Chapter 1: PromiseXareXBroken

Due to fortunate or unfortunate circumstances, Haku has been left in the Hunter x Hunter world. Working this into his own benefit though Haku takes this opportunity to find a new river. But with the event of creating unexpected bonds with the humans it makes things much more difficult for Haku to leave them and continue on with his ultimate goal. Rated T for mild swearing.

Disclaimer: Haku belongs to Hayao Miyazaki and the original characters of HunterxHunter belong to Yoshihiro Togashi.

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Wind ravaged at Haku's immobile body. At his current height of about 1000 meters above sea level, Haku's human form fell. With such high altitudes, anyone would think a person would be in danger with the lack of oxygen. But because of what he was and who he was, such conditions were harmless.

But of prior circumstances, Haku could actually do very little at the time. So at the time he called for a small self-evaluation of his physical state. Because of the damage his body had absorbed when he had accidentally interrupted that fight between those two mountain spirits, he was now completely reliant on gravity to return him to solid ground. He could not actually move his body much.

But while his vision was slightly blurry from the pain, he could still make out the lush greenery of trees that were settled far below himself. He was not oblivious to the fact that if he stayed this course then it would be his immediate death and he couldn't attain flight to stop his decent. But there was one idea Haku had that could allow him to avoid such a death, if he could spot what he was looking for in time. Almost loosing hope when he could not make out much below him with his poor vision as impartial seconds ticked away he was soon rewarded when it came into focus. But now came the hard part.

Barely managing in his weak state he powered a few weak spells to encourage the wind to push him in the direction of his target as he fell.

Rapidly approaching his target Haku closed his eyes so he could concentrate on sending out a link to the water below him. He was going to have to greatly rely on whatever water spirit lived in the lake he was about to trespass on. And he could only hope that it would be kind enough to take care of him. For while water spirits often showed kindness to other water spirits when they bor no ill will. All sprits were still particularly territorial towards their embodiment though so Haku would have to be careful.

But in the end the water took him in gently, even as he crashed into the water at the high speed he came in at. His momentum was gradually reduced upon entering until he came to a halt and he was able to calmly take in his new surroundings. He didn't mind that he was still upside-down because the water here, while murky, was actually very soothing.

But it was when Haku suddenly felt the presence, or rather, the lack of one. 'This lake, it has no embodiment attached to it?' It was as if it was just a very large puddle. To the water spirit, it just felt wrong. Terribly so, but at the same time, he could still feel a great depth of life within the body of water. Both of young and old histories. It was sight for sore eyes to the lost water spirit.

One possibility that Haku thought of was that the spirit that previously belonging to this lake was also 'lost' because of a sudden change in the land forcing the lake to move elsewhere. But then as he took in the feeling a bit more he could tell that the water had not once, since its birth, been attached to a spirit.

Pain shooting through his body suddenly brought him back into reality, and he decided to ponder on the circumstances of this lake later. He had more important matters that needed to be addressed.

Going back in time to the point that he felt most appropriate, he recalled the reasons for being beep within the mountain ranges in the southern regions of Japan. It had been soon after he had finished tying up all of his loose ends at the bath house before he set off to find any newly forming river that had yet to contribute a spirit. But trying to find such a rare occurrence would take years and Haku was acutely deprived of the attachment in which he once had so long ago. For a spirit to have no such connection for this long was nothing short of a slow and taxing torture.

At the time, the fastest way Haku could think of finding a new river was to go anywhere with well formed mountains. This was what positioned him in the direct crossfire between two mountain spirits that were having a violent dispute. But while their kind of attacks would not usually impair him to his current state of immobilization, Haku never noticed the presence of a third party. One of the mountain spirits had befriended a gypsy spirit.

Gypsy spirits were always very tricky and unpredictable in power. It was in the gypsy's combined attack with its mountain friend to gain the upper hand that the accident happened. All three of the spells from both sides had collided simultaneously and had ricocheted off in Haku's direction. It was something in the gypsy's attack had made the two mountains combined forces damage him much more than it should have. That even lead him to wake up to falling out of the sky and eventually left him to float around in the detached lake hoping that it would heal him. But so far nothing was happening and he did not want to have to stay there for long, so he sent out a subtle wave of his energy to the inhabitants of the unknown territory. He closed his eyes to rest his exhausted body hoping that whatever lived here would take care of him.

-Moments before-

Not far off from Haku's falling form within Vandeta Forest the apprentice of Morel McCrnathy, Knuckle Bine, was following what he thought was the trail of the Tuskathian Gold Monkey.

Approximately two weeks ago, Morel (Knuckles mentor) had given Knuckle a task to find this rare monkey and to figure out the type of habitat that it preferred. If Knuckle completed this task, Morel promised he would consider Knuckle ready to bring him up to the next level of his training. Being the eager to learn student he was, Knuckle readily accepted this task and set out to one of the few forests that was said to inhabit this creature.

So Knuckle followed the trail he had found. But this was not in fact the Tuskathian Gold Monkey but rather the Basetho Gold Monkey. Such a mistake in misinterpreting the prints between the two species was very common. Few, in fact, could actually tell the difference just by their prints alone. But as it was, Knuckle ended up following this trail.

Eventually he was lead into a part of the forest that had fewer trees to block his view of the sky. So it was by pure chance then, that whilst Knuckle was on pursuit he was momentarily distracted when he jumped to catch a baby Leaf Squirrel that had fallen from its nest. And while he climbed the tree to return it back home he caught a brief glimpse of something off in the distance falling towards the earth.

Knuckle wondered if this thing falling from the sky was a creature that had been defeated in an aerial battle of dominance between flying creatures. But because of Knuckle's extended beast knowledge, he could think of non in which they would even be flying at such a height that even lived in this region. That is unless a species was simply moving off to a different territory. But that in itself was such a rarity as it wasn't even of season so Knuckle highly doubted that to be the case.

Knuckle continued to watch the thing in the sky decent at an exceedingly rapid pace. He watched it as it shoot past a cluster of birds that became panicked by its sudden appearance. His natural curiosity as a beast hunter to uncover this abnormities had spiked instantly after being unable to recognize the falling creature. So Knuckle proceeded to sprint off in the direction that he predicted the creature would land.

Eyes never straying from the falling form, Knuckle easily maneuvered around the trees in his path. But Knuckle soon found something strange about the falling creature. As he came into closer proximity with the falling creature, he began to wonder why the outline of the creature was shaping out to be startlingly similar to that of a human's.

Unless…

Knuckles eyes widened significantly at his realization. Immediately he ran as fast as he could, even though he judged that it was useless and the person would surly reach the ground before Knuckle could make it.

When the hunter lost view of the person he finally caught up with his surroundings and exactly where they were taking him. He began to realize that it was possible that this falling person had landed in the lake that was located up ahead. He hoped beyond hope that this was so. Knuckle could finally see the clearing up ahead that had the lake centered in and gradually slowed to a halt a stared intently at the lake. THERE! He could see a few ripples still expanding out from the middle of the lake. Hope restored, Knuckle tore of his shirt and ran to the lake diving in the direction that the ripples were at… only to return running out moments later, panicking and screaming. "Let go! Let go!" Flailing his arms and legs about he desperately tried to get the meat-eating fish to release his flesh from their sharp-fanged teeth. "SHAA!" In the direction of the pond, Knuckle flung his limbs out with enough force to get the fish to let go and sail safely back into the lake. Slightly out of breath, Knuckle cursed his forgetfulness. "Fool! Of all lakes they just had to land in this one." What was he supposed to do now? "Shit!"

The lake Knuckle stood in front of was called the Oakibiki Lake, but was more commonly known as the Iron Lake. If one should ever take a drink from this lake they would taste a great deal of iron in it. The fish living in the waters survived solely off of the wild life that approached its water. If any living creature came to close to the water's edge the fish would jump at them and drag them into the water and turning the water red. So many creatures were consumed inside the lake that the water came to be consisted of 40% iron.

Knuckle wasn't an idiot though, animals were animals after all and they would shy away from any source of a threatening aura. 'There's still time.' Knuckle thought to himself. Looking at the lake, he realized that while there was some slight sign of blood appearing on the surface there was not a whole lot yet. So he concentrated and released a small portion of his Ren. He walked into the water until it was over his head, while still maintaining his Ren, and dove in the direction he assumed the person would be according to where the blood was coming from.

The sight that greats him was not one he was expecting though. The flesh eaters surrounding the body as they bit off from the person bit by bit was what he thought would be the situation he would have to deal with. But in this case the fish were surrounding the body, it was not in the same fashion. They didn't look like they were trying to nibbling even a little bit off of the person. What he did see though was the fish lazily circling the person as if it was their center of gravity and they were not all moving in the same direction. Thinking about it, to Knuckle, it almost looked as if the fish were trying to protect the person with the way they incased the person in a dome with their bodies. This was not their natural behavior and this fact bothered Knuckle greatly, but he could not dwell on that. He still had a person to save.

Moving forward, the beast hunter continued to let out his Ren, effectively making the fish near him scatter away. The closer her went to the more fish that surrounded the person left out of fear. Eventually all that was left was a boy - a boy that hadn't taken a breath air for a while now. Knuckle worked quickly. The stranger would be in danger if he was exposed to his nen for too long unprotected. Using one arm to hold the much smaller person and the other to help him swim Knuckle brought them to the surface. He gasped for the air when they made it to the surface and swam to the shore as quickly as he could being extra careful to keep his passenger above water.

As soon as Knuckle made it near the shore he cut off his Ren and sprinted back to shore before the flesh-eating fish could catch up to them.

Now finally back on dry land, he gently lowered the limp boy to the ground. When he looked back to the lake he could see a lot of the deadly fish jumping in and out of the water near the shoreline. "What's with these guys?" He asked himself.

He returned his gaze to the mysterious boy and notice that, surprisingly, the boy was still breathing. Then he became aware of the types of clothes the boy was wearing and how traditional looking they were. His garb was of a white kimono top with blue trousers and a purple sash holding it together. While still not fully understanding what was going on, Knuckle released a sigh of relief, happy at seeing the signs of the boy still being alive and sat back on his hunches just admiring the way the sun reflected off of the water. But then something wet and warm touched his fingers.. "Wha-…" Knuckle looked at the red liquid that had managed to reach him and looked at the source. The boy! It was coming from underneath him. Slightly panicking and internally kicking himself for forgetting the blood he had seen earlier, he managed not to roughhouse the boy. Knuckle brought him to his side so he could look at the boy's back. "Shit. This looks bad." He could see on the back of the boys Kimono was a large gash through the clothes and the marred flesh that surrounded it. The boy was covered in blood now and it was still freely flowing out.

It was the voice of Knuckle that finally managed to wake Haku. 'Why am I not in the water?' He wondered. But even at the scent of his own blood and the disoriented state he was in he could still tell that there was definitely another being near him. And if his nose wasn't mistaken, it was likely a human. But this fact did not matter, Haku needed to get back into the water if he was to heal properly. He needed to tell this human.

"Wa-er." He tried to say. It was ironic how, even being a river spirit, Haku was susceptible to having a parched throat.

"Ah! Hang in there! I'll find you a doctor, just don't die on me!" Knuckle cried out loudly making Haku's ears ring. He immediately set the boy back onto is back. "I think I passed some herbs over there I'll go ge-" Knuckle stopped when he felt the boy grab his pant leg weakly. He looked at the boy's face and saw that he was shaking his head.

"Ta-… wa-er." Haku tried a again.

Knuckles bent down closer to the boy to hear him better as he could barely hear what was said before. "What is it? What do you need?" Movement from the boys hand made him watch as it was raised up shakily. He did not move and continued to watch curiously as the hand went past his shoulders until the tips of the boy's fingers touched his forehead. Knuckle had to forcibly stop himself from jumping back as an array of images forcibly intruded into his mind. But he managed to calm his actions when he realized that the images were not threatening towards his own safety. So he sat there and took it in.

Knuckle saw a lake. The lake right behind him in fact. Oh! Now he could see the boy standing in front of the lake. 'What's going on? This is really strange.' Knuckle thought to himself. But he continued to watch these images that were playing in his head.

He began to see the boy walking forward, not stopping when he was knee deep in the water. The boy was continuing to walk into the lake and then suddenly the image was gone and the boy's hand collapsed to the ground.

"The water? You want to go back into the water?" Knuckle asked, slightly taken aback. At seeing the boy's nod, Knuckle's expression turned angry. "Go back?! Are you an idiot?! There are dangerous fish living in those waters! As soon as you even get close to it they'll take any pieces of you that they can!"

Haku continued to stare at Knuckle.

"Che-." Knuckle tisked, annoyed. "Fine! Just don't come whining to me when those things kill you." The hunter then gently lifted the boy up by his back careful not to touch the wound and slid his other arm under the the boy's knees. Then he carried the boy to the edge of the lake and as he expected, the fish were coming back. "You sure about this?" Knuckle asked.

Haku nodded.

"Ok then." Knuckle did not lower the boy into the water until it was up to his knees and at that point he was desperately trying to ignore the few that were nibbling at his toes and calves. But when he watched the fish's reactions to the presence of the boy in the water… he was frightened. The number of meat eating fish that suddenly began to swarmed around the boy was so great in number that it could be considered life threatening to even himself. Regreting his decision to go along with the boy, the beast hunter was just about to yank the boy out of the water when a current started to pull at the boy. With the shock of the current appearing out of nowhere, Knuckles was unable to react in time and the force of the pull took the boy out of his grasp. The fish, even the ones that were previously at his feet, followed the boy without hesitation. Knuckle stood there as the only thing he could do was watch and desperately hope that the boy would live through this. But then the boy vanished from the surface of the water and he couldn't see what was happening anymore. Which only made him panic even more.

At the heart of the lake, Haku willingly let the water and its inhabitants heal its body. A small smile graced his lips as he watched the fish swarm around his midsection and observed how they were taking turns to rub their sides up against his back where his wound was located. The beautiful fish that lived here were so kind. To care for a foreign spirit's well being to the extent of trying, themselves, to heal him and to also stay by his side for this long was not something he was used to. He held out his hand and waited for one to rest on it. The one that did looked like all the others with its yellow scales and red eyes. The water spirit decided to convey his gratitude through this fish and transferred his own vision of a sunset.

It has always been tradition for water spirits to show any appreciation towards their fish by transferring images to them. The image that was most commonly used, that all fish greatly enjoyed, was the simple sight of a sunset as it was something about it that always seemed to entrance them. So usually on any special occasion a water spirit would allow a vision of a sunset to their fish through thought projection or, if they were a river, to have there currents flow slower in the areas that the fish could see the sun set for themselves.

Haku waited patiently in the water's depths for the fish to finish using their scales healing properties and for the water to cease its generous supply of energy it was giving to Haku. He estimated that he had now spent about 15 minutes under the water and he could feel a majority of his strength had returned and felt it no longer necessary to stay under water. He was ready to address that human that he was with earlier. Then maybe he could see if that person had any information that would help him figure out why this lake felt so strange to him.

Floating in place and looking up to the surface of the water, Haku mildly admired how the sun rays seemingly danced across it. Through a gentle command, his body began to slowly rise until his face broke the surface. The fact that he had not breathed air in quite some time had no affect on him as he easily transitioned from breathing water to breathing in the air. Haku looked to the shore to see if the human was still there and was fortunate to find that he was. So with no real rush, Haku glided over in the direction the human was in - not bothering to stop the couple of fish that were following him and swarming about his person in a giddy manner.

Knuckle was playing with a family of foxes that had wandered up to him and wouldn't leave him alone. It wasn't his fault, one of the kits had a thorn in its paw and it would have been cruel just to leave it there! At least that was how Knuckle rationalized his current predicament.

But when he heard the waves lightly lapping against the shore line, his turned his attention to the water. His eyes immediately widened when they saw the silhouette of the boy approaching him. "So the kid still lives." Knuckle sighed and a little smile spreading across his face. Earlier while Knuckle was staring at the water waiting for the boy to resurface he thought about the power that the boy had previously displayed. He figured that because of how odd that skill was that the boy was a nen user. He remembered the sensation of the boys aura trickling into his head. But as Knuckle stood there thinking about this while staring at the water he realized that the boy had not surfaced for at least 5 minutes. He waited and waited but the amount of time it was taking mad it really hard to believe that the boy was still alive. But then he began to think that maybe the boy had other means of breathing with his nen ability. So he calmed himself down and decided to wait it out.

As the boy came out of the water, Knuckle removed the fox from its curled up position on his lap and stood up to greet the kid with an angry expression. "Hey kid! What's the matter with you?! You not only come falling into a place that isn't meant for humans but you also manage to land in one of its most dangerous locations! Are you a fool?!"

For a moment Haku only stared up at the strange man towering over him. He was pretty sure that the mountain range that he was on earlier didn't have any settlements nearby and certainty non that had people dressed the way this guy was. 'He looks like a member of the mafia from Okinawa.' - Haku wasn't completely oblivious to the on goings outside of the spirit world.

Haku watched to stranger as he turned a bit more serious before he continued talking. "So what was that nen ability you used before? Does it have anything to do with how you were able to stay under water for so long?"

'Nen? …What a strange word.' Haku thought. But he could ponder on the word later, he still had to figure out what was going on before anything else. 'Now I just need to figure out what would be the best way to go about this.'

While Haku continued to think about his options, Knuckle was slowly becoming irritated at the boy's lack of response and was completely unaware of the fact that he and the boy were not on the same page. "Hey! Answer me!"

'While I know every body of water in Japan with a spirit attached to it by name asking about the name of this lake would probably be useless. I already know that this lake is not attached to one.'

"Are you even listening?!"

'Asking the name of this land would most likely not help me, I never bothered learning the names of the lands given by the humans… I know what I'll ask."

"Oi! Say something!"

"What is the closest ocean to our location?" Haku asked. 'This would be common knowledge for most humans, so he should be able to answer. And if he answers it with the name I think he will, then I shouldn't be too far from were I was originally.'

Knuckle blinked owlishly and his confusion was visibly obvious but Haku didn't understand the reason for it. It was a simple question after all. But he could be patient and wait for the strangely dressed man to eventually give out his answer.

"Closest ocean?… Why would you even ask something so ridiculous? How do you not know something like that?!"

"Oh, sorry. Do you not know what ocean it is either?" Haku asked completely honest.

"A- OF COURSE I DO!" The man pointed his finger at Haku accusingly. "What do you take me for, an idiot?!"

"…"

"…"

"Then could you please tell me."

"Oh. Yeah, well..." He rubbed the back of his head. "we're right on the coast near the North Orbic Ocean since the western border of the Asian continent is only about 30 kilometers West of here." Kuckle jabbed his thumb in the direction somewhere behind him.

At hearing the man's answer, Haku remained motionless. 'That is impossible. Did the man not understand my question?' It was also possible that the man had simply lied to him, but he didn't see the point in doing something like that.. So if the man was indeed telling the truth, then… 'He must truly be an idiot.'

"Do you have a map?" Haku asked after staring at the hunter for a while.

Knuckle had had a difficult time containing his irritation at the boys unresponsiveness. "Well, I don't have a real map but I do have one on my phone. Would that work?" He wasn't really sure where the boy was going with this and it seemed like he was only going at his own pace. So it was in Knuckles best interest to just go along with the boy for now and figure out things from there.

Haku had a vague idea what a 'phone' was, but it was only that it was something used to talk to someone far away. "Yes." But The man had mentioned a map so it was worth a try.

Knuckle took out his phone and set the screen to show the northern half of the world map before handing it off to Haku. "We are right about here." He said pointing to a region in the lower part of one of the bigger continents.

While Haku outward appearance was unchanged as he studied what was supposed to be a map, his inner self was in total chaos. 'This is wrong. This is very very wrong. This isn't it, this can't be it! This would just be impossible!' But if what he was seeing was indeed a real map... then... "Please, tell me. Is this a map of the world?" Haku's indigo bangs shadowed his eyes.

"Not really."

The spirit was instantly relieved, there was still hope that-

"That's just the top half."

Haku's eyes widened exponentially as panic and anxiety began to build up inside him. 'No. No. Nonononono. This can't happen.' Ripples appeared in the lake. Non of which were noticed by the Beast Hunter. 'Am I really this far from home? Wait... no... I have no home.' The ripples vanished. 'But now how am I supposed to keep my promise to her now?' He closed his eyes he pictured the smiling face of the girl. 'I'm sorry, I think I ended up breaking our promise…' "Chahiro."

"Hmm? did you say something?"

Haku handed the device back to the stranger. "Thankyou for your assistance." He said before walking past Knuckle towards the trees.

"Huh?! Where do you think you're going?! You're still ingur-… Oi! What happened to your back?!"

Because Haku hadn't showed his back to the hunter at all until now.

The only proof that the boy ever had that large gash on his back was the shredded remains of the back of Haku's kimono top. It was all torn up allowing a clear view of the boys unmarked back.

When Haku heard the man's question, he stopped and turned around. "It healed." He answered and then he turned away again and continue towards the woods.

Knuckle was surprised by the boy for the umpteenth time and while it was irritating, he couldn't help but be even more curious about him. There was just something about the boy that urged Knuckle's to follow after him. "Hey! Wait up!" Knuckle easily caught up with the boy and kept pace with him. "So what are you doing now?"

"I'm going to the ocean."

"What do you want to go there for? There aren't any boats near here."

Haku decided against telling this person about his other form and his own abilities that he had. "I have my ways."

"… So why are you leaving so early even though you just got here? Or at least so soon after healing."

"I need to find out more about this place."

"Really? Well if that's all there is to it then you can just ask me. I've been wandering theses woods for a while now and I know enough about this place to answer just about any question." Knuckle really did not want the boy to leave just yet. He had a feeling that if he did, then it was likely that he would never see him again and he really didn't want him to go without getting any answers from the boy.

"No, I mean information about this world."

World? Was this guy serious? "Well, I could tell you some stuff about that too." 'Did the kid loose his memory or something?' "why do you need to know about it anyway?"

"It appears I have been… misplaced." Was the best way Haku could describe his situation.

But… that wasn't the kind of answer Knuckle wanted to hear, it sounded too much like a riddle - he hatted riddles - and now he was just adding on more questions and less answers. "Where are you from then?" Knuckle hoped this would explain something, if he was from one of those isolated continents then that might explain a few things.

'Should I tell him?' While the guy did smell like a human, there was just something about him that told him that this man was very powerful. More powerful than even Haku. "I come from a place where others like me live." Haku knew that the man knew that Haku was avoiding the question again and it didn't look like he was going to push the issue - to which Haku was grateful.

"So what are you?"

Haku could see that this man was becoming agitated if the twitch in his eyebrow was any indication. He decided to quit his little game before Knuckle reached his limit. Haku was confident in his abilities to quickly escape but he still didn't want to chance it since the man was still noticeably stronger than himself. "Have you ever heard of spirits?"

The hunters impatience fizzled out at the seemingly random question that caught him off guard. "Spirits? Do you mean like ghosts and the undead or something?"

"Not exactly. More like the idea that other earthly things and creatures have souls like humans." Haku clarified hoping that he would at least have a general idea.

"Hmmm… I don't think I have ever heard of something like that, but there are still a lot of unknowns that haven't been discovered yet. So it could still be possible." Knuckle wondered why the boy brought it up. "So, are you a spirit or something?"

Haku took a few more moments to be sure if this was his best course of action. Learning about this world now would probably be best rather than searching for it blindly. It would be wise to exchange information now to receive reliable information in return and also so that he was on better terms with this human. "Yes."

"Wa~. Was that how you put those pictures in my head?"

"Yes, it is an ability available to most spirits but many hardly ever use it."

Knuckle was overjoyed. 'Finally! It feels like we're actually having a conversation now! Shit! …What did I want to ask him again?'

"What is this nen you mentioned before?"

'I don't know if I should tell him about that, he might not be ready to know just yet.' Traditionally someone wouldn't learn about nen until after they passed the hunter exam. It would be dangerous otherwise if a lot of unqualified people knew about nen. But the thing Knuckle was mostly worried about was that if he were to tell the boy about it now, then the kid would probably go off to learn it on his own and he was still unsure about this kid. If he would abuse that kind of power or not. "I won't tell you about it now, but how about after you take the hunter exam?" Knuckle finally answered.

"Hunter exam?"

Knuckle blinked in surprise. "Oh. Right, you're not from around here." The Beast Hunter walked over to one of the near by trees and sat against it offering the boy to take a seat next to him. "I feel like we'll be here a while so we might as well relax. So before we get on with this, it'd probably be better if we knew each other's names." Knuckle jabbed his thumb at himself. "My name is Knuckle Bine, I'm a Beast Hunter."

"My full name is Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi."

"… Do you happen to have a nickname?" Knuckle sweat dropped.

Haku smiled. "Yes, Haku."

"Well, Haku, now that formalities are done with about your question. The hunter exam is a gathering of selected professional hunters that are assigned to test non hunters to see if they are worthy of becoming hunters them selves."

"What is a Hunter?"

"A Hunter is a…"

All through the day, Knuckle answered each of Haku's questions to the best of his ability. Occasionally stopping to gather a bit of food from the nearby plant life as Haku kindly requested Knuckle not to eat any of the fish from the lake since he was indebted to them. And every once in a while, Knuckle would have a question of his own concerning about how Haku arrived here and what other sort of things spirits were capable of. Of course the more sensitive subjects, Haku only gave him half answers or half truths. He only kept these secrets because of a hunch he had.

The next day, late into the morning, Knuckle and Haku both stood out on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. "Going off what I heard from my mentor, the exam should be starting within the next week or two." Knuckle turned to face the spirit. "Are you sure you want to be doing this so soon, you could always take it next year and hang around with me." For the few hours that Knuckle had spent with the boy, he was truly starting to like the kid. It was strange, he was almost tempted to follow the boy just a bit longer just so they could hang out some more. But Knuckle still had a task to complete and he wouldn't abandoning it until it was finished.

"I am sure. I feel it would be best to do this now rather then hold it off for later."

"Guess that makes sense." But then something occurred to Knuckle. "Say, Haku, are panning on going back to your home at all?"

Haku seemed to hesitate before he answered. "I have no real home. But I fear I will never be able to return there to keep a promise I made to an important person."

"Who?" Knuckle asked out of curiosity, he didn't think that such a simple thing would make Haku look the way he did now after he had said it.

With a melancholic gaze set on the horizon, Haku answered. "Someone I wish I could always protect and consider to by my sister."

'Seriously?! This guy!' Knuckle thought hysterically, unknowingly on the brink of tears.

Haku saw Knuckle turn away from him out of the corner of his eye.

'I can't take this anymore! Of all the time we've spent together he hasn't once showed so much emotion all at once! I feel like I just saw something I shouldn't have!" Knuckle clench his fists. "What a great brother he is! Don't worry Haku, I am sure your sister will be able to understand!' Knuckle turned back around facing Haku again. "It was out of your control!"

Haku could only blink. "Knuckle…" he said. "Your crying."

Knuckle looked puzzled for a moment before turning embarrassed and looked in the opposite direction again furiously wiping away his tears with the back of his sleeve. "S-Stupid! Wh-Who do you think I am?! Hunters don't cry! Th-There just, uh, you know…" Knuckle's posture suddenly turned confident, but he was still turned away. "I just got salt in my eyes! That's it! It's not like it's because of what you said or anything!"

"…"

"…"

"I think it would be best that I leave now." Haku said breaking the awkward silence that Knuckle had created.

But then a hand was suddenly all up in his face.

"Wait." Knuckle said sternly. "Give me your hand."

Haku did as instructed and Knuckle placed a piece of paper on his palm.

"If you ever get your hands on a phone, call this number and I'll try to answer."

"Thankyou Knuckle. If feel the only way to show my gratitude for all that you have done for me is to settle a bit of you curiosity by showing you my other form."

Knuckle had to take a step back in surprise as a milky-white substance seemed to cover the boy and elongate until defining features started to appear and turquoise hair formed along the back. Then when everything was settled, the boy no longer stood in front of him and in his place was a serpent-like dragon with horns on its head and two whiskers that gently wove from the ocean's light breeze.

"Whooaa~! Haku! That is some ability you have there!"

As a dragon, Haku looked Knuckle in the eye and bowed his head slightly. Then facing the ocean, he crouching low before taking off at break neck speed in the direction of the country in which Knuckle had previously told him the exam was taking place.

As Knuckle watched Haku continue to fly away, he suddenly realized something. "HEY! YOU DIDN'T SETTLE MY CURIOSITY. YOU JUST MADE IT WORSE!"

(: end :)

Haku's pretty mean for leaving Knuckle like that. He probably showed off like that on purpose! I can just imagine his smug little mug as he fly's away leaving Knuckle in the dust thinking he's all that. I bet he just looooves to torment people like that. But anyway, now Haku's off to the Hunter exam.

By the way if your confused about the time frame, don't be. It will be addressed in the next chapter.

This chapter ended up being over 6K. For future chapters it will be in the ball park of 5 and 7K. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. As the chapters come in please give me feedback if I'm doing this right or if it's too confusing. I was shooting towards not being too descriptive so I could leave the rest to the imagination on how characters might have looked or reacted but still be able to understand their personalities. Please go easy on me though I didn't have a Betta reader.

Please Call me Bas.