During the exam's Third Phase, which requires applicants to reach Trick Tower's base within 72 hours, the five friends have incurred a penalty of fifty hours.
"Good grief. We have to spend fifty hours in this room?" Leorio complains.
"Killua," Kurapika asks.
"What?"
"Can you tell me how that technique works?"
"Technique?" He looks confused.
"The one you used to instantly remove his heart."
"Oh, that wasn't even a technique. I just ripped it out," Killua says casually. "But to make it easier, I manipulated my body a bit." He holds out his hand making his finger nails grow longer and small dark veins pop out of his skin.
"Your nails..." Leorio says nervously.
Gon is amazed, "Wow!"
"They look sharp," I say as I gently poke one of his nails. The simple touch is enough to break through the skin on my finger and a drop of blood falls to the floor. I think back to the first time I felt the sharpness of his nails on my skin. Even after watching him rip Johness's heart out, I'm still not afraid of him. After all, he said he didn't want follow in his family's footsteps.
"Mass murders are still only amateurs," Killua shrugs. "I used to be a professional. But my old man would have done better. When he removes a heart, you won't see even a drop of blood."
"How reassuring," Leorio gets chills down his spine.
Kurapika whispers quietly to himself, "As long as he's on our side..."
"Well, then," Killua looks at the clock counting down the hours on the wall. "We have more than two whole days."
"What should we do, Killua?" Gon asks him.
"First, we should search the room for any kind of entertainment."
"Yeah!" He agrees excitedly and the two of them venture off searching the room.
"Man, you kids don't have a care in the world," Leorio says taking a seat on one of the couches to rest.
Kurapika goes to the bookshelf and randomly selects a book. We have fifty hours... I guess now is as good a time as any. I watch him take a seat and crack open the book. To let him finish the book, or to not let him finish? I take a deep breath. "Kurapika..."
He peers up at me from over his book. "Yes?"
"Umm..." I look at the ground staring at my feet.
"How can I help you?" He asks setting the book on a nearby table.
"Well I... promise you won't be mad okay."
"Why would I be mad?" he inquires.
"It's just... I-I don't really know how to tell you..."
"Tell me what?" He questions getting up from the chair, restless of my stalling. "What is it?"
I stare at him for a few moments not saying anything. He calmly waits for me to respond.
"I..." I take another deep breath and force my eyes to turn scarlet.
His eyes widen and he takes a step back. "How...?"
I can't help but feel a tad bit guilty. "I don't know, they've always—"
Before I can even finish he pushes me up against a wall and rips the tape off of one of his swords taking it out of the wooden sheath, bringing the blade to my throat. How do I always end up in these situations?
"Kurapika!!" Gon calls out. He tries to pull him off of me but he doesn't budge.
"It's okay, Gon" I say in a hopefully soothing voice. Killua is on high alert watching the Kurta's every move.
Kurapika's eyes are burning brightly. "How do you have the scarlet eyes?"
I put my hand over his, the one that's holding the blade to my neck, and slowly try to push it away. "I was born with them."
He only presses harder, refusing to release me. "Impossible. Everyone was slaughtered. And you, I've never seen you before the hunters exam."
"Maybe... everyone wasn't?" It's not a good explanation, but it's the only one I can offer in the moment.
He's watching me closely, studying every aspect. His anger slowly dissipates as his arms fall to his sides dropping the sword to the floor. His hair is covering his face, hiding his eyes. The other guys relax a little. "That's why you were asking all those questions before. I figured you were curious... I never thought that..." He lifts his head to look me in the eye.
I turn away from him. "I know."
He lifts my chin so I can't look away. "I never thought I'd see them on someone else again," he says softly. He brushes his fingers across my cheek causing me to blush.
Killua bites his tongue, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Come on Gon, let's go do something." Gon nods and follows him.
"Kurapika... what are you doing?" I ask quietly.
His eyes widen in realization and he steps back. His face is flushed as well. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. You just surprised me. I haven't seen anyone else with those eyes for five years."
I told Kurapika all about how Mito-san found me and took me in and about the time I first discovered my eyes had the ability to turn scarlet.
~~~~~
Leorio is sleeping on the couch, Killua and Gon are playing a game, and Kurapika is telling me about the Kurta. He's teaching me some of the language and other things about the clan.
I interrupt him in the middle of a sentence to ask a question that had been on my mind. "A-are you... by any chance, my brother?" Gon's ears perk up and he glances in our direction with a worried expression on his face.
Kurapika looks away from me. "No, I'm an only child." Gon breathes a sigh of relief.
"Then, you wouldn't happen to know... who my parents are, would you?"
He looks back at me. "No I--" his eyes widen as he appears to remember something. "12 years ago..." He's deep in thought. "I can't believe I didn't think of it before. But it's likely the only possibility..."
"What is it?" I ask almost falling out of the chair.
"I don't know who your dad is," he says solely.
"Oh..." I pout slouching back into my seat.
"But your mom..." He continues. I perk back up. "This is the only thing that makes sense," he says to himself with his hand on his chin. "12 years ago..., I was only five at the time so I don't know too much about it, my mother was a doctor. There was this woman, she was pregnant and she wanted to, no I think needed to keep it a secret. So she came to my mother seeking help and made her promise to keep quiet."
"Do you know why?" I ask.
"Humm..." he thinks hard before answering. "Well she wasn't married and had relations with someone from outside the clan--"
"Is that not allowed?"
"No it's not that. It happened sometimes... rarely, but it wasn't unheard of. People would marry into the tribe. It was only frowned upon because she was the daughter of the leader of our clan."
"Oh so it wasn't just because she wasn't married or, as you put it, had 'relations' with an outsider?"
"I don't believe so. Her father would have been furious. Most people, once they see our scarlet eyes, fear them. It's why we separated ourselves from the rest of the world. The person she weds would eventually inherit leadership of the clan... and he was a man stuck in his ways. She was only around sixteen, though I can't be sure of her exact age, and her father was old fashioned. I know because it took a lot of convincing to get him to let me take the exit exam."
"The exit exam? What's that?" He explained to me the tasks he had to complete before he was able to leave the tribe and venture out into the rest of the world. "I see... you're pretty amazing then." He blushes slightly at my comment. So do you know what happened with my mom?"
"Well it's something you can hide for only so long... sooner or later he found out. I only figured it out afterwards, but she died during child birth. He was outraged and took the child. He said it was a disgrace and it would bring many horrors to our people. I had to ask my mother about that part though. She never knew what happened to the baby, but she did tell me it was a girl."
"And you think that baby was me?" I ask pointing to myself. A disgrace, many horrors? Well I guess I do tend to have bad luck sometimes.
"It's the only real possibility. And it fits the time line."
I let all of it sink in. "Do you remember what her name was?"
He nods his head. "Jovian."
~~~~~
~*Third person P.O.V.*~
Kirahki eventually falls asleep with her head resting on Kurapika's lap. Leorio and Gon have fallen asleep as well.
Kurapika notices Killua is still lying awake. "Can't sleep?" he asks him.
"That's not it. I can go two or three days without sleep. Ten hours have passed... there aren't any windows, so it's hard to tell what time of day it is."
Kurapika nods. He turns his attention to the girl who brought back so many memories. He runs his fingers through her hair and brushes it out of her eyes. He finds himself smiling. Even if it is only a small smile, it's not something he does very often.
Killua, being unable to sleep, watches the scene play out before him. Unknowing to the reason, he feels a ping of irritation in his chest at the simple gesture. He walks over to where the two are and picks the sleeping girl up off the Kurta's lap. "You should get some sleep too," he says flatly. He brings the girl over to where Gon is sleeping, dead to the world, and lays her down next to him. He lies down on the other side and rolls over to try to sleep.
A few minutes later something nuzzles up against his back. He turns to see Kirahki making herself cozy. He scoots away from her. Seconds later she's cuddling up to him again. He rolls his eyes and tries to push her away.
She mumbles in her sleep. "C-cold," it's barely audible.
The ex assassin sighs and covers her with part of his blanket. He lies down on his back and stares up at the ceiling. Kira snuggles up to his arm. "You're such a pain," he whispers to the darkness. Feeling an odd sense of comfort, he finds himself falling into a deep slumber.
~~~~~
~*Kira's P.O.V.*~
I awake to the sound of Leorio laughing. I refuse to open my eyes. I press them tighter trying to ignore it as I'm still half asleep.
"It's not my fault. She wouldn't leave me alone," a voice denies above me. It sounds like Killua.
"Kira," Gon says and he pokes my cheek.
I pull the blanket over my head. "Go away." It was the best sleep I've had in a while and Leorio had to ruin it.
I smell something sweet. Wait a second... who am I... cuddling with? My eyes fly open. I see pale skin so I cautiously peek my head out from under the blanket. Killua's staring back at me.
"Finally you're up," he says sounding slightly annoyed.
I immediately stand up throwing the blanket off me. My face is red with embarrassment. "Sorry I didn't mean to... I don't know how I even got there... I... I... I just..."
Leorio laughs at me. "Well after yesterday I thought maybe you and Kurapika..."
My face turns even redder. "I-it's not like that," I have trouble getting the words out.
"I see that now..." His eye narrow and he points at Killua. "It's you and him."
Killua is unaffected by his statement but I walk over and hit Leorio on his head. "Stop being such a pervert."
"Ugh," he rubs his head. "Why are you always so violent?"
"Why are you always so grotesque?" I throw back.
"She has to do that," Gon interrupts the quarreling.
"What are you talking about?" Leorio questions him. "Hit me?"
"Yes, I have to do that," I agree.
"No," Gon shakes his head. "She sleepwalks. Unless someone else is there, she starts wandering around."
I avoid eye contact with everyone. "Shut up Gon," I mumble.
"She's done that since we were about six or seven. She even fell down the stairs once before we figured it out. Ever since then, she's always just slept with me or Aunt Mito-san."
Everyone looks at me. "Do you really sleepwalk?" Killua asks. I don't answer him.
"She doesn't like it," Gon replies for me.
"I sleepwalk, so what?" I say crossly.
"It's really cool when she does because if you throw something at her she just wakes up and catches or dodges it like it's nothing," Gon says proudly.
The three guys continue to stare at me as Killua asks, "Can we try it?"
"No!" I reply bitterly. "I'm hungry. What's there to eat around here?"
~~~~~
Killua is teaching Gon a few tricks on his skateboard. "If you hesitate on the first step, you'll hurt yourself."
"Got it." He nods taking the skateboard.
I'm over by the bookshelf seeing if there's anything interesting to read. I finally see a book that catches my eye, when a skateboard comes flying at my head. I duck before it hits me and it slams into the bookshelf instead, sending it toppling over. I barely have time to roll out of the way before it lands on the ground.
"Gon! What the hell was that for?!?!"
He rubs the back of his head nervously. "Sorry about that."
"Don't skateboard in such a tiny room!" Leorio lectures him. Gon sulks.
~~~~~
Leorio's asleep on the couch and I'm sitting with Kurapika as we're reading a book together. Gon is telling Killua about fishing.
"Oh, I thought you just had to stick bait on a hook, and you could fish."
Gon sits up strait and points to his head. "You have to think like a fish."
"Think like a fish?"
"Yep!" He nods his head. "How would a fish feel if it saw bait dangling in front of it?" He holds the line out in front of him, directing his aim. He lands it, right on target, inside a coffee mug on the other side of the room.
"Wow! Let me try." Killua mimics Gon and holds the line in front him. "Like this?" He throws it in the direction of a sleeping Leorio catching his pant leg. "Just as planned." He tugs it back and Leorio awakens freaking out.
"Hey... what are you doing? You'll tear my pants."
Killua smiles, "See? I caught him."
"Yep," Gon laughs.
"What's that supposed to mean? I'm a fish now?!" Apparently Leorio isn't a morning person.
"You don't have to get so mad," Killua says flatly. "It's not like I'm gonna grill and eat you."
An angry vein pops out of Leorio's forehead. Maybe he should get that checked out... "Don't mess with me, fool!"
"Calm down, would you?" I say. "Before you have an aneurism."
"Damn now I'm totally awake," he complains.
I suddenly feel something crawling on my shoulder. I glance over to see what it could be. "Spider!" I jump up yelling louder than I meant to. It completely took me off guard.
Kurapika's eyes glow scarlet. In no time at all he pushes me out of the way blocking the spiders path. I so did not mean to do that. "Not her, not while I'm around." He stares angrily at the spider and squashes it as it try's to scramble away. It's definitely dead. The rest of the guys watch to make sure Kurapika doesn't over do it. "I got it," He says triumphantly. "You're safe. It's my job to kill the spiders." Yeah no kidding. But you may have went a little overboard with that one.
~~~~~
Killua tosses a pillow at what he thought was a sleeping Gon, but he catches it before it hits him and throws it right back. Killua is surprised and tosses it at him again. This time Gon stands up and they go into a full blown pillow fight. I'm laying in between the two and Killua trips landing on top of me. "Well there's one way to say good morning," I say sarcastically, grabbing a pillow. I throw it at him and the three of us are having an all out war, pillow fight style.
~~~~~
"Uggggg, I'm so tired of being in this tiny room," I complain. "I want to go out and do something. I feel so cramped."
"Then let's work out... we can see who can do the most push-ups," Gon suggests.
"I guess that might cure my boredom," I shrug.
Gon looks toward the ex assassin, "How about it, Killua?"
He agrees and Gon and I start doing push-us. Killua stands on his hands and lifts himself into the air. Show off. I glance at my brother and he nods. We copy what Killua's doing.
Kurapika is reading yet another book. Damn he can read fast... Leorio starts dancing because I guess that's his way of working out. He does a spin move but trips over his feet falling into the three of us, knocking us down like dominoes.
"Way to go old man," Killua says sarcastically. "Now we don't know who won."
"What are we supposed to do now?" Gon questions.
Killua saves the day. "I have an idea for another game..."
"What is it?" Gon and I both ask excitedly.
Killua explains the rules. It's a game where someone tries to catch the other person's hand. Whoever losses gets a flick on the forehead for punishment. I toss out a suggestion altering the rules a teeny bit. Instead, it's a game of hot hands and you have to move your hands out of the way before the other person hits them.
Gon and I get flicked in the head multiple times by Killua. He's just too good...
~~~~~
The time on the clock is nearing its end.
"Okay... ready to go!" Gon declares.
"One more minute," says Killua.
This has been the longest minute.
