Discaimer: As you all already know, I just own my OC, Hitomi. Hunter X Hunter, on the other hand, belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi.
Chapter 12: The Dog x The Training x Welcome to Killua's House!
"How's everybody doing? Thank you for choosing the Lamentation Tour," the woman said. "I'll be your guide for the duration of the trip. My name is Coco Loo, please call me Coco-chan! I'm glad to be at your service!"
"Looking forward to your service!" Hitomi heard Leorio shouting behind her.
"Looking forward to killing you..." she murmured, irritated at the annoying woman.
She was just looking at the window, sitting next to Gon. The only thing in her mind was her lost friend, Killua.
His eyes back then, the blood in his face, his claws in front of her chest, in the verge of killing her... the memories of that day didn't let her alone and bombed her mind over and over again. It was like a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.
Hitomi didn't care about anything else, she just wanted her friend back.
"Tell me, Coco-chan," the voice of a man made her snap of her thoughts. "How long is it gonna take us to get to Kukuroo Mountain?"
"We'll be there in about two hours," she replied, still smiling.
"Did you heard that?" he asked his companion. "What should we do, make them step on it?"
"The mountain is not going anywhere, so let's just sit back and relax," he answered, "You can keep going, Coco-chan!"
Hitomi and Gon looked at each other, before sitting backwards to talk to Leorio and Kurapika.
"They don't look like tourists," she commented.
"My guess is that they're bounty hunters who've to try to bring members of the Zoldyck Family for the reward money," Kurapika said.
Gon just stared at them and didn't say anything.
"Please, refrain from standing or sitting backwards while the bus is in motion," the guide said, looking at the kids.
"You're annoying..." Hitomi sighed, "Could you please shut up?"
"I'm sorry that if you don't do as I say, you'll get kicked out," she said, her eyebrow twitching in annoyment.
"I dare you too," she glared at her.
Coco was about to reply, but the child's cold glare refrained her to. She smiled again and looked at the other people in the bus.
"So I thought," Hitomi smirked.
Leorio and Gon looked at the situation in surprise. Kurapika just sighed and looked at the girl.
"Hey, Kurapika," Leorio murmured. "Why is she that creepy all of sudden?"
"It happens when she is really pissed off," Kurapika sighed. "That's why even I fear to make her that furious."
After a long time, Hitomi noticed her friend looking in awe at the window. He was looking at a huge mountain that could be seen from where they were.
"Alright, everyone," Coco said. "If you'll look out the windows to your left, this is Kukuroo Mountain, home to the infamous Zoldyck Family."
The girl smiled to herself. They were so close.
"It's actually an extinct volcano surrounded by a beautiful, old growth forest. Legends has it that the Zoldyck family mansion is located on the summit but no one has ever seen it," she said. "The Zoldyck Family consist of the great grandfather, one set of grandparents, the parents and five children. And they are all assassins!"
A bit after, the bus stopped and they all stood outside to look at the door. That was the principal gate of the Zoldyck, or The Door to Hades, as Coco called it.
"Excuse me.. Uh, Miss?" Gon called over her. "Do you know how we can get inside it?"
"Call me Coco-chan," she asked, before explaining, "Everything beyond that gate is Zoldyck Family property, so this is as far as we go."
Hitomi facepalmed in irritation.
"That rich bastard..." she murmured.
"I had a feeling it wasn't going to be that easy," Kurapika sighed.
"So the land from way out there, all the way here is their yard?!" Leorio shouted in disbelief.
Gon turned to the guide once again.
"Excuse me Miss?... Uh, Miss?" she didn't respond. "Coco-chan?"
"Yes, what is it?" she asked.
"How do I get through the gate?"
A vein popped out on her head, but remained smiling.
"Weren't you listening to what I just said, young man?" she said. "You'll never make it out alive once you get in. This is the home of assassins, remember."
"I'm not buying it!"
The Bounty Hunters of the other time appeared. Long story short, the men tried to destroy the door with bombs, but nothing happened. Despite being told by the gatekeeper that it would be pointless, they attacked him and stole his keys. They stood in front of the gate.
Gon was the first to run to the gatekeeper, who was in the floor. The others followed him after that.
"Listen you two, I wouldn't do that if I were you!" he warned them. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"
As soon as door closed behind the Hunters, the man sighed before standing up.
"Oh, my," he murmured, going to his cabin. "Now they're gonna spoil Mike's appetite."
"Mike?" Gon asked, confused.
"Is that a cat or something?" Leorio asked.
That's when they heard the cries of the Hunters, before the door opened itself. A huge paw appeared, holding two skeletons, without a bit of meat.
"I think that Mike isn't some kitty," Hitomi said.
"That's the last of our problems!" Leorio shouted.
She shrugged. All of the others of the tour panicked, and went to the bus. As soon as Gon told them they all were staying there, they were gone.
Once inside of the gatekeeper office, the man listened to the four of them and sighed.
"Friends, huh? It's been a very long time since I last heard that word," he smiled. "My name's Zebro, and I've been working here for twenty years, but you guys are the first to come here as friends. And it warms my heart... it really does."
They all smiled at him.
"As an employee of the family, I probably shouldn't be saying this, but this is a very desolate place. No one ever comes to visit them," he said, before pointing at the skeletons behind his back. "Except for guys like that, of course, which we get plenty of."
"Nice people, aren't they?" Hitomi muttered, sarcastically.
"It's a cursed profession, don't you think?" Zebro chuckled. "Well, it was very nice of you to come all his way for a visit. Thank you very much."
He bowed at them and they looked at him, in uneasiness.
"I'm sorry, but there's still no way I can allow you to pass through those gates," he said. "You saw that big paw earlier, right? That belongs to Mike, the Zoldyck Family guard dog. It's not a friendly dog and it only takes orders from family members. It's still acting on orders given by its master over ten years ago, 'Kill the intruders'. So I can't let you in, as long as Mike's on the job, especially if you're Master Killua's friends, I can't let you get killed. "
"But why doesn't Mike attack you?" Kurapika asked. "You have keys to the gate, which means you go inside. Then why doesn't Mike attack you?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Leorio said. "He works here as a gatekeeper."
"But he just say that Mike isn't friendly dog, and that he doesn't take orders from anyone other than family members," Kurapika explained, before looking at Zebro."You also said that the orders for him is to kill the intruders. I may be wrong, but under that order even the employees wouldn't be safe on the other side."
"You make a good point, but you've only guessed half of it," he replied.
Hitomi noticed something and stared at the keys, making her mind run quickly. Her eyes opened slightly when she got it.
"You have too many keys for one door, like provoking the ones who break him in here... like a trap." she reasoned. "That isn't the real gate, it just exist for those fools like the others to be killed by Mike. So the command is just to kill those who doesn't enter from the real gate."
"It's pretty clever, don't you think?" he smirked.
"I get it," Kurapika said. "You're not really a gatekeeper."
"You're right, I'm not actually a gatekeeper. I'm just the guy who cleans up after Mike."
"So the door..." Hitomi's eyes flew open in realization. "It's not even locked!"
"You two are really intelligent."
Then they walked out the room and stood in front of the gate. Leorio tried to open it, but he just failed to do so.
"These doors won't budge no matter what I do!" he yelled.
"That's because you're not pushing hard enough," Zebro said.
"You are crazy? I'm giving it everything I've got!"
"This gate is also known as 'The Testing Gate'. If you can't even open it, then you have no business entering the Zoldyck property," he then took of his jacket. "Now, please watch."
Zebro took a long breath, before pushing the gate. It opened but when he released it slammed shut.
"Every year it gets a little harder for me to do that, I'm desperate to keep up because once I'm unable, I'm fired," he said, before looking at Hitomi. "You got it exactly, young woman. 'Do not attack anyone who enters the property through The Testing Gate', that's the order Mike's been given."
She smirked, before looking at Leorio, who was still trying to open the door.
"By the way, the doors of that first gate weight about two tons each," he said, and then they realized that there were more that just one door, "There are seven gates in all and with each additional gate, the weight is doubled. What gate number you open depends on how strong you can push."
"So every time that a family member return to home they have to push the door..." Hitomi said, all of sudden, her curiosity increasing. "So, how many doors did Killua open last time?"
"When Master Killua came home, he was able to open up the third gate," Zebro told her.
"The third gate... That's twelve tons!" Gon exclaimed in amazement.
"Actually, it's sixteen, Gon," Kurapika corrected him.
Hitomi stared at the gate for a bit and sighed. Maybe, just maybe, Killua was stronger than she had given him the credit for.
"Do you get it now? Just trying to get in takes this much effort," Zebro said. "They live in a completely different world."
"I guess there's nothing we can do," Kurapika murmured.
"Of course there is! We can just call Killua and ask him to open it from inside," Gon said, happily. "Zebro-san, could you call Killua for us and tell him that Gon, Hitomi, Kurapika and Leorio are here to see him?"
Zebro refused at first, but after a while he budged and called the buttler's house. He got scolded after that.
"Zebro-san, can you call again?" Gon asked. "I'll talk to him this time."
The man called again and gave the phone to Gon. Hitomi put her ear closer to the phone, to overhear the conversation.
"Hello, you've reached the Zoldyck Butler Quarters," a man picked up.
"Hello? My name is Gon and I'm Killua's friend," he said. "Can I speak to him please-?"
"Killua-sama doesn't have any friends," he said coldly, before hanging up.
Hitomi sighed and calmly grabbed the phone. She dialed the same number again and pressed the phone against her ear.
"Hello, you've reached-"
"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT KILLUA DOESN'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS?!" she yelled, pissed off. The others jumped back, surprised at her sudden outburst. "If you don't put Killua on the phone right now, I'm going to find the way to blow up the whole mountain right now!"
"May I know your name, Miss?" he asked.
"Hitomi," she answered, icily.
"Let's assume for a moment that Killua-sama is, in fact, friends with someone named Hitomi. But there's no way for me to know that you really are her."
Hitomi's eyebrow twitched in annoyment, Gon put his ear closer to the phone to hear as well.
"Maybe, if you put Killua on the phone, he could tell," she said.
"You mean by the sound of your voice?"
And then they heard Hitomi's last sentence, they looked at each other in surprise.
"It was just a recording, but there are so many other ways to imitate someone's voice. Also, there are ways to make yourself look like someone else. Who knows, someone after Killua-sama could be using Hitomi to get to him. Assassination is the family business, naturally this creates a lot of enemies. But it's my job to make sure those enemies don't get anywhere near them."
"But if you continue like this, you'll never get to an end. What happens if the boy who is in there isn't Killua and tries to kill you all?" she asked. "What if I am, indeed Killua but I can't reveal myself to you because of a threat? And what if-?"
"This conversation isn't having any sense," he replied.
"So I think," she remarked. "And every time you open your mouth, its sense become lesser. Saying that I have to be tested to see my friend-"
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave."
And after that, he hung up. Both kids looked at each other and nodded, before storming out the room. Gon started to swing his fishing rod around.
"Gon, lend me the rod once you climbed the gate," Hitomi said.
The boy nodded, attaching the rope to the door. Kurapika and Leorio tried to convince them not to go, but it was fruitless. After a while, Zebro agreed to open the door for them.
And that's how they met Mike.
Hitomi froze at the sight of the enormous, white hunt-dog. His cold yellow eyes focused in her violet ones, like he was analyzing her. She released then the air she didn't know she was holding when he turned to the others.
"S-So, this is Killua's pet?" Hitomi said, sarcastically but still stunned. "How cute."
"He's like a machine," Kurapika added.
"Exactly," Zebro said. "Well, we should probably get moving. The servant's quarters aren't too far from here."
They started walking and after a couple of minutes, they arrived to the place.
"Go ahead and open the doors. You just gotta push," Zebro told them.
Gon tried to push it, but he couldn't do it. Well, they weighed 200 kg each after all. Pissed off, Hitomi stood in front of the door and pushed it. After a while, it opened but when she released it, the door closed itself, making her stumble backwards and fall in her butt on the ground.
"That hurts!" she exclaimed, putting her hand in her sore nose.
"They slam shut, just like the Testing Gate," Zebro explained.
"Yeah, I realized that. Thank you very much," Hitomi replied, annoyed.
Once they came in, they put on slippers. They tried to took a step, but they all fell face first in the floor. And then Zebro told them that their weight was 20 kg each one.
"So the annoying woman was right..." she thought, annoyed. "This is the Hades..."
Zebro gave Leorio a cup of tea and he accepted. However, when he took it, he almost lost his balance.
"What's wrong?" Gon asked Leorio.
"You'll see. Go ahead and pick it up," he told them.
They tried, but it was like the cup was stuck in the table. Hitomi's eyebrow twitched, losing her patience.
"It's like all-day training!" the girl complained.
"Well, that's true," Zebro replied. "In order to live here, we have to train ourselves constantly."
"The inside of the Testing Gate sure isn't suited for average people," Kurapika commented.
"Hey, we're Hunters!" Leorio exclaimed. "We can't be scared off so easily, right?"
And after all the guy tried to drink his tea, but fell backwards because its weight. Hitomi shook her head and decided to not to try it. She placed the cup back in the table.
"You are Hunters?" Siquant, another worker, asked.
"Yeah, we are all Hunters!" Gon replied, happily.
"Oh, big deal. Even if you got a Hunter license that doesn't mean much, there are lots of times when it's completely useless. I was watching you just now. I bet you didn't even open the Testing Gate, did you?" he said and they all remained silent. "That's what I thought. If you can't even open the gate, you have no business being here."
Leorio was really pissed off right now.
"If I open the Testing Gate, will you take that back?!" he yelled.
"I'm gonna do it too! I'll keep on trying until I open the Testing Gate," Gon said. "I just feel like, if I can't even open that gate maybe I don't deserve to talk to someone in the Zoldyck family."
"Well, I'm in as well," Hitomi smirked. "I won't bear the thought of Killua being that far away from me in strength. At least, I have to open one door."
"I know," Kurapika said. "I'm just worried we won't have enough time."
"That's right!" Leorio poked Gon's forehead. "I seem to remember young imbecile didn't wanna use his Hunter License so entered the country on a tourist visa."
"So, that means that we have a maximum of a month," Hitomi sighed. "That's impossible."
"It's not," Zebro told them.
They all looked at him, cluelessly.
"You four are too young, so we should have enough time," he said. "Would you like to train here with me at the house?"
"Can we?" Gon asked.
"If you'd like to," he nodded.
"Let's do it!" Gon exclaimed.
"Thank you very much," Kurapika replied, politely.
"I'm ready for it!" Leorio exclaimed.
"Well, let's hell begin!" Hitomi smirked.
The chapter ends here!
Thanks to all the people who reviewed last chapter! I hope you liked this chapter as well :)
Also, to the other readers, thanks for pay this chapter a visit as well. Let's hope you enjoyed this chapter too!
See you all later!
