Killua walked through the throng of people carefully but briskly. Behind him, Kurapika followed easily and gracefully, as if she was walking through a park, despite the heavy load she was wearing. She wore a kimono-style blouse and a calf-length, full, balloon skirt held together by an obi. Over it was an outer-kimono as a coat. Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail and she wore low-heeled pumps. (1) Killua took her hand and walked closer to a table near a wall of the room. There were no decorations in the room and no windows, it looked more like a cell, with only two doors, one to get into the room and another to get into the rest of the building most probably, and yet it was large enough to accommodate the people in it, ranging well over a thousand.
"Killua and Kurapika" he said to a man. The man wrote the names down and gave them two pins with numbers. Killua took 1128 and Kurapika took 1127. The man wrote that down. They walked away, heading to a corner of the room.
"Where are we, Killu?" Kurapika asked in a hushed voice.
"The Hunter Exam, Kupi" Killua answered.
"What are we doing here?" she asked again.
"Having fun."
"Hi!" someone suddenly greeted. The two turned to see a tall, slender man, much like Killua, except he had black hair with green highlights and widest most expressive brown eyes anyone has ever seen. They nodded in acknowledgement.
"Ore wa Gon Freecs, desu. You are?"
"Killua and Kurapika" Killua told him shortly, jerking his thumb to indicate who was who. Kurapika smiled, interested in the boy.
"Would you mind if I hung by you for a moment. You seem the only people my age… or I just haven't seen anyone my age yet. There are so many people," the boy, Gon said, marveling the amount of people around them, "Would you mind if I asked why you joined the exam?" he asked pleasantly. Killua kept quiet, resting his head on his palms as he leaned back against the wall, while Kurapika answered.
"No important reason. How about you?"
"I'm looking for my father. He's a very good hunter. Nobody knows where he is that's why I'm joining, to find clues to where he is."
"Some father… why doesn't he show himself to you?"
"Well, he said he's afraid of meeting me and that I should become a great Hunter in order to find him… stuff like that" Gon answered happily. Killua was bored. Kurapika was intrigued. Either way, the exam had started.
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It was the fourth exam; they had reached the 'tower of doom', as Killua jokingly put it. (2) Over the past few days and the past two exams, the three of them grew enormously as indivisible friends, joined, during the first exam, by a med-school student, Leorio. Even Killua had opened up and he and Gon were now the best of friends.
The exam had started off through a test of stamina by running faster and faster until people either dropped out from fatigue or lagged behind and only about two hundred were left. (3) At this point, they had met Leorio who needed a bit of cheering up to ignore his fatigue. Leorio was a med-school student who joined the Hunter Exam to get money to study and open his own clinic for the poor. Kurapika and Gon found his intentions good enough to help him. Killua couldn't care less.
They had emerged into a swampy area where the number was lessened into about eighty either because people had gotten lost or they had killed each other off. At this point, the four had found out about a weirdo named Hisoka who was somewhat obsessed with Gon. Killua and Gon had already started to become close friends. This was exam number two. (4)
Exam number three was held by a fat Gourmet Hunter who wanted nothing but a roast pig from each applicant and a fussy Gourmet Hunter who wanted them to cook her some weird food called 'sushi'. Almost everyone would have failed if not for the chairman of the Hunter Association, Chairman Netero.
So here they were, in the tower of doom, facing their opponents before they would be allowed to move on to the next exam. The buffoon, Tomba, had just finished his pathetic loss, if you could even call it that. Leorio was angry. Gon was calming him down. Kurapika was helping him. Killua was too annoyed to bother. Gon went next. He and his opponent agreed on a simple game, it was more of gambling actually. They both had candles; the person, whose candle went out first, loses. Gon's opponent obviously cheated, Gon's candle was burning out too quickly, too abnormally. No rules were set, so Gon, being the smart kid he was, ran over and blew out his opponent's candle. Game. Set. Match.
Leorio had a harder time with an even simpler problem. His opponent made him guess if s/he were male or female. Leorio was stumped. He guessed wrong. (5)
Finally there were only two matches left: Killua's and Kurapika's.
"Go ahead" Killua offered, smiling. Kurapika smiled back. Gon smiled too. Leorio followed suit, waiting to be avenged. Tomba was excited to see Kurapika 'fail', so he was smiling slightly. Everybody was smiling. (The author was smiling as she wrote this. The author is on sugar high.) Kurapika walked forward, across the narrow bridge and onto the arena. Upon arriving, she took off her over-kimono slowly and threw it to the edge of the ring. Weighted as it was, it crashed onto the floor denting it loudly and deeply. Gon, Leorio and Tomba gaped at it, the mouths opening and closing like landed fishes. Killua merely smirked at their expressions.
"Kurapika-san was wearing that all this time?!" Gon asked him.
"She always has. It's part of her clan's culture" Killua replied, shrugging nonchalantly. All their eyes returned to Kurapika and her opponent who had just removed his cloak. He was big, muscular and looked like he'd been punched in the eye and mouth. Kurapika rolled her eyes as he growled.
"A woman… you gave me a woman…" he muttered in frustration. Kurapika wanted to punch him.
"I'll try not to disappoint you," she said instead. The guy shrugged and launched his bulky figure forward. Kurapika dodged it awkwardly. He swung his arm back at Kurapika. She sped forward, clearing most of the swing, but he grazed her shirt.
"Go, Kurapika! You can do it!" Gon yelled in encouragement. Kurapika turned to him and got punched in the back. Gon winced, apologizing softly. The opponent launched at her again, throwing numerous fast punches. She blocked them, but ripped her sleeves at the same time. Finally, the guy swung his leg in an arch, hooking into her cheek. Kurapika fell to her knees, a trail of blood coming out of her mouth, making the guy laugh loudly. She wiped it away with a handkerchief.
"Finish him," Killua said softly but everyone heard him. They all looked at him then at Kurapika. The opponent took out a weapon, an axe-like blade that fit on his forearm. It had a chain attached to the bottom end with a mace attached to the chain. He wielded it awkwardly, but dangerously. Kurapika disappeared. She reappeared moments later, picking up her over-kimono and putting it on slowly and calmly. The opponent screamed and launched himself at her yet again. Kurapika stopped moving for one second, without turning to her opponent. He suddenly fell to pieces. Literally. His body was hacked, mercilessly, apart. Kurapika walked back calmly to the viewing area. The three let her pass. Killua laughed. "You didn't have to overdo it," he told her. Kurapika shrugged. Tomba took a step back away from her.
"Do it quick, Killu, I'm bored" Kurapika winked cutely.
"Yep. My turn," he stretched his arms out in front of him, cracking his knuckles and his neck. His opponent kicked the dismembered man off the ring and into the abyss. "Let's make this quick."
"I won't accept a surrender. This will be a fight to the death, like it or not" his opponent started.
"I like it" Killua grinned and vanished.
"Do you two have the same techniques or something?" Leorio asked stupidly. Moments later Killua's opponent also vanished. Killua reappeared and called to Kurapika. Kurapika threw her handkerchief at him. He opened it and threw it over his head. It was large enough to act as an umbrella as blood rained around him, covering the ring but for the square patch where Killua stood. Kurapika smiled.
"Nope, Killua's better."
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(1) I love dresses. Don't question my authority. :p
(2) I don't remember the name of the tower and the number of the exam… sorry. --;;
(3/4) I don't remember if this was an exam or part of one… --;;
(5) I forgot who won this match and if it was Gon before Leorio or Leorio before Gon. --;;
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Next Chapter! )