"Help!"
A voice scream out far from the city, but close to the people travelling among the woods, alerting those same people close by a wooden hut. Startled at this, they took a moment to register what they had just heard until a tiny girl, wearing a dirty red colored cloak over her shoulders opened the door of the hut.
Eyes widening at the three newcomers, her eyes once filled with terror, lighten up in hope at their presence. She shouted over to them, stumbling at her bare foot, "Please! Help!" She shouted over them in a hurry.
Now recognizing an emergency situation, all of them ran towards the girl, "Are you alright?!" They had asked the girl, worry lacing through their voice.
They saw the girl tremble in her feet, tears rolling down her rosy cheeks. She shook her head rapidly, clenching at the closest person in her side which was a man in a tabard with a blonde hair, "N-No. Please, please help mama and papa!" She beg at the three men who came over her.
The blonde haired man close to her stilled, but soon after regaining his calm, he wrap his arms protectively at the trembling little girl. A gesture to comfort her to which the girl took gratefully.
Quickly after, the tallest of the three opened the door, his eyes widening at the scene before him.
Inside the house was a total mess as if a muder scene happened right out of it. The floor were full of blood trails and shattered glass from the broken window in front of them were scattered about. And with the moon light from that same broken window, were of three individuals present.
One is a man bearing a bloody wound at his abdomen knock out by the floor. The second was a woman hanging by the air, getting chocked at the tight gripped hand from the third individual not identified as a human, but a-
"A Kiriko!" The blonde man quickly recognize the yellow monster respondible at what have happened peior their entry. He instinctively pulled the young girl in his own embrace terrified of what had occurred at the short time that had happened and will happen if they never appeared.
The Kiriko let out a wicked smile at the group, carrying the woman in his arm to which they had identified quickly right after the cry of the little girl beside them, "Mama!" The woman turn at the young girl in tears.
The little girl tried to pry herself from the blonde man in order to ran towards her mother, but was halted by the same man. "Don't!" He warned her.
"Dear!" The woman yelled, her eyes filled with fear and worry for her and her family's safety.
"No! Mama!" The young girl cried out, still being held by the male, her small hands failing around to helplessly grab her mother's hand. Her wailing only increased when the monster hop and went into the dark forest with her mother still in its arm. Unknown of what the monster will do to her dear mother.
"No! No! No! Mama! MAMA!" She panicked at the hand of the man still embracing her in attempt to calm her cries.
"I'm going after them!" The green cladded boy quickly took out his bag and ran towards the broken window where the Kiriko exited.
"Wait! Gon!" The same blonde clicked his tongue. And as if finishing an entire monologue inside of his head to what he should do, he reluctantly pushed the crying girl towards Leorio, deciding of what action he'll take for the best, "Take care of these two Leorio! I'll go after them!" Saying, he threw his sling bag into the ground and ran towards the forest.
The little girl, stunned at seeing the horror of her mother getting kidnapped by the horrible monster right before her eyes snapped at once after roaming her eyes to see her father who could only provide her comfort as her remaining family. She cried as she crawled her way towards her father, fumbling at his clothes as she sob.
"Papa... Mama ga- mama ga-" Unable to finish her words, her father tried to soothe her cries only to grimace from moving his body too much.
"Urk-!" More blood oozed out from his shirt.
"Papa!" She pushed herself, alerted at his father's pained groan and overflowing blood. "Onii-san, please help my papa!" She sniffle at the man who was already taking out the necessary materials to take care of his wounds out from his case.
"Don't worry, little girl. Your papa will just be fine." He reassured them.
"Mama. How about mama? The big bad monster took mama."
The man patted the girl, multitasking from bandaging the man and comforting the little girl, "It's okay. Your mama will be fine. Kurapika and Gon will make sure of it. Just trust them and they'll surely come back with your mama! The big bad monster will be defeated soon! So don't cry now, okay?"
The girl wiped her tears and nod, sniffling her nose, "Okay..." She then turn at her father, "Papa, are you okay? Does it hurt bad?"
The man grimaced trying to relax himself from getting treated as he turn at his daughter, "Don't worry, your papa only has simple scratch. Nii-san is making sure to treat them nicely."
"That's a terrible slash Otoo-san. This will need a stitching so, bear with me for a little. I only have a pain killers to help you numb. Do you think you can take it dry right now?" The tall man frown at seeing the inches long of his wound. If he never came, he would have died in blood loss or worse, get eaten or get killed by that Kiriko. However, despite having been slashed by the nails from that Kiriko, the wound sure came out a clear cut.
The tall man wondered ever so slightly if the Kiriko have killed too many people it had experience slashing many flesh to have learn how to make a very clean cut.
'What a dangerous creature...' He so ever wish both his companion could capture or maybe just scare the Kiriko away to come back in this hut. He would never know what he'll do if it comes back to take away his life too.
After giving the pain killer to the wounded father, the doctor proceed to stitch back his long cut over his abdomen that reach until his side. He knew he was never that great at stitching, but after practicing much with clothes, he was confident to say he's doing a great job as a first timer to operate a suture. (After 5 years as an intern in a hospital, he'll find out his stitching was actually very terrible, much to his dismay. But it still worked enough to close the wound, so it became the sole reason he's not much upset with his suture.)
Once done, the little girl gave his father a hug, careful to not touch the bandage in his side. The father sigh in relief and gave a grateful smile at the man, "Thank you..."
The girl turn at the man also giving him a hug which took him by surprise, "Thank you Onii-san!"
The man caught off guard, his tension still raised from the small stitching he did, soon relax at the hug he received from the little girl. Smiling sheepishly, embarrass at the action, he scratch the back of his head in process and patted the girl in comfort. His sheepish smile warming into a gentle smile.
"Yeah..."
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"Eh?! All of you are families? Then you too?" The young boy out of the group pointed at the cloak little girl, standing beside the woman.
The proclaim human family laugh at their successful planned out drama scenario that have deceive the travelers. Right at this point, everyone have gathered outside the hut and the three young men were now receiving their deserved explanatiom regarding of the tiny drama disguised as an evaluations by the navigators.
It turned out that everyone was a family of Kirikos hired by the hunter commitee to help the examinees find the hunter exam location after getting approved by them.
The woman who was playing the role of wife, now identified as the daughter of the Kiriko family, pulled the cloaked girl by her side, "We are a family, but sadly enough she's an examinee just like all of you." A series of surprise gasp from the group were heard as the woman explain to them the situation.
"You see, right after we're about to take her in the exam site after passing our test, the three of you came right just in time. We didn't want to risk you all seeing one of us fly, so she proposed that she participate in our test as our little kid to add on the drama. It was quite a fantastic idea that we all agreed to this. Our script were getting old too, you see." The woman gushed brightly to the group.
"And based from her acting, I believe none of you didn't suspect anything at all." They all nod.
"I figured as much. But still, I'm a shame to admit myself that I wasn't able to notice her physical appearance wasn't much similar to any of her supposed parents at first. She's a talented actress." Kurapika said, admitting his mistake and at the same time complimenting the girl.
The girl hum, attempting to hide her growing blush with a nod to use her hair as a cover up.
"I was also surprise at her acting, she caught me off guard too. While Leorio-san was treating me, she didn't fail to act as my 'daughter'." The father who has now been revealed as the son, said in amusement. "It felt like she was actually my 'daughter'."
"That's right, I'm also pretty surprise at knowing she was just acting up till now. You're pretty good aren't you kozo!" Leorio ruffled at her head.
"Onii-san... my hair-." She mumbled, prying out the hand that were ruffling her hair. Damn, all those brushing she did for her hair is now ruined. She'll need to fix her hair once more.
She rummaged inside of her cloak, 'Now, where did I put my brush?'
Leorio retreated his arm, "Oh, sorry and... wait-" He turn back at the family of Kirikos garnering their attention, "If everything was just an act, was the wound in your abdomen also a part of the drama?" He remembered the suture he had done at the father; the son of the family group. How much was actually real and fake from that super realistic wound? Was it actually authemtic or just- uhm- magically appeared wound?
"Oh, this?" He showed his bandaged stomach to them. The son of the Kiriko chuckled as if remembering something quite interesting, "My wound was originally a small cut with a ton of fake blood to make up of it. But because our little actress here saw it through the first glance, she was able to figure out our plan pretty easily. So to not make the same mistake, she actually used her own rapier to cut my abdomen for a better effect." He sheepishly explained to them, ending it with a small laugh.
"Wha- You- you actually cut him yourself?!" Leorio exclaimed in shock and, perhaps also fear at the girl's action. Damn, why's these days' young peoples so active? One have already given him enough heart attack after jumping out the ship in a stormy weather to save a man, and now this girl did not hesitate to cut a man for a drama stage?
'What's next in the list, fate of my life?'
"There's no need to worry, she did made sure to avoid my organs and vitals that may lead me to a life threatning body." The son tried on to reassure the sweating Leorio. "And I'm sure, our little actress won't harm just anyone. Isn't that right, little one?"
"Yes..." She timidly nodded and walk towards Leorio, "I'm sorry if I scared you Onii-san..."
Shock at her sudden apology, Leorio quickly shook his head and begun to statter, "A-ah-- No way! I wouldn't get scared at you just cuz of that! And, other than that, you don't have to keep on your act and call me 'Onii-san'. You can always call me by my name. Leorio-san!" He pointed himself with his thumb with a proud grin. His latter scared mind, disappearing at the back of his head.
The girl thought of it for a few seconds before she nodded with a determine huff, "Onii-san." She have declared.
Surprised, Leorio scratch at the back of his head, he turn away with a tiny blush painting his cheeks, "We-well, if you insist that much, then I guess you can just call me like that..." He muttered the last part, embarrass as this was his first time not getting mistaken as an old man since he turn into a teenager. It was nice to be recognized by someone.
The other who was watching their small interaction, smiled at this. 'Okawaii koto nanda.' ('How cute')
The girl turn next at the blonde male, "Kurapika-nii-san?" She called in uncertainty, using the name he has been called by his companions.
Confused at the first few second, Kurapika quickly sorted out his thought at what she meant by calling him like that. His eyes slightly melted. But as quick as it came, it quickly disappeared. He shook his head, "No. You don't have to-"
"Kurapika-nii-san." She have declared quickly. Her tone emphasizing her words that there were no talking his way out of this at assuming his next words meant to excuse the fomalities.
Smiling helplessly as he stare at the determined face from the girl, he breathly laugh, "I guess you can call me that too..."
The girl hid her triumphant fist in her cloak. Happy to have successfully earned two older brothers at one scoop! Who wouldn't be happy at that?
She then turn at the last person. The boy who seem to be the closest in her age from how similarly close their height was. Her height only a few centimeter shorter than him.
"Kimi no nawa?"
Gon, instinctively smiled, "Ore wa Gon!"
"Gon..." She lightly muttered beneath her breath. She nodded at this, deciding to excuse the formalities of using -san or -kun, based from his bright personality. She had already assumed he would be the type to excuse such formalities and would preferably be more casual as much as possible. So, that's what she'll do!
With the screening finished, they were led to the hunter exam site by the navigators.
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With the common sound of "Ping" indicating they have arrived their destination, a flash of red was quickly seen running out of a small space.
Exiting fast outside the elevator, where the navigators have left them, to escape from the heated debate between Leorio and Kurapika, a green tiny bean greeted the group to give them a badge, said to pin it in their clothes.
The little girl didn't fancy pinning a badge at her cloak so instead, rather than following instruction, she secured the badge inside her cloak where her other essentials are hidden from the public eyes.
It was not necessarily pointed out as a rule, so she doesn't see the use of following it. In the first place, other than filling an application paper, there were no specific rule given to the contestants as long as you found the Hunter Exam Site to join the Exam.
So it is safe to say, she did not break any law. (She actually did.)
"Nee, why did you keep your hood on?" Gon asked the girl as soon as they have looked around the venue enough. And with an eyes as a hawk, he had noticed the girl had worn her hood from her cloak. He did not notice the first time he was with her, but the hood was actually bigger and wider than what he initially thought that covered her whole face and still could extend in her neck if she so wanted to pull it down further.
"I... don't like people looking at me... I feel more at ease when I'm covered up..." The girl whispered enough for the group to hear her.
True to her words, they have noticed her body had grown stiff and more guarded. She did so especially after taking a swift glance towards the crowds before her. Her behaviour certainly took them off guard from how differently she have behaved from the first time they met and now. Was it the cause of nerve? No one knows.
"Aw, that's too bad. You look so cute without the hood too." Gon complained in luke warm. The girl simply nod her head, hiding herself further inside her hood from his compliment.
Even with people's constant compliments, her tiny insecurities couldn't help but to appear inside her as she was never used to people's compliments directed to her. She had learned to nod and take it, as she had learned early on that nothing good comes out once she retorted them.
The group's attention went back to the many examiners before them after the conversation have been deem finish. Soon after, a man claiming to be a hunter examiner veteran named, Tonpa, came to greet them, starting off a conversation to the group.
"Ojii-san..." The girl greeted the tubby man and dismiss him afterwards. With his smell alone, she could already tell she wouldn't come to like the man. His smell, was utterly nauseating. One that she would avoid if she encountered the same thing back at the forest because they tend to be a dangerous place to visit.
"Eh? Ojii-san?" The tubby man's eyebrow twitch at this. How dare this small girl disrespect him?
"You're more than 40 years old. I think it's just right to call you Ojii-san..." She answered to which earn a few chuckles from the two older male beside her. Gon's head sprung a question mark in his head as he couldn't see why the two were laughing when the cloaked girl had just said the truth.
This seems to tick off the man and pointed at the tallest man out of the group, "Heh, then I guess you also call that old man, Ojii-san too." He smirked triumphantly at successfully ticking the said older man once he saw his vein popping up in his head.
Before Leorio could yell, he was cut off by the girl, pulling the hem of his suit. With a shake of her head, she said in a matter of fact, "No, I call Leorio-san, my onii-san because he is not 'old' " A pang made through Tonpa's chest, an arrow making through his body with an inscribed of bold 'OLD'.
"I see him as my brother. Not 'Ojii-san'." This time, a loud crack made it through his head as a large bolder rock fell down from the sky with a bold word 'OJII-SAN'.
Hand clenched at his chest and knees at the ground from the load he was given all the same, he glared hatefully at the one responsible of his aching body (mentally).
Leorio huff proudly at this, snickering at her mention of this certain someone who's 'old' and an already 'ojii-san', and is very satisfied of her answer. He gave an eye at the old man with a taunting smirk, to which boiled the old man's blood.
With many occurrence with a tampered juice, he finally allowed himself to disperse himself from the group.
Good riddance.
Kurapika turn at the girl. "Ne." The blonde man called her. "How can you tell that Leorio is age not that old like Tonpa? Based from his appearance, one would guess he's at least in his late thirties or early forties." He asked to which earned a 'hey!' from the subject of the talk.
With her pointer finger in her lips, she pulled his tabard to lean close to her due to their difference of height, "Kurapika-nii-san, that would be a trade secret. Maybe I'll tell you someday?" She whispered close to his ear for him alone to hear her.
With a slight nod, Kurapika pulled back himself from the girl who's head swift back in front of her. He stared at the girl, his eyes narrowing in discrete.
Ever so slight, he felt intrigued by the little girl. At their first meeting, he saw her crying at her arms, helpless as if any other little girl out there from the horror she have been through. But the next second, as soon as she laid down her acting- She became more quiet and reserve. There wasn't much emotion she would show with her blank poker face she have been wearing even before she put her hood ever since they left the hut.
However, along with that poker face of her; a mask she have worn after her acting. Kurapika felt her wearing, yet another layer of a much older mask under that poker mask of her.
Though this was of course but a thing he wonder in his mind with no concrete evidence if this was ever true. It doesn't change the fact that, Kurapika found her a mystery. A puzzling one at that.
It was like she was never her true self; neither the girl he met the first time nor the one he's beside him now. It felt like she was merely but a fake. A facade, or was it a 'pseudo man'?
For this exact same reason, he felt unease beside her, unwilling to stay still in her presence. Something just couldn't stop bugging behind his head from the moment they first met.
Yet despite having these feelings towards the girl, he couldn't help but to feel that fluttering familiar kinship towards the little girl. Though he didn't exactly have any logical explanation behind it. What only explanation he could grasp is the foreign emotion that should've been locked hidden away, has once more found itself a small space to settle in his heart for the girl who have started calling him 'nii-san'.
It felt like the trigger of that locked box of Pandora to open up was her voice calling out the title of a brother all along.
'How peculiar...'
Without waiting much any longer, the first phase started, led by an examiner named, "Satotz-san."
It was simple enough; follow him to the second phase.
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And here! I had given you another hint! Be grateful for I had been generous of providing more than necessary clues. Search for them carefully~ Or this little one will get angry~
See ya~
-An act through a mask of another layer of a mask. Be careful not to get caught by another intelligence by your side...