A/N: I don't think that there is a more fitting title for this chapter. Thank you all for your continued support!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Ch.3: Where is the lamb sauce?

"P-Pok…" I spoke out, placing my hand out to meet his shoulder. His back was still facing me, and when my fingers touched his body, he let out a small flinch. He quickly turned to look at me with wide eyes, but at seeing my familiar face, he let out a breath of relief. I swallowed and tried to smile at him, although I didn't have any energy to do anything. It turned out that my smile was strained, and I caught him looked at me for a few seconds.

This wasn't even usually like me. I never smiled at my brother. What was happening to me – the moment that I felt as though his life was in danger…I turned into a protective sister? This was weird. I wasn't sure what I was even thinking.

Before I got the chance to say anything more, his eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Kai, what the hell! I thought that you dropped out already!" He crossed his arms with a grin.

I looked at him and my mouth twitched. He didn't know how much danger he was in. That magician-clown was after him. I needed to be a big sister for the first time in my life, but I wasn't even sure how to that. "I need to pass this test. I-I realized that I'm going to be a Hunter with you. So…" I smiled forcibly, placing my hands on my waist. "Let's both do our best."

"What the hell did you do with my sister?" Pokkle asked. My smile fell from my face as I stared at him. He looked at me curiously. "Did…something happen to you?" I gripped my upper arm tightly.

Was it that easy to see?

Was I acting that differently?

I tried to appear as though my caring was subtle. Good to know that I even messed that up. Along with most things in my life. I heard him continue to talk, his voice was laced with suspicion. "You seem different."

"No, I don't," I argued darkly with a glare. For a bird brain like Pokkle to realize that something is worrying me, then I must have been losing my touch.

Pokkle smiled. "Yeah, there she is," I rolled my eyes as I looked away from him. I tired being nice and this was the thanks that I got. Fine, I'll just be normal 'crabby' me that he's always known. Fuck trying to be outwardly nice.

"What?" He continued. "Have to make sure that you aren't one of those human faced ape things from before!" He punched my upper arm and chuckled. "You passed!"

At hearing those words, my thoughts went back to Hisoka. My heart thumped in my chest as I pictured his yellow eyes and that smile that belonged to a complete psychopath. I hid a shiver that went through my body. Resisting the urge to clear my throat, I chose to completely mask my rising fear by thinking about how much my little brother annoyed me.

I glanced at him. "I'm so glad…" I drawled out.

The doors in front of us opened slowly, and I could see the courtyard of the area. It was filled with cooking stations, causing me to look over at my brother with a raised eyebrow. "What in the holy fuck is this?" I asked him under my breath. He shrugged, and we entered through the doors, blending into the crowd of people. There weren't as many as before – which worried me. I wonder if most of them died from the strawberry dinosaurs from before.

Did people actually die in this exam?

Did anyone save that guy that was being munched on by that strawberry dinosaur from before?

This place was fucked.

"Welcome to the second stage."

"Yeah, I don't know…" I muttered, walking into the forest with Pokkle. I had tried to keep a look out for Leorio and Kurapika, but I hadn't managed to find them in the crowd. There was an unsettling urge to check up on Leorio in particular. His face had been completely swollen the last time that I had seen him, and I wondered if his glasses were okay.

I pushed that thought away as I ran a hand through my pink hair with a sigh. No sense in trying to worry about them now. If they managed to get through that swamp section then I was sure I'd see them around.

I managed to step over a large exposed tree root without paying much attention to the ground. It was almost as though my body were on autopilot as it continued to walk. "So, we're just supposed to find pork? Then we're supposed to…cook it for them?" I glanced over at my brother. "I wasn't aware that it was necessary for Hunters to cook."

Pokkle shrugged lightly. "You know…if you're on a long hunt, there won't be bars or restaurants. Especially if that long hunt is in a forest." He looked at me dead in the eyes as he said this. I nodded with him, and he continued to give me a knowing, pointed look. I scowled and placed my hands up defensively.

"I know!" I retorted angrily while he let out a small condescending chuckle. "Believe it or not, I was on my own for five years. I know how to cook for myself, thank you very much!" I crossed my arms as we continued to walk deeper into the forest.

Pokkle let out an unconvinced hum as he gave me a side glance. There was a small silence between the two of us. I had left the island after I had turned fifteen years old. I was tired of following my father's rules and his hostility towards me was only causing me to turn away from him at a fast rate. I had left Pokkle with him, considering his favorite son could do no wrong. Pokkle had taken up archery in his spare time, it seemed, and he was pretty good at it, too.

I would never outwardly say that I was proud of him.

"What were you even doing in those five years, anyways?"

I stopped walking as I stared straight ahead.

"I…" My mind was having a hard time to fill in the missing five years. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and could feel them twitching. "No, I was…" A hand went up to my head as I tried to remember what I was doing. It was impossible – no matter how far I tried to reach within the depths of my memories…I was coming up with a blank screen. The blank screen was staring down at me, not even willing to turn on.

"It…Well, of course I was living on my own."

Pokkle looked at me with the most concern I had seen him ever express. "Too busy to write or call home?" He questioned, which caused me to look at him with wide eyes. He was right – but I didn't know how to tell him that I couldn't remember. It was as though I didn't exist for those five years of my life.

I then shook away the thought and gave him a flippant wave of my hand.

"Obviously," I stated dryly. "Way too busy for a loser like you." I muttered out, but I was still worried. I hadn't even remembered renting my apartment. The stuff that I owned – what little that I had, it didn't even seem like it belonged to me. I only mostly remembered or 'came to' about a month ago, and at that point, I hadn't questioned it and went with the flow.

It seemed the most logical – but I was missing five years' worth of memories.

I wasn't seen Pokkle in five years, it would have felt awkward to call him up and explain my situation. My father was never an option. That left no one – I had nobody else. I dealt with the issue as I had done with most things in my life.

"You think that's a hog?" Pokkle asked, placing his hand on my shoulder and lightly pulling me back. I looked through the opening of some trees, and we saw a couple of pigs that were roaming the field. "I think that they might be carnivorous."

"What makes you think that?" I asked with genuine curiosity. He pointed at the pile of bones that were littered around the area. "Well, those could be anyone's…" I shrugged, which caused him to give me a pointed look. He took an arrow from his quiver and aimed it at the snout of one of them. I watched what he was doing carefully. He seemed to be experienced as he pulled back the string. "Is that the weak spot?"

Pokkle nodded. We were both speaking in a low tone. "Yes. It's mostly cartilage. Besides, a weak spot of any beast is its mouth, if you think about it…"

I nodded, but rolled my eyes as I glanced to the side. "That's…not something that I think about."

He smiled, and then released the arrow. It was quick and effective, and the pig toppled over onto its side. It hadn't even made a noise. He had killed it as though he were an expert. Hell, he might have been one. In five years he had become best friends with his bow and arrows…

What had I done within those five years?

"Nice. I think one pig should be enough for the two of us, what do you think?" I gave him a raised eyebrow. "Did you want to try and shoot one?"

Did I want to shoot one?

I felt as though I should at least attempt to kill one. I hadn't been pulling my weight at all, at least not since we were first running together down in the tunnels. In the wetlands, I was saved by Leorio, and then Hisoka carried me to the second stage area. Now, Pokkle had even shot and killed the pig that we were supposed to cook.

I clenched my hands – seriously, I was losing my edge, wasn't I?

I was never this dependent on people in my life – my pride always got in the way of accepting help from people.

"Yeah…" I spoke softly, taking an arrow out of my own quiver. I stung the arrow against the string and pulled. I aimed it at the pig, and Pokkle nodded. I couldn't help but close one eye as my hand on the string started to shake only slightly. "Last time I tried to shoot it didn't go anywhere."

"You have to focus and aim. Make sure that the line is tight."

I let out a grumble at his words. Of course it was, did he think that I wasn't paying any attention to when he first instructed me? Besides, that advice was useless. My words were a low mutter. "You make sure your line is tight..."

"I did," Pokkle spoke. I didn't even have to turn around to see that he probably had a smile on his face. He liked to throw my words back in my face whenever he could. Then again, we were siblings, and that was a pretty usual thing for us to do back in the day. "That's how I hit my target."

"Okay, king of sass." I launched my arrow, and it met contact with the pig's eye. It let out a squeal as it proceeded to run around in pain, and a hand went up to my mouth. Blood was coming out of its eye, and I watched as it bucked around. "Shit. Fuck!" I yelled, looking up at my brother. "C-Can you shoot it? It's suffering."

He nodded and silently sent out another arrow. It struck its target, and the pig fell to the ground. I watched frozen at my spot. It wasn't making any more noise. It was dead. He had done it with such skill and grace, and I was such a fuck up. My eyes lingered to the spot where the blood was coming out of its eye – I had done that.

What…

"It's okay. It wasn't a bad first shot."

"I…" I didn't even know what to say. Pokkle waved me over to go and collect out pigs, but I felt as though my kill wasn't earned. I was questioning why I was trying to go through this hunter exam. Then, I remembered Hisoka's threat. I knew that he would kill my brother if I dropped out. Letting out a sigh, I followed after him to collect our pigs.

I stared down at the pig in front of my cooking station. My brother was in the next one over and was trying to grill the entire thing. Leave it to my uncultured brother to cook it that way. He knew how to shoot a bow but he didn't know a damn about cooking. "I don't think that's what she wants," I spoke, and he lifted an eyebrow up. He looked between his cooking pig and then at my pig still uncooked at my counter.

He walked over to my station as he crossed his arms. I pursed my lips in thought as I continued to think about the prompt. Usually, I wouldn't have thought about something this much, but coincidentally my brother was threatened if I didn't pass this test.

"Think about it," I turned my gaze over to the green haired woman that was relaxing on her seat. "She looks really skinny. I don't think she wants to eat, what…" I scanned how many stations there were with a raised eyebrow. I tapped my index finger to my lips. "Thirty pigs whole?" I shook my head. "I think it's about taste."

"How are we supposed to know what she likes?"

"I don't fucking know. Does it look like I can read minds?"

Pokkle frowned. I narrowed my eyes at his stupid question before letting out a sigh. "Well, we have some vegetables around us," he eyed the different colored produce. I nodded in agreement before turning my eyes back to him. "I don't cook, Kai. What the hell am I going to do? I can't fail this exam again!" He placed his hands on his beanie and started to pull it at odd angles from frustration.

"You aren't going to fail. Let's just…Think about it for a second…" I looked around the area. I grabbed a tomato in one hand. I grabbed an egg in the other. I had one of those brain blast moments and suddenly turned towards my brother. "Whoa, remember when mom would make us breakfast in the morning when we were kids?" I asked, looking over at him with a grin. My eyes always lit up whenever I talked about our mom.

He nodded as he smiled as well, remembering the warm and fond memories. "I think I know where this is going."

I handed him some eggs and another tomato. "Morning breakfast. We'll cut the pork into slices."

"Yeah, but have you seen that guy?" He pointed to the larger proctor that was standing behind the woman on the couch. I pouted at even making a serving size large enough to please him. I didn't have the time and I definitely wasn't willing to put in that much effort into cooking. "I doubt our measly breakfast will impress him."

"Eh," I shrugged. "I think that fat oaf will be happy if he gets any food at all."

Pokkle held back a chuckle. He was trying to not be mean – Pokkle was always such a nice, well-mannered kid. The complete opposite of me. "Okay. Well, thanks for the tip."

I nodded as I watched my brother head back to his station. I turned around, holding the egg in my hands. I caught the sight of red, and I realized that Hisoka was standing next to the other station to my left.

We stared at each other, and I clenched the egg in my hand too tightly. There was a cracking sound, and the yolk slid down my hand slowly I looked away from the red haired man, pretending that I hadn't see him. Reaching for a towel, I could feel his ravenous yellow eyes following my every movement. It was setting me on edge and I felt as though he would try and attack me at any second.

Don't look at him, Kai.

Pay attention to cooking and don't pay attention to the creepy man that is staring at you. Complete the task and focus.

I tried to even my breathing, but my heart was thumping nervously in my chest.

I started to slice my pig into pieces and selected a piece of meat that didn't seem too fatty. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I decided to keep ignoring him, and as I reached for my cooking knife, it was pulled by an invisible force on the counter. My hand was frozen in the area that it previously was, and I slowly turned to look at the perpetrator.

"Kaila," he greeted warmly. That didn't match him at all. It was too normal of a greeting – it completely contrasted the dark malice in his eyes. "How are you cooking this meal?" Hisoka asked with a poorly disguised friendly smile on his face. I could see right through it – the grin that was just underneath the surface of his façade.

"Don't talk to me. I don't care if you pass."

Hisoka let out a small chuckle. My senses were on high alert. I was so sure that he would try something with me. He needed to just leave me alone. "How rude. I was just striking up a friendly conversation."

I glared, turning to look at the man that was a safe six feet away from me. As long as he stayed right where he was, then it was fine. "I don't want to talk to you. Leave me alone." I reached for my knife again, but it was pulled away. Once more, he was preventing me from completing my task. He was toying with my patience and it was starting to piss me off.

I slammed my hand on the counter, causing Pokkle to look up from his cooking. I was silently seething in rage while Hisoka was still smiling at me. My brother was halfway into preparing his dish when he saw who was next to me. He studied the way our body postures were, and no doubt he could see that I was a sliver away from lashing out at the magician.

Pokkle's voice was low. "Do…you want to change stations?"

I shook my head. I didn't want this man anywhere near my brother for any reason.

"No," I darkly spat out. I wanted to desperately get away from the man. I didn't want him to be able to look at me. His eyes directed towards me was enough to make my skin crawl. I glanced over at Pokkle, trying to lighten up my glare.

"Just concentrate on your cooking, alright?" I spoke softly over to my brother. He looked at me for a few seconds, and then nodded his head. He resumed his cooking but he kept me in his peripherals. His concern was touching, but he and I both knew that there wasn't any chance that he could take on the red haired man.

Hisoka was standing there with a close eyed grin on his face. "Well?"

I glared over at the man. "I'm just cooking a meal. I'm not cooking the entire thing." He slowly opened his eyes, the grin still on his face. It almost amazed me that a smile could be that big. It would have amazed me if I wasn't equally disturbed by it.

"Leave me alone, now," I picked up the knife quickly, almost expecting it to be pulled away from me again by an invisible force. After a few seconds, I realized that the knife was still in my grip. I refused to look back over at Hisoka. Letting out a frown, I started to chop up some ingredients and began to plate them.

Hisoka turned towards his station and I tried to not concentrate on whatever he was doing.

I walked my dish over to the Hunters that were also the taste test judges. "You seemed to take a different approach on this than the others." The green haired woman replied. I blinked my eyes as I stood in front of her. "It actually looks like a dish that I'm willing to eat." She took a fork and brought it over to the plate while scooping up every single ingredient. Bringing it up to her mouth, she tasted it for a few seconds.

The one in the back also took a bite of the dish while showing his symbol of approval. I wasn't too shocked to see if he had enjoyed it. It seemed that it was really true what I had said earlier – he was happy so long as he got some food.

"Your meat is slightly overcooked," she stated, bringing my eyes back over to her. "But, I can taste an attempt at some seasoning in there. Pepper and salt. Very mediocre spices," she commented, while I nodded my head at her critique. I had wanted to strangle the woman in front of me – it's not like I'm a five star chef. I'm barely a one star anything, damn it. "I'll give you a pass," she said, flipping the sign around to show her symbol of approval.

"Fuck, really?" I mumbled out, and she rose an eyebrow.

She smirked. "You weren't expecting to pass?"

"No. I thought it tasted like shit."

"So did I," she commented, dark amusement lingering in her eyes. I stayed quiet – ever the one to argue and not keep her mouth shut. "But, yours was at least understanding the prompt. Plus, it wasn't that horrible."

I nodded as I walked away. I made sure to roll my eyes as soon as my back was turned. My eyes locked onto Pokkle from the group of people. He gave me a thumbs up, to which I ignored. I stood beside him and it was his turn to walk up. He placed his dish in front of the two of them. "This looks similar to 54's," she stated, looking at me through the crowd. "Hopefully it doesn't taste the same…"

"Fucking bitch…" I muttered under my breath as I crossed my arms.

I heard a familiar exhale of amusement from behind me, causing my blood to turn cold. I didn't need to turn around to know that it was Hisoka.

Damn, I had worked hard on losing him through the crowd. Of course he would find a way to locate me. I looked down to see a pink strand of hair that had fallen in front of my chest. I picked up the strand and narrowed my eyes in accusation.

Was it the pink hair?

Was he drawn to my pink hair or what?

"You passed. Barely. It was just good enough," she commented as she waved my brother away. He descended the steps with a grin. He gave me two thumbs up and I couldn't help but smile at his excitement.

I watched Leorio make his way through the crowed. I took a step forward as I tried to see the condition of his face. I didn't get much time as he walked up the stairs with determination in his steps. I sucked on the inside of my left cheek before returning to my spot next to Pokkle. "Do you like him?" Pokkle asked, and I jumped at the noise.

"Huh? Who?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"That guy in the suit. Do you like him? You stare at him whenever you can."

I stared at him and then smiled coldly. "So what if I do?" He placed his hands up in defense. "What isn't there to like? He's a gentleman and he's nice. Plus, he has a really nice smile. I like it a lot." After I finished, there was a tense atmosphere from behind me. I stilled while trying to not acknowledge the existence of where it was originating from. "Unlike some other men's smiles that are creepy and completely unwanted," I spoke as an afterthought, knowing that Hisoka could hear it at this point.

"You failed," the woman stated.

I blinked my eyes as I looked up to see Leorio walking down the stairs. "What!" I whispered out. He couldn't have gotten out – he was too pretty to go out like this. I let out a grumble while not paying any more attention to the rest of the participants. I was self-loathing too much, but looked up to see the red haired man walk up the steps. "Please fail," I crossed my fingers. "Fail. Taste like shit. Cause her to choke."

Yes, I didn't like the woman. Yes, my food sucked. But...did she have to be a bitch about it?

"Kai…" Pokkle said in disbelief, hearing my dark words. "That's a little…"

It might have been a little extreme, but if Hisoka manged to kill a proctor like he did the last time that he took the exam, then he would be disqualified. Then, I wouldn't have to deal with his creepy obsessive behavior. I didn't like feeling as though I was going to die whenever he smiled at me, or when his eyes met contact with mine.

"Fail!" She spoke, and the grin that overtook my face was filled with excitement and glee. I stared at the red haired man that wordlessly walked down the steps. I wanted to watch his face contort to anger. I wanted to see that he could threaten people all day long and it would never work out for him. He wasn't strong enough to pass a damn cooking challenge.

He glanced up to look at me.

I froze where I was – the scathing, deadly look was back. His face was expressionless as his cold yellow eyes were staring me down. "Kai?" Pokkle asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. He shook it, while my eyes fell back to his. As soon as I was looking at my brother's familiar eyes, I let out a shaky breath. "You okay? Your face went pale."

"Ye…" I stuttered. "Yeah…" After a moment his hand was still on my shoulder. He was the one that was trying to comfort me. I shrugged off his hand. I should be able to fight my own battle by my god damn self. I shouldn't need him to help me.

"Only two people passed this round. The rest of you can go home," the woman insisted, standing up from her seat.

Pokkle and I were standing in the lobby of the airship. I blinked my eyes, almost in disbelief that the rest of the participants could be redeemed. That wasn't fair – my brother and I had won fair and square with our terrible cooking. I mean, I was thankful that Leorio got another shot at the Hunter exam, but I was equally distraught that Hisoka was also able to get another chance as well.

I sighed loudly. "This is the pits…" I glared at the ground.

"I'm sure the next test will be over quickly," Pokkle spoke, walking over to the window to look outside of it. "I think that they're coming in now."

The door opened revealing most of the participants from before. My eyes lightened up when I saw Leorio walk through with his odd tag team of people. Then, they significantly darkened when Hisoka walked through the door with his shit eating grin on his face.

"Fucking…great…" I muttered out with a roll of my eyes.

To be continued...