A/N: YATTA! Sem break is over and I'm back in front of the computer. I'm still rearranging my things to be back in school but I still want to linger on the vacation days. So I said I'd finish 22... I was about to exit when I realized I had FLFH to write so I said if I get ALH out of the way I would be able to concentrate on the budding plot of FLFH, so I did this first.

OWC: 3,028

DISCLAIMER: Hunter x Hunter belongs to Yoshi-sama!

(Akane's POV)

'GO LE-O-RI-O! YOU CAN DO IT, GO GO GO!" I chanted from behind Leorio, who was pushing the Door of Verification with all his might. As usual, we were training wee early in the morning after all the chores have been done. Exactly after all the chores have been done. So tired or not, we had to try and push the door at least 20 times every morning, 20 in the afternoon, and 20 before supper. And such was the schedule.

Leorio panted hard. He was-still-having a hard time, but I was right thinking he was going to be the one who would be improving very much-like me-since when the door creaked open, it was just about the size I could open it the first time I tried when we first arrived. Around one and a half inches. Good enough, for someone who tried just recently. Who had no weight tolerance training. Finally, the door creaked closed on him and he slumped in the ground.

I grinned at him before proceeding to coming to the Door. I tapped his shoulder as he edged off to get off my way. "Good job, Leorio!" He beamed happily at me before I finally flexed my muscles and grinned mischievously. "My turn!" I breathed and put my arms out in front of me.

I felt eyes staring at me. Most likely from the three guys I am with… but this one was particular.

I knew it was Kurapika's, for some reason.

Maybe because it had been five days.

xXx

"Are you hiding something, Kurapika?"

He looked at me like I was a great foolish nutcase. "Uh, no Akane."

"You're lying."

Kurapika shook his head. "No. Uh, Goodnight," he said, before finally pushing me off his bed and curled under his covers. I, with the vest, lost balance a little but I managed to get up on my feet.

"Kurapika—"

"Goodnight, Akane."

He hasn't talked to me ever since.

xXx

"Akane! Akane! You can get through the door now! Wow!" Gon's cheerful voice woke me up. Well, at least from that thinking.

I looked at the door. It was true—I was completely in and can go. I took a step and the door closed behind me. I was inside Zaoldyeck territory-and with that, I felt that weight in my chest lighter, yet the weight was still there.

I wondered, who would try to open the door next? I looked up sadly at the sky. Who would be able to pass the test as well?

Will Killua be able to?

The voice in my head answered me. At first I was terrified of the voice in my head, but then I realized it just might be my conscience or the ghost of my mistakes-or even Killua, I shuddered-so I just listened to it. I got through the third door, moron.

Not that kind of test, stupid.

Huh?

Just... nevermind.

"AKANE-NEE-CHAN!" Gon's shrill voice called and I shot my eyes back to the gate. He was pushing the gate with his only-halfway-healed arm. He was trying to open it but his arm-that had barely recovered-was still aching. Then I saw him lose his grip and he was sliding yet still fighting to open the door. I knew he'd get hurt. I dashed toward him-saving him despite knowing he didn't want to be saved-and pushed the door open to help him. He slid between the gap and the door closed.

"That was a close call, wasn't it?" I said, dusting myself. "Are you okay, Gon?"

"Haha.. I almost got in trouble again, didn't I? Heh, thanks for saving me, Akane-nee," he said, scratching that non-existent itch at the crown of his head. "I should stop forcing myself."

"Yes, and you should wait for your arm to heal first." I blinked and saw him staring at the faraway mountain. He was looking at the high mansion of the Zaoldyecks, several thousand feet above sea level. I knew what he was thinking of.

"Gon.."

"Akane-nee?"

"Do you think we'll be able to get him?"

"What do you mean, Akane?"

"...on time, that is."

I looked at Gon with Eager, worried eyes. I knew how the Zaoldyecks were. They could do anything to people they didn't know. They murdered my father's parents.

They murdered my father's parents.

It was a story my father only related to me once-he seemed very cold and distant whenever he talks about it. Even colder than he seemed to be usually. It was like he hated telling it. To anybody. My mother never heard of it until when he told it to me. And he made us promise not to tell anyone.

It was a quick story, and he didn't detail. Maybe because I was four-years-old then, and 'blood and gore' didn't really apply to the 'things to watch' list. All in all, he told it in a span of two minutes. He didn't even give time for it to settle down.

'It was on the day after my younger sister's birthday,' he told me. 'It was raining outside and my parents had just finished putting in all the party materials. There were five-year-olds everywhere!' He looked out the window glumly. 'Well, I was about to clean up the mess they were making when my father pushed me into the corner, into the little room underneath the stairs. He told me, "Stay here, shut up, don't make a noise, or do anything stupid or you're going to die." I didn't hear any sounds after that, but I did what I was told. I kept the light off, and crawled into the farthest corner and hid between my knees.' His eyes were now starting to fill, and his voice filled with emotion. 'Then I heard shrieks. I heard the wind blow hard on the wooden doors, I heard it howl. I heard the five-year-olds squabble out, maybe shrieking terrified. I was expecting my sister to burst into the little room but no. I heard pleading, but that was suddenly covered up by a gruesome choking noise.' The tears finally fell down like waterfalls from his eyes. I gasped-my father wasn't usually the one to give in to emotional stress. But still, he continued. 'My ears were now stuck by the door, all fear forgotten. I couldn't sob, because I had to keep quiet. That's what Father told me. I heard crying-I recognized it as Larissa. She was four... and I heard her fight back. She told the assassins to move back and shut up-maybe she heard it from father.'

With that he stopped, so I had to prod him back. 'What happened to Risa-chan, papa?'

'She was killed. The blood seeped from the door. When I came out, though, there was nothing but blood and bodies. And I knew who did it.'

'Who, papa?'

'Do you promise me never to mess with them?'

I gulped. I hated making promises. And I could never be sure if I'll be able to fulfill them and keep them. But I wanted the rest of the story, so I answered in a soft, hesitant voice: '...yes.'

'They're the Zaoldyecks. A family of assassins, sons of the devils. They live in that mountain, high over there'-he pointed at Kukuru-'and that's why we never have family picnics there. Got it?' I was still terribly shaken, but I nodded. He took my head under my chin and said, 'Don't worry. Unlike Risa-chan, I'll save you from danger.'

'I promise.'

So in short terms, they could do whatever they wanted to the people they didn't know before the assassination, So what more to the people they knew?

They were born as assassins, Katarina. And they will die as assassins.

"Don't worry, Akane-nee," Gon said with a hopeful voice, not just to cheer me up-he was also very hopeful.

"How come you're so optimistic?" I asked him with a smile. I was serious-I really was curious how he could keep up to his becoming happy and cheery despite the dreary occasions. Even knowing his own father had lied to him and now the boy's searching for that lame excuse of a father... that's something sad, really, if not something to be sad about. But he... he's just plain determined.

Naive, tenacious weirdo.

Gon grinned at me. Apparently, he had a reason. "Well, Mito-san taught me that feeling low won't change anything so it's better to just keep living with a smile and hope in your dreams. And besides, if plan A doesn't work, I always just remember that there are 25 more letters of the alphabet." His smile now reached his ears.

"You funny kid," I told him and ruffled his messy hair. "But Killua.. he.." Worry, obviously, was very apparent in my tone because Gon put a hand on my shoulder, trying his best in his naively innocent childish ways to comfort me.

"Don't worry, Akane-nee. We'll be able to. We'll persevere, for Killua!"

I smiled at him. Of course. "For Killua."

After that long tiring day, I went to the bedroom. And I did not just go to the bedroom just to go there-I purposely decided to go at such late hour of the night to the bedroom to talk to Kurapika. As I expected, he sat by the windowpane silently watching the moon and the stars. Reminiscing again, I thought. Leave it to Kurapika to think of the most mind-numbing, heartfelt things in the dead of the night. Yes. Leave it to him.

"Akane. You're still up."

Yes I am, and that isn't obvious now is it. I stopped that mean train of thought after I realized that those four words were the first four words he had spoke to me after five days that weren't just for politeness. I realized after a few milliseconds that that was the first sentence of honest care and brotherly love after five days of coldness. Maybe you shouldn't be so stingy, I thought. Whose conscience, whether that little inner voice in me or mine, I didn't know. Or care.

"And you are, too. Why still awake?"

He shifted, if by only a few centimeters. He still didn't look at me. I was wondering, at that moment, why he wasn't asleep. Because of what I knew of Kurapika, he was very punctual and on time. Usually he was already halfway done on his chores whenever Gon, Leorio and I awoke in the morning. My mind continued to wonder-Was it normal for this boy to wake so early despite sleeping so late? Is it force of habit? Why I bothered to ponder was actually beyond me. I just did.

"It's a habit of mine to stay up this late at night."

In his voice, his apparent disinterest in talking showed perfectly well. He didn't want to talk to me, that's all. But I didn't just give up like that-my mind told me, Cold versus cold. If he wants to beat you with cold stares and the unwavering silence of indifference, beat him with it too. And see who melts first.

"So I guess that's an applicable reason for me as well."

I had to stifle the upcoming yawn that came at the end of the sentence. I sat on the bed nearest him and watch as his ice blue eyes stare at the white moon. A silver cloud started to cover the brilliance of the moon and after the moon finally disappeared behind the thickness of those silver entities, he finally turned around. Getting serious, at last. His yellow bangs fell on his face, slightly covering his eyes. I could say, despite the shadow across them, that there was an emotion hovering in them. A heavy one. A very, very heavy one.

"You want to tell me something, Akane?"

There goes. Drop the bomb so fast? I cleared my throat, getting ready for the debate. "I was wondering why you didn't talk to me the past five days."

"You didn't ask me to talk to you."

I blinked at him. How could he be so insensitive? "No... I mean, you seemed to be ignoring me."

"Akane.. I just..."

"You have things to think about, don't you?"

He nodded. "And things you have to know but I don't think you should know."

I bit my lip. That was basically keeping secrets from me, secrets I should know. Secrets that might help me reach my goal. And he was hiding it from me. But I worried and hesitated on force-asking him because I had that gut-feeling that if I did, this slowly-being-glued-together-friendship-because-it-had-shattered will be broken once more. So I decided patience would be the key.

"If you're not ready to tell me yet, and you think I'm not ready, it's okay. I can wait." I paused. "Under one circumstance."

Obviously he was already okay with the first part of my statement. He flinched a little after I said about that 'circumstance.' "What circumstance?"

"That we'll be friends and there'll be no ignoring and no nothing like that until that time comes." I grinned. Mom told me that acting childishly-at least me acting childishly-won the hearts and minds of most of the people I talked to. Maybe it'll work with Kurapika as well.

He smiled at me. "Deal." He nodded and I smiled at him as well, finally letting go of that yawn sticking in the sides of my throats. "Oyasumi, Kurapika."

"Oyasumi."

Why didn't I do it earlier? Why did I hesitate? Why did I wait? The weight on my chest finally slowly ebbed away, giving me that well-sought-after relief.

Good for you.

Lazing around.

Lazing around was the best thing to do, since we were all so tired with all the training. The sun was already hitting on our skins real hard, yet were were just there, staring at the giant doors. Leorio was still trying to push.

"You won't learn it all in a second, Leorio. What Zebulo-san said was right; you have to do it slowly."

"But I want to learn it fast, like now!" He said, and stubbornly continued to push. He reminded me of Gon for half a second there. "Now.. I have to..."

"You know, challenge yourself on something else and stop drowning your sanity there, Leorio. ...if you have some, that is!" I said with a laugh and he lunged at me and soon Gon, Kurapika, Leorio and I were all drowning in insane laughter.

Suddenly Leorio looked up and stared at the door. Not the big door, no-the intruder's door. "I think I know what that 'something else is,' he said with a grin. A very, very cheeky one. I knew it was not going to end well...

"You're not planning on-"

"Yes I am!" Leorio said. "If I can't open the big door, how easy would it be to push this one!" He put out his arms and pushed very hard. Not enough for the big door, but enough for the much smaller, much weaker intruder's door because it gave it with the strength and weight he gave. The door fell down and he was there. Frozen. Paralysed, maybe.

I knew it!

"LEORIO! HURRY!"

Mike came to his senses fast. It was easy to sense the danger that came with his huge, scary presence. I tried to remember the tune Zebulo-san used on him, but it completely slipped my measly mind. I couldn't focus, and my thoughts were jumbled up.

"LEORIO! STAND UP! MIKE!"

Mike was out the bushes quickly, and was about to stomp Leorio like a little bug. Leorio, though, managed to jump out to a little shrub before he could be squished.

"Leorio.. he's safe!"

I watched the scene with quiet, worried eyes. I wasn't looking at Mike, I wasn't looking at Kurapika, I wasn't looking at Leorio.

I was looking at Gon.

My guts were practically screaming, 'Something bad..' For some reason I tended to trust my instincts more than anything. So I focused on Gon. Would he do what I was thinking?

With Gon's reckless personality? Of course.

The next thing I know, Gon was already out into the Zaoldyeck family's "Gardens", which was practically the hectare-large forest.

"GON!"

I ran after him, full-speed ahead.

A/N: It was supposed to end with 'Good for You' but you know how I am with cliffhangers P=

I'm going on a lag after this -_-' there's school, there's one more exam for High School... and then I have other problems.

Well, I know none of you know me in real life but still I'm putting it here - one of my teachers died two days ago by heart attack. T_T And this is why the end part was a little drearier than expected.. I just had to keep happy but still... T~T

Okay. end rant.