"Gotcha!" Gon bellowed in triumph as the lemon yellow water balloon he'd launched burst on contact with Killua's back.
The latter boy grinned devilishly as he turned and raised his arms until they were horizontally level, palms up and filled to the brim with azure water bombs.
"You fell right in to my trap!" he cackled as he rapidly launched them one at a time toward his friend.
However, Gon was quick too and he managed to evade the playful assault, dodging the "weapons" by weaving through the crowd of people that had milled their way on to the ship's main deck to take in the first awe-inspiring view of the Volcanic Islands. It was unfortunately mostly these bystanders that received an unwelcomed blast of cool water against various regions of the body. Some gasped, others screamed, but the majority took to shouting enraged insults at the two boys- particularly Killua, who was of course the one unintentionally pelting them with aqua-filled rubber.
"Sorry! Sorry! I apologize! Sorry!" Gon excused himself on loop as he shoved through multiple people's legs and occasionally leapt wildly over their heads.
With any luck, Gon assumed perhaps his companion would run out of ammo by the time he was left unshielded by the passengers and back out in the open. With crossed fingers, the island boy feinted left before swinging a hard right, disappearing around the corner.
More determined than ever, Killua amped up his speed and whizzed through the crowd, knocking over several people in the process. He planted his right foot firmly on the floor of the deck before thrusting himself at sharp angle toward the corner Gon had attempted to use in order to evade him, and blindly fired his last balloon in to his friend's face. It exploded in a small spray of water.
"Take that!" Killua shouted simultaneously with his attack.
It was exactly then that Killua realized that he hadn't actually hit Gon. Indeed he'd hit someone, but that someone was not his intended target. In fact, he was somewhat stupefied when he recognized the glowering and dripping wet face of Misaki hovering before him. Her hands were stiffly positioned on her hips, making no attempt to wipe away the moisture as it continued to drip incessantly from her flesh and clothing on to the ground.
"Misaki-san!" Gon called to her, abandoning his hiding place behind a box of cargo. "Sorry!"
The tanned boy rushed over to the scene, a single, yellow water bomb still clasped in his hand. Misaki pointed with a straight finger at it.
"Give me that," she demanded, and he obliged without hesitation. "You're supposed to be going to the Volcanic Islands for an important mission, and here you are having a bloody water fight on the ship."
Her words were scolding, but her tone was far less harsh than either had presumed it would have been following an unexpected shower of water in the face. Her eyes narrowed at Killua.
"Was this your idea?" she asked firmly.
"We both came up with the idea," the silver haired boy argued back, standing his ground unapologetically. "Anyway, who are you? My mom? Don't think just because you're older that you get to boss us around."
The former assassin eyed down the plum haired girl, who surprisingly appeared neither intimidated nor very interested in him now. She suddenly smiled, fairly sarcastically as it were, and casually began to approach Killua.
"We'll be docking in about ten minutes now," she announced calmly, but still with a definite air of authority.
As she passed Killua on her way to the main deck, she flippantly rotated her arm and slammed down the final, confiscated balloon on the very top of his head. The water droplets streamed down from his hair, descending the length of his forehead in a collected puddle. The blue eyed boy scowled as he used the length of his forearm to wipe the moisture from his brows.
"Be on time if you don't want to get left behind," she warned with an indifferent voice as she vanished from sight in to the mass of people.
"That old hag…" Killua cursed ferociously between clenched teeth.
"I guess she won," Gon chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Wow, this place is cool!" Gon exclaimed as the trio advanced down the main street.
There was a vast abundance of people, many with luggage or cameras, littering the city. Nearly everyone seemed enthusiastic or at least contented, and there were several interesting events taking place around them. There was a group of people dressed in thick leaves that were dancing to string music that Gon had never heard before. He could hardly contain his excitement.
"A ton of tourists, though," Killua added, his eyes focused and darting from side to side casually.
"Misaki-san, do we have time to stop somewhere for lunch?" the tanned boy asked hopefully, eyeing the many small cafes and restaurants ahead of them.
"Haku-san is expecting us," she dismissed him, not bothering to turn around as she spoke.
"Lunch would probably only take half an hour," Killua protested, partially sticking up for his friend (and alternately because he still disliked Misaki).
"Responsibilities first, food later," she responded firmly.
"If we're hungry we need to eat," the blue eyed boy actively argued back.
"When duty calls, everything else comes second," Misaki lectured in a tone that promised there was no correct opposing answer.
The boys exchanged glances. Gon shrugged, obviously unsure of whether or not he was partial to the statement, but Killua knew exactly how he felt about it.
'She sounds just like my family,' he mentally grumbled, intentionally dragging his feet as he begrudgingly continued to follow.
Misaki was mildly distracted as she lifted a lightly clenched fist to rap on the door which matched the number she'd been texted the night before. Was this how these boys approached what they had been told was a serious mission; worrying about going out for a fancy lunch? This was hardly acceptable, if not almost completely out of her range of comprehension, and the amber eyed girl was frowning slightly just at the thought.
The vaguely familiar, albeit somewhat aged face of one of her previous employers from her adolescence, Haku Kamaka, appeared before her in the doorway. His thick, black rimmed spectacles were sliding down the bridge of his nose, and his once white, button-up, collared shirt was ever so lightly tinted blue: like his high-waist slacks.
"Misaki-chan, it's been ages!" he greeted her, smiling pleasantly. As he leaned in to pat her on the shoulder, he asked, "…And are these the boys you mentioned?"
She nodded, gesturing to them individually as she replied, "Killua and Gon."
"Nice to meet you boys," he said, offering them each a hand to shake.
"Thanks for letting us stay here," Misaki mumbled in his ear as Haku was finishing up with the introductions.
"Oh, it's really no trouble at all!" he insisted. "Come, come inside! I was just about to eat lunch but it seems I've made far too much for only one person!"
"He does that kind of thing a lot," the purple haired girl whispered back to the boys as they entered the small house.
Haku merely chuckled in response as he led them in to the kitchen.
"I resent that," he joked. "Maybe as an apology, you can help me out while I analyze the seismometer readings."
"Size-mah-?" Gon attempted to repeat.
"Seis-mo-me-ter," Haku pronounced phonetically by syllable as he added three additional soup bowls to the carved wooden table.
"Haku-san studies earthquakes," Misaki explained as she took the liberty to serve everyone's bowl.
"Wow, really?" Gon asked.
"Well, sort of. I study the patterns of earthquakes and record their magnitude so I can decide the cause and effect and pin point any consistencies to help predict the severity of future earthquakes comparative to those in the past, both recent and distant," Haku explained.
Gon's face was seemingly frozen in time. Haku laughed.
"Sorry, I don't get company often and it's easy to forget that not everyone understands the way I talk," he apologized gently.
"That's okay!" Gon said encouragingly as he took a generous sip of broth. "I am curious about your job, though, Haku-san."
"Job?" Haku repeated. "Oh no, you misunderstand me. I don't get paid to do this, I just enjoy it. I inherited this house from my father, along with enough money to keep me set for life. So I don't actually have a job at all."
"Oh," Gon responded, his smile returning full force. "It's good to do things that you love."
"I think so, too," the man agreed.
Haku liked this boy; he was innocent and happy and sweet. It had been quite some time since he had encountered someone so optimistic and enthused to hear about his hobby.
"How about instead of just trying to explain what I do, I show you after lunch how the equipment works?" he suggested.
"Yeah!" the island boy agreed, though he drew back slightly after. He turned to Misaki and added, "Um, unless we have stuff to do…"
The girl swallowed the remainder of the food in her mouth before responding, "That would be fine."
"Really?" Gon cried excitedly.
"So much for 'responsibilities first'," Killua mocked, glaring at her over his dish.
He had been silently observing the conversation up to now, but he could hardly resist calling out their "guide" on her hypocrisy.
Misaki lazily cocked an eyebrow at him.
"You don't quite understand," she retorted, "this is part of the mission."
A/N: I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank those of you, however few (haha), who are reading this. The "story arc" of sorts will soon be starting up after this point, so I hope I do not horribly disappoint you! *grovels*