The first time Hisoka met her, he was twenty three, and she was twelve. They had passed each other in the hallways before stopping and appraising each other. He had dismissed her at first sight.
After all, Nova was there, and he was much more interesting. The assassin was quite a flashy fighter despite his profession. Hisoka almost mourned it. How much fun it would have been if Nova had developed according to his strengths, rather than being forced by the family business into becoming an assassin.
But Nova was strong, even as an assassin.
And Hisoka just knew Nova had coaxed the little girl hiding behind his leg through the levels, and gotten her through the Ren hallway on the 200th floor by shielding her with his nen.
Hisoka saw them. And Nova saw Hisoka.
"Hisoka," Nova growled in surprise and wariness, pushing the small form behind him.
If the twenty five year old had not made that too-obvious movement, Hisoka would have overlooked the tiny girl.
Hisoka raised his eyebrow. "Well, well. Fancy meeting you again, Valdis. After you disappeared, I figured you died on a job. I'm glad you didn't."
He left the implications unsaid. Hisoka would be the one to kill Nova. Eventually.
Nova's scowl deepened, the man taking a step back to shield the child. Hisoka's eyes glinted, and he glanced down, grinning at Luna. She was an insignificant little thing, shy and weak. He normally wouldn't have paid her any attention, deeming her unworthy. But she was with Nova. And he was quite pleased to see Nova react violently, nearly grabbing a knife and stabbing the clown.
Nova was smart enough not to, of course. For if he had moved, his precious little sister would have died.
Hisoka's grin widened. "Who is this pretty girl?"
And a spark of interest flickered within him.
He watched as her pupils dilated, and her breath grew heavier. He let his nen seep out to wash over her, but within the small amount of nen, he forced out all his killing intent.
"Hisoka!" Nova snarled. "It's none of your business."
He watched as the man stormed away, and he watched the little girl stand silently in front of him.
Her pupils expanded and dilated, and the paltry, untrained nen disappeared. Hisoka raised a delicately arched eyebrow, surprised. He would never have thought a Valdis of all people would be prey. Prey ran and hid when threatened.
And predators hunted.
The flicker of interest died. He was a little disappointed, despite never having expected anything out of her in the first place. Perhaps some part of him had hoped she would be Nova's successor as his prey when Hisoka killed the older male.
"Luna," Nova snapped.
Luna, as Hisoka now knew her name to be, didn't react. Her breathing grew shallower and shallower until he could barely detect her chest rise and fall. And her nen disappeared to the point where he would have thought she was a dead person if she had not blinked once in a while.
SMACK!
Hisoka's eyes snapped up to Nova, surprised.
"Luna!" Nova snapped, narrowing his eyes at the girl.
A red handprint was growing on her cheek, and it looked like the mark would remain there for a few days. But the girl's nen was back, and she looked like she was back in reality again.
"What were you thinking?!" Nova growled. "He's dangerous, damn it! How many times do I have to tell you!"
"I apologize," Luna spoke for the first time, and her voice was soft. "But it was precisely because he was dangerous."
She spoke a little too formally for a child. Hisoka frowned. It seemed… Off, to say the least.
A flash of silver caught in the corner of his eye. His eyes flicked over, just in time to see a knife disappearing up the overly long sleeve.
The pinprick of interest rekindled.
"You cannot hunt Hisoka!" Nova hissed.
"Understood," Luna replied, expression gaining a cool and emotionless mask.
The pinprick of interest grew into a small flame. Small, but it burned steadily, and threatened to require more fuel, threatened to grow into a wildfire.
And so Hisoka watched her.
And she watched him.
Luna Valdis was nine years old when she first met Hisoka. Her brother had told her about a man in a clown's outfit, an eccentric pervert but powerful. Overwhelmingly so. And he had mentioned that Hisoka had a severe lack of understanding about concepts like morals and common sense.
She felt his nen before she saw him. She tasted his nen.
And then her brother was in front of her, pushing her behind him, shielding her from the man he deemed a rival.
She stared up curiously at him. He was handsome, she knew, but she hadn't hit puberty yet, and it didn't really affect her.
But his nen. It was… Indescribable, to say the least.
And then he looked down at her, and he smiled.
Her pupils dilated and she began hyperventilating. Luna had never met anyone with such an aura before, combining insanity, bloodlust, and power.
For the first time, she felt true terror.
At the back of her mind, she knew she heard her brother tell Hisoka it was none of his business, and she felt Nova's warmth fade step by step, the man lost in his tension and failing to notice that Luna was not following.
She couldn't.
For a moment, she had the mental capacity to note that she was glad she had perfected the skill of making her nen seem untrained.
Luna could only stand as if fixed to the floor, hypnotized and paralyzed. She and Hisoka stared at each other.
He's dangerous. I'll be killed. He's dangerous. Bloodlust. Killing intent. Kill kill kill kill kill
Her wrist flicked, and her knife fell into her hand.
He was dangerous. She had to hunt him. She had to kill him.
Or else he would kill her.
Danger.
Her nen slowly ebbed, the girl using zetsu, completely blocking anybody from sensing her nen.
Hunt.
Her fingers tightened around the hilt.
Kill.
SMACK!
She blinked once, and she was back to reality, the deadly focus and hidden killing intent draining. Her knife flicked back into the sheath hidden in her sleeve.
Her cheek stung.
But the hungry look from Hisoka, the way his eyes glinted with interest and a dark, twisted type of desire, and she forgot the pain.
Luna never told her brother this, but she developed a sixth sense for the creepy murderous clown.
She knew when he was in the audience watching her fight. She wouldn't admit to anyone that she performed a little better.
She knew he was there, even if the seats were full, and a few hundred peoples' nen pressed towards her from all directions, screwing with her senses.
She knew he watched almost every single one of her fights.
And she grew stronger. Because she also knew that he was waiting for her to become a worthy prey.
She knew she did not want to disappoint him. Not him. Never him, never the man who's nen tasted sickeningly sweet, and overwhelmingly of blood.
And she knew she was...
Addicted.