For the first time in over a week, I was alone.
It was delicious. I rested my back against the trunk of a tree, its canopy at my feet. I breathed easy for the first time. Phase one took place in an underground tunnel and marshlands, phase two was a crazy kitchen and phase three was a crazy prison. This phase suited me just fine.
As one of the last candidates to complete Phase 3, any head start was rendered null. Whoever was tasked to collect my tag could easily lie in wait and watch me disembark, step foot upon the island and leave the light of the shore.
I had slipped silently into the shadow of the trees and swung myself up onto a branch. The trees grew so closely together that I was able to step from the arms of one into the arms of another. I made a meandering path from the island's entrance to its heart, Finally, I could be content that I was not being followed.
Warm sunlight sprinkled on my skin as I shed my cloak and sweater. It was humid – the nights would be cold. I gathered my hair into a ponytail and tucked the hems of my black pants into my combat boots. Foreign woodlands cannot be taken lightly.
It was midday. It was only hours ago that we had all been on a boat that radiated animosity and suspicion, side-long glances with narrowed eyes. In contrast to the boat trip I had taken at the start of this whole shebang, this ship had no noise, no drunkards, and no sudden movements. The truly powerful carried themselves with terrifying grace.
Two days passed before I saw another soul.
By then, I had figured out why in my memory my target #198 always seemed to appear with two other numbers in a set of three. Teams were rare in the Hunter Exam. By my guess, the Amori brothers would either go after their individual tags as a group or collect their own tags before regrouping.
Either way, if I found one, I will have found them all.
Strangely, I found Killua first.
I spied his white hair from several yards away, down below on the forest floor in an unnaturally quiet part of the island. He stepped in and out of trees with serpentine slipperiness. I wanted to say hi, but he obviously did not want to be seen. Was he tailing? Or being tailed?
A layer of dark green moss muted my knees as I knelt on the branch. Further up the path, in the direction Killua was heading in, were two figures – red and yellow. To my right, a man in robin's blue.
Ambush was my first guess. No, I thought, the first two are off guard and chatting. They had no idea an assassin was headed his way. Killua was being tailed.
The attack was over in a flash. A flash of robin's blue and Killua was sliding down the trunk of a tree. A dirty boot print marred his shirt. He bounced back to his feet without even taking his hands out of his pockets, He revealed a stolen tag: #198. I burst out laughing in surprise.
Four faces swung towards me but only the Amori brothers were surprised. Ah, how could I have thought to sneak up on a trained assassin?
I took a backflip to the ground, landing ankle deep in freshly fallen leaves.
'Can I have that?' I asked Killua rather shamelessly.
'Sure,' he shrugged.
All is fair in love and war.
The Amori brothers circled us in a practiced formation. I dropped into a fighting stance but before I got to throw a single punch, Killua had knocked them all flat on their backs.
Tags #197 and #196 danced in his fingers.
'Well, this is mine,' he said, pocketing the first. 'Hey, Risumi, what should I do with this one?' He asked of the other.
'It would be a good bargaining chip if you're ever trapped,' I said.
Killua clicked his tongue at me. Cheeky brat.
'I think it would just cause trouble,' he scoffed, and threw it into the trees like a first-grade baseball player. The trees rustled with the sound of someone hot in pursuit. Ah, I thought, but my eye still twitched with annoyance.
'Say,' Killua turned to me as if he had all the time in the world. 'Aren't you worried that you're with a trained assassin?'
He stared me in the eye. I narrowed mine.
'Didn't your parents teach you not to eavesdrop on other people's conversations?'
'I can go three days without sleep. What else was I supposed to do while everyone was knocked out?' he retorted.
Suddenly, I wondered if I talked in my sleep. What a dangerous habit that would be!
Killua sharpened his hand and bared it at me. 'Shouldn't you be scared?'
His hand looked freaky. It was contorted to be larger, long fingers tapering into sharpened claws. I remembered his fight in Trick Tower, how a chill had swept over me. I had thought I would turn to stone. But he hardly ever displayed that degree of power – not once in the waiting room and not even just then, against three grown men.
'Please use moisturiser,' I said, instead of telling him that I knew if he wanted me dead, I would already be buried.
He clicked his tongue in response. 'How boring.' Then, a breath. 'I can see why you get along so well with Kurapika.'
If I were drinking tea, I would have spat it out. 'Say what now?'
'It makes sense that boring people stick together,' he said.
I was pretty cheesed off. 'You don't have that many friends, Killua.'
He snorted. 'You're not one of them.'
Oh, ouch. I turned down the corners of my mouth and eyes. 'There, there. You don't have to pretend you don't love me.' I patted his shoulder consolingly.
Cool hands gripped my arm. Dirt. Trees. Sky. I hit the ground with my back, winded. I gasped.
'Are you freaking insane?' I squeaked. Luckily, I was used to being thrown. It came with growing up in a dojo. I dusted myself off.
'See you in three days, you little psycho.'
'Bye, old lady,' he said, cheekily.
I did not bother to grace this with a response. Walking back into the trees, I could not help but shake my head. I liked being alone much better!
~oOo~
Nights were cold on this island. I had found an apple tree by the western coast on the first day and had been coming back to visit it ever since. Tonight, I started a fire and roasted the hard fruits until they were wrinkled and oozing with juices. I licked my lips.
Half of me knew fire was dangerous on an uninhabited island with twenty odd loonies hunting each other. The other half craved warmth so badly I was willing to put up a fight to stay with it longer. I bit into the applies with relish. My favourite. Sweet and filling, with just a hint of tartness. Juice (or was it soup) ran down my chin.
It was not wise to set up camp in one place for too long. Tomorrow I will have to go to a different part of the island. I have two tags thanks to Killua, let's go sightseeing!
Wrapped in my cloak, I laid down on a wide branch that made a cradle with the trunk. That should block the wind a bit. I wondered what they were all doing at home. I tried my phone. No reception.
Sunset was only a few hours ago, they would have had dinner already. Roger, my younger brother, would be mopping the floors of the dojo because they would be doing sparring this time of the year, with the grading season right around the corner, and Roger sucked at sparring. I knew he would be much happier fishing at the lake, but his father was a karate instructor. There really was no choice
Nicky would be in the bathroom after a long day of being running at full steam. He was good at sparring but was always stuck mopping the floors when we practiced forms. He was a worthless fishing partner – all the fish knew where he was. I imagined my sister pounding down that door. Delphi had classes tomorrow, or a meeting, or a date. The thing with being both brilliant and beautiful was that you were always fully booked out.
And I? I would be making myself useful. I would clean up the kitchen and set aside ingredients for breakfast tomorrow. I would mop the bathroom after Nicky had run a tsunami through it and afterwards, spend a lot of time thinking of how to find one girl who went missing eight years ago.
Sometimes Nicky would join me, and we would draw up plans. We had so many plans, so many ideas for the multitude of scenarios and what-ifs because we had so little information to go on. It is in motion now, the central plan – more temperate, careful and agile of us two, I will be in the field. Nicky will serve as the base of operations where his volatile gunpowder personality is less likely to cause trouble. He did not take this delegation quietly and I had a feeling that our roles would overlap soon as the situation develops.
We did not involve the rest of our family. Delphi did not like to talk about Sumi and Roger hardly remembered her. I felt uncontrollably guilty whenever Roger treated me like an older sister. It was not supposed to be me. We could tell our parents were beginning to stop believing, something that made Nicky angry and I, supremely guilty.
After all this time, in my hearts of hearts, I knew they were only my 'adoptive mother and father'. I was not their daughter. And, yet, I was.
~oOo~
On the fourth day, it rained.
I was travelling northwards with a steady headache and sore eyes as the temperature dropped. The winds whipped up and stirred restlessly. I could smell the moisture in their air. My arms, legs, back ached as I stumbled through the northern forest. Twice I tripped on unruly roots and crashed to my knees. My breathing was laboured. Stealth was a concept abandoned long ago.
Finally, I reached crags and followed them inland, perched like a quizzical eyebrow on the island. I ducked into a small cave just as the sky broke. Rain came down with the force of Agamemnon's soldiers on Troy. I could not see two feet past the cave entrance through the haze of white rain.
The cave was frigid. About the size of your average bathroom, it tapered off towards the back as the ceiling sloped downwards. I wrapped myself tighter in my cloak and tried to stay warm. Through a headache and heavy lids, I dropped a match on a bundle of kindling and curled up beside it.
The sound of pounding rain must have lulled me into sleep because I woke to drops of water hitting my face like frozen bullets.
'Sorry, Risumi, didn't see you there,' someone said.
'Can't you be more careful?' a second person admonished the first.
It took me a second to open my eyes. I felt drowsy.
'Leorio? Kurapika?' They were drenched to the skin. 'What are you two doing here?'
'It's raining lizards out there,' Leorio said, wringing out his suit jacket.
'Who invited you in?' I mumbled, dragging my feet away from the growing puddle on the floor.
'We need shelter,' Kurapika said as he tipped water out of his shoes. 'You have shelter.'
'Not that much,' I muttered under my breath. I did not feel like being pleasant. My bones ached, my throat was scratchy, my eyes stung.
'Risumi, are you okay?' Kurapika asked, as if seeing me for the first time.
I did not bother replying. Every breath was painful. Ice, I thought. Someone's cold hand was on my forehead.
'She's running a fever.'
A jacket was wrapped around me. Another. I closed my eyes. Voices. Their words slipped past me like running water.
~oOo~
My head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton balls and set on fire. I sat up on my elbows. Leorio's suit jacket was on me. So was Kurapika's traditional outer layer. My cloak lay underneath them.
It was still grey outside. The rain had not slowed its onslaught one bit.
'What's the time?' I croaked.
Leorio and Kurapika looked up from where they sat by the cave entrance and came over.
'It's quarter past five,' Kurapika said. 'How are you feeling?' He handed me a bottle of water.
I drank gratefully. 'Better.'
Leorio grinned. 'I gave you some meds. That was a pretty nasty cold you got there.'
'I'm sorry you guys had to look after me.' I sighed. I ran my hand through my damp hair.
They both shook their heads.
Over a simple dinner of bread and cheese, the guys recounted their past few days on the island for me. The fire crackled merrily. Kurapika told me he had gotten his tag. 'My target was Tonpa.'
'You do us all a service,' I said.
'Do you know how this piece of work got Tonpa?' Leorio asked me, pointing fingers at Kurapika. 'He watched Tonpa trick me, steal my tag and then watched me chase Tonpa before he finally stepped up and helped!'
'Wow,' I said, raising my eyebrow at the blonde who merely shrugged.
'I figured that if he couldn't deal with that, he wouldn't be worth teaming up with.' Kurapika calmly took a sip of water.
'Wow, you're just full of yourself, aren't you?' I remarked.
'That's what I said,' Leorio exclaimed, spraying bread. 'After that, we ran into Hisoka. That psycho was just walking around with this big stupid leer on his face and we walked right up to him.' Leorio's eyes were popping with disbelief. 'That bloodlust, Risumi, you should have felt it.'
'It was suffocating,' Kurapika agreed.
'How did you get away?'
'Well, Kurapika gave him Tonpa and his partner's tags in exchange for our lives.'
'I placed them on the ground,' the man in question said. 'We just tried not to make any sudden movements.'
'And he accepted?'
'He seemed okay with it. I mean, he was licking his lips and we just… backed away.' Kurapika shuddered and crossed his arms over his chest.
I shook my head. Those two just seemed to attract clown-related troubles, like that time in the marshlands.
'What about you, Risumi?' Leorio asked. 'Have you gotten your tag?'
I nodded. I took them out of the secret pocket in the waistband of my trousers and held them up to the firelight.
'That's a pretty neat pocket you've got there,' Leorio said, leaning forward.
I pulled my cloak-blanket aside and showed him. I had sewn it to hold important things, like my bus pass. After this exam, it will hold my licence.
'If something happens to me, people might take off my jacket,' I explained. 'But it would take a lot of gall for someone to take off my pants.'
'That's a smart idea,' Kurapika mused.
Leorio had not found his target yet. Something came to me from a faraway place when he told me he was after #246. It was a neat number and there were hardly any women in the exam.
'Bees?' I said aloud.
'Bees?' he repeated.
'I ran behind a woman in the first phase, in that tunnel, remember?' I scratched my head. 'I think I smelled honey on her.'
'Tonpa said she worked with chemicals,' Kurapika said.
Something clicked in my head. 'Don't bees need to be subdued before you collect their honey?'
A hypothesis was hatched. A plan was mapped. The storm continued.
The next morning, we caught a brief glimpse of sunshine.
'Are you sure you're okay on your own?' Kurapika asked me for the hundredth time.
'Yes, I'm fine,' I reassured him. I had my tags, I survived the night, it was actually looking rather peachy.
'You're not out of the woods yet.' Leorio frowned as if he had read my mind. 'You can expect some chills today, as well as mild congestion. Make sure you keep that fire going.'
'Yes, dad,' I said, but I was smiling.
Leorio and Kurapika headed out after the former's tag. With the rain at a drizzle, I saw for the first time that the forest began a little way away, leaving me somewhat exposed. I retreated into the cave. A sharp breeze followed me and I was racked with chills. Damn, Leorio's diagnosis was spot on. I laid down next to a tamed blaze, feeling alternately hot and bothered and frozen to the bone.
It was late afternoon when I opened my eyes. The rain had stopped and a tangerine light came shone in. My whole body was sore – shivering was hard work. I struggled to sit up on my elbows and realised I was not alone.
'I see you're finally awake,' a grey-haired man said. His shrewd eyes under bushy eyebrows told me he was not one to mess with. He wore a samurai uniform in the old style, pulled his grey hair back in a severe ponytail and rocked a long white handlebar moustache that I would have appreciated in different circumstances.
'Why don't you people ever knock?' I grumbled as I sat up, rubbing my eye. I was feeling much better but it seemed prudent to not let that show.
'My name is Bodoro.' He said. 'I have come for your tag.'
The gears in my mind started turning. I hid this from the samurai by holding my head and wincing, as if to clear a long-suffering headache. Bodoro was one of the first to leave the boat when this phase started. So, I did lose him, I mused. It was satisfying to know I gave him the slip so early on. But when did he pick up my trail? How much could I lie?
I blew my nose. Nobody was following me when I left Killua, I made sure of that when I walked backwards so that my footprints would be wrong, before doubling back through the trees. Was it the fire? Or was it, more likely, this morning when I came north with the subtly of a rhino?
'Hisoka took my tag.'
I felt Bodoro scrutinise me. I fought to keep my hands still and away from my tags which were on me.
'I do not believe you,' he said, at last.
My heart thundered. It occurred to me how easy it would be to claim that the guys took my tag, but the thought of putting them in even more danger was unappetising.
'Well, why not?' I asked, raising my eyebrows.
'You are not his target, you are mine. He does not want your tag.'
'Dude,' I said, knowing full well that he was the last man on earth to appreciate being called "dude". 'The crazy clown probably wasn't too fussed with finding his own target after three innocent lambs walked right into to him last night.'
I watched him closely. He must have seen Kurapika and Leorio leave this morning, but I could not be sure how much he knew.
'You arrived here alone,' he growled.
Ah, there it was.
'We split up to escape from Hisoka.' I stared him down.
'Did #44 take your friends' tags, as well?'
'No, they had spare tags from some poor saps who tried to attack them.' This was true, and I used this truth to stare into his narrowed eyes with all the innocent sincerity I could muster. He did not budge.
'Why didn't you leave with your friends?'
'Hisoka took my tag,' I repeated. 'I've failed this phase. You try facing him down.' When he remained silent, I said, 'You're welcome to search me – I have nothing to hide.'
Bodoro rose to his feet and picked up my bag. I bit back a smile as he rifled through it once, then twice. He sighed in resignation and stood up. His head almost bumped the low ceiling. 'Turn out your pockets.'
I littered old candy wrappers from Whale Island, used tissues and a stray elastic onto the cave floor until my pockets were hanging out.
Bodoro hesitated, then left without a word.
I felt all the tension seep from my body and sank down onto the ground. In the marshlands, I fought a dinosaur with strawberries hanging from its head. Yet, skirmishes of words left me weak at the knees. I did not dare check if my tags were still in my secret pocket until I could be sure that Bodoro was no longer close. I knew he would not search me personally, the gentleman type. Ha!
~oOo~
'The Fourth Phase of the exam has ended. Will the applicants please return to the starting point at once? You will be given one hour of extra time. If you do not return during this time, you will be disqualified. If you swap tags after reaching the starting point, you will be disqualified.'
The orange-haired woman who brought us to this island made the announcement several times from a loudspeaker. The boat was already anchored. We slipped out from the shadows. I noticed that none of the Amori brothers were here. Neither were Gon, Leorio or Kurapika.
'Yo, Risumi.' Killua popped up at my elbow. He looked unscathed and clean, something that I thought would be impossible when you only bring a skateboard to an uninhabited island.
'Where's Gon and the others?' I asked.
'Gon will come. Why's that old man watching you?'
I followed his shrewd eyes to a spot on the opposite side of the clearing. Bodoro leaned against a tree, arms folded, frowning at me. I waved.
Killua rolled his eyes. 'Making friends everywhere, aren't you? What will Kurapika say?'
It was my turn to frown. 'What will Kurapika say?'
'You two have been getting pretty cosy lately. I just wonder…'
I did not like what he was implying one bit. I was struck with the sudden memory of waking up on his shoulder. I fought to keep the blush from creeping up my neck which, of course, just made me redden faster. Then, I remembered that I had been sick with a stupid childish cold only days earlier and how gross I must have looked.
'Wow, it's like watching a slideshow.' Killua said, watching me. I wanted to put him in a headlock.
'Kurapika won't say anything, because there's nothing to say,' I snapped. Killua snickered.
The orange-haired woman announced the present applicants' names. One by one, they held up the tags that guaranteed their pass. Hisoka held up three tags – was he unable to find his target? Or did he give up his own? Both theories sounded insane beyond belief. He caught my eye and licked his lips. Ugh.
'#91, Killua.'
Killua flashed his tags.
'#191, Bodoro.'
Bodoro held up his tag and three others. I could not help a smirk from sneaking onto my lips.
'#406, Risumi.'
I held up my tags – mine and my target's, smirking uncontrollably. Bodoro's jaw dropped open.
'You lied!' he exclaimed, eye twitching.
I winked and shot him the finger guns I learned from Killua. 'Yeah, duh!'
We waited out the final minutes tensely. Five, four, three.
Kurapika, Gon and Leorio dashed out of the trees. Killua called out to his best bud and gave him a thumbs up. Gon shot one back. His left eye was swollen half shut. They looked like they had been through war, but all were smiling. I released a breath I did not realise I had been holding and waved.
'A little relieved, Risumi?'
'Speak for yourself, I saw how happy you were to see Gon.'
'Yeah, but Gon and I are friends.'
'They're my friends too, you jerk.'
~oOo~
The five of us sprawled on a couple of benches by the row of windows lining the airship. None of us bothered trying to find a room to crash in. We were fed and, this time, it was Gon who had gone nuts on the soaps. He reeked of coconuts, clueless of the memories he was pushing me into, bittersweet memories that I had been unaware of becoming blanketed under the same scent as those last terrible days at my first home.
We had been called one by one into a meeting with the Chairman. The wiry old man's eyes twinkled with mischief.
'Miss Risumi, which applicant would you be least happy to fight in a one-on-one battle?' he asked, resting his bearded chin on his hand.
My response was instant. '#44 Hisoka.' I thought for a second. 'Maybe #99 Killua too.'
The Chairman scribbled on a pad of paper. 'And who would you be most happy to fight?'
'Maybe #53 Pokkle,' I said. He was a long-range fighter, which would normally put me at a disadvantage but as an archer, his attacks would be slow to start.
'Thank you, Risumi, that will be all,' he said, still smiling his twinkly smile. I did not trust that smile.
I held my face in my hands as I stared out the windows. To think that hours ago I was touring the island alone and keeping a low profile. I wanted to see the clouds at night but the glass reflected the unsavoury scene behind me.
'See, Gon and I are just friends, best friends,' Killua smirked at my reflection, throwing an arm around Gon. Gon beamed happily, the simple nut. I tried to ignore Killua. I hated the things he was implying. Most of all, I hated how even Leorio had picked up on it.
'Risumi, who are you just friends with?' Leorio grinned down at me.
'None of you lot, that's for sure,' I muttered.
'Not even Kurapika?' He mimed sleep, with both hands clasped under his head, and kissy faces, self-explanatory.
I decked him in the chin. 'Shut up.'
'Violence! Kurapika, keep your girl in check!' he yelped from the floor.
The boys laughed uproariously. I nearly screamed.
'I have no responsibility for Risumi's actions,' Kurapika said, barely looking up from his book. 'It's your own fault for provoking her.'
How was he so unfazed?
I felt my headache coming back on and rubbed my knuckles into my temples in frustration. I felt skinny arms warp around me.
'Risumi, are you okay? I heard you were sick.' It was Gon, that sweet, sweet boy. I told him I was fine, but he stayed close to me for the rest of the night.
A numb leg, bruised body and bare feet. Dried tear tracks, rattling breath, tattered expensive dress. Trees that spread out to trip me, stretched out its fingers to snatch at me, hold me back. Brambles, thorns, sharp rocks. In the distance, a wolf howling. At long last, I laid down on the dirt, unable and unwilling to go on. Who could have guessed that I lived?
'RISUMI!'
I screamed, springing to my feet and instantly tipping over. Tiled floors. The airship?
Warm hands held my shoulders, I cringed away.
'Risumi, it was just a dream.' Kurapika. 'It's okay now.' He helped me up. My limbs felt like overcooked noodles.
'Are you okay?' Gon's wide amber eyes were filled with concern. He gave me a bottle of water. I took it but did not drink. Killua told me I had been screaming again.
'Screaming?' I whispered.
'It was more of a whimper, really,' Leorio supplied.
Ah, that made sense. I knew that if I screamed, I would have woken up. My dreams were always closed-mouth, trapping me inside.
I stumbled to a bathroom and they let me go. I swore that this would be the last time I look so pathetic in front of my friends. Least of all because of coconuts.
~oOo~
The remaining applicants stared at the school-grade whiteboard the Chairman wheeled in. He was so excited he gave off giddy energy.
'For the final phase, we'll be holding a one-on-one tournament,' he declared.
The arrangement for combat was insane, but not unreasonable. Except for one very important point: My first opponent was to be the loser of the Kurapika-Hisoka match. So, not to have low expectations, but my first opponent will be Kurapika.
Let the games begin.
A/N:
Please leave a review, I'd love to know what you think!
Last week I finished 'The Dictionary of Lost Words' and I think it is one of the most beautiful things ever written. It is an account of a life, of women and of words. If you try and don't like it, give it another shot in a couple of years. I promise you, it deserves all its rave reviews.
