Ah! This chapter came earlier than expected! :D

My thanks toforeverellen, Razorblade Mistress, AnimeLover3232, winddemon199 and Guest for reviewing to the last chapter! Your reviews were a great boost to my writing. ;)

Also, a thank you to all who fav/alerted this fic. :D

Instead of going to a toy store as they said they would, Gon and Killua went to meet Leorio in a café close to a small plaza. The brunette man had received a video showing Machi and Nobunaga drinking a beer at that plaza and, sure enough, there they were.

"They're moving. We have to do something." Killua spoke after swallowing the last mouthful of his milkshake. "But we can't beat them."

"We'll find a way…" Leorio said. "We have to."

"Yeah." Gon agreed, serious. "We can't go home empty-handed."

"Okay." The former assassin said. "Then, listen carefully. Gon and I will tail them. We absolutely cannot let them spot us. Let's use Zetsu. Gon, I need you to promise me two things: if they see us, we scape immediately, and, if I judge that further pursuit is impossible for any other reason, we give up."

"Okay."

"The signal to give up is one phone call. Make sure your phone is on vibrate."

Gon and Killua followed the two spiders through York Shin's streets without a problem. Even when their targets stopped walking in the middle of an abandoned area of the city, Killua was certain they had done a perfect job. They might have noticed they were being followed, but they didn't know where their pursuers were.

The boys had split up and were now observing Machi and Nobunaga from the second store of opposite buildings.

Still as statues, they watched as Nobunaga answered his phone.

Killua narrowed his eyes. Something's off.

Out of the blue, Nobunaga raised his eyes. Directly to Gon's location.

Run!

The boys tried to flee, but they found their exit blocked by two other Spiders: Phinks and Pakunoda. Machi and Nobunaga were quick to jump up the window and help seize them.

There's no way around this. Killua thought, observing Phinks and Nobunaga. I'll have to surrender.

"Boy, your friend surrendered." Pakunoda told Gon. "I suggest you do the same."

From a third building, Bleach watched as Nobunaga and Phinks walked out from the first building with Killua, while Pakunoda and Machi pushed Gon out of the second.

The girl was so angry that she almost let her Aura spike up. Fucking idiots. When all of this is over, I'm going to chew them off so bad, theirs ears will fucking bleed! But, first, I have to arrange their escape.

Bleach had no hopes of defeating any of the four Spiders, but maybe, just maybe, with a little (a shitload lot) of luck, she could use Foog's Dance of Fire to distract them enough time for Gon and Killua to make a run for it. Her chances of succeeding were very slim – after all, she was against four Spiders – but she would not leave those two kids alone now. She was not that selfish.

If worse came to worst, Bleach doubted they'd kill her. She had known them all when she lived in Meteor City. Also, she was quite on good terms with Kuroro, Shalnark, Nobunaga and Ubogin back then. And Pakunoda too, she guessed. She and the older woman never talked much, but she had always helped Bleach out when she needed a more feminine input in the matters of life.

Taking a deep breath, Bleach inactivated her Zetsu to summon Foog's chakrams.

Nobunaga noticed that the white haired brat was walking slower on purpose and gave him a push with his sheathed sword.

"Pick up the pa-"

The samurai's eyes widened, along with everyone else's. Another Nen user had just appeared close to them, but, a moment after they released their Aura, they concealed it with Zetsu once again. Automatically, the Spiders turned around to locate the person with their sight but, before they could lock their gazes on him/her, two balls of fire flew towards them, side by side. They noticed the balls were actually two chakrams covered in flames.

The chakrams went straight towards the Spiders, making they all move to dodge them.

Killua and Gon didn't waste a second; they ran for it.

Machi didn't waste a millisecond; before the boys took their second step, she threw two of her Nen needles at them and made her threads encircle the boys' bodies before pulling them to herself. But, before the boys got close to the Spider, one of the chakrams passed in front of her, cutting her threads and setting the boys free again.

Machi narrowed her eyes and jumped after Gon with one of the chakrams on her tail. "Nobunaga, go after the white-haired one. I'll get the brunette."

The samurai quickly went after Killua, while the other chakram went after him.

However, before any of the chakrams reached their targets, they disappeared, allowing the Spiders to catch the boys easily.

On the other side, Phinks and Pakunoda focused on finding the newcomer. This Nen user was somewhat skilled, Pakunoda concluded; being able to use those chakrams while keeping themselves hidden with Zetsu was no small feat – she wouldn't think so if she knew that the chakrams had a will of their own and weren't being controlled. Also, he/she was very light on the feet and moved without making a sound.

Still, Pakunoda was the sniper. Her eyes were able to find a needle in a haystack in less than a second, so it wasn't that hard for the blonde to catch a blur of white moving in the shadows. Pakunoda didn't think twice before raising her gun and shooting her target.

"FUCK!"

Bulls eye.

With a disturbingly sadistic smirk on his lips, Phinks ran to the direction the scream had come from.

"FUCK!"

Bleach felt a sharp pain on her left shoulder and felt to her knees. It was just of a second though; as soon as her left knee scrapped the ground, she scurried back to her feet.

Well, she tried to.

Phinks' foot descending roughly on her head kept her on the ground. The girl didn't have time to reinforce the Ten around her head so the pain she felt was huge; big enough to make her pass out for a split of a second and let her chakrams disappear. When she came to, she couldn't breath.

"YU FKIN SUN OVA BTCH! I CAN BRATH!"

Phinks' smirk widened as he heard the girl yell through a mouthful of rocks and he pressed his foot harder on her head.

"Stop, Phinks." Pakunoda spoke. "The chakrams have disappeared already."

"So what?"

"So what we can't kill her. We need to ask her about the Chain User first. Let's take her back to the hideout with us, along with the boys."

Phinks scowled, but raised his foot nonetheless. The girl pushed her body up with her arms and took a full mouth of air in her lungs.

"Fuck, Phinks!" Bleach complained, glaring daggers at the blonde man. "You're still a brute."

Phinks and Pakunoda looked down at the girl's disfigured face with a confused expression.

"How do you know my name?"

An indigo light made both spiders lower their gazes at the pendant that was around the girl's neck. Then, they noticed that her wounds started to heal at an unnaturally rapid speed.

Even though the girl's face was no longer marred by the assault that Phinks' foot provoked on it, they still didn't recognize her.

"…"

"… Who are you?"

Bleach rolled her eyes and tore one of the sleeves from her turtleneck. She put said sleeve around her eyes, like a blindfold.

"Bleach?" Pakunoda asked.

"Blindy?!"

Bleach glared at Phinks. "I hate you."

"Nobunaga, Machi, you grabbed the boys, huh?" Phinks asked/stated as he walked out of a run-down building with Pakunoda besides him and Bleach behind.

"It was easy." The pink-haired girl, who had a painful grip on Gon's shoulder, spoke. "And who was the third one?"

With a smirk on his lips, Phinks took a step to the side and pushed Bleach forwards. The girl almost tripped and fell to the ground.

"Brute." Bleach spat, glaring at Phinks from over her shoulder. Then, she turned her head to look at Machi and Nobunaga. "Hey, there."

Machi furrowed her eyebrows; something about this girl was familiar but she couldn't quite place it. Nobunaga, on the other hand, recognized the girl almost immediately.

"No way! I can't believe you're still alive, kid!" The samurai spoke, giving the girl a smile.

Bleach responded with a smirk. "Only the good die young."

Gon and Killua exchanged confused glances. Just how close Bleach was to the Spiders?

They all entered a car. Nobunaga driving, Machi on the passenger's seat and the rest squeezed in the back seat, where, even with Gon sitting on Bleach's lap, the space was too tight.

"Why the fuck do I have to squeeze myself here with these brats?!" Phinks, who was pressed against the window, demanded of Machi. "You're much smaller than me! You should be here on the backseat and me on the front!"

"It's only natural for a gentleman to allow the lady the more comfortable seat." Machi spoke, not even turning around.

"And who's the lady here?!" Bleach and Gon, who were beside Phinks, cringed at the man's loud voice.

"Anyway, kid." Pakunoda heaved a sigh, laying her arm around Killua's shoulders. "Any guesses about the Chain User?"

Not thinking much of Pakunoda's question, Bleach looked out of the window with glazed eyes. She had to find a way to run from them by nightfall, at latest. Tonight was the night she was going to break in the Ten Dons' house and steal Runvle's mirror.

They drove to yet another run-down building.

Arm wrapped around Bleach's shoulders, Nobunaga led her into it, talking excitedly to her. Bleach had an amused smirk on her lips as she listened to the samurai; Nobu had always been one of her favourites in Meteor City. Machi walked besides them quietly, while Gon and Killua walked right behind Bleach, as close as they could get without stepping on her feet. Phinks and Pakunoda walked behind them, watching their every move.

"Here's our base." Nobu announced as he walked Bleach in front of everyone. "Guys! Look who we found!"

As she received a bunch of blank stares from the people around the room, Bleach couldn't help but face-palm.

"Nobu, it has been almost ten years. I doubt anyone-"

"No way!" Shalnark exclaimed, pulling Bleach's hand from her face. "Bleach!"

The girl smiled at the blonde. She liked Shal as well; he was the closest to her age in Meteor City so they would play around together from time to time.

"Hey, Shal."

Shalnark gave the girl a warm hug as Franklin and Feitan approached them.

"It is Bleach. Didn't recognize you without the blindfold." Franklin said, laying one of his large hands on the top of the girl's head. "Never imagine I'd see you again."

"Blindy lives." Feitan spoke in his cold voice that sent shivers running down Bleach's spine. "You grown up, brat."

Bleach turned her head to Feitan's direction. Then, she had to lower her gaze to take in his appearance.

"Yeah, and you…" Sadly for him, he hadn't grown. At all. "…changed your outfit."

Feitan's eyes narrowed, making Bleach fear for her life. Really, he and Phinks had always given her the creeps.

"Hahaha! You're still funny, Bleach!" Shalnark spoke; encircling Bleach's shoulders with one of his arms, much like Nobunaga had done a few minutes before. "Danchou will be happy to know that!"

"Danchou?" Bleach echoed with a sly smirk on her lips. "You guys are calling Kuroro Danchou now? Hahaha, that's rich! Where is he anyway? And Ubo! I'm sure Ubo didn't take to that easily! Where is he?"

That question was a wrong one. As soon as the question left Bleach's lips, the room grew colder and so did everyone's eyes, except Hisoka's. Wait a fucking minute! What's HISOKA doing here? And what's up with everyone?

"Shal…" Bleach called, no longer smirking. "Ubo did leave Meteor City with you, didn't he?"

"He did."

"Where is he?"

Nobunaga was the one who answered her. "Ubo is dead."

Bleach's eyes widened.

Years ago, in the wastes of Meteor City, three boys were kicking a little girl on the ground.

"That'll teach you not to steal in our area anymore!"

"Yeah! You bitch! You should start begging us not to kill you here and now!"

"Yeah! Beg!"

"WHAT'S GOING ON?"

The boys halted their movements at hearing the strong voice and raised their heads, finding an even stronger man staring down at them with a predatory smile on his lips. The children wasted no time:

"Ahhhhh! Run!"

"Che. Weaklings." The huge man spat, lowering his gaze to the little girl sprawled on the ground. "Can't believe you were getting beat by those little shits, kid."

The girl sat up slowly, flinching at the pain. The man noticed she was wearing a blindfold.

"Shut up…" She mumbled.

"What?"

She whipped her head in his direction, glaring at him through her blindfold. "I said, shut up! Before I cut that ridiculous afro of yours! I don't need your fucking pity!"

The man grinned. "Pity? Ha! You won't get any of that from me, kid."

"Then… why the fuck did you help me?"

The man shrugged. "Would you rather I let them beat you some more?"

"No." The girl spoke, shaking her head. "But I would've managed! I'm not weak!"

The man turned around to walk away. "Yes, you are."

Then, he felt something grab his left his leg and looked down. The little girl had tackled his leg and encircled it with her skinny arms and legs, holding herself in place. He could see angry tears streaking down her bruised face.

"I ain't fucking weak!"

Then, to the man's surprise, she bit on his flesh with gusto.

The man watched as blood poured out from his leg into the girl's mouth and smiled. The bite gave him little to no pain, but the girl's spunk made him deeply amused.

"You are weak." The man repeated, raising the girl by the back of her shirt as if she weighted as much as a feather. She actually tried to scratch at his face. "But, you keep up this attitude, and you won't be anymore."

The girl scowled and turned her head to the side. "Whatever."

"What's your name, kid?"

"You tell me yours first!"

The man's smile widened. "Ubogin."

"Ubo…gin. Well, I don't know my name, but people call me Bleach."

"Ubo's…"

"Ubo!" Bleach called as she ran up to the man, who was doing push-ups on the sandy ground, with a bag full of bread in her arms. "Look what I stole!"

Ubogin stopped what he was doing to sit up and smile at the girl. "Damn, kid! You're getting good."

Bleach gave him a smile and opened the bag to him, offering some of her food.

"Kid, look at your skinny legs and look at mine! Eat up; you need it more than me."

The little girl frowned. "But…I can't eat all of this shit. And it's old already. If we don't eat now, it'll go bad."

Letting out a laugh, Ubogin petted the girl's head and took a piece of bread from the bag. Smiling, Bleach sat down beside the man and started eating as well.

"…dead?"

"Go, Ubo!" Bleach cheered. "Kick his ass!"

"What the hell, Bleach!" Nobunaga complained as he dodged one of Ubogin's punches. "Why aren't you cheering for me?!"

Bleach smirked at the samurai. "Ubo promised to teach me his Big Bang Impact if I cheered for him!"

"That's not something you can learn, girl! You're too weak for that! And you don't even know Ne-"

Too busy scolding Bleach, Nobunaga wasn't able to dodge other of Ubogin's punches and was sent flying away from the girl. Smiling in satisfaction, Ubogin crossed his arms over his chest.

"Focus on the fight, Nobu!" Then, the large man winked at Bleach. "Don't listen to him, kid! One day, you're going to be as strong as me!"

With his thumb, Shalnark whipped out a tear that was streaking down Bleach's cheek, snapping her out of her thoughts and back into reality. Eyes wide and confused, the girl stared at Shalnark. Smiling softly, the blonde raised his thumb to her eye-level, showing her the single tear-drop on it.

"I'm… crying?"

Bleach quickly rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. Sure enough, they came out moisten by tears.

"It's alright, Bleach." Shal reassured, giving her shoulders a friendly squeeze.

Wordlessly, Bleach nodded her head before turning her gaze to Nobu. As expected, the samurai was shaken up by Ubo's death; they had always been close and Bleach didn't expect that to change after years of working together.

What Bleach didn't understand was why she was so shaken by the news. She and Ubo hadn't seen each other for years; the man hadn't even crossed her mind until now.

Still, he was a friend, or the closest thing to it I'm able to get.

Bleach had seen many people die before and even killed a couple herself, but... never a friend, never someone who she had liked and cared about once. Ubo was the first friend she had ever lost.

And it fucking hurt.

"Well, let's not get so down!" Shal began, trying to lift up the mood of the place. "Ubo wouldn't want us to welcome Bleach here like that, would he?"

"No, he'd want fight her." Feitan put in.

"That's true." Nobunaga spoke with a small smile tugging on his lips. That made the whole atmosphere lighten up. "He'd jump at the first chance of fighting her."

"Yes." Machi agreed, giving Bleach a small smirk. "In Meteor City, he used to say you'd become his sparring partner one day."

Bleach smirked and raised her left arm, the one whose sleeve was tore out, to show off her muscles. Or, lack thereof.

"As you can see, I'm close to his level!"

How the fuck did we go from Gon arm-wrestling with Nobu to being locked in a dark room?

That was the only thing Bleach could think as she sat down close to Gon and Killua, in the same room as Nobunaga. The room was small, falling to pieces and illuminated only by four little candles that were around the samurai.

"Nobu, I really like you, but I swear to whatever divinity that's up high or down below that, if you don't let me leave now, I'm going to give you hell!"

"Your complaining is already doing the trick, kid." The samurai commented with a smirk.

"I'm serious, damn it!" Bleach whined, glaring at the samurai. "I have something to do tonight! And it can't be postponed! And don't call me kid!"

"And what's that you have to do?"

For a moment, Bleach considered explaining her situation to the samurai. Maybe, if she told Nobu that she had an item to steal and that her deadline was tonight, he'd let her go. However, when the girl's eyes landed on the two boys sitting close to her, she decided not to say a thing; they – or Gon, at the very least - didn't know she still was a thief and she wanted to keep it that way. She didn't want Gon not to like her.

Bleach crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head to the side. "None of your business!"

"Ohhh! You have something to steal, don't you?"

Bleach's jaw tightened as she felt Gon and Killua's wide eyes glued on her.

"I got it right, didn't I? You know, you've always become defensive when you were planning to steal something you wanted really bad. Like that time, when a store in Meteor City received a lot of candy boxes to sell. You stole the whole lot of them in secret just so you didn't have to share with anyone!"

"Shut up! I did share with you all in the end!" Bleach protested, cheeks heating up in embarrassment. "Even with Phinks and Feitan! Tsk, bastards never thanked me for that candy…"

"Hahaha! True; deep down, you're a big softy.-"

"I knew it!" Killua exclaimed, earning a glare from Bleach.

"-Still, you're not going anywhere until Danchou arrives." Nobunaga continued. "He'll be very happy to have you joining us, you know? After all, you were intended to be one of our original members."

Gon and Killua's eyes widened even more at that revelation and Bleach visibly flinched. She hadn't told about them that she had been given an offer – and had intended to accept said offer – to join the Phantom Troupe; she had only revealed that she knew its founding members while she lived in Meteor City.

"Whatever. It's not like I want to join you guys now."

Nobunaga raised an eyebrow at her. "Why's that? You love stealing."

"Yes." Bleach admitted with a sigh. "But I don't want to have to kill people to do it. It's not my style."

"No matter. I still want you and that black-haired boy to join us." Nobunaga settled. "You're staying here and that's final."

After that, the four of them settled in a tense silence.

Bleach let out an anxious sigh. She'd have to manage to run away from Nobunaga, find Zepile to get the counterfeit from him, and run/swim to the home of one of the Ten Dons to steal Runvle's mirror. Oh! Right, she still had to chew off Gon and Killua for going after the Troupe, as well.

All in this one night.

"Killua, what are you doing?" Gon asked.

Bleach turned her gaze to the white-haired boy, who was on his feet and staring at Nobunaga as if the samurai was death itself or, even worse: his eldest brother. Now Killua is acting strange as fuck! Great! Just the cherry on the top of the fucking cake!"

Bleach groaned. She was fucked.

"Side-stepping! You're a genius, Gon!" Bleach complimented as she and the two boys ran away from the old building in which they had been locked in.

"Hahaha! It was nothing!" The boy spoke, scratching the back of his head, his cheeks tinted pink. Then, he was serious. "Bleach, about what Nobunaga said…"

The girl lowered her eyes to the ground.

"It was all true, Gon." Both boys' eyes widened at the way the girl spoke; her voice was full of shame. "I'm a thief. I've been a thief as far as I can remember. The only reason I didn't join the Troupe was because the Mafia kidnapped me so I could steal for them. Then, I ran away from the Mafia – I killed someone to get away - and went back to stealing for survival. Until… until your father found me, Gon."

Bleach raised her eyes to the brunette boy and Gon's eyes widened. The boy had finally understood Bleach's true motivation to finding his father. She didn't want to "kick his ass", as she so vehemently claimed. She was in love with Ging.

"Ging took me out of that life. He took care of me and taught me about the basis of Nen. But, even though he did all of that for me, I… I never stopped stealing for long, Gon. How do you think I got the new cell phone without you two knowing about it? I stole it. I can't help myself. I just…I see something I want and I take it."

"...I'm sorry, Gon, Killua."

Bleach shut her eyes. There, she had said it. Now, all she had to do was wait for the boys to express their disappointment with her and leave once and for all.

"Sorry? What for?" Gon asked innocently, making Bleach raise her wide eyes to him. "You've never hurt anyone, have you Bleach?"

"I-I killed a man, Gon! I killed Cressar!"

"You killed him to run away from the Mafia, who had kidnapped you and forced you to do things you didn't want to. I don't believe you were wrong in doing that. And I don't care if you pickpocket wallets and products from stores!" Gon smiled brightly at the girl. "You're my friend and I trust you, Bleach! I know you will never steal from me!"

"Gon…"

"You stole some things, so what?" Killua put in. "I killed lots of people in the past and Gon still accepted me. You still accepted me, Bleach."

"Killua…"

"We're friends." The former assassin said at last. "That's not changing anytime soon."

Bleach couldn't help but smile – really smile, not smirk or anything - softly at the two boys.

"Thank you."

Then, her soft smile dropped and her Aura darkened. Both boys gulped in fear. What the-?

"Now that's settled, before I leave for my job, I have some things to talk to you two about. Things that I've been holding back since I found you two stalking Machi and Nobu…"

Bleach's hands reached for one ear of each boy. Gon and Killua exchanged a scared glance. Maybe, they should've stayed with Nobunaga…

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU SHITHEADS THINKING?! I TOLD YOU THE TROUPE WAS FUCKING DANGEROUS! I TOLD YOU NOT TO MESS WITH THEM! BUT, DID YOU LISTEN TO ME?! NOOOOO! WE KNOW BETTER! OUR SHITTY, LONG 13 YEARS OF LIFE GAVE US SO MUCH MORE EXPERIENCE THAN BLEACH'S 20 YEARS COULD EVER GIVE HER! DID YOU SEE WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED? DID YOU?! THAT'S WHAT YOU-"

Yep. They should've stayed with Nobunaga.

Aaaaand that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)

If you have the time, tell me what you thought about it and who in the Troupe was too OOC (I tried my best to keep everyone IC, but I'm not so sure I've succeeded...).

I hope that little flashback didn't screw up Ubogin's character too bad. I never did like him (or Nobunaga for that matter) all that much, so it was hard for me to keep them IC... Machi too; Machi is awesome, but pretty hard to keep IC. XP

Kisses,

RedVoid