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CHAPTER 3: Formation
PRESIDENT'S OFFICE
Marble floors. Intricately designed floor boards. Chandeliers and dozens of candelabra.
Gon gulped overwhelmed by the air of complexity, Killua cringed at the pompousness of everything, while Satotsu remained stoic. They were then walking along fourth floor of the main building. The two children had never even been into the main building, let alone the VIP floor. It was just as convoluted as their building, but it was much, much, more spacious... and, for some unknown reason, intimidating.
That walk really did seem longer than it was supposed too. Plus, Gon was still a tad nervous as to why they were called in. She didn't want to disappoint Mito-san's will so early in the school year!
"We're here." Satotsu stated, bringing her out of her daze. She blinked and looked up at the large double-door and Satotsu made a polite knock before opening it.
"President. (pause) Pakunoda-san." He said, after the creak and without looking inside, in acknowledgement before letting the two of them in. Satotsu soon excused himself, before saying his polite goodbyes to everyone. Gon was the only one who waved back, though.
Gon then turned to the people inside the room after her own goodbye to her homeroom teacher. She looked around in curiosity, there were two blonde girls in the room. One—a very pretty one— was sitting on one of the four chairs directly in front of the large flat desk. The other, a grown woman wearing very revealing clothes, stood beside the winged chair that partnered the table. The chair's headrest reached up to her shoulder level.
"Hello, Ms. Freecs." The older blonde smiled congenienially and turned to Killua, expression on her eyes slightly turning sly. "Mr. Zoldyck."
Gon flinched. 'Zoldyck?' She tilted her head and turned to Killua as Pakunoda was looking at him. Her eyes widened the moment she did so. Killua's eyes were wide- he looked terrified.
And… mad?
"K-Killua?" She uttered, wanting to touch him somehow but decided against it as he forced himself to calm down, himself.
"W-What is it?" he faked a normal question, but he was still shaking. Before she could open her mouth, though, they were interrupted by Pakunoda asking them to sit down. "Killua Zoldyck." The woman called, rather firmly, making Gon suddenly whip her head back to wherever she thought Killua stood. 'Didn't Killua say he didn't have a last name? Did they get his name wrong?' she mused in puzzlement as she did so.
But he was no longer there.
"Killua?" She voiced out (again) when she realized that Killua was already on his way out of the room. But then she flinched again, and so did Killua—for the woman appeared by the door in a blink of an eye. Literally.
"Sit down on that chair over there, we won't hurt you." She smiled as if Killua wasn't glaring, before looking past him and turning to her direction. "You, too, Ms. Freecs."
"D-Demo…" Gon uttered in reluctance and looked at Killua.
Killua quickly noticed her discomfort because of him and decided to toughen it out. He let out a deep breath to calm himself and walked towards Gon to join her on the chairs.
"Are you sure?" She asked when she saw him do so and he found a small smile found its way on his face.
"Of course." He said, and so they sat.
Tap
Tap
.
Tap
They passively listened to the sound of her heels as she came closer at a normal pace, and stopped when she got back to her earlier spot.
"First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Pakunoda Ryuseigai, and I am the School President's representative. He specifically wanted to call in you three for this."
"Eh?" That was Gon, the other two were as quiet as the chairs. "Why us?"
"You three have very… special backgrounds of interest to the President." Gon flinched when she saw Killua freeze. She didn't get why he was so agitated, but she didn't feel any hostility from anyone in the room. She wanted him to calm, so she placed her hand over his.
"Wha-"
"Calm down." She whispered, and hearing this Pakunoda nodded.
"That's right. I'll repeat, we won't hurt you nor are we under anyone else's orders." She paused and looked at Killua. "This is strictly for the school's advantage."
"What do you want us to do, Ryuseigai-san." This time, it was the younger blonde. She had a reserved business-like aura about her and... Gon couldn't take her eyes off.
"We'd like you to form a club of three for now. Additional members will be added accordingly."
Gon looked at the ceiling, as if to ponder. "Just us?" Pakunoda shook his head.
"You're adviser... is unavailable at the moment. She will return in a week time, from then activities will start."
Silence
"Aren't clubs supposed to be at least 5 people?" Once again, it was the blonde. It was just now that they realized her uniform's slightly different, particularly with the minor colors. Pakunoda's calm smile did not falter.
"That's for normal, inconspicuous clubs, Kurapika-san. And funded by the school council." She paused and looked at the three of them alternatively as if to emphasize something. "This club… will be funded directly by the School President's office."
She felt Killua flinch and it didn't take long for him to ask a question. "What… kind of activities?"
"Jobs, to be precise. Albeit not usually jobs the high-profile people from here would usually avail. So assassination's out of the question."
Gon felt Killua stiffen again. His skin suddenly cold, and she automatically held him tighter. But somehow, he couldn't look at her anymore. Gon frowned, not quite knowing what was wrong.
But, shivering or not, he was heavily guarded and did not stop asking questions. "What is in it for us?" He whispered. And at the moment, Gon could only wait for things to unfold.
"First I would like to tell you what kind of jobs, no?" Pakunoda smiled coolly, seemingly unaware of the tension. "We'd be asking you to help and protect your fellow students."
"Isn't the security and personnel enough here already?"
"There are things normal people can't do."
"…but we can?"
"Yes," came an immediate answer. "...and in time you'd be able to do much, much, more."
"Where this is going is sounding a bit disconcerting, Pakunoda-san." Kurapika intervened, similarly guarded as Killua albeit much calmer. The younger blonde stared at the older blonde for a long moment of silence. But in the end, Pakunoda didn't seem to be offended at all. What Kurapika said was treated like a neutral statement.
"Are you familiar with the term 'Hunters'?" Pakunoda asked almost rhetorically, until she turned to Gon. "What do you think, Ms. Freecs? Are you familiar with the term?"
"Err… those who… hunt?"
"That was a relatively obsolete definition, Ms. Freecs."
"..."
"Hunters are a new occupation to be established by the government." She stated and Gon could only nod. The other two stared, keeping note of every single word that came from the woman's mouth. Pakunoda sensed this, of course, but continued as if she didn't.
"We all know our histories, yes? It's a new job that focuses on retrieval of what we've lost. Many people did this in the past, but it wasn't very formal, and the people were not particularly trained.
"Hunters now… will have various types of jobs—from helping the Police catch criminals, to finding other things that humanity had before the Great Fire.
"It's a difficult and will be a high-profile job. It won't be easy to just introduce it to the world so suddenly." She said, and after sighing softly looked at the three kids and gauged their reactions.
Gon was still loading, there was no surprise there. The girl's brain, she knew, did not have an aptitude in understanding abstract concepts. Killua was still thinking, too, but probably because he was overthinking things. Only Kurapika reacted basically as soon as Pakunoda finished her speech.
"So we're like a test subjects." She said, and of course, Pakunoda knew when not to lie.
"That's right. Hunters are supposed to be well qualified and well-trained." She paused, and looked at the three kids expressionlessly. "And with your adviser as your trainer… You three shall comprise the first batch."
/An hour Later/
Kurapika walked in silence back to her room so to get her items. She calculated she'd reach the room just before dismissal. She'd get her lunch, and she'd head off to meet with the freshmen. She sighed.
Somehow... she got invited for a 'get-together' talk as club activities would start the following week. They probably wouldn't be able to do anything, since the adviser was out of town, so technically it would just be a social gathering. And yet... she couldn't refuse the over-enthusiastic Antigone's offer to 'bond'.
Besides, she reasoned, other than the fact that those two kids were kind of... interesting, she also needed to know them as much as she could so in case any problem roused she'd have enough data and the kids' trust. Suspicious or not, she needed to know everything about this club.
Something just didn't sit well with her. And her little chat with Pakunoda after the meeting did not help calm it down.
Slam!
Kurapika stared at the door that the two kids' just used. She decided to stay behind to clear things up. She caught Pakunoda staring at her curiously, and she willed herself not to flinch.
"Really, why are the three of us chosen?"
Pakunoda remained silent as if she was pondering, and after a while her stance softened and she partly leaned her weight to the table. "You three... all have impressive physical abilities.."
"There are students here that are also qualified, then." Pakunda said nonchalantly but Kurapika remained guarded. At that time, this woman was still not any less suspicious.
"Since you know all about our backgrounds, you should be aware too of my financial status. I cannot enter any sort of club. I have a part-time job. The allowance the school gives me is not enough for the books that I need."
"Ah. We'll give you double of your allowance." the older blonde said almost immediately and Kurapika could only gape at her. "I know it's not as near as the pay you get from your job, but it should suffice. The knowledge and experience you will get from this job is incomparable, as you may already know. And..."
Pakunoda's hands moved and her eyes followed it by instinct. The older woman held her shoulder, and Kurapika shivered as if something was just taken out of her. She whipped her head towards the woman, but the woman looked shocked..., in her standards anyway. But she quickly gained her composure, so quickly that if Kurapika wasn't as observant as she was, she might have missed the abrupt loss of cool.
Kurapika opened her mouth to speak, and Pakunoda let go and went back to her usual cool position. "As I mentioned, we know students here thoroughly, we want what is best for them."
Kurapika stared.
"This project of ours...have you ever considered...,
That it could be a better path towards your… goal?"
Her eyes widened every time she remembered, and her steps halted without her noticing.
Her goals… they was too private for anyone to know. She didn't even have a diary, and even if she did she would not have written her secrets inside it. She thought her secrets would remain with her to her grave.
She clenched her fist.
That woman- - Pakunoda… was definitely someone to watch out for.
"Oi. Kurapika."
She blinked and turned to where the voice emanated. It was Neon, and he wasn't supposed to be here yet.
"Is class over already?"
"I skipped the subject. Baldy blabbers too much."
"But Hanzo-sensei…actually knows what he teaches" The self-proclaimed ninja teaches Home Economics though, the section with stitches and stuff. He was almost assigned to the culinary section, but Menchi made sure he died if he did stay there.
"Whatever." He shrugged and then directly stared at her. "Where have you been?"
"President's office."
"Why?" he asked and she paused. Should she tell him she'd be quitting her job tutoring him? She wondered if it would be easy to quit this job… or rather, utter it to him.
She stared, and he did too. "His representative just wanted to congratulate me on my continued scholarship program."
Ah, she lied.
"Anyway, be early later." He said straight-to-the point which meant he was implying that he didn't care about her issues (he probably forgot that he was the one who asked).
"Pardon?"
"I want to study some advanced subjects." He said coolly. "Be there a few hours earlier, okay?"
Should she tell him?
"Okay." She said, and he walked past her.
"Where are you going?"
"Around." He did cut a period, there was no reason to stay now... was there?
Neon, sensing her stare, looked away. "Ja." He said dismissively, and walked away without giving her a chance to reply. Soon his guards (after politely nodding at her in acknowledgement and whispering something about Neon being a tsundere as usual) followed after him.
She watched their backs as they slowly disappeared from her view. Kurapika smiled.
She would miss them.
Meanwhile, Gon and Killua just arrived at the spot Kurapika told them about. She said they would have the place for themselves, and it was true. It was a patch of greenery barely seen from the main building—even if it was right behind it, and there was also the fact that the bushes ensured no direct path was there. And since everyone there was 'classy' no one bothered raising their feet and tried to hop over the lovely flowered bushes.
And so, there they were, sitting on the grass- staring at each other's lunches.
"What are those?" Gon asked, eyes full of confusion, and Killua stared at her in puzzlement.
"Uh...Chocolates?"
She shook her head. "I mean… where's your lunch?"
Killua held out his chocolates again, as if Gon didn't see earlier.
"Here." He said nonchalantly, not knowing a second later... his ears would ring.
"EHHH?!"
"W-What?"
"But that's not healthy Killua-kun!"
Killua sighed and massaged his ear. "Mah, it's fine."
"No, it's not." she spat, and a second later she was filling her bento's lid with rice and viand. She handed him the lunch box.
"Here. Let's share."
"…s-share?"
"Share means we both-"
"I know what that means." He cleared his throat, hoping his incoherence would stop. "But is it alright?"
"Of course it is!" She smiled. "Why not?"
He raised his sweet to prove his point."I want to eat this for lunch, that's why."
"Demo…"
"Because what's mine is mine, and what's yours is yours." He said looking away and opened his chocolate. To his surprise, Gon took his hand and she took a bite.
"Wha-" he exclaimed, and quickly pushed his blush down. He could only watch her munch his precious chocolate. Just once though. Apparently, she needed to speak.
"I chooka bite out of your choco-ate, so you should chake a bite on my food choo. Afder Kurapeeka warrives jough." She said as the chocolate was on her mouth. She continued munching, until finally it's scrumptious volume melted in her mouth. Her eyes twinkled.
"It's good!"
Killua let out an imperceptible blush at her sudden beaming. It was odd, he usually would wrestle whoever ate his chocolates to death—even his brother Milluki. But seeing Gon smiling like that at him…
"Killua?"
"Hmn?"
"Thanks."
"A-Ah…"
…
/Several Minutes Later/
Grooooooooooooooooowwwlll
"Mou, what's taking Kurapika-san so long?"
"She probably forgot about us." Killua muttered recalling her sweat-dropping face when Gon forcefully offered to eat together. "She seemed a very serious person, especially during the meeting."
"Mou, don't say that!" Gon pouted cutely and he found a smirk on his face. But it was wiped off when she suddenly wore a serious, but altogether nervous, expression out-of-nowhere.
"Killua…"
"…"
"If you don't mind me asking… is your last name Zoldyck?"
"…it used to be."
"Used to?"
"I cut ties with them."
"Why?" he stared at her.
"Because I didn't like them."
"Why?"
"Do you seriously don't know that family name?" She shook her head and for some reason Killua suddenly seemed especially reluctant to speak.
"What do you… think of assassins?"
"Assassins?"
"People who kill other people for money."
"I think they're bad people."
"..."
"Killua?"
"…they... are aren't they?" he laughed sardonically, after an uncomfortable length of silence. "They're hopeless souls surrounded by darkness."
"Eh? Why do you say so?" She asked, genuinely puzzled, and Killua gaped.
"Didn't you just say they're bad people?"
"Yes. But… Killua. They're not hopeless." She said calmly, tilting her head as if to make him understand.
"People change, don't they?"
…
Interesting...
A certain blonde mused as she wondered when was a good time to make her entrance.
Kurapika was standing a few meters away from the freshmen and there was this... smile that crept up her face the moment she got there. She suddenly did not feel guilty of being late, as she apparently let those two bond. It was a cute sight, really, and she knew they would be great friends.
Who knows? In the near future, maybe even more.
But when she felt the silence was getting too embarrassing for the boy, she decided to intervene by clearing her throat. "Sorry I'm late."
"It's fine." Gon grinned and Killua was scratching his cheek, obviously taking advantage of the moment to calm down. She sat in front of them and opened her lunch box as well. She watched the two argue as she did so. Apparently Gon was making him eat lunch because she ate his chocolate. Killua, who was really succumbing, could only counter the fact that he was getting the lunch box itself, and not the lid.
"That's your lunch. At least get most of it! (And why do you have chopsticks?)" He asked. She was using a spoon and fork, and for some reason she had chopstick with her. Gon didn't hear the last question and just pouted.
"But how long had you had proper lunch? We'll make up for those."
"Chocolates can be lunch!"
"No!"
Kurapika smiled, but being a peace-and-quiet lover (albeit that moment could easily be an exemption) she decided to stop the fight. She held out her fork and placed some of her rice, tomato, and fish fillet onto Gon's food.
"There." She nodded. "No complaints, Killua?"
"...no."
And with Killua's surrender, Gon beamed beautifully again and yelled "Itadakimaaaaaaaaaaaaasu!" before eating her fillet. The younger girl blinked, stared at what was left of her fish, and then whipped her head to her direction, just before gulping her food.
"Wow. You made this?" Kurapika shook her head.
"No. I cannot cook." She smiled. "My landlady was kind enough to cook for me. What about you?"
"I was forced to." Gon shrugged and then tilted her lunch box to show her food. "It was worth it in the end though. Wanna try?"
Kurapika batted an eyelid, but seeing it felt fine, she nodded. Gon then tilted her head to Killua who was just staring at his food, chopsticks still stuck together.
"Why don't you eat, Killua?"
"I..."
"He doesn't know how to use chopsticks." Kurapika stated earning herself a glare. She didn't falter though, and resumed her nonchalant eating. Gon was quite the cook, too, she realized.
"Y-You don't?" She yelled and looked at her spoon. "We should have exchanged tools before I started..."
"It's not really a problem. I'll-"
"Give it to me." She said, extending a palm. Killua blankly handed her the chopstick, and she snapped them apart. She maneuvered it and took some food from Killua's share.
Killua stared, absorbing what was happening at the pace of a snail. "Say ah~" And the next thing he knew, the food was an inch away from his mouth. He blushed. Furiously.
"O-Oi!"
And as she watched the scene, Kurapika could only chuckle. But an instant later she paused, upon noticing, and stared at the two who seemed to have started laughing with her.
In the end, she did not stop her laughter. And She didn't feel like holding back, either. Besides...
How long had it been? Since she last laughed like this...?
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 4
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 5: Sabotage
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Phoenix-Thunder - Thank you for the review~! hahahha. And that is why I looove HS AU fics. So light~!xDDD Light for now, I mean. *cackles*
LordOftheWest- Hai, it has been a while! xD But I'm glad it was still interesting!No, I'm relieved. loool. Thank you for the review, btw~!
Papilio. Ageha - Novel is unique. xD And I love Milluki~! xxD And a 2D Sister you say? interesting... loool. And yes, Killua hides it. Hehe. Oh, and thank you for the comment~!
noctis18- Thank you for the review~! I noted the critiques and I'll try to make Neon like-able. Ah,no worries tho, who will end up with Kurapika is undecided. I'll ask you guys after I introduce the...
Aimee Sani- I'm Gon there. But when you asked this, Bisuke and I switched places. xD It was for fun loool. Ah, and glad you found it funny! xDD And I'll try to make the club activities interesting. hehe. Thx for the review!
evergreen dryad- Hehe. It's a name from this girl from a Greek Myth. The sequel to Oedipus Rex, I think. xD And yes, Hisoka's gonna appear. Not too soon tho. ;) And... I'm kinda not answering most of your questions in this chapter. Ahahah, gomen! xD Oh, and thank you for the review of course~!
rentamiya- I'm glad you could review, too. xD And glad you liked the pairings~! Hope it's alright that I'm still undecided who to officially pair with Kurapika. ;) And I'm relieved you thought the wait was worth it. Thanks for the review~! ^^
cctrail- First of all, belated Happy New year to you too~~! xD I'm happy you liked the plot and characterizations! Hope I could keep it that wayy. xD And of course, thank you for the review~!
SelfcreatedCharacter- Perhaps it is a trick, perhaps it's not. *wink* Ahahah. Yes, they're going to meet again~! Kyaa! Kura's a girl now too though lol. Thanks for the comment!
Silverflame- (ch1) It will? I sure do hope so. Ahahaha. I'm working on it! xD (ch2) *skillfully avoids the banana* Here it is~! xDD Btw, I write another fem!Gon fic... who knows if it might interest you too! xD And finally, Thank you for the reviews~! ;D
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