This is not something I ever expected to happen to me! I was not only being led into the Zoldyck mansion, but I was being led by who I was assuming was the oldest son. Illumi Zoldyck!

So did that mean that cute little kid from earlier was one of his younger brothers? That cute little thing was an assassin? He looked too harmle- Um, okay, yeah I think he's definitely a professional assassin. That saying "looks can kill"? The Zoldycks seem to embody that saying.

Illumi himself was cute. In a girlish-man kinda way. I wondered how old he was…? Wait, was I seriously thinking about him in that way after being threatened? But he was sooo cuuute!

Um, hello? Earth the brain, back on track here.

We had stopped walking and stood just outside of a huge door, it was too dark to be completely sure what it was made of but my guess would be stone. Just like the floors… and the walls… and just about everything else we seemed to pass except for the occasional paintings of Zoldyck ancestors. Well, I assumed they were ancestors or they had a thing for silver and black haired people.

Wouldn't put it past them…

The door swung open and Illumi walked in, I followed. The room was not as huge as I might have originally thought. Though larger than anything to serve a real purpose, the room was a few (hundred) dozen feet long, and about the same wide. They had a thing for straight lines…

In the middle of the room I noticed the cute little kid from before. Now that I thought about it, shouldn't he be in bed or something? It had to be uber late, or would people say super early? Not that I cared, he wasn't my kid. Not that my parents had ever really cared when I went to bed either. So I shrugged it off and continued looking around.

The lighting was better in here, thanks to the chandeliers hanging in spaced intervals from the ceiling. The walls were painted an off white, the floor was still gray. And it seemed to double as a training room, not that I knew what it was supposed to be in the first place. This family was all types of eccentric if I judged from their choices in clothing.

Which brings me to the people. There was some old guy who kept his hands behind his back, and was wearing a sign that read "A Kill A Day". There was a woman in a fooffy yellow dress and fanning herself with a matching hand fan, she was wearing an overly large hat (which also matched her yellow dress) and a weird eye shield thing with a blinking red light. A man was sitting beside her on a large deep purple couch (it matched the old guy's outfit, go figure). This guy had long silver hair and was b-u-f-f-e-d.

They had all been looking at the cute kid until we came in. And I did not like the attention. The aura in here was enough to kill anyone. Okay, anyone normal. I didn't think I classified as normal anymore.

But there were more than just those four in the room. There were three more on the far side, sitting on the floor. I would have missed them if one of them hadn't stood up and started pointing and complaining to the other two. The one who stood up was kinda (fat) overweight. His white shirt was half tucked in and half not, and there was a bag of open chips at his feet. The two he was shouting at appeared to be a little boy with black hair that was to his shoulders and smiley face clips on his bangs, and a little girl, in between the boys' ages, wearing a pretty purple and black kimono with the same colored hair as both the boys.

So in total, I assumed this was the whole of the Zoldyck family plus one guest.

I guess my middle name has now been changed to Royally-Screwed.

Illumi approached the trio of adults, once again forcing me to follow behind like a puppy. My best bet was to stay close to him and hope he didn't let the rest of his family kill me. Then again… I also had to worry about him killing me. He's already bested me once. I didn't like to lose.

"What's this Illumi?" The man on steroids asked as his son approached, a girl around his son's age approaching just as silently. Silva was curious as to why his oldest son would bring a girl here. Illumi never seemed the type to mingle with people outside the family.

"Grandfather, okaa-sama." Illumi greeted before turning and answering my question. "I found her on the grounds near where Kil and I were playing."

"So why didn't you kill her?" I lowered the hand that I had been propping my chin against and looked closer at my son.

"She told me she was here to play with Mike." Was the monotone reply. I kept my face from revealing anything, but now I was curious. This girl was here to play with Mike? Why would she wish to do that? Most people came here seeking out my family for the bounty on our heads, or to get a look at the Infamous Zoldycks.

I looked her over closely. Her hair was cut in an unusual fashion; long in front, short in back and was a pale blue. Her eyes were a complementary darker tint. She was dressed in all black, perfect for hiding in the woods on a dark night like this. She seemed well trained, her aura was especially strong.

"Girl, what's your name?" I barked, she flinched a little and looked to take a step back before stopping herself and glaring at me instead. She had guts. I liked that. This may turn out perfectly.

"Haruka."

"Why were you on Kukuroo Mountain?"

"I… wanted to… ride Mike." She spoke softly, glancing down at her foot in slight embarrassment, one of her arms was crossed behind her back, her hand grasping the other elbow. Her response was intriguing and gained the attention of my wife Kikyo and my father.

"Hehehe… you say you wanted to ride on Mike girl? What makes you think you're capable of that feat?" Father turned to focus more on the girl then on what his other grandsons were doing. Milluki seemed to be arguing over losing yet another game with his brothers. I restrained a sigh.

Sometimes these boys seemed to hold no interest in the family business. Not even Kil, and he was the heir. Illumi was the only one to take on jobs without complaint. Not that he seemed inclined to want to take over the family business either. What was I going to do about them?

"…before." The girl, Haruka, mumbled.

"Speak up girl, some of us are old." Father laughed as she flushed and shifted her gaze between Father and I.

"I've ridden him before." Haruka spoke louder, almost too loudly, for the room. Milluki stopped mid-tirade, turning to look at her. Kalluto, Alluka, and Killua all did the same. Even Kikyo was speechless at the girl's proclamation.

"Really old lady?" Kil perked up, intrigued with the idea that someone could ride Mike. I wouldn't be surprised if he went out tomorrow and tried to do the same thing. That boy just had too much time on his hands, even with all the training we were putting him through.

"I ain't old, you little kitten. I'm barely twenty-one." She stuck her tongue out at him in a childish gesture.

"I'm not a cat!" Kil replied hotly.

"I didn't say cat, I called you a kitten. As in a baby cat, for a baby boy." She smirked in his direction. Kil opened his mouth but didn't reply. She had bested Kil in a bout of words, not many could do that so quickly. The kid had a silver tongue.

"What do you mean about Mike? How could you have ridden him before if this is your first time on the mountain?" I interjected before Kil had time to recover and begin round two.

"Didn't say this was my first time on the mountain." Haruka shifted her attention back to me, still slightly smug over her victory.

"How long have you been coming here then?" I was sure it couldn't have been that long. No one could repeatedly come and go from this mountain without being spotted at least once or twice. Nor could she have ridden Mike all that much. Or at all.

Her aura and posture was difficult to read, even from here. Was it because she was unsure of being around so many people? Or was she trying to cover up her lies?

"Since I was eleven, so around nine years."

"Every night?" I asked, a little surprise leaking into my tone.

"Almost." She paused, considering something. "Sometimes I couldn't make it, or I couldn't find Mike. Or sometimes I'd come during the day. A lot." She shrugged.

How could we have not known? Kukuroo Mountain was impenetrable; the only people who could make it to the front doors were those who took the tour. And those who wished to test their strength against my family could never make it passed Mike. No one outside the family and servants could enter and leave here alive.

Yet this girl had done it. She had been coming here for years without our knowing. Apparently to ride our pet…

The room was silent. No one was moving, except Haruka as she lightly scoffed her foot against the floor, her black hiking boot making little noises against the stone work.

Why are they all looking at me? Is it really that big a deal? I mean, obviously, they don't get a lot of visitors but I'm sure they've had people come onto their property lots. There's a tour route that leads straight to their front door for crying out loud. I couldn't be the only one to get past the gate.

Maybe it's because I've been coming here for so long without running into any of them? I frowned. That didn't seem right. Could they really not have known about me? I wasn't exactly trying to be sneaky… I just wanted to ride Mike once… which turned into wanting to doing it again… which turned into trying to do it every night.

"What's it like?" The little boy spoke up again, his face all lit up. He probably wondered what it was like to be on something as big as Mike. I smiled as I remembered the feeling myself. I never got tired of it.

"It's amazing. Like flying… or running really fast before jumping off a cliff. The feeling you get for a split second when you don't have to worry if you're going to hit the ground or float there forever. It's totally awesome, amazing. Thrilling. I can never get enough." I'm sure my eyes sparkled as I spoke of all the times I had experienced that feeling.

I looked around the room. They were glancing at one another, saying nothing. Had none of them done it before? My smile slowly dissolved. Maybe they had and thought my reaction was childish? But how could they not enjoy that feeling? It was like all the rules of the world didn't apply to you, like you could do anything!

Suddenly a big yawn escaped my lips and I hastily raised a hand to cover it. But I was exhausted. My eyes were drooping. I had to leave now if I was going to make it home before I passed out for my nap.

"I'm sorry for disturbing everyone, but I need to get going now. So… see ya." I turned, hoping to make it to the door before anyone reacted. But my body wasn't exactly coordinated at the moment. I tripped over my own bloody feet, arms flailing for a second before I was caught by Illumi.

My cheeks flamed. Soooo embarrassing!

"Illumi dear, why don't you show her to one of the guest rooms?" Okaa-sama ordered me sweetly. I nodded silently and steadied the blue haired girl. She was grasping my arms tightly, trying to regain her balance. Once she had she quickly unlatched herself and stared pointedly at her toes. Like it was their fault she had tripped.

"Follow me." I told her and turned myself to lead her to one of the many, to the one of the pointless, guest rooms we had. After that, I would turn into my own bed for the night. And hopefully everything would return to normal in the morning.

XXX

A/N: C2 done. Thanks Razor for the name! I think it fits perfectly! This thing has been up for less than a day and I've already gotten followers… I'm so touched! Hopefully I will be able to continue this to the end before I switch back over to my other fanfictions. But we'll see… Also, look forward to seeing Haruka in my A/N's next chapter (maybe).

Who likes the change in writing style? I'm trying something new. Cause this girl talks a lot. I'm also trying to see if I can seamlessly shift between POV's. Win? Fail? Let me know please! I also want opinions on Haruka and all the Zoldycks. (This is before the official manga/anime so please no complaining about OOCness – unless I totally screwed up and everyone finds it bloody awful and wants me to stop before I scar people for life. Hehehe XP)