There's no use in crying,
All my tears won't drown my pain,
Free me from your sorrow,
I can't grieve you again.
Damn it.
Damn it, damn it, damn it.
I wake up in what I guess is a hotel room in the building that the Hunter Committee used for the Final Phase. Thankfully, I remember everything that happened, including me passing out and the harsh truth of Killua leaving. And killing. And his emotionless eyes.
A memory of his eyes flashes in my mind, sending goosebumps down my arms and beautiful shade of blue that I have come to like, devoid of any emotion in those last few minutes of me seeing him. I feel a flurry of emotions, some of them different as night and day. Anger, confusion, hurt, and a strange emptiness.
I concluded that I have always felt this strange sense of emptiness, just now that Killua had left it seemed to be stronger. It hurt a lot, seeing him walk through those doors alone. He just left as if it all meant nothing.
My head starts to throb from thinking so much and I groan in frustration. Just stop thinking. Breathe. I take in a deep breath. It didn't help. I feel like crying my eyes out but, of course, tears refuse to fall. Now that I think about it, I've only cried over two people, three different occasions. The only times I cried was when Father left me, when Iris died, and when I recently 'saw her'.
Suddenly, the door bursts open which tore me away from my thoughts. Thank the God, and revealed an injured Gon with a broken arm. I quickly jump off the bed, relief filling me. I want to jump on him, but I think better of it. "Gon? What are you doing here?" I ask him as he stomps over to my bedside. I sit back down and stare at him, and he gazes right back at me. He looks pretty mad. Probably heard about what happened with Killua from someone.
"Satotz told me everything and he also told me that he found you passed out in a room, after trying to go after Killua," he says. "I'm going to the orientation room, so I came to get you." He holds his hand out for me to take. I jump down from the bed, taking his hand.
"Aren't you injured? You should be resting," I ask Gon, who is walking in front of me. Everything about him just screamed 'I am angry, don't mess with me'. He continues to walk towards the orientation room and I think he didn't hear me, but he responded several moments later.
"I'm mad at that Illumi guy. Really, really mad," he says, making me nod. I can see why he's angered, I am too, and I even lashed out at him earlier. "I want to save Killua, too. As soon as possible," he adds. I smile at the back of the boy's head. I'm glad he has another friend that he cares so much about.
"Me too," I agree as we reached the doors to the orientation room. He pauses and looks back at me one more time, his eyes filled with his usual determination. I smile at him and place my hand on the right handle, and he puts his hand on the left handle. We opened the doors immediately at the same time, revealing a large room.
As soon as we opened the door, everyone turned to us, except for Illumi who was seated at the front. Gon and I start to walk down the stairs towards the older brother but I stopped midway, in the aisle where Kurapika and Leorio were seated at. There's no way I'm getting close to that guy. Gon stops right next to him, glaring.
"Apologize to Killua!" Gon says sternly to Illumi. He turns his head toward Gon, the usual expressionless face.
"Apologize? For what?" he asks, feigning cluelessness. Or, at least I think he is. Gon continues to glare at him.
"You don't know what you did wrong?" Gon ask.
"Nope." I realized I had started to grip the table, denting to the point where it broke. The people around me seemed to notice this. Pika and Leorio gawk at me for a couple moments, but turn back to the exchange between Illumi and Gon.
Gon clenches his fists tighter. "You don't have the right to be his brother," he says and Illumi turned his head back to the front of the room.
"Must I earn the right to be his brother?" he says casually. 'That absolute piece of shit.' Gon gripped his right arm, pulling him out of his seat and over his head. He floats back to the ground, and I inwardly cheered Gon on.
"He doesn't have to earn the right to be our friend, Illumi," I say, glaring daggers at Illumi. He looks over to me.
"Oh, it's you again," he says, making me quirk a brow. Meanwhile, Gon grips his arm tighter. I wouldn't be surprised if he broke it. Illumi let out a small gasp at his sudden strength. 'That's what he gets'.
Gon steps down another step, still firmly gripping his arm. "Don't bother apologizing. Just take us to see Killua." Gon say, his voice quieter in comparison to his previous loud and angry tone.
"What will you do then?" Illumi asks.
"That should be obvious… We're gonna rescue Killua!" Gon states, his voice rising once more.
"You make it sound as though I kidnapped him… he walked away on his own," Illumi says. An image of him walking out of the doors flashed inside of my mind.
"But it wasn't by choice. He was being manipulated by you people. It's the same thing as kidnapping him!" Gon says
'You did something to him, you manipulated him, your aura...what was it called..um n-thing. Think about that later, killua comes first.'
"Kil would never leave us by his own will." I say, "He wanted to be our friend, and you selfishly crushed that desire." I practically spat, making the room go silent. Netero steps down from the podium he was
"We happened to be discussing this very subject, Gon and Rin. Kurapika and Leorio have both lodged complaints. The committee has been discussing the fairness of Killua's disqualification," Netero explains.
Pika stands up. "Killua had been behaving in a strange manner during and since his battle with the man who called himself Gittarackur! I believe he was hypnotized into committing murder. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to use hypnosis to induce a person to kill. However, as Killua was raised in a family of assassins, murder was part of his daily life." I was already seething from the anger this conversation was causing me, but that last sentence made my chest hurt. "So it's natural that he would lack the ethical restraint of most!" Kurapika finishes.
It was Leorio's turn to stand up and rant. Although, that wasn't unusual for him. "I want to mention that the attack happened during the match between Bodoro and me. It's possible that he was trying to help me. Given that, the one who should be disqualified is me," Leorio adds and I scoff. That is highly unlikely. I doubt he'll even remember his name when we see him again.
"In any case, Killua was not in control of his own actions. Thus, he should not have been disqualified!" Kurapika says.
"That is mere speculation," Netero says, walking back to the podium. "There is no proof. There were no clear signs of manipulation. In fact, I would question the claim that he was hypnotized. I agree that the incident occurred after the battle between the battle between Leorio and Bodoro had begun. At that point, both fighters were evenly matched. Bodoro had more experience, but in terms of raw combat ability, Leorio is the stronger. There was no need for Killua to interfere." He is completely right about how Killua did not interfere in order to help Leorio, but I'm sure that Illumi had manipulated him in some way, with that n-word Ging told me. Anyhow, this conversation was a waste of time.
"There was some other funny business happening," pokkle points out, then turned back towards Kurapika. "Like when you fought Hisoka. Back then, what did he say to you? Neither of you seemed particularly tired. But Hisoka whispered something in your ear, right before conceding. That's pretty strange."
I understand surrendering after his opponent whispers something to him, as it happened to Bodoro and Hisoka. Because they were under considerable pressure. But in his case, the exact opposite happened. I have to wonder if he struck some sort of a bargain. If you're going to question anything that seems odd, your own victory was quite odd, indeed.
"If you have nothing to hide, you should tell us what he said. Right now." Pokkle demands, leaning against the table and glaring at Kurapika.
"I have no obligation to tell you," Kurapika says simply.
"Maybe not, but I believe you owe it to us." Pokkle say. I narrow my eyes at Pokkle, that's not true. At all. He doesn't 'owe' anything. Either way, I keep my mouth shut. If I talk, I feel like I would just start to yell at every person here.
"Not really. If you consider my victory to be odd, a victory by default would be equally odd., Kurapika retort back, which seemingly angered him.
"Wh—"
"Shut. Up," I cut Pokkle off. "You probably wouldn't even be here if killua didn't surrender, though if he didn't you would be thanking Borodo's death, you wouldn't have to fight a stronger opponent." I pause and glare at Pokkle, making him sit back down.
"Do you realize how futile this entire conversation is?!" I say with a groan. "I don't care if Killua didn't pass the exam, he probably doesn't either, what's done is done! As much as I hate to say it, killing was against the rules. And he broke them, hypnotized or not." I stop my rant since I can feel my voice begin to break.
It was the sad, but very harsh truth. I doubt they would change the rules especially for that incident. All eyes were on me, and the room was quiet enough that you could hear a pin drop.
"It's pointless to argue over whether someone should have passed," Gon says, shattering the silence. "If you aren't happy about passing, keep working until you're satisfied. If Killua retakes the Hunter Exam, he'll definitely pass! It's unfortunate that that failed this time, but it is what it is. What does matter… If you've been forcing Killua to kill, against his will, all this time, I'll make you pay!" Gon shouts at Illumi, gripping his arm tighter once more. I grit my teeth, gripping my hand instead if the table to the point of where they were bleeding.
"Make me pay? What, exactly, will you do?" Illumi ask.
"I won't do anything. Only, once we rescue Killua, I'll never let you see him again!" Gon says fiercely. Illumi raise his free hand so that it was level with Gon's forehead, just like he did with Killua. Thankfully Gon notices and jumps away, but my eyes widened from the anger and I start to walk towards Illumi. I walk down and roundhouse kicked his right arm where Gon had gripped it, making the injury worse. Surprisingly, his eyes only held a slightly surprised look to it, but on the outside it it looked as if he wasn't affective.
"Try touching Gon again, and I'll kill you. Come near me, and I'll kill you. Once we leave here to save Kil, never show your stupid expressionless face to me again. Or I'll kill you." I say, my voice low and dangerous as the room got darker once again. I quickly jump over to where Gon is before he could react.
Netero coughs, breaking the silence. "Is everyone finished? Gon and Rin are absolutely correct. You must decide for yourselves if you were worthy of passing. You may complain about the results all you like, but we will not be changing our minds. Killua has been disqualified. And the rest of you have passed the exam," Netero says, finally. Thank the Gods.
"Okay, then I shall continue the orientation…" Bean says and starts to explain what exactly the Hunter License is and what it does. We could enter places that are otherwise restricted to normal people, enter countries that limit immigration, and allows free access to most of public transportation. And, if you sell it, it will get you enough money to last you seven lifetimes but you'll still be living in comfort if you don't sell it just as a bonus. In short, it's pretty useful.
"Then, we now declare the seven members here to be new Hunter's!" Netero announces, dismissing all of us from the orientation. Everyone here was slightly happy to hear this until Gon asked me, "What does he mean seven, did somebody not get theirs?" As he says this the, people who were left in the room all look at Netero, the gang.
I rub my neck sheepishly remembering, "Uhh...sorry," I say looking away. They were caught off guard.
"Wait you mean you didn't get a hunter's license?!" Suites shouts.
"That's right you walked out after Gon when he got hurt, even though you were told you would be disqualified." Pika says before sighing, "But why did you do that Rin, I was going to be fine." Gon exclaims "Oh well, I already got my license before you guys, so technically I couldn't be disqualified" I mumble to them
Gon looks shocked and grins at me. "Wow, but when did you get it" He continues confused.
I stared at him. "When Netero interviewed us, he just gave it to me that time," I explain to Gon forgetting about the other two.
"Let's get going if we want to get Kil back," I say with a smile and he smiles back. He grabs my hand with his uninjured one and leads me out the room.
When I feel that my back is light and bare, I turn my head around to notice my bag is not on my back. "Gon I'm going to go get my bag, I'll catch up with you when I come back," I tell him and starting walking back to the room.
I enter the room and go to the bed where my backpack rest against. I check the inside, making sure everything is present. After taking a chocolate bar out of it, I zip my bag and swing it against my back as I leave the room. I walk around a corner, where I spot three familiar figures sitting in front of a computer. I let out a sigh of relief as I got closer and realized it is Pika, Suites, and Gon. The youngest turns around and we lock eyes. He waves me down with a grin and I walk over to them.
"Hey, what're you guys looking up?" I ask, looking over Pika's shoulder to see a picture of a gigantic mountain-volcano type thing, crunching on my chocolate bar. Either way, it is huge. I gaps at the screen, and Gon laughs at me.
"That's Kukuroo Mountain, where Killua lives." Gon clarify, making me nod slowly.
'He lives in a mountain, so cool,' I think, inwardly laughing as I imagining Killua living on a mountain as a cave person. "In the mountain?" I ask, letting a small giggle escape from my lips.
"Somewhere in or on it. No one has actually seen it," Kurapika says as he pulls up a map of where it was. Across the ocean.
"How will we get there?" I asked.
"By airship, it will take three days to reach. When should we leave?" Kurapika ask and put a hand onto his chin.
"Today! Right now!" Gon exclaims, right in Kurapika's face.
"Yeah, no objection from me!" Leorio agrees.
"Is that even a question? C'mon, buy the tickets!" I say excitedly.
"Understood, then I'll order tickets," Kurapika says as he types a few things and presses enter, officially purchasing the tickets.
I smile, knowing we are now one step closer to rescuing Killua. 'Don't worry Killua, we are going to save you.'
After encountering a little… predicament… while driving to the airport. Traffic was running slower than a turtle. By the time we get to the airport I was panting, out of breath for a couple of minutes before stopping.
Gon and I are now sitting in our seats in the airship, gazing out the windows at the cities below. It reminds me of the time I visited Blue Pegues with Wendy and Lucy. We got to ride on Christina, Ichiya's awesome airship. I smile to myself when I remember when I accidently caused Hibiki to fire one of the cannons.
I bet Gon and Killua would love to ride Christina. There it was again. That empty feeling whenever I thought about Kil. It is pretty annoying, because it's hard not to think about him. With everything that happened.
Suddenly I feel something press against my cheek that was wet and I jump. I whirl my head around to just see that Kurapika had pressed a cold drink to my face. "Gosh, don't scare me like that!" I say with a forced smile, even though it doesn't feel right on my face anymore. They feel wrong, fake, its not supposed to be like this, I'm not supposed to act like this...so why.
"What's with the long faces, Gon and Rin?" Leorio says jokingly, and I notice he plopped a french fry into Gon's mouth. "We'll be in the Republic of Paduka by morning. You guys will be able to see Killua soon enough." Kurapika reassured, making Gon smile and nod. I, on the other hand, start to gaze out the window again, admiring the jewel-like city down below.
"Yeah…" I said quietly.
They offer me the food they brought, and I accept it with pleasure. Soon enough, everyone finishes eating, and they all fall asleep. I keep to my thoughts, not noticing myself falling into a deep slumber.
~
"Rin….. Rin Wake up! We're here!" a familiar enthusiastic voice shouted right into my ear. I jump at the sudden loudness, raising my arms to strangle the person who did it. I look over to where the voice came from and there Gon stands, smiling at me in the empty airship.
"Good morning to you, too…" I murmur, standing up and stretching. He grins sheepishly and starts to walk towards the exit. I sluggishly follow after him, mumbling that I would rather be sleeping. Then I remember why we are here, and I loose my grouchiness.
"We're going to take the tour bus up to Kukuroo Mountain a lady said it's the only way up," Gon explains as he leads me towards said tour bus. "Leorio and Kurapika are already on it."
We get onto the bus and I sit on the seat in front of Pika and Leorio. Gon sits nearest to the window, while I sit on the outside with my legs hanging around in the aisle. The bus starts to move. We drive for what seems like forever, I have begun to think that the road and grass are endless.
"Okay," a lady says, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Thank you for taking the Lamentation Tour today. We will be visiting Kukuroo Mountain, home to the famous Zoldyck family of assassins." The lady looks young and is pretty with poufy strawberry blonde hair and emerald eyes. If it wasn't for the nest she calls hair on her head, she'd be a lot prettier. In my opinion. But hey, I'm not one to judge.
"Look," Leorio whispers to me, Gon, and Kurapika then gestures towards the back of the bus. There are two men sitting there, scowling faces looking out the window. One was, well, pretty plump like fattass square-nose, and the other was smaller with a pretty average build. "They obviously aren't tourists," Leorio adds as we stare at the two men. I'm surprised they didn't notice our gazes.
I scoff and turned away. They're probably gonna try and infiltrate the estate or something like that. They lived a good life, I guess. Probably not, but still.
"Everyone?" The tour lady speaks again, then motions towards the right side of the bus. I look out the window over Gon, my mouth forming a perfect 'o' shape. "Please look to your right. That is Kukuroo Mountain, where the Zoldyck family lives. A forest surrounds the 3,722 meter mountain, and the Zoldyck estate is somewhere on that mountain. But no one has ever actually seen it. The Zoldyck family includes ten members: a great-grandfather, grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, and then, there are five children. All of them are assassins! Then, let us approach the mountain." The lady finished. He has a big family, man I really want to see Father again. Shortly after, we arrived at the 'front door' of the Zoldyck's 'house'.
The 'front door' was actually a gigantic door that was probably just as tall as Lucy's old Mansion, if not, taller. The door is called Door to Hades and I can see why. I read once about them in a book, said they weight tons. When I look up at it, it makes me think twice about going to save Kil. Just kidding, but I really feel like I would pass to the other side. Oh well, I will probably see Father if I do. There are numbers lining vertically in the middle of the 'front door' starting from the bottom from one to seven. I wonder why that is? Is it gonna take me seven years to open it? Well, who knows?
All I could do is gape at the 'front door' wide eyed, tuning out what the people were saying around me. Suddenly the two shady men from the back of the bus walk past me, a big sheathed sword on one of the men's shoulder. "It's all a sham." I'm guessing the smaller man says, since it was higher pitched.
"A family of assassins that no one's ever seen," the bigger man said. Wow, they sound really… plain, boring.
"Just a photo of their faces is worth a hundred million," the smaller man adds,
"Seriously?! Damn! I should have taken a picture of Killua!" Leorio says, snapping his fingers and making me frown at him. All he thinks about is money. His brain is probably just money, that would explain a lot.
"It's just another case of rampant rumors masking a false truth," the shorter man says as his comrade rips open the door yelling something that sounded like 'bleh' just louder and not that scarier, really.
He grabs the poor, old guard by the collar of his shirt. "Open the gate!" he demands.
"I-I cannot do that. The master would not be pleased." The guard stuttered. I quirked a brow. Wait, why is there two doors?
"Don't worry. We're going to kill your master," the smaller man says smugly. Alright, bud, good luck with that. The guard glances over at the man and handed him the key. What is he going to do, he has to have a plan of some sort.
The fat man threw the old man onto the ground making me subconsciously run over to the old man. The other two men opened the door and went through it.
"Are you okay?" I asks. I don't even know why I'm helping this guy, but it just felt like I should.
"Yes, I'm fine," the old man said, then glances over at the door that had just shut. Gon runs up to me and the old man, coming to his aid as well.
"Man…now Mike's going to end up eating between meals again." the old man says, making me look at him perplexed.
"Huh?" Gon and I say in unison but a moment later, a scream answers our confusion. Oh, okay. It was just an elaborate bait.
A couple moments later the door opens again and out comes a large paw, which is probably bigger than my entire body, carrying two skeletons. The other tourists scream and ran back to the tour bus, crowding onto it and making it wobble.
"Please…he's only supposed to eat at assigned times. Mike! Don't blame me if you get fat!" the old man shouts to the now closed door. I quirked a brow. That monster's name is Mike? Well, then.
The tour lady had noticed that Gon, Leorio, Kurapika, and I didn't accompany them, so she starts to wave her flag out the door of the bus and shouts at us to come. Gon waved her off politely, telling the lady that we intended to stay here. I hear her call us crazy before she ducks back inside of the bus.
After the guard, Zebro, learns that we are staying, he invites us into the tiny guard house for some tea. We inform him about our reason for being here, and who we are and thankfully he believed us.
"I see. So you're young Killua's friends. I'm happy to hear that. I've worked here for twenty years, but this is the first time any friends have come to visit," he says as he finishes pouring the last cup of tea and hands it to me. I just stare at the steaming cup, then took a whiff of it making sure he wouldn't poison me. What I can't be too sure, he works for assassins.
I smile to him as a thank you, and start to drinking the tea. He sit down on a chair. "Since I work here, I shouldn't say this, but the place is rather lonely. No one ever visits. Though we do see a lot of those…" He jabbed his thumb behind him, pointing to an overflowing trashcan full of skeletons. I silently smiled at them, thinking maybe Mike is doing a great job. "Well, a family of assassins is pretty unusual. So I suppose it's the price they have to pay. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Thank you." He bows his head, smiling. Leorio waves him off, saying it wasn't necessary. "However… I cannot let you inside. Didn't you see the large arm of the creature? Its name is Mike." Oh, so I was right, his name is mike.
"It serves as the Zoldyck family watchdog. It only obeys family, and will attack anyone else. The beast still follows the order its master gave it ten years ago; to kill every single intruder," he said, and it would have been intimidating, if not for his last comment. "But technically, he isn't following the order. Because he keeps eating them." He laughs jokingly. Still an old man at heart. "Anyway, I can't let you inside, I wouldn't want to reduce young Killua's friends to skeletons," he started to laugh again.
"Sir, how is it that you're safe? You go inside, correct? If you never needed to enter, you wouldn't have a key," Kurapika says, being his usual intellectual self.
"Quite perceptive of you. But you're only half right. I require no key to get inside. This key is for intruders." He pulls out a key that looked exactly like the one he had given the intruders before.
"A key for intruders?" Leorio questions.
"For some reason, eighty to ninety percent of intruders attempt to use the front gate. If I don't open the gate for them, they'll try to break it down, such troublemakers. So we added a locked door to one side. The intruders take the key from the helpless guard, and then Mike eats them." Zebro explains.
So I was right, it was just all an elaborate bait. But wait, what's the point of a guard then?
"That's it!" Kurapika exclaimed. That's what? What's it?
"As you just realized, I'm not a guard. I merely clean up after Mike," Zebro says. Oh, okay, it makes sense now.
"And the actual gate isn't locked!" Kurapika figures out.
"Exactly," Zebro said simply, making us all turn back towards said gigantic gate. Called it.~
"You can do it, old timer! Fight— oh, no you can't." I say, my voice sounding bored as Leorio tries to open the gate. Keyword 'tries'. He attempts include pushing, pulling, and kicking, but then again it was no surprise that he couldn't open it. Or, at least, to me.
"I've tried pushing and pulling, but it won't budge! Are you sure it isn't locked?" Leorio says, sweat already beading down his forehead. He then looks at me and shouts, "And I'm not an old man!"
I roll my eyes at him. I know when people get older, they sometimes wish to go back to being young. I have seen magic used in this way multiple times, but can physically hurt the person. But if this poor old man keeps lying to himself, he is going to be messed up in the head.
"You just aren't strong enough," Zebro explains simply, making Leorio turn to him and start shouting again.
"That's absurd! I've been using all of my strength!" Leorio counters and I plastered on a sardonic smile.
"All of your strength, Leorio, isn't that much," I say bluntly, teasing the man. He looking in my direction, growling.
Zebro suddenly strips off his jacket and dress shirt, only leaving a tank top on as he walks towards the gate. "Just watch. This gate's official name is the Testing Gate. Anyone who cannot open this gate, is unqualified to enter the Zoldyck estate." Zebro says as his muscles got bigger and had veins popping out of them. There seems to be this aura around him. He presses his palms to the doors and pushed it open, and as soon as he retracts his hands, it started to close. It sounded like an earthquake.
"As you just saw, the door closes automatically, so you'll want to run in, the second it opens," Zebro advises with a weak smile as I just stare at him, dumbfounded. He looks pretty strong, so if it troubled him to open the door, then it's probably impossible for me,
No, I have to be confident and work for it. I came all the way here for Kil, and I won't let anybody or thing prevent me from doing so. So I need to become stronger.
"You don't need to worry about Mike, he has orders not to attack any who enter through the Testing Gate. Still, this is getting tougher as I age. They'll fire me if I can't open the gate, so I need to keep in shape. I should mention that each of gates doors weighs two tons."
"Two tons? You're not supposed to be able to open that!" Leorio says with disbelief and waves him off.
"Hmmm, if it's just two tons, then I could probably open it. Thank you Father for your spartan training, I am also sorry for always complaining"
Then I remember something. "Since you said gate one, I'm guessing the other numbers mean there are bigger and heavier doors?" I ask, pointing to the large numbers on the gates.
"Yes, have a look. There are seven gates. When you go up a gate, the weight doubles. The number of gates that open depends on the amount of strength you use. Incidentally, when young Killua returned, he opened gates one through three." Zebro explains, earning a small whistle from me. He's pretty strong, man that's what makes him cute.
"Gate three? That would be twelve tons!" Gon says, his face serious. I face palm.
"Sixteen tons, Gon." Kurapika and I said in unison, making Gon smile sheepishly.
"Do you understand now? This is what's required just to get in the door. They live in a completely different world," Zebro says in awe. Maybe they were just very, very shy.
"Hmm, I don't like it. Mister, lend me the key," Gon says. "I came here to see my friend,are not to be tested. You can consider me an intruder. So let me borrow the key. I'll use the intruder's door."
"Gon!" Kurapika says, worry evident in his voice.
"It doesn't matter if you won't loan me the key. I'll just climb the wall, if that's what it takes," Gon adds. I think everyone there, including Zebro, knew that Gon will actually do it.
"Don't be stupid, Gon! Didn't you see that monster? Its arm was bigger than your entire body!" Leorio scolds the younger boy, but he was left unfazed.
"I won't accept this!" That shut Leorio up. "Why would you test your friends? I'll never enter through that door," Gon says, his voice getting angrier and angrier.
"You are absolutely right. However, forcing your way through is impossible. Mike will kill you," Zebro says, scratching the back of his almost-bald head.
"I agree. We have plenty of time. Let's figure out a way to enter through gate one." Kurapika tries to reason, but Gon wouldn't budge. He instead extends his palm out, telling the old man to give him the key.
"Just give him what he wants, old man. He's not gonna change his mind," I say, giving a sympathetic look to the old man. Gon is really a handful sometimes, once he put his head to something, he wouldn't stop until he did it.
"Unfortunately, I cannot lend you this key. I will not feed young Killua's friends to Mike. Well, please wait here for a minute," Zebro says as he starts to walk back towards the tiny guard house. We follow him, anyway, and proceed to wait at the front door. He picks up a phone and calls someone, we could even hear the ringing from the door.
"Hello? This is Zebro. Four of young Killua's friends are here to see him. Yes. Yes, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. Yes, I understand. Yes. I'm very sorry. I apologize for disturbing you." He puts the phone down once he stopped bowing, then starts to scratch his head again. Gon walks up next to him. "Yep, I got in trouble."
"You called the mansion?" Gon ask.
"No, I was speaking with the Zoldyck family butler. All communication with the mansion must go through the butler. It's very difficult to reach any of the family members." Zebro answers as Kurapika and Leorio step into the room. I stay leaned against the doorframe.
"Could you call him again? I'll talk to him this time." Gon says.
"Sure, I guess… But you won't enjoy the experience." Zebro says with uncertainty as he dialed the butler's phone number, then hands Gon the phone. Again, I could still hear the ringing as it drags on.
Someone picks up I think, since the ringing stopped, and Gon speaks. "I'm Gon, one of Killua-kun's friends. Is Killua-kun there?" Gon asks. Someone responds, then the line went quiet. Gon calmly put the phone down and dials the number again. This isn't gonna be good. I cover my ears as soon as the butler picked up again. "How could you possibly know that?! Put Killua on the phone!" Gon shouts into the phone. I felt bad for the person on the other side of the line.
Gon continues his chat with the butler, well, it wasn't really a chat, more like Gon demanded something, and the butler completely outsmarted him with his response. Is what I was thinking because as soon as the call ended he stormed out of the guard house and back to the Testing Gate. Of course, I run after him along with Kurapika and Leorio. But, unlike them, I'm not there to stop him. As Kurapika and Leorio try to tell him to calm down, I can't help but laugh.
"Hey, Rin, what're you laughing about?! Tell him to come down from there!" Leorio turns and shouts at me, making me stop laughing abruptly. I stare at him, then back at Gon.
"Okay~ Hey, Gon!" I shout. "Once you're up there, throw down the fishing rod so I can climb up too!" I exclaim with a thumbs up and a smile, which angers Leorio to no end. I know Gon will actually do it, but there are plenty of good reasons not to that he wasn't thinking about. He's bound to find out about them soon. Leorio is about to start yelling at me, but, as always, someone interrupted him.
"Gon-kun, I'll give you the key. You can go through the door." Zebro says, holding out a key to Gon.
"Hold on, pops! We can convince Gon to stop!" Leorio protests. It isn't that convincing, considering they still haven't and Gon is a quarter of the way up the wall.
"Really? But he appears to be a stubborn boy. Rin-kun seems to know this well." Zebro pauses and glances over to me. I nod, a hand to my chin with my eyes closed. "To make amends, I'll accompany you through the door."
Gon froze and looked down at Zebro. "Huh?"
"It's possible that Mike may recognize me and decide not to attack. Though I'm almost a hundred percent certain that he'll kill us all." I appreciate the optimism.
"Only half of the deal, huh." I mumble, this seems to provoke Suites and he punches me on my head. Before he can lay another hand on me, I run up a little to get away from him. Only to see him annoyed and about to charge off as i hold a hand out, indication him to 'stop'.
"You can't do that. I don't want to cause you any trouble," Gon says as he jumps back down onto the ground.
"No, I'm coming with you. The result will be the same if I stay behind. If I send young Killua's friends to their deaths, I'd never be able to face him again. If you die, I will also die," Zebro says solemnly.
Gon puts his head down, considering what the man said. Yeah, didn't think about that, did you, Gon? Moments later he pulled the fishing line back down. "I understand now. I didn't stop to consider your situation. Sorry." Gon apologized. Leorio and Kurapika let out small sighs of relief.
"You must like animals, Gon-kun." Zebro muse.
"Yeah."
"Just as I thought. Did you grow up playing in the countryside?" he ask. Wow, you can tell so much just from meeting him not too long ago?
"Yep! I'm sure Rin likes them a lot, too." Gon smiles and motions over to me.
"How did you know?" I ask.
He only smiles even further, "Whenever I see you near an animal, you have this look on your face, as if you are at peace."
I stare at him shocked, then smile, "That's right." Well only because they don't judge you, leave you, betray you. Unlike humans who are so fickle, animals are more loyal.
"Gon-kun, I'm going to open the Testing Gate again. I want you two to see Mike for yourselves," Zebro says and does so, only bringing us as far as the entrance. "Mike! Come here!" He shouts into the dark woods.
For a couple moments there is silence except for the faint steps of an animal approaching. Then I hear loud sounds from an animal coming from the right side of the forest. I already have my head turned towards the area, and stare at the large purple animal in front of us. So this is Mike, I think smiling with a small blush, "Kawaii" I say, finally getting to see him fully.
I hear Leorio, Kurapika, and Gon gasp from either sides of me once they see Mike, but I couldn't see why. His eyes looked like a black abyss that would somehow suck me in if I stared at them for too long. They remind me of my own right eye. Except Mike's were just livelier, I guess. Like an animal's should be.
I glance at my friends who were indeed frozen in place from the fear of seeing Mike. I, on the other hand, found myself taking a few steps towards the large dog and stopping to stare up at him. "You don't scare me," I say simply, putting my hand on his wet nose rubbing it with a grin.
"Really now? Mike doesn't frighten you at all?" Zebro ask from behind me, making me turn to him. He doesn't look surprised, maybe a little, but he looked more interested than surprised.
"No, how can I be afraid of him, He's just too cute~" I coo, rubbing my hand even more on his nose. "If anything, he should be scared of me." I state lowly so only he could hear, but I think Gon heard too, but he didn't do anything.
Zebro begins to explain to him the harsh truth that yes, Mike is indeed a lot scarier than he thought he was. I tune them out for a while, staring up at Mike, pulling my hand back from his nose, as he stare back at me. Illumi's eyes are probably scarier, since Kil was so afraid of him. Even thinking about what he said to Kil grinded my gears. If I see him here, man, I will punch that expressionless face in a hundred times over.
"Well, how long will you kids be here?" Zebro asks us, snapping me out of me thoughts.
"That should be obvious. Until we meet Kil," I say, tearing my gaze away from Mike and directing it towards Zebro.
Of course, saving that Kil comes first.
Omake
"So, is Killua's family rich or something?" I ask Gon.
"I don't know, maybe so."
"I have this friend, she's pretty loaded. She can be weird and sometimes demanding."
"I know, some people can be cruel."
"She isn't cruel. Well, when I first started to hang with her I thought she was."
"Why do you say that?"
"She carries around a whip and has a maid that constantly ask her if it's 'punishment time'."
Leorio, who was drinking something next to me, spite out his water onto me in surprise. He begins to cough and stares at me. "What in the world?"
"I know, and she has these...friends that come at her beck and call, and some of them even hit on her. It is very weird at times."
Leorio stares at my, mouth hanging open. Pika looks at me with a blank expression after recomposing himself. "Rin," He says flatly.
"Hm?"
"Stop talking."
Longest Chapter and more to come…. XD