acknowledge it. They were probably on equal footing.

How long had they been there? There was a time when the crowd had increased but it seemed like their fight had gone on so long they left. They had probably gotten bored due to the lack of development. Time seemed to drag on. There wasn't a clock he could look at. Was this going to be any longer?

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Killua's phone was ringing. The two locked eyes. Tora smirked at him.

'Aren't you going to get that?'

Killua looked at his pocket and hesitated. Why did a call have to come in now? Either he would win and take the call or lose and take the call. He preferred the former of course but at the rate they were going…

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Ring! Ring! Ring!

'Ugh dammit!' Killua gave one good push and Tora's arm was slowly descending but the blonde was recovering and pushing his arm back.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

'Screw this!' Killua let his energy go, and the moment his hand touched the table he grabbed the phone.

'Who the hell is this! I was in the middle of -!'

'Why are you yelling?!' Raiha's voice shouted back at him. She followed in a softer voice, 'Where are you? We're here at the hotel.'

'Shit, it's already 5:00?'

'Umm yes? Are you okay? Where are you?'

'I'll be there soon.'

He stood up and started moving towards the door.

'Hey, don't forget, here, tomorrow at 7:00.'

Killua didn't have to turn around to know who it was. He could almost feel him smirking behind his back. He didn't need to turn around to check. If there was one thing he didn't like, and he didn't do, it was losing. He was going to fight it out with this guy again, and he would be the one with the smirk on his face.