Chapter 12

Landlord and tenant

Saturday 10:30am

"Oh my god Alluka! You've done all your homework?!" the tall and spindly maths teacher dressed in a drab dark blue Maoist looking suit, exclaimed with mock amazement. Alluka didn't appreciate Saitou carrying on in front of him like that, waving his workbook around in the air like it was the latest transcript of the bible direct from god but could helplessly do nothing against a teacher. Sure, he had his brother's wide arsenal of devastating lines and sallies, but Saitou was the maths teacher.

Some lines you learn not to cross, Allu, his father's dry voice rang out in his frustrated head. Yes dad, he wanted to bitterly reply, but Saitou seemed to be spurred on by his open ire. To Saitou however, this was the best chance of getting back at one of the most monstrous urchins ever to have disgraced the world and he would milk such a rare and infrequent chance for all it was worth.

"And look at this! The lines on his algorithms all seem to have been drawn with a ruler as well!" he gasped with heavy exaggeration, clutching at his heart like he was suffering an on coming apoplexy and the class snickered with him.

"Well Killua," Yahiko hissed from behind the boy "I see you've been fulfilling your motherly duties quite nicely."

And to the surprise of everyone who sat within hearing range of yet another jab by Yahiko, Killua turned around to face him directly with a look of sheer good humor but was shaking his head furiously.

"Not me this time Yahiko, I could never manage such a decent job on Allu. Hunter Works has finally announced the who the remainder of the cast are, and the woman playing the part of 'mum' is doing the most fantastic job at out place."

"Oh." Said Yahiko with a sudden loss of words. A friendly response was the last thing he'd expect coming from Killua after all the years he's hassled him.

"And you see Karuto?" Killua continued to declare to those who were finally bored by Saitou's (rather immature – you had to admit) antics and were hankering for something else to pour their distracted attention onto.

"She's my new 'sister'. Dad says that I should get into the habit of thinking of them as family constantly so that I actually act like a child that's part of a big family. Ha! Imagine that, me a part of a family with five children."

"It must be like World War III in your house then." Naruto raised his eyebrow in comic disbelief that had everyone chuckling. But Killua frankly didn't mind – he found it all refreshingly amusing.

"Oh – you bet. You have no idea just how rough things can get between Karuto and Allu when they really put their minds to it."

Kaéry turned to the girl with the features comparable to that of a refined porcelain doll. "Never had competition before huh Karuto? Always had two elder ni-chans doting over you, reacting to your every whim?"

"If they're ever at home," Karuto dropped the pen she was using to scribe the notes from the board and rolled her eyes, flicking her dark hair back at the same time. "Aniki's not talking to mum – at all. Last night when we were having dinner, he just sat there and didn't even touch his plate. He's been gone for a month, doesn't even bring me back a souvenir from New York and is on some holy crusade against mum's orders."

"What orders?" quipped up Yoh.

Karuto rolled her eyes once more, but with added pathos. "Illumi's got a part in Hunter Works and doesn't want it. He's got an even bigger part than me and he's never even had actor's training before. Doesn't want a role in Hunter x Hunter – gees…isn't that like throwing perfectly good money down the drain?"

"I believe your brother would have much more important things to do." Such as planning revenge perhaps? Kaéry finished the last thought with a troubling worries. He was about to get around to telling Karuto that he had solved the mystery disappearance of her brother, only to receive a call on Friday morning, a most rude and ungrateful call if ever, from Karuto telling him just how useless he had been during the entire week and that he couldn't even find out whether Illumi had left the country or not.

Apparently, the man had gone to New York to attend the autumn fashion shows. He could go up to the man and demand to see his passport – but dwelling on the thought made him want to shiver. He already knew just exactly what kind of man this Illumi was – it would be his own untimely disappearance that may eventuate if he decided to pursue the matter without caution. Utmost caution.

But the most pressing thing that he needed to do at first was to get a good look at the man. If Abel and Bunchuu had been serious about beating Illumi up and sending him the right message (stay away from Hisoka or else), then you'd be lucky if you could leave hospital after a two weeks. Presumably, Illumi was walking around in broad daylight now – walking – not limping or leaning on a walking stick, for that would attract suspicious looks. He'd like to see his face as well – knowing Abel, that cowardly fool would have taken great pleasure in disfiguring someone who had looks that could rival his own.

Karuto was deliberately looking away, ignoring him to show him that she was still upset about his lack of use during the whole debacle. Kaéry narrowed his eyes, firmly standing by his own findings and conclusions. He thought that she had spunk at first, on the first day with her grand and impressive entrance. He instantly assessed her to be another attention-seeker, much like Xelan and himself. But throwing temper tantrums? That was just a sheer display of a lack of class and dignity. And Prince Kaéry prided himself in being a man…well, child for the moment, of great class and dignity. The Tuesday dinner that he'd tried to arrange fell to pieces before he even got there with her. She had an incredible grouch, and when it came down to grumpy, pity the person who stood in her way. Perhaps her mother had failed to remind her that a lady must never show her ugly side to her man unless she is sure her man would love her unconditionally.

Love unconditionally? Karuto? You've got to be joking – Kaéry smiled wickedly at the suggestion. But the trail of thought continued – who did he love unconditionally anyway? There was Grandpa, Dad, Mum, his uncle…sometimes, Xelan…

He felt surprised as the last name surfaced in his mind. Xe?

Kaéry quickly glanced over to his friend, who had chosen to sit to the diagonal of him today, because Karuto had taken his usual spot to his right. He caught Kaéry's violet gaze with his large cerulean eyes and turned his nose slightly at him, daring him to make a comment.

Xe? He's angry with me. He'd been friends with Xelan long enough to read information from the slightest gesture and movement of that quiet boy. He worried.

"Hey Xe." He called out softly, still aware that Saitou might just carry on with the whole ridiculous taunting and move to different target if one of them proved to be vulnerable.

"Yes Kay?" Xelan said archly with barely suppressed venom.

Kaéry hastily grabbed his books and slipped into the empty seat in front of him. Xelan was still steadily glaring at him. Everyone else couldn't tell, but Kaéry knew that there were special looks of repressed iciness and cruelty that Xelan gave to those he especially found repulsive.

"What are you doing after this? I was thinking that we could probe around the internet for a bit on information about Vallanor."

"I'm busy this afternoon." Came the immediate and short answer, as if it had been prepared long ago and was just waiting for the right question to release it.

The ebony haired boy couldn't be bothered to hide his surprise. Xelan had never denied him anything before – whenever he made a suggestion, the younger boy always consented. Always. Haltingly, he asked:

"So…what are you doing this afternoon?"

"Jogging around the block with Shura." Xelan continued to speak with his voice higher pitched and sharper than usual. Kaéry blinked a bit, wondering what the hell was wrong with Xelan, but before he could speak, the trickster's son answered his thoughts. As usual.

"You have your fancy distractions – I am certainly entitled have mine. Don't expect me to be at you beck and call all the time."

That's when Kaéry scowled but tried to hide the menace. The muscles on his neck tightened as he fought for self control over a threatening and imminent anger. He knew by now that his face must have turned stark white, that his mouth was slack and perhaps slightly open, and his own fine slender fingers hideously clawed and digging into his textbooks. His voice would be reduced to the frostiest whisper, calmer than the ocean before a storm and more terrible than the furies of hell. He'd gotten angry like this once, at Xelan as well, but he vehemently vowed never to unleash his fury on him ever like that again. Making Xelan cry was like stabbing a hundred knives into his own heart.

But then his mobile phone rang and he had to pick it up. All the while he listened to words droning from the other end of the phone, he never took his gaze off Xelan. The latter had turned away and was idly doodling small pictures in his notebook. The way he narrowed his eyes was just a testament to just how disgruntled he was feeling.

Damn it Xe…what are you talking about?

Kaéry sighed as the voice finally crashed to an end on the other side and immediately began to pack his bags. His purple haired friend tried to pretend that he wasn't interested in what he was doing, but Kay managed to catch the one small flicker of sky blue eyes in his direction.

"And where do you think you're going young man?" Saitou abruptly broke from his hooliganism and laid a pair of piercing amber eyes on Kay. Saitou suddenly felt the prickling of the fine hairs rising on his arm. The glare that Prince Kaéry was giving him held a burning a violet fire so intense that it could easily consume him and leave nothing but a pile of ashes.

"Business. Something urgent requires my attention back at the office. I've got to go."

"What about your homework?" The teacher refused to be browbeaten by his student. But Kaéry only snarled the more nastily.

"Stuff the maths. Xe and I have advanced a million miles beyond elementary mathematics. I could do all the exercises in that textbook in under 2 minutes doing one handed hand-stand pushups."

And with that, the young boy rushed out of the room still fumbling with his bag strap and trying to put his jacket on at the same time, a dark frown on his handsome face.


Three weeks later…

Friday, 6:30am Hunter Works

Kuroro yawned and hoped no one saw his tiredness when he pushed open the large metal doors leading to studio 5. He shouldn't have been with the Ex Club last night, listening to some wild rumors and stories about one of them going head to head with the underworld gangs and mobs in the shady Northside. Northside was a place that you didn't easily step into – it was an area to the north of the city that was filthy, dirty, dark and lawless. Murder and robbery were daily exercises of disposition and police generally steered clear of the area – they weren't paid enough to go in there. People would dump dead bodies into Northside to conceal a crime, and usually, they did. The people who lived there were poor, wretched and miserable. That made them all the more dangerous and desperate. They knew no mercy and expected none and were as compassionate as a cat toying with its kill. He'd played a cop once, on the hunt of a serial killer in a game of cat and mouse in a rendition of Northside. Even the set gave him shivers of fear and he'd try to avoid going to the very northern tips of Fame Court whenever he could. Where Fame Court ends, Northside begins.

"Dancho!" Paku waved, looking just as groggy as he was. He drearily nodded and ambled over to her area of the studio, towards the make-up rooms.

"Good morning Paku. How are you today?"

"Not good enough it seems." She muttered gruffly and sneaked a peek inside the make up room and grimaced at her leader. Kuroro raised an eyebrow.

"They're in there." Pakunoda gestured for him to have a look. The man gave another weary sigh.

"Lets go grab a coffee instead – I don't want to get involved" Pakunoda responded by rolling her eyes, expressing similar sentiments and trailed after him.

At the café on level 2, they found another small group of actors also sipping on strong, black coffee – Friday mornings were always tough being the last day of the working week, but they usually hung out near the make up and change rooms. These days, people tended to avoid those particular rooms whenever they happened to be in there. Kuroro sighed, thinking it rather sad that it was only the crack of dawn and he'd already sighed twice, and unfortunately, could see another dozen lot to come.

Nothing had been going right ever since the Director required Illumi to spend the mornings with them to observe their acting. He arrived at the same time as all his other co-workers and was allowed to leave at lunch time. Things were a lot easier after lunch, but before then, mornings seemed so charged and treacherous. One wrong word could spill into a chaos of harsh words and hurt looks. The first week for Illumi was dominated by a dwindling and dying hope in his eyes and the small, tight smile that he pulled whenever someone got close enough to him as if to speak to him. After the Fantasia incident, half the actors at Hunter Works were uneasy and suspicious in their attitude towards him and like Hisoka, felt it was in their safety and interests to steer clear of Illumi. A select few, mainly among the women, were convinced that Illumi was some psychotic lunatic and gave him looks of daggers whenever he strayed too close to them. And the handful of actors remaining found themselves stuck in the middle – they didn't perceive the new actor to be that dangerous and didn't share Hisoka's animosity but likewise didn't want to attract Hisoka's unattractive bad side either.

Towards the end of the first week however, Franklin finally made a stand. He knew Illumi the least having missed half of the notable events as he had been at home nursing his sick child. On Friday, when the hairdresser had suddenly called in sick, there was no one around who could help pin up Neon's hair into that sock tube so that it could partly defy gravity. The director was thankfully running a bit late but all the people in the make-up room were desperately panicking. The new Zoldick aniki then stepped in and offered to do up Neon's hair. He was surprisingly very good and proficient, knowing exactly which wax and gel to use and when. Within moments, Neon's hair was perfect for the shoot, but she still glowered at him through her large blue eyes and threw a glass of water in his face. Illumi's large eyes widened, stunned, then quietly left to mop up in the bathroom.

"I think everyone is seriously over-reacting." Franklin had declared over lunch on the same day of that incident. "This is seriously going to far – I mean, we are all actors of Hunter Works right? Shouldn't we treat each other with decency and respect?"

Leorio rudely snorted and stretched his lips into a nasty grin. Of late, Illumi had taken his spot as 'the most detested in the building' and he happened to like it that way.

"You weren't there that day, Frank." He said as a matter of factly. "Ubo, Bashou and Kuroro were pulling at Illumi with Nobu and Phinx trying to pry those hands off Hisoka's throat to no avail. If Kuroro hadn't been quick thinking, Hisoka might not be with us anymore."

The big man frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about Leorio. The Illumi I see at Hunter Works is so harmless that he'd squeak if he saw a mouse."

"Then you see wrong." Hisoka said flatly, looking up from his food. "He's not the real Illumi – that's just some sick act he's putting up to mock and fool us. I suggest you peel your eyes open before he makes an idiot out of you too."

Franklin took offence at that, and it showed by the way he had stirred uncomfortably in his seat and his clenching fists. "You would know wouldn't you Hisoka, I mean, after all, you're the one who kicked the shit out of him and ruined his face."

Everyone had to put down their knives and forks in a chorus of metallic clatters and look up – Franklin had raised a subject that could not be ignored.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The hell you don't." Franklin had said, voice heavy with sarcasm. "But I happened to see all the ugly bruises on his face. Now lets see who hates Illumi's guts more than you…hmm…no one?"

"Um, Franklin-san" Shalnark interrupted quietly in an attempt to neutralize the agitated atmosphere. "What bruises are you talking about? We've seen Illumi's face," Shal looked imploringly around the tables at all the actors for support "and we don't see any blemish or bruising whatsoever. It would help if you explained."

"Of course I will," the big man had replied with his eyes still trained on the magician. "It was in the bathroom – after Neon-chan so rudely spilled water over him after he helped to fix her hair. He was right there, in front of the mirror washing his face. He wiped the makeup off and I swear half his face if black and blue. I even saw him apply another layer of makeup afterwards to conceal them."

"You're kidding." Gon muttered incredulously. He caught a good glimpse of Illumi upstairs only minutes ago before he decided to join Killua down in the café for the blissful rejuvenating potion that was coffee and he swore that there was not a trace of dirt on the pale skin.

"It could be heavy duty makeup." Shizuku offered quietly. "Some concealers are just so amazing these days that with the proper application and another layer of foundation, you can hide just about anything."

"But wouldn't that leave a pasty and powdery look on the face?" Feitan asked.

"The most expensive types of concealer and foundation are liquid. Lancome has a new creamy foundation these days but it's so damn expensive that I only use it for formal balls and other functions."

"He was dabbing away with a small brush," Franklin resumed in a harsh voice "I saw him literally paint half a tube of concealer on. And yes – that stuff is amazing – even the darkest bruises just seemed to melt away and after ten minutes, he looked like a normal person again."

But Neon-chan had taken the news the worst – not only was Illumi some sort of deranged and homicidal psychopath, she now envisioned him as some cross-dressing, transvestite psychopath and even told him so to his face. 'Make-up wearing freak' were the exact words she used.

"Franklin-san says you use makeup. Get away from me you freak." She blurted out when he had offered to help her take the pins out of her hair.

And when they all left for lunch, Franklin remained and had worriedly wondered why Illumi sat in front of his mirror with a blank and vacant expression on his face. Kuroro, being one of the slower and less dexterous actors to change out of his costume, overheard Illumi and Franklin talking.

"Why did you tell them, Franklin-san?" came the soft, almost trance-like voice.

"Sorry dude, I was trying to help you out."

There was a slight pause.

"Thanks for trying," came the voice laced with fatigue "but don't talk to me again – or they'll hate you too."

There was the sound of a bag being unzipped.

"Here, you've got two children right? These should make their day."

On the weekend after the first week, the Ex Club met for lunch out in one of the new restaurants set up along Glamour Isle. There were just four of them – Hisoka, Abel, Yomi and Alucard, all sipping away on vintage red wine and feasting on semi-rare slabs of steaks. It was during this meeting that Hisoka finally asked if anyone of them knew or had a hand in Illumi's injuries.

"Bunchuu and I did it for you, Hisoka." Abel had steadily replied, quite at ease with his conscience it seemed for a casual and graceful gaze settled comfortably on Hisoka's stunned features. "I'm surprised that he's walking around though – thought we took him out pretty thoroughly."

"You should go easy on that boy," Alucard murmured as he sipped on his latte. "You know he's got tough backers – apparently Saga, your other co-actor, went to the same high school as he did, as well as the other woman who thoroughly deprived you of your pride and dignity the other night on that karaoke evening, remember?"

His arrogant friend scowled terribly but firmly fixed his face into one of dispassionate reminiscence. "And I also note that one of you has sent that Rogina an invitation to join."

Yomi couldn't help chuckling. "Yes, we just couldn't resist, but she rejected anyway. Ah…playing hard to get is definitely one way of holding our attention. We're keeping watch over the progress of Galaxy Institute."

And so with Illumi's injuries confirmed, Hisoka reported back to the Hunter actors. The second week was possibly only slightly better. The clown toned down his open disapproval for Illumi and used his cutting remarks sparingly but the partial attempt at the meager reconciliation it seemed too late. The first week had done enough damage to thoroughly ostracize the new actor. He arrived earliest in the mornings and took up a seat in the make up room, usually the one farthest from the door and took out his work materials. Papers, pens, coloured pencils, and laboured away with a fanatic's fervour and detail. He knew by then that no one would approach him, nor deign to even say "good morning" to him. With his black bag tucked neatly underneath his table and head bent low, Illumi was reveling in the pains and humiliation of being ignored. Only when they were all in front of the director did he masquerade as the happy young man who didn't see anything wrong with the world and now and then bestowed them all a cute, friendly smile devoid of what he truly felt inside.

Unfortunately, the mild equilibrium that had stabilized throughout Illumi's second and continuing third week at Hunter Works abruptly tipped yesterday the when team of actors, taking chance to bask in the warmth of the summer sun, were playing catch with a football in the park and accidentally threw one astray that hit Illumi. He had been sitting peacefully underneath an oak, minding his own business as Hisoka had coldly instructed, some way off from all the action and sipping soup in a styrofoam cup whilst doodling in his sketch book when the football stuck him on the side of the head without warning. The crimson red of the minestrone soup spilled in the air, mingled with a frightened cry of pain.

"Oh shit." Hanzo, who was the one who had lobbed the ball off course, exclaimed. He hesitantly half walked, half jogged, to the crumpled figure lying on the dirt. Illumi tried to prop himself up and grimaced when he noted that the back of his left hand had been scalded by the boiling hot soup and his work soggy and in ruins, plastered with bits of potato, carrot, celery and tomato. Ignoring the mottled red and pink skin or the pain shooting up his nerves on his left hand, he looked around to see what had hit him.

"Oh Illumi – I'm so sorry…I was trying this new curve ball technique and…"

A look of gratification crossed Illumi's upset expression and he brightened visibly at Hanzo's decency in admitting his wrong and apologizing. Killua had also come to pick the ball and tsked painfully.

"Aniki, your hand is bleeding." He noted grimly and dropped the football to examine the peeling skin and the fat droplets of blood plopping audibly onto the sketchbook beneath.

It was then that Hisoka made a series of inappropriate comments, involving vocabulary such as "charlatan" "fraud" and "crybaby", several angry glares passed and a few more curses from both parties had them both at each other's necks. Illumi finally snapped, or so they had all dreadfully thought, but he was uncharacteristically weak. The well-built magician kicked Illumi off him with surprising ease and launched himself into a vicious counter attack. The disturbing thing about that moment had been the fact that some actors had actually stepped back to cheer Hisoka on and the rest were unwilling to move and intervene.

Two bodies rolled on the grass, snarling and grunting whilst about a dozen people stood around hapless. Hisoka definitely had the upper hand, and when those self same hands themselves locked around Illumi's slender neck, Kuroro finally emerged from his state of stupor to pull Hisoka off. Spitting with rage and still grabbing onto the broken man lying on the ground, he managed to latch onto his shirt and ripped it open as more actors finally helped to pull him away.

Gon had gasped with horror when he caught sight of the myriad of ugly bruises centered mainly along Illumi's ribs before the other man hastily wrapped his shirt together again. What struck out more were the protruding bones of the ribcage – the only other time when Gon had seen such a miserable state of the human body were on those posters that the social education teacher brought in to scare you from adopting the path of anorexia in order to maintain the fashionable image.

"Are you satisfied now?!" Illumi had screamed at Hisoka but his voice came out as a strangled harsh croak. His hair was a riot and a mess, hopelessly knotted, entwined with the twigs and blades of grass and his anguished face streaked with tears. He coughed violently, his thin frame shuddering under the convulsions. "Are we even now?! Can you forgive me now?!"

Hisoka's response had been to add more fuel to the fire. Not long, they had two grown men on their hands screaming their heads off at each other, hurling horrible lies and abuse.

"Damnit!" Phinx roared, restraining Hisoka to the best of his capabilities. "Thou art going to attract every journo and reporter in this god forsaken town!" He dug his heels in the ground and gritted his teeth, pushing against Hisoka's struggling body with all his might. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an even nastier sight however and redoubled his efforts in trying to suppress the man.

"The Prince of Slime is coming you idiot!" he hissed whilst everyone gasped.

Darien von Drosgen was out prowling the streets again after his face had recovered from Vash's onslaught a month ago. Gladis' Café was the first victim and the cheery restaurant became restricted and denied to them as Darien lounged there in his spare time with some other slutty girls from Serenity pictures. In order to avoid him, the actors had to go out of their way to the quieter corners of the city, but it took too long to get there and back during the lunch break, hence the café on level 2 became a busy gathering ground again.

Kuroro's younger brother had observed the fight from the start and was delighted by the mayhem. He strolled over casually with Chibi Usa and Rei by his side and a wide smile on mockery and derision on his face. They all heard him chuckling from afar, taunting them, demeaning them with his superior arrogance.

Tuxedo Mask approached them all and brazenly stepped right in between the pair who were still fighting to rip each other's hair out (actually, Hisoka had managed two handfuls of Illumi's long fine raven strands but had several bite marks along his arm). He deliberately gave a cruel and condescending smirk at the pair of them and then threw his head back to laugh aloud.

"What are you doing here Drosgen? Hoping to get another date with Meryl?" Leorio had asked with almost the same amount of taunting that Darien now framed on his face. That earned Leorio a dark snarl and the silent admiration of his fellow actors.

"No," Darien managed to reply without any anger, only sheer amusement. "I'm here to get a good glimpse of the two girls bitch fighting." He spun on his heels smartly to behold Illumi with phony pity in his eyes and Illumi stopped struggling against the hands pulling at him. Darien's hand slowly went up to brush the strands out of his face with poisonous care. Illumi bravely succeeded in not flinching.

"Poor sweety," Darien cooed, turning the full force of his charm on to him, his eyes deep in those depthless black ones. "I knew that Hisoka was no good for you. He's a lying, cheating scum bag. I've seen rot at the bottom of my shoe that had more wit and integrity than him. The man's a dirty philistine and has the manners of the most despicable and downtrodden pig. Leave that ugly and ungrateful slob and come with me – I can show you a real good time, I promise. Forget about Hisoka, god knows he's probably molested a fair number of children in his time – "

"Shut the fuck up!" Illumi screamed. His fist wildly whipped around with the speed and force reminiscent to a cannon ball being hurled out of the cannon by a barrel full of gunpowder and punched Darien squarely on the jaw.

And Darien, aka the Top Hat wearing, rose throwing prick, the false charmer of women, Degenerate Manifest, fell face forward onto the ground like a felled tree. He crashed with a dull thud.

All the Hunter actors were shocked for approximately four seconds thus didn't notice Rei and Chibi Usa fleeing the scene. Hisoka disengaged from the people who had been trying to hold him down (who now had looks of astonishment on their faces and gaping mouths) and cautiously stepped forth then prodded the prone body with his toe. It did not respond. Then gradually, Illumi simultaneously emitted sounds of hysterical sobbing and laughter that he couldn't suppress or stop. In fact, the more he tried to hold it back, the harder he sobbed and the harder he laughed. And everyone else soon burst into roaring laughter, clutching desperately at their stomachs with droplets of tears squeezed from the corner of their eyes.

"Illumi downed Tuxedo Mask with one punch!" Nobunaga howled and bellowed his unfettered and unshackled joy slapping his own thigh even though it had turned bright red. He didn't care – he was too pleased by with the moment.

"EVERYONE! Put a foot on him!" Hanzo urged as he rapidly set up the tripod and his camera that he always carried with him. After all, Hanzo considered himself to be an amateur artists in his private moments alone.

"Kuroro, you can grind your boot into his head. Illumi-san, you may have the honour of jabbing your foot into his butt! Come on! Trophy positions please!"

The bald ninja had quickly adjusted the camera into focus. "Leave a spot for me too! Killua, Gon, you're too far right, get in closer!" he urged, then ran to join the group.

"All right guys…three…two…one…CHEESE!" Hanzo grinned his head off silly, as well as the dozen and a half of the actors present as the flashlight went off to capture the moment into glorious eternity.

Not far, the faint wails of police sirens could be heard and everyone felt the delightful sensations of an adrenaline rush.

"Lets get out of here!" Killua hollered with diabolical glee, hastily throwing Illumi's ruined belongings into his bag and making for the far side of the park with Gon and Neon close on his heels. Other older actors still laughed and raved as they scattered in other directions. Hanzo chucked the tripod back into his pack and couldn't resist snapping a few more shots of the still Darien from varying angles, then sprinted right after Shal and Hisoka who had already hailed down a taxi. Another taxi had already sped off and Hanzo could see the back of the women's heads, all bobbing from the cackling of their insane laughter. The taxi driver was half way through listening to Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" fantasy overture – the rush of movement and momentum in the music before the introduction of the famous Juliet theme seemed really appropriate as their getaway music. The clash between the Montagues and the Capulets on the streets – analogous to the clash between Hisoka and Illumi? No – Darien was the one knocked out and Hanzo grinned wickedly as his demonstrably fine eyesight caught glimpses of police kneeling down and attending to Kuroro's brother through the trees as the car moved. If Illumi had landed the punch hard enough, Darien would have short term amnesia, preferably about that little incident just then. Even if he did remember, he'd be too embarrassed to tell.



* * * * *





The PA system's feedback forced people in the café to exclaim in pain and hastily cover their hands over their ears. Kuroro dropped out of his musings and creased his brow.

"AHEM! Fellow actors, I ask you to come to Studio 5 where, in my hands, is a work of art worthy of immortality. Chop chop peoples! Get up here!" Hanzo's enthusiastic voice broadcasted to the whole building. With varying degrees of enthusiasm, they made their way back to level 5.

"Give me that!" April scolded, slapping the bald man's head with a rolled up script to retrieve the microphone. "Thank god the director's not here to listen to you abuse the PA, otherwise both our heads will be on the chopping block, idiot." She added, still scowling furiously at the smirk on his face. Her grip on the roll of paper tightened causing tiny creases to spider out on the sheets of the script, and she entertained some real thoughts about bopping Hanzo senseless. Yes…she savoured the image in her mind – Hanzo as a crumpled heap, in a daze and almost unconscious on the ground. That would finally get him to shut up and stop yapping on and on about the mindless gossip that he just has this amazing affinity towards. He was now leaning casually on what April guessed was a large frame wrapped in recycled brown paper. She judged it to be about four feet in length and three feet in width – almost the size of her own desk top. April growled with frustration and tied her hair up so that the stray stands would not get in her way – 'I will not feel curious about the picture that Hanzo might have framed up' she continuously chanted and got to sorting out all the leads and wires.

"Ok peoples! In the make-up room!" Hanzo said with much enthusiasm.

The makeup room was always dominated clusters of spotlights and rows of mirrors for the actors to study the perfection of their faces. Illumi was down the far end, drawing away again with the self-same look of desolate despair on his face. He gaze briefly flickered over to the large group of actors gathering, but turned back to concentrate on his work. He'd just be told not to go anywhere near them – again – especially with Hisoka around. The magician was applying generous amounts of wax and gel to prop his hair up – for that Celestial tower fight scene that the Director predictably hadn't been satisfied with. Wing sat near him, arms folded, legs crossed and dozing every so lightly.

"Wake up and you guys all get over here!" Hanzo gestured to the three people. Illumi appeared surprised. He even looked around when Hanzo motioned for him to come, wondering if he was talking to someone else, then pointed to himself and mouthed the word 'me?'.

"Of course Illumi-san – you helped to make this all possible!"

Illumi walked up to them, eyes warily wandered now and then in Hisoka's direction and stood away from him.

Hanzo enthusiastically, eagerly, zealously, ardently – argh – there are simply no words to describe the elation that he felt as he tore away at the brown strings and paper and with one giant rip of the main wrapping covering the picture, Hanzo revealed the beautiful moment yesterday, encapsulated in his camera and on the film, now translated into a symbol and testament of achievement.

"Ta-da!" he exclaimed proudly with a flourish and everyone blinked several times to get their eyes into focus.

Hanzo had developed the picture as a black and white, to give it that warm and cherished look, an old artifact and momento of sentimental value. The picture was in a frame of heavy bronze, finely polished, and set on a black mountain.

The large photo was studied in a silence of awe and wonder whilst Hanzo grinned over them. Every blade of grass and the shadow it cast was so distinct. A lot of the actors held out V signs at the camera – Gon had the biggest and cheekiest grin of all whilst Illumi, with his wildly tangled hair that had been hastily matted down for the shot gave a timid smile. Hisoka, so caught up by the circumstances, had momentarily forgotten about his vendetta with Illumi and actually had an arm around the slender man's shoulders and a proud look on his face, half of which seemed to be for Illumi. No inch of Darien was left untrodden – they made use of his entire backside to find a foothold for the picture. Thankfully, Zuuchi had held Darien's bewildered head to the side so that the camera could capture his face with crystal clarity.

"carpe diem…" Gon put on an eerie whisper.

"Sieeeze the day…" Killua echoed.

They all burst out laughing as the humour of yesterday returned to haunt them and tickle their funny bones.

"HISOKA!" came the distinctly horrifying growl of Director Silva outside in the studio with increasingly loud footsteps heading towards them. They all froze – there was no time to hide the photo! Shal and Machi reacted first by putting their bodies right in front of it, and every one followed suit, tightly clustered around the entrance of the make-up room.

"Hisoka!" Silva burst into the room and walked around the circle of people, too angered and troubled by another issue to be suspicious at the moment. "My agents found you screaming and fighting with Illumi in the park yesterday afternoon!" The Director's eyes severely weighed them all, like Anubis trying to weigh their hearts and conscience – not unlike standing in front of a firing squad actually.

"Or are you going to try to tell me you were mock-wrestling again?" Silva continued, clearly not amused. But then it struck him that they were all standing a bit oddly, namely having formed a human cocoon around a certain object.

"Everyone stand away from Hanzo!" he barked out loud and everyone gulped down their fears and jittering to comply. Hide something from the powerful Director of Hunter Works? Impossible.

So reluctantly, they moved away from Hanzo and his photograph and watched an expression that only crossed the Director's features once in a lifetime. He was gaping – jaws hanging in utter…who knows what he was feeling – but he was sure as hell stupefied by everyone's trophy stance over…

"Is that…Darien von Drosgen?"

"Er….yes sir." The poor ninja quivered.

Silva's tone wavered as he spoke, but the actors still could not ascertain which emotion it belonged to. "And…how did he come to pose for this photo?"

An uneasy silence permeated around them with many troubled looks being passed back and forth amongst them all.

"I…knocked him out sir." Illumi quietly spoke up with the truth. Silva looked at him, clearly incredulous now.

"He…was insulting Hisoka sir." The pale man continued to mumble with glum and downcast eyes that foresaw trouble. "Said all sorts of nasty things. Even accused him of being a pedophile." He added the last bit quietly.

The standoff lasted about half a minute, then Director Silva, in an oddly neutral tone, told them all to get to their places.

"And Hanzo" Silva suddenly said as if he had just thought of it. "Invite the people from Reikai Motion Pictures over some time to see this."

Hanzo gave a sharp salute and clicked his heels, eyes sparkling with agreement. "YES SIR!"


1pm, Level 2 Café

They all decided that it was wise just to keep their heads down for a while and let whatever gale that Darien could and might stir blow over. Café food wasn't all that bad, because people from RMP would sometimes drop in for their desire to avoid the known Darien retreats.

"Soup again Illumi-san?" one of the cooks frowned. "Look at the hollows in your cheeks Mister! Soup isn't going to put meat on your bones – is my cooking not good enough for you?"

Illumi innocently shook his head. "No no – I'm on some medication right now that leaves me nauseous. If I had anything heavier than soup, I'd end up throwing it up in the bathrooms anyway. Why waste perfectly good food no?"

"Young man," the chef continued to speak in his heavy Italian accent. "You are wasting away underneath my very eyes. You can't hide it from me just by dabbing some colour on your face – I'm a cook and I know when my customers are healthy or not. You are definitely underweight."

"I'm under a lot of work and stress right now Chef – so could I just have the soup please or should I skip lunch?" Illumi mildly threatened. The short fat chef grumpily stomped off and came back with Illumi's order.

"You have a big dinner then ok?"

Illumi smiled and found a solitary table to sit at. Nearby, he caught the most interesting conversation:

"Your landlady is going to kick you out?!" Menchi squealed with laughter. Hisoka only gave her an annoyed glance and returned his attention to the newspaper that he'd been studying, looking for available accommodation.

"I wasn't kicked out." He said heavily. "My lease has expired and there is no option to renew. She merely wants to repossess the property for her own inscrutable reasons. I have to vacate by the end of next Friday!"

"Yeah sure." Killua grinned, twisting the spaghetti on to his fork. "One of her inscrutable reasons being that you are a pig and a slob who leaves her unit in a state of permanent ruin, right?"

The small crowd of actors on Hisoka's table all chuckled.

"Don't think about my place." Kuroro warned. "It's a single bedroom apartment and my couch is not comfortable."

"And you certainly don't want to live with me" Nobu offered. "I have bad house habits and have concluded that I was always meant to live alone."

"Don't look to me either Hisoka," Wing deftly buttered his bread "It's crammed from wall to wall with books that will give you painful headaches."

"Gees guys – you are all refusing me before I even get a chance to ask. I have this tincey wincey suspicion that none of you want me living at your place."

"Not at all." Came the immediate response followed by a jumble of incoherent excuses. Hisoka just sighed and turned back to the tiny print on the paper.

"Damn…everything that's available is either even worse than where I live or they want to rip you off – look at this one! $800 a week! What – do I look like I'm made of money or something?"

"Hey Hisoka – this one's cheap AND nice!" Gon pointed to a small box.

Wanted: One male housemate to share a 2 bedroom apartment.
Must be single, companionable, responsible and CLEAN!
Must also abide by the list of rules set up by owner.
Rent: negotiable – starting at $200 a week.
Address: 1337 Glamour Isle, Andelain Towers, level 6

"Andelain Towers?!" Nobu almost dropped his fork. "That's been heralded as the most luxurious and glamorous block of apartments ever to be built in Anime City! They've got marble tiles in their bathroom and gold gilded taps!" he pushed his plate aside and leaned over to study the advertisement.

"Too bad you're not clean, or responsible…and companionable only when you feel like it." Machi mocked cheerfully.

"I can change!" Hisoka protested, eyes glued to the small box of black text. "And I sure as hell feel companionable right now! $200 a week is damn cheap! What the hell is wrong with the place?"

"Perhaps it's haunted?" Machi continued to joke.

"Forget it – the poltergeist can set fire to my underpants at night, but I'm getting this place. Ah…here's the contact number."

"Don't bother." Illumi's ghostly voice stung their ears like a chill.

"This isn't your business Illumi." Hisoka continued to dial the number into his phone and hit the connect button.

A phone coincidentally rang out in the café. Illumi dug into his pockets and pulled up his phone for Hisoka to get a good look at his own number flashing on the luminous screen.

"That's my number in the ad – and that's my ad."

"You…you live there?!" half of them exclaimed.

"Yeah – I moved out of home about three weeks ago."

"How did you afford it? Did your mum pay for it or something?" Nobu's eyes were dripping with envy.

"No – it was a gift." There was a hushed pause.

Hisoka's narrowed eyes gleaned over Illumi suspiciously.

"Who gave it to you?"

And to Kuroro's utter amazement, Illumi shrugged and treated the whole matter too simply for his liking.

"Salar gave it to me. He was very amused with the present I gave him and wanted to repay the gesture. So he gave me the apartment. It's mine – I'm the registered proprietor. You don't want to live anywhere near me right? And besides, you're never companionable around me, so you have no chance."

"Swallow thy pride Hisoka." Phinx advised. "A perfect location, coupled with such an attractive price – surely thouest can forgive Illumi-san and show him some of thy famous companionable nature and work on thy lack of cleaness?"

Hisoka told Phinx to shut up, the latter shrugged, used to having his advice rebuked by the magician, and worried on his thumb between his teeth. There was a hard and strained look on his face as Hisoka turned to Illumi again.

"I'll come to inspect your apartment. If I like it, I'll be clean, responsible and companionable."

"And abide by my list of house rules?" Illumi asked with growing unease at the look of unholy determination on Hisoka's face.

"Yes, and abide by your house rules – but that's only if I like your apartment."

Everyone rolled their eyes – it was Hisoka's last ditch attempt at piecing the remnants of his pride.

Illumi gave a small sigh. "All right – I'll get my estate agent to come along so you can ask her about any other details on the lease. Five o'clock tonight ok for you?"

"We're all coming!" Nobunaga declared, and Kuroro beside him gave an emphatic nod. "You know, give Hisoka a second opinion."

Sets of eyes rolled again – but everyone was more curious about the whole outcome of this arrangement. Could Hisoka and Illumi's bitter struggle finally settle down into a civilized relationship? They didn't expect the pair to become best friends, but at best, they could at least begin to treat each other with some impartiality and civility. Only time could tell.

Author's note:
Argh...no time to thoroughly beta read...gotta study for exams. Please just try to make out the words if there are gaps.

Carpe Diem/Sieze the day - reference to Dead Poets Society - one of the best movies ever!

The short form of Xelan – Xe – is supposed to be pronounced as "z" in the American way ('zee').

Come on – I'm really desperate for opinion. Cherrie gave me a wonderful review at the ML, but don't we always hanker for more? To make everyone's lives easier, I've got a specific list of questions that might aid you in reviews:

1) What you liked/disliked about the story – and why. I'm always interested in the opinions of my readers J
2) Original Characters (OCs) – what do you think of them? Are there too many of them? Do you think they are taking up too much space?
3) How is everyone coping with the story? I guess the story is gradually rumbling along…but trying to fit a lot of other anime characters takes time – and even more when you want to throw in your own plethora of original characters. Can people still follow the story?

As to the Tchaikovsky song, Naxos does have it. In order to listen to the music at this site, you need a login and password - and listening is free, so you can sign up, or use my account:
Login address: hunter_fiction@yahoo.com.au
Password: hunterworks
The piece is located here: www.naxos.com/scripts/newreleases/Naxos_cat.asp?use_computer=PC&NewQuery=&memberID=95725&login=&item_code=8.555714