Hey there folks! I'm out of my slump (for a while). Enjoy this chap! I DON'T OWN HXH!

Previously...

"Yes, now vote and stop complaining would ya? Or should I tell the chairman that you want to drop out because you keep on complaining about things that don't need to be complained about?" Hiro threatened.
-
I was thinking for a long time. Since last night till now, about what Shirru said about wanting to die, and about the possible reasons she wanted to become a hunter. 'Maybe she wants to capture people, or maybe she wants to look for something important.'
-
There was a platform in the middle, and across from us were clothed people. "The candidates are here, untie me." A person on the other side said. "Okay." came the reply, and the person's shackles fell.

Story start!

Shirru's P.O.V.

The person took off his coat. He had scars on his bald head, his muscles were big, like those buffy men. He had narrow eyes, eyes that wanted to torture and finally kill. I let out a small, "Hmm." then thought, 'Must've been a mercenary.' The man stepped forward and shouted out, "We are the jurours for this trial! Our mission is to fight you! Each match is one on one! A person can only fight once! You have to win four times to move on! The rules are extremely simple. Anything is allowed, there's no limit! The defeat of a person means a win to the enemy! Press O if you accept, press X if you don't!"

"They're making us vote again?!" Leorio grumbled. Hiro smiled a bright smile at him and asked innocently, "Did you say something, Leorio?" Leorio stood rigid and saluted Hiro, "N-no sir!" Hiro smiled even brighter, "That's great!" He jumped up and down. 'Right, now's the time to act like you're innocent to make them underestimate you even more. Better start acting soon.'

I started acting, Hiro following along.

I smiled brightly, widened my eyes slightly and waved crazily at the man. I yelled across the arena to his side, "Hey mister! How'd you get those scars on you? You're so muscular too! That's awesome!" I squealed, as my eyes sparkled. "Woah! You're right Shiho! He looks so cool and strong!" Hiro awed. 'Use our fake names.' was all that Hiro ordered in my head. "I know Hikaru! It's sooo amazing!" I squealed once again, jumping up and down. Inside, I was gagging at my amazing acting skills. The gang plus Tonpa was giving us weird looks, especially to me.

"Are you guys okay?" Kurapika questioned. I skipped over to him and hugged him, "Of course Kura-Kura!" Killua spoke up hesitantly, "Are you sure? Did you not get enough sleep?"

I smiled innocently and skipped over to him after releasing Kurapika. I hugged him tightly and squealed, "Aww! Killu-chan is worried about me!" Killua blushed darkly. 'He's blushing? Why?' I wondered as I walked over to Hiro, hugging his arm and leaning onto it. Hiro mentally face-palmed. 'She is totally clueless. Ahh, why must she be sooo stupid!?'

Hiro's P.O.V.

'Hiro... Killua just blushed, but Shirru didn't notice it at all!' Gon screamed mentally into my head. 'I know right! I can't believe she's that dense!'

I accidentally face-palmed in reality. "Hikaru, why did you face-palm?" Shirru asked innocently, still hugging my arm. "I didn't have a good sleep, so I hit my face to keep me awake..." I explained nonchalantly. "How did you not get enough sleep? You slept at the same time as me," Shirru pointed out. "Yeah, but that was only THREE minutes of sleep! How can you stay awake?" I whined.

"Because Leorio is soooo annoying, that he keeps me awake with his voice," Shirru insulted bluntly. I could see the bulging viens on Leorio's forehead. "Oh, so that's what," I said bluntly, further insulting him.

"Leorio, are you okay? I can see those veins bulging on your head. Is your blood flow cut off?" Gon inquired. "CAN'T YOU TELL THAT THEY ARE INSULTING ME AND MY MANLY AND SEXY VOICE?!" Leorio cried.

I turned my head slowly to look at him. "Leo-chan~," I said sweetly. "How did we possibly injure your awesome pride and your manly and sexy voice? If I remember, Shiho and I were insulting a guy named LeorioPaladinight (said fast) about his super annoying and loud voice~." Hear the sarcasm? Oh yeah.

"WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT? THAT'S MY NAME, BUT YOU JUST SAID IT FAST AND MUSHED TOGETHER!" Leorio exclaimed loudly. Then, I heard a thud followed by a high-pitched cry, "My ears! My precious ears! They're bleeding, they are bleeding!" I turned around to see Shirru rolling around on the floor, clutching her ears, and as promised, I saw blood going out of her ears.

Shirru's P.O.V.

'Heh, I fooled them I bet. Ahh, I was just using some blood from my 'practice' with Hiro.'

I jumped up all of a sudden, and my attitude changed, and the blood, stopped. "Hey~! Can we start fighting now?" I yelled toward the mercenary. "Anytime! Just vote and send out your first player. He or she will be facing me first!" he shouted. We voted and it turned out as O=6 X=0.

"I'm going to fight him," Tonpa declared. Everybody turned toward him, shocked. "Yeah! He should go first, guinea pig-san!" I told him. He looked at me angrily but quickly hid it. He turned toward the gang and stated, "It'll be another way to apologize. No trusts me right? If we ended up with a tie, you wouldn't want me to go, would you?" Leorio grunted in agreement. "Okay then. I'm going first," Tonpa yelled to the man. The man nodded and a bridge stretched to the square platform in the middle.

Tonpa started to walk across the bridge. 'I want to make him fall off...' I thought, my innocent face still in place.

"I propose a death match," the mercenary declared. "You are on," Tonpa replied. The mercenary started running towards Tonpa, and jumped, but Tonpa knelt onto the floor and said nervously, "I lose." The mercenary stopped and said, "What?" "I lose, you win," Tonpa repeated.

The big board now had 1 to 0, the 1 point going to the mercenary. The mercenary started walking back to his side, while Tonpa walked back to us. Once he passed me, I whispered, "Scaredy-cat~!" and made him bleed from the cut that I just gave him. He gasped and waved his arm around, causing his blood to splatter on the wall. Hiro held Tonpa down with his foot. "What did you do to him, Shiho?" he asked me. I started listing, "Called him a scaredy-cat, cut his arm slightly, then he started waving it around. I didn't do anything!"

Hiro just sighed and asked, "You made it burn, didn't you?" I shrugged, "Nothing wrong with making his arm feel like it was caught on fire, he deserved it. After all, he is the rookie crusher, he just wanted to prevent Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika from becoming hunters." Hiro rolled his eyes, "Still, it didn't mean that you had to make his arm feel like it was in a 400 degree oven." I sighed myself and gave up, "Fine."

"What do you mean preventing Gon, Killua, Leorio, and I from becoming hunters?" Kurapika asked, suspicious. "He crushes rookies, you are all rookies," I said as if it was the most obvious thing on the world. Kurapika shook his head, "No, I mean, why didn't you include yourself and him in there too?" Kurapika pointed at Hiro. 'Shit! He's onto me... I need to switch the subject quick.'

"I'm going next!" a voice from the other side shouted.

'Thank you prisoner!'

Gon shouted out, "I want to go next!" I smiled and said, "Go on then!"

Gon walked over the bridge confidently, meeting his opponent smack-dab in the middle of the arena. "We won't do any action-" he held out two candles, a short one and a long one. "-We'll light both of these at the same time, and see whose will go out first. The flame that is still there at the end will be the winner. Is that alright?" the skinny brunet asked. Gon gave his agreement. "Which candle do you choose?"

"This is a problem..." Kurapika murmured. Killua nodded, "Either one could be rigged." Gon was hearing the conversation and was hesitant on which one to pick. Finally, he chose, "I want the long candle! That one will last longer!"

I chuckled softly, "That's Gon after all."

We clicked the button, saying that we agreed with Gon's choice. The prisoner stood, 'He switched the candle.' I thought. He handed the long candle to Gon and they walked over to the torches that were on every corner of the arena. At the same time they lit their candles.

They walked back to the middle of the arena and waited. "How long would Gon's candle last?" Leorio asked. "Around 5 to 6 hours," Kurapika answered.

About one fourth of Gon's candle was gone now, the flame started getting bigger. "He rigged the candle," Hiro stated. Leorio started getting pissed, I blocked my ears. Gon's flame got bigger. 'Gun powder.'

"HEY! YOU'RE CHEATING! YOU RIGGED GON'S CANDLE RIGHT?!" Leorio bellowed. Gon winced when the melted wax touched his hand. "Ouch..."

Nobody's P.O.V.

The flame got bigger once again. Wind blew from the bottom of the room. Gon's fire didn't go out, so Gon placed his candle on the ground. "Hey, if you leave it like that then the flame will go out," the opponent said, smirking. Gon grinned. "The bigger the flame is, the harder it is for it to go out!"

Gon dashed towards the man, and blew out his candle. 'H-He's fast!' the brunet thought. Gon grinned bigger as he saw that he got a point for his side. He walked back to his teammates.

Shirru looked at the watch/voting machine on her wrist and saw that they had 69 hours and 54 minutes left. "Who's next?" Shirru called out. The clang of shackles could be heard along with the swishing noise of cloth. Out stepped a blue, muscular man. He had 19 hearts on one side of his chest, part of his brain was showing.

"I'll go next," Kurapika said firmly, leaving no space for argument. He walked over the bridge and so did the blue man. "I'm Majitani! I've killed 19 people already, but it's such an annoying number. I'm happy to be able to kill you, then I can get a even number." The blue man said.

"Great! Now it's a serial killer?" Leorio gritted his teeth. Majitani continued to boast, "For me, I only get excited in fights that have my opponents and my life on the line. I hate half-hearted attempts! I need blood, ripped flesh, screams of pain!" Gon and Killua stood quietly, observing the situation. Tonpa was picking his nose. (ugh.)

Kurapika just stared blankly at Majitani, his eyes asking, "Is that all?" The wind was blowing Kurapika's hair slightly.

With a calm tone, Kurapika said, "That's okay with me." Majitani looked shocked.

Kurapika continued, still calm, "You can decide the rules." Majitani was still shocked. He then stuttered, "Uh, yeah. You're not missing a beat."

'I thought he would be totally afraid.' Majitani thought. 'I wasn't expecting that calm and relaxed tone!'

Majitani cracked his neck and stated, "I say that we fight to the death! We'll fight until someone admits defeat or until they die! ...But, supposing that you fail during the fight, I won't stop hitting you!" Kurapika was silent. "Okay. That's fine with me," Kurapika replied, relaxed and fear free.

Majitani was once again shocked. Shirru was chuckling along with Hiro.

Kurapika closed his eyes and sighed, he took off his tabard and messenger bag, placing it in a corner. "Shall we start?" Kurapika asked. 'Is he stupid or something? He should be scared by now, but he isn't! I even told him that we would be having a death match!' Majitani yelled into his mind, unnerved by how Kurapika was still so calm. Kurapika took out his two wooden swords that were held together with a string.

"Wait! I forgot to include something. This is a hand to hand combat battle. Us prisoners can't use weapons, so it's only fair if you don't use them either," Majitani added. "I see..." Kurapika said, placing his weapon beside his bag and tabard.

"Is there anything else? If there isn't, I would like to start," Kurapika announced. "There is nothing else..." Majitani replied and thought, 'I knew that he had weapons on him, but it doesn't seem like he counts on them much. Is he that confident? He must not be smart, that's most likely why he wasn't scared of me. Well, that's too bad, I have two trump cards! In my right arm and on my back!'

Leorio was muttering to himself while Gon and Killua were just looking. Killua thought, 'Kurapika in danger? This guy isn't able to kill Kurapika, much less kill him. He's a fake.'

"The guy's a coward," Shirru announced. Heads turned towards her. She was sitting, her head leaning on Hiro's shoulder. She was staring at Kurapika and Majitani emotionlessly. "Majitani wants to scare Kurapika, that's why he was talking like he was tough. He's shocked that Kurapika is still calm though. He most likely thinks that Kurapika is too dumb and over confident in his abilities. Majitani is acting brave, it's a bad act though. Kurapika knows that Majitani is weak and is trying to make him scared. We don't have to worry."

"Let the battle begin!" The mercenary shouted. Kurapika and Majitani charged at each other. "Shirru's right, we don't have to worry. Kurapika will win this!" Gon said firmly. The ends of Killua's mouth twitched upwards.

Majitani jumped and got ready to punch Kurapika. Kurapika stayed in place.

Kurapika dodged at the last second, resulting in Majitani crushing the ground with his right arm. "No way! He destroyed the ground with his fist!" Leorio exclaimed. Kurapika's eyes widened... Majitani landed, showing his back to Kurapika. On Majitani's back was a tatoo of a spider with twelve legs. "Could it be...?" Leorio murmered.

Shirru tightened her lips, "No," was all she said.

"Hehehe!" Majitani laughed. 'Anyone who wants to become a hunter has to have heard of the worst group of criminals in history... the sign of the Genei Ryodan!' Majitani stood slowly.

"Yep, there's no mistake. It's the insignia of the Genei Ryodan," Leorio confirmed.

"No," Hiro repeated after Shirru. "What do you mean? I even heard it from Kurapika!" Leorio shouted at Hiro and Shirru, but soon regretted it.

Shirru was shades paler than he normal skin color, making her look like she was on the brink of death. Her eyes were glazed over. Hiro was stroking her hair. "What's wrong with her?" Leorio asked. Hiro replied, "She's thinking about something." "What's that?" Killua questioned. Hiro replied vaguely, "Something that should be left in the past." They turned back to Kurapika and Majitani. Kurapika's bangs hid his eyes, his jaw was set and tight.

Majitani looked smug. "Hmm? You're pretty quiet now, aren't you? I'm Majitani, one of the members of the Genei Ryodan! That was just my introduction." He closed his eyes and wagged a finger.

"If you want, you can surrender..." Majitani opened his eyes because of the weird vibe that he was feeling. Kurapika's head was lifted. Majitani stared straight into Kurapika's eyes, he was shivering in fear. Kurapika's eyes were scarlet.

"Kuruta. Kurapika is a kuruta," Shirru whispered in awe.

Majitani just stared at Kurapika. All of a sudden, Kurapika disappeared. He reappeared, crushing Majitani's jaw.

Majitani reached out with his right hand while Kurapika was ready to punch him. You could hear the joints cracking in Kurapika's right hand. Majitani panicked. "Stop! I Los-!" Majitani started but was cut off by a punch in the jaw. Majitani spat out blood as his head hit the ground harshly. Tonpa looked terrified. Gon and Leorio stood in shock. Killua whistled. Shirru had a wide smirk on her face, while Hiro was smiling sadistically.

"3 things," Kurapika started. "1... the real Genei Ryodan tatoo would have the member's number in the middle of the spider. 2... They wouldn't even bother to keep track with how many they killed. 3... Don't even say 'Genei Ryodan'. Because if you do, I'll kill you." Kurapika was glaring at Majitani. His scarlet eyes making his glare even scarier.

Kurapika walked over to his stuff and put them back on. He then walked over the bridge back to the group. "Are you okay Kurapika?" Leorio asked. "Yes, I feel fine," Kurapika replied. "No, what I mean is, is it safe to be around you right now?" Leorio asked. Kurapika's eyes were back to normal now. "I knew since the beginning. I knew that his tatoo was a fake, but after seeing it, everything just turned red," Kurapika patted his hair back into place. "In fact..." Kurapika continued. "This happens whenever I see a spider. I lose my mind."

Gon and Leorio sweat-dropped. "We should keep him away from spiders..." Leorio told Gon. "Yeah..." Gon replied. "This means that my hatred hasn't faded yet. I should be delighted." Kurapika stated, you could practically see the gloom surrounding him.

Shirru giggled while Hiro grinned. "You should be delighted Kurapika! Now step out of your gloomy trench!" Shirru cried, laughing.

DUN, DUN, DUN~!

Hiro chuckled, "Shirru, it looks like you just made him go deeper in."

Leorio stepped up, "I'm gonna go next! I'm gonna end this thing!" Leorio pointed at Majitani and said, "Move the body! I'm going next, hurry up!" "That is not possible," a prisoner said. "The match hasn't ended yet." "What the hell do you mean?!" Leorio yelled.

"He only fainted!" the prisoner said, kneeling down next to Majitani. "You chose a death match. He's still alive and I'm sure that I never heard him say that he surrenders." The prisoner stood back up. Leorio turned around to face Kurapika, "Kurapika! Get out there and kill him!" "No." Kurapika declined. "What did you say?!" Leorio shouted, enraged. "The battle is over. He can't fight anymore." Kurapika said. "Why should I kill a unconscious man?"

"What do you want to do then?!" Leorio shouted.

"It depends on him," Kurapika finished the conversation.

Killua spoke, "If you want, I can kill him for you. You never killed anybody, right? Are you scared?" Kurapika looked up at Killua and shook his head. "I've never asked myself if killing somebody would scare me or not. Never-the-less, it's a fight between him and me. Nobody should butt into this," Kurapika told Killua.

Killua nodded. "I see. I'll remind you that you're not alone here! It's not the time to be egoistic!" Killua lectured.

Leorio joined in, "Right! Killua, when you want you can say pretty good stuff!" "What?" Killua asked. "Nothing!" Leorio squeaked.

"Anyway, think a little about others!"

Kurapika firmly stated, "I won't change my choice."

A tick mark appeared on Leorio's forehead. "WELL! IN THAT CASE, LET'S VOTE! tHE ONES WHO AGREE TO KILL THE GUY PUSH THE O BUTTON! tHE OTHERS PUSH THE X BUTTON! ONE, TWO, THREE!" a little while. "WHY DIDN'T IT LIGHT UP?!" Leorio shouted, pointing at the board.

"FINE! LET'S VOTE WITH OUR HANDS! WHO WANTS TO KILL HIM?" Leorio raised his hand. No one else did.

"TRAITOR!" Leorio hissed at Killua.

"Leorio~!" a sickly-sweet voice sang. Leorio freezed and turned his head slowly. He saw a smiling Hiro, the smile was bright, but you could sense the malice behind it.

"Geez." Shirru sighed. "Just leave Kurapika alone. It's his battle, which means that it's his choice. All we can do is to wait for Majitani to wake up." "Fine!" Leorio grumbled, then he crouched in a corner, muttering about something. "He's sulking." Gon pointed out. Meanwhile, Tonpa was thinking, 'What an idiot. He's fallen for the trap.'

A few hours passed.

Killua's voice broke the silence. "Hey. Tell me, is he already dead?" Leorio stood, "What?" Killua simply pointed at Majitani. Leorio got the point and shouted to the prisoners. "Hey! Can we check and see if he's really dead?" The prisoner shouted back, "We already told you that he's just unconscious!"

Leorio shouted back, "He's been like that for hours! How can we be sure that he's not dead?!" You could hear the smirk in the prisoner's voice, "Let's make a bet then. A bet to see if Majitani's really alive or dead." "What are we betting?" Hiro asked. "Time."

"We can bet 50 hours each. The minimum is 10 hours. If you lose then your time to exit the tower will be reduced by 50 hours. If I lose then my sentence will be increased by 50 years." "It's a girl's voice. She's crazy if she's willing to except 50 years more of this prison if she loses," Leorio muttered. Kurapika said, "Don't trust her, Leorio. If you lost then we would only have 11 hours to exit the tower."

Leorio ignored Kurapika. "I accept!" Leorio shouted. "Keep it down..." Hiro ordered. They looked at Hiro to see Shirru sleeping on his shoulder. Hiro, himself, seemed ready to sleep. To prove the point he yawned, revealing his sharp teeth.

"Miss..." Hiro said, drowsy. "I bet 10 hours that he's alive." "Let's check then," the girl said. Leorio walked across the bridge and looked at Majitani's face. Leorio felt for a pulse, and he felt one. Leorio got 10 more points now.

"The next bet is if he really fainted or not," Leorio announced. "I bet 20 hours that he's really unconscious." the girl stated. Leorio picked up Majitani and walked to one of the edges. "I'm going to release him to see. If he really has fainted, then he would die from the fall," Leorio explained. "The last match hasn't finished yet. This is unexceptable!" the girl protested. "Don't worry. If he dies then we will reconize it as a lose for us and a win for you. With that you'll have two wins, is that alright?" Leorio asked.

"That's okay." the girl answered. "But I'll change my bet. I bet 40 hours that he will open his eyes." Leorio smirked, "Well, I'll release him now." Majitani opened his eyes and shouted, "I'm conscious! Conscious! I lose!" Majitani quickly walked away.

"Your turn. What do you want to bet on?" Leorio asked. The girl took off her cloak and her restraints fell. The girl had pink, curly hair held in pig-tails. "Let's bet on my sex: am I a male, or female?" Leorio blushed slightly.

"How will you prove that?" Leorio questioned. "With my body." she replied. Leorio started drooling. Kurapika sighed. "Leorio's going to bet that she's a male." "That pervert," Killua sighed. "I bet 10 hours that you're a male!" Leorio declared. Kurapika stared, "There we are." Killua stared, "Disgusting."

"How did you know?" Gon asked. While Killua explained to Gon, Leorio was thinking dirty thoughts. "And there you go." Killua finished. "I understand!" Gon said. "Sorry, but I'm a female." the pinkett said. "Want to check?"

"Of course!" Leorio replied. "Let's do rock-paper-scissors!" "Okay, I bet 80 hours that I'll win." she agreed. In the end, Leorio lost.

"Well, it's my turn," Killua said. Killua's opponent took of his cloak and his restraints fell. Leorio told Killua, fear lacing his words, "Don't fight that guy! Forget about the victory! That's Jones the Dissector! He killed a lot of people, men women, even children! The thing is that he did it with only his hands! The worst mass murderer in Zaban's history!" Jones walked forward, the other prisoners stepped out of his way, but Majitani didn't.

"What's wrong? Are you really scared of this guy?" He didn't have another second to speak because his head was smashed into the wall by yours truely, Jones.

Jones continued walking and pulled out a part of the wall. He crushed it, making the piece of brick turn into powder. "It's been a long time since I last touched human flesh..." Jones said.

Leorio told Killua, "You can always try next year! Don't fight him!" Killua ignored Leorio and walked across the bridge. "How will we fight?" Killua asked. Jones let out a small laugh, "Fight? No, this will be a one-way massacre. I don't care about this exam, all I want to do is touch flesh. I want to hear you cry and shout."

"Okay. You think that dying is better than losing, right?" Killua asked. "Yes, and you're gonna-" Jones started. Killua disappeared and reappeared behind Jones, his hand was bloody and was holding a heart wrapped in cloth. Jones' heart. "I feel so cold, gimme..." Jones reached out for his heart, but it stopped beating.

Jones fell, his palm facing the ceiling. Killua placed the heart on his palm and walked back across the bridge.

"What the heck?!" Leorio shouted. "Where did he come from?" "Ah! You guys don't know, but Killua comes from a elite family of pro assassins," Gon informed. "WHAT?!" Leorio shouted, thus making Shirru and Hiro wake up.

Hiro stood, helping Shirru get up. Shirru yawned and rubbed her eyes. Leorio backed up as Killua set his feet on the ground. "Your turn." Killua told Shirru.

"Wait a sec..." Shirru mumbled and yawned once again. "Lippo?" she called out. "Yes? I'm listening," Lippo replied through the speakers.

Shirru continued, "Can Hiro go instead of me?" "...That is acceptable," Lippo answered. Shirru asked, "Can I switch out with him if I wanted?" "Of course. You two are practically the same person anyway," Lippo said. Shirru nodded. "Hiro, you go first..." she ordered. "Okay."

Hiro walked towards the arena, the opponent did also. Shackles fell and a cloak was taken off. "Akita..." Shirru whispered.

There, in front of Hiro, was Shirru's childhood friend, Akita Hirano. "It's been a long time, Shirru. Who's this, my replacement?" Akita asked and
continued, "If he is, then I'll kill him."

Hiro glared, "Pardon me. But if I remember right, I'm sure that you were the person who left her. You have no right to hate me when I have not hurt
Shirru. I have stood beside her, through all of her pain, it seems like you caused her a good amount by leaving."

The crew looked at Shirru, and were shocked to see her look so hurt. Her face was full of emotion, but she masked it quickly, looking like she never felt
anything. Shirru snapped her fingers. "Stop." was all she said.

"Of course." Hiro replied.

Hiro wasn't glaring anymore, he seemed sadistic. "Let's start this fight, shall we, Akita?" he drawled. "Yes, we shall." Akita answered.

Hiro and Akita charged at each other. They kicked, punched, flipped, and many more, but they were evenly matched. "Stop." Shirru commanded. They stopped. Shirru walked over the bridge. "Why are you locked up, Akita?" Shirru inquired, leaning forward.

Akita mumbled something. "What?" Shirru asked.

Akita mumbled louder, "I got locked up because I was chasing down the mayor's son. Miyabe, was his name. The mayor thought that Miyabe was perfect, so naturally, I was the one who got locked up. Miyabe was killing the town's people in the middle of the night. I got locked up for attemted murder." Shirru shook her head and sighed. "You should have left that up to Soutaru. He would have taken care of it," Shirru stated.

"Lippo," Shirru called.

"Yes?" Lippo answered. "How many years is Akita's punishment?" Shirru asked. "110 years." came the reply.

"Shorten it to 10 years." Shirru ordered. Lippo started, "But-"

"No buts. Shorten it. Akita surrenders. That's final," Shirru said. Lippo replied hesitantly, "...If you say so."

"Thank you, Shirru." Akita said, grateful. "You're welcome, Akita. Spend the 10 years thinking about what you should and should not do. I'll see you when you're twenty-three."

With that another bridge stretched across to another wall. Shirru helped Hiro up and walked across it. The doors opened. "You are to spend the 50 hours that you betted in this room." was all that Lippo said. Once they were all in the room, the door slid shut and locked.

"Shirru..." Killua and Kurapika said slowly.

Shirru, sensing the unwanted questions, jumped onto the couch and wished for sleep to come. Soon. VERY SOON. Sadly, it didn't.

"Why did Lippo listen to you?" Killua questioned.

Kurapika asked, "Who is Akita?"

"How hurt are you? You shouldn't keep it all in, you know."

"Who is this Soutaru?"

"Why do you get along with the examiners so well?"

And lastly, the question she dreaded the most, "Who are you really?"

How will Shirru answer? Will they find out who Shirru really is?

Ushishishishi~! Fuyu OUT!