Wow, so this is the end. I'm with you, guys. It's weird. I've dedicated so much time to this, and now...it's finally complete. I won't say it doesn't feel gratifying, but it's strange nonetheless. I've started on my next fanfiction, actually, but who knows when I'll get around to posting it. I've decided to stick with Hunter x Hunter for the time being. This is going to be my first time writing two fanfictions over the same anime, so the contrast between the two should be interesting. I hope you guys'll check it out when I start posting it. Ah, I feel like I'm forgetting so much! There's so many things I want to say, but I'm blanking! We'll see if I remember them when I write the after note. Honestly, though, I'm kinda getting emotional right now. That might sound odd, but my OCs are my babies. That's not even the best way to put it...I don't know how to describe what they are to me. They're my characters. It makes it hard to end stories like this. But, well, this is the final chapter.

I urge you to enjoy it!

A grayish-green hummingbird halts in front of my face, startling me. It hovers for a second, staring me in the eye, before it darts off out of sight. Kurapika laughs, and I purse my lips with embarrassment.

"Shut up," I snap, looking up at him from where I sit. "You would've reacted, too."

"Sorry," he apologizes, "but I didn't expect a little bird to scare you like that! If you're going to be like that, we should probably leave. There are tons of little creatures like that around."

"That was a one time thing. It won't happen again," I pout. I kick my legs that dangle over the cliff edge, keeping my face turning out towards the expanse of trees below us. Behind me, I know, Kurapika leans against one of the trees of old. Off to our right, the sun has sunk behind the multitude of tree leaves, the sky left behind painted with orange and yellow.

"It's been a long time since I've seen one of those hummingbirds," he reminisces. "They're all over the place around here."

"They're puny little things," I comment, glancing off in the direction the bird disappeared.

"If you want, there are plenty of enormous creatures in the forest as well. It might be a little dangerous, but we could go looking for them."

"Nah, I'm good. I wanna stay here until it gets dark."

"After it gets dark it's pretty nice, too. The stars out here are much better than they are in the city. Back….before….I liked to sneak out at night to come here and stargaze. Always alone…"

"So that means I'm the first you've brought?" I tease.

"Yes."

"It took you long enough to bring me here, though."

He sighs. "I didn't have the time. This is the first vacation I've got since I started working for the Nostrades. Trust me, I suffered, too, during the wait. I had to bear with the earfuls you wouldn't stop giving me every time I told you I was too busy."

"It took you half a year!"

"It hasn't been six months yet," he attempts to calm me.

"It's still too long! I took you to see where I grew up the week you were released from the hospital!"

"You had me tag along to kill your father!"

I shrink when he raises his voice, knocking my foot against the rock cliffside. "I'll admit I did that while we were there, but that wasn't the reason I brought you."

"Why did you?"

"Because," I grumble, "you told me you might take me here. I thought I'd show you where I lived as a kid, in return." We lapse into silence, then he releases a long breath. Quiet footsteps reach my ears before he comes into sight, sitting beside me. Although I eye him, he doesn't look my direction. He raises his hand abruptly, pointing.

"Around there, there's a small lake that I'd often join my father to fish from. It was a small enough body of water that there weren't any large monsters living in it. We would always catch these fish called Red-Gilled Bubblers. That what my Clan called them, anyway. They're called bubblers because they constantly create air in their skin to keep near the surface, where their food is, so they'd blow out bubbles to keep from surfacing completely. There were also Gray-Gilled Bubblers, but I never caught them. They lived in some different lake that I heard was full of monster fish. Not many people dared to catch fish there. Since I always saw that one lake, the first time I saw a lake without bubblers I got extremely confused. The water was flat, without bubbling! To me, that was an amazing sight."

He shifts his hand slightly to the right, pointing a little farther out. "Somewhere over there is a natural fruit orchard. We called the fruit that grew there Huch fruit, after one of our elders who liked them. Apparently, they're only found in this forest, so they fetched a good price for those allowed to go sell at the markets. My friend Pairo and I would always stop by there for a snack if we got hungry. I would always be the one to climb the trees to get to the good fruits. Pairo tried to climb once or twice, but he couldn't see very well, and I always had to coax him down."

When he speaks of his friend, his expression grows regretful, but he still smiles. Then he moves his finger again, pointing to a slightly closer area even farther to the left. I notice, there, that there's a small break in the trees. It's slight, so slight that only a few trees must've been removed, but I can still tell that there a few trees were felled. "That's…." His hand lowers to rest in his lap. "That's where the Kurta Clan used to be. Our houses weren't very big. Usually, a large family would all live together in just a few rooms. For me, it was only me and my parents. We didn't have many laws, except for that we weren't allowed to leave. Many were content with that. Just look at this forest! It's a wonderful place to live! I wasn't, though. Content. I wanted to explore, to see how big the world outside was. For someone in our Clan, that was an unusual aspiration. We lived well, though, for what we had. The forest provided everything we needed...

"...You've shown interest in my clothes before, and I promise that you aren't the first. The designs I wear were common in the Kurta Clan, but I've never seen anything resembling it in the outside world. The cloth is also unique to the Kurta people. There were a couple different forest beasts we hunted for pelts, but again, most of them were native only to here. I guess there are one or two creatures you can find elsewhere, but we also used natural dyes not found anywhere else. We didn't trade clothes, either. Sometimes we'd trade the dyes, but I think my people took pride in their unique outfits. They thought regular clothes were plain, and wore our clothes gladly as part of the Clan. Now that I think about it, that was probably just one more way we secluded ourselves from the world."

I stare at the darkening sky, a bit embarrassed to see the look on his face. I don't know how to describe it exactly, but his expression looks...soft. "What about...your family? What were your parents like?"

"Well," he chuckles, "they were fairly traditional. They didn't like that I wanted to leave the Clan, even if just to go into town. They were even against me learning the common language I'm speaking to you with right now. My Clan had their own language, you know? Their own words and their own writing, and I learned that. I had to study privately to speak like I do now. Now I can even read the common alphabet. But they were great parents, my mother and father. They wanted the best for me."

Wanted the best for him...sounds nice. "Do you still remember your first language?" I ask.

"It's been years, so I could be a little rusty, but I could still carry a conversation in it. There just isn't anyone around anymore who speaks Kurta to talk with. Even if there was, I'd sound like a child. I've gained a wider vocabulary outside of Kurta than I have in it, unfortunately."

"Would you teach it to me?"

Although I don't look, I can feel his gaze. "I could, but what for? It's a dead language."

"You still speak it," I argue. "Besides, it would be kinda cool if the two of us could speak a language no one else could understand. It'd be like talking in some sort of code."

"Have you ever learned another language before?"

"Not spoken," I admit, "but I've translated a few old books my brother gave me. The last one he ever had me read was a dead language of some kind. Still, I got it done in the deadline given to me. It was only three months, by the way," I brag.

"Then the next time I've got a little extra time, I'll begin teaching you the alphabet."

I scowl. "And when's that gonna be? You're always insisting that you're too busy to do anything with me."

"You seem perfectly content accompanying me to work," he points out. "In fact, you seem perfectly content accompanying me anywhere I go. I'm surprised you haven't started sleeping in my bed yet, you stay so close to me."

I tense. "I'm not that shameless!"

He laughs at me again. "I never know where you draw your lines, Corona. It's hard to tell sometimes."

"So what if-"

"It keeps you interesting," he compliments, taking a strand of my hair between his fingers. "I'm never bored a moment we're together."

My breath catches. "Really?"

Chuckling, he confirms, "Really. You're so much like a little kid, Corona. All it takes is a few words from me and you're already delighted."

"When're gonna stop calling me a kid?" I grumble, resting my chin in on hand.

"So long as you act like one."

"I don't act like a kid!"

"Yes, you do. You're fine how you are though. Don't try to grow up too hard."

"Who do you think you're talking to? Of all the people in the world, you're talking to an ex spider! I've stolen countless things, killed more people than I care to remember, and you're calling me a kid? I don't get it!"

He sighs. "Neither of us has the cleanest record, Corona, even if yours might be a bit worse than mine. Even if you've done terrible things, though, you're still a kid at heart. I could almost say your killings were done in ignorance because of that fact. Kids like you just don't know as much about the world, about people as they should."

"I feel like I know more than enough," I complain. I glance away, recalling the times when I was younger. A saw plenty of humanity's dark side when Father taught me the tools of his trade.

"You saying that is enough to tell me you don't know near enough."

I finally whip my head to face him. "Why are you so-"

"So I'll take my time and teach you everything I know," he promises. Before I can register what's happening, he's leaned in close and pressed his lips against mine. Just like that the two of us sit together, lips touching, under the thousands of stars that illuminate the quiet, black night sky.

The End

Well, I didn't remember what I wanted to say...but whatever. Thank you all for reading Number Zero, and accompanying both me and Corona on this journey! Shout out to DeceivingAura, whose comments I never tired of reading. I loved seeing what you had to say, and your enthusiasm for this story had me dancing on the inside. Of course, I seriously appreciate everyone who comments! And I just now remembered what I nearly completely forgot! I've got to share how you guys imagined Corona! Perhaps the most specific image was one where she had pale skin, pink hair similar to Crona's from Soul Eater, and golden cat eyes that came from her father's side. I was impressed with the detail, needless to say. Actually, another person said they viewed her like Crona from Soul Eater as well, probably sue to the similarity in names. Another picture was of her with gold skin, red hair and freckles. Then there's was DeceivingAura who claimed to see her in multiple different ways, one with her being a short brunette with red eyes, and the other had her with purple eyes and honey brown hair, although the preference was for the first image. I bring up the latter description because I found it interesting that...*drum roll*...I also see Corona with purple eyes. I've imagined her from the start to have something called Alexandra's syndrome, which gives a person naturally pale skin and purple eyes. For her hair, it's black, but she bleached random patches of it. As for height, she's fairly average. I'd say around 5'4, or 5'5, measuring feet for those of you who don't live in America. And with that, I am both delighted and sorrowful to proclaim that this story, Number Zero, is officially finished!

Till next time, Kisses from SnowyNeko! :3 MEOW!