To be a Hunter - 2011 (being revised)

by Relentless-virus

There was one more survivor of the Kuruta clan. Her name was Mishka, the younger sister of Kurapika. Join her on her adventures with Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio as she learns who she is as a person as well as becoming less dependant on her brother. This is the 2011 version! Being re-written and revised.

38. Very x Sharp x Eye

A big thank you to Anime lover, Hortenseyounka and all silent readers!
Anime lover – Yeah, they'll probably pick up on it eventually.
Hortenseyounka – It worked and they're now up! Now that I know what website it is any other pictures you really want to share can now be found.
FYI, they're amazing and I'm really jealous.
Sorry this took so long to get out! Recently got a dog and he's been a bit of a handful.

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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.

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We had gone to the library to try and find some more information. It had become very dark very quickly; the only source of lights was from the street lamps. I had stayed rather quiet. I could see normally again, although this has taken ten minutes. I just hoped that Leorio was right about my brother. Of course he is why wouldn't he be? But if I was so sure about it…why was I judging it? It made me uncomfortable and fearful for my brother's life. I don't think the boys actually noticed, if they did then they were being polite and didn't want to make a fuss; in a way I was grateful for that. If the Phantom Troupe was in this city, I wouldn't want them to point me out from the crowd.

Me, Gon, Leorio and Killua all sat at different computer chairs trying to look up information. We had been searching for a while and so far it was getting us nowhere, but if I was honest I wasn't really concentrating.
"I got nothing." Leorio said, snapping me out of my blank thoughts and turning around in my chair to look at him, although my stare was blank and a little distant. Leorio has pushed back on his chair with his hands behind his back as he looked up at the ceiling.
"That two billion reward per spider is attractive, but finding them will be impossible." Killua said to us looking up at the ceiling himself before swivelling in his chair to look at Leorio.
"Yeah…" Gon said making the others look down disappointedly. They wouldn't be impossible to track down; we just weren't trying hard enough.
"Hey, we could ask for concrete information on the Net. Like about the Troupe's current location. We could offer a large reward." Gon suggested standing up a wide smile on his face. I watched Gon blankly as Leorio looked up to him slightly confused. Leorio dropped his hands from behind his head.
"Hold on… We don't have the money for that." Leorio said. Gon started digging through his shorts pockets.
"It'll be fine." He said simply and took out his Hunter license showing Leorio. We looked at him confused, wondering what Gon was planning on doing with his license.

We had called it a night and returned to our hotel room. I departed quietly to my room, saying night very quietly to the boys and disappearing before a word could be spoken back. Entering my room I closed the door shut behind me and leaned my back onto the door, staring blankly at the floor. I lifted my arm up in front of me and concentrated onto it. I felt angry once more, I didn't like the feeling of being angry; it was strange and almost alien to me. I concentrated Nen, conjuring the barbed wire I had managed to do before. It didn't hurt this time, even though I was angry. I wondered why. I dropped my arm back to my side and just stared at my ceiling, thinking back to the conversation earlier when we tried ringing my brother. The Phantom Troupe. The possibility of them maybe having hurt my brother, or even my brother being involved in the accident in the underground auction, that made me angry at them to the point where I wanted to hunt and hurt them back just like they had done to all those people.

However, when those types of thoughts came my arm began stinging, making me wince and snap my head down towards it. I furrowed my brows, I still didn't get it. Some anger it was fine with, other anger it was not. How could I determine which was which? I sighed to myself and decided to leave it, letting my mind slip to other things and making the barbed wire disappear from my arm. The stinging feeling remained as I lazily brought myself over to my bed. I would clean up my arm in the morning when hopefully my mind was much, much clearer.

As quickly as the night passed the new day arrived. I woke up with a clearer mind, much clearer than yesterdays. Rolling off my bed I hit the floor hard with a thump. I felt something pressing into my hip and lifted up my dress tabard slightly. My phone was pressing itself against my hip from being tucked into the hem of my training shorts.
"Maybe I should make pockets." I said quietly to myself as I stood up from the floor. I took my phone out from between my hip and the hem and walked over to my bag that was lazily dumped on the floor by the door. I dropped to my knees and dug through my bags looking for some thread, old cloth and a needle. Once found I quickly took off my trousers and began making the make shift pocket. It would have to do until I could afford to buy some new training clothes or make more whatever came first.

Me, Killua and Leorio just followed Gon, wondering where he was going and why it was important to have his Hunter License. I had mine; it was inside the makeshift pocket that was made earlier, and what a sturdy pocket it was. We followed Gon into a pawn shop and he did the most unexpected thing, he sold his Hunter's Licence. We walked away from the booth and looked over his shoulder at the bank book, looking at all the money he now had.
"That's crazy…You actually have money." Leorio said amazed as we stared wide eyed at his bank book. Gon held his bank book up to the light to make sure it wasn't fake as Killua turned his head to look at him.
"Man, you really pawned your Hunter Licence? You're insane." Killua commented as I nodded my head.
"You'll have a hard time proving you're a Hunter now." I said to him looking at him myself. Leorio turned around to face Leorio, a wide smile on his face. Me and Killua did the same, looking up to the older man with wide eyes.
"So, what should we do first?" Gon asked him, the smile still sitting on his face. Leorio smiled back at him and held up a finger close to his face as he spoke.
"Let's start by purchasing a Southernbees catalogue." Leorio suggested to us.

We walked out of the pawn shop and began making our way towards a store that sold the catalogue. The sky was turning grey as if it was going to rain. I couldn't help but furrow my brows, wondering where my brother could be. I could try ringing him again soon.

The three of us walked into a huge building also known as the auction house. The inside was decorated with all sorts of chairs and tables that looked really expensive. We walked up to the counter where two women stood at. Me, Killua and Leorio stood a little way from the counter as Gon stood close to it, his hands on the counter top. The lady dropped a huge book onto the counter, keeping her smile at Gon as she spoke.
"Here is this year's Southernbees auction catalogue." The lady said as Gon took the book.
"Thanks." Gon said to her simply.

We walked over to one of the tables and sat in the chairs. They were extremely comfortable. Gon and Leorio dumped their bags onto the chairs. I had left mine back at the hotel room, now that my Hunter License and phone had a pocket to live in there was no need to carry it with me everywhere. I sat next to Gon as he flicked through the catalogue, before stopping on a page and pointing at the picture.
"There it is. Greed Island!" Gon said as we stared at the picture. It was just a huge black square with little white bits every now and again.
"Seven total copies on sale…" Leorio said reading the information.
"The minimum starting bid is eight point nine million. Just as expected." Killua read off, leaning forward with a glare on his face. I stared at the page quietly as I took in the information. Gon smirked widely to himself as we continued to stare at the page.

We left the very fancy building. Gon had stuffed the catalogue into his back pack. We wondered up the streets, they were as busy as always and it made me a little bit nervous.
"Now we wait for information to come in." Leorio said proudly as we wondered up the busy street. He looked up to the sky, clenching his fist tightly as he talked some more.
"First, we catch one of the spiders and make them tell us where the rest are hiding, so that way we can bag them all!" Leorio said with determination in his voice. I furrowed my brows at him, frowning widely.
"I don't think you three should go after them you don't have anything to actually do with them." I said to him, keeping the wide frown on my face. Leorio turned his head to face me, looking at me questionably.

He was about to say something until he noticed something and stopped walking. Me and Killua stopped walking too and looked in the direction that Leorio was looking. We saw Gon crouching down, looking at a very nasty looking dagger.
"What's wrong, Gon?" Leorio asked him, looking at him questionably. We began walking over to Gon as he looked at the weapon with interest.
"Oh, a Ben's knife." Killua said as he crouched down onto one knee. Me and Leorio did the same, Leorio behind Gon with me in between Killua and Leorio.
"A Ben's knife?" Gon questioned Killua. I had to admit, I was slightly confused too. I didn't know what a Ben's knife was…why was it named after some guy called Ben anyway?
"A hundred years ago, a mass murder designed it. He was a famous blacksmith. This is one of his original works." Killua said, grabbing the knife out of Gon's hand and looking at it closer himself. I felt a chill run up my spin looking at it; the blacksmith was probably called Ben, which would indicate why it was called a Ben's knife.
"It's a lesser-known piece that a lot of rabid collectors are after. So, you recognised it." Killua said, slightly annoyed by Gon's recognition of the knife.

I gently took the hilt out of Killua's hand, looking at it closely myself. It would do a lot of damage to someone that was for sure.
"No, I didn't." Gon said making the three of us look at him in question.
"It happened to catch my eye, so I got curious and I used Gyo. That's when I noticed a faint aura on it." Gon said as Killua took the blade away from my once more and looked at it again himself.
"Gyo?" Leorio questioned, raising an eyebrow slightly. Killua turned his head to Leorio slightly.
"A form of Nen." Killua explained to him looking back at the nasty looking blade.
"You look at something really hard until you see aura." I said to Leorio, smiling widely at him before looking back at the very nasty spiky blade.

I concentrated hard myself, looking at the blade. Sure enough, I saw aura come from the blade. It was white in colour like ours. Did the famous mass murdering blacksmith put some of his aura into the blade?
"You're right." Killua said as Leorio took the blade by the hilt and pulled it away from his hand.
"Let me have a look." He said as I moved backwards allowing him to bring it across in front of me. Leorio glared and stared hard at the blade, trying to see what we could see. He stared at the blade, going cross eyed for a few seconds before blinking and moving his eyes back to normal once more, furrowing his brows as he sighed in defeat.
"Nope, I don't see a thing." He muttered to us.
"You will, once you spend more time training in Ren." Gon said, smiling widely at Leorio.

Killua smiled widely himself making me, Gon and Leorio look at him, a mixture of smiles and wide eyes as he talked.
"Right! There's another way!" Killua said making up look at him in question.
"Another way?" Me and Gon questioned him at the same time; wondering what Killua could possible mean. Killua leaned forward slightly as he spoke, keeping the wide smile on his face.
"Another way to make money. Remember how four-eyes mentioned that really talented people use Nen without even realizing it themselves?" Killua said as me and Gon stared at him wide eyed.
"Four-eyes?" Leorio said confused. I looked at him, continuing to look at him wide eyed.
"The person who taught us Nen." I said to him as he looked at me with an eyebrow raised. The two of us looked back at Killua, waiting for him to speak after Leorio had interrupted him.
"If we search for items with an aura on them, like this knife, it's likely some genius made them." Killua said, taking the knife away from Leorio once more. Gon smiled widely at him understanding what Killua meant as I thought about it before smiling widely myself at him.
"I get it! We can find hidden gems with no formal appraisal training. Then we can auction the items at a higher price!" Gon said to us. I nodded my head quickly, agreeing to the idea.

I liked it that meant we could get the money easier to get Greed Island.
"If you guys want that, write down your price." The man sitting on the rug said to us. I jumped out of my skin slightly; I hadn't noticed he was even there. He was bald and very large. He had a beard and wore a grey shirt with black trousers. He looked bored out of his mind. Killua looked at the blade as me, Gon and Leorio looked at the sitting man.
"Customers are supposed to name their own prices?" Killua asked him confused. The man nodded his head.
"Yeah, that's how this market works." He said to us as if we were meant to know that.
"Write down what you're willing to pay, and when time expires, the highest bidder wins the item." The man said as he smiled down onto an object. He picked up a white rabbit wearing a pink dress and held it close to him as he smiled up to us.
"Understand? Popular items will see their prices shoot up." The man said as we stared at the rabbit. Its price was really low and now it was really high. I stared at it wide eyed as Gon and Killua smiled widely along with Leorio.
"I get it now." Killua said, holding up the blade.

We had left the stool after putting down a price and stood in the middle of the walk way for the stools, standing in a circle facing each other.
"Well, then let's get started." Killua said to us.
"I'll check the online forums." Leorio said confidently, holding his suit case tightly in his hand, a hand shoved into the pocket of his suit pocket.
"Okay!" Gon said nodding his head. The three of us quickly ran from Killua to check different things. I ran in the direction Gon ran, leaving Leorio run by himself as Killua turned and walked away.

Me and Gon had parted way to go and look for individual items. I was checking all the information boards and random leaflets pinned to telephone posts about items, you had to ring in order to go and see the item for yourself to truly decide if you wanted to bid on it or not. Killua told us that if an item already had a bid then we had to bid two point five times higher. That way even if it was over bidding, we were discouraging other people from placing their own bids.

I decided to take this chance and tried ringing my brother. Shoving my hand into my pocket and quickly pulled out my mobile and flipped it open, looking through the phone book for my brothers' number. Once found I pressed the ring button and held it up to my ear, hoping he would pick up. I stood still as I listened to it ring, looking around the spot as I waited for some sort of answer.

As I waited I felt a stare on my back. I turned my head over my shoulder to see a girl with very long black hair. It fell straight and was cut straight too, although her fringe was very messily cut. She also had green eyes and what looked like whiskers coming from her cheeks. She wore a red hat that looked like if it had ears. She wore a grey tank top with green baggy trousers and white trainers. Her hands had grey fingerless gloves. She was very skinny, it looked a little dangerous. And she just stared. I furrowed my brows slightly as I watched her. Turning my head around I quickly hung up the phone, flipped it shut and moved my hand back into my pocket, dropping the phone into that. I began walking away from the stare, but it followed me.

I stopped and quickly turned around on my heels, however I saw no one there. I knitted my brows more and turned back around slowly only to be face to face with the green eyes. I jumped back slightly as she looked at me with wide eyes and a thoughtful look on her face.
"You smell like someone we're after." She said, stepping closer and examining me. She grabbed the bottom of my chin and forcibly moved my face side to side, studying everything.
"Look like him too…strange." She said, letting go of my chin and standing up straight once more. She looked as if she was thinking to herself and quickly looked at me again. It made me feel uncomfortable. The girl shook her head and smiled slightly at me.
"A case of mistaken identity." She said to me simply to a question that was unasked. I just stared at her as she turned around and begun walking away back into the crowd. I wanted to say something, anything, or even chase to catch up with her; but something told me not to, told me it was too dangerous to do so. So I stayed on the spot and watched her retreating back.

I decided to shake off the odd little encounter for now and went back on my hunt for items that could have Nen. I saw a poster advertising a china doll. It caught my eyes a lot. It had very big blue eyes, long curly blonde hair and with a light pink bonnet. The dress it wore was light pink with white tights and black shoes. I read the description and saw the number for it. I took my phone out of my pocket once more and typed in the number then pressed the dial number. Someone picked up almost instantly.
"Yes, hello? What is it?" The voice on the other end said. It sounded female. I felt my back stiffen and took a deep breath, getting ready to speak.
"I saw your advertisement for the china doll and wanted to see it so I can decide if I want to bid on it or not!" I said to her. The line went silent, nothing but breathing being heard. I knitted my brows slightly, looking at the side at where my phone would be. I jumped slightly when I heard the voice speak up.
"Yes, of course. I have a small bakery shop just on the edge of the market place. Lilly bread." She said to me. I took a mental note and nodded my head, even though she couldn't see my actions.
"Okay. I'll be there soon." I said to her and hung up the phone. I took a deep breathe once more, I was nervous, very nervous. Flipping my mobile shut and pocketing it I quickly turned on my heel and began making my way towards Lilly bread.

It didn't take long to find. This bakery had actually become one of my favourites in the town. I entered through the double doors, pushing only one of them open. The room smelt of fresh bread and sweets. Behind the counter was a lady with grey hair in a bun, a hair net over the top. She was short and had a grandmotherly feel to her. She wore bakery whites and a red apron. I walked over to the counter and waited for her to turn around. She turned around and eyed me carefully as I stared up at her. She placed her hands on her hips and looked at me sternly. We stayed quiet for a moment until I realised I was meant to say something.
"Oh! We spoke earlier on the phone. I rang about the china doll." I said to her, fiddling with the sleeves of my shirt. The woman eyed me closely before humming to herself and walking out to the back. I stood on my toes and leaned onto the counter watching her walk away into the back. She returned a few moments afterwards with the china doll from the picture.
"Be gentle with it, they break easily you know." She said to me as I nodded my head.

I took the doll gently from her hands and concentrated Gyo. A faint aura emitted from it. I looked at it wide eyed. I carefully turned it around. There was already a bid on the doll for six thousand. I looked at the woman questionably.
"Hey, what would the bid be if I bid two point five of six thousand on this?" I asked her. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised slightly, keeping her hands on her hips.
"Fifteen thousand." She said to me. I nodded my head and looked at her with determination, handing her back the doll gently.
"I want to bid fifteen thousand on it please." I said to her. The woman looked at me warily before nodding her head. She took a pen off the counter and wrote on the piece of paper how much I bid. She then looked at me.
"Name." She said to me sternly.
"Mishka." I said to her, trying not to let her tone of voice put me off. She nodded her head and wrote my name down next to the amount I bid.
"Come back here in a few hours to find out if you won or not." She said to me. I nodded my head and quickly turned on my heel to leave the bakery. That lady seemed so much nicer when the market place wasn't here…maybe she was just getting stressed from everything going on.

A had wondered around the market place for a few hours. I couldn't find anything else of interest on the posters. Once those few hours were up I made my way back to the bakery. There were a lot of people inside the store. I stood in the back as the woman with the hair bun stood behind the counter, glaring at everybody. People pushed and shoved, whispered and shouted. The bakery woman was getting annoyed and slammed her hands down heavily onto the counter.
"If no one shuts up no one will get the doll!" She shouted harshly. Everybody instantly fell silent. The woman sighed and leaned off the counter. She looked at the back of the china doll. My stomach had butterflies in it, I really wanted to have won it so we had one more thing to sell at the auctions because no doubt Killua, Gon and Leorio would have already got something.
"The highest bidder is Chi!" The woman shouted. Disappointed sighs and grunts filled the room. I knitted my brows together, disappointed I had won.
"Excuse me." A voice behind me said. I moved to my right slightly and was passed by a woman with long black hair and red ears hat. I looked at her wide eyed, she was the girl that said I smelt like someone and even looked like them; then claimed mistaken identity. She walked up to the front and grabbed the china doll, smiling widely. I left the bakery silently, disappointed but also wary. I had seen that girl twice today…it couldn't be some kind of coincidence…could it?

I walked down the busy streets of the market. I had bumped into Gon and Killua. Killua held a large box in his hands wrapped up in light purple paper. Gon held a box in one hand in dark purple wrap and a picture frame like item under his arm wrapped in blue. They were having a conversation about something. I quickly walked to them and walked next to Killua.
"You guys were lucky then huh?" I asked the two, lightly lacing my fingers together behind my back. Gon nodded his head at me and Killua looked at my questionably as to why I didn't have anything. I knitted my brows together and gave him an apologetic smile.
"So where are you going?" I asked them, looking at them questionably.
"The auction house." Gon said, smiling widely. I nodded my head and followed them to the auction house.

We reached the auction house. It was a huge curved glass building. The windows looked black on the outside but on the inside you could see through them clearly. I didn't know why I didn't realise that earlier when we were here picking up the catalogue. Gon and Killua laid out the items on the table we sat at earlier. The two of them sat in an armchair each as I stood in the middle of the two, my hands lightly laced together behind my back. A man in a suit came over, sitting on the couch in front of us. He leaned forward, lacing his hands together with an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm really sorry. But the auction house cannot accept any additional items, once the catalogue has been published." The man explained to us. I furrowed my brows at his words that's not what we wanted to hear. Killua leaned forward something widely at him, putting his hands onto his legs.
"Isn't there any way? We really want to auction these." Killua said to him, determined not to let it go. The man thought to himself and placed a hand onto his chin. He then looked at us and smiled slightly, thinking of an idea.
"I suggest that you give the trade market place a try." The man said. The three of us looked at him confused.
"The trade market?" We questioned him at once. The three of us looked at each other questionably, wondering what the trade market was. This was suddenly becoming a lot of hassle just to try and sell items.

We grabbed the items once more and pulled them away from the table. I had taken the dark purple wrapped box that Gon was carrying. Killua held his huge light purple wrapped box as Gon took the photo frame like thing wrapped in the light blue paper. We exited the auction house and began making our way to this trade market.

It was found quicker than I thought. The streets were much wider and much quieter than the streets with the market place on them. The stalls looked bigger too. I looked around in wonder at everything as I kept a tight grip on the item Gon has brought.
"The trade market…Professionals will be here, so if one of these is genuine, we should get a great price." Gon said happily as we walked through the streets. Killua looked at his item, disappointment evident on his face.
"I wanted to sell these at the auction, though." Killua said disappointedly. I smiled slightly at him, knitting my brows together.
"We were too late; we'll probably have better luck here anyway." I said to him, keeping my small smile on my face. Gon looked at Killua, keeping his wide smile.
"How much do you think we'll get?" Gon questioned him. Killua's face lightened up at the sentence. He turned his head to face Gon, a wide smile on his face.
"Let's find out." He said happily.

We went into a little shop off the main trade market street. It had several items put out in the front. There was a rather chubby man with very little short black hair standing at the counter. We handed him the items. Killua and Gon came up with the idea that we found the items in our cellar. I stood next to Gon. The man looked at the photo frame first, his wide but tiny eyes studying the picture.
"Oh, you found these in your cellar?" The man questioned us as we smiled widely up to him; although I felt bad for lying to the man in the first place. I couldn't understand how Gon and Killua could do it so smoothly. Killua's smile widened as he closed his eyes.
"Yeah. Dad said to sell them if the price was right." Killua said to him as we continued to smile widely at him, like cheerful children doing what our parents told us.
"These are wonderful pieces. Only fifty copies were printed, and yours has a single digit serial number. And an authentic autograph." The man explained as we continued to watch him with wide eyes and wide smiles.
"I'd guess it's worth at least one hundred and fifty thousand." He said. The three of us looked at each other, smiling wider still at the sound of that. At least we knew we were going to get a lot for the painting.

The man picked up the next item. It was the other item Gon had won. This one was also a doll, but not a china one like the one I had found.
"This antique doll is also excellent… It's in great shape, and the pristine condition of both box and doll raises the value. I'm estimating three hundred thousand." The man said to us as we continued to watch him wide eyed with wide smiles. That meant we were getting a lot of money just for those two items. We looked at each other with our wide smiles. Killua winked at us happily.
"However…" The man said trailing off. We looked at him, our smiled dropping from our faces.
"This one isn't worth much, unfortunately." The man said, looking at the item Killua had brought.

We looked at him confused as the man looked at us with furrowed brows.
"The box and statue are from different periods. The box was made recently. The statue is rough and doesn't adhere to any theme. I'd say it's only worth one thousand five hundred Jenny." The man said to us, disappointment in his own voice. I furrowed my brows slightly, it had some aura so why wasn't it worth that much?
"However that would be its appraisal as an artwork. The wood itself is quite valuable. So I'd like to make you an offer." The man said, looking at the stature once more, or more importantly it's wood. We looked at him confused; his words didn't make much sense to me. Did that mean it was good of wasn't it good?
"If you see me the painting and doll for four hundred twenty thousand, I'll buy the wood for eighty thousand." The man said, holding the statue between his hands. That was a lot of money just for wood.
"A total of five hundred thousand? What do you two think?" Killua said and then asked me and Gon as we turned to face each other. The man placed the statue back onto the table again and waved his hands slightly.
"Feel free to think it over. But I doubt anyone will quote you a better price." The man said to us as we looked at him again, the smiles never returning to our faces.
"In the meantime, let me check this woods age." The man said as he picked up the statue once more and turned around to go into the back room.

Footsteps came from behind us as someone else entered the shop.
"Wait! Put down that statue." A voice from behind us said. All of us turned around slightly to see a man with a plastic bag in his hands. He stood inside the shop; as no one else was here I could only assume that he was the man whose footsteps I heard. I took a proper look at the man. He had short dirty blonde hair and thick eyebrows. He wore a dark pink coloured suit jacket with huge collared white shirt underneath. His jeans were light blue.
"Wh-who are you?" The man holding the statue said.
"Don't let him scam you, kid. He's offering a fair price for the painting and doll, but he's lying about the statue!" The man in the pink suit jacket yelled at us. I looked at him confused. I could hear the man behind the counter step away slightly.
"I-I never lied!" The man yelled back at him, his words stuttering. I furrowed my brows; I didn't know who to believe.
"Really? No collector would pay eighty thousand for that wood. You're interested in the contents of that statue!" The man shouted, pointing at the guy behind the counter. I looked at him even more confused, what was going on?

The pink jacketed man walked closer to us and the counter, keeping a tight grip on his plastic bag. He stopped in front of the counter where the man holding the statue was.
"It's a wooden trove." The man explained to us. We looked up to him confused.
"A wooden trove?" We questioned him at the same time, not sure what he meant by wooden trove. What was a wooden trove anyway?
"Three hundred years ago, these were a popular way for the wealthy to hide their money." The man explained. I looked at through the corner of my eyes. The guy holding the statue was sweating like mad, as if trying to hide something.
"To hide their money…" Gon said trailing off from his sentence.
"If it's real, there should be valuables inside." The man said. Me, Gon and Killua gasped and looked at the statue that the man was holding.
"You planned to steal the contents while pretending to check its age!" The pink jacketed man yelled at him, making the three of us look back up to him.
"I-I would never do that…" The man holding the statue stuttered once more.
"Wait…" Someone else said opening the door from behind the counter.

Me, Gon and Killua looked over to the door. A tall man stepped out. He wore a skin tight black shirt and was totally bald. His eyes were narrow and sharp.
"Can you prove that is a genuine wooden trove?" He said, walking up to the counter. He wore a smirk on his face as he stopped behind the counter and looked at the man with the pink jacket.
"What?" The man in the pink said.
"The wood is certainly over three hundred years old. But that only tells us the materials age. The statue itself could be modern. This technique is known as hoodwinking, boys and girl." The bald man said to us as we stared between him and the statue. Hoodwinking? What was that? What was any of this? What were they talking about? It was all so confusing for me.
"Technique?" Gon questioned him, looking up to him.
"He's referring to a counterfeiter trying to trick a professional appraiser. But that isn't what I'm doing." The man in the pink jacket said to us, making the three of us look up to him as he looked back to the two men behind the counter.

The man with the jacket placed a finger onto the edge of the statue.
"Here's a seam that an amateur would never recognise. The seam contains an adhesive used back in that period." The man said, moving his finger down the statue. I stared hard at where his finger pulled down. I couldn't see anything there.
"You're insisting that this is a real wooden trove?" The man with the skin tight black shirt said, tilting his head slightly with an eyebrow raised in questioned. The man in the jacket nodded his head.
"Yeah. But it is possible that it was opened once to swap out its contents, and the statue was reassembled." The man in the pink jacket explained. The man in the black shirt looked to us as we looked up to him.
"We'd call that a dud. It's called double-dipping, placing new adhesive on top of the old to create a dud. But only an amateur would try that. A professional would melt the adhesive with a flame, before resealing it. That way it would appear as though the statue had never been opened. That's known as wielding." The man in the black shirt said as he rubbed the top of the statue. We stared at the statue wide eyed and confused.

Soon the pink jacket man started speaking once more.
"It hasn't been wielded. If fire were used, the wood would have been scarred or the adhesive would have discoloured." The man in the pink retorted back at him.
"Even the pros have a hard time weighing those details. I can't trust you." The man in the black said back to him.
"I'm a pro appraiser… I swear by my eyes… This is a real wooden trove!" The pink jacketed man said, throwing his hand on top of the statue.
"It's never been opened, and the treasure inside hasn't been swapped out!" The man shouted at him. Me, Gon and Killua just stayed silent as we watched the exchange between the two men. They both had glares on their faces as they stared at each other.
"Okay, let's assume that this is a genuine wooden trove. If the contents have been swapped out, what would you do?" The black shirted man asked him as he smirked widely at him. Silence fell into the room, making the air uncomfortable and stuffy. I furrowed my brows as I watched the two in their own little exchange. They seemed to be in their own little world. The pink jacketed man smirked at the bald guy.
"I'll be your slave for the rest of my life." The man said. The room fell silent once more, the only thing the guy in black did was smirk and walk away. He placed a hand onto the shorter man's shoulder.
"Give up. " He said to him simply, making the shorter man frown. The bald man disappeared into the back room once more.

We followed the shorter man into the back room with the statue and the pink jacketed guy. We all sat on the floor. The short man handed the pink jacketed man a chisel and hammer. He took them and began banging on the top of the statue. After a couple of whacks it split open, spilling out a lot of gold and jewellery. The three of us looked at it with wide eyes, Gon and Killua smiling widely as I looked at it more shocked.
"Wow! Awesome!" The three of us said staring at the gold and jewellery. There was so much there, it was almost unreal.

Killua packed away the statue and placed it back into its box. He wrapped it up as me and Gon wrapped up the other two items, we had decided not to sell them to that man. We turned around and walked out of the shop, the man in the pink jacket following us. We walked down the not so busy streets as the pink jacketed man explained who he was.
"Oh, so you're Zepile." Killua said to him as we looked up to him smiling widely.
"Thanks, Zepile." Gon said to him as I nodded my head quickly agreeing with him. If he wasn't there, we would have never discovered all that gold inside that trove.
"You don't need to thank me. Consider it give and take. Twenty percent sounds fair." Zepile said to us. We looked at him confused as he held up two fingers indicating twenty, a wide smile on his face.
"My cut when you sell the treasure." He said to us. Killua glared at him and pulled a wide face, hugging the box closer to him as he spoke to Zepile.
"What? You're going to rob us?!" Killua said to him, outraged by his assumption of us giving him any profits from selling the treasure. Zepile frowned as he dropped his hand back to his side.
"That's uncalled for. It's my fee for providing advice." Zepile said to us. Gon smiled widely at Killua as he turned his head to face him.
"I don't see a problem." Gon said to him as I smiled widely at Killua myself, nodding my head.
"He helped us out after all." I said to him, knitting my brows together with a wide smile. Killua frowned at the both of us and furrowed his brows.
"Now, look here… We need to collect as much Jenny as we possibly can. I might be willing to buy him lunch." Killua said to him as the Zepile shoved his free hand into his pocket.
"Really? Then I'll settle for that." Zepile said as we wondered up the street. At least he was easy to please, but we still couldn't help but look at him confused; why suddenly change from twenty percent of the profits to just lunch? Maybe he was really hungry.

We found a cafe and sat at a table. I sat next to Gon, who dumped his bag at the far end of the table. Our things to sell sat underneath the table. We had ordered a lot of food. I had no doubt in my mind that Gon and Killua would be able to clear it all by themselves; I didn't know Zepile so I couldn't say for him. Me on the other hand, I still had my very small "sparrows meal", as Sarah would put it.
"So, Zepile… I feel bad, so we'll pay you a fee." Gon said to him. Killua glared at him and waved his arm into the air.
"There you go again!" Killua complained at him. I knitted my brows together and looked at Killua, frowning at him.
"But he helped us out! We could do a little more than just buy his lunch…" I said to Killua, who only responded with a glare at me.
"Nah, it really is okay. In return, just tell me something. What tipped you off to bid on these items?" Zepile asked us as he lifted his hand holding the spoon into the air. He held a smile across his face as he waited for our answer. Well, I couldn't really answer him as the item I bid on was brought by Chi. Although my answer would be the same as theirs.

Me, Gon and Killua all looked at each other in question, wondering if we could really tell this man about what drew us to these items.
"Is it okay to tell him the truth?" Gon questioned as the three of us continued to look at each other for answers.
"Well, it beats telling him." Killua said as I nodded my head.
"We couldn't lie now anyway, I think what you said would tip him off." I said to them, smiling widely at the two.

The three of us took turns explaining things as we ate our lunch. Gon, Killua and much to my surprise Zepile, finished everything on the table. I guess it was a good thing in a way as I didn't eat much.
"I see, Nen aura…" Zepile said to us. Gon, Killua and I stared at the table looking at our glasses as we listened to Zepile speak.
"If you are telling the truth, that explains why you brought the statue, not realizing something was hidden inside." He said to us. We all drank our juice through our straws, listening to him but avoiding eye contact.
"So, why do you need the money so badly?" Zepile questioned us as we continued drinking our juice. Killua stopped drinking and held up his hand to Zepile.
"We can answer that question, but not for free. Afterwards, you have to answer our question." Killua said to him as me and Gon continued drinking our juice slowly, avoiding eye contact with Zepile. Zepile kept the smile on his face as he perked up after hearing Killua's words.
"Sure, that's fine." He said to us happily and confidently.
Me and Gon stopped drinking our juice and looked up to Zepile, staring at him and keeping blank looks on our faces.
"There's an item we want to buy at the auction. That's why we need money." Killua explained to him. Zepile looked at us with interest and tilted his head forward slightly as he continued to stare at us.
"Oh, which item are you interested in?" He asked us.
"It's our turn now." Killua said to him as me and Gon stayed quiet. It was better letting Killua handle this situation.

My thoughts quickly wondered back to my brother. I dug a hand into my pocket and removed my phone slightly. Flipping it open I frowned and furrowed my brows; no missed calls or texts. He hadn't tried to contact me. I sighed slightly and slipped the device back into my pocket as I watched Zepile.
"You estimated that this treasure was worth three hundred million, right?" Killua said to him, patting the box. Gon went back to drinking his juice, bringing his head down low and once more avoiding contacting. I couldn't help but do the same as Killua continued.
"Could we receive that much at the trade market?" Killua asked him, looking back to Zepile after patting the box filled with the gold and jewellery. Gon brought his head up and looked at Zepile as I kept mine down and continued drinking slowly. I was hearing the words, but if I was honest I wasn't really taking any of it in.
"At the trade market? They mainly deal in hard cash… If you show up abruptly, you won't get a fair price." Zepile said to us.
"What?" Gon commented, looking at Zepile with furrowed brows.
"Seriously?" Killua said disappointedly and dropped his head going back to his juice. Gon furrowed his brows and began drinking his juice again.

I continued drinking my own as Zepile spoke up.
"Now it's my turn. I'll repeat the question. Which item do you want?" Zepile said to us, making Killua bring up his head and look at him as me and Gon continued drinking our juices through our straws. Gon brought his head up after a second or so and looked at Zepile.
"A game called Greed Island." Killua said to him simply.
"Oh, that ridiculously expensive game?" Zepile questioned us. I stopped drinking my juice and looked at Zepile myself, watching him closely as I held the glass between my hands.
"How much is that weird pot that you brought worth?" Killua questioned, completely ignoring Zepile other question. All of us looked at the pot wrapped in grey wrapping paper as Killua pointed to it. He furrowed his brows as he looked at it.
"Huh? This? It's garbage. Nothing at all." Zepile said, closing his eyes and placing a hand on top of the pot. We looked at him in shock as he opened his eyes and leaned his arms back onto the table, looking at the three of us.
"Why do you want that expensive game? I believe it costs six billion?" Zepile questioned us, continuing to stare at the three of us.
"The asking price is eight point nine billion. We're looking for his dad." Killua explained to Zepile simply as Killua pointed his thumb to Gon. Gon looked at Killua slightly as Killua closed his eyes and brought his hand down again.
"That game has a clue inside." Killua said to him simply, leaving the answer at that.
"Oh…" Zepile said, trailing off as his eyes went wide at Killua's words.

Gon and Killua looked back at Zepile and then at the pot. I did the same, why buy a pot that was garbage? Maybe it held something special to him.
"Why did you choose that pot?" Killua questioned him, continuing to stare at the pot wrapped in the grey wrapping paper. Zepile looked at Killua slightly wide eyed, wondering what he meant.
"If you knew the wooden trove was real, shouldn't you have bid on the more valuable item? But you went for the pot. Why?" Killua questioned him, asking mine and Gon's unspoken question. It only made sense. Killua pointed at the pot as me and Gon stared at it silently. Zepile looked at the pot himself through the corners of his eyes; he kept his arms crossed over the table. Zepile sighed and scratched the back of his head, furrowing his brows.
"You see… I made this pot. But it wasn't an original creation." Zepile said, smiling at us with his brows furrowed and hands either side of him. Me, Gon and Killua watched as he began untying the wrapping paper from the point.
"It was a replica. In other words, a counterfeit." Zepile said, crossing his arms once more and leaning onto them, a small smile on his face with knitted brows. I couldn't help but furrow my own brows, wasn't that technically lying to people?
"When I was destitute, this was how I made Jenny. Once I became an appraiser and began earning money, I quit doing that." Zepile said to us. I guess that made it kind of better now that he quit…but it still wasn't a very honest thing to do in the first place.
"When I see how poorly these are made, I feel mortified! So I browse the markets and buy them back." Zepile explained to us. I couldn't help but laugh slightly, he must have been really proud of them when he first made them but now that he knew what he was looking for he was really disappointed by them.
"How much would a real one cost?" Killua asked him as the three of us stared at Zepile. Zepile held up his hand.
"It's my turn." He said to us simply, making Killua glare hard at him. Killua's own rule was being used against him and he didn't seem to be taking too lightly to it.

Zepile pointed at Gon as Killua continued to glare heavily at him.
"What does your dad do?" Zepile questioned him. Gon smiled widely at the man as he began speaking.
"He's a pro Hunter." Gon answered him proudly.
"How much would a real one cost?!" Killua said instantly at the end of Gon's sentence now that it was our turn to ask questions.
"Forty to fifty thousand." Zepile said looking at Killua questionably as he waved his hand by the wrist. Zepile crossed his arms over his chest dismissing Killua after he answered his question and turned his attention back to Gon. This only made Killua glare at him even more.
"Is that so? A pro Hunter, huh? There are a few in the antiques world, and not one of them is ordinary. Won't it be impossible for you three to find him alone?" Zepile questioned us as he closed his eyes. Gon smiled widely at him and leaned forward slightly.
"It'll be fine. Me and Mishka are pro Hunters, too." Gon said making me look at him with wide eyes. Did Gon really consider me at the same level as him?

Me and Zepile stared at him wide eyed, Zepile more surprised than me. I quickly brought my head forward and started drinking my juice through my straw, keeping my eyes on the table as I stared at it wide eyed, before smiling widely to myself at the thought that someone like me was a pro Hunter; or so my friend said.
"Huh? Seriously?" Zepile asked as Gon nodded his head.
"Okay, your turn to ask a question." Gon said him, keeping his smile on his face. Zepile looked at him slightly wide eyed before leaning forward with a smirk on his face.
"Okay, this is my final question. Can I help you with anything?" Zepile questioned us. I stopped drinking my drink as the three of us looked at Zepile confused by his question.
"If you want to make money at an auction, you'll need an appraiser. You could say that with an appraiser, you can always turn a profit. You can set the price you want to pay me. How's that?" Zepile explained to us as he placed a hand onto his leg and propped up the other arm by the elbow onto the table. Me, Gon and Killua quickly looked at each other before looking back at Zepile.
"Then you have to answer our last question. Why do you want to help us?" Gon questioned him, looking at him with a stern look. Me and Killua did the same; why would this man want to help three twelve year olds? Not everyone was good natured so why would this man be any different?

Zepile frowned at us as he kept silent. After a few seconds of silence he closed his eyes and smiled at us, placing his propped arm flat onto the table once more.
"Because it made me happy… It made me happy that this piece of junk actually caught your eye." Zepile said to us placing a hand on top of the statue. Gon stood up immediately and slammed his hands on the table. I held onto my juice glass tightly as he leaned forward and looked at Zepile in the eye.
"It's not a piece of junk! It definitely holds your Nen. Everyone has some aura… But it's incredibly difficult to harness! You must concentrate and train for a very long time. I can tell how much effort you put into making that pot! You have a lot of talent!" Gon said to Zepile, praising his work and talents. I couldn't help but smile widely at Gon; he spoke words of wisdom even though we didn't learn Nen all that long ago really. Gon sat down and rubbed the back of his head, closing his eyes as he pulled a face.
"I still think it's a weird pot, though." Gon said to him making me smile even more at him. He had a way of destroying his beautiful sentences.

Zepile stayed quiet as he picked up his tea cup and took a quick sip out of it. Pulling his hand back from his mouth he closed his eyes.
"My eyes didn't deceive me. When you appraise objects long enough, you also become a good judge of character. I look at the sellers and buyers too, not just the merchandise." Zepile explained to us as he placed his tea cup back down onto the saucer. He opened his eyes as he looked at us with a wide smile.
"It's a lot harder to appraise humans than it is to appraise antiques. When I saw you, I knew right away… That I wanted to work with you. That's my answer." Zepile said to us, keeping the smile on his face as he spoke. Me, Gon and Killua stared at him as he spoke, keeping our hands on our now empty juice glasses.
"What's yours?" Zepile asked us, waiting our answer to his previous question of us wanting him to help. The three of us looked at each other with small smiles of our own and nodded our heads, silently agreeing with each other about our answer. We looked back at Zepile, keeping the smiles on our faces.
"Looking forward to it." Gon said to him.
"We'll decide your fee after we see how you do." Killua explained to him.
"It'll be nice working with you." I said to him myself, speaking for the first time after a long time in this conversation. Zepile laughed slightly to himself and sat up straight, keeping the smile on his face.
"Okay! With that settled…" Zepile began saying until Gon butted in.
"But first… Teach me those techniques you talked about earlier." Gon said to him, smiling widely at Zepile.

Zepile furrowed his brows at him as he frowned at Gon's request.
"You're interested?" Zepile asked him as Gon quickly nodded his head and held his hand up to his face, counting on each finger the different things that were talked about earlier in the day.
"Hoodwinking, double-dipping, wielding… What else is there?" Gon asked him, looking up to Zepile. Killua leaned in close to Gon, glaring at him with a look on annoyance.
"Seriously… That isn't important at all!" Killua yelled at him.
"But they sound like fun! Like magic tricks!" Gon retaliate. I leaned in myself, looking at Gon and Killua with a wide smile on my face.
"They might come in handy one day…but it sounds really dishonest." I said to them, furrowing my brows with my smile turning into a small one.
"We're not here to have fun!" Killua yelled back at Gon, looking at him annoyingly once more.

We paid for our lunch and exited the café. We followed Zepile outside. He went to one of these machines. You put in a hundred Jenny coin and turned the handle around in a full circle, then you got a ball prize that could have anything inside! Zepile placed a one hundred Jenny coin into the machine and twisted the handle around. A yellow ball fell out. He picked it up and looked at us over his shoulder, keeping the smile on his face.
"Wielding is the hardest technique to see through." He said to us as he began walking away from the machines. We followed him down the street.
"But recently, a new technique has surfaced. It's known as exposing." Zepile said as he took a seat on the wall. The three of us placed our items onto the wall and then sat on it ourselves. Killua was in the middle of me and Gon. We stared at Zepile as he played with the ball in his hands. Zepile twisted the top of the ball open and lifted off the lid. On the inside was a little dog figurine with his tongue sticking out.
"You plainly reveal the opened statue along with a fake treasure." Zepile said as he took the little dog figurine out. He placed it on the wall next to him and grabbed a dry leaf that was falling off the bushes behind. Zepile held the leaf next to the half yellow ball.
"Because people assume that you wouldn't open the statue if the treasure were fake, you can fool them." Zepile explained to us as we watched him closely and with great interest. I felt a little bit bad learning about this; it was hugely dishonest and made me feel really uncomfortable.

Zepile placed the dog back into the yellow ball and topped it off with the lid once more, twisting it back on.
"But now this technique is getting old. When people started getting suspicious, a new technique emerged. Can you guess what it is?" Zepile explained and then questioned us as he looked at us with a wide smile, wondering if we knew the answer to his question.
"I know. The treasure inside is also fake!" Gon said to him smiling widely, confidence evident in his voice.
"Wrong!" Zepile said, making the smile on Gon's face disappear and being replaced with a frown.
"I know! Remove the treasure from a different place!" Killua said, holding up a finger close to his face. Zepile tossed the ball up and down into the air, the smile never leaving his face.
"Bingo!" He said and caught the ball in his hand.
"You can create a new opening and remove the treasure, then insert the fake treasure and seal the hole. This is known as side-stepping." Zepile explained to us as he looked at the yellow ball which held the dog figurine.
"Side-stepping…" Gon repeated after him, taking in the words that Zepile spoke. Gon leaned forward, wanting to take in the words even more, acting as if he did lean forward he would hear what Zepile said first.
"Many veteran appraisers have been fooled. They assume the statue is real if the adhesive hasn't changed colour from the application of fire. That's how they fool the pros." Zepile explained to us. Gon smiled widely and sat up straight, keeping his hands on his knees.
"You live in an incredible world." Gon said to him.

Gon's phone started ringing making me and Killua look down at the pocket where he kept it. Gon dug through his pocket and took out the creepy bug phone, placed it by his ear and pressed a button to answer it.
"Hello? What? A spider? Got it." Gon said as he stood up. I looked at him with wide eyes. A spider had been found…we were getting closer to catching them. Gon looked at me and Killua, a determined look on his face as he held his phone in his hand.
"Let's go, Killua, Mishka." Gon said as me and Killua stood up. I nodded my head as Killua did the same. We ran away from Zepile, leaving behind the items that Gon and Killua had run back on the wall. The spiders were around, we had to catch them.
"Hey! What about the auction?" Zepile yelled after us. The three of us quickly stopped and looked over our shoulders towards him. I couldn't help but stare at him blankly and distractedly.
"We'll let you handle it!" Gon yelled back over to him, smiling widely.
"Try to get us a good price!" Killua yelled over to him, keeping a straight face. Gon gave Zepile thumbs up as he looked at us with disbelief. We then turned around and began running towards wherever Gon was taking us.

There were spiders about, and we were close enough to catch them. Maybe, just maybe, if I caught a spider…would big brother be really proud of me?