Hello, everyone! I've been gone a while, huh? Sorry about that. One word: school. Nerd alert! Nerd alert! Just kidding. I hope you're still interested in my story, because not a day went by without my daydreaming about it. I still like it very much, so... here is an update!

Pretty short, but I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter.

Here we go!

Spotlight

Chapter Eight: A New Level of Monstrous

Ayaka watched as hoards of people threaded their way in and out of the colossal tower that was her workplace. Today was her day off, yet there she was, spending her freedom sitting idly underneath the widespread canopy of a giant apple tree just outside the building. It was a bit out of place, this tree. There was a small plantation of other trees just a hundred meters away, but this one stood by itself, isolated, taller and thicker and much healthier than the others. But the trunk, it was pretty beat up. The bark was all scratched up and torn away, passionately and repeatedly battered. A lot of the Arena's losers must have come here to vent out their frustrations.

Ayaka stood up and dusted the dry soil away from the bottom of her denim shorts, then wiped her sweaty hands on her white cotton shirt. Slowly, she reached for the trunk and set a flat hand on its rough skin, closing her eyes to feel more through her fingertips.

Everything in this world has energy.

She could hear Wing's annoying voice in her head. Why did he have to sound like an outdated instructional video every time he opened his mouth to say something?

Dead or alive, beast or human, object or non-object... they all have energy.

Ayaka took a deep breath and paused. She held the air in her lungs.

All you have to do... is believe that it's there. Trust in it. Surrender your heart. Do you understand what I'm saying, Ayaka?

She parted her moist lips and slowly released all the air she had taken in. Yes, she understood.

Nen is a religion. It is your religion. There is nothing more important than your faith in it.

Ayaka opened her burning eyes. Faith? She had faith.

After all, the tree was glowing a beautiful bright shade of green.

Ayaka frowned. The black half-circles under her eyes were two shades darker than usual, and despite having gotten nine solid hours of rest, she still felt tired.

"A dream," she mumbled to herself. "A stupid dream. Are you kidding me?"

She clenched her fist and punched the DOWN button for the elevator, prompting a soft chime from the speakers above. Like I would spend my DAY OFF sitting under a tree like some girl on a picnic. No. She would spend a whole day in the cafeteria. She would eat all the dessert they had to offer. She crossed her arms and tapped her flip-flopped foot impatiently against the carpeted floor, eyeing her reflection on the elevator and mentally cringing at her appearance. She was still in her flannel pajama bottoms and a plain white shirt, and it was already two in the afternoon.

Was she so desperate to master nen that even her own brain decided to deceive her that she had? It's been two whole months since the whole rendezvous between Ryuu and Hisoka... and two whole months since she vowed to kill the latter. She's been training for it. Really, she has.

In fact, she was pretty damn close to mastering Ten, which kept her nen from leaking out, allowing it to flow throughout her body along with her own natural circulation. It took her six weeks on top of Wing's initial training to do it flawlessly, and two more to do it without thinking, even in her sleep. Eight weeks in total. Other people, she heard, could learn it in three minutes.

But Zetsu - like what she apparently mastered in her dream - was a completely different story. In order to see or even sense the aura of another body, she needed to stop her own flow of energy completely, which was like... like sipping soda through a straw, but suddenly pausing mid-way. Mid-drink. Mid-thirst. She didn't like drinking soda anyway. How did she even believe for a second that her dream was reality?

The speakers chimed again, and the doors opened.

"Why hello there, Raccoon Eyes!"

What. Rotten. Luck.

Hisoka. The damn psycho was already on the elevator. She hastily turned to the side and headed towards the Emergency Exit, sweat instantaneously seeping from the pores of her face. She would much rather run down a million steps than spend two minutes with-

"Where do you think you're going?"

Hisoka suddenly tugged at her loose shirt, and before she could even squeak out any sort of protest, the doors connected with an imaginary loud BAM!, sealing away any hope for escape.

"What's the big deal?" she barked as she pulled away from him and fixed her shirt.

"Is that how employees should greet their customers?" he said with a smirk, and she flashed him a good frown.

"It's my day off. I don't have any obligation to be nice to you."

"I would agree with that, except the last time we crossed each other's paths while you were working, you bit me. That's not being nice, is it?"

Did he have to mention that stupid incident every damn time? She trailed her gaze from his annoying smile down to his muscular bicep, adorned with the crescent-shaped scar in question. An impression of her teeth. She looked away. She wasn't in the mood to be playing this guy's games and besides, the last time they've even so much as exchanged words, she was telling him that she was out to murder him. Any sort of confidence she had then was now gone, so she purposely avoided any job in the Arena that presented even the slightest chance of bumping into him. So...how was she supposed to face him right now?

Not to mention she was currently a complete mess. Pajamas, a bedhead, and chapped lips. Well, at least her nails were all nice and painted. A glossy rose.

"Am I the first person you've seen all day?" Hisoka continued to talk. "Lucky~"

Ayaka turned away from him, refusing to participate in any sort of interaction. Any person in his or her right mind would either kill him or run away from him, and since she had a score to settle, there was no other answer. She had to kill him.

Only... it wasn't as easy as she thought it would be.

"How's your arm?" he suddenly asked with a smile. "Must have hurt, hmm? I made sure it did."

After he had bitten her wrist, her entire arm had swollen to thrice its size. It was fine now, but even the doctors were baffled by how much it had ballooned when she first went to the emergency room, even considering the possibility that some sort of potent poison was involved. Nope. It was just Hisoka and his... what? Venomous saliva? Was it possible to be allergic to another human being's spit?

"I hope it still hurts," he said. "That way, you'll always be thinking about me. Fuel your anger enough and maybe you'll really kill me eventually."

What... the hell. Psycho!

She made no effort to reply. Instead, she focused on the intricate swirls of the marble flooring. The elevator was pretty damn slow today, wasn't it? Ding...Ding... Ding. Maintenance did say something about recalibrating it today. How many floors more to go? She didn't want to look up. The reflective gold surface of the elevator walls would ensure some sort of eye contact. And she didn't want that. She didn't want to see his handsome face.

And then...

CRRRRREEEEAAAAKKKKKK!

The elevator slowly went to a complete stop.

Every night,

I dream of you,

Darling

But you never

Dream

Of me

Ever

So tonight,

I will dream

Of you

Dreaming

Of me

Ayaka slammed her fist onto the red emergency button, then slammed it again and again and again. This was NOT happening. No. Nononononononono. The worst day of her life just got... worst-er!

"Are they kidding?" she said as she cursed under her breath. "Are they doing maintenance right now? Can't they see there are people in here?"

She waved her hands in front of the camera, but nobody was responding. The lights above suddenly shut off, leaving them in almost total darkness, except for the soft glow of the small display monitor above, which showed that they were on the first floor, where the lobby was. What kind of rotten luck did she have?

"Really?" she shouted in disbelief. "They couldn't wait until we got off?"

Ayaka kicked the wall in frustration, and she could hear the hollow metallic echo of the assault outside. She kicked it again and again, all the while shouting, "THERE ARE PEOPLE IN HERE!" She kicked the doors, but they wouldn't budge in their slots at all. How long would re-calibrating an elevator take? Five minutes? Ten? Thirty? There were a million floors in the building! They could be stuck in there for a day!

Hisoka chuckled. His voice seemed much more sinister... much more intimate in the dark.

"What's so funny?" she asked as she scowled at him. "Right. People like you have nothing better to do, so things like this don't really matter to you. This is my first day off in a long time and... ugh. You know what? Forget it. Shit. This sucks."

Ayaka sat on the floor and rested her head on her knees. How long was this going to take? The only good thing so far was that she got to sleep in, even past noon! But even that in itself caused her to have a stupid dream full of false hope. And then there was Hisoka. Just seeing him... it set off a lot of irritating warning bells. He really knew how to piss people off, didn't he? She wanted to punch him in the face. She wanted to hear the sickening crack of his nose underneath the powerful pressure of her knuckles.

Because... she still wanted to kiss him.

And if she could punch herself in the face for still wanting such a ridiculous thing, she would.

"Shit. This is so full of shit."

It was wrong. It was so, so wrong. There was definitely something wrong with the way her brain was wired. What the hell? Why did she still have dumb thoughts like, "I want to make him mine! Kya~" or "Kiss meeeeee! Kya~"

Maybe Ryuu wasn't the only one in the family who needed to be locked up.

"Such a foul mouth for a former babysitter."

Hisoka laughed again, louder this time, but she ignored him. She tightened her grip around her knees as she gritted her teeth. Her heart was beating too fast... her ears were hot. She needed to stop herself from wanting him. There was no happy ending with someone like him. She needed to get out of there, and quick! The sooner the better. She needed to get away from him. Right. The first thing she was going to do when she got out of there was hand in her letter of resignation. Well, maybe brunch first... and then a tray-full of dessert. And then the resignation.

C-C-C-RR...CCCRRREEEAAAA... CCCCCRRRREEEEEEAAAAAKKKKK!

Just then, the elevator was bright again, and Ayaka squinted as she looked up.

"Come on, little Mosquito-chan. Fly free."

She held her breath.

There Hisoka was, propping the elevator doors open with his back leaning against one side, and his foot pushing against the other! She could see the other side! The lobby! Bright, beautiful, and full of people! Like it was heaven itself! How could she have forgotten? Hisoka the Monster wasn't normal! He could do things like this like it was nothing!

"Thank you!" She said as she scrambled to her feet and rushed towards paradise. "Thank you, Hisoka!"

BAM!

Darkness.

Total darkness.

Hisoka had stepped outside before she could get through, and the doors slammed shut against each other, right in front of her. Hisoka was gone. And she was still trapped. He... just left her, didn't he?

In absolute darkness.

She looked up. The display monitors...where were they? Why couldn't she see them anymore? Did he... did he break them? When did he do that?

Why?

Sing me a song

The same song

That you sing

To me

Every morning

Tell me

With your song,

That it is

Only meant

For me

To hear

Ayaka took a step back and stumbled over herself, tripping over nothing and knocking the back of her head against the wall behind her. "Ugh... shit." There was a sudden high-pitched ringing in her ears, the kind that made it difficult to think. Aside from that, she strangely didn't feel pain at all. She slowly lowered herself to the ground as she set a hand on the side of her head. Dizzy... she was dizzy. Her head was spinning... or something. She couldn't exactly check if the elevator was spinning along. Her eyes weren't adjusting to the darkness either, and damn, that ringing was really starting to piss her off.

"Monster..."

Where did this cruelty come from? Wait. No. He's always been like this. Not that "always" meant anything since they didn't really know each other. She was just imagining things, wasn't she? The constant teasing he did, the little attention he gave her, and the bloodshed that they both willingly participated in... It was all just a game. Tom and Jerry. Captain Hook and Peter Pan. Hisoka and Ayaka.

Drip... drip.

Ayaka's eyes widened. What was that? Her eyes, they felt kind of wet. Something was tickling her cheek. A bug? What could it be? She placed her hands over her warm face and... Was she...? No way. No fucking way. Was she crying?

Ding-dong!

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...SHHHHH-SHHHHHHHHH...

White noise from the speakers! Ayaka felt a jolt of excitement through her chest. Were they trying to get in touch with her? "HELLO?" she shouted as she wiped her eyes and her dripping nose with her shirt. "Someone's in here!"

She felt the surface of the wall for the round emergency button and pounded her fist against it. "HELLO?"

"He-llo!" It responded electronically - the voice of a computerized woman with a slight accent she couldn't quite place.

"Oh, thank god! Hello!" Ayaka yelled. "Can you please tell Maintenance to open the doors? I've been in here for fifteen minutes! It's starting to get really hot and-"

"He-llo, he-llo," it repeated mechanically, with the same intonation each time. "Can you... hear me? Mos-qui-to with the rac-coon eyes?"

No.

Please.

No.

Her heart stopped. The excitement had gone. And if she could see her own face in this darkness, she would probably see a colorless ghost.

It was Hisoka. Hisoka was on the intercom. And of course, he was playing a game. A game with her.

"Can you...hear me?" it repeated. Same intonation again. Was Hisoka typing the words to be said from somewhere? The fake voice... it seemed scary to her now, knowing that he was the face behind it. "Y-Yeah," Ayaka replied bitterly. She gritted her teeth, bracing herself for what was to come. "I can hear you."

Silence for a few seconds.

"Did you know? That there are... twenty... two... floors? Beneath the lob-by. For under-ground guest parking."

"What?"

"Did you know? That there are... twenty... two... floors? Beneath the lob-by. For under-ground guest parking."

"I heard you the first time. What are you trying to say?"

"Which floor are you on... right now? Mos-qui-to."

"The first floor! The lobby!" Ayaka yelled, punching the wall. "Get to the point already!"

"There are... twenty... two... floors? Beneath you. Right now."

SHHHHHHH-SHHHHHHH-SHHHHHHHH... SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Ayaka froze. Was he implying... what she thought he was implying? "Hold on," she said as she laughed nervously, raising her arms in the air, as though under arrest. "Hold on, Hisoka. What are you saying? You wouldn't, right?"

Few seconds of silence. He was typing.

"If you do not... free your-self...in... ten... minutes? The el-e-vat-or will... drop? Twenty... two... floors. With you... in-side... What will... you do?"

SHHHHHHHHH...SHHH-SHHHHHHHH. SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

End of Chapter Eight!

So? How was it? Did you like it? Hisoka is such a jerk. He should just go and pick on other people, but why won't he just leave Ayaka alone? I'll tell you why! Because he's a jerk. Haha.

Please leave a review and tell me if you have any favorite lines or hated this or that! I personally like how Ayaka thinks that just because her nails are painted, her bedhead and dry lips don't matter. Weirdo. Lol.

As always, thank you for reading!