Luke warm water in one of the ship's private room continued to spray and fill the room with steam as Kiyoko stood in one spot, thinking about what she should do after the exam and her family. She suddenly felt empty, wondering what was missing within her right at the moment. Was it her brother? Her family? Their love and affections? Maybe it was her lack of trust and enthusiasm around her friends she made during the test. No, that didn't feel right for her. Kiyoko kept thinking harder and harder each time until she gave herself a headache.

'You shouldn't think about it too much,' she heard someone say.

Kiyoko snapped her head up and scanned her surroundings cautiously, covering up her chest and closing up her legs as she did this. Was she hallucinating? It surely didn't sound anything like Kuromi and, in fact, Kiyoko knew Kuromi was already resting in her mental state.

'Relax and fool around as much as possible. You don't need to grow up too quickly to impress them, not at all,' the voice continued.

The girl finally recognized who's voice it was. It was a male's voice for sure, older than her by at least two to three years, sounding soft and not to deep. Uryuu, Yukimura Uryuu to be exact. "N-nii-san...?" she called out to confirm it. 'But he's dead.. I must be hallucinating... Is it because of the steam?'

'No need to grow up to fast to impress anyone. I'll be here to help you out whenever. Become your shield and sword, allowing you to wield me as you please when seeking for protection.'

The girl shut her eyes tight and turned off the water, finally, quickly wrapping herself in a towel and running out the bathroom while covering up her ears. She then stopped by her bed and dropped to her knees, cringing at the sound ringing in her head, feeling haunted and wanting to escape.

'Have you been a good girl? Dad will lecture you again if you haven't and that'll upset mom again. You don't want that now do you?' Uryuu's voice asked. "ENOUGH!" Kiyoko suddenly hollered.

Alerted by the girl's yell, Leorio and Kurapika slammed the door open and rushed inside to check on her. With wide eyes and heavy ragged breathing, Kiyoko stared at the floor, looking as if she was going to go crazy.

"Hey, hey, hey, are you okay?" Leorio asked as the two rushed to her side. No answer came from Kiyoko as she continued to breath heavily. She was clutching at the towel tightly with her left hand as her right arm supported herself with her remaining strength to stay up. Leorio quickly took off his blazer and wrapped it around her, keeping her from getting a cold or even freezing to death.

"Kiyoko, are you alright?" Kurapika tried asking again. But after he asked the same question, the girl fell over onto the floor and fainted. Kurapika began to shake her a little, feeling panicked, while Leorio checked her temperature and looked around her room for clothes.

"Kiyoko! Kiyoko!" Kurapika called.

"She's fainted... But I'm not sure from what..." Leorio said, bringing back clothes. "She doesn't have a cold, fever, or flu." Kurapika picked the girl up and walked over to the bed in the back center of the room, settling her down carefully and looking at Leorio. "... So who's dressing her?" the man asked as he blushed, earning a glare from a reddened Kurta.

"I know what you're thinking, you perverted bastard," Kurapika growled.

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The two males managed to get the girl dressed and tucked into bed comfortably, red still coloring deeply into their faces. They were clearly embarrassed, but they were also very worried about her well-being. 'You will not speak of this to anyone,' Kurapika stated quietly. Leorio was too busy smirking and chuckling like an idiot to himself, making Kurapika even angrier and punch the back of his head hard enough for him to fall to the ground. 'Clear?' he growled.

'Yeah, yeah...' Leorio muttered, standing back up and rubbing his head. "Should we ask her what happened later?" The Kurta stood and thought for a bit holding, his bare and not so noticeably built arm up to rest his chin into his fingers. The teen was certainly curious, but at the same time, he didn't want to invade anymore privacy. Not that he didn't already.. "We can leave it at this. We've already invaded most of her privacy by this point and she can tell us if she ever feels like she needs to."

The doctor-to-be just shrugged at the Kurta's response and walked out of the room. Kurapika however, just stayed back for a few more seconds longer and decided to follow him out right after. "Now I think about it.. Where's Kuromi?" Kurapika suddenly asked.

"Hey.. You're right. She wasn't present when Kiyoko fainted."

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It was now late in the afternoon when the girl woke up from her unconscious state. Kiyoko sat up in her bed tiredly and looked around the room, wondering what time it was and what happened earlier. 'Oh, right... I panicked to the point where I fainted..' she thought.

She then looked down to see that she was all dressed up, wondering who did it for her and blushing embarrassingly when she thought of the possibility that it was a guy. After all, there were more men than women who were taking the exam and the four males that she sticks to were the only one who would check up on her if anything happens. The girl sighed and got off her bed slowly, stumbling to get her balance again before she started to walk. the door opened to reveal Kurapika at the entrance.

"You're awake," he said calmly, walking over and seating her back down. "I believe you should stay down for a little longer. How long have you been up?"

"I just woke up," the girl responded, landing back onto the bed.

"I see... Leorio is coming back in a bit to check on you again," Kurapika told the girl. "Do you feel dizzy or unwell?"

"No, no just tired.." she replied, smiling.

Leorio then entered the room to see the two seated at the bed and went over to them with a cheeky grin on his face. "Morning," he said.

"Leorio, it's the late afternoon already," the girl chuckled.

He then began to check her pulse and breathing again before answering her with a 'Yeah, I know.'

"You were just sleeping for a long time and we grew worried about your well-being. That's all," the man said, checking her temperature. "Nothing has changed and you seem fine. I guess you're free to go do whatever you want."

Kuromi was finally awake as well and decided to invade in the conversation, taking up half of Kiyoko's body and groaning in response. "What hell is going on? Did I miss anything important?" she muttered obliviously.

"Nothing at all," Kurapika answered, a straight face clearly visible.

"Not like I was asking you, Bookworm," Kuromi huffed.

"Then who were you asking?"

"Who else?"

Kiyoko nervously laughed and looked away. "Actually.. It's not like I know what's going on either," she replied.

"Whatever," Kuromi said before going back to her spiritual state. 'The nerve of that brat.'

Kiyoko then looked back her the two male with her usual smile, but then her face expression then darkened, surprising both Kurapika and Leorio. The two exchanged a quick look with each other, sending a message with their eyes, and then looked back at her nervously. "Now which one of you was it that came here and took a look at my body...?" she asked threateningly, grabbing her staff and swinging it above Kurapika's head and an inch away from Leorio's body.

'She knows!' the males in the room thought.

The girl then reverted to Kuromi and a visible glare was no taking over her used to be bright face, her eyes becoming sharper than ever. Kiyoko had more speed than Kuromi, but speed didn't matter at the moment. She needed power to hurt them just enough and Kuromi was the one who possessed the higher points in strength. The girl was a lot slower than her positive self, but whenever she swung her staff, they all could hear the wind and whipping noises loud and clear.

"If you tell us, I'll let one of you out of this brutal beat up," Kuromi said, continuing to attack.

Kurapika dodged the attacks fluently unlike Leorio, who kept stumbling around on his feet as he moved back and to the sides. "He did it!" Leorio exclaimed, pointing at the Kurta.

"Like I have a dirty mind to do that," he countered. "Only a pervert would do such thing."

This only ticked off the girl further, making her even more violent than she already was. She managed to land a powerful hit into their abdomen and knock them onto the floor. They were both now groaning in pain on the floor, holding their stomachs. "Idiotic perverts," she growled.

'Why me...' Leorio groaned.

'You brought this upon yourself... Leorio,' Kurapika grunted as he tried to prop himself up. 'Why was I included into this..'

"Like hell I did!" he exclaimed.

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"I feel like we shouldn't trust this place," Kuromi suddenly told herself.

"Why is that?" Kiyoko asked, waving around her staff carelessly.

"Those old couple just give me a bad impression." Leorio's scream was suddenly heard a second later, filling the boat up and grabbing everybody's attention. "Crap, dude, he screams loud.." Kuromi muttered.

"Leorio is Leorio. It's normal for him to be that loud," Kiyoko chuckled, decreasing the length of her staff and tossing it over to the bag next to her bed. "Should we sleep tonight or no? I don't think I can sleep after the unwanted nap I took this afternoon."

"Unwanted nap? Just what happened today...?" Kuromi asked.

"I took a shower when we entered the boat and you said you were going to sleep. I was thinking about somethings like life after I finished washing up, but then I began to hear..."

"To hear?"

Kiyoko paused as she allowed herself to remember what happened that day. "I heard Uryuu's voice. I started to panic and ran out of the shower only to pass out a minute later," she replied. "It was pretty odd suddenly hearing him. As if i was being haunted by his ghost."

"That is odd... I don't think we ever heard him after he died, so why now...?"

Kiyoko shrugged and rested herself back onto her bed comfortably, tossing and

turning a few times before turning off the lights. It was natural that she wasn't able to sleep after taking such a long nap that way and Kuromi was still in doubt with the ship and it's owners. "I still wonder why Uryuu was here or why I was even hallucinating. Must have been the steam in the shower..."

'Must be,' a familiar voice called from the other side. The door opened quietly, allowing Kurapika to enter the room one last time for the day. "Sorry, I managed to overhear your conversation. I just wanted to check up on you one final time before we went to bed."

"I see. It's fine," Kiyoko said.

"No, it's not," Kuromi countered lightlly. Kurapika only ignored her and headed over to their bed, sitting down at the edge and looking up at the ceiling. "Do you.. miss your brother?" he asked. Kiyoko turned her head and looked at him before answering with a quick, 'yes.' The boy looked at her and smiled sympathetically. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine, I don't mind little questions." Silence then began to fill the room slowly as the two stared a bit and looked away sheepishly. "Say, do you have a dream you want to fulfill? Possibly make real?" Kiyoko suddenly asked.

"Hmmmm, all I seek now is revenge to be perfectly honest," the Kurta answered. "I don't have anything else to think about, not that I know of... How about you?" Kiyoko smiled and thought for a little. "What is it that I dream of...? Living independently in place of my brother? I don't know either," she chuckled. "I hid behind him for way too long, I can't even think for myself or live as myself ever since he passed. Now I have Kuromi to pose as me sometimes."

"You better start learning to be yourself, don't keep hiding behind others," Kurapika told the girl. "No one will actually acknowledge you if you pose yourself as someone else or hide."

"I know, I know.. But I can't really help it. Not when those who know about my stupid cursed blood and Kuromi fears me so much."

"Not everyone is afraid of you," the boy said, giving the grim looking girl a warm smiled. "I'm not scared. Leorio, Gon, and Killua aren't either, so don't worry about it too much." He then stood up, but was stopped by Kiyoko when she grabbed his hand. "What's wrong?" he asked, turning to look at the girl. "Whoa!"

Kiyoko sat up as she tugged him down and hugged him tightly, catching him off guard. It sounded like she was giggling in relief as she held him closely. The odd thing only Kurapika noticed was that Kuromi wasn't protesting any of their actions this time and remaining quiet. He then wrapped his own arms around her and laid her back down, his face next to hers.

"Rest, Kiyoko. You'll want to wake up early tomorrow," he said.

"But that's the problem... I kind of can't..." she chuckled awkwardly.

Kurapika let go of her hesitantly and sat back up, brushing his hair away from his eyes. "I'll need to head back to my room soon for some sleep too. Just do your best to rest your yourself," he chuckled before kissing her quickly. "I'll, um, go now.." Kiyoko blushed and covered up her face, peeking through her fingers before turning away from Kurapika. "Y-yeah.. Okay, good night," she replied quickly.

Kurapika's cheeks were dusted with a light red color as he tried to calmly leave the room, saying another quick 'good night' and closing the door behind him. "How awkward. Very awkward. What the heck just happened..? I'm not dreaming, am I? Please, tell me I am!" she squeaked, hiding underneath the blanket.

"You're not," Kuromi sighed. A high pitched squeak came out of the speechless girl, her mouth opened to say something even though she was clearly failing. Kiyoko finally broke and was moaning loudly, rolling on the bed and she held her head, completely flustered. "I'm not infatuated, am I? There's no way that I am, please! Not now! This is not what I planned for in life... Well, I don't think I did! What is this feeling?! I tried to ignore it this entire time, but it's just there throbbing in my chest!" Kiyoko spoke quickly.

"You're in love," Kuromi mumbled. Kiyoko was now nervously sobbing to herself as she listened to herself answer all her denies. That was until she heard the airship parked outside turned start up and begin to take off. The girl shot up in bed and looked out the window, her personality immediately changing into a serious and less flustered person. "Someone is... taking the airship?" she said, dashing out of her room with everyone else.

The participants all made it outside to see both Banner and Genner boarded on the airship and leaving with all the treasures they turned in when they were out in broad daylight. They were now all mumbling to each other and shooting looks at the old couple, watching it slowly become smaller and disappear.

"I guess that shiver I got earlier was probably trying to tell me about this.." Kurapika said casually.

"This was exactly why I told you I didn't trust this place.. Something was bound to happen and now we're stranded on this half sunken ship..." Kuromi hissed.

"Everyone was fooled, it's quite too late to stop them even if we tried.." Kiyoko replied.

"Those old geezers... Just using us like that!" Leorio growled angrily. "You should at least be a little angry, Kurapika. They just took off and left us here!"

"We were all careless.." Killua added.

Gon was just gaping at the scene the entire time, watching the ship fly into the air. Kiyoko sighed and looked at the boys worriedly as they looked back and stared as well. Leorio ruffled her already messed up hair and pulled her over a little closer, still worried whether she was unfeeling well or not. Kuromi didn't do anything to stop the man like how she always did with the males in the group, but instead felt relaxed, which was quite an odd thing to feel in her case.

"Leorio," Kuromi called, earning a frightened look. "Take good care of Kiyoko. I should be resting now so that one of us can be active in the day." And with they, the girl disappeared and never said anything else.

"That's a promise," the man said, patting Kiyoko's back. "We all can't do anything right now, but it looks like we'll be waiting to see what happens next."

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Testing writing styles and stuff. Excuse for the sudden changes ^^"