"ARRRROOOO!" Mike's howl came nice and clear through the open air. I waited until it died down and the wind picked up again before I pressed the STOP button on the tape recorder. A smile played on my lips as I laughed.

Take this boys! I jumped through the tree branches, aiming for home. I was tempted to stay and ride Mike, this was the first night in two weeks I had been able to make it up here. Amy had caught a cold and passed it off to all the other kids. So my nights have been filled with sniffling and coughing trying to get everyone healthy. Mimi caught it this week herself, and I forced her to stay in bed so she could recover.

But everyone had finally stopped sneezing every five seconds tonight and I high tailed it to Kukuroo Mountain. Mike was an essential part of my plan to deal with the jerks who keep harassing us.

If this plan didn't scare them off, they were flat out brainless. I was rather fond of the plan myself, the kids even had rolls to play!

Laughing, I jumped to another tree. My hand grabbed a branch, using my momentum I swung my body and landed on another tree.

"You really are a monkey." The male voice was from a branch one row higher. Zoldyck boy! I craned my neck back and saw him standing with his arms crossed and a blank mask.

"That's a compliment." I said and stuck out my tongue.

"Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?" I mimicked his deadpan tone. I couldn't keep my face straight and cracked up. He didn't. "Hey Illu take a joke why don't cha?

"Why do you call me Illu?"

"Because Illumi is so boring. Illu sounds so much better." She placed her hands on her hips and gave me a big smile. "Don't you and your brothers have nicknames you call each other? And get down here, my neck's starting to hurt."

I obliged and swung myself onto her branch. I sat down and looked out across the tree tops. We were in one of the tallest trees on the grounds and the view was breath taking. I never thought something I've seen my whole life could still be so magical.

"No." I said.

"No what?"

"No, my brothers don't have a nickname for me."

"Really?" Haruka sat beside me, swinging her legs. Something was held in her hand.

"ARRRROOOO!" Mike's howl echoed in the night, but it was coming from the girl next to me… Oh, I blinked, it's a tape recorder.

"Gah! Sorry, sorry! My bad. I pressed the button by mistake!" Her face flamed and she fumbled to press the STOP button on the device.

"So that's why you're here tonight." I stated. She looked up at me from under her bangs, searching my face for signs of ridicule.

"Y-yeah. I needed… Mike's howl… You know, for Halloween?"

"Could you not just buy a device like that in a store?"

"Well, ya. But it wouldn't be Mike's howl now would it? And I need his howl if I'm gunna scare those guys shitless." Her hands flew to her mouth to keep her from saying anything else.

Illumi stared at me with slightly wider than wide eyes. Crap! How could I have let that slip? Mimi told me again and again to watch my words! Why didn't I listen to her? Dammit, now he's gonna go and think I don't have manners.

Well, okay, he probably already thinks that I don't have manners. I've been sneaking into his backyard for years without so much as a hi ya or how do you do.

"What guys?" He broke into my freak out. It took me a minute to think about my words, though I was sure I was going to slip up and swear. Again. Really need a new vocabulary…

"Just some men in town who aren't very appreciative of the woman I'm living with."

"How so?" The question wasn't asked in any kind of tone, but just remembering what they've done I started ranting.

"The SOB's of the village think it's perfectly okay to hate on us. It used to be just glare at us whenever we walked down the sidewalk, like people! They think we're not even worth the ground we tread, stupid ass wipes… But now it's worse than when I was a kid! The douches have taken it a step further. T.p-ing the tree out front, which moved on to t.p-ing the whole house… they're still bullying the kids in school, and if it weren't for the fact that they're being picked on by snot nosed brats I'd hang them all from their toes…"

I sat there as Haruka continued on a tirade of insults, some common but most creative interpretations that I'm sure she came up with on the spot. She was speaking a mile a minute before she suddenly stopped, took a deep breath, hummed a few bars of that song from before, and looked at me.

"Just today they threw another rock at the window. I mean, I know it's spider web glass… they're the reason I insisted on getting it for Mimi when it came time to replace the windows and all… but still! They shouldn't be throwing rocks at people's houses!"

"I'm not sure I see what Mike's howl has to do with these men. Wouldn't it just be simpler to go to the authorities or the mayor?" Or couldn't you simply deal with them? I wanted to ask, but I'm sure if she could have Haruka would have taken care of them a long time ago. Before it got to this point. She was an honest and loyal person.

"Oh, hehehe, that." I smiled as I thought of all the things I could do under the assumption we were simply putting on a "haunted house". Nothing permanently harmful… so slicing off hands and such were off the menu, but there were plenty of other alternatives… I think.

Zoldyck boy continued to look at me. So I took the opportunity to elaborate.

"What are two things everyone knows?" I raised my index finger, "One, the Hunter Exams are brutal but well worth the risks. Two," I raised my next finger, "the Zoldycks are to be feared. As well as their guard dog, Mike. Everyone down in town knows that when Mike howls, someone gets eaten. So if I have his howl on record, and I play it from the other side of the house, if they're smart they'll run away thinking I have Mike tethered in the backyard. All in all, this should end with them thinking twice about who they're dealing with."

I blinked, looking at the seemingly nice blue haired girl in front of me. That plan was unconventional, but not too bad. It would work, especially if the men were less than average intellectuals. But that she had thought this up… I think I would like to remain on her good side in the foreseeable future. Though, the plan also had aspects which seemed fun.

I mentally shrugged. I was free for the next week, my parents wished to focus more on my siblings' training and jobs were always slow at this time of year… maybe because it's the changing of seasons?

"Would you like help?"

"Really Illu?! You'll help?" She leaned over and swung her arms around me, squeezing tight before she pulled back. Was that a… did she just… hug me? "This plan will be epic now that I have an actual Zoldyck! Oh, and feel free to invite your brothers too! The more the better!"

I hastily stood up, brushed off some loose bark from my butt and left without another word. I can't believe I had just hugged Illumi! It was spontaneous, yeah. But hugging an assassin?! I'm just glad he seemed too stunned to kill me.

I didn't stop running until I was back at Mimi's house, where everyone seemed to be sleeping soundly. Sigh… I'm glad they're all feeling better. Miki especially, poor little girl. I think she had more than the cold. She had been puking all weekend before the soup finally stayed down.

Woo~

I raised a hand to my forehead as a dizzy spell came over me. Sleep sounds good… It's been a couple days since I had gotten more than three hours of sleep. Plus with having to run up and down Kukuroo Mountain to get that recording…

Uh… Where did I put the tape recorder? It had been in my hand, hadn't it? I looked down to see two empty palms. I checked all the pockets in my jeans. Nadda. I looked back at the way I had come and saw nothing shiny, black, or rectangular.

Mother F! I was just about to give up on looking for it for the night in favor of sleeping when out of nowhere it dropped at my feet.

"You forgot this." Illumi was standing in the tree, one hand steadying himself against the bark. I looked at the ground to see my tape recorder. I looked back up at the tree and Illumi was gone. Robotically I bent down to pick up the little device and turned to go inside. Relief spread throughout my body… regret followed closely behind.

Why did he have to leave…?

I watched from the shadows of a house a few doors away from Haruka. I saw her pick up the recorder, glance once more at the tree I had recently been standing in, and open the door. Only then, did I turn away and begin the long trek home.

XXX

A/N: Hehehe… I think this is starting to become closer to romance.

Haruka: *yanks covers off* Get out from under there Hisoka-wannabe!

A/N: My covers! *yanks back*

*Haruka and Ria continue tug of war with the sheets*

Illumi: *leaves room*