A/n]: I'm back with a short and (most likely) boring chapter!

[Raze]: Have I ever told you I hate running?

[A/n]: Multiple times.

[Raze]: I HATE RUNNING. WHY DO I HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS STUPID THING?

[A/n]: If you hate it that much, just have Hiroshi carry you, I'm sure he could.

[Hiroshi]: Dunno, Raze is pretty heavy. Have you seen how much she eats?

[Raze]: Watch it!

Thanks to farronewp, MonstarCutie, S. , Zonta, Ophelia Elric, animesmile147, Scribleyellow, AkaNeko-chan, StormBringer278, and Kirino Tsuki for F/F!

Reviews~

Isella of the wolf tribe: In a good way, I hope! Thanks for reviewing!

Scribleyellow: Haha, thank you, I'm glad you approve! Thanks for reviewing!

Chapter Seven

I X Hate X Running- Part two.

XXX

All around us, people were falling down the stairs or just giving up, dropping on the stairs like flies. It didn't deter Gon and Killua, who were running up the stairs with me as if they weren't even there. I was getting worn out, while they didn't even break a sweat. What kind of crazy endurance did they have?

"I'm impressed that you two can keep up with me," Killua said, glancing over at us. "Well, you look kinda tired, but you're pretty good too," He muttered, referring to me. I grinned as Gon rubbed the back of his head with a pleased looking smile.

"Really?"

"Or maybe it's just that everyone else is too slow," Killua frowned, watching the people we passed by with a disapproving eye. "Man, the Hunter Exam is gonna be a breeze," He complained, head dropping to his chest. "That's no fun."

"Leorio would kill you if he heard you say that," I laughed lightly, catching Killua's blank face. "The old man." I clarified. He "oh"ed.

"Hey, why do you want to become a Hunter?" Gon asked, glancing over at Killua. He still had Leorio's briefcase on the back of his fishing rod.

"Me?" Killua raised his head and looked at the sweet boy. "I'm not really interested in becoming a Hunter," He replied coolly.

"Eh?"

"I heard that the Exam was going to be really hard, so I thought it'd be fun," He looked up at the examiner with a grin. "But this is disappointing." Yeah, maybe for you. Most people wouldn't even be able to make it this far, I thought. "What about you?" Killua turned the question back at the green clothed boy.

"Well, my dad's a Hunter," Gon said, all of us moving to the right to avoid a passed out candidate. "So I want to become a Hunter like my dad." Killua hummed in interest.

"What kind of a Hunter is he?"

"I don't know," Gon responded cheerily, not missing a beat. Killua glanced at him, then started laughing.

"That's kinda weird," He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Really?" I tousled Gon's hair, laughing too.

"That is pretty weird, Gon," I said, jumping over a candidate at my feet and stumbling a little as I landed. The stairs were oddly uneven — most likely from age.

"You want to be like your dad, but you don't know anything about him?" Killua repeated, grinning at him. Gon looked up at the top of the tunnel, a little more serious now.

"I was raised by Mito-san, so I've only seen my dad in pictures," He said, not looking at either of us.

"Who's Mito-san?" Killua and I chorused, making Gon giggle. I grinned at him, earning a huff from the white haired boy.

"Aunt Mito," That really doesn't explain anything, Gon.

"O-Oh…" Seemed like Killua agreed from the odd look on his face.

"When he was twelve, my dad took the Hunter Exam," Gon continued. "He passed and became a Hunter. Then he left the island. I want to find out why he chose to be a Hunter over being with me." He didn't seem at all bitter about his father not being there for him, which surprised me.

I knew that I was bitter about my parents abandoning me in a town somewhere. No note, nothing to identify me by except for a stupid song… I shook my head, getting rid of the acidic thought. It wasn't going to help me right now.

"Ne, what about you, Raze?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you wanna be a Hunter?" Gon asked, his warm brown eyes flickering over to meet mine. The image of a pink haired woman invaded my mind without warning, making my heart hammer in my chest. I took a deep breath and tried to shut it out.

"Well, since you answered so honestly, I suppose I can tell you," I said after a moment's debate. "I want to be able to stand on my own and get out of this stupid mess I've gotten myself into."

"Get out of what mess?" I noticed that Killua became unusually quiet all of a sudden. I bit my lip. I didn't really want to talk about my personal problems to people I'd just met, no matter how close I felt to them.

"…Let's just say I've made a horrible mess inside of my family dynamics and I want to make up for it somehow." I pressed my lips together, focusing on the stone stairs beneath me. "Sorry, I'd really rather not talk about it."

"Oh…"

"The exit!" A candidate shouted, pointing upwards. I looked up, and sure enough, a bright light was at the end of the tunnel, not only metaphorically. I grinned, happy to get out of the tunnel and to have an excuse not to talk about my family.

"Looks like story time will have to wait for later," Killua interjected, the three of us sharing a look before I sped up to a chorus of,

"Hey!"

"No fair!"

I may not have had the best amount of stamina but I could run like the wind. I sprinted as fast as I could, feeling the two of them right on my tail— figuratively, of course. I crossed the top of the stairs almost exactly at the same time as the two of them.

"Goal!" They laughed, trotting past me. I let out a groan and flopped onto the pavement, being careful not to land on my backpack. That would be a nasty mess. I needed to get back my stamina before the second phase or else I was going to be doomed no matter what we were supposed to do.

I took in a deep breath of the musty air and twitched. There was that smell again. The smell that made my mouth water and make me yearn to hunt — …Hunt. Oh, that's right, I needed to get rid of those guys, or at least a few of them, before we reached the second phase.

"Yay, I won!" Gon pumped his fist victoriously.

"What're you talking about?" Killua argued. "I was faster!"

"Nuh-uh," I raised a finger in the air. "I totally won."

"I was!"

"No, I was!"

"I was faster so you have to buy dinner!"

"Wait, there was a prize involved?" They ignored me.

"No way, I was faster!" We then all proceeded to bicker about who was right until Gon had an idea, bless his soul.

"Ne, Satoz-san, who was faster?" He asked, glancing over at the examiner, who's mouth I still couldn't find.

"I believe all crossed the finish line simultaneously," Satoz answered calmly, gesturing to me as he said his next line. "But he was slightly ahead of you by 0.234 millimetres." I stared at him.

"How did you even know that?" I wondered in awe. "I wish I could do that." I blinked. "Wait, does that mean I won? That doesn't really count if it's only by… Whatever fifth of a centimeter."

"Oh…" Gon looked disappointed and unsure for a moment before his face lit up. "Then I'll buy you dinner!"

"Eh?"

"And you can buy Raze dinner, and he'll buy me dinner!"

"Huh?"

"I don't get it," Killua muttered. I shook my head, not understanding what went on in that head of his.

"Me either," I agreed, staring over at him. I liked his eyes. Actually, I liked everyone's eyes, they were really pretty, especially Gon's. Said boy turned back to face the purple-suited examiner with a smile.

"Satoz-san, is this where the Second Phase of the Exam takes place?"

"No, we still have quite a way to go," He informed us. More running. Whoop di freaking do.

I sat up, now mostly recovered and took in our surroundings.

A thick fog covered most of what I could see, but I could almost make out a forest below us. The vegetation was thick and full, which would make it difficult to run in— I could also hear the death cries of many creatures. The place we came out of was a concrete garage-type building, and we were on top of a plain grassy hill.

Soon, other applicants arrived, being incredibly loud, as humans tended to be. One of their annoying traits along with having the urge to cover everything with plastic, tar, or concrete.

Leorio, Hiroshi and Kurapika showed up probably around twenty minutes after us, the former crawling on his knees and making strange noises again, and the other two just a little out of breath. Actually, Hiroshi was completely fine, which annoyed me to no end. Not really all that surprising.

"Hey, Kurapika!" Gon greeted as the silver-eyed boy walked onto the platform. I was sitting next to Killua, trying to touch his hair. He wasn't too pleased with that.

"Bugger off," Killua snapped, swatting my hand away. I stared at him, trying to make him uncomfortable. "What?"

"Is your hair natural? Or did you dye it?"

"Natural," Killua ran a hand through his hair, wincing as I made puppy-dog eyes. "Fine, you can touch it, just don't mess it up." I grinned triumphantly. He seemed to be making an exception for me since he could already tell I'd bug him until he let me.

His hair is really soft, I blinked in surprise and absentmindedly started managing his scalp. Oddly enough, Killua didn't seem to mind me doing that, leaning into my hand. It feels almost like cat fur. I bit back a laugh, imagining the boy as a cat. I could totally see it.

Gon stood up suddenly, standing on his tip toes.

"What's he doing?" Killua wondered and I shrugged in response. Who knew with Gon?

"The fog's fading," Hiroshi kind of answered, moving around Kurapika and kneeling down to our level. Killua eyed him warily and leaned back into me almost subconsciously. "So he's trying to get a look at where we're going."

"Who're you?" Killua asked, sounding a little rude. Hiroshi glanced at him, looking intrigued. Cats and fish… Oh dear.

"I'm Hiroshi, Raze's babysitter," He replied, deadpan.

"Hey!" The blue eyed boy jumped when I yelped, looking like he felt trapped between a rock and two sets of teeth. Well, Hiroshi had around three rows of teeth per jaw, but you know what I mean. "You're my best friend, not a babysitter!"

"I might as well be," Hiroshi muttered under his breath.

"Watch it, tuna fish," I said, making him roll his eyes.

"Oh no, what're you gonna do? Hug me?" Hiroshi teased. "You don't even like squashing mosquitos." I wrinkled my nose.

"Because I'll get blood all over my arm, it's yucky,"

"Shhh!" Kurapika hushed us, offering me a hand to get up. "The examiner is starting to speak." I took his hand and stood beside him, sticking out my tongue at Hiroshi and tugging Killua along with me.

"The Numere wetlands, otherwise known as Swindler's Swap," Satoz said, standing in front of the applicants. "We must cross these wetlands to reach Phase Two of the Exam." I looked up and saw a large flock of birds soar across the sky, over the forest, reminding me of a dream I once had. I wanted to fly so high that no one could ever find me — and then there was a talking hippopotamus who wanted to eat my shoes so I suppose it wasn't all that meaningful. "This place is home to many bizarre animals, many of them being cunning, insatiable creatures who deceive humans and prey upon them." So, essentially humans. Got it. "Be very careful," He warned. "If you let them fool you… You're dead."

As he spoke, the garage door at the entrance we came out of started to close on an applicant who wailed in despair, silencing the entire group of candidates.

"These wetland creatures will use every trick in the book to fool their prey," Satoz continued, unfazed. He even crossed his arms loosely, showing that he was completely relaxed. Was he that strong that he didn't even need to worry about the forest? "An ecosystem in which creatures obtain food through deceit, hence the name, Swindler's swamp." He turned his back to us quietly. "Stay very close to me so you won't be deceived." I shifted closer to Kurapika nervously. Leorio scoffed, sweat dripping down his face.

"Keh, what a joke," It might've been better if he had just stayed behind, looking at the state he was in. There was no way he was going to make it on his own. "How can they fool us when we're expecting it?"

"You'd be surprised," Hiroshi murmured quietly.

"Don't let him fool you!" A voice shouted to my right, getting all the candidates to turn and look.

"I just said that they can't," Leorio snapped, turning to look as well.

"D-Don't fall for it…" A severely beaten man walked out from behind the wall. "He's lying to you!" He pointed dramatically at Satoz, who didn't so much as blink at the accusation. "He's an impostor, I'm the real examiner!" He pointed at himself, drawing confusion among the candidates, only Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Hiroshi and I staying calm and observing. I suppose there could've been more, but I didn't see anything. It'd be better to listen to what he had to say rather than make a snap decision about the situation.

"An imposter?"

"Who is he?"

"I bet you he was gonna lead us to our deaths!" The supposed "real" examiner pulled out a dead-looking monkey thing that had the same face as Satoz.

"Look at this!"

"He looks just like Satoz-san!" Gon exclaimed, looking shocked. I had to agree with Gon on that point, the resemblance between the two was striking. Killua narrowed his eyes beside me, almost glaring at the "examiner".

"It's a man-faced ape, one of the creatures that dwell in the Numere Wetlands," He informed the group. Leorio made a face and glanced over at Kurapika who was standing beside me with a pokerface, watching everything that was going on with a calculative eye. "Man-faced apes love the taste of human flesh, however, their limbs are long and thin, so they're quite weak. That's why they disguise themselves as humans. They trick humans into following them into these wetlands, where they team up with other animals to kill and devour them!" He declared as he pointed dramatically (again) at Satoz. Weak? Uh… He just ran over 40K, buddy. "He intends to trap every single applicant!" The "real" examiner smirked, Satoz was still straight faced.

"Bastard…" Leorio smirked, glaring at Satoz.

"He certainly doesn't walk like a human," Another agreed.

"Morons," I said under my breath, catching the white haired boy's attention. "If he was an ape, he wouldn't have been able to walk/run all this way if his limbs were that weak." Killua snickered.

"Because they're morons, they'll believe anything." I heard the slight sound of cards being shuffled and the next thing I knew, cards were flying towards Satoz and the "examiner", the latter falling over dead after catching them with his vital organs. Satoz, on the other hand, caught them between his fingers, holding them up to show the crowd. I looked over to the source of the cards to see Hisoka shuffling his deck with a grin.

Trrrrrrip… Trrrrrrrrrrip…

I could feel my heart speed up and adrenaline pump through my veins, thinking again, for the third time, how insane I was for actually staying around that dude. I really hope I don't die from him.

"I see, I see…" He chuckled, tossing the cards between his hands. "That settles it." Hisoka glanced over at Satoz with a smirk. "You're the real one." The supposedly dead monkey blinked, looked at our group, and looked at his partner. Seeing he was dead, it jumped up in fear and started to run for the forest, thinking that it would get away. Hisoka threw a card from his hand towards the creature, killing it instantly. No mercy, huh. "Examiners are Hunters selected by the committee to perform this duty without pay. Any Hunter bearing the title we seek would have been able to block that attack." He said. Really? I thought they would be paid for something like this. By conducting the Hunter Exam, you get to make it easier or more difficult to get rid possible rivals or enemies. I suppose that in itself would be the payment.

"I shall take that as a compliment," Satoz said calmly. "However, should you attack me again- for any reason— I will report you for turning on an examiner and you will be disqualified. Are we clear?"

"Sure," Hisoka glanced over at me and winked while the others turned to watch the vultures that came to shred and eat the corpse left behind. Leorio looked a little put-off.

"Nature can be brutal to watch,"

"So he was a man-faced ape as well," Kurapika murmured, watching. I nodded as Satoz drew our attention once more towards him.

"He was attempting to confuse the applicants and to lure some of them away." Satoz started walking forwards.

"We can't relax our guard, can we?" Killua asked rhetorically, Gon agreeing with him.

"You will be encountering such deception on a regular basis," Satoz walked through the crowd and stopped in the front of the applicants, gazing over at the birds. "I believe that a number of you were fooled into suspecting my identity?" I glanced over at Leorio, who gave me a sheepish smile. "Do you understand? If you lose sight of me in the Numere Wetlands fog, you will never reach the exam's Second phase." Oh, scary. "Do bear that in mind. Then, let us be on our way. Please follow me."

Well, there was no way in the seven layers of hell that I was going to fail. If I had to wait another year to take the test, I was screwed. The Hunter licence was my only way out, and there was no chance that I was going to lose it, even if it meant thwarting other people.

XXX

"Another marathon," Leorio growled, looking a little better than before.

"And we're running through marsh this time," Kurapika added. "Running on wet ground requires more energy." I shot a look over to Hiroshi. This was the time we were most likely to be separated, whether it was by accident or on purpose. He grimaced but nodded.

XXX

[A/n]: Thanks for reading! Sorry for such a boring chapter but the next one should be more entertaining and up relatively quicker. Good luck to everyone going back to school tomorrow!