Hey guys, what's up? I have to start and finish my summer reading book within the next week...so that should be fun. It's a boiled down version of the Odyssey, but it's still over two hundred pages. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I can sit down and marathon read for quite a while when I get into it. The problem is annotating. Gah! I absolutely detest annotating. It doesn't help me! I understand there are people out there whom it helps, but I am not one of them! All it does for me is take away the experience of reading. I can't get absorbed if I'm constantly looking for things to write down. This sort of things should be optional. I've actually considered writing a paper to my teacher complaining about it, listing all the reasons annotating is detrimental to me. Even if I did that, though, I feel as if I'd still be forced to do it.

So, then, please enjoy my story where you don't have to annotate.

The first thing I notice when we walk into the room is silence, and the second is all the eyes directed at us. Well, the eyes directed at Mr. Nostrade and Kurapika. Sighing, I allow my aura to leak out, which in effect causes a few of the gazes to shift over to me. As they examine us, I examine them, not particularly caring when I make eye contact. Then I make eye contact with a specific person and gasp.

"Oh!" All the eyes that originally were not on me certainly are now. "You're...I remember! You tried killing my brother that one time!" The large man breaks his gaze away, his older companion eyeing the man with desire for an explanation. I press on, ignoring the tension in the air. "So you're one of the assassins I'll be working with. I look forward to it! Watching you work last time was absolutely fascinating!"

"Light!" One of the standing, suited men interrupts me. "I was under the impression you were only bringing one addition."

"Kurapika assures me that she is powerful enough to be worth hiring. If he had suspicions that she'd be any sort of hindrance, he wouldn't have suggested her to me."

The man who spoke before lights a cigar. "Fine, but her pay will be coming out of your own pocket."

Oh yeah, pay. I wonder how much I'll get from this. I don't expect much more than spare change, but even spare change can be handy on a whim. Well, I'm not doing this for pay, anyway. This is just an excuse to hang with Kurapika for a bit. With him hating the troupe and all, there's no way he would hang out with me of his own free will. Plus, there's now the bonus that I'll be working with the assassin Chrollo had such a hard time with. For Brother to struggle fighting against someone….it was a once in a lifetime thing to see. This dude's gotta be pretty incredibly strong to pull off a feat like that.

"It seems we're all here, then," a squat old man declares, demanding the attention of the room. "The job is to annihilate the phantom troupe, if they dare show their faces again. If they come, dispose of them using any means necessary." And with that, the lesser assassins begin discussing among themselves.

"How are we going to call each other when communicating?"

"Just use colors. I'll be Blue."

"Then I'm red."

Then there's the old man sitting beside the assassin who went after Chrollo, who lowers his head with a chuckle. "It's like playing a game."

The one who'd started the conversation asks them, "What about you guys?"

The large, muscular assassin that'd caught my eye introduces himself, "Silva."

His elderly companion, "Zeno."

I remove my lollipop from my mouth. "Are those your real names?" That means they must be pretty confident in their abilities. So confident, in fact, that they feel no need to take caution and hide their names. I'm strong myself, but even I rarely hand out my name so freely.

"They are," Silva confirms. Then he goes on to say how he'll be working alone and I frown. Dammit. I was hoping I could drag Kurapika into being part of their group so I could watch Silva work.

"Silva and Zeno…." One assassin absorbs this, almost disbelievingly. "You mean of the Zoldyck family?"

Zoldyck? That family of assassins? You mean Chrollo was able to avoid death at the hand of the world's most elite assassin family? Damn, he's an awesome brother. I crunch my sucker as I regret my Nen ability. From what I saw when the two of them were fighting, Silva's a transmuter. Cancellation doesn't work against transmuters. As much as I might want to live up to Chrollo's reputation and also escape a fight against Silva, without my Cancellation Silva would crush me. Why is my ability so useless?

In response to the man's revelation, Zeno says, "If you want someone killed, I'll give you a thirty percent discount for being in the same line of work."

I scoff. I may not be a full fledged assassin myself, but it's pretty obvious it'd be disgraceful to hire an assassin if you are one yourself. Even if you aren't, as long as you have the ability to do it yourself. Instead of hiring some assassin, I'd just find some way I can do it on my own.

Disregarding my own reaction, all the assassins in the room gawk shamelessly at the two Zoldycks. I glance over at Kurapika to see if he's the same. Well, he's certainly staring at them. I can't read his expression, though. The one thing I can conclude is that he didn't know who they were. I don't think any of us did, except the ones who hired them.

After they've all seemed to accept the fact that there's two legends among them, they return to the matter at hand. This time, instead of code names, they're concerned with working together or not. One of them turns back to Kurapika and me, asking what we think.

"Shaky cooperation will only cause confusion," Kurapika states firmly. Of course he'd say that. As the chain user, he works alone.

"I agree," I put in my five cents. "I'm staying with you, though. I have to be sure you don't get killed if you chance across Chrollo." If it was Hisoka, though, I'd bet he be okay. Although I'm unsure still what he gains from Kurapika, that clown wouldn't wanna lose his partner. "Other than that, I guess there's no need to stay glued to each other. Besides, if we split up, we're more likely to come across more of the members. If that's your goal, spreading out makes the most sense." But if their goal is not to die, it'd probably be better if they all stayed together.

Once again, one of the suited men butts in. "We'll transport you to the auction house when it starts at nine. Until then, please wait here."

Then, all the suits depart. Light Nostrade also turns to go, and Kurapika steps to go with him. I grab his arm to stop him. As soon as my fingers close around his sleeve, he yanks away from me. I persist, anyway.

"Hey, where're you going? I'll come, too."

"I am to stay with Mr. Nostrade. You stay here, Corona," he orders.

"No!" I refuse. "I wanna come! I gotta stay with you while I can, 'cause it's not like you'll ever come find me."

"Corona." He turns to face me. "I have no time to play with you. We'll both be at the auction house tonight, and you can see me again then."

As the door closes behind him, I scowl. "Insensitive bastard."

"This is no place for a lovesick girl," the assassin who declared himself Blue comments.

"Say anything more meant to insult me and I'll kill you where you sit," I snarl. "I don't need this job at all, so I don't care if I get fired. I'm here cause I want to be. If you value your life, I suggest you adjust your manners."

"You went and made her mad," one with a hat shakes his head. "Girls have delicate hearts, and she's just dumped. You have no tact. Here," he stands, motioning to his seat. "All us men took the seats without regard for you. You can have mine."

Unwrapping my last lollipop, I plop down in the seat offered. I'm not one for gentlemen, but at least he seems to have a bit of respect for me. Even if he is treating me like some heartbroken chick. I will admit, Kurapika's hostility did irk me. It's not like I should've expected otherwise, though. I am, although unoffical, a member of the Phantom Troupe that he so despises, after all. His distaste is to be expected. Still….

"Hey," Blue pipes up again, "shouldn't you at least thank him for giving up his chair for you?"

He stiffens when I shoot a glare over the table at him, but I decide to let it slide. I may not like thanking people, but most people expect that sort of thing. He didn't insult me in any way.

Then a guy with white skin and slick red hair points out, "You should be careful. She wouldn't be here if she couldn't kill people."

"Your name is Corona?"

I grimace, glancing over to Silva, who spoke. He must've heard Kurapika call me by name. "I'd tell you to forget that, if you weren't a Zoldyck. I guess it should be an honor, though, that someone as infamous as you would remember my name."

Taking that as a verification, he goes on. "You said that I tried to kill your brother. That implies that I didn't kill him."

Silence falls over the room, people staring in shock at either me or Silva. I guess none of them can fathom Silva being unable to kill someone. If that's the case, they're hopeless. If the troupe does decide to show their faces tonight, these people are going to die.

I suck my lollipop a bit longer, basking in the quiet before, "That's right. You didn't. Although you may not have realized it, he was showing a few signs of distress during the fight. Your fight with him was the only time I've seen him worry about winning! Seriously, you have my respect, Silva Zoldyck, and not a lot of people have that."

He closes his eyes for moment, seeming to think. Then he opens them again. His expression remains unchanged, but I get the feeling he's confirmed something.

"There's only one person I can think of that I was unable to defeat. It was three years ago."

"Hm, that sounds about right," I nod. Then, I grin at him. "Just so you know, that doesn't imply that I'm a target or anything. It just means we share blood." The man sitting next to Silva, Zeno, seems to realize what we're talking about, but all the others in the room don't seem to understand.

"Are you sure that you'll be able to kill a member of the Phantom Troupe if they come?" Silva questions. So he's worried about that? I was kinda worried he'd be more focused on the fact that I could be part of the troupe, and try to kill me since he was hired to. If he stripped me down, he'd find my spider tattoo. That would be solid proof that would turn every assassin in this room against me. While I could probably handle all the others, I don't know about the Zoldyck pair.

"Sure I could," I shrug. "Depending on which it was. If it was Chrollo, I'd be done for the moment I leaked bloodlust. But if you're talking about willingness instead of physical ability….I actually helped bury one of them not too long ago. To be precise, I helped the killer bury the body. I think the fact that I didn't try to avenge him should prove I feel nothing towards the members of the troupe."

"W-what are you talking about?" Blue stammers.

"I'm not gonna repeat all that," I growl.

"Didn't I tell you?" The red haired one chuckles. "She wouldn't if she wasn't capable."

"Anyway," I address Silva, "that's why I'd love to watch you work."

"One last thing," he says. I wave for him to go ahead. "How were you able to watch us? No one was there when we fought, and I would have destroyed any security cameras, had there been any."

I raise a brow. "That's all you're wondering? That's the easiest thing to answer yet!" Popping the sucker from my mouth, I use it to lazily point at him while I answer. "I walked in at the same time Kurapika did. You didn't notice, did you?"

I love her arrogance, even though she's confronting the infamous Silva Zoldyck. Also, the fact that he missed her entrance with the rest of them proves something about her Zetsu. That's probably her strongest weapon. Now that I think about it, her abilities are purely defensive. She has to rely on her actual physical strength to attack. She can harden her fists with Nen, but that's about it when it comes to offensive. She can't boost her powers at all. All she can do it bolster what she already has. Oh, and I feel like I should mention how happy I am with your guys' response to this story! I'm glad you seem to like it! If you have any issues whatsoever with what's going on in it, please tell me. If it's something I can fix, I'll do my best. Interacting with you guys is part of what makes writing so exhilarating! So as always, I can't wait to hear what you have to say!

Till then, Kisses from SnowyNeko! :3 MEOW!