Whispers of the Sky (Hunter X Hunter)

Remembering X One's X Reason (Yllina's PoV)

Do not fear what many consider weakness...
-*-

Rhode... Felt different.

As I stared at her back that was next to Gon's, a sense of distance could be felt between me and her. It wasn't a bad thing, per se, since this 'Rhode' felt much more mellow than the straight-laced person she was during our two years of wandering.

I always blamed my weakness for the reason why our relationship was so strained. Maybe, had I been as strong as her, then I would be allowed to stand by her side without her having to think of her duty as my bodyguard. So to see her like this, a sense of hope could only blossom in my heart that one day we would be able to walk on equal grounds.

I have to thank Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio for helping me get her to loosen up even for a bit.

"And now please follow me," Satotz, the first phase examiner, announced which was enough to break me from my musings and tried to keep up with Rhode who was waiting for me along with Gon and the others.

"Did he say where exactly we are going?" I asked before we broke into a jog, something that piqued my interest as I stared at the forerunners who we had followed. The pace had increased not long after, my initial response was to try and keep up.

I could already see several people begin to give up the moment thirty minutes had passed since we've been following the mouth-less man named Satotz. Cries of 'eliminated' people echoed in the tunnel, the enclosed space intensifying the sound as it resounded like a broken record within the area.

My ragged breathing played in chorus with the sound of foot steps and grunts that served as our background noise along with the sound of bodies collapsing and groaning from exhaustion around us. It was like 'survival of the fittest', the examiner easily culling the weak from the strong. It's like out of the 407 who signed up, they plan to at least lessen it to half of the original population.

"He said nothing, only that we were to follow him... It's been thirty minutes now since we've been running, Mistress. Can you still keep up?" Rhode broke me from my musings making me weakly nod at her question, the two of us barely near the last group of runners.

Gon and the others were nowhere to be found before us, my guess was that they were up front since I didn't see them amongst the collapsed people I passed by. I would have wanted to keep up with them but my stamina was not as good as theirs and Rhode's. In fact, the painful sensation of my heart and lungs on fire was already proof of that.

Having been brought up in a lifestyle different from theirs, walking and running always took a heavy toll on my body. Add to the fact that the tunnel was very enclosed didn't help me relax. I couldn't feel the caress of the wind and the signs of life save for the people around us and the mice squeaking from above the pipes that it made me uneasy.

It was like I was caged and I didn't like it.

Rhode was different from me, since she had taken the initiative to train. Back then, I wanted to try as well but the elders always forbade me from doing so. Unlike Rhode, who was only royalty in law only, I was fully born into the family and it was not in my place to hold a blade. In fact, the very thought of even leaving my hometown was forbidden to me.

The world I knew was through the books given to me by Rhode. Several of which she had stolen from the library since I couldn't leave my room unless I had lessons or other 'royal' duties as the elders had put it.

"Ooof!" I squeaked, my reminiscing completely halted when my foot gave and I collapsed to the ground with a thud. I heard Rhode yelp in alarm, the sound of her footsteps jogging back to me rather hastily as her head peered from above, her magenta eyes looking down at me with worry.

"I told you to tell me if you were tired, Mistress. Did you hurt yourself?" She asked me as I tried to get up, my hands busily dusting off the dirt that clung to my clothes when I fell. I could feel the shame of weakness burning in my stomach. My cheeks flushed and my breathing ragged as my mind constantly warred at my own pathetic self.

"I didn't want to drag you down..." I simply said, but the hitch of tone and my fisted hands on my waist-cape was a dead give-away to Rhode.

"You're not dragging me down. How many times do I have to tell you that? Now come here," She ushered me, her back to me as she kneeled on one leg, her hands outstretched behind her.

"I'm not letting you piggy-back ride me again, Rhode. It's cheating," I pointed out causing her to sigh.

"It's not cheating. We were told to follow him, nothing more nothing less," She pointed out but I knew that. I just didn't want her to realize that the reason that I didn't want to take her help was because it would be a sign of weakness and I didn't like the feeling. Gon was just as old as me and he had enough stamina to keep up with the others. Kurapika and Leorio may not be as fast and full of energy as Gon but they could keep up just the same.

If we were to be listed then it was obvious I was dead last and I didn't want that.

"Why did we take the Hunters Exam?" Rhode snapped me back to reality, her sudden question taking me by surprise as I looked up to her figure that rose up to face me. We were obviously way back from the runners now. The tunnel already beginning to turn silent as the sound of their footfalls drifted farther and farther away from us.

"T-to help everyone," I manage to force out before looking up to Rhode with a frown, "But I don't understand what that has anything to do with-,"

"Then you know just as well as I do what we have to accomplish here," She cuts me off, her eyes never leaving mine before she kneeled again and offered me her hand one more time. A flash of memory passed my mind as I looked at her outstretched hands, the memory of their eyes looking at me hopefully before it was dashed away by the memory of rain and mud coating two figures that fled on that 'fateful' night.

With a strangled sigh, I take Rhode's help in defeat and cling to her back as she hoists me up and begins to run to keep up with the runners that had already gone ahead from us.

--*--

"Oi! There you both are," Leorio hollers when Rhode easily weaves through the crowd, her body easily striding next to the two familiar figures not too far from us.

"We lost you when we reached the thirty minute mark. Where did you both go?" Kurapika piped in, my brow rising curiously when I noticed both he and Leorio were dressed weirdly, the former dressed in white, his tabard nowhere to be found while the latter was left in his pants, his tie still around his neck while his top clothes were tied around his waist and his suitcase gone.

"Did we miss something when we were gone?" I asked them, my eyes scanning for Gon who was nowhere to found. Kurapika followed my gaze before he huffed to gain my attention before speaking.

"Not really. Gon had gone ahead with a white-haired boy so if you want to meet them then they're up front," He merely said, before Rhode looked up to me, her eyes asking me if I wanted to meet up with Gon.

As much as I wanted to, I didn't want to have Rhode expend enough energy as it is to keep up with the energetic boy while saddling me along. Knowing Rhode, she could run a few more miles if she wanted to, given that her stamina was one of her deadly points when she fought. So with a shake of my head, I then voice out that we're fine where we are.

"If you wish," She finally says before silence engulfs us, save for the harmony of footfalls and grunts that echoed the tunnel as the First Phase continued on.