Red.

It was the only color she could see, burning into her eyes, shaking her vision, swirling everything into shades of crimson. She couldn't read their lips. She couldn't make out the words they were saying. She couldn't hear their screams.

Her hand tightened over the handle of her sword, her nails digging into her skin so hard that she drew blood. But she didn't feel pain. She didn't feel anything. Someone charged at her from the right. Her body moved on her own and the ground shook for a moment as he fell, dead.

"Where is my brother?" she asked again, her voice a manic scream. "Where is my brother? Where is Jin'ai?"

Cries for help echoed around her, the thunderous sound blurring into a tornado of screeching noise. Red. Everything was red.

"Restrain her!" she heard someone yell, and in the next moment, felt skull bones crushed under her fingers, more blood staining her hands. The short sword in her hand was painted red and her arm moved on its own, thrusting into flesh at her left.

"Where is he?"

Jun burst out of bed, and clutched her face, her body shaking. Her breathing was ragged, her jaw quivering. She flung the covers off herself and fled to the bathroom, flinging up the faucet handles. Water gushed out like a torrent, and she threw her face under it, letting herself be overwhelmed with it, the water drenching her hair. She lifted her face to the mirror, still dripping wet, her body still shaking. She watched her midnight blue eyes slowly revert back to blue as her breathing slowed.

She pressed her hands to the marble sink, her entire body weight sinking onto her arms as she tried to calm herself. Her mind was spinning. She hadn't had that dream in years. Jun tried to stand still; she knew that if she left the bathroom before she calmed herself, something bad was going to happen. She knew she'd kill someone.

"Make it stop," she heard herself say as she tried focusing her breathing. Her eyes were unfocused, pupils dilated and her jaw still trembling. Red. It was all she saw, and she shut her eyes tight, trying to black it out; she couldn't think about any of this. She couldn't relive that time.

"Make it stop," she cried and slammed her fist down on the marble sink, taking off a chunk of rock, dust crumbling onto her feet. She ran her hands under the sink, splashing more water onto her face and washing the rubble from her hands. Jun slammed her hands down on the counter again, steadying herself.

The faucet still cascaded like a waterfall, swirling around the sink, the sound of water helping to slow everything down. After what felt like an eternity, she lifted a hand to shut off the water, and swiped a towel to wipe her face and hair as best as she could. She checked the mirror again, making sure that her eyes were blue again. She noticed that she was only dressed in Hisoka's black shirt and a pair of underwear. She didn't even notice him when she'd left her room. Was he even still here?

Shutting off the light, she trudged back into her room, exhausted. Hisoka was awake, sitting up, flipping through cards. He was shirtless, his red hair falling into his face, the blankets covering his waist. "Oh, sorry," she said quietly, not getting into bed yet. Was he upset? He turned to her at the sound of her voice. "Did I wake you?"

"No," he told her simply. He patted the place on the bed next to him and Jun slunk in, pulling the blankets up and curling into a ball. "Bad dream?"

Jun nodded, not saying anything. Hisoka looked down at her. Despite sleeping together for five years, often, Hisoka forgot that Jun was a girl, too. She was unpredictable and wild – a warrior – but first and foremost, she was still just a young woman. She was still vulnerable at times, too.

"What was it about?" Hisoka asked, flipping over the ace of hearts.

Jun's eyes were open for a while, and it seemed as though she were thinking about something, her brows furrowed. "Nothing," she said quietly.

"If you say so," he replied, not caring to pry. Jun didn't ask about his past, and he offered her the same courtesy. Although he was mildly curious, their relationship wasn't like that. Hisoka looked back to his cards. He flipped the king of spades, then the four of clubs. "You were quite dangerous. I felt some scary nen from that bathroom."

"Good thing I didn't see you then," she said, her voice soft and completely lacking of malice. She truly seemed relieved that she didn't notice him sleeping next to her. "I think I would have killed you."

Hisoka chuckled. "Getting a little ambitious, Jun-chan."

"I guess," she said, not bothering to correct her name. She took a deep breath, uncurling a little. "When you get ten wins at the arena, are you going to fight me?"

"Maybe," Hisoka said, shrugging.

"Then you'll try to kill me." It was a statement. Not a question.

"I will kill you."

Jun chuckled a little, seeming to have completely returned to her normal self. "You know, I've always wondered what the outcome would be if we fought."

"I just told it to you," Hisoka said, flipping more cards. "Try to listen, Jun-chan."

"Just because you said it, doesn't mean it's true. I think I could kill you if I really tried, like if I was at a hundred percent, I could do it."

Hisoka turned to her and licked his lips. "Don't turn me on," he warned her, and she laughed.

"If you could kill me, wouldn't you have?" she asked.

"I can kill you any time I want, but it's not the right time now," Hisoka told her. "Besides, I haven't had my fill of you. If I kill you, who will be my little princess when I come to the arena? That would be a waste."

"Do you even want to kill me?" she asked, and Hisoka turned to look at her. Her blue eyes were wide with curiosity; she wasn't challenging him. She was just asking.

The fire in Jun that Hisoka found magnetic was nowhere to be seen, and he forced himself to remain smiling through his disappointment. The difficult part about trying to ripen her was finding the right triggers. It was like testing temperature of water; it couldn't be too hot or she'd become too flustered and upset - the wrong kind of fire; but it couldn't be too cold and not incite a reaction from her at all. It was all too fun. He definitely couldn't kill her any time soon.

"Nothing would make me happier," he told her. He poked her forehead with a sharp nail. "Wouldn't you say the same?"

Jun thought for a moment, and then nodded. She brought her hands up, looking at them. "I think if I could kill you, I could validate myself as a fighter. And if I could do that, I'd leave Heavens Arena. There wouldn't be a point for me to stay. You're not my final goal, after all."

Hisoka smiled, hearing the tiniest spark in her voice. He had zero idea what she was talking about, but whatever fueled her fire validated the reason he had kept her alive. "Then become that person," he said, looking back to his cards. "And, as always, when you're ready, I will accept your challenge."

Jun laughed, shaking her head. "But I don't want to do that right now, or, any time soon, I think," she said. "I like the way things are. We have a fun relationship. I think I actually prefer you alive."

"Ah, you understand my dilemma." Queen of spades. Three of hearts. Five of clubs. She was quiet for a while. Hisoka didn't mind the silence between them sometimes; it was never awkward. He understood that she needed time to think and sort out her thoughts; to decide what to say and what not to. She wasn't as quick with manipulative decisions as Hisoka was. Not that he felt like she'd ever truly find it in her heart to manipulate him. She was an enhancer down to the core, after all. Despite her wavering abilities.

"Oy," she said after some time. Hisoka had flipped through his deck and was going through it a second time. He could have returned to sleep, but he could feel that Jun still had things to say. He decided to wait to see what it was going to be.

"Yes?" he encouraged. King of diamonds. Queen of hearts.

Jun seemed to be finding the right words, chewing on her lip, thinking. "Why do you stay?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," he lied. He knew the answer. He just wanted her to grow enough before he could have the pleasure of killing her. He stayed because she was interesting, because she was one of his longest projects. Plus, she was infinitely amusing; he liked guessing what she would say next, or how she would react. There was never a time he was with her that he was bored. The sex was simply a bonus.

"Like, don't you have your own room?"

Hisoka closed his eyes for a moment, pondering her adorable naiveté, a little dumbfounded. That was what she had meant? He had obviously misunderstood. He thought she had been thinking on a bigger scale, when really, it seemed she just wanted her bed to herself. "Do you want me to leave?" he asked, for once not knowing what else to say.

"No," she said. "I was just wondering. Isn't that sort of thing weird for our kind of relationship?"

Hisoka chuckled. It was often that he forgot Jun had absolutely no knowledge of relationships with other people. She was alone most of the time; the only people she really knew were him, and as of recently, Machi. Both those relationships were rather complicated, as he and Jun were not in a traditional relationship, and Machi, being in the Geien Ryodan, was knew to knowing someone not in the Ryodan, so their friendship was a cautious one. "I suppose," he answered, shrugging. "If you would like me to sleep in my room, I will do so. Whatever makes my Jun-chan happy."

"Nah, that'd be weird," she said, waving her hand as she dismissed the idea. "I'm used to things the way they are."

"Then why bring it up?"

"Because I wanted to know why," she said, shrugging. "Which you never answered."

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah," she said immediately.

"I don't have a reason. I simply enjoy being here. Isn't that enough?"

Jun seemed to think for a while, and then smiled sweetly, nodding. "It is, actually."

Hisoka smiled. He knew that was the correct answer, the one that would make her happy, which was why he had said it in the first place. First and foremost, Jun was a girl. She would be happy when someone said they enjoyed her company, especially someone like her that spent almost no time with other people.

She stretched out her arms and closed her eyes, sighing. "You know, I think talking to you really helped. I think I can sleep now," she told him. Hisoka kept flipping cards. After some time, he snuck a glance out of the corner of his eyes. Her body moved up and down rhythmically as she breathed. He wondered if she was really sleeping. Two of spades. Eight of hearts. Five of clubs.

He grew bored with flipping his cards, gathering them together and placing them on the nightstand. Perhaps he had been wrong about Jun pretending to sleep.

"Oy," she said, and Hisoka looked down at her. She popped an eye open and smiled the most perfect smile Hisoka had ever seen. It was so innocent and sweet; it even seemed a little shy. All of those pure, positive emotions were directed at him in that exact moment. It felt...warm. "Thanks."

The sun rose and once again, Hisoka found himself staring at the woman beside him. Her silky ebony hair fell into her face as she slept peacefully, her pale skin like fire in the morning sun; a beautiful sleeping beast. He could kill her now, slit her throat with the tip of his finger, and that would be the end of it.

But then that would be no fun. He sat up and stretched out, rolling his shoulder blades back, his muscles flexing with the movement. Hisoka wondered what she did during the day when he wasn't around. He was sure that even though he'd explicitly told Machi not to speak to Jun, she was going to ignore him, but Machi couldn't see Jun every day. There were probably long periods of time when both he and Machi were out of town and it was just Jun here, alone. He wondered if she got sad.

Then, he remembered that she had a grand total of zero emotional attachment to anyone and anything. That was why he spent time with her worry-free. Because even if he stopped coming one day, he knew she wouldn't be affected. Her brain physically would not allow herself to feel pain, therefore, negative emotions such as sadness or guilt didn't exist in her book. She was the perfect plaything, as she was virtually unbreakable. This was what made it more fun. Hisoka wanted to see if he could break the unbreakable woman.

"Thanks."

He wondered why she had said that last night. He hadn't done anything in particular, but she had thanked him. From what Hisoka knew of Jun, she wasn't the type to waste her breath; she'd get bored of talking of she didn't see a purpose. He wasn't sure what to think of it and then wondered why he even cared.

Hisoka swung his bare legs over the side of the bed, glancing back at her. She was wearing his black shirt, one of his favorites. She was so tiny and petite, so frail, he could crush her. He stood up and headed to the bathroom, thinking about what a lonely life Jun Sekihara lived.

Jun was going to find him. Hisoka had left in the morning, bidding her farewell with some sexual comment as he usually did, and she'd counted to a thousand before leaping out of bed. She threw on clothes, swirled up her hair, stepped into her flats and slid out the door without as much as a peep.

After her shopping day with Machi, she had tried to slip around both Machi and Hisoka's watchful eyes, trying to time her elevator rides downstairs. She'd been doing this a few days now, but her timing had never been right. However, a spark in her chest made her feel like today was going to be her lucky day.

She hopped into the elevator and rode it downstairs, making sure to watch the numbers decrease. The golden characters stopped on 200 and she held her breath. The doors opened, revealing the same green clad boy from a few days ago. She let out the breath she had been holding and offered him a smile. "Gon," she greeted, and he seemed surprised that she remembered him, but grinned back.

"Jun-nee, good morning," he greeted. She stuck out her hand to hold the elevator open, not bothering to correct him on her name this time. No one had ever called her 'Jun-nee' and she kind of liked the ring to it. She was never anyone's older sister.

She noticed his arm in a sling and pointed to it. "Oy, what happened?"

Gon looked down at his arm as though he had forgotten it was broken and grinned sheepishly. "Oh, yeah, I lost pretty badly in a fight the other day," Gon explained.

"Really?" Jun asked, surprised. "Against the person you came to fight?"

"Oh, no," Gon said, shaking his head. "It'll be some time before I fight—"

"Gon, I'm going to take the next elevator," Killua said. Jun finally noticed the silver haired boy behind Gon in the off-white shirt. His electric blue eyes cute through the air as he shot her the nastiest glare she'd ever seen a child muster. It would have made a grown man cower in fear, but Jun just smiled. The boy didn't step onto the elevator.

"Oh, how rude of me," Jun said, holding out her other hand for him to shake. "Sekihara Jun."

"Taking the next elevator," Killua said again, not looking away from Jun for a second.

"Killua? Why?" Gon asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Jun waved her hand, smiling. "I can understand why you don't want to get on an elevator with me," she told Killua with a laugh. She retracted the hand she'd extended to him and pointed upward. "I'm a floor master. I could kill you and you wouldn't even know it 'til your head rolled."

Killua didn't laugh. His glare only darkened. "I'd like to see you try."

"Uwah, scary. I was kidding, you silly bear," she commented, unfazed. This only seemed to enrage Killua even more, his eyes slanting even more. She could see he was resisting the urge to dive at her throat. It only made her thirsty for a fight. She forced herself to smile and resist. "Don't worry," she told them. "I don't hurt kids."

"Gon, I forgot something at the room," Killua snapped, obviously annoyed and making up lies. He wasn't even trying to hide it, and Jun continued smiling. Gon bowed apologetically as Killua whirled around, sulking back down the hall.

"See you later, Jun-nee," he said, waving as the elevator doors closed.

Her eyes fell back onto the golden numbers at the top and when she had dropped a hundred floors, she took a deep breath, and used zetsu. That boy was probably already tracking her nen and if she disappeared too early, he would know.

That wasn't a part of the plan. She sighed. She'd finally gotten to see Gon again and she'd been interrupted by his friend. He did seem oddly familiar, though. He had the same presence as some pin-faced guys she knew. She shook the thought from her head. What would a Zoldyck be doing wandering out in the world?

She slunk into the lobby, keeping her breathing steady, placing herself on a cushion across the lobby. She whipped out her phone and flipped through her email, pulling up a game. The elevator reached the bottom floor many times, but the two kids didn't emerge. Those kids were sure taking a while. It seemed the silver haired one was more cautious than she thought. She wasn't particularly sure why; she knew that she didn't look menacing; she was probably one of the least frightening off the floor masters. He had good instincts, though, Jun had to give him that.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her shaking hands with a game of Tetris. Nothing could explain how much she wanted to fight that silver haired boy. What was his name? Killua? She had thought that she wanted to fight Gon at some point, but Killua was certainly a surprise. He was smart, and he had the balls to stand up to her, a floor master, without as much as a sliver of hesitation.

Today was definitely going to be a good day.

"I don't like her," Killua told Gon. Thirty minutes had passed and he'd still yet to leave the room. That woman didn't seem like the patient type and Killua felt there was a higher chance that she would leave the tower if he waited longer, and made it seem like he had changed his mind about leaving the tower all together. But however impatient she might have seemed, Killua sensed a burning persistence in her. A budding obsession that reminded him of the same kind of twisted admiration a certain red haired magician had for Gon.

"Why?" Gon asked. "She seems nice."

"You heard what she said, didn't you?" Killua retorted, bewildered. How could someone be this naïve? "I could kill you wouldn't even know it until your head rolled."

"She said she was joking," Gon reasoned. "I didn't sense any bad nen from her."

Killua hated to admit that he was right. He didn't sense any bad nen from her. Or rather, he couldn't sense anything at all. There was nothing malicious about her, like Illumi or Hisoka. Her nen wasn't suffocating; it didn't make him feel threatened. It was just a burning feeling in his gut, torching his insides like acid. Perhaps she was more like those two than she let on.

"I'm gonna head out," Killua said, hopping off the bed. He had been using zetsu since Jun had left on the elevator. "Focus on getting better, alright?"

Gon grinned, and nodded. "Of course! Be careful!"

Killua smiled in response and headed out of the room while Gon assumed a meditative pose on the bed, focusing on ten. Since Wing had banned him from practicing nen, Gon spent all day cooped up in his room. Killua normally stayed with him, but today was different.

He had planned to take the elevator downstairs, but on the way there, caught sight of a figure in a black haori down the hall from the corner of his eye. He snapped his head to the right to stare straight down the hallway, but she was already turning the corner. Killua took a deep breath and fell into pursuit, his footsteps quiet as he stayed behind her. He rounded the corner to see her sauntering down the hall hands in her pockets as she checked the door numbers she passed by. Was she looking for them?

He ducked behind the corner, not daring to follow her down a hallway. That was dangerous. In a hallway, there was only one path; if he needed to escape, he could only move forward or backward. He didn't think he could go through her, and he didn't think he could escape her, but at the same time, he wanted to know what the hell she was doing. He peered around the corner again to see her turn around the next one.

He took a breath and glided through the hallway to the next corner, shifting his body so that he could gaze around the corner. But the hallway was empty. Killua blinked. Was he just imagining things? He just saw Jun turn the corner!

"Uwah, you're good," said a voice behind him, and Killua nearly leapt ten feet into the air. He exploded backwards, away from the voice, and took a stance. Jun was standing right behind him, hands on her hips. What the hell? She had to have gone around the whole tower to end up behind him! "Did you need something from me? I can only assume that's why you were following me."

Killua's hand slid to his pocket, where he kept his knife. If he moved fast enough, he could surprise her, and use that one second to try to escape—

"Oh, hidden blades," she commented, smiling, pointing at his pocket. Killua froze. From behind her back, hidden by her oversized haori, Jun pulled out a short sword in a wooden sheath. "This one's my favorite, I call him Jack, as in the One-Eyed Jack, like the playing card. I use it to stab people's eyeballs." Her nonchalant tone took Killua by surprise. She unsheathed her sword to show him a shiny metal blade. It was only about a foot long but Killua could already tell it could cut through layers of steel.

Killua didn't say a word, his eyes darting from her face, to the blade in her hand. Left hand! The woman was left handed. That means that if he moved to her right, he may be able to get past her—

"Now you're thinking that I'm left handed, so if you move to my right," she pointed to her right side, "you'll be able to make it past me because it'll take me a fraction of a second to catch you, since that's my weak side. You're fast, and you're young, so you have good reflexes. You'd draw your knife, and try to slash at me from the right, but I'd dodge like this," she said, and spun around slowly as though showing the effect, tossing the sword from her left hand to her right, "and as you realized that I'm actually right handed, I'd thrust like shoooom," she performed the motion with the sound effect, shooting her arm forward in the direction Killua would have been had he moved, "and you'd dodge, and I'd slice your cheek open. With my arm still out when you hit the ground, the only opening would be up, so you could stab upward; you'd probably be able to stick your knife in my arm if you threw it as hard as you could. But instead of attacking, you could use that time to run."

Jun resumed a natural stance, tapping her nose with her finger. "I've already pressed the button on the elevator. If you wanted to run, then by the time you get there, the doors will open and you can use zetsu and escape the tower. I won't bother finding you. Scout's honor," she said, shrugging. She smiled at Killua. "You can't hesitate. Which will you choose?" she asked him, her eyes sparkling a midnight blue. "Are you going to fight me, or are you going to run?"

Killua focused on breathing. The air was thick, suffocating. The feeling was so familiar, it burned in his chest and set his lungs aflame. Simply being in the same vicinity as this woman was making it hard to stay standing.

Jun pouted, passing her sword back to her left hand. "I haven't fought in a while, but I think twenty percent of my strength should be enough for you to keep up. Are you ready?"

Before Jun could get in another word, Killua dove at her right side, whipping out his knife. She spun just like she said she would, tossing her sword to her right hand and thrusting her arm out at Killua. Killua dodge by a hair, the speed of the blade whizzing by enough to break the skin on his cheekbone. Her arm was extended over him as he hit the floor. One second. He had less than one second to decide what to do. He seemed to see her arm move down in slow motion, ready to slash him in two, and instinctively threw his knife to stop her.

The blade sunk into her upper arm, and Killua froze, weaponless, ready to meet his death.

"Wonderful!" she exclaimed, smiling. She sheathed her sword before plucking the knife from her arm. She wiped the knife on her haori and tossed it back to Killua. "You answered correctly!"

"You're not going to kill me," Killua said, as more of a statement than a question, the first time he had spoken to her during this whole ordeal. He wasn't quite sure what had happened, but the air suddenly relaxed. He no longer felt like his life was in danger. She had the power to change the tension of the air just like that. She was truly a terrifying woman.

"If you ran, I was going to kill you. That would've been my wrong answer, and your death wouldn't have been a pretty one," she said her arm bleeding all over her haori. It was like she had forgotten the injury was there. "But I like you. You remind me of myself. I'll see you around, okay? Be sure not to die, little one."

Killua bit down on his lip as she walked past him, her haori floating behind her. She seemed completely done with the task at hand, like the fun had ended for her the moment the knife had sunk into her arm.

"Killua," he said quietly, and she stopped, turning for a second. She seemed confused. "I didn't introduce myself earlier. My name is Killua."

Jun laughed, remembering. "Sekihara Jun."

"What would you do?" Killua asked before she could leave. "Attack or run? What would you have done?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Who knows? The right answer is different for everyone. While fighting me was the right answer today, it may have been the wrong one yesterday. It's a matter of knowing what the answer is before the question is asked. Do you know what I mean?"

"No," Killua answered flatly, to which Jun just laughed. "Well, whatever your answer was, I'm guessing you gave the right one. You lived, after all."

Her smile broadened. He had perceived that she had been faced with the same decision many years ago. To fight or run. "I did."

"Did you fight or run?" he asked, and she shrugged again, avoiding the question. He deduced she didn't like talking about the past, but couldn't help but ask another question anyway. He felt like Gon's general naivete would have come in handy in this situation. "Well, did you kill him then?"

"Who?"

"Whoever gave you that choice."

"Nope," she said simply, shrugging as though she didn't really care. "Maybe I will one day."

Killua scoffed. He wasn't going to get anywhere with her. "And maybe I'll kill you one day."

Jun turned back around, heading down the hallway, her hands stuffed in her pockets, a small smile on the corner of her lips. "Looking forward to it."