Hisoka had left after their night together, and once she was sure he had gone, she swung on some clothes and swept out into the night. There was definitely something she needed to do before going to sleep for the night.
The blade against Lancaster's throat was cold, drawing hot red blood onto the steel. He trembled in Jun's grasp. She was perched with her legs around his neck, her thighs tightening over his airways, her sword against his cheek. She leaned over and tugged his greying hair.
"Oy, oy, oy," she called sweetly, turning his cheek with her sword so that he was looking at her. Her eyes were almost completely darkened. "Pay attention to me when I'm talking to you, Lancaster."
He opened his mouth to speak, but she pressed her sword into his cheek, silencing him. "Did I give you permission to speak to me? I just told you tolisten.' She waited a few seconds, the man shaking. He knew she could either slit his throat or snap his neck with her legs and there was nothing he could do to stop her. "If you'd done your homework, Lancaster, you would have realized that Illumi is a friend of mine. He's the whole reason I got into this business. How dare you try to hire him to kill me."
The door burst open loudly, men stomping in with guns, all aimed at Jun. She looked up, seeming surprised, and then giggled as they bellowed at her to release Lancaster. "Are you all really going to open fire on me when I have your boss?" she asked, tightening her legs around Lancaster's throat. Her eyes widened, dark, and empty. "I could kill all of you in fourteen seconds flat."
"Let him go!" they yelled again, knowing all too well that Jun never did anything. How many times had her threats been empty before?
"Shall we start the timer?"
With a sharp twist of her lower body she snapped Lancaster's neck with a sick pop, hopping off his body as bullets fired. She kept her body low, racing towards them so quickly none of them even saw it. She sliced at their legs, some of the limbs tearing off, and shifted her weight to her hands, launching skull shattering kicks before shifting her weight one more time to slash at their chests.
The room was silent, and Jun was covered in blood. She stalked out of the room, wiping her sword on the clean side of her haori. There was one more person she needed to see.
With a loud bang, she kicked open the door to Tanaka's office. He was sitting there, hands on his desk, shaking. "You didn't run," Jun stated flatly, stopping at his desk. She pointed her sword at him.
"I tried to stop him," Tanaka said quietly, staring into Jun's blade. "He wouldn't listen to me. For everything, Jun, I'm sorry."
Jun stood in silence for a long time. "Where is Jin'ai?" she asked finally.
Tanaka opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He pressed his lips together, and sighed, mostly to himself. "I couldn't find him," he said. "I let you down."
"Well," she said, edging her blade closer to him. He shut his eyes, accepting his face. But death never came. He opened his eyes to see Jun sheathing her sword. She had already turned to leave. "For all you've done for me, these past five years," she explained, turning ever so slightly. "You have my thanks. It was fun working with you, Tan-san."
He lowered his head. "You, too, Jun."
"You should leave town, Tan-san," she suggested. "I might change my mind."
"Right," he answered, but she was already gone.
When Jun awoke in the morning, her bed was empty. It was how it has always been. She rubbed her temples, swinging her legs out of bed. She yawned, raising her arms to stretch.
In the past, Jun wouldn't have been sure what caused her to spare Tanaka's life last night. It wasn't like they spent too much time together, and he was working for an employer that tried to kill her and blatantly disrespected her. But Jun understood now. They were friends. She cared about whether he lived or died. That's why, when faced with the decision to spare his life or end it, she would have always chosen to spare it.
She wondered, though, if she felt the same about Hisoka.
Before she could ponder it for too long, she showered and changed into a fresh set of clothes, heading downstairs again, to the underground arena. Her hands were balled into fists in the pockets of her haori. She by passed the first round and granted herself access to B2, needing something to clear her mind.
It was warmer downstairs, the air thick with the sharp scent of sweat and blood. The floor echoed with the sound of cries of victory and defeat alike. She swept through the hallway, her hands in her pockets and trotted downstairs to where the arenas were.
She didn't notice people clearing the path for her ever so slightly as she made her way to the first stage. "Me next," she told the referee.
"I apologize, Sekihara-san, but you cannot enter this stage of the arena without a partner," the man said. He gestured to the fighters in the arena. "These are mixed doubles. Designed to test teamwork and awareness under pressure."
"I don't need a partner," she insisted and in a flash whipped out her sword, holding it to the referee's throat, drawing blood. "I'm not in the mood. Let me fight, or I'll kill you."
"Now, now," said a voice, and Jun felt a hand on her forearm. She looked up to see Hisoka standing next to her, a thin smile tugging at his lips. "No need to get upset," he told the referee, the horrified look on the man's face suggesting that he shouldn't be the one Hisoka was telling to calm down.
He turned to Jun patting her on the head. "Would you like to team up?"
"Team up?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. "You and me?"
"Who else?" he asked innocently, shrugging. He lowered her arm, moving the sword away from the referee's throat. "Let's fight together."
Hisoka had heard about the slaughter at the Lancaster firm. They were a rather reputable information broker business, though they kept that part of their business under-wraps, doubling as a marketing agency. The news of their gruesome deaths were all over the news. Only one known employee seemed to have escaped in tact: Tanaka Shin, who also disappeared without a trace.
The sole fact that Tanaka, her favorite referee, had survived was how Hisoka knew that after he had left, Jun had taken care of some business of her own, though he didn't know the reason why. Based on Illumi's intel, he had figured she worked rather diligently for those people for the sake of her brother, but it also seemed like she was trying to close all the loose ends in this town, what with her proposing they fight soon.
He had been expecting her to be quite giddy and ecstatic after her killing spree, but much to his surprise, she seemed bothered. He had never before seen her upset about something like this and was curious as to what her reasoning was.
He could have simply asked her, but the place Sekihara Jun was the most honest was in battle. So, Hisoka had followed her down here after hearing the news. It seemed he had made the right decision.
She smiled brightly, taking Hisoka by surprise as her foul mood evaporated. "Yeah! Let's team up," she exclaimed.
Hisoka stepped aside, allowing Jun into the arena first. She wound her arms, stretching her shoulders and Hisoka almost laughed at her attempt to seem serious to everyone on B2. Jun didn't need preparation for a fight.
He followed in suit, standing beside her as the referee began selecting their opponents.
"I actually have something for you," Jun said, turning up to look at him. "Another birthday gift, I guess."
"Oh?" Hisoka smiled thinly at her. "What could that be?"
"Put your bungee gum on me," she said with a bright smile. "Though, not anywhere weird," she added, covering her chest as Hisoka chuckled.
He pointed a finger and attached a thin string of nen to Jun's forearm. She took a breath as though exhaling a great poison, seeming to empty out her entire frame. She inhaled again, and pointed a thing finger at Hisoka. "Patch Hisoka," she said and at once, Hisoka felt a tingling sensation ripple through his body. "Now, you say, 'Stitch Jun,'" she told him.
"And if I do?" Hisoka asked, raising an eyebrow. He was still a little confused as far as where Jun was going with this, but he was curious.
"It's your gift," she told him simply. "Stitch Jun."
"Stitch Jun-chan," Hisoka repeated with a smile, and the tingling sensation disappeared, as though being sucked out of his body with a vacuum. "What did you do, princess?"
Jun smiled, clapping her hands together happily as two fighters entered opposite them. Hisoka peered at Jun to see if she was listening, if Berserker Queen was coming, but she didn't seem to have heard their names at all. He had thought a storm was coming, but now he wasn't so sure.
"We're linked now," she said brightly. Hisoka's eyes widened ever so slightly. "I developed it over the course of a few years," Jun went on. "Patch and Stitch, it's a direct connection to my Berserker Queen, so you share its power, too."
"As in no pain," Hisoka stated, clenching his fists together. "And heightened physical ability."
"Yup," Jun answered brightly. "The only condition is that whoever is stitched to me has to be either physically connected with me, or connected with me through nen for the entire duration of the patch. Meaning-"
"I am the only one who can use this ability," Hisoka finished. He smiled. "You truly are one of a kind, Jun-chan."
Jun seemed surprised by his compliment and grinned broadly, rolling her shoulder blades back. "Give me a number from one to seventy-five."
Hisoka's amber eyes gleamed with excitement. "Seventy-five."
She laughed, a tinkling noise that Hisoka did find himself to like. "I thought you would. Patch Hisoka, Berserker Queen, seventy five percent."
The tingling sensation returned for a brief moment, tickling his veins and heating his blood, only to disappear again. An intense wave of nen surged from the woman beside him, a sinister venom seeping into his bones. He glanced over and smiled. "Long time no see, my queen."
"Hah?" replied the woman, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, hey, shitty clown," she responded. She glanced at her forearm and a low groan rumbled in her throat. "We're patched."
"We are indeed," he said, still smiling. "Do you have the authority to end the connection, or does that privilege lie with me?"
"You know her too well," Jun replied, but she did not seem amused. "You do. She took the precaution for this reason. She knew she wouldn't be around when you used it."
Hisoka knew that Jun's abilities were often verbal; it created a ritual to which she could use to quickly access her powers. "What are the magic words?" Hisoka asked, mildly amused by Jun's third person reference to herself. He knew that the two of them shared the same memories, despite being different personalities. Though, this Jun never really seemed to refer to herself; she always spoke of the "other" Jun like she really was a different person.
"End," Jun said, and Hisoka laughed. Jun really was a simple woman.
"Jun-chan, you are quite amazing," Hisoka said, rolling his shoulders blades back. This Jun didn't seem as affected by Hisoka's compliments as the other did. "In return for this miraculous gift, I have something for you as well, if you are willing to play a game with me."
"Better not be anything fuckin' weird, shitty clown," Jun snapped, unsheathing her short sword. Hisoka didn't seem afraid.
"We win twenty-five fights. I'll take you on another date."
Jun quirked an eyebrow. "Twenty five two-on-twos. You want us to kill fifty people." It was a statement, not a question.
"Fifty people," Hisoka confirmed. "We win those fights, and my princess goes on another date. She certainly enjoyed the last one."
Jun scoffed and for a moment, Hisoka thought that she would deny his offer. This Jun and the other very obviously had opposite opinions of him. "Make it a hundred. One hundred kills wins one date and a nice gift for the princess on her birthday. To pay her back for spoilin' ya foryour stupid birthday."
Hisoka smiled. "Sounds fair enough."
Jun placed a hand on her hip. "So, what do I get if I get more kills than you?"
"Do you have anything in mind?" Hisoka asked.
"One extra kiss for the princess for every ten people I kill more than you."
He chuckled. "That also sounds fair enough. Do you want nothing, my queen?"
"It's my job to take care of her," she said simply. "I don't want shit from ya, butshecertainly does. And if your ass is offerin' shit for free that'll make her happy, then you'll be damned if I don't take you up on your stupid opportunities." She pointed his blade at him again. "Just be warned that if you go back on your promises, there'll be fuckin' hell to pay."
"I would never break a promise to my princess."
"Cut the shitty nicknames," she told him, rolling her eyes exasperatedly.
"I can't refer to you both in any other way," he commented, shrugging. "I call Jun-chan my princess. What shall I call you, then?" Hisoka asked as the fighters across them prepared themselves. Jun stepped in front of him and glanced back for a moment, her eyes black as night.
"Huang Jun'suh."
It was a bloodbath. Hisoka's physical strength alone could prove a problem for enhancer types, but amplified with Jun's enhancer abilities, he was virtually untouchable and hit a hundred times harder.
A hundred kills later, they had, of course, qualified to move down into the B3 level, but they both opted out. Though they were attached with Bungee Gym, Hisoka did find it rather amusing to whip Jun around a bit, just to throw her off for fun, which she didn't appreciate. She'd ended up breaking an arm and a few ribs and spraining and ankle, but otherwise seemed unscathed.
She tossed her bloodstained haori aside after sheathing her sword. "Sixty two," she told Hisoka with a smug grin. "One kiss for the princess."
"I shall graciously grant it," he assured, smiling darkly. The two of them knew that Hisoka had given her barely the amount of kills she needed to win something for Jun. But of course, she was going to take it. "As well as another date and a lovely gift for her birthday. Just like we promised, Jun'suh-chan."
"Just Jun'suh would be fine," she said, waving him off. She rolled her shoulder blades back as they stalked down the hallway towards the elevator. She pressed the button for the elevator to come down. "Well, if ya wanted to end the ability and bring the princess back, you ca-"
Jun was cut off short by Hisoka slamming her into the wall, crushing her cheeks with his fingers. He pressed his body against her, golden eyes shimmering in the dim hallway lights. "I don't think I'm quite done yet," he said, licking his lips. "It's so rare I get to see this side of you, so I won't let you leave me without taking my fill of you."
Jun raised a leg to try and knee him in the gut but Hisoka crushed his thigh into hers, denting the wall. "Don't make this difficult," he said, his breath hot on her neck. "I've memorized every inch of this body. It will be worth your while,Huang Jun'suh."
"I don't like you, shitty clown," she growled, to which Hisoka clicked his tongue, smiling.
"No need to lie to me, Jun'suh-chan," he purred. She ripped her arm up and clocked him a clean right hook, twisting his face and cutting his skin. But he turned back to her, licking his lips as he eyed her flushed cheeks and listened to her haggard breath. "You're just as turned on as I am. You and Jun-chan are one in the same."
In that moment, Jun thrust her face forward and kissed Hisoka hard, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. He returned her kiss with just as much force, pressing her back against the wall. His hands ran over the thin of her waist and over her chest before she wrapped her legs around him, tangling her fingers in his hair. The elevator dinged and Hisoka pushed them in, pressing the right floor before the steel box shot skyward.
They had to switch elevators once, making many passersby feel quite uncomfortable, but neither of them cared. When they reached floor 235, the two of them could hardly wait, barely even getting the door shut before knocking over furniture and popping holes in the dry wall.
It was possibly the most beat up either of them had gotten, as neither of them felt any pain, they could push each other to the limits. Hisoka didn't even mind when Jun would make him bleed; it was even hotter that she was so untamed. The sweet, innocent Jun she knew was competitive and rough around the edges, but Jun'suh was raw and unruly, a side of her Hisoka found absolutely refreshing.
"Fun, right?" Hisoka asked her a few hours later. Jun's room was in ruins and the two of them laid across bloody sheets, breathing hard. He licked the blood from his lips as he ran his eyes over Jun's bruised and bloodied body.
"I guess," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You're sick, shitty clown."
"Thank you," he said sincerely, offering her a bright smile. "Perhaps it's because this is the second time you and I have come face to face, but I may actually prefer you, Jun'suh."
Jun'suh scoffed again. "She canhear you, shitty clown."
"I know," he said, his smile widening.
"Sick," Jun'suh repeated.
"She can'treally hear me, though, right? Don't the two of you just share memories?"
Jun'suh shrugged arbitrarily. "Somethin' like that. Since when were you interested in her powers anyway?"
Hisoka returned her shrug. "It took me quite a while to figure out. I told her what I thought they were after about a month of observation, just to be sure," he said with a smile. "It's truly a force to be reckoned with, Berserker Queen."
"End the technique," Jun'suh growled, waving her hand. "I'm sick of talking to you."
"Will I see you soon?" Hisoka asked, his eyes a piercing gold.
"Maybe," she replied, but Hisoka smiled anyway.
"Looking forward to seeing you again, then," he said, detaching his Bungee Gum from her forearm finally. Perhaps if he could make this Jun'suh attached to him as well, he could have a lot more fun. "End."
Jun's eyes shifted back to a bright electric blue and she turned to see Hisoka, a little more bruised and bloodied than when she had last seen him, and laughed. "We had fun, huh?"
Of course this Jun would think their escapade was quite fun. It was her personality, after all. "We did."
Jun grinned, and for some reason, in this particularly lighting, the sun barely having just set, the highlights of her pale skin burning like fire in the silhouette of the sunset, causing flecks of her dark hair to burn golden, and the tiny rivulets of blood sparkling; Hisoka couldn't help but find Jun beautiful.
"Happy Birthday, Hisoka."