"Not another damn sign", Leorio moaned as he clutched his head! Kurapika's ever-persistent, nonchalant expression shifted into a slightly annoyed one. Finally, the cyborg shows SOME emotion. Gon, unsurprisingly, optimistically exclaimed, "Of course we will. We're in the right place. There's the cedar tree"!
Once again, Gon's cheerfulness brightened my mood. Well, and the fact that I was one step closer to the exam.
I ran to what appeared to be the navigator's house and knocked on the door.
"Hello? Anybody home?" Leorio shouted over my shoulder. I glared at him. That fucker was going to ruin my ears. He smirked. Ah, so revenge was the name of this game. He did that because I implied he was fat, the giant child.
"Are they out?" questioned Gon. Kurapika glanced around and I was wondering how much it cost to build this house. After all, this was a nice house in the middle of the woods. I would know as a merchant's daughter how much things were worth or how much I convince people how much more objects were worth.
"We're coming in", Leorio announced as he pushed past me. He shoved the door open and we were greeted by the sight of some beast, hovering over one body on the ground, clutching another person in its claws. I reached around in my jacket pocket for my switchblade and felt...nothing. Shit. It's in my backpack.
In my peripheral vision, I saw another beast drop from the ceiling.
"A magical beast!" Gon exclaimed.
"A transforming magical beast, the Kiriko", Kurapika informed us as he held his blades in front of him. He was such a know it all.
A piece of broken glass and a stray piece of wood caught my attention. Weapons! I snatched the glass and cut my own hand in the process. Maybe I should place my switchblade in a more convenient place for me to grab when I'm in trouble...
"They can take human form. That's an extremely intelligent creature", Kurapika said loudly, breaking my thoughts again. I shot him a surprised glance. Was anybody going to move to attack the beasts!?
Well I was. I lunged forward and shouted at Kurapika, "Nobody cares about your memorized facts!"
I couldn't see Kurapika's expression since my back was facing him but I was sure it was sour.
"There's a woman in his arms!" Gon shouted.
"And that man on the floor needs attention", Leorio added.
I said nothing and threw the wood at the second Kiriko that had dropped from the ceiling. While those three had been focused on what had appeared to be the main threat, they failed to notice the second Kiriko. Which is why I chose to attack it first.
I really needed to ditch this group of buffoons and find a smarter group.
The wood flew from my hand and towards the second Kiriko...bullseye! I hit it!
The second Kiriko made eye contact with me I shuddered. I didn't like looking at beasts that wanted to kill me. I quickly unzipped my backpack, grasped my switchblade and my piece of glass (which was now cutting a different part of my hand). The beast appeared to be...snickering at me.
I pouted. Was this beast really laughing at me!? I had many resources and most importantly, my brain. I could take this Kiriko.
"Go help the woman", I ordered, "This Kiriko's mine".
"Who gave you the right to order us!?" Leorio loudly protested.
"Stop it!" Gon shouted, "We don't have time for this!"
Crack! The window broke as the first Kiriko leapt through it! And all hell broke loose.
Kurapika had run over to the man on the ground, Gon leapt after the first Kiriko, and I was running towards the second.
"Please save my wife…" the man on the ground weakly sputtered.
"Leorio", Kurapika said as he tossed his bag on the ground, "We'll leave the injured man to you". He shot me a glance,"Avi". Nooo. I was not going with Kurapika. That second beast laughed at ME. I don't like being laughed at. Ever. I shook my head and Kurapika left.
The second Kiriko growled and jumped through the ceiling and into the forest. Joy...now I had to run around in the dark after that laughing Kiriko.
I opened the door and left Leorio and the young man inside the cabin. On the bright side that Kiriko had a nice pelt which would fetch a wonderful price in the market…
"Kiriko", I shouted once I was outside, "Afraid of a weak human girl?"
Nothing. The Kiriko was smarter than I had anticipated. But it was always the smart ones that I loved to destroy.
After a couple of seconds, it was obvious this Kiriko wasn't going to come out. So I ran in the same direction that Gon and Kurapika had gone. If I couldn't draw the Kiriko out, I might as well help Gon and Kurapika.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the faintest blur THERE!
It raced ahead of me? "What?" I questioned, "Why is it running away from me? Could it know that I have a dangerous switchblade? It didn't even know what a switchblade was...no…I have a close range weapon…even if I managed to get that close, a switchblade wouldn't do much damage to it…"
As the Kiriko sped ahead, I pushed myself to keep up and took notice of the resources the forest provided: sharp rocks, sticks, tall trees…what could I use to take this Kiriko down?
I was currently running to keep up with it, but to kill it I had to get closer to it…it wasn't running away because it appeared to be not afraid of me so why…? It was leading me on a pointless race. I would not catch this beast.
I stopped and let my body fall to the ground. I knew the Kiriko would investigate to see if I was dead or not. That's when I'll strike.
Sure enough after a minute, I heard shuffling. The Kiriko. Closer. It had to get just a little closer…hidden by my body was my hand clenching my switchblade. And it was not dull.
The Kiriko now hovered over me. I rolled to the side and stabbed the Kiriko's face near the eye area. Blood spurted out of a wound. Perfect. Now to kill it and take the pelt. If I did fail the Hunter Exam, at least I'd have earned some money from this Kiriko pelt.
"Ahhh", it shouted," Stop!" I dropped my switchblade in shock. Fatal mistake.
My jaw dropped. "You can talk!?" I squeaked. The Kiriko looked at me. This was bad. Now I had to kill it somehow…I glanced at the Kiriko's face and then the switchblade. Okay, I had to stop it from running away…I was going to break its foot. Good, so either the Kiriko had to kill me to escape or jump off the cliff. Both of which would be difficult to do with a broken foot. That's how I was going to immobilize the Kiriko.
Suddenly another Kiriko appeared in the clearing. "Fuck", I cussed. One I could handle, but two? And given the intelligence the one displayed, I had to assume the second one was just as intelligent. The second Kiriko looked at the first, then at me, and both disappeared.
I heard branches cracking and then saw Gon entering the clearing.
"Avi!" Gon yelled. Why must that boy always be so loud? If I travel with him any longer, he's going to end up getting me killed.
"Gon", I icily stated, "Shut the fuck up. They're highly intelligent creatures so we need to work together to kill them".
Gon blinked and gave me a hurt look with his oak brown eyes. I refrained from wincing in guilt. No. No stupid emotions.
A Kiriko then appeared. "Gon", I shouted, "Get ready!"
But instead, Gon cocked his head in confusion as he stared at the Kiriko. "Who are you? You aren't the one I hit. Are you his friend?"
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Did it matter?
Maybe I should let the Kiriko kill him.
"How can you tell?" the Kiriko responded. It was clearly shocked. Perfect, now was the time to kill it before it killed me. I tightened my grip on the switchblade and tensed my muscles. This would be the blow that hit an important nerve, which would allow me to attack quickly…
Then the second Kiriko appeared next to it. My arm dropped to my side. I would not win this battle.
"Aviii!" shouted Leorio from somewhere behind me. I sighed and rolled my eyes. These people...
"Stop yelling Leorio!" Kurapika (also coming from behind me) said with an irritated edge to his voice, "You will attract all the predators in our vicinity to us besides the Kirikos!"
I threw Kurapika a small smile as he and Leorio ran towards Gon, the Kiriko, and me. At least Kurapika had a brain. Kurapika stared at me and rolled his eyes. I was trying to be nice to him, the butt.
"They are simply observing us gathering in a large group. Why have these beasts not attacked us yet?" I asked Kurapika.
Kurapika opened his mouth but was cut off by Gon.
"Your face is different. And your voice is higher and thinner", Gon pointed out to the first Kiriko.
The Kiriko began laughing and I had no clue what was occurring. So I stood next to Gon, holding a switchblade. Awkwardly.
"What?" Gon asked, "Did I say something funny?"
I looked at Gon. "No", I answered with a fake smile, "I noticed the difference too. It was quite obvious". Of course I didn't notice, not like I would admit a shortcoming to Gon. Even as naïve and kind as he is, Gon could one day be my future enemy rather than current competition. I could not show any imperfections in front of any competition during the Hunter Exam.
The Kiriko stopped laughing, smiled, and said, "Let's head back to the house. I want to see how my son is faring".
"Hmm…how many years has it been since someone has been able to tell us apart?" the Kiriko I had chased asked the other.
"I'm ecstatic", the other responded.
Leorio leaned over towards Kurapika. "Can you tell their voices and faces are different?"
"No. Not at all", Kurapika answered as he focused on the Kirikos.
Gon turned around and tried to tell us the difference, "You see", he began, "the one that Kurapika and I beat up is the husband".
"Which one is he talking about?" Kurapika asked me. I shrugged and smiled. I had no clue but I refused to say so.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves", the Kirikos said, "We are the navigators".
An 'oh-shit' expression formed on my face. I was going to kill a navigator out of spite.
"Our family provides support for the Hunter Exam".
"I'm their daughter" the girl chirped.
"I'm their son", the man stated happily.
"Man you had us fooled!" Leorio said as he threw his hands up.
I tried to discreetly hide my switchblade.
"The Hunter Exam changes sites every year. It is difficult to locate it. So we navigators help by guiding the applicants to the site. But we don't help every candidate".
Shit. I felt like that was directed at me. After all, I did stab a navigator in the face.
"We test candidates to see if they're qualified to take the exam".
Hmmm…guess I'll have to either trail Gon if he's qualified or try to find it myself if nobody else in this ragtag group is qualified.
"Kurapika", the daughter began, "You successfully used the vaguest of hints to determine we weren't spouses". She gestured to her tattoos.
I glanced at Kurapika, surprised. He knew that from tattoos? Who was he?
Kurapika noticed me staring and his tan eyes locked onto mine. I immediately looked away. I was never good around hot guys. And I wasn't arguing with Kurapika so…what else could I do?
"Therefore he passes", continued the woman, breaking my thoughts.
"Way to go Kurapika!" Gon cheered.
"Leorio", the son began, "You never realized my true identity but you dressed my wounds faster and more thoroughly than any doctor. Most importantly you continued to reassure me that my wife was safe. Your kindness makes you worthy to take the Hunter Exam. Thus you pass".
I forced a smile. What a dumb reason to pass. Leorio passed because he lied to the son about his wife? What if she had hypothetically died and the son was under the impression that she was 'safe' because Leorio lied. Was that kindness? No, not in my opinion.
"Avi", the Kiriko wife started, "Your cleverness makes you worthy to take the Hunter Exam. You set a trap for me knowing that I was leading you into the forest rather than running away from you. You knew I would return. You also showed an ability to attack when the time is right rather than wasting energy. Thus, you pass".
I mentally cheered but then instantly sobered. No. I couldn't get too cocky. "Thank you", I said as I gave everyone a megawatt smile.
"Gon", the Kiriko husband stated, "Your superhuman physical ability and powers of observation make you worthy to take the Hunter Exam. You pass."
I glanced down and almost threw up. Was I really that stressed?
"Isn't it great we all passed!?" Gon chirped.
"It's too early to celebrate", Kurapika, being the wet blanket that he is, said, "We've merely earned the right to take the Hunter Exam."
"We need to celebrate because we've earned the right", I argued. I don't know why I was willing to argue with Kurapika…something about his attitude just bothered me.
"What's wrong with celebrating a little?" Leorio asked I threw him a grin, glad to have support. "We're making progress".
Kurapika threw me a fake-polite smile and I saw the ice in his tan eyes. "We have no time to celebrate. Passing one stage does not necessarily mean that we will pass the rest of the exam".
I rolled my eyes. "Right. Cause that's such a valid reason to not enjoy success", I responded. "Are you so used to failure that you can't celebrate?" I taunted Kurapika. "Were you the kid who mommy and daddy bought ice cream for just because you participated in something rather than having earned it? Do you know how hard it was to merely earn the right to take the exam!? And you dare insult my intelligence!?" I ended up screeching.
Kurapika said nothing and was looking at the ground. Gon stared at me in shock and Leorio began laughing. That diatribe became personal very quickly. How did I go from Kurapika not wanting to celebrate to thinking he was insulting my intelligence? I needed to get a grip.
"I knew you had attitude", Leorio said, "But not this strong of an attitude". He glanced at me and said, "Women...so emotional..."
I huffed. Well, I couldn't say anything because I did react strongly and throw statements out with no proof of their validity. Over Kurapika's simple comment.
I glanced back at Kurapika who still showed no sign of responding and I smirked. Good. Now I'm glad I had put him in his place. How dare he insult my intelligence? After all, it was the only reason why I was alive today. It will be the only reason why I will succeed in the future. And it will be what I use when I will spit in the face of the world that had spit in my family's face: intelligence.
Wait...no. Kurapika didn't...right?
Kurapika's tan eyes darkened to the darkish purple color again as he shot me a glare. Automatically, I responded with a cold stare.
People like Kurapika who seemed to be perfect irritated me because they reminded me of where I came from and what I had to do and am willing to do to succeed.
People like Gon made me feel guilty for using others to succeed. But life in Samil is very competitive, unlike Whale Island, which I know is a small trading port. I bet Gon never had to fight for anything in his entire life.
People like Leorio made me feel normal. I liked Leorio because of his sense of humor. I had a feeling it is him I could talk to the longest without wanting to kill.