"Home sweet home!" announced Gon as he showed his friends proudly his home: a hut fused into a very large and old-looking tree.
"Wow, it's about time!" said Neon, smiling brightly. "We've been walking for days already! I'm so tired!"
Leorio rolled his eyes. "Hmp. How can you say that when all you had been doing was hanging on our backs ever since the start of our journey on foot." It was his turn to carry Neon on a piggyback, while the baggage of the girl was distributed on the backpacks of the three other males.
"My arm hurts already!" complained Neon. "And your back smells! Don't you have any perfume? I should have given you some; you smell like a horse!"
Killua and Gon laughed, while Kurapika gave his doctor-friend a "please-understand-her-she's-just-a-kid" apologetic look.
Leorio groaned, then knelt down as Neon gracefully untangled herself from him. She tiptoed and looked around. "Wow, nice garden, but where's our house?"
Gon grinned and pointed to his home.
Her eyes widened. "You mean that's not a birdhouse?"
Killua's hackle rose with what he felt was a blatant insult to his best friend's house. "Listen, Neon, if you want us not to throw you to that forest so you would be fed to the wild animals there," he said through gritted teeth as he pointed to the woods. "Then I suggest that you learn to be polite."
"Kurapika!" she cried.
"Killua!" sighed the bodyguard.
"What?!" asked the Zordick, exasperated.
At that moment, a tall young man with pleasant-looking face appeared on the balcony. "Gon! Oh wow, you're home!!!"
"Aunt Mito!!!" squealed Gon and Killua at the same time.
Leorio smiled. "Aunt Mito…she's…cute." He joined the rushing youngsters who were heading for Mito. "Aunt Mito!!!"
Kurapika sighed, then turned to Neon. "Let's go and meet Gon's aunt."
She looked uncertain. "W-Will she like me, Kurapika?"
He paused and gazed at the girl. Neon Nostrad was used to people coping with her and not the other way around. Perhaps, meeting new people on her initiative was a foreign experience to her. He smiled reassuringly at her then took her hand. "I'm sure she will, Neon-sama. Everyone loves you." He winced with his white lie. Her own father loved her only because she gives him the access to power and enormous wealth, and the people around her care for her only because of her nen ability as a lovely Ghost writer.
"I don't think it's true, but because you said so, I will believe," she said quietly, looking at him shyly. She hesitantly took a step towards Mito, and the latter noticed her.
"Ah, Aunt Mito, that's Neon Nostrad, the boss of my other best friend, Kurapika," said Gon, all smiles.
"How do you do, young lady?" asked Mito, smiling at her warmly. She blushed, and mumbled something.
"She said she's pleased to meet you," said Kurapika hurriedly.
"Ah, and you work for her," said Mito, looking at him this time. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your job?"
"I am her bodyguard, Mito-san," he replied courteously.
Gon's aunt shook her head. "You must call me 'Aunt Mito' too, please. And her bodyguard! Ah, she must be a special young lady then."
"Very special," he agreed, ignoring Killua and Leorio's pointed glances at his way.
"Let's go inside, everyone. Gon here didn't tell me that you are coming, so I wasn't able to prepare anything special." She led the way for the five.
"Now as I cook, I suggest that you all take your baths first. I'm sure your journey here had been most tiring," said Mito. "Gon, take care of your friends, ok?"
"Yes, Aunt Mito!" Gon turned to Killua. "You want to take a bath already?"
"Yep!"
"How about you guys?" he asked, looking at the remaining three.
Leorio smiled. "No thanks. I think I'll go to the kitchen and try to see if I can help Aunt Mito with anything."
Neon raised a brow. "Won't I be better if you take a bath first, Leorio? You smell like a wild animal, and Aunt Mito might cook you."
The doctor's face heated. "Why you-"
"Maybe she's right," said Killua. "You kinda smell, actually."
"Fine, fine. Where's the bath?" he asked, groaning.
"And you, Kurapika?" asked Gon.
He paused, then looked at his boss.
"Kurapika?" asked Killua. "It's just yes or no, I mean we won't tax you heavily if you give us a wrong answer. Er, do we have a wrong answer with that question?"
"Will you be fine while I go take a bath?" asked Kurapika at last, looking at Neon.
She smiled. "Sure."
He sighed, relieved. "Good. In that case-" His eyes widened when she began to unbutton her clothes. "N-Neon…Neon-sama! What are you doing?!!!"
"We're taking a bath, right?" she asked, puzzled.
"Y-Yes, but you'll have to wait for us to finish," he explained hurriedly.
"Ah no, bathing alone is no fun!" she complained.
He ignored the snickers if Killua and Leorio. "Neon-sama, listen, you can't take a bath when other people are present. Cleansing of body is a sacred thing that only the person involved should handle, when he or she reaches the age of maturity. Only infants are allowed to bathe with someone else, for their brain is still not yet processed to know how to sanitize themselves."
"That sounded good," said Leorio. "I didn't know how scientific and religious bathing can be at the same time."
"But Elaiza's with me when I bathe!" she protested. "If no one will be with me to take a bath, who would brush my hair and scrub my back?"
"Oh no! That's awful!" cried Killua in mock horror.
Kurapika looked at him warningly, then turned to his boss. "We'll ask Aunt Mito later, ok?"
"Ah, it's still lonely to bathe with no one to talk to!" she cried. "Are you sure I can't take a bath with you guys?"
"We don't mind…" said Leorio slowly.
"Leorio!" snapped Kurapika.
"Hey, we don't want the young lady lonely now, do we?" the doctor said defensively.
The bodyguard turned his attention once more to his ward. "You can go unpack while you wait for us."
"But Elaiza does the unpacking for me!" she protested.
"You should have brought Elaiza along," said Gon worriedly. "Neon-san will have a hard time living with us and adjusting to our way of living."
Kurapika hated to admit it, but Gon may be right. He sighed.
Neon noticed that, and she looked down. "Ah, yoroshii. I don't want to trouble Kurapika. I will just wait outside." She sat down by the door. "Hurry up, ok?"
The four looked at each other, then collectively groaned.
"Your turn now, Nostrad," said Killua as he wiped his hair dry.
Neon excitedly took the towel and robes that Kurapika handed her. "Call me when we will eat, ok? You can bring me a tray of food here."
Killua's eyes widened. "What?!" He looked at Gon, who was grinning. "Can you believe that? I don't even have the same privilege in my house!"
She turned to her bodyguard. "Bring me my food."
Kurapika shook his head firmly. "I'm sorry, Neon-sama, you must join us downstairs when we eat."
It was the first time that someone deliberately disobeyed her, save for Daltzorne who was always the one to break the news of her father not coming to visit her or her shopping trip cancelled. Her eyes crinkled in anger. "Don't you dare talk to me! Don't come near me! I hate you!" She barged into the bath and slammed the door shut.
"You did the right thing, Kurapika," said Leorio, patting his shoulders. "Although for me, the definition of your job borders more on babysitting than bodyguarding."
No sooner that Kurapika had finished unpacking Neon's things when he heard her scream. He stood up, panicked. Did she bump her head on the tub and saw blood? Did Leorio peep on her? Damn!
He kicked the door open and found Neon's face buried on her hands, shaking her head repeatedly.
"What's the matter?" he asked, rushing to her side, uncaring whether the edge of his clothes was getting wet.
"The soap got into my eyes," she whispered fretfully. "Itai! I'm going to be blind!"
"No, you won't," he said firmly, inwardly relieved that it wasn't anything serious. "Here, show me your face and we'll take the soap off."
She did as told, and he scooped water on to her eyes. Awhile later, she sighed. "It's gone." She then frowned. "Hey, who told you to come to me and talk to me? I hate you!"
"Do you?" he asked, mouth twitching. "I saved you from soap blindness."
"I hate you! Get away from me! Away!!!" she shrieked, splashing water at him in an effort to make him go away. He tried to block the water with his hands, but knowing it wasn't doing any good, tried to grab her hands instead.
She gasped and tried to pull away, and he ended up falling over to the tub. "K-Kurapika!" She quickly pulled him up. "Kurapika, are you ok? Why did you jump into the tub?"
"I didn't," he choked as he sputtered water. "You pulled me here!"
"I-I did?" she asked.
"Yes!" he snapped. "In fact-" He stopped talking when he noticed that her loincloth wrapped around her breast was starting to loosen. Before he could stop himself, he re-knotted the tie in front of her chest.
Just then, Gon came in. "I heard a scream and-" He froze when he saw the two in the tub.
"It's not what you think," said Kurapika through gritted teeth as he passed the plate to the boy.
"I know that," said Gon cheerfully. "You've been telling me that over and over since two hours ago."
"Just making sure you got your facts straight," sighed the Kuruta.
Killua and Leorio just stared at them, puzzled. No one would speak about what they were talking about.
Neon, on the other hand, was eating cheerfully. "Yummy! Why don't Papa's chefs make dishes as good as this?"
Mito laughed. "Maybe I'll ask your Papa to order your food from us here. That will be extra income for our town."
"Papa is dead," shrugged Neon.
Mito fell silent, and looked at the males. She certainly had a lot of questions to ask them tonight.
tsuzuku