To my usual list of thanks, my sister for beta-ing, my friend RGNN for constant encouragement and my readers and my reviewers for reviewing! (obviously!) And all the people who put my story onto story alert and favourites! I love you all!

I gulped as I stood in front of a huge intimidating door that had this gigantic sign saying

"Doctor Creed"

Why did a doctor need such a big door anyway? I wondered as I knocked on the door. The door swung open immediately, and a little trickle of water tugged me in. The water felt... like this weird cold rubber-band that was slightly sticky but not sticky… I just shrugged and let me tug me. I didn't know where to go anyways.

I looked around in wonder, as rich tapestries, huge statues and fountains, weird antique looking ornaments came into view. How did a mere doctor get so much stuff? Doctors weren't supposed to be richer than the royal guards…

The little trickle of water tugged me into a largish room, where a person in a doctor's outfit was standing.

Doctor Creed had a nice grandfatherly looking face, smile lines apparent on his face. He smiled at me and I instinctively smiled back.

'So, Wind-sama, you wish to do the operation correct?' I nodded.

'Yes.' He frowned.

'This is a new technology, and we've already trialled the operation on willing terminal cases. But unfortunately, there's only a 20% survival rate.' My eyebrows lifted.

'Only that much?' He coughed and tried again.

'Let's rephrase that. 100% of the people survived…' I looked at him puzzled. Then why did he say that only 20% survived? '…but only 20% regained consciousness afterwards.'

Oh.

'All the others are in a deep coma. We've tried numerous ways to make them gain back consciousness but only one case succeeded. It seems that every single person's treatment needs to be different.' He sighed and looked at me again.

'So Wind-sama, I must ask you again. Do you wish to do the operation?'

I chuckled in irony at his words. Wish. He said wish. That was so funny, as my first wish had been for a chance to live a little longer. Doctor frowned at me.

'What's so funny, Wind-sama?' I shook my head in response and straightened my back.

'Yes, I wish to do the operation.' He looked distressed.

'But Wind-sama! You might be stuck in a coma for the rest of your life!' I just sighed.

'Last time I heard, I was going to die in three months, Doctor. By now it'll have shortened to less than that. It's better to do the operation than just waiting to die, no?'

'But!' he started to protest. I raised my hand.

'No buts. I'm going to entrust my life to our country's medical expertise. I'm very happy with that!'

'Wind-sama, please reconsider! If you're stuck in a coma for the rest of your life, then the fire-tribe can't move the throne onto your place!'

Oops. I had forgotten about that.

'Well then, you'll just have to work a bit harder! Or maybe after, I don't know, twenty years, you could just kill me off so another heir could take my place.'

'But Wind-sama! You don't understand–' I laughed.

'What happened to no buts, Doctor?'

'But!' I frowned at him. He immediately shut his mouth.

'No buts. I am going to take this operation. It is my life, and it is better to have a fighting chance than to sit there like a duck. But thank you for your warnings, Doctor!' I said the last part cheerily and I walked back out, admiring some tapestries on the way.

On my way out, I thought I saw one of the tapestries twitch. I narrowed my eyes and concentrated on the air movements. Sure enough, there was a person behind it.

I shrugged and kept on walking. Maybe that's where the maids melted off to after they finished their jobs. Not my problem anyway…

I walked out the door and was half-way back to my rooms when a wave of pain went through my body.

Urgh… To think I would need another injection so soon. It's been only one day, I wonder if there are any more pain-killers left?

I summoned my staff and it obediently appeared in my hand. I leaned heavily upon it and continued tottering up to my rooms. Then, when I reached it, I flung open the door and went through. Then closed the door again and slid down.

It was too painful; I couldn't even go to sleep like this! I reached for the dagger and popped the syringe out.

It was empty.

I pushed it back in again to try and make it refill faster and tilted my head back and sighed. Then winced, as that sent another hammer-bashing onto my brain.

This was going to be a looooong day.

Killua's view…

I followed Wind and the maid down to a big door which, in elaborate gold letters saying

Doctor Creed

I raised my eyebrows but followed Wind through, who was being tugged by a little string of see through stuff.

When she went into a room and closed the door, I hid behind a tapestry, trying to hear their conversation.

I doggedly ignored the guilty feeling that told me that eavesdropping was bad. But that feeling was wasted, as I couldn't hear anything except for murmurs.

I sighed. Of course they would sound-proof the rooms! I just wasted my time following Wind. Maybe it was just a medical check-up just to make sure that the disease that Wind had wasn't true, and that she could go on her merry way with us…

I nearly laughed out loud. As if that would happen! She was a princess! She was way out of our league. We would probably leave her behind after this visit and probably never see her again…

For some reason, that thought suddenly made me feel like I want to punch something. She was one of my friends dammit, why should we leave her here?

Then I realised that she probably had friends here as well. I sighed again and leaned back into the wall.

The door creaked open, and my senses jumped to alert.

Slowly, breathe slowly, stay calm and flatten yourself along the wall…

Light footsteps walked down the hall. I flattened myself closer to the wall as the footsteps passed me. Then they stopped, and I had a distinct feeling that the person (who was most likely Wind) was looking at me.

I gulped and held my breath.

The footsteps started again, slowly going down the hallway. I breathed a sigh of relief and followed them. I slipped out the huge gold embossed door of the doctor and silently followed Wind at a distance. But about two minutes later, I got hungry.

What's for breakfast?

I took my hands out of my pockets and looked at them. Yesterday, Chiiyo, who was apparently Wind's nurse from way before, told us to clap our hands if we were ever lost or needed directions.

I clapped them, once and loud. Immediately, a maid was at my elbow.

A wonderful efficient system they have here.

'Where is the kitchen?' I asked, uncomfortable to be asking a maid, who probably abandoned her previous work, to come here.

'I'll lead you there, Zoldyck-sama. Follow me.'

Then she set off a brisk pace, fast enough so that I had to jog a little to follow. A few twists and turns later, I was in front of the kitchen. Loud bursts of noise came from the door, which had puffs of steam coming from it.

'Hey, do I knock…' I looked over my shoulder to see that the maid was gone. I shrugged and stepped a bit closer.

'MOVE YOUR LAZY ASSES TO THE PORK! WE NEED TO PLATE IT UP BY NOON!'

'WHERE'S THE SAUCE FOR THE QUEEN'S BREAKFAST?'

'WE NEED TEN MORE LOAVES OF GARLIC BREAD!'

I sweat-dropped as I went nearer. Maybe I should just leave and come back later…

But that hope was dashed when a person yelled out something not related to food.

'THERE'S SOMEONE AT THE DOOR!'

'WELL, WHO IS IT?'

'DUNNO, NEVER HEARD HIS BREATHING PATTERNS BEFORE!'

The door burst open and a huge man came out. He was wearing a dirty greased-splattered apron (so dirty that I couldn't see the colour of his tunic anymore.)

I looked up and smiled a little at him. I took a hand out of my pocket and raised it in greeting.

'Hi.'

The big man looked at me appraisingly.

'So you're one of the royal guests that hime-sama is having?' I nodded.

'Yeah?' I phrased it as a question, but he accepted it anyway.

'Which one are you?'

'Killua Zoldyck.' His eyes brightened and he chuckled happily. He rubbed his hands together and smiled down at me.

'Ah, well, Zoldyck-san, what do you want to have for breakfast today? We're a tad bit rushed, but I'm sure we could squeeze something in for you.'

'I'm not sure if I should intrude…' He looked affronted.

'A royal guest? Intrude in my kitchen? Never! Now, what do you want to eat?' he firmly took me by the shoulder and guided me to a little table in the corner.

'…Do you have any chocolate?' He chuckled.

'Just like Wind-sama, asking for a sweet thing first! Ok, chocolate waffles with hot chocolate and chocolate-dipped strawberries with cream sound good to you?'

'Yes! Please.' I added the please as an afterthought. He immediately shouted the order back to the kitchen workers.

'YOU HEARD THE BOY! GET GOING YOU LAZY PIGS!' Some of them chuckled and started frying something. Others just insulted him back. I smiled and relaxed back into my chair. I liked this place already. There was something cosy to this loud kitchen.

A few minutes later, a plate of waffles with chocolate sauce and a cup of hot chocolate floated over, followed by a dish of chocolate strawberries with cream. I looked around and saw a little person with a colourful tunic waving at me. Then the huge man came over to him and berated him for not concentrating on work.

It seemed like a normal occurrence, and the little man winked at me, then went back to controlling some knives. As I ate, I watched the kitchen in wonder. There were people who were cutting twenty things at once, fire spurting from people's hands to keep some earthy looking things hot. I soon realised it was totally self-sufficient.

I finished my breakfast. It was wonderful, one of the best meals I've ever tasted. The moment I finished, my plate was whipped away from me and into a sink, where it got washed by a cloth which was floating in mid-air. I stood up, and immediately, the huge man came by again.

'I never introduced myself have I? My name is Kumo, head-chef of the castle. Nice to meet you, Killua Zoldyck-san.' He pressed something hot into my hands. 'If you ever want a bite to eat, I'm always here.' A ripple of laughter went through the kitchen.

'Yeah! He lives here!' the person who had waved at me before. Kumo yelled over his shoulder.

'GET BACK TO WORK YOU LAZY NUMBSKULLS!' They got back to work, still laughing, and the door slid shut again, after Kumo patting me on the shoulder once more.

I looked down into my hands. A fresh roll of garlic bread sat there. I grinned and went towards me and Gon's rooms.

Gon was still sleeping when I left. I'll share this with him…

I walked past one of the random looking grand rooms when some words caught my attention. I stopped and back-tracked a little. Then I pressed my ear to the door.

'She's decided to do the operation.'

'That delays our plans a bit, but when she dies, our plan will start. This has been the chance we have been waiting for.'

'Does the queen know?'

'She only knows what I tell her. When Wind dies, the whole country will be in an uproar, as the fire-clan would be holding the crown for another two rotations. That will be our chance to activate plan…'

'Someone's at the door!'

'Did you sound-proof the door?'

'No! Quick, catch the person! It would be bad if the person was loyal to the crown!'

I heard footsteps quickly heading towards the door I was standing in front of. I quickly sprinted away, and stopped in front of our room.

As I entered and greeted Gon who was tugging on his boots, my thoughts wandered towards the conversation.

I drew multiple conclusions out of it as I handed Gon the garlic bread.

None of them were good.

Kurapika's view…

I followed the log-keeper down to the palace archives.

'This is our history, recorded every day since the start of the reign of Queen Lunay,' he gestured as he walked past a room. He paused to let me look in, and as I peered into the room, I saw hundreds of thousands of books, and there was a line of people who were writing in the middle of the room. Another group were going around the room organising the records. Then there were a line of people receiving information and passing it down to the writers.

'There are so many people already, even when it is only dawn.'

'Yes, this place is one of the places where there are people working twenty-four hours non-stop. But of course, we have shifts, and they are paid well.'

He started walking along the hallway, pointing to other things in the enormous archives, including the library. Then he stopped at a small non-descript door.

'This is our information/spy intelligence/other countries' activities records. Our hime-sama heads this group, and I must admit, after she became in charge of it, our information network has become much wider and precise. But I'm afraid that this was also one of the things that led to her condition today.'

He selected a key and opened the door. Then he gave me one that looked exactly the same, only a little newer.

'Hime-sama ordered me to let you have a spare key, so you can come here any time you like. This is a great honour, only five people have this key. Keep it safe.' I nodded. He smiled and continued. 'She also advised you to go and search the older records about something. I think it was clan…'

My eyes flashed and I clenched the key. My vision was starting to go red until I remembered where I was. I closed my eyes and forced myself to calm down. Then I faced the old log-keeper.

'Thank you very much.' I bowed to him.

'No problem, Kurata-san. Now, I need to go now…' he walked away, and I closed the door behind me and switched on the light.

It flooded the area, and I clearly saw the difference between old and new records, and they were listed in alphabetical order.

Wind had said something about clan. Maybe I should go to the C section…

I walked down the shelves until I reached an area which the records started with a C.

After searching them for about half an hour, I found five fat folders which contained information on clans.

Clans A-H

Clans I-P

Clans Q-X

Clans Y-Z

Clans Thought to be Extinct.

I went to the fifth one and flipped to the K section. Kurata wasn't listed.

I frowned, puzzled and sat down, pulling the second folder towards me. Clans from I-P. Then flipped to the Kurata section.

To my surprise, there were five pages of information. Major family trees were listed, as well as a summary about our eyes, past clan leaders, enemies, and there was even a whole page of information about the massacre. My eyes turned red at one of the words. My hands shook as I tried to repress my anger.

Genei Ryodan

I forced myself to calm down and kept on reading. There were details about the massacre that I didn't know about, as I had hid in my house's basement. After the massacre section, it ended.

I read through it again, trying to find a clue. Why would Wind tell me to read this if I already knew nearly all the information in it? I read it a second time. Then a third time.

At the end of the fourth time, I realised that the section had not ended.

There, at the bottom of the page, squished in tiny handwriting was a section named Survivors.

And in that column were two names.

Mine and…

My eyes widened. It couldn't be!

The folder fell from my fingers.

Because the name printed under mine in the smallest handwriting ever, the second name on the list, was the name of the only body I couldn't find that day.

Dusketha.

Thankyou all for reading this story again! And please review? Any opinions, confusions, or questions will try to be answered. Sorry if I didn't answer some, please send it again? Sorry, sorry...

See you all next week! (I hope!)