Disclaimer: If i were writing Hunter X Hunter instead of Togashi, i'd have made Pitou's pronouns clearer. The idea for this fic comes from my dear friend Aceidia.
A powerful aura flooded the atmosphere from the west. Something dangerous was coming their way fast.
"Get out of here!" Kite exclaimed, throwing an arm out towards the kids, but Killua and Gon didn't even have time to react before a shadowy figure flashed between them and the senior Hunter. Kite's blood sprayed across the grass.
They didn't have a chance, they had to run while they could, but Gon's aura flared up.
Killua couldn't understand it. What was he doing? Couldn't he tell that the Chimera Ant was coming around for another blow – with a smile on its face –
Killua brought his fist down hard on the back of Gon's head. He was a bit worried about whether Gon's thick skull would absorb the blow, but his friend went down like a bag of rocks.
Kite nodded his approval, clamping a hand over the bleeding stump of his arm, and the Ant tilted its head curiously as Killua gathered up Gon's limp body.
Killua absorbed as much detail as he could in an instant. He'd have to report on this to a more experienced Hunter soon.
This Chimera Ant looked much more human than any of the others they'd come across so far. So human, in fact, that he felt uncomfortable thinking of the creature as "it". It reminded him too much of his family.
"Hey, how do i refer to you?"" he asked before he could stop himself. The tension in the atmosphere flatlined in an instant as both Kite and the Ant stared at him.
"Me?" the Ant asked. "Why?"
"Well, i'll need to talk about you," Killua said. A little flattery couldn't hurt, he thought, and added, "Like how powerful you are."
The creature hesitated. "You could always say i'm a horrible monster from the depths of your nightmares," they offered.
"Yeah, but that's kind of long to say more than once. What pronouns do you use?"
"Meowkay . . ." The Ant's cat ears twitched as they thought. "Call me they. 'Cause 'he' isn't right, and 'she' isn't right, and i can't think of anything else."
"Okay, that works," Killua said, and hefted Gon's limp body back over his shoulders.
"And my name's Neferpitou!" Neferpitou called after him.
"Yeah, okay," Killua called without looking back. He waved a hand and disappeared into the gloom under the trees.
"That was nice of you," Kite observed, setting his Lucky Slots to roll.
Neferpitou shrugged. "I'm just here to find out how strong i am. I'm not evil." They rolled their shoulders and dropped into a crouch. "Nyow, shall we?"
Kite snatched his club out of the air. There was no comment on the spin this time. He knew what he had to do.
A/N: This fic was born when Aceidia and i were discussing the pronouns the remake's dub uses for Pitou – when Killua tells Netero and company how strong Pitou is, he uses he/him pronouns, but the other Chimera Ants always use they/them. And the Ants would know.
Also, let it be known that not too long ago i wouldn't have been able to write this fic. As a Kite fan, it took me the longest time to warm up to Pitou.