We follow the captain through a maze of hallways and finally arrive at . . . the room where the helm is. Whatever it's called. The wide windows put me at ease. We line up expectantly at the back of the room with me between Blondie and the pervy old man. I pull out a comb with many gaps and start raking it through my hair.

"First, tell me your names." The captain commands.

"My name is Gon!" The little boy raises his hand high energetically. The captain nods his approval and moves on.

"It's Leorio." He says reluctantly. The captain looks at me next.

"Su." I answer simply. Satisfied, he moves on to Blondie.

"Kurapika." He states in a dignified manner. The captains nods again. His head is going to fall off his stubby neck at this rate. Kurapika's voice is too deep to belong to a girl.

"Okay, now tell me why you want to become a Hunter." The captain commands again. Nosy captain, just drive us from A to B, unless he has an ulterior motive, which he probably does, but he's currently drunk.

"Hey! If you're not an examiner, you can't boss us around!" Leorio is a freedom fighter, I see.

Gon spoke first. "My dad is a Hunter. I left Whale Islands because I want to know why my dad desired so much to be a Hunter." he says with a large sincere smile. The kid has way too much energy. A certain light flickered in the captain's eyes. He rubs his chin.

"Oi kid, you're not supposed to answer his question!" Leorio glares down at Gon.

"Huh? Why not?" Gon's innocent eyes contrast with Leorio's unfriendly ones.

"Not a team player, huh? I don't wish to reveal why I'm here." He turns away and crosses his arms. Damn pervy old dude thinks he's all that.

I look the captain in the eyeballs. "I need to become a Hunter to do what I need to do." The captain looks sceptically at me and rolls his eyes.

It is Leorio's turn to scoff. "What would a little missy like you need to do?"

"A girl needs make up, what did you think?" I demand, with mock seriousness.

"I agree with Leorio." The newly proclaimed Kurapika says. Agree with what? That this missy can't clobber the pervy dude with one move?

Leorio bristles "Hey! Aren't you younger than me? Show some respect!" this guy is an idiot.

Kurapika ignores him and continues, "It's quite easy to avoid pesky questions by offering a plausible lie." Well duh.

Leorio again interrupted this time angrily looking at the blonde, "Hey! Are you listening to me?" Obviously not.

Kurapika continued, again ignoring Leorio, "However, it is quite shameful to rely upon deceit. That said, if I were to tell you the truth, I would be exposing my deepest secrets. That is why I cannot provide an answer."

Stuck up brat.

Leorio began wildly pointing at the blonde, "Hey you! Don't ignore me!" Gon and I watched this entire transaction silently. Though I doubt the kid judged them the way I did.

The captain cut in, "In other words, you refuse to answer my question." He waved to a man in the back. The man grasped his clipboard keenly. "Tell the examination board that we have two more dropouts."

Kurapika and Leorio's faces reforms themselves and takes on a look of pure disbelief. It's actually quite funny.

"Don't you two get it? The Hunter Exam has already begun." the captain smirked. "There are as many Hunter wannabes as there are stars in the sky. The examiners don't have the time and resources to review them all to they hire people like us, to trim the fat." the captain's smirk grew wider with every word.

"I knew we went through that storm on purpose." I deadpan. The captain ignores me.

"I've already notified the board that everyone else had to withdraw." Kurapika and Leorio leaned forward in shock. "If they can't handle a little storm like this, they'd stand no chance in the Exam's later stages." the captain paused for effect. "In other words, you only proceed to the main exam if I pass you. So think carefully before you answer my question."

That's actually pretty smart... I pull my hair into a short ponytail and tied it with a length of ribbon.

"So he says..." Gon said wisely. Leorio looked like he wanted to strangle Gon. I would too. Except he's too cute.

"I am the last survivor of the Kurta Clan." Kurapika speaks first. I breathe sharply. "Four years ago, my clan was annihilated by a band of criminals." Blondie looked up with strong resolve, "I wish to become a Hunter and hunt down that band, the Phantom Troupe!" I flinch involuntarily at the name. News of the massacre was the talk of the town for months.

The bamboozled looks of Gon and Leorio sure are interesting.

"Ey... so you want to become a bounty hunter? The Phantom Troupe is an A-class bounty, not even the most grizzled hunters can touch them. You'll be throwing away your life." the captain turns to me. "You too, Girlie!"

"I didn't say anything." I say, evenly. He ignores me.

Kurapika places his right hand on the area where his heart is supposed to be. "I fear not death, I fear only that my rage will fade over time." he says calmly.

Leorio recovers from the shock of the information. "So... in other words, you two want revenge!"

"I'm too smart for that." I mutter.

"Does revenge require you being a Hunter?" Leorio rambled on, obnoxiously.

Kurapika closes his eyes, "That may have been the stupidest question I have ever head, Leorio."

"THAT'S LEORIO-SAN TO YOU!" he yells. Why is he so mad about that?

Kurapika ignored him, "Places accessible only to hunters... information otherwise unobtainable... actions otherwise impossible..." Leorio got madder with every phrase that came out of the younger boy's mouth.

"There are more reasons that your brain could possibly handle." the blonde finishes. Leorio's head just about flies off. I snort with laughter and the others gaze at me with blank expressions.

"Sorry,"

"Oii, what are you laughing for, dammit!" Leorio shouts and points his finger at me. That sets me off again.

"Y-you are s-such an idiot-t!" I gasp.

Gon jumps in to save the day – and my neck. He holds up his hand in front of Leorio. "Hey, why do you want to be a Hunter, Leorio-san?" Leorio looks surprised.

"Me? I'll make it short." he smiled. "I want money." Gon looks taken back.

"MONEY CAN GET YOU ANYHTING!" he explodes. He strikes a crazy pose with his thumbs and middle finger together. "A BIG HOUSE!" His body flies to the right. "A NICE CAR...!" He mimes driving. "GOOD LIQUOR!" He drinks from an imaginary bottle. "Sexy girls...~!" He traces an hourglass shape in the air.

I smack his head. "Dumbass."

"You can't buy class with money, Leorio." Kurapika calmly states. I burst out laughing.

Leorio, on the other hand, has veins popping up all over his face. "That's three times now..." he glares at the Kurta. "Step outside. I will end the filthy Kurta bloodline here and now." he hisses. Over something so petty, that was a despicable thing so say.

"Take that back, Leorio!" Kurapika's eyes snap open. Seems like he agrees. "Take that back." the blonde repeats warningly. Leorio glares sideways at Kurapika.

"That's Leorio-san to you..." then he slams the door.

Kurapika stalks out after him.

"Hey, boys, I'm not done yet!" The captain calls after them. I drop my bag on the floor.

"Well, I'm going to go mediate. Or you know, eat popcorn." I smirk. I watched a giant water twister veer closer and closer to us through the windows. "Or maybe I'll go help with that monster. That's also cool."

~oOo~

Outside, the wind is razor sharp. It cuts through the icy, pelting rain and sends it in all directions. The rain drenches my clothes, plastering them to my skin. My bangs whirled in the wind and I feel my ribbon loosening.

All around the deck, yelling and orders can be heard. I overhear something about a water twister. Crud. The two males stand on the deck, their hair and clothes whipping around in the wind. A big wave crashes onto the deck. I duck into the wall behind me and hold my breath. The two duelers stand unfazed. I wipe some of the water off my eyes and bangs but it was merely temporary relief. The two of them are ignoring everything around them, focusing only on defending their honor. How stupid, I think. If the sailors don't work quickly, we're all going to die!

"Take back what you said!" the Kurta demands. "Take back what you said and I will forgive you, Leorio!"

"How many times do I have to repeat myself?" Leorio wouldn't back down either. "You should show some respect!"

"You two!" I shout, "Do that later! We don't have the time for this!" I'm desperate now. They ignore me. I can't just leave them here, who knows what will happen? Leorio whips out his dagger, Kurapika pulls out his wooden swords. The ship is being drawn into the twister.

The ship sways dangerously.

In frozen horror, I watch the sailor with the clipboard from before lose his footing on the riggings. He manages to latch onto a rope. Unfortunately, the rope gathers momentum with his weight and sends him flying as if in slow motion over the deck, his screams lost in the wind.

Kurapika and Leorio notice Kastro's airborne body at the same time. They grab the deck railing with one hand and lean out to catch the sailor with the other. Their hands snatch at empty air.

Another airborne body casts a shadow where Kastro was a second ago. Gon wraps his arms around Katsuo's stomach tightly. Kurapika and Leorio reach out for Gon's legs, their eyes wide and panicked. Time seems to stop. Their hands close around where skinny legs were too late. Blood pounds in my ears.

I sprint over to them and take a flying leap. "Catch me!" I scream. I latch myself onto Gon and prayed the idiots could at least manage to catch the girl. Freezing cold water enveloped me and all I held onto.

~oOo~

I sit down on the deck and wring salty water out of my hair and clothes with Gon. Two shadows loom over us.

"You idiot!" Leorio shouts, "If Su didn't catch you, you would be shark bait by now! And you," Leorio whirls around, "If we hadn't grabbed your legs, you would be dead too!"

"Honestly, how reckless can you two get?" The blonde adds, condescendingly.

"But you did catch her!" Gon says, happily, tipping the water out of his boots.

"Yeah, you did catch me!" I echo, with a wide smile.

"Huh?" The older teens say.

"You both caught her!" Gon says.

"Yeah, you both caught me!" I second.

"Well... I guess so?" Leorio has this ridiculous dumbfounded look on his face. Kurapika doesn't say anything.

"Gon!" Katsuo calls, running up to us. Gon stands up,

"Katsuo-san!"

"Thank you, Gon! You saved my life." Katsuo says.

"No, I couldn't have done it without them, they saved me too!" Gon gestures to us. Cheesy much though much sincere.

Leorio blushes and says that he's glad he's okay. Kurapika closes his eyes and says, from his place on a very high horse, that Kastro doesn't need to thank him. I just smile. Katsuo thanks us again and again before getting called back to work.

"Now you two," I put one hand on Kurapika's shoulder and the other on the older teen's, "make up time~" they look surprised. They look at each other and then away. The blonde smiles a little which makes the older of the two look at him suspiciously.

"Sorry for my rude behavior, Leorio-san." Kurapika apologizes with a smile. Leorio looks shocked, then his face softens into a smile. He rubs the back of his head bashfully.

"Actually, I take back everything I said," He says, "and just call me Leorio, we sound like strangers." he looks away at this point. They both smile.

"There! That's better~!" I sing. Honestly, this scene makes me cringe... 'Sorry for my rude behavior'…wince, 'Leorio-san'… ugh. A door bangs open and the captain's hairy face appears. He took a large swing from the bottle of alcohol he held and breathes out heavily.

"I like you guys!" he shouts, "I'll take full responsibility of taking the four of you to the port of Doles!"

We all look dumbfounded. This was the sadistic drunkard captain from the room-with-the-helm?

"Huh?" I wonder aloud.

"What about the test?" Kurapika continues for me.

The captain grins widely, in a way it's creepy but he a nice guy. "It's up to me remember? The four of you pass!" he laughs loudly and heads back inside with another bang.

As soon as the news sinks into our think heads, we all break into huge smiles. Leorio's one was rather perverted for an unknown reason.

"YAY!" Gon cheers.

"YAAHOOOOO!" I jump into the air and get Gon in a head lock. The older teens just look at us and smile. I grab the Kurta's wrist and drag him into the fray. Gon grabs Leorio and he's stuck with us too. They both looked surprised at first but smiled again in a few seconds.

End result? I had Gon in a head lock, and my other arm was wrapped around the older blonde's neck. Gon's head was stuck in my right arm and one of his hands grabbing at the collar of Leorio's suit. We were all ginning like idiots. Kurapika was blushing. I would later find out my wet shirt was showing the outline of my bra.

~oOo~