It seemed like a reasonable plan.
And with that she vanished into darkness.
chapter 4
It had been two months since then, and thankfully she hadn't seen Hisoka once or any troubling criminals for that matter. She did not know however how much that was about to change.
She was following her target, some fellow who had murdered his ex-wife and child, out of spike for their happy life. It was a simple job, the guy didn't even know nen. The only reason was she doing it was it paid a lot due to the wife being part of a rich ass family. She was in zestu, hiding her presence as she followed the target a few 100 metres behind on the crowded high street, and if someone did notice her- she was in her usual black clothes and nose first in a book.
The book, if anyone had been able to look close enough was about the afterlife, and the facts and theories from all over the world. Is was in Z's eyes, a good read, interesting and informative. As the afterlife was her forte.
She weaved weaving in and out of the crowd like a ghost, not missing a step in her stalking. She kept one eye of the target and the other on the book. However when looking back she might admit that she may have been a bit too distracted by the book, as a shadow loomed up behind her.
"My, my, what a pleasant surprised~" a purred a voice from besides her ear.
She glanced towards the clown eyes narrowing before choosing to keep walking, "I'm working Hisoka," she commented, hoping the man would leave.
"I know, I know that's why I came to say hello!" he grinned.
She rolled her eyes, and went back to her book. Proceeded to read the word 'purgatory' before the book was snatched from her hands. "Hisoka" she hissed.
"Emotion" the man smirked.
She stopped walking, arms crossed glaring at the red headed man, "irritated"
Why was she stuck with this jackass? What did she do to deal with his unpredictable? She didn't know, maybe she would kill him…. internal sighing. Dark hues eyed him carefully, spotting the mischievous glare in his golden hues.
"Catch me if you can~" the man purred before running off with her book still in this clutch.
Fuck sake.
She frowned, before giving chase. She was directly behind the man, he looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Bloody creep" she mutter, before putting on an extra burst of speed. Grabbing the back of the man's collar before stopping dead still, jerking the man to a stop violently. She hoped he chocked. Releasing his collar as the red head turned standing a head taller with a smile, while she sent him a warning glared.
"Ah~, looks like you caught me!" he chuckled, ignoring the look with a smile.
"Give it back, twat" her glared harden as if daring him to try anything. A pale hand outstretched.
Hisoka lifted the book to his face, having a closer look at the blacken cover. "It's defiantly a book, you would read. Thought a must say it's not to my taste" The smile changed into a smirked, as the book was thrown into the air.
At the same point Hisoka moved, a card magically appearing it in his hand. Z rolled her eyes, the man wasn't even trying to kill her just annoy her. She moved nevertheless, preferring not to have her throat slit. As Hisoka swiped for her neck, she leaned back, back arching away from his playing card. Simultaneously she twisted, bringing a booted foot up in a round house towards his temple.
Her foot connected with his palm he used to block as the book landed in her out stretched hand. The nen around them increase as his blood lust grew. She frowned, she could try and kill him? But she was in no mood to play his fucking games. She would have to get him back another time – she had a job to do. She dropped her foot, as she checked the book opening it to the correct page she had been reading, "are you finished?" she asked the now pouting male.
"Emotion"
"Annoyance, I would rather you didn't ruin my book yet I haven't finished reading it"
Hisoka pout deepen, "Annoyance is basically the same as irritation, no improvement" the magician took a step closer and patted her head as you would to a small child or dog for behaving.
She glared up at the man. The height difference even with heels didn't help much, what so ever. "Hisoka, I have a job to do. Play fair" She hissed stepping backing turning away to disappear into the crowd determine to locate her target, not before she spotted something.
A group of people walking towards Hisoka, a group that had the largest amount of dead floating about them that she'd ever seen that was saying something. Each had a similarly amount of dead to the read head, all murder it different ways for whatever reason, she didn't want to know. Pain erupted on her temple as the dead came within hearing range, screams of agony - cursing from the grave, some chattering away talking about who knows what. The group's vengeful spirits seem to darken the sky, blocking out the little sun poking out through the clouds.
But there were all like Hisoka, she could tell. Not haunted. Not caring about those they killed after they died.
And then they were out of her line of sight and she didn't bother to turn back to have a look. Her headache was increasing and she didn't have the energy to deal with it. Maybe if she had a lot of strong whiskey in her system she would stick around more… nope, if she take too much notice of them they may think she was a threat. She sighed out looking towards the sky, trying to lessen her headache as she walked away.
Walking in the direction she was originally going. She returned to the book as the distanced between her and the dead increase, headache lessening as she did so. Intent on searching for her target, he shouldn't be too hard to fine.
"Hisoka" said man turned towards the Ryoden.
"Are you trying to blow our cover?" hissed an angry nobu.
"Who was she? Kinda reminds me of a emo" asked phinks, besides him fetain and machi nodded in silent agreement.
"She's an interesting pet~" Hisoka purred lifting the card to his lips.
"Pervert" machi muttered under her breath.
"thought I do think you might like her Dancho" Hisoka stepped besides the man as they continued walking through the crowd no one taking particular interested "I haven't seen her in months~" he grinned, the Cheshire smile crawling across his face.
-Time skip-
It was two days after the Hisoka incident and the counter with the strange group. After successfully finishing the last job, Z had got another, this time hunting down an ex-mafia thug with nen. Which explained why she was entering a club, as her target was apparently a regular here on the second floor or so the information broker had told her. All in all she wanted to get this job done as quickly as possible. But Fate had other plans.
The club was called black jack's, it had two floor one for normal users and one of nen-users making the place a well renounce night club for hunters. Loud music blasted at her ears as she entered the club, a scowl present on her face. She really wanted to be anywhere else other than here.
She hated clubs, quite – out of the way bars was always her thing, in clubs her senses were overstimulated. Just imagine the life- lights blazes, noises of chatter and ridiculously loud music, the smells of sweat, the vibrations from the loud speakers and drunk people- the general club life. Then add another lay this time with the dead- their ghostly bodies floating about, their cried of anguish to those who cause their death in an attempted to haunt, the grounded spirits ripping thought lost souls and more – two worlds over lapping each other, seen though a signal person. Her.
It was safe to say, Z hated these type of clubs.
The bouncer at the bottom of the stairs stopped her, "sorry madam, VIP only"
The bouncer was huge and block the whole entrance to the stairs, she looked up at him with indifference - taking her hands out of her pockets and raising a finger. Her nails where painted black to suit and she used her nen, making it into a skull.
The man looked at her then used gyo, he nodded, "Alright madam, your free to go up"
She nodded in thanks back and slipped pass him up the chairs, though-out the confrontation she had been silent. The second floor, wasn't much better than the first, if not worse. As those on this floor were more likely to have killed someone. She sighed, there was so much going on battering her brain with information she cared little for – this is going to be a long night.
She pushed her way to the bar, determine to get a drink, or at least a bottle of something strong. As she waited to be served she glanced about, spotting the dead belonging to her target; the ex-mafia man was dancing on the dance floor with what she guessed strippers as there was a defiant lack of clothing.
She felt to hands on her shoulders and a body close up behind her, she tilted her head and looked up. Looking straight into the golden eyes of a red headed magician. "What the fuck do you want?" she asked over the music, her mood worsening.
The man grinned, order her a drink, handing her the bottle which was a good brand of whiskey –she noted– and a straw before using her shoulders to direct her thought the crowd. He sat her on a booth and slit in besides her.
The booth however was not empty, she blinked freezing, is was the group with a ridiculous amount of dead lingering above him. Shit, she should have guessed that they were Hisoka friends. "I asked what you wanted, it wasn't a fucking invitation." She hissed at him, as her head started to pound. "Fuck sake"
The man chuckling, "emotion?"
"Irritated, I'm bloody working you know" she growled not even trying to hold back the venom in her voice.
"You're a stripper?!" someone across the table spluttered coughing on his drink. The man had blonde hair slinked back, he reminded her of a jockey.
She glared, giving him a look that said, are you fucking serious?
He gulped slightly taken aback, Hisoka chuckled introducing her "everyone this Z, Z this is the Ryoden"
"Hisoka, do you want to die!" a man with a sword yelled over the music, trying to stand but was stopped by a bigger man that looked like a caveman.
She glance towards Hisoka trying to control the growing headache. He was fucking enjoying himself isn't he….. "You're not surprised" The man besides her spoke up, he had black hair and black emotionless eyes and a cross tattoo on his forehead, thought he was still face forward towards the book open in his hand. She guessed this was kuroro Lucifer, head of the Ryoden. And concentrating on the dead above him her guessed seemed to be correct.
"You voluntarily sat with Hisoka to drink" she deadpanned, hearing many snorts of disagreement.
The magician chuckled, "I should also mention," he gave them a sly grin, "that she's a blacklist hunter"
They all turned towards her eyeing her suspiciously, all per kuroro who kept reading his book. She exhaled though her nose, "way too much effort, to even think about it" she responded to the stares, slipping her drink thought the straw, she needed more whiskey in her system to deal with this sort of overload.
Most looked away in fake acceptance, others still gave her look before continuing drinking, all of them most likely planning on ways to dispose of her on a later date. She slipped at her drink and exhaled thought her nose, she needed to leave soon. Was she borne under an unlucky star? Or was it just her name…
"What are you working on tonight?" she looked up, it was the other blonde who was looking up from a hi-Tec phone.
"Just some ex-mafia dude, couldn't be brother to read his file"
"Must be hard to fine be in the crowd" the boy had a smile on his face, she frowned into her coat and eyed the boy. The smile didn't seem to reach his eyes, defiantly a manipulative type.
"Not really," she leaded forward pointing towards the centre of the dancefloor, "he's dancing with some strippers, I would say," she glanced towards his ghosts. "He's killed about 10 people, using knives and gun, classic mafia thug'"
The blonde boy widen his eyes in surprise, "so you did read the notes?"
"Like I said too much effort, I'm just observant" she lied smoothly, a small frown forming as the headache grew slightly. "I should go-"
"Oh, what do you notice about us?" the other blonde interrupted her attempt to leave, it seemed that everyone had been listening to the conversation.
This was not her leaving, not that she could with Hisoka keeping her in place. She knew she would have to be choosy with her words. She sighed out, "Overall I not even gonna fucking bother to count how many you've killed," She pointed at Hisoka, "uses cards and is a fucking pervert"
Said man chuckled, as she when around the table. "manipulator" she pointed to the blonde boy, "threads" to the purple haired women, "you use a sword," to the swordsman before pointing to the cavemen next to him, "enchanter"
"You're a neck breaker" she pointed to the other blonde male, then looked towards the smaller dark haired male, "torture, tends to go for the finger nails first" there was an intake of breath from the other Ryoden members, while the individual in question glared at her. How did she know?
"Bullets," she pointed to a both a blonde women and a large grey skinned male. Then paused looking at a dark hair women with glasses. "Hmm, I'm not sure with you…." She thought of a moment not wanting to give anything away thought her concentration for keeping information secret waning, "let's go with a materialization type"
"That's…impressive" the blonde boy said surprised.
"Wait! HA, you haven't done danchuo's yet!" the cavemen grinned.
She turned eyeing the man. "That's because I would say depending on his mood and the individual he's fighting would determine how he would go about things whether he would use a knife or whether he would steal their ability"
They all looked at her even kuroro, as the words sunk in. She blinked realising what she had let slip out, "shit, I shouldn't have said that." She glared at Hisoka, "you distracted me you cunt, now remove your hand before I remove it for you"
Hisoka chuckled lifting his hand that had been previously stoking her thigh. That and the roaring sounds of the dead above, distracting her and her choice for words….shit. "I wanted to see how you would last without slipping up, Z" he turned towards the Ryoden, that were debating whether they kill her now or later after a long torturing session, "another thing I forgot to mention about our little Z here is that she can see the dead."
"Wow," she drawled sarcastically, "I'm waiting for someone to kill you. So I don't have to deal with you in the afterlife" her tone turning sour, as she glared at hisoka from the corner of her eye.
"You can see the dead, that's boring" the blonde commented leaning back in his sit.
She shrugged with indifference, "prove it, prove you can see the dead it's an unlikely story" the swordsman asked, suspicion lining his tone.
This wasn't helping her leave. The pressure on her temples increasing, if she didn't move or do something soon, she had no doubt her head would spit in two. She could a large swig of whiskey. The fiery liquid soothing to her headache. This was why she drank so much, life was too much effort. She signed thought her nose…
"Fine, most of your spirits want to move on because you kept forgetting about them and they have given up on revenge" she pointed to the dark haired women with glasses.
"What, I never forget a face!" she exclaimed as the large grey skinned male patted her shoulder.
She turned towards the cavemen, "yours are betting how long it takes before you go to kill me and yours" he grinned as she pointed to both the short dark haired man and the blonde man besides him, "they playing cards with each other, one's doing it with his head upside down, the other with one arm as it looks like you cut the tendons at the shoulder. It would be entertaining to watch if there wasn't so much god damn noise" she concluded, taking a long slip of her whiskey.
Silence descends on the group. Minutes passed and the Ryoden were talking to each other in undertones probably about her. She wished to leave this god forsaken club, but couldn't due to the shitty clown invading her personal space, his hand was back on her thigh and he was stoking it, moving slowly further up her leg. Again.
"Hisoka" she hissed, gaining the attention of the Ryoden.
"Remove your hand you cunt, it's irritating"
"But dear Z, your reactions are most entertaining" his hand moved higher.
She rolled her eyes, and say a murmured sorry to kuroro before turning leading against him, "your opening up to me how pleasing~"
She ignored his vibe and kicked him off the seat. He slipped off and rolled to standing, he chuckled pleased with her reaction. She glared and stuck her middle figure up at him, "fuck off"
He grinned, and back away disappearing onto the dance floor, "I generally not get why you haven't killed that twat yet" she grumbled to the Ryoden, the headache lessen slightly as the red head left her small circle. But not by that much, the dead from the few around alone caused her head to ache feeling like her temples was in-between two grinders. God she wanted to leave, it was a perfect opportunity now the red head would let her leave.
"No fights are allowed between the Ryoden" spoke the head besides her.
She glanced towards him before signing, "Shame"
The rest of the Ryoden began talking in quite conversation as she took another slip before speaking, needing to make something clear. "By the way, if you're thinking about stealing my ability I would advise against it"
"How so?" the man close his book, turning towards her.
"The back lash is a pain"
"Care to explain?" he asked interested.
"Well it's hard to explain, so I show you" she commented, leading forward using two fingers to tap the man's head. He blinked, he was seeing the world like she does. His brain was battered with the over load of information, dark shadows lingered over the spiders, though he saw a glimmer of white though the darkness. Extra Nosie attacked his ears, as shadows blocked his sight. No doubt, an unwanted black lash, his eyes flickered towards her and saw nothing.
He blinked again, his sight back to normal. How does she live with it? Can it be turned on and off? He needed to find out more... "An interesting ability, with no doubt you can keep your skills, I rather not deal with the dead. I'm surprised you haven't gone insane"
"Who said I haven't?" she responded before glaring at the dance floor, "that fucking twats messing with my target" she hissed before standing, taking it as her queue to leave the chaos behind.
She left her drink on the table, before leaving the Ryoden and disappearing on the dance floor.
to be continued...
hello folks!
sorry for the delay, i have been swamped this uni work... quite literally.
i needed to update cant leave you hanging with soo little. so do you think?
honestly, i am not too sure about this chapter, like i like it but there's just something... missing i think.
what do you guys think?
anyhow, enjoy it! and i should be updating soon dont have any assignment work for a while XD
happy hunting xx