Itsy Bitsy Spider

3. Spider's Reunion

"Are we there ye—"

Feitan growled from the passenger seat. He stuck up his hand, showing manipulated nails, sharper than knives.  She could almost see them twitching with irritation. "You're getting annoying."

Rein gave a sheepish smile. "Love you too, Fei."

Feitan glared and faced back front. He lowered the visor, but even then it failed to shade his eyes from the bright, low-hanging sun.

Letting go of the wheel, Phinks grabbed a water bottle from the back of his seat and took a swig. He offered it to Feitan. "Any word from Machi?"

Feitan shook his head, shaking his spiky bangs into his eyes in place of the visor. He ignored the bottle. "No word of number 4. Machi was to check on him."

Number 4. She vaguely remembered the woman pointing him out before, and the short interaction they'd had. "Hisoka? He's coming too, right? Even if Machi doesn't know or didn't let you know, it's an order from Danchou, so Hisoka should be there." Undoing her seatbelt, she leapt forward so her head was in between the front two seats. "Besides, last time he said he had a card trick or something to show—"

"Put on a seatbelt," Phinks warned. "If any busybody sees you standing up, there might be trouble and as much as I want to, we can't cause a commotion right before a plan." He elbowed her roughly in the ribs, pushing her back. "And stay away from that pedo of a clown. You shouldn't be near him."

"Phinks." Rein had made the same slip-up before, mistaking a street magician for a clown. The magician had yelled at her, but at least she hadn't made the mistake on Hisoka. If she'd called Hisoka a clown, he would either accept the fact with a smirk or kill her on the spot. "He's a magician, not a clown."

Phinks took out a long breath. A pause. Then he let out a burst of creative curses and name-calling. Rein was taken aback with the flow of words. He continued, emphasizing every single adjective with a passionate hit to the steering wheel. "Don't go near him, EVER. Got it?" He let go of the steering wheel with one hand, revealing the dent he had made in it. He turned back to look at Rein, teeth gnashed together.

Was she supposed to answer? Stars, she hadn't understood anything that had flown out of his mouth. What to say? "...yes... Hisoka is dangerous. But so are all of you, technically."

Rein had never witnessed an aneurysm before, but if there was ever a person to have one at anytime, it would be Phinks, right now.

"She's right," Feitan butted in. He undid his seatbelt, and catapulted himself to the back of the truck, settling down next to Rein. "You're strong by civilian standards. Still weak for Nen. Hisoka stronger."

"Then I guess I'll have to train more." Rein smiled, then brought her hand up to Feitan's hair to pet it.

Snatching her wrist, he growled. "No." He stood. "Here's my stop." The truck was still in motion. He didn't look her way, but she could tell that he was monitoring her movements very carefully. He tended to do that a lot, but Rein pretended not to notice. It wasn't worth bringing up anyway, since she was sure he did that to everyone.

"You're meeting Machi, right? Tell her I say—"

The back door shut, cutting off her words. Feitan was gone. She shrugged, and climbed over to the front seat that Feitan had vacated only a minute before. Rein wrapped a hand around the water bottle Phinks had opened, pleased at the crinkling sound it made. She took a swig. "Are we there yet?"

"You brat, shut up—"

* * *

Feitan barely kicked up any dust on the plain as he ran. He kept his sword tucked carefully away, tilting it so that it wouldn't rub against his leg and potentially effect his speed.