Even though Hisoka was a bit... of an oddball, let's just say, his powers were quite pretty. One guy bumped into him without apologizing, and I closed my eyes to see his waiting nen. When it became obvious that the rude man was just going to ignore him, Hisoka turned his arms and legs into flower petals. Cherry blossom petals, to be exact. A few people gasped and shrieked, but I thought that it was fair. Poke at a wild animal, you get your limbs eaten off on the spot. That would teach some to always be polite.

The next second, he came back to me with a smile I couldn't read. Happiness? Smugness? Completely Psycho? Of course, that irritated me greatly, but I didn't show it, not wanting my arms to get all flowery. "Can you tell what happened there~?"

I rose an eyebrow. Was he testing me? Making sure that I was good enough to be able to use nen? "Using nen, transmutation, I'm going to say, you cut off his limbs cleanly, but to make the flowers petals out of nowhere, and disappear, that was conjuring."

"Hmm~. Oh yes, you have passed."

Okay. I would get to live to (probably) see tomorrow. Well, that all depended on the Exam. really. A long, willowy figure with formal wear and a french mustache that most likely hid his mouth (there was the possibility that he didn't have a mouth, and everything was recorded) and light purple hair stepped out of nowhere. The examiner? He definitely helped with the "people here are very strange" cause.

"I am your examiner for the first part of the Hunter Exam. Follow me." He began to prance with very large steps and robotic sweeps of his arms. I squirmed my way up front to walk at his pace and examine how on earth he was moving - it seemed that he had very long legs that had to be strong to support his quickly moving character. "Do try to keep up."

After a minute of just walking, he turned his head and said, "Now, I'm going to speed up a little. Do try to keep up." His legs stretched out even more and his prancing picked up until the wannabe-hunters were in a full-out run. For some reason, I veered a little to the left to run with Hisoka and Gittarakur. Go! Go! Power Hunters! I thought that they were flat out weird, but hey! I wasn't one to judge! Gittarakur just kept running, but Hisoka smirked and asked a question. "Oh, why do you keep on following us?"

I shrugged. "I'm bored. And besides, you are rather interesting."

He donned a curious expression. "Do tell."

"Your nen is..." How would I put it without sounding like a pervert? "It's very savory and spicy. Most would turn their heads at the flavor, but I think it's pretty nice. Like black licorice."

I loved black licorice.

"You can sense my nen?" There was a strange glint in his eyes.

"Yes," I paused. "I can see and taste and smell anybody's nen. That's about it."

He now had a satisfactory smile. But another disturbing response flew out of his mouth. "You've piqued my interest. Gittarakur, if you touch her, I will kill you."

The zombie-like man nodded without turning his head.

"Right, right, how do you sense nen?" He scooted a few inches to my left, suddenly talkative.

"If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can see the nen flowing through the tenketsu that make up the shape of the human body, awoken or not. So, if I felt like it, I could wander around a crowded city and manage not to bump into anybody with my eyes closed. I think it's a genetic thing, so I can't explain that much." I swallowed, trying not to remember my family. "That's how I see. And smelling is easy. You just sniff away."

All of a sudden, he looked very pleased to say, "and how do you taste them?"

I stuttered and tried not to blush. The tasting was my strongest suite, much to my disgust and embarrassment. "Usually, I have to open my mouth a fraction to let all the samples into my mouth using air waves, but an even better way that takes less time and is more precise is if I actually lick the person."

Sadly.

He asked questions like that occasionally, usually once an hour or so. A lot of people had dropped out - they didn't have the stamina to run for hours on end. I looked at my watch and noticed that four hours had passed. There were stairs in sight and a little light at the top of it all. When we could finally see our destination, people looked less tense and anybody could see the "we've made it!" running through their heads. This test was all about stamina/endurance. Mental and physical. Mental, because you were following a strange man for who knows how long, and physical, because we were basically running a mini-marathon. The stairs were boring. They were the exact same color every single step. Where I lived, I had painted the stairs like a starry night with shadows and contouring, so it seemed that you were going down, not up. I thought that I was a fun person.

Two boys, both about twelve (but my height!) were the first to exit the tunnel. They looked cheery, especially considering the dim attitude way back when. One was Number 99, and the other was Number 405. I remembered that he was the one who could taste the laxative in Tonpa's juice. With senses like that, he was sort of like me! I caught up with them, thinking that they were really cute, with big eyes and fluffy hair.

"Hello," I said.

"Hi." "Hi."

"My name is Gon! And this is Killua!" Gon was certainly energetic, considering that he had ran for four hours just a moment ago.

"I'm Kisa. Nice to meet you. Oh, I had noticed that you could taste the laxative in Tonpa-san's juice. You must have a good sense of taste to pull that off."

Gon's eyes widened. "Wait, that was laxative? Why had Tonpa-san accidentally put poison in the drinks?"

I had to resist from face-palming. Killua, the boy with silver hair and sapphire eyes, rolled his eyes at his green companion.

I shrugged apathetically. "Well, I'm pretty sure your friend over there can explain. See you."

I didn't like explaining things that much. Especially impromptu. Telling it to Hisoka was different, since I knew how my powers worked by heart. Why people had evil morals... that, on the other hand, was a completely other matter. I wasn't that into philosophy. It was just something that people did, for their own benefits or not. Besides, Killua looked smart. He probably could explain it to Gon.

Ragged people emerged out of the opening and into the mist. About two or three hundred made it out onto the platform. The door closed just as a guy shouted, "No! Wait for me!" And then it closed with finality. The whoosh of it cleared some of fog away, and the examiner, whose name I learned was Satotsu, said, "Welcome to the Numere Wetlands."