Exams Final Phase


After leaving Hisoka, Salluto set out on her trip to find her target, applicant 77. She reached for her coat pocket and pulled out the badge she obtained earlier "Hm" she sighed as she looked down at it

*5*

"So i guess this give me four points" She thought ''If it was 77 this could be over already Tsk stupid Hunter Exam" Salluto muttered, kicking the dusty floor. After deciding to take a well earned nap she made her way into tree beside her, making sure to conceal herself within the leaves. The tree wasn't really that high up but it was comfortable and more than enough to hide herself for the rest of the day.

Sleeping in trees wasn't a new thing for Salluto. With living at Kukuroo Mountain she spent a lot of her time in the woods with Amane. To salluto she wasn't just a Butler or Tsubone's granddaughter, She was a friend. They shared the same interests and did a lot of things together, much to Illumi's disapproval.

Illumi hated it. His little sister, Treating a butler as an equal when she is of much higher status ? He made sure it wouldn't happen for much longer. Just as quick as he found out, he consulted with silva and Kikyo. Salluto was sent for immediately.

Clearly she need more training and more training she had so for weeks Silva put his daughter though emotional torture. Everyday he would force her to watch as Amane was electrocuted or beaten by Illumi until it no longer make her cry, tear up or even twitch at the pain her friend was enduring. When Silva decided the day was over, Salluto would leave the house and stay in the forest all night but she would always find herself waking up in her bed beside Mike, One of the Zoldyck enormous hounds.

Night hit and Salluto found herself waking up to voices below her. She moved herself slightly to look down, two men were resting on the crumbled pathway. 'Two more points for me' She thought. She inspected the men further. The man to her left was holding a small brown leather bag on his arm, the other was fiddling with a knife. It kind of reminded her of what Hisoka did with he cards, No this was no time to think about that immature clow freak, She had to get the tags.

"You should talk quieter" She called out, making the two men look up "You're waking people up you know"

"What'd ya gonna do about it lady" Called out the man to her left.

The She jumped down from the tree and landed in frount of them. Immedietly the man with the knife lunged at her, The knife wasnt anything special and it wasnt about to do her much damage in a grip like that. He was holding it loosely in his right hand between his thumb and index finger at about waist height. He was going to go low with a slicing motion. Classic amateur mistake.

When he swung, he expected her to jump back, but instead she leaped inside the range of his rather pathetic swing. She took this chance to hook her left arm over his right, ONce achived she grabbed his throat with her right hand, and drove her right knee into his crotch. He wailed in pain but Salluto didnt let go. The other man was still in shock of what had just happened, She was too quick to follow. He looked up at her. Nothing. There was no trace of feelingor emotion in her face, there was just nothing. He began to shake slightly.

He launched himself toward her. Too late. He knew he'd be too late. While holding this Mans neck she had grabbed him with her free hand and threw him into a nearby tree. For a moment, he looked like he would puke, but he managed to stand straight, eyes bulging with rage, and stared at his opponent. "I..its not possible" The man Salluto held chocked in her grasp "Just g..ive her th..the tags."

The other man began potesting but Salluto tightend her grip on the neck hold forcing him to give up. "Place the tags on the floor and leave" She commanded, A slight harshness to her voice.

"Hey ! What about him" He pointed at the dying man at the end of her arm.

"Well right now he's my only leverage over you" She explained "If you take the tags with you he dies, its that simple" The man huffed her. Slowly he reached his hand inside the bag and pulled out four tags. 'Four tags ? If he has 77 im done' She thought "Wait, Slight change of plans"

"The hell do you mean change of plans ! "He yelled clearly annoyed at everything.

"Call out the tag numbers" She ordered. He began to regret pulling all four tags out,

" uch fine *82* *399* *77* *91*" The annoyed man called out as he laid them on the floor one by one.

"I'll only be taking tag 77 from you" She pulled the one point tag from her coat "You can have this in return" She released her hold on the choking mans neck. Immediately the other man ran towards him, dropping the bag Salluto huffed and walked over to take her target tag, replacing it with applicant five's. One of the two man began to ask why she didn't just kill them, but she was no where to be seen.

The rest of the week involved sleep, food, water and more sleep for Salluto. It wasn't a big deal avoiding people since she would be concealed by the dense greenery and never once came out of Zetsu. She continued this way until it was announced the week was over and they could all return to the airship with their Tags.

"We'll be making our way to the Exams Final Phase, Please wait here until we arrive" The same ginger haired woman from earlier called out. Salluto rolled her eyes and walked over the where Hisoka had left a Crack in the wall and sat herself down in the exact same way as she did previously. She didn't see it, but Hisoka had smiled at her slightly, He didn't understand anything she did and he loved it. She was completely unable to predict.

A few minutes after they started flying, The remaining applicants were called out one by one and asked to answer a few questions. 300 was called. Salluto sighed to herself and made her way towards the wooden door.

Inside the room was the Chairman. "Salluto Z. ? I assume" The old man placed a sheet of paper on the pine wood desk in front of him. "Might I ask what the Z stands for ?" He giggled,this geezer got on her nerves but she didn't let it show.

"The Z ?" She repeated after him, Taking a seat in the chair opposite him.

"Mhhm" He hummed "The Z"

"Oh that would be Zoldyck" She told him, Like it was nothing, Like she belonged to a normal family. The old man seemed to stop for a second.

"Zoldyck, As in the Zoldyck Assassins ?" He asked

"Hm, Thats the one" She started "Can we get this over with, I hate to wait"

"Whats a Zoldyck taking the Hunter Exam for ?" This man wasn't going to stop it seemed.

"It's not like i wanted to" Salluto huffed.

"I do hope you're not on an assignment" And he giggled again, 'This man is worse than Hisoka for laughing' She thought. He didn't wait for an answer since he already knew "You wouldn't be, If you were I assume you would of completed it and left by now" He started laughing...Again. Salluto sighed, causing the Chairman to straighten himself up "You can leave, I have all the information I wanted"

"If you say so" If he wanted to arrest her or get information about her family from her or even kill her, She clearly wasn't bothered. 'Just as I thought, I never knew the Zoldyck had a daughter' The Chairman thought.

Salluto returned to find Hisoka sitting just where she sat previously. She thought about sitting somewhere else, But there was a heater around that area and she liked it there so sat beside him instead, much to his surprise. He pulled out a pack of Gum and gestured to for her to take some "Not for me thanks" She said pushing his arm away, He just shrugged and popped and small cube of the stuff into him mouth

Hisoka spoke up after a while of chewing, His voice was calm and measured "Whats made you sit beside me ?"

Her eyes directed towards his face"Actually I think i'd like you to go, Would you mind ?" There was still nothing in her voice, Hisoka hated it more than anything but he laughed at what she said .

"What If I do ?" He hummed at her

"Do what ?" She questioned,

"Mind"

"I don't know do I" That harshness was there again. Emotion. It was all he wanted her to show. "You're so annoying" Her head turned away from him as she spoke.

He giggled slightly "Ouch, My princess has hurt me" Hisoka gently placed his hand on his chest to emphisise his sarcasm. She sighed like she usually did, this annoyed Hisoka. It was like her own personal way of telling people she didnt care for anything they were saying.

The Chairman walked out from the room as the airship landed "Everyone, We have arrived at the Final Phase of the Hunter Exam" He announced "If you could all make your way out of the airship and into the building, all shall be explained"

Hisoka sprung to his feet and help out a hand to help her up, She simply slapped it away and walked off leaving him to stare at her butt as she did so. He kept staring with that creepy smile of his until Illumi threw a yellow, round top pin towards him and he was forced to avoid it.

Inside the building was really quite boring, it was a large square based room with arched windows atop the walls. There was a set of double doors opposite to the ones they enterd and there were long white pillars all around the room. The little green guy, beans, Was standing next to the chairman along with the other examiners.

"The final round of the Hunter Exam will be in the format of one-on-one duels." Netero explained "You only need to win once to pass the exam. In order to win, you must get your opponent to surrender" Salluto chuffed slightly, 'Thats gonna be easy' she thought with a smile "killing your opponent will result in disqualification, and the remaining examinees will automatically pass." The smile faded 'Okay not so easy'

"Losers will move up the bracket until there is only one player left. In other words, only one examinee will be eliminated, and everyone else will become hunters." Netero finished talking and showed a board with everyones picture on it. Salluto would be fighting pokkle first.

Pokkle was already in the middle of the room, Salluto hadn't moved. "Salluto-san!" Gon shouted from the other end of the room.

"Gon !" Killua punched his arm. Salluto walked slowly towards the middle of the room. She reached up to her scarf and gracefully pulled it from her neck. Silence fell. Everyone watched as she stood opposite Pokke.

She just stared at him. Nothing else, yet Pokkle could feel his pulse beating in his ears, blocking out all other sound except the breath that was raggedly moving in and out of his mouth at regular, gasping intervals. He found that he too was staring at her. He could not take his eyes away from hers. They were so cold and full of nothingness it felt like her gaze has stabbing to his own. He could no longer control his hands; they were shaking in an odd trembling rhythm as the colour drained from his face. Yet still he stared directly into her eyes. She just stood there , She hadn't even done anything. He closed his eyes tightly and balled his fists.

Beans looked shocked "What's she doing ?" She muttered at Netero

"It's an assassination technique, Its usually used for interrogation or torture, I've never actually seen this used before" He admitted. Pokkle was still trembling in fear.

"If you dont surrender now this will only get worse" Salluto spoke, her voice was soft but cold at the same time, Somehow it made him feel worse "I suggest you admit defeat, I'm not going to surrender" She began walking towards him.

"I...I..I" Pokkle stuttered " ..How ?" A slight Groan was heard from Hisoka in the background, He was loving this.

Salluto ignored the urge to attack Hisoka and stood directly in front of Pokkle, "How what ?" Pokkle groaned "I think the words you're looking for is 'I Give Up' correct ?"

"I Give up" Pokkle repeated her words and forfeited the match. Beans declared Salluto the winner and she went to get her scarf then walked back over to the other applicants and stood next to Killua who was in a moment of pure rage.

"Didnt you love it Kill, The feel of his terror ?" She asked

"The opposite, I hated it" Killuas voice was harsh. Salluto smiled,

"The opposite of love is not hate Kill, it's indifference. If you hate something, and fear it, it's because you're secretly scared you might love it." She tapped his shoulder and walked the the back of the room to sit down where she met Hisoka's lust filled eyes. She used her scarf to hide her face once again, turned from his gaze and watched the fight with Gon and Hanzo.