Plaything, a Hunter x Hunter fanfiction
All Credit and Ownership Go to Yoshihiro Togashi-sensei
Chapter 1: Trust
Lookout duty was desperately boring for a cat. On the tallest tower of the palace, carved with lush designs, made of gold and embedded with precious stones, Neferpitou crouched, tail flicking back and forth. He widened his eyes until they watered, then kept them open a little longer, and finally blinked quickly. The ears on his head twitched, detecting sounds: distant clanging, the pacing of soldiers in the balconies below, a few lowly Chimera Ant drones and section leaders who were probably scheming something about which Poitou could hardly care less. Further away, there were the crowds gathered for the selection. Of course, the only sense that mattered here was his monstrous En, an amoeba-shaped murderous aura which sensed anything that it enveloped. Should anything inside move, he would know. But inside was none of his concern. Pufu or Yupi could handle that. (Besides, though he would hate to admit this, he could only detect a presence, and unless it was particularly strong, could not tell whose it was.)
Except for the tail, ears, unusual leg joints, and only four fingers on each hand, he was roughly human. Brown hair spilled around his wide eyes. His face and frame were oddly feminine for a man-eating ant.
It was so dull up here, waiting for something to happen, especially when he knew that something was happening, just beyond his En, where humans, most likely the Nen-equipped Rare Prey, were gathering to attack. He wanted to chase them, play with them, oh how he did! His eyes glazed over as he imagined killing them, tearing them to shreds, presenting the tender flesh and delicious warm blood to His Majesty. Maybe he would be praised. It would be so much fun to fight, to kill, eliminating the threat to His Majesty. Pitou was single-minded in that regard; his abilities, while they did bring him personal pleasure, were there only to be used for the King's sake.
He knelt before the invader in the wrecked tower, arm broken, outwardly paying a small fraction of his attention to the enraged, black-haired boy in front of him, but devoting most of it to the injured, pathetic blind girl behind him. A twisted figure attached to him, vaguely human and wearing a nurse's outfit, slowly sewed the girl back together on the King's orders. The King had ordered her to be saved, and now saving her was his only purpose in life. No matter what he had to promise, no matter how many limbs he had to tear apart and sever to convince the enemy that he was sincere in his promises, he would do that one thing.
Sitting before his mortal enemy, Gon Freaks trembled. He could barely stop himself from attacking Pitou, as he remembered what Pitou had done to Kite. He remembered Kite's body, scarred and torn, attached to a Nen puppeteer and forced to attack anyone who came near him. He could only imagine, with bile rising up his throat, what the Chimera Ant had done with him. What sort of twisted games the cat-boy had played, with Kite forced to take part, all for the sin of saving Gon and Killua from Pitou's murderous attack. Why had Kite suffered this fate, while the Ant healed the girl in front of him? It was not fair. Gon's eyes watered, but he would not let the tears come.
An hour passed in this state. Finally, Pitou relaxed. The job was done. A scream came from beyond the tower. Pitou and the invader looked towards it. Pufu, grinning sadistically, stood on top of the corpse of a man.
"Knuckle!" screamed Gon. Pitou reached out and grabbed his sleeve. Gon reflexively punched the Ant. Pitou let go collapsed on the ground.
"I'll heal your friend, just like I promised," Pitou gasped, feigning exhaustion. He glared at Pufu. "Don't interfere, Pufu," he said, standing and menacing the blond, winged Royal Guard. When they were close, he whispered, "Take care of the girl, as his Majesty commands. Don't you dare disobey his direct order. If you do, I'll kill you. Horribly. I won't make His Majesty stain His hands." Pufu flinched. Though he would not admit this, Pitou frightened him. He had no doubt that if he disobeyed the King's orders he would die one way or another. Though he hated the girl for weakening the king, he could not disobey. If he did, he would be committing the ultimate sin for his kind. It was not for him to question His Majesty's intentions.
"I'm gonna take care of the kid, OK?" Pitou whispered, the whirled around to face Gon. "I'm ready? Where is he?"
Gon glared. "Don't try anything. I know you're exhausted, and your arm's broken. Wait here, we'll go there after we finish our mission."
Pitou surreptitiously began to use Nurse Blythe on himself, using (what was it called?) In to disguise his aura. Gon was distracted, running over to Knuckle's corpse. Knuckle's face was twisted in pain still. He had died in agony. Tears ran down Gon's face. He screamed at the sky where Pufu had disappeared carrying the girl. Pitou finished healing himself.
Gon turned to Pitou, then shot back a few paces, faced with the full force of Pitou's aura. He raised his hands to fight, aura rising, fueled by his rage. "What happened to your promise?" he screamed.
Pitou cocked his head. "I said I'd go with you to restore your friend to normal, right? You didn't say whether you had to be dead or alive, nyah." Pitou grinned, tail flicking back and forth. "And I ain't gonna leave His Majesty here to fulfill a promise to a human. So there!" He stuck out his tongue at Gon. He was happy. He got to fight and protect his majesty. What purpose was there to a promise, anyway? No promise would come before his duty to the King.
"First comes Rock," Gon said, focusing his aura in his fist as he cocked it back to his hip. He hesitated, then charged Pitou, simultaneously extending his arm for the punch. Pitou dodged the blow, landing a punch to Gon's unprotected midriff. Blood followed in Gon's wake, spurting from his mouth, as he was thrown backwards. He remembered his teacher's words: "If you focus all your aura in one place, the attack will be monstrously powerful, but you leave your body unprotected. Any Nen attack will shatter it."
"Guess I'm stronger than you," Pitou said. He whistled, dragging the injured boy by the collar as he headed towards His Majesty.
Killua sensed Gon's aura disappearing. The boy with white, spiky hair, turned his head towards Gon's location. He ran, heedless of the plan. Now he had only one objective: protecting his only friend.