♡

"I love this feeling of tension in the air!", Netero exclaimed with a smile reaching up to his eyes. Most examinees didn't budge, and instead kept up their dark glances. The suffocating silence was interrupted by a sneeze, followed by a quiet "Someone's making fun of me..."

Killua snorted at Aph, who was still rubbing her nose with a pout. The group was dismissed, and while most went to look for a place to rest up, Gon had a different idea.
"Let's go explore the airship!"

He took them both his friends by the wrist and started pulling them down the corridor. Sharing the same humor, they both kept their stance and watched Gon struggle to get them moving. He tried to pull, push and after some time even tackle, but to no avail.

"Let's have some mercy?", suggested Aph, though it sounded more like a question than a statement. Killua made eye contact, then they both glanced down at Gon in between them, one arm around each of their waists and shoulders pushing against their backs.
"Five more minutes?"
"Five more minutes."

Eventually, they had their share of cruel entertainment and followed behind Gon. The trio inspected hallways and rooms, snooped around in the control room, got into trouble, sneaked their way into the kitchen and got into trouble again.

"If you want to eat, go to the dining hall!" One of the cooks angrily waved his cooking spoon after the running trio.

Giggling, they snacked on their loot and slowed down their pace when they reached a corridor with some huge windows. Killua and Aph kept arguing about who would get to eat the last cookie. The taller girl held it up above her head and smugly grinned as Killua tried to jump for it.

"Guys, look at this!" Gon the peacemaker pointed at the window. Thousand upon thousand of stars decorated the night sky, reflecting the city lights underneath. Aph took this opportunity and quickly bit off half of the cookie, throwing the other half above Killua's head. He hissed but jumped up anyway to catch it between his teeth, like a dog performing tricks.

Aph joined forkboy on one of the benches in front of the windows, soon followed by Killua sitting on his other side. They gaped at the sight before them, until Gon spoke up.

"Your parents, are they... I mean, where are they?"

Killua kept looking out the window with a nonchalant expression. "They're alive... Probably." Aph could hear imaginary elevator music and let out a bored sigh.
"What do they do?"

"They're assassins." He shrugged and leaned back on the bench, arms behind his head. Gon leaned forward with big eyes to get a better look at Killua's face.
"They both are?"

Aph layed her cheek on the back of Gon's shoulder to to do the same.
"I have some questions for you then. First, what do you do with the bodies? Second, how much money do you make, is it worth it? Third, can I sell your shoe or something? That's gotta be worth a ton."

"Those are your responses?" Killua let out a suprised laugh. Aph had to restrain herself from complimenting Gon for his smell because it was mostly just sweat and tree. But he still smelled like a home. "You really are riots, aren't you? You're not the first people I told about my parents, but you're the first to take it seriously!"

"But it's true... Isn't it?" Gon tried his best not to move too much because there is a cat on him and it's kind of a rule not to move when there's a cat on you and wait since when is she a cat-

"Why do you think that?"
"Just a hunch."
"Gut feeling."

"You're weird... Usually people only like me because they can't tell whether I'm serious or not."

Aph nudged her head to show him to keep talking.

"I'm from a family of assassins, so yeah. We're all in the murder business." He scowled at the window. "My entire family's got real high hopes for me. But I can't stand it. Who wants their entire life planned out for them?"

Gon really wanted to move, since this position was kind of uncomfortable, but the cat.

"When I told them I wanted to decided my own future, they all flipped out! My mom had tears streaming down her face and kept screaming at me that I had the potential to be a top assassin. Horrible parents right? No wonder I'm rotten!"

"Trust me, I know what a rotten corpse looks like, and you definitely don't.", Aph mumbled, thinking that only herself heard it. Gon looked over his shoulder worriedly.

Killua suddenly became all giddy and smiley, as if remembering a fond memory. "Then we got into a fight so I slashed my mom in the face, stabbed my brother in the side and ran away from home! I'm sure they're out for blood now! If they all come after me, I'll kill em."

Gon chuckeled nervously and let out a relieved breath once Aph decided his arm was more comfortable to rest on and straightened out his back.

Killua suddenly went all school-girl-in-love monologing.

"When I get my license, I'll hunt them down to the last one! I'm willing to bet they've got pretty hefty bountys on their heads!"
Aph cheered for him, forehead still against Gon's warm arm. "Love the confidence."

"What about you?"
"Me?" She sat up straight. Her face rested back into her empty smile. It slightly unnerved the two boys. "Never knew my parents. I'm from Meteor city."
"Meteor city? What's that?"

She leaned back onto her hands. The stars in the night sky reflected off her grey eyes, silently telling more than a thousand words.
"It's a garbage dump. People throw away everything there, even humans. It's officially unpopulated, but there's actually a huge city."

"So you were dumped there?"
"I guess so. People there took care of me when I was small. It's like everyone is family but strangers at the same time. Was actually kind of nice, if you ignore the rest..." She trailed off, subconsciously scratching her hands.

"But I left a good while back and have been travelling ever since. There's so much to see out there I never would've dreamed of if I hadn't left! Who knew people went to other countrys just to see structures slightly different from what they're used to, and aren't allowed to sell their own stuff without a permission! You can't see the stars at night in big citys! And money smells weirldy metallic!"

She grew more and more excited towards the end, bouncing up and down in her seat. "There's these big houses and everything is so clean! There's thousands kinds of flowers! And the air smells so fresh!"

She dropped her hands into her lap and calmed herself down again. Gon and Killua shared a look. "So yeah, that's where I'm from. It's been a while though."

They looked back at the scenery. After a while, Aph began humming the Mii lobby song. Gon soon joined, followed by a hesitant Killua. The humming progressively got more and more aggresive, until they got up and started pulling out dance moves. Killua stood with his feet wide apart, upper body leaned back and his arms doing the wave. Aph was crouched forward with both arms acting as wings, pecking the floor like a chicken, while Gon stood on top of the bench T-posing, to assert dominante.

Their little bonding moment was disrupted by a presence at the end of the floor. They froze, and when they turned to look at the source, it suddenly vanished and the chairman appeared behind them.

"Something wrong?"

They awkwardly coughed and stood up normally.

"Mr. Netero! Did you see anyone coming from that direction?"
"I don't think so.", he answered with a seemingly innocent smile. Aph didn't have a particular reason not to like him, but she couldn't help but want to avoid him, even when her gut said he wasn't a threat. He just seemed a bit too unpredictable.

"You're fast for an old-timer."
"Oh, that trick? I just barely moved that's all."

"What do you want." Killua glared at the man, his shoulders rising up a bit. "You don't have anything to do until the last phase, right?"

"Now now, no need to be harsh. I just got a little bored so I decided to look for some company."
'Wrong choice then. I'm happy with my company as it is.'

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, any thoughts on your first take if the hunter exam?"

"It's a lot of fun!", Gon lightened the mood. "There haven't been any written tests yet and I was kinda worried about that!"

"I'm dissapointed honestly. I thought this exam was supposed to be hard. But I assume the next phase will be more interesting?" Killua spoke through grittet teeth.

"Oh well, we'll see!" Netero dodged the question. It probably wouldn't get that much harder then.

They all turned to Aph, who just blinked a couple of times.
"Hm?"
"What do you think of the exam so far?"

Gon and Killua sweatdropped. They already had to repeat a question for her twice, when they had only known her for a day.

"Oh! Kinda hate the vibes here, and you let too many people die. I also hope you have a phase to not let serial killer assholes become hunters. Other than that, I guess it's okay."

Netero nervously chuckeled at her reasonable criticism. With a glare, Killua turned to walk away, with Aph on his heels. "Let's go, Gon."

"Wait, just a moment!", Netero stopped them from leaving, probably noticing that the two didn't like him. "Would you like to play a game with me?"

Aph pondered for a moment. She absolutely hated actual games with rules and stuff, she preferred just doing what she felt like. But maybe this old man had something interesting in mind?

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"Take the ball and you win."

With a defeated huff, she let her body fall limp onto a stretching Gon. They both fell to the floor, but the boy's concerned shouts were shut out by her already annoyed wails.

The room they were in seemed isolated, perfect for the old man to mess with some kids just because he was bored. The ceiling was high and the walls far apart, giving more than enough space for his boring little game.

"The airship is scheduled for an 8am arrival, yes? That's still plenty of time! Feel free to use any tactics you want, I will only defend, I promise."

"Huh?" Gon let out in confusion after managing to get rid of Aph. "That's too easy! It's barely even game!"

"Why not give it a try and see if you're right?"
"All we have to do is take the ball?"

"Yes."
"Then I'll give it a shot."

Aph watched with a dissapointed expression as Killua walked up to the man, slowly. He kept walking around him in a circle for a bit, until suddenly, something in his movement changed and after images started to appear.

'Well that's not trippy at all.'

If he was already this strong the way he was, how much better would he get once he knew nen? And what kind of training did he have to through?

She focused on the fight as soon as Killua charged forward, taking in every single one of his attacks. In hand-to-hand combat, he was much much better than she, but that's really not that hard. He attacked with speed and strength, lots of it, even making the chairman use some nen for protection when he couldn't dodge.

He kept attacking the chairman for a long ass time without showing any sign of getting worn out. The old man kept kept his promise and only kept on dodging and blocking, throwing the ball around not to lose it.

Eventuelly, Killua dived in to sweep his feet away, and Aph could feel the aura gathering in the man's leg. Killua froze upon the impact, before hopping around while holding his paining leg. Aph snickered in an attempt to hide how uneasy she felt.

This aura was warm, bright, yet so brutal and powerful it had made her shiver. Was this what her opponents felt like with her own rather unpleasent aura?

Gon got up to try himself to get the stupid ball. The white haired boy slid down the wall by Aph and took his white shirt off, already feeling a lot better in just his turtleneck.

"I can't stand him."
"Same."

They scolded Gon as he jumped so high he hit his head on the ceiling. He didn't get as close to the ball ad Killua, yet it was much easier to watch, considering the slower movements and interesting tactics used.

When it should have been her turn, she refused, stating something along the lines of "It's exhausting being this amazing. I can't waste my energy on this.". She instead found more joy in watching the two boys try and fail to take the shortcut through the exam. Her fingers curled around Killua's shirt and Gon's ugly jacket laying in her lap.

She laughed when Gon kicked his shoe off and threw it at the chairman. The sound filled the empty room, laying down like a blanket to reassure them.

After longer than his paitience could handle, Killua furrowed his brows and left the room. Aph kept her eyes trained on his back until the door fell shut. Something wasn't right.

She rubbed the back of her neck and cracked her fingers before standing up.
"I'll be off then. And Gon, don't overdo it. See ya!"

She swung the white shirt she was still holding onto over her shoulder, to be suprised by its candy smell.

"To find Killua, you must think like Killua...

Baka! Shut up, it's embarrassing! I'm totally not gay! No wait he didn't even say that...'

Loud voices could be heard from the corridor around the corner. The brunette rolled her eyes at knowing she'll have to pass by them, when suddenly, every sound stopped. All that followed was a thud, then everything went silent. She felt Killua's presence clearly.

'Aw man...'

She carefully peeked around the corner.

In the middle of the hallway, two bodies layed on the floor. Blood was dripping out of their fresh wounds, forming a puddle underneath them. She quickly looked away and bit her lip. It must have been Killua, who was stalking away from the bodies, not even turning around to look at them. A sigh escaped her as she hurried past the bodies.

"Yo, Killua, dude. Killing ain't cool, ya know."

In a split second, he was right in front of her, hand on her throat. He wasn't even squeezing, or doing anything to hurt, just holding. Holding the vital point because he didn't know what else to do. She didn't move out of the way or even attempt to escape his grip. Instead, a mischevious grin stretched his lips.

"Kinky."

She saw his eyes. Their usual bright sky blue was now blurred into a deeper shade, the little brighter specks long gone. They widened when he realized the situation.

She stared him down, this unwelcome need to kill his pointless rage away forced back by a simple look at his face. Not a glare, or even a frown. Just a simple grin telling him to stop fucking around. He blinked once, twice, then suddenly retracted his hand with a gasp so soft only he himself heard.

"Aph..."
"Don't be like that! Gimme that cute tounge thingy!"
"What..."

He suddenly realized what she had said just a mere couple if seconds ago, and immediatly felt the tips of his ears starting to heat up, along with the skin on his face.

"You okay now?"
"I guess."

She laughed at his attempt to act collected, and quickly moved her hand to ruffle his hair, retracting it before he even had the time to dodge.

"Wanna go vibe with Bourbon's snakes and probably get bitten?"
"... Aren't you scared?" He didn't dare to look up.

By now, she should be shaking, slowly backing away until her back hit the wall, then sprint. Her eyes would threaten to pop out of their socets from the fear, and her blood would feel cold until she was far, far away from him.

He should have known. Of course. Of fucking course. How could he have been so naive to let down his guard around someone. He should have known better. Of course she would see this, of course he would be left alone in a darker place then where he started. It was his fault. All of it.

"Nope, I've seen worse. Also, we should leave, or they'll make us clean up."

He watched the floor as she pulled him away. Her warm hand grasped his bare wrist, the tan shade a contest to his own pale, nearly white skin.

Maybe, just maybe, he could be naive for a bit longer.

"You're weird." She almost gave herself a whiplash by how fast she turned to him with a pout. That pout quickly formed into a wide smile as she saw the tip of his tounge stick out from between his lips ceekily.

"The tounge thingy!"

He flinched and quickly turned away his face, trying to somehow flatten out his bangs to cover more of his flushed face.

"Shut up, baka!"

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Killua did end up getting bitten by a snake, while Aph held another one by its head and laughed at his misery. Only later did he realize that she didn't even know he was immune to poison and would've just laughed as he slowly died. He now understood the true meaning of her saying "stop living and just vibe with your existence".