The forest that he'd entered was thicker than he'd originally thought it to be. Illumi felt slightly irritated at that. He had gone straight on to finishing his assignment after receiving his Hunter license and he really wanted to go home as soon as possible. His Killua had come back and Illumi wanted to be a part of whatever punishment his younger brother would receive for thinking of leaving the family business like that. In short, he wanted to finish this assignment soon.
With a huff of annoyance, he continued into the woods. The forest of Yuukoko was a restricted access area because it was the home of many magical creatures, almost all of which had no information recorded of other than the fact that they existed and could kill any human. One had to either be on a very exclusive list to get in or have a Hunter license to access the grounds. Despite the apparent danger, there was one human property within the forest and that was where his target was residing in at the moment. Deep within the thick woodland was a Japanese style home that was listed under a man named Kimihiro who passed it on to his target, a young woman by the name of Karuma.
'Karuma Hiling, 19 years old, the so-called Green Witch.' Illumi found little information about the girl aside from details of her birth and that she travelled a lot after she reached the age of 12, when her mother died. She earned her own Hunter license at the age of 15 and was rarely seen since afterwards. Her title, the Green Witch, also gave very vague, almost fairytale like data. Apparently, she granted wishes for a price though what she usually asked for in return, no one ever really knew. Details about the witch's age and origin were often vague distorted and her existence itself was considered somewhat of an urban legend for the fanatical.
His employer happened to be a believer of hers. The man had made a deal with the girl and the reason he wanted her dead was because the cost of his wish had been his life. The girl had disappeared after granting the man's wish but the idiot became paranoid that at any moment, he would drop dead or she would come to kill him herself. So he figured that enough was enough and hired the Zoldycks to assassinate her. In Illumi's personal opinion, he shouldn't have made such a risky deal in the first place.
Right now, he was off to kill a girl with dark brown hair and eyes, a small build and lightly tanned skin, the appearance he estimated from the last public photo of her which was from her hunter examination, four years ago. There was nothing much to note of her, looks wise. She was a little above average with her almond eyes and a heart-shaped face. She could almost be considered cute but her nose was a little too big and flat and her hair was trash compared to his smooth locks. Then again, not many could say that they had better hair than the assassin did.
Sensing movement up ahead, Illumi jumped into the tallest tree close to him and climbed. It gave him the view of the forest in which he finally saw the clearing which the house was situated in. Moving closer now, opting to just battle the target and get it over with, Illumi burst through the tree line and landed on the front yard. Sitting on the porch, quietly smoking a pipe was his target.
Karuma sensed someone's approach just as the person broke through the tree line. 'That was fast.' She thought as she examined the person quickly. Usually, it took a few minutes before the person arrived after they passed the barrier around the house. That is, if that person didn't get lost afterwards. The man standing in her yard wore green with round yellow buttons decorating the torso and shoulder area. He had long silky black hair, pale skin and large dark eyes that took note of her emotionlessly.
"Welcome. Would you like to come in for tea?" She asked out of habit even though all of her senses screamed that this man was dangerous. He wouldn't have been able to even find the house if he had no wish that she could grant and she had an obligation to extend him the courtesy of a granted wish, even if she really just wanted him to leave.
The man stared impassively. "I have to decline that offer. I'm really just here to kill you." With that, he raised a hand armed with the same yellow knob on his clothing which she now knew were long and very sharp needles. Instantly alert, she tensed and prepared to run away. If he really was going to kill her, she didn't want him anywhere near her shop. But first…
"Ok. I hear ya. I still have to ask you though, do you have a wish? You wouldn't have been able to find the shop if you didn't have one that I can grant for you." she explained, hoping that the man would change his mind about killing her. He looked powerful and skilled and it reflected in his aura that he no longer bothered to hide. She knew at once that though she could challenge him, he would ultimately be the winner on a one-on-one battle.
The man seemed to think about it for a moment and he didn't move. However, instinct told her to tuck and roll away which was good because several needles embedded themselves where her head had been. He hadn't even moved! "Nah. I don't really have a wish at the moment. I'd rather just kill you so I can go home. I've got a brother waiting for me there, you see?" Came a voice close to her right, opposite of where he had been half a second ago. 'Oh crap!'
She tossed a smoke bomb that she got as a present from one of the tengus that year and made ran like the dogs of hell were chasing after her. 'Run. Run. Zig-zag. DUCK!' She followed that little voice in her mind that was her instinct. Gradually, she suppressed her aura and her steps lightened to make it more difficult to find her through the thick twining woods and bushes. It was a chase now with the goal of getting him away from the shop and hopefully surviving this murder attempt.
Illumi tried to keep track of the girl. 30 seconds after he gave chase, she had covered her aura and quieted the noises she made while running. She was also fairly fast and had knowledge of the terrain which gave her the advantage in the chase. This was a surprise to Illumi as he hadn't expected the girl to be able to match up to him in terms of speed but he also kept in mind that she was a hunter. She knew how to fight. 'And definitely how to make an interesting chase.'
Just as he thought of that, the ground beneath him sank inwards causing him to jump away to where a he was shot by a hidden rifle. The bullet had gone past him but not without nicking his neck. So the girl had booby-traps in the area? He would have to be more careful with those.
"You should just stop running away, you know? We both know that I'll end up killing you so stop wasting your time trying to run." The only response he got was a very light gasp which was enough to tell him which direction his target was in. Moving slightly to the right, he dodged a few knives that flew on by. Within a few more steps another set of knives were sent his way followed by sharpened spikes and another bursting of smoke bombs. Within the smoke stage, the assassin made a rather thrilling dance of dodging projectiles almost blindly. Had anyone been watching his display, he probably would have stuck pins in their eyes while he enjoyed himself for a moment.
He had to admit that the rapid fire way that the attacks aimed at him were impressive if the way they almost hit him each time was taken into consideration. Concentrating his nen into his palm, he project the aura, blowing away the smoke and another set of sharpened spikes that were heading his way. This was getting boring. He'd wasted enough time as it was.
Somewhere ahead of him, Karuma cursed to herself. The traps had done little to slow her attacker down and she was quickly running out of options. She wouldn't be able to outrun him for much longer as they were entering claimed territories soon. She couldn't risk entering those as then she would have to face both the assassin and whatever creatures that inhabited the area who would be fucking pissed at her for trespassing even if it was to save her own skin. She thought of warded areas where she could hide.
'I could head for the Fox family's territory. They would let me in. But that could risk this guy attacking them and Lady Fox just had her kits.' That was one idea out. 'I could try to bring him into the spider's hunting grounds. I can survive against them in a fight. But Lady Arachne would hunt me down if he ended up butchering her spiderlings cuz I brought him there! Oh shit!' She heard needles embed themselves into a tree not too far behind her. 'Think. Think! There's gotta be a-' She leapt into a tree just as more needles almost hit her. 'He's here!'
Running out of options, she forced all thought from her mind as she veered to the right and up into the trees tops. She forced her legs faster, pumped her energy into them, hoping to reach her destination before her would-be killer caught her. Branches snagged into clothing, leaves whipped at her face. She was aware that her blind dash was getting her scratched and cut. She ignored the pain that blossomed in her leg. All she focused on was to keep on running in the direction of the spiders' den. Maybe the spiders would take pity on her for all that she was technically their neighbor but she was certain that they would fight the man for trespassing in the area. 'Please let me make it.' With one more huge push, she broke through the web cocooned foliage that signified the spiders' territory.
She running and finally ducked into a small ditch that she knew to be there but was heavily hidden by layers of spider silk. Crouching low as to fit into the hidden hole, she bit into her shirt to force herself to breathe through her nose. Her aura suppressed, she forced her body to calm until she completely erased her presence and blended into nothingness.
The sounds of snapping branches and even falling trees filled her ears. The guy was literally ploughing through the forest, she thought in panic. The spiders would be furious at the damage done to their home. Through the webbing, they would be able to find her and all chances of her finding mercy from them were gone cuz her assassin decided to screw it and just destroy everything in his path. At that point, she wasn't even sure would she wanted to find her first because she knew the insects would definitely be pissed and take it out on her.
She silently prayed that the two major threats to her life at the moment found each other instead. Wouldn't it be nice if they all killed each other as she tried very hard to not exist in her little hidey-hole?
So caught up in her concentration that she didn't notice the dangerously close sound of the huge tree falling...right on top of her. It smashed through the webbed-shelter and found herself with the wind punched out of her. And pain! So much pain!
Illumi approached the single dark spot in the mess of spiderweb-covered everything. His target was pinned under the wide and heavy trunk of the tree that he had cut down. Her hair fanned out in a rather pretty manner against the webbing that it was caught on. He watched her gasp and tried to push herself out in futile effort as he approached. Her tan skin looked paler in contrast to the bark of pressing into her or maybe that was blood loss as he noticed the red beginning to stain the webbing. It didn't really matter since he was about to kill her.
Noticing his approach, the girl fixed her terrified eyes on him. He found himself slightly disappointed when the fear and panic in them were replaced by calm. Although her eyes were still swimming in pain, her whole face relaxed, as did her struggling. She must've been having trouble breathing right before she saw him because her breaths noticeably came out slower and quieter as he approached. In fact, all signs of flight left the girl and now she watched him in what he could only describe as morbid fascination. Her pupils dilated in agony, taking in every motion and solely focused on him. It disturbed him just how much she was watching his every movement now, very similar yet completely different from a cornered animal. It was as if she was trying to ingrain him into her mind though she knew that the end was near. This was really starting to unnerve him though he kept going as expressionlessly as he had before.
Kneeling beside her, he had the opportunity to see her pupils fully blown wide as they watched him. The dark circles glowed with a surrounding chocolate halo. He was vaguely aware of the aborted motion his body created as it almost shivered from how much her gaze was disturbing him. Lowering his clawed fingers to her neck, he sliced the flesh in a reflection of the only injury he had sustained from this hunt. Her deep breathing fanned at the skin of his hand and he faintly smelled the tobacco from the pipe that she had been smoking earlier. Her throat swallowed causing her skin to touch his fingers lightly. The touch could almost be called a gentle caress. She opened her mouth to talk and he entertained the idea of letting her utter her last words.
"What is it..." She swallowed once more, skin touching once more. "...that you wish for?"
"I told you, I just wanna go home to my brother." He drove his claws through her neck and cleanly sliced her head from her shoulders. Her eyes remained dilated and watching him from her severed head though after a few moments the light in them vanished and they saw nothing anymore.
He stood up and flicked off the blood from his fingers, wondering what he could bring as proof of her death and sighing in relief that he could finally run home to spend some quality time with his Killua. Somewhere deep, deep in the back of his mind, buried so deeply that his consciousness could never hear it, a voice sounding like his own whispered, "I wish that I didn't have to kill you." But if no one could hear it, who's to say that the voice even spoke at all?