It's late. XD Sorry. XD Hope you don't kill me. XD I'm obviously trying to make things better with XDs. XD So please don't yell at me for the sake of these XDs? XD

Wing-sensei had told us to meet him on the little balcony outside his room, and we went up the stairs to see him staring at a truly beautiful sunset. He saw us coming up and smiled gently, turning our way.

Then he started on his lecture.

It was truly beautiful! His words wise and meaningful and all that stuff and the sunset behind him was creating atmosphere (and also the most beautiful sunset I've ever actually seen) but somehow I just couldn't connect.

The whole scene was shimmering, as if I was looking through a warped piece of glass, with Wing-sensei's words sounding as if I was hearing him through a muted microphone. Everything was as if I was underwater. Then

Blue. White curtains. A whole table full of cards and a smell that was slightly like antiseptic. Was that a breeze? I couldn't close my eyes. Where…? Black.

I jerked a little when Wing-sensei clapped his hands and smiled at Gon and me.

'Congratulations, Gon, Wind. You two have passed the secret Hunter test.'

'Secret hunter test?' Gon asked quizzically.

'Yes.' Wing-sensei nodded and started talking again. But I wasn't listening (again).

What was that?

We waved goodbye to Zushi and Wing-sensei who were staring at us from their balcony, only Zushi wasn't staring but jumping up and down wildly yelling out goodbyes.

Zushi was such a little kid. Always expected him to be serious.

We continued waving for awhile then we turned around and walked down the dark street, not many people out at this time of the night. …Why were we walking at around ten anyway? I never understood why we couldn't leave in the morning.

'Killua, Wind.' We looked at Gon. 'Do you have anywhere special you want to go?' I shook my head first.

'Nope. I could always go back to Avril, but the security measures are irritating.'

'Yeah. Don't have anywhere to go. You have something in mind, Gon?' Gon smiled a little and skipped a little forward.

'Well… I was thinking we could visit my home. Since I've been to both your places before. But…' He gave a little embarrassed ehehehe sound. 'We are a little poor and you don't need to come if you don't want to…' Killua laughed and noogied him.

'Of course we want to! Knuckle-head!' I ran up to him as well and elbowed him hard in the ribs.

'Me too! I'm excited to meet that Aunt Mito of yours you're always talking about!' Then I noticed Gon's wince and immediately started saying sorry.

'Oh gosh, Gon! I didn't mean to! I forgot my strength for a little there! Oh no, you're going to get a bruise…' Gon chuckled and ducked out of Killua's grip and my hands waving about his face.

'I heal fast!' Killua snorted and walking with his hands behind his head.

'Yeah. It isn't usual for a person to heal injuries in one month which should take four months to heal!' Gon pouted at Killua.

'You're still going on about that? That was ages ago!' Then they started bickering and I laughed a little.

They were so cute together! The dialogue I remembered wasn't exactly the same but hey, that's to be expected right? Because…

I sobered.

The storyline was changing. I sighed and kept on walking, looking at the Celestial Tower that was so bright, with lights on nearly every level, probably packed full with people looking at the fights and betting too.

'Wind, why are you so slow? The ship's going to be here soon, I checked on the log books in the tower foyer! It says it leaves at eleven thirty!' Gon called out.

'Coming!' And I ran towards them, leaving the comfortable luxury beds behind.

Sigh. Probably not going to see them for a long long while.

Gon charmed the captain. It was seriously like

'Nope, don't take passengers for nothing.' Then Gon turned around dramatically, hair flying in a graceful arc, sparkles shining full beam, eyes glistening half full with tears, roses in the background with a full orchestra behind him, and with lips in a carefully selected pout he said one word.

'Please?'

And when the captain choked out a yes, all that was gone, and with a boyish cheer he raced up to the ship leaving three very shocked people behind. I had pulled up the hood of my cape, effectively looking like a boy again to whoever who looked.

'I honestly thought Gon was a girl for a moment back there.' I whispered to Killua. Killua and the captain were still blushing at the awesome acting skills of Gon that we never knew he had until this moment.

'Y-y-yeah.' Killua stammered out still obviously shocked that his best friend had girlish tendencies. Then the captain snapped out of it and grumbled.

'Now what'll I do? Not enough money.' And hearing that I stepped out, took out Jeb's wallet and pulled out a few sheets.

'Here. It'll help, I guess.' I placed it carefully into his palm and led Killua onto the ship leaving the shocked captain behind.

'So much money!' He yelled in shock.

Killua and I shrugged. I had seen Avril's coffers, so that little money wasn't going to shock me. And of course, Killua was in a business that dealt with billions at a time so…

Yeah.

We stepped onto the ship and under the deck. There, we could easily hear Gon's happy yelling.

'This is so COOL!' he said with a squeal. A girlish squeal. Killua and I looked at each other, and we carefully crept towards the door that was open spilling light and high girlish screams from it. We looked at each other and nodded, carefully looking around the doorway expecting a girl Gon with long hair looking… I dunno, innocent and blush-inducing or something.

But we only saw Gon and we were like Phew, something off our minds and stepped in.

'Gon!' We greeted, albeit a little awestruck (and a tinsy bit suspicious. Where did Gon learn that trick? His hair grew for friggin sake!)

'Killua! Wind! Can I have this bed?' He bounced on the bed he was on a few times to emphasise his point.

Killua looked at the room and analysed with his quick thinking.

'But Gon, that's the best spot!' Killua immediately argued, his childish side coming up and sulked.

'But!' Gon's eyes started watering, and roses started to appear behind him.

Oh no, roses were fine. It happened on the ship in the hunter exam, it happened a few times here and there when he used his dreaded puppy eyes. But that was before we realised what it could morph into.

We immediately took a step back. We didn't want to see Gon turn into a girl again on such a short basis. I think our hearts would shut down from shock or something.

… Not to mention, for some reason, the girl Gon was really pretty. Olive brown skin, huge brown eyes, long silky black hair…

And I realised that this was running through Killua's head as well and nudged him.

'Oi, don't go falling for your best friend, that's just weird. Especially if he's Gon.' Killua's eyes immediately snapped towards me, his eyes unreadable. I then giggled. 'Though I must admit, girl Gon was super pretty!' He chuckled in a defeated way.

'Yeah.'

Then the captain came stomping in.

We stared at him and stepped back out of range. The captain stomped into the room and yelled at Gon.

'It's alright to stay here, but these rooms are for the crew!' And from the resulting orchestra music and sparkles flying out of the room with the defeated captain stomping out of the hold with a blush on his face, we deduced what happened and waited for a whole ten minutes before going back in again.

Girl Gon was scary.

The ocean breeze was nice. I had opened those little windows and stuck my head outside, ordering the water that got sprayed up to not hit my face. I got a room all by myself after bribing the captain with another handful of money (hey, I didn't want to sleep with guys, thank you very much. Last time I did it, Dusky was there with me so it was ok…)

Dusky. Dusky, was she ok? I looked at the high tech cell-phone in my hand and fingered the little green dial button. Dusky's mobile number was glowing on the screen and I debated on calling her.

Last time I called, Dusky and Kurapika were already on the way to Neon's mansion. They had probably met with Senritsu already. Then passed the first test and sent away for a time to collect the objects that they had been assigned to collect.

Though Dusky said she wouldn't be joining. Just as a tag-along which meant she wouldn't be allowed to go into the house.

She had sent me a text that said if that ever happens, she would be fine. In response, I told her how to contact Avril's private jet so that she could fly to York Shin on her own if ever need be. She then texted back a thank you.

No frivolous long texts. No happy tone. Just a simple thank you.

I was seriously worried about Dusky. Was this the time to pry secrets from Dusky?

I shook my head. No, it wasn't the right time. I could just feel it. I stared at the moon. It was full. Typical anime. Something was going to happen tonight. I knew it. Animes only give full moons when something was going to happen.

Like, for example, last time a full moon was here, Efoe went crazy with sweet sake (which has low low low alcohol content) and went raving mad with Sakura trees that just decided to bloom on that night laughing about…

Let's not mention that.

Anyway, I just KNEW that full moons were bad, bad signs.

But I kept staring anyway, because the moon shining down on the ocean lit a silvery path on the sea looking extra super pretty. I sighed in its peacefulness. And that's when it happened.

I drew back looked down, because I wanted to close the window (hey, wanted to sleep without worrying about if my powers would hold keeping spray off my face and realised.

My hands were fading. I looked at them in horror and lifted them into the moonlight. To check. To see if it was false.

And there was the full moon, staring at me right through the slight outline of my hands.

The moon seemed to whisper sinisterly in my ear.

Dusky's view!

I punched Wind's room number into the pay phone. The dial tone began to beep. And beep. And beep. And beep.

I scowled at the phone before hanging up and pressing coin return. I collected the coins that fell out.

'Pay phone! I blame you! Why can't you reach Wind for me? Huh? Do you have any excuse for not being able to let me talk to Wind? Tell me, do you have any reasons for your behaviour?' I muttered at the innocent plastic phone in my hand angrily, staring straight into the eyes of the Superman sticker on its handset.

And then realised that an old lady was staring at me from outside the phone booth.

I put down the phone quickly and got out. 'Hi!' I said chirpily at the old lady. Who just continued to stare at me. I hesitated before leaning close to her. 'Be careful of this phone. It doesn't let you talk to who you want to sometimes.'

She just stared at me.

And I was being nice too! Telling her about the mean phone. I mean, who knows? She could get all emo from not being able to talk to whomever she was calling!

The voice-in-my-head-that-sounded-like-Wind said, 'You should really stop blaming inanimate objects when things don't work out.'

I frowned at the mini-Wind in my head. 'But the whole point is that they're not alive! They can't argue back at me!'

Mini-Wind only laughed.

Sighing, I walked back to where Kurapika was, and smiled when I saw him. Seeing him always made me happy. Mini-Wind smirked and said, That's because you're a very very obsessed fan-girl. I sweat-dropped. Mini-Wind seemed to be appearing a lot more lately... which is why I need to talk to her! Even the voices in my head were turning into her!

'Kurapika!'

He looked from the train timetable he was holding. 'Dusky. Did you manage to reach Wind?'

I pouted. 'No. She didn't pick up.'

He smiled slightly. 'That's why I keep telling you to get a mobile phone. That way you can call her anywhere instead of needing pay phones.'

'Fine. I'll get one when we get to wherever that interview place is.' At that, Kurapika smiled genuinely and ruffled my hair.

'Don't worry, Dusky. You won't lose it as easily as you think you will. You're not head of the palace guard for nothing. Anyway, we need to catch this train...'

I tuned out. I just need to follow him, right? Besides, on this train ride, we get to meet... SENRITSU! But first we need to get on the train.

I looked up to ask Kurapika when the train came... and saw him get on the train in front of us. I face-palmed. Why did he need to go into explanation mode all the time? He could've just told me to get on the train in front of us! This was why he's not an Enhancement type like he wants to be. He's just too complex for it.

I chuckled at the thought of a simple Kurapika.

'...Dusky?' I looked up, still chuckling at a Gon-like Kurapika, and saw Kurapika looking down at me from the steps.

'Coming!' I called, and ran up the steps, brushing past Kurapika. And then realised that I didn't know where we were sitting.

'Where are we sitting, Kurapika?' I turned back and beamed at him (hopefully as innocently as I thought I was).

He just shook his head and walked down the corridor. 'If you had just waited...'

I followed him, staring at how nice he looked in the blue and gold clan-thing from the back. I sighed. If only Kurapika smiled as much as he used to back when we were still one big group, then it would so much nicer. But he was so damn obsessed about revenging the Kuruta clan!

Mini-Wind laughed. 'He's as obsessed about revenging as you are about him.'

'I'd be happy if he's only going to collect the eyeballs,' I grumbled. 'But nooo, he has to kill off the Phantom Troupe as well! And get all emo! And even develop his Hatsu just so he can kill them off! And then get even more emo! And then he's going to wallow around haunted about killing people! And then get even more emo than emo! And then...'

I walked into thick royal blue fabric.

'Owww!' I winced and rubbed my eye. Which made the contact in it move. Which meant even more pain. And what was Mini-Wind's reaction?

She laughed. Laughed so hard she fell over.

Sigh.

Kurapika glanced down at me concernedly. 'Are you alright, Dusky?'

'Yeah...' He checked me once over with his eyes to make sure, and then walked into the cabin. I stared at his back again. Who knew that his shoulders were so pointy you could feel them through three layers of clothing...

Making sure he couldn't see me (since he was lifting our suitcases onto the rack) I quickly fixed my contact.

'See what I do for you, Wind? Sneaking around fixing my contacts, that's what!'

Mini-Wind poked her tongue out at me.

I plonked myself down onto the seat, sinking softly into the cushion. So soft and comfy... even if they were a faded purply-grey.

Opposite me, Kurapika stood and drew down the blind before sitting down, taking a book out and began to read, his face smooth and serious. His chains clinked softly together with every minute shift of movement.

I leaned into the sofa (it's too comfortable to be called a seat! Just like those sofas we got when we went to get Killua from his family. Those were practically beds actually...) and started staring at Kurapika again.

The train began to move.

Mini-Wind cackled. 'You just don't stop staring at him, do you?'

I protested loudly (in my head), 'I'm not! It's just that there's nothing else to do! So I'm staring at the only other person in the cabin! And it just happens to be Kurapika!'

'Yeah. Whatever. Obviously it helps that you're going into the York Shin arc. And even though you hate his emo-ness, I know you! I know how you love how he looks in the anime in this arc the best! All, what was it? "Angled, refined-looking, sharp, mature..."'

'Shut up.' Wish I knew how to make him happy so that he was both at his best-looking and not emo...

The train stopped with a slight jolt and then someone knocked on the door gently before sliding it open gently. Kurapika and I both looked up. And there stood in the doorway, a short, half-bald, chipmunk toothed woman.

She probably heard fifty-million things in my heartbeat, because Senritsu looked at me funny (and kindly at the same time, because it's SENRITSU AND SHE'S SO AWESOME AND COOL AND NICE AND AWESOME AND... yeah) before smiling at both of us.

'Excuse me. Sorry to bother you,' she said, and walked over to my seat. Her voice followed the anime, all smooth and pretty.

After Kurapika helped her put her suitcase onto the rack, she sat down and began to talk about the things she did in the anime.

Then the train guard came and inspected our tickets, and both Kurapika and me gave him our Hunter cards and then he left. Kurapika immediately went back to his book. For a while, we sat in silence, until Kurapika's chains rattled.

Senritsu looked at Kurapika. 'Why do you emit such a sorrowful and painful rhythm?'

He looked up at her questioningly.

She answered seriously, 'The rhythm of the sound coming from that lonely chain conceals a strong will.' Then she paused before saying, 'Sorry. Because of my profession, I'm very sensitive to sound. So I unintentionally predict people's minds. Don't mind me.'

And after all that, what does Kurapika do?

He reads.

What do I do with someone like that?

Senritsu stood and looked out the window. 'Looks like it's about to rain.' And began to talk about rain. Kurapika just looked at her. I face-palmed. Obviously, Senritsu wanted to talk! But no, he just has to continue to read!

Frustrated at him, I began to talk to Senritsu.

'Hi, I'm Dusky.'

She smiled at me sweetly. 'I'm Senritsu. Nice to meet you.'

'Nice to meet you too.' I glanced at Kurapika, but he ignored me.

Sigh. I was just trying to make him make a new friend...

'Anyway, you just said you were sensitive to sound. Does that mean you can hear my heartbeat?' I looked at Senritsu excitedly. I've always wanted to get Senritsu to listen to my heartbeat.

Senritsu smiled widely. 'Yes, I can, if I concentrate.'

'That's so cool! Can you hear mine?' I looked at her pleadingly. She laughed and obligingly closed her eyes and listened carefully.

'It's strong and lively, which means you're healthy and energetic. It also means that you're willing to do almost anything for people you love and care about. However, there's also a weak, confusing yet upbeat undercurrent, showing that you're worried about something, missing something, frustrated about something, but you're still optimistic and hopeful.'

I gaped.

'How did you know all that just from my heartbeat? You're amazing! Do you study heartbeats or something?' I babbled on and on, forgetting to whisper. Senritsu just kept smiling before answering my questions one by one.

'Yes, I got all that from your heartbeat. Thank you. I've been listening to them since I developed my ability, and so I began to observe and analyse them...'

By this time, we had reached and left the next station. In the middle of an explanation, Senritsu suddenly stopped and looked at the door before looking at both Kurapika and me.

'These people are targeting you. They're probably hired...'

I stopped listening. Who cared about them? They just interrupted my conversation with Senritsu! And she was explaining all the different kinds of heartbeats too! I growled in annoyance. The only good thing about them was that Kurapika finally put down his book and talked to Senritsu.

'Don't worry. I won't trouble you.'

He walked out to fight them, but I pushed past him through the open door and stood there, hands on my waist, facing the six assassins standing there.

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN, COMING HERE TO ATTACK US? YOU JUST INTERRUPTED MY CONVERSATION WITH SENRITSU ABOUT HEARTBEATS! YOU KNOW HOW AWESOME THAT IS?'

They looked at me with shock. One of them nearly dropped their gun.

'AND YOU COME AND TRY TO ATTACK AND STEAL OUR CARDS? WHAT TYPE OF PEOPLE ARE YOU? YOU THINK HUNTER CARDS ARE SO COOL? THEN GET ONE OF YOUR OWN, STUPID BAKAS! YOU DON'T EVEN QUALIFY AS PROPER ASSASSINS!'

Some of them actually looked offended at that.

'NEEDING ALL BLACK OUT GEAR! FACE MASKS! GLOVES! KNIVES! I KNOW ASSASSINS WHO WALK AROUND IN THEIR NORMAL CLOTHES! USE THEIR BARE HANDS TO KILL! WHILE WHAT? YOU NEED KNIVES!'

Yeah, Killua was a much better assassin than them. But of course, he's Zoldyck.

'YOU THINK YOU'RE SO GOOD? THEN YOU'RE WRONG! AND SINCE YOU SUCK SO BADLY, WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO INTERRUPT ME AND SENRITSU, HUH? HUUUUH?'

By then, the other people on the train had begun to come out and stare at the six assassins, still trapped in the corridor from the force of my shouting. Kurapika stood behind me, and smiled at the scene of six grown men, professional assassins, stuck in place by a kid's tantrum. (Actually, I felt rather than saw him smile, but since I knew he smiled, it counts as the same thing, right?)

Seeing the corridor begin to fill up, the leader (I think... he had a longer knife than the others, anyway) held up his hand. And then they turned and ran away so fast it was like someone had created a gale inside the carriage.

I smirked and opened my mouth again. 'AND DON'T COME BACK TO BOTHER US AGAIN, YOU HEAR ME? IF YOU DO, YOU'LL REGRET IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!'

I needed to say good bye, didn't I?

Senritsu (who had covered her ears with her hands) began to laugh.

Kurapika and I walked back into the cabin, closed the door and sat down, looking at the person laughing her head off quizzically.

Finally, she stopped laughing enough to look at me. 'You are so funny! You shouted at them only so that you could make him smile? Weren't you worried about your safety?'

Kurapika looked at me in confusion. I just winked at him. He looked at me in even more confusion before going back to his book.

I grinned at Senritsu. 'That's right! Besides, I know how to fight, and he'll protect me anyway.'

We both looked at Kurapika, who was obviously trying to concentrate on his book but failing, and then laughed.

'So...' Senritsu smiled at me. 'What were we talking about before?'

'You were talking about how a tremulous heartbeat might not always mean heart disease!'

'That's right. Now, I've met quite a lot of people with tremulous heartbeats that had really healthy hearts...'

The train sped on through the night.

XD ^^"