Standard disclaimers applied.

Some characters are slightly OC.

A.Note: Thanks to all who reviewed! . I promise to make the chapters here longer next time! .

IV. The First Capsule

Kurapika continued to run, and run, and run. But still, he couldn't see any door along that corridor. He seemed to be running in a never-ending path until…

"What! Dead end?!" exclaimed Kurapika, frustrated.

A stone wall blocked the path, together with the humungous statue of Leorio standing in front of him.

"Maybe there's a secret passage here or something."

He examined the statue.

"Perhaps a secret passage or door would be revealed if I do something with this stupid statue!"  so, Kurapika jumped high and pressed its nose.

Nothing happened.  

He then knocked its head…twisted its arm…turned the statue around…

…still, nothing happened.

Kurapika began to lose his temper already and, out of annoyance, he just cut the statue's head with his chain.

((Swish!!— crack— crack— crack…— rumble— rumble— CRASHHH!!!))

The statue broke into pieces and the wall in front of him finally collapsed. A room was revealed— a kitchen.

Meanwhile, at the entrance…

"Was it just me or did I really hear Killua scream a while ago?" Leorio wondered. He still tried to listen for any sound coming at the corridor where Killua ran, although he knew that the thick, wooden doors and stonewalls of the house blocked any noise coming from other rooms.

"Nyahah!! I didn't know that Killua screams like a girl!"

Leorio then turned back, walked towards the right side of the middle staircase and had a monologue .  .

"Go on my friends! Search! Search! Search!! When they find that TxHCard, they will be able to help me find the other hidden treasures in this house smiled greedily"

"Why not search it alone, dufus?!" asked his…conscience (?)

"That stupid card! It's very difficult for me to search it alone [A/N: He can't even find the capsules], so I need some 'help'."

"What if your 'friends' refuse to help you?"

"Then I'll imprison them in the cat…cat…"

"Catacombe."

"Yes, catacombe [A/N: catacombe, according to the Webster Dictionary, means an underground cemetery] until they hand me the TxHCard! Bwahahah!!evil laughter"

His conscience finally left him in peace.

"I know stomping a tile here would reveal a hidden stairway going down there at the cat..cat..whatever!"  he thought. "But I forgot which one! Other tiles are traps!" he nervously gazed at the orange, marble tiles in front of him [A/N: There were about half a hundred of them O.o] and sweatdrops began to trickle down his forehead.

He then closed his eyes and tried to trust his intuition. He began pointing at the tiles.

"Eenie- Minnie- Miney- Mo! Reveal the stairs as I said so!!" when he opened his eyes, he saw his index finger pointing at the centermost tile.

"Ah…the center tile! Ok, here I go!!" he stretched his right leg with all his might to reach that tile and stomped it. 

The ground then began shaking.

"W- WHAT'S- H-H-HAPPE-NING?!!"

A small portion of the floor, the part where Leorio was standing, mysteriously disappeared. It created a hole which caused Leorio…

"AAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh…………………….…………." 

…to fall into oblivion.

Back to Kurapika…

"A kitchen?"  as Kurapika went inside, he realized that he was extremely thirsty already for all the running he did. So, he grabbed a glass from the table there, opened the refrigerator, and got a cool, refreshing water from the pitcher.

While drinking, he noticed a small, blue, oblong thing, just beside the pitcher of water.

"A CAPSULE!" he picked it up and examined it excitedly.

"Now what will I do with this thing? Ah, probably there's a message inside it." he then removed the capsule's half, and instead of finding a powdery substance inside, he found a small paper.

Written on that paper was 'NT'.

"'NT'? What does 'NT' mean?" Kurapika wondered.

"Buzz, buzz…"

"Huh?"

"Buzz, buzz…"

"EEEeeeeekkk!! Shoo! Shoo!! "

A dozen flies suddenly appeared from nowhere. 

"I said shoo! Shoo! SHOOOOOOO!!!"

"Maybe 'NT' stands for 'No Trash'! The TxH Card might be located to a very clean place." he thought as he gulped the remaining water in the glass and decided to leave soon.

When Kurapika rushed towards the nearest exit [A/N: not the exit going to the crumbled statue of Leorio but to another exit leading to a corridor near the dining room] to escape from the black flies…

"Huh?"

…he suddenly noticed a moving shadow at the corridor outside. The shadow became bigger and bigger— someone was approaching.

Kurapika stopped and readied his self. He didn't know if it's a friend or foe. As that 'someone' came nearer, Kurapika could hear it breathing loudly like Darth Vader.