Disclaimer: Hunter x Hunter belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. I just own my OC, Hitomi.

Chapter 8: Fire in the Eyes x Heart in the Hand x Fifty Hours in the Room!

Killua found himself staring at Hitomi, her eyes were red. He couldn't help but remember the time when they had been in Tonpa's trap. Her eyes, that time, were like that...

Like there was fire in them.

However, it lasted a minute or so. They turned violet again and she narrowed them.

"That tattoo..." she thought. "It's totally plain."

"What's that?" Gon asked.

Leorio tried to keep his cool.

"It's a proof that he's a member of the Genei Ryodan," he replied.

"The ones that massacred Kurapika's and Hitomi's comrades?" Gon asked.

"Yeah. The notorious group of killers that Kurapika seeks revenge against," Leorio said "To think that he's part of the Ryodan..."

"That's the problem," Hitomi said all of sudden. "He is not from the Genei Ryodan."

"Eh?" Gon and Leorio said at the same time.

She remained quiet.

"What's the matter? Are you too scared to speak?" 'Frankenstein' asked Kurapika. "I'm one of the Four Devas of the Genei Ryodan. They call me Majitani, the Destroyer!"

"Fear? It's the least thing he has..." Hitomi thought

"Kurapika is angry," Gon suddenly said, Leorio and Tonpa looked at him, confused.

"Yeah," the girl nodded. "He is furious."

He raised his head, letting him see something that made him shake in fear. Kurapika walked towards him, and Majitani stepped back.

"S-Stop!" he said, raising his fist. "Or I will give you another-"

However, Kurapika grabbed Majitani's face. He jumped, dragging him along.

"Okay!" he said. "I g-!"

He didn't finish his sentence. Kurapika punched him, making him collide with a loud thud, unconscious. Kurapika glared at him.

"Three things. One: The proof that one belongs to the Genei Ryodan is the member's number carved into the spider. Two: They don't bother to keep count of the number of people they've killed. Three: Don't ever speak of the Genei Ryodan again or I will kill you."

He turned around, letting all of them to see his bright red eyes. The Scarlet Eyes.

"Are you alright?" Leorio asked once Kurapika arrived at their side.

"Yes, I'm not injured," he replied.

"Actually, is it alright for us to be around you right now?"

Hitomi facepalmed. Kurapika, with his eyes in their normal color, sat in the floor.

"I knew that he wasn't much a fighter just by looking at him," he said.

"Is that so?" Leorio replied, surprised. "His look is intimidating enough for anybody, right?"

"For a horror movie, yeah," Hitomi joked with a straight face. "Frankenstein-san would be a great antagonist on it."

"I didn't even get any chills when I looked at him," Gon grinned.

"It was so obvious from the start," Killua rolled his eyes. "He was bluffing and didn't even have the guts to hit anyone."

Leorio was stunned at this revelation.

"I knew his tattoo was fake but the moment I saw the spider, everything turned red..." Kurapika said.

"Again?" Hitomi said, joking to enlighten his humor. "We have to do something with your arachnophobia then."

The others were looking at them in confusion.

"When he sees a spider, even an ordinary one, his rage builds and he becomes a different person," Hitomi explained briefly.

Both Leorio and Gon paled at the thought of it.

"I suppose that just proves that my anger has yet to fade away," Kurapika said. "In that sense, I should be glad about it."

Hitomi stared at him for a few seconds, before sighing.

"We better not let Kurapika see any spiders..." Gon whispered to Leorio, who nodded.

Leorio took a step closer, declaring that he would be the next one. The man of the other side nevertheless told him that the match was not over. Majitani had not died not admitted defeat.

Kurapika refused to fight again.

"I'll leave it to him," he said, "When he regains consciousness, he'll choose his own fate. I have no intention of taking any action!"

"Hey, do you want me to do it?" Killua asked. "You've never killed a person, have you? Are you scared?"

Kurapika glared at him for a few seconds. "I've never thought about killing in terms of being scared or not. Besides, his is a one-on-one match. There's no need to interfere."

"I see. But you are surprisingly selfish."

Hitomi knew that Killua was right, but also saw Kurapika's point. He'd never killed a person, and he didn't want to do it now.

"So, you won't kill him," she started. "How about kicking him? Making him wake up and admit defeat?"

"No," he just declared. "I won't hurt someone who lost his fight."

"Listen, Blondie," she said. "If you don't do something now, you will be the one losing the fight. Just wake him up or something, you don't have to hurt him! What are you gonna do?"

He didn't say anything else. She sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Silence... yeah, good idea," she said, sarcastically. "You're just too stubborn..."

They argued for a long time, but Kurapika didn't change his mind. All of them were forced to wait a long, long time.

After some hours, Hitomi sighed. There was something that troubled her.

"That man could be already dead," Killua spoke her thoughts.

"Yeah, I've been thinking that for a while now," she said.

Leorio stood up and pointed to the other side.

"Hey! Let me check if that man is still alive or dead already!"

"Then how about we make a bet?" the man who fighted Tonpa - for a lack of a better word - asked.

He proposed Leorio to bet time and after a while, he accepted. First of all, he bet ten hours that he's still alive.

"Huh? Didn't you suspect that he was already dead?" Gon asked.

And Leorio went to confirm that.

"You are more intelligent than you look, old man," Hitomi chuckled. Gon looked at her, confused. "If he loses this bet and Majitani is dead, Kurapika wins the match. However, if he bets he is dead and he isn't we'd lose both counts."

Leorio checked him and realized that he was still alive. They won two hours.

"This is not good," Kurapika murmured. "That man may lie unconscious forever."

"What do you mean?" Gon asked, confused.

"Is possible," Killua agreed. "When that man approached the lying man a minute ago I thought he was dead. But rather... instead of him being dead... "

"It's easy. For them, it's better he is alive and unconscious," Hitomi explained to Gon. "If he just lies there for the rest of the time, they can shorten their sentences seventy-two years without doing anything."

After that, Leorio asked him to gamble whether Majitani was unconscious or not. Then man bet yes, and Leorio carried Majitani and threatened to let him fall.

"If he's really unconscious, he'll fall down and die," he said. "If he falls and dies, Kurapika loses the match for breaking the rules."

"Alright. I'll agree to your condition but I want to make a change," he said. "I'll bet all forty hours on him that he wakes up!"

And Leorio was about to let him go.

"Wait. Don't let go of me! I'm up! I'm conscious!" he yelled, before starting to run away. "I admit my defeat. To hell with the amnesty, I'm much safer to be in a prison!"

And now they had two wins. A woman walked to the arena and challenged Leorio to gamble time again.

"Well, Doctor..." she said, almost too sweetly. "I would like for you to bet whether I am a man or a woman."

And after the woman told him he could examine her after losing, Hitomi raised an eyebrow.

"Leorio will bet that she is a he," Kurapika said, disgusted.

"Yep," Killua and Hitomi nodded at the same time.

Gon was confused.

"Ten hours says you're a man!" Leorio said.

"As I thought," Kurapika raised an eyebrow.

"Figures..." Hitomi facepalmed, irritated.

"Pervert old man!" Killua murmured.

The woman smirked.

"I'm sorry, you lose," she said. "I'm a woman."

"W-What?" he looked... a little happy. "I don't believe it!"

Hitomi shook her head.

"How phony can you get?" Kurapika murmured.

"At least try to look upset, perverted old man!" she shouted.

She told him to check that up and Hitomi sighed, before looking at Killua's back. Smiling evilly, she put her hands in front of his eyes.

"Wh-What do you think you're doing?!" he yelled.

"This is not suitable for all ages!" she joked.

"That's right," she heard.

A pair of hands covered her eyes, much in her dismay. Once they were taken off, she saw Kurapika smiling at her, nervously.

Killua glared at her, she sheepishly smiled.

Back on the arena, it was Leorio's turn to make a bet.

"That would work a lot better with Kurapika..." he thought, looking at Kurapika.

"W-Why is he looking at me like that?" the boy flinched.

After a long time, Leorio lost in a Rock, Paper and Scissors game, because the woman psychology, even though Gon told him to use scissors...

Anyway, they ended up losing fifty hours and winning a loss in their side.

"Let's see... who still hasn't gone from our side?" Leorio asked.

"That would be me," Killua said. "I was getting so bored of waiting I almost fell asleep."

"I haven't gone either," Hitomi added. "But I think I'll let you go first. The best always go last."

"As if," he rolled his eyes.

But then, they realized that Leorio was looking at them, with a surprised expression.

"I really should have won, no matter what!" he exclaimed. "Of the others matches requires the use of a brain, we're goners!"

They both looked at him.

"This guy's getting on my nerves!" Hitomi said to Gon and Kurapika, who laughed nervously.

"I don't wanna hear it from someone who just lost in the match that did require the use of brain!" Killua argued, "Sure, I admit I'll probably lose if I have to answer a bunch of math questions."

"Don't worry! No matter what kinda match your opponent picks, I'm sure you can do it, Killua!" Gon encouraged.

"Gon..."

"Just make sure you throw rock first!"

Hitomi facepalmed, again.

"Just don't pick Rock, Paper and Scissors!" Leorio said.

"As if!"

The man showed himself, he was Johness the Dissector. The worst serial killer in the whole story of Zaban.

Even though his group pleaded him not to go, he went and stood in front of him.

It was a game for him, anyway.

"So, what kinda fight is it gonna be?" he asked.

"A fight?" Johness talked. "I think you got the wrong idea, the only thing that's gonna happen here is me slaughtering you. I don't care about the Exam or getting my sentence reduced. I just wanna dig my fingers into your flesh, that's all. All you have to do is scream and cry out."

"Alright," Killua replied, uninterested. "So, whoever dies loses the game."

Johness stretched his hand to Killua, but he just took - or so it looked like - two steps and stayed behind him.

Blood slowly poured in the criminal's chest and he turned around to the boy, who was smirking evilly.

Killua was holding his still beating heart.

He tried to get his heart back, but Killua used his claws to shatter his heart and, with it, his hopes of living. Not long after, Johness fell, lifeless, into the ground.

"Well..." Hitomi said to his stunned brother. "He is from a family of elite assassins after all."

"What?!" Tonpa asked, a little scared. "From elite assassins?!"

"Yeah, the Zoldyck family!" Gon told him.

Killua arrived at their side, and Tonpa backed off in fright. Hitomi shook his head at his action.

"Killua," Kurapika spoke. "How did you learn a skill like that?"

"I wouldn't even call that a skill really. All I did is reach out and grab it," he said, making his claws grow. "I had to manipulate my body a little to make it easier to do."

They all paled at it. At least he was at their side.

Hitomi looked at the ring, her opponent was arriving first than her. He was, surprisingly, as old as Kurapika. He had red hair and black eyes, and looked just... too tiny.

However, his aura showed how dangerous he could be.

"I'm jealous," Killua admitted. "You have the good one."

"Huh?" Gon was confused. "He doesn't look strong."

When the others looked at the convict, they gaped in disbelief.

"No way... is him?!" Leorio shouted. "Give up, Hitomi. Don't you dare to fight him!"

"I dare, and I will."

Kurapika placed a hand over his sister's shoulder.

"Don't do this, please," he said, pale.

"I will," she said. "Did you stop when Leorio asked you to do it?"

"This guy is different!" Kurapika exclaimed. "He is far more dangerous!"

She let out a long sigh.

"Let me, I want to do this. Do it for me," she asked, but Kurapika didn't answer. "Do it from Pairo and the others then!"

His eyes opened in surprise at that sentence and he lost his grip on her. Taking advantage of that, she released herself and ran towards the arena.

And the path disappeared again before he could do anything else.

"Hitomi!" he shouted.

"Don't worry, Blondie!" she smirked. "I won't die that easily!"

She turned around and faced his opponent. Her grin disappeared and stared at him with a serious expression.

"I've read about you. You're Peter The Reaper," she told him. "A psycho murderer that have killed at least 100 people, most of them girls. They all were about eight to thirteen years old. You dismembered them with you... uh... what was it?"

He just showed her huge, huge sickle. Leorio shouted something, but she didn't paid him attention at all.

"Yeah, that!" she grinned. "Oh, wait, that's why you are called 'The Reaper'?"

"Hey," he spoke for the first time, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you afraid? I don't look like that, but I'm strong you know."

"I know you are strong, but I don't get anything good from being afraid." she replied. "So, the one who surrenders or dies loses?"

"I like you, girl," Peter smirked. "I agree with that, let's go."

The boy swinged around the sickle and she avoided it. From the right, from the above, from the left, she avoided the swing by jumping or moving her body.

She jumped once again and did a headstand, before standing on her feets and looking at him fiercely. She smirked.

"Good, let's stop playing then," he grinned evilly.

Peter disappeared from Hitomi's sight. She froze, once she felt his cold fingers in her neck. He was staring at her hair, playing a bit with it.

"You really care for your hair, don't you?" he said. "It's not damaged, I see..."

"Get away!" she turned around to punch it, but he vanished again.

And when she noticed where he was, Hitomi felt herself being lifted by her own hair. She couldn't help but put her own hands on it, trying to make it less painful.

Then he noticed she had an earning, which had been hidden in her blonde hair before he pulled it. It was like a drop-shaped ruby.

"What's this, girl?" he asked, making her flinch. He stretched his hand to grab it, "Looks interesting..."

"Get your filthy fingers out of it!" she yelled. "You sick sickle-boy!"

In a flash, she grabbed her knifes and swung them around. She broke free from Peter's grasp.

The boy was confused at first, but then looked at the ones in the rival group. The blonde one, her brother... was wearing the same earring, only that it was in his right ear.

He smirked.

"So, you care about them, don't you?" he said.

She flinched, aware of what he was talking about.

"But, you know what? I can make you all stay with me in the same room the fifty hours you have to be here."

Her eyes widened, as her mind tried to pocess his words. All of her comrades flinched, stunned at it.

"You can't do that!" Leorio shouted from where they were.

"Of course I can," he smirked. "I'm your examiner after all."

Hitomi clenched her fists and looked down.

"I love children's cries, and now there's three of them," he said, happily. "Oh, wait, but then there's this boy and these two elder men... Oh, well. It will be enjoyable anyway."

And Hitomi started to shake, her eyes being covered by her own blonde bangs.

"Oh, are you crying?" he asked, holding the sickle closer to her. "Louder, please. I can't hear you."

"Don't you..." she murmured.

He looked at her, in confusion.

"It's like Kurapika's match," Gon commented. "Hitomi's angry."

"Yeah," Killua nodded.

"Like Kurapika?!" Leorio shouted, a little scared.

And Tonpa shook in fear. Kurapika didn't say anything. He didn't take his gaze out of her sister silhouette.

"Please be okay..."

Peter continued to stare at the girl, in confusion.

"Don't you dare..." she raised her head, "to touch them!"

He saw her eyes, red ones, like the time when Majitani fighted the other guy. Right after that, she vanished from his sight.

"You like the feeling?" she asked, before kicking him right in his back.

By pure reflex, he let go of his sickle. She took it and directed it to his chest.

Hitomi started to walk, dragging him along. They stopped, right in the corner of the arena...

His eyes opened in shock as he realized that he was defeated.

"Give up," she sentenced. "or I will kill you."

His gaze softened and sighed.

"Oh, well..." he declared. "My loss."

She let him go and threw the sickle right in the emptiness. Peter glared at her and she grinned, with her once again violet eyes.

"Time to pick another nickname, I guess," she said.

Back at their side, Kurapika ran up to her.

"What?" she raised an eyebrow at his glare. "I won, didn't I?"

The boy's gaze softened, before sighing. Without advice, she found herself being embraced by his older brother.

"H-Hey!" she flushed in embarrassment when she noticed everyone staring at them. "Not in front of people! It's embarrassing!"

They all laughed, beside Tonpa. The guy was still keeping his distance...

Killua's claws...

Hitomi and Kurapika's eyes...

He was going to die. Tonpa was positive about it.

Right after the fifty hours, the group started to run. After another eight hours, they arrived at another door. They have to vote if they wanted to open the door or not.

One person voted 'No', irritating Leorio. He turned around and grabbed Tonpa by the collar of his shirt.

"I'm really had it up to here with all your trying to screw with us!" he said. "You got that?!"

"Wait a second," he said. "I pressed 'O' too."

"You are lying!"

"It wasn't him!" Gon said. "I'm sorry, Leorio. I pressed 'X' by mistake."

Leorio sighed, letting Tonpa go and turning around.

"Wait, I think I deserve a proper apology from you," he said.

"It's because you've been doing stuff to make yourself suspicious," Leorio said. "I don't feel like I need to apologize."

"I was the only one who's been hindering everyone," Tonpa said. "Who's fault was that we were forced to waste fifty hours doing nothing? You're the one who made the critical mistake."

"What was that?!"

Hitomi sighed.

"Shut up, Tonpa. You're not in position to talk," Hitomi said annoyed. "Leorio at least made Kurapika's fight valid and, without it, we wouldn't have made it here. What have you done for us? Giving up... Yeah, you are really helpful."

"Even Hitomi is defending me," Leorio grinned, ruffling the girl's hair, much in her dismay. "I must be important then."

"You old man..." she murmured, her eyebrow twitching.

They entered into the room and looked at two doors, one had a huge 'X' on it and the other an 'O'.

"Attention, please. You've come to the last fork along the path of Majority Rules." the examiner voice echoed in the room. "This will be the last of your long journey with the Majority Rules, but of course you'll have to choose one of the two doors here. One path is long, difficult, but all six of you can take it. If you take this one, push 'O'. For short and easy path, push 'X'. If this path is chosen, the door will open only when three of you have been handcuffed to the wall. Those three applicants won't be able to move from here until time has run out."

Hitomi put her finger on the 'O' button, but before she could have done anything, the proctor spoke again.

"For your information, the path behind the 'O' door will take at least 45 hours to complete. Whereas the path behind the 'X' door will take three minutes. So, will you vote 'X' or 'O'? Let the majority rule."

The girl frowned and glanced at the weapons in the wall. It was evident that they wanted them to fight each other.

They all remained quiet, the tension was so thick that you could cut it through with a knife. Man, not even Tonpa dared to talk!

"I'm gonna push 'X'," Leorio said all of sudden. "And I have no intention of being one of the three left here either."

"Well, I'm pressing the 'O' button," Gon said. "We've come this far after all. I wanna pass this with all five of us together."

"Hey, hey. We have less than one hour left now. We obviously gotta take the shorter path," Killua added. "The only question left is how to decide the three of us that goes. I have no intention of ending the game yet. If no one backs off... we just have to fight each other."

"Wait a minute... This could be a trap, you know?" Tonpa said. "Just think about it. The short and easy path sounds really fishy."

"That sounds real coming for you," Leorio glared at him. "I know exactly what you're thinking. If we decide on 'X' and three of us were to be left behind, one would be you for sure."

Tonpa flinched and composed himself little after.

"And just who do you think the others gonna be?" he asked "If it comes down to a fight I don't stand much of a chance and I'll be left behind. But who do you think are gonna be the others? Gon? Kurapika? Hitomi? Killua? If I remember correctly you've been with Gon, Hitomi and Kurapika before the Exams started. So I guess that makes Killua the odd man out and with him another of your friends. But I wonder if that would go smoothly."

"Stop it, you two!" Hitomi shouted. "We are a little out of time, if you don't mind!"

"And what about you two?" Leorio asked her and her brother.

"'O', of course," she replied.

"Me too," Kurapika said. "Like Gon said, there might be another way out of this."

It looked like 'O' won four to two. However, Tonpa suddenly changed his vote and choose 'X'... a tie.

He chained himself after all, making Hitomi and Killua narrow their eyes in suspicion.

Gon and Leorio started to argue, no one changing his mind about the voting.

"That's enough, both of you stop it right now! While you stand around arguing with each other, our time is ticking away!" Kurapika snapped. "Besides, this is the path of the Majority Rules. If it's decided, I will fight for the short way. However, know that it'd be useless to hope for us fighting each other and take advantage of the situation. In other words whoever tries to reap the benefit of aftermatch will not succeed."

"Uh-oh, it's seems like they are scolding you," Hitomi chuckled, before looking at Tonpa.

"Wh-What do you mean?" he asked.

"What made you think you could fool us?" Killua said. "You should lock your handcuffs properly."

Angered, Tonpa freed himself from the chains and took an axe. He tried to attack Leorio, but missed for a bit and it hit the floor.

Gon jumped in the middle of the two and, somehow, managed to keep himself alive and Tonpa to press 'O'.

The door opened, they had forty minutes left.

"Now, what do we do?" Leorio asked.

"We use this!" Gon said, happily holding an axe.

"Gon, you are brilliant!" Hitomi said, going to get another one.

She ran there, and together with Gon, started to make their way to the short way.

"I see," Kurapika said, and explained to a confused Leorio. "If there's no way, we'll just make one."

Taking turns, they all hit the wall. After a long time, they managed to make a hole on it.

But they had less than three minutes.

"That means we aren't gonna make it?!" Tonpa said, furious.

Meanwhile the others were still fighting, Hitomi got closer to the path. Something caught her eye about its form.

"A downhill..."

She looked around to find something of use and made eye contact with Killua. The boy raised an eyebrow when she stared at his skateboard and smiled to herself.

"That's it, Killua!" she called him. "Lend us your skateboard for a bit, please?"

Thirty seconds left and... nothing.

Three more...

Two...

One...

A strange self-made vehicle arrived at the place, with six people on it.

Zero.

"Time is up!"

Hitomi released the breath she didn't know she was holding. They have arrived alive, in one piece and, on the top of that, on time.

The main gate opened, letting all of them get out tower. It was nice to receive the sunlight once again.

"Hey, Hitomi!" Killua said, a little annoyed, while pointing at his skateboard. "Thanks to your master plan the wheels on my board are run down! What are you gonna do about it?"

"Say sorry?" she smiled in a sheepishly way. "Come on! It was the only way to escape, you should be grateful."

"Grateful?!"

She just laughed, nervously.

"We now have only the Fourth Phase and the Last Phase to go in this Hunter Exam," Lippo said. "About the Fourth Phase I'd like everyone to draw lots."

Lippo make a woman bring a box and everyone stared at it.

"There are as many cards in this box as remaining applicants. You'll each choose one in the order in which you escaped from the Trick Tower," he explained.

"Now then, please pick one, Hisoka-san," the woman said.

After a long, long time, Hitomi reached the box. She sighed, before retiring one sole card. She walked out the line and looked at it.

"The card you just picked will have a number," Lippo said. "And those numbers correspond with the remaining applicants' ID numbers. This drawing has just determined the hunter and the hunted. In short, the objective of the Fourth Phase is to steal each other's ID badges."

"It will be tough..." the girl thought.

"The applicant whose badge ID number corresponds with the card you've picked is your target!" he continued. "In order to pass this phase, you'll need six points. The badge of your target is worth three points. Your own badge is also worth three points. So, if you can steal your target's badge and manage to keep your own, you'll pass the Fourth Phase. By the way, all other applicants' badges are worth one point. You can also get the six points you need that way."

Hitomi sighed and looked at her target once again.

She just wondered who was her depredator.

That's the end of this chapter!

I think that is the first time we see Hitomi fighting, so I sorry if I disapointed you in any aspect... However, this is just the beginning of the story, so she will become stronger than this. I'll do my best:)

Thanks to Mr. Kohen and SoulXHunter for leaving a review! Let's just hope you liked this chapter like the others :)

See you all later!