Hisoka smiles, gauging the Hunters' strengths with amused eyes. "Oh~? You know who I am? ♡" he asks, smile growing wider. "Then, this makes things a little more interesting."

Senka scoffs. "What's interesting here is the fact that a self-centered murderer like you is working with someone else! What's up with that, huh?" She projects her Ren rather aggressively, getting into a fighting stance.

Hisoka chuckles, raking a hand through his vibrant-colored hair. "There's someone I want to watch, you see? She has great potential to entertain me one day.♢"

An irk mark appears on Senka's forehead. As she was about to go punch Hisoka in the face, Ryu grabs her shoulder. "You're getting impatient and annoying again, let's wait."

"Wha–? We need to get to where Killua and the others are as soon as possible!"

"I know! But we can't get ourselves killed before that!" Ryu argues back, glaring at her through the corner of his eye.

Senka scoffs, taking a step back.

This time, Ryu looks directly into Hisoka's eyes. "How much do you know about us?"

"Oh? Curious now, are we~?" Hisoka slowly walks towards the Hunters, shuffling with the two cards in between his fingers. The two cards turned to three, then four, before disappearing completely. "Sanguis was quite talkative about you two, you know? I'm surprised he even remembered the names of his victims back then! ♡" He gave Ryu and Senka a malicious smile. "Shiro, wasn't it?"

"You–!" Ryu's voice was laced with pure anger, something that rarely ever happens. "You have no right to say his name..."

Hisoka's smile practically reached his ears as he looked down on the two Hunters. "Oops~! Did I hit a nerve?" He stops right in front of them. "To think you've come to hunt Sanguis down after all this time. People from Meteor City are so intriguing~♡"

"Stop right there!" Ryu exclaims, loud enough for his voice to crack. He gazed at Senka through the corner of his eye, only to find her whole body shaking. He wasn't sure if it was due to her anger, though, as her face was covered by her hair.

Hisoka feigns a look of shock. "Oh? But I was only saying the things I knew about you, just like you asked!"

"You're just playing with us, you bastard!" Ryu began to get into a fighting stance, activating his Ren. "And we're not letting you get away with it. Right, Senka?"

Senka nods, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, and steeling herself for the battle to come. "Let's make this quick." She activates her Ren as well.

________________

"We'll accept anything you leave here, but don't ever take anything away from us."

Ryu slowly opens his eyes to a foggy and yellow sky. He sat up, feeling groggy and disoriented as he clutched his head. Immediately, a foul stench made its way up to his nose, causing him to scrunch up his face in disgust.

'Where am I... and what is that smell?' he thought to himself, pinching his nose to keep the smell out. He looked around and saw piles of trash stacked up everywhere. Groups of crows were flying around them, cawing and gathering for food around those piles.

"A... garbage dump?" Ryu mumbles to himself.

"Hey!" A voice called from right beside him.

Ryu immediately whipped his head in the opposite direction. There, he sees a young boy around the same age as him. He was staring straight at Ryu's eyes with his hazel ones, face mere inches away from his.

A few seconds of awkward silence pass...

"Oh," was Ryu's only reaction.

The young boy's eyes widen as he leans back in laughter. "Oh?! That's it?" He clutches his stomach as he continues laughing. "I was totally expecting you to freak out or something!" He wipes tears away from his eyes, before calming down.

"You're not even that scary, Shiro," another voice said. Ryu looked past the boy to see a girl around the same age as him. Her arms were crossed and she had this irritated look.

The young boy caught Ryu's attention again. "Hey, hey! What's your name? I'm Shiro! And this is my best friend Senka!" Shiro points to himself and Senka respectively, while Senka lets out a small smile.

Shiro had hair as white as snow, which was in contrast to the rags he was wearing. It seems like he found whatever he could from the piles of trash and made them his own. Meanwhile, Senka's light blue hair was much shorter, but her eyes were still the same jet-black color. She was wearing worn-out, torn clothes similar to Shiro's.

Ryu stared at them. "I'm Ryu," he replies.

"Ryu, huh? Come on, I'll help you up!" Shiro takes Ryu's hand and helps him up to his feet. "So, were you abandoned, too?" He asks.

"...What?"

"I mean, why else are you left alone here in Meteor City?" He pauses. "Well technically we're in the outskirts, but you get my point!"

"Meteor City? But isn't this a garbage dump?" Ryu frowns, scrunching up his nose once more. "And it stinks..."

Senka chimes in. "But people live here! This is our home!" She exclaims, but after seeing Ryu's confused expression, her enthusiasm drops. "...Don't you know this place?"

Ryu shakes his head. "I don't even know how I ended up here in the first place."

Senka and Shiro share a look. "So... what were you doing before you came here?"

Ryu's eyes widened. "What was I... doing?" he paused, a small frown making its way to his young features. He closed his eyes, but all he could remember was darkness, nothingness. Just an empty void in his memories.

"I don't remember," was Ryu's reply.

Shiro and Senka's eyes widened. "Don't remember? How about family? Parents? Did you have parents?" Shiro asked, leaning closer to Ryu as he went on.

"I don't know."

Senka and Shiro shared a look again. "Then... why don't you come and stay with us?" Shiro smiles, holding out his hand. "I'm pretty sure the elders won't mind!"

Ryu stares at Shiro's outstretched hand. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah! You may have been abandoned by your family, and you may not even remember them..." he starts, gazing at Ryu with a bright and warm gaze. "But that's fine! Here in Meteor City, everyone is family, even us! We'll be your new family!"

Senka nods vigorously.

"Family..." Ryu mumbles, staring at the two kids in front of him, then at Shiro's hand. After some thought, he takes it, feeling the warmth of his hand. "Okay."

"Yay!" Shiro slings his arm around Ryu's shoulder, and the other around Senka's. "I have a new best friend now!" He grins widely.

'H-Huh?!'

"Wha– What about me?!" Senka argues, a vein popping on her forehead.

Shiro laughs. "You're both my best friends!"

_ _ _

Ryu had a feeling that he wasn't given much affection as a baby, for whenever he spent time with Senka and Shiro, he would feel an unfamiliar sense of warmth and comfort. Even something as simple as including him in all their conversations, taking him to every corner of the city, or giving him a shiny object from the endless piles of trash made him happy. Slowly, Ryu found himself smiling more, talking more, and being more open about his feelings.

Without a doubt, Shiro saved Ryu from a life of loneliness just by letting him stay by his side.

"There doesn't seem to be anything around here, Shiro," Ryu says, rummaging through one of the garbage piles in hopes to find something to keep them entertained for the day.

"Aww, you too? This is usually where we find a lot of interesting things, though!" Shiro sighs. "How about you, Senka?"

Senka was sitting nearby, tossing an empty soda can around. "Nope!" She doesn't even spare a glance towards Shiro as she continues tossing the can.

"No fair! You're not even looking!" Shiro pouts, digging around even deeper.

Seeing Shiro's determined look, a slight chuckle escapes Ryu's lips. "Maybe we should look somewhere else?"

"No way! I know we're gonna find something cool around here!"

Just as he said that, a small, shiny object rolled out from the trash pile and onto the ground. Shiro immediately notices as he crouches down to pick it up. "See! I told you so!" He holds it up, a triumphant smile on his face.

Ryu and Senka immediately gather around Shiro. "It's a coin!" Senka exclaims.

Shiro takes a closer look at the gold-colored coin. "This one's a little different from what we've found before, Senka." He turns it around.

Ryu looks on, eyes wide and jaw slightly open from awe.

"Woah! This one has a really cool pattern! See?" Shiro holds up the coin once more. "One side has a spider web on it, and the other has a spider with twelve legs!"

"A spider with twelve legs? Never seen those before..." Senka tilts her head in confusion.

Shiro nods. "Me too! How about you, Ryu?"

"No..." Ryu shakes his head. "I've never seen a coin before, either."

"–What? Really?!" Shiro's eyes widen. "Coins usually have faces on them, from what me and Senka have seen before..." he trails off, looking down at the coin on his hands as the faint sunlight reflected off of it. "You know what?" Shiro takes Ryu's hand, placing the spider-patterned coin on his palm. "You can have it!"

Ryu freezes, completely taken aback. "Huh?"

Shiro gives Ryu a big smile. "Take it! This is your first time seeing one, right?"

"But... are you sure?"

"It's fine! Me and Senka have collected way more before we met you anyways, so it's fine! Right, Senka?" Shiro nudges her a bit.

Senka averts her gaze. "Well, I guess it's fine. That coin is way cooler though..."

Shiro laughs. "We can always find more!" he exclaims, patting Senka on the back.

Ryu stares at the coin, then at Shiro's bright smile. "Thanks." He smiles back, holding tightly onto the coin Shiro gave him.

_ _ _

Unfortunately, their time with Shiro did not last very long.

Ryu and Senka sat outside the Elders' makeshift meeting room. They were sitting down on the ground, leaning against its walls as they listened to their muffled voices. Ryu hugged his knees to his chest, burying his face into them as his body shook violently.

Senka kept sniffling, occasionally wiping away tears when Ryu wasn't looking. "Geez, I wonder what they're talking about!" Senka tries her best to crack a smile, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Isn't it obvious...?" Ryu replies, not even lifting his face to look Senka in the eye. "They're talking about what happened to Shiro..." He couldn't control the way his voice cracked in the end.

Senka tries to think of something to say but to no avail.

"...It's not fair..." Ryu mumbles.

"Huh?"

"It's not fair! Why was Shiro the one who suffered? Why did he have to be killed?! Taken away from us just like that?!" Ryu hugged his knees even tighter, stopping himself from bursting into tears again.

"Ryu..." Senka's sniffling got louder and more frequent.

"I was right there, too. I saw him, Senka..." he pauses, loosening his grip around his knees. "But I didn't do anything."

Ryu can vividly remember the way he hid behind one of the trash piles, looking on in horror at Shiro's limp body lying on the ground, covered in blood. He could remember the boy standing right in front of Shiro, scimitar in hand, as the shadow of his hair covered his expression. He remembered the way the boy wiped the blood splatter off of his face, before finally locking his eyes on him.

Lastly, he remembered the way he ran away. With shaky legs and a loudly beating heart, he left behind Shiro's body... to the hands of the one who murdered him.

"I-It's fine, Ryu! if I were in your position, I couldn't have done anything either!" Senka pats Ryu on the back, wiping yet another stray tear off her face.

A moment of silence passes. Ryu mumbles something Senka wasn't able to hear.

"What?"

"I said, why do you keep pretending to be okay?" Ryu finally lifts his head to meet Senka's gaze. Narrowing his eyes, he notices how puffy and swollen Senka's eyes are, even though he was in the same state.

"I–" Senka tries to come up with an answer. "I... don't know... What else could I do?"

Ryu finally stands up. "You're so annoying, you know that?"

"Wh-What? Excuse me–"

"I'm gonna look for him." Ryu's fists were clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Huh?!"

"I can't... I can't let him go, after what he's done to Shiro." Ryu sniffles, wiping his eyes with the back of his arm.

"...Then!" Senka gets up as well. "Then, I want to go with you! I want to look for him, too!"

Ryu looks at Senka with widened eyes.

"Even if you said no, I'd come anyway, so just let me help you!" Senka insisted. "It's best if we stick together anyways like we always have!" Senka takes Ryu's hands, unclenching his fists.

Ryu stared at Senka's hands as they took his. "Senka..." he mumbled. "...You're all I have left after all." His lips turned upwards into the smallest of smiles. Little did Senka know that that would be the last smile she would see from him in a long time.

"We'll accept anything you leave here, but don't ever take anything away from us."