Beta: TaintedLetter

Extra trigger warning for gore.

(≧ڡ≦*)

The day it was time to leave was bittersweet. The three friends lingered in their hotel bed for most of the morning, none of them really wanting to get up. Eventually Gon's stomach growled, forcing the children to start their day. After eating a late breakfast in their room it was time for Miwa to head out.

Miwa first hugged Gon tightly, a part of her wishing they'd ask her to stay regardless. Gon patted her back as he warmly soothed her, "Don't worry, Miwa. As soon as we beat the game we'll call you."

Miwa buried her nose in the crook of his neck, committing his smell to her memory. Her voice was muffled as she mumbled, "Promise?"

Gon gave her a firm squeeze. "Pinky promise."

The two held each other for another minute until Miwa pulled away to start hugging Killua. Before she could do so, Killua held out something to her.

Killua's smile was soft and sweet. "Here. You're going to need this."

Miwa curiously tilted her head as she accepted the item. "What's this?"

"It's a breathing mask. It'll filter out the worst of the smell," explained Killua. "Meteor City... It's pretty bad. Considering you struggled at Heaven's Arena, I figured you'd definitely need something."

"Ah..." Miwa sheepishly smiled, carefully tucking the mask away in the backpack they had packed the previous night. Storage scrolls were lovely, but she needed something to carry all of her storage scrolls too. A storage scroll could only be placed inside another storage scroll about five times before the chain would degrade the original scroll. Which meant she couldn't infinitely pack storage scrolls in one storage scroll which was such a shame.

Once that was put away she rushed into Killua's outstretched arms. She hugged him firmly, burying her face in the crook of his neck like she had with Gon. Killua tenderly patted the back of her head. "There, there. We'll meet again, Miwa."

"I know," she mumbled, closing her eyes. "I'm going to miss you both a whole lot."

"We'll miss you, too," murmured Killua.

The two held each other for a couple more minutes and then Killua stepped back, slightly red in the face. Gon and Miwa were both physically affectionate people, constantly seeking out contact. They were extra clingy in their sleep, it wasn't uncommon to find the two using each other like body pillows in the morning. Killua hadn't received much in the way of physical affection growing up and so he wasn't used to being randomly hugged or having someone grab his hand without warning. He had improved a lot over the past months, but he still got flustered or embarrassed if it went on for too long.

Miwa hoisted her backpack over her shoulder. She was supposed to meet Chrollo at the airport soon. She offered the two boys one big smile, kissed their cheeks, then headed off.

Chrollo had arranged private transportation to the only airport near Meteor City. The two would have to walk the rest of the way there. He met Miwa outside the airport with a polite nod.

"Good morning," she greeted him, her stomach flip-flopping anxiously.

"Good morning," he returned cordially. "Have you flown before?"

"On an airship a couple times," she admitted.

"Good, this won't be much different. Planes are faster, so the flight will only take about six hours or so."

"Mn." Miwa fiddled with her pigtails as Chrollo guided her onto the plane. As they were the only passengers, it was completely silent in the cabin. Miwa took a seat on the right and Chrollo took a seat on the left. The plane took off roughly twenty minutes later.

Chrollo wasn't the sort to start small talk, and Miwa felt strangely shy. She hadn't realized how comforting she found Gon and Killua until they were no longer at her side. Gon had done a lot of the talking for her when they had to meet with a stranger, and Killua was the one who read things to her. She had learned more of the language than when she first arrived, but it wasn't at a level where she felt she could read a book on her own or anything.

She wasn't overly fond of humans in general and didn't know how to... how to... How did she even become friends with Gon and Killua in the first place?

It had been several months and she couldn't remember the exact details. She thought one of them approached her and the rest was easy. Miwa didn't have to be the one to carry the conversation because Gon and Killua were naturally charismatic—especially Gon. Gon could jabber about anything to anyone. Talking with them was as natural and comfortable as breathing.

Miwa hadn't even realized how much strength she drew from their presence until it was gone.

She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. Prior to the exam, Miwa hadn't approached anyone. The people that did approach her, she spurned or walked away from. She didn't need to worry about others.

But now she had others to worry about.

During the flight out she snuck glanced over at Chrollo.

'How do you make friends?' Miwa asked Kurama.

Asking the wrong demon, kit.

"How do you make friends?" blurted out Miwa.

Chrollo, who had been reading from a book, looked over at her. The man's face was almost always stoic, but Miwa found his eyes could be expressive. There was a glimmer of amusement and curiosity. He asked, "Why would you like to know?"

Miwa shrugged. "Isn't it—isn't it a good thing to know?"

Chrollo tilted his head as he considered it. "Depends. How do you value friendship?"

Miwa frowned. "Friends make you feel good."

"Good food makes you feel good," he pointed out. "Do you want friends or good food?"

Miwa's brow furrowed. "F-Friends... um... It's different, isn't it?"

"I don't know, is it?"

"I—I think so," she answered slowly. "I dunno. If it was a choice between good food or my friends I'd pick my friends."

Chrollo shut his book, turning slightly in his seat to better face her. "Then clearly there is a difference. Aside from feeling good, what else do friends provide you?"

Miwa chewed on the inside of her cheek as she thought. "Um. They're fun to be around—they make you laugh."

"As can a comedian," said Chrollo. "Would you rather have good food and a comedian to make you laugh, or your friends?"

"My friends," answered Miwa. "Um... uh... I dunno how to put it. When I'm with my friends I feel strong, happy, and warm. When they laugh, I laugh. When they're hurting, I hurt. I miss them when they're not with me, and I feel out of sorts. Like a piece of me is gone."

Chrollo tapped on the armrest. "By that description a friend to you is someone that you love."

Miwa processed that. "I guess so, yeah."

"So when you ask, how do you make a friend you're really asking, how can you either find someone else to love, or how can you come to love another person."

Miwa couldn't quite follow what he was saying, but it sounded right so she nodded.

Chrollo's lips twitched. "Do you have someone in mind?"

"You," she said as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. To her, it was. Chrollo was going to be her companion in Meteor City. It'd be a lot more fun if he became her friend like Gon and Killua.

"Mn." Chrollo's eyes glittered with amusement. "How direct."

"Is that bad?"

"No. Direct is good," he assured her.

Miwa hesitantly asked, "C-Can I be your friend?"

"We can certainly try," he said. "Fair warning: I've been told I make for dull company."

"Fair warning: I can't read."

For the first time since she met him, Miwa heard Chrollo quietly chuckle.

(≧ڡ≦*)

Miwa smelled Meteor City before she laid eyes upon it.

With her clones she had set up a decent hiraishin network. They had explored so many cities and countries, making it a little bit further away each time she summoned them and sent them out. None had ever gone near Meteor City because of the wretched stench that permeated the air. They had tried, but the smell would grow so terribly they would eventually retch so violently they'd pop themselves.

'Oh boy,' Miwa thought as she slowly pulled out the mask Killua got her. It came with a few filters that would last about a week.

'A week should be enough to... take care of it,' she thought with narrowed eyes.

Meteor City was the dumping ground of the unwanted.

Killua had given her a basic rundown of what to expect about the city.

Most of the inhabitants don't have any personal track records, the city had become a huge source of untraceable hitmen, assassins, prostitutes, thieves, slave traders, and pretty much anything illegal in other countries. Taking advantage of that exploit, the often invested a lot in the city so they could always have a huge reserve of assassins. Word on the grapevine was through that, the Mafia was pulling away from a bit to recover the massive amount of losses accumulated from the underground auction. On top of which, apparently, the Ten Dons (the ten major leaders of the Mafia) had been assassinated during that whole fiasco.

Which meant that the Mafia as a whole as in utter chaos and would be rebuilding for a few months. Now was the ideal time for Miwa to assess Meteor City for herself and enact her plan if she saw fit to do so.

Killua also warned her that his mother told him that the inhabitants shared remarkable bonds that had been described as "thinner than water, and yet thicker than blood". To the point they were ready to lay down their own lives for their fellow denizens if someone is perceived as an outside threat. It was still hell on earth for the people inside the city, but only citizens of Meteor City could hurt other citizens of Meteor City.

For some reason.

Finally, Killua told her that Meteor City was run as a . Killua's father told him that they tended "to make counter-productive decisions over logic."

That wasn't surprising considering they lived in a literal garbage city and had done nothing to remedy that fact.

Miwa didn't understand what a gerontocracy government was so Killua had to explain that to her as well.

A gerontocracy was when power within the ruling class accumulates with age, making the oldest the holders of the most power. Those holding the most power may not be in formal leadership positions, but often dominate those who are. In a simplified definition, a gerontocracy is a society where leadership is reserved for elders.

Miwa hoped that meant they were easier to kill.

Beware the old man that is still alive in a field where the young die, Kurama warned.

'I won't let them stop what I have planned.'

Be confident, not blindly arrogant.

'I know.'

There was one more thing Miwa had to keep in mind about the city. Their motto: "We'll accept anything you leave here, but don't ever take anything away from us."

If that didn't scream spite she'd be surprised.

"What are you wanting to do?" Chrollo asked as they walked through the barrens towards the nasty smell.

Miwa did not answer him right away. She peered up at the hot sun. "A home."

Chrollo made an acknowledging noise. "A home?"

"For the unwanted. One that isn't seeped in garbage."

"One man's garbage is another man's treasure."

"It's literal garbage that reeks. Does it even have clean water?"

"Sometimes."

Miwa sighed. "Killua told me it's some kinda old man government."

Chrollo nodded. "Gerontocracy."

"Do you know the leaders?"

"I know a few."

"Do you care about their lives?"

"Not really."

Silence fell between the two. That was something Miwa had quickly come to understand about Chrollo—he wasn't the sort to make small talk. He was perfectly comfortable being in complete silence for hours on end.

Miwa wasn't as charismatic as Gon, so she found it hard to force conversation.

The end result was that the two spent a lot of time in a lulling quiet peace.

For hours, they walked steadily on to the city.

Chrollo was the first to speak again when it was nearly nightfall. "Did your friend tell you about the tramp incident?"

"The what?"

"Meteor City is not a place that gets involved with other governments," began Chrollo. Miwa tucked one of her pigtails over her shoulder and cocked her ear to better listen to him. As he wasn't prone to talking, that meant whatever he had to say was important. Or at least that's how Miwa viewed it.

"The last time they reached out was ten years ago: the tramp incident. A tramp without papers was arrested for murder. Because he was from Meteor City there was no legal paperwork—he didn't exist in their system. The police refused to listen to him, or to even consider that he was innocent, so they forcefully extracted a confession. His appointed lawyer did nothing to assist him, and the judge condemned the tramp. Three years later the real murderer was arrested and the crime was brought to public attention.

"Shortly after the tramp's innocence was revealed, a total of 31 people consisting of the police, judges, inspectors, witnesses, jurors, and lawyers who took part in the false accusation of the tramp were assassinated. The assassins attached bombs to their chests to edie with their victims all at the exact same time in different locations. Because one of their companions was falsely condemned, 31 people sacrificed themselves in the name of revenge."

"That's so fucking stupid it literally hurts my head to think about," sighed Miwa.

Chrollo inclined his head toward her. "There is no education system in Meteor City. At best there is indoctrination. But that is the type of enemy you face, Miwa. Those who have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by their enemy's death."

Miwa sighed. "They're definitely going to hate me the first week."

"What are you planning?"

Miwa glanced over at Chrollo and offered him a smile. "I told you. I'm going to make my home. Even if that means destroying everything first."

Chrollo did not respond, his expression was impossible to read. "Destroy Meteor City?"

"At the very least," she said cheerfully, "getting rid of all the trash."

Chrollo smiled humorlessly. "I have a feeling you aren't referring to the discarded items in the city."

She laughed, not refuting.

(≧ڡ≦*)

Meteor City was a city literally built on garbage. Humans inside lived like rats, feeding on the discarded junk. The economy was abysmal yet somehow operational. The currency was useless, people bartered and traded for services or goods.

If the stench was bad, the sight was worse. The lack of medical care, consistent clean water, food—really, basic human rights—and forced to live in garbage resulted in a lot of deformities, malnutrition, skin diseases, and so forth.

As the two neared the city Miwa was disgusted to witness children crawling in and out of garbage like cockroaches. The sores, blisters, and other painful scars on their bodies made her uncomfortable.

She made clones to assess the city and within an hour they confirmed the worst-case scenario.

It was... disgusting.

Those too weak to fight—children, or particularly weakened adults be it men, women, or whatever—were sold as slaves. In certain dirty parts of the streets, they were sold as meat. Some dangling by their ankles, still alive, but missing their limbs and chunks of flesh as they were bartered off bit by bit for something else. Her clones listened to the sounds of soft cries, flesh-tearing, deranged laughter, and so many things she had never heard before but still made her skin crawl.

Meteor City was the city of trash, and the people inside were the product of their environment.

Chrollo took a seat on one of the piles of garbage next to Miwa. It was dark—there was very little light in Meteor City at night—but neither were bothered by it. Chrollo saw her send out the clones, and so he waited for her.

When the last of the clones popped and the memories returned to Miwa she let out a slow breath. She felt gross, the things she now had to keep in her head were revolting. As if she had swallowed a sickly slime that would never leave her. Her stomach was queasy, and her hands trembled from revulsion.

Chrollo looked up at the starry sky and said, "There are no lights in Meteor City."

Miwa followed his gaze. She was surprised at how vivid the night sky could be seen. She had forgotten how lovely the stars could look. She, Killua, and Gon had been staying in cities for the past several months and the sky lights made it hard to see the stars.

"But that makes it easier to find the stars," he murmured.

"I don't want to take away the stars," Miwa said, closing her eyes as a plan formulated in her head.

"Can you have it both ways?" he asked her.

"I'm a very greedy fox. I'll make it happen."

He smiled thinly. "I look forward to seeing what you do."

Miwa pursed her lips, voicing a question she's had for a while. "Chrollo? How come you're—how come you're helping me?"

"I'm curious what an eternal sun looks like," he answered.

"What?"

He continued to smile, never elaborating further.

(≧ڡ≦*)

If Miwa used half of her chakra and half of Kruama's chakra she could create about a few hundred thousand clones. She didn't have an exact number and it wasn't a limit she liked to reach often. When they all popped it was a rush of memories and sensory overload that took her some time to sort out. She was more comfortable summoning ten thousand clones—as it would only take a minute to process the memories—but for the task up ahead it was best to start strong.

Before dawn had even begun, Miwa used half of her chakra, and half of Kurama's chakra, to summon some hundreds of thousands of clones. It could have been two hundred thousand, or it could have been eight hundred thousand. When reaching the nine digits Miwa stopped accepting their memories and everything muddled together when popped so there was no way for her to definitely know the amount.

Regardless, it was a huge amount. There were enough of them to spread out to the bottom circumference of the city, each armed with a cloned copy of a storage scroll.

Cloned versions of scrolls weren't recommended for regular use, but they were perfect for what Miwa had in mind. Cloned storage scrolls could accept things inside them, but trying to remove anything resulted in them "popping" and disappearing.

In other words: an easy way to get rid of trash.

Her clones were given simple instructions.

1. Sift through the trash.

2. Throw out what is not needed.

3. If the material could be used for construction, place it in non-clone storage.

4. Answer honestly when asked what they were doing. If a "leader" wants to approach Miwa, let them.

5. If confronted either use genjutsu to turn them away or kill them.

That was it. Miwa couldn't do much with the city as it currently stood.

The infection needed to be removed.

Chrollo and Miwa sat at the outskirts, watching as the swarm of little pig-tailed clones meticulously tackled the mess of Meteor City. Chrollo pulled out a small protein bar from his jacket pocket and held it out to Miwa.

"I don't think I'll be able to take off the mask for a while," she apologized to him. "When there's a break I'll teleport us both to a nearby city for some food—er—assuming you want to come along?"

Chrollo cokced his head. "I don't see a reason to say no. Have your clones encountered any problems so far?"

"None have popped. Looks like people are just watching for now."

That would remain accurate for the next few hours. They were eventually approached by a man wrapped in raggedly clothes and wearing a full-face breathing mask. His voice was raspy as he said, "Good morning, children."

"Good morning, Elder," acknowledged Chrollo.

'Elder?' Miwa peered at the man. She couldn't smell him through her mask, nor could she read his expression because of his mask. His nen was odd, hot and cold at once, a whirlpool of contrasting temperatures.

"Good morning," greeted Miwa.

The elder did not respond immediately, rather, he took a seat in between Chrollo and Miwa. Once situated he said, "Odd morning."

"I suspect the next few weeks will be odd," observed Chrollo.

"Mn." The elder watched the clones work. "I got to start my day off with some snakes waking me up and complaining about the noise."

Chrollo made an acknowledging noise.

"Then a bulldog came in after them and started howling at the moon," sighed the elder. "I was going to the tea party later, you see? But now there is no tea party. Someone got rid of the tires."

Miwa stared blankly.

The elder then turned to face Miwa. "They were perfectly nice tires that you stole. Where have you taken them? How are we supposed to have our tea parties without tires? You need good tires for tea parties."

Miwa opened her mouth to respond, but no answer came out.

"It's terribly rude of you," he scolded her. "What are you going to do to fix this?"

"I—I am fixing it?" she hesitantly responded.

"Fixing it by destroying it? How barbaric."

Miwa bit her bottom lip. "Um... d-don't you need to break eggs to make a cake? A cake for the—for the— tea party?"

"A cake?" he repeated blandly. "A cake instead of tires? Madness. Next you'll tell me the sun comes out at night."

"Ah, but the sun will come out at night," said Chrollo, drawing the elder's attention back to him.

"A night-sun?" the elder was aghast.

Chrollo's eyes were on the sky. His voice softly somber as he said, "Meteor City is a city of night. We can see the stars, but they remain cold and distant. It's all we've ever known, that beautifully dangerous night. Don't you think that it's time to see the morning?"

The elder tsk'd. "Nonsensical. Impossible. It won't happen."

"It—it will," said Miwa. "I'm going to make it happen."

"Oh-ho? You? You're going to make it happen? I'll believe that cakes make for better things at tea parties than tires than believe that!"

Miwa raised an eyebrow. "Cakes are better for tea parties than tires."

"Blasphemy! What about the rusted irons? The dried blood on the saucers?" demanded the elder.

Miwa shook her head, unable to think of a response.

The elder threw up his hands in exasperation. "You know nothing of tea parties. I expect my tires back by the end of the day or you'll owe me big, child."

"You aren't getting your tires back," muttered Miwa. "You're getting a damn cake and you're going to like it."

Although Miwa could not see his face, she had a feeling the elderly man was glaring at her. He snapped, "Know your place, child."

"I know my place," she retorted, "but perhaps it's time for you to re-learn your place."

He wagged a finger at her. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Miwa stuck out her tongue. Deeply offended, the man left in a huff.

'If he's one of the leaders I think I'm in for a headache.'

Bijū bomb?

'Not yet.'

Another three hours crept by. The clones had made a good dent in the trash. Some citizens did try to kill them—repeatedly—but the clones hog tied and tossed them aside. If they kept trying to pop the clones, then the clones slit their throats. Miwa didn't want to completely empty the city out—she needed some population—but she wasn't going to let them keep harassing her.

There were a couple of suicide bombers but they were laughably slow and easy to avoid. Not to mention their explosions weren't strong enough to do much more than knock Miwa off her feet.

As the sun started to set on the first day of cleaning, Miwa's stomach rumbled. Once it was dark, she'd teleport both of them to another city to eat and rest.

Chrollo reached forward, gently brushing back her bangs. "Do you have any idea how to build a city?"

"N-No," Miwa admitted sheepishly. "But... well... there is someone I thought I could ask."

Miwa pulled out her adorable phone. She had received the text message the same day Gon and Killua set her up with the phone, but hadn't done anything about it.

From: Unknown

Message: Hello dear, it's Kikyo! Be sure to save this number in your phone and call me if you need anything. Tell Killua to be safe and hurry home.

Miwa chewed on the inside of her cheeks as she stared at the message. She didn't want to be a bother—especially to one of her best friend's mother—but she wasn't sure who else to ask. Chrollo was a thief, not a builder, and Kikyo seemed like a very smart lady to Miwa. Plus she was a mom, and weren't moms supposed to know everything? At the very least Kikyo ought to be able to point Miwa in the right direction.

Feeling an urge of shyness, Miwa fiddled with her hair for another minute before she pinched her cheeks.

'Okay! I can do this.'

She clicked Call.

One ring.

Two rings.

"Hello, darling," answered a saccharine voice. "How are you today?"

(≧ڡ≦*)

BONUS TT!AU - In which Miwa, Killua, and Gon have traveled back to this point in time with all the knowledge and skills they possess at the end of the series.

(After the Hunter Exam)

"Yeehaw! Let's go build my empire!" Miwa said cheerfully.

"WOO HOO LET'S NEVER GO BACK TO GREED ISLAND!" exclaimed Killua.

The three companions hoisted their newly acquired Hunter licenses.

Gon pouted. "Aww. I kind of had fun at Greed Island. Remember Biscuit?"

"You mean bargain-bin Miwa?" snarked Killua. "I don't want to think about her ever again."

"She was a great teacher."

"She kept slapping me!"

"Yeah, that was hilarious."

"We're not going to Greed Island," said Killua stubbornly.

Miwa sighed dejectedly, her shoulders drooping. "Thinking back on it now... I mean I never got to go with you guys."

Killua stared at her, then sighed. "Fine. Let's go do the stupid Greed Island bullshit again."

Gon let out a whoop. "Yay! Speedrun! I'mma do the achievements this time around."

"Umm... aren't we a little ahead though? Didn't we do something else?"

"Ah yeah that arena and auction thing," remembered Killua.

Gon let out a hmm. "Well, let's go build Miwa's empire now and then when we're done with that it should be time to do Greed Island."

Miwa clapped excitedly. "Thanks, boys!"

(≧ڡ≦*)

Chrollo strikes me as the type of person to poke fun at someone in a way they don't realize they're being made fun of.

There is so very little information on Meteor City at the time of posting I've had to take my own liberty with it. Sorry if this gets AU'd one day.

Taken from the data book:

Meteor City is around 2,311.11 mi² (5,985.74 km²)

To help visualize, most cities range from 234 mi² ( 606.05 km²) to 847mi² (2,193.72 km²).

Tokyo is 847mi² (2,193.72 km²); Japan is 145,914 mi² (377, 915.53 km²)

Meteor City has a population of 8 to 10 million people; Tokyo has a population of a little over 9 million.

So Meteor City is almost three times the size of Tokyo, but around the same population.

And for the bonus fact of the day: Earth's trash island is around 1.6 million km² or around three times the size of France.

Answer: Warm: hot chocolate. Cold: Melon Ramune.

Question: If you were stuck reincarnating for all eternity going back and forth between two worlds, what worlds would those be?

Reviews are love!