EDITEEDDD. :D 22/04/2011
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE FAVS, ALERTS, AND I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS PEOPLE. :P
HunterXHunter (c) Yoshihiro Togashi
Original Word Count: 2,642 words
It finally arrived; the storm a little boy had warned the captain about much, much earlier.
Of course, it came in its own style. A loud crack of thunder accompanied by a flash of lightning surprised people on the ship, especially Akane. She barely flinched, but Killua was already looking at her with a worried glance. Akane, with her pride in the way, did not see the good in the thing at that moment. She was still in a bad mood, after all. She was irritated and shot a scowl at him. "Don't worry, Kil. I can take care of myself."
Killua's eyebrow merely twitched. He realized the real message was, 'You think I'm weak!' So he said, "I didn't say that."
Akane frowned. She thought Killua was just being merely cold and unresponsive-somewhat like a corpse, she had said to herself. Shrugging the topic off, she just nodded. "Never mind, then." She sighed to herself as she slithered off to a more exposed corner of their little hiding place. I feel like I've been misjudged, she thought to herself, or I'm misjudging him.
She looked up at the sky—it was pretty dark for that time already. It was merely 5:30. The light yet humid breeze told of impending rain. She was used to rain, since rain was an everyday experience back in her hometown.
And she had learned to dislike the rain. Akane didn't hate the rain—no, because she loved it at moments as well. She learned to dislike it; she thought of it as gloomy and sad. It just continually drained you of your hopes, she thought. She loved the sun, she loved windy days, snowy winter days, cloudy days. She loved everything and anything but rain.
Knowing that night was going to be a very dim, lonely, and very wet night, she got a little irritated. But knowing that irritation would lead to nothing, she moved out from their little corner. Discipline, discipline, she chanted to herself as she looked around and stretched for a bit. Soon, as she scanned the horizon for something interesting, she found people gathering around by the ship's center. Curious, she joined the little group.
Well, so much for the very grateful gods and my very rotten luck. She said with a dry irritated snort. The 'annoying little thing,' as she called him, was talking in the middle of the little crowd. She could feel her heart in her stomach, and her stomach in her brain. She felt it going into tight knots. She felt it move with the little butterflies. She felt nauseous.
Even if she had no proof that it was indeed that guy who was staring at her, she still was annoyed as hell at him.
She ignored the pain and took a wary step closer to the boy, hoping she doesn't take much attention. She strained her ears to hear the conversation, but with the raging wind and the loud claps of the thunder from the distance, there wasn't much she could do but catch what she could catch.
"...St. Elmo's fire...
"...electrically charged cloud..."
"...encyclopedia-like information..."
Aargh! She thought angrily. I can't understand a single word it! So instead of trying to focus on the words, she looked up at what they were supposedly talking about. The main sail was glowing purple, and she noted that something like electricity shone around it. Inside it scared her to the bone, but all she could do was sigh to try to clear her head. She felt chilled like hell, and the slight dripping of rain didn't help either.
"Akane," a voice called and she felt a hand on her shoulder.
What the hell did I do? Killua thought to himself as he smoothed his swollen cheek, the sad victim that had just fallen under the judgment of Akane's iron-hard fist. This'll heal, he tried to comfort himself, whining a little in the pain. (Not that it was to be compared to other pain he had felt before.) In twelve hours, more or less, he thought, and groaned at the thought.
He looked at Akane, wondering what he had done wrong to her. She looked content, and happy—even happier-looking than before—and a wide, ear-to-ear grin was even plastered on her face, making her look like a silly idiot. Killua snorted. She looked... just like herself.
Like nothing happened at all.
His mind wandered back to the events that caused his cheek to turn red and swell. He approached her a little after she left, because he wanted to apologize-no matter how awkward apologizing was for him. Obviously the crowd was watching the static energy discharge, also known as the St. Elmo's Fire, and he would hell bet his life that they were discussing the old beliefs that said people who see it will never return. When he finally spotted Akane in that crowd that had people that were squished like sardines, he put her hand on her shoulder and called her name, almost a little silently for her to hear, in fact. She was probably shocked or scared out of her wits because without a wink she punched him. Hard. Her fist felt like a steel wall ramming angrily and fast at him. Of course, only after the punch did she turn around to check who she actually hit. For half a second her face turned pale, but the next half it was all red. She grinned and pulled him back to the little corner hideout.
He wanted to go ask her for an apology, but he thought, to save his other cheek, maybe that grin from her would be enough.
The two kept in silence inside their little 'cave', as Akane called it, divulged in their own thoughts once again. While they were getting used to their silent moments, they were at a really awkward situation. Akane was still furiously embarrassed about her accidental punch to Killua, while Killua was still too busy feeling the pain to think of anything else.
Thunder and lightning crashed in the distance, creating noises loud to equal to explosives blown by their ears. Akane would cringe whenever she'd hear those, and Killua would just keep still and continued to do what he needed to do - smooth and try to ease the pain of his swollen cheek.
Akane kept to another corner, curled into a ball, not wanting to talk. Her face was still red, too. Killua's face was red too, but for a different reason. Again with them and their awkward moments, no one dared talk. No one wanted to break the silence-Akane could actually feel the thick wall of ice of silence growing between them again.
And what would be a nice ice-breaker? She asked to herself. What would be a better ice-breaker than someone shouting-
"If you take those words back, I'll forgive you, Leorio!"
"If you take those words back, I'll forgive you, Leorio!"
The loud voice rung through the loud cracklings of the thunder, overpowering the loud shoutings of nature itself. If either Killua or Akane had dog ears, they would've pricked up in excitement.
Something new.
She opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings. Since they were in their 'cave,' there wasn't really much to see except Killua busy with his cheek. She crawled a little bit closer to a wooden corner and pressed her ears to the outside.
"You first, Kurapika!" answered a deeper voice. It's coming from my right, she realized, and crept out of the hole by an inch to see a little bit better. She heard another voice shout out, and she recognized it as the first voice. It sounded younger. "I don't intend to go first!"
Her eyes widened in shock with what she saw. The blond guy was out in the rain, soaking wet with rain in his clothes, in his hands a double kan (smaller version of a sword). His face showed his agitation - and determination. Across him was another man, probably two or three inches taller than him, and holding a wakizashi, a little dagger. They shared angry death glares as a lightning struck. Then suddenly, the blond shouted, "I'm coming!" while the other man shouted something like a battle cry.
They jumped; their sudden meeting in air greeted by lightning and thunder, and the rain. Blades met blades and fabric, and the creaking sound it created was annoying to her ears. It sounded of war, of death, and reminded her of the wars long time ago that killed so many that led to no good. She covered her ears with her palms as she watched the two silently land on the wooden floor. Now they fought on the ground.
"You're pretty good," the taller guy said with a smirk.
"You too," the blond said, but without any smile, and proceeded on jumping away from the attack.
Her eyes flew for a second away from them, and she realized the captain and another guy was watching the fight. This is getting more and more interesting, she thought. She then widened her eyes, realizing her thought pattern was out of norm. Wait a sec. People are going to die! How morbid of you, you idiot.
"...be careful!" the captain shouted, and it broke her from her reverie. Her eyes flung up to the person he was calling to. Up the tattered mast was a man, probably up there to fix it.
Uh-oh, she thought.
Her guts told her this wouldn't end well.
Akane had edged away from her little corner out to peep to the outside. Killua didn't like to bother with whatever was happening, since just from where he was seated, he heard it all - the battle cries, the shouts, the compliments, the rain, the thunder - hell, the everything. He wanted to hold his painful face, maybe to try to ease the pain, but he was dead curious he couldn't hold back any longer. He crept toward her.
She was looking out, her hair, clothes, face, and everything soaked because of the heavy rain. She was looking out...and up. Killua looked around the surroundings and he saw the fighters and the bystanders, watching with curious eyes. Alerted by the sudden clap of thunder he looked up and saw as lightning hit the mast and a man fell off, headed in a straight line directly to the water. The three people - the fighters and one of the watchers – dashed.
His mind - and logic - told him they wouldn't make it. He computed the angle and all in his head and it simply said, "It just won't do." Wondering how things would go in the end, he stayed anyway.
Akane blinked. Will this do? Akane thought curiously as she chewed on her lip. Do they have enough determination to risk their lives for that other man? The thoughts came rapidly to her mind, very fast since there was only a few milliseconds. Well, the blond person and the raven-hair guy didn't, but the green-jacketed one... I could actually SENSE his determination...
Akane and Killua watched in suprise as the green-jacketed kid jumped, catching the man by the waist. The blond guy, seeing that the green-jacketed one wasn't going to make it either, caught him too by the ankle and the raven-haired one got them by the ankle - luckily, this was enough, and the raven-guy pulled them up the ship.
Akane's thoughts shouted only one phrase.
I must be dreaming.
She still couldn't believe her eyes. Hours had already passed since that event, the storm had left them, she had changed and was dry, the sun was back up in the sky, yet still she was thinking, What the hell?
She decided that none of that could've been done in human terms. So she decided to not believe it even if she had seen it with her own eyes. She believed that things aren't what you see at first glance. Besides, she reasoned to herself, the time frame was squished; I can't lay out what happened clearly. One second they were duelling, the next they were hanging like a human ladder on the side of the boat. It can't be real, right?
She sighed as she put on her last conclusion - It's not human. She stared at the sky quietly, trying to actually make sense of it.
"Killua," Akane called Killua in a small voice. She wanted to talk with someone to clear her mind.
"Shh!" he said, rather curtly. "Sorry. I was listening to something."
"What something?" She asked, running - or rather, crawling - over to him. If he was that agitated, she knew it must've been important.
"...You three pass," the captain said to the three guys from last night. A vein bulged in her forehead - We're here, you know!
"We're here, why don't we tell the captain," Akane said in a hushed voice. Strained, thought.
"Just... consider us secret people, okay?" he whispered. "And besides, he knows that we're here. He's definitely part of the Hunter Examination people so I bet my life he knows were here. Just…" And even though he did not complete his sentence, that was enough for her to understand, as she only nodded.
Those three has good talent, he thought, and grinned. More competition, the better.
Killua, content with what he saw, finally turned around to crawl back into the hole. "Move, Akane. We still have time to spend before arriving at Dole."
"Hey, who gave you the right to just call my by my first name? I'm four years older than you, idiot!"
He grinned at her. "Okay then. I won't call you Akane. It's OBAA-SAN!"
She rained soft punches to his back. He laughed like hell. They were having fun, for once, and since they were in a faraway corner they didn't bother to hush, for some reason.
Killua realized he had never felt that free.
"HUNTER EXA—" Akane shouted before she was rudely interrupted by a hand in her mouth.
"For god's sake, Akane, keep your mouth shut. We're here, I know, but we shouldn't be noticed!" Killua said in a hushed whisper. She heard a gurgle about something like not being superstars shoot out of his mouth, but she ignored it. He then threw a glance at the outside, realizing the other three examinees-to-be didn't notice. He breathed a sigh of relief. "At least not by those people. Can't you just stay silent for a while?"
"Yes, yes, master," she said sarcastically. He nodded, and with his hand on her mouth, he flung her to his shoulder and jumped off the ship, landing on the shore before anyone else noticed.
"Aren't we..." she asked when he put her down.
Instead of answering, he barely pulled her arm and walked toward the pay phone. He dropped a coin and muttered a few words into the receiver. His voice was angry and agitated, almost snarling. The call lasted five seconds, and then he put the receiver down and pulled her to the street.
A few minutes later a dark tinted car parked in front of them, and he pushed her lightly to the back passenger seat. He went to the front passenger seat and whispered to the driver with his hand outstretched to the driver's neck. "Got it?" was all she could catch from his words.
The driver nodded, and ever so quickly did he press on the gas and we were zooming.
Scary. Akane said with a shiver down her spine. Slowly, she thought, she was seeing the real Killua.
But Killua was her only friend!-as of the moment. So why bother seeing the bad sides of him? So she shrugged the problem off-even though she had a bad feeling about the situation-and thought, But anyway. HUNTER EXAM HERE WE GO!