"So is that guy the first examiner?" Leorio wondered out loud to his companions, "I thought the exam would be harder than this but all we seem to be doing, is having a leisurely stroll."

"Well in case you haven't noticed, Leorio," Kurapika said with a sigh, "the pace is picking up gradually."

Leorio suddenly realised, with a surprise, that he found himself walking rather briskly and even jogging lightly to keep up, as opposed to when he had started.

"Oh yea," was all he could manage to reply with. "But still, this seems like it'll be a cinch."

"I don't think you'll say that after a couple of hours," said Kurapika. "This isn't only a test of physical ability, there's also an element of mental stress to take into account. Who knows how long we'll be running for. Plus, you look like you're beginning to get tired."

"O-of course not"! Spluttered Leorio, "I'm only getting warmed up!" And he sprinted a couple of metres ahead to prove his point.

"The people in the front are running now," added Gon. "Yet the examiner doesn't look like he's moving much at all though."

As soon as Gon said that, he felt a rush of cool air to his right. Gon turned his head and his brown eyes met a pair of cold blue eyes.

"Hey, skateboard?! Shouted Leorio, "That's cheating!"

"Huh?" replied Killua, casually sliding along. "How so?"

The guy's just jealous. I bet he wished he had brought one along too. Not sure if he knows how to use one though, laughed Kiri. They probably weren't invented in his generation.

"Well obviously this is a test of endurance, why should you have it easy when everyone else is sweating their butts off?! Don't you think so too Gon?" opined Leorio.

"The examiner only said follow," piped Gon who received an angry glare.

"Yelling just wastes energy Leorio," said Kurapika. "And don't forget, it irritates me too."

Kiri looked up to observe the person who the voice belonged to and noted down mentally, his peculiar clothing with interest. It looked like a type of traditional clothing, soft blue fabric lined with a warm shade of red reaching all the way down to his ankles. His brown eyes were curved and oval, which gave him a cat-like expression.

Say Killua, I've never seen anyone wearing clothing before like that person, where is it from?

"I don't know, don't ask me," replied Killua with a slight shrug.

"Huh, did you ask for my name?" The spiky haired, energetic boy (who Kiri identified to be Gon) spoke up. "My name is Gon! What's yours?"

Kiri laughed inwardly. What an interesting bunch of people they seem.

"Killua. Maybe I should run for a while," Killua flipped off his skateboard and caught it with one hand.

"What about your cat? Does it have a name?" Gon asked.

"Her name's Kiri," answered Killua.

"She seems different from normal animals. The way she looks at people when they talk almost make her seem like a human herself. I've never seen something like that before," commented Gon.

Kiri mewed in response. No one could hear her words apart from Killua, who only understood what she said because of the amount of time he spent with her. Whilst the language she spoke in cat form wasn't a human dialect, it wasn't exactly the language of the felines either. The only way Kiri could explain it was more like a cat trying to speak human words, but failing miserably and to outsiders it sounded like a combination of purrs and mews. Illumi could understand the basics, but Silvia, Zeno and Kikyo understood next to nothing and let's not even go there with Milluki.

"She's a weird cat who likes to pretend she's human. A stray unfortunately, I picked up her on the roadside," said Killua and received a nip on the cheek.

As the run progressed, Kiri noticed than Killua and Gon were getting further and further away from the other pair. This was partly due to the fact that Leorio was becoming extremely tired and Kurapika was accompanying him for the sake of it. Although, she wanted to stay with Killua, she decided to check out the other pair. Her legs needed a stretch anyways, so she jumped off and ran near the duo, but not next to them. At this point, Leorio had almost stripped half naked and his body was literally dripping with sweat in comparison with Kurapika, who only had a few beads of sweat running down his cheeks.

"….I've met a lot of people who are motivated by money but not half of them are as dedicated as you are!" Kiri heard Kurapika say.

Kiri seemed to have entered halfway through a heated argument. Just her luck.

"Hmph, fat lot you know!" was Leorio's reponse.

There were a few seconds of silence before Kurapika spoke again.

"The Kurtas were targeted because of their scarlet eyes," he said. The atmosphere suddenly became more tense and Kiri felt like she was treading on unknown territory- which she was used to. Except she wasn't getting paid for this job so it became slightly more awkward. "The scarlet eyes are a special trait of my clan. When our passions are excited, they turn a fiery scarlet colour which is considered one of the most beautiful colours in the world."

"So that's why your clan was attacked?" asked Leorio.

"If we are in an agitated state when we die, our irises stay that colour. All of them killed...for what death creates."

Kiri listened silently, unable to feel much, if at all any emotion. She grew up in with the Zoldycks, whose family business was killing. Killing, killing and more killing. Morning schedule planned for killing, evening schedule, more killing. She tried to sympathise by imagining what life would be like if Killua was murdered...and to her surprise, found herself shaking uncontrollably.

She tuned out for the rest of the conversation and only caught the occasional words of 'revenge' and 'recover the eyes of my clan' but decided she had heard enough.

As she caught up with Killua, she couldn't help recalling the conversation. From past experience, she found that she could put the entire human population in two categories. People who steal, and people who are stolen from. People who steal are the cunning people who take things for their own benefit, whether in return for money, love, you name it. The phantom troupe would be put under this condition. But what about Kurapika? He is the one who is being stolen from. But unlike others, he's not mooching around, in fact, he's even planning on stealing them back, And that, mused Kiri, is what I find intriguing.

"Welcome back Kiri," said Killua, when Kiri caught up. "Where did you go?"

"You missed my story of how I want to follow in my Dad's footsteps and become a pro hunter," said Gon cheerfully.

"She can't understand you Gon, she only pretends she can," replied Killua, giving a sideways glance to Kiri.

"Oh yea.. But somehow I can't shake off the feeling that she's part of the conversation, haha, how strange!" Gon laughed, embarrassed. "Oh look, it's the exit!"

In the not so far distance, they spotted a glowing rectangular box. As they neared it, Kiri noticed it was actually the doorway to the outside.

Being the first three to finish the first phase, Killua, Gon and Kiri waited patiently for the others to catch up.

"F-Finally…!" gasped Leorio, almost dropping to his knees after reaching the exit. "I thought it would be never ending!"

"I thought more people would drop out , but it only seemed like thirty seven did," observed Kurapika, joining them. He seemed slightly worn out which was only noticeable as he had taken off his traditional clothing, revealing white top and bottoms underneath.

"We have now reached 'Swindler's swamp," said the first examiner. "Now the next leg of the first phase will commence."

"Are you serious?!" yelled Leorio, uttering a string of French curse words and brandishing his fist.

To this, the rest of the group gave a heavy sigh, and shook their heads.