Clan of Death

The town was an absolute crap hole. There was no other way to describe the impoverished town they were passing through. Trash littered the streets and broken sewage pipes spewed their disgusting contents all around them. Killua was not usually squeamish about dirt, but this type of filth could give anybody a disease. "Man, the clan wars really killed this place…" Killua noted. A few passing strangers gave him sharp glares while the rest eyed the pair hungrily. They desperately wanted money from any travelers they could manage to mug.

Crash! The sound of trashcans tumbling forced Gon and Killua on the alert. The steel can came rolling out of the alleyway. Killua stopped the tumbling can with his foot and peered around the corner with a deadpan expression. "You," Killua said, "What are you doing?"

"Oh that? Ahahaha!" He rubbed the back of his head in shame. The middle-aged man was sitting cross-legged on the nasty alley street. "I figured it would be like an awesome movie you know? I would step out all cool! I guess it didn't work did it? Ahahaha!"

"Idiot."

"Right, right!" The strange man pointed to Gon. "I'm assuming the two of you are Gon and Killua, but I don't know which is which. Mind introducing yourselves?"

"I'm Gon!" Gon waved his hand at the man, "and this is Killua! Nice to meet you!"

"Gon, don't just tell him stuff like that! We don't know if he's a friend or enemy yet!"

"Ahaha! No worries boys!" The man stepped out of the alley way revealing his full figure. "I'm the guide you're looking for." He pointed to himself with a ridiculous grin on his face. "The name's Eichiro Shi. From the Shi clan, ya know? An awesome last name if I do say so myself!"

"Gon...please don't tell me the rest of them are this weird."

"I'm afraid your commit is valid my boy!" Oh great. Now they were going to a musty compound full of people wearing rags who were overly eager. It was like a Gon on steroids. Killua's worst nightmare was going to come true! "Now then, let's get going shall we? We have a long walk ahead of us! Ahahaha!"

"Ooo! I wonder what we'll see!" Gon said enthusiastically as the followed behind the strange man.

"Yeah…great." What were these guys abilities again? Killua's eyes drifted back over to the oily haired man leading the way.

"Now, let's see." The man Eichiro hummed to himself. "Ah! Yes! Right, right almost forgot about that." He spun on his feet, throwing gravel and dust into the air, a Cheshire grin on his face. "Now now! Let's not get scared when you see the mountain! We've been warding off intruders! There's only so much a person can do without resorting to nasty methods." There was a crackle like breaking glass.

"A purple light?" Gon's eyes widened in amazement. This must be one of those barriers Killua had been talking about. The light faded and a gust of wind roared out blowing with enough power to make him brace against the wind. A foul, rotten stench rose up and Gon was forced to cover his nose. "Bleh!"

"Haven't you heard of body disposal?!" Killua complained beside him, coughing and gagging. "You must have at least twenty bodies to get a stench that bad!"

"But they aren't dead." The man said, "They're bodies are just rotting." He pointed to a presumed human. They looked like wrung out towels, limbs twisted and mash together, and organs leaked out of them. The smell of decaying flesh was strong, and the pair had to resist the instinctive urge to retch. They could handle it—the Chimera Ants were just as bad—but it was not a pretty sight.

"What did you do to them?"

"Oh, that's our clan's bloodline—the ropu no otoko or rope man! It's the perfect interrogation technique!"

"Killua, I don't think this was such a good idea."

"For once Gon, I'm agreeing with you. Though, this is your fault."

"Come on boys don't be like that!" The man ushered them forward. "You'll just love our clan leader."

A/N: Hiatus is over! Short but I've been sidetracked lately. Well, this story was never meant to have full length chapters to begin with.

And imagine my surprise when I saw HunterXHunter was off of hiatus too? Well, I just had to get this chapter finished. Based on the twisted figures in tanks, I get the feeling this next arc is going to be just as gory as the Chimera Ant arc. So, obviously, I decided to aim for creepy crap. I originally had a different ability for Shi clan, but this is better and I get to integrate some parts of cannon too even though this is obviously AU now.

Writing this at midnight though, probably did not help my spelling at all. Guilty of not rereading my stuff. And to all my reviewers, thank you! Sometimes just telling me to update will get me off my butt.