I sat by my den, meditating and focusing on my Nen as I waited for the rest of the time of the phase to be over. Making it slowly rise and fall with my breathing, rising a bit more each time I inhaled and dropping all the way back down to hidden when I exhaled. "Kiame." I opened my eyes, lowering my Nen to it's normal level before turning to look at Hisoka.

"Yes?" He titled his head, regarding me quietly before speaking, a smirk on his face. "Which one of your brothers was Kitsune?" I frowned, looking away for a moment. "He was the third youngest, and the one I had the closest bond to. I had five other brothers, the youngest was named Jinsoo, after my grandfather. Then there was Iranami. Then Kitsune. Then Tokoryu. Then me. And then, my oldest brother, Kokuren."

Hisoka closed his eyes for a moment, "I caught a bit of what you were saying to Gon. Tell me about him." I sighed, messing with my hands, looking at my nails. "Kitsune... was not like the others in the family. He looked different from the rest of us. He had dark hair, when both of my parents had brown hair.

He was always so up-beat and never resented my mother for not wanting to take care of him. He always wanted to learn more and be more. He was strong, even without training, but he was naive. He trusted people so readily that he was never allowed to know what lurk up on the mountain, in fear he would say something that he wasn't supposed to.

"He was an outsider in our family. But I cared for him the most. He was seven years younger than me and was always smiling. When ever I would go up tot he mountain, he would wait for me to return. When ever I cam back from a battle, he would be trying to clean my wounds. He was the kindest person I had ever met.

He was the kind of person who could make friends with someone in minutes and he had a natural instinct that kept him in tune with the world around him. I cared for him more than my other siblings because he had such a light to him. So pure and bright that it could blot out all the dark in the world. He spoke in a way similar to how Gon speaks.

"He was able to play and have energy no matter what, and was able to calm and be mature when needed, thinking of a solution to every problem." I smiled slightly, thinking of my little brother smiling when I returned home, trying to help me lace up my robes when I needed to do a blessing, and just being a kind person in general.

"What happened to him?" Hisoka asked, his eyebrow quirking up. "He was trying to pull my mother out of the collapsing house when it was set ablaze. He managed to make it out before collapsing. Most of his body had burned, and I could hardly recognize him. He cried in pain, begging me to stop his hurt and to help him.

"No matter what I did, it just made him hurt worse, so I preformed an act of sheer pity. I knew I couldn't save him, his heart was already failing and his lungs had been too burned from the smoke. I killed my little brother, to save him from the pain he felt. Kitsune, the kindest person I had ever known, died trying to save a woman who wouldn't even look at him after he was born."

I shook my head, sighing lightly. "I always resented my mother for making me grow up so quickly and abandoning her other children for not being girls. I never really played with the other kids, and when I did, they got scolded for 'distracting' me. I was put on a pedestal due to the nature and circumstance of my birth. I was seen as a messiah when I just wanted to have fun and play silly games with the other kids my age.

"My mom saw it as necessary to me to groom into a good priestess if I had as little interaction with other houses as possible. My little brothers were the only few I could play games with and talk to without being constantly reminded of that." I smiled slightly, thinking of the many games we would play in the garden.

"Kitsune was at just the right age difference with me that he still had a wonder in the world that he would share with me, but he knew when to not press his luck if I had other things to attend to. Gon reminds me very much of Kitsune, so I feel the need to protect him." Hisoka smiled widely and rest his chin in his hands.

"So you are willing to go against your own mate, to protect a boy who reminds you of your dead brother?" I nodded, turning to look at Hisoka. "Yes." Hisoka smiled and moved to sit next to me, his eyes glinting slightly. "How much you care for someone you hardly know, my cute toy~" I looked away, thinking for a long moment.

"I trusted you after having known you for a few hours, didn't I?" He smirked, his eyes narrowing. "You did. And now we are bound~" I nodded and looked at his hands, tracing the veins in them. "And you know that if I am to die, you would die as well, right?" He nodded. "I also know I am unable to hurt you, yes?" I nodded, slowly picking up one of his hands and looking into his eyes.

"Hisoka, the thing about being bound, is that we cannot intentionally harm each other. If you tried, you would find your own body stopping you. Same thing for me if I tried to hurt you. But... we can unintentionally hurt each other. Let's say you throw a card reinforced with Nen at someone. If I were to step in the way of that card, you will have hurt me, though you did not intend it to be that way."

He froze for a moment, thinking about what I had told him. "That is why you are not afraid of me." I nodded. "I can't be afraid of you potentially hurting me or killing me, but I can be afraid of what you may do when you are... riled up." He chuckled. "How interesting you are~ I would have never expected to meet someone quite like you."

Hisoka was smirking again and I couldn't help[ but lean on his shoulder. "Well, you most certainly are not allowed to leave me after this." He growled softly, pulling me close. "You may have strong Nen, but you are such a sweet creature~ You wouldn't hurt someone unless you figured I was in danger. So I have to be extra careful with you, my little toy. You're so trusting."

I sighed, letting a small smile pull at my lips as the sun began to set. The phase would be over tomorrow. "We are so different, yet, I guess that is why we are compatible." He smiled, raising an eyebrow. "Perhaps. You're my little light in the dark. Like a butterfly in a spider's web." He chuckled, his tone becoming a bit dark as we both were content looking at the sun-set.

~~~Hisoka P.O.V.~~~

During sometime after our conversation, she fell asleep against my shoulder and I gazed down at her face. She was so peaceful, even in sleep. Yet her Nen told a different story that highly intrigued me. On the surface, her Nen was sweet and soft, like her usual protective personality that avoided conflict.

But deeper, far deeper into her Nen, there lay darkness. A darkness more hateful and deadly than most of what I have seen. A darkness and general disregard for life that was not too far off from what my Nen felt like. I saw it and had a taste of it within the Trick Tower. She dealt with that excuse of a past examiner like she was swatting a fly.

Her darkness showed then. Her nails had sharpened like knives, her eyes were cold like ice, and her voice was like rolling thunder. What she said then stuck out to me as well. "I am no monster, but I harbor the soul of one." What monster would she harbor? The only one I could think of would be the beast she fought with after her family died.

She described it as having wings of shadow, claws of iron, eyes of ice, voice of thunder and breath of flame. There were legends about creatures of such a make, but all ended with anyone who went against it dying. What did she manage to do to that beast that would have killed it? If those who were strong enough to scare her and enslave those around her could not take it down, how did a girl of fifteen manage that?

She said that the fight and what followed were like a nightmare, and she didn't go into much detail about it. Perhaps she didn't remember what happened, or perhaps she didn't want to remember it. I looked down at her again and noticed something that looked like scars on her back. Carefully, so I would not wake her, I moved her shirt up, seeing two long scars.

They were down the inner parts of her shoulder blades and were both about one foot long, starting a few inches below her shoulder and going down her back. I traced the scars and noted the rough feeling they had, as if they were of a different make than the rest of her skin. What did she do to defeat such a creature, and did it have anything to do with the darkness within her Nen? So many questions, and plenty of time to find an answer to them.