Kiri woke to the sounds of loud, hushed whispers. Rubbing her eyes she sat up. Peering through her squinted eyes she made out the backs of two small forms chatting excitedly.

'Gon? Killua?'

The two turned around. 'Kiri! Did we wake you? We were trying to talk quietly,' apologised Gon sheepishly.

'No, don't worry, you didn't wake me.' She turned to Killua who was now pulling his t-shirt over his head. 'Where are you off to?' She asked, eyeing Gon's packed backpack and his trust-worthy rod in his hand.

'To explore the rest of the ship!' Piped Gon. 'We still have a few hours till landing and it's still really early...You know, you should go back to sleep, you look like you haven't slept for days!'

Kiri ignored Gon's last comment. 'Didn't you explore enough yesterday?'

Kiri saw Killua stiffen slightly at these words. It would not have been very apparent to anyone else but having known Killua since he was young, it didn't escape Kiri's notice.

'Yeah! Well...We had a game with that Netero old man! It was tiring, although Killua stopped playing halfway through and I didn't know where he -'

'Yes, yes that's enough,' Killua grabbed Gon in a headlock, 'didn't you say you wanted to see those Lapne Crows? It's almost the end of dawn, they're gonna fly away you know.'

Gon's eyes lit up and he untangled himself from Killua's arms. 'That's right! Hey hey Kiri, did you know there are these huge white birds that fly around the plane except they don't really have wings! They fly by using the flapping motion of their tails! Only in this area though! And also...'but before Kiri could hear the end of his sentence, Killua had already pulled him through the door and slammed it shut.

I don't think I can go back to sleep after all that, laughed Kiri to herself. She ran her hand through her hair, trying to free the tangles. But...Killua sure was acting weird, she pondered.

The palaver that just occurred had completely distracted Kiri to the mental troubles she had been through the previous night. After 'discovering' that she had shared a 'kiss' with the Kurta, it had taken her several hours to fall asleep but at least somehow, it was now pushed to the back of her mind.

Kiri gave her body a good stretch before sliding off the bed. Just as she was finishing freshening up, she heard three smart raps on her door. Thinking it was probably Killua or Gon forgetting something she opened the door and peered out.

'Down here'.

She looked down to see a short small man. She uses the word man because she doesn't know what other word to describe him as he had the body of a 'man', dressed in a smart full black suit with a somewhat cute black bow tie adorning his outfit, but his head was the shape of a literal blob and the colour of his skin was a sickly bright green colour.

'My name is Beans, the chairman sent me here to get you.'

Immediately realising her mistake of being seen in public Kiri tried to shut the door but Beans had wedged his foot in the gap. 'Don't worry, you're not in any kind of trouble. The chairman would just like to speak with you'.

Shit, Kiri thought. 'Are you going to disqualify me?'

'That will be for the chairman to decide.' He replied. 'And I wouldn't use the word disqualify since you weren't a candidate for qualification in the first place. Please follow me.'

Kiri followed him down the corridor. It was quiet as it was still early and not a soul was around.

Thank God Killua isn't around here, she thought to herself. She would rather have a solid understanding of why the chairman wanted to see her before explaining anything to her brother.

Beans stopped abruptly before a normal door that looked just like any of the other doors except this one had a golden plate on the front engraved with the words 'private.'

He rapped on it before opening it and indicating for Kiri to enter.

The room was quite large but otherwise, decorated rather plainly. A selection of framed maps and artistic paintings were hung on the wall. A few wooden tables wooden tables lined the edges of the square room at which a few had statues, miniatures wooden ships sat upon them. One large curtainless window to the left of Kiri, was where the only source of natural light was emitting from. The light shone directly onto a low oval table at which the president was lounging on a sofa behind.

'Ah, Kiri'.

Kiri observed the chairman. It was her first time seeing him. She rarely paid attention to the news, not that he featured in them any ways but he was a lot more young than she thought he would be. He hopped off the sofa, 'Tea?'

Kiri shook her head but he began pouring some any ways.

'Have a seat, don't be so ridged,' he said, bringing the tea back over. Kiri noticed he didn't pour any for himself.

Kiri gingerly sat down on the sofa facing opposite his.

Setting down the tea, he lowered himself down on his seat. 'I've been watching you. That is a rather interesting ability you have.'

Kiri didn't reply.

'We do have some rather interesting contestants this year. Have you been noticing? That kid with the rod, for one. Very promising.' He stroked his long, wispy beard whilst nodding.

'But you know, all of these contestants have a reason why they want to be hunters, and for that reason they applied. And for that application, they are now being assessed under strict (he coughed at this point,) and controlled conditions. None of which, includes a shape shifting young girl'. He picked up the tea that he had originally poured for her, took a sip with his pinky up, before setting it back down. 'So, I believe you understand the situation we are in right now?'

'Can you not think of me as a pet? That other contestant had a pet monkey,' Kiri replied.

'But that pet monkey doesn't turn into a human, or should I should I say, that monkey is an animal to begin with'.

Kiri's fists tightened in her hands. She can't leave Killua now. Without a doubt, if she had to leave then Killua would leave with her but she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. Not right now when he was finally starting to relax, if they left now and were caught by the family she would never stop blaming herself. And also there was Gon. He was finally making a friend, someone outside of the family who he could talk with freely without having to worry about his overbearing parents punishing them. No, she must stay.

'I have been doing this for many years,' Netero continued. 'I can usually tell from first glance who would make a good hunter and who would not. And you,' he stretched out a long index finger to point at her. 'Would not.'

Kiri didn't move or respond to this either. Being a hunter was not her goal in the first place so she didn't care for the title. But it was the chairman's reasoning that she wanted to hear.

'And why is that?'

'Hunters are lone creatures,' he paused for a second, hand once again stroking his beard, 'well most are, give or take. Independent is more of the word I'm looking for. All things that you are not'. He leaned towards Kiri and whispered, 'You, in more basic terms, are the prey'.

Kiri looked in the chairman's eyes. He did not say these words with any malice or taunt. It was more like he was just stating the facts. Slightly confused, Kiri did not know what to say.

'So...What is it you want to say? You just want me to leave right?' Kiri clenched her fists together even tighter and stared into the chairman's eyes. After a few seconds, he broke the stare and laugh heartedly.

'My, if looks could kill'. He settled down. 'No, you don't have to leave, but...In exchange, I have a little assessment for you. My type of mini exam, so to say, if you accept it, I will let you continue with the rest of the assessment with your friends'.

Kiri heart did a little flip as soon as he said she could stay but just as quickly it sank upon hearing that she would be required to do a special mission.

'What mission?'

The chairman's eyes glinted and the corner of his mouth lifted into a grin. 'Let me tell you...'

'My, my, you're rather the protective brother aren't you?'

Hisoka sauntered up to Illumi who was leaning against the wall, arms folded, outside the chairman's room, eavesdropping.

'So, what's going to happen?

'She's staying', was Illumi's curt reply. He pushed himself off the wall.

'Ah, that's good, I wouldn't want the fun to end so soon,' said Hisoka, licking his lips.

A dark, evil aura started to leak from Illumi. 'If want to add Kiri to one of your toys, then think again. I will end you. Right now'. The dark purple aura began to weave itself around the magician and he jokingly batted it away.

'Don't be so scary,' he chuckled. He added quietly at the end 'Besides, she'll never be fully ripe.'

Hisoka only knew as much about Kiri from the little information that Illumi had once told him.

Kiri was the oldest daughter of the Zoldyck family. After the birth of Milluki, Kikyo had started fearing that she would never give birth to a daughter, and so, set about creating Kiri.

To be a Zoldyck family member was not that simple. Kiri could not simply be adopted. Through many failed attempted, twenty-three, to be precise, Kiri was created. They tried to combine the best of each species to create the ultimate killing machine. Kiri was of royal blood, a princess from a small island to the Far East, stolen from her cot just after birth. The feline DNA was also from one of the wildest, most ferocious cat species known to man. However, they did not realise that the cat DNA extract was from the runt of the litter. And so, Kiri has the speed but lacks in strength and power. In the first place, Kiri was not much of a fighter and lacks potential to become a strong fighter. As she grew, this became more apparent as even her younger brother Killua, began to overtake her in all aspects of combat ability. This only served to widen the distance between her and the family to a point where it was only occasionally that she was called for.

Of course, Kikyo needed not to fear in the end because Kalluto was born and she could dress up Kalluto to her heart's desire and as a result, Kiri was neglected. Not that Kiri had minded. She was still considered as part of the family where the servants are concerned, they would tend her each of her requests as they would with the other Zoldycks, but her relationship with the family had become business-like.

Her only interact with Silva was to report her assassinations, she barely had any more contact with Kikyo, if anything, she was invisible to her. Milluki rarely passed up the chance to make snide remarks about how she wasn't blood-related. The only two people in the family who treated her well was Illumi and Killua.

No one was entirely sure why Illumi doted on Kiri except Illumi. But that was a secret that he kept close to his heart.