Beta: TaintedLetter

(≧ڡ≦*)

The thieves had chosen to land in some canyon. Miwa had hopped off when they began to descend, and she currently hid by the deflated balloon. The rest of the group had hopped down one level and waited for the chasing mafia members to find them. A hundred or so men and women in tuxedos had gathered at the bottom of the canyon, and the group of thieves looked down on them.

Miwa couldn't see their faces, but she could hear them.

"There's a whole crowd," laughed the boy with blond hair.

"I don't have to clean this up, do I?" Shizuku asked.

"No, they don't matter," answered Feitan.

"Oy, stay out of this," growled the burly man. "I'll handle it."

The man slid down to the bottom of the canyon.

Miwa couldn't hear anything at the bottom since she was too far away and the wind was very strong at the top of the canyon. She laid flat on her belly, looking down the ledge.

Popcorn would be nice, Kurama commented, and Miwa agreed.

What happened next could only be described as a one-sided massacre as the burly man used his bare hands to snap necks, and rip the mafia members apart limb from limb.

"His philosophy is to be stronger than anyone. A mere bullet wouldn't phase him," mused the samurai.

"Physically, he's the strongest," agreed the blond boy.

The largest man with the gun fingers muttered, "It's like watching a gorilla stomping ants."

"Oh?" the samurai gestured off in the distance where more cars had arrived. "They just keep coming."

"They came all the way here just to die?" laughed the big man.

"Just watching isn't any fun," the blond boy said. "Wanna play cards?"

"Sure," the pretty pink haired lady said. Miwa thought her hair looked really soft and she wondered what it would feel like to touch it.

They all sat down and started to doll out the cards.

Their game of cards was way more interesting than the slaughter below.

Why?

Because they kept trying out cheat each other. Miwa was admittedly very impressed with their underhanded skills. She wasn't very good at Bullshit—the game they were currently playing—but she thought it looked like great fun.

'I wish I could play,' she thought.

She decided to ask if Gon and Killua would play with her when she got back.

She learned their names as they played.

The burly man fighting with Uvo. The blond boy with a cheerful voice and cruel eyes was named Shalnark. The pretty pink haired lady was named Machi. Samurai man was Nobunaga. Man with gun fingers was named Franklin.

Miwa did her best to commit their names to her memory.

Suddenly there was a vibration in her back pocket. It startled Miwa and she pulled out her Totoro-93 phone. It took her a minute to remember how to get to the messages, and another minute to work through what it said.

From: Killua

Message: Where are you?

'I guess I should probably head back. It is kind of late,' Miwa thought as she squinted at the time on the phone.

Got their scents memorized?

'Yep.'

Then you can track them down later if you're bored enough.

Miwa agreed then teleported back to the hotel room.

"Where have you been?" Killua asked when Miwa appeared on their shared bed.

"I—" Miwa started, but then stopped, wondering where she should even begin to describe the crazy events she had witnessed. She fished around in her messenger bag for a moment before pulling out the scroll she used to steal all the items.

Gon hopped out of his bed, frowning curiously at the scroll she was holding up. "What's that, Miwa?"

"All the items that were supposed to be auctioned off tonight," she said, eliciting surprised looks from her friends.

The surprise didn't last long, though.

Gon was immediately rushing toward her, eyes sparkling with bright curiosity and admiration. "Whoa! You stole everything?! So quick?! Did you get caught? What happened? Tell me, tell me!"

"Are you an idiot?! You just made yourself the number one target of the entire mafia!" Killua scolded, his tone conveying anger and concern.

"Yeah, no—um—someone else is taking the credit for it," she started to say. "Or at least they blame someone else. Um... you guys have to listen to this."

Gon and Killua exchanged glances.

(≧ڡ≦*)

"And the guy had a spider tattoo on his back?" Killua asked to clarify when Miwa was done explaining.

"Uh-huh."

"That would be the Phantom Troupe then," Killua told her then grinned. "Of course the mafia will think they did it. Who are they more likely to believe stole all their stuff? A well-known group of thieves, or one girl?"

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun," Gon said, tossing the storage scroll up and down. "Did you find the game?"

"I don't think so," said Miwa with a headshake. "To be honest I don't know what to do with any of the stuff I got."

"My mom has some connections. She could probably pawn it off," Killua mentioned.

"Then I guess I'll send it over to her. Well, first I need to steal everything," Miwa corrected. "Ten days of auctions so there's still nine more attempts to get the game. Unless I can find out where they're stashing everything."

Gon grinned at her. "Or unless we come up with enough money to properly buy it."

"Yeah," Miwa deadpanned, not believing for a second they would. "Good luck with that."

Miwa stretched out her arms and yawned.

Gon smiled at her. "You must be tired. Why don't we go to bed?"

"Okay." Miwa said, rubbing at her eyes before starting to change into her pajamas.

"Stop changing in front of us," Killua hissed as he quickly grabbed Gon and fled to the bathroom so she could finish changing. Miwa always thought that was silly, but whatever.

She changed into her cute pink night dress she bought back in Heaven's Arena then hopped into the only bed. Only a single room was available due to the auctions going on, so the three of them were going to share. Not that any of them minded. It was well known that Miwa was a comfortable heater who liked the cuddles. Gon liked to cuddle too. Killua had been pretty stiff at first, but he was starting to get comfortable with Miwa curling into him.

"Done changing," Miwa politely told the boys who came back in. Killua hopped into bed with her, and Gon flopped on the other side.

"Nighty night," Gon said, as he reached over and turned off the lamp.

"Sweet dreams," Killua said, pulling the covers up over them.

'I get to sleep in a cute dress between two cuties,' Miwa thought, very happy. She wished they were fluffy like Kurama, but oh well. 'This has been a fun day.'

Kurama did not purr in a traditional sense, but he let out a rumble of amusement very similar that lulled Miwa into such sweet dreams.

(≧ڡ≦*)

In the morning Miwa woke up second. Killua had always been the first to wake up, so he was already out of bed. Gon was snoring, clinging on to her like a pillow and she carefully removed herself to not wake him.

Miwa hopped onto the couch at the end of the bed where Killua was flipping through a big book.

"What's that?" Miwa whispered as to not wake Gon.

"The auction catalog. If you're going to steal the game, might as well try to figure out which auction it's going to take place at."

Miwa blinked. "Wouldn't it be at the same place?"

"All auctions in the city are run by the ten worldwide mafia groups," Killua began to quietly explain, "but each is broken into different sections. Not all the auctions are underground like the one you stole from last night. It looks like the one that is selling Greed Island is a public one."

"Oh," Miwa said. "When is it going up?"

"Later in the week. You should hold off on stealing anything else from this auction," Killua said, holding up the book so Miwa could see the title. "It says Southernbees. Memorize this word so you don't steal from it. If they're too flighty we might lose our chance to grab the game at all."

"Southernbees," Miwa repeated, focusing on the word. "Southernbees. Okay. Avoid stealing from Southernbees."

Killua gave her a smile. "Good. How's your reading coming along?"

"Better-ish. Do you want to practice more fūinjutsu?"

"Sure!"

(≧ڡ≦*)

Killua and Miwa practiced fūinjutsu for another hour before Gon woke up and the three enjoyed breakfast. Killua and Gon told Miwa how that mafia sent out a bounty hunt last night for the Phantom Troupe members, believing them to be the culprits.

Miwa giggled at that, proud of herself. Killua flicked her nose and warned her not to get a big head. Once they finished breakfast Killua and Gon headed back out to fairly earn money, while Miwa went to learn more about that Southernbees auction. If she was lucky she could find out where the games were being hidden and grab them all!

A part of her did wonder if maybe she should try to find those thieves again. She wanted to see the look on their faces when she told them she stole everything. She especially wanted to see the look on Feitan's face, as she felt like he would be extra mad at her. That would be funny. She always thought it was amusing when Killua got flustered and angry at her when she started stripping.

'Now the thieves have a bounty on them. I wonder how mad they are?' Miwa thought, giggling again to herself.

They'll definitely be trying to find you, said Kurama.

'That's fine! I want to meet them again one day.'

Miwa wandered about the city, asking questions to some strangers about the Southernbees auction. Not many had good information on it, only the basics like where it was being held and when.

'If I could find a person that worked there I could track them,' Miwa thought to herself, wondering how exactly she was supposed to do that in a giant city that used a language she could barely read.

She even felt too embarrassed by her lack of skill in reading that she couldn't muster up the courage to order lunch by herself. She had become too reliant on Gon and Killua doing that for her.

Then she came across a dessert shop with a long line that made her mouth water. She hesitantly approached the lady up front who told her that there was a waiting list and that she could put Miwa on it.

"They'll call you when a table is ready for you," the nice lady told Miwa. "What's your number?"

After Miwa gave her the number she quickly pulled her phone out to see if Gon and Killua would eat with her. She felt uncomfortable at the idea of sitting alone in that fancy dessert shop struggling to read a single item on the menu.

To: Killua & Gon

[Formed Group Message with Gon & Killua]

Message [Miwa]: can you eat me!

Message [Gon] wat haha

Message [Killua] Do you want us to eat *with* you?

Message [Miwa] yes

Message [Gon] that sounds way more boring (◕ヮ◕)

Message [Killua] What time?

Message [Miwa] 3 ? . !

Message [Killua] Come get us at 2:30.

Message [Miwa] hankers

Message [Gon] welcers

Message [Killua] *Thank you & *you're welcome. Stop encouraging bad habits, Gon.

Message [Gon] eat me

Message [Miwa] eat me

[Killua has left the group chat]

Miwa could easily picture Killua's look of frustration and it made her giggle. Killua was extra adorable when his cheeks turned red.

She was happy and relieved her friends would eat with her. All she had to do now was kill a couple of hours of time waiting to teleport to them at 2:30.

(≧ڡ≦*)

Meanwhile with Killua and Gon...

Killua, Gon, and Leorio had hurried over to a café on the far side of the city. They had information that someone spotted members of the Phantom Troupe and went to ascertain. The three of them took seats at an indoor café that overlooked the outdoor cafeteria below.

They could spot the two Phantom Troupe members at once—a woman with long pink hair, and a man with long black hair.

Killua only needed to look at them once to understand it would be difficult—maybe impossible—without Miwa. Killua had been raised and trained to immediately ascertain the power levels of those around him. He was exceptionally good at it, and it was one of the traits he was proud of himself for having.

The Troupe members at that table were strong.

Miwa was absurdly stronger, but they were still strong enough that Killua didn't have confidence in handling them alone.

Leorio held up a finger at the table. "We should decide our next move. How do we catch those two?"

"That's impossible," said Killua. "They're out of our league."

"What the hell? We won't know until we try," Leorio said angrily. "And why are you saying this now?"

"Quit fussing, they'll notice us," Killua sharply warned before softening his tone back to normal. "But it's still true. I knew it as soon as I saw them. My dad killed one of the Spiders for a job before. It was one of the few times I've ever heard him complain. He said it wasn't worth the money—that's the highest compliment he can give to a target. And he told us to stay away from the Troupe. It'd been a few years since he told me, so I thought we might stand a chance..."

Leorio tentatively asked, "They're really that strong?"

"It might help if you pretend there were two Hisokas sitting there."

Gon and Leorio cringed at that image.

"That'd be bad," Gon conceded.

"So what do you think they're here for?"

"A date?" Leorio guessed.

Gon gasped. "Really?"

"No. They're paying close attention to their surroundings. At first, I thought it was just caution because the mafia is after them but in that case they wouldn't be sitting in a public place. They aren't worried at all. They're waiting for someone to find them, acting as bait to draw out their prey."

"So... what do we do?"

Killua carefully considered their options.

(≧ڡ≦*)

Back with Miwa

Miwa was excited as soon as it hit 2:30 she teleported straight to the hiraishin on the back of Gon.

To her utter surprise she had teleported into a dilapidated warehouse filled to the brim with Phantom Troupe members. In only a handful of seconds Miwa processed the fact that every member she had seen last night, in addition to new members, were present. She also noticed that Hisoka was there which grossed her out, but she considered him less than cockroach so it was easy to ignore him after the initial thoughts of ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. Gon was sitting across the samurai man, Nobunaga, and looked to be in the middle of an arm wrestling match. Killua was standing in front of Franklin and in between Feitan and Machi.

Gon let out an oh of surprise when he saw her, and every Phantom Troupe member reacted tensely upon her arrival.

Miwa couldn't believe it! They were better than she thought.

"Ehh?! You kidnapped my friends just 'cause I stole the loot first?!" Miwa blurted out in surprise, her eyes widening. "How did you even figure out it was me that stole it all?!"

"You!" Feitan pointed at Miwa, his tone cold and furious.

"Ah," the large man named Franklin said, putting the pieces together. "You didn't die."

"That was a clone," Miwa said, looking down at her friends and frowning. "Guys, I'm sorry you got kidnapped because of me."

"Uh," Gon said.

"It wasn't because of you. They had no idea who you were until you told them," sighed Killua.

"The cute one remembers me," Miwa said, tilting her head.

"Cute?" Killua was aghast, his eyes narrowed as his cheeks flushed. It was distracting how much he reminded her of a sulking Kurama which made Miwa want to nuzzle him. "Which one are you calling cute?"

Miwa pointed to Feitan. "Him. He's cute. He did a very impressive kill."

"You can't marry him, you're engaged to Killua so you'll teach us both the rasengan and hiraishin," Gon immediately protested.

Miwa squawked. "Stop telling everyone we're engaged!"

"Are we killing them now?" Feitan asked, glaring murderously at Miwa. She thought that his killing intent was rather nice. Reminded her of Kurama's default malicious chakra. She smiled brightly at Feitan, giving him a wave like Gon had taught her to do when trying to make friends.

Gon told her that it was important to be very friendly, and everyone knew waves were friendly. And thumbs-up.

Miwa gave Feitan a thumbs-up.

"Hold on," the pretty pink lady named Machi cut in sharply. "You. You were there at the auction house?"

"Um, yeah, I saw what you guys did. Watched everything," Miwa admitted. Nobunaga had let go of Gon's hand, and the boy had jumped up to stand beside Miwa, a huge smile on his face.

"That's impossible," Nobunaga said suspiciously. "No one sensed you."

"Um, that big guy—um I think you called him Uvo?—he smelled me. I had to work a little harder to stay hidden. But I hung upside down on your hot air balloon. That Uvo fella talked on the phone with someone for a while, and Feitan said someone had a very unlucky day. Um," Miwa trailed off for a moment before she recounted what she had seen that night.

It took several minutes, as she stumbled over their names a few times.

"... and she cheated in the card game by swapping cards when everyone else looked over at the fight," Miwa finished, nodding to Machi.

"I knew it!" Nobunaga shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

"You knew nothing," Machi dismissed.

Feitan stepped forward, his cold harder than steel as he asked, "Did you see the chain user?"

"Chain user?" Miwa repeated. "I left after that leech dude bit Uvo."

The Spiders seemed to silently exchange glances.

"It's clear she was there that night," Franklin began. "Seems likely she took the loot."

"Very impressive," a blond man Miwa didn't recognize observed. He stood further back from the other troops and had what some might describe a gangster face.

Miwa scratched her cheek. "Um... thanks. So... you didn't kidnap my friends?"

"We got caught tailing them," Gon chirped. Miwa flicked him on the forehead, making him cry out and clutch at the spot she flicked him. "Ow! What was that for?"

Miwa scolded him, "Why'd you go and do something like that? I told you I'd steal the stuff for you, neither of you should be trying to do something dangerous. Killua, you're the smart one, why didn't you stop Gon?"

Killua looked away, clicking his tongue in his annoyance, "Tch."

Nobunaga was looking Miwa up and down then grinned. "Hey kid, wanna join the Phantom Troupe?"

"Ehhhhh?" Miwa couldn't help but blush in pleasant surprise. She had to admit joining a prestigious group of thieves sounded so cool. She had a lot of fun stealing stuff and she knew she would continue to do so until the day she died. It was delightful to outwit and outmaneuver idiots.

"That sounds so cool," Miwa admitted in a gush, placing a hand over her cheek as she seriously considered their offer. "But—I don't know."

"No!" Killua quickly rejected. "The answer is no."

"We don't need a child in the troupe," Fetain hissed.

"She's clearly a good thief," Machi pointed out. "The boss should get a chance to meet her."

Miwa was about to respond to that but her phone went off. "Oh, sorry, one moment."

She hit the answer button, but accidentally put it on speaker.

"Your table's ready at Lovely Sparkles and Sunshine," chimed the nice waitress from before.

"That's where you want to eat?" Killua asked, his expression tired.

"Eat me," Gon whispered, eliciting a glare from Killua.

"Thanks, we'll be there shortly," Miwa told the waitress, giving the phone to Gon so he could hang up for her. "Sorry Phantom Troupe, but food is calling. You're supposed to be good thieves, right? So just kidnap me later."

"I don't—" Nobunaga was abruptly cut off when Miwa used her superior speed to grab Killua and bring him back over to Gon.

"Oh, wow none of you reacted," Miwa observed. "Guess you're kind of slow."

"Ooooooo," went Gon.

"You're more likely to be slowed down by them if you joined," Killua told Miwa. "Ignore them."

"Oooooooo," went Gon again.

"Hmm." Miwa looked back over at the group. "Well, bye for now!"

She then teleported the three of them to the dessert shop where they enjoyed a lovely meal.

(≧ڡ≦*)

(Now here is an alternate scenario. One where Miwa is against the Phantom Troupe because she comes at a different time. Specifically after the arm wrestling match had gone on long enough to seriously hurt Gon. It's all about how she meets them... and how nice they are to her friends.)

Miwa used hiraishin to teleport directly to Gon.

Imagine her surprise when she teleported inside a ruined, abandoned building, filled with Jounin-level nen/chakra users. She only had a couple of seconds to assess her surroundings and in that time frame she realized that Gon and Killua were with the members of the Phantom Troupe that she had tailed last night, along with a few additional members.

What the fuck are they doing here? Kurama questioned, and Miwa could perfectly picture his exasperated face.

"Who's that?" asked Shalnark, the cute blond boy blinking his green eyes in surprise upon Miwa's arrival.

"M-Miwa!" Gon exclaimed, surprised, his eyes widening. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to pick you guys up," Miwa said, her nose twitching as she caught the scent of—

—her eyes trailed down to—

"Gon?" Miwa inquired, her voice now quiet and cold as she stared at the blood dripping down Gon's hand. The injury was not something quick, or gained in a one off fight, but judging by the bruising formation someone had slammed his hand repeatedly into something hard.

The leftover stench of fear and anxiety still clung onto Gon and Killua's clothes, and they screamed something awful to Miwa.

These adults had attacked, possibly tortured, her friends.

These adults, who had mercilessly slaughtered hundreds only just last night, were likely about to do the same to her friends.

"Mn?"

"Who did that to your hand?" she asked, bubbles of rage popping inside her, warming her to an uncomfortable level.

Gon did not say anything, but his eyes flickered over to a man dressed like a samurai who leaned against a broken off piece of concrete.

Time to play? Kurama asked.

Time to play, Miwa agreed, and... she... moved.

There was no time for any human to react, not unless they had decades of experience in dealing with the shūshin, or faster. These Phantom Troupe members were undoubtedly a cut above regular humans, but they were still human. They were limited to a single ability, and had no further experience in constantly pouring energy through their limbs.

The samurai Miwa moved to attack was certainly strong, and fast. He reacted well enough to raise his right hand in defense, and even fuel such a movement with his nen.

But this man did not have an equal power to match the force behind Miwa's attack.

She dug her heel hard into his hand, sending it careening back into the concrete block, shattering bone and concrete. Within the second afterward she dug her fist hard into his face, breaking his nose.

She was mindful not to shove his nose up and kill him immediately.

It was not out of some kind hearted mercy to make this choice, but out of her pure rage of wanting to prolong his suffering. She would have destroyed his joints next, but that particularly sadistic fellow, Feitan, was already on her.

He was faster than the samurai, and his aura was hot.

Hot like Kurama's base chakra.

It was actually rather nostalgic feeling that heat near her. It reminded Miwa of vague angry flashes of Kurama's chakra burning her skin off to mix in with a cloak of blood and chakra. The complete release of his seal, coupled with sage training, guaranteed Kurama's chakra would never harm Miwa again so it had been a long time since she felt that heat.

She grabbed his hand that had been aiming for her neck, pulling Kurama's chakra with her own and burning his wrist straight down to the bone where she snapped it in half.

In her free hand chidori sparked to life, the lightning sparks chirping a bittersweet song and she dug it straight into his gut.

He was able to land a solid punch atop Miwa's head while she did so, but his strength rapidly drained as she ripped his organs out and kicked him off her.

She carelessly tossed the severed hand away, bloodlust and sadistic fury making her blue eyes glisten with malice. Kurama laughed with glee in her head as the next target tried to stop her.

It was a new person, and judging by the strength of his punch that Miwa had to catch, he was an enhancer type. She burned Kurama's chakra into his fist and summoned the rasengan with her other hand. He made a move to catch her, to stop her hand, but the rasengan tore straight through his other hand, through his aura and flesh, before digging into his abdomen and sending him flying backwards. His intestines spewed out of him like a rogue cotton candy machine.

She moved to the next one, and this one was the black haired girl named Shizuku. Miwa moved to slam her rasengan straight into Shizuku's chest, but then her phone started ringing and the sound startled Miwa enough that she leapt back to Gon and Killua's side.

She pulled out her phone, casually answering it, "Hello?"

The remaining Troupe members rushed to take defensive positions, while that pink haired girl hurried over to Feitan's side.

"Ah," Miwa said, listening to the other end. "Okay, we'll be there in a minute."

She brightened considerably, smiling sweetly at her friends.

"The reservations for the dessert shop are ready!" she chirped. "Ready to go?"

"Yum," Gon said cheerfully, nodding happily.

"Good. Let me just take of one more thing," she said, smiling sweetly. "Want to see the rasenharo?"

Their grins said it all.

What a beautiful slaughter!

RIP Phantom Troupe except the leader who gets to come back to the scene while Miwa&co are enjoying yummy ice cream.

(≧ڡ≦*)

An alternative scenario for those who wanted something more violent.

See you guys next Monday!

Answers: Foxes, cats, and gentle worgens.

Question: Assassin, thief, hunter, or...?

Reviews are love!