Chapter 7

Fourth Round and Undecided Decisions

Nozomi was silent against the moist grass while a large hand tightened against her throat. Her hands tried to reach for her blades on her thighs but the man hovering over her blocked it with his legs. The two of them remained on the ground in silence with crimson butterflies flocking over to their wounds. The girl's gaze trailed from his face to the side, searching for any sign of escape. Her actions did not go unnoticed by the man.

"You haven't changed a bit." Hisoka commented with a smirk.

"O-oh really?" The girl responded, trying to sound as calm as possible.

A hum of amusement came from the man.

"You still have trouble controlling your emotions and you are very loyal to your friends. But..." He moved his hand from the girl's neck and pinched her cheek. "I'm surprised that you didn't tell your 'father' that you were coming here."

The twelve year old girl grew pale and cold to the thought of her Master finding out that she came to take the exam without his authorization. Hisoka's smirk widened as he got up from his crouching position and casually walked away, leaving the child lying on the grass, frozen.

Despite the few hours that had passed, the girl still remained flat on her back. Her trembling hand covering her mouth as she tried to ease her rapid breathing pattern. Suddenly, she heard the soft sound of foot steps approaching.

Please don't come any closer... She pleaded in her head and closed her eyes, but of course the person kept creeping closer.

When the person was only a foot away from her body, Nozomi lunged at the person. Her eyes were glowing white and her mask of fear transformed into a menacing sneer at the sight of fear of the man beneath her.

"W-What on Earth are you?" Applicant number 34, Ryu questioned.

The girl released a chuckle as her arm was slowly lifted up into the air. However, before she could do anything else she gasped and jumped off the man. Her hands covering her face as she murmured an apology and bolted away. When she was out of the man's sight, Nozomi slumped down against a tree and dug through her pockets for any of her relaxing remedies, only to find nothing.

Early the next day, Nozomi had finally calmed down and strolled through the forest in search for her target. It would have been faster for her to track down her target if she was fully focused on finding him, but she kept tormenting with the reminders of her actions and thoughts of her Master's reaction when she returns.

"Hey Nozomi!"

The twelve year old girl spun around to see her silver hair friend approaching. She merely greeted the boy with a nod and a smile.

"Did you find your target yet?" She asked and he shook his head. "Then, do you want to be partners?"

He simply shrugged and continued walking up ahead. The girl tilted her head in confusion to his actions, but decided to sweep the thought aside and caught up with him, walking in silence.

After some time of walking, they sensed that Imori was following them and grew tired of waiting for him to make the first move. Killua called back to him from where the two stopped, telling to attack already or else he would take the first move. Imori was still silent, so Killua decided to go towards his hiding spot. While Nozomi stood back and watched.

"Umori! Amori!" Imori exclaimed in relief to the sight of his brothers appearing behind him.

"It took me so long to get my target." Amori stated.

"I'm sure you're done right?" Umori asked.

When the two elder brothers looked behind Imori they saw Killua standing before them. From afar, Nozomi heard the two older brothers scolding the youngest, stating that he was making a mockery out of the trio. She took this chance to go around the tree that the brothers and Killua were at to take them from behind.

"Because you guys react this way, I don't have any other choice. I'm gonna do it." Imori said.

The youngest brother stepped forward and threatened Killua. However, the twelve year old only responded by calling him an idiot. With that, Imori gave a harsh kick into Killua's gut, sending the boy to fall flat on his back.

"Hey! I warned you." Imori smirked before calling back to his brothers, notifying them that he didn't miss.

Killua was silent for a moment before he hopped back onto his feet with ease and glanced at the newly claimed tag in his hand.

"Number 198? This is Nozomi's target. Perhaps Number 199 is one of you two... What do you think Nozomi?"

The two brother's got the hint that they were messing with no ordinary kid and tried to spread out. But before they could even move, Nozomi kicked the back of their knees and pressed her daggers against their throats.

"Most likely." the girl finally replied, then turned to the two brothers. "If you don't want to die now, I suggest you give your tags to Killua."

They grumbled and tossed their tags over to the silver hair boy. Once Killua caught the tags, Nozomi released the two men and walked over to the boy. Killua handed the dark hair girl her target number.

"What are you going to do with that one?" She asked, pointing at Amori's tag.

A small, yet mischievous smirk crept upon the twelve year old boy's lips before he threw it in the air.

"You guys have five days to find it."

With that, he vanished in thin air. Nozomi sighed at the boy's actions as she went deeper into the forest, without looking back at the trio to prevent her from returning the tag.

I'm sorry but I must pass this test.

"Nozomi."

Inside the Hunter Confederation Comity airship, the twelve year old turned from the widow to see a blonde teenager approaching. She waved to him from where she was seated and invited him take a seat beside her.

"Did you talk to Gon?" she asked after a moment of silence.

He nodded, "He's okay now..."

Nozomi nodded and tried to keep up the conversation with the teen, asking him about his thoughts on why the applicants were being called up for a "conversation" and more. The two of them happily conversed for awhile until Nozomi abruptly asked the teen a question.

"What are you going to do after this if you pass the final round?"

Kurapika fell silent and his gaze was fixed on the twelve year old's bandaged hand. A mixture of anger, uncertainty, guilt, and betrayal flooded his brown eyes. His mouth slowly opened as if he was about to say something but a call for Nozomi interrupted.

"Oh... I have to go." She started to walk away, but she turned back to look at the teen. "Sorry Kurapika. I didn't mean to make you feel... Uncomfortable."

The teen's eyes widened for a short moment before he broke out into a smile.

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you when you are done."

Inside the reception room, the chair man was seated behind a short table and warmly smiled at the girl who just arrived. He told the girl to take a seat, which she complied and spotted the pictures of the other applicants laid out before her.

"Is this the last round?" Nozomi asked in confusion as she scanned the photos.

"No, but I wouldn't say that there's no relation... Anyway, I'd like to ask you some questions." The girl nodded. So, Netero continued. "Why do you want to be a hunter?"

The twelve year old's eyes casted down to her hands, in thought.

"At first, I wanted to be a hunter so I can learn to control... a certain ability... and I wanted to be more useful for... someone..." She answered, carefully choosing her words. "But now... I think want find my mother or maybe... find out what my point in life is?"

Netero nodded, "Among the nine other applicants, which one retains the most of your attention?"

"Um... #99, #405, #404... and #44." She replied

"Hm... Well, last question. Among the nine other applicants, who do you want to fight against the least?"

"Who I don't want to fight? Mostly these four." She stated as she pointed out Killua, Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio's photos. "And I don't really want to fight #301 because I'll most likely die. But out of all of them, I don't want to fight #44 as well since we have some history together... I prefer to just leave it as that."

"Are you friends with them?" Netero asked, picking up the four photos that the girl pointed out.

A hint of pink dusted her cheeks as she looked away to avoid the chairman's gaze.

"I-I guess so."

Netero chuckled and dismissed the twelve year old. She bobbed her head and left the room. Right as she left the room, she slumped against a nearby wall with a loud sigh.

"Why I want to be a hunter, huh..." Nozomi slowly unwrapped her hand to see the purple, cross-shaped tattoo. "Should I stay with you master... or go on my own?"