UPDATE YAYY! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Author's note at the end of this is has some insight on my writing process so if you're curios read that. Enjoy the chapter! (Published November 7th 2014)
Arriving at the non-descript steakhouse, Akumi walked in. Immediately, she knew she was in the right place. Below, she could feel the auras of different people, and felt one that stood out more than the rest. That's got to be the examiner.
"Welcome!" The man said that stood behind a counter. "What can I do for you today?" A quick glance told Akumi that he was a capable nen user.
"Is the back room over? I want the steak combo that opens your eyes, grilled over a low flame, until cooked," Akumi replied, keeping her voice calm.
The man's eyes narrowed, before gesturing to a corridor behind him.
"Go down that way and they can help you with the order." Akumi nodded, and was about to go in the direction he was pointing before being interrupted by his voice. "You know, it's very difficult for someone to get this far without a navigator. How'd you do it?"
A smirk appeared on Akumi's lips, though she knew that he couldn't see it because of her hoodie.
"I had one of them just tell me where it was." Before the man could reply, she walked away, headed for the corridor he had pointed towards. It wouldn't do if I got disqualified before the adventure even began, she thought to herself before arriving at a door.
Akumi entered the room, which contained a small table and four chairs surrounding it. Immediately after closing the door, she felt a jerk, before the room began to descend below ground. An elevator huh? Minutes passed by, during which Akumi moved to sit down on the table, watching as the numbers continued to increase. Finally, the elevator stopped, the numbers above it reading "B 100". The doors opened, a loud ding announcing her entrance.
The amount of time that had passed told Akumi that she was around half a kilometer below ground. Looking around, she saw a small crowd of people, all staring up at the new arrival. Immediately upon seeing her, the atmosphere changed. Some of the applicants saw her small stature and shrugged her off, but most of them carefully scrutinized her. Though she had no obvious signs, the same thought was running through everyone's minds. That person is a threat.
Directly in front of the elevator stood... something. Akumi felt a pierced eyebrow raise in surprise as she took in its appearance. He barely reached her torso, and wore a black suit. What caused her to do a double take was the fact that he looked like a giant lima bean. In his hand, he held a circular tag with the number '63' written on it.
"Hello," said the green man. "This is your identification number. Please keep it at all times."
Akumi had to hold back a giggle as she stared at the man. Normally, she wouldn't ever let emotions show like this, but she couldn't help it. She was talking to a giant lima bean in a suit. A giant lima bean. And she had thought Illumi and his needles were weird.
Recomposing herself, Akumi took the number tag from him, looking around at the surrounding crowd. Most of the people there were in small circles, talking quietly amongst themselves while occasionally sparing a glance at other competitors.
"The name's Beans," the small man said. "I am part of the Hunter Association Exam Committee. Everyone here is waiting for the exam to start. It will still be a while so make yourself comfortable."
Yeah, as comfortable as the concrete ground can be. Giving no indication that she had heard him, Akumi continued walking, headed towards the wall on her left. As she walked away, she felt curious gazes fall on her.
"You must be new." Akumi felt a twinge of annoyance as a voice spoke to her. His voice was loud enough that everyone in the room could hear it. She had hoped that she would be able to wait without being taken particular note of until Illumi arrived. Turning around, she faced the man that had spoken to her.
"I'm Tonpa," he said, putting on a fake smile. She felt an immediate dislike for him, taking in his overall appearance. He was short and overweight, and held a can of juice in one hand, the other sticking out waiting for a handshake. Akumi stared at it, knowing that he himself was waiting for her to introduce herself. After a moment of staring emotionlessly at his hand, he let it drop, moving it to scratch the back of his head.
"Anyways," he continued, ignoring the awkward silence. "You must be new. Have a drink." He handed her the can, a large smile plastered on his face. She took it, knowing immediately that it had been tampered with.
"I've take this test a bunch of times, so if you want to know anything, ask me." Still ignoring the cold shoulder, he gave another smile before walking off. She knew without even looking that he was watching, waiting for her to take a drink.
Akumi stared at the can for a moment, contemplating what to do. 'Come on Akumi, you can have some fun.' Agreeing with the voice, Akumi pondered what she could do. Using nen at this point would bring too much attention, and killing him would make me a target. To her left, she heard one group of brutes talk about Tonpa.
"... guy's already going at it again, trying to sabotage first timers."
"Yeah, looks like the dude is going to drink it."
"Yeah, they're an idiot. Don't even look strong. Probably won't even survive the first phase."
Bristling, Akumi chugged the entire drink in a single go, making sure that the group beside her saw. Inconspicuousness be damned, I don't have the patience to deal with this guy. He's ridiculously weak anyways, I have no idea why he hasn't been killed yet.
Throwing the can to the side, she stooped over slightly, acting like it had done something to her. She had no idea what sort of poison it was besides the fact that it wasn't deadly, but even lethal poisons would do next to nothing. Fucking Kikyo actually had some uses besides almost killing me the first week with poisons and making me spend tea time with her.
Hobbling over to Tonpa, who she knew held a small smirk on his face, Akumi had to hold back the murderous aura that was bubbling up in her. 'Come on, just kill the guy. He's nothing but a pest.' She held back the urge to agree with the voice, instead giving him a light tap on the shoulder.
While he turned around, she slid her right hand across her left glove, letting the blade sewn into the folds of the palm area open a small gash. Manipulating the blood, she changed its form so that it resembled a small blade.
Stepping forward so that she was leaning against his shoulder, she quickly crowded his personal space, placing the blade directly above his right hip bone.
"Next time you try and poison me, I'll kill you," she whispered into his ear. "I don't take well to weaklings like you trying to step into the ranks of those that are stronger." She directed a small amount of killing intent at him, before stepping away. Immediately slipping into zetsu, she walked away, letting the blood fall to the ground. Fading into the crowd, she felt several pairs of eyes on her. Reaching a wall, she leaned against it, waiting as she felt the gazes slowly fall away, quickly forgetting the about her.
"My, my, you seem very interesting." Immediately upon hearing the voice, Akumi froze. The nen that was previously in zetsu poured out, creating a strong nen barrier around her.
"You..." she said, slowly turning her gaze around to face the man that she knew would be in a clown suit.
"Oh, hm? You know me?" The red head in front of her stared at her, unable to see her face as he looked downwards at her.
"Seven years ago, when I was fourteen." She could feel his nen responding to her own, slowly growing around him. "You left me alone in a alleyway."
"Ah yes," he said, remembering. "I must say that it did, in the end, work out well for you. Do you remember my name?" He twirled a joker card between his fingers, a smirk growing on his lips.
"How could I forget you?" Akumi replied, letting a small laugh fly past her lips. "Hisoka, for a very long time, I wanted to see you burn in a pit in hell.
The jester raised an eyebrow in response, before leaning backwards to stand beside her on the wall. Sliding down, he sat on the floor, before pulling out a deck of cards. After a moment's hesitation, Akumi joined him, watching as he built a tower.
"You were a very interesting child. Not many little girls decide to walk up to a strange magician and strike up a conversation with them." A chuckle escaped his lips as he placed the cards down, lining them up one after another.
"I was fourteen. The age where we think we know how the world works but still expect the best. I walked up to a stranger on the street, asked for a magic trick, and then followed him into an alley. I was a stupid little fucker." A dark laugh followed her statement as Akumi watched in interest as Hisoka began building the second layer.
"You were pretty naive back then. Following an older man into an alleyway and expecting just a magic trick and nothing else is the ideology of a seven year old."
"And look what happened. Instead of being kidnapped or something equally dramatic, I ended up getting punched in the face."
"Ahh, that was a lovely punch if I do say so myself. I'm very happy that someone actually managed to survive my nen baptism. And look at you now! Such...delicious nen."
A smirk appeared on her face as she heard the last sentence.
"Trust me, I'm pretty glad I managed to live too. Otherwise, we'd still have a bunch of useless idiots running around. Not that there aren't any left. There are plenty."
"Playing around with natural selection, eh?"
"Not so much playing around. More like, raising the standards and hurrying the process up."
Hisoka paused in his tower building, having just finished the third layer.
"So why are you here?" He asked, tilting his head to study the card tower.
"Oh, some adventure, maybe a little bit of fun."
"And your definition of adventure is…?"
"Killing a few people, along with a torture session every now and then."
Akumi's reply created a break in the conversation, before Hisoka began to laugh.
"I thought I was pretty messed up, training little fruit so that I could kill them later, but you're just about as fucked up as I am."
She was about to reply about how calling people little fruits was pretty weird in itself, but before she could, a child exited the elevator, his white hair slightly disheveled. Eyes widening a bit in surprise, Akumi bit back her response as she watched Killua take the number 99 from Beans.
"I have to go," she said, slipping back into her emotionless personality. Without waiting for a response, she stood up and walked away, pulling the phone out of the front pocket of her hoodie.
"Illumi," she said without preamble. "I found him."
"Akumi," Illumi replied over the phone. "I thought you were taking the test with me. Don't tell me you tracked him down instead."
"No, he's taking the test too," she said, annoyed that he thought she would skip out on the exam.
"Don't do anything ridiculous. Or stupid."
"So basically anything that I would want to do."
Akumi's response was answered with a click, signalling that Illumi had hung up on her. Holding back a sigh, she placed her phone back into her pocket, observing Killua from a distance. He had, as she expected, chugged the drink before asking for another. Jumping onto a pipe, she leaned backwards, letting herself relax and falling into a light sleep.
Akumi woke when she felt another nen user enter the room. Letting her eyes open slowly, she scanned the crowd, acting like she had just woken from a heavy sleep on coincidence and not from another nen user. Eyes going to the elevator, she watched as Illumi took the number 301 from Beans. Looking upwards, his eyes met her gaze before walking towards her.
Everyone's eyes followed him, unnerved at his appearance. The clicking noise along with the pins stuck in his face was enough reason not to talk to him. A single glance towards Tonpa showed that he wasn't going near Illumi, and neither was anyone else. The only ones that weren't affected by his appearance were Akumi, Hisoka, and Beans.
Stopping beside Akumi, Illumi let out a few clicking noises, not turning his head towards her. Letting herself activate gyo, she watched as sentences former above his head from the nen in his needles.
'Anything interesting?'
Without turning to face him, she replied quietly. "Besides Killua, not really. Though there is another interesting person here. I still don't understand how Killua doesn't recognize you. Literally, you have the pins you carry around stuck in your head."
His eyes moved around, landing on Killua before moving to the redhead.
'You met Hisoka?'
"Yeah, we have some history. How do you know him?"
'Work.'
Seeing that the conversation was ending, Akumi stood up, planning to get some of the stiffness out of her joints before the exam started. Applicants were coming in one after another now, and she knew that the exam would begin soon.
A scream pierced the room, causing everyone in the room to pause in their conversations and stare at the scene before them. Hisoka stood in front of a man, who was currently on the floor screaming in pain. His arms were slowly fading away, turning into flower petals. Hisoka walked away, headed for Akumi and Illumi. The crowd around him parted quickly, not wanting to get in his way.
Stopping in front of Akumi, he watched as the applicants turned away, not meeting his gaze. Before she could comment on his stunt, a loud ringing noise began, followed by a wall rising upwards to reveal a man in a purple suit.
He began his introduction, during which Akumi studied him. Obviously a Hunter. His aura is pretty strong and seems pretty strong in general too. He began walking, taking large steps that caused others to jog in order to keep up with him. The man, after saying his name was Satotz, sped up, causing the crowd following to also speed up.
"What do you think of him?" Hisoka asked, running beside Akumi.
"He seems pretty interesting. Strong too, even though it's kind of weird he doesn't have a mouth."
"Ah, it seems like the first phase is going to be pretty boring. Nothing but running."
Nodding in agreement, Akumi looked forward, signaling the end of their conversation. Looking around, she watched Killua as he jumped on a skateboard to keep up with the examiner. Staring at the crowd, she let herself relax. They would be running for a while.
Akumi's full attention was brought back to Satotz when they began to climb up stairs and the pace sped up. She guessed that they had run around eighty kilometers, and at the rate they were climbing, she surmised that they only had a little ways to go. She increased her pace, going from the back of the group to the middle. Looking around, she had to hold back a sigh. No one here is really that interesting. The only ones that really stand out won't shut up and are annoying. At this rate, I might have to kill someone else pretty soon.
Her gaze went to Killua, who was talking to another kid around his age. He seems interesting enough. Maybe I'll get to play around a bit. Looking up, she saw a light at the top of the tunnel. Around her, people were exclaiming, happy that they were done running. Arriving at the top, she watched as people piled out, some slumping over from exhaustion. Walking over to Hisoka, Akumi stood beside him and took in their surroundings.
A giant swamp stood in front of them, covered with fog. The fog was as thick as a blanket, letting her only see a few meters in any direction. The humidity caused her to frown, annoyed with the sticky feeling it was giving her.
"This is the Numere Wetlands," Satotz said, interrupting her thoughts of taking off the heavy hoodie, "but it is better known as Swindlers Swamp. There are many creatures here, all of which will fool you. If you fall for their traps, you're as good as dead."
Listening to the rest, Akumi turned when she felt the presence of an animal come near them. Her eyes narrowed as he began yelling, spouting something about Satotz being an imposter. She had to hold back a sigh, casting a glance at Hisoka who seemed amused by the scene before them. Catching her gaze, Hisoka raised his hand up, which held three playing cards, reinforced with shu. A smirk appeared, before Akumi sliced her hand, letting three small daggers form in her right hand. Hisoka gave a nod towards Satotz, and Akumi returned the nod, gesturing at both the creature and Satotz.
Moving in sync, they both threw their projectiles. The first wave was aimed for the creature, two daggers and card hitting him directly on the torso. The second wave, immediately following the first, flew towards Satotz, the dagger aiming for his right eye and the two cards aiming for his chest.
The creature fell, the monkey in his hand falling from his grasp as he hit the ground, dead. Everyone's attention went to Satotz, who had caught the projectiles, cards in one hand, dagger in the other. Their gazes went from the cards to the cards' owner and the figure that stood beside him, two more daggers in hand.
Hisoka let a small chuckle escape, before looking at the Satotz.
"You're the real examiner," he said, shuffling the cards between his hands. Everyone seemed surprised that he wasn't the imposter, and a few even freaked out, saying that Hisoka had killed the examiner.
Looking over at the corpse of the creature, she moved her gaze to the monkey, who she knew was faking being dead. It opened its eyes before leaping to its feet and running off into the mist. Before it could escape though, Akumi threw a pair of daggers at it, both slicing into the neck, causing its head to fly off from the body.
"Everyone here will die if they can't even tell a human from a creature," she said, lowering the hood. Everyone's attention was focused on her and Hisoka, and she could hear a few gasps as they saw her appearance. She still had the piercings covering her face, as well as the scars and tattoos. Deciding that continuing to wear the hoodie and long pants were useless, she took both off, revealing the black tanktop and black shorts on beneath. She felt their eyes take in the tattoos and scars that continued down her arms and legs, and watched as most of them took a step back.
Looking around at the crowd, who was now staring at both her and Hisoka in fear, her gaze paused at Killua, who was staring wide eyed at her, before continuing on. Turning her attention to Satotz, she listened as he threatened to fail her and Hisoka if they attacked another examiner during the exam. Continuing the speech he had started before being interrupted, she zoned out, only paying attention once more when they began running.
Following, she cast a glance towards Illumi, who looked annoyed, presumably from her blowing her cover to Killua. Navigating through the crowd, which quickly moved out of the way, she focused on searching for the younger Zoldyck, who she found running with a group of three other people.
Speeding up so that she was directly behind him, she leaned over, speaking loud enough that the entire group could hear her.
"Hello Killua." At the sound of her voice, everyone jumped, while Killua quickly leaped away from her, landing beside the boy that she had seem him with earlier.
The white haired boy turned his head to face her, mouth clamped shut as he attempted to stay calm.
"I'm not going back," he said, his voice mostly calm.
"Oh Killua, but you will. You just don't know yourself well enough to know it yet. And I'm not here to drag you back." Her voice remained impassive, ignoring the accusatory stares from the group he was running with.
The boy beside Killua stared at Akumi for a moment before he began to speak.
"If Killua wants to leave home, you should let him! Mito-san always said that you should do what you feel is right because it'll all work out in the end." A glare was directed at the boy that had spoken, the fishing pole in his hand bouncing up and down as they continued through the swamp.
"What's your name?" Akumi asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Gon! Gon Freecss!"
"Well Gon," she began mockingly. Immediately upon hearing the tone of her voice, Killua stepped into her line of sight, as a small attempt to protect his newly acquired friend. "I'm guessing you're around the same age as Killua. So probably twelve. Let me tell you something here. Following what you feel is right won't always make you happy. In most cases, it'll end up killing someone. In my case, it ends up with me killing a few people and me in a better mood. Keeping that happy little attitude is going to make you one day hate the world, and when it does, I will be there to push you off the edge."
Without knowing it, she had come closer to the boy, until her face was only a foot away. Meanwhile, Killua had taken his place beside her, his hand transformed into its razor sharp claws. When he saw her looking at his hand, he turned his head away, but left the claws out.
"Look at yourself Killua. Even now, your first thought is violence. Though I must admit, I thought you were smarter than to even think of attacking me? Must I remind you of what happened to the butler? Or your brother?"
The boy stiffened upon being reminded about the events that had ended up with him taking the hunter exam. Without a glance backwards, Akumi changed her course, moving to run beside Hisoka who, from the vibes of his aura, was becoming bloodthirsty. A single jerk of her head towards a clearing coming up on her right communicated the idea, the grin on Hisoka's face agreeing to her suggestion. Without pause, the two slowly drifted away from the group until they were completely separated.
Reaching out, Akumi could feel several people near where her and Hisoka had stopped. A glance directed at him showed that he also could feel them. Sharing a small grin, Akumi cut two deep gashes in her left and right wrist, creating two long daggers from the blood that flowed from the cuts. Holding one in each hand, she held them outwards, ready for the group that was quickly closing into a ring around her and Hisoka.
The jester moved behind her so that they were back to back. Pulling out a deck of cards, he finally allowed the blood lust to spill outwards, Akumi's own aura following quickly after. They stood together, one armed with cards, the other blood, ready to take on the fifteen something applicants facing them.
Not wasting any time after Akumi left, Leorio began questioning the boy on their visitor.
"Oi, Killua, how do you know that crazy chick? She didn't seem like a friend." Kurapika had to stop himself from facepalming upon hearing Leorio's observation. Through no stretch of the imagination could that person be called a friend. Observing Killua, Kurapika studied the boy's hand, which was clenched hard enough that blood was falling from it.
"I know her," Killua began after a moment's hesitation. "She's nothing but trouble. Stay away from her."
"Killua," Kurapika began. "What exactly has she done? She mentioned a brother and a butler."
Immediately upon mentioning the butler, Killua's steps faltered, causing him to stumble for half a step before continuing on.
"She… had some 'fun' with some of the people that worked where I lived." Killua began, eyes shifting from right to left.
"Fun?" Leorio asked, eyebrows raising in surprise. "I didn't think that she was that kind of person."
A moment of silence passed as everyone took in the meaning of Leorio's sentence. Kurapika had to hold back a sigh, already becoming desensitized to the other guy's dirty mind. Gon, being the innocent and naive child that he was, continued running, paying no heed to the innuendo.
"Leorio," Killua began, turning serious. "She's probably killed more people than my older brother. She's a complete psychopath who holds no remorse for others. If you fight her, you will die."
Kurapika's head turned to the right, hearing noises of something that could possibly be a brawl in the forest. Gon's head snapped to the right, eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"Killua," he said, eyes wandering over the forest on their right. "I can smell blood. I think there's a fight going on."
Looking around, Gon could no longer see the silhouette of Satotz. The people around him seem focused on something, whispering about, "taking the opportunity." Following the crowd, Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio arrived in a clearing, losing each other in fog that was now so thick that they could barely see directly in front of themselves.
Having become separated, Killua and Gon both hid in bushes on opposite sides of the clearing. Meanwhile, Leorio and Kurapika had been less fortunate, somehow finding themselves closer to the center, where a group of people were. Suddenly, the fog cleared, letting the four see what was going on in front of them.
A moment passed as Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika took in the scene before them. In the center, a ring of people had appeared, each holding weapons in their hands. Kurapika and Leorio, both close to the inner ring, froze in surprise. The two people that had attacked the examiner were surrounded and it looked like they were about to fight.
Killua, upon taking in the scene, stood up and fled, his survival instinct kicking in. Shit, he thought as he sped through the swamp. Shit, shit, shit. They're all going to die.
A roar ran through the forest, the mob surrounding Hisoka and Akumi surging forward. Blood began to fly.
We have finally reached the canon! YAYYY! Okay, not going to say much here because I feel absolutely exhausted, but thank you for reading. As I said before, this will not have the same details as canon. Things have to be changed around in order to accommodate the OC in the story as well as make it interesting. Next chapter is... something. Once I can make slightly better sentences I'll get to writing that.
The rest of the author's note is just me rambling so feel free to skip it.
Seriously you guys, my beta is the most fabulous person in the world. Breather, who I literally messaged forty-five minutes ago, got back to me in thirty minutes so that I could publish this tonight before I go to sleep. (I'm going to sleep after I finish this author's note.)
For those curious on how I write my chapters, it goes something like this: I first off have to have a basic idea of what's going to happen. For example, in this chapter, the plan was Akumi meets Hisoka, include nen babtism, and running and beginning of swamp phase, ending chapter at fight. I send the basic idea like that to my beta for several chapters and get feedback. Usually chapter planning is at least a few chapter in advanced in comparison to what I need to still write. After that, I describe all the events that will happen in the chapter. This includes me talking about several different ideas for one scene and then my beta helping me decide which one to follow through with. When describing all the events, I usually do a play by play of the chapter, the message usually totaling to ~4000 characters- not words, characters. This message is basically me typing anything that comes to mind. Really, reading it, I will ramble on with one thing before going with a final plan.
From there, I write the story out, following the last message I sent. As I run into problems, such as particular ways to deliver a scene (flashback or description usually) I send a message to my beta for advice. Throughout the entire time, I'm writing. I don't write this entire story in one go. As I write it, my beta will pop in and offer suggestions and fix errors. All in all, the process for a single chapter is very long, where communication between me and my beta play a crucial part.
Anyways, I'll see you guys later. Updates of chapter progress go on my profile so check there periodically. Reviews, favs, and follows are always appreciated! See you next time!
