Chapter Three:
They were running. I blinked, sighing. Well, I guess we were technically running too.
"SHE'S CHEATING!" I stared down at the group of applicants, all of them sweating and panting with exhaustion. They looked like they were right between passing out and rioting as they caught sight of us keeping a steady pace with the lead. I resisted the urge to flop back on Minoru's back and stare at the passing lights of the tunnel, watching them blur by until I fell asleep. I yawned, crossing my legs and turning so that I could face the group of stampeding examiness just behind us.
How long do you think it's been? My eyes drifted over the mass of examinees that were slowly beginning to thin out. I leaned to the side, seeing around the initial swell of people to the lumps of people that were crumpling to the tunnel floor.
Eh… I don't know… 40 kilometers? Minoru asked and I frowned as I caught the hitch in his voice. The only reason that I wasn't able to stay safely above the other contestants and in the shadows and pipes that ran above the tunnel walls was because someone was dragging us down. And the only reason that we hadn't stayed farther back so that we wouldn't be as obvious was because someone kept pulling us back like we were their favorite yo-yo toy.
I grunted as another tug made Minoru shudder. It was like an invisible hand was yanking us down to the floor. I turned my eyes to the side, catching Hisoka's smirking face just behind me, running alongside another contestant with a clean, bald head, a red scarf securely around his neck. Briefly, his eyes cracked open to stare at me and then closed again as I felt another tug.
My brothers had gone through this test too many times to not know that there would be a stamina test and they had trained me accordingly. In fact, this part bored them so much that they were currently at the back of the pack, getting some money from Tonpa for picking on some newbie.
The only thing that had kept me from joining in with the rest of the grunts on the ground was simple pride and the knowledge that this was just the first step in a very long, very rigorous process. I didn't know when we would get rest next and Minoru and I used little to no energy when flying.
"EXAMINER! IS THAT ALLOWED? THAT CAN'T POSSIBLY BE ALLOWED!" I rolled my eyes at the obviously drained guy, his little bit of energy quickly leaving him as we got farther and farther into the run without a break or end in sight.
"Maybe you should have brought something other than an extra pair of underwear if you wanted to pass this exam," I said, watching him fall farther and farther back into the mass of people. My brothers weren't completely useless, I realized as they quickly zagged their way through the mass of candidates to the front. They wanted to become hunters more than anything and sometimes they would have me train all day - running for 20 hours straight. Easy stuff.
"The use of all weapons, abilities, and means is permitted in the Hunter's Exam," the violet-haired examinee said blandly although his eyes flicked to me in a way that made me think that this rule wasn't altogether pleasant for him.
Well, I'm sure that he could bring that complaint up to someone with a bit of a higher clearance level if he wanted it to change.
I sighed as that annoying sensation of being pinched and then yanked on caught me again, my eyes snapping to Hisoka. It looked like he wanted me to run.
I can keep going, Minoru said but I could hear that he was growing anxious with all the jerking. It took energy to fight against such a consistently powerful force.
Fall to the back and keep to the shadows, I sighed, standing and stretching a bit to the jeers and snorts of a couple of the contestants that could see me. Beside me, the examiner's eyes turned a bit, his brows raising a little. Even if he runs for another day I'll make it.
My eyes sought out Hisoka as I jumped down to the dirt tunnel floor, springing forward so that I wasn't swallowed up by the other contestants. The scarlet-haired man didn't say anything just continued to jog along like he was taking a walk in the park. He wasn't sweating at all - which made me think that he was used to a setting that was more constrained to get him to break out. In fact, I realized that if he wanted to, I was almost positive that he could pass even the instructor.
Minoru raised easily into the air, disappearing in the shadows just above the tunnel lights. Once and a while, I would catch the bloody, sparking flash of the swirls that adorned his natural blue hue. Just as I thought, Hisoka let him be as long as he wasn't with me.
"Finally came down to the peasants, sweetheart?" I didn't look up at the gruff voice of the contestant to my right - #3?
"Man, she's a cute thing too," another guy to my left said and I felt the mounting urge to draw out the daggers strapped to my forearms - maybe choke them a little with the silky wire that I used like strings attached to the launching device at my elbows.
"Hey, when you get kicked out I have a place in town - we could meet up after I get through." Okay. They were really starting to irritate me.
My brothers were a little too far back to hear the two of them, probably still counting the money that Tonpa had given them. My eyes stayed on the smooth, pressed lines of Examiner Satotz's dress jacket. I could feel Hisoka's attention on me almost completely, pressing hotly to the side of my face. And for a moment I felt that aura of his rear back like he was ready to chomp down on the two men nearest to me.
I had had to deal with guys like these two since I was little. My 19 years on this earth had given me a rather wide view of the male species. Most were led by their genitals and if you didn't respond to them in an appropriate amount of time-
I slid to a crouch, spinning so that my ankle could catch on the foot of the man to my right, whirling quickly so that I caught the one on my left in short succession before the hand that was aimed at my ass could make contact. I jumped up as they slammed to the ground with a series of yelps, quickly catching back up to where I had been at the front of the group.
Blankly, I pulled out the wallets that I had snatched from their pockets as they had fallen. My brother's usually ambushed the small fish in our town and got them through brute force while I was a little more nimble. It took me years of working in the streets to get quick enough to snatch from all the rich folks in town. And a few more years to be able to run fast and far enough away from the goons that guarded them.
Swiftly, I peeked through their stuff as we jogged along, the lights low enough that I had to squint down at the cards and coins that were shoved into an odd pocket or pouch. Eh. A fair amount. It was traveling money so they had pulled a decent bit from their savings. I tossed the rest over my shoulder, pocketing the coins.
My eyes drifted to the man to my right, a smallish boy with a shock of carrot hair pulled under a purplish wrap, a bow slung across his back. #53 his badge proclaimed proudly. He was staring at me like I was some kind of odd creature that he had found in his closet. I shrugged, picking up my pace again so that I could move to the farther edge of the run. I was fresher than the rest of them so it was easy enough to keep up with Satotz. If I had been running from the beginning, I probably would have had a rougher time keeping up with his relentless drive forward.
"You're not as fast as I thought you'd be," a mockingly disappointed voice interrupts my thoughts.
"My brother's don't like me talking to strangers - sorry," I say, resisting the overwhelming urge to scurry as far away as possible. Or… there's still something there. Something that also yanks me closer. Which is distressing. I eye him sidelong, catching the surprised tip of his lips and I can't resist the words that come tumbling from my lips. "Especially creepy, sociopathic murderers."
For a moment, the panted breaths of the contestants around them, the chatter from the shinobi-esque baldie just to their left, the grating stomp of a million feet vying for the same destination, all fades away. There's only the silence, the startled widening of Hisoka's eyes.
And then the crushing suffocation of his aura slamming into me.
I grit my teeth, stumbling slightly as the cadence of my steady jog is interrupted. Wincing, I struggle back against him, even as I feel that same aura gently caress along my side, tickling and teasing. And then wrapping completely around me as if he wants to crush me. As if he wants to trap me - toy with me before he breaks me.
Up above, I feel Minoru take notice, pausing in his drive forward to coast back to the general area that I was in.
"Ah, keep that face." I glared over at the tall, striking man beside me, his eyes alight with pleasure and his smile lewd. "You really are quite lovely - and almost just right to be eaten up."
I tried not to show my shock and confusion. Eaten up? He's here for the applicants, I had told Minoru. And unfortunately, I had drawn his attention by letting my fascination take hold and stalking after him. Beneath me, I felt our footing change. We were going upwards now and it was more like hops instead of straight running.
"I've been told that I don't taste that great," I choked out and to my utter relief, some of that pressure drew back, Hisoka's aura drawing back as he grins at me with shocked amusement. Testing, I change my pace, speeding up and veering a bit to the left. He follows without blinking. "You're strong."
His eyes narrow. "I've been told…"
"You can pass easily," I said, remembering the earlier story of his attempted murder of one of the examiners. Hisoka shrugged. "Why worry about a small fry like me? I'm not interesting at all."
His eyes crinkle up with genuine amusement. "In this case, my pet I think you'll want to remain interesting." His smile turned cruel and cold. "Otherwise, I'm also quite fond of breaking my toys when I'm no longer amused."
A chill ran up my spine, followed by the sensation that I would have to deal with Hisoka for a lot longer than this first test. Forcing down my growing panic, I smiled. "I'm sure you'll have to catch me first," I said, closing my eyes in a daring smile that mimicked something other than the crushing urge I had to turn and flee. "I've heard that little mice are able to fit in very small places. Easy to get away."
His voice was smooth and deep when he replied. "Then I suppose I'll have to keep you close." When I finally opened my eyes, I was greeted with the same close-eyed smile. "I wouldn't want you to get lost."
My smile dropped into a frown, my brows furrowing as I gave his aura an involuntary shove which he latched onto, grappling playfully.
"Morie!" I glanced back, catching sight of my brother's anxious faces. Amori mouthed a series of curses that roughly translated to: you are making this exam super hard for us for no reason. I regret every decision and choice that I ever made that brought me to this point in my life. Please stop talking with someone who wants to kill everyone?
"Want me to kill them?" Hisoka purred, a series of cards appearing in his hand as he grinned down at me.
"Please don't," I breathed, sensing very little bloodlust in his aura - just the teasing push that shadowed his obvious aggression.
He gave a quiet chuckle, his eyes moving to just ahead of us. "We're almost there."
I glanced ahead as well, surprised that we had made our way into a long staircase, the foggy light of day seen just a few flights ahead of us. I hadn't even noticed that we had begun climbing.
"I'll be watching~" Hisoka said softly, his hand reaching out before I could do more than give a threatening hiss. One of those long nails ran across my cheek, leaving a red streak of blood and a warning… And perhaps even a bit of a promise.
I spent about three hours staring at this chapter, thinking that it was too short. But I just decided to publish it since I think that the next chapter is going to be very, very long. Please review and favorite/follow!
