Thankyou for everyone who reviewed! And story-alerted of course, and favourited. My thanks to my sister, who betas for me, and my good friend RGNN for constant encouragement! ^^

Sorry for updating a day late. I curse my bad memory. I'm really sorry! Please enjoy this longish chapter as apology!

(Oh, and I've decided to change Gon and Killua's age to their anime age. So instead of them being eleven going to twelve, they are now going twelve going to thirteen. ^^ Wind is still the same age, eleven going twelve.) NOW LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE OVER! XDD

So please enjoy!

'Well, see you all then. I'm going to get money by being a real hunter now.' Kurapika smiled at us at the airport. It was strangely ironic how they were supposed to leave in the manga setting but now were leaving at the anime setting (a.k.a the airport). We all said our goodbyes to him until I realised Dusky wasn't saying anything.

'Dusky, why aren't you saying bye?' I asked her. She looked reluctant to say something. She looked at me, and then glanced at Kurapika.

'Weeeell...' I frowned at her.

'What?' Everyone was watching now.

'I'm going with Kurapika.' We all stared in surprise for about three seconds. Then Leorio and I grinned evilly. (I found out later that Leorio had realised ages and ages ago that Dusky liked Kurapika. Need to give the guy's intelligence some credit.)

'Of course you should, Dusky!' We said simultaneously. Then I stopped.

'Did I just think like Leorio?' I cried in horror. As I anime cried in depression, with Killua patting my back, Leorio pushed Dusky closer to Kurapika, who looked as surprised as us. Then the blonde Kuruta clansman went into awkward hyper-drive while babbling to Dusky blushing.

'Dusky! It'll be dangerous, and a girl like you should stay next to another girl! And you're Wind's bodyguard, aren't you? You need to stay next to her! And...' I cut him off. I had gone out of my anime world induced depression (damn anime world effects!) from the look on Kurapika's face.

I'd never thought I would see calm and collected Kurapika like this!

My eyes were decidedly evil when I pointed to Dusky imperiously (it was in the guide book Jeb gave me. The one called 'the beginners guide to ballroom dancing'. Yeah, that one. Not that I knew why pointing imperiously would be taught in a ballroom dancing guide)

'Dusky, I hereby charge you to go with Kurapika and help him with your life.' Dusky looked surprised at me. I cocked an eyebrow and retracted my finger. 'Straighten up soldier! This is an order!' Dusky blinked then straightened up, and saluted me.

'Yes sir!'

Silence.

'Sir?' I questioned. Dusky clapped a hand over her mouth.

'Oops.' She coughed and tried again surreptiously. 'Yes ma'am!' I shrugged and let it slide. While Leorio was still taking care of the still spluttering Kurapika, I dragged Dusky aside.

'I'm going to miss you.'

'Me too.' We looked solemnly at each other, and I grinned. Well tried to anyway. Dusky had been next to me (nearly literally) since we first met. I couldn't imagine her not being near at least. So I started babbling to try and distract myself from her imminent departure.

Because her departure was for the best.

'Well, at least I can see you in the yellow-skied dimension! Oh, and stop Kurapika from being too emo, ok? I forbid you from taking off your silver contacts until I say so. And I have an idea when I can allow you to do so. Then...' Dusky shushed me.

'You're rambling again Wind. And you only do that if you're trying to hold back tears. So cry. I won't hold it against you.' I teared up (and tried not to think what the anime effects would be doing right now. Was that sad music I hear?)

'Who said I wanted to cry? Huh?' I punched her in the arm and she nearly flew off into a pole.

Oops. Forgot about my strength there. Dusky jumped up from the ground with a throbbing vein in her forehead.

'WHAT WAS THAT FOR?' She screamed in my face. I smirked.

'A farewell punch from me because you're going with your oh so true love over there.' Dusky looked at my smirking face and heaved in a deep breath to yell, but then suddenly stopped and patted my shoulder.

'I'm really going to miss you, you know. Not having your smart-ass comments in real life is going to be a real change.' I closed my eyes to stop my eyes from watering too much.

Little did I know that she had done the same.

'Well, not having you screaming in my ear over something I forgot is going to be a real appeal.' I heard her chuckle and I turned around and opened my eyes, my back facing Dusky. Later, Killua told us we had turned at the same time. So we were back to back.

'Well, I'm so not sad about your departure.'

'Me too. Hey, tell Wing a hello for me.'

'Of course. Tell my greetings to your sensei too.'

'Damn. I was looking forward to greeting Zushi.'

'Well, remember what I told you about Kurapika emoing.'

'Will do, will do.' My eyes apparently decided that there was too much liquid in it and spilled over. I cursed, and rubbed at my eyes with my hand. Then I realised it was water and just told it to go fly off. Then I walked off towards Killua and Gon, who was talking to Leorio.

Leorio might have noted that Dusky and I weren't looking at each other and smiled.

'As for me, I'm returning home.' Gon looked disappointed. Dusky, Kurapika and Leorio were all going. Half of our group.

Our group. Funny that. We were a group already.

'You too?' Gon's sad voice came.

'Yeah. I haven't become a doctor yet. If I pass with high grades for a private university, I don't need to pay all the expensive fees. I mustn't slack on studying.'

'Be strong.'

'We'll see each other later. Yes, in York Shin, on September first!' We all grinned at each other, and Kurapika, Dusky and Leorio all walked away leaving Gon, Killua and I behind. Gon sighed and meandered off. And since I was still kinda teary, and Killua didn't care much, we followed him.

'Hey, we're the only ones left.' Gon said walking under those air-ships. I sighed (I was already feeling the loss of Dusky) and wandered off to go to the toilet.

'I'm going to toilet. Don't move from there ok?' I didn't think they listened, as Killua was drawing his diagram on the ground of how far Gon's abilities were in comparison to Hisoka. I shrugged and went on my way.

I flushed the toilet, washed my hands and walked out of the toilet to see Gon and Killua leaning next to it. I looked at them and brought my cloak hood over my head, effectively looking like a boy again.

'I told you not to move!' I pointed at them accusingly. Killua shrugged while Gon smiled apologetically.

'Wind! We thought it would be better if we waited here! And we've decided where we want to go!' I smiled at them.

'Celestial Tower right?' Gon gaped.

'How did you know?' I chuckled darkly.

'I had a hunch. Because I didn't bring any money, and you two are also money-less. And since Gon wants to return the punch to Hisoka, we'll need to get experience. And where's a place where you can get money and experience? The Celestial Tower of course!' Gon looked impressed.

'Wow Wind. You're so good at thinking!' I stared at him exasperatedly.

'How can a person be good at thinking?' Gon stopped.

'Err... You're better than me!' he supplied helpfully. I smiled a bit and ruffled his hair.

'You're so cute. Just like a teddy-bear.' Gon smiled.

'Well, we should get our air-ship tickets now! Where do you buy tickets Killua?' Killua, who had been watching our exchange silently, got up from the wall.

'Well, I always got private plane rides, so I don't know where the commoners get the tickets.' I made up an excuse on the spot when Killua looked at me expectantly. He sighed and led the way.

'You two would be so lost without me.'

We both beamed at him and went to his sides. Gon on his left and me on his right.

'We know!' We linked arms together and marched down the hallway. Then we got yelled at by this cranky business man so we stopped. But as I sneaked a peek at Killua, his head was down, and he was slightly blushing, muttering something like

'Those idiots...' I smiled and went behind Killua again to follow them. Because I think I would get lost.

We brought our tickets from a fake-smiley lady and ran full-tilt to the receiving area apologising to people we bumped because the ship was due to depart (why did she sell us these tickets anyway?).

Oh, and also the fact we couldn't afford to buy another few tickets.

So we ran, got onto the air-ship on the nick of time (literally) and we collapsed onto our seats. A few hours later, we could see the Celestial Tower.

Well, for starters, I knew my castle (it feels so weird, saying my castle) was taller than it. But the fact that it was thin and seemed like a weird knobbly stick poking into the sky made me stare. It looked more interesting in real life. It looked more like it in the anime though, more bizarre and jutty.

'Two-hundred and fifty-one floors, nine-hundred and ninety-nine metres tall, it's the fourth tallest building in the world.' I smiled.

'One of them is Killua's home, and one of them is mine! Haha, that's funny, isn't it?' Gon laughed.

'Yup!' Killua smirked.

'Yeah. The tournament is here, and in the background is York Shin.' Killua resumed his monologue. We nodded seriously and watched as the ship docked. We headed out the ship with the other hundred or so participants.

We waited in line that stretched from the building to what seemed like twenty metres outside the building. And I fidgeted. Dusky's absence was pressing more than before. So I joined Killua and Gon playing Tic-Tac-Toe on the wall. We soon got into the building and the lady behind the counter handed us three forms.

'Welcome to the Celestial Tournament. Please fill out these forms with the required information.' We filled it in silently until Killua muttered to us.

'Fighting experience? I'm going to put ten years, because I want to go up quick...' Gon looked curiously at him and looked at the section on his own sheet and frowned in puzzlement in what to write. I just put five years, because it was the number that popped into my head first.

Killua waited for Gon and I to finish filling our sheets and as we handed it in. She looked over the sheets, nodded and waved us over to the entrance, giving us a piece of paper with a number on it.

'Very good! You can enter now!' And we headed into the dark tunnel to the loud roaring on the other side.

It was crowded, and dark. Anime setting. The loud roars nearly made me deaf as one, or another got beaten up/knocked unconscious/won/got hit.

Haha, if Senritsu was here, she'll probably get a heart attack from all the noise...

'It's been a long time... Nothing has changed.' Killua said whimsically. Gon looked at him curiously.

'You've been here before?'

'Yeah, when I was six years old, my father put me in here without asking...' I tuned out and tugged them over to some seats. We sat down, and I watched the battles take place. The loudspeaker was saying random numbers incessantly until it said a number we recognised.

'Number 1973 and 2055, go to ring E please!' Gon started.

'Oh that's me. Now I feel a bit nervous...' Killua smiled at Gon.

'Gon, you passed the door test didn't you?' The rest of his words were drowned out by a loud roar that had suddenly come up. I was being squished! Why couldn't it be the manga setting where it wasn't nearly as crowded?

Gon got up, and I mouthed 'Good luck' to him. He nodded and strode rather stiffly down to the little stadiums. I made sure my hood was still up, when Killua pulled me closer.

'You'll keep getting elbowed that way. Just sit there.' I blushed and looked a little away.

'Thank you.' Killua turned his head to where Gon was. His hair was hiding his face, but I was sure I could hear the words

'You're welcome.' I smiled at him and looked towards the stage where Gon was competing. From here, he looked like an ant. Smaller than one in fact, since his opponent was huge. Like four times as huge. I never appreciated how big his opponent was until now.

The referee gave a starting motion, and the big guy rushed at Gon with an ugly smirk on his face. Then Gon got into a solid stance, stuck his hand out and gave him a solid push that he just ran into. He flew into the wall that was the barrier from the audience and the fighters. Everyone was gaping.

I smirked. Showed him he shouldn't underestimate us young people. The referee looked a bit amazed. Gon looked at him and he received a ticket. He happily skipped back to us.

'I get to skip to level fifty!' he smiled at us. Killua smirked.

'Of course...' the speaker once again said a number we recognised.

'Number 2054 and 2039 please go to ring A' Killua got up and high-fived Gon on the way.

'My turn.' He went down to his ring, and less than a split second later, the opponent was unconscious. The referee gave him a ticket and Killua looked over to another ring. A little kid was there, in a white fighting outfit.

I chuckled. He was so cute!

'Number 2056 and 1765 go to ring F please!' I used my staff to lever myself up.

'I guess it's my turn.' Gon smiled up at me.

'Good luck!' As I went down, I passed Killua. He whacked me on the shoulder. My cloak fluttered a bit.

'Good luck. Not that you'll need it.'

'Thanks.' As I went down, I passed Zushi too. Zushi was looking forward determinedly, stamping up the steps with strength. I chuckled again and went to ring F. I looked at my opponent and deigned him weak.

So after the referee's signal to start, I just pointed at him, sending a stream of air to his chest. He was effectively winded, and he fell down. The referee stared at me.

'You can go to level eighty.' I shook my head.

'Level fifty is enough.' He raised his eyebrow but printed a different ticket. I went up and grinned at the two.

'That was amazing, Wind!' he exclaimed while going towards the elevators. Killua just huffed.

'Show off.' I smiled at him. He suddenly became fidgety.

'Well, let's get to level fifty quickly!'

'Yeah.' A lady was there. She pointed us to an elevator and went inside, looking at our tickets. Then she started explaining the levels system. I looked around interestedly, my eyes landing on Zushi. I grinned at him. His thick eyebrows were just so cute on him!

He looked surprised, and Gon and Killua looked at where I was looking, effectively looking at Zushi. When we headed out, Zushi stopped and looked at us. We did the same.

'Hai! My name is Zushi! What are yours?' He said loudly, with his arms next to him and he knees bent.

'I'm Killua.'

'I'm Gon.'

'Wind.' He smiled at us, dropping the position. We started walking down the hallway and started talking.

'I had the honour of watching your matches. You're great!'

'What are you talking about? You needed one fight to get here too.'

'Yeah, you're the same as us.' Gon added. I nodded. Zushi held up a hand.

'Oh no, not yet, not yet.' He suddenly stopped and held his arms out again in that position he introduced himself before. 'Tell me which dojo you come from? Personally, I come from the Kung-fu Shingen Dojo!'

All three of us looked blankly at him.

'We don't really have a dojo.' Zushi's eyes widened and he looked really surprised and he started shaking with his head bowed down. I held up my hands to help him (I was kind of worried).

'To have reached such a level without being guided. It's a real shock for me. I must work harder.' Killua had a sweat-drop at the back of his head.

'Yeah, well...' Clapping noises were heard, and we turned our heads to see a young/middle aged man (you just don't know how old nen-users are) walking towards us smiling.

'Zushi, that's good. You followed my guidance well.' He said while smiling. I inwardly squealed. I was meeting another one of my favourite characters!

'It's an honour.' Zushi said seriously. Then he spoke again. 'Master, your shirt.' He pointed out.

'Ah, sorry!' he immediately tucked his shirt looking a little flustered. Then he straightened up and looked like a wise teacher again.

'And at your sides?'

'Ah, Killua-san, Gon-san and Wind-san.'

'Nice to meet you, I'm Wing.' We took the position Zushi did with nervous faces.

'A pleasure.' Wing just smiled and started walking.

'I didn't expect to see other kids like Zushi here. Why are you here?' I just followed Gon and Killua lazily, walking beside Zushi.

'Well, we just want to get stronger but...' Killua started, 'we just ran out of money and wanted to earn some.'

'Killua had participated before.' Gon added helpfully.

'Ah, if you have come this far, you must be strong. Then you should take care of yourself and your adversaries.' We nodded, and Wing left us there, as we went into the contestant waiting room. We went to the money collecting place and they gave us four envelopes.

I smiled and ripped it open to reveal the money.

'One hundred and fifty-two jenis...' Gon counted.

'That's the price of a drink.' Zushi commented. Killua smiled, already having a drink in his hand. I got up and motioned I was getting a drink.

I went up to it and to my surprise, there was pineapple juice. So I picked it, and happily slurped it back over to Killua and the others. I noted that he was actually drinking chocolate milk. You don't notice these things in anime or manga.

They had already started down the hall-way.

'Hey, wait up!' They paused. 'You dare abandon me? I feel so crushed.' I put on a mock-sad voice. They chuckled and continued walking down the corridor.

'Ha, if these are the adversaries in the fiftieth level, it's easy!' Killua said loudly. I clapped my hand over his mouth as the tension in the air suddenly became thick.

'Stupid! You don't want to provoke them before its necessary!' I whispered into his ear. He tugged my hand to let go and I did, wiping my hand on his shirt.

'Well it's true!' I sighed.

'You never learn...' I said as I shook my head.

'Can Killua-san and Zushi-san please go to the fifty-seventh floor.' The speakers spluttered out. Killua and Zushi got up, Zushi a bit nervously. I shrugged, yelled a good luck and went to find a rubbish bin, motioning to Gon what I was doing. Gon nodded, and I wandered off.

I silently made my way to a rubbish bin I spotted in a corner when I heard Gon's name being called out.

'Can Gon-san and June-san please go to floor fifty-four.' The old speakers spluttered. I caught up with Gon at the elevators.

'Good luck Gon!' He smiled.

'Thanks! You too!' I nodded, and just as Gon went into the elevator, my name got called out.

'Can Wind-san and Yad-san please go to the fifty-second floor?' I put my hand between the doors and joined Gon in the elevator.

'I'm going too it seems.'

'Yeah. I'm kind of nervous.' I grinned and whacked him in the shoulder.

'Hey, you'll be fine.' The elevator gave a 'ding!' and I went out to the fifty-second floor. I smiled and waved, made sure my hood was still in place and stepped up the stairs with my staff. My staff hummed. I looked at it surprised.

Maybe it was feeling excited as well? I smiled and stroked it and went onto the platform.

Yad was already on the stage, looking extremely buff and muscly. I grimaced. Why can't all muscles be like Killua's? Not bulky at least.

I blushed. Why the heck was I thinking about Killua's muscles? Gosh, I'm so sad...

The announcer with a happy voice yelled out our names.

'Yad-san, a favourite with the audience, has worked up ten levels by ten levels to where he is now! While the child-genius Wind-san jumped from the first level to here with a mysterious attack! Thanks to our recording system, we can see their fights!'

Then came a lot of pictures of Yad fighting and having poses of victory.

Afterwards, it was my video. After all, I've only fought once.

The mysterious figure in the camera had a shadowed face, but you can still see the boyish face clearly. If I didn't know better, I would think I was a boy.

The figure lifted a finger in seemingly slow motion and the next second, the opponent had fell over. I gaped. I looked like that? I looked so cool!

Yad had his eyebrows furrowed. The votes were put, and a lot of people had bet on Yad winning against me.

I scoffed inside. As if he had a chance. Yad seemed to see my expression and his expression darkened.

'Looking down on me eh? I'll show what I have.' He showed his muscles, and the audience screamed. I groaned and stood up straight, putting my staff in front of me. I quivered and I put it on the floor. It seemed happy.

The referee blew the whistle, and the guy rushed at me. I raised my hand again, and the audience gasped. My eyes glinted under the hood, and the next second, my finger was pointing directly at Yad. The next, he was blown away, flying into the wall without me even touching him.

I lowered my arm as the audience was silent, watching in amazement. The girl annoucer was the first to break the silence.

'W-wow. This was the first time I've ever heard the auditorium silent! An amazing show from Wind-san!'

The referee blew his whistle and waved his arm in my direction. I had won. So I walked off, with my staff solidly in my hand.

The whistles and cheers followed me, and I couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement.

I met Gon on the way, so we collected our money together, waiting for Killua. I went over to Gon.

'Hey Gon, I'm going up first. The shop here doesn't have pineapple juice and I want to see if there's any on the sixtieth floor. Congratulate Killua for me yeah?' Gon nodded.

'You're not waiting?'

'Eh, Killua would understand.' I smiled and walked over to the elevators and asked the lady in there politely to let me go to the sixtieth floor, after looking at my ticket.

The screen showed our wins and losses. I was glad when we reached the one-hundredth level. Because that meant that I didn't need to share a room with stinky old men in cheap motels anymore.

'And once again, Killua give a one-hit K.O! And in the ring next to it, Gon is doing the same! And what is this? Another rookie, Wind with his mysterious finger! All of three them have six consecutive wins in three days of participation! Killua with the sharp of his hand, Gon pushing them out of the ring and Wind mysteriously knocking them unconscious! How far will they continue to go like this? Who will be able to stop them?'

I scoffed. Really this time. I switched off the TV in Gon's room and looked at them, my hood off again.

'There's a hurdle in the one-hundredth floor.' Killua was saying. I laughed.

'It's going to be ok Killua!' He looked at me.

'I'm worried about Gon!' Gon looked at us indignantly.

'Hey, I'm improving already!' I smiled and ruffled his stiff hair.

'Yes, yes. Whatever you say Gon.' Well, after this, Killua continued his explaining session about the one-hundredth level. I blew some hair off my face, hugged my staff (which was becoming more of a pet than a staff now) and hung upside-down off the bed. Then I looked out the window. The view really was really pretty.

'Hey, when does it say on your card that you need to go fight?' Gon looked at his card and jumped up.

'Aah! It's in six minutes! I'm going to be late!' I shrugged.

'Mine's ten minutes after yours. Killua?'

'The same time.' We smiled at each other. Then Killua suddenly looked away and blushed. I frowned.

'Why are you looking away?' I pouted. He choked. Gon stood up with an unexpected evil grin and went to the door.

'Cheer for me ok?' he said after waggling his eyebrows at Killua, who suddenly blushed for some unknown reason. I stared at him.

'Of course!' Killua scrambled behind Gon and I got up after them. We stood outside (since we couldn't get tickets. Gon was surprisingly popular) and watched it on TV. Another one hit K.O. We chuckled simultaneously as we went to our respective rings.

I blew him away too. The air was stuffy anyway, and it wanted to move. So I just directed the movement towards my opponent. It was easy. I hi-fived Killua and Gon and laughed with them down the hallway.

'We have an account!' Gon said excitedly. I grinned as he stared at the numbers on his cheque.

'I've never seen so many zeros before...' Gon said, his eyes round.

'And to think last week we were nearly out of money.' Killua said with his hands behind his head.

'I saw Zushi on TV yesterday.'

'Yeah, he was still on the fiftieth level.' I chuckled.

'Well at least he climbed from the fortieth level from your defeat Killua.' He frowned at me and smiled.

'Yeah. But I'm really curious to what that "Ren" is.' I widened my eyes. I didn't exactly want to follow them. Killua continued. 'We will be sure to meet more guys like that up there.' Gon cocked his head.

'Huh? Wouldn't it be better just to ask Zushi?' Killua froze and as I watched, his face went cat-like. I laughed a bit and clapped their shoulders.

'Well, as much as I want to see Zushi again, I'm a bit tired. I'm going to my room again ok? Tell me your results when you come back!' I went up to an elevator that went to the one-hundredth and twentieth floor and waved at them from inside.

'Have fun!'

'Hey wait Wind– '

I smiled and the elevator door closed.

'And Wind, Killua and Gon win the one-hundredth and ninetieth floor with one hit!' The announcer blared to the night sky.

My happy ranting corner...

I GOT MORE THAN THREE-HUNDRED REVIEWS! I'm so happy, I feel like I could cry or something. Really, thank you for everyone who reviews, and appreciates this story. And for the people who don't review, please do! I really like reading people's comments on this story. And if you've read this far, you probably like this. So please review!

Ah, I'm in a happy mood today, but I must apologise again, since I updated a day late. *sighs* Sorry... ^^ Love you all! ^(oo)^