"You are the 22nd participant to arrive. Please keep your number with you at all times and display it on your person. Good luck."
I took my badge from the green jelly bean man with hesitation. What an interesting...species?
"Thank you," I tell the organism quickly before walking away. After a day of traveling through the outdoors and the bright culture of Zaban, this new setting has me on edge. Greenish-grey walls with pipes that conjure the feeling of being in a sewer. Not the most welcoming of settings, but then again, that's probably the point.
Well...probably best to find a decently clean place to avoid everyone before the exam starts.
The large pipes on the sides of the walls draw my attention immediately and I smile slightly. Most people hate being up high, but I find it comforting. The higher up I am, the more calm I am.
After easily jumping onto one of the pipes and sitting down, I notice that participants start to come in more frequently. They all look so serious and professional. Maybe taking the Hunter's Exam was a bad idea after all. I'd only really decided to do it on a whim. These guys looked so stoic...what a bunch of stiffs…..
My interest in the newcomers quickly dissipates, and I find myself extremely bored. Why was I taking this stupid exam anyways?
Because you make stupid decisions when you're bored.
Shut up, self...
My sigh reflects years of self-annoyance. I hope the ball gets rolling soon, because a bored Clover is never a good thing. Well...for the people around me, that is.
There has to be almost a hundred people in here by now...
Looks like the fun can start early.
I spot a group of participants who look like they could use some stimulation, and hop down from my pipe. Without anyone noticing me, I easily sneak up behind my first victim. My finger barely touches the man's back but he jolts in surprise, like he got shocked.
"Ow! What the hell was that?!"
I had to cover my mouth to contain my chuckle. As the man spins around in circles trying to find the source, I lightly touch the man next to him.
"Yowch! What the-?"
"Hey! Did you get shocked too?"
"Yeah! Is someone playing a prank?"
"Whoever's doing this, show yourself!"
My eyes are watering with mirth, but I keep silent as I slip through the crowd unnoticed, touching people as I pass. Soon half of the contestants are in a tizzy.
My nifty little talent of static electricity has never been a good influence on my mischievous side. I can concentrate it into certain parts of my body, and upon contact with something else, I can transfer that electricity. It was made aware to me in a rather interesting way. Some drunken bastard was saying inappropriate things to a young girl one night while I was out scavenging for food. He eventually shoved her, and I remember looking at my fist in annoyance, contemplating how hard I could punch the douche. In the end, I laid him out in one swing. The interesting part though, was that as he was lying there, little static currents ran through his body making his unconscious form twitch. Like he'd been electrocuted.
And yes, I am aware that pranking innocent bystanders isn't the best way to use my ability.
But, I smirk to myself, Its so very amusing...
An interesting face catches my attention and I chuckle devilishly. The man looks odd, with clown-like clothes and face paint, and striking red hair. If my mind wasn't completely occupied with mischief, I would have paid more attention to the obvious confidence in his stance, and the sense of strength coming from him.
But I was occupied by other, more important matters.
I creep slowly towards him while trying to stay unnoticed. As I get closer a feeling of apprehension starts to invade my senses. I dismiss it, and decide instead to change my exit strategy. Instead of hanging back and watching like I usually would, I'd full on run away. My heart pounds in my chest and adrenaline causes me to tremble slightly with excitement. I stand right behind him now and watch almost outside of my body as my finger slowly lifts. My breath catches...and then the tip of my finger makes contact.
The shock was bigger than I had intended it to be and the man jerks forward a bit. Dread ensues as a threatening feeling nearly chokes me. By the time the clown man has turned around I'm back on my pipe, not moving an inch. Not even breathing. I close my eyes in an attempt to get my heart to stop pounding.
"How very naughty of you, hmm~"
My body freezes for one whole, terrifying second. Then I'm off the pipe and turning around to face the clown man, but stop immediately as I feel a single finger poking the back of my head.
"So...you're the naughty little prankster getting all the contestants riled up?~"
My mouth was cemented shut, and all my brain could think was, busted.
"I asked you a question, little minx~"
Apparently, my mouth just needed a little encouragement.
"Y-yes, I was the one shocking people," my voice comes out clear, albeit terrified.
I can't die before the exam even starts!
That's what you get for pranking innocent people...
Not now, conscience!
"Hmm~"
His finger trails through my hair as he walks leisurely around me, so that we're facing each other. Picking up a piece of my dark purple hair, he studies it with a devious smile. Anger wells at his obvious teasing. He wanted me to be terrified. Well, I thought, it's just my luck to get caught by a psychopathic clown.
"Oh, I just love that look! How delicious~" he says with a creepy smile, "How did you manage to completely conceal your presence from me? Even when I was right next you on the pipe I could only physically see you...zetsu?"
Ignoring his confusing comment, I try to give him my best glare.
"Look, mister. I'm sorry that I shocked you and everyone else, but I know for a fact that it didn't hurt enough to be painful so can you just accept my sincerest apology and leave me alone?"
Clown man pauses and I think that maybe my tough speech worked. I thought wrong. Before I can even blink, my back is slammed into the wall and clown man's hand is around my throat. His grip is strong, but not crushing. My breath catches nonetheless.
"What's your name?~" he purrs in my ear, causing a shiver to run through my body.
"Clover."
"Clover," he says my name like someone says their favorite dessert, "how old are you~?"
"Seventeen."
"Hmm. Quite complacent now, aren't we~"
Bastard! I grit my teeth at his mocking tone but stop myself from giving a sassy comment.
"I'm not stupid. You're obviously quite a bit stronger than me," I say, but my voice comes out a little petulant. He smirks at me and I see a hint of approval in his eyes. Great, I've impressed the crazy clown man.
"How about we make a deal~?" He asks me suddenly. I raise an eyebrow in response.
"I'll accept your apology, and spare your life, if you answer every question I ask you from here on out with complete honesty~."
My head tilts to the side in confusion. What a weird request. But easy to comply with...
"You have yourself a deal, mister clown man."
"Hisoka," he tells me with a smirk before dropping his hand from my neck. The tension in my body lessens drastically at the loss of contact.
"Well, Clover, you'll know when I have a question for you~."
His eyes glint with something, but I can't tell what exactly. I decide not knowing what the psychopath is thinking is better than knowing and stiffly walk away.
When I feel I'm far enough away from Hisoka, and have picked another pipe to sit on, I resume watching people arrive. A few are comical to look at, but most scream boring. When I think that nobody remotely fun to interact with will show up, the last three contestants make an appearance. The two taller ones, a blonde Kurta and a well-dressed teen, look about the same age as me. While the boy with the green outfit looks around two or three years younger. Something about them seems more driven than anyone else here, like they need to succeed the most, despite them being some of the youngest here.
Maybe you should just go talk to them rather than analyze them and stop being a loner.
...I hate when you're right.
I make my way to them slowly, still on high alert for Hisoka. So far, he hasn't approached me since I walked away from him. All that's done is make me more nervous though.
"Hello."
All three of them jump at my greeting, almost like they didn't know I was there. I was standing right in front of them...
The boy my age is the first to recover, and he gives me a wide smile.
"Hi! You scared me! I didn't even notice you standing there," he says excitedly.
"I'm Gon! This is Kurapika," He, Gon, continues. I smile warmly at Kurapika, who I previously identified as a Kurta. The robes gave him away. The Kurta Clan has always been welcoming and kind to me. Never making me beg for food, but rather offering it, as though they knew my predicament without me having to explain it. Kurapika looks surprised at my friendliness and his face reddens slightly. Is he not usually greeted with friendliness?
"And this is Leorio!" Gon continued, breaking my train of thought. The guy with the glasses and nice suit, Leorio, smiles at me casually with a little wave. I smile back and give them all a small bow.
"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Clover."
"Clover, you are so pretty!" Gon says with wide, innocent eyes. I'm so thrown by his sudden comment that I actually take a step back, even stumbling a little in the process. Kurapika quickly reaches out and grabs my arm before I can fall and make an even bigger fool of myself.
All three of them give me extremely puzzled looks at my reaction. Who...who just says that after first meeting someone?!
"Are you okay?" Kurapika asks me curiously while letting go of my arm. My eyes widen even more and I feel my cheeks heat up.
Maybe being a loner is better for you...
Ugh.
"Y-yes. Thank you. I-uh...haha..." my sentence breaks off into laughter as I realize why Gon's comment freaked me out so much.
"I'm so sorry, you probably think I'm crazy now. Its just..." I chuckle one more time before straightening and smiling shyly, "that's the first time anyone has ever said that to me."
Gon just looks confused again, while Kurapika and Leorio's jaws seem to hit the floor. What's with that...
"How old are you?!" Leorio asks me. Before I can answer, we're interrupted by a chubby man in a track suit.
"Hey, there! I'm Tonpa. This your first time taking the exam?"
I move so that I'm slightly behind the trio, not really wanting to talk to Tonpa. These three boys are fun, definitely not boring at all...
"Clover, do you want some juice?"
I look up from the ground at Gon's voice and notice that the three of them have accepted canned juices from Tonpa. He was handing out juices to other applicants earlier...
"No, thank you," I tell Tonpa with a smile, and make sure that my eyes shine with distrust. He gulps nervously but quickly regains his composure to smile.
Gon abruptly lets all of the juice he'd just taken a drink of fall out of his mouth.
"Uh, Mr. Tonpa, I think you're juice might be expired."
My mint green gaze darkens harshly and cuts to Tonpa. A few drops of sweat appear on his face as he takes a step back. I don't let up my glare until he's on his knees apologizing.
"R-really? I can't believe it, I never even noticed!" He stutters out nervously, sweating even more now. Yeah, I can't believe it either. My anger spikes.
A few of the contestants look over at us with apprehension. Whoops...I didn't growl did I? Sometimes I growl when I'm angry. Kurapika, Gon, and Leorio aren't giving me weird looks though...
Before I can give it much more thought a panicked scream grabs the attention of every contestant. We all turn our heads to see a man on his knees in pain. He's holding his arms out in front of him...which are quickly turning into flower petals. Yikes.
"Oh dear, it seems his arms have turned into flower petals~" Hisoka says excitedly. My eyes move sharply to see him standing next to the hysterical man.
"No smoke and mirrors here. Maybe you should apologize after bumping into someone...~" Hisoka turns his head slightly, looking straight at me. I tense and take his look to mean, I have a question for you. The three boys are too preoccupied with Tonpa's explanation of who Hisoka is to notice me slip away. I follow him until he sits against a wall.
"You like attention, don't you?" I can't help saying as I stand in front of him. He only smirks and pats the ground next to him. I sit. He picks up a piece of my hair to play with. I try not to cringe.
"It's your fault, little minx. Letting out your bloodlust like that...it got me excited. I had to do something violent~"
"My...what?"
Hisoka slants a look at me, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes.
"Do you know what Nen is?~" He asks me curiously.
"No. Nen? What's that?" I ask with a tilt of my head. Hisoka narrows his eyes at me like he doesn't believe me.
"Hey, don't give me that look! We made a deal didn't we? I'm not in the practice of going against my word," I tell him, equally serious. For an entire second, Hisoka looks completely unamused. I start to sweat. Shit.
But then he smiles wide and devilishly, causing some of the tension to leave my body. In hindsight, his smile should have scared me more than his straight face...
"Any more questions?" I ask him nervously. He chuckles. Bastard.
"Just one, for now. Do you know how to fight?~"
"Yes."
Hisoka raises an eyebrow at my confident answer, but doesn't say anything. I take that as my queue to leave. My escape fails when I'm pulled back down by my hair. He hadn't let go of the piece he was playing with when I stood up. My attempt not to glare at him fails miserably, and he chuckles at my expression.
"Oh how I love that delicious look of yours~," he purrs in my ear before releasing me. I stand up slowly, not taking my eyes off of him until I'm sure he's done playing with me.
"Bye, Hisoka," I say, backing away from him.
"Bye, bye...little minx~."
AN
This is my first time publishing fanfiction so any feedback is welcome. Of course if it's mean I probably won't take it seriously...
Anyways, I have no idea which pairing I want to do so you'll find out when I do, although I do know that it'll be either KurapikaXOC or HisokaXOC
Allons-y