Author's Note: Bonjour les amis! After a loooooong interlude between chapters, Chapter 10, the beginning of the 3rd phase, has finally commenced. I apologize for the delay; school is demanding; personal life is demanding; and my writing just hasn't been demanding enough. But here is this chapter, and I rather like it. So, I hope you will as well.

And I apologize for any grammatical or randomly messed up errors. I look over it multiple times, but even I miss things here and there. I hope whatever is there isn't too jarring. But if it's a mistake that bugs you, feel free to let me know, or if it's a mistake I make rather commonly.

Disclaimer: I do not own HxH or any canon characters. I own Genesis and some future plot elements.

Hall of Fame

Part 1: The Hunter Exam

Chapter 10

Majority X Rules X Gen Fights?!

Genesis stood atop of the newly announced third phase site: Trick Tower, standing beside her brother as Chairman Netero's sidekick explained the rules to them. According to him, the applicants' only job was to make it to the bottom of Trick Tower alive within seventy-two hours, something that didn't seem very difficult to her. As the examiner's blimp flew away, the group began to investigate their third phase site, noticing a distinct lack of windows or doors . . . or really anything else that could lead into the tower.

Someone had the bright idea to try climbing down the side of the tower. Needless to say, they were attacked. Well, that was one more person not becoming at Hunter this year.

By now, the group had split to search the tower for an entrance. If they couldn't go down and there were no windows or doors then there had to be some kind of . . . trapped doors or hidden entrances up top. But so far, none of them were having any luck finding one.

Until Gen stumbled upon someone mysteriously vanishing.

Once he was gone, she studied the spot he had been carefully. She could tell which of the tiles he had fallen through. It wasn't very hard considering it kind of now looked a bit out of place (in her mind anyway). Curiously, she worked her fingers in between that tile and one of the neighboring ones, eventually managing to lift it enough for her to see that there were now metal bars that stopped anyone else from sliding down.

Great. That didn't do them any good.

"Leorio! Kurapika! Gen!"

She immediately dropped the stone, nearly crushing her fingers in the process, and stood to face where her brother's voice was coming from. It wasn't too long before she spotted him standing beside Killua and pointing to one of the tiles. He must have found a door.

When she got over to them, Leorio was bent down about to lift up the tile.

"Wait, Leorio! Don't do th-" But he already had . . . and the metal bars locked in place. "Oh you idiot! I was trying to tell you that would happen!"

"It'll be alright," Gon said, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder. "I've already found six other entrances. We can all get down!"

Gen found her brother's words a little more comforting and nodded. "Right. So point 'em out! Everyone just picks one I guess."

It wasn't that hard to figure out that she had picked the one closest to the one Gon had picked.

"It's very likely," Kurapika said, "that all of these trap doors lead to a different route in the tower. It's best that we say our goodbyes here; we might not all meet again at the bottom."

For the first time, Genesis found herself glaring at the older blond, her arms crossed over her chest. The last thing she wanted was to be separated from her friends, much less have the thought put into her mind that they might not see everyone again. If they were to go in different directions now, there was no way to guarantee that they'd all pass. It'd be left up to fate and their own abilities.

And Gen wasn't sure either of those factors were on her side.

"This is exciting! Isn't it, Gen?"

No.

Kurapika started their countdown, but Gen felt the pulsations from her heart spreading across her body and quickly lifted up her tile and slid down. Instantly, she was surrounded by utter darkness, and for a moment she felt a moment of peace. And then she heard some clattering and the lights came on.

. . .

"You cannot be serious," Gen said, dusting herself off as she stood.

To her left was Killua. To her right was Gon. Across from them were Kurapika and Leorio. Gon and Killua just laughed it off while Leorio and Kurapika just shot their heads. However, Gen just scowled and walked away from the group, secretly smiling that they didn't have to separate. Across the room she saw some kind of metal cylinder, and while the others were taking a moment to converse, she walked over to it and slid her fingers across the surface, lifting up one of the bracelet-type items that sat atop the cylinder.

As she held it around her wrist it snapped closed, and she shrieked, shaking her hand. "Hey now! Get off me!"

There was a sound of feet running towards her, and then she saw Gon beside her and Kurapika in front of her, seeming to be peering at the objects she had been fondling.

"The path of majority rules," Kurapika said, reading a sign that was placed just above the objects. "To get to the bottom, all five of you must vote to overcome the challenges you encounter, and on this route majority rules."

Genesis stopped shaking her arm and pulled it closer, looking intently at what was now wrapped around her left wrist. It did look a lot like a bracelet made of metal. On its front was what looked like a digital clock with the numbers seventy-one: nineteen: ten showing on it. Below the numbers were two buttons: one with an 'x' and one with an 'o'.

As each person in the group took a bracelet and snapped it onto their arms, a foreign voice filled the room.

"Welcome to the path of Majority Rules! There are many paths that lead to the bottom of this tower, and it just so happens that you five have landed in one of the . . . tougher ones. Good luck!"

Genesis felt a vein popping in her head. That was it? All that voice did was tell them stuff that they had already figured out! And then a 'good luck!' That was ridiculous!

As the group began to show slight signs of confusion that turned into understanding, a passage from the wall behind them opened. A voice boomed above their heads again, telling them to pick 'O' to open the door or 'X' to not. Taking a deep breath and deciding being sour about the whole situation wouldn't do them any good, Genesis smiled and put her hands on her hips.

"No point standing around waiting!" she shouted, hitting the 'O' button on her device. "Might as well get started down the path!"

"Wait a sec," Leorio said, gaping at the younger girl, even though everyone had already pressed their buttons and the door was opening. "Weren't you the one freaking out and mopping just a few minutes ago? Since when are you in charge?"

A thoughtful expression crossed her face, and she pursed her lips. "Well," she started and then shrugged her shoulders. "Since you all started being slow and wasting our time. We have seventy-one hours. Let's get moving!" She stuck her tongue out at him and stepped forward, making their other friends laugh as Leorio just fumed, following behind.

Alright, so the choices they had to make were pretty stupid and simplistic.

Go left or right?

Most of them picked right.

. . .

Except for Leorio and Gen . . . who both picked left.

Oh that's stupid! I only picked left because I argued with Gon about it! Stupid, stupid, stupid! I convinced him to pick right, and he convinced me to pick left! And that made ME side with LEORIO. Oh, how stupid!

"That's a REALLY long way down!" Gen said, looking carefully over the edge of the platform they had come to.

After a few more random choices between the group, they had come to an opening that lead into a room. From where they stood, there was a platform that held them, still connected to the hallway they had come from. Below them was a vast, dark space that made Gen a tad bit nervous. Across from them was an even bigger platform, one she wasn't sure how they were supposed to reach. And even farther out was another one . . . and that one seemed to hold more people on it.

"Wow you're right." She nearly jumped at the voice of her silver haired 'friend'. "I wonder how far it is to the bottom . . ."

Genesis felt a hand on her back and squealed, almost losing her balance and falling off the edge. Her foot slipped, but a pair of hands caught her under her arms before she fell.

"Oh geeze," Killua huffed, pulling her up and setting her on the edge of the platform. "I wasn't going to push you, it was just a joke! If I had known you were gonna freak I wouldn't have touched you!"

"I wish you wouldn't!" she shouted, her face red from the scare.

Killua rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, and Gen watched him from the corner of her eyes as she huffed some hair away from them, standing and turning to face their opposing platform. Oddly enough, and she had to squint her eyes to be sure, but there were people on the other side. People. Covered in sheets. That was just . . . no. Red flags went up in her head.

"Um, Gon," she said, walking over to her brother and tugging on his arm. "That doesn't look promising."

As her hand tightened around the fabric of his sleeve, one of the figures on the other side stepped forward, his sheet falling to the ground. Now they could see a bald, well built man (understatement of the century), who seemed a little too happy to see them.

"We've been enlisted to be part of the applicant testing process." The man's voice was loud, echoing throughout the room, making Genesis shudder. "Right here, the five of you will fight against the five of us."

Her knuckles must have been white by this point. They were going to have to fight. No one ever told her there would be fighting. What if someone got hurt? What if she got hurt? What if Gon-?

Genesis felt a hand on top of hers and cast her eyes to her brother, who gave her a warm, comforting smile.

"All of the matches are one on one. You may fight once and only once. Everyone must fight."

And all of the comfort from her brother disappeared. She did not like this idea one bit.

"Since this is the path of majority rules, you have to win at least three out of five."

That meant her and Leorio would probably be the only two who could fail. Let's face it; fighting was not their strong points.

"To be declared the winner, your opponent must admit defeat. There will be no draws."

That was slightly problematic. Gon never admitted defeat . . . ever.

"If you accept this challenge, press 'O'. If not press 'X'."

Four O's. One 'X'. All eyes turned to the orange clad girl, who just sent her eyes to her feet. She didn't want to do this. Not at all. She had a very bad feeling about it.

"Alright, now that that's out of the way, I'll be taking the first fight. Who thinks they can beat me?"

The group held a moment of silence as they looked amongst themselves. Their opponent was a big man, and that seemed to make everyone think twice about the battle they were about to indulge in. Genesis was positive that she didn't have a chance in the world at beating this man. Afterall, she wasn't much of a fighter. On that stance, her and Gon were probably on the same level, though he was naturally stronger than her. Unless she had something to sling, there wasn't much she could do aside from dodging. That she was good at.

"I'll do it," Gon said, stepping forward and giving an innocent smile to his friends.

Oh no you won't, Gen thought and smacked her brother on the back of the head.

"Ow, Gen! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"For even thinking about doing something so reckless!" she shouted, throwing her arms up in the air. "Isn't it obvious that you're no match for him?"

"I agree," Kurapika said, and Gon looked down at his feet. "I think I should be the one to fight him."

Genesis froze, a little squeal coming out of her mouth. She knew Kurapika was probably more capable than Gon when it came to fighting, but then again, she had never seen him fight before. Even though the thought of Kurapika fighting instead of Gon was much more pleasant, the idea made her heart race and a string of anxiety start tingling throughout her body.

"N-no," she said, shaking her head. "That's not a good idea either."

Everyone gave her an incredulous look, except for Killua, who just sighed and crossed his arms.

"It doesn't matter who says they're going to fight; she'll object to it. She's the one who voted 'no' in the first place," Killua said, giving her a lazy glare, one that wasn't as piercing as some she had received by him.

She opened her mouth to protest, to say that she wouldn't object to him fighting in their place, but Leorio's voice cut her off.

"Then that would only leave us with the option of sending her. And I'm sure none of us thinks that's a good id-"

"I'll do it," she cut in loudly, her face red and her shoulders tense. The thought of fighting against that man scared the living daylights out of her, in all honesty, but letting her brother or Kurapika fight him instead actually scared her even more.

Gon looked at her in disbelief. "But Gen-"

"I'll do it!" she repeated, stepping forward to the front of the group. "We're ready, I'm fighting!"

The man on the other side seemed a little surprised that the little girl was the one to step up to the plate, but nevertheless accepted it as the bridges between the smaller platforms and the big one stretched out. Nerves seemed to lock Genesis' knees up, but she managed to push her legs forward, ignoring the protests from her brother. Gon was usually very calm and supportive, but watching his sister go out into a fight seemed to unnerve him a little.

Standing face to face with the man seemed to make Genesis second guess herself. He was definitely a lot bigger than her, more-so than she originally thought, and he didn't look like he'd be going easy on her just because she was a child.

"Are you sure about this, little girl? I only fight one way, and that's until one of us dies or admits defeat."

Something told her that he didn't like the option of giving up, and that his first move would probably be to make it to where she couldn't give up. She never even thought that the Hunter Exam would be anything like this; something dangerous and deadly.

"Dammit, I was afraid he'd say that," Leorio said, the entire group watching with shocked faces.

"We can't let her do it!" Gon shouted. "C'mon. Let me switch places with her! Please, she's my sister!"

Gen's heart tightened inside her chest. Suddenly, she felt bad for ever thinking that Gon didn't care as much about her as she thought. The strain, the panic in her brother's voice made her want to turn around and run back. But even though she knew it would hurt him to watch this fight, it would be even worse for him to fight instead.

"Shut up!" she shouted, her voice cracking. "You're not the only one who can do dangerous and stupid stunts! Let me take this one for once!"

None of them seemed to know what to say after that.

"I accept," she said, pushing her shoulders back, trying to look a little bit stronger than she was.

"You're a brave child," he said, stepping forward. "I respect that. But I won't be cutting you any slack, even if you are a little girl."

Then, he lunged at her, and everything around her seemed to freeze. The only thing that registered to her was her name, a cry from her brother, and it shocked her into reality, giving her a split second to flatten herself to the ground and crawl underneath her opponent's legs. The room remained silent for a moment before she turned to see the man looking at her now. She had evaded one attack, thanks to her petite size, but she would have to dodge many more until she gave up. But she didn't want to give up. She didn't want to be dead weight anymore. She didn't want to be the reason they lost the Hunter Exam.

She scrambled around the floor, looking for any loose stones that she could put in her slingshot, but her hands shook and made it hard for her to keep a hold of anything. Hearing a laugh from behind her, she knew the man was going to attack her again. So, she quickly scrambled to her feet, but by that time he was already behind her.

"Gyak!" she shouted as she was raised off the ground, a hand gripped firmly around her neck.

She felt her airway quickly constrict and panic rose in her. Her hands tried to pry away the one holding her, and her legs thrashed, trying anything and everything to get him to release her. Gon's voice was only faint now, as her hearing began to dwindle, filled with the panicked thoughts that battled in her head. Spots quickly filled her vision as his hand tightened, and her eyes fought to stay open.

And then air was filling her lungs, but she was flying through the air. She landed hard with her back against the platform, skidding almost over the edge. Pain rippled through her body, and she leaned her head back, noticing the distinct lack of ground beneath it, and her hat that fell over the edge. She struggled to catch her breath, feeling for her elbows to prop herself up. Somehow, she caught a glimpse of her friend's faces, and the pained looks she received brought forth her former fire.

She wouldn't lose this match. For Leorio, who refused to give up, even when it seemed like he could never win. For Kurapika, whose passion and determination fueled him on. For her brother, Gon, who never seemed to see the danger in life, pushing through it no matter what. And even for Killua, whose reason for being here she couldn't understand, but whose friendship seemed to mean a lot to Gon.

So when the man came at her again, she pushed as hard as she could to propel herself off the ground, just far enough to get her above his head. The shock from her sudden move lasted only a second, but it gave her enough time to land on top of his shoulders, wrapping her arms around the bald man's eyes.

"Nice move little lady," he said with a laugh. "But one wrong step and we both fall over the edge."

She should have let go right then and there; that was what Gon shouted to her. But another idea was forming in her head. Quickly, she reached into her boot for her slingshot, pulling it back as she leaned herself back as well, releasing it to hit the man's neck with the sling. He fell forward a little and shouted in discomfort, and Genesis jumped from the man's shoulders and quickly ran to the other side of the platform.

He turned around to face her, a dangerous look on his face, and all hope of winning left her body.

"Gen, just give up!"

She glanced back to see her brother, being restrained by Leorio and Kurapika, who both gave her sad looks.

"It'll be alright, Gen! The four of us can win our matches; It won't hurt for you to lose yours."

But she didn't want to lose. She wanted to win. To show them that she did deserve to be here; that she was strong enough.

"You are strong, Gen! I told you that once before, remember?"

Vaguely, she did. On the elevator before they even started the exam. When Leorio pointed out she would probably fail.

"I meant it, Gen. You have a stronger mind and a stronger heart. I know you'd do anything for me, even if it hurts you in the process. That's why I'm asking you to stop. Now! For me."

She would do anything for Gon. And the pleading tone in his voice tore at her. Even if she gave up, Gon wouldn't have to fight this man. Even if she lost, this guy couldn't hurt any of the others.

So, she lifted both arms up in the air and stepped back towards the bridge.

"I surrender."

"Gen, are you sure you're alright?" Gon asked, leaning over his sister as she rested against the hall wall.

"Yes, Gon," she said, smiling. "I'm a Freecss. We're freakishly strong, remember?" Honestly, her back was stinging a little, but it wasn't too awfully bad. A little discomfort never killed anyone.

They'd taken a few minutes after her match to make sure she was alright, and even though Killua complained about the time, he seemed somewhat concerned himself. She assured them she was fine, and truthfully she was; she'd taken worse hits from this exam that weren't even really combat related.

"I'm gonna go next," Gon said, standing up straight. "You get some rest."

With that, he ran towards the bridge, grinning and waving at the group. Gen sighed and leaned her head back against the wall, looking over to watch her brother prepare for his match. On the opposite side of the platform, where her previous opponent stood, there was a tall, lanky man who seemed much less of a challenge than the man she faced.

Thank goodness, she thought.

"These guys are long-term convicts?!"

Genesis jumped at the sound of Leorio's voice, stitching her brows together in worry. Convicts? Like people in prison for serious crimes? That made her a little more uneasy.

"It seems like they want to keep us in this tower as long as possible. Perhaps they get their sentences reduced for stalling us," Kurapika said, and that gave Gen a little bit of hope.

If their job was to stall them, then perhaps they wouldn't actually try to kill them, not so fast anyway. That would give Gon time to do whatever it was he needed to do.

"So what kind of match are we going to have?" Gon asked, and Gen had to laugh at his carefree attitude.

"I've got an idea," his opponent said. "Obviously, strength and speed aren't my strong points, so I'm not challenging you to hand to hand combat."

That was a big relief.

That being said, the guy pulled out two candles from behind his back, one noticeably shorter than the other.

"We'll light both at the same time, and whichever goes out first loses. Sound good?"

"Sounds simple enough!" Gon replied with a smile. "I wanna do that game."

With that, the convict instructed the group to decide on the candle: 'O' for the longer candle, and 'X' for the shorter one.

The group began to converse, so Genesis stood from her spot on the ground and walked up to them, wanting to be of some help.

"He's giving us a disparate choice, which is two choices where one seems so considerably favorable to the other that it raises suspicion. You inevitably start to second guess yourself, and it becomes nearly impossible to decide," Kurapika said, and Genesis stuck her head in between him and Killua.

"So why not just go with the obvious choice? Pretend the candles are even. Pretend there is no secret trick. It might not change the outcome, but it keeps you from twisting your mind into an Oak tree. And it also takes less time, which is unfavorable for them," Gen said.

Kurapika nodded his head at her and gave her a smile. "That's a good way to look at it, Gen. But overall, I think we should let this be Gon's choice," he said. "Gon, go ahead and pick one. Whatever you pick, we'll back you up!"

Genesis facepalmed.

"You're kidding me, right?" she asked. "You're leaving this decision up to my brother? Animal boy?" Kurapika raised his brow at her, giving Gon the okay to pick his candle.

"I pick the long candle!" Gon shouted.

. . .

. . .

. . .

"We're doomed," Gen said, but pressed 'O' on her watch anyway.

Once the votes were unanimous, the guy tossed Gon the long candle, and the two brought them to the torches to light them. Shortly after lighting them, Gon's candle sparked a giant flame and began to melt rapidly.

"What the-?" Gen shouted. "It's a trick candle!"

"That's what we were saying!" Leorio shouted at her, and she stomped on his foot.

"Well so-o-orry that I missed the first half of your conversation because I nearly got the crap beat out of me a few minutes ago!" she said, huffing and crossing her arms. "Instead of arguing, we need to help Gon think of a way to not get burned by his candle!"

Genesis could see the candle wax melting and sliding onto her brother's fingers, and though he didn't appear too bothered by it, she knew it had to hurt a little. By the time his candle had barely even an inch left on it, the heat caused him to drop it, thankfully not actually putting the candle out.

But what happened next was only something Gon would think to do in that instant. He jumped over to his opponent and blew out his candle.

And Gen just stood there dumbstruck.

"He did not just do that," she said, tilting her head in confusion. "Why did we not think of that?"

And then she did a double take. "Wait . . . did he just win?"

The entire group smiled as Gon came running back towards them with a wide grin on his face. Even Genesis, who had been a negative-nancy for most of the Hunter Exam, jumped up and hugged her brother on his way back.

"Oh my goodness, I love you, Gon!" she shouted, squealing.

While he just laughed and hugged her back, the others put on questioning faces.

"What's with her?" Leorio asked. "It was just one match."

Kurapika shook his head at Leorio, smiling as he watched the siblings. "I think she's just in shock. Glad that her brother is okay."

The next guy to step out made everyone in the group cringe. It would have been a massive understatement to say he was ugly, what with the stitching and bandages wrapped all around his face, the swollen eye, the tattoos of hearts on his chest, and the freakishly gray color to his skin. Genesis was surprised she didn't barf.

Kurapika decided to take this match, and Genesis actually wasn't concerned for him. Whoever this guy was, it didn't seem like fighting was his strong point, considering all the injuries he seemed to have. Either that or this guy had serious issues with a cosmetic surgeon.

The thing that really bothered her was the way the guy bragged about his nineteen kills and his desire to make it an even twenty.

He'd better not even think about hurting Kurapika, Gen thought, crossing her arms with a pout on her face.

They decided to make it a match like Gen's: they fight until one of them either dies or gives up.

When the battle started with the ugly beast attacking Kurapika, Genesis puffed her cheeks out and stamped her foot, shouting at the ogre and telling Kurapika to kick his butt. Most of the group actually found her attitude rather funny, even Kurapika who chuckled as he jumped from the attack.

But all humor vanished from his face, and everyone else's, the moment the ogre's back was revealed. A tattoo of a twelve-legged spider was spread across his back and seemed to make Kurapika freeze for an instant.

"T-that means he's a member of the Phantom Troupe!" Leorio shouted.

"Phantom Troupe?" Genesis repeated, looking from Leorio to Kurapika. "Why does that sound so famil-Oh yeah! Those were the people who murdered Kurapika's clan!"

She looked over at Kurapika with sorrowful eyes. There was no way this was going to be easy for him. But it became obvious quickly that this news didn't cripple Kurapika; it only made him angry.

And that was all it took for Kurapika to attack him, smashing him into the platform. And when he did, Genesis caught a glimpse of him and gasped. His usually calm, blue eyes were now a burning, scarlet red, and she wasn't sure whether to be scared or captivated by them.

"Remember these three things," Kurapika said. "Number one, If you really were a part of the Phantom Troupe, your tattoo would include your member number, which it doesn't. Number two, they wouldn't bother to track the number of people they've already murdered. Three, don't ever speak of the Phantom Troupe again. Because if you do . . . I'll have to kill you."

A chill ran down her spine. This side of Kurapika scared her a little. And she didn't like being scared of him.

When Kurapika returned to them, everyone was a little on edge. Gen couldn't stop the thought that he might accidentally hurt them. No, this wasn't good at all.

It took Kurapika leaning down to her eye level, with a worried expression, to make her aware that she was shaking, and that her eyes were misting over.

"What's wrong?" Kurapika asked.

"N-nothing!" Gen responded, her voice catching in her throat as a few tears spilled over. The look on his face showed he wasn't buying it. "I'm s-sorry. I- I got s-scared."

"For me?" he asked blinking away his confusion. But upon further inspection of her expression, he realized what she meant. "Or . . . of me?"

She didn't want to nod, to tell him the truth. She didn't want him to know she was afraid, to give him a reason to stay away from her. She didn't like that idea.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just saw that spider and . . . and everything turned red." He stood straight and walked past them into the hall, scooting down the wall until he was sitting with his knees pulled up and his arms resting on them. "I get that way even when I see an ordinary spider. It seems my rage has not yet begun to fade away."

Genesis wished it would fade away. Spending your entire life, basing your entire being on taking revenge . . . it was no way to live.

But she was glad the match was over, and that they had won another point. At least, she thought so until the other team informed them differently.

"What do you mean the match isn't over?!" she shouted to the other side.

"I mean, it's a death match!" her previous opponent yelled towards her. "Your friend only managed to knock him out. He's not dead and he hasn't surrendered, so the match is still going on. So, either your friend comes out here and kills him, or we have to wait until he wakes up."

Well that sucked, big time.

"Hey Kurapika," Leorio said, turning around. "Get out there and finish that weirdo off so we can move on with the next match."

"I won't," Kurapika said, to everyone's surprise. "This match is over for me."

"Wait, wha-" Leorio protested.

"I allowed myself to attack an opponent who'd already lost the will to fight," Kurapika said. "I refuse to kill someone who's already been beaten."

This was the Kurapika she knew and admired. At that thought, her cheeks went red, but she soon realized the others found the situation differently than she did.

"You've gotta do something!" Leorio shouted at him.

Kurapika shrugged. "I'll leave it up to him. When he regains consciousness, he can decide his fate."

And that was where Genesis saw their problem. It could be hours before he regained consciousness, if he ever did before their time was up. And they didn't have that time to waste.

"We're supposed to be working together!" Leorio said angrily. "Majority rules, right?"

"It doesn't matter what you say. I won't do it," Kurapika retorted.

"Kurapika," Gen said, her voice small and still shaking slightly. "I know you don't want to . . . and I know it might go against what you stand for. I understand that, I really do. But . . . this is our exam we're talking about. What if he doesn't wake up anytime soon? What if we don't make it out of here in time? I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do, but Kurapika . . . we need you to do this."

The group grew into silence, a rare moment from Leorio's rant.

"Genesis," Kurapika started, and she thought that she might have gotten through to him for a moment. "I appreciate your effort, but if you really understood, you wouldn't ask me to do this."

Kurapika looked up, and the accusations she saw when his eyes met hers made her step back.

"But what I don't appreciate is any of you trying to force me into something I've clearly stated I don't wish to do," he said. "So unless you wish to speak to me about anything else, I suggest you leave me alone."

If it hadn't been for the fact that he had been looking directly into her eyes the entire time, she wouldn't have taken it so hard. If the disappointment in his eyes hadn't been so obviously directed at her, she would have defended herself.

But now, she didn't have the heart to do so. Her face paled and the mist from before sprinkled back into her eyes. She couldn't explain why his words made her chest tighten, or why she suddenly felt like she had done something wrong, something horrible, but she did. And she had to back up until she hit the opposing wall to keep herself from crumbling to her knees, and still she slid down the wall, her legs somehow tucked underneath her.

While Leorio's rant continued, this time involving Gon into it, she just sat there, stunned, her stare unwavering. When the tears in her eyes fell over, no one seemed to take notice. No one except the silver haired kid who remained silent during the argument: Killua.

He tried walking over to her and quietly getting her attention, not wanting to alert her state to the others, but he got no response. It was as if she wasn't even aware he was there. And, he thought, that she actually might not. The way she was staring, as if she was lost in her own mind proved it: she had logged out, had closed off the moment Kurapika looked away from her.

And for some reason, seeing her so utterly broken in that instant, knowing it was one of her friends that had done that to her, Killua felt a twinge of anger.

But he ignored it and turned his attention to the others, remaining by Gen's side though, just incase she were to snap out of it. He didn't want her to have to wake up alone, even more scared and confused than usual.

Weird.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for sticking around to read the 10th chapter! It means alot to me. So, if you wouldn't mind, drop by and leave a little review. What did you like? What didn't you like? Why did you like it? Why didn't you like it? Did you see any recurring errors that bothered you? Any opinions you have are welcome, except flames, they aren't welcome. But if you must, you must. Whatever am I going to do to stop you? Sarcasm possibly noted. Take it as you will.

FYI Everyone, though it may not seem like Gen is making much of an impact on the plot yet, she definitely will be. Especially when it comes to finding their father and Nen training.

Thank you, and I will see you all in my next update. Merci, les amis! ~Red-chan