Beta: (I got too excited to post)

(≧ڡ≦*)

Gon's match was scheduled first thing in the morning the following day. It was with the man who only had a single pegleg, wrapped entirely in a red cloak from torso to head, and wore a breathing mask.

Frankly, he looked like someone who should be on disability, not fighting in an arena. Miwa had to give him props for doing what he was doing.

But he was also a disturbing man who giggled at the thought of fighting a small boy.

The arena fought on the 200th floor was certainly more respectable than the dingy arenas they had previously battled in. It was a wide space with thick white cement tiles and had dozens of spotlights shining down on it. It was positively packed with an audience surrounding it who jeered and cheered before the match even began.

Killua and Miwa purchased tickets to watch the match. Their seats were somewhere in the middle. The two friends quietly talked about how good their breakfast was that morning as they waited for Gon's match to start.

Then it began and... well...

It was... uncomfortable to watch, but not unbearable. Gido had no murderous intent behind his actions. Oh, he talked a big game and there was a certain level of sadistic pleasure behind his actions, but there was no desire to kill Gon.

It reminded Miwa more of a one-sided sparring match between a Chūnin and a Genin. There were some more veteran soldiers who brutally beat down Genin under the guise of training.

What made it acceptable was that it always turned out for the better.

Either the Genin would realize they couldn't handle such a lifestyle anymore and dropped out, or they recovered, learned from their mistakes, and came back with a vengeance.

Training in Konoha was meant to be brutal.

If it was lax then it was considered lazy and the Genin would pay the consequences for it.

At least that's what Kurama told her.

Miwa didn't like seeing Gon get beat around—and judging the minor leak of killing intent oozing from Killua beside her he didn't like it, either.

Unfortunately, if Miwa wanted Gon to become strong enough to defend himself training was necessary.

These types of sparring matches would be necessary.

It was better to be done by Gido in this environment than some random scum, or worse Hisoka. Gido would not kill Gon, and there was a referee overseeing the match.

Logically, Miwa could accept this.

Emotionally, Miwa still wanted to rip his head off.

All she could do was sit and watch. And if she started to spike in killing intent she suddenly found that Killua put a tiny little pine-scented candle under her nose and gave her a cheeky grin.

"You're a brat," she told him, sniffing the candle.

"Yep," he said proudly.

(≧ڡ≦*)

Gon lost.

It wasn't an entirely one-sided match, but Gido's use of nen gave him a clear advantage over Gon.

To be frank, even though Gon had only recently begun his spiritual training in nen and chakra he did very well. He only broke three ribs, and his right radius and ulna.

Came out better than you did when you first started training with my chakra, Kurama jeered.

Which was impressive and Miwa's opinion of Gon went up a notch. Instead of being a defenseless kitten, he was now a mildly defenseless kitten.

Miwa estimated his recovery time would be a month—although the doctors who examined him after the match insisted on four months. Given Gon's level of energy and the feel of it, Miwa figured Gon was the type to be a quick healer.

After the match's conclusion Gon was whisked away to the nursery then chucked back into his bedroom where Killua and Miwa waited for him to wake up. They only had to wait an hour before their friend was sheepishly rubbing the back of his head and grinning at them. "So... that didn't go as planned."

"You really shouldn't have fought him so soon, idiot," Killua scolded.

"Still, I thought it would be okay. I took a few hits, but I wasn't in mortal danger as long as he didn't hit my vital spots—"

That greatly irritated Killua who shifted his position from sitting on Gon's bed to now digging his heel in Gon's broken arm which was slung in a cast. The pain was so great Gon paled and squirmed under Killua's digging, but his stubbornness refused him to let out so much as a peep or cry of pain.

Another point for Gon being an M.

'Stop it.'

Only when there was a knock at Gon's door did Killua relent in his torment. Miwa hopped out of Gon's bed—she had been sitting beside him since he was brought in—and opened the door to greet Wing.

"Hello," Wing said, nodding a greeting to Miwa.

"Hello," Miwa returned, opening the door further to allow Wing to enter the room. "Are you here to talk about Gon's match?"

"Yes. I noticed he tried to use nen during it despite not being trained in it."

Miwa had noticed his use of energy during the match, but he hadn't done anything to endanger himself while doing it, so she didn't care too much about it. Incorrectly training in chakra would result in some painful lessons, but they were lessons any Genin would learn. She saw nothing wrong with Gon trying to experiment.

If it blew up in his face, then it blew up in his face.

Judging from Wing's somber expression, Miwa guessed that Wing was very much against having Gon experiment with nen.

She was correct.

He proceeded to give a half-hour lecture to Gon that Miwa honestly couldn't help but tune out on. She only snapped out of her daydreams when Wing called out to her to tell her goodbye.

Miwa blinked vapidly upon his departure, turning back to Killua and Gon. "What?"

"Were you listening at all?" Killua asked her.

"No. I lost interest."

"He made us promise not to do anything past the first stages of nen training," Gon sighed dramatically.

"That's boring."

(≧ڡ≦*)

One month later

Killua and Miwa sat beside one another on Miwa's bed. Miwa was reading a chapter out loud from some random adventure book Killua picked out for her. Her pronunciations had drastically improved under his tutelage. There were still some things she stumbled upon—certain characters in their odd alphabet she didn't see very often—but she had graduated up to an elementary schooler's knowledge.

When Miwa wasn't studying she had spent her time restocking her essential supplies and setting up her hiraishin network. Her ignorance of the world would only hinder her, and she needed to establish safe zones to teleport to should a powerful opponent appear before them. Every morning for the past month she sent out hundreds of shadow clones that would scour the nearby environment in secret. Another few hundred would teleport to the further hiraishin markers she had placed and begin placing more at further distances.

She had half the continent covered within the month.

While her clones worked on that, Miwa stole essentials. Primarily a lot of ink jars so she could be fully stocked up on chakra ink and start working on some of her weaponized fūinjutsu scrolls—a process Killua gleefully watched with rapt attention.

Gon definitely wanted to learn fūinjutsu, like Killua, but one look at the amount of studying needed to go into it made him do a hard pass.

Suddenly Gon threw open the door to Miwa's room, a sparkle in his dark almond eyes. "I'm all better now! See? See?"

To prove that he had healed all of his bones he proceeded to cartwheel around Miwa's room.

"How the hell are you already healed? What are you made of?"

"Uh, I don't know how to answer that."

"You're weird," Killua muttered, the remark made Gon puff out his cheeks and stick his tongue out at him. "Ah, but since you're here..."

Killua shifted in Miwa's bed, rummaging through his pockets until he pulled out two tickets. "I got tickets to Hisoka's next match."

"Ehh? Are we all gonna go?"

"No," Miwa answered.

"Miwa's being a stick in the mud," Killua dismissed, hopping off the bed to give Gon one of the tickets.

"Why would I care to watch some pathetic clown beat up a stinky maggot?" she retorted. "Besides, didn't you two ask me to finish making the rainbow explosive tags?"

Gon and Killua perked up at the mention of the tags.

"Are you gonna finish it soon?" Gon chirped, hopping up and down in excitement.

"Yes. I need the ink to finish drying before I add the seventh layer," Miwa said, nodding to several dozens of tags scattered out on her room floor to dry.

Making explosive tags normally didn't take too long.

But making explosive tags that only worked for certain people did. Especially ones designed that if picked up by anyone else they would immediately self-detonate. And Gon and Killua asked her if they could explode in specific colors.

Gon wanted a rainbow. Killua wanted blue.

Such specifications took time. Time Miwa would gladly devote to making those tags rather than watching a dull fight. Even Kurama had more fun designing different fūinjutsu arrays than watching two low-leveled thugs fight each other.

"I'm gonna blow up everything," Gon whispered.

Why can't he be my vessel? Kurama whined.

'Rude.'

Miwa's gaze roamed over to the two wallet-sized boxes that rested on the nightstand beside the bed. If the tags she had created for Killua and Gon were a success then she would turn those boxes into fūinjutsu-imprints. Whatever parchment Killua and Gon would place inside of them, after a day they would all become those explosive tags. Miwa planned on storing so much chakra ink inside of it, Gon and Killua would never need to ask her for a refill.

Which was why she had to steal a few tons of ink—all of which were neatly stored in a storage scroll the size of her pinky.

'Life without fūinjutsu is something I don't want to think about.'

"Heheheh," Gon giggled to himself. He reached forward to take one of the tickets Killua offered out to him, but then pulled his hand back with a wince. "Actually, I can't go. Wing told me not to, remember?"

"He doesn't have to know," Killua pointed out.

"I promised him. I can't break a promise."

Ugh. Never mind. He's one of those.

Killua rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You both suck."

Miwa and Gon stuck their tongues out at Killua.

(≧ڡ≦*)

Three days later

Gon and Killua had been advised to resume their proper nen training after their month-long practice on the first stage. That also meant they were back to practicing the leaf exercise (much to their dismay).

Hisoka's match had been "interesting" according to Killua, but Miwa genūinely didn't care enough to watch the recording of it. Unless he started blowing up buildings with a wave of a finger he was just a gnat buzzing around her. She had promised Gon not to kill Hisoka—since Gon wanted a proper match against him—so she was concerned if got too annoyed with Hisoka that she'd break that promise and accidentally skin him alive or something.

Accidentally.

On that morning Killua, Gon, Miwa, and Zushi were walking to Gon's room to continue training their nen—well, Miwa was going to keep working on creating fūinjutsu arrays. When they stepped off the 200th floor they were greeted by those creepy adults: wheelchair, pegleg, and snake-fucker. They started doing that gross giggle that made Miwa want to gouge out their throats.

Killua put his hands in his pockets, his tone laced with irritation as he said, "You guys don't know when to quit. This is no way to make friends."

"Oh, now, now... Tell us when you're going to fight, because I'd love to be your opponent," drawled out the snake-like man. His voice was saccharine soft.

"I guess they specialize in hunting newbies. They want to rack up wins by beating us up," Killua sighed.

"We're getting desperate because our deadline is nearing. Come on, let's fight," the snake-man insisted, his tone taking a whiny pitch to it. "I'll even demonstrate my power here for you."

"I'm fighting on June 10th," Gon answered firmly.

"That won't work. My deadline is May 29th. Fight on that day."

"Who cares about your deadline, moron?" Killua snapped. "Let's go." Killua grabbed Miwa's hand, giving her a look when he noticed she had pulled out a senbon. "Damn it, Miwa."

Miwa innocently started to whistle and look away while Gon grabbed her other hand and pulled out the other hidden senbon needle. "Miwa!"

She only whistled louder.

Although thanks to her hearing she didn't miss the snake fucker giggling to his friends as he said, "I'll make him fight me."

(≧ڡ≦*)

When it came close to dinner time they decided to break for training. Zushi bade them all goodnight and headed off.

Normally Miwa wouldn't have given it much else thought about Zushi's departure. But when Zushi left, Killua left too. And not in a good mood. It was the same mood he was in back on the airship when he killed those two idiots.

'He better clean up after himself, Miwa thought, staring at the door where they had left. Gon went to go take a bath, so it was only Miwa in the room.

He probably won't, Kurama said with a yawn.

Miwa chewed on the insides of her cheeks for a moment before she put down her ink brush and decided to follow behind him. She didn't want him to think she was stalking him, so she refrained from just teleporting directly to him.

Instead, she followed his scent out of the tower, onto the streets, and down an alleyway until—

'Huh?' Miwa was surprised to find that Killua was carrying an unconscious Zushi on his back. She watched the two of them from a nearby rooftop, curious as to what had happened. She could tell Killua was still irritated, but she couldn't smell any blood.

'Did Zushi collapse from exhaustion? He didn't look too tired when he left,' Miwa scratched her cheek as she thought. 'But I guess he is still a child...'

Miwa watched them for a few more minutes before she shrugged to herself and headed back to her room for dinner.

If Killua wanted her to know, he'd tell her.

Although she found it odd that the very next day both boys had apparently signed up for a match against those weird freaks. Despite the fact that both boys agreed not to fight again until they had advanced to the next step of nen and chakra training. Gon had told her offhandedly that morning, and Killua had told her in the afternoon while the two were watching a movie in her room.

"Ehh? Both you and Gon? I guess I better sign up or something now," Miwa muttered.

As soon as Miwa had mentioned Gon had a match as well, he reacted. Had Miwa not been an exceptional kunoichi she would have missed the subtle tightening in Killua's posture. His burst of killing intent was rapidly repressed, but still present enough that a trained assassin could feel it. Miwa raised an eyebrow at him, now more curious to what was going on. "Killua?"

"Who?" Killua asked her, his voice low. "Who is he fighting?"

"That creepy snake dude."

Killua abruptly pushed Miwa's legs off his lap (she had been lounging on him and the couch while they watched the movie) then left the room.

What? / 'What?'

Miwa immediately hopped off the couch, she ran her fingers through her loose hair as she stepped out in the hallway. She had been lounging in a cute little nightdress she stole—it was a girlish pink with kitty cats on it—so she smoothed out the wrinkles on it. She wasn't wearing any slippers or socks, she was barefoot out in the hallway as she looked around for Killua.

'Ehhhh? What the heck is going on?'

She sniffed him out and felt his chakra down another hallway. Using her enhanced hearing she could hear someone talking down that hallway—most of the contestants had an entire hallway to themselves. She couldn't hear Killua's footsteps, but judging from his chakra he was going closer to the voice.

As Miwa neared she could discern the words said and recognized the voice belonging to that creepy snake-like man.

"In a week I'll beat little Killua for my sixth win. The next day I'll beat little Gon for my seventh win. Then I'll pressure Miwa for my eighth win. I'll only need to find two more suckers—heheheh—and I'll be a Floor Master. I'll get all the money and fame to set me up for the rest of my life—"

Killua's chakra had arrived right on top of that wretched thing's own energy. Killua's voice was softer than a lullaby, and more poisonous than nightshade. It was the first time Miwa had heard Killua speak in such a manner, and it made her heart skip a beat.

"Move, and you die," Killua whispered in that maliciously sweet voice. "Use nen, and you die. Make a sound, and you die. If you understand, slowly close your eyes."

Miwa had completely suppressed her presence and chakra as she neared the room where the two were in. She peered in to find Killua had a knife pointing down at the snake's head while the cretin sat at a vanity desk.

"Do you see what happens when you break a promise?" Killua went on. "If you know, slowly open your eyes. Look at me in the mirror, and listen carefully. Don't ever show your dirty face in front of us again. That's a promise."

When Miwa felt Killua's presence begin to move out the room, she reflexively used her hiraishin to teleport back to her room, hopped onto the couch and pretend like she didn't hear what she heard. Killua returned to her room a few minutes later, promptly sat on the couch and put his legs in her lap, and pressed resume on the movie like he hadn't just gone and threatened someone.

'Hmm... Well this simply won't do.'

Apparently that snake fella did something to Killua. Broke a promise and bothered him that much.

He really shouldn't have let him live, Kurama said disapprovingly.

'I agree. Let's remedy that.'

(≧ڡ≦*)

Miwa excused herself for a bathroom break during the commercial. It barely took her a minute to track down the irritating cretin. Despite the fact that he was in broad public (fleeing, she guessed), she snatched him in between one heartbeat and the next and plopped him on a rooftop. He didn't even have time to process the fact that he had been kidnapped before she chopped off his head, placed it in a spare box she had been using, then teleported back to her room where Killua was making popcorn.

Killua was surprised by her use of teleportation, but then he saw the box and—

"Miwa, what's in the box?" he dubiously asked her.

Miwa held up the head, causing Killua to frown. "Why'd you go and do that? I let him go."

"Why?" Miwa tilted her head. "Didn't he break a promise to you? Didn't he upset you? Why would I let him live?"

Killua blinked in surprise at that, apparently taken aback by her response. "Me? You were worried about me?"

"Of course," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We're friends. I don't know what exactly is going on, but you were unhappy and I heard you threatened him, so clearly he did something."

"Whoa," he said.

"What?"

"It's just—no one's ever killed for me before," he explained, then he rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Kind of cool."

Miwa's cheeks turned pink. "Oh."

Killua grabbed the severed head by the hair, giving it a once over glance then he grinned wickedly at her. "Wanna cut it in half and put it in those other freaks' beds?"

"Hell yeah!"

(≧ڡ≦*)

Updates will remain sporadic while I'm quarantined and isolated. :)

Reading about training / arena fights feels so incredibly dull compared to the pumped-up montage music you get to listen to in the anime. This whole arc is basically a training arc. I wanna hurry it up and get to the Phantome Bois for some good ol fashion shenanigans. Very excited for y'all to read Miwa's introduction with them!

For my never-seen-this-before-idk-what's-going-on-readers: Snake man, pegleg boi, and zoom zoom wheelchair kidnap Zushi to try and force Gon into fighting them before Gon's ready. Killua takes Zushi back and to try and not act like an assassin attempts to peacefully negotiate with them. Killua goes "yo I'll lose to y'all if you leave Gon tf alone." They go "yeyeye" but they went ahead and lied to Gon about kidnapping Zushi to force Gon into fighting early. Killua finds out about it and is Not Happy™ Episode 33 in the anime ~ 20:50.

Answer: Overkill everything. Pls.

Question: Who would be your friend/rival if you were the protagonist? I.E. Who would be the Sasuke to your Naruto, the Killua to your Gon, the Ichigo to your Ichigo? :P

Reviews are love!