Discaimer: As you all already know, I just own my OC, Hitomi. Hunter X Hunter, on the other hand, belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi.

Chapter 18: Yorkshin City! x Making Money x Bitter Feeling

"Hi, Hitomi.

I'm sorry I couldn't answer your calls. I'm kind of busy, but I promise I will call as soon as I have free time.

I found a job, but I don't think I'll have time to see you guys this September 1st. I really apologize.

Take care of yourself,

Kurapika."

Hitomi stared at her brother's text message a little irritated. She had called him a lot of times before, even though she knew that she was annoying him a little...

Anyway, she worried about him. What did she got in exchange? A short, cold text in where he said that he wouldn't have time to meet them. He promised that he would call, but she knew that he just wouldn't do that.

It looked like their friends and his sister were less important for him than his vengeance.

And that feeling stabbed her in the chest like a knife she couldn't take away from her. Even though she would never say it aloud, was scared, really scared. Hitomi was terrified of the thought of losing him, the only family she had left.

"That idiot..." she murmured, smiling sadly.

She decided to not to call Kurapika anymore. If he was being that cold to her, so be it. She could treat him coldly as well.

The three kids found out in the Hunter's website that the game was more expensive than they had thought and it was going to be sold in the auction. Because of that, they had spend all the day trying to get money by selling things on internet... but some man had tricked them, so they were 10.84 million jenny right now.

"That's what you get by trusting people..." Killua sighed.

"That's why I told you we should only stick with auction sites that people trust!" Gon shouted.

"It took eight hours to make a measly 985 jenny!" Killua shouted back, "How many centuries will it take to make eight billion?!"

"It's better than losing money!"

Hitomi looked around and sweatdropped. Every people in the city were crowded around them, looking at the scene they were making.

"Hey, guys-" she tried to calm them down.

"Shut up, Hitomi!" they yelled at her.

A vein formed in her head, she was really pissed up. To hell the scene they were making and the embarrassment she was feeling before, she was furious now.

"I could make far more money than you two together!" she shouted.

The three of them pressed their foreheads with each other, letting a soft growl escape from their clenched teeth.

"Wanna fight?" Gon said, angered.

"Sure!" Killua replied.

"Okay, it's a battle," Hitomi muttered.

"There are still two weeks before the auction," Gon told them. "So let's see which one of us can make more money!"

"Let's split the money we've got left!" Hitomi suggested. "Whoever makes the most by 9 p.m. on August 31st will be the winner!"

"Fine by me!" Killua shouted. "What if both of you lose?!"

"The losers have to do one thing the winner asks," Gon said, raising a finger.

"It's a deal," Killua smirked. "I'm gonna beat you thoroughly!"

"I'm gonna bring you two down!" Hitomi smirked as well. "Just wait!"

They turned around and after three seconds, they splitted to start their own game.

Hitomi looked around, to see something to help her. She sighed, there was nothing to get money from. She absolutely wasn't going to let the other two win.

She then took a glance of a young man, who was dressed in expensive clothes, putting his wallet in the pocket of her trousers. She smirked.

Hitomi walked past him. In a quick move, she grabbed the wallet and put it in her pockets. She walked a few meters and smirked when she realized that she went unnoticed.

"The goody-goody of my brother will kill me if he founds out what I just did," she said, looking at the object she had just stolen. "Good thing he won't..."

She opened the wallet and paled at the sight of it. Dramatically, she fell into her knees, cursing herself for her terrible luck.

It was empty.

"I choose a guy like Leorio..." she sighed. "Tries to look rich, but he is just poor..."

She could tell that she was going to lose the bet.

"Oh, wow!" Gon exclaimed. "There's so many people for it to be so early in the morning!"

"Would you keep it down?" Killua covered Gon's mouth with his hand. "You're embarrassing me!"

"I know the feeling..." Hitomi murmured.

Gon broke free little after, gazing curiously to all the stores.

"Hey now, do you think we've got time for that?" Killua said, annoyed. "We've gotta earn eight billion jenny before the auction starts, remember?"

"I don't need a certain someone who's broke to tell me that, do I?" Gon teased. "It was an elementary mistake to try and get rich by gambling!"

"Shut up! You only earned 15,000 in two weeks!" he shouted, before smirking proudly. "At one point, I was 200,600,000 jenny!"

"But you are zero now," Hitomi added, making Killua flinch.

"I don't want to hear that from someone who didn't manage to make a jenny!" he shouted.

"We are still the same, don't we?" she shouted back. "We're both zero!"

"And even though I didn't make much, I still managed to beat you both!" Gon grinned. "I won our little bet, which means that I get to order you to do one thing."

"Yeah, yeah," the other two said at the same time, annoyed.

Gon noticed something and ran to a store where they sold cell phones.

"That's what you want?" Hitomi asked.

"Yeah. We need some way to contact Leorio and Kurapika, right?" he said. "After all, I'm the only one of you who doesn't have any."

"So you've decided to get one. It's one of the essential items for a Hunter, isn't it?" Killua said. "It's been awhile since I've seen-"

He stopped when he saw Hitomi's expression. She was blankly staring at the cell phones, with a worried expression.

"My brother said he has an assignment so he might not have time to see us," she told them. "He said if he has free time he'll call, but... I don't really believe him," she smiled bitterly. "Not anymore."

Killua just stared at her in silence and narrowed his eyes. It was really strange to see her that upset, specially talking about Kurapika. As long as he remembered, her brother was always the one to worry about her, and now it was on the other way around.

"Believe on Kurapika! I know he will call," Gon grinned, happily. "That's why I'll get a phone like you, guys. I wanna make sure he can get hold of me as well."

They all ended up going to the store, and the man offered them some type of phone that let Gon thinking about choosing it.

"Yeah, I think I'll take it-!" Gon said after a while.

"You don't want that one," a voice, which was really familiar for them, said. The kids turned around with smiles on their faces. "You can't roam with it and it's not even waterproof. There are ones that are much better."

"Leorio!" Gon shouted happily at the sight of him.

Leorio raised a hand in greeting, smiling slightly.

"You guys look the same as the last time I saw you," he told them.

"You too, Rioleo!" Killua joked.

"Yeah, you look as old as the last time we saw you," Hitomi teased as well.

"To you is Le-o-ri-o!" he shouted at Killua, before turning to Hitomi. "And you, how many times do I have to tell you I'm a teenager like you!"

They laughed a little bit at the 'teenager' boy. He then calmed down, showing them some new cell phone called Beatle 07.

"It's a little heavy and pricier, but it works anywhere in the world," he explained. "It translates 200 different languages, you can watch TV on it and record your own movies."

"Seriously?!" Killua shouted. "Gon, get this one! And I'll get one too!"

"I'll too," Hitomi nodded, still amazed.

"Okay then, leave it to me," Leorio said.

Leorio then started to convince the man to lower the price. The three of them looked in amazement as he still tried to get a discount by annoying the man.

"That's pretty incredible..." Killua murmured. "I've never seen anyone haggle over ten jenny before..."

"Whoa!" Gon turned around, to see a huge crowd staring at the scene. "Everyone is watching!"

"And now he's going up one jenny at a time..." Hitomi stared at the scene as well. "I just can't believe it..."

And after the offer of 110,580 jenny, the worker gave up and bought it to them. All the crowd applauded, as amazed as the children.

They walked away and all of sudden, Leorio stopped in his tracks.

"So, you three," he said. "You had to learn Nen, right?"

"Yeah, we sure did," Killua said.

"You're gonna learn it after you're finished with the medical exam, right?" Gon asked.

"Well, no," he said, turning around with a smirk curving in his features. "Since I already have."

The four of them were talking in the room of the hotel. They had already told Leorio about the game, Greed Island, and how expensive it was.

"But on the treasure list, the level of getting one was 'easy'," Hitomi said. "You only need money."

"The world is all about one thing: money!" Leorio said.

"Yeah, but if all it takes is money to buy something, then it isn't really a treasure, is it?" Killua said, moving around his bunny-like candy. "You're professional Hunters. Shouldn't you be able to get something at this level without a problem?"

Hitomi raised an eyebrow, staring at the boy who was now eating his candy. She turned around, to see Gon and Leorio looking for something in the computer.

"Did they really...?" she thought. "Leorio must be an enhancer too... to fall for something like this..."

She looked at Killua, who grinned like a cat, before sitting next to him. Both of them looked at the other two, disbelieving their simpleness.

"There are also Winner-Takes-All and the Conditional auctions..." Leorio read.

"That sounds sexual..." Killua blushed, smiling slightly.

Hitomi stared at his flushed face in disbelief, and profoundly disgust.

"I don't even want to know what that dirty mind of yours is thinking..." she murmured.

Leorio and Gon read a little more, before an idea crossed mind of the oldest guy.

"Let's go, Gon, Chibi-chan, Lukia!" he called, pissing both Killua and Hitomi off. "I just thought of a foolproof way for us to make some money."

"Come on... Step right up!" Leorio shouted. "A Conditional Auction is about to get underway!"

That was Leorio's idea, make a conditional auction for a diamond ring worth three million. The condition was to beat Gon in arm wrestling.

"A fraud..." Hitomi thought, watching Gon win over an other man, acting that he was trying hard. "I just hope that Gon doesn't end up breaking someone's arm..."

After a few hours, the number people challenging Gon decreased. It was understandable, though. The guy had already beaten 150 people, and no one in their right mind would dare to lose money in such a tough boy, or 'monster', how they called him.

An idea hit Hitomi's mind and she smirked. She stood behind Gon and waved her hands.

"Now, now, this kid here is going to take a break!" she announced. "If anyone is still interested in the ring, then they can challenge me instead."

The three boys looked at her in confusion. Leorio took the girl by her shoulders and smiled nervously at the crowd.

"I really apologize," he said. "That little girl has no idea of what she is talking abou-"

"I do," she replied. "You are the one who have no idea of what I'm talking about."

He sighed, before dragging her out the scene.

"Well, since I'm the one who was not idea about it..." he said, annoyed. "Would you mind explaining me what the hell was that?!"

"Easy, saving your time," she replied. "How much time do you think it will take us until you manage to get all the money we need? Especially when all the people are scared of Gon."

"Well, I can understand that," he rubbed the back of his neck. "But what does this have to do with you?"

"Don't you get it?" she smirked, pointing at herself. "I'm a young female, a little girl. Gon can be a kid, but he is still a boy. I think we can use this stereotype in our advantage. Also..." she turned around to see a huge crowd behind them, waiting. "My fans are waiting for me."

And like that, she shooed Gon from his chair and she sat down.

"Now, the first one can come forward, please," she said, politely.

One by one, she defeated them. It wasn't difficult, though. They were just a bunch of bluffers, nothing compared with the Testing Gate back in Killua's house.

But after awhile, a girl challenged her.

"How old are you?" Leorio asked in a friendly way, almost too friendly. "Where did you come from?"

Hitomi raised an eyebrow at him, as the people told him to get serious before turning her head to the woman. She politely bowed.

"Keep your left hands on the table," Leorio instructed as they put their hands together. "Ready... Go!"

This time, Hitomi didn't need to pretend. That girl was really strong, but in the end she ended up losing.

Hitomi rubbed her hand, gasping for air and sweating, as the mysterious girl bowed again and left.

"You were really trying, weren't you?" Killua asked.

"No. I just love to sweat on purpose," she replied with sarcasm, before turning serious once again. "Yeah, I was."

"I wonder who she was..." Gon commented, still amazed. "Hitomi, I will take care of the auction. Rest for awhile if you want."

"Just a little, I'll come back," Hitomi sighed, giving up.

They took a break for eating, and Hitomi was enjoying her hamburger while Leorio checked how many money they had won.

"We have made 2.5 million jenny so far," he said. "That's not too bad."

"But to get to our goal of 8.9 billion, we need to win over 800,000 more matches," Killua said. "We have a long way to go."

"Gon can do it!" Leorio shouted. "Nothing is impossible for this guy!"

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you forget someone?" she murmured. "I'm still here."

"That's not the problem, it's time," Killua rolled his eyes. "The auction will be long over by the time we make enough money."

The girl was about to comment something else, but the Mafia's cars caught her eye. The underground auction was about to begin.

Once again, Hitomi was staring at her cell phone with a frown in her face. She had already given him her new phone number, but... Did Kurapika promise something about calling her? He did. Did he fulfill his promise?

Of course not.

Busy-san had a lot of work to care about them, after all.

"Seriously, you guys actually mastered this stuff?!" Leorio shouted. He was still trying to master Nen.

"It was a piece of cake, wasn't it, Gon, Hitomi?" Killua asked while Gon nodded.

"Huh?" Hitomi said, snapping out of her thoughts. "Oh... Yeah, you are right..."

Killua narrowed his eyes, looking at the phone she was holding. Hitomi's hand was squeezing it unconsciously, in unspoken worry.

"You'll master it in no time, Leorio!" Gon encouraged.

"That's it, I quit! Knowing Ten is good enough for me," he yelled, irritated. "I'm taking off! I'm gonna take a walk."

"This late at night?" Gon asked.

"Yorkshin is a city that never sleeps," Leorio replied. "Things are just getting started for guys like me, but kids should be getting to bed already."

"Leorio," Killua said all of sudden. "If you happen to bump into Kurapika, bring him here. I heard he's busy with some job, but Hitomi's depressed state is annoying the hell out of me."

"I'm not-!" Hitomi was about to shout back.

She stopped in mid sentence when she saw Leorio ruffling Killua's hair, much in his dismay.

"A kid like you who still wears shorts shouldn't be bossing me around," he said. "Hoy about 'Please bring him to us, Leorio-san,' instead of just 'Bring him,' huh?"

"You're the one who's acting big," he replied, annoyed, "Aren't you the halfwit who can only master Ten?"

"Right, that is unbecoming of a gentleman like me. Excuse me," he said. "You kids better be in bed by the time I come back."

And after that, Leorio took his jacket and walked away the room.

"I hope he runs into Kurapika," Gon smiled, looking at the door that Leorio had closed.

"Yorkshin is a lot bigger than Whale Island, you know. There's no way. He'll call sooner or later," he then put a hand over his mouth and blushed slightly. "But anyway, now that Leorio is gone, why don't we check if there is an 'exciting' program on the cable-?"

SLAM!

"You Dummy!" he shouted angered, holding the shoe that she had thrown to him.

"You damn pervert!" she yelled back.

Hitomi failed to sleep a wink that night. She laid at her back, with her earphones in her ears to calm herself a little bit, but she was wide awake.

"Can you sleep?" Gon asked her all of sudden, while pushing himself in a sitting position. She sat in the bed as well and shook her head.

They looked at Killua. He was watching something, which Hitomi had no intention to know about, and had headphones in his ears.

"Are you still on that?" she asked, but he didn't hear her. His eyes were glued in the televisor and his cheeks were flushed. "Don't bother to answer then, I can see you are..."

"Hey, Killua! Are you listening? Killua!" Gon called him again, Killua didn't hear him like the other time. "KILLUA!"

"Did you say something?" Killua asked, noticing Gon. "It's getting to the good part. You should watch it too, Gon."

"No, that's okay," Gon blushed a little.

"Oh, yeah?" he replied, looking again to the TV. "It's pretty sensational..."

Gon and Hitomi looked at him, speechless. Little after that, the door opened behind them.

"You guys are still up?" Leorio asked.

"Welcome back," Gon said, happily. "So, you didn't see him, after all?"

"I just went for a walk," he replied, taking his jacket off.

"Yeah, right..." Hitomi raised an eyebrow at him. "I completely believe you."

"More importantly, you two, I told you not to stay up late. Why can't you be more like Killua?"

Their heads snapped to Killua's direction. He was lying on his bed, pretending to be soundly asleep.

"What?! When did he-?!" Gon shouted. "Killua, that's dirty!"

"Playing to be innocent?" Hitomi's eyebrow twitched, while she grabbed a pillow. "Don't make me laugh!"

And she threw it to him, in anger.

Leorio had a plan and it succeeded, that's why there were now in a Conditional Auction managed by the Mafia.

They handed them a paper with photos. Hitomi's eyes flew open when she saw the first girl.

"That girl..." Gon looked at Hitomi. "You arm wrestled against her."

"That's right," Killua commented.

"Yeah..." she trailed off.

Her eyes shone in a blood-like color, before she released a long sigh to calm herself down. Her now violet gaze didn't leave the chart though.

"These guys are the ones who killed my family..." she clenched her fists.

But, before she knew, they were already in.

"Hey, what's the matter with you guys?" Gon complained. "Let's go looking for them already!"

"Didn't you sense there was something wrong about that auction just now?" Killua asked.

"Something wrong?" the boy blinked.

The other three just looked at each other. Leorio nodded to Killua, making him to explain the situation. He sighed while Hitomi gazed at her feet.

"Listen. Normally, an auction is a place where you bid for things. Making a prize a paycheck is strange, no matter how you look at it," he explained. "And why was there a ring in the auction hall? I think their original plan was to use that ring for a Conditional Auction like ours."

"However, something happened that required them to change their plans and look for those guys," Leorio added.

"But they were too tough for the Mafia to handle. Therefore, they decided to make a pretense of a Conditional Auction to gather some men who'd find them for a bounty," Killua concluded. "They really want to catch these guys no matter the cost of time it would take."

"Why?" Gon asked.

"Because they stole the items intended, that's the most logical reason of that," Hitomi smiled bitterly, with her eyes being covered by her bangs, "And there's a little number of crazy guys that could've done something like this," she raised her head and her eyes titled in red. "The Spiders."

Gon's eyes flew open as he stared at the photos of the members.

"So these guys are the Genei Ryodan?" he said, surprised.

"Well, they won't pay two billion each for nothing," Killua commented.

"Hitomi," Leorio looked at the girl. "You should contact Kurapika."

She stared at her phone with a frown in her features.

"No way," she said, stubbornly.

"What?" Leorio asked, in surprise.

"I won't call that arrogant idiot," she said, seriously. "I don't think he will answer though."

"But-!"

"You don't have to push her, Leorio," Gon said, "I'll call."

As expected, Kurapika didn't pick up the call.

Gon got 100 million jenny at the bank, but he had to left his License in the pawnshop as a guarantee. With that money they bought the Southernbees Auction House catalog and found out that the minimum bid for the game was 8.9 billion.

Also the three kids learned to use Gyo to get more valuable items. Even though he felt a little out of it, Leorio decided to stay on the hotel and control everything about the information they had asked about the Spiders.

"Hey guys," Killua said. "Remember, if there's already a bid, you should raise the price by 250 percent!"

"Got it!" Gon shouted before running away.

Hitomi stared at the place where he had been earlier. "Will he be okay? I mean, will we be okay?" she raised an eyebrow. "If he has to calculate all of this... we'll be poor before we know..."

"I hadn't thought about that..." he paled slightly. "I think we just have to trust in Gon's instincts..."

After recollecting many objects - and losing a lot of money because of a guy called Zepile - they went to a man's shop to sell them.

"This painting has been signed by the famous signature alone is worth 150,000," he said, making the kids gasp in surprise. "And the doll also is in good condition and the original box and accessories are intact, increasing the value. This would go for 300,00," they gaped again, before he directed to the sculpture that Gon bought. "On the other hand, this sculpture is worthless I'm afraid."

The kids looked at each other. They could've sworn that they had seen aura on it.

"How can you be that sure?" Hitomi said, feeling a little irritated. "Prove that."

"The box is clearly not the same age as the statue itself, and the carving is rudimentary. The artist didn't even bother to engrave his name," he told them. "I could give you 1,500 jenny for it."

Their faces fell at the thought of the lost money.

"I'm not convinced," Hitomi shook her head. "How can be that sure that you aren't just lying to us?"

"Because I have experience in this kind of things," he said before smirking. "But, if you are not convinced yet, I can offer you to sell me the wood. It is actually very rare, I know someone who'd be willing to pay about 100,000 for it."

"Really?" Gon and Killua said at the same time.

"Now, here's what I'm gonna do for you today," he said. "If you agree to sell me these other two pieces for 420,000, I'll give you 80,000 for the wood. Trust me, you won't find anyone else who'll give you a deal like that."

They looked at each other.

"We need a minute to talk it over," Killua said.

"No rush, take your time," the man smiled kindly. "But while you're doing that, would you mind if I go check the age of this wood?"

"Go ahead," Gon smiled.

The man took the sculpture but, before he could even take a step, he was stopped by another guy with huge eyebrows.

"Don't let him fool you, kids," he said. "He was telling the truth about the value of the art and the doll, but he is lying to you about the statue. That box isn't worth 80,000, you are just trying to get your hands on what's inside the statue!"

"So, Captain Eyebrows..." Hitomi said. "Mind if I ask you who the hell are you?"

"Zepile?!" the three of them shouted in disbelief.

Killua stood up abruptly, slamming his hands on the table.

"We had to spend money because of you!" he shouted. "Why do we have to give you 20 percent of our profits?!"

"Don't be like that," Zepile said. "Consider it a consulting fee. I think I earned it."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Gon said. "He had been helping us a lot."

"Yeah, for like... fifteen minutes," Hitomi facepalmed. "It kinda reminds me of Tonpa's fiasco back in the First Exam..."

"For once, Blondie-girl is right," Killua said, poking Gon in his forehead. "And you, don't be such a pushover. We're gonna need all the money we can get, ever single jenny. The most we're gonna do is pick up the bill for his lunch."

"What? The bill?" Hitomi blinked. "We're gonna pay for Captain Eyebrows' lunch?"

Zepile just smirked.

"Just let me ask you this one question..." he said. "How'd you appraise those three pieces?"

"Appraise?" Gon asked.

"What's that?" Killua asked.

The man's face hit the table at their answer.

"You are serious?! You don't even know what means?!" he yelled. "Then how did you decide on what to buy?!"

"Man, my ears will start to bleed if you keep shouting like that..." Hitomi rubbed her sore ear. She then sighed and her expression became serious. "I think we have no more option than telling you. Listen, you see... um... I... uh..."

Unconsciously, Zepile leaned closer to hear the answer, in curiousity. She sighed and stared at him, with a solemn face.

"I'm psychic," she said in a deadpan tone.

SMACK!

"Why was that for?!" she yelled, putting a hand in the back of her head, angry.

"I'm sorry, I thought you had already seen it beforehand," Killua teased, "You're a psychic after all."

She just frowned at him, but her scowl disappeared a couple of seconds later and it replaced with a sheepishly smile.

The end of the chapter!

Well, I would thank some people:

JokeLover123: That smile... again... *takes a couple of steps back* XD Thanks for reviewing! I hope you like this chapter as well :)

Mr. Kohen: Thank you for leaving a review! This is this chapter but the Spiders won't appear until next chapter. I wish you liked this update despite of that :)

Kri: Thanks for leaving a review! I'm glad you liked last chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

SoulXHunter: Thank you for reviewing! I wish you enjoyed this update like the last one :D

Silent Readers: Thanks for reading! Let's just hope you had fun as well ;)

See you all later!