Once again I say thank you for your reviews and interest - I'm a bit worried about those taking Hisoka's kind of interest o.O
:cough cough lunartick cough:
Also I want to give big thanks to shadow-wind auror for correcting my mistake on the word game xD

You really must be a distrusting person to ignore all eight of my previous disclaimers...:sniff:
I thought what we had was special :tear:

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The Magician and the Fool: Capitulo Nove

Was it really so simple? Just a children's word game…Shiritori...of course. Upon their first meeting Nazonazo had always been humming a silly tune or the like. It was pretty straightforward in its rules: Player A says a word, then Player B says a word that begins with the last letter of the word before it. The players go back and forth until one-player runs out of words or hesitates too long. In this case, Hisoka stopped to catch his breath on Train. So that was where it ended.

Heavy breaths steadied as he wiped his face. The magician straightened up and sat back down on the couch with only a taste of victory on his tongue. "It's not over, is it Nazo-chan? No…it's too much fun for it to be over, you know that." He wrote down the ten words and read them through trying to find a sequence. "Young at heart" he smiled, arranging the words in alphabetical order. Now what pattern was it?

Aluminum, Art, Mint, Net, Ninja, Operation, Ringo, Tarantula, Tower, Train.

Still feeling playful, Hisoka wrote out the words in a circle in the order that they originally came to him, and drew a line connecting each, starting with Aluminum. Aluminum drew across to art, which went across to mint. Net went to the side to ninja, and so on. All this gave Hisoka was a lopsided unfinished polygon. Apparently life was not all fun and games.

Aluminum, what had to do with aluminum? A lightweight metal, pliable, used in the manufacture of transport vehicles…like trains—rather—monorails. Nazomeita's first attack on the city was on one of the monorails. Come to think of it, the second attack was on the city's glass art museum. Mint could have easily been either a breath-freshener or a large sum of money. In comparison to the other words, money was the object. Was she hunting a bounty on his head? Now, now children calm yourselves, the story's not over…

Net used in this case would be a network, most likely of connections in murder or with the press for that matter (in accordance to thearticles). Ninja had been renowned assassins for centuries, their methods were clean-cut and always thought out. Was she a ninja? Certainly an unorthodox one…No no, there was a deeper meaning than that. Her style of murder thus-far still remained a mystery to the magician, perhaps that was it. Swift, mysterious and constantly allusive, it was a reference. One Hisoka would keep in his pocket with a grin. Any organized group worked in operations, ninja or otherwise. This flagged a hint that she was not alone. Was she merely a windup doll to draw him out to a higher enemy?

Hisoka's eyes widened as only one name sprang up in his mind: "Kuroro" this was one of the few times when there was absolutely nothing in his voice. Nothing but air. Hisoka had let him live, taken aback that after all his trouble, Dansho would not fight him. Purely for the tickle in the pit of his stomach whenever he thought of Kuroro. That they might play again. But was it really so soon before round two began? The magician shook his head with a strange look in his eye, trying to clear his head and focus what was at hand.

It was Nazo…only Nazo. No one else it was just her. Just a silly little girl. Nothing more. She seemed too incompetent to be working under anyone anyway. Kuroro was long gone, pursuing his own goals and possibly trying to pursue a normal life. All of these were lies, uncertain either way. But he was getting distracted. He needed to focus on this. "Nazo-chan…" he growled and thrust his fist into the table, a devilish grin of composure claimed his face once more. "You slip these in to throw me off…how cruel" he snickered looking at the next word. And…if only for a few seconds, did the magician loose his composure once more.

Ringo.

Apple. But used inHisoka's contextit only meant one thing: Gon. What connection did she have to Gon? Was she working for him? An honest laugh of disbelief soothed the clown's taught stomach. "My little Riddlegirl is closer to me than I know…" he snickered, internally disturbed at this fact. Even if she had been under his nose, he'd never mentioned Gon to anyone, let alone his pet name. "Nazo-chan did her homework…" It was not unexpected for one hunter to do research on its prey, especially with access to the hunter website and other crucial details.

Tarantula came next. A type of spider of course, it seemed Nazo did do a bit of research. However, if it truly meant Spider, it would have said so straight out. A tarantula is a robust spider, so did she mean one of the more burly members of the group? Or even the leader…No it was just a ploy to throw Hisoka off. And it worked. It wasn't the thought of Kuroro this time, it was the fact that this Nazo-girl knew enough about him psychologically to know what would confuse him. "Don't think you have won…" Hisoka bit his lip into a smirk, aching for control once more. No, it was not logically sound…there was no trace of her in his personal life, or in his head whatsoever. He'd never revealed anything to anyone he couldn't afford to have it thrown back at him. And certainly no website would have anything so in depth such as this. "Such a puzzle"

Out of nowhere: Tower. Hisoka had come to expect zigzag logic coming from her, and after the most recent thought process it nearly had nothing to do with what came before. Perfect in her plan. Usually one would be disoriented by such a change in subject, but it made sense coming from her. Even in the way she acted in their few meetings, her talk would be so profound and mind blowing, and right after would be mindless chatter. But this was no chatter: this was a location.Which tower though? This city was riddled with high-rises and company buildings.

Narrow hazel eyes flicked over the word list. Each word thus far had been used in accordance to another word except for mint. It would make sense that a company tower would be associated with a large sum of money, perhaps the richest corporate building in York Shin? The clown remembered sitting at that little café and looking up at the buildings looming over. Which one was the biggest, most successful tower that people actually lived in this city for? Hisoka leaned back and held his head, it was some strange name dancing on the tip of his tongue, one constantly in the newspapers and in people's conversations…And with the hideous amount of people in the city, how could he forget?

Attentionless hazel eyes dully scanned the room. It was still in disarray from his previous…findings. The kitchenette lay untouched. Yet something was amiss. There was a small booklet on the counter, one Hisoka had never noticed. Drawn to it like a moth to a flame it was actually a map of the city, folded back to show only the immediate area. "Petto-chan…. Just what are you hiding from me?" he grinned realizing who's map it was (as if the gaudy pink office clip with a plastic character on it didn't tell anything). Kawariyasui didn't carry anything when she first came home with Hisoka, this would imply that she was new to the city, but then disappeared for a few days, returning with her things. Meaning she did have others of some form to turn to.

He scanned the map, finding little pen marks and small illegible notes in certain areas, following the roads leading to a scribbled circle around the apartment building they currently resided in. He found the café, even tracing the roads as far as where he met Nazonazo in person. And there it was. In the very center of the city: Citeneg Tower. The magician cringed, how could he forget something so obvious? Nonetheless that was certainly it. But the strange part was…what about the Train? The train came last, maybe that was the actual meeting place. Or was he supposed to take the train to the tower? No that worked backwards…and plus, Citeneg's address on the map was 9121. The very first clue was Follow Nine.

Bored with this obsessive detail, the magician pocketed the map and went to the bathroom to wash his face. He'd nearly forgotten the running cuts and bruises from his thought process. Looking back up at his reflection, an even more 'crucial' problem arose:

"What should I wear?"

End Capitulo

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hehehe high priorities eh Mr. Magician?

Well what do you think of the thought process hmn?
could you follow it? o.o
Good because there will not be another lecture:tosses teacher hat:
Study your textbooks! XD

Hehehe...and ooh lookie, Hisoka's almost in a fuss! How can that be achieved?
:builds suspense out of paper maché: