HELLO EVERYONE! Here's the update! I'm sorry I take so long, but I do hope you enjoy this!
And please don't hesitate to tell me what you thought! In fact, if you don't already know, feeling your presences is what is keeping my stories going!

Disclaimer: I wish I own Hunter x Hunter.


.


CHAPTER 28: Hunters x Mama x Papa

'LOVE-LOVE' RESTAURANT

Killua and Gon stood in front of the restaurant, staring at its colourful (now neon-bright) signage, easily ignoring the stream of people that flowed past them like river water avoiding rocks.

Even with all they experienced they still found it a little debasing: how much had happened since they had been there merely a few hours prior. It could've been the unexpected death of an acquaintance, the fact that one of them was responsible, or because they were celebrating their births not too long prior.

More people passed by (they were already used to the stares, particularly from the female population to Killua), and Gon's eyes soon gravitated towards him as well. He had already changed clothing in the hotel room they rented, and took a quick bath since they were short on time, primarily because they buried and made a tombstone for Johanna. Due to this, he still smelled like blood.

She let her hand move towards the collar of his half button-up shirt, which wasn't folded properly. She felt Killua's gaze at the small action, and she raised her head to meet his eyes. "Are you ready for this? We can always make a pass…"

He smiled and shook his head. "Let's just get this over with." He said, "The earlier we go to sleep after we meet Elena, the better."

She gently patted his shoulder as if there was invisible dust there, before her hands stayed there reassuringly. "Okay." She said and looked into his eyes again. "But tomorrow we visit Johanna's grave before we leave for the Island."

It was around then a mother and child passed by and Gon's eyes was pulled to the child. She suddenly wore a worried frown. "Alluka…" She said. Was it okay to leave her all alone in the hotel room? She asked herself for the nth time that day. Even when Killua wished for her to stay, she wasn't really sure if there wouldn't be trespassers—

"What? Did you want to get a baby-sitter?"

She pouted. "Mou."

Killua's shoulder slumped lightly and he held one of her cheecks. "She's only a couple of years younger than we are." He calmly told ehr. "She just didn't grow in a place where she'd mature."

"There were some moments she had shown maturity." Gon corrected, forgetting the fact she was the one who fretted in the first place. The most prominent memory would always be the one when Alluka pulled her back when she was on the verge of surrendering to her dark side—when the thing she wanted was to get rid of Illumi as quickly as she could.

She felt something surge in her chest at the thoughts and memories of Alluka's maturing looks. Killua raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"It feels weird when I think of her growing up." "It's like a bittersweet feeling, but not quite."

"A mixture of pride and sadness, maybe?"

"Yeah."

Killua laughed at this. "Haha—geez. You're like a mother reluctant to let her child go." He cleared his throat, just as he patted her head. "You're eighteen, Gon. No need to be so maternal."

She blushed at that and Killua practically cackled, before Gon pouted again. Soon enough—thanks to Gon's indignant frown—Killua calmed down his laughter and ended it with a shrug.

"Mah," he uttered, gesturing to enter the bar. "We should get this over with."


They hadn't even entered the VIP room yet and they could already feel the stares.

"So that's where the smell of blood was from." A man with old-fashioned bushy hair said the moment the door was closed, without even looking at them. But then he lifted his head to catch a glimpse of them and his sights ended at Gon, causing his pupils to dilate a little. A small tinge of what one would call a blush adorned his face.

However, neither Gon and Killua noticed this as they saw two familiar faces. "HANZO! Goreinu-san?!" Gon yelled childishly and if Killua hadn't been used to secluding emotions the past years, he would've done the same.

Goreinu and Hanzo stood up immediately at the sight of them. The gorilla-like Goreinu even gave her a bear hug, while the still-hairless Hanzo gaped at her in shock. "I thought you were dead!"

Gon simply looked at the Ninja, while Goreinu shook his head and held one of Gon's shoulders with pride, like a father to a son. "That's not a very nice thing to say, Hanzo."

"Ah. Sorry, sorry." Hanzo mumbled and scratched his cheek. "But does Kurapika and the others know you're fine?"

Gon nodded. "Yeah, we've met them already." She said, shrugging. "It's a long story. We'll tell you later."

"Sounds good to me." Goreinu smiled, before turning his head to Killua. "What about you, Killua?"

"I returned to the dark side."

"…ha." But in the end Hanzo's relieved grin stayed and Goreuni shrugged, just happy to see his old friends again.

"Is everyone here already?"

They turned their heads to the other guy with long hair and sharp eyes, who was sitting stiffly beside the bushy-haired man. But he ended up flinching under the stares and awkwardly turned his head away. The four blinked at this and smiled apologetically. They forgot they were with other people.

Everyone took their respective seats in the room's V.I.P. table, but Gon sensed a stare and she turned her head to meet it. (Gon tilted her head when the bushy-haired man suddenly turned away like he did something wrong). Short silence passed by them and, while waiting, Gon found herself looking around the room. It was an elegant room filled with velvet pallet of colours but with a simple set of furniture. It was neat and classy... which reminded Gon of her early days as a hunter.

"We should start now." The long-haired man said quietly, and this made both Gon and Killua flinch. They looked around the room once more, and even used a bit of En just to make sure.

"Eh?" Gon uttered out as she confirmed the absence of a presence she thought would be there. "Where's Elena-san?"

"She was asked to do a transport job." Goreinu told her. "She's already in the island. She's in-charge of the final exam, anyway."

"...I see..."

"What do you discuss in these things anyway?"

It was the long-haired man who answered Killua's question. "Well, as much as I understand most of us already knowing each other, we begin with introductions.

"My name is Shoot McMahon," He said and turned sideways to the oddly-hairstyled guy who looked angry, but wasn't looking at anyone in the table. Shoot sweat-dropped, but decided his partner was in no mood to introduce himself. "This is my partner Knuckle Bine."

Gon and her friends introduced each other as well, and after formalities (Gon really had a feeling that Knuckle person was mad at her, she never even met him before, which she was sure of a second later).

"Did you say Freecs?" Knuckle exclaimed, which was the first words he uttered that meeting. Shoot looked similarly startled.

"Zoldyck?"

"Ah..., yeah."

They all just stared at each other for a while, before Shoot cleared his throat anmd revealed a CD, which somehow appeared in his right hand without them noticing. He then stood up and entered the disk on the large television screen that came with the room.

Even with their experience as world-class hunters, Netero's massive face almost touching the video camera made them all wince.

"Hello, everyone!" he yelled as he wore that goofy grin of his, and immediately Killua knew they'd get an adumbrate of instructions at best.

"Let's see…" Netero casually played with his beard as he looked down on the paper in front of him. "This year's examiners will be: Shoot McMahon, Knuckle Bine, Hanzo of Wu, Goreinu Sven, Elena Bolshevik, Killua Zoldyck, and Gon Freecs." He laughed. "Interesting set we have here.

"Well, we'll have four exams in total. It's up to you who will be in-charge of which." He said and a virtual image of the island was shown, the camera panning and dollying around to show different angles. "This is the island called 'Ebola Island' where we take relatively weak creatures we catch in the Dark Continent to study."

The old man proceeded to scratching his earlobe with his pinky. "Aaand that's about it, really." He said, blewing whatever he hooked up to the air (the chairman seemed to be in a particularly lazy mood that time). "Just have fun tomorrow, and remember: you can do whatever you want!

"So long as you don't get every one of them killed, of course."

.

Beep!

And the disk stopped. There was stillness a few moments later before it was all business again on the large mahogany circular table. Goreinu borrowed the remote and replayed the video, resuming it at its normal speed when the island was in view.

"Does anyone else have an idea what they'll do?" Goreinu said. "I think it'll be good if we took our respective areas so we can prepare better." He stated and looked at everyone to pick up any signs of objection. He nodded when he saw none. "Who wants to go first?"

There was no answer, and Goreinu could only sweat-drop. He looked at Hanzo, who shrugged in understanding. "I guess we'll be the one dealing with them first, then…"

Shoot raised his hand, while Knuckle still had his arms crossed in annoyance. "We'll take the second."

And Killua shrugged. "Guess Gon and I are in-charge of the third." It was already understood Elena-san's going to be the 4th examiner, and so no one pointed it out anymore.

And that was that. The party stood up simultaneously and they went on their way for one last rest before the exam.

"You two travelling alone?" Goreinu initiated as they walked out the restaurant. Hanzo was with them as well, eager to know more about his old friend, but then he began wiggling his eyebrows when Goreinu asked and gave Killua a 'look'. It made Killua blush furiously at the implications.

"We're with Alluka, Killua's sister." Gon said, oblivious as always. "She's staying the hotel room."

"I see, I see."

"So… how often are you two alo—"

"Shut up, bald ninja." He mumbled under his breath and Goreinu laughed.

The walk to the hotel had never been so long.

They arrived as saw Alluka sleeping on one of the twin beds. They tiptoed around the room, but Alluka sniffed and she slowly opened her eyes as if smelling them. "...oh." she mumbled, turning her head until she caught sight of one of them.

Gon chuckled at this and joined Alluka in bed after washing up. Killua flopped on the other bed and stared at the ceiling, listening to his two most important girls.

"Aren't you going back to sleep?" Gon asked Alluka as the she stared at her, wide awake.

"Gon-nee." The younger girl uttered. "Tell me a story."

"Oh? What about?"

Alluka recalled that her nii-san once told her he took the first exam because he was bored. Gon-nee didn't seem to be like that. "Why did you take the hunter exam?"

And she told her a summary and Alluka chuckled practically with every sentence. Soon enough though, she was snorning.

Killua fell asleep, smiling, listening to her voice, too.

The morning that came afterwards was different than usual. The skies were dark, the clouds dense, and everyone had a hard time waking up. Thankfully Alluka, who caught most sleep, was awake and tackled both of them in their respective beds so they woke up, telling them 'rise and shine' with her eternally tiny and adorable voice.

"We're up, we're up!" Killua mumbled lazily, catching Gon getting inside the bathroom. He fell back to bed then, since he wouldn't be able to do anything else anyway.

"Nii-cchaan~!" Alluka said cutely as she lied down beside him. She seemed really excited, so she was really giddy in finally getting on that island, subsequently rushing him to get ready. "You two should really just take a bath together!"

It was the first time Killua covered his baby sister's face with a pillow.

.

A few minutes before every one was ready, Killua found himself grumbling at the mirror. It was annoying to have your hair wet (it's stickiness is irritating), but he realized it was especially so with the humid atmosphere. His lengthening hair, now only an inch before reaching the bottom of his neck, made it so much worse.

Gon laughed at this. "Maybe you should use you static so your hair'd go up."

She then forced him to sit down a chair and took a dry towel. Gon patiently squeezed out the remaining droplets, humming as she did so. It didn't even take a few minutes until they heard a light snore behind them, and saw Alluka sleeping in a rather odd position at the bottom of the bed.

They let out quiet laughs before facing the mirror again. Gon was gentle, both to avoid damaging his hair (as she said it) as well as to help him relax a little more. She said he seemed agitated, and he thought: if only she knew.

He didn't realize Gon was already hugging his head until he felt her chin on the top of his head. He batted an eyelid, startled, before he blushed several shades of red. "What is it?" He asked, thankful he didn't stutter.

She shook her head, he saw it on the mirror, and he also felt it physically. "I'm just glad I get to see your morning hair again." She said, and he remembered how envious he was of how she could so effortlessly voice out what she felt.

But now he also understood that the pressure for him to do the same didn't exist. Gon had always been able to understand what he felt, anyway. He closed his eyes with a smile, before slowly opening them up again and held her arm, slowly tracing her skin until his hand reached hers. He lifted it up for him to see, and he placed his lips on his knuckles, before staring at her petite fingers. Particularly the empty ring finger.

"You know…" he said. "These things will happen so often from now on they'd probably be demoted to banal status."

"You think so?" Gon countered light-heartedly. "I think seeing small moments like these make for a happy life. We're happy, and we will be happy, so I think these moments won't be dull." She hugged him a little bit tighter. "Do you agree?"

He grinned. "Yeah."



It rained just before they left the hotel. They bought their own umbrellas, and went straight to a certain grave.

In Johanna's grave they left three beautiful bouquets of white poppies, flowers symbolizing consolation, and planted three seeds of cosmos, all of which will grow to be flowers symbolizing peace.

One for her, one for Anita, and one for the sinful father that started it all.

They arrived at the docks some time after the rain stopped. The air was still moist and all felt a little lethargic, but the advent of a new adventure countered that.

But on their way to the docks, they saw a blimp landing on a nearby mini-airport, one for private aircrafts, and out-of-curiosity they decided to check it out. They saw Shoot and Knuckle watching it land, and by their stance they knew immediately those two owned it.

"Ne, can we hitch a ride?" Gon asked and again Knuckle's head turned to look at her, although it was so slow and ragged and reminded her of a robot in need of oil. Then when their eyes met his neck suddenly springed to looking away from her. This made Gon furrow her eyebrows, it wasn't her imagination after all—Knuckle did dislike her, very much. "Knuckle-san… If I did something wrong, please tell me."

He flinched a little at that, while his partner watched idly in the middle of the metal stairs to the airship. Then their eyes met again and Knuckle seemed to try to keep it there. However, slowly but surely, he turned redder and redder until he had to look away again.

"I-I don't like you and therefore you are not allowed into my blimp!"

Killua's eyes twitched, and Gon gaped. "…ha?" Then Gon unconsciously puffed her cheeks in annoyance and her knuckles formed a rock. "Knuckle-san!" She yelled, just before feeling Killua's hand on her shoulders. And before she knew it he just pulled both her and Alluka away from the airport.

"I wonder what I did…" Gon sighed as she was getting dragged by Killua. "I'm going to ask again later."

"N-No need. It wasn't you, it's him." He said, halting his steps and allowing Gon and Alluka to stand up properly on their own.

"Eh?" Gon whipped her head to face him and Killua's eyes were looked the other way and they were very much twitching. Gon didn't ask and decided to just comment on the bizarre behaviour of their fellow hunter. "What a weird person…

"But you do have an idea why he was acting so rudely?"

"I do know why." Killua said, finally looking at her. "But I think it's up to him whether he wanted to tell you or not."

Gon stared, and Killua just let out a sigh of exasperation."Anyway," He said, beginning to walk to the sea's direction. "We should hurry up if we don't want to be left by the boat."

"Hai!"

Meanwhile, on the docks, a certain group of people stood out. Perhaps the fact that the rest of the people were at least a meter away from them, whispering, and looking weirdly at the group was an indication. Or maybe it was just the winged talking creature that stood in the middle as if it was their friend.

"Tsk. Weird people sighted." A certain chubby man mumbled under his breath as he held on to his orange cans of 'juice', eyeing the group suspiciously before heading off deeper into the crowd and away from them. He did hear that only two of the people in there would be taking the exam, but that wasn't all that much comforting.

In any case he, Tonpa the Rookie Crusher, shall pass the exam this year! It was his 42nd hunter exams and the 6th year he genuinely tried to pass. Seven is a lucky number. He'd definitely do it this time!

But of course, dealing with rivals (not that most rookies were much of rivals, but it was fun seeing their dreams crushed so easily), was a priority. He ended up laughing maniacally to himself.

"Ara." He heard at the back of his head, and a familiar pale hand already appeared to take one of his cans before he even registered anything else. "You're still up to no good, I see."

His stomach dropped the moment he turned to see 'that person's' horrible horrible face. "Y-You!"

"Oh, is that Tompa-san?"

He turned his head slightly to see another horrendous face. "YOU!"

"Ora! Gon and Killua!" Someone from behind him said, walking right past him. He was still too frozen to react further, and was still pointing rudely at Gon.

"Ponzu-san!" Gon said, squeaking. "You're here~!" "Did you not take the exam years ago?"

Around that moment, frozen-Tompa was already forgotten.

"Well,I failed again during the 288th exam. Apparently one person took out every one—can you believe that?" Killua looked away, and the girls only continued to converse. Apparently, Ponzu didn't take the exam for the following three years because of pregnancy. "I looked at babies with longing, now I look at them and see hope." She said, and Gon got even more excited to see her niece… or nephew. She flinched at the sudden image of the baby having Illumi's eyes. She pushed the thought away immediately.

It was around that hen they heard murmurs, and they followed the source. They saw the crowd open up a path and they saw it was because a rather strong-looking group was passing by. "When I heard your name, Gon, I didn't really think it'd be you."

Gon beamed when she saw the long-haired man that was right in front of it. "KAITO!"

"Whoa. Everyone looks so strong." Gon said, swooning, looking at everyone with curious eyes. "Is everyone taking the exams?"

"No. Only Pondungo and Banana here are taking," A bear-like person answered. "We're already hunters."

Kaito caught Killua (and pretty much everyone, really) looking at Colt. "This is Colt. He was an egg when Ging gave him to us." He recalled that Ging even declared saving his life. "Didn't expect an odd winged creature that, after a few months, declared he was a human."

As he said so, Kaito recalled how difficult it was. They almost took him down when he came to mind, because he kept saying sthings like serving. That, and he almost ate Pondungo. It was around that time his human memories awoke, and he changed so drastically that they had no choice but to believe him.

"He's a chimeara ant."

Kaito nodded. Only recently did they figure it out. "From the dark continent."

"They obtain qualities of those they eat." That meant it ate humans. "Ging and a few other hunters took care of them before they became more trouble." "He said a lot more lives would've been taken." "Only two children were victims."

Gon's eyebrows furrowed at this, while Killua turned his head to look at her as he could feel quite a few gears were running inside her head. Her eyes widened a moment after that and she lifted her head up in euphoria.

"Reina!" Gon yelled, and everyone stared at her. "Reina! She's a chimaera ant, right?"

Colt was frozen for a second before he practically teleported in front of Gon. "Reina?" "Y-You—" He looked at her, knowing what she meant. "Reina? You met her?"

Gon grinned and nodded.

.

"All's well that ends well~!

"For Colt, anyway." Banana said, as he watched him fly away. She then sighed and looked around her. "I, on the other hand, still have a good chance of dying."

"HEY!"

"W-What?"

"Don't say such unlucky things!" Her friend angrily told her to her face, partnered with a spray of spit. "If you die I'll feed your carcass to those ugly Gobli birds!"

"What?!" "NO!"

"Gobli birds?" Alluka asked Gon as she tugged the girl's shirt.

"Legend has it that to be eaten by them is to be sentenced to a world worse than hell."

"...oh."

Alluka continued to watch the happy interactions, between the strangers, Gon, her nii-san all with fascination. She recalled Gon-nee's bed time story. Grandpa Ging left her to be a Hunter, while Gon-nee went on a journey to find out if it was worth it. She met a lot of people, helped many (Alluka especially noted as she imagined that flying critter's beaming face), and—most importantly—had so much fun.

Indeed, Alluka saw it even more clearly now.

Alluka then made a weird sort of noise that made everyone look at her. She looked at them innocently, but didn't say anything for a while. Her instincts told her she should be scared.

"What is it, Alluka?"

Gathering her courage, the little one finally spoke her mind. "I want to be a hunter!"

.

.

"Eh?"

"What?"

Gon and Killua, respectively, were not able to utter anything else for a while. The others stared as well, but primarily because Alluka was a really adorable girl.

"I want to be a hunter!" Alluka repeated, thinking they probably didn't hear. People said adults lose their hearing as they grow older.

"NO!" Gon and Killua said simultaneously and their friends couldn't help but watch in amusement. "It's too dangerous!"

"Eh?!" Alluka retorted, which surprised them as Alluka very rarely talked back. "But I trained when you went home!"

Killua frowned at this. She did somewhat train. And it was true she wasn't as helpless as normal people, but she was definitely not strong enough to survive the exam.

Gon whispered. "Can't you wish her to gain just enough power to pass?"

"She can't use her power on herself," Killua whispered back. "Damnit."

Their frantic whispers were interrupted by Hanzo pointing a finger at himself. "We'll protect her."

"Don't encourage her!"

"…s-sorry."

"But I want to be a hunter!" She said defiantly, but her squeaky voice didn't make her seem intimidating at all. However, that determined look in her eyes were something he saw in Gon, and that meant she was unshakeable.

Killua face-palmed and shook his head like an old man. "I can't believe she's already in her rebellious stage."

.
.

END OF CHAPTER 28

Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 29: Exam x Animals x Clearing
Mama Gon and Papa Killua are very worried


REPLIES TO ANGELS

Angaebi – Hahaha, hello Grapes-chan! Very happy you like my writing, and those details really go noticed. xD Thank you for reviewing and loool. Why am I imagining a cute little anime grape talking to me?

Digilover23 – I'm very happy I updated, too! Hahaha. And yep. Gon's not 100% Gon without her rod. Hueheueheue. Her getting it back is a bit symbolical as well. xD Thank you for reviewing, by the way~!

Pri-Chan 1410 – Thank you for the review! And here're more Yinyang pair (+ Alluka) moments! Haha. Albeit it's a bit more familial.

Dragonbooks249 – Congrats on making your account! Having account is sooo convenient, after all. xD (And I see you've written a story now as well!) Thanks for reviewing btw!

Giotto27 – (ch26) Yay! Glad you found the chapter awesome. Will try to do something about the Mafia pair. xD (ch27) Really? I'm happy to know I write introspections well. Hihihi, and thank you for the reviews! :D

Reah-Kitsune – Ohhh cool. Sounds like you spent your 3-day holiday somewhere nice! Wherever it is, glad I managed to make it sweeter. xD Thanks for pointing out the confusing part! Will try to remedy them as I write. I'm happy that you liked the chapter, and thank you for reviewing~

Pitou77 – Oh yes, yes she is! Her reuniting with it also has a symbolical meaning. By the way, thanks very much for commenting! :D

RaNDoem – hahahah The Return of The Fishing Rod (in super baritone voice) is a fabulous title. Must do a spinoff. Haha. Thank you for reviewing btw! Glad you liked the story~! :D

Fingersofbone – A break? Here it is! Killua'll have little angst for a while. Haha. Let us enjoy his peace of mind now. Glad you found the chap lovely, btw, and thanks for the review~!

Hikar1m1ra – Thank you for reviewing! And thank you saying you love my writing. I will do my best to keep at it, and here's the update! Enjoy!

Smoll Gcat – HYPE! xD That's a compliment, yes? Hahaha. Well, in any case, thank you for the comment! I love it when readers let me feel their presence. xD

Chosanbhir –(ch26) lololol IKR. Every guy too cute/good to be true are just that—not true. Hahah. And yeah. Most don't even know Anita. Just decided to leave a trace of her... somewhere. xD And don't worry! They'll have a fairly peaceful love life for a while. (ch27) Well, not sure about new people but definitely we're going to be reunited with old ones. Thanks for the reviews!

Phoenix-Thunder – yes indeed! Gotta say, writing a story on the Adorable Three is uber fun. xD And yeah, last chap's so filled Killua development that he'll escape angst for a long time. Haha. Thank you for reviewing btw! xD *brohug*

Egichuu – Hihihi. I am very giddy to know I'm (or rather, our OTP is) making you squeal! Haha. I think this one won't lack fluff either, and I do hope you enjoy. Thank you for reviewing!

Lightning Dance – Here's the next chapter! And whoa, marathon of my stories? I'm very flattered to know of that; thank you for telling me! ;D And loool. Should they just adopt Alluka? I'm go fo it! lolol. Thanks for reviewing~! :D

AngelyKitty27 – Yay! I am very happy to know you loved this sequel! Will try not to change that opinion as we go on, and do enjoy this chap! Thx for reviewing~

Deb. 23 – Ahahaha. Glad you found them cute! Hopefully this chapter is cuter. ;D Oh, and Alluka's not there with them. Gon followed on her own. Alluka's pretty easy to distract. xD Thx for the review btw~

Darlingfedz – Ahhh such a long time since we've spoken! I should update more, really. I blame Togashi! Haha. And don't worry! Work comes first. I hope you're having fun with your work! I don't really open my FB account lately so I'm not updated. And thank you for reviewing~!

Manna95 – Welcome to this fic! Thanks for giving it a chance and thank you for telling me you liked it. Will do my best to keep at it, and thanks for the review~! :DD


...


THANK YOU FOR READING!

Did you like it? Dislike it? Suggestions? Comments? Rants? Crits?
Do write them in the box below!