Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: February's update is up! (: School is going slowly right now, but it's winding up again.

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

XXX

I peered over at our enemy myself. He looked rather frail, actually, the small kind of kid who'd probably gotten bullied in his earlier years. I wondered what he had done to get him thrown into life imprisonment.

"As you can see," he said, "I'm not a fighter. Hitting, running, jumping—that kind of stuff isn't my thing."

Now I was really curious as to what he sort of crime he'd committed. He was probably as weak offensively as I was, and most likely didn't have a nen ability. How on Earth had he defended himself all these years? Life as a criminal couldn't possibly have been safe, of all things.

"I prefer the opposite," Gon replied sheepishly. "I'm not really gifted with thought games."

"I thought so," Gon's opponent said, "so I prepared an extremely simple game." He pulled two candles from behind his back. "Both of us will light a candle at the same time. The one whose light goes out first loses. So?"

I figured there was a trick to this game—there was no way that these criminals (all of whom had been accused of heinous crimes) would be nice enough to play a game of luck and chance. Since they wanted to win as much as we did, there was sure to be a catch.

"Yeah, that's easy!" Gon said in a relieved tone, obviously choosing to believe that his opponent was being entire virtuous. "That's okay for me!"

"Okay," the criminal replied, holding out the two candles in plain sight. It was immediately obvious that one was much larger than the other. "Which candle will you choose? O if you want the long one, X for the short one. Choose using the majority!"

"The long one is trapped for sure!" Leorio exclaimed.

Kurapica seemed more cautious. "Yes, it would be logical to think this," he said slowly, "but precisely because of this, it wouldn't be surprising if the short one is the trap."

"Well, in that case…," I started, suddenly worried for Gon's victory.

"Yes, we can't possibly guess which candle has been tampered with," Kurapica finished. "Neither of the choices is obviously right or wrong."

In the center of the room, the criminal took a seat. "Don't rush with your decision," he advised us. "It's a majority verdict so don't hesitate to consult others. We have all the time we need!"

"Man, he's just trying to waste our time!" Leorio growled, tapping his foot impatiently. "Which should we choose?"

"I don't know," I replied agitatedly, wringing my hands together. "It's all about luck at this point."

Kurapica, though, seemed to have an idea. Who was I kidding? It was Kurapica—he always had an idea. "Gon!" he called. "You decide. We'll go by your decision. Instead of torturing our minds, we'll trust your instinct."

I was pleasantly receptive to the idea, though it was not the master plan I'd hoped for. It was true that no matter how long we all spent rotting our brains over this conundrum, we would never be able to guess for sure which candle was the right one. Choosing right this second was no different from choosing seventy hours from now. That being said, it was important for us to reach a decision quickly, as we didn't want to waste our time here. For this reason, it was best simply to let a single person decide, rather than have several people argue over the possibilities. And who better than Gon? He seemed to be part dog anyway—maybe his intuition would prove to be advantageous in this scenario.

"I decide? Alright!" Gon said, making up his mind spontaneously. "I choose the long one!"

We were surprised at the quick choice. Does he know something that we don't? I wondered. Can he tell the difference in the compositions of the two candles?

"The long one?" the criminal asked. "Are you quite sure?"

"Yup!" Gon said cheerfully. "It's bigger, so of course it will take more time to burn!"

There was a slight pause as everyone in the room digested Gon's response.

…He wasn't even thinking about the possibility of it being a trap! I bemoaned in my mind, nevertheless pressing the O button on my watch.

"Ah, whichever is fine," Kurapica said firmly, as though trying to convince himself of this.

"Yeah, it's impossible to know which is which, anyway," Leorio sighed.

"Okay," Gon's opponent said, tossing Gon the longer candle. "The long one is for you, and the short one is for me!" He moved towards the edge of the platform, stepping near the torches that lit the room. "Let's light our candles at the same time," he proposed.

Both boys thrust their candles into the fires. "May the fight begin!" they exclaimed.

As time slowly passed, Gon stood motionlessly at his end of the platform, seeming very concentrated on his candle. He seemed to be afraid that the flame might suddenly disappear. Given that his opponent was a criminal, I wouldn't put it past his ability to rig the candle in such a manner, or at least manufacture his own candle in such a way that it would never blow out.

Not even five minutes into the match, the silence was broken. "How long is this going to take?" Killua asked, already looking bored with the 'battle.'

"Forever," I emphasized, latching onto Killua with a pitiful expression on my face, and Kurapica rolled his eyes at my antics.

"5 or 6 hours, probably," Kurapica estimated, amused.

"That's like a whole night's worth of sleep," I reminded. "We're just going to sit here the whole time, waiting for someone's candle to go out?" Speaking of sleep, I felt like taking a nap, myself, but for some reason I really didn't want to miss Kurapica's battle. I had a feeling it would be worth the wait.

"Well, there's a strong wind blowing below," Leorio pointed out. "If either one of those two makes a bad move, or even moves at all, his candle might go out on its own."

Almost as if to contradict these words, Gon's candle suddenly burst into bright flames, engulfing the upper half of the wax. It erupted fervently, melting Gon's candle at a distressingly visible rate.

"Look at Gon's candle!" Leorio exclaimed. "It's burning much faster than before! There must be something inside the wax!"

I bit my lip, seeing that Gon's candle was becoming smaller by the second. "It became that short so quickly," I muttered anxiously, scrutinizing the candle from a distance. "At this rate, it'll be gone within two or three minutes."

"Damn, the long one must have been the trap!" Leorio groaned, throwing his hands in the air.

However, Gon didn't seem to look as worried as we felt. Instead, he grinned widely and set his candle down on the floor. "If it burns that well," he assumed aloud, "there's no way it would go out even with the breeze."

Using swift motions, Gon dashed across the platform in the blink of an eye, even before the man on the other end had time to react. With one breath, he blew out his opponent's candle. "I won!" Gon declared happily, oblivious to the surprised expression on his opponent's face.

"Ah, I guess you did," he admitted, shrugging once his shock ran out.

"Well, that didn't take long," I said appreciatively, as the score on the board ticked off a point in our favor.

"Good job, Gon!" Leorio cheered. "We now have one victory! And as we can surely count on my victory and Kurapica's we'll definitely pass!"

Kurapica gave a small smile. "Well, my turn," he stated, stepping forward. He glanced across the room to see who his opponent would be.

I grimaced at the appearance of the criminal. He looked like something out of a horror movie—maybe comparable to Frankenstein. The top of his head was completely bald, and scars stretched out from all over his head. One eye was swollen shut, and he appeared to be missing several teeth. One of his ears was missing, and the other was torn to shreds. On his chest were nineteen tattooed hearts. When he flexed, his entire body bulged dangerously.

"Man, what's with this guy?" Leorio remarked, looking ill.

"I've already killed nineteen people," the criminal claimed, pointing at the hearts on his chest. "That was annoying because it's not an even number, so I'm happy!"

I bristled at the insinuation. As though that dumb muscle-man could kill Kurapica. Hah!

"For me," the man continued, "the only things that excite me are fights we risk our lives in. I don't like doing things by halves. I need blood! Ripped bodies! Pain!"

Kurapica merely stared calmly as he walked to the center platform. "That's fine with me," he said bluntly, surprising the criminal. "Could we get on with deciding the fight's rules?"

"Ah, yeah," the criminal answered, clearly bewildered at Kurapica's complete lack of fear. "Here's what I suggest—a fight to the death! We'll fight until one of us admits defeat or dies." He cracked his neck menacingly. "But…even if you fall unconscious during the fight, I can't guarantee that I'll stop hitting!"

"Okay, that's fine," Kurapica agreed amicably, completely ignoring his opponent's malice. "Shall we start?"

"Wait, I forgot something!" the criminal said suddenly, holding up a hand. He seemed nervous, now that he realized Kurapica was not intimidated at all. "We can't use weapons. Hand-to-hand combat only. Even if I'm a member of the jury, I'm still a prisoner, so I'm not allowed to use weapons."

I rolled my eyes. It seemed this guy actually thought he could beat Kurapica as long as he didn't use any weapons. I'd never seen Kurapica in a battle before, but I was sure that as a blacklist hunter applicant Kurapica must know at least some martial arts.

"I see," Kurapica murmured, bringing out his hidden twin swords and readily tossing them aside. "Anything else?" Kurapica asked. "If not, I'd like to start now."

Beside me, Leorio scratched his chin. "How do you think it'll turn out?" Leorio asked. "I don't trust his opponent."

"I don't trust any of our opponents, but I trust Kurapica," I said, shrugging. "I'm guessing it'll be an easy victory," I predicted. "Look at all those head wounds. Any decent fighter would know to avoid head wounds."

"I'm not so sure those are head wounds," Leorio muttered. "They look more like scars from a poorly-done surgery…"

I blinked, wondering what the criminal had gone through surgery for.

"Well, in my opinion, we don't have to worry," Killua said.

"Yeah, I don't feel nervous at all when I look at him," Gon added. "It doesn't seem as though he'll be a tough opponent."

Just as Gon finished speaking, the criminal lunged forward, his fist raised. "HIYAAAA!" he roared, swinging downwards and smashing easily through the ground as Kurapica dodged. I cringed, imagining what would have happened had Kurapica been slightly slower. Then, we got our first clear view of the criminal's back.

"A tattoo of a spider with twelve legs!" Leorio described, making the connection immediately. "Could it be…?"

"The sign of the Phantom Brigade," I murmured. No way—this criminal is part of that elite group? I wondered. Maybe the Phantom Brigade is a bigger group than I assumed, with a hierarchy of strong fighters to weaker ones like this one.

"Really?" Gon asked. Since he'd spent most of the earlier exams with Killua, he'd even missed Kurapica's explanation.

"Yeah," Leorio confirmed. "There's no mistake—we heard the story from Kurapica."

To be honest, I was beginning to get a little concerned. Even if the criminal was weak, the fact that he was a member of the elusive group that had murdered Kurapica's clan was sure to shake Kurapica up immensely. I could relate, as I felt undeniable loathing emerge whenever I was near Hisoka. I didn't know how Kurapica would adapt to this new information. He had his back to us, and didn't seem to be reacting at all. He was standing very still, head bowed.

"Well? You're pretty quiet now; are you scared?" the criminal taunted—which was a stupid move on his part. If I were him, I wouldn't be mocking Kurapica any time soon, especially since he was letting such an insane killer intent. "I'm Majitani, one of the four strongest people in the Brigade. My first attack was just a warm-up. If you want to give up, you should say it now. Because right now, I'm still…" He trailed off as though just realizing the intense pressure in the room. He stared, frozen in shock at Kurapica.

In a split second, Kurapica was across the platform and before Majitani, grabbing the criminal's face and readying his other fist for a punch. Majitani attempted to retreat. "I understand!" he squawked. "St-stop, I give u—" His face was slammed into the floor by the force of Kurapica's blow.

"I'll give you three pieces of advice," Kurapica said flatly. "One, on the real tattoo, the member's number is written in the center of the spider. Two, they've already killed so many people that it would be impossible to count the number." Kurapica raised his head, and I sucked in my breath at the color of his eyes. They were a dark, angry red, beautiful and devastating all at once. Suddenly, I felt like I could understand why the eyes of the Kuruta Clan would be so highly sought after, and it sickened me. To slaughter a whole clan of people for beauty—it was the worst form of vanity. "Three, don't ever speak the name of the Brigade, or I'll kill you."

As the criminal lay unmoving on the floor, Kurapica made his way back to us.

"Um, are you okay, Kurapica?" Leorio asked cautiously.

"Yes, I'm uninjured," Kurapica replied, casually brushing his hands against his clothing.

Leorio winced. "No, what I mean is, is it safe for us to come near you?"

Though I couldn't help but laugh nervously, I jabbed Leorio in the gut as he attempted to discern whether or not Kurapica's eyes were back to normal. Honestly, Leorio was so tactless it was kind of funny.

"…I knew from the beginning," Kurapica sighed, closing his eyes wearily, "that my opponent was merely bluffing. I also knew that his tattoo was a fake, but after seeing that spider…everything went red." He looked self-conscious at having such an extreme reaction, but I could hardly blame him. I surely would've done the same, had I been in his shoes. "In fact…this happens whenever I see a spider. I lose my mind and become unrecognizable." Okay, that was a little too much. It's not like I'd attack a random clown or magician on the side of the street, or something, just because of a resemblance. "This just goes to show that my hatred hasn't gone away, so I should be rather happy, but…" Kurapica sat down heavily, an aura of doom and gloom surrounding him.

"…We're going to avoid showing Kurapica spiders, aren't we?" Gon whispered to us, inching away from the depressed Kuruta.

"Yup!" Leorio agreed.

I patted Kurapica on the shoulder consolingly. "If it makes you feel any better," I said, "I think spiders are icky, too."

Kurapica coughed, embarrassed. "No, it's not like I find them particularly…icky," he protested, but was cut off by Leorio.

"I'm going to end it!" he roared, stepping forward dramatically. "Hurry up and pick somebody!" he called to the criminals on the other end. "I'm waiting for the next prisoner!"

Someone on the other end giggled sinisterly. "That's not possible," a distinctly feminine voice claimed, "because the match hasn't ended yet."