Gon was very annoyed upon discovering the secret behind the trick that Gotoh pulled on him. Shichi would sometimes pull little things like that on Rukei too, and Rukei would get mad for not figuring out and end up loading Shichi's plate with her hated asparagus for dinner.

Shichi.

"I need to call Shichi-oneesan," Rukei blurted aloud, drawing their eyes to her. She hurriedly reached into her bag to grab her cellphone, that luckily still had some battery to run on. She walked a little bit farther away from the group while listening to the series of beeps run through the phone.

"Hello, this is Shichi Tsujou."

Rukei let out a small smile at her sister's antics and her voice, "You should look at the caller ID before picking up."

"Holy sh- Rukei?! Where the hell have you been?!" Shichi yelled, and Rukei pulled away from the phone a bit, "The Exam ended weeks ago! Do you know how many times I tried to call you, idiot?!"

That wasn't quite the reception she was expecting, but Shichi had a point, her little sister did run off after the exam without saying a thing, but it wasn't like she meant to... "I'm sorry," the girl replied and if they weren't separated by who knows how many miles, Shichi would have smacked her across the head, "Some stuff came up and I forgot to call you."

"You? Forget?" Shichi repeated. It seems like her sister accepted the apology with a light laugh that echoed through the phone. The brunette realized how much she missed it, "That's rare. Congratulations on passing! How's it feel to have a license in your hand?"

"Thank you-," Rukei paused, blinking, "I didn't tell you that I passed."

"You didn't," her sister reaffirmed, "I checked with the Association and a couple other sites to make sure you were alive."

The younger girl inwardly flinched at the stressed word. She must have really worried Shichi. Glass and Crimson too. "I see... But this means I can work with you now, right?"

There was a very long silence from the other end, and Rukei was about to move to see if it was just bad reception until Shichi spoke. "No."

What?

The girl couldn't find her words at first and tried to collect her thoughts, "But you said-" she stopped and tried again, "Shichi-oneesan, you said that if I became a Hunter you would let me work with you. I remember clearly."

"Nen."

"What?" Rukei didn't know what her senior was saying but she was very serious about it. Not like that would stop her. "Shichi-"

"So you don't know what it means," her sister cut her off, "As I thought. Listen to me very carefully, Rukei. Right now, you are a Hunter in license only. You're not strong enough to work on field."

"But-"

"Rukei!" She immediately shut up at her sister's iced tone.

What was Shichi saying? Shichi said that if Rukei became a Hunter they would work together. Why hadn't anything changed?

Her sister continued on, "I agreed to work with you 'when you become a Hunter'. Do you know what that really means?" Rukei had a feeling that she didn't. "When you understand what that means you can work with me. Until then, your job is to find out."

Rukei didn't want to give up. She wasn't going to give up. "But-"

"That's an order, Rukei!"

Oh.

"Do you understand?"

She didn't understand. She didn't understand why she couldn't work with Shichi, she didn't understand why she lost her will to fight, she didn't understand why Shichi was being so cold, she didn't understand anything.

The only thing she could understand was that it was an order.

"Understood."

There was another interval of silence and Rukei could hear the shuffling of papers from the other side. "Alright then," there was another awkward pause, "I'll see around."

Rukei could barely murmur a 'yeah' before she head the click and the call was over.

-

"You didn't need to be that hard on her," a dirty-blonde haired man, nineteen years older than the young lady, chided, walking over to her only to receive a harsh glare as she dropped her phone on her desk.

The teen turned away, moving the papers scattered across her workspace. The memory of a certain brunette cleaning up the table with a disapproving glint in her eyes had suddenly become painful, "You know I have to, Glass. Rukei can't come back to the Alliance," she moved away a file and found the set of photos she was searching for.

She scowled at the picture she picked up, doing her best not to crush the photo in between her fingers; the reason for all her pain and Rukei's. Past, present, and if she didn't handle this correctly, future. She couldn't let Rukei come back.

Shichi slammed the photo back down on the desk.

Not until Shichi could wipe them out.

-

"Rukei?"

She turned around quietly, doing her best to not let anything show on her face. She didn't want to speak, if she spoke she knew her voice wouldn't hold out. She gave them a little nod when they asked her if she was okay.

It wasn't fair.

And despondence became anger as she quickly brought her phone back out again fighting away what had wrapped around her heart, scrolling through and finding a familiar number before rapidly punching a text in.

Shichi was really going to get it.

They had explained that Gon was on tourist visa to Killua since the spiky-haired boy was determined not to use it until he payed back Hisoka with a good punch to the face. Until then, he wasn't going to return home. Well, neither was she. But of course, Gon had zero idea where he was an a man with such an elusive personality probably wouldn't have trouble disappearing off somewhere.

"I know where he is, Gon." Kurapika admitted quietly. As it seemed, Hisoka had told Kurapika something after the orientation. "'I have information some information regarding the spider."

"The Phantom Troupe?"

Kurapika gave him a short nod, "I do not recall mentioning the Phantom Troupe to Hisoka, so either he overheard our conversation during the first stage or he heard of it from another," So Rukei wasn't the only one. She had been put very off ease when she found that Hisoka knew about her. "The Spider is the Phantom Troupe's symbol, so those familiar with the organization refer to the Troupe as such."

"I have experienced something similar," Rukei broke in, "He definitely knows things about the Zakuya and myself that he shouldn't." The Alliance was a possibility but she highly doubted it.

The blonde gave her a look of agreement before going on, "After the orientation, I asked him about it."

"I shall await you in Yorknew City, on September 1st."

"September 1st?" Leorio echoed.

That was quite some time off. It was the beggining of March. "Then you've still got over half a year. What's going to happen in Yorknew City?"

There was a snap of fingers from Leorio, who realized what was going on, "They hold the world's largest auction."

"From September 1st to September 10th," Kurapika detailed, "There will be an auction for unusual items, rare goods, and national treasures from around the world. The event attracts all manner of nasty folk who come looking to satisfy their greed. It's the biggest gathering of money in the world."

"So the Troupe will be there?"

"They're a group of bandits. They would not allow this chance to escape," Kurapika concluded, and Rukei had to agree, "So on that day, Hisoka will be somewhere in Yorknew city."

Gon got it now, etching the date in his mind, "Okay. September 1st. Got it," the boy smiled, "Thanks."

They would be arriving at the destination in about an hour and Rukei was about to fall asleep to the sound of the tracks when she jolted upright due to a buzz. She fished the item out of her pocket to see a satisfying response before shoving it back away.

"Hey, what did Shichi say?"

Rukei looked up at Killua who had a genuinely curious look in his eyes, "You've looked kinda out of it since that call."

The brunette looked away, "'It doesn't matter does it?'" she paused to see the white-haired boy's annoyed reaction, "Is what I'd like to say."

"What does that mean?"

There was no cube for her to play with in her hands, it was in her bag that was propped up above her and going out of her way to grab it would make it obvious that she felt uneasy. "Shichi-oneesan said I can't work with her until I become a Hunter."

Leorio raised an eyebrow at the statement, "But you are a Hunter. You have a license and everything!"

"That's the only thing I do have," Rukei sighed, glancing out the window, "I only have a license. My order is to become a Hunter. I'm not sure what that even requires."

Killua let out a huff at her words, "You just have to follow orders all the time, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" She snapped, shooting to her feet. Rukei immediately dropped the volume of her voice and herself back into the seat. The noise hushed as they entered the tunnel so they could hear her whisper, "If you don't follow orders, you're not the only one who gets hurt."

-

The running footsteps of a seven year old and twelve year old were not even audible over the blaring alarms and marching of squadrons that chased after them. The hallways were dyed in a red flashing light that reflected off of the reflective metal walls and tiles.

"You see? This is what happens when you don't follow orders!" The older girl hollered to her over the deafening ruckus as they turned the corner.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" The younger countered, not even sparing her senior a glance, "We got the flash drive."

"Yeah, but now we've created a stupid scene!" The other tried to scold the younger, "Do you know how much trouble this will cause later?"

The young brunette rolled her eyes. "Tch."

"'Tch?' Did you just 'tch' me?!" the dark-haired girl demanded angrily, "What is wrong with you, are you going through a rebellious phase or something?! You're freakin' seven!"

"No, you're Seven."

"You're in a rebellious phase. You're so in a rebellious phase."

They skidded to a stop as a group of men in uniform equipment blocked the end of the hallway and they were met with a very similar reception when they turned around. Seven sighed deeply at the sight, "We'll continue this later. I'll take the ones in front- hey!"

The younger girl payed no heed to her senior's instructions as she dashed forward, attacking the soldiers that Seven was supposed to take out, leaving her to fend off those behind her. Of course, that wouldn't be a problem for Seven, as much as the brunette hated to admit it, Seven was far stronger than she was.

But it wouldn't always stay that way, the brunette was sure of it.

"Puzzle!" Seven barked, after clobbering a last guard to the ground easily, despite the man's thick helmet around his head, storming over to the younger girl, "What is up with you? Can't you listen to me for once?"

Puzzle sniffed irritably before turning on her heels to run again. Seven was furious with her, Puzzle could tell but there was a point where she was sick of being treated like some kind of killing machine, some pawn under the Zakuya.

"So you're the girls that killed Father?"

Another stupid obstacle. Puzzle and Seven had come to a stop in front of a fairly young man with an eerily placid expression across his face. Seven held a hand in front of her junior as if she were some weaker person, in which she was, but she still hated the idea.

The man's smiled at them graciously, as if nothing were wrong, as if they didn't come to tear down this thorn-in-the-side organization that had repeatedly gotten in the Zakuya's way, as if they hadn't killed his father, as if they were normal. "I suppose I must thank you. Now, I don't have to wait for that old man to kick the bucket to take over. But unfortunately," the man cracked open his eyes, a certain gleam with them, a familiar gleam, the gleam of someone about to kill, "I can't have you running away from here alive."

Puzzle scoffed at this man's antics. This man was ridiculous. She'd hurry up and end this man and they would be on their way again.

"Puzzle," Seven hissed quietly, not taking her eyes off the man, "Get out of here."

The brunette whipped her head around to the older girl with shock, "What?"

Her senior was obviously getting annoyed very quickly, sparing her a single quick glance, "I said, get out of here. I'm very serious, Puzzle. Now."

The brunette swatted the hand in front of her away angrily, "No, you're not. I am not running away."

"Puzzle!"

The man laughed at the two arguing, "Oh dear. 'Puzzle' was it?" She glared at the use of her codename from a foreign mouth, "Puzzle you should really listen to your friend. She's a smart one. Not that it'll help you any."

The next thing that Puzzle comprehended, was that she had been thrown to the ground with Seven standing over her, stopping a knife from splitting through her skull by bringing her gun upwards to keep the blade at bay. This man was clearly in much different league than the grunts from before.

But Seven was also in a different league than several Zakuya members older than her by years. What Puzzle didn't know was who's league was stronger. Seven launched a kick into the man's stomach sending him skidding backwards, only to get up in his face again, grabbing the weapon in his hand and yanking it away.

Seven took a blow to the face as she went in to finish him off, but paid it no heed as she attacked again, only a blur in Puzzle's eyes. It was a fight she could barely follow and it was then she was made painfully aware how far away Seven was from her grasp. Surpass her one day?

Puzzle was naive.

Her senior's back banging against the wall loudly pulled Puzzle out of her thoughts as Seven struggled to get up after being thrown. She could even see the dent left behind in the wall from the impact. The man laughed, approaching her just as slowly as the girl got up, only to fall to the ground limp seconds later.

Smoke was left to drift upwards from the gun as Seven hefted herself to her feet, "You didn't actually think that hurt me did you?" Her short ponytail swung to the side as she tilted her head spitefully, "Well, it's not like you can hear me."

Seven held out her hand to her junior and Puzzle took it obediently, no longer finding it in herself to defy her senior. Seven sighed, saying something about getting back on the run and reporting to their superiors, before stopping mid-sentence with wide eyes and whipping around.

By the time they saw the man press the button, it was too late.

Puzzle awoke not too long after the explosion, wondering why she only got a couple burns and other minor injuries.

Her answer was the girl who clutched Puzzle tightly, shielding her the best the girl could with her body.

"Seven!"

Seven was truly something else. In that split second, Seven had dragged Puzzle as far away as possible while making sure that Puzzle was not turned towards the explosion. But right now, that didn't really matter.

The first thing Puzzle did was check for a pulse, and sure enough, it was very, very faint, but it was there. Relief washed over her but left as quickly as it came. What was she supposed to do? She hadn't been given any medical training and blood was running out of Seven's wounds like a river and the fire was drawing near them.

The others. She had to call the others.

"Seven! Seven's severely injured. You have to save her!" Puzzle yelled into the phone, her words were starting to blur together, "We're in the west wing of the tower we-"

"You're the ones who disobeyed orders. Save yourselves."

No.

Puzzle yelled into the phone again, but she knew she had already heard the click of someone hanging up.

They weren't going to save Seven.

Puzzle tried to cover up Seven's wounds with her hands, her hands that she was so proud of, that trembled and lost all their skill when drenched in Seven's blood. Why weren't they going to save her?

Because of Rukei.

Rukei who didn't follow orders.

Reflecting red, blue and green appeared on Shichi's face, calm and easy. Her junior's breath hitched when she saw them and she tried to say something, but all that came out were the sounds of someone who couldn't stop crying.

But Shichi understood her. Shichi gave her a sort of smile and a choked out mangled chuckle, horrible but at the same time music to the ears, "You see?"

Shichi is dying.

The sea and the ocean disappeared in the raging flames around them. Suddenly, Rukei couldn't hear anything else. No blaring alarms, no crashing debris, no roaring fire.

All she could hear was Shichi's breathing. Little... Less... Nothing-

Rukei couldn't even hear her own scream.

-

The topic was not revived for the rest of the train ride and when they had gotten off, Kurapika announced that he should be on his way.

Rukei wasn't prepared for that.

"We managed to see Killua again, so I'm done here," Kurapika informed, "I'll need money to participate in the auction. So I shall search for a patron to employ me as a Hunter."

"I see," Leorio hummed, "I guess I should go home then."

She wasn't prepared for that either.

"You too?"

Leorio grinned, "I still haven't given up my dream of becoming a doctor. If I'm accepted to medical school," he held up the plastic card, "I can use this to pay the ridiculous fee. I'll have to go back home and start cramming."

"Uh-huh. Good luck!" Gon cheered, before he turned his eyes on Rukei, "Are you going somewhere else too?"

Rukei shook her head, "I can't go back to the XX Alliance. I told Shichi-oneesan that I would go back as a Hunter and seeing that she doesn't acknowledge me as one, I guess I'll just..." Rukei trailed off, what was she supposed to do? She stared back at the innocent brown eyes and decided. If she stuck around Gon, something would definitely happen. "I'll stay with you then. If that's fine."

"Of course it is!"

They made their way to the airport and she felt something weigh her heart down at the idea of Kurapika and Leorio leaving. Rukei stopped and asked if they could take a picture, to which they, of course, agreed. A friendly man with a red cap offered to take it for them and she had saved it as her new background to replace the ridiculous one that Shichi had set.

"Until we meet again."

"Yes, that will be..."

"September 1st in Yorknew City," they recited together before giving each other final smiles and bidding each other farewell. She was sad that they were going. The word 'farewell' had a sound that would pull her into melancholy. But they were going to meet up in the beginning of September. That wouldn't be too long.

Hopefully, they'll be there long enough for my birthday.

Gon was very confused as to why Killua suggested to train while Rukei could only sigh loudly.

Killua's smile was very strained as he got into Gon's face, "Do you remember what you just said? Think you can punch Hisoka in the face without training?" The white-haired boy blew up on the other kid, "You can't land a punch in ten years, let alone six months!"

Gon gave an obedient 'okay' while Killua grabbed a stick and began to draw in the dirt.

"Here, I'll make it easy for you to understand," he started, doodling Hisoka's and Hanzo's faces into the dirt putting a little distance between them. He then said that he would draw the distance between Hisoka and Gon, and Killua began to drag the stick in the dirt all the way to the fence on the other side.

Obviously, Gon wasn't too happy about it and asked where Killua was on the makeshift power scale. "Then where are you?"

"Me?" Killua hummed before pointing to a patch of dirt a little ways behind Hanzo.

"Oh, Hanzo is stronger?"

At first, Killua seemed to think that Gon was jabbing at something asking the boy what was wrong but ended up blushing at the compliment he was given.

"Cut that out," he scoffed, shoving his hands into his pockets, "It's embarrassing."

"I can't tell the different between my opponent's strength and myself," Gon mulled over it, to which Rukei told him he'd learned with experience.

"Idiot, it doesn't really matter. I'm only estimating," Killua began heading back and she followed suite, "Gon, you probably have a general idea. Besides the stronger someone is, the better they are at hiding their strength. So you shouldn't rely on this method."

The spiky-haired boy nodded, taking in Killua's advice as they were on their way back to the building.

"Anyways, Hisoka is strong. You won't be able to land a blow on him in six months by normal means."

Rukei shifted the weight of the things in her bag around before looking back up at him, "You seem to have an idea."

The boy smiled as he asked them a random question, "Do you guys have money?"

Gon winced and gave the others a sheepish smile, "Actually, I'm running out."

"Aside from what my Hunter License can do for me, I don't have too much," Rukei replied.

"I don't have much either," Killua finished off, "But there's a place where we can train and earn money at the same time."

"Train and earn money?"

"That sounds awfully convenient," Rukei mused, "And this place is?"

"The Heaven's Arena."

And as the three kids left excitedly, running to get to their next destination as soon as possible, they were oblivious to a certain friendly man with a red cap that watched them.

。。。

How's that really bad cliffhanger? In contrast to that really long last chapter, this one is about half the length of the last. And yes, the picture above was created with the help of much reference. I think we ought to give reference a round of applause.

"Little... Less... Nothing." Really powerful words from Robert Frost's Out, Out of someone slipping away. It also has that certain rhythm to it to that kinda enhances it. English class really does help XD But yes, I am so ready for the upcoming chapters (actually I'm not sure if my fingers are ready for this) because Nen and conflict and characters and- wait, I repeat this in every author's note, don't I?

... So uh... Anyone got a favorite voice actor? I really like the sound of Minami Takayama's voice but it's probably because I just like Conan so much. I've always imagined Rukei's voice to sound a bit like Megumi Hayashibara.