Book 2: Malum

Chapter 16: Memory Lane

Rita decided to avoid Hisoka whenever possible throughout the course of the exam. She had approached the clown before because she had simply acknowledged his inherent strength, but she was hardly eager to see what would become of him when his bloodlust took him over. Besides, she had done it purely out of boredom, and also to assure that she would not become his first target.

As the first trial progressed, Rita made sure to keep a sharp eye on Gon. The girl reminded herself that the only reason she was here was to ensure Gon's safety. Still, the logic of it all confused her to no end. Ging wasn't the responsible parent type, and he had even showed that he had more blind faith in his son than was necessarily healthy. So why was she stuck here?

Rita sighed. She knew why she was here.

You couldn't become a Hunter based on wits and physical talent alone; there was an inherent qualification to it too. Hunter's needed to possess good intuition, a sharp sixth sense, just like you couldn't really be called a Hunter unless you were good with animals.

Something big was going to unfold and both she and Ging knew it.

She sighed, craving a smoke but refraining. It would draw attention, and that was really the last thing she wanted.

The twelve-year old seemed to be doing just fine, much to her genuine surprise. It was astounding that such a small body could hold so much energy.

The first phase passed without much incident.

Still, it was a bit amusing, as Ging had promised. The sight of Tonpa hopping from rookie to rookie and ruthlessly tossing them aside in his snide way offered some form of entertainment. And it was exciting, trying to decipher who would put up a fight and who wouldn't.

Rita was prepared to run up to about two-hundred kilometers at this pace, give or take, so she wasn't worried. If half of the contestants couldn't make it past the fifteen kilometer mark, there was nothing to be concerned about; the examiners would want at least some people to pass. Additionally, it unnerved her how few people knew nen. Hisoka, and the needle guy, and the examiner himself were the only people she could pick out immediately.

As far as she was concerned, there were only a handful of people to really keep an eye out for. Gon, of course, and his blonde-haired friend who had triggered a migraine for her beforehand; the ninja with the bald head and ridiculous eyebrows; a twelve-year old silver-haired child whose footfalls made no noise whatsoever; and Hisoka and Gittarackur, without a doubt. The others all bored her; perhaps a few of them might make it to the final round, but it would be as a result of Fate's fickleness.

"You."

Oh boy, Rita sighed inwardly.

Hood still draped over her eyes, she moved her head slightly to signal acknowledgement.

"Have I met you somewhere before?"

It was the curious twelve-year old. He hopped off of his skateboard that he had presumably brought along with him and tucked it under his arm as he began to run along side her.

"I wouldn't know." She said quietly, making sure to keep her voice low as to avoid discernment. The child triggered a strong sense of deja-vu, but no memories surfaced, so she concluded not.

"You feel familiar." He commented.

Rita narrowed her eyes. As far as she could tell, the kid was not someone who was possible of using nen, or his aura, to his will. By feel familiar, Rita had no other idea what he could have been referring to.

"How so?"

"Beats me," he shrugged, closing his eyes. "But are you sure? Think really hard. I swear I've met you before!"

"I haven't met you before, kid. Get lost."

"It was about four or five years ago."

She flinched slightly, almost imperceptibly, but it didn't go unnoticed by the insightful boy.

"Aha! So you do remember?"

"No." She growled. "Four years ago was when I lost my memory. You won't get anything from me. Go run along."

The kid stared at her for a moment longer, wide, innocent gaze dissolving into one of deep thought, purple eyes darkening considerably. "My name's Killua." He offered brightly.

Rita clenched her jaw. The way he could shift between personalities was far too reminiscent of Pariston and she was supposed to get a break from the Zodiac and his disgusting favors for at least a good week or two. "I'm number sixty-six. Nice to meet you, assassin." She remarked pointedly.

"I'll catch you around, sixty-six." And then hopped back on his skateboard and fell out of step with her. His remark sounded more like a threat than anything else.

Rita tsked loudly, irritated and now angry. This stupid Hunter Exam was giving her headaches, and these contestants were triggering things. Still, she reminded herself that it was already four years ago, and at that age, this Killua couldn't have been more than seven or eight, so there was no way he could remember her so clearly.

As for this Kurapika blonde…

"Hey! Wait up kid!"

Killua glanced behind him to see a suited man waving his fist angrily at him.

"Pay the Hunter Exam some respect, will you?!"

The assassin inquired, hands still in his pockets: "What do you mean?"

"Why are you using a skateboard?! That's cheating!"

Killua resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It wasn't his fault he didn't want to leave his skateboard behind. And god forbid, it wasn't as if he was going to carry it as he ran; obviously he was going to ride it. No one else had stopped him anyways. Who was this guy?

Might as well mess around with him for a bit…

"Why?"

"W-Why?!" The man spluttered, flabbergasted. "This is an endurance test!"

"No it isn't!"

Killua looked behind him again, catching sight of a shockingly-dressed boy in all green jogging to catch up.

"Gon what are you saying?!"

"The examiner only told us to follow him."

"Whose side are you on, eh?!"

Killua blinked curiously, reducing his speed to ride alongside him. "Hey, how old are you?"

"Twelve years."

Hmm… We're the same age.

He flipped his skateboard and caught it, placing it beneath his arm. "Guess I'll run too, then."

"Wow!" Gon's eyes began to literally sparkle in admiration. "That was cool!"

"I'm Killua." He said, still eyeing the other warily.

"I'm Gon." He returned warmly, far too warmly.

Killua found these people incredibly interesting, though for the life of him, he couldn't explain why. Of course, Hisoka was someone he wanted to avoid, and same with the ninja and scary needle dude, but Gon was pretty cool, he guessed, and that one girl with the hood seemed like she was strong too.

This suited man, on the other hand…

"You know," Killua whispered after some time had elapsed. "That girl over there is keeping an eye on you."

"Eh?" Gon seemed shocked.

"You didn't know?"

"She's a girl?!"

Killua sensed a slight wave of irritation roll off her shoulders.

"Lower your voice!" Killua snapped, albeit good-naturedly. "Yeah, she's a girl. So you can tell when someone's watching you but you can't discern their gender?"

Gon laughed meekly.

"So you knew right?"

"Well I knew someone was keeping tabs on me, but I was stuck between whether it was the hooded figure or the ninja."

Killua frowned slightly.

"Why is she watching me?"

"Beats me." He shrugged, examining the girl.

The assassin swore he'd seen her before when he was young, very young, when a certain gang of bandits decided to haphazardly crash a party; which was all for naught. But four years had a tendency to change people. This girl here was a bit taller and stood a bit more stooped, posture wise. Her eyes were also lacklustre, not as clear as the female he remembered. Her voice was different and she didn't seem to be a Spider.

"Do you know her Killua?"

Killua thought carefully before answering. "No." He said clearly, honestly. "I don't. And I don't know why she's keeping a close eye on you either."

"Well, she doesn't mean any harm," Gon shrugged, "so I'm sure her curiosity just got the better of her or something like that."

Killua blinked several times. "How do you know she doesn't mean any harm?"

"I just know." He laughed. "You can't feel anything bad coming from her either too, right? I think she's naturally quiet is all. There shouldn't be anything to worry about."

Upon closer examination, the child found that his newfound companion was correct. There was no trace of malicious intent anywhere on the girl, apparent from an obvious lack of bloodlust, though the same could not be said of certain treacherous magicians. Still, the obvious and forthright trust Gon had so straightforwardly placed on the girl made stunned him.

How nice it would be to be so oblivious.

"If anything, I think she's kind of sad." Gon suddenly turned serious.

"What makes you say that?" He raised an eyebrow. The kid was jumping to conclusions left and right.

"She feels sad." He remarked. "I hope I can be her friend later on."

Killua put his hands in his pockets and allowed his bangs to shadow over his eyes.

Friends, huh?

"You know that habit will probably wind up killing you?" Ging questioned her rhetorically as she took a long drag on a cigarette.

She felt a tic form on her forehead. "Hop off Ging." She hissed. "We're all going to die anyways."

"Woah," Ging frowned. "Feisty. I'm just saying you should stop. It's not the best habit for people who fight using their bodies."

"I know, I know." Rita threw it on the ground and dug it into the soil with her heel. "It's just something I've grown fond of."

"Smoking?"

"It's a long story."

"We have time." Ging crossed his arms.

How ironic.

The two were currently taking very meager shelter behind the crumbling ruins of a dilapidated building. Nen bullets were being fired at them at around 250 kilometers per hour. Now originally, the two would be able to walk through the barrage like an April shower except direct impact at that speed could very easily shatter bones, so it wasn't quite safe to risk it. As an alternative, the two decided to reinforce a wall with nen, as it was naturally sturdier than their bodies to begin with. Unfortunately, even said stone wall was beginning to crumble under the repeated barrage of pinging projectiles.

"Time you say." Rita winced as a bullet ricocheted off of the corner of the crumbling wall very close to her face. "I don't even remember, actually. I just recall seeing someone smoke one when they were down in the dumps. Surprisingly cathartic. Want one?" She offered.

He looked at it for a little, and then put forth an open hand, much to her surprise. She filled it with a cigarette and when he put it in between his lips, he motioned for a light. Rita almost smirked and merely snapped her fingers in front of his face.

A large flame leapt up into the air, engulfing the end of cigarette.

It shocked Ging and he lept back a little, crashing into the wall.

The end result was a lit joint.

He glared at her, having forgotten that the girl utilized Transmutation and enjoyed using it whenever she could.

"Punk." He crossed his arms, war and all be damned; he had half a mind to kill the girl himself.

"Old man." She seemed to read his mind, issuing a challenge.

"-Ita… Rita… Rita!"

The girl started awake, flailing for a moment, and then regaining her bearings as she quickly took in her surroundings. What a realistic dream. It had been one of when she and Ging were doing missions together. Quite a while ago.

"The hell?" She felt a tic form on her forehead.

Gon stood over her, looking down curiously. Again, the sight did a number on her eyes and she shooed him away.

"What do you want, Gon?" She hissed.

"Wah! She knows my name!"

"I'm pretty sure everyone knows your name at this point, Gon, it'd be weirder if she didn't." Killua crossed his arms.

"Really?!

Rita cleared her throat.

"Oh! Yeah, we're moving on to the final stage pretty soon."

"Already?" She crinkled her face into a frown. Rita didn't remember much, just that the first stage had been a lot of running the somewhere along the way she took a three day nap after she had secured her target's number plate on an uncharted island.

"What do you mean already? We've cleared four stages already!"

"Eh," she shrugged. "Where am I?"

"We're on a blimp." Rita looked up to the blonde who spoke. "Though how you can rest so soundly with several formidable opponents around you is beyond me."

She felt a flash of white-hot irritation blind her for a moment. If this Kurapika brat thought she had been resting soundly, of all things, he had another fucking thing coming his way… "You all seem to be very at ease around me, even though you hardly know me." She countered.

"Oh that reminds me! Your phone's been going off non-stop for the past few minutes!" Gon piped up.

Rita looked toward her bag, which carried everything not on her person, and listened carefully. It was indeed going off, and the only person who would be calling her… She tsked violently. "Excuse me."

She swiped the cellular device from her bag and silenced it, carrying it to another room and putting herself into Zetsu. As she flipped through the call log, there was only one name. It was to be expected of course; she only had two contacts. Ging, and Pariston.

Hitting the call button, she brought it up to her ear.

"How kind of you to call me back Rita." The serpent voice on the other line seemed to coo.

"I thought you said you'd leave me alone while this went on."

"Oh dear, you aren't finished yet? I wonder what's taking you so long."

"It's not up to me," you fucking dickwad, she added internally, "It goes by the time the examiners have set, so blame your own corporation."

"It can't be helped." Pariston mourned on the other line. "I have something for you."

"What is it?"

"There should be a little boy there by the name of Kurapika."

Rita felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. "About him?"

"Spend some time with him. You might remember something about yourself."

"I've seen him somewhere before, haven't I?" She began to feel anxious. "How do I know him?"

"Patience, you'll find out." She could hear his stupid smile.

"What else do you want?" The girl almost spat into the receiver. "Surely more than a bit of quality time between us."

"Find out his ambitions." And then the dial tone came on, signalling that he had left.

Stiffly pocketing her phone, Rita sighed and looked up to the ceiling of the room she had slipped into. It was dark.

There was a window, a rather large one, along the walls, and she stepped closer to it to take a look at the vast expanse of sky before her. The clouds were massive and looming, stretching and enormous, colored an angry midnight grey.

She stayed in that room for a long time, smoking a pack of cigarettes she found in her back pocket. After she went through the entire thing, she left the room, going back to where she left her bag of belongings and was astonished to find Killua and Gon curled up sleeping next to each other. It seemed they had fallen asleep waiting for her, despite how rude she had been to them.

She frowned and looked at them, realizing it was about three in the morning. Rita stared especially at Gon, finding Ging's own characteristics in him. Spiked, black hair, an easy smile, smooth facial features unused to hard emotions, same nose.

The girl unzipped her jacket and put it over the two, realizing she would now have to scheme a bit to gain the trust of the irksome blonde.

Sighing, Rita decided she would go back to that empty room where she had called Pariston back.

TO BE CONTINUED

a/n: hey guys! wow, im so sorry its been over a month since i updated! D: this chapter is also very messy, because it was written over the course of like, two months, and i kept getting off track :/ basically, it's rita navigating the hunter examination. please bear with me, because i have a lot in mind. i just have a lot of school work on my plate ;^; i hope you're enjoying so far thought! see you in about a week :D