I just remembered that Killua wasn't supposed to know Illumi is here but in chapter 10 I kind of hinted he knew because he said to Kiri "It's quite possible that aniki knows as well, if he does, that I won't need to do a thing."

Please pretend that I meant that he still thinks Illumi is not in the Hunter Exam but is somehow keeping an eye on them… :'D

Also, I've been planning a Free! Romance OC story which I'm really looking forward to writing. I wonder if any of you would be interested...?

Waiting in the room was painful.

After Kiri fell into the room where everyone was supposed to be gathered, she carelessly allowed herself to be seen by Gon. Well, not that it mattered since Killua had already told him previously about her ability to transform, and when she confronted him with this, he who had once made a big deal out of it, didn't seem apologetic at all. But thanks to this incident, the bad air between them cleared without either party mentioning a word and Kiri found herself strangely relieved.

"I wonder where Leorio is," Kiri commented. "He sure is taking a long time." She glanced over to Kurapika who was still unconscious and propped up against the wall.

The 'punishment' room was a comfortable size. A sofa facing a TV set was in the middle of the room, behind it was a bookshelf filled with thick ancient books in all kinds of languages, a door opposite led presumably to the outside world, and another door could be seen to the left of it leading to a small bathroom.

"Damn that old man," cursed Killua. "He better get himself in this room soon so I can get my hands on him and kick his-"

"Now now, Killua," said Gon, trying to calm his friend. "I'm sure he has his reasons." He turned to Kiri. "Is it okay for Leorio to know your secret too?"

Kiri shrugged. "It's not really a 'secret' anymore since you and Kurapika know. But I guess I can make an exception for you guys." She smiled. "Only if no one other than you guys knows. My brother Illumi-" Kiri stopped her sentence midway. She almost said "My brother Illumi may get suspicious," forgetting that only she know about

Gittarackur's true identity.

"Huh? What about Illumi?" asked Killua.

"Uh, he might get angry if he later on finds out," said Kiri. Hurriedly she changed the topic. "It's already been 20 hours since we begun, where is Leorio?!"

On cue, the trapdoor above them opened and Leorio fell down in a heap.

"Ow...That hurt," he moaned, sitting up and rubbing his head. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. "Oh, everyone's here." Then he spotted Kiri. "Who's that?"

"Damn right everyone's here you-"

"Killua!" interrupted Gon, holding his friend back from kicking Leorio in the face.

"Ahaha," laughed Leorio sheepishly. "I got a little caught up."

"I bet all there were in Temptation was a bunch of naked girls and you couldn't tear yourself away from them!" said Killua.

"When you're a man of my age, naked girls are an easy obstacle to clear."

"Hey Killua, why would some naked girls stop Leorio?" questioned Gon. All three of them began talking at once.

"Why is it so noisy?"

Kiri turned around and saw Kurapika sitting up.

"What happened, Kurapika?" asked Leorio. "Wait, before anyone else talks, who is she?" he said, pointing at Kiri. "Not that I mind having such a cute addition to our team-"

"Keep your perverted mind to yourself old man," said Killua.

"Who said I'm thinking perverted things?!"

"I can see it written all over your face."

The overhead speaker crackled, stopping their argument.

"Gentlemen and...Lady." It was the same voice from before. "Unfortunately you have seemed to not be able to clear this test. The good thing is, you have 50 hours to spend in this room but in total that will only mean you spend 70 hours in this tower. You will still have 2 hours remaining to clear the rest. I wish you good day, and good night."

"That's something to look forward to."

"No thanks to you," replied Killua.

Obviously unable to stand this never-ending argument, Kurapika stood up. "Leorio, this is Kiri," he said.

The shock on Leorio's face was apparent. It took a further hour of explaining and convincing to make him believe that they weren't playing some kind of trick on him.

"Well I say!" was his end comment. "Never in a million years would I have guessed!"

"Same!" agreed Gon.

"Good, we got this all cleared up, now there's no more need for sneaking around amongst us," said Kurapika, giving a quick glance in Kiri's directions.

"We have so much time now," said Killua who sat down cross-legged on the floor and leaned back on his hands. "What is there to do?"

"We could have a look at what's on TV," Gon suggested. They both looked at each other, then scrambled over to gain control of the remote.

"Psh, Kids," said Leorio. "I'm going to take a shower," and he headed off into the bathroom.

Kiri watched Kurapika walk over to the bookshelf and study the range of books. He then selected a particularly thick and dusty one and sat down against the wall since Gon and Killua had completely taken control of the sofa.

Kiri felt like there was some kind of wall between them after that Nightmare incident. She wanted to approach him, but didn't know what she should say. Should she pretend nothing had happened? Or ask him if he was okay? He looked okay enough but who knows?

Her uneasiness getting the better of her, she joined her brother and Gon on the sofa and spent the rest of the day watching a documentary on new species discovered in some remote part of the world. The only indication that it was daytime was the digital clock hung up on the wall above the exit door. Since there were no windows and they were deep in Trick Tower, it was impossible to tell what outside was like.

Kiri somehow dozed off and when she woke up, it was to Leorio's irritated voice telling Gon and Killua to pipe down. As the main lights were off, the only source of light was from the glowing TV screen where Gon and Killua were watching some kind of black and white horror involving Zomatoes. She looked at the clock which read 2AM.

Yawning, the two boys turned off the TV, took a couple of cushions and made themselves comfortable elsewhere, leaving Kiri having the whole sofa to herself.

Leorio was sleeping soundly in a place where Kiri couldn't see, and Kurapika was lying behind the sofa near the bookshelf, seemingly asleep.

She laid back down on the sofa and pulled a blanket over herself. After a few minutes, she closed her eyes but sleep didn't come. Turning over several times in the limited space she had, she still couldn't fall asleep.

"Can't sleep?"

Kiri heard the Kurapika's voice softly in the dark.

"You too?"

"Yeah."

Can he not sleep because of what happened today? Should I ask him about it? What if it's actually nothing to do with that and I'm just unnecessarily reminding him?

Thoughts raced through Kiri's mind.

"Hey Kiri, do you really think Leorio was stopped because of something as trivial as what Killua said?"

"You mean the naked girls?"

There was a pause, then he replied. "Yes."

Kiri pondered for a short while. "I don't really know Leorio that well so I can't say." She heard him turn over on the floor.

"He told me that he lost his friend to an illness. That he couldn't save his friend because he didn't have enough money."

"So you think his friend came back to him in there?"

"It's only a guess."

"Why don't you ask him?"

"Because I know he won't tell me."

Kiri didn't know how to reply so she didn't. The only sounds in the room was the deep breathing of the sleepers. Wanting to break the silence, Kiri spoke of the only thing that came to her mind.

"Did you see your clan?"

For a few long seconds, Kiri thought she would be ignored and regretted her decision but then Kurapika replied.

"They were crying to me. Asking me why I left them, but I couldn't go near them. Then the spiders came and took everything away in front of my eyes but I couldn't do a thing. I only stood there and watched. My family, my friends, Pairo…"

Even without looking, Kiri knew Kurapika's eyes must be a deep scarlet colour right now. A gift but also a curse, she thought.

Kurapika's voice seemed normal, but underneath everything, behind the sofa she knew he was full of hurt. The incident was too close, the wound too fresh. It didn't help that she added salt to it.

She wanted to reach out to him, but wasn't sure if that was appropriate. So she just laid there, on her sofa.

For the rest of the night, neither of them said another word but this wasn't one of the silences which Kiri felt like she needed to break. It was peaceful and tranquil.

So, without realising, Kiri drifted off into a calm sleep.