Captain Utsumi stared wide eyed at the young girl that just boarded his ship.

As a qualified hunter and hunter exam examiner the Captain was well versed in observing and taking into account of all that boarded his ship, in and out of Exam season. It's where he and his fellow pre-Exam examiners conducted their evaluations. After years of doing his duty, from both his innate senses as a seasoned seafarer and experienced examiner, it had become easy as breathing to pick apart a person. To tell those good of intentions and rotten to the core.

This little girl, was strange.

Strange.

But familiar.

There was a breath of fresh air when he saw her, the scent green like the forests he rarely saw, an atmosphere clear of the pungent salt Utsumi had come to love. It was different, it stood out, and yet the Captain could swear that this was not the first time encountering such a breathtaking person.

Utsumi watched from the steering room down at the passengers mulling around his vessel, unawares of the cruel mistress that churned just meters beneath their feet. These were not hunter examinees, so even less than usual they milled around like newborn calves so ignorant of the dangers around them. They lacked the splashes of color most hunter-to-bes had in their personality. These were the rabble, the landlubbers, the sheltered children of a dangerous world.

Except for, of course, that little girl.

Generally outside of Exam season Utsumi would avoid the general population of his passengers. But the moment that child boarded his ship the Captain felt that mesmerizing pull that only the greatest of Hunters with the greatest of potentials could hold. It was a form of natural Nen, emanating from those with great potential even before unlocking their powers, a type that unconsciously drew people in. All the world's most charismatic people had this latent ability, and it was very rare.

Utsumi had only ever met one other person would carried such an aura.

And that was many years ago, still green in his first days as an Examiner, when another young child had boarded his vessel with fire in their eyes and will in their soul. Funnily enough both children came from the sparsely populated and little known Whale Island.

"Joonbae," Utsumi called out to his second mate, an eastern man who worked magic when it came to navigating the deep blue. "Take 'er while I'm out."

Joonbae blinked in surprise, "You're going down Captain?"

Utsumi merely answered with a low affirmative gruff and left the room, making his way down to the main deck.

The little girl, much smaller and younger than he originally thought (maybe six or younger), stood fearlessly on the top railing with nothing but her two feet to keep gravity from pulling her down to the hard floor deck or the frigid churning waters bellow. Her hair, tinted green (and didn't that also look familiar), was long and wild flying free in the ocean breeze. She wore a floral green sundress and matching green sneakers. Utsumi couldn't see her face yet but he had a sneaky suspicion that he would also see a familiar fire and determination in her eyes.

As he approached the girl some of the other passengers called for his attention.

"I wouldn't bother sir," said a man. "We tried to get her to come down but she wouldn't listen."

Utsumi raised a brow that that, "And so you gave up? What if she falls in?" Not that he thought the little girl would anyways, but the lack of spine in some civilians was so irritating sometimes. So just because a child wouldn't do what they said they gave up? What if she had been their own daughter?

The Captain huffed in annoyance and the passenger shot him a weird, almost offended, look but didn't respond.

As he approached suddenly the little girl twisted her upper torso around to face him as if sensing his presence behind her. He was slightly startled at the apparent intuition of the child but made no outward appearance of his surprise.

Just as he thought, fire burned brightly in those willful green eyes.

"Hello," the girl greeted him with a happy smile then swiveled on her feet to face him properly and plopped her butt down in the rail.

The smile, while equally familiar seemed to be lacking in something. Utsumi realized that lack was an arrogance he had come to associate with powerful people like her. Instead, this child made up for that deficit of arrogance with a surplus of warmth and welcome. Just being near her made Utsumi well comfortable and drawn in.

"Mornin'," he replied. "Whassa young'in like you doin' all alone on a ship?"

She stared up at him with far too intelligent eyes and shrugged, "What does anyone do on a ship? I'm on a trip across the ocean."

It was blunt a blunt phrase, completely truthful and void of all misdirection, a telltale sign of an enhancer, this child wore her heart on her sleeve and wasn't afraid to speak or act no matter what proper decorum said. Utsumi's inner sailor grunted with approval.

"Where ya goin'?"

At this the child smiled, the corner of her eyes wrinkling with a unfamiliar joy and warmth. It spoke of a great affection almost on par with Utsumi's own love for the sea. And while children loved easily not many could hold such deep tenderness in their gaze.

"I'm going to find a friend."

"Who was that little girl Captain?" Joonbae asked much later the next day, after they had docked and the passengers departed.

Utsumi thought to the child he had conversed with for the better part of yesterday and for most of the morning, thought to the deep large well of power he saw like an iceberg peeking up from beneath the child's aura humming with warmth, he thought to the hours of conversation he could barely remember so entranced was he by the child's charismatic personality and soul, and he thought to the image of another child long ago with the same tinted green hair and willful eyes and the ship captain let out a satisfied hum.

"What's your name kid?"

"Geon." Because it was true in a way no one would ever understand. Because he is Gon and Gen all in one and since it's too early for Gon to show up yet he'll just have to be Geon.

"Someone we'll no doubt see 'gain."

The City of Angels was much more to Gon's liking than Whale Island as much as he loved the quant little community with all its lush forests, rolling green hills, and white sand shores. Cities were where Gen had made her life, built it up from an ordinary childhood no different than anyone else's until she was her own individual working hard to make a dream a reality before it was ripped away from her through death. It was where Gen had carved a hole in the world to call her own and now Gon was looking for his.

The City isn't his home, but it felt close enough that he was content.

He had swapped his sundress out for something a little more city worthy, with big brown boots and a heavy green coat. Whale Island was much warmer than the Republic of Padokia afterall.

The power of his Nen hummed and sang through the stitchings and welcomed him as he slipped on the sleeves, their warmth surrounding him protectively. Gon doubted a bullet would be able to penetrate his armor of fabric.

The next thing he did was sit down for a meal. After browsing through the selections of exotic street foods, delicious steam wafting through the area drawing in customers. It was difficult to choose one over another but an active Nen user had the advantage of a huge appetite and Gon made it his mission to stop at as many street vendors as possible until he was stuffed beyond belief and practically wobbling his way to the next stop.

There was no need for rest, the day was still young afterall, and excitement pumped through his limbs at the thought of being in the same city as Killua. They weren't friends yet, but Gon could feel in his soul that their friendship was meant to be even without Gen's memories interfering.

Which is why when he came across Heavens Arena and nearly burst with amazement and nostalgia all at once Gon didn't hesitate to walk and and sign up.

The woman at the front desk was professional enough not to make an outwards appearance of her concern but it was clear in her slightly jerky movements as she handed him the papers and the light perspiration on her temple that gave it away. Gon felt a little bad, wanted to reassure the woman that he would be just fine, would probably only struggle in the 200 above level, but he just smiled and filled his papers out.

When he received his first call number Gon didn't even bother looking for the very person he came to find.

Killua would find him soon enough.

Killua Zoldyck was very very unhappy.

A few days ago his father had dropped him off in this godforsaken city at this godforsaken arena and Killua was not happy.

Not.

Happy.

It wasn't even that his birthday was a few weeks ago and this was just terrible thing to do.

It wasn't even that he likely wouldn't be able to play with Alluka for a good while either.

It was that Killua had left a half eaten strawberry cake in the fridge and at this rate lardass Milluki was going to find it and eat it and Killua couldn't do anything about this fact. And it wasn't like he had any money to buy more cake either and that was a fucking crime.

So despite his resistance eventually Killua did relent and signed up for the arena participation.

The first few dozen floors were insanely easy, the young Zoldyck couldn't believe how weak these grown ass men were. Like seriously, they took one look at the tiny six-year-old, laughed, and proceeded to get their asses handed to them by said six-year-old. Then it was Killua that was laughing his ass off.

Of course, he started to struggle after floor 50 when instead of just messing around it actually took focus during his matches if he didn't want to end up with broken bones and a concussion. After one scumbag practically knocked his teeth in, not giving a fuck that he was punching the living daylights out of a child it really put things in perspective for Killua.

Especially since he lost to the very same scumbag.

It was humiliating, especially for a bearer of the Zoldyck name no matter how little care Killua had for the title. Just the fact that he grew up with the ruthless Zoldyck training regiment only to lose to some no name loser, even though the man was six times his age.

Loath as he was to actually take Father's test seriously, and despite enjoying the freedom to do whatever he wanted and eat whatever he wanted, Killua was starting to miss Alluka a lot and he'd already been in the City of Angels for a good two months and the homesickness was starting to kick in. And he still had another 140 floors to go. He decided that it was high time to start taking this whole stupid arena thing seriously.

It was around floor 73 when he first started hearing the small utterings of the name Geon.

Now, Killua wasn't exactly the talk of the show since there were still a significant number of floors above him, but he had started drumming up some attention being as young and small as he was. Of the enormous number of participants who tried their hands at the first few floors only a fraction made it as high as he had, and most of them were seasoned fighters with experience. While most of the attention was reserved for the upper echelons of the arena, Killua himself was popular enough that his name was known.

But Geon, it seemed like out of nowhere the name just popped out. It wasn't there a few days ago and now Killua couldn't seem to escape the name. And it wasn't uncommon for select few people to shoot up in the floors in a short period of time, but most of them didn't get this much gossip. So what made this Geon person so special?

When Killua caught whiff that this apparent out-of-nowhere contestant was young he had to see it for himself.

It wasn't too difficult. Just locate the long (way too long) list of matches that updated periodically in one of the common areas, a few minutes of scanning the damn thing, and he found what he was looking for.

Lucky for him the match was just beginning too.

Killua didn't actually have time to go to the match in person (somehow this person had already ascended to floor 124) but he located the streamed match easily enough. All he had to do was find a crowd of gaggling arena goers, flocking around a TV screen, and push his way to the front to get a good view of the match.

Honestly, calling it a match was a bit of an over exaggeration.

A one-sided slaughter would be more appropriate but still not completely truthful, especially not with the way Geon seemed to try to be as gentle as possible going as far as to help up the other contestant (or in this case help the paramedics lift the six foot, probably 250 pound, unconscious man onto the stretcher). Least to say, the obviously young child (definitely Killua's age) needed only punch the other contestant (somehow making it look like a gentle tap) to knock him out.

Not that Killua was really paying attention to the fight.

He was a bit… Distracted.

Why?

Because Killua didn't think he'd ever seen another girl so freaking beautiful in all his life, his heart skipping beats as he watched the screen.

Normally he would scoff at the sight of some girl trying to fight in a freaking sun dress of all things (unless they were his mother of course, terrifying crazy bitch). But this girl made it look so easy and graceful like she wasn't fighting grown men with muscles the size of her head.

The entire fight maybe took less than three seconds and already Killua was starstruck.

He had to meet her.

Those stunning bright green eyes, the cheerful easy going smile, the aura that seemed to draw people in (and draw in Killua it did), and those long green tinted raven locks. Killua never thought he would be so taken in by some stupid girl before but seeing her up there on stage with that bright expression on her face.

Like he said before, he had to meet her.

That task turned out to be a lot harder said than done. Afterall, he was still stuck on floor 73 and she was on a floor nearly double that number. It took much longer than he anticipated, nearly a whole day what a drag, before he (ironically) happened to stumble into her by complete coincidence.

Killua had blinked, steely blue eyes widening in surprise when they clashed with those stunning green ones. Very much unbecoming of a Zoldyck he had sucked in a sharp breath when he realized exactly who he had just ran into head first and oh my god it's actually her.

When Geon had cocked her head to the side after recovering from the collision, an inquisitive smile on her face, and a huge blushed decided to rage across Killua's normally pale face at the adorable look.

"I-I- You-you're-you're-" He stuttered pathetically, young and inexperience in the overwhelming emotions clogging up his systems, nowhere near the sauve teen he would be later on in life but endearing nonetheless.

"Killua!" The girl had exclaimed in excitement succeeding in short circuiting all thought in the young Zoldyck's brain as it melted in a stream of 'she knows my name!'. "I'm so happy to meet you! My name is Geon, will you be my friend?" Straight forwards, blunt, utterly sincere, like the sweetest song played out to the world and unafraid of any that may try to strike it down. It was a heart on a sleeve, a long extended hand, and it struck, deep into Killua's closed off heart in a place he didn't think even Alluka had ever reached.

Something connected then and all Killua knew was that he never ever wanted to be separated from this person standing so open before him.

It was utterly impulsive and completely unplanned, brain on the fritz, the next thing he blurted out.

"Will you marry me and be my bride?!"

Everyone froze, Killua felt coldness creeping up his back as silence fell across the room at his loud exclamation. Another vibrant red blush exploded across his face and Killua just wanted to curl up and die of embarrassment.

He was never going to live this down and oh my god she was going to think he was so weird and never want to talk to him again.

Gon watched as his future best friend stumbled over himself, struggling to find words, while Gon himself felt a little confused at the declaration.

Killua wanted to marry him? That didn't seem exactly right.

Of course the red look on Killua's face was really funny and they were supposed to be best friends forever anyways. Gen's memories said that married couples were best friends just like her parents had been, and honestly the idea of marrying Killua and spending all their lives together seemed great in young Gon's mind. Being a bride was a little weird since he was a boy after all, but he was also Geon at the moment.

And Geon was whatever Geon wanted to be. If that meant being a bride, then Gon supposed he didn't mind terribly much at all.

Also, like he said before, Killua was really funny when he blushed.

Killua on the other hand wasn't lucky enough to have privy to Gon's thoughts and was utterly confused when Gon started giggling instead of running away immediately. The giggle morphed into a full blown laugh, tears prickling at the corners of the child's eyes, arms clutched around the stomach, and bent back shaking with laughter.

Killua furrowed his brows feeling more embarrassed than ever, "S-shut up! Don't laugh at me!"

Gon giggled and straightened up, taking a moment to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye before smiling brightly again at the white haired boy. "I'm not laughing at you Killua, you're so funny and cute." He really was.

Killua was mortified.

"I am NOT cute!'

Gon laughed again, "Of course you are! And for your question, sure."

"No I am not- what?"

Killua paused.

"What do you mean sure?"

Gon laughed again, flowers seeming to magically bloom around him.

"I mean sure! I'll be your bride Killua!"

A/N: I really really don't want to drag this chapter out any longer. I don't want to stress about this story at all, don't want to feel obligated to update it if I post long chapters. So this is what I have so far! And KILLUA is finally here! YAY!

I have nothing more to say. Thanks for reading I guess.

Reviews are appreciated!

Peace out

-TheFirecrest