A/N: Wooh! This is a long chap. Well, longer than the usual. Well, enjoy! R&R!

A Rocky Start

A pink haired, middle-aged woman vigorously snapped the white sheets in the light breeze. She held the soft cloth to her nose and frowned. 'That ad lied,' she thought to herself. 'This smells nothing like a waterfall.' All of the sudden, there was a great gust of wind that blew all of her slicked back rosey locks into her face. In the motion of pushing the hair back behind her ears, her sharp eyes spotted a coming figure across the hill.

"MITOOOO!" Gon's voice carried over the winds, causing the woman's heart to flutter with excitement. Gon was back.

"If you're gonna come back, let me know!" Mito cried in frustration, scurrying about the house in a frenzy. "I haven't prepared anything! And you even brought friends over!"

"It's ok, Mito," Gon smiled sheepishly.

"Not with your friends here!" She remained steadast. "By the way, you haven't contacted me, since you phoned me saying that you passed. Also, take a bath before supper, and leave your clothes out, I'll wash them."

"Eh? Together?" Gon blushed.

"Why, what's wrong with that, you're both boys," Mito stared at him and Killua.

"It's just that-" As if on cue, Stasy sprung through the door, carrying an arm load of apples.

"Sorry, Gon, I saw these and..." She trailed of as she saw Mito staring at her, her face pale and expressionless.

"GON HAS BROUGHT A GIRL HOME!!!" She shouted, and her frenzy from before paled in comparison to her freaking out now. "This is the first time! Oh my gosh! It's never happened before! What should I do?! Should I be hard on her, and pressure her? Or should I be kind to her, and act as a motherly figure towards her! She's young, but we could act like girlfriends, and we could shop together and I could do her hair and we could sew together and do laundery together and-"

"Mito! Mito! Calm down!" Gon called out to her, and slowly her spazzing lowered to a restless fretting. "I'll introduce everyone. This is Killua," he pointed to the white-haired boy who gave a little wave, "and this is Ecstasy, Stasy for short. I met them at the Hunter Exam."

Stasy stared at Mito, slightly frightened at how much she was freaking out at the sight of her, and anxious to speak with her. This was Gon's aunt, so that meant she was her aunt as well. She could feel Timidness rise up within her. She began to twiddle her thumbs, hunch her back, and look anxiously at Gon every few seconds, and then, afraid of Mito's gaze, towards an interesting potted plant.

"Well, then, you boys can take a bath, and then Stasy will take one later," Mito appeared to have calmed down fully now.

"Ah! Why can't I just take a bath with them?" Timidness was fully gone now that Mito had spoken. "I want to see Killua without any clothes on!"

Mito froze and looked at her in a shocked expression. Killua was morphing his hand into a deadly weapon, ready to slit her throat. Gon seemed to be the only one unaffected.

"Stasy, we'll feel uncomfortable taking a bath with a girl," Gon pointed out to her. "Especially Killua."

"Why?"

Everyone looked at her. She was completely serious.

'This girl has no shame!' Mito thought with righteous fury. "I take it back, Stasy, in the bath now! You have ten seconds!"

"Wha-but-"

"TEN! Nine!"

"Waaah!"

Stasy ran through the hall and leapt into the bath. She pouted, sitting on the rim of the tub as she filled up the bath with steaming water. No fair, she grumbled.

Stasy stared down at the small bowl of rice in front of her, and then glanced over to Gon and Killua's large platters of fried beef and vegetables. She suddenly didn't feel very hungry. "Um, Auntie, how come-"

"You will address me as Mrs. Mito, understand?" She snapped angrily at Stasy when she had spoken at the table during dinner. The atmosphere was so intense that none of the boys dared to speak.

"Um, yes, ma'am, I mean, Mrs. Mito," Timi shrunk in her chair. "Um...I was wondering why I only had a small bowl of rice?"

"Are you complaining?" Mito glared at her. "Such an ungrateful child! You must've put so much trouble on my little Gon! You shouldn't bother with such a shanmeless brat, Gon! Asking for mor fodd and she hasn't even touched what was given to her."

Timi soon turned into Mel as she shrunk lower in her chair, till she had her nose on the table. Then, she stood up, but not too high, as to draw too much attention. "I-I'm n-n-not hungry. I-I'll just w-wait outside."

Not asking for permission, she dashed out of the house, leaving the dinner atmosphere utterly destroyed. Killua frowned deeper, as the fried vegetables suddenly looked unappetizing.

"Don't you think you're Aunt's taking it a bit too overboard?" Killua asked Gon, as they went through a hike in the woods. "I haven't seen Stasy all this time, and when I do, Mito's biting her head off to the point she's become Melancholy all the time now."

The trees suddenly broke off to reveal a cliff and a spectacular view of the starry sky. Killua sat down on the lush grass, the chill of the night refreshing after a hot day. Gon sat down next to him, looking serious.

"I've never seen Mito act so cruel to anyone before," he tried to defend his aunt. "I think what Stasy said that one time made her very angry."

"I guess you could call it parental protection," Killua shrugged. "She probably thinks Stasy's some terrible pervert now, though she's not far off."

And Stasy was looking so forward to meeting her, too," Gon sighed.

Killua glanced over to thhe starlight reflecting in Gon's deep eyes. Killua frowned deeply. His aunt really was going too far, to make Gon have such a forlorn expression now. He can make Mel cry all she wants, but when Gon starts to cry, he doesn't care if its his aunt, she was going down.

After star gazing in the country side for a while, the boys began to feel drowsy, so they headed back to the house. The warm glow of the lights from the windows guided them home in the dark. If it wasn't for all the noise she was making, they probably wouldn't have noticed Melancholy crying next to the stairs.

"Woah, Mel, what's wrong?" Gon ran up to her.

"I-I was...in Gon's room," Mel spoke through sobs. "Just...hic...lookin' around the house...when Auntie came in...she saw me...got mad...and said...s-she said...I-I couldn't...ever see Gon again...ever...I wasn't doing anything! I swear! I just wondered what Gon's room would look like, and now she-I can't possibly part with my sweet little brother, Gon!"

Gon already cradled Mel in his arms, when Killua stood up abruptly. Gon watched curiously as he stomped into the house, and followed after to see what he was going to do. Mito was snapping a towel angrily, when she noticed Killua glaring at her.

"Don't you think you'fe gon a bit too far?" he demanded of her.

"What do you mean?" she looked curiously at him, slightly shaken by the lethal expression he carried.

"Bullying Stasy," he pointed out. "I can see why you would have reason to hate her, but she hasn't done anything wrong! All she ever wanted in coming here was to meet you. She treats gone like a brother, so she wants to treat you like family too, but the way you torment her so ruthlessly you're only ripping her up from the inside! She's got the point. Now stop being ruining Gon's stay back home, or you just might make him leave early."

Mito stared at him, agast. She had dropped her towel, but managed to keep her mouth closed. Seeing that he had gotten the point across, he walked back to the door to see a surprised Gon. When they came to meet, Gon said, "I can't believe you'd care for Stasy so much."

"Don't get me wrong. It wasn't for her," he took another step so he was side by side with Gon. "Seeing Stasy like that was making you sad." Without another word, he walked outside to the loud sobbing of Mel.

Gon stared out the door, a feeling gratitude towards his best friend.

The next day, Mito made strawberry pancakes for everyone, including Stasy, and even put a little extra fruit on hers. She even picked up Stasy's plates when they were finished, as the boys ran out to go play. The ceramic ware clinked as Mito put them in the sink. She turned to see Stasy slowly trudging towards the door.

"Umm...Stasy?" she caled out just loud enough for her to hear. "Can I have a word with you?"

The young girl turned around with hope in her eyes, and returned to the kitchen.

"Listen, I'm...sorry for my behavior these past couple of days," she occupied herself with washing the dishes. "It was out of line, and completely rude to a house guest. I'm truly ashamed of myself. Well, it's just that...you didn't exactly give the right impression, and the way you always fawn over Gon like that, and when you said you wanted to...well...take a bath with them. I seriously feared for Gon's safety," and then more quietly she muttered, "and virginity..." Then she spoke back up, head remaining high, but still refusing to face Stasy. "So therefore, I'd like to apologize. I'm sorry. So let's start over again." She turned around and gave a start at what she saw.

Stasy was smiling blissfully, tears in her eyes, but smiling happily, nonetheless. Mito found herself blushing slightly. She'd only ever seen this girl looking humble and crying. 'I guess even she can act cute sometimes,' she admitted, before smiling weakly herself. "It's nice to meet you; please call me Auntie Mito."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Auntie!"

Now that their quarrel was finished, Mito and Stasy seemed to be the best of friends. Stasy was with her 24/7 and helped with all of the household chores. Mito taught Stasy to sew, do the laundry, cook, and even showed her baby pictures of Gon, which Killua was greatly envious of after she boasted about it to him. They would always giggle to each other everytime he walked by. Killua didn't mind though. As long as Stasy kept that euphoric smile, he held no complaints.

Beside, it also meant more time to spend with Gon. The black haired boy showed him all around the forest, where he met Kaito, was attacked by the mother Fox-Bear, and all the places he and Kon used to play. By the end of the day, they rested under the velvety night sky at their favorite star gazing spot. They had laid on the ground in silence for what felt like hours.

Finally, Killua spoke up. "So, what are you going to do now, Gon?"

"Hmm...I'll rest as I collect some information in August," the boy answered after thinking for a while. "I'll start looking for my father in York Shin. There'll probably be lot of hunters there."

"I see," said Killua as he sat up. "What should I do?"

"What?" Gon looked at him quizzically. "You should stay her and come to York Shin with me."

"No, I mean, I think you're great."

"HUH?" Gon looked at him with a sense os awkwardness falling over him. He wasn't following Killua.

"I don't have things I want to do. I have a lot of things I don't want to do, like staying home or taking on the family business. I envy you."

Gon gazed at his friend and then smiled. "I'm happy when I'm with you, Killua."

Those words sent a tremor through Killua's heart. He had dreamt of these words before, but they held so much more effect when spoken by the real thing. He couldn't stop the rush of red to his face. "Wha-what are you saying so suddenly?"

"This Whale Island is for fishermen to stay during their trips. There's only a few real residents, and the only other child than me is a little girl named Nouko. My studies were through distance education from home, so Killua, you're my first friend. Well, Stasy technically became my friend after you, and I guess you could call us siblings, more than friends."

"You're my first friend, too," Killua pretended to be gazing up at the stars, though he was actually trying to avoid Gon's gaze. "I wa always locked up at home, refining my assassination skills."

"And are you happy when you're with me?" Gon asked him seriously.

Killua stared at his wide, hopeful eyes. More than you could ever know... "Yeah, I guess so."

"So let's go together to different places and see different things! I'll look for my father, and you look for what you want to do."

Killua smiled softly. "I guess, that's not bad."

They lay in a sweet silence after that. Killua breathing in every minute they were together.

Mito and Stasy were putting away the dishes, when Gon and Killua came into the kitchen. The once dismal air that surrounded the two had coompletely vanished, as though it never existed. Gon smiled warmly at Stasy's ecstatic frenzy about the kitchen as she helped Mito clean. "Ne, ne, Auntie!" she called out to Mito, as she put some dishes into the cupboard. "Are we going to go to the market later? I'll help you carry the groceries!"

"Thank you, Stasy," Mito replied with a motherly smile. "I'm so glad to have a little helper. We'll leave later, ok? Until then, you can play with the boys. You came here to rest, and all you've been doing is helping me around the house!"

Stasy nodded gleefully, and then skipped over to Killua, who was sitting by the window with Gon in the boy's room. Her happiness must have been contagious, because he found himself smiling as well. "You seem to be one happy individual."

"Yes! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!" She sighed and fell onto Gon's bed, rolling along the sheets and giggling giddily. "This reminds me of the time I was helping Granny. Do you remember my story? That was how I, Ecstasy, was born. I feel like I'm back in that time." She let out a deep sigh, calm now, and stared at the ceiling. "How many years has it been since then?"

"Try not to think about it to hard or your head might explode," Killua retorted, but Stasy didn't snap back. She was too happy.

Only a few minutes later, Mito crackedthe door open and popped her head in. "Umm...Gon?"

The little boy looked up from the window. "Yes?"

"How long will you be staying here?"

"A month or so."

"Then you'll go to search for Jin?"

"Yup!"

She left the room, but soon returned with a strange box. She gave it to him. "Jin told me to give this to you when you became a Hunter."

Gon looked up at her, his mouth hanging open. The others stared too, interested.

"I'll tell you everything...Everything I know about Jin."