Shalnark adjusted his binoculars as he attempted to get a closer look at the man he was observing. Their Nen exorcist for Danchou. Machi had been the one to find him, but unfortunately the man had gotten involved in a flimsy alliance, and he was now in no condition to carry out his Hatsu on Chrollo until the Nen went away. The ability was amazing, sure, but to be duped into a scam like that? Shalnark was sure he would be easy to manipulate.

Squinting through the binoculars one last time before putting it down, he sighed. The lenses were chipped, spreading white spiderwebs all across his vision. He couldn't see squat. His cheeks were puffed out in dissatisfaction as he unscrewed the lenses and thrifted around in his bag for a replacement.

"He hasn't done anything much for the past day." The clicks of geta shoes hitting stone stopped as the boy halted, his dark bangs falling neatly as he tilted his head up to the blond.

Shal looked to their newest member and smiled, trying to make his facial features forget there was anything wrong in the world. "Kalluto!" exclaimed Shalnark, patting the branch next to him as an invitation for the Zoldyck to sit.

Kalluto took this as an order and did just so, the perfection in his posture never fading as he settled down in the tree. "Do we need to keep tabs on him? We can easily find him again."

"It's for Danchou. Precautions are necessary." Finding a new lens, Shalnark started to screw it in. "You've never met Chrollo before, right?"

"He..." After a slight pause, he folded his hands in his lap neatly, looking out over the island. "He's my older brother's acquaintance. I've seen him before."

"Really?" He fiddled with adjustments a bit more, absent minded as he responded. "And what did you think of him?"

The pad of Kalluto's thumb ran over the smooth fabric of his kimono. He remembered the day the Phantom Troupe leader had come onto their grounds per Illumi's request. Kalluto had first noticed something was amiss at Mike's howl, the one that was hoarse, gargled, and shot through the mountainside, sending shivers up his spine. Five at the time, Kalluto had hastily left his mother's side to rush to the scene, full of brimming curiosity that demanded to be satisfied.

It took him far longer than it should've to arrive at the site, for his mother had only just started insisting he wear kimonos (they look best on you, dear). It confined the movement of his legs and back then, the long sleeves had gotten frequently snagged on whatever he happened to pass by. As a Zoldyck, he'd been exposed to their entire estate from birth, so he knew the area like he did the back of his hand, but the clothing was difficult to walk in, let alone run in. By the end of it all, his clothes were dirtied, the pattern of the fabric unrecognizable.

As he was looking down at the mud with distaste and cursing whoever thought it was a good idea to invent this sort of restrictive clothing in the first place, his sharp nose caught on a new scent. Not dirt, not pine. Blood.

There was the familiar lingering in the air that Kalluto had grown accustomed to, a smell that he could easily identify anywhere. But there was something else mixed in as well. Something foreign, almost overwhelming and, as he could see, it was dark. Much too dark, nearly black.

It was Mike's blood. Strong, gigantic Mike, who had been around for goodness knows how long, their guard dog that had never even broken a sweat when dealing with outsiders, was bleeding from a deep gash in his leg.

The man at fault was standing off to the side, an intricately carved knife held tightly in his grip. There was a large slash on his chest, clearly the doing of Mike's sharp claws. Blood dripped down his arms, and he was supporting his stomach, but Kalluto awed at how he was otherwise unfazed by the injury. He wasn't a Zoldyck. How could he do such a thing?

It was only for a mere second that they paused when they noticed Kalluto was present before they continued to fight, a flurry of stabs and swipes.

As it turned out, Illumi was already present and was observing this man as he bled and fought, only finally stopping him when he was noticed. "Not bad," he'd stated, finally whistling at Mike to stop attacking.

Illumi had walked off with the young man at his side, offering for the butlers to bandage him up as they passed by Kalluto, brushing him off to the side as he talked.

Back then, the man had glanced over his shoulder. He'd looked back at Kalluto, and for a single moment, it felt all too close and intimate, like he was being observed and analyzed down to his very atoms. For once, it felt like someone was paying attention to him.

The crushing weight of his gaze lifted as the man's eyes—wide and dark, but somehow filled with much more than Illumi's would ever be—crinkled at the corners as he nodded towards him. He'd dipped his head: "Miss."

Kalluto couldn't bring himself to say anything as Illumi and the man left him behind. The injured Mike left him as well, going off somewhere to lick his wounds. He didn't need any background to understand what the word that had been spoken to him meant. He had all but forgotten he was wearing the silk kimono, the one of his mother's choice.

His mother had soon come along and scolded him for leaving her side (stay with Mother, dear) and he accompanied her to the mansion, sleeves of silk repeatedly getting caught on the bushes. He couldn't see the dark fabric against the dark ground, he couldn't breathe, but he forced himself to draw up and walk on forward. He tried to argue with his mother about the kimono, about its impractically and he didn't like it, in vain.

It was strange, how thinking of his first interaction with the Phantom Troupe's leader brought so many other thoughts to mind.

(Don't mind him, Kalluto dear.)

(It matches your figure.)

(Listen to Mother.)

The absence of fiddling noises was what brought Kalluto back to Greed Island. Shalnark's green eyes were staring curiously, and his hands had ceased to work.

Kalluto straightened, for his spine had slouched without his consent, and answered the question from before. "Chrollo is very collected. He fights well enough."

A laugh burbled out of Shalnark like water from a fountain. "Whatever you saw, he fights a lot better than 'well enough', trust me. He's our Danchou for a reason!" He finished with the binoculars and glanced once at the man they were spying on to confirm he was still there before turning to Kalluto. "Danchou certainly isn't the strongest out of us brawn-wise, but his speed is incredible and his overall potential fighting power is even more spectacular. His Hatsu ability is truly something else too. It was a mess when he first made it, but... I'm going to say this again, but overall, his average is something extraordinary."

"Shalnark."

"Specialist Nen works with concepts and I think he captured the essence of the Spiders perfectly. The more it clicks, the more it works, and the mastery needed to use the many abilities he can is hard to achieve. Of course, he can't do anything without his Nen, so we need to get that chain restriction off of him as soon as-"

"Shalnark," Kalluto pressed urgently. He tilted his head towards the man they were tracking, eyes widening to emphasize his point. "Look."

Finally stopping, he did, lifting up the fixed binoculars to the sight. The man was moving awkwardly, jerking this way and that, an extremely difficult task with the Nen creature buried under his bulky clothing. Dark lines streaked past him, but one caught on his arm. When he pulled it out, the glint of metal could be seen.

Arrows?

It took a while for Shalnark to process what was happening, but as soon as he did, he propelled himself out of the tree and sprinted, motioning for Kalluto to come along. The boy obeyed as they raced down the mountain and flitted through the underbrush to get to the man before it was too late.

Their Nen exorcist was being targeted.

*     *     *

"Thank you," Zushi whispered to the cat as he slid the key off its neck. Out of habit, he almost ended up bowing to it before stopping himself and jerking back upwards—an odd bobbing motion.

The two girls watched from the base of the tower as he rushed back toward them, key in hand.

"What was he doing?" Rein asked, referring to the weird bowing pattern.

"He's strange indeed," Ponzu said softly, a melancholy smile on her lips. The look in her eyes seemed a bit dazed before she cleared her throat, pulling the expression back taut. She stepped aside to let him through. "Good job with the cat. I thought it wouldn't warm up to us in time. It was a good idea, to wait for the creature to come to us instead of chasing it."

"Thank you. I-what?" Zushi looked down at the doorknob, puzzled. He pushed, and it didn't open. He refused the help offered to him and pressed his shoulder against it lightly, but it didn't give. He pursed his lips, and jiggling the knob, rammed the door with his entire side, forcefully flinging it open.

A groan sounded, and someone curled up on the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry, di-Lucky-san!" Zushi shouted frantically, dropping to inspect his injury as his hands flew about him, energetic with nervous energy as he apologized over and over and tried to help. "Are you okay?!"

Lucky held his ankle, gritting his teeth into a smile. "That's some strength you got there."

Zushi fretted and he stumbled through the actions of getting Lucky further into the building, with her help. Rein quickly took Lucky's shoe as the boy continued to apologize, and took notice of his clover-patterned sock as he rolled it off his ankle himself to inspect the damage. Lucky grimaced through it all, but forced himself to bring his ankle closer to his chest for a better look.

"See?" he tried to reason with Zushi, pointing to a red mark that was already fading. "It isn't that bad."

They continued to talk back and forth, exchanging apologies and explanations and overall trying to not make the other feel uncomfortable as they got up and the boy went under Lucky's arm to help him wobble, while the other tried to get back down and insisted he didn't need help.

"Well," said Killua, appearing right next to Rein, who jumped. "I told Lucky to leave the door alone, but he insisted on helping whoever was outside get in. This is why he's always getting hurt. It was the same too, during this exam phase." He shrugged. "Ever see an unconsciousness cat?"

Rein blinked. "How exactly did you end up getting the key?"

"Me neither. Aside from this whole mess," Killua continued, smirk teasing. His eyes slid to Zushi for a split second before meeting her brown ones again, the playful light from before replaced with something more serious. "Where'd you guys go, ditching us like that?"

She raised her gaze to the ceiling to try and remember.

"Back then!" His voice was hushed now, and hurried. "You know, that fat old geezer with nothing better to do than engage in social interaction, you and Zushi just up and disappeared."

"Oh, that? There was another person who said he was a rookie crusher, so she tried to get us away from..." Rein looked around, but there was no sign of Ponzu. "That's weird, she was just here."

His eyes narrowed. "She." There was only one other female still in the running besides Rein, and he'd seen her before. Not just during the last Hunter Exam, no. (She stood out with her neon hair, but she'd been pretty boring then, and he hadn't paid attention to her much. He had a suspicion that arrow boy had a thing for her, though.) Killua caught glimpses of her now and then throughout all these phases, always turning back her head as soon as he made eye contact. He hadn't thought much of it at the time. She'd openly participated in the third phase, so he'd thought she had nothing to hide. But with the development of her secretive actions, intentional or not, doubt brewed at the back of his throat, bitter. It painted her as suspicious, and once Killua saw someone as such, there was no going back. Perhaps she was friendly. Perhaps she was not. There had to be a motive.

"Uh, yeah. She." Rein waved around a finger. "You know, of the female kind. Spot on."

"That's not-" Killua gave up. With so little to go on, any observations he made would be meaningless, as did any deduction. "She probably went off to one of the resting areas. Zepile's there now, making a few calls and catching up with auctions or whatever. He thinks it's fun."

"Ah, so that is where they are. Come to think of it," Zushi turned his head around the inside of the tower briefly. The interior of the structure was rather vast, with some sectioned off areas for applicants to relax in. He scanned all of these quickly, unable to find who he was searching for. "Where's Tonpa-san?"

Killua grinned.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him around," Lucky butted in from his seat on the floor, tugging his loose sock back over his ankle. He rolled it around to test for pain. "Did he even enter the tower at all?"

Killua grinned even wider.

"The phase is now over. Please make your way to the exit."

The announcement clicked off as the crackles bounced around the stone interior, and Rein just about shuddered at the memories the sound brought back. Lucky and Zushi walked towards the door as instructed, the rest of the applicants starting to trickle back as well. She stayed behind, inspecting the smug smile on his face.

He finally caught on her staring and took an unconscious step back. "What?"

"Spill."

Killua scoffed. "Nothing you would disagree with. You said he was a rookie crusher, so you should be glad I... I..." His ears reddened as she leaned in closer, daring him to say otherwise. Trying another scoff to cover up how he was actually feeling, he stared right back, slitting it into a concentrated glare. He refused to crack.

She blinked. "Okay."

...okay?

Rein shrugged. "You aren't going to tell me, so there's no use in trying. Peer pressure is nice, I've never tortured anyone before, and it's a minor thing. I can totally just drop it and let this go!" she exclaimed, a voice just a tad bit too high. Where was her normal competitive demeanor?

"You... can?"

"Yeah!" She grabbed his elbow and started to lead him back towards the exit, blabbering about the Exam. "I can ignore this completely, it's entirely your choice if you want to tell me or not! No pressure at all, I'm not curious anyways!" she piped.

Killua was horrified.

Who was this person.

It wasn't until she snickered in his ear that he understood her odd actions: "By the way, nice job pinning him to the face of the cliff. How'd you do it?"

*     *     *

Rein was puzzled as to why the small group she'd come to be with during the Hunter Exam was crowded in the corner. She pushed her way to the front and came face to face with a man, swathed in black with delicate yet sharp features carved into his porcelain skin. "Feitan?"

"Rein," he answered, scratching the chin of the feline set atop his lap.

Rein had to admit, she had convinced herself Feitan would make it, that he would easily pass. But she hadn't even caught sight of him since the first phase of the Exam, so no matter how sure she had been, seeing him before her now took a terrible weight off her chest that she hadn't known was there. She had learned first hand that the Spiders were not the immortals she once believed them to be.

For now though, she was far more concerned about the furry abomination settled comfortably beneath his fingertips. "What's that?"

"Name is Bacon. Good cat."

"Bacon," Killua repeated slowly, wondering whether this Spider actually had a sense of humor and just was messing with them, or whether he was serious and would kill them all on the spot if they questioned him.

Neither Lucky, Zepile, or Zushi could bring themselves to respond. It was clear Lucky was holding back a laugh for a strange feeling that he could only classify as terror, while the other two seemed to be in the same state of shock.

Rein chuckled at the name. "Are you sure, names are important, Fei, you can't..." She froze in place as he locked eyes, bloodlust emanating from even the tips of his raven hair.

His glare sent chills down their spines as he stroked the cat once more, eye contact never wavering. The cat purred and rolled in his lap, satisfied.

"His name," said Feitan, "is Bacon."

The concept of Kalluto is so cool? And precious? Like he joined the Troupe to find Killua how cute is that plus he really loves his family but no one seems to really pay attention to him least of all his mother who he always accompanies and ACK. I hope to give him the love he deserves.

Also, 10k? Hagsbdkagwkdjdk thank you everyone who's continued supporting and reading, I love you all so much! Also, to those who plowed through this entire book in like <3 days.... how and why.

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