It was the second week of living in Meteor City. That day I couldn't find water to save my life, literally. It had been two days since the last time I had drank anything, and the heat mixed with radiation seemed to be the perfect mixture of torture, my lips crispy, throat drier then the air. And I had been having this pounding migraine for far too long, it seemed the only thing appealing enough, besides drinking water, was laying on the ground. so I did. I laid on the dirty ground, the feeling of small shards of glass, and little wrappers of food underneath my head was a little uncomfortable, but I didn't care. I stared back at the red sun, it was probably the only pretty thing there and it brought comfort to my withering body. 'I always come back to you.' I thought, clenching the dirt in my hand, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. I closed my eyes, with a small chuckle. 'There are worst ways to die I guess.' "There are, but you're not going to die from it today." a voice said, making my eyes snap back open, trying to search for the source. 'I guess I was talking out loud again.' I then saw in front of me brown feet in very warn out sandals, my eyes traveled up their skinny legs, to a very long gray shirt that had some sort of cartoon on it. Then to the girls face, it was skinny and tired looking, but pretty nonetheless, her eyes where sharp but kind, and held a lot of strength in them, it kind of intimidated me. Her hair was in a large fro, but you could still see the tight curls. "Who are you?" I asked with a croak. The girl squatted down in front of me, and I noticed she was holding a jug of water with her, making my eyes widen slightly. "Your savior. Now come on sit up." She said putting the small jug down on the ground helping the me sit back up. Once I was off the ground, she brought the jug to my lips allowing me to viciously gulp it down, I realized she seemed a bit older then me too, seeing her more up close. Once I got my fill of water, she put the jug back down and sat next to me holding her legs against her chest. I stared at her quietly, a small hue creeping up my cheeks. "T-Thank you, for...saving me." I said, I hate this, any time someone does something nice for me, I never know how to control myself, I feel so giddy like a little girl. Wait, I guess I am a little girl.
I kept staring at her seeing a small smile gracing her face. "My names _ what about you?" She said.
I blinked in surprise.
"I don't have a name yet."
She looked at me with surprise and then she giggled a little bit, it was a soft and sweet chuckle.
"You better get on that then, your name is very important. I know it may not seem that way, you know living here and everything, but it's the one thing that doesn't bound you to the city. It's hard to explain." She said poetically my eyes sparkling with admiration.
"Okay, I'll get on it then." I smiled.
It was a comfortable silence, both of us staring at the hazy sun, until she spoke again.
"I can't wait to get out of here, I've got big plans." She said with a satisfied smile.
"You're leaving here?" I asked surprised.
She nodded.
"I was offered a job, a well paying job, and I'm leaving tomorrow. It's the thing I needed to leave here, my ticket." She sounded so hopeful, it made me feel bad about myself a little, hearing about her plans. I didn't think you where allowed to leave this city ever.
"What's the job?"
She turned to me with a smile a finger coming to her lips.
"I'm not supposed to talk about it. But think of the most exciting job possible, and that's what it is times 3." She said excitement clear in her voice, making my eyes widen in surprise, my 6 year old self trying to come up with the best possible job but struggling to do so. That day, I felt something in me, my dormant volcano becoming active in that split second. I could feel myself yearning for something explosive and big and powerful to flop my life upside down.
After she left the next day, I never forgot her, or her pretty hair, or her strong eyes, or her fitting name.
Canary, thank you.
1 week ago after we first made it to the cabin, Mr. Zebro had suggested we do some training so that we could get strong enough to open the door. Of course it was a little unrealistic for us to be able to open the gate one at a time, so we had to get strong enough so we could open the gate together. So he had us wear 50 kilograms, that was in the form of a vest. And actually basically everything in the house was super heavy, which I struggled with because of how flimsy my arms where, but honestly I was pretty happy for the training, I felt like I needed to get stronger anyways.
It was really, really difficult, especially when I had to go to the bathroom because the door was 1,100 pounds, so I eventually ended up peeing outdoors, which I didn't mind too much, it's better then peeing in your pants, but still after a while it pisses you off.
During this time, I had caught Gon also doing some training when he wasn't supposed to, and instead of telling him to stop, I'd help him do it safer, I'd come to learn, as of recently, he can be so stubborn to the point where he's basically blind to danger, so I'm better off helping him then letting him hurt himself. I know we where training and everything, but it was also kind of fun, I felt like I was getting to know them all better, even Leorio, he told me about his past and that he wanted to become a doctor, I considered him a friend before but now I respected him.
And of course on occasion, a random wave of sadness would wash over me, whether it be about how Killua was doing, or returning home, I somehow found a reason to feel down. I wanted to save him, but I was also a little scared, because once I do, it's over...
2 days ago we gave the gate a try, Gon stayed to the side and watched because of his arm, and we couldn't get it open, so it meant even more training, for 48 hours straight.
Needless to say I was able to pee in the bathroom now. And my arms where way more toned then before, and so was my stomach. It was cool to finally be able to do handstand squats now, and I actually felt, pretty strong.
'Killua, here we come.'
It was the night before we would try to open the testing gates again, everyone was sleeping in their beds beside me, as I was sort of located in between the three teens.
My eyebrow was twitching in anger, hearing Leorio's loud snores echoing through the room. Every time I thought he'd stop, he let out another and another and I found myself clenching hard at the bed sheets.
'How do Gon and Kurapika sleep through this?'
I flipped over on my stomach, took my pillow and slammed it over my head. I waited a few seconds, seeing if maybe the snoring would be muffled, and I could finally go to sleep.
BUT NO! It did absolutely nothing! I seriously was considering killing myself, if it meant I could sleep good, or maybe even putting the pillow over his face.
I thought about that option a few more seconds, before hoping off the bed with a sigh, tip toeing through the room and try my very hardest to open and close the goddam 1,000 pound door silently.
'This strength is coming in handy.' I thought, as I walked down the stairs to the small living area. I blinked in surprise seeing as the lights where still on, until I then saw Mr. Zebro sitting at the table with some tea ad quite the thoughtful expression.
I stared at him, playing with my fingers, I wasn't sure if I should bother him or not, he seemed pretty lost in thought. But then he looked up from his tea, with a blank look before smiling finally noticing my presence.
"Your awake? How surprising, I thought you'd be knocked out after all the weight training you've done today." He said.
Still standing at my spot with a weary smile I responded. "Yea well I don't know how anyone could sleep through a bombing." I laughed sheepishly.
"A bombing?"
"Leorio's snoring."
"Oh, ahah. Well, if you can't sleep why don't you have some tea with me?" He asked with a warm smile. I of course nodded with a smile of my own before walking over and hopping on one of the wooden chairs.
"Do you have anything else besides tea?" I asked hesitantly, I felt kind of rude asking this sweet old guy for anything else besides his tea. But he nodded, and walked over to the cupboard grabbing a small box and taking a packet from said small box, before walking back over to me taking a seat once more.
"Will hot chocolate do?"
I blinked in surprise. 'Chocolate sounds familiar.'
"Sure, I've never had it before though." I shrugged.
He chuckled a little as he but the brown powder inside one of the green mugs, filling it with the hot water from the kettle. "Well you're in for a treat, this is one of Young Master Killua's favorite drinks." He said handing over the piping hot green mug to me, as I stared at it like it was some type of foreign object.
I gasped. "That's right Killua was talking about something like this." I said excitedly, cupping my hands around the mug. He placed his face in one of his hands fondly.
"He'd come down here a from time to time, especially when it was cold often being disappointed to find I only had tea. And then one day I bought some hot chocolate from the store, and then I'd see him here almost every week. He is quite the delightful child, I'm glad he has such great friends like you." He said with a reminiscing expression. I listened intently at the story a small hue forming on my cheeks at his compliment, brining the 50 kilo mug to my lips with ease.
"Does Killua's family like, physically hurt him?" I questioned with a slight cringe. he frowned, placing his tea cup back at the table.
"I can't guarantee it, however I wouldn't be surprised. They are professional assassins after all, but I haven't been to the estate before, so I don't know very much about the family itself.
I looked into my mug with a somber expression, watching the brown delicious liquid that was already almost gone, sway back and fourth against the green glass.
"I understand why he likes chocolate so much, it tastes great." A smiled sadly.
"Yuko-san, how was Young Master Killua during the Hunter Exam?" he asked, his tone calm and caring. He seemed rather concerned for Killua which honestly made me feel some sort of warmth spread through my body. It was reassuring to know someone genuinely cared for the broken assassin, because it feels like he doesn't get much of that from his family.
"He was pretty much a jerk." I said with a laugh, which Mr. Zebro found amusing because he began laughing as well.
"Is that so?" He chuckled.
"Well, he softened up a bit later on, but at the beginning he was so rude to me, and only tried to hang out with Gon. But I think he realized he wasn't getting rid of me because he decided to just accept my presence and we became friends."
"I'm sorry, he isn't sexist, it's just he told me his Mo-"
"His Mom? Yea, she sounds a little crazy, I don't blame him though. I don't really blame him for anything, it's not his fault he was raised to kill, I mean how do you expect him to act. It was actually really interesting to see how normal he turned out despite all that." I said cutting him off. To my surprise Mr. Zebro smiled with admiration towards me and slight astonishment. I looked at him a little confused.
"What?"
"You and Gon-Kun understand Young Master Killua so well, it makes me so happy to see that. Please, take good care of him, I know you will save him."
I blinked, suddenly feeling warmth rush to my cheeks as I turned away with slight embarrassment, clearing my throat.
"W-We will, you've got nothing to worry about pops."
Me Kurapika and Leorio where standing in front of the testing gate stretching our limbs. It was very sunny that day, the beams heating our skin as we prepared to finally open the gate this time.
"You guys ready to do this?" I asked, some sweat sliding down the side of my face.
Leorio and Kurapika turned their head to look at me with a determined smirk.
"You betcha ya, kid." Leorio said. "We are gonna save that little punk."
"Hey, you three. Look, why don't you try taking those vests off, today?" Mr. Zebro proposed. Leorio and I jumped to the occasion quickly popping those suckers right off Kurapika following behind.
'Woohoo! That feels great, I think it'll be a lot easier now!" I cheered, all three of us walking towards the gate.
"Hell yea!" Leorio said stretching his arm.
Once we reached the gate, I was placed in between the two, the others on each side of the doors, firmly pressing our hands against the cold cobblestone expressions of pure determination.
"Let's do this, Kurapika, Yuko!" Leorio said.
"Right!" "Yea!" We both responded, Before we began pushing with all our might, grunts of struggle emitting from all of our throats.
The gate didn't budge for a few moments, until it finally opened wide enough for us to get through, gasp of surprises leaving Mr. Seaquent and Mr. Zebro's throat. However before we could open it completely I turned my head over to Gon, who was watching intently, and I gave him a wide grin.
"Get over here Gon! I know that arm of yours is healed, and you're not getting out of helping even if we can do this on our own!"
Small protests and sounds of confusions came from the two teenagers beside me, despite that Gon ran over taking his sling off throwing it to the side before placing his hands on the door with Leorio.
"Right! We're saving him together!" Gon said. I could feel Kurapika's smile and hear Leorio's snicker before all of us began pushing hard enough for the doors to open completely with ease, causing me and Gon who where more centered to the door fall through on our stomachs, then sun seeping through the now open gate, causing wide smiles to emit from me and Gon which we looked at each other and laughed.
"We did it Gon, Yuko!" Kurapika said with joy.
"Heck yea we did!" "Yea!"
"Hellll Yeaaaaaaa!" Leorio said, getting into a weird stance, causing us all to laugh.
'Almost there.'
"Now then, just follow this path and head toward the mountain. The mansion should be up there somewhere. Never been there myself which is kind of embarrassing, considering I've worked here for 20 years. I'm sorry I can't be of any more help." Mr. Zebro said.
"No, sir, you have been." Gon responded with a smile.
"Yea, thanks to you, I have some embarrassing stories of Killua." I laughed.
He chuckled, a smile gleaming off his old and wrinkly face.
"It was my pleasure. I wish you four luck."
We had been walking about 20 minutes into the forest before we came to a clearing, a small gate with a dark silhouette guarding it. As we approached the said dark figure, something became clear to me that she was definitely someone I had seen before, and it was important I remembered her, because something tells me we aren't getting through otherwise.
"Please leave now. You're trespassing on private property." The girl said.
I furrowed my eyebrows, slowly becoming frustrated at the fact I was blanking on this person and who they where. I felt like I should know them, like how I know Kho, but nothing was coming into my brain.
"I can't allow you to pass without permission."
"But we called ahead, and we came in through the Testing Gate." Gon shot down, at the sound of his voice, it seemed he was growing unhappy. However I could barely focus on their conversation me being completely infatuated in figuring out who she was.
"The butler's quarters did not give you permission to enter." She fired back simply. Gon was now approaching her, and angered expression.
"What the heck do we need permission for?! I even told them I was Killua's friend and everything!" He yelled
I was starting to panic, I knew this girl had to be strong, it was only logical. And there was no way Gon was giving up without a fight, so If I don't figure out who she is and quick, she might try to kill him.
"Who knows? No one has ever received permission."
"The I guess we're gonna have to trespass!"
"I suppose so, in any case, this is where I draw the line." She said, placing her round staff against the dirt, dragging it across the gravel creating a line. "Take one step past it and I will remove you by force if necessary."
Gon began to walk forward slowly his eyes holding fierce determination.
And then all of a sudden it came to me.
"Wait! Gon stop!" I yelled stepping forward placing my hand up, Gon ceased his walking turning to me with a confused look.
I walked to him placing a hand on his shoulder, telling him I could handle this before looking back at the girl who held an expressionless face.
"Canary, how you been?" I asked casually, making her eyes widen in surprise. She quickly however got back her composure, trying to seem un affected.
"You know me?" She asked her tone completely stale.
"I always wondered what job it was, this is pretty cool. I seriously never thought I'd see you again." I smiled at her. She looked at me completely blank, however I could tell she was curious and confused, those eyes of hers held so much raw emotion, it was hard to not notice.
I made a sarcastic pout. "Aww, you really don't remember me? Come on, your my savior. Back in Meteor city."
Her face dropped showing me she was suddenly having flashbacks of our meeting, making my lips lift up in a smile. I could feel all the confused stares from my three friends, but I decided to ignore it for now, thinking I'd explain later.
"It's...It's you. That girl..." She said breathlessly.
"I finally picked a name, you wanna hear it?" I asked, she didn't respond, looking at me like I was some ghost.
"It's Yuko, I ended up finding a name book and decided to name myself that, what do you think? Do you like it? I have you to thank for it, actually I have a lot to thank you for, you where the one who sparked my yearn for adventure." I smiled.
"I-I was?" She said, I wasn't sure if she accidently said it out loud or not because she seemed really unsure about it. I nodded.
"I really hate to ask you this, because it's your job and everything and I remember how important it is for you, but I need to save someone. Someone super important to Gon and I, and I feel may be important to you as well, we both are from Meteor City after all, I know how we stick to people who care for us. And I'm willing to bet Killua wanted to be your friend at some point and you fell victim to him. So you know how important it is for him to be free of this family, so please help us." I pleaded getting closer and closer to her. She was slowly backing up, I could tell she was conflicted on what to do, she was so loyal to her Meteor City family, yet it wasn't any different from the Zoldyck's, she owed them, they gave her a ticket out of that city, a purpose. She couldn't tell what called to her more at the moment.
Gon walked up from behind me, his face serious and stern.
"We just want to see our friend. I can tell Yukos's right, you're face falters when I mention Killuas name. You're different from Mike, you have emotions, you have a heart it's written all over your face."
Canary's eyes widened as she quickly looked down, tears dropping to her hands that where clenching onto the staff tightly. She slowly looked back up at the two, with plead full eyes, making me gasp in surprise.
"Please, help him. Help Master Ki-"
Suddenly mid sentence Canary was shot down right in the head, by a yellow glowing bullet, instantly making her fall over to her side. I felt my heart drop to my stomach, quickly running over to her side, Gon, Kurapika and Leorio doing the same.
"Canary!" I yelled shaking her shoulders a little. I felt panicked, a little sick as well, feeling as it was my fault she was just shot like that, as I whipped my head over to the culprit. My eyes widened in surprise, seeing a tall woman and a big poofy purple dress a large hat that shadowed over, her face that was wrapped up, weird beam goggles things covering her eyes lids.
'That must be Killua's Mom.' My eyes then shifted over to the girl to his side. I blinked in confusion. 'I thought he only had brothers.'
"Honestly...what was that servant babbling about? She made it sound like we were being mean to Killua. How rude. She's just a bloody apprentice." She seethed under her breath, however I could hear it loud and clear, a low growl exiting my throat, as I sent her a piercing glare.
"That is quite a look. You must be Yuko, and you must be Gon. Illumi has told me all about both of you, especially you little feisty one. I must say you don't look all to exciting, quite ordinary in fact, I don't understand why he talked you up as if you where special."
I flinched in surprise. 'He's talking me...up?' I thought.
"Well anyways, Killua is aware that you've been on the premises for some time now. I have a message from Killua that he asked me to relay to you both:
"Thank you for coming. I'm happy that you did. but I can't see you right now. I'm sorry."
That tis the end for now, I'm so happy we are making head way through this arc, i really can't wait to start witting the heavens arena arc! Well anyways I hope you enjoyed, please comment down below any theories or concerns you may have with my story, and I do hope you'll be back to read more. Good bye for now!