Assassins and Thieves
Chapter 04
The forest passed by like a blur. Nothing resembles a tree or a branch anymore, just a massive blur of hundreds of different shades of green and brown. Yet, the two children were able to fly through the forest with ease. They ran in silence side by side. In that silence, Chrome started to evaluate her action previously when she first met the stranger boy, Killua. She wasn't planning on befriending him, but for some reason, she stayed close to him. She could've left him alone to solve the quiz by himself. She could've solved it herself quietly. It wasn't necessary to allow him to become a baggage to her. Though, he have yet to prove to be an extra piece of luggage, but what made Chrome friendlier towards the boy? She could've easily lied to him and be on her way.
Chrome told him several details about herself that she wouldn't tell a stranger. Why did she talk about her father to him, and the necklace? Why did she even ask for his name and age? It didn't really matter to her. So, why? Chrome constantly questioned herself with that single question. "Why?"
"You said something?" Killua broke her thoughts.
Chrome gave a double take at the boy. "Oh, it's nothing." She just gently smiled at him. "I, I was just thinking. That's all." Chrome bit her lower lips. There she goes; talking more than she needed to. She could have just stopped at "oh it's nothing," but she decided to add a little unnecessary extra. Frustrated with herself, Chrome sped up just a little bit.
After running for some quite time now, the sun had officially set. Even though the sun had set, the path wasn't completely hidden. The thousand stars and a shiny half-moon were shinning on the path bright enough for the two children to see.
"Maybe we missed the hole." Killua frowned at the idea, breaking the silence. "We've been running for quite a while. This is probably four hours of walking if we're running at this pace."
"No, we didn't miss it." Chrome said straight out. There's no possible way they would have missed it. With both their eyes, they wouldn't have. They should've asked the two old ladies earlier how long it would take. Now they're just running in a forest aimlessly. Why couldn't she think of that earlier? Maybe just a couple of more minutes running, they'll reach it.
Just as Chrome though, the trees started to clear. The two children could see a clear field just a couple of meters away and a black circle at the ground. "Is that the hole?" Chrome squinted trying to make out the dark circle. She glanced over at Killua. He seemed to be smirking at her. Oh, this is when the real race starts. Chrome smirked slightly and picked up her pace. The two children burst with speed through the end of the forest.
As they got closer the circle, the hole became bigger visually. Chrome couldn't see Killua in her point of view, assuming she got this race in the bag. No matter how much she would love to turn around and check on the distance between them, Chrome shouldn't be consumed with curiosity. The distraction would just slow her down, possibly making her lose the race. A race is a race, not matter how petty the reward is. All she needed to do is to reach the edge of the whole.
At the final few seconds, Chrome could see Killua at the corner of her eyes. She had to slow down. If she speeds up to beat him, she might as well fall inside that hole. However, the boy's speed didn't seem to decrease. Was he planning on jumping down or fall in? The two children reached to the edge of the hole nearly evenly, but Killua made an attempt jump inside.
Forgetting about the race all together, Chrome grabbed the back of Killua's pale lavender shirt and pulled the boy back before he was out of reach. "What do you think you're doing?" The boy fell backwards and looked up at the girl in confusion.
"You didn't jump?" he asked as if she was supposed to jump into a large hole without even examining it. Chrome just stared at him in disbelief. Was he really just going to jump into a hole that could possibly be his grave? "Why didn't you jump?" he asked again.
Baffled at the boy, Chrome's mouth opened and shut a couple of times, mimicking a gasping fish. "W-why did I jump? First of all, we don't know a single thing about this hole. There could be spikes at the bottom of the hole. This hole could be a mass grave, if people just jump into it without a second thought like you. We don't even know how deep this hole is. Why would I want to jump into a hole without knowing what's inside?" she rambled to him, but he doesn't seem to be listening.
The hole is quite massive; roughly two meters in diameter. However, the moon couldn't shine inside the hole, so there's no telling how deep the hole is. It is quite strange. The hole is perfectly circular and so neat. There could be many reasons why this hole is made. It could be a trap for a predator. The prey, humans or animals, would jump inside or fall inside by accident. Trapped in a hole, they only can just wait in panic for the predator to come and devour them. Being so late at night, the prey wouldn't be able to see the hole and just fall in, or human curiosity would get the better of them. Either way, Chrome is definitely against going inside that trap. Killua seem to have a different idea.
The boy stood up from the floor with his head lowered. Chrome couldn't see his eyes due to his silver hair covering it, but she did see a growing smirk from him. That is not a good sign. Chrome backed away from the boy slowly, "No, don't!" But it was too late. Killua made an effort to grab her wrist and jumped down the hole. Being pulled, Chrome had no choice but to fall down with the boy down the large hole.
It wasn't long before they reached to the bottom of the hole. The heaviness of Chrome's book bag had pulled her down quicker and landed with a loud oomph. Unable to withstand the heavy pull of the bag, Chrome had landed on her bottom. Killua landed gracefully after her and looked at her. "Wow, are you that fat?" he chuckled to himself.
Unable to find the same humor as him, Chrome stood up, rubbing the numbness away. "Ow," she whined softly, glaring at her reckless partner. "Why would you jump in?" A sigh escaped from her lips, "You know what? It's not even worth it."
Chrome looked up at the sky to check how far they've fallen. It wasn't really deep; it's roughly the height of a one-story building. Chrome's fingers slid across a part of the wall, examining it. It was completely dry and compacted. This hole had been here for quite a while. Most dug out hole should be wet, especially when there is a forest a couple of feet away. Chrome touched the ground, too. It has the same feel to it: dry and stable. It's like standing on concrete. Smoothed out and flat. There's just too much work placed into this hole. It can't just be a predator's trap. The height is too short to be a real trap. Chrome and Killua could easily get out of it.
It should be related to the Hunter Exam, but how? Is it just another test for them? Will there be another examiner or someone coming? Chrome plop down on the dirt floor again. They're not getting out anytime soon, or rather they shouldn't. Someone will come sooner or later. The quiz makers guided them to this hole. There's something bound to happen in this hole and the two children just had to wait.
Killua looked over at her, curious. "What are you doing?"
"Waiting," a simple reply, but it answered the question.
"Waiting for what?" Killua came over and towered over the girl with his hands in his pants pocket. Seriously, he hasn't figured it out yet?
"Someone," one word reply still works. Chrome doesn't want to explain. It doesn't seem worth it. They could be waiting together for ten minutes, an hour, maybe a whole day. They don't really have much choice. Leaving the hole wouldn't really have any gain or make any progress. Their best bet is to sit down and wait. Killua joined in the waiting game; he sat down right next to his companion.
"What happened to not jumping inside because we don't know what's down here?" Killua leaned against the solid dirt wall. "Now you're just going to take a break here?"
Chrome looked to her right at the boy with a bored expression, and sighed. "It doesn't matter now since we're down here already. We just have to wait for one of the testers to come and test us." She closed her eyes, planning to rest until there's a change of events. She was ready to rest for a good two hours, but Killua seemed to have a different plan.
"Say, what's in your bag? It was pretty heavy when you hit the floor." Killua started a conversation. Chrome's eye peaked open at his question.
"Nothing much, just weights and a game boy."
"Weights?" the boy looked at the brown backpack. "Why are you carrying weights?"
"Training," Chrome said it as if it's common knowledge. "What else would it be for?"
"How heavy is it?"
"I don't remember." She placed a few fingers on her lips, attempting to remember the answer. "I think Papa said the book bag is about 200 kg in total and these weights are 10 and 25 kg." Chrome put out her wrists and legs. There are metal cuffs around both her wrists and ankles. "Something around there." To be honest, Chrome has it on for since the beginning of the week long boat trip. It doesn't weigh heavily on her shoulders now. This training didn't all of the sudden started once she got on the boat though, the extra weights are usually constantly on her.
"Can I try it on?" Killua asked. "I just want to see how heavy it is."
The 12 year old girl frowned at the idea and refused his request. "Sorry, Papa said I can't take off the weights, only when I shower and sleep on a bed. Other than that, I can't."
"Ehh, how boring." Killua sunk lower, sliding down from his seat in boredom. "Do you always listen to your father? That's all you talk about."
Chrome looked down at the lowered boy and pondered on his words. There's nothing wrong with following Papa's orders. Who is he to judge the bonding between her and her father? Instead of reply back to him, she stayed silence and clung onto her knee.
"Seriously, what kind of father tells his daughter to become a hunter?" Killua repeated again, but he didn't stop, "And on top of that, he told her to wear 300 kg of weights! It's kind of asking for a death sentence, if you ask me. You train for the Hunter Exam, not during it." The boy looked at Chrome for any sort of response with a smile on his face, but he only saw her neutral black eyes, no emotion at all.
"Well not everyone can have a normal father like yours." Chrome replied. It's not like Chrome hates her father. In fact, she loves him. To be honest, he's quite normal father. He just wish that his daughter is strong enough to defend herself.
"Psff, my father, normal?" Killua burst out laughing. "He's way far from normal!"
"I guess both of our fathers aren't normal." A small smile appeared on Chrome's face as she pulled her knees closer to herself. "I'm just curious, why isn't your father normal—"
In the mist of the lighter conversation, Killua and Chrome noticed that change of events they were waiting for. The ground started to vibrate softly and the sound of digging came closer to them. "I guess the wait is over." Killua smirked, getting up. Chrome followed the same gesture, pulling herself up from the hard ground.
"Be careful. We might have to fight whatever is coming our way," Chrome warned. Both children were able to pinpoint the direction the sound and vibration were coming from. "But, we shouldn't jump into conclusion first."
"You know, you're still so bossy." Killua joked with a light smirk and a fierce glaze.
After a few minutes, the thing finally reached to the hole that Killua and Chrome were waiting in. It dug a hole and became visible for the two children. The thing was a human-size mole. It seemed to be in a state of panic. It looked at Killua and Chrome, turning its head back and forth rapidly.
"H-help!" The mole thing talked! "M-my wife is trapped in a landslide! H-hurry, please!" The mole quickly made a U turn and traveled back inside the dark tunnel it created, expecting the two children to follow it.
That voice, it sounds familiar.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading Chapter 04 of Assassins and Thieves. There was more talking in this chapter than I intended to, whoops. Anyways, I do hope you enjoy reading this. As always, please review. Any feedback or interaction will be bottled up and shipped to Gon and Killua. See you in Chapter 05.