Hello! I am here again!

I thank all my readers and reviewers and favouriters and story-alerters! You are all wonderful wonderful people! (especially all my regular reviewers!) My sister for beta-ing and my friend RGNN for constant encouragement!

This is all in Killua's point of view… Sorry for not having much action. This is a chapter to lead onto more action, comedy and political intriguey things later on! ^^ Review if you don't like it, I don't mind.

Just don't flame!

Thank you, thank you again!

Killua's view

I woke up and stretched. Gon was still asleep, to my surprise. Ever since coming here, he had started sleeping late. I shrugged and smiled and padded over to the cupboard. Then I took out a random shirt and pants and changed into them. Then I silently creeped out of the room and closed the door quietly. I didn't want to wake Gon up.

I strolled down the stairs and into the kitchen. The kitchen was already active.

'Killua's at the door!' Breezy called out.

'Call him Killua-sama! Or Zoldyck-san at least! He's still a royal guest you dolt!' I heard a whack and the door opened. Kumo looked a bit tired, and not as jolly as before. I narrowed my eyes. Was that…?

'I'm happy you're here, Killua-san! Please come in! What do you want?' he ushered me in, and I stopped my inspection.

'Chocolate please!' He laughed and nodded. But it wasn't a boisterous laugh.

Now, I don't admit I knew Kumo, but I think it was strange, as the other cooks were also acting nervously.

A few minutes later, a stack of chocolate pancakes came my way, complete with some chocolate syrup. I licked my lips, but raised my eyebrow at Kumo, who was carrying them towards me with another plate of pancakes.

'I haven't had breakfast yet you see.' I nodded and tucked into my pancakes. I sighed happily. They were cooked perfectly.

Kumo chuckled at my actions and poured some syrup which was seasoned with some weird herby looking things onto his own pancakes.

'Haha, you really do love chocolate don't you? Just like hime-sama with pineapple!' I nodded, my mouth stuffed full. He offered me some syrup.

'Want some?' I shook my head and pointed at the chocolate syrup. He nodded in understanding and started slicing up his pancakes.

'I really love seasoned syrup,' he told me. 'But you need to be careful with what you put it, because after boiling the herb in syrup, you can't even tell what herb it was before!' He laughed out jollier than before.

I smiled and stuffed another mouthful of pancakes into my mouth.

'Easy there, Killua-san. You might choke,' he said as he stabbed his fork into a pancake and put it towards his mouth. Then he looked like he remembered something.

'Oh, when is hime-sama coming?' Worry lines creased his forehead. His bald head gleamed. 'I have something very important to give her.' I shook my head in response helplessly. I swallowed, gulped down some water and wiped my mouth.

'I haven't met her yet. Maybe later. She always seems to be busy with something.' I said. I really need to talk to her. Kumo chuckled and put his food into his mouth and chewed. Then he swallowed.

'You'll be surprised. Wind-sama knows a way out of everything. Once, I remember when–' then his face suddenly paled. Then he started to choke and cough. His face started to turn blue.

'Kumo, are you ok?' I asked, rising from my seat while analysing his condition. His fingernails were starting purple, and his toes were swollen. Symptoms were choking, sweating, and most probably vomiting later. Something clogging the airway? Because he seemed like he couldn't breathe…

By then all the other cooks were there. One of the cooks widened his eyes in recognition at his condition.

'That's byntelle berry poison! Quick, someone call Doctor Creed! Ring the alarm bell! Quick, quick! Spread the news that Kumo has been poisoned and needs help!'

All the cooks scattered, yelling orders to some of the palace staff already crowded outside. I knelt down and took Kumo's hand. Some cooks were doing something to his chest that made him cough a bit more, but he breathed in. The colour of his face lessened. I examined his hand. The blood flow was limited, the pulse was weak. Fingers swollen.

Kumo breathed something out. The cooks that were helping him before retreated, since he was breathing normally then. Distantly, I heard bells start to ring.

'Zoldyck-san…' I leaned forward. He pressed something that had been in his pocket before discreetly into my hand.

'Don't trust anybody. Someone is trying to…' What seemed like a doctor came in. Kumo saw him and instantly shut up, his face rigid. I looked at him and the Doctor. Was there something between them?

'Kumo! What happened to you?' he said in a caring voice. Kumo only set his mouth in a hard line and glared at him.

'I need to inject something into you. Quickly now, don't struggle.' He gently pushed me away and knelt beside Kumo instead. Something flashed in Kumo's eyes and he opened his mouth and moved his arm slightly away.

But (who I presumed to be Doctor Creed) grabbed his arm and injected something from a syringe into him. Immediately, Kumo's breathing slowed, and he became limp. His face went slack, but his eyes were still glaring at the Doctor.

I melted to the shadows and headed towards the door. More and more people were coming in, and I slipped out of the door quietly and turned right, where there was less light.

When I was down the corridor, I heard Doctor Creed saying 'Out, out, he needs his air.' I looked back and saw that the crowd inside was being pushed out. I slipped quietly down the corridor and clapped my hands.

A frazzled looking maid came a few minutes later.

'Sorry for the delay. What may I do for you?'

My nerves had been stretched to breaking point in those few minutes. I looked at her.

'May I have directions to my room and the other royal guest rooms please?' The maid nodded.

'Please turn…' I nodded to her in thanks after her directions and started following her directions, trying my best to be fast and to keep in the shadows.

I slipped into Gon and my rooms and went to Gon.

'Gon! Wake up; we need to get Leorio and Kurapika!' I whispered silently to him. He frowned and turned around, covering his head with his blanket. I huffed in frustration and took his blanket away. He immediately sat up and tried groping for it without opening his eyes.

'Killua… M'want sleep…' I shook my head.

'Something has happened, Gon. We need to go to Leorio and Kurapika's now!' I whispered at him. Who knew if there were air-users nearby?

Gon finally opened his eyes.

'Why?'

'Kumo's been poisoned.' Gon shot out of bed.

'What? We must go to him at once!' He rushed to change, tripping on his clothes from yesterday.

'I just came from there, he gave me this.' I held up the note. Gon looked up from putting on his trousers.

'He also told me to not trust anyone. But I think we can trust Leorio and Kurapika, but we need to be on guard for everyone else, got it?'

Gon pulled his other boot on.

'Got it! Let's go to their rooms!' I nodded and went to the door and quietly slipped out. According to the maid's instructions…

As I ran quietly down a few corridors, I internally sighed in my brain. How did we get caught up in politics? It's better not to be involved… But when you get involved, you needed to fight nail and tooth, or you most likely would die…

'We're here.' I told Gon. He nodded and pushed open the door.

Kurapika was already awake, holding a thick dusty log book. He looked up from his reading and smiled at us. Clear morning light streamed from the windows.

'Hi Gon, Killua. How are you? We haven't talked much since we've come here, have we?' Gon shook his head.

'We have some serious stuff to do.' Kurapika took in Gon and my serious faces and immediately closed the log.

'Tell me.' Then Gon launched into the tale.

Kurapika nodded.

'I know a place where we can talk relatively safe.'

'Really? That's really good! Now we need to find Leorio.' Kurapika's frown lessened into a wry smile.

'You don't need to. Leorio's been here since last night.' I raised an eyebrow. Kurapika saw my look and explained.

'Seems like that pretty maid he chatted up already had a boyfriend. He seemed quie protective too.' I chuckled quietly. As expected Leorio, pick the maid with the boyfriend. A protective one at that!

Leorio crawled from under the table.

'I heard everything,' he said with a serious face, trying to look elegant and unruffled. His stubble stuck out everywhere, and his shirt was all crumpled. I cracked up at his messiness.

'Haha! Rioleo! You should shave first!' He scowled at me but pressed on.

'But you should be more careful. If I had been the enemy, they would have known everything already.'

I sobered up.

'Yes. So we should go to the safe place that you mentioned, Kurapika.' I nodded at him. He nodded back and Gon smiled.

'Then let's go! We must catch the bad guys!'

'Yeah. After Rioleo shaves.' He looked offended.

'Why? This is more important.'

'It would be weird if we looked in a hurry, since you shouldn't know of Kumo's poisoning. You can't hear the bells here.'

He grumbled but went into the bathroom. A few minutes later, he was wearing a new shirt and tie, his face clean-shaven.

'Let's get going then. Kurapika, lead the way.' Kurapika picked up an old looking key and started towards the door. He also picked up the huge log on the way and went out.

'Follow me closely.' Then he set up a brisk pace. Leorio was carrying his suitcase, and Gon was holding his fishing pole. I was the only one who wasn't holding anything. I miss my skateboard.

Kurapika stopped in front of a door where a lot of writing noises were coming from.

'This is the log place.'

Then he pushed open the door and an old man greeted him.

'Kurapika-san! You have come here again? Did you know? There has been a poisoning in the palace! The scribes are now furiously recording it down.' I peered through doorway where he was standing in front of.

There were a lot of people running around, a line of people writing and people stacking paper that had already been written on into folders, then when a folder was full, they would put into a shelf.

The room was huge! Gon and I gaped at it. Then Leorio peered in too.

'Wowie!' he whistled. 'That's one huge room!'

'Yeah!' Gon said enthusiastically.

'Are these your friends Kurapika-san?' the old man asked. He looked vaguely familiar. Then I realised he was the guy who Wind rescued from the fight. The father of the little boy called Kemichi.

'Yes. I wanted to show them the wonderful logs you have here.' The old man's mouth spread into a huge grin.

'Then welcome! Go anywhere you want, only not the last door, since it holds all kinds of dangerous poisons. The infirmary led by Doctor Creed suddenly needed space and they just put it here. They'll push it out soon though, so I'm relieved. All the logs that had been in there had to be moved! It was such a commotion, it was a few months ago now.'

He shook his head.

'Why does he need poison anyway?'

'Maybe he needed for study.' Kurapika said to him conversationally.

'That's what he said. It's been there for months already! But then, they said they would move the byntelle berries out soon, so I'll be content with that. It gives me more space that I sorely need.'

'Ah, well, we'll be going then!' Kurapika smiled at him and went to a dusty small locked door. He took out the old looking key and put it into the key-hole.

'Wind gave me this key. The old log-keeper said that only five people have this key, and I recently found out it was sound-proofed so that people from the outside can't hear what's inside and heavily protected, so this place should be safe at least.' He unlocked the door and went through, waving us through. After we all had gone in, he locked the door again.

'You can't be too safe,' he told us. 'What do you all make out of these events that have been happening lately?'

We stared at each other.

'Err…' Leorio started out uncomfortably. We all stared at him. He started and backed away. 'Nothing! Imagine I said nothing!' We sighed and sat in a circle. Then we contemplated.

The light from the light-bulbs were comfortable, and the musky smell of old books was comforting. I could even faintly hear the chirping of birds. Then Kurapika sat up and coughed awkwardly.

'I have something to tell you guys, since we don't seem to have any leads right now.' We looked at him.

'Though I know that a lot of things have happened, I have recently found something very stirring and exciting news. I hadn't planned on telling you all so soon, but I wish that you will all receive this news with joy and help me sort out my thoughts, as I feel a bit disorientated…'

'Cut to the chase, Kurapika.' I said bluntly. He swallowed and nodded.

'I think I have found another survivor.'

'To what?' Gon asked puzzled. He tilted his head and tapped his finger to his head, trying to understand what he was talking about.

'Another survivor to your clan? Is that it?' Leorio asked.

'Yes.' He nodded. I looked at him with wide eyes. Another Kurata clan survivor? That's great!

Then why did he look so troubled?

'That's great, Kurapika! What's his name?' Gon asked happily.

'Oh, it's not a he, Gon.' Kurapika said uncomfortably.

'Then what's her name?' Gon continued to ask, his wide eyes looking interested.

'Yeah. You seem mighty reluctant for something that is supposed to be so happy.' Leorio said, shifting his suitcase for better access.

Kurapika sighed.

'The name's Dusketha.'

We all suddenly looked at him. I had been looking at a light-bulb see, and Leorio had been sorting through his suitcase.

'What?'

'Yeah.' He said unhappily. 'And I remember that there had been a person who had that name in my clan. We had been friends too.'

'But isn't Dusketha Dusky's full name?' Gon asked. I sighed.

'That's why he's troubled Gon. He doesn't know if Dusky really is the survivor or not. Right?' I asked Kurapika. He nodded.

'Well, it is an uncommon name.' Leorio started. 'Though have we ever seen her eyes change colour before?'

'No…'

'And her hair is black, Kurapika. And she has olive coloured skin and silver eyes. Didn't you say that most of your clan had blonde hair? And fair skin and blue-green eyes? Most of the time?'

'Yes…'

'Do you remember your friend Dusketha's face very well?' Kurapika crinkled his forehead trying to remember.

'I remember silver eyes and her laugh. That's it.'

'So you don't have evidence that says that it's Dusky! So no worries!' Leorio comforted him. 'But more troubling is…' he looked at me. 'Can we see Kumo's note?'

I started. I nearly forgot! I stopped thinking and quickly searched my pocket for the note.

I had been thinking about the byntelle berry stock at the end of the corridor. It seemed like I had heard it someone before. But I couldn't remember! It seemed very important. I couldn't remember, but I knew it was very important.

So why couldn't I freaking remember?

I shook my head and quickly dug the note out of my pocket. I put it in the middle of our circle.

'Kumo said not to trust anyone. But I know you all wouldn't want to be left in the dark, and I know you all.'

They nodded, and we pored over the note.

Hime-sama,

I frowned. It was for Wind? But, he had said that he had something to give to Wind…

I have recently realised there is a group of people who want to use this country as an experimental subject. They consist of at least five highly influential people, and many loyal supporters. That is what I gathered in this short time. I overheard a conversation and a misplaced note got into my hands last night after your friends finished their dinner.

Gon and I looked at each other.

I can't list the people I am sure are part of the group here, I'm too afraid that it will go into the group's hands. At breakfast, I will sound-proof a place where I can tell you safely who these people are. It had been infesting since the last two rotations for the crown, this much I know.

The mysterious deaths of the earth and the water princess rotations were their doing. They will most likely want to kill you as well, but didn't have a chance to, since you've been strong since you were young. They might want to grasp this chance to kill you so beware.

We all looked solemnly at each other and read on.

I will always be a loyal supporter to the crown, and you. Be careful,

Kumo

Oh, and you can trust Chiiyo, and a two boys called Henry and Tsume. They are pages, but they are very resourceful. You can trust them if you need any help.

Henry? We met him in the palace banquet, didn't we?

'We met Henry already!' Gon said to Kurapika and Leorio. 'We met him at the lunch banquet.'

Kurapika nodded.

'That's good. Anyone met Tsume?'

We all shook our heads until Leorio suddenly started.

'Ah! I remember! It's the pretty maid's boyfriend! She mentioned his name! I hate him already! Let's not trust him.' He whispered conspiratorially to us. We ignored him.

'When can you meet Henry again?'

'Henry said something about being the page to the queen.' Gon said to Kurapika helpfully. 'Ne, Killua?'

I nodded.

'And he did say the queen wasn't as bad as she seemed.'

'Then can you two try to meet with him again? And try to find Tsume? I don't trust Leorio for that job.' Gon and I nodded.

'Hey!' Leorio said, sounding offended.

'We'll try. I think he said he liked horses, Gon. Let's check there after!' I said to Kurapika and Gon. I kept ignoring Leorio. It wasn't as if he was doing anything productive.

Making faces wasn't what I call productive.

'Mmm!' Gon nodded. 'But I'm still worried about Kumo.'

'Don't worry; he had Doctor Creed looking after him. He's Wind's doctor you know.' I said encouragingly. Gon considerably brightened after that.

'Really? Then I'm happy then! I must visit him later though!'

'Ok. I'll go with you.' I said to him. He could get caught or killed. I can't let that happen.

Meanwhile, Kurapika was talking to Leorio.

'You go find Wind and Chiiyo, and tell her that we are here? I'll stay here and lock the door. I need to research something anyway. When you come back with them, knock on the door like this.' He rapped on the floor in a pattern. 'Then I'll know it's you. I'll open the door then and let you in.'

I committed the pattern to my memory.

'I'll get Dusky too then.' Leorio said offhandedly. 'She would want to know too, and I think she isn't evil. She's too loyal to Wind for that!' Kurapika audibly gulped and nodded.

'Err… Ok. I need to meet with her anyway…' Kurapika said unsurely. I snorted. He sounded like he was in love with Dusky! Haha, that thought was so funny. Dusky didn't seem the romantic type, with her strong features.

We all got up then, and Kurapika opened the door for us.

'Go, and try to come back within two hours. Two hours, got it?' He held up two fingers sternly.

We nodded, and Gon and I ran off. Leorio just jogged.

I'm sorry I have to end it here. But next chapter, I promise some action! (What do you mean by exciting/action? But, if it means fire and savings and retarded bad guys, yeah, it will all be in the next chapter! O_O *glasses face!*)

Would you all mind if it goes on until, I don't know… fifty chapters or something? Because this story going to take a long time! (not the Avril arc, just the general story)

Oh, and should I write a sequel? Because if not, then I'll just end it in the middle of the hunter story. If yes, then I'll go to the end of the Greed Island arc and start the Chimera Ants too. ^^