Chapter 8

Final Round

The ten remaining applicants were brought to a hotel owned by the Hunter Exam Selection Committee. The hotel was big and surrounded by a lush garden. When the chairman brought everyone into a wide empty room, the chairman announced that once they had finished the final round, they are free to roam. A man in a tuxedo pushed a board that was covered with a white sheet next to the chairman.

"The last trial will be in the form of one-on-one duels." Netero stated, "The groups are of the following..."

With that, the chairman pulled the sheet off to reveal the battle chart.

"So, the last one standing passes?" Leorio asked

"No. One victory and you pass the exam." Netero answered. "In other words. In this tournament, winners quit the game one by one. The principle of the pyramid is to designate the loser, not the winner. Do you understand?"

"So there will only be one eliminated?" Hanzo questioned and the chairman nodded.

Netero continued on by answering Bodoro's question about why the brackets were not even, since it was based off of their performance during the entire exam. Killua asked him to explain how he scored the applicants, but the chairman refused to tell him since it was a secret. Instead the chairman explained that the first basis of the evaluation were based on three essential points: strength, mind, and charisma.

While the chairman was stating the rules, Nozomi studied the battle chart again.

"I have to fight Pokkle-san. If I lose I have to fight either Hanzo-san or Gon and if I lose again I would have to fight Killua... I have to beat Pokkle-san." She muttered to herself.

The exam soon started with Gon and Hanzo. The entire match angered Nozomi immensely, especially when Honzo broke Gon's arm due to the boy's stubbornness of not admitting defeat. The girl's fists clenched tightly at her sides as she allowed her dark bangs to shade her eyes, attempting to prevent the others to see her irises flickering in a different color.

By the time the first battle ended, Nozomi, Hisoka, and several other applicants were trying to stifle their laughter before Hanzo knocked Gon out with a punch. To most people, it was the only way to have the twelve year old to argue about how he wanted to win in a different way. Gon was then brought to a waiting room before the next match was announced. Nozomi sighed as she stepped forward with Pokkle for their battle.

"This is going to be easy." Pokkle stated, his body was radiating with confidence.

"Well either way, please don't go easy on me." The twelve year old said nonchalantly, ready to fight.

With that, Pokkle started his attack by shooting an arrow at her. She dodged it in the last minute and charged at male, avoiding every single arrow shot at her. As she tried to close the distance between them, Pokkle kept moving back and increased his speed on shooting. His efforts helped maintain their distance apart for a few minutes until the girl began to move again. Pokkle muttered a few frustrated words under his breath before a small gleam appeared in his eyes. He started to run around the girl, keeping her in the middle as his speed increased.

I have a bad feeling about this...

Nozomi's eyes narrowed on Pokkle as her hands went down to grab her daggers, only to feel nothing but her shorts.

Huh? She gaze down to see that her sheaths were empty. I'm positive that I had them while Gon was fighting...

"Look out!"

The twelve year old's head snapped up to the sound of Leorio and Kurapika's voice when she spotted a dozen arrows flying straight at her. She clenched her eyes shut and made an X with her arms in attempt to block the arrows from hitting any vital areas. Most of the arrows pierced her arms while the rest grazed her shoulders and cheek. Soon her arms flopped down to her sides and her head drooped down as well. Blood slowly leaking out from her wounds.

"Do you give up now?" Pokkle asked.

Nozomi remained quiet and did not move a muscle. Suddenly, a wide malicious grin spread across her face and she lunged at Pokkle, knocking him to the ground. One hand pinned his wrist above his head while his other hand was held in front of his face, allowing him to only see his palm and the left side of the twelve year old's face.

"Why don't you give up instead or else..." Her eyes began to glow white. "I might have to activate something that I cannot control."

"A-Alright! I give up."

The girl sighed, whispering an apology as she got off Pokkle and slowly returned to the side lines, her hand covering her face. She ignored the concerned looks of her friends and allowed her feet to carry her over to Hisoka.

"Can I have them back now, please?" She asked, holding her hand out expectantly.

Just as she finished, the referee announced the next match.

"The third match: Hisoka verses Kurapika!"

Hisoka chuckled and with a flick of his wrist her daggers appeared in his hands, "Too bad. I wanted to see you lose control."

He returned the weapons back to Nozomi before joining Kurapika at the front. The twelve year old gazed over at the blonde teen, nervous and concerned about his match and his safety. As the match was about to begin, Satotsu appeared by her side and told her that she needed to treat her arms. Remembering about her injury, she nodded and followed the purple hair man out of the room. The last thing she saw was Kurapika pulling out his weapon.

Less than an hour later, Nozomi returned to the main room to see Hisoka whisper something into Kurapika's ear. The teen's irises flickered red but returned to his original eye color before anyone could notice.

Are those? No... Maybe I was just seeing things... The girl thought as took a seat between Killua and Kurapika who soon joined the two twelve year olds.

Several hours passed and the number of passing applicants slowly increased. Still, the only people who have yet to pass were Leorio, Bodoro, Gitarakuru, and Killua. Thinking about the silver hair boy arrogance of letting go his first chance to win against Pokkle made Nozomi sigh in frustration and slight disappointment.

"Killua vs. Gitarakuru!"

Maybe this time Killua will actually fight. She thought as the fight started. However, instead of attacking each other, Gitarakuru pulled out a needle to reveal his true form.

"I-Illumi?!" Killua gasped, his body starting to sweat and tremble.

"Who is he?" Leorio muttered out

"He's Illumi Zoldyck... Also known as Killua's oldest brother." Nozomi quietly answered

Illumi started talking to Killua about how their mother was afraid that he wanted to be a hunter and asked if he really did want to become a hunter. Once Killua answered that he just wanted to try out the exam Illumi stated that the boy was not suited to become a hunter, he has to be an assassin. He continued on by saying that Killua should only find pleasure in killing, that assassins do not have friends, and he will not gain anything by becoming a hunter.

"It's not that I wanted to become a hunter that lead me here." Killua slowly began. "But there's something I'd like to have-"

"No, there isn't anything." Illumi interrupted. Killua finally regained most of his confidence and denied his brother's statement. "So tell it to me! What would you want?"

The twelve year old started to lose his usual confidence again as he spoke.

"I want... I want to become friends with Gon and Nozomi. I'm fed up with killing. I just want... to have friends. I want to have fun, like a normal kid."

"Killua..." Nozomi breathed out

"That is impossible. You can't make people be your friends." Illumi calmly stated and continued on saying that Gon and Nozomi were not his friends, as well as saying that one day he would want to kill them both since he is a natural born killer.

His comment irritated Leorio, Kurapika, and Nozomi immensely but out of the three of them, Leorio could not take it anymore and stepped forward. The referee warned the man before he could move any closer but he merely stated that he knew.

"Killua even if it's your friend or anyone else, I don't know, but I'm gonna tell you he's just and idiot, a dumbass that understands nothing at all! Go on! Burst him like you usually do, and pass the exam!" He angrily shouted. "You want to become friends with Gon and Nozomi? So don't fall asleep! You get along well, and you are friends, aren't you?! And I'm sure Gon and Nozomi feels the same way!"

Nozomi silently nodded in agreement, hoping that Killua would snap out of his daze.

"Eh? Really?" Illumi asked and Leorio exclaimed that it was true. "That bothers me... If they both think that they are his friend... I know! I'll just have to kill them."

Mostly everyone in the room froze, especially Killua. Recovering from her short moment of being stunned, Nozomi knitted her brow and defended the exit, holding her daggers in her hands.

"Killers don't need friends. Because they always get in the way." Illumi stated as he started to make his way over to Nozomi. "Of all people, you should know this Nozomi."

Before he got any closer, Leorio, Hanzo, and Kurapika stood in front of Nozomi, glaring at the older assassin. Sighing, he went back to Killua and held his hand out towards him, commanding him to not move or else he would start the fight just the same if his hand touched Killua.

What are you going to do Killua?

"I... I admit defeat." The boy said, lowering his head.

"Ah! I feel better. I'm glad that we don't have to fight. I lied to you, I have no intention on killing Gon and Nozomi. I only wanted to test you. Now that I have what I wanted." Illumi stated.

He then bent down and whispered something into the boy's ear before walking away. Meanwhile, Killua slowly returned to his seat and stared at the ceiling. His bright blue eyes were now dull and lifeless.

Everyone returned to the side as the next match was announced. Meanwhile, Leorio was yelling and shouting at Killua as Kurapika held him back, at times calling out the the silver hair boy. Nozomi on the other hand, knelt down beside the boy and tried to comfort him and even tried to bribe him with chocolate, but her efforts were futile. The boy remained the same.

"Killua..." Nozomi forced the candy bar into the boy's open palm and held his hand with both of hers. Her hands were trembling from the pain she was enduring from her wounds but she was mostly trembling from fear. The fear of never seeing the seeing her friend back to normal again. "Killua... Please snap out of it..."

Soon, Leorio and Bodoro were called up to redo their match.

"Ready..." The referee dragged on as he took a quick glance at both of the fighters.

As they waited for the battle to start, Nozomi felt Killua's hand escaping from her gentle grasp. She instantly looked at the direction to see that Killua had disappeared, her heart dropped.

"Begin!"

A cry of pain came from the arena. The twelve year old turned her head towards the cry to see Killua's arm running straight through Bodoro's back. Killua withdrew his arm from the elderly man, causing him to collapse onto the floor and the boy leisurely strolled out of the room.

"What... Just happened?"

I did not change much, but I was able to add a bit more of Killua x Nozomi in this chapter than the first version.

Thank you for reading and please review!