After breakfast (which happened to be spider-eagle eggs, after one of the people who failed made a smart ass comment about the previous test being completely unreasonable and that cooking wasn't a real job for a Hunter) Kurapika found himself gravitating towards Kurt more often than not. The kid was very, very familiar and he intended to find out why.
"Well, well! I didn't expect a ten-year old to slip past our application committee!" said the chairman.
"I didn't expect my aunt to actually let me leave. Then again considering the high death rate this exam has, I should have expected it," said Kurt dryly.
"So, what is your real name?"
"I have no bloody idea. I chose Kurt because it was the only thing my mother placed in her journal that I could read that related to me."
"Normally I would have disqualified you when you mentioned that you were a year too young. But since you have managed to keep up so far, I see no reason to let you continue. Would you like to play a a game while we wait?"
Killua and Gon walked past at that time, bored. Killua's sharp ears caught their conversation as he asked "What kind of game?"
"The one where if you win, you get your Hunter's license now instead of later."
"I'm in. This blimp is kinda boring," said Killua.
"Alright then. In order to get your license, all you have to do is get this ball from me. It's as simple as that."
"Is that all?" asked Kurt.
Before Netero could blink, the ball was gone from his hand. He looked to his left. Nothing. To his right...was a bored Kurt.
"Oh ho ho! Now how did you pull that off?"
"Erasing your presence isn't nearly as hard as people make it out to be," she said blandly. She spun the ball around without letting it drop from her fingers.
"I suppose fair is fair. Unless you want to continue in the exam?"
"I didn't plan on dropping out because of a simple game. I was planning to continue even if I did win."
"In that case, I'll let you go on your way. Even if everyone else fails this exam, you'll still get the license anyway."
"Fair enough."
When they landed on the tower, it took them an hour to find a way in.
Only to find out they had ended up in a 'majority rules' test. Kurt took one look at the company and twitched.
"I hate dealing with majority rules."
"Why?" asked Gon.
"Because by and large, most people are complete idiots, and worse yet, sheep who meekly follow those who are even slightly stronger than them. It's pathetic."
"The sad thing is, he's not wrong," said Killua.
Kurt didn't even twitch. If they didn't know he was actually a she, then it meant she could have a bit of fun later. Besides, there were some real creeps out there that liked to attack under-aged girls.
Probably why Petunia never forced her to wear skirts. She knew for a fact that Vernon was among those creeps.
"Right. Since we have the required number of people shall we proceed?" asked Kurt.
It didn't take long for them to find themselves in an arena. One that was surrounded by a massive amount of open space that left little chance as to the outcome if they fell off the arena itself. Attached to one side was a scoreboard, and above the other side was a small screen.
Kurt sighed. She could see an equal number of people on the other end, and it didn't take a genius to figure out where this was going.
"One on one battles with whoever wins the most fights continues?" she asked out loud.
The intercom buzzed and they could hear the proctor chuckle.
"You are correct. If you win three battles, you can continue. Fail, and you're stuck here until the test is over and you have to come back next year. Coincidentally, the longer they keep you here, the shorter their sentence."
Kurt nodded, then turned to the others.
"These guys are either going to stall us or take us out slowly to earn more time. Hit them hard, hit them fast, and don't be ashamed to punt them off the edge of the arena."
Killua snickered darkly.
"I love the way you think. These guys are probably pansies anyway."
"So...who fights first?" asked Leorio.
"Like I said, we hit hard and fast. Let's see who they bring out before I send one of you in," said Kurt.
They listened to her intently. She was a sound strategist, whose primary concern was passing this exam.
When the first inmate walked onto the platform, she analyzed his actions. Then she sent Killua to take him out. Once the match began, the man was dead.
One by one she sent out a specific person to deal with the inmates. Out of the five, only Leorio lost. Since they had a three win lead, they were allowed to leave the arena...but not before Killua killed the last inmate before he got too close.
"Not bad. Though I still wish this idiot hadn't lost us fifty hours simply because he was being a perv," said Kurt, glaring at Leorio.
"For the last time..."
"Just be grateful I didn't consider strangling you. I told you three times, hard and fast so we could get through this with plenty of time. But noooo, you had to see what was under her clothes, and it was clear she wasn't even a 'B' cup!"
"Why the hell weren't you blushing at the sight of her? I can get Killua, being an assassin and all..." said Kurapika. (They had covered Gon's eyes in time, even though Kurt was right next to him.)
"Why should I care about her when I'll probably see them in a mirror in a couple of years anyway?" said Kurt rhetorically.
"Come again?" asked Leorio.
"I said I'll probably see them in a mirror at some point anyway," repeated Kurt.
"...Kurt, are you by any chance a girl?" asked Leorio carefully.
"And it took you this long to figure it out dumbass?"
Killua, Gon and Kurapika stared at her with their mouths gaping.
"You're a girl?! But why's your name Kurt?" said Killua.
"It was the only thing I could find in my mom's diary about my name that I could read. None of my family ever called me by my real name, if they even knew it."
"Do you have the diary on you? I'm a fair hand at deciphering ancient runes. A few smudged letters aren't that much different."
Kurt looked at Kurapika, before handing him the book. He soon opened it and went to reading. Leorio noted that Kurapika's eyebrows rose rather high in surprise, and that his mouth looked fairly close to dropping in shock.
Finally he handed it back and they looked at him expectantly.
"Your real name is Luna."
Kurt gave him a look.
"How the hell did you find that? I went over four times and not once did it mention the word 'Luna'."
"No, but it did mention the name of a woman named Karina. Someone who owed your father a life debt."
"So?"
"Karina is my mother's name. And I happen to remember her naming my half-sister Luna."
"Wait, hold on a second here. Kurapika, you said your clan was massacred and that you were the only one left!"
"It was. However my half-sister never lived with the clan and was supposed to be raised by her father and his wife. At least, that was the plan until the goblins informed us they were killed and that she had gone missing."
"Why didn't she live with you?" asked Gon.
"According to the diary, Lily Evans had a disease as a child that made it nearly impossible for her to bear children. So they went to someone who owed her husband a life debt and asked them to be the surrogate for them. The last entry was on October 31st eight and a half years ago. After that it just stops," said Kurt. Until she had a blood test, she would call herself Kurt.
"If that's the case, then why do you call yourself Kurt?" asked Killua.
"Because of the clan Karina belonged to. Her full name was Karina Kurta. From what I can tell the last letter was smudged deliberately."
"Isn't there any way to tell if she really is your sister?"
"There is, but from what I can tell it might be hard for her to pull off. Her little trick to remain invisible like that takes extreme emotional control from what I understand," said Kurapika.
"What are you talking about?" asked Kurt.
"The Scarlet Eyes. Since my mother acted as a surrogate it would mean that if you were in fact my missing half-sister, you would have them as well. Blood adoption may have changed your eye color to green, but it can't cover up that particular trait since it's directly inherited. But in order to change your eye color you would have to experience extreme emotions," said Kurapika.
"Would anger work?" asked Kurt.
"Yes. I sometimes slip and they turn red whenever I see spiders."
Kurt sat down...and for a moment did nothing...then when she opened her eyes again, Kurapika's breath caught. They were scarlet red.
"If I ever find who put me with those...creatures...they'll wish they had died."
"Well at least we know one thing Kurt," said Killua. To be honest he was trying not to look her in the eye at the moment. Her trick with the invisibility and now the red eyes really freaked him out at the moment.
"And what's that?" she asked him, her eyes going back to a bright emerald-green.
"You still have family you can tolerate?"
"Hmm. True. But I still want a blood test to confirm it," said Kurt.
"Fair enough," said Kurapika.
Ten hours in, Kurt fell asleep since she was used to staying awake for several days at a time. If anyone noted the fact that her head was in Kurapika's lap, they said nothing.
It all came down to whether or not to take the long way or the short way. Kurt was pretty much in a mood to geld Leorio for using up most of their precious time because of a dumb bet. Said aspiring medic was staying far from her or keeping Kurapika between them for obvious reasons.
Killua was betting with Gon on how long it would take for Kurt to snap and kill someone since learning the horse wasn't even her blood relation and that she had a brother who would have jumped at the chance to take her in if he knew where she was.
All in all, things were rather strained in the group.
Kurt gave the wall a speculative look.
"How thick do you think these walls are?"
"At least a foot and a half. Why?" asked Kurapika.
"Do you think we could break the walls down Kurt?" asked Gon.
"That is exactly what I was thinking. You guys break it down, I'll supply the food I swiped from the blimp so you can keep your energy up."
"Where do you come up with these weird ideas?" asked Leorio, picking up an axe.
"You have to learn how to think outside the box when you're avoiding a small pig shaped human who's only thought is to beat you bloody. Or worse, the walrus shaped human who has no issues with giving you a concussion if you can't hide fast enough."
Between the boys hacking away at the wall and Kurt's extra supplies that she stole from the blimp when no one had the presence of mind to do the same, the wall went crumbling down in short order.
It didn't hurt that Kurt apparently knew some relaxation tricks with her hands that helped to relieve the strain the muscles they were using to bring down the wall.
After that it was only a matter of using Killua's skateboard on a large board they had removed from the wall steered by Gon's fishing pole to get to the bottom on time.
The door opened barely a minute after they skidded to a stop. Needless to say Gon was highly impressed that Kurt had eyes like his own. Between the two of them, they had managed to keep from crashing into the walls. Though he did wonder why the bow and arrows she had taken from the walls and put in her bag didn't make the book bag bulge. If he hadn't seen her do it in between the turns they took breaking the wall, he wouldn't have known she had it.
"So let me get this straight. We have to find treasure...when most of the good stuff is more than likely at the bottom of the ocean...just to get a room?" said Kurt slowly.
"Pretty much," said Kurapika. They had created something akin to an alliance. Until proven otherwise, Kurt had decided to stick close to Kurapika.
"Right... I'll guard the treasure while you dive."
"Aren't you interested in seeing wrecks?" asked Kurapika.
"Let me rephrase that... I'll stay on the ships so you don't have to give me CPR since I don't know how to swim."
"Ah. Let's see what we can dig up without swimming then..."
Kurt looked around, using her eyes to pick out likely targets. Something Kurapika didn't know was that she had the odd ability to see energy types. Ever since she unlocked the ability to go 'invisible' for lack of a better term, she had been able to see things most people didn't.
She made her way to a medium-sized boat that was dyed a red color. She could see a very strong, stable form of energy coming from it and she wanted to know what it was.
She went in and found a small pendant in the shape of a lizard like creature made of gold and rubies. Kurapika went in after her...and his face hardened.
"What is it?"
"This ship belonged to the Kurta clan. Judging by the condition it's in, I don't think the crew was hit by the Spiders."
"How can you tell?"
"That pendant. It's a protective amulet that belongs only to the Kurta clan. It's supposed to protect the wearer from those who would break into their minds, most poisons, and even powers that would control them. I've never heard of it actually being put into use, but the power it's supposed to hold is said to last for a hundred years at least before beginning to fade."
"I think there might be some merit to it. This thing has some sort of odd energy coming off of it."
"How can you tell?"
"I can see energy. Every since I perfected my invisibility trick, I can see the energy all around me. Hisoka and that pin guy have the same trick I think, because they have a similar aura."
"Please tell me you aren't considering approaching them..."
"Not at the moment, no."
"Right...let's find some more treasure. You can keep that around your neck for the time being."
"Okay. I'll keep an eye on the treasure you bring up," said Kurt.
Before they went to get their rooms, Kurt vanished for a moment and came back with an odd stone in her pocket. She had also swiped a few books from a slightly more modern looking ship that had crashed on the other side of the island. Aside from the rock and the books, it was clear that whoever had been sailing in the ship had managed to escape, because it was picked clean by someone who knew what they were doing.
They managed to get a second class room together and later burned the Kurta clan ship in order to give the bodies inside a proper burial.