An ear-splitting gasp rang through the air.

"Killua!" A boy sprinted toward the pair, waving his arms with unbelievable energy and shouting as he went. "Where were you? I was worried! Why were you so late? And..." He skidded to a halt when he was next to the white-haired boy, casting a wonder-filled look toward Rein. The boy leaned toward the other's ear, which was half obscured by white fluff. Pointing a not-so-discreet finger at Rein while trying his best to whisper, he asked: "Who is that?"

The white-haired boy sighed and flicked the other's forehead with so much force that he stumbled before regaining his balance. "Idiot." He glared. "You shouldn't be shouting in enemy territory. If we get caught again, then this escape is meaningless."

"Oh." His eyes seemed to light up as he turned to Rein, changing from a scolded dog back to his former awestruck person in an instant. He bounced on the balls of his feet once, loaded with the energy of a puppy. "Well, you've already met Killua, and I'm his best fri-"

"Idiot." The fluffy white-haired boy hit his head once again, this time with his entire fist. As the boy rubbed the reddening spot on his forehead, Fluffy grabbed both the boy and Rein's wrists. He pulled them forward and he started to run. "That means we escape now. Talking comes later."

*     *     *

"Man." The boy looked over his shoulder back at the base as they continued to run, corners of his lips curled into an annoyed frown. "I wanted to beat that guy up."

"That would have been impossible," his friend shot back, glancing at him for a moment with insanely blue eyes. "He'd have fought you off and killed you easily."

He stuck out his bottom lip in a small pout. "One hundred percent sure?"

A tall fence came into view, dark wires crisscrossing into simple diamond shapes. With a boost of aura to her feet, the girl leapt over, running her hand down the fence as she finally came to a crouch. The boys followed suit, and Rein found herself trying to shine back at Puppy Eyes' bright expression. His eyes were wide, warm with a promising spark of fire in them. Like a... puppy. There really was no other way to describe him. To put it simply, he was adorable, but calling him that would be weird. Thus, the nickname.

"Definitely impossible," the other responded. He pushed himself to his feet gracefully. "There's no way that we, only knowing the basics of Nen, can even think of going up against them and coming out unharmed."

He dusted his hands off on his shorts, and grinned. "You finally sound like yourself again!" He stuck out both of his arms toward his friend, palms open and facing up welcomingly. "Saying crazy stuff is my job. Your job is to stay cool and stop me. So I'm counting on you!" He hit the fluffy-haired boy on the shoulder as he started to run ahead once more.

"Tch. You're so selfish," he called as he started to go after him.

Rein raised an eyebrow. This banter. She hadn't heard any in what seemed like ages. It was a nice change, though she still wished to go back to her room.

The sky was teetering on the edge of day, the last rays fading out but not quite gone yet. Dipping darker and darker, but still clinging onto sunlight despite the fact that the sun wasn't in sight. How long had it been since... then? Stars, Rein wasn't even sure what time of day this was. Dusk? Twilight? 9:00 ish? If only she had paid attention to the actual time of the clock instead of just observing its movement, then she could have known about what time it happened to be. Ugh, but her clock had been crushed by... She glanced in his direction.

Upon noticing her gaze, he raised an eyebrow. "What."

"Fluffy, you owe me a clock."

"Did you..." He stopped running for a moment, and blinked, slightly shaking his head. "Did you just call me Fluffy?"

Oh stars. "Um." Rein curled her lips up into a sorry excuse of a smile in an attempt to smooth the matter out. Upon noticing her crumpled version of a true smile wasn't operational at the moment, she gave up trying to pull it off and shrugged. "Yes? I just, I, I didn't catch your name, and your hair is just so-" She bounced her hands around her own head while staring at his. "-floof. The nickname seemed reasonable to me."

"Tch. Of course that's what you come up with. My white hair. Every single person. Even if I don't use conditioner, the ladies always want to play with my hair, and—whoa, whoa, WHOA." He grasped the wrist of the hand which had been slowly making its way to his hair. His puppy-eyed friend drew back the hand and smiled sheepishly at the low growl emanating from his throat. "Don't touch my hair."

"Sure, Fluffy," his friend teased, rewarded by another flick on the forehead. "Ow..."

"Killua," he stated, turning to Rein. "It's Killua. And my hair doesn't make my character, you know. I have an actual name. Killua. Remember that."

"And I'm Gon!" the other boy shouted, still rubbing at the injury. "Ow..." he whimpered one last time. Slowly prying his hand away from the red spot on his forehead, he smiled at Rein. "Do you have a nickname for me?"

"Yes, Puppy Eyes. But it's nice to know your actual name," she said, and starred to jog once more to get them going. She allowed them to move in front of her and slipped back a bit to think things over. Okay, so the one with fluffy white hair and intense dislike of his nickname was 'Killua', and the one with jet-black hair, big, eager, shining eyes and an ever present smile was 'Gon'. She would try to remember those names, but she didn't expect it to be hard. They did remind her of certain people after all.

Fluff–er, Killua, seemed to mirror another cold, calm, and distant individual she knew. Which made her wonder: was this Killua a killer as well?

"Wh-what?" Killua said a little too loudly at something Gon had whispered in his ear. He quickly glanced back Rein's way before he calmly melted back into his closed form, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Tch. No." He hit the side of Gon's neck with enough force to send him stumbling. "Definitely not."

Feitan. Definitely Feitan. She hadn't been listening to the conversation, so she wasn't sure what Killua had been objecting to, but one thing was certain to her now. The way his eyes were always set in a disinterested yet calculating look, the way he was brutally straightforward in his answers, the way his head moved to show the little emotions he was feeling while the rest of his body remained rigid and unreadable. Those "tch"s when he was annoyed. Sensitive about his hair. That same lilt in his voice, albeit a tired and brash one that rung in your ears. She wouldn't be surprised if Killua was a Transmuter as well. And... She glanced at Gon, who was chatting away at his friend with no intent of stopping anytime in the near future. He even had a loyal companion who was an—excuse her—"idiot", to put it in both Killua and Feitan's words.

Speaking of Gon.

Who was he like? His demeanor was far from that of any of the Troupe members', but he was similar to different people in varying points. That same dogged persistence as Phinks, though how it was used was wholly different. The same cheerful and fiery glint in his eyes as Shalnark. And that smile... Rein looked at the two of them. As Gon continued to converse with Killua, he threw his head back and let loose a laugh, smacking Killua's shoulder exactly as he'd done before.

His grin was spread ear-to-ear, causing deep dimples to form while his expression spread across the rest of his face. His canines glinted even in the dimming light, teeth seeming to have a shining personality of their own. The smile was pure and genuine, infectious and lighthearted. And while the cause for his joy may not have been much to anyone else, it was obvious it meant something to him, and the grin which radiated his happiness pierced light into even the darkest of places. Smile shining, it was plain for the whole world to see. Not holding any bit of his emotions back. True and honest. Loud, but sincere.

Before she'd known it, the world had blurred around her.

Stars.

She wiped her eyes before either of the boys could notice.

He had the same smile as Uvogin.

*     *     *

"Oh!" he shouted in alarm. Gon whipped around mid-conversation, jogging backwards now so they wouldn't lose time as they were heading to where ever they were headed. "We never got to hear your name!"

Rein blinked. "My name?"

He nodded, and moved to her side as they continued to run. "I'm Gon, this is my best friend Killua, and you are?" He cocked his head questioningly.

"Oh. Um."

Would she lie? True, it was better to not have them know her real identity, just in case it led to any complications in the future. Once she lied, it would be harder for them to pinpoint when she wasn't telling the truth, which she predicted she was going to be doing a lot. She had to. She hadn't come to be friends, though Gon sure seemed to think she had. She'd come because of something called the "Kurta", which that Killua boy knew about, and in turn would lead her to the chain user. To get to her goal, lying was the best and most logical option.

Still, looking at that honest and sincere smile, she couldn't help but give the one answer she shouldn't have.

"Rein."

Idiot! Why had she said that?

"My name is Rein."

Killua = Feitan, Gon = Uvogin? What do you think of these parallels? Sorry for the late update, but finals just made me procrastinate even more... Next time I'll try to procrastinate by writing instead of staring at the wall or looking at fanart on Pinterest. What'd ya  think? Share, support, and comment!