"Continue to use your wings as a fan," Kurapika instructed carefully, "Until there's no more oxygen in the room left. How much can you carry when you fly?"

"How much do you need me to?" Shichi questioned, beating off the snake again with a slam of her wings. She understood, and she was glad that she had listened, "I could carry you, if that's what you're trying to find out."

The boy nodded as he checked the doors of the room again by sight, "Then when I give you the signal, burst through those doors on the right."

'Humungous' would be a bit too weak to describe the current size of the snake. It's width was at least half of the room, and the length was difficult to figure out, but it had to coil itself up numerous times to fit inside and not burn it's master. The mentioned master held a hand over his face; he found it hard to breathe as well and was now being extremely cautious in advancing.

Kurapika had to be cautious too. They only had one shot and if it didn't work, the backlash of it was not even going to compare to Shichi's messing around.

Shichi's slackened shoulders and back gave the blonde a quiet reassurance of his plan. Her sarcastic grin was something normal and that was somehow comforting. "That good?"

The man would have taken a deep breath if that was safe right now, but it wasn't, so he settled for closing his eyes for a brief second and looking up. "Good."

With that, she burst forward, grabbing him in her flight while guarding his head from the wood and glass she barreled through with her elbow. The howl of the wind outside rushing in erupted into a loud blast accompanied with shattered windows and splintering doors. They watched the formless fire spread across the hall after the explosion, suspended in the city air.

"His Ten should be good enough to keep him alive," Shichi concluded, more to assure herself than anyone else, "When did you think of it?"

Kurapika looked up at her as she removed her arm from over his head, keeping a good grip to ensure he would not fall down to his death. "When you said 'it's getting hard to breathe'."

She gave a short, tired laugh as she watched the fire rage on. It was quiet for the rest of Shichi's descent towards the more deserted side alleys next to the building so she would not draw attention. She folded up her wings as her feet touched the concrete, making them disappear into nothing but a regular guard of aura and pulled her jacket back around her shoulders.

The wailing of firetruck sirens was nearing the building and they prepared to go out and meet them. Kurapika was smarter than she thought. She hadn't even considered using the doors both as a counter and an escape. The air in the room was very thin with the ridiculous fire snake taking it all up. By letting in all that new air in so suddenly, the serpent had eaten more oxygen than it could handle inside that tiny hall and detonated.

Shichi dusted off some ash from her clothes and tried her best to wipe the soot off her face but only succeeded in smearing it around. She glanced at the man beside her who did the same, but had much more luck in cleaning himself up. It sort of bothered her somehow that he was wearing something so... Normal? The peculiar blue and gold garments had really stuck with her. "When did you start wearing a suit?"

"When I stopped working for the Nostrade family," he replied, shaking out debris from the black jacket.

Shichi put her weapon back in her guitar case, closing the clasps with a click, "Still involved with the underground?"

"Yes," Kurapika answered simply. Kurapika had never directly told her what he was searching for or why he was doing it, but she could figure it out by the way he talked and the empty, worn expression he sometimes had. It was only till later that she had found out he was a survivor of a genocide.

There was something, something beyond the obvious observation that anyone who looked at his eyes could make that looked more dead than the ones that he tried to take back, that asked for her attention. There was something different about Kurapika than the Shichi three years ago.

But it was like picking out a tiny whisper amongst a cacophony of yelling. Anyone could say that his rage would be his end, and yet there was something odd about it all. Something that Shichi should have been able to notice, but for some reason she had not. And it all bothered her: what she hadn't noticed and why she couldn't notice.

"You shouldn't get too tangled up with those guys. You just saw what comes out of it."

He knew. He knew what he was doing. "Rest assured. I have no intentions to make the same mistakes you did."

There would not be a better way to describe the tension in the air and in her harsh demeanor than 'the eerie calm before a storm'. His lapel scrunched up between her fingers as she pulled him in roughly and looked him in the eye.

"What are you trying to say?"

Kurapika did not reply. That was something, but what really pissed her off was the fact that Kurapika did not flinch.

Shichi let him go with a shove, hissing, "Forget it."

They didn't speak to each other after that. Wick was alive. Very, very badly burned and in need immediate medical attention, but he was alive. She had called up one of her co-workers to keep an eye on him while he was in the hospital.

She spent some time arguing with them on how to handle Wick. It would be trouble if the Zakuya raided a hospital to get their agent back, but what else were they to do?

In the end, Galen found himself with another patient.

Shichi had to halt the call to answer another one, giving a short glance to the blonde who was answering a question from the policeman. They took Shichi's and Kurapika's words almost as law because of a little plastic card with two 'X's across it.

"Hello?"

Crimson was the one who had contacted her, "I heard about what happened. After I pick up Glass, I'll head over to where you are. Are you okay?"

The woman sighed, hoping that she would only have to say it once, "Yeah, I'm fine."

It was quiet for a few moments, and Shichi thought that Crimson had already hung up so she was surprised by the returning voice. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Just tired."

-

"Ah! You are Kurapika, yes?"

Shichi was afraid this was going to happen.

After checking Shichi's condition that she had already clearly stated was fine, the redhead lit up upon seeing one of Rukei-chan's friends. She briskly strode over to the surprised man with a bright smile, "Sorry, this is our first time meeting in person. My name is Crimson. To make a very long story short, I help take care of Rukei-chan. It's a pleasure," she chimed, cheerfully holding out her hand.

Kurapika hesitated to return it, startled by the woman's sudden appearance and introduction. "Likewise."

The redhead looked him over with a concerned eye, "You were with Shichi, correct? Are you alright? Shichi doesn't have any major injuries. I hope she didn't use you as a shield..."

Shichi snorted upon overhearing the conversation, folding her arms, "He's not even scratched."

Crimson looked like she was about to say something, like a witty counter, but an odd look crossed her face and she withheld her comment.

Shichi did not see this look. Her back was turned towards them and her face towards the open streets.

But Kurapika, who did see, could describe her expression best as someone who realized they were about to kill, and therefore dropped their weapon. Crimson turned her head back to the blonde boy with an apologetic smile. "Well, it's good to know you aren't hurt. I really wanted to thank you for being friends with Rukei-chan."

Kurapika gave her a nod to give himself time to search for a proper reply. But he did not need to, as Crimson accepted the short gesture and continued.

"I'm glad that she didn't take the Hunter Exam alone," the redhead admitted, "Ah, why don't you come with us for a bit?"

"What?" Shichi whirled around indignantly, "No- you can't- why?"

Kurapika was twice as surprised as the dark-haired woman, but Crimson didn't give him time to speak once again as she turned to Shichi, "What do you mean 'why'? Naturally, Rukei-chan would want to see him, right? And he'd want to see his friends too."

"First of all," the woman countered, holding up her finger to emphasize the point, "He doesn't have to come with us to see his friends. We aren't his chauffeurs or his comrades- ow!"

Crimson glared down at the woman after flicking her on the forehead, "Don't even finish that sentence, Shichi. Rukei-chan's friend is our friend."

"That's outdated, old-lady logic," the teen grumbled, rubbing her forehead.

"My apartment, my rules," Crimson stated firmly, knowing that Shichi couldn't really do anything about the situation anyways.

She did not need to. Kurapika brushed off her invitation politely but coldly. "Thank you, but I have important matters to attend to. Besides, Gon and Killua are always with Rukei. There is no need for my company."

"See?"

Crimson decided to ignore Shichi this time around, as the redhead gave the blonde a regretful smile, "That's unfortunate. Actually, I needed you to come with us because the Alliance needs to hold a conference call tonight for this incident. It would be helpful if you're with us. If your matters don't need to be seen to immediately, would you please reconsider?"

He wanted to be able to take back what belonged to his clan as quickly as possible. He did not want to leave it to them, but one of his subordinates would be able to look into any remaining connections the now dead Jul Sember had for now. The Zakuya's interference could cause problems for him later. For now, he would have to endure again. "I understand. I will cooperate."

While Crimson thanked the boy, Shichi groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose in hopes of getting rid of a little irritation. At the woman's complaining, Crimson excused herself from the blonde with a strained grin, and dragged Shichi a little further away. "What is the problem? He's needed for the Alliance."

"Listen, I was there too. That's all you need," Shichi replied immediately, "That guy pisses me off."

"You are too old for this! Now, I can see who Rukei-chan learned the pettiness from! You have been very irritable lately."

"Maybe 'cause I keep getting pushed into irritating situations with irritating people-"

"You seemed to get along just fine in Yorknew," Crimson cut her off sternly, "Therefore you will get along just fine now! And I don't want to see you sulking about it!"

-

They were not getting along just fine, and Shichi sulked about it.

Shichi never knocked when Rukei was home. Would it be faster? Yes. But for some reason Rukei hated the sound, so Shichi had to reach down behind the potted plant and find the key, and unlock it herself.

"I'm home," Shichi drawled, her tone clear with annoyance, though it cheered up a little to see a pleasantly clean corridor and living room, "Hey, nice work, Rukei."

"We deserve credit for that," a grumpy voice piped up from on the couch. A familiar white-haired boy was slumped over next to another unforgettably honest face and the man she had met earlier today.

Rukei huffed, "You hardly did anything."

"Because you said I was doing everything wrong!" Killua countered, "How is there a wrong way to clean?"

"You were wasting soap," Gon reminded the boy.

"Why are you siding with her?!"

Shichi's spirits were soon crushed again after a moment of studying Rukei's face. The girl's annoyed yet fond expression made Shichi recall her discussion with Flask. It was a disagreeable one, for both of them.

The interrogation was... difficult, to say the least. The Zakuya had become increasingly trickier; Flask had only been given a certain amount of information to the point where even if a Manipulator forced the answers out of him, the majority would be something that the Alliance had already concluded. But they did find out what Flask was trying to get in Greed Island.

"Double Postcard to the Dead and Breath of Archangel? That's a really unusual combination." Shichi remarked, reading over the description of the card that Rukei emailed to her a few days earlier.

The Breath of Archangel made sense; it could heal fatal wounds, which always came in handy. Double Postcard to the Dead however didn't make sense, especially when both cards were put together. 'Address and mail this return postage-paid postcard to a deceased person, and you will get a reply the next day. A book of 1000.'

"So? What were you planning to do with these cards?"

"You think they'd tell me?" Flask scoffed, "I just follow orders. Even you know how it works."

Shichi held his gaze for a moment, before leaning back with a loud sigh, "Listen. I'd like to get done with this as soon as possible as well. So don't hide anything."

The man stiffened but did not lose his smile as he turned his head back to her, "You're still hard to get around. It was right."

He was at it again; always finding some way to get under someone's skin and burn them. His grin grew wider as Shichi's scowl grew deeper.

"You seem angry," Flask chimed, "Did I say something wrong?"

"You refer to all the experiments like that?" She spat, grinding her teeth as she tried to go on. It felt like she had to pry his name out of her own mouth, "Even Solriss?"

His smile remained, though blank and confused. "Solriss?"

"Professor!" Shichi yelled and slammed her arm against the table, hard enough to leave a dent in the surface and loud enough to leave a dent in Flask's composure, "Do you call him 'that' and 'it' too?!"

Flask faltered. "N-no."

Shichi quietly withdrew her hand to reveal the mark in the desk.

"I never experimented on him so-"

Her fist stopped, close enough to call it contact to his face, held back by another man. Flask could still feel the air from her punch, and it was enough to make his hair stand on it's end. But Glass' frigid silence told her to back away. Slowly, she did so.

Why did Flask call Rukei 'it'?

To make things easier.

He was first pulled into the affair when they asked him to help handle Subject 2, the dog. He agreed. He had no choice but to agree.

The situation was the same with Subject 3, the human.

He would not think. He did not have to. He only had to work with the process, the numbers, the graphs, the charts, the formulas; that was all he had to do. He had to do it. That was the only thing on his mind as he entered the room with Subject 3. Subject 3 was docile, showing no signs of resistance. Subject 3's condition was also excellent; Subject 3 was perfect for this experiment. It was all going perfect, perfect-

"Hello," the woman said.

He immediately ran out, dropping everything he had in his hands. He could not experiment on her! That was the thought foremost on his mind. He remembered the calm, slight smile she wore and the cordial, conversational tone of her voice; she was human! Human!

"That's what bothering you?"

The man wiped a smudge off his glasses and set the back on his face. His expression was dull and unreadable, stronger than an iron wall as it always had been.

"Then don't think of her as human. She's 'it' too. Subject 3 is the Zakuya's tool, correct? Then, Subject 3 is no different than 'it'."

Of course.

They were not human anymore.

They were the Zakuya.

-

"Shichi, what happened?" Rukei questioned, "Your clothes are covered in ash."

The woman gave her garments another pat down, "Yeah, I guess they're pretty dirty."

"'Pretty dirty'?" Leorio repeated with disbelief, "Any sane person would have gotten a new change of clothes by now."

"There is pride to be had in old clothes," Shichi brought up with a self-satisfied smile, "Y'know, martial artists used to only identify rank by three colors."

"That's a myth, Shichi," Glass interrupted, only to be ignored by the younger girl.

"Back then the only three belt colors were white, brown, and black. The dirtier your belt got, the more experienced you were. Eventually, red became incorporated into those three," Shichi finished up her story proudly, tugging at her tattered and beaten coat, "Going by that logic, I'm pretty tough."

Rukei sighed, holding her arms out, "We already know that. Give me your jacket. I'll wash it."

Crimson perked up as she remembered something, stepping to the side a little and revealing the blonde she had been standing in front of. "Oh, while you're at it, could you wash his too?"

Rukei was appropriately shocked; the same could be said for Gon's whose face brightened with a surprised smile and Killua who stared dumbly. Leorio shot to his feet.

"Kurapika!"

Shichi, now forgotten by her own sister, continued to sulk as the four friends hounded the blonde with questions; she guessed that Rukei, Gon, and Killua must have done the same to Leorio when he first arrived.

A sharp ring of a cellphone called everyone's attention to the quiet man who stood by watching. He excused himself with a pointed look towards Shichi who slid the jacket off her shoulders and promptly threw it to a miffed brunette.

When Glass walked by him, Killua frowned in confusion. From the corner of his eye, he stared at the man on the phone steadily.

Gon had noticed it too. He blinked curiously while he glanced in between the white-haired boy and the blonde man, as if he were trying to compare something. His view was then blocked by Shichi's back as she followed the man shortly afterwards.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you, Leorio! Rukei-chan told me about you!" Crimson chimed, diverting the visitors for a moment as she checked before continuing, "You are Leorio, right?"

The man tensed up at the woman's sudden greeting, holding up an embarrassed smile, "Uh, yes, I am. I guess you're Crimson?"

"What do you think?" The redhead joked in a goodnatured manner.

Leorio laughed, exchanging a polite shake with one hand and rubbing the back of his neck with the other, "Crimson, alright."

Crimson invited them to sit back down and apologized that she couldn't properly treat her guests; chaotic would not be a strong enough word to describe their evening.

"Uh, no, it's okay," Killua awkwardly brushed off her regret; it vaguely reminded him of Mito-san, "But what happened?"

Kurapika caught the inquisitive blue eyes staring at him; it was obvious that Kurapika was somehow caught up in the disarray by his sudden, soot-covered appearance that was nearly identical to Shichi's. "I planned to meet someone here, but a Zakuya agent killed him before I could get a chance to speak with him. Shichi arrived shortly after that."

"I'm guessing there was a fire or something," Leorio put in as Kurapika gave the brunette a short thanks for taking up his coat. A quick look at her face made it obvious that Rukei was holding herself back from demanding every detail. It appeared that she settled to ask Glass or Shichi afterwards.

"To be concise, yes, there was a fire," it was now his turn to inquire of them, "Why are all of you here?"

Gon answered with an eager haste; he was probably in a rush to get his own chance of asking questions, "We're all here for Rukei's doctor pretty much."

"Rukei's doctor?"

"To be concise," Killua copied Kurapika's words with an expression that said 'two can play at that game'. If the blonde was going to give them the bare minimum, then Killua was going to do the same, "It's a check up."

"Yeah!" Gon added helpfully, leaving his friend's plans in pieces, "It was something about her Zyphon blood and having 'stable conditions', I think, and 'comparing the experiments' with each other for answers or something like that. Lots of Rukei's old friends are here apparently! They're really interesting people! Oh, and Leorio's just here to learn from Dr. Galen."

"Seriously, Gon?!"

"What?"

While Gon and Killua argued it out, Leorio grumbled about Gon's description of him being 'just here' like an afterthought and Kurapika wished for more coherent particulars.

Killua ruffled his hair in aggravation, "You do this every time!"

"Do what?" The boy repeated, bewildered.

"'Oh, and Leorio', huh?" The doctor mumbled under his breath as he stared down at the floor, "I see that I don't mean very much to you, Gon."

"What?!" The guilty boy bounced over to the spectacled man, "No, I didn't-"

"Gon, your explanation is obscure. Will you please clarify what you meant by 'comparing the experiments'?"

"And you!" Killua cut off Gon before the boy could even begin by slapping a hand over his mouth. Killua used his free hand to point at the blonde, "Why don't you try telling us what's going on for a change, Kurapika?!"

"I did," he replied, unaffected by Killua's accusation.

"That's hardly satisfactory!"

Leorio stood up, pushing up his glasses by it's bridge, "Don't ignore me!"

In the end, no one was very happy about the rustic's innocent account aside from a pleasantly calm Crimson who watched the situation unfold.

"Crimson," a quiet, mellow voice called from the doorway. Quiet as it was, the commotion in the room hushed at his voice. Glass flashed the laptop underneath his arm to her, signaling that the conference was going to begin.

The redhead got to her feet, straightening her scarlet garb as she gave everyone a sorry glance, "We have to discuss this event with the Alliance. If you will, Kurapika," Crimson requested.

The man promptly followed her actions, only for everything to be brought back to a halt as Rukei returned from her washing work. "Can I listen?"

Glass always had a very hard time denying Rukei; it was made obvious to everyone by the uncomfortable look on his face as he tried to return the girl's even stare. "Well-"

"Rukei's part of the Alliance too," Crimson pitched in with a small smile, "She deserves to listen."

"Can we listen too?"

Glass turned his gaze on the spiky-haired boy and hoped from the bottom of his heart that Rukei would not take this boy's side, because he wouldn't be able to say 'no' and he really had to say 'no'-

"They're very trustworthy," Rukei intervened. Rukei saw the chance and grabbed it when Glass' expression faltered, "And we're all Hunters. I'm sure Noriko will put it on the Hunter website later, so they can just buy the information if they want to."

Glass looked towards Crimson in hopes that the woman would step in. But the redhead didn't seem to mind, if that unhelpful shrug said anything. He had to figure this out by himself. "Uh... Um, Rukei, these are... Well, Alliance affa-"

"Then let's use rock-paper-scissors!"

The man stared down at the brown-eyed child at a loss for words. Rock-paper-scissors? Was this kid being serious?

"First comes rock! Rock, paper, scissors!"

Glass instinctively threw out a hand. He had thrown out paper, and Gon, hoping that Glass had the same habits as Rukei, held his hand in a closed fist.

There was an awkward moment of silence before he chimed, "Two out of three!"

-

Shichi pinched the bridge of her nose as she stared at the unexpectedly gigantic group that piled into the room. "Not a peep from you guys. Got it?"

Gon gave her an enthusiastic nod and thumbs up while Killua huffed and shoved his hands in his pockets upon being ordered around. Leorio was not even quite sure how he ended up where he was, but he feeling curious as well as cautious. Even he could tell that Jianghai was not the safest city to be in at the moment, so he should learn as much as possible.

The conversation started. Shichi spoke first, briefing the other members on everything that went down in the hotel. Kurapika would offer details and specifics that the woman may have missed. But neither actually spoke directly to the other- they hardly looked at each other.

Glass nudged Shichi after even Crimson noticed the still present tension. It did not change a thing.

"So," Cheril's voice drawled out after the two finished, "Did you retrieve the traded items?"

Shichi hesitantly replied, "Yeah, I did."

Noriko also took a moment to push on; it was not like Shichi to simply ignore all the implied questions. "And? What did Wick have?"

"The Poor Man's Rose."

As expected, they erupted on her.

"And you thought it was a good idea to create an explosion when your opponent was holding that?! That could have costed thousands of lives, not counting those taken by the poison!"

"Shichi, everyone in Alliance would have been killed! We're all in blast range-"

"How was I supposed to know?" Shichi growled back, "How much of an idiot do you think I am? I know. I know I was insanely lucky that the Rose didn't bloom, and detonating the hall wasn't the greatest thing we could do in hindsight, but what do you want me to do about it now?

As the argument raged on, Gon leaned over to his white-haired friend in the quietest whisper he could muster, taking Shichi's words seriously. "Killua, what's the Poor Man's Rose?"

"Basically, it's a super powerful bomb. It can be mass produced and it's low budget, so it's really popular with small dictatorships," Killua switched his gaze from Shichi's back to Gon, "They tried to pass a law to ban it, but they failed. 80% of the countries disapproved."

"Shugo stopped it's production," Rukei brought up the country they were currently in, "But most say that's just for show; Shugo probably has a storehouses reserved with the Poor Man's Rose. They were part of that 80% after all."

Glass managed to work out the fight between Shichi and her co-workers. Gon noticed that most people listened carefully when Glass spoke. The man was quiet, but perhaps it was something about his voice or the way he talked that had an odd sort of charisma behind it.

"We have a greater problem at hand," Glass reminded, with a very stern look towards the woman, "It won't be exceedingly difficult to find someone else to get a Poor Man's Rose from. Now that the Zakuya has set their sights on it, it'll only be a matter of time before they obtain one."

Shichi breathed in deeply to calm herself down, before looking back towards the laptop, "You're right. Heck, I'm sure they could make it themselves if worst came to worst. It's not like they don't have someone who can't do that..."

"Alright, but why does the Zakuya need so much destructive power? What are they trying to get rid of? All of Jianghai?"

"I take back what I said," Crimson suddenly spoke up nervously, "I originally said that the Zakuya won't act out of personal grudge, but... Right now, I wouldn't call it farfetched."

"So they're going to blow up Jianghai because of the Alliance?" Leorio concluded, only to be shushed by his other two friends who were told to stay silent.

Shichi drummed her fingers against the desk, as if that would help rack her brain for answers. She ignored the fact that Leorio broke the one rule. "I don't think it's that simple."

Rukei folded one hand over the other. Her left was bleeding from digging her nails into her skin. "What was Flask trying to get from Greed Island? It's probably related."

"Double Postcard to the Dead and Breath of Archangel. It took forever to force it out of him," Shichi answered while trying to rub her temples for a change to release stress. There were too many factors, too many loose ends, too many things they just didn't know.

If the Poor Man's Rose was connected, than it was safe to assume that the Breath of Archangel was to save one of theirs that was sure to survive the blast. Most likely, someone having been poisoned from the smoke.

But why Double Postcard to the Dead? Were they ready to sacrifice another person, but still needed their information? Or was it some sort of safety net? Or did they need the Poor Man's Rose because Flask failed? But what did any of these three items have in common?

"Maybe one of the cards is unrelated."

Everyone stared at Gon, who in turn set both hands over his mouth and mumbled an inaudible apology.

"No," Glass said slowly, "Go on."

"I just thought that maybe Flask only needed to get one card for the Zakuya. He might have wanted something from Greed Island for himself."