I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who reviewed last chapter. Seriously you guys are a-maze-ing. Ya'll know what a sucker I am for reviews.
Stefany Hyuga: It's never too early to ask for more!
Lurvster: I really do try to update as much as I can. Right now this story is getting a lot of love because... well I love Mori and Hisoka so ... yeah. Thank you so much for reviewing! It really makes me so happy!
aphiophi: Thank you so much! That means a lot. Hope you like this chapter.
Kitteninthemoonlight: I'm so glad that you liked the kiss! I kept doubting myself like is this too soon? Is this okay? Aaahhhh!
Ryoma97: I'm glad that you guys are seeing a natural progression with their relationship. That's always on my mind when it comes to my main leads.
SevenChaoticNinjas: Literally my anthem when I write these chapters lol
ivorytwist: It really warms my heart that my writing makes things easier for anyone. Sometimes you just need an escape. Definitely. Completely understand that.
molniya21: It's really great to see you again. Definitely some fighting in this chapter.
SeriouslyStartled: Every time I write a chapter, I feel like that. Like... are these good, wholesome choices for my lead. *sips tea nervously*
platinumhoney: A long review for your first read - my weakness! I was actually going through the anime for the first time and I was like... why are there no bad bitches from the beginning?! It really depressed me before I started to write this. I actually have felt bad for him this whole time. Ugh. Can't get over how much I still love him.
Bambina: First of all, love your user name. Thank you so much for commenting! Any comment really makes my day!
Chapter 23
The clock on the wall says it's only a quarter past 7 but the tension in the room seems timeless, bendable in a way that isn't linear.
Early in the morning, sometime around 3 am, the airship had come to a decided halt, landing somewhere that could either be across the world or back in Belcher's Bay for all I knew. My body had gone rigid, somewhere between wakeful and a dream, and had remained that way until there had been a light knock on my door only an hour before. A personal escort to the next test, that's what had been waiting for me, two burly men with enough pent up aggression to set my teeth grinding.
It would have been an honor if I hadn't been so focused on one thing:
Ichihiro.
My whole body beat for him, my muscles tensing and quivering with new, vengeful purpose. I barely noticed anyone else in the cement-walled atrium that they brought us to, jade making up pillars that my brothers would have probably chipped apart in an attempt to make a pretty penny.
My fingers tightened and released, the medical tape's familiar scent wafting up to me in a minty, medicinal breeze. I had popped most of the stitches in my shoulder and a few in my hands when I had gone after him, making the medical team visit me once more.
But it was worth it - it was all worth it. I would do worse to my body today. Especially since - my eyes drifted to Minoru, his face downturned, his body hunched and haggard even from the peripheral.
I had told him last night that I wouldn't be needing his help today. The look of agony that had twisted his face wasn't lost on me. After telling him about Ichihiro, he had been near-rabid with the urge to run the other man through. My anger… seemed to infect him, pumping through his very body with a rapidness that rivaled my own feelings.
Even now, as he shifted from paw to paw, his eyes leaping from the button-uped suits of the examiners around us to the ragged hunger in the other contestant's eyes, he looked hungry.
We shared that too, I realized and not for the first time I felt a gut-wrenching kinship to the creature beside me. And that in itself made me curl into myself, hating every bit of my own twisted emotions.
A door to the right opened, admitting the rest of the contestants and finally-
Ichihiro. His name echoed from my mind to Minoru's like a voice screamed into the abyss of a cave. There was nothing else but the lanky boy, his body lightly muscles and lethal in a way that made me want to test him.
The burlier of my two escorts shifted, caging me in more securely. Minoru snarled, his teeth flashing in a threat coated in saliva. Ichihiro gave a curt smirk and tipped his head, the dirty bill of my brother's hat slipping farther down his ears. I let out a gnashing snarl, energy crackling through my limbs. I was this close to breaking their kneecaps and sprinting around-
My head jerked to the side, my eyes instantly connecting with the stark gaze of one of the only people in this room who gave me pause.
"Your name has come up a lot." Up close the chairman looked even older, more on the kooky side than the wise one. Bags hung beneath his graying eyes, his hair thinning and starkly white, pulled tightly away from the rest of his shiny, bald head. His eyebrows were long and bushy, framing a face riddled with crow's feet and tension lines that his curled beard and mustache barely covered.
But there was a keenness to his tawny eyes that made me hesitate in the doorway of the room. Something the belied the polite smile on his face. That smile only grew as he saw my tension rise, his shoulders slouching even further as he sat behind a low table, a cushion on the opposite side.
I didn't say anything, adrenaline still pumping hotly through my veins. I couldn't feel… Hisoka wasn't in the hallway anymore. I knew that...somehow. The fact that I could sense him was disconcerting - highly irritating.
The chairman's smile kicked up a bit and my stomach dropped, rolling. I didn't like him - didn't trust him. Didn't trust anyone in this fucking place. His eyes crinkled in amusement, nodding to the empty cushion. "Make yourself comfortable."
That wasn't going to happen but I sat anyway, curling my bruised knees to my chin as I stared over them at him. What was his game? He seemed more… put together than the other examiners. Someone that should be looked at warily - his amiable personality an immediate red flag in my book.
"I've brought you here because I have a few questions," he started slowly, his voice a polite blank. No aggression. No open interest even. Just the kind of gentile manners that made me think that we were in a coffee shop doing a job interview instead of… A job interview. My eyes widened and then narrowed over my knees, locking onto the pad of paper in his hands. This was a job interview. His eyes tried to catch mine but I looked away, at one of the darkened corners. I wasn't made for polite conversation. Ratty kids like me didn't do well in tiny rooms with nicely dressed men. My fingers tingled, wondering if he carried a wallet.
"Shall we start?" I didn't answer. How had Hisoka done? My gaze ran across a few jumbled symbols on the wall, across the back of his pad, blinking a few times as if that would help my illiteracy. "Why do you want to be a Hunter?"
I couldn't help jerking at the question, caught off guard. His eyes tracked the movement, taking in my obvious discomfort. Without thinking, I answered honestly. "My brother's wanted me to come in."
He looked like that wasn't the answer he expected. Or wanted. "Your brothers?"
I clamped my mouth shut, pain tightening my chest. My brothers… Ichihiro couldn't have gotten to them all - There had been something brown on the hat -
My nails broke through the skin of the calves, my next words tight. "We needed the money."
"Hmm." He made a few quick notes, his mouth tightening.
"That wasn't the answer you wanted," I blurted out, my voice low as his eyes flicked up to mine. For a moment, I thought he would ignore me but then he slowly put his pad down, his gaze never leaving mine. I didn't know what he saw in my own eyes but whatever was there… I hoped that I could get rid of it before I left this room.
"If I'm being honest, Miss Amori-" Odd. Usually, people just said Mori. He was polite. A person of details. "Your name has come up a lot for a very specific reason. A lot of the contestants have noted your...attachment… to number 44."
Hisoka. I almost laughed. There was a violent, carnal string that pulled between us when we were together - something base that I didn't fully understand. Attachment seemed like too much and also too little of a word for what we shared.
At my silence, the chairman continued. "Most of the other contestants have expressed a considerable amount of trepidation in facing you due to the fact that they don't want to have to see him outside of this game."
"They think I'm weak," I stated blankly, noting the way his eyes zipped over me quickly. Like he didn't think that at all. Like he didn't think anything at all. I didn't particularly feel any type of way either. They could think what they wanted to.
The chairman's eyes crinkled in a small smile. "They think you have friends in high places."
The smile I gave him was more a grimace than anything. "What's your next question?"
The chairman didn't even hesitate, deftly scooping up his pen and paper once more. "Out of the other contestants, which one are you keeping a close eye on?"
My mouth went cottoney. This was what Hisoka had calmed me for. This was what he meant. I answered without hesitation. "Ichihiro."
I didn't miss the fact that he didn't write anything down, his eyes focusing intently on me. "I heard a commotion in the hallway before you came in."
Sly. Maybe even a bit of a gossip. I kept my mouth shut. My insides twist with agitation and agony. That piece of trash still had my brother's hat. My stomach recoiled at the information.
He stares at me for a moment longer. Obviously he thinks that I'll grow uncomfortable with the silence. That happens a lot. Give someone enough room and they'll likely blurt out whatever crosses their pretty little mind.
I press my lips to my knees and the chairman's brows twitch before he starts again, slowly. "Which-"
"Ichihiro," I snap, unwilling to control myself. Something scolding rolls across my spine, making me bare my teeth as I meet the chairman's gaze. "I will answer Ichihiro to every one of your questions if it gets me anywhere close to him. I'll be his teammate. I'll be his lab partner. I'll be his fucking chauffuer if it means that I get to be in the same room as him."
One long, gray brow quirks, that pad and paper sliding to the table once more as he gives me a politely disinterested once over. "And if I need you to cooperate?"
I don't bother hiding my bloodlust, letting it ooze out of my pores like honey from a bottle. I'll kill him. I'll find out what happened to my brother's and then I'll kill him. I don't care if it costs me a license. I don't care if it costs me the game. If he so much as touched one of my brothers…
"Ah," the chairman murmurs and he picks up that pen once more and scribbles something down. "I see."
"Is that all?" It comes out soft, strained. I'm tired. Tired and buzzing all at once. I need to rest for whatever will greet me tomorrow but I want to run instead. I want to bust down every single door in this place to find that bastard.
"You'll stay away from Mr. Ichihiro," the chairman states, still looking at that piece of paper. My teeth grit. I hate being told what to do. His tawny eyes flick up to mine, sharpening. "You'll stay away from him for the night and tomorrow I'll put you in the same room with him."
There's no other answer I need.
Now, seeing him, I think I might forgo the game just to tear apart that pretty little face of his. My fingertips tingle. Somewhere among the other contestants I hear a light chuckle and the fwip of a card.
"Everyone rested up?" Ichiro turns his head, his eyes widening beneath the brim of my brother's hat. Amori. That's the same orange as the one he usually wore. My teeth are clenched so tight that they're starting to ache, my jaw locking up.
A smooth smile curls his lips, those slimy tentacles that he uses as fingers coming up to tug demurely at the fabric of Amori's hat and it's all I can do to keep myself in place. He better be mine. In whatever game, with whatever rules, I better be there with him. Minoru's big body vibrates beside me, a constant snarl rolling across his side, traveling through me as well. We might as well be different parts of the same engine for how in-tune we are at the moment - feral with rage.
He loves it - those disgusting, blank eyes rolling between us with excitement.
The sound of a sheet being tugged away and fluttering to the ground draws my attention. The chairman has been talking, his hand spread placidly out in front of a bracketed board with all our faces on it.
One on one competition, Minoru whispers to me and I nearly crow with joy. His dark, button eyes meet mine. And guess who we got?
Right there, right out in front, I can see my own sleeping face, resting snuggly in the crease of Minoru's neck.
And right beside us…
I grin across the room at Ichihiro, my blood roaring.
A clean fight. That's what the other contestants are whispering. No killing. Defeat only comes if your opponent admits it.
"She's so small," I hear another contestant whisper, a muscle-bound baldie who looks like he's closer to joining a monastery than becoming a hunter. The look of pity on his face is enough to make me understand exactly how he thinks I'll fair.
To be fair, a lot of them look just as worried. The oldest of the contestants actually pulled an examiner aside and had a very passionate discussion. Even Gon looks worried, his small little face pulled taut. We've barely talked and he cares this much about my well-being? How very...quaint.
Hisoka's eyes catch mine, his gaze darting to where Minoru is sitting, just outside of the chalked off area. An obvious outsider, his eyes decidedly vacant. This hurts. I can feel it in my chest. Can feel the silent scream building in his chest as I roll off my hoodie, leaving me in my barely clean tank and shorts.
He thinks that I'm stupid. I can see it in the way that those honeycomb eyes of his narrow. Emotional. Stubborn. Utterly ridiculous. That's what that small frown marring his usually smirking face tells me. His eyes drill into mine, flicking to where Ichihiro is staring, strangely still at the other edge of the arena and then back to me. That man has hurt you once before, that looks says, and he'd love to do it again.
And here I am - letting the one thing that tips me over into a bigger threat sit on the sidelines. A scornful smirk curls Hisoka's lips and I burn with it, tearing my gaze away with a hurt snarl. He's right. I'm being stupid.
But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.
"Mori~" My lips curl farther away from my canines, the muscles in my shoulders jerking forward on instinct. He looks so damn happy. Why? That question sears through me, churning my insides. Because he thinks you're weak, a small voice whispers to me, giggling.
Because they all think you're weak, another voice murmurs and I can't help but glance around at the pitying expressions, the drawn brows and tight lips. Like they can barely control their disgust that a little girl like me is being pulled into a fight with a guy that outweighs me by almost 100 pounds.
Don't think about that. I shake myself. Why were these thoughts praying on me now? I never cared about the misconceptions of others. Never.
"Oohh~" Ichihiro whispered, his voice carrying across the distance of the stage, and my whole body flinches with the glee in that one sound. "You're cracking under the pressure~"
A low growl slips from the shadows behind me. I could still-
"You both know the rules?" The referee looked impassive, barely awake enough to notice if there were two corpses in front of him or active contestants. His eyes were shaded by a pair of sunglasses, his double chin plumped up by the first button on his suit. His head tipped between us, waiting only a fraction for Ichihiro's chirpy giggle and my tight-lipped nod. "Begin."
I don't move. A thin silence tenses the air, weighing down on the other contestants as they begin to murmur to each other. Ichihiro chuckles, his eyes never leaving mine.
A fight can be determined within the first couple seconds of its start. More than tactics and strengths, mindset can cripple you. 15 minutes. That's how long I have before my size will get the better of me. A good opponent can overcome someone's speed if they can determine where their competitor likes to hit. Hisoka did it in a matter of seconds.
And I'm not dumb. Ichihiro already captured me once. We were in the Tower together too so he knows how I like to fight. He'll be expecting me to move quickly, come up behind him.
"Why aren't either of them moving?" I hear Gon whisper, his voice twisted in confusion.
The leaner of the four speaks up, his voice soft with sympathy. "Maybe she's scared."
"I don't think that's it," the pretty blonde one murmurs.
Ichihiro's teeth flash, his smile mocking as he puts his hands into his pocket. Come closer, that look seems to say. He's forgotten the fight in the Tower. Maybe thinks it was a fluke.
Which means…
The muscles in my legs tighten seconds before I take the space between us at a dead sprint. I'm behind him so quickly that the other contestants are still crying out in shock, Ichihiro's eyes the only thing that are able to move, darting around the space-
I grin, slamming my leg into his side hard enough to send his body reeling toward the gaggle of bystanders. A boom resonates through the area followed by a stream of sunlight and rubble as Ichihiro's body breaks through the wall and into the courtyard, sending the other contestants screaming and scattering. Dust billows into the area, thickly veiling Ichihiro's body.
"Holy fuck," someone murmurs, and my insides warm, fire licking up my body. This is where I excel. This is what my brother's brought me into this competition for.
"You tip the scale," Amori had whispered to me after our first trial. Imori and Umori still crowing over the rail of the ship we had come by. His cat-like eyes had twinkled, his fingers ruffling my hair. "We'll get it this year, squirt."
I walk slowly to where the dust had dimmed, collecting thickly around the opening of the broken wall. I was fully rested, fully fed, and not dizzy from a lack of water. My lips curled away from my teeth as I felt something carnal roll over my skin. If they thought I wasn't a threat then that was their mistake.
"Come out, Ichihiro," I sing softly, staring into the shrouded area, the tips of my sneakers just at that curtain, unwilling to step inside and blind myself.
A low laugh slithered from the depths and my head snapped to the side with that sound, my hand snapping out and grasping at-
A dagger snags my cheek, my fingers wrapping around air. He had projected his voice- I twist, flipping away from the rubble as another dagger flies past where my head had just been. Quick. I roll, letting instinct take over as I deftly flipped again, spinning away from another volley of blades.
Mori, your right! Minoru called to me.
Bam! The hit reverberated through my arms, making me bite down on my answering scream of agony as my shoulder snapped back with the effort of blocking his kick.
Don't think about the pain. My arms wrap around his leg, ensnaring him before I slam the flat of my palm against his kneecap, making the look of surprise on his face turn into one of agony. Good. I did it again, coating my hand in enough nen to make his bones give an answering crack. One more hit-
His fist slams into my cheek, a warm gush of blood fill my mouth as my canines cut into my gums. My hold on his leg loosened instantly, his whole body jerking away from me swiftly. His first hit of the round and I had been right. He was bigger than me, stronger by simple weight standards. He couldn't keep hitting me like that. Not if I wanted to stay in this fight.
I let out a soft laugh, forcing my spinning head up, my eyes connecting with his. More than anything this was a mental game. I grin, pulling my lips away from my teeth enough so that all he saw was bloodied canines as he backed away.
"You don't scare me," he huffs, his eyes wide, darting around the small space with a feverous light. He was staring at the ground. Why? My senses buzzed, uneasiness making me hesitate for a moment. Why look at the ground?
"God, she's as crazy as 44," someone whispers raggedly from the crowd and I felt an answering laugh bubble up into my throat. What an overstatement. I didn't bother glancing at the man in question, sure of the chagrin I would find in his eyes as he slouched against the nearest wall.
It was a short distance to Ichihiro. The medicinal tape sawed into the raw skin of my knuckles as I delivered a quick punch to his stomach, allowing him the luxury of falling forward with a ragged exhale of breath. My other hand curled impassively into the root of his hair, jerking him to a halt before he could slump completely to the ground.
"You should," I whisper, my foot crunching down on his wrist as he tried desperately to shove a dagger into my calf. Our eyes met, held as my free hand curled into the soft, worn fabric of my brother's beanie. I didn't let the guilt and hatred well up, pushing it down deep inside of me as I tugged it away from his greasy mop of hair.
Blankly, I toss it to the side, Minoru's teeth snapping as he catches it and tucks it delicately into his pouch.
I smile, the soft string of my dagger unfurling into my hand as I let it uncoil. "Now we're gonna have some fun," I murmur, letting some of the bloodlust seep out, coating my words, heating my eyes as I stared down into his.
And for the first time I see actual fear there.
As always, please review! I spend HOURS on these chapters so it really warms my heart and just makes me so grateful to see you guys enjoying all of my hard work. It makes it worth it. Seriously.
