Hello everyone~! Thanks for reading esp. those who took spent a few minutes telling me what they thought, too. In any case, I'm here to remind everyone to please check my profile when you find the time. :D

DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Hunter X Hunter

...

CHAPTER 5: Hunters X Killua X Promise

A little before the start of the fourth exam. The kids had a momentary moment of peace.

"So… What were you talking about?" Killua asked Gon after she returned from her short fishing trip. He eyed Hisoka who ate her catch looking visibly amused.

"I had to pay him back."

"For what?"

"He saved me once, I think." she muttered as she scratched her nose. In any case, she loved fishing so it wasn't a surprise she'd be wanting to do more. She stared expectantly at her friend who really didn't have any choice but to flinch.

"Ne, Killua…" he stared. "Want a fish too? Want to catch one with me?" She offered, and seeing as he was a tad envious of Hisoka's fish- Killua found himself smirking.

"Sure."

...

BUMP

The boat finally stopped and the examiner with a few of his assistants came out of their rooms to go and speak with them.

The fourth exam, apparently, was a literal a hunting game. They were asked to pick up a card from a box they provided, and told them afterwards that they correspond to number plates containing the number of the person whom they were supposed to hunt. They needed to get 6 points to proceed to the final step. The player's own plate together with their target would comprise 6 points all in all, while other plates were assigned only a point each.

She put a mental image of her number and frowned. Her target was the most feared person by most of the contestants- even by some examiners: Hisoka.

She wondered if her luck had ran out for good.

But then again, maybe it didn't.

She was scared, definitely, but more than anything she was excited. She looked forward to this challenge and how she was going to deal with it.

And yes, even she knew that catching a fish for him again would not do the trick.

*Days Later*

A long time passed since the exam started and the usually-optimistic Gon couldn't be even more miserable.

She failed keeping her hard-earned plates a minute after she obtained them. It was definitely a horrible thing to happen to a person, especially when one worked so hard to practice to get it. She managed to hide her presence during those days she followed her target, impressing Hisoka in the end yet again.

But she totally forgot the fact that someone might just be targeting her.

Hisoka killed Geretta and gave the plates to her, claiming he did not need them. He told her she could only return it to him once she got a clean punch on his face. She refused to accept them- not that she doubted she could land that punch, but because of her personal pride. She was not going to change her mind.

And that meant one thing: Failure. The official one. Since she already did fail.

She placed her forehead on her knees again in despair and pain- both from the poison from Geretta as well as the despair that hit her in the face every time she mused of a certain fact: she was not good enough to be a hunter... that she did not deserve to stay in the competition any longer.

And this fact pained her more than she could have imagined.

She did not even look at the plates just lying around in the grass. She just stared at the animals that accompanied her during her helpless stage and thanked them.

"Arigatou." she muttered as soon as she had recovered. She looked at the sky- purposely skipping the grass where Hisoka's plates rest.

The end of the fourth exam was near. And after thanking the animals one more time- simply because once wasn't enough for the company and encouragement that they gave. Gon turned her head to another direction and let out a deep breath. She was going to look for her human friends…

…and hang out with them one more time.

...

"Gon!" Kurapika called the moment he saw her figure. Kurapika felt elated but he frowned the instant he saw her expression. She just smiled at him and Leorio before telling them that it's nice to see them safe.

"What's up?" Gon asked nonchalantly, but Kurapika could sense she was wearing a mask. He felt extremely worried- it was not like her to hide behind a facade.

"Didn't you get the plates?" He asked almost immediately that it's rude.

"I did…" She muttered making him arch his eyebrows. 'Then why do you look so dejected, then?' He wanted to voice out but he knew his rudeness would had to be stopped.

He remained silent as Gon helped Leorio out to find his target. He watched her in comprehension as she literally sniffed Leorio's target. The moment Leorio stepped away from them to hunt his target down though, he started blurting his thoughts out.

"Why do you look so dejected, Gon?" He voiced out, mentally punching himself. She stared at him for a while to ponder whether or not to tell him.

"I…" She uttered, but nothing more. She looked sadly at the ground, looking as if she was at war with herself. Kurapika felt a twinge of pain in seeing the always-smiling Gon in such a state, and he knew that he needed to comfort her. It was his turn to help her, this time, and he found out that he was going to take all the similar opportunities that arouse.

He placed one of his palms to her cheek so that they would have eye contact. Gon flinched but didn't move any further. She then just looked straight into his eyes as he spoke.

"Gon, tell me. What happened?" He requested gently but sternly. Gon frowned and then shifted her gaze away. She felt that Kurapika was going to wait for her to talk, so she reluctantly decided to tell him.

"My target is this really strong person… and after a while of working and tailing him, I managed to get his plate. But… I was stupid…. I didn't think anyone was following me so Geretta immediately got all the plates. Then… my… target killed him and he gave my plate and his to me…" She took a deep breath. "There's no way I can accept that."

Kurapika unconsciously hardened his grip of her cheeks, causing her to look at him. He immediately softened them again but he wasn't able to let them go. He let out a huge sigh to keep himself calm.

"So you're planning on purposely failing this exam?" he asked as coherently as he could. Gon instantaneously went to correct him.

"I didn't do it on purpose, Kurapika. I already did fail."

Kurapika frowned even deeper. His annoyance slowly becoming more visible every sentence. "How can you say that? You got his plate didn't you?"

"But I lost it immediately – I even got help from him. I can't be a Hunter if I always need help… how can I help others when I can't even help myself-" She wanted to sob but Kurapika stopped her by holding her other cheek with his other hand to make her slowly turning face back to him.

"You helped all of us Gon, in way more ways than you could've imagined. I don't think any of us would be able to go this far without your help." He stated sternly, not lying at all. He recalled all the things Gon did– be they unconventional solutions or acts of pure kindness. Gon assisted and was always there ready to support anyone, but she didn't seem to realize that.

Gon stared at him, pondering what made him say that. She believed what Kurapika said… but that's because she didn't really know how to doubt a friend. Kurapika who had been waiting for her reaction for a quite some time decided to enumerate all the proof of his statement, when–

"Gon! Kurapika! Don't come inside!" Leorio ordered with audible urgency in his voice. But the two ignored the statement and unthinkingly went inside to find themselves in a dire situation with Leorio and two other contestants: Ponzu and Bodoro.

They were trapped by snakes and there seemed that there was no way out. Every opening was filled with snakes that would bite automatically if you got too close. They found out later that Bodoro was dead and no one could come near him since the snakes were guarding him, too. What made everything worse was Leorio got bitten and there was a huge chance that he would die before the exam would end.

They couldn't just passively wait for the committee to find them and pray Leorio was strong enough to hold on until then, now could they? They would never risk his life like that-

And not a moment too soon, Kurapika and Gon had a crazy idea. There was a good chance that the antidote was with Bodoro... but the downside was that if it was not there then, another person might die.

"I'll do it." Gon said to Kurapika decisively. Kurapika and Ponzu objected vehemently but she was quick with her feet so that she was already bitten by the snakes by the time Kurapika stood up to stop her.

Time stopped

And the next thing he knew, Gon was already in their side- with the antidotes.

"Itte! What was that for?" Gon frowned holding her head that Kurapika just nudged. She was just injected with the antidote, after all, what could Kurapika be thinking?

"Don't go jump to your death like that." he whispered blankly, still shocked by the events, and Gon immediately felt the selfish side of her actions.

"G-Gomen Nasai."

Kurapika's eyes widened and he reflexively whipped his head to Gon. What did he look like for her to apologize so quickly?

"Ah..." he uttered forcing his usual expression on, ignoring Ponzu's prying stare.

The next problem, they realized, after composing themselves was how to get out and actually pass the exam. It was Gon who came up with yet another crazy idea: she proposed that they put the snakes to sleep with one of Ponzu's sleeping spray and she would hold her breath for 10 minutes and carry the others out to safety.

Kurapika wanted to object on this one, too, but there really was no other way. Besides, when Gon realized that she helped them again she might change her mind about giving the examination up. So he decided to just hope for the best.

"Be careful, Gon." He whispered anxiously.

"I'll try..." He blinked but Gon just grinned at him reassuringly.

"But I'll make sure we all go through with this safely."

And she stood by her words.

As they had arrived outside, Gon placed their backs on separate trees and decided to return to that place after surveying around to make sure they're safe. But just when she was about to leave she felt a firm grip on her hand.

"Where are you going?" Kurapika asked seriously as he pushed all his lethargy away. Gon smiled and sat to his level. She realized what Kurapika said, and decided to continue with this particular journey with them.

She kissed him on the cheeks and whispered,

"Arigatou." before she ran to her destination.

…leaving an utterly shocked blonde tomato behind.

...

The blimp arrived a little later, announcing that the hunters return to the ship within the one-hour time frame. The nine people who passed went there, most of whom were already near the meeting spot, and for a moment let their guards dropped in order to maintain their sanity. But most of them were no longer surprised at the gleeful atmosphere that those children brought.

"Killua!" Gon yelled joyfully as soon as she saw her friend's silver hair.

"Gon!" He shouted back with equal fervency. They gave each other a rather energetic high-five before drilling each other what happened the days they were not together.

"So… How'd it go~?" Killua asked and added, "You probably took out some random guys to get 3 points, right?" He asked jokingly, even when he really did expect her to say 'yes'.

"No…"

"What? How-d you – And why do you look so sad?"

"It was… given to me…" She muttered. Killua wanted to know what happened but the uncharacteristic sadness in her eyes told him she needed some space. So he just decided to look at her line of sight.

Gon was staring at the sunset. He smiled at the sight.

Killua never really appreciated its beauty before the hunter exam.

But right at that moment, he thought that it was one of the most beautiful things in the world.

...

SOME THOUSAND KILOMETERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL

They were given three days break before the start of the final exam. Leorio and a few others thought that it might be a written exam and decided to cram while Gon and Killua were as indifferent as they always were. They decided to do some exploring.

"WHOA!" Gon shouted as she stepped back because of the strong wind that greeted her as soon as she opened the door to the balcony. She immediately regained her footing and called Killua who was still walking towards the door. Gon ran towards the railing and expressed her childish amazement.

"Sugoi! All those buildings look so tiny, ne, Killua!" She yelled at her friend who just smiled at her. Killua was glad she was back to normal. He watched her run towards the railing and rest on it as she stared at the view before following her there.

As he walked towards her, he noticed that she was not moving an inch and he stared at her as soon as he was beside her. She had that serene expression on her cute face startling Killua. He blinked for a few moments, and asked nonchalantly without attempting to hide his blush,

"What are you thinking about?"

"How huge the world is. And that I'm going to explore it once I become a Hunter."

"I see…" He muttered and then sadly looked into the horizon. She travelling around the world means there is little chance they would meet again after the exam.

"Killua?" She called when she saw his sad face. "Do you want to accompany me?"

Silence

He stared wide-eyed at her to find that she was scratching her face and blushing due to shyness. He covered the bottom half of his face and turned around- to hide his blush that seemed to be turning into a nosebleed.

Gon sighed in disappointment.

"I guess not, then…" She muttered out loud forcing Killua to get a hold of himself.

"No! You just shocked me that's all…" He cleared his throat. "I'd be glad to accompany you to find your father…. until you find him."

Gon immediately beamed at the statement and bear-hugged him in delight. Killua's legs lost all strength and fell down. He ignored the slight pain on his back and thanked God that the nosebleed didn't come before he actually hugged her back. Gon immediately sat up when she noticed that she hurt her friend.

She looked up the sky and held out her hand up so that she see its silhouette against the bright blue sky. Killua automatically did the same in an attempt to understand what she was doing. Gon made a pinky when she saw Killua's hands near hers. She asked Killua to do the same. He did so but then he flinched when she suddenly entwined her finger with his.

"Gon…?" he asked in both puzzlement and embarrassment.

She grinned. "This is called a Pinky promise."

He batted an eyelid in befuddlement."A what?"

"A pinky promise. It's something me and Mito-san do when we want to make a promise." She explained and Killua stared at their intertwined fingers.

"That's silly..."

"It is?" She asked in confusion. Killua chuckled.

"Yes. But Fine." he said as he grinned, keeping their fingers tangled. Gon returned to her beaming state and continued with her speech.

"Promise me you'd accompany me to my father." She said as if it was on some sort of contract- which was in a sense, true. Killua's grin transformed into a serene smile. He was going to be with Gon for a little while longer.

And that was a promise he'd gladly make any day.

"Okay. I promise."

.
.

END OF CHAPTER V

Coming soon:
CHAPTER VI: Pass X Fail X Illumi

...

REPLIES TO ANGELS:

RoxasIsReal13 - *Gasp* Hide, Gon. HIDE! Haha. Thanks for the comment~

imachan1208 - hehehe. Thanks for the comments~! Oh dear.. you had high expectations for this chapter, huh... I hope I didn't disappoint!

Seithr-fairy - lol yeah I was actually laughing when I was imaging Illumi doing that... And Thanks so much for the suggestions! You actually made e realize how mary-suish the power I thought of was. haha~ I got an idea on deciding powers now. Thanks!

Annanimeaddict - lolz. YoU! haha. Thank you for the comment! I'm glad someone actually cross-overs my 2 different fandoms^^

Phoenix-Thunder - Thank you for the comment! And I don't think I'd pace the love thing any time soon, though. ahaha~ And so sorry for the late update^^

Baylee1100 - Aw~ Thanks so much for the review~!

MysticMoon2821 - Thank you for the review! I hope I keep my 'unique' streak. Sure do hope you tell me when I'm doing otherwise. XD

What were you thinking as you read?
Share it with me please~ I'm happy to read anything. ^^