A big thank you to, Rina Dragonfly, Anime lover and all silent readers!
Rina Dragonfly – I'm glad you found some humour in the chapter!
Anime lover – Aw well, better luck next time. I'm sure did great either way, remember practice makes perfect.

Let's get the legal stuff out of the way first. I do not own Hunter x Hunter or Hunter x Hunter 2011. All rights and ownership go to the following: Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Shonen, Kazuhiro Furuhashi, Nobuaki Kishima, Nippon Animation, Viz Media, Fuji TV, Funimation Channel, Satoshi Saga, Yukihiro Matsushite, Makoto Sato, Hiroshi Kojina, Atsushi Maekawa, Tsutomu Kamishiro, Madhouse, NTV, Yuzo Sato, Shoji Yonemura and last but not least Keiichiro Kawaguchi. Whew.

I had been training with my brother all day every day for the last month. He said I was getting better each and every day without fail; although he wished I was just a little bit braver when it came to punching or kicking at his hands. He kept saying I wasn't going to hurt him, but I always went on the side of caution worried that I might. I wasn't as strong as my brother, he was a lot stronger than me and had gotten a lot stronger since we started training ourselves for the month, and it was admirable. We began walking back to Sarah's house, my brother sneezing every so often as we walked. I just hoped he wasn't getting sick; he was grumpy when sick.

I saw Jerome back at the inn. He was waiting outside for us with his arms crossed and eyes closed, leaning against the wall of the inn. The two of us walked up to him, watching him cautiously. An uncomfortable silence fell between the three of us until Jerome broke it.
"So, you two actually stuck to it." Jerome said, making my brother nod his head, a determined look on his face. Jerome sighed as he shook his head. He dropped his hands into his jean pockets as he dropped his head back, keeping his eyes closed.
"I was hoping you two would quit. I don't feel comfortable sending kids off to such a horrid exam." He said to us, rummaging through his pockets. He stopped rummaging and pulled out his hand, bringing his head forward and looking at us square in the eyes.
"These cards are your Hunter applications. As soon as Mishka turns twelve you can both enter together. I've already pre-signed the bottom for Mishka." Jerome said, holding out a blue card that had several white boxes on it. I took the card cautiously and held it between both my hands, looking at it carefully. My brother stared at his card hard before turning his head back to Jerome.
"Thank you for letting us take the exam." My brother said, bowing his head slightly. Jerome rubbed the back of his neck, turning his head away.
"Don't bother thanking me lad, a promise is a promise." He said to us. I smiled widely at him as Kurapika gave him a small smile.

I looked between the Hunter application card and back at Jerome, a wide smile on my face.
"Hey, Jerome. Is Sarah a Hunter too?" I asked him. The question had been on my mind for a while, and I been meaning to ask but I always either forgot or never got the courage to. Jerome raised an eyebrow slightly at my question but nodded his head, crossing his arms once more.
"She is, although she's retired now. She used to be a Gourmet Hunter." Jerome said to us. I looked at him wide eyed, I didn't know what a Gourmet Hunter was but it sounded like a lot of fun. I shivered slightly as Kurapika sneezed again; making Jerome laugh at us both.
"Better get inside, the winds picking up and it's getting colder. Might snow soon." Jerome said to us. I nodded my head and waited for my brother to start walking in first. As soon as my brother started walking forward I heard something hit the ground hard. Looking over my shoulder I saw Jerome lying on the ground; his eyes closed and teeth gritted together. It looked like he was in a lot of pain, but also unconscious. He was sweating and breathing heavily; even though it was starting to get very cold.
"Big brother Jerome doesn't look very well." I said, turning my head towards my brother, who had stopped walking. He looked over the top of my head and went wide eyed.
"Stay here, I'll get Sarah." He said and quickly ran back inside. I jogged over to Jerome and sat on my knees, shaking his shoulder lightly to try and get him to wake up. I furrowed my brows when he stayed on the ground, his teeth still gritted with sweat dripping and sliding down his face.
"What happened?!" Sarah asked in a panic and ran over to us. She shook her head as she bent down onto her knees.
"Don't explain now; just help me get him inside." She said in a rushed voice. She slid one of his arms over his shoulder as my brother quickly made his way over to Jerome's other side and slid the other arm around his shoulder. Together; the two lifted the giant man and started to bring him inside the house. I furrowed my brows as I followed the two, hoping that Jerome was alright and that the reason why he fell over was because he got very cold.

I laid in bed with the quilt pulled to my chin and hands gripping tightly onto the edge, staring at the ceiling as my brother read a book. I couldn't get to sleep, no matter how much I tried to. Sarah had asked us kindly to go to our room as she wanted to call the doctor over for a house visit, but wanted privacy to do so. When the doctor arrived I overheard him say that what happened was a complete mystery to him. It was a mystery illness until the doctor could get results from the samples of blood he took from Jerome.
"Jerome's really sick, isn't he big brother?" I asked Kurapika quietly. He never took his eyes out of his books, but I could see him nod his head from the corner of my eyes.
"Yeah, he is." He said quietly back. We stayed quiet for a bit longer until I heard my brother sigh. I turned my head to look at him slightly.
"We'll leave in the morning. We've stayed too long here. We'll be too much trouble when Sarah and Jerome's baby arrives; with Jerome sick too they don't need too much stress." My brother said to me. I continued to watch him, furrowing my brows and buried myself under my quilt more so that it came to under my nose.
"Will they be okay?" I asked him as he nodded his head and turned his head to me, smiling a very small smile.
"They will be. The doctor said Jerome should recover, and when we're not here to burden them they'll get on fine." My brother said to me. I nodded my head, taking in his words. He was right; we were being a burden, after all we just turned up one day and said "we wouldn't be here for long." But Sarah said we could stay as long as we needed, and Jerome wouldn't let us become Hunters unless we could prove to him to have gotten stronger. It delayed us leaving by a lot. I thought to myself for a little bit, before turning onto my side facing him.
"Goodnight, big brother." I said to Kurapika, curling myself into a little tight ball and closed my eyes to allow myself to fall asleep.
"Goodnight, Mishka." I heard my brother say before my mind went blank and I entered a world of darkness.

My brother had made sure we had everything. One of our bags broke, leaving us with only the white shoulder bag. My brother had folded everything in such a way that it all fit into the bag. It turned out his sneezing from yesterday was because the day was getting colder and there was a very small chill in the air. We made up the beds as neatly as possible and left the room we were staying in quietly and quickly. Heading downstairs I heard talking between Sarah and Jerome. I waited for my brother to go through the room first and followed on behind him. Sarah and Jerome looked to us, spotting the bag. Sarah gave a sad smile.
"I take it your leaving?" She asked us. Me and my brother nodded at the same time. I looked over to Jerome; he looked pale and very weak; as if his condition just literally deteriorated overnight. Jerome looked at us sternly as Sarah looked over kindly, but sadly.
"You two better stay out of trouble; I don't want to have to come looking for your asses because you decided to get into a mess." Jerome told us sternly, making me and my brother nod once more. He smiled back a little, smiling himself as Sarah stood up and walked over to us.
"Stay safe; you're always welcome here." She said to us. She then looked over to my brother, smiling at him kindly but still holding the sad look in her eyes.
"You're taking on a huge responsibility, Kurapika. But remember, you're only twelve, so try to act like a kid sometimes when you can." She told him making my brother nod his head slightly. Jerome stood up and nearly fell forward. He caught himself and walked over to us.
"Look out for each other, when you become Hunters the world will suddenly become harder on you both. So look out for each other and keep one another safe." He said to us, making us nod once more.

Silence fell between the four of us until my brother decided to speak up.
"When we become Hunter's we'll come back to show you. We promise." He said to them as I nodded my head quickly. Sarah's sad smile got a little bit wider as Jerome laughed somewhat.
"Good because if you don't I will hunt you both down myself." He said, giving a wide smile with a deep laugh, although it looked pained. My brother bowed his head slightly, as I followed his actions, bowing my head a little as well.
"Thank you for letting us stay here." Here he said to them as we both stood up straight. Sarah brushed it off, keeping that semi wide smile on her face.
"It was no problem; we enjoyed having you here." She said to us. I quickly hugged Sarah tightly, careful not to put any pressure onto her tummy.
"Thank you for looking after us." I said to her, feeling her bend down to hug me back lightly.
"It's no problem." She said quietly, letting me go. I quickly did the same to Jerome, careful not to put any pressure onto him. I received a small pat on the head as I let go and walked back to my brothers' side. The two of us walked over to the door, exiting the inn. Sarah and Jerome had followed us to the door to see us out. I turned back with my brother and waved at them, a wide smile on my face as we waved goodbye.

Me and my brother had walked for quite a bit. I was sad that we had said goodbye to Sarah and Jerome; but I knew it was for the best as well. After we left S'rin-ya, we had walked through the forest that surrounded the small town. Luckily, there was no vicious animals in this forest, that's what made S'rin-ya so safe. All the locals knew there was nothing vicious or anything that had killer instincts, but people from the outside world didn't. We walked for about two hours before we had come to any sort of light or any sort of sign that people live near. Out first sign that people lived near or that there was a town nearby was the beeping of horns from cars. I furrowed my brows and felt myself go stiff at the sound. We walked closer and closer to the sound and found our way out the forest. A had to shut my eyes quickly and then re-open them slowly as the sun had blinded me. Once my eyes were fully opened I looked forward. About a quarter of a mile away was a town, with cars beeping loudly. I could only assume that it was so loud was because of the lack of living things in this part of the outside; it gave the noise room to echo.

We had reached the town after half an hour of walking. I had learnt that this town was called "Yughi". From what I could gather from all the shops and such, this town was built on anything electrical. This ranched from electrical scrapes to fully working electrical goods. Everybody here had something that ran on electricity. It felt uncomfortable and unusually hot in this town because of all the electronics. Not to mention the people here were unusually rude. I had accidently bumped into someone and he nearly struck me for it. If it wasn't for my brother stepping in then the man probably would have slap my face and called me something mean; he seemed very on edge and I wondered if it was how the town was. Kurapika had said that we were only going to pass through this town to get to the next hopefully today as he wasn't very uncomfortable with all the noise and how stuffy this town seemed to be.

I heard meowing down an alley way we walked past in the streets. I stopped and looked down it, making my brother suddenly stop as he was holding my hand so that I wouldn't get lost in the crowds.
"What is it, Mishka?" I heard him ask me as I continued looking down the alley way wide eyed. I timidly let go of my brother's hand and walked down the alley way, concentrating on the meow I had heard.
"Mishka, wait!" I heard my brother shout as he quickly walked up behind me. I walked faster and faster towards the meowing sound. I managed to find the source of it. Getting onto my hands and knees and looked behind one of the trash cans and smiled widely to myself. It was tabby in colour, a grey and brown one, with bright yellow eyes and a small white tip on its tail.
"Hello kitty cat, come here." I said holding out my hand and out stretching my fingers for it to sniff. The cat, wondered up to my fingers curiously and sniffed them a little bit before backing off completely and hissing. I pulled my hand back and only just noticed the shadow behind. Looking back I saw my brother standing behind me with a stern look on his face and arms crossed.
"You can't run off like that Mishka, what if something happened?" He asked me. I furrowed my brows a little and nodded my head.
"Sorry big brother." I said to him quietly and turned back to the trash can holding out my hand once more. The cat wondered up to my hand and pushed its head into my hand, purring slightly. I smiled widely and reached out with my other hand. I gently placed my hand under his armpits and lifted him from the ground then turned around.
"Can we keep him?" I asked my brother, looking up to him smiling widely, holding the tabby cat in my hands up to him. The cat drew back his ears and hissed at my brother once more.

My brother shook his head sighing a little bit. I looked at him frowning and with furrowed brows as I brought the cat to my chest.
"We won't be staying in places for long, so we won't have anywhere to keep it. It won't be fair of it." My brother said to me making me frown even more.
"We can do it! Kitty cat can keep us company every day and he's really small so he won't eat a lot like me." I said to my brother, smiling widely. My brother sighed once more and shook his head, dropping his arms from his chest. He looked closely at the cat and leant forward slightly, taking a good look at its chest. The cat hissed at him again and this time took a swipe at my brothers' face. Kurapika quickly moved his face out of the way, standing up straight.
"We should take it to a vet, it looks hurt." My brother said calmly. My eyes went wide as I gently turned the cat around in my hands. I looked at his chest myself and saw a big line of red. I furrowed my brows and looked back at the cat in the eye.
"Is that why you're angry kitty cat?" I asked him, only to receive a meow in response.
"Come on, let's take it to a vet; they'll help it." My brother said as he began walking out of the alley way. I nodded my head and quickly followed my brother. I gently laid the cat's front paws onto my shoulder as we exited the alley way and held my arm under its bottom and back legs. The cat had other ideas and jumped up onto my shoulder then curled itself around my neck. I laughed slightly as its tail flicked against my nose every so often; it was ticklish.

I had stayed close to my brother as he tried to find a vet. In the end; Kurapika ended up asking one of the residents where the local vet was. We followed his directions and found the building. My brother held open the door letting me walk in first. I felt eyes from everybody inside the room on me and froze at the door before backing away and hiding behind my brother once more. My brother moved forward and walked to a couple of the seats. I moved out from behind him and pulled myself onto the seat, sitting on my hands as my brother sat next to me. The waiting room was a light blue in colour with wooden flooring. There was a wood table pushed to one side of the room with lots of different information leaflets. The room wasn't very big and could only seat about twelve people at once.

Other people looked at us; they all had different animals ranging from dogs to gets and even rabbits! Some of them even had birds. The door leading into the veterinary surgery opened. A lady wearing a green short sleeved shirt, green trousers and white shoes walked out with a notepad in her hand.
"Mrs Hughie, the vet will see you now." She called out from her note pad. A very round lady wearing a big dress with pink heels stood up with an animal in a carrier. I could feel the cat tense on my shoulders as it looked at the carrier.
"Anybody new?" The lady in green asked. My brother put his hand up slightly. The lady walked over and stood in front of the two of us.
"Name of animal?" She asked us. My brother thought to himself, however I quickly answered the question.
"Kitty cat." I said to her as she nodded her head and jotted down the information into her notepad.
"Okay and what are your names?" She asked us both, this time my brother answering the question.
"Kurapika and Mishka." He said as she nodded her head and jotted down the information once more. She walked back through the door she came through, closing the door behind her.

We had waited in the waiting room for what seemed like forever, just watching the other people go through first with their pets. They didn't come out through the door they went through so I could only assume there was a back door for people to leave. Soon, the lady in green stepped out of the door that the others had been disappearing through.
"Kurapika, Mishka. The vet will see you now." She said making my brother nod his head. My brother stood up from his chair as I climbed down and followed him closely through the door that the lady in green was holding open. We walked into another room and soon saw a lady in a white coat. She was very slim; she had brown hair tightly curled into a bun with green eyes and some freckles on her face. She wore a kind smile.
"Hello dear, I've been told this is Kitty cat?" She said to me, indicating to the cat. I nodded my head slightly, staying behind my brother who watched the woman carefully. She continued to smile, looking between me, my brother and the cat.
"How long have you owned Kitty cat dear?" She asked me. I stepped behind my brother a little more. He decided to answer the question.
"We found it today. It has a wound on its chest. Kurapika said as I nodded my head a little bit, watching the woman from behind my brother's arm. The lady continued to smile kindly and stared calmly, nodding her head.
"I see. Well; let's see what we can do for the little guy shall we?" She said, keeping the small smile on her face. She nodded her head towards the table she was standing behind. I looked up at my brother. He moved forward making me walk with him.
"I'm Dr Gyuto. I'm the owner of this Veterinary surgery, so Kitty cat's in good hands." She said, keeping the small smile on her face.

I carefully picked up the cat from my shoulders and placed it onto the table. The cat looked around, curious, and sniffed the table. I watched it smiling widely and held out my hand, stroking its head. The cat pushed its hand into my head and purred loudly. The vet examined the cats' chest as it was busy rubbing its head against my hand.
"Oh now that looks sore…" She said, trailing off. I watched as she turned around and placed on some blue rubber gloves. I went to pick up the cat to bring it away from her; however my brother stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders. I looked up at him as he gave me a stern look. I furrowed my brows and looked back at the vet.
"Don't worry I'm not doing anything nasty to him. I just want to check that wound closer." She said, smiling kindly. I nodded my head slightly in response to her sentence. She looked over at the cat and gently laid two fingers from both her hands on either side of the wound, pushing back the fur. She frowned deeply as she pulled back the opening a little bit. The cat meowed in pain and swiped its paw at her, hissing and making a noise. I saw the woman sigh to herself as she looked over to my brother, nodding his head towards the door she came from and took off her gloves.

My brother walked into another room with the vet. Curiosity got the better of me and I wondered over to the door. The cat sat on the table as I leaned in close to the door.
"There's nothing I can do. The wounds too deep and it's infected. From what I can tell the infection has already spread into the blood stream, medication won't reach it in time to stop it." She said, making my eyes go wide. I looked over to the cat. He sat on the table as if nothing was wrong with him. I furrowed my brows and walked away from the door, making my way back to the table. I stood next to it and placed my hand onto the cats head, scratching its ears. It purred making my smile sadly at it.

I heard the door open, but kept my eyes on the cat as it continued purring. I saw another shadow next to me, but I still refused to take my eyes off the cat.
"It's time to say goodbye to the cat, Mishka. The vet's going to look after it." I heard my brother say as I nodded my head. I swallowed hard and stretched forward, picking up the cat under its armpits once more and bringing it close to me. I placed its front paws onto my shoulder and dropped my cheek lightly onto the top of its head, hugging it very carefully as if afraid to break it. I stayed like that for a minute and then pulled the cat away from me, holding it under the armpits once more and looking at it in the eye.
"You have to be really good okay? If other kitty cats are really mean to you then you have to show them whose boss okay?" I said, feeling my eyes glaze over. I quickly blinked and shook my head, before looking at the cat once more.
"And if you see kitty cats being mean to other kitty cats you have to help the kitty cats being picked on okay? And then you can make lots of friends with all the kitty cats' okay? Please be good okay?" I said to him as the cat looked at me, tilting its head slightly. It then meowed at me. I quickly brought it back to my shoulder and closed my eyes tightly, hugging it once more.
"Bye bye, kitty cat." I said to it quietly. After another minute I held it out for the vet to take. She gave me a kind smile and took it gently out of my hands, bringing it up to her shoulder herself. Once the cat was out of my hands I couldn't help but look at the ground, clenching the sides of my dress tightly with my hands.
"You've done a very grown up thing today. When you're older and if you talk to your brother nicely, he'll let you have a cat." I said to me, keeping the very kind smile on her face. I stayed quiet as my brother thanked the vet for all the help. My hand was lightly grabbed as I felt myself being pulled away from the room and to the outside. I felt my shoulders shake and squeezed my brothers' hand as we walked away from the vets. I couldn't help but cry once we were far away from the vets.

We laid on the ground under the tree we had decided to stay under for the night. My brother decided it was better to do this than stay in the town for the night as we were just leaving tomorrow to look for some work to get a little bit of extra money; even if it was just cleaning. Silence formed between us as I watched the sky. My brother had his eyes closed with his hands behind his head as my arms were sprawled either side of me.
"Hey…big brother." I said quietly.
"Hmm?" I heard my brother reply and felt him stare at me. I stayed quiet before speaking up.
"Do you think…if I found the kitty cat faster it would be okay?" I asked him, never taking my eyes off the sky as I searched it. I remember being told a long time ago when I was really little that everyone and everything that died went to the sky and became a star so that they could watch you all the time. That's how people stayed safe. I guess, I was trying to look for the kitty cats star.
"I don't know…" I heard my brother trailing off, not knowing how else to answer the question. We stayed silent some more as I continued to search the sky with furrowed brows as if looking for answers.
"After…" I said, trailing off trying to get my line of thought straight. I felt my brother look at me as I continued to think.
"After…After we get back everyone's eyes, I want to help everybody I meet. From people to animals I want to help them all!" I said to him, continuing to look at the sky. I could feel my brothers' eyes still watching me as I continued to search the sky.
"I couldn't help the kitty cat and now the kitty cat's gone. I want to help everything I meet so that they don't go like the kitty cat and make other people really sad. If I help everyone then everybody can be happy." I said to him sitting up straight and crossed my legs, dropping my hands that had clenched into very light fists onto the ground. I continued to look at the sky with wide eyes and furrowed brows.
"Nothing should have to go like the kitty cat did because someone will always be sad." I said to him turning my head to him quickly. I saw my brother had sat up by now with his legs crossed and watched me closely.
"So that's what I'm going to do. After we get back everyone's eyes and said goodbye to them properly, I'm going to go and help everybody and every animal that needs help and make them all happy!" I said to him, determined. My brother smiled at me slightly and looked up himself as I watched him closely.
"I think that's a very good goal." I said, turning his head towards me once more, keeping the small smile on his face.
"Never forget it." He said to me as I nodded my head quickly at him and looked back up at the sky; a small smile on my face.
"I won't, because it's my promise to the kitty cat for not being able to help it in time." I said to him, nodding a little bit too myself.

Time went on as we continued to watch the sky in silence, but it was a nice silence. I had moved closer to my brother who went back to lying on the ground with his hands behind his head. I laid down next to him, curling myself into his side with my head in his shoulder as I watched the sky through the corners of my eyes. I held tightly onto his tabard with my hand on his chest. I felt my eyes get heavily and closed them, pushing the side of my face into his shoulder slightly more as I fell asleep.

In loving memory of a dear pet who was lost this morning.