The Day of Departure (出発の日, Shuppatsu no Hi)

"Monstrous animals, rare species....." Animals of different species surrounded the screen, unknown creatures that no one has ever seen, different sizes, some with on eye, some with twenty. But one of would be able to find them.

"Buried Riches, Hidden Treasures..." A different scene was shown gold beyond the eye can see. Treasure and riches. Antiquities from ancient civilizations, rings that held curses and crowns from kings and queens that have been lost for centuries.

"World of demons, Unexplored lands..." Valleys were shown, tundras, new continents, lands forgotten by the passing of time. Mountains too deadly to cross, waterfalls that fall over a cliff and seem to be unlimited and land that stretched miles and miles into an abyss.

"The word 'Unknown' seems magic... and some men are attracted by this force..." Lust leads to adventures, different things discovered and more to be uncovered. But only those with enough strength, intellect and curiously could walk these paths, who are they?

"They are called 'Hunters'!"

No. 001 Day of Departure

Our new adventure was in a small unknown island in the middle of the sea, in the shape of a whale, the island's name was Whale Island due to its shape. It was a land that was known by the world but was not a tourist destination. It was simply a place where nothing interesting or new would happen. It was a land that was surrounded by wildlife and plants. The modern world that was surrounded by technology wasn't affecting this island. Which made some residences very ignorant and naïve. One in particular was a boy.

The boy was perched on a tree in camouflage. He wore mostly green. Moss had surrounded the tree due to its health and old age. The boy had on a hat made out of a leaf, something he was used to wearing when fishing. The hat was covered with green leaves and had a small bird perched on top of it. The boy had spiky black hair with green highlights and large hazel eyes. He was determined to succeed. Luckily this boy was not alone, below the tree was another boy only two years older than the other. He was wearing a tan shirt and dark brown pants and hardly moving.

He was focusing on his book at the moment, not caring much of what the other boy had been doing. His spiky black hair was very messy and short. He was fourteen years old and was ready for a change of scenery. His hazel brown eyes were reading passed every word and he was content, the truth was that they were both brothers. One twelve, the other fourteen, they had been taking turns on who would sit in the tree and wait for the one ton fish to bite on the bait.

They had promised each other to wait 4 hours and whoever would get the oversized fish would be considered the best at fishing, which could be considered unfair.

There was a small "TAC!" noise and the elder boy looked towards the water and dropped his book lightly on the ground and stood up. His face was obviously annoyed and agitated.

"Of course the stupid fish would show up now!" He whispered to himself and he watched his younger brother move in excitement and push his foot against the wood and all of his leaves fall off of him, his spiky black hair more prominent and visible, determination and happiness was plastered on his face.

"There it is!" His younger brother had said. "Got it! Got it!" He then pulled on the rod as hard as he could and the large fish was pulled out of the water. "IT'S OVER!!"

"Alright Gon!" The teen said happily. "Move the fish over here!"

"Okay Jun!" 'Gon' said and unhooked the fish and moved it over to his brother. "We can take the Hunter Exams!"

"Good job." Jun said ruffling his younger brother's hair. "Let's take this to Mito-san."

"Okay!" He said and Jun pulled on the fish and lifted it up with his younger brother and followed the path back to the town.

"Sorry for making you do the fishing part of it. You know I'm not good with that stuff." Jun said looking at his brother.

"I like fishing so it didn't bother me!" Gon said with a wide smile.

"Let's pick up the pace." Jun said and they started running forward and were close to the town. All of the people in the town stopped to look at the two boys. Both of the boys looked like their father, Jun more than Gon. Gon and Jun sat down the large fish over 5 times their size and all of the towns people started whispering excitedly. Gon took out a piece of paper and smiled brightly at his aunt. Mito Freecss was a fairly tall woman that had hazel eyes and orange, shoulder-length hair. Today she was wearing a long-sleeved blouse and an Aegean, circular necklace She was 25 years old.

"We fished the Pond's Master like we promised!!!" Gon said happily. "Your turn to keep your promise Mito-san!" The paper than Gon held was the inscription card for the Hunter Exam. Jun took the same paper out of his pocket and held it towards her. Mito looked down worriedly.

"Come on! Accept! Let them pass this Exam!" One of the town people said defending us.

"Yeah! I'm sure Gon and Jun will be very good Hunters!" His friend said agreeing. Jun said nothing to either of the men.

"How careless! Pay attention to what you say!" Aunt Mito yelled at the men and they went back to their own business.

"She's right! Words are important!" Gon says defending his aunt. "And wasn't it you, Mito-san, that taught us to always keep our promises?" That seemed to stop her. "Wasn't it?" Mito-san sighed and took both of the boys cards and clicked a button and passed it back to them and walked back into the house.

"Do as you wish." She said not looking at either of the boys. Gon put his hat on his head and smiled.

"Alright!" He said. "Thanks!" He then ran away from the town. Jun followed behind slower than his younger brother and continued reading the book that he had, not feeling overly excited or nervous. He knew that if he started to stress himself out it would cloud his judgment.

A few minutes had passed and Jun went back into the forest. Gon was being hugged by an animal that was about 20 times his size. The animal was very furry and had long claws and a rat-like tail. He was a male and was completely content with being near humans.

"Jun!" Gon called. "Let's go fishing!"

Jun only sighed and smiled at his younger brother, he never truly liked fishing but the look on his younger brother's face changed his mind. The two boys and the kistume-guma went over to a stream and the boys took off their shoes and shirts. Jun wore an undershirt underneath his clothes and always backed tan shorts in his bag. While Gon was shirtless (only because his shirt was wet) but was wearing green pants.

Gon decided to fish while Jun read, the usual. Both of the boys looked back at their familiar friend and their cards. It has been three years since the incident that lead them wanting to be Hunters.

Three years before~

Jun and Gon were only the mire age of 9 and 11 years old. Jun was reading a book (like usual) and Gon was out adventuring. Their activities were stopped when there was a large roar and a large kistume-guma was attacking the boys. Gon was scratched in the arm and blood was coming from his shoulder. His clothes were torn and besides the gigantic kistume-guma was a cub.

The kistume-guma aimed her gigantic flaw at Gon and Jun rushed over, dropping his book and covered his brother from getting killed. But the attack never came. Both of the boys looked up to see an adult male with long, light brown hair that reached down to his lower back. (Appearances by Manga description). He seemed to be in his late twenties, early thirties and was gaunt. He also had a long, hooked nose, inverted triangle shaped head, a pointed chin and narrow almond eyes. He also wore a light blue peaked cap that resembled a beret, a long-sleeved white shirt with a turtleneck, an azure sash ( an obi) wound three times about his waist, black trousers and brown shoes.

It shocked both of the boys and they looked up at him frightened. Jun tried to look strong but failed miserably. "A kitsume-guma and her son..." He said. "I'm not happy to have to do this, but such a monster can cause serious harm to a man, so.." He unshifted his sword and sliced the kistume-guma in half. He stopped moving and looked back at both of the boys. 'Can you stand?"

Jun gave him a cautious look and pushed Gon behind him. He didn't care that this man just saved their lives, he wasn't going to let this man hurt him or his brother. The man looked at both of the boys for a second and in one swoop he punched both of the boys in the face knocking them back.

"IDIOT!" He yelled. "NO ONE ENTERS SUCH A DENSE FOREST AT A TIME LIKE THIS!" He screamed at them and the boys looked at him terrified as he pointed to a tree with markings on it. "LOOK! THAT SIGH IS A TERRITORIAL MARK LEFT BY KITSUME-GUMA! YOU CAN SEE IT, CAN't YOU?! ANY ANIMAL SEEING THAT WOULD RUN TO ANOTHER MOUNTAIN IN TWO SECONDS! DID YOUR PARENTS NEVER TEACH YOU THIS?!"

Jun had a dark look on his face at the mention of 'parents'. Though Aunt Mito was a closest thing to a parent they had, their parents was still a sore thing for Jun to think about. The man looked at the kistume-guma and touched his hat. "Shit... that bird why didn't I pretend not to hear it? Killing this way really makes me feel bad.. It's been a long time since..."

"You just assume that every kid has parents that are with them don't you?" Jun said angrily. "Sorry but our parents died in an accident right after my brother was born. We live with our Aunt." Jun didn't accept his parents and had a feeling that they abandoned him. He only knew that he looked exactly like his father when he was a child. He knew nothing of his mother.

The man looked away and put his hand on his hat. "I'm sorry..." He said and tossed the two a pouch of medicine. "Put this on your wound, to prevent gangrene." The two boys looked at him shocked and Jun started to feel bad for yelling. A loud hissing was heard and the boys looked over and saw a very angry kistume-guma.

"What are you gonna do with the little kitsune-guma?" Go asked standing up.

"Eliminate it." The man said staying out his sword and Jun and Gon looked at him startled, it was only a cub. "He's not even weaned. He'll die of hunger. If we let him live, he will surely feed himself with feelings of hatred towards humans, who killed his mother, he'll be a danger to people."

Gon ran forward before Jun and grabbed the cub, who trashed in his arms, blood dripping from his shoulders.

"Gon..." Jun said.

"I'll take care of it!" His brother yelled not looking either of them.

"That's impossible!" The man said to them. "Kitsune-guma don't let themselves be tamed by humans!" The cub continued to scratch Gon.

"Nnn...." The cub hissed and Gon looked back at them, glaring with tears in his eyes. Jun grabbed the cub, who didn't like him either and pretended not to be in pain. He glared at the man with Gon.

"But... You are.... Tell me, is your father named Jin?" The man asked them and Jun dropped the cub surprised, they knew nothing of their father. The cub ran away from the group.

"You know our father, sir?" Gon asked.

"For a surprise, that's quite a surprise..." He says and the look at him confused. "There was something I couldn't explain, myself, that's why I came back to Jin's birth land... Looks like my trip wasn't so useless after all." He drops down to their height and sits down. "Sit down." They do as he says. "I'm Kaito! I'm a hunter..." He smiles at them. "I'm a disciple of Jin's."

The sun turns a dark orange color over the water and the boys listen to what Kaito has to say, the baby kistume-guma hid in a bush watching them cautiously.

"Jun taught me hunting from the beginning." Kaito explains to them as they bury the mother kistume-guma. "This last test he imposed on me was to find him, and this is much harder than any other hunt! He's the best Hunter I know! And if I hadn't met him, I'd still be living on the streets of a shanty town.

Jin isn't dead! If your aunt lied to you, it's because she doesn't want you to follow the same path as your father. But there's nothing to do. I can see in the two of you the traits of the best hunters. A good Hunter... Is liked by animals..."

Kaito throws his Hunter card on a rock and leaves. Once he leaves the baby kistume-guma looks at them and jumps on them happily. The boys laugh and they grab the card looking at it.

In the current time both of the boys were looking at the card from a few years ago and the once baby kistume-guma was tall and large three times as big as the boys.

"Well.." Gon says and sits up. "Kon, we won't be able to see each other from now on, 'Cause we're gonna become Hunters! A Hunter must be fears by animals in forests, and just do work that others hate them for. That's why an animal that gets along with a Hunter will never be able to reign in a forest. Kon, you're the Lord of the Forest... We don't want to create any problems for you... You understand?"

Kon didn't say anything but the boys knew that he understood as Kon walked away from them and went back with his animal friends, it was as if they were saying goodbye to them.

Gon smiled happily. "Bye! Take care of yourselves!" He yells and runs away and Jun follows him back home. The boys opened the door and saw drinks around their aunt. They moved closer to her.

"When do you leave?" She asked them.

"Beginning of next week..." They answered.

"I see..." She said not looking at them. "What your father does... You knew?"

"Yes/Yeah." They answered.

"He... He left when you were just a baby..." She said and they stopped. "And despite this..."

Jun knew not to be upset with their aunt for what she said but didn't speak to her. "Ready to abandon his son to continue being a Hunter..." Gon said and smiled while Jun didn't look at either of them. "'Hunter' it must be incredible work, to do that for it."

"Gon." She said and looked over to Jun who had the same proud and determined look in his eyes as Gon. "You.... You two really are -his- son!" She yelled and ran away closing the door behind her. They cleaned up the m as and said nothing as they looked at their father's picture. It was the only thing they had left of their father.

The night passed peacefully and the week went by slowly. Aunt Mito didn't even look at them the entire time. They were ready and walked through town seeing all of the people they knew.

"Take this! My present for you two leaving!" An older lady said and gave them some apples for the road.

"Ah! Thank you!" They said.

"Take care of yourselves!" An elder man said and one of the men from the town tapped them on their shoulders and pointed.

"Gon.." He said and they looked back at the direction he was pointing in. Aunt Mito was there standing a few meters away from them. Gon ran over to her as Jun walked over calmly.

"Mito-san!" Gon yelled. "Thanks for all you've done for us."

"We really appreciate it." Jun said.

"Gon... Jun.." She said and tears started falling from her eyes. "I'm sorry... I lied... Jin never abandoned you. It was me who took you from your father, asking the court for your supervision."

"Hmm.." Gon said and looked over to Jun who nodded. "We knew you lied to us." Both of the boys gave her a hug. "When you lie to either of us... You can't look directly at our faces!"

After a long hug the boys got on the boat and waved goodbye. "Take care of yourself!" They yelled. "We promise we'll become a super-Hunter and be back!!"

Once they were farther away and unable to see Whale Island a group of men started laughing at them. "Hahaha." A man with a scar on his face said. "A super-Hunter? You're joking kids.... Just on the boat, see a tenth of the people hoping to become Hungers. Every years from everywhere around the country, thousands of men, each one more skilled than another will come to the exams.. A lot of people. But a few become Hunters. Each one has his priorities and here, it's common to see people killing their own companions.. You see, kids, it's easier to say than do."

Gon said nothing but Jun looked at the older man defiantly. "Seems like you won't make it, if you feel like threatening two kids will get you somewhere."

"What?!" He said angrily and took out his knife and threw it at Jun. Jun caught the knife and tossed it up in the air and threw it at the man, right above his head. Jun looked at him and put his arm around his younger brother.

"You might not become Hunters, but we definitely will." Jun wasn't going to sell himself out for failure.

Song: Hxh 2011 OST 1: 02 A World of Adventures