15 Chapter 14: Kiriko
[AUTHOR'S POV]
"It's totally dark, she said walk two hours but… it was two hours two hours ago!.."
Leorio was complaining while walking behind the trio who were ahead of him.
They were ignoring him completely and continuing to walk aiming to find the cabin the woman told them about.
They stopped to read a sign that said beware of magical beasts.
"another one of these..are we ever gonna make it to the exam site?" leorio whispered, rubbing his forehead with his palm before going back to yelling and complaining.
"we're going to leave you behind if you don't hurry!" Athanasia yelled back to him.
"oh, I see it now!" Kurapika exclaimed.
The twins heard him and turned to see the tree the captain told them about then they noticed the cabin they were looking for.
They walked closer and Leorio knocked on the door.
After a short while of waiting, they still didn't receive any response.
"are they out?" Gon asked curiously.
'no. They're preparing a performance for us' Athanasia chuckled lowly, luckily nobody heard her.
"we're coming in." Leorio announced as the four friends entered.
But they were greeted by a sight of broken tools, a wounded man laying on the ground and a magical beast holding a girl.
"it's a magical beast!" They exclaimed, taking a fighting stance.
" A transforming one, the Kiriko! They can take human form and they're extremely intelligent!" Kurapika informed.
"There's a woman in his arms!" Gon yelled.
"And the guy on the floor needs medical attention.." Leorio added.
The Kiriko jumped out of the window, taking the girl with him.
"Please..save my wife.." the injured man begged.
Gon jumped off and ran after the beast.
"Leorio, we'll leave the injured man to you and Athanasia!" Kurapika said before following behind Gon.
Leorio immediately took care of the man skillfully, Athanasia was following his orders if he asked her to do something since he was the one who knows better than her in this field.
'He seems like a totally different person when he is doing this..' Athanasia thought, now standing behind leorio who finished bandaging the man and reassuring him that his wife will be alright.
Athanasia waited until leorio was done and took off her backpack, grabbing a small dagger. 'my teacher's gift three years ago' she thought, smiling slightly as she remembers her first encounter with Silva Zoldyck.
It had a dark silver sheath with a small chain for decoration.
The handle of the dagger was also dark silver but with slightly lighter silver decorations.
She pulled it out and walked over to the man , kneeling down and holding it close to his throat.
"Oi!? Are you crazy?! What are you doi-" Leorio yelled at her, before turning to look at her.
He was expecting to see her usual emotionless face but… he instead saw a malicious smirk.
It was his first time seeing her make an expression but he's not going to lie, he hoped it would have been a genuine smile.
"Now.. I believe it's time for you to drop the act, don't you think?" she whispered to the man, still holding the weapon against his throat.
[KURAPIKA'S POV]
I run with Gon after the Kiriko, while admiring this boy.
'He can follow that faint shadow even through this dark forest. Impressive.' I smiled slightly, watching Gon as he jumped up on tree branches.
Gon suddenly fell from a tree and landed next to me but I kept running.
Soon enough he caught up with me again, smiling Brightly.
"Wow! He can talk!" He said, amazed.
"that Magic beast uses human speech." I told him which made him happier.
"That makes this a lot easier!" He said before jumping up again.
[AUTHOR'S POV]
"Hey, silly Kiriko!" Gon yelled, gaining the attention of the beast and jumping up, landing a hit on his head with his fishing rod.
The impact made the Kiriko drop the girl but luckily Kurapika grabbed her.
"He's so reckless…" he whispered, sighing.
Gon ran after the beast and Kurapika stayed with the girl.
"Are you okay? Are you injured anywhere?" He asked her, genuinely worried.
"I'm okay..what about my husband?" She replied.
"Don't worry, our friends are taking care of him." He reassured her.
"Please, take me to my husband!" She begged, holding onto him gently but this made her sleeve fall a little, revealing a tattoo which made Kurapika suspicious.
"you…"
[GON'S POV]
I followed the Kiriko but now I don't see him anymore.
I looked around, trying to find any trace to follow until I saw him again and started following behind until we arrived at a cliff.
I almost fell but luckily I pulled myself back up with my fishing rod.
"For a kid, you're pretty quick. Didn't expect you'd land a blow on me" He said and I looked up to see him sitting on top of a tree.
'weird. He is completely different from the one I've been following.'
I look around trying to find the other one and just when this one was about to hit me, I asked him.
"Who are you?"
He completely froze in place.
"you aren't the one I hit. Are you his friend?"
[ATHANASIA POV]
"Hey, stop it!" Leorio kept yelling but I completely ignored him, focusing on the man in front of me.
Said man was surprised was a bit before smiling and opening his mouth to talk, "I didn't expect anyone to see through us."
Leorio got shocked and turned to face the man, "What are you guys talking about!?" He asked.
"if you really were a magical beast's victim, why did it leave you alive with only a small injury and take a hostage when he could have killed you both? And.."
I look at the door then back at him, "The position we found you guys in was as if as you were waiting for us to come in at that moment." I add.
'i hope this is convincing enough, I don't want them to get suspicious. But it's not like I can stay still and do nothing. I need them to approve of me so I can go with the rest to the Hunter exam site. '
[AUTHOR'S POV]
the four friends are now standing in front of the Kiriko family.
" How many years has it been since someone was able to tell us apart?" One Kiriko asked the other.
"can you tell their voices and faces are different?" Leorio whispered to Kurapika and Athanasia.
"Nope, not at all." He whispered back.
'Huh? How.. I can see the difference! Is it because I'm Gon's twin?' Athanasia thought, surprised of her discovery.
"They are indeed different." She said.
"allow us to introduce ourselves, we are the navigators. Our family provides support to the Hunter exam."
"I'm their daughter!~"
"And I'm their son!~"
"man, you had us fooled." Leorio said.
"the Hunter exam changes site every year. It's difficult to locate it. " One Kiriko said.
"So we navigators help by guiding the applicants to the site." The other added.
"Oh, so that's how it works!" Gon chirped.
"But we don't help ever candidate. " The daughter said.
"we test applicants to see if they're qualified to take the exam." The son added.
The three stiffened a bit, waiting for them to get evaluated except Athanasia who was confident they all passed.
"Kurapika, You successfully used the most vague of hints to determine that we aren't spouses. The hint was these tattoos which in this region, mark a woman as single for life" she said, wiping the fake tattoo from her arm.
"Kurapika demonstrated that he is very knowledgeable. Therefore, he passes." She finished.
Kurapika sighed in relief, getting praised by his friends and fist bumping them, including Athanasia.
"Leorio, You never realized my true identity. However, you dressed my injuries faster and more thoroughly than any doctor. More importantly, you continued to reassure me that my wife was safe. Your kindness makes you worthy to take the Hunter exam. Thus, you pass." The son said.
"R-really!?" Leorio asked, falling down to the ground sighing in relief.
"Athanasia, you saw through us from the start but you didn't stop leorio from from taking care of my wounds. You helped him and followed every order he gave you without questioning him. You trusted his judgement and followed along. You also calmly faced me,who you suspected could be an enemy and not once did you lose your cool and stayed focused. In conclusion, you also pass." The son added.
Athanasia merely nodded, keeping a poker face and Gon hugged her tightly congratulating her.
' Congratulate me when I become a hunter, if that ever happens..' she Dramatically cried mentally, remembering all the amazing and strong people that they will face in the exam.
She hugged back, Leorio patted her head gently and Kurapika fist bumping her.
"and lastly,Gon. Your superhuman physical ability and powers of observation make you worthy to take the Hunter exam. You pass." The Kiriko parent said.
Gon smiled brightly and Athanasia patted his head gently, "Good job,Gon." She said and he jumped in her arms hugging her.
'Gosh, you're this happy just by getting acknowledged to take the exam. Wait until you become a hunter~' Athanasia thought, hugging him back.
Gon and Athanasia were both taken by one Kiriko and flew to the exam site, with their two friends, the moon shining brightly in the sky.
(AN: I haven't really thought about it but... Would you guys like to add slight romance?(I completely forgot about this lol, I wasnt going to add any) If so, which characters? (Only m/f and preferably characters that aren't too old. I know athy is older mentally but I think it's best to use her current age lol))
