Assassins and Thieves

Chapter 03

Passing through the doors, the two children walked silently together. Well, the silver haired kid was on his skateboard, but he was sliding slowly next to Chrome. However, he didn't get far. Soon the two children had reached the beginning of a forest. With a dirt path, using the skateboard was really inefficient. The boy got off his skateboard by kicking it up and grabbing it in midair.

"Showoff," Chrome sighed, rolling her eyes with a faint smile. "I never got your name. I'm Chrome." She introduced herself quickly.

The boy looked over to her. "I'm Killua," he replied. The girl just nodded. There wasn't much to talk about right now. For a while, there was an awkward silence. None of them know what to say. What would Chrome talk about to this stranger of a boy? What would the boy say to the stranger of a girl? Their eyes just wandered off, staring at anything except to the person next to them.

"Man, this is so boring." Killua groaned, as they walked for twenty minutes in silence. "Hey, Chrome. Talk to me."

"Talk about what?" Chrome raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Anything?"

"Okay, how long were you following me before?" That question had been nagging Chrome for quite a long time. How could she not notice someone stalking him?

"You're still asking about that?" Killua rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know. About an hour, I think; when you were about to leave the city. Why do you want to know that?"

An hour? Chrome really hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings then. "Well wouldn't you want to know how long someone has been following you?" She answered back with another question.

"I guess you're right." The boy half agreed. "How long were you following them?" He referred to the group of thugs earlier.

"A long time, probably for three to four hours." Chrome looked up at the sky to see the position of the sun. However, the large trees of the forest were in the way. The sky was getting dimmer. It should be around 4 or 5 o'clock. Within an hour or two, the sun should have gone down by then. Hopefully, the two children would have reached to that hole before the sky gets dark. It'll be very dangerous to venture on a barely visible path at night. "They never did turn to look back."

"Well, neither did you." Killua smirked. "I guess you're not that smart either."

Chrome pouted her lips. Another insult she had to endure. It was technically her fault that she didn't realize she was being followed. She sighed as she realizes the numerous mistakes she made just in one day. "Yeah, yeah, but I solved the riddle. You wouldn't be here without me."

Killua scoffed. "I just need more time to think. That's all." He turned away.

There were a couple of more minutes of silence before Chrome asked him a question, "Say, Killua. How old are you?" It's another question that had been bugging her for a couple of minutes. She didn't think it was common for young children like her to be taking the Hunter Exam. If it wasn't for her father, she wouldn't even know a thing being a hunter. Chrome was so sure that she'll be the only child there; and to think that she would partnered up with a boy that's roughly the same age even before the Hunter Exam.

"I'm 12." He replied without much care.

"Wow, same age." Chrome mumbled softly to no one in particular. "Who would have thought?"

"W-wait, you're 12, too?" the boy asked in shock. "I thought you were younger, like 10 or 11!" He laughed.

"Ten or eleven?" the girl coughed at his comment. "H-how? What made you think I'm that small?" she folded her arms in a bit of anger. Chrome couldn't tell if Killua was just teasing, but he's laughing more than he was supposed to. "A-anyways," she tried to change the topic quickly, "do you think there'll be another kid there just like us?"

The boy just shrugged. It didn't really matter to him if there's another kid there. "Who know?"

"If there is, we all should stick together." Chrome smiled hopefully. It would be really cool if there's another kid with the same age. "We will rule the Hunter Exam! Show all those adults what we're made of."

"Just don't drag me down." Killua smirked.

"Same to you, too." Chrome followed the same suit. It's not like Chrome doesn't believe that Killua is strong. She just hasn't seen his strength yet. In fact, she doesn't know much about Killua. They've only met for twenty minutes, but his cockiness must have come from somewhere. Chrome just hoped that he can back that confidence up.

The cold winter wind suddenly picked up and became more noticeable. Chrome shivered silently with her arms wrapped around body to protect her from that biting cold. Killua looked at the shivering girl, "Why are you even wearing a tank top in the winter?"

Chrome's hands started to rub against her bare arm to create a small sense of heat and warmth. "I thought there'll be quite amount of exercising during the Hunter Exam. If I do wear more clothes, it'll be hotter, and since I'm not a boy, I can't really take off my shirt if it gets too hot and sweaty."

"What about that bandana around your neck?" Killua pointed out. Chrome tugged the top of the red striped bandana she had on. "If that's your reason for having a tank top, your bandana wouldn't be there."

"Oh this," Chrome chuckled to herself. "I have it so people won't see my necklace underneath. Really silly reason, I know. I just don't like people when they stare at it. I usually have it on when I go out."

"Really? Just for a necklace?" Chrome could sense him judging her, but she ignored it. "What's so special about that necklace?"

"It's important to me," she placed a hand on top of the bandana where the black chocker would have been. "It's the first gift that Papa gave to me." Yes, the first gift that he gave me when he took me in.

"That father of yours must be important to you."

"Yeah, without him I wouldn't be here." Chrome said softly. "Papa is the only one who told me to take the Hunter Exam. Everyone else told me not to take it, but Papa trusts me to take it and to pass it; so I will." She said with confidence. No matter what obstacles the Hunter Exam may give her, she'll overcome it.

However, Killua seemed to think the opposite. He laughed. "What kind of father let their daughter take the Hunter Exam?" Chrome frowned to his reaction. Why is she even telling this stranger a boy about her father? Maybe she shouldn't have been so buddy-buddy with him after all. He managed to insult her about four times in the past 30 minutes. Maybe he's just a regular jerk.

"What about you, Killua?" the girl looked over at the boy as he looked like he's almost finished with his laughing. "Why are you going to take the Hunter Exam?"

Killua started out with a shrug, "I don't know. I've heard the Hunter Exam is hard, and I was bored; so I just want to join."

"And what about your parents?"

"Oh," a grin started to appear on his face. "I don't think they know that I'm going to take the Hunter Exam. I ran away from home. I didn't want to stay there any longer. I don't care what they think." He shrugged so carelessly. So he's a complete rebel. Chrome didn't really know what to make of it. After all, she's been under her father's wing for as long as she could remember. She wouldn't dare to disobey her father.

Chrome looked up at the sky again. It wasn't too long since the last time she looked at it; however, it did get dimmer. It should be roughly 5 o'clock right now. The sun should almost be down since it is winter now. Chrome looked worried. "Hey, Killua. Do you want to jog there? It's getting darker." It's probably better if they had started to run in the beginning anyways. They don't know how long the road will go on for.

"You're getting scared of the dark?" The boy mocked Chrome again.

"Yes, I'm so scared," she decided to joke a bit. "If it gets too dark, we wouldn't be able to see the path. We could be walking in the forest for the next three hours for all we know."

"Yeah sure," Killua started with a light jogging pace first. "Let's go."

Chrome nodded and jogged right beside him despite the heavy book bag dragging her down just a little bit. They continued to jog in silence for a while; after 30 minutes, they realize that they're not going to reach the foot of the mountain any time soon. "It doesn't seem like we're going to reach the hole before the sun goes down at this rate. Could you run?" Chrome asked.

"Could I run?" Killua laughed. "Okay, let's race there. Loser has the buy the winner any snacks they want for a week. You game?" he had such a mischievous grin.

"Of course," the girl accepted the challenge with a smirk. Within a second, both the children burst with speed down the dimly lit path.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading Chapter 03 of Assassins and Thieves. To be honest, I had trouble writing this chapter. The original plan is to have mainly dialogue between Killua and Chrome. I didn't think it would be too exciting of a chapter, but I thought it was necessary to help you, the reader, to understand Chrome a little bit more. As you can tell, Assassins and Thieves is a slow story. I hope that doesn't deter you from reading on the future chapters. If you haven't checked it out, I have drawn a tiny picture of Chrome for a few viewers who wished to see it (the link is on my profile). As always, please review. You'll receive many thanks if you do.