Disclaimer: I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings.

ABC Series

N is for Number

"Uncle Franklin?"

"Yes, Meta?"

"What do the numbers mean?"

Franklin stopped weaving the flower stems and tilted his head slightly to peer at the boy sitting on his right side and making his own flower crown. They were both sitting under the great tree by the side of a flower field, seeking refuge from the heat of the day. Sleeping on the soft grass next to Franklin with a book in hand was Noah, having been claimed many minutes ago by the drowsiness induced by the summer heat. Frolicking among the flowers were the girls, picking out the best flowers to be delivered to Franklin and Meta as they created many different accessories made out of flowers.

This was a request from Fino, because the annual Festival of Flowers was coming soon. The children were usually the ones making the flower accessories, but Meta tended to hunt down the Spiders and made them help him with the job. Needless to say, certain members of the Genei Ryodan made sure they were busy and available during this time of the year. Of course, they always turned up for the free food and booze during the festival itself, and Meta always get payback at them for 'running away'.

"Numbers?"

"You know. Like the ones that you and Uncle Nobu and Uncle Phinx and Machi and Shalnark have?"

Meta had never gotten out of calling some of the Spiders as uncles; which Danchou found immensely amusing. Franklin never complained; in fact, he was quite content to have a nephew to spoil and mentor. This was the closest he could ever get for a child and family. Nobu and Phinx used to file complaints to Danchou about it all the time, but now they never made a pipe about it. Franklin assumed that they just simply grew into the role.

"They have no meaning." Franklin answered with gentle voice.

"Really?" Meta looked up from his flowers to peer at Franklin, curious and inquisitive.

"They don't reflect rankings in terms of strength or abilities, if that's what you're asking me." Franklin began explaining.

Franklin then recalled the boy's mother firing the same line of questioning to Danchou once upon a time, and he quite recalled Danchou's answers and the Kuruta's subsequent reactions. Suffice to say that the dynamics between Danchou and the chain-user never failed to amuse Franklin.

"The numbers are simply units to indicate attendance and membership positions." The giant continued. "They don't reflect the sequence in which they joined the group either."

"Oh…" Meta's eyes dropped back to his flowers, and he continued working wordlessly for a few more minutes.

Franklin knew that the boy still had questions, but he wouldn't prompt him. He'd go with the boy's pace, as the boy would ask when he was ready.

"Uncle Franklin?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we'll get the numbers, too?"

Franklin blinked and turned to look quizzically at the boy.

"We?"

"Me and Bia. And Noah and Sarai."

Honestly, Franklin had NO idea. Danchou had once expressed his desire to have at least Meta or Bia to join the Genei Ryodan. Franklin knew by general consent that the Spiders were keen on having those two as members. Danchou didn't seem keen on adding Sarai into their ranks, though. If he was to make an educated guess, Franklin would say that Sarai's role was to purely oversee the continuation of the Kuruta line. Besides, the Spiders would probably too busy babysitting her to work properly. Meanwhile, Danchou had vaguely hinted that Noah already had a position to fill, or that at least he would be busy taking care of something in the future; which kinda saddened Franklin because no children like Noah should have a responsibility already waiting for him so early in life.

"I don't know, Meta." The Spider answered honestly. "But if your mother has any say in it, no."

"What? Why?" Meta all but whined.

"She doesn't like the Spiders, as you should know by now." Franklin said, amused and curious.

"I call bull—"

"Meta." Franklin interrupted sharply, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. He had explicit order from Danchou to make sure Meta watched his language. Nobunaga, Phinx, and Feitan were such stellar examples for the boy.

"—shisbelief (disbelief) on that!"

Still, Franklin raised a questioning eyebrow. Why couldn't the boy believe that his mother detest the Spiders?

"Because she talks with Shalnark all the time! And Heen, too! And most of all, well she's married to Dad with four kids, and Dad is the leader!"

Franklin couldn't help but to grin at the last statement.

"They are exception, Meta. Your mother has had dealings with Heen before he joined the Spiders. As for Shalnark, because he's married to Fino and she has known him on personal level and on daily basis. As for your father… Well..." Franklin scratched his head. "Can't say that I—or anyone in the Genei Ryodan, for that matter—saw that coming."

"Was it that bad? Mom and Dad, before?" Meta asked with a grimace. The kid was empathic, and Franklin was pretty sure that he had heard plenty of stories.

"Oh, they were after each other's throat all the time. Actually, it was mostly your mother trying to do the deed most of the time. Your father simply tolerated her because he found her amusing. I heard your father never got bored when in your mother's company." Franklin shrugged, and gently put the flower crown he had just finished into the pile.

"Hmmm…" Meta tilted his head cutely. "Well, I can imagine Mom going ballistic on Dad. I mean, that happened a few times before."

Franklin just had to laugh at that.

"You have no idea, lad. You haven't seen the real thing."

"I wish I could see it." The boy pouted as he finished up his flower crown.

Franklin simply chuckled at that, and proceeded to make another flower decoration. This time, he was making a flower cape. They continued working in comfortable silence, with the girl's laughter ringing across the field.

"You know, Meta." Franklin suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"Hm?"

"Us, the original members of Genei Ryodan," Franklin said with gentle, almost sad voice, "we didn't take up this line of work because we wanted to. It was out of necessity."

Meta looked up from his new project and stared at his gentle uncle with curious eyes. He could feel that Uncle Franklin had something serious to tell him, and that he needed to hear this with undivided attention.

After a while, Franklin stopped weaving the flowers and turned to look at the boy. He then lifted a hand and gently placed it on the boy's golden crown of hair

"You have no such need." Franklin said while patting Meta on the head. "You don't need to be like us in order to survive."

"But…"

"You have everything that we didn't have, Meta. Be grateful about it. It's bad enough that there's a chance that somebody might discover you as a Kuruta and start hunting you and your siblings down for your Scarlet Eyes, like what we did to your mother's people. There is no need to take up felony and has a bounty put on your head."

"But Uncle Franklin…"

"Hm?"

"My Scarlet Eyes are Mom's legacy."

"Indeed they are. They are a beautiful legacy." Franklin said while nodding.

"But for me, Dad's legacy is you guys. The Genei Ryodan." The boy murmured while fidgeting with his fingers. "It's not fair if I just…continue…with Mom's legacy without considering Dad's."

To say that Franklin was surprised was an understatement. He didn't know that Meta was that insightful, that he admired his father that much. He had expected some kind of distance between Meta and Danchou because of Danchou's absence on the boy's first four formative years of life. He also had expected the boy to be somewhat ashamed that his father was a criminal.

But then, perhaps this admiration and acceptance was to be expected. When Meta first came to know his father, the boy was introduced to Danchou and the Genei Ryodan. It probably felt like his father came in a package with the whole gang. For Meta, it probably felt like the Genei Ryodan was an aspect that defined his father's identity; which wasn't far from true. In fact, that was probably the essential. In a way, perhaps Kurapika's reluctant acceptance of the Spiders in her home and around her family was also because she had acknowledged the Spiders as an essence of Kuroro Lucifer. Without the Genei Ryodan, Kuroro Lucifer wasn't Kuroro Lucifer.

"That's nice of you." Franklin smiled the boy proudly. "Your father would be happy when he hears that."

"You think so?" The boy's face lit up.

"I'm sure of it." Franklin nodded.

Danchou might not be forthcoming with his affections for the children when in the public, but Franklin had seen how he would kneel down and open his arms to welcome the highly-excitable children as they rushed to over-enthusiastically smother him with affectionate greetings when he came back home from missions. He knew of Danchou's devotion to their education and trainings, and general well-being.

"And Meta?"

"Yeah?"

"Make sure you tell your father what you just told me, yes? About his legacy?"

"Alright!" The boy gave him a toothy grin, before he turned back to work diligently.

Franklin observed the boy for a while longer, a rather disturbed expression on his face. What he wanted to tell the boy wasn't about the legacy. He was about to tell him that if he was ever getting a number, it was probably going to be number 1. However, Franklin caught himself on the last minute and said something else harmless. He couldn't tell the boy that. He couldn't. Not when the rule of the group was that a new member could only join by filling the vacant position, or by killing the existing members to take over the number. The very thought of Meta attempting to kill any of the members was disturbing enough, but the image of Meta getting the number 1… It would be either that Danchou had met his untimely demise, or Meta had killed him…

Suddenly, Franklin wished the boy and his siblings would never be members of the Genei Ryodan.

Author's Note: Meta expressed his desire to join the Spiders, Franklin enjoying himself with art projects involving flowers, and Franklin discovering the other side of the coin (of Meta and his siblings joining the Spiders).

I simply think that Franklin making flowers crowns and covered in flowers is a very amusing image. And he does seem like he could be a gentle mentor to Meta and his siblings. And you can imagine Nobunaga and Phinx running away from the sheer floweriness of this activity ^^ Among the children, I figured Meta would be the one who was most eager to join the Spiders. Kuroro probably wouldn't allow Noah to join the Spiders because he would be too busy dedicating himself to take care of you-know-what.

And sorry for the late updates, guys. College has been busy like heeeell, especially since this is my last year.