For some reason, Rukei seemed very far away.

They were wrapped in the thick, repulsive smell of the bus' exhaust, and though it was a form of heat in the face of the bare winter, it left a unpleasant and filthy sensation to crawl across the skin. Their surroundings were dimly lit; the street light above them was living out its last moments, and both the moon and the stars remained hidden behind sleepy clouds.

"Nervous?" Was the woman's question, though it sounded more like a sneer because of the sarcastic, cutting rise in her voice.

The girl knew it was not one. Sardonic, discourteous: the woman's words always came out like that. "No."

The girl's answer was almost lost, but the woman was used to the quiet, near silent, monotonous patterns in her speech. One side of the woman's mouth tilted into a dry smile after letting a short huff and the girl's lie go. "Don't fall asleep on the bus. They won't wake you up."

The girl nodded dully without breaking her gaze with the woman as she never did with anyone. To a certain point, it was unnerving to receive that sort of blank, empty gaze from a child- from a human. Yet at the same, it was very focused. When the woman spoke to the girl, the girl's eyes showed clear, defined comprehension. They studied the slightest movement carefully.

"I know," she replied simply.

They were running out of things to say, and the man behind the wheel was running out of patience. He tried to rub away the sleep from his eyes, but it only seemed to make the redness in them and the shadows underneath them more evident. Bogged down by exhaustion, his words came out slow and slurred. "Are you gettin' on or not?"

"Yes," the girl replied quickly, faster than she had said anything in the duration of their conversation. She then knew it was obvious that she had been trying to drag it out. She turned back around to face the woman, and suddenly the pace of her words slowed again. She had to think of what she wanted to say. "I will... pass," she ended abruptly.

So much for thinking.

The woman's wry one-sided smile burst into a full grin with a short, sharp chortle at the best farewell the girl could muster. "Yeah. You better. I didn't train you this whole month for nothing."

The girl seemed to copy the woman, mirroring the woman's smirk with a small smile that betrayed confidence and excitement, like a little crack of sunlight beaming through stone walls. "Of course."

"Listen, little miss, I don't have all night," the driver drawled, one hand dropping over the lever to close the bus doors, to emphasize his point.

"Yes," the girl responded hurriedly, with a sort of regretful nod, "Just a minute."

He held the girl's impassive stare for a few moments. He slumped further into his seat exasperatedly with a relenting huff, and he dragged his faded cap over his eyes, "Just one more minute. One. Nothing more."

"Rukei," the woman called. The girl whirled around to meet an outstretched hand and the woman's crooked grin, "You better come back as a Hunter."

She felt stupid and impractical thinking it, but Rukei had always felt smaller than the woman.

Perhaps it was the height difference; after all a girl of the age of twelve and a woman of the age of eighteen look very different.

Perhaps it was the rank difference; the girl had been sorting files, and the woman was already a full-fledged Hunter, solving what Rukei sorted.

Perhaps it was the skill difference; Rukei had barely convinced her superiors to allow her to even apply for the exam, and years ago the woman had been trusted by her superiors to ace the exam with flying colors.

But for some reason, right now, as Rukei took the woman's roughish hand, marked with callouses particularly on the insides of her thumb and index finger, Rukei did not feel as small. In fact- she felt a little ashamed at the thought- it was almost like in that moment Rukei and the woman- Shichi- were the same.

The deal was not made from older to younger, pro to amateur, woman to girl. The handshake was a pact between Shichi and Rukei.

"Ten!" The driver called out suddenly; annoyance was the heaviest weight in his tone, but it was completely possible to find some slight amusement hidden there somewhere, "Nine! Eight!"

Rukei jolted. She hastily released the woman's hand and darted for the bus, one hand flew to her bag to assure it was still slung over her right shoulder, and finding that it was there she continued to rush up the steps, and she tried to ignore that half of the passengers were either rolling their eyes or chuckling, and she-

Rukei stopped midway and turned one last time to look at the dark-haired woman. Rukei searched Shichi's face for the correct words to say. Shichi stood there and waited for her.

"Shichi-oneesan. I'm going now," Rukei stated firmly, but there was an odd, hopeful uplift that colored her voice.

Shichi scoffed, but her words came out sounding much fonder than she would have liked, "Yeah. Sure. Come back soon, Rukei."

The doors closed, and with a loud exhale, as if the vehicle was helping the woman cover up her own tired sigh, the bus was off. Shichi watched it shrink into crowded streets, brighter streets until she could see it no more.

Oh. Shichi remembered as she turned away from that world and walked on. Shichi forgot to tell Rukei about the breaks between exams, and not to worry too much about them, a rookie mistake that Shichi made. And to be courteous to her examiners, though Shichi was sure that Rukei would be, because that was her habit. And to not rack her mind over needless questions; one of the Hunter Exam's crucial skills was finding what mattered and pursuing it. And Rukei needed to know that...

Weird. Shichi lifted her eyes to the dark sky, tiredly breathing out cold smoke. Why was it that after goodbye, little by little, Shichi always remembered all the other things she wanted to say?

-

"Shichi-oneesan, what was the first thing you did when you took the Hunter Exam?"

"Blend in."

It would have been easy for Shichi. Rukei had received little taunts, jabs, and genuinely concerned warnings from all the other applicants on the bus after it had departed, which was expected, of course; Rukei was the youngest, not just on the vehicle, but most probably in the exam. There was no way her premature body could take on all the trials the exam had to offer, and her mind certainly could not comprehend the complexity of the test.

So Rukei stood out with her yellow hoodie and amaranth overalls that shaped her a look less than menacing. Rukei did not have the more intimidating edge Shichi carried in her narrowed eyes and the weary though heavy presence that she had even years ago when Shichi first took the exam. Rukei, though her steady stare was a little disquieting, was just a girl in their eyes, and that girl had no place in the Hunter Exam.

The brunette glanced out the bus' dirty window speckled with grime. From behind the thick, unwashed glass, she could still admire the rosy face of dawn. The first few, brighter, stronger rays burst out over the horizon, waking the drowsy clouds with its gentle orange touches.

It was stupid of her to think that the sunrise was there to tell her that she too had a new beginning, and this Hunter Exam was just the start; she knew it was dumb. But it left a warm, fluttery feeling in her stomach that she could not bring herself to dislike, so Rukei decided that for a bit, just for a little bit, she told herself while linking her fingers together in her lap embarrassedly, she was going to be foolish.

Rukei shook her head shortly, as if to remove the sunlight from her eyes and faced straight ahead. She would be arriving at Dolor Harbor soon, and she still had a problem on her hands. The closest solution to her problem was finding someone closer to her age and sticking with them; she would settle for anyone in their teens. Hopefully they would be in a larger group, so she would not have to draw attention to herself.

As much anyways, Rukei noted as she caught the ugly look someone threw her, before he furtively whispering to his seat mate. She could hear him. A clean version would be, 'kids these days are way too cocky'.

She wasn't. Rukei didn't think she was. Everyone called Shichi cocky, and Rukei, as much as she wanted to be, was nothing like Shichi. Though Rukei knew that that trait was not to be a desired one, she couldn't help but somehow feel small again.

Rukei knew better than to pull out an old puzzle in her bag; her fingers twitched with nervousness and she wanted to play with it, but she knew better. It was only going to lead to a plethora's comments regarding how she was trying to show off her skill. The more hated one was, the more likely one would be to be targeted during the exam.

The bus made a turn so that Rukei could no longer look away from the sunrise without turning her head to look down or away, and such were against her habits so she didn't do so. But it was more pleasant than looking at the backs or sides of faces of the people around her.

She studied them carefully at first; she memorized every cut on the side of their faces, or their fingers that she could see when they used their hands to express something. There were all sorts of marks, visible calluses and occasionally burns; weird tan lines were the most common out of these.

But she did not find them worth being too wary of. There was perhaps one that she believed would make it to the Hunter Exam site. She was not being arrogant.

These were her facts.

She could see the ocean! Light seemed to fly like a flock of small white birds over the world of blue. It was still so far away, but that did not matter to Rukei. She had not seen the ocean like this, or the sea for that matter, in a very long time.

If only she could get these dirty panes out of the way.

Rukei was not going to draw attention to herself by lifting up one of the windows. Another applicant did that earlier and he got an ear full of complaints. He had to close it in the end. Rukei would wait. Only a few more hours, and she'd be right at the docks! She would be able to see the ships come in and smell the salty breeze-

That did not matter.

She had to head straight for the tree visible from the harbor. She could not waste her time doing such nonsense- she had already been delayed long enough by the long airship ride that she took to get to the bus stop.

Rukei was there to get her Hunter License and return to them. That was all.

-

The bus was late.

There was some sort or jam along the way, and it was already noon by the time they arrived at the harbor. She could pick up the muttering of 'kid doesn't know what she's doing' and 'this isn't where she's supposed to get off'.

But it was. This bus wasn't going to take her all the way to Zaban City, and the driver knew that. She could tell by the weary, though sharp, "Good luck, miss," he gave her.

She gave him thankful nod, and the girl went on the way. Looking up, Rukei could catch the tips of the giant tree peeking out from behind a couple buildings ahead of her. She backed up a little to get a better look, trying to clear her view from obstruction. She could probably walk to her destination in a couple hours, but she wondered how much running would shorten that length. Perhaps she should save that energy for the Hunter-

She collided with someone- someone who was moving at a pace much faster than her, in fact she was pretty sure he was mid-jump when they crashed into each other. Rukei managed to stay on her feet somehow, but was vexed nonetheless. She was going to give a curt, harsh, and extremely passive aggressive 'excuse me' but was promptly cut off.

"Are you okay?!"

He seemed not that much older than her or younger than her. That was one of the first things that struck Rukei, because Shichi had told her that she would be the youngest in the exam, probably by a couple years.

The second thing that struck him as odd was just- was just... Rukei looked the boy over once more, and couldn't seem to pinpoint what it was. He was just... just weird!

The way his hair spiked up at odd ends and the unfamiliar design of his green jacket and shorts wasn't helping him get rid of the image. He had a fishing pole sticking out of his bag- she wondered what he needed that for in the exam. Fishing for survival? Perhaps, it wasn't that farfetched, but he was just so weird.

And especially that look in his eyes! It certainly didn't give off a bad vibe, but it was certainly very foreign. They burned with an honest determination, and he practically glowed with a friendly charisma. That, to her, was very weird.

She had forgotten to respond, so he had to repeat it to her again. He seemed afraid that the collision put her in some kind of shock, because he jumped up way too close to her face, and even waved a hand in front of her for good measure, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not injured," Rukei answered steadily.

"You gotta watch where you're going, Gon," a rougher, older voice warned the boy, Gon, Rukei noted how even his name was weird, before looking towards the speaker. He, almost in direct contrast to the boy, was extremely tall, and that included the slouch he walked with.

He seemed years older than them, emphasized by the dark blue suit and green tie. But because of his more professional attire, marks of ocean water was also made more obvious. There must have been a storm earlier, she noted. It was clear that they had just come off a boat- Gon was waving to someone before he ran into her. The said boy was now apologizing to the older man.

"Don't apologize to Leorio. Apologize to her," another chided lightly. She needed to give the blonde a second look- his face had a rather feminine essence to it, though she was not sure what about it made her have to look twice. Perhaps it was the long lashes framing cat-like eyes, or the loose, blue and red garments that left a lot of room for questioning.

Gon turned towards her fully, both feet facing forward, and apologized, "I'm really sorry!"

"It's fine," Rukei replied.

She watched him give a final apology, before he turned around and caught up to the company of his comrades who then proceeded to argue in front of the billboard wether to take the bus or head to the tree.

The girl absentmindedly watch them continue, before realizing another weird thing about the boy. How did Rukei know that Gon was an applicant? What about him made her automatically assume that he, a weird boy her age with a fishing pole as his only visible weapon, was trying to become a Hunter?

Ignore them, she told herself. There's no use in teaming up with people if you don't even know they'll make it to the exam site. Keep walking. You can't lose time.

Rukei stepped forward. Towards them. "Head for the tree."

The oldest man was the first to speak; he turned to her, already annoyed from the fight that spun them around in circles, "What? Who are you?"

"Another potential Hunter Exam applicant."

The blonde looked over the girl once more, analyzing her carefully with a mild surprise. She looked as young as Gon and seemed just as generally harmless in appearance. He never would have guessed that she too challenged herself to take the rigorous test. But upon that second look, he could see a particular, steel resolve that hardened her features to appear firmly set, almost as if they were iron. "Can you tell us why you suggest we should set out for the tree? Is there something about it?"

"Shichi-oneesan wouldn't explain that to me," the brunette stated dully.

Leorio leaned down a little to scrutinize her better, and perhaps hear her as well. Though her words were clear, and she did not mumble, her voice was quiet and monotonous. "Shichi- who?"

"That would be your sister, yes?" The blonde continued, picking out as much information as he could. He tried to assure that she would not have second thoughts on giving them advice. Gon had already slammed into her, so he was not sure why she was offering help.

The girl nodded. "Yes. Essentially. Not by blood," she quickly added.

"Okay," Leorio folded his arms, feigning mock belief while tapping his foot against the ground, "and tell me why we should be listening to some stranger's sister again?"

For a second, a look of confusion seemed to flicker in her eyes, as if Leorio's question didn't make sense. Like everyone should listen to 'Shichi-oneesan'. She answered that after a beat, "She's a Hunter."

"Wow!" Gon immediately jumped into her space; she did not take a step back, but Kurapika noticed the very slight, and very baffled way she leaned away, "Your sister's a Hunter?"

For the first time, he heard a new color in her voice. It was hard to catch, but she was proud. "Yes."

"Alright," Leorio gave her a point, though he was still very skeptical of the young stranger, "But did you know the Hunter Exam site changes every year? Maybe your sister found her way there the first time around, but it's in Zaban City this year."

"I know that," she replied. She seemed annoyed. Kurapika couldn't blame her, but he could not blame Leorio either for being suspicious, "You won't be able to get to Zaban City by bus."

"How would you know that?" Leorio demanded, trying to get a clear explanation from the girl.

She gave a short glance towards the bus; it was about to leave. She was going to do the same. "The bus will depart shortly."

Rukei turned on her heels, leaving them to themselves. She was being stupid. She barely let out a sigh. This was what she got for being stupid. Her expectations were boiled up into this... annoying feeling that grated her nerves. What was she even expecting?

"What's your name?"

She snapped her gaze over to the side to see the boy from before. He was grinning at her cheerfully, practically bouncing as he walked with excitement. She answered. "Rukei."

His eyes seemed to light up at any given moment making them appear more gold than brown, like now as he learned about her name. When she saw them again, she thought to herself that perhaps the way his eyes shone was not so foreign. But what was it then? "I'm Gon!"

Rukei turned her head to the other side upon hearing the light patter of footsteps- it was the blonde from earlier. He gave her a small, polite smile and introduced himself as well. "I am Kurapika."

The girl craned her head around to look back at the bus stop. "Your comrade's not coming this way?"

"Leorio has decided to take the bus to Zaban City," Kurapika informed her without much concern. Were they perhaps not comrades? Rukei brought her eyes back forward.

No. They were not comrades, Rukei concluded. But they certainly knew more about each other than Rukei could have expected. It surprised her when Leorio came running back, boisterously declaring that he thought they would be lonely on their own. She gave a quick glance towards Kurapika, who remained unaffected. He knew.

They were weird.

。。。

EDIT: This chapter has been rewritten! Chapter one will be the only chapter that's rewritten; I just thought I needed to introduce the themes of Hunters X and X Heroes in the first chapter in a clearer manner. Please stick around!

edit edit: i updated my art  a g a i n  this is like the fourth redraw or smth but still Rukei's character design remains the same!!! just a lot nicer looking.

First chapter, finished!

Thanks a ton for reading! If you find this first chapter worthy of that little star button at the bottom, please do press it, that would be wonderful. Comments are also very, very, very welcome! Constructive criticism, suggestions, or any completely, unrelated, little randoms, I shall look forward to!

Seriously, thank you for reading. Please look forward to the next chapter!