Chapter 21: Kastro
Hisoka's match was the buzz of the day. Killua grumbled about wasting money on the extra ticket that he couldn't even use, but Aliara just laughed at him. She offered to pay him back, but he refused, saying it wasn't a big deal, which made Aliara sweat-drop. He was complaining about no one using the third ticket, but wouldn't take money back... Interesting.
They were making their way to the arena where the fight was supposed to be. Aliara glanced up at the screen, where they were showing an interview with Kastro.
"If I didn't think I had a chance of winning, I wouldn't fight," Kastro was saying politely to the interviewer. He had long hair, almost as long as hers, and a stern face. "I'm going to show that in two years, I became another man."
Killua huffed beside her. "Not really modest."
Aliara snickered. "It'll be a good match."
Killua hummed quietly, but when Aliara looked at him, she could see he was planning something. She recognized the thoughtful expression, and imagined gears in his brain whirring. "I'll be back," he said suddenly, taking off, "go find our seats!"
"Eh? Killua!" The white-haired boy turned swiftly through the crowd, not looking back. Ali grumbled, "irresponsible! I swear!" and kept moving with the crowd, going off to find the seats. Killua had handed her the tickets.
That was when her eyes drifted up to a nearby screen, showing off another fight.
A boy. A boy was fighting. He had thick black hair that was styled in an undercut, and stone cold brown eyes that gazed down at his opponent, who was one the floor, surrounded in a pile of blood. Yet the boy showed no emotion; he stared down at the fallen man with a poker face, before turning around and walking out of the view of the screen.
The announcer was ecstatic. "Another twenty seconds or less victory, for Fukinoro!"
Aliara's head whirled.
"Fukinoro?!" she hissed angrily.
Her brother?!
The match began, and Aliara had found her seat, still unnerved. Killua had joined her. "I just went to check on Kastro," he said with a shrug. "Nothing happened." But Aliara could see he was genuinely shaken up. She rolled her emerald eyes at him, before turning back to the match, as Hisoka and Kastro were making their entrance.
"What happened?" Killua asked her.
Aliara blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Something happened when I was out," he accused, narrowing his blue eyes. "You're doing that... thing."
"What thing?!"
He shrugged. "The thing where you cut your sentences shorter, your eyes flutter around, and you're not really concentrating. That's when I know something's up."
Aliara's jaw slipped open. He had picked that much up?! "W- Well," she stammered, her cheeks flushing angrily, "I can say the same to you."
"Eh? What?" Killua asked, cocking his head to the side.
"You shrug a lot," Aliara countered, her ideas gathering in her head, "and you're brushing off stuff, and you seem too focused, like you're concentrating too hard on something."
They both stared at each other, blinking.
Killua started to laugh. "We're opposites."
"No kidding," she agreed, rolling her eyes. "What is it?"
Killua shrugged again, and said, "When I went to find Kastro, it was almost like he teleported himself behind me. It was impossible, almost. And he's really strong." His honesty surprised Aliara. "How about you?"
The black-haired girl bit her tongue, nervous, then swallowed. He told her, and even if it wasn't much to worry about, she ought to tell him too. "I saw a video of one of the other fights," Aliara started as Killua studied her intently. "And there was a fight between two guys, and the winner made it to the 200th floor. The winner was my brother."
"What?" Killua said, eyes wide.
Aliara nodded miserably. "I like to think it's pure coincidence. But I'm not sure."
"What brother?" he demanded.
"His name's Fukinoro. He's a really cold person, shows no emotion, that kind of thing. We don't look anything alike. He's a year older than me. Actually, I think he's fourteen now, his birthday was in the start of April."
The assassin winced. "Yikes. He's going to find out you're here."
Aliara nodded. These fights were videotaped and shown in many different places. She's never given her last name, and as a kid she'd never left her house. It was a bit much to hope no one would recognize her, but she'd done pretty well so far. "I'll figure out how to deal with that. For now, let's enjoy the match that you spent so much money on."
Killua snorted. "No kidding. These were expensive!"
"Thank you," Aliara said quietly and genuinely. "For buying the tickets."
Maybe it was her imagination, but his cheeks were... almost pink. "Whatever, sunshine," he scowled, but he was smirking.
They turned to the match as Kastro lunged at Hisoka.
The fight seemed to be going in Kastro's favor, at first. Aliara saw what Killua meant. He seemed to vanish and reappear somewhere Hisoka wasn't expecting in order to land a solid hit. Kastro had four points, and Hisoka had nothing, when Aliara and Killua came to a conclusion.
"It's an illusion," Killua said firmly. "It really does look like it."
"There's two of him for a few milliseconds," Aliara agreed.
"He's got a double or something," the pair concluded together.
Kastro ran at Hisoka, fists curled awkwardly in what the assassin's both recognized to be the famous Tiger's Claw, an incredibly strong attack that was said to break trees. The jester simply held out his arm, taunting Kastro into taking it.
The illusionist ended up taking Hisoka's right arm, the one he hadn't held out.
"I'm not sure if that's a bad move or not," Aliara admitted, glaring at the arena.
"Why?" Killua mused.
"Because Kastro wasn't sure if the arm that Hisoka offered was a trap," she said slowly, "but I think what Hisoka was doing was baiting him into taking the other arm. Hisoka probably used that to get a better understanding of Kastro's illusion, double, or whatever."
Killua glanced at her like she had grown a second head. "What?!" she demanded, frowning at him.
He rolled his eyes. "Nothing."
"Well, it's obviously not 'nothing'," Aliara demanded, "I-"
"Shut up," he advised, "the match is still going."
Aliara huffed angrily and turned back to the floor.
They both heard Kastro when he said, "If you think everything will happen as you planned, you're making a huge mistake." And after, they both heard Hisoka muse, "That was included in my plans."
The black-haired girl glanced triumphantly at the white-haired boy as he rolled his eyes. "Okay, so you were right for once."
"For once?!" Aliara spluttered. "I-"
"The match," he reminded her, smirking, and she turned back to the match, fuming.
Indeed, Hisoka figured out that Kastro had a double. The illusionist divided himself in two, and the audience went wild as they saw the second Kastro. Hisoka pulled out his severed arm and covered in a cloth, and instantly, Aliara could tell that things were going to go Hisoka's way. He threw the cloth, and his arm was gone- replaced by playing cards that scattered across the floor.
"Choose a card," he hummed, "and memorize it."
The crowd murmured in confusion. Aliara rolled her eyes. "I'm picking eight."
"I'll go seven," Killua countered.
"Add four to it," Hisoka trilled, holding up his fingers. "Then multiply it by two. Subtract six." Aliara's head spun with numbers- she had 18, and if Killua had done it right, he's have 16. "Divide this sum in half, and subtract the original number. What do you have?"
She had one, and she realized the truth- all of the numbers would end up producing one. It was a silly number trick, and would probably fool plenty of people. Killua got it too, and he furrowed his eyebrows. "Everyone's going to get one."
Aliara nodded as Hisoka, disgustingly, reached into his severed arm. "Is this for real?" they both said, disgusted. Hisoka pulled out a bloody ace of spades. One of the two Kastros lunged at Hisoka, aiming for his left arm. Surprisingly, Hisoka gave it to him. As the double vanished, Hisoka chuckled, his left arm discarded on the floor.
His right arm was back to normal. How, Aliara had no clue.
Kastro flew into a frenzy, and he and his double swarmed Hisoka. But as the challenger was about to land a real hit, on Hisoka's arm, the severed arm flew out of nowhere and smacked Kastro across the face.
"Nen," Aliara said in disbelief as Hisoka snapped his fingers, sending all the fallen cards at Kastro. "It's got to be." The jester walked away as the cards impaled Kastro, one by one. "I mean, what else could it be?"
Killua nodded as Kastro collapsed, dead, and Hisoka was declared the winner. "Yeah," he said thoughtfully, his mind in a faraway place. He was thinking. Aliara shook her head with a smile, staring back down to the arena floor, where some referees were trying to remove Kastro's bloody body.
They fought through the roaring crowds to get back to Aliara's room. People were yelling, screaming, and exchanging money. Aliara snorted- didn't they have better things to do than betting?- and she and Killua made it to her room without too much difficulty.
Killua was still amazed at her room. How could it be such a mess, yet she knew exactly where everything was? How was that fair, or logical? Aliara crouched down by her desk and started sorting nails and screws into containers.
He watched her hands in fascination before he said, "we're going to have to fight soon."
Aliara nodded, not looking up from her sorting.
"We're going to win."
She nodded again. How the hell she was sorting such tiny screws and nails without dropping anything or accidentally throwing something his way, Killua would never know. "The nen thing worries me," she mused, sealing the lid on a container of screws that were half the size of his pinky finger. "It seems to be problematic."
"We'll be fine," Killua said with a casual shrug. "We're getting the hang of it."
Aliara scowled, tossing the last nail into the box. "I feel like we've only breached the surface of nen."
He couldn't help but agree. They both sat in silence until Aliara tossed the two containers carelessly into a drawer and grabbed her sketchbook. "Want to help me think up something new?"
"You what?"
"Something new, idiot!"
Killua was kind of surprised. "You just finished the gloves."
"Not really."
"Shouldn't you finish those before you start something else?"
Aliara snorted, "where's the fun in that?"
"And you want me to help you?"
She cocked her head. "Yeah, ghost boy. What's so bad about that?"
Killua shook his head, a grin slowly forming on his face. "Have you ever thought of sunglasses?"
They spent another hour in her room, laying back on her bed, scribbling things in her sketchbook, ideas coming into place. Aliara pointed out little things that Killua forgot, and he added onto her ideas. It was like two puzzle pieces that had finally come together- and it was absolutely perfect.
EvilSquirrelsFans: Love your username, by the way. Um... You may not appreciate what I'm going to do then. Actually, based on what nen types you said you liked, I may end up changing it. Hmm. Thanks for the review!
itzamarmeza: 'Vans off the wall' is certainly an interesting way to read that XD Thanks for the review! :)
Akuma-Sama2002: Thank you! You're giving me so many ideas, oh my XD So much information! The sunglasses, I've actually drawn up something, and the x-ray vision sounds cool, I hadn't thought of it. The earrings are a cool idea- yes, she has piercings. I actually considered a ring- and may find a way to incorporate that later. Thanks for all the brilliant ideas and the review!
masoliki1: A few more OCs will be added- but nothing too large or drastic. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, thanks for the review!~ :D
Night Owl: Aha, thanks! I'm glad you liked the gloves! These dorks are adorable, aren't they? XD Thanks for the review! :)
Reading1Dragon: Give me an invitation, I'm in! XD Shipping party, here I come! Yes, call her Ali. No problem with that. XD Thanks for the review!
G: Thank you! :D
Guest: Yes, I'm aware they speak Japanese. I just thought that would be confusing and decided to just use English. I'm sorry if that bothers you :) Family member? Check! Thanks for the review! :)