[Kurapika]: Thanks to a scribble with fangs, steph557, FANFICTION5273, RedRaptor711, Happywheal, Arrow-chan3, AkiEn, a, Naruto namikaze uchiha, Crescentclaw, xXSpark and 74ThatOneBlondeOtaku52 for favouriting/following!

[Gon]: Reviews!

74ThatOneBlondeOtaku52: Blondes unite~!

[Kurapika]: What

I'm blonde too :) I'm glad you found it funny, there were a few parts that I put in there for fun. The writing should get better as I go on, because writing in HXH in different from the other fandom I'm working on. Here's your next chapter, hope you enjoy, and sorry for the late update!

x4869 (Guest) : Yeah, there were originally more chapters but I decided that I didn't like where it was going and that Raze seemed kind of 2D. Thank you for the compliment and the review! I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter two

Test X Of X Tests

XXX

I darted down the ramp to the ground, happy to be on mainland. It had only taken around a day to reach Dolle Harbour, which was pretty busy. I scanned the crowd, seeing quite a few muscly guys with giant swords. Speaking of weapons, I retrieved mine from the storage compartment of the ship, along with my small backpack. I had my knives underneath my clothes the whole time, though.

Holy crabs, there are a lot of people, I gaped at the large crowd, taking in the different colours and smells I wasn't accustomed to. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of violet, making me whip my head to the left to look. It can't be… I felt the smile on my face widening as Kurapika and Leorio came up beside me.

"Raze?" Kurapika asked, nudging my arm. "What are you grinning at?" He let out a gasp of surprise when I knocked him off balance as I dashed through the crowd, mumbling apologies as I went through. That hair, it has to be…!

"HIROSHI!" I screamed happily, throwing myself at him. He quickly turned around, a shocked expression on his face when he saw me hurtling towards him

"Ra-woah!" He yelped, trying to stabilize us, but fell to the ground after I tackled him. I squeezed him tightly, not caring that we were on the ground. He laughed, hugging me back. "It's nice to see you too, Raze." I paused in realization, then whispered quickly into his ear.

"I have people with me." He nodded and groaned.

"Could you get off me now? We're sitting on the ground, you know." I laughed, and rolled off him, letting him sit up. "Now, what's this about people?"

"Raze!" Kurapika called over the noise of the bustling activities, Leorio and Gon on his heels as he made his way through the crowd. He reached us as I stood up, and pulled Hiroshi up as well. "Who is that?" He inquired, gesturing to the golden eyed boy beside me. I grinned and hugged Hiroshi again.

"This is Hiroshi, my best friend who I was talking about earlier!" I explained, introducing him to the group. Gon made a surprised noise.

"The one that smells like spices!" Hiroshi gave me a weird look and I laughed.

"Yeah, the one that smells like spices." I let go of Hiroshi, jostling his katana at his waist, and pulled out a hard candy. "Eh, Leorio, you missed this, right? He's going to the Hunter Exam too, so he can come with us, ne?" The black haired man eyed his sharp-toothed grin suspiciously, holding his briefcase in his hand.

"And how do we know he's not going to sabotage us?" I gave an overdramatic sigh and rolled my eyes, placing the candy in my mouth.

"I'm rolling my eyes, Leorio, I'm rolling my eyes," I told him, remembering that I was wearing a hood and he was much taller. Gon giggled, watching us from behind.

"Come to think of it, how do we know that you're not going to sabotage us?" He questioned, leaning forward. Damn, he's paranoid. I thought I was bad. "You've always been wearing that hoodie, and we've never seen your face!"

"Actuallllllyyyyyy," I drawled, crunching on the candy I pulled out. "Pikachu here has seen my face, Gon probably has because he's shorter than me," I pointed at Kurapika who looked puzzled. "And I can show you my face if you want. It's not that big of a deal."

"Pikachu?"

"Besides, why would I want to sabotage you?" I pretended not to hear the blond's comment. "You haven't done anything to annoy me other than trying to murder people during a typhoon."

"I wasn't going to murder him!" Leorio shook his head exasperatedly. "At least you're weak enough that we could fight you off." Hiroshi chuckled at that.

"…" I sent him a glare, not wanting to start another fight. "I bet I could knock you over with my pinkie." Too late.

"Why you-!"

"I'm Hiroshi, one of Raze's best friends. Nice to meet you." Hiroshi completely cut off Leorio - which seemed to be becoming a trend recently- and bowed politely to the others.

"I'm Gon!" He bounced up to the teen happily. "I've heard about you!" Hiroshi raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. The blond boy looked at me curiously for a moment, before introducing himself.

"I'm Kurapika."

"The name's Leorio." The black haired man complied, jerking a thumb towards his face. "What did you mean by 'one' ?" He asked, slouching over to get a better look. "I can't imagine this squirt having more than one friend." My eye twitched.

"Watch it, old man."

"Ne, Hiroshi-san?" The violet haired boy glanced at the shortest of the group.

"Just call me Hiroshi, please," Gon grinned at his offer.

"Okay! Hiroshi, why do you have those lines on your neck?" He blinked, then chuckled at the question.

"I'm from a small clan in the Phoenix kingdom where we are blessed by the gods with the traits of non-human creatures." He explained clearly, pointing to his sharp, triangular teeth and more animalistic looking eyes. "I'm more like a shark, while others in my clan have traits from cats, plants, foxes, fish, crocodiles, etc." Gon looked at him in awe. "I'm a disciple of the god Pistris."

"In other words, he was gills," I translated amusedly.

"That's so cool!"

"Intriguing." Kurapika murmured. "What is the name of your clan?"

"Nakamura," He answered slowly. "The Nakamura clan of the east." The blond hummed curiously before Hiroshi continued, not waiting for another question. "We should probably head over to the bus, if that's the way you've planned on going, Raze."

"Bus?"

XXX

"Huh… That's strange." Leorio commented absently to himself while looking at the map in front of the nice looking cafe. Gon faced him with a frown.

"Why?"

"Well, according to the notice I received," He bent down a little to show us his note, "The Exam is supposedly being held in Zaban City." I glanced at Hiroshi who nodded in agreement, fiddling with the ornament in his purple hair. "Right now, we're here." Leorio pointed to the white box labeled "Dolle" and moved his finger upwards to the tree, then to the right. "That tree is in the opposite direction."

"It's closer to perpendicular, really…" I muttered under my breath. I had some pressing questions for Hiroshi that I wanted to ask but I couldn't with those three around.

"Perhaps you misheard him?" Kurapika mused, looking at Gon. I placed a hand on my chin.

"I doubt it. Gon is pretty much a super-human," I interjected, getting a strange look from Kurapika.

"He looks human to me."

"No, he told me to head toward that cedar tree," Gon continued, as if our side conversation had never existed.

"I see…"

"And this notice isn't any help!" Leorio growled, crumpling it in his fist. "Where, exactly, in Zaban city are we meant to go?"

"It won't be any help at all if you crumple it up like that." I got a cold glare from the older male and I raised my hands up in front of me. "Chill out, it was only a suggestion."

"Our task is to find the exam site using a limited amount of information," Kurapika informed us, arms crossed. "Just another test before we'll be allowed to enter the Hunter Exam."

"If you can't even do that, you're obviously not even worthy of becoming a Hunter," Hiroshi added coolly, now bored with the conversation.

"I-I knew that…" Leorio stammered embarrassedly, putting up a show of feigned annoyance.

"Anyways, I'll go have a look." Gon decided, brown eyes shining with determination, starting to walk off, with me on his heels. "The captain must've had a reason to suggest that." Hiroshi followed behind me without a word, obviously glad to get out of the city. I found it fascinating and Hiroshi had to drag me away from several stores.

"Hey, hey, you're serious?" The suit wearing male groaned in exasperation, pointing behind him. "The bus to Zaban is about to leave," Idiot. As if it'd be that easy. If you could get there without that much hassle it wouldn't be an Exam! "We should just take it!" Gon just waved at them without looking back, making me chuckle. I turned partially and waved to Kurapika who I'd grown to like. I made a "come here" gesture with my hand and he raised an eyebrow. "Oi!" I turned back around, figuring that he wouldn't want to be alone with Leorio the entire trip. "He's got to learn that you can't trust everyone," I heard Leorio grumble. Unfortunately, that was as far as my hearing went in that busy place, considering that we were now almost completely down the street.

We walked along for awhile longer and Gon kept pestering Hiroshi to let him touch his gills when Kurapika showed up- and Hiroshi relented, much to my amusement.

"Oh, Kurapika. I figured you'd join us soon." I sort-of greeted, watching Gon touch the slits in Hiroshi's skin in awe out of the cover of my eye. "What took you so long?"

"I felt there was no need to catch up right away as we were going in the same direction anyway."

"I see." We walked in a comfortable silence for awhile, with the exception of Gon continuously asking Hiroshi random questions about back home.

"So, if you and Raze are best friends, is he a… Nakamuru thing too?"

"Nakamura." Hiroshi corrected gently. "And no, Raze is not. However, she did live nearby, and she stayed with my clan for the past few years, resulting in her heightened senses."

"Heeeh?" Gon made a noise of interest. "Where did you live?"

"The Shini Forest."

"Where's that?"

"In the kingdom of Phoenix."

"What's the kingdom of Phoenix?" Hiroshi let out an exasperated sigh, running a hand through his hair while Kurapika and I laughed.

"Dear lord, it's like seven-year-old Raze all over again."

"Wait- did you say she?" Kurapika interjected, slowly realizing what Hiroshi said, staring at my face. He scrutinized my features carefully.

"Yep," I said, adjusting the straps on my bag so that they were evenly weighted. "One hundred percent female."

"And you didn't correct us?"

"Y'know, male, female, neither, both, whatever," I waved my hand lazily. "Doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things."

XXX

About half an hour later, Leorio caught up to us, spewing nonsense about how we would be lonely without us. We continued to walk up a steep hill, with me giving Gon a piggyback ride at one point.

"SO, I decided to stick with you guys a while longer!" Leorio erupted into nervous laughter, prompting me to turn with a blank face.

"Eh? Were you saying something, Leo?" His eyebrow twitched in anger as the others tried not to get themselves involved in the argument.

"You little-" He paused after a moment, letting what I said process. "Did you just call me Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh." He was quiet for a moment. "Why are you calling me an Leo?"

"Because…" I trailed off, noticing something behind Leorio. I already knew someone was following us, but he's really awful at this whole stalking thing. Maybe he's new, because I'm at least 3% certain that your targets aren't supposed to know you're there. Or be able to see you. I stared directly at him, over Leorio's shoulder.

"Oi, brat." He walked closer but I didn't acknowledge him. "Brat." He poked my forehead, and his face of irritation became one of slight concern. "You okay there?" I looked down and didn't say anything. "Oi, what's wrong?" The others paused, and I could hear Hiroshi take a few steps back. I looked up at him blankly.

"Your glasses are really tiny."

"You-!"

"Let's go!" I cheered, jogging ahead to the front group to avoid Leorio's wrath, leaving Hiroshi and Gon to calm him down. Actually, scratch that, just Gon. Hiroshi really wouldn't care enough to try.

Kurapika shifted his bag to his other shoulder with a sigh, catching my attention.

"Getting tired?" I tugged my hood lower on my head, still ignoring Leorio who was shouting behind us. The silver-eyed boy shook his head, the sunlight shining off of his hair.

"I'm fine."

XXX

The wind whistled gently as we walked into the rundown looking town. There was clothing hanging across the dirt roads, and I could hear some shuffling around in the houses. It was a pretty place but I didn't have the time to admire the brickwork.

Suspicious… I thought to myself, slipping a hand into my pockets where my knives were hidden. I'd better keep an eye out. I'd rather not have my new friends skewered. I smiled dryly, using my other hand to tug my hood lower again. It shifted a lot and it was getting pretty annoying. Note to self, buy new hoodie soon or steal one of Hiroshi's.

A screeching crow made Leorio jump.

"What a creepy place…" He shuddered, holding his briefcase close as he walked behind us, next to Hiroshi. He preferred to stay behind so that he could deal with any sneak attacks, while I preferred to take them head on or be able to move forward. I was a stealth and speed type person, although my pain tolerance was above normal human level. My strength was absolute crap by my village's standards.

Then again, I mused, glancing at the crow who was probably signaling someone, seeing as it was the only bird and I could hear a lot more movement now, I have nothing to base off of normal humans. For all I know, I could be one of the weakest people in the world.

"I don't see a single person." I snickered.

"Yes, you can't see a single person." I said, putting emphasis on the 'see'. He gave me a confused face.

"But there are plenty here." Gon informed him, looking around as well. Kurapika spared an interested glance at me, before looking at the wooden doors that were on either side of the path.

"W-What?" Leorio stammered just as the doors opened, revealing people in loose robes with wild hair colours pulling a wooden stage across the path. They all wore white masks as well, and the only one who looked relatively normal was the old woman sitting on the centre of the stage. "W-What's with this freak show?" They all had something in their hands, be it the crow which fluttered down - I was right! - or an instrument of some kind.

"Doki-Doki…" The woman on the stage murmured quietly, lacing her fingers and laying her head on them.

"D-Doki Doki?" Leorio parroted. He stutters a lot, I noted inwardly.

"Doki doki."

"Doki doki…" Leorio swallowed the lump in his throat nervously as Hiroshi walked up beside me and rolled his eyes. The woman suddenly opened her eyes ridiculously wide and slammed her hands on the stage.

"EXCITING TWO CHOICE QUIZ!" The group of people behind her started to play their instruments at random, the crow joining in as well. Oh god, the inner musician in me is cringing. The boys behind me all went blank, their faces stuck in completely baffled expressions. "You… boys… are headed for that tree on the hill, correct?" She eyed me on the word 'boys', making me edgy. "To reach that tree, you must pass through this town."

"Eh?"

"I shall administer a single question quiz."

"H-Hold on!" Leorio interrupted. "What's going on here?"

"You'll have five seconds to state your answer." The lady continued calmly. "If you give the wrong answer, you'll be disqualified." She looked up at us, staring each one of us in the eye. "You'll have to give up on taking this year's Hunter Exam," Kurapika smiled at the challenge.

"I see. Then this is part of the Hunter Exam."

"Noooo, it's just a random lady in a town forcing people to stay in their houses during the Exam period and making people quit if they fail her quiz, Kurapika." I broke in sarcastically.

"Was that really necessary?" Kurapika sighed, and I slipped over to his side, giving him a sweet smile.

"A sarcastic response is always necessary, my dear Pika!"

"Haven't you only known him for around a week?" Leorio wondered. "You're pretty familiar for only knowing him for such a short amount of time."

"Two days, actually. But it was meant to be!" Kurapika sweat dropped.

"What was? Meeting me?" I shook my head and posed dramatically, a mischievous grin on my face.

"You are destined to become my wi-phm!" My mouth was covered mid-sentence by my golden eyed best friend. I frowned and tried to pull his hand off but to no avail. He was several inches taller than me, and quite a bit stronger than me. I flailed around wildly, being careful not to hit the delicate Kurapika -he'd probably hit me if he heard me say that- or my hood, but in the end decided on licking his hand to get him to let go. He made a face and wiped off the spit on his pants.

"Really?"

"You put a hand in front of my face and I'll either lick to or bite it. You've been my best friend since we were born, you should know this by now."

"Ahem." The old woman cleared her throat loudly, trying to get our attention.

"Oh, sorry."

"As I said, I'll be asking a single question quiz," Leorio smirked and picked up his briefcase.

"I see how it is… I'll have you know that I'm a quiz master!"

"I doubt it." Hiroshi scoffed under his breath. He may seem polite and quiet, but he was rude to pretty much everyone except me.

"Wait, only one question?" Leorio exclaimed loudly, hurting my ears.

"Ow." The old woman held up her fingers.

"Your answer will either be one or two." She answered monotonously. "Any other answer will be considered incorrect." Leorio frowned.

"Hold on! all five of us share one question?" He asked rudely, pointing a finger at our faces. "So if one of them answers incorrectly, I'm disqualified too?" Kurapika crossed his arms with a huff.

"As if that would happen. What scares me is the high likelihood of the opposite happening." Kurapika held his hands upwards in a sarcastic shrug and shook his head wearily, a smirk creeping over his face. My lips twitched upwards as I tried to hold in a laugh.

"What was that?!" Leorio's face twisted in rage as he clenched both fists, the final breaking point for me as the laughter bubbled out, startling the group.

"K-Kurapika… H-He!" I couldn't make out the rest of my sentence for a minute as I snorted. "He l-looked like a disappointed m-mother!" The satisfied look on the blond's face only made it harder for me to stop laughing.

"Oi, it wasn't that funny." An vein pulsed on Leorio's forehead. I waved him off, the aftershocks of giggles still coming. Gon giggled at me too before joining the conversation.

"But you know, this way's easier since only one of us needs to know the answer." He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not good at quizzes."

"I suppose."

"Fair point."

"Oi, hurry it up there, hurry it up." A new voice called. "Or else I'll answer the question first."

"Stalker dude!" I called cheerfully, giving him a wave, much to his puzzlement. He seemed to think that I might've been angry.

"Who're you?"

"He followed us here all the way from the port," Gon, Hiroshi and I informed the older male in synch.

"Huh? Seriously?" Of all things that he doesn't get mad about…

"Sorry, kid. I happened to overhear your conversation." The old lady looked up at us.

"So, what are you going to do?" Kurapika looked back and forth between the speakers, but allowed me to pull him back to the side of the road.

"Well, he seems eager to take it. We should let him go first." Leorio announced. "That way we'll know what kind of question to expect."

"Not necessarily. She could have a whole bunch of random questions that differ from each other." Hiroshi reasoned.

"I don't mind." Gon tugged on the fifteen-year old's loose toga-like shirt. I looked at Kurapika who smiled at me in return.

"I have no objections." We moved again behind the stalker dude, who moved forward to stand at the podium thing that one of the old lady's minions pulled out.

"Then I'll get to it." He smirked at us as we walked past. He's probably gonna set traps if he gets through.

"Here is your question." The crow cawed loudly as if to punctuate her pause. "Evil villains have captured your mother and lover. You can only save one." She raised a finger as the others in my group gasped. "Select one for your mother, or two for your lover." Her eyes opened in slits. "Which do you save?"

"How is this even a quiz?" Leorio growled. I clenched my fists as I felt my mood and my expression souring.

Ding!

"The answer is one." He declared confidently. The old woman looked at him expressionlessly.

"Oh? Why do you say that?" She pressed boredly.

"Because you can't replace your mother. You can always get another lover." Sick reasoning… The old woman pointed behind her with her thumb.

"You may pass." Leorio was just as about as impressed at I was, judging by the growl he gave to her.

"What?!" I kept my gaze steadily at the ground, not looking at the others.

"You just gotta tell the old lady what she wants to hear." The stalker whispered snarkily as he passed me, the words echoing clearly inside my brain. How frighteningly similar are those words…?

"Hey now, that's all bull!" Leorio shouted angrily, slashing his arm through the air. "How was that the right answer?!"

"Anything can be the right answer if you have proof to back it up," I mumbled bitterly, only Kurapika close enough to catch it.

"Raze?"

"We're supposed to give the old lady the answer she wants to hear?!" Gon crossed his arms and thought, looking at the ground while he thought. "And that's considered correct?! Hey, say something!" I stayed silent, Kurapika looking at me in concern, but I could still tell that the wheels in his brain were turning. "I won't put up with this sham. I'll find a different route." Leorio turned around and made to leave.

"It's too late. Refuse to take the quiz and you are disqualified."

"That's ridiculous! Different people would expect different answers!" His words made something click in my brain. Different answers… Of course, people from different walks of life might not take lovers, or may not have mothers, or may have both but only love one of them… Wait, that means-! "There is no right answer!" Leorio shouted again, saying my thought out loud. I lifted my head sharply, and hear Kurapika gasp. He has it too!

"No right answer…" His eyes were as wide as mine when he looked at me. "I see!" I turned to the angered black haired male.

"Leorio!"

"That's enough!" The old lady interrupted, holding her hand out to stop us. Her gaze was powerful, and it seemed as if she could see right through me, but I held it. "Not another word from you two. Say anything but the answer, and you're immediately disqualified." Leorio grit his teeth and looked the other way childishly. I shared a look with Hiroshi. I knew that he wouldn't say anything if I didn't. I wasn't worried about Gon either, he looked like he was too deep in thought to be concerned about what was going on. It was only Leorio who I was worried about. As long as he stays quiet for five seconds, we're good. I caught Kurapika looking at me with uncertainty. I gave him a cheesy grin and a thumbs up, to his relief. He gave me another small smile and squeezed my shoulder gently.

"Here is your question…" She started seriously. "Your son and daughter have been kidnapped. You can only rescue one. Select one for your son, two for your daughter." Man, she only speaks in broken sentences. "Which will you choose?" Leorio stalked off and grabbed a wooden stick from the side of the path.

"Five." I pushed up my glasses, which had fallen down my nose in the kerfuffle earlier. Heh, kerfuffle. That's a funny word. "Four." Already bored with waiting - patience really wasn't my strong suit at any point in my life - I poked Kurapika, getting a raised eyebrow in return. "Three." Leorio swung his stick downwards in a practice strike. "Two." He better not be planning on attacking the poor old lady. "One." I stepped out of the way for Kurapika. "Buuup! Time's up."

Leorio lunged at the woman by jumping into the air, doing some kind of war cry. Just as I anticipated, Kurapika moved quickly, drawing out his weapons and blocking his attack and shattering the stick. The old woman sat calmly through the commotion.

"Don't stop me, Kurapika!" He pushed down on the smaller boy. "I won't be satisfied until I've taught that old hag a lesson!" I strode over to the two.

"By what, beating up an old lady? What will that accomplish, Leorio?"

"Shut up, Raze!" Kurapika shoved Leorio back, almost hitting me.

"Calm down, Leorio!"

"How am I supposed to calm down?!" He spat in Kurapika's face, making him snap.

"You'll waste our correct response!"

"Eh?" At this point I kicked him in the crotch, effectively 'calming him down' and making him slowly fall to the floor in pain with a pathetic whimper as Kurapika and Hiroshi winced and stared at me in horror.

"Raze, how many times do I have to tell you? Don't kick people there!" Hiroshi scolded. I shrugged.

"It got him to calm down," I protested, not really regretting preventing Leorio from committing (another attempted) murder. Said man let out a pitiful groan.

"C-Correct response?" Kurapika sighed tiredly as if he was amazed at his ignorance.

"We gave the right answer. Silence was the correct response." The black haired man slowly recovered from his pain and stood up shakily, taking the offered hand of Hiroshi.

"Silence? What do you mean?"

"You hit the nail on the head, there was no right answer." Kurapika crossed his arms. "However, we could only state one or two as an answer. In other words, we weren't meant to respond at all." He placed a finger on his lips gently. "Silence was the only response."

"But what about that other guy?"

"She never said it was the right answer," I chirped, intruding into their conversation. Kurapika gave me a nod of approval.

"That's right. She only said 'you may pass,'. In other words, this path is the wrong path. Am I right?" The last bit was directed at the old lady behind us. She gave us a lopsided smile and stood up.

"Precisely." She walked over to the door they had come out of with the stage, knocking on it twice. "The correct path is over here." She had two of her minions open the door. "This path leads to the tree. Take it and it will lead you to the top in two hours." Leorio looked dumbfounded.

"Oh, so that was what this was all about…"

"A couple lives in the cabin beneath that tree. They serve as navigators." Oh, that'll make the trip a lot easier. Judging by their names, they'd probably lead us to the site, or at least part way. "If you meet their standards, I believe they will guide you to the exam site." Wow, I'm spot on today!

"Baa-chan, I apologize for my rudeness." Leorio bowed deeply to her, but she waved him off.

"Don't be, I don't mind. I do this job because I enjoy meeting people like you." She turned and smiled kindly at him. "Do your best to become a fine Hunter." I turned to the oldest in our group with raised eyebrows.

"Ne, Leorio."

"Hmm?"

"Did it ever occur to you that she only had a set list of questions she was allowed to ask?" He blushed embarrassedly. "Ah. You didn't." Hiroshi even mentioned that before, I guess it didn't sink in.

"Shut up." The old lady laughed at our bickering just as Gon let out a weird noise that sounded like a mixture of a groan or a moan and flopped onto the ground.

"It's no use. I can't think of an answer." The four of us looked at each other for a moment before chuckling.

"You were still trying to find an answer? You can stop."

"Eh? Why?" Kurapika shook his head.

"The quiz is over." Gon sat up in a crossed leg position.

"I know. But… But you know… What if I run into a situation like that and I can only save one person? What should I do then?" His question seemed to surprise the others. "It wouldn't be right to choose just one… But one day I might have to make that choice." I smiled gently and knelt down next to him.

"Gon," I called, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I think that in the future, you'll have lots of friends you'll be able to call if you need them. I'm sure that we'll all be there for you too." He grinned at me happily. "I know I wouldn't worry about my kids or lover at all, since if I ever had kids, I would teach them how to kick but and be awesome like me and I would make sure my lover could too!" I paused for a moment, thinking something over. "Hang on a sec," I pulled my bag off of my shoulder and rummaged through it, being careful not to bump any of the glass vials within the pouch. "Nope, not that… No, no, no… Ah, here it is!" I pulled out a smooth round looking white rock and handed it to the doe-eyed boy.

"What's this?" I grinned proudly at him.

"This, my dear Gon, is a special whistle that you can use to call me or Hiroshi!" I declared. He 'ohhh'ed and looked at it.

"I don't see any holes on it."

"Here," I flipped it over from where he was looking on the side. "I painted it white so that it's hard to find if you're a regular person. I'm sure you'll be able to find it easily now. It even has a string so that you can put it around your neck!" I stood up and backed away from him. "Try it out, see what happens." He rubbed the hole with his finger for a second, then blew into it, resulting in a loud keening noise for me and Hiroshi, but what sounded like air to Kurapika and Leorio.

"Cool!" Gon exclaimed excitedly, having the same heightened senses that we did. Well, my eyesight was crap and so was Hiroshi's sense of taste and touch. We balanced each other out.

"Um, hate to burst your bubble but no sound came out," Leorio but in looking mildly concerned for Gon. I shook my head.

"Tut, tut, tut! We can hear noises at a high frequency than you guys, which reminds me…" I dug through my bag some more, trying to find the others. "There they are. Here, you guys take one too! If you ever need help - or you just wanna find me - blow into it!" I showed them where the hole was. "Just remember that the hole is facing towards you when it's on your neck."

"Thanks," Kurapika nodded appreciatively and carefully placed it in his bag. Leorio snorted.

"Like I'll need your help." I stuck my tongue out at him and swung my backpack back on my shoulders. "Wait, what will you two do when you need help? I don't see a whistle on Hiroshi or you." Hiroshi let out a lazy grin.

"Ah, well, that's a story for another time." He slung his arm across my shoulder. "Let's just say that those types of calling methods are… Redundant… For us."

XXX

Soon after that, we said our goodbyes and headed off into the tunnel. It's pretty dark in here…

"Hey, Raze," My eyes flicked over to Kurapika who was watching me inquisitively.

"Hmm?"

"I don't mean to pry, but when you were speaking to Gon, you never said anything about your mother."

"…"

"May I ask why?" I stayed quiet, making sure the others were farther ahead as I slowed down. I knew Gon would hear, but having him further away seemed to reassure me. Kurapika seemed to take my silence as a no. "Ah, you don't have to if you don't want to, I mean, we've only known each other for two days."

"I… do love her," I murmured quietly. "It's just…"

"It's just?" Kurapika prompted gently, Hiroshi, who was standing beside me started to tense up and cast me an anxious glance. Don't worry, Hiroshi, I'm not going to give us away, I thought, giving him a reassuring smile before turning back to Kurapika.

"She…" I trailed off again, feeling my throat close up. "She's not exactly what you would call a good parent." Hiroshi growled lowly, pressing close to my side.

"That woman could never admit her wrongdoings," He hissed, scowling at the memory.

"Hiroshi," I took a deep breath to clear my head, trying very hard not to let my voice crack. "Not right now." He pursed his lips and quieted down, clearly not very happy. Hiroshi hated whenever I brought up my adoptive mother. "Sorry. My relationship with my mother is a bit… Complicated. It's not really very healthy for me to be around her right now so we're taking a bit of a break from each other." Hiroshi snorted. I could easily figure out what he was thinking: 'A break? Four and a half years is a little long for a break.'. Kurapika's eyes softened at my answer.

"My apologies for bringing it up," I shook my head, negating what he said.

"Don't be, it's not your fault. How were you supposed to know?" I grinned at him. "I have Hiroshi, my siblings, you, Gon, and Leorio, right?" I grinned at him. "So I'm fine, and if I'm not-"

"We'll help you."

"-That wasn't what I was gonna say, but that works too." I punched him in the arm playfully. "Now, enough of that depressing talk, we have to hours to kill! Tell me about that book you were reading before while we were walking."

XXX

[A/n]: Sorry for taking so long! I should be faster with the updates now since it's summer break! Thanks for reading and if you could drop in a review, it'd be greatly appreciated! Thank you to everyone for you patience!