(((( ;°Д°))))
As expected, Feitan's training did not go well as he thought it would.
Unfortunately this revelation did not settle well with the boy as he stubbornly attempted to finish the regimen I gave him on a whim. Feeling some semblance of guilt, I tried to convince him to take a break but he just looked at me as if I had grown another head. He pointedly ignored me afterwards, determinedly setting out to finish what he started. It was a very commendable trait, mind you, and I would have sung him praises in another context.
But this was not the time for such persistence.
After a few more unsuccessful attempts on my part to coax him to rest, I rolled my eyes in exasperation as I went back to sit at the old rickety bench I previously occupied. It looked like that the chances of Feitan listening to me were rather slim—I might as well save my energy and time right?
A few minutes passed wherein I simply watched Feitan struggling to push himself off the floor, his small frame trembling under the sheer stress of what he was putting himself through. Despite my vexation on his dismissal of my good advice, I still stood up from my seat, ready to go to him at a moment's notice. Even with his claims that he was more than capable of completing thirty push-ups, I had a nagging feeling that something bad would happen because of his insistence.
Lo and behold, as soon as he reached his fourteenth push-up; he suddenly fell limp to the ground with a painfully loud thud.
"Fei!" In an instant, I was by his side frantically shaking his shoulders.
God damn it Hazuki,I berated myself, this is what you get for deceiving suspiciously murderous children!
I mentally noted not to claim I was a bath goddess the next time I went to another dimension—if there was a next time.
Relief flooded my senses as I heard him groan weakly. "Don't scare me like that!" I cried, hooking my hands around his shoulders to prop him against the wall – but I startled when I noticed how light he was. Feitan was twelve years old, but he was alarmingly as light as a feather. With this kind of weight, there was absolutely no way that he was eating healthy. Quickly forgetting about my earlier doubts of my safety around the suspiciously murderous child, I yanked his sleeves to inspect his wrists.
My suspicions were proved to be correct as I noticed how his skin clung to his bones with nary a trace of fat as I pushed his sleeve higher. His skin was dry and a closer inspection revealed that his lips were chapped as well – signs indicating that he was both malnourished and dehydrated.
"It Feitan. Not Fei." He gave me a feeble glare, hastily withdrawing his arms from mine before rolling his sleeves down. "Training no done. Too early to rest."
"But Fei sounds much more endearing don't you think?" I huffed, not really paying attention to his words as I was too busy inspecting him for any injuries he might've sustained. Of course, Feitan growled and snapped at me that he was not endearing and that I should stop treating him like a child just because he was short but I quickly tuned his voice out in favor of assessing his physical condition.
Had I been paying more attention, I would've noticed the barely perceptible flush on Feitan's cheeks the whole time I was looking him over. Unfortunately, I would only find out about this particular trait in the distant future.
For now, I was blissfully unaware of the implications of my actions and the impact it would have on him.
Finally done with his grumblings, Feitan made a move to stand up, swatting my hands away rudely in the process. But before he could even take a single step, his knees buckled and he almost fell down face first had I not caught him in my arms in time. (Strangely enough, I had a moment of deja vu but chose not to dwell on it any further.) Feitan just stared up at me in surprise before his face twisted into a scowl. But he made no attempt to get up as he perhaps realized how overworked his nonexistent muscles were. He opened his mouth—I assume to hiss and glower at me some more, let's be real here—but he promptly passed out from fatigue, his head lolling back to rest against my shoulder.
And so this was how I found myself with a bundle of 'joy' in my arms, stranded in an unknown plane of existence.
By gods, who did I offend in my past life for this to happen?
I sighed in frustration, deftly rearranging Feitan into a more comfortable position with his head resting on my lap. Even if I was wary around this perpetually frowning child, I wasn't coldhearted enough to dump him on the dirty pavement that I was eyeing in distaste. Who knew what kind of disease he would pick up from laying down on it? Besides, he needed a good rest as I was sure that his muscles would be very very sore once he woke up.
With Feitan asleep on my lap, I could say that he made a startlingly adorable child once the frown was absent from his face. If he just didn't speak so harshly and stare daggers so much, I was sure that he'd be a child that everyone doted on.
...Somehow, the idea of Feitan smiling so brightly was rather distressing so I quickly redirected my attention somewhere else.
A lock of Feitan's hair suddenly fell against his face and as if by reflex, my hand shot out to gently tuck it behind his ear. But I quickly withdrew my hand away once it made contact with his head. Yeesh , when was the last time this kid washed his hair?! Usually in situations like this, you would expect someone to say something like "His hair was surprisingly soft" or "His hair was as smooth as silk". Sadly, neither of those were applicable to the young boy as his hair was dry and tangled; a testament to the kind of life he lived.
My heart clenched in pity at the thought of Feitan living a much harsher life than I imagined. If my assumptions were correct, he was probably a homeless orphan who had to fend for himself. And that was just so sad, he—no; no one deserved to be alone in this world.
So in attempt to be a good adult and at least do one nice thing for him that didn't involve deceit, I began stroking his hair like my own mother used to when I was a child. It was a bit awkward at first since my fingers would immediately get tangled in his locks but I eventually devised a system that would allow me to unknot his hair as my hands would card through it. Luckily, patience was one of my virtues so I steadily worked my way into fixing his hair, careful not to wake the sleeping boy. For a while I debated going back to my bathroom to get a brush but decided that the trip wasn't worth the risk of waking him up.
The task took longer than expected and intrusive thoughts of never being able to go back home filled my head. It wasn't something I wanted to dwell on at the moment so I began humming songs I liked—albeit, off key, to distract myself from thinking about such things.
In the stories I read, by now, the protagonist would've been thrown to the thick of the plot or exciting events. She wouldn't have a hard time navigating the unknown world, since she would immediately meet plot relevant characters and would be the key to their victory—or downfall, if you were feeling particularly antagonistic.
However , such things did not happen to me. All I've ever encountered so far was a dismissive pervert and an equally dismissive child bent on becoming stronger.
"This is getting me nowhere…" I murmured out loud, as I finally straightened out Feitan's locks. In the distance, I could see the moon casting a dim light over the building we were in; its faint glow slowly lulling me to sleep.
I had too many questions but not a single answer. Thinking about them just led me into circles.
Oh well, I thought to myself as I felt the last wisps of consciousness leave me, tomorrow is another day.
I'm sure I'll find a way home by then.
(ಠ益ಠ)
Feitan awoke in the middle of the night to the odd feeling of his hair being manhandled. His first instinct, like every other street rat in Meteor City, was to eliminate the source of the offending stimulus, preferably in a bloody and violent manner. The general rule of thumb in Meteor City was to kill first then ask questions later. Naturally, Feitan was no different.
Except, the way his head was being stroked felt so nice yet strange that he was momentarily lost on what he should do next. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have hesitated to rip the limbs off the person who dared touch him (He didn't survive years in this pit of a city for nothing). But there was something oddly reassuring about the way the warm hands were gently brushing against him. Rather than alarm, Feitan felt, dare he say it – at peace.
Feitan had never been so mortified in his entire life.
Cracking an eye open to gauge the situation, he nearly startled in surprise as he stared up at the profile of Hazuki who was humming like a bird being strangled to death—not that he would know what a bird being strangled sounded like. But as soon as she turned her head, he quickly shut his eyes, feigning sleep. He honestly didn't know why he did such a thing instead of dumping her body at the nearest landfill for doing such an atrocity against him and having the audacity to violate his ears with her terrible singing .
Tsk, he probably couldn't do that since as far as he knew, goddesses were supposed to be immune to mortal attacks.
Bu that didn't mean he wouldn't at least try.
The sounds of soft snoring tore him away from his musings and he risked another glance at Hazuki, craning his neck to take a better look at her. An amused huff almost left his lips as he noticed the drool that pooled at the corner of her lips as her face twisted into a foolishly relaxed expression while she slept soundly.
How careless, he thought to himself. He could slit her throat right now and she wouldn't even notice it.
Ignoring the way his muscles screamed in protest—while overlooking the way he actually began missing Hazuki's warmth—he slowly reached for the knife strapped against his thighs before positioning himself upright. He lazily twirled it in his hands as he watched the rhythmic rise and fall of the goddess' chest, reflecting on that day's rather momentous events.
His day started off as it normally would; he woke up at noon , stole from the local bakery when he felt hungry, went through the dumpster for anything valuable he could still use and went home by dusk – only to walk in on a half-naked woman who stuck out like a sore thumb. His first reaction was to threaten her away from his territory to which she thankfully complied as he wasn't really in the mood to fight anyone that day. She was instantly gone in a flash but reappeared a few seconds later – claiming to be a goddess.
A bath goddess of all things!
He was honestly inclined to shiv her then and there when she came back because she was just being plain ridiculous and he didn't know where to look at her scantily clad body—seriously, did this woman have no shame ?! However when he assessed the girl further, he discovered that she had a notable lack of presence – even a rat of all things had more presence than she did— and an uncanny ability to disappear and reappear like an unwanted fungus.
This was what ultimately convinced him of her otherworldliness.
It made sense, really. Both her clothes and body were too clean and smooth to belong to anyone who resided in this trash heap of a city. As such, he could only deduce that she was most likely an outsider—and outsiders didn't just wander into Meteor City unless they specifically knew where to find it. Even then, they couldn't simply saunter this deep into the city unscathed.
Given her state of undress, he was certain that before she could even reach this part of the city, she would have already been feasted on by the unsavory residents—in more ways than one.
Somehow, the idea of Hazuki being put in such a situation left a bad taste in Feitan's mouth, making him scowl in annoyance. Was he actually beginning to – heaven forbid—care for her?!
No. That was stupid. He didn't care about her.
He leveled another glare at the goddess as if everything was her fault before shaking his head rapidly as if to clear his head. Once she outlived her usefulness, he was more than willing to send her off her merry way to do more goddess work or whatever it was that goddesses did in their free time.
Out of spite, Feitan crashed his head against Hazuki's thighs, earning a loud squeak from the girl who briefly woke up due to the impact. He settled on her lap comfortably, using it as a makeshift pillow once more as he drowned the sound of her complaints.
Ah. Revenge was sweet.
( ̵˃﹏˂̵ )
Morning came and I blankly stared at the rising sun. I had no doubts that there were dark circles under my eyes by now, thanks to a certain cheeky brat.
After Feitan's – ugh , that brat's—not so gentle wakeup call at an ungodly hour in the morning, I was unable to get a proper wink of sleep as he kept on shifting on my lap, making it difficult for me to stay asleep for more than a few minutes at a time.
I had a nagging feeling that he was doing this on purpose.
"Heh. Morning good , A'zuki." Feitan yawned as he sat up, exaggeratedly stretching his arms as if to taunt me with his fitful sleep.
That damn brat!
"Why Fei," I cooed, brushing my hands against his head to which his shoulders shook in surprise. "You've still got bedhead." I ran my fingers through his locks before tucking a strand behind his ear. Ha! Two can play at this game, boy! Don't you dare underestimate adults!
"Tch. Hands off...Also it Feitan. Not Fei." He sent me a glower, batting my hand away as he stood up. He patted the dust away from his pants before looking at me, his head tilted to the side as if in thought. However as I was about to ask why he was gazing at me so intently, he turned his back to me and began walking in the direction of the door.
"Hey, where are you going?!" I asked, scrambling to catch up to him. Geez. This kid had no chill. Even his walking pace was too fast for me to catch up to.
"Food. Get." He replied simply, not bothering to look back. "You stays here."
"Oh. Okay." I wasn't about to argue with that. Even I knew not to meander around a strange world so carelessly.
Wait. He was gonna get food? Did he even have enough money to buy food for the both of us?!
"Hang on! Don't leave yet! "Feeling bad at the thought of Feitan spending money for me, I tugged at the hem of his shirt while simultaneously digging through my pockets (an impressive feat even for me). He paused midstride as he impatiently waited—I could tell from the way he was irritably tapping his foot against the pavement. However, a cursory dig in my pocket only revealed loose change and a stick of gum I forgot to take out. I doubted that my money was the proper currency for this universe so I burrowed my hand deeper for anything useful he could sell in exchange for whatever currency it was they used here. Something cold and round bumped against my fingers and I hastily took it out. "Here, sell this!"
It was the small purple gem I received last time. It looked valuable enough that I hoped it was as precious as the dismissive pervert made me believe. Maybe this could fetch a decent price enough for at least a week's worth of food?
Feitan warily glanced at the small pearl as he took it, rolling it experimentally on his palm. He looked at it as if it were about to grow a mouth and bite his hand off. Sheesh. Give me some credit kid! I wouldn't give you anything suspicious!
For a moment, he just stared at the gem impassively then bobbed his head once then made his way to the door. But he hesitated at the last moment before walking back to me.
"Here." He shoved his makeshift knife at my face, barely missing my nose. That was dangerous! "I let you borrow this."
"Huh?" I blinked dumbly, opening my hands to gingerly receive the item. I made sure to touch it only by the hilt as the blade looked sharp enough to nick my skin if I wasn't being careful.
There were dried up brown splotches that caked the entire knife but I chose not to say anything about it. Instead, I sent Feitan what I thought was a grateful smile. "Thank you, Fei?" Unfortunately, the way Feitan's face twisted into a grimace made me assume that my smile was far from grateful.
Whoops.
"You weak." He said as if it were the obvious explanation in the world, making me wilt in shame. How rude. I wasn't that weak! Just because I wasn't as insanely fast as he was nor was I as bloodthirsty didn't mean I was incapable of anything else.
I opened my mouth to defend myself but out of nowhere, Feitan produced another knife in his hands, inserting it into his thigh holster as if it were the most normal thing in the world to do.
I gawked like a chicken mid-flight.
W-Why does he have so many knives?! More importantly, why the hell would he need a knife when he was just going out to buy food?!
"You needs protection even if goddess. Because you weak." Without even waiting for my response, he left as quickly as he had shoved the makeshift weapon onto my hands.
"Um," I stared at the empty spot in front of me, still bewildered, the knife awkwardly dangling from my fingers. "Right…Okay."
Once my initial shock was gone, I heaved a sigh of exasperation as I crumpled to the floor with my back settling comfortably (as can be) against the wall in a pitiful attempt to get some much deserved sleep. Now that the perpetually dour boy was gone, I figured that this would be a good time to rest up. However as luck would have had it, my bladder told me otherwise and I found myself rushing to my bathroom to relieve myself.
After finishing my business, I staggered out like a drunken sailor, my mind muddled with sleep. Not really paying any attention to my surroundings, I groped my way back to the corner I tried to nap at earlier as I was very eager to get some shut-eye before Feitan returned—as I was sure that he would badger me again about making him stronger. But instead of feeling the decrepit and cracked walls pressing against my fingertips, my hand was met with the smooth texture of—wallpaper?
"What the—"My eyes widened in surprise as I took in my surroundings. To my astonishment, I was back in my room as if I didn't leave in the first place. Everything was still in its place; my books were still all over my desk ( I died a little inside at the reminder that I still had an exam in a few days) , empty cans of coffee were still crammed in the trash bin and my phone was still plugged to the outlet.
I quickly dove for my phone as I hurriedly checked for the time. It was only 6: 43 in the morning and I was sure that I entered the bath at around 6:13, meaning I was gone for approximately thirty minutes.
Only thirty minutes?! But I spent at least a day over at whatever the hell that place was!
My phone suddenly beeped and I noticed the flood of notifications that filled my inbox. "Ah!" I had a couple of texts too from my friends and in my haste to read all of them; I accidentally clicked another notification resulting to a web page loading in my browser.
Huffing in frustration, I moved to swipe it close but the article's title caught my eye.
'Hunter x Hunter to return from hiatus!'
Huh. Well. That was nice, I guess? I used to read the manga when I was younger but I didn't really follow the series as the constant hiatus put me off from continuing it. The significant lack of immediate closure to story arcs turned me off as well and I just never bothered picking it up again.
Temporarily forgetting about my worries over my tendency to visit other dimensions—I shamefully admit that I had a knack for having the wrong priorities—I scrolled through the page, keenly scanning through the text. There was nothing really noteworthy about it as it simply mentioned the mangaka being well enough—good for him—to continue drawing the series but a certain illustration made me freeze in place.
It was a picture of the Phantom Troupe with two particular members looking eerily familiar to me. They appeared very similar to the dismissive pervert and the suspiciously murderous child if not a couple of years older. A quick google search on the members of the infamous troupe helped me remember their identities—Kuroro Lucilfer, the spider's danchou and Feitan , the small but deadly interrogator of the group.
I felt my blood run cold as my phone slipped from my grasp, dropping to the floor with a soft thud.
This—This just wasn't possible!
There was just no friggin' way that I saw two members of the Phantom Troupe in 3D!
Feitan's chapter ended up being a lot longer than I expected. Phew! Something I'd like to stress out though is that Hazuki hasn't won Feitan over yet. He's just a lonely kid starved for affection so he mistakes his own seeking for affection from Hazuki (since she's one of the rare individuals who's actually nice to him) as an emotional attachment. BUT. This is meant as a light hearted parody humor fic so take everything with a grain of salt!
Anyways, I drew a couple of art for this fic , so if you want to check them out, you can do so over by checking out my deviantart account under the same username : yagisa . Idk how to link stuff so if you're having difficulties accessing it, just drop me a PM ! I made a cover , an illustration for ch 01 and another one showing Hazuki in her casual wear! I'll be frequently updating that account for small comics, sketches and etc for this fic so you can check those out too if you're interested!
Again, as usual, I would LOVE to know what you think about this chapter so far and the illustrations I made! I tried to make Hazuki as cute as possible. Ahaha. Since that's her only good point—being somewhat good looking.
Thank you so much too to the people who reviewed, faved and followed this fic! Your feedback and support motivates me a lot to write more! So please do leave a review as it motivates me A LOT to write and draw more for this ! ^^
One last thing, I posted a poll on my profile on who you guys think Hazuki should meet next. I already have a couple of ideas in mind but I would also love to know who you want Hazuki to meet next!
Please Review!