Chapter 10

Hina: Helloooo!

Killua: why the heck have you left this thing for so long?

Hina: I has had no muse~

Kurapika: *from behind a book* such bad grammar…

Hina: hey, you better be nice to me or the creative gerbils will leave again and not come back for months! ...has it really been months already…oh my…

Gon: yup, it's been months and I think Morrah's mad at you for not continuing with the story for a long time after she made her grand entrance…

Morrah: *sulks in corner* I can't believe you Hinata Yutsuri…you were so excited and then just left me hanging for months…

killua: o0o her last name…you used it…you must be really mad…

Hina: but I drew pictures of you!

Morrah: yes, ones that you never even finished!

Kurapika & Rio: …she has a point there Hina…

Hina: I'm sorry Morrah, and I also don't own anyone other than my little Mo… *snuggles Morrah's dog ears, then gets slapped away* T^T

xXx

Kurapika's Pov

We all just sat there, staring at each other, well, to be precise, Morrah and Rio stared at each other from over the fake wooden table and Rezo and I just looked anywhere that wasn't focused on Rio's obvious confusion directed at the girl in front of us.

I guessed Morrah and Rio were almost the same age,seeing as Morrah seemed around 19, and I was pretty sure that Rio was 21. yet Morrah had an almost ageless air to her, almost like she'd lived hundreds of our lives, and still had thousands to live, learning all the way.

''So…you…you're Morrah? The dog who I was so annoyed by all the time?'' he asked, and Morrah nodded, her hands were in her lap, folded neatly over her still spotless robe that drooped down her shoulers revealing almost porceline colored skin, if it wasn't for the intricate red swirls that danced down from her forehead, down her neck to her shoulders and what I guessed, also to her back.

''And the rabbit that I sat on more times than I could count?'' Rio asked, Morrah mutely nodded again, and a blush slid over Rio's face. I blinked. Then tilted my head slightly, was Rio actually blushing? As in, not just being a perv and only looking at the exposed skin of her neck and collar bone?

Now that I looked at it, Rio hadn't looked anywhere from Morrah's face since she'd gotten here.

Odd…..

Very, very odd…

xXx

Rio's pov:

Beautiful… that's the only word that can describe her.

Absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous.

And when I say breathtaking, it's not just a term.

I actually had trouble breathing as I looked the girl in front of me in the eyes…those dark, seemingly infinitely black eyes of hers, the eyes that were such a contrast to her almost blindingly white hair, though it wasn't fake. The hair that was so voluptuously growing on Morrah's head had never been dyed, nor cut, or styled from what I could tell.

It was so long that as she sat in front of me, chin up in a strong, yet polite position, the long strands actually pooled on the floor, making me want to rush over and pull it into a ribbon, as to not soil the perfection that it was.

''Rio, why are you looking at me with such an expression?'' she asked, and as her face turned from embarrassed to sarcastic, my mind remembered that this was the cocky wolf who would chew up my shoes. The rabbit who would jump into my seat just as I would sit on it, or jump right on my face as I slept.

This was the wolf who had eaten my food as I got up to get a drink, the rabbit who chewed her way through almost all of my socks, and never, not once, annoyed, or harassed Rezo, nor Kurapika.

Only me.

And the trance-like position I had been trapped in shattered into a billion pieces.

I blinked, then plastered a sarcastic grin on my face as I picked up my glass of tea, and, as she started to ask what I was doing, threw the entire contents at her, soaking her perfect white hair, and staining her spotless white robe.

''Rio!'' Kurapika shouted, already rushing to grab towels and a robe from the bathroom.

Morrah blinked, then, causing all the breath to rush out of my lungs, she smiled, no. not the shy little grin she'd been wearing, not a blinding-cliché smile, but a cocky smirk, one that mirrored mine, one that could only come from that irritating rabbit, could only come from that infuriating wolf.

And as I stared at her, breathless, she picked up the bowl of water that we had had laid out for her wolf form, and, still looking at me, hurled the entire contents, hitting me smack in the face with the cold water.

That brought my breath back.

And as I gasped at the cold, she laughed, a musical sound, if it hadn't been filled with such sarcasm.

''It looks as though we are going to have fun, now doesn't it Rio?'' she asked, a wicked smile on her face as I just stared at her.

''Don't think just because I'm a Shifter means that I'll be passive, quite the contrary actually…human's ideas of magical beasts are always so comical…'' as she finished her sentenced, she threw her head back and laughed again, making me smile and stand up.

''Just because I'm human don't assume that I respect you, or, more accurately, fear you.'' I said, thumping her in the forehead.

She drew a sharp breath, ending her laughter.

Then with a much more serious expression, she looked at me, then bowed.

''I apologize, Rio. You've been so kind, and I… I acted so…primative'' she spat her last word like a curse, causing me to blink.

Surprising her enough to jolt up, I put my hand on her head, as I'd done with Kurapika so many times.

''Don't worry, I'd rather you be yourself. I mean, you've been part of the family for over a year now, and you never reeled in your 'primativeness' before, have you?'' I asked, and she looked up at me with wide eyes.

''P-part…of the family?'' she asked, and it was my turn to throw my head back and laugh.

''Of course! Are you crazy? Where did you think you were going to stay? '' I asked, still laughing.

Morrah blinked at me. Then, utterly surprising me to my very core, she hugged me.

Tight.

And before I knew it, I was hugging her back, and it was like we'd always been like this, a Shifter a part of our family.

I looked up as a thought tore through me.

We had, we just hadn't known it.

And just then, I realized that I wanted her to be here, and not just because she didn't really have anywhere to go.

I wanted her to stay, because she felt like part of the family. And always had, ever scince the first day, when I'd almost squished her by sitting on that small ball of fur.

She'd saved kurapika's life. Twice.

And that was more than enough to make me hug her tighter, and mutter, ''You'll always be part of the family.'' And I meant it.

I really, truly, meant it.

xXx

Hina: HUZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I friggin' finished it! YUS!

Kurapika: *blinks* hehe, she's been trying to finish this for a while. It was just…she was so busy…what with…all that…STUFF…that she has to wor-OH FOR PEAT'S SAKE, STOP MAKING ME LIE HINATA!

Hina: okay, okay, okay, I haven't been that busy, I just didn't have muse.

Kura: pft! Didn't have muse… *gets hit by keyboard*

Hina:* runs up to ''camera''* REALLY TRULY, I DIDN'T HAVE MUSE!

Anyway, I don't own anyone from hxh, please review!