"Oh. My. God."

~oOo~

I let out a scream full of terror. Eyes wide and fearful. My hands and legs flailing. I felt my body gathering speed. A branch whizzed past my head. It's funny, when you've lived half your life in a forest, it seems only right for you to die in it too.

My mind became a blank expanse of white.

I screamed again. Long and shrill, tearing at my throat. I fell faster.

Something strong wrapped around me and I slammed into something soft, knocking us in another direction in a tangle of arms and legs. I caught snatches of incoherent colours through my kaleidoscope vision.

We skidded to a stop. I gasped at the air. My heart pounded. My eyes watered from the stinging rush of wind – and the fact I had stopped blinking.

I was lying on my back, my chest heaving. Someone had their arm draped across my shoulders. Stiffly, I turned my head left, following it. I stared into the face-down profile of Kurapika, his dishevelled hair falling into his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked, softly, directing his gaze sideways at me.

"Y-yeah . . ." I replied, my voice shaky and dry.

He struggled to his feet and dusted himself off as if he wasn't just hit by a 15 year old girl falling like a rock. His hair had lost its lustre under a layer of dirt, his skin scratched and bruised, his clothes tattered with grime. I doubt I fared much better.

I move my limbs one at a time to make sure they were attached properly. I couldn't feel my left wrist, which is red and swollen but honestly things could be much worse . . .

I climb unsteadily to me feet. Breathing a sigh of relief I could hardly believe, I run a hand through my short hair and survey my own damage. My pink top had a split down the back from the neck, widening the V-neck even further. Sexy. My wrist was at best sprained but otherwise fine.

"You were lucky to not have hit branches on the way down." Kurapika said quietly, "On the other hand, they would have been good if…" He trailed off. The branches would have broken my fall, or I could have hold on and dislocate my shoulders but as my far as my luck went, I had an empty drop.

"Thank you," I said, "for saving me." I stare at the ground awkwardly. It's a nice piece of ground.

"It was nothing." He replied, "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, everything seems to work." I double check. I might have left a finger up there or something.

"We need to go back." Kurapika said, warily. "Before I heard you scream, a Kirriko pretended to be Leorio." He reported. "So I punched him in the face."

"Whoa . . . efficient." I winced. That one must have been played the wounded husband . . .

"The wife . . . no, she turned out to be a Kirriko, too. My hypothesis is that all the Kirriko can transform into a human appearance, and they are testing us with this."

Great, I'm definitely failing this test then. All I did was almost get killed and I'm not sure I get points for that. "The Kirriko playing wife, is she still after you?"

"I didn't have a chance to disable her."

As if on cue, which I later found out that it actually was, a Kirriko snickered from behind a tree behind us. Kurapika instantly had his swords in his hands and moved into a defensive stance. Upon grabbing the scythes at my hip I was reminded of the immobility of my left hand. I held both blades in my good hand, wrapping the connecting chain around the wrist.

The Kirriko ran at us, claws poised. I ran forward and with one fluid movement of my wrist I sliced off its claws on both hands. "You witch!" It screamed, "It'll take me forever to grow them back!" I dodged to the side, leaving it to Kurapika. Wait a second…

"Kurapika, you said you knocked out the Leorio-Kirriko!" I shouted over the sound of their fighting. The blonde ducked as the Kirriko swiped at where his face had been seconds ago. The beast attacked with twice the vigour.

"I did!" He grunted through clenched teeth, his swords blocking another blow, the furry thing bearing down on him. I ran up behind the Kirriko and swung my leg back for the ultimate attack – between the Kirriko's legs.

"Owwie!" He squealed and crumpled to the ground, clutching his jewels. Kurapika winces.

"There was no need for that kind of violence." He said, reproachful. Yeah that was kind of a low blow but it got the job done, didn't it?

"Don't worry, I won't do that to you," I said reassuringly, but perhaps not reassuring enough because he glanced back at the whimpering Kirriko and winces again. I twirled my right hand in a clockwise direction to let the chain slip off. I slotted one into its scabbard but the left one was on the other side of my body so naturally I got my whole right arm tangled in it.

"Here," Kurapika said, sidling up to me, "let me help." His hands were gentle as they unwrapped the chain from my arm and part of my shirt, carefully navigating around the blade attached.

"He was the husband." I said, turning my head to the side to look behind me. Kurapika looked at me funny, not understanding. "Same voice, but . . . deeper?" I added.

"They all sound the same," he frowned, "did you knock your head when you fell?" I stuck my tongue out.

"Can't you hear it?" I asked, disbelieving and quite disgruntled he implied I went loony. I feel the satisfying weight of the second scythe slipping into its scabbard.

"I can't." He said. His steps back to admire his handiwork.

"Thanks," I trailed off, unsure. I stared at the ground at my feet. It's some nice ground. Believe me, I've seen a lot of ground.

"Geheheh." The Kirriko laugh from his position on the ground. We whirl around and back up. "The girl's correct, how about you guys help me back to the cabin, we'll explain there." His gaze trails from our faces down to my boot, and visibly winces. Looks like I hit a pretty sensitive spot, then.

"Ice?" I offered.