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DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Hunter X Hunter
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CHAPTER 4: Hisoka X Assassination X A Long Third Exam
"Killuaaaaaaa." She called again. Now they were in the latter part of the first exam. They were in a swamp filled with carnivorous critters killing contestants off every few seconds. She was so preoccupied with Killua's stubbornness that she noticed her two other friends were left much farther behind a little too late.
She stopped her tracks, finally earning Killua's attention.
She heard gasps, but they were different from all the others. Her instincts were telling her to go to her friends, and Gon being Gon, unthinkingly did so.
"Oi, GON!" Killua exclaimed at her figure that was going back to wherever they came from.
"I have to go back. We'll just see you at the destination!" She said hurriedly and immediately ran back. Killua stopped his tracks as well, pondering whether or not to follow her.
After a moment, he decided not to follow her after all- he was too stubborn to do that, besides... he was acting like some spoiled brat just few seconds prior and they did just meet. He realized that he couldn't just go and follow her wherever she went. Besides, he felt she wouldn't be persuaded to do otherwise anyway.
He sighed in annoyance, went to follow the crowd, and simply hoped for the best.
*Several minutes later*
Gon was staring at his eyes as he held her chin and lifted her. She was never scared of him before but for some reason he was suddenly emitting such a strong presence that her body involuntarily shook. Hisoka noticed the sudden attitude of the girl towards him when he slightly let go of his Zetsu.
He smirked. This little girl was so interesting. First she showed no fear even after seeing what he did to who knows who that was. And now he allowed tiny amount of aura to overflow and she sensed it.
"You pass." Was all he said. He was playing examiner after all, and for now he didn't want the little girl to hold a grudge on him so he let her friend live as well. He saw potential on the narcissistic man, anyway. So he held him up to his shoulder and decided to carry him to the second exam center.
"Where are you taking him?" The girl asked guardedly, but Hisoka thought she was still adorable.
"To the next stop. You better hurry or you'll be late, too." He stated in his usual shrill voice. The two kids just looked at each other comprehensively and Hisoka just shrugged. He went away before them, and soon enough the two decided to follow him as well.
...
'What's taking them so long?' Killua thought as he waited at their destination. He was starting to feel anxious at the turn of events. Gon should be beside him right now- He didn't really get why he minded so much, but right now he didn't really care.
The relief he felt when he saw her unscratched was not any less unexplainable, either.
The two kids only grinned at each other.
"Yow." Killua greeted with a smirk, giving a small hint acknowledgement to Kurapika's presence.
"Yow." Gon grinned back. They then started looking around, with Kurapika, for Leorio and they saw that he was still unconscious resting his back behind the tree.
The three felt like laughing... both in relief and just how funny Leorio actually looked. Their churning of their stomachs did not stop- in fact they got stronger when Leorio woke up... finding his face in a very bad state.
"GYA! My h-handsome face!"
And they laughed.
...
THUMP!
The start of the second exam was signaled by the slow opening of the warehouse door. It revealed a huge fat guy (No, that wasn't redundant), and a pretty pink-haired girl with an attitude.
The first part of the test was easy. They just had to catch a flesh-eating boar about 15 times larger than her and grill it. The bug guy - an examiner named Buhara - tasted them and decided that they passed the first exam. The littler one was evidently annoyed at the low standard of tasting her partner raised.
But the standard she raised was definitely insane. She led the second part...and was a complete disaster.
They all failed.
They all failed because of a weird dish called 'sushi'. At first only that bald ninja knew the dish since he grew up at where it originated. It was fortunate for the other contestants that he had such a big mouth for someone who was trained in stealth. He told them (by accident) the steps on how to make it. He stated how easy it was -which it wasn't- earning a grudge from the examiner getting her in a much worse mood than before.
When they finally got the form, still no one satisfied Menchi. And soon enough, she was full.
And that was how they failed.
Naturally, a lot of debate, cursing, and name-calling ensued yet no one was able to convince her. For a moment, they all thought they'd fail because of some cooking exam.
But then the president of the Hunter's association came to their rescue.
His name was Netero, and he seemed to have steel legs.
...
SOME THOUSAND METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL
The four of them passed the new second exam in a breeze. And now they were on a blimp, with Leorio and Kurapica resting and Gon yelling compliments in amazement somewhere else. She stared at her companion who was looking at her in amusement and not the pretty view below. She tilted her head and asked,
"You don't like the view Killua?"
"It's not that. My family owns a few planes, you see… I'm so used to this by now."
"You're family is rich…?"
"Sort of." He shrugged.
"What does your parents do?" She inquired making Killua looked at her for a second… mostly reluctant to tell her.
"Assassination." He stated anyway. Gon blinked.
"Both of them?" She asked in curiosity making him chuckle in astonishment.
"You're weird, Gon."
"Hehehe." She uttered while she scratched her head due to the 'compliment', again.
"Hehhehe." He just repeated in amusement. He stared at her for an instant and recalled a question that had been bugging him quite often.
"So… what happened when you separated from me at the swamp?"
"Hisoka played examiner."
"You mean he had a killing spree." He rephrased. Gon gaped at him in amazement.
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"He and I smell the same." He said bluntly consequently getting her to literally sniff him.
"OI!" He yelled, flinching. She then looked at him in the eye and said.
"No you don't."
"I don't mean it literally." He replied, sighing.
"Then what do you mean…?"
"…"
"Killua?" No answer. "What's wrong?" She called again, still getting mere silence as a response. Killua looked away and shifted his gaze to the semi-reflecting mirror of the blimp. He was looking at himself, Gon noted, with both contempt and guilt.
"I used to be an assassin, too. He and I- we both kill people… innocent or not." He muttered under his breath, hoping she did not hear a single word. But of course, this was Gon- and she heard every single syllable.
"You're not an assassin anymore?" She questioned nonchalantly. He shook his head.
"And you don't like killing…?" Killua just faced her expectantly. Gon saw the new glint in his eyes and tilted her head in wonder.
"So what's the matter, then?"
...
They went into the café later that night for nice and tasty fruit shakes. Gon ordered papaya while Killua ordered coconut. Killua paid for everything, telling her it was payback. But for what he wouldn't tell. As they were sipping their heavenly beverages, a girl about Kurapika's age approached them in a seemingly friendly way.
Gon smiled welcomingly at her and she smiled back, but when her gaze turned to Killua, her eyes changed.
A little after that, things happened- and so quickly that they practically happened in a blink of an eye.
Apparently the girl's name was Anita, and she was after Killua. Killua, or one of his family members, killed her father and had sworn to get revenge- even if it meant illegally sneaking in the aircraft. It didn't take long for the association to find the stowaway. They had a game with Netero, with Anita's freedom and instant license cards as a reward if they won. They failed several times, and Killua was forced to forfeit due to an unpleasant impulse.
He was scared of what Gon might think if she saw him like that- like his true self. It was precisely those thoughts that kept him from killing Anita when she escaped, and found him brooding somewhere. Even during all those times the girl attempted to attack him. For a moment he thought he would lose it, but then-
BUMP!
"Oi, Ossan give up already!"
He flinched and stepped away from Anita, who was still shaking. She thought she was going to die.
'Gon?' they mused simultaneously and Killua ran immediately to the window at the end of the corridor where he and Anita fought. He was pulled back to his senses when he saw Gon still fighting desperately to get the ball.
She still failed in the end, but impressed the president all the same so he decided to let Anita go. Too bad they didn't get the license cards.
The aircraft landed on a tall tower not long after. They all bid their farewell to the stowaway there, as they were going to be left there. Killua stepped closer and gave her the earrings that she dropped during one of their encounters. The girl grabbed it away from him in fury. Killua shrugged.
"People who aren't hated don't get killed off by assassins." He stated just before she was taken away back to the blimp. She cried and told him otherwise. Netero sighed, and Killua told her what her earrings was made of.
It was made of a very addictive drug -and that led to countless people's demise. She sobbed in both despair and sadness. And Gon... couldn't help staring at her emphatically and soon going closer.
"Why don't you work hard and pay back those people on your own pace and your own way? I'm sure your father would be glad when he finds out that the bad things he caused were lessened by his lovely daughter, ne?" She grinned widely making the older girl stop crying entirely.
Kurapika smiled and chuckled internally, 'Another victim, Gon?'
Then he saw Killua smile as well with his peripheral view of vision, he frowned. He felt slightly uncomfortable before, but right now the boy looked at her in a way that Kurapika definitely did not like. He shook his head immediately of the thoughts.
'What could be happening to me?'
BLIMPBLIMPBLIMP
They watched the blimp slowly fly away, many of whom thought they'd miss the odd sense of security that it brought. They looked around at the plateau of metal they were standing at, and thought of how they could possibly get down as they were asked to- in three days.
In any case, the third exam was starting and they were determined to pass.
...
*Three Days Later*
CLANK
The mechanical metal door slid close, and 5 people huffed in relief as they literally were almost a second late from being closed off.
The third exam was definitely challenging and they barely made it. But props to them though, they took (involuntarily) the hardest path in the infamous tower. They all, save for Tompa and Leorio, showed their capabilities well. Kurapika his strength, Killua his abilities to kill, and Gon for her instincts and unusual train of thought. Tompa's cowardly side just showed off even more, while Leorio his sensitive and…perverted side.
Killua mentioned this once, calling him 'perverted old man' during their 50-hour stay at the waiting room rousing Gon's curiosity.
"What's a pervert?" She asked almost as soon as she heard the new word.
"They are—" Killua replied without thinking getting a shut-up from a certain blonde in return.
"Don't tell her!" Kurapika yelled as he hid his blush. "There are things better off without knowing, Gon."
"Like what?" She asked in puzzlement making Kurapika blush even harder. She blinked.
"Why are you so red, Kurapika? Are you sick?" She commented anxiously automatically placing a hand on his forehead to take his temperature. Killua's eye twitched and he reflexively took her hand away.
"He's not sick Gon! He's just-"
"He's just what?"
"…"
She puffed her cheeks in annoyance and looked at the other two. They received the younger one's threatening glares and they immediately shook their heads pretending innocence. And Gon being Gon, she did not really suspect anything but she shook her head in dissatisfaction, anyway.
And everyone else just remained silent.
...
A message of congratulations from the examiner echoed in the waiting room. This made them feel that they, indeed, really survived and passed that exam.
They got into another blimp and were sent to an island with a huge warship stuck on its side. It was a hotel it seemed, and everyone wrongly assumed that it was a vacation.
They were given the task to find treasures among the shipwrecks surrounding the warship in order to pay the insane hotel fees. The type of room they would get would depend of the value of the treasure that they attain.
A lot of exchanges happened between the examinees and the hotel keepers as well as the examinees themselves, mostly because they didn't like their roommates. Gon and Killua were one of the few who didn't really mind, especially since they were rooming together.
When Kurapika found out about it, he definitely was not happy. He asked the managers to arrange Gon to room with one of the other two girls but they said that would no longer be possible since they were already settled. Well, there was Ponzu and the snakes but the old woman had no idea she was uncomfortable.
"Besides, the children seem comfortable together so why do you look so frantic?" the old man commented at the young Kuruta who was desperately sparring with his blush. The old woman grinned.
"Or is it that you would want to exchange with the boy…?"
"NO! Of course not… It's just that… Oh, never mind." He uttered in annoyance and stomped away. At least Leorio was his roommate… not that he wasn't worse than the others, which he found out a little too late...
And as he brooded about the room arrangements, the two kids were at the other side of the boat fishing.
FLOP!
"EEEK! It's looking back at me! Disgusting!" Killua exclaimed as he saw the just-cooked fish's eye 'stare' at him and he shivered at the sight much to Gon's befuddlement. He could take a person's heart straight from his chest and squeeze it as if it was orange- and he was disgusted with fishes?
After passing the puzzled stage, she grinned. Now she finally knew Killua's weakness.
"Ah! I think I haven't killed it yet!" she shouted making Killua drop the poor fish on the floor in aversion. His facial expression was epic.
"You're so weir-HAHAHHAHAHA-d Killu-HAHAHA–a"
Killua blushed both in embarrassment and something else. She noticed this and immediately recalled what happened to Kurapika not too long ago. She held her hand this time since she was not sure if he was sick or not anymore.
"Are you alright, Killua?"
"Y-Yeah."
"You're not sick are you?"
"No."
"Then what are you…?"
"…I… don't really know…"
"That's odd…" She stated and looked at the clouds in puzzlement. Killua did the same and whispered,
"Yeah…"
The first half of the first night was relatively nothing special in comparison to its other half. Well, relatively.
At the start of the night, Gon told Killua that she had bad sleeping habits and she would probably fall down using the bed provided. Killua said he was the same and so they simultaneously had an idea – to make their beds into one big one.
Killua had no idea why he was so embarrassed… yet so comfortable sharing a bed with her to the point he could sleep almost immediately. She certainly did, and he smiled at her sleeping figure no more than a few inches away from his. She did not feel tense at all.
He continued to stare at her and wondered what was happening inside of him. He absolutely had no experience with anything remotely similar. He had the sudden urge to touch her, but decided against it.
So he just looked at her serene face, and listened to her breathing.
It was like a lullaby...
He fell asleep not too long afterwards.
...
"KILLUA!"
He was woken up by Gon's uncharacteristically stern voice. She said she kept hearing things and that it was getting closer and closer to them. She was telling him something similar earlier in the day, but the difference now was that he could hear it as well. They immediately ran outside to see what was happening.
A storm is coming their way. And it was huge.
"Let us all keep calm, minna!" Hanzo announced, but everyone had a glint in their eyes that they were already planning something to deal with it individually.
It wasn't even an hour since most of them were proven wrong.
During that time, the storm already took a number of participants' lives- and they definitely did not want to lose more specially due to their lack of information. So, they decided to form an alliance so that they survive the trial. Kurapica and Hanzo were designated as leaders and they led them all magnificently, while Gon and Killua were the ones to find a diary containing most of the information they needed. Everyone who survived the first wave made it to the fourth exam.
Gon, though, was still deep in thought. There was a time where she went to save Leorio, and she did- but something happened and she thought she was going to die. It was just before they escaped the storm and she knew she was drowning- but then someone saved her… and she dreamed it was Hisoka. She was reluctant on approaching him since she wasn't sure if it was him since it was so hazy.
In any case, she needed to thank someone for saving her life.
...
Hisoka was staring blankly at the sea recalling the events that happened just a few hours ago. He and Illumi pretty much saved the day, albeit they didn't do anything before that. He smirked at the recollection of saving a certain girl from drowning.
He had been surprised as to how much he hastened to get the little girl, but he concluded that it wasn't any trouble at all anyway. That beaming smile of hers would certainly be a pitiful sight to lose. He watched her ponder about who-knew-what and then she looked around afterwards. She caught a sight of him and jogged closer and then smiled, making him flinch slightly.
"Ne, Hisoka. Were you the one who saved me during the storm?" She asked bluntly. He smirked. He would have said 'yes' even when he didn't. The girl was lucky that he actually had.
"Hai." He stated with his usual smooth way of speaking. "How do you plan on repaying me?"
She arched her brows and put a hand on her chin as a gesture of thinking. Hisoka smiled genuinely at the adorable sight she made.
"Then what about I catch you a big and meaty fish for breakfast?" She offered hoping he'd accept. She did not know anything else to offer. Hisoka mentally simpered.
"That sounds… nice."
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 4
Coming soon:
CHAPTER 5: Hunters X Killua X Promise
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REPLIES TO ANGELS:
Seithr-kairy - lolz. You're ideas are so cute! But I'd like to make it a little harder for them. I'd also exaggerate Illumi's 'twisted' love for his brother as well by a bit. And I would like to hear about the ability your thinking of, thank you. Haha. Thanks for the comments and suggestions~!
imachan1208 - Aahahah. I will not forget to update! And Gon's the densest character ever! Hhihihi. Thanks for the review~!
Phoenix-Thunder - He can be such a spoiled brat, ne? Ghahaha~ Thank you for the comment!
hunterxhunterfan123 - Hmmm... Still thinking about that- Let's just see what happens, ne? Thanks for the comment~!
RoxasisReal13 - Aw, shux. I'm flattered! Thank you for the review~!
Ame - Thank you so much! But I can't really update so much since I have other stories and school... Maybe my update rate will be better once summer vacation starts.
Baylee1100 - Hahaha. Here it is~! And I'm glad you thought so. Thanks for the review~
Thanks for reading! Please pause before proceeding, and please