The magician absorbed wholly the subtleties of the girl's features, relishing in the sudden expansion and subsequent contraction of her pupils which told him the true tale of her fear. He had touched on something that she had been desperately trying to conceal, and he could taste it now as it lingered intoxicatingly in the air. He did so love when the information he stored could be put to good use. In fact, he quite hoped that eventually he would be able to recapture this moment tenfold as he claimed her life…
…But not today.
Today was about a different sort of game, with an entirely separate style of strategy. He quite hoped she might prove unexpectedly resourceful and manage to hinder him from achieving his goal, as it would at least add excitement to the journey…
…And the half the fun was in the journey, after all.
"What did you have in mind?"
Her voice was but a whisper, despite her facial expression having resumed its blank and bored appearance. Now was the time to explore his suspicions and gauge her reactions.
'I hope you won't make this too easy for me,' he mused, absentmindedly running his tongue between his lips.
He remembered the first time he had spotted his plum haired project entering a sleazy motel offside a secondary highway with Illumi. It had been mere months ago. At first he hadn't quite believed that this was honestly the sight he had seen, and sat waiting in secret within the bushes outside, steady and focused for hours to confirm it. Lo and behold, the following morning the two exited from the same cabin albeit about ten minutes apart. He had considered confronting either of them, at the very least for the benefit of his own amusement, until a further thought had struck him, convincing him that there may be a better time and place to exploit this information.
Then Misaki had begun traveling with the boys, which seemed hardly a coincidence. Still, he kept his distance and merely checked in on the situation in between other more doubtlessly rewarding ones. That was when he noticed that Illumi had undergone a disguise and had also taken the liberty of merging with their little group…
Indeed something was in progress here, and he had reason to suspect that that 'something' might be at his expense. It was in his best interest to inject himself into the investigation now, after months of watching and waiting patiently for an indication of foul play…
…And of course, no one could utilize the concept of "foul play" to its fullest potential like Hisoka himself.
"There is one particular little boy I was hoping to get you to take care of for me," he convincingly lied. "I hope age is not an impeding factor?"
Misaki shrugged, sipping the last of her second drink. As though it were a reflex, Hisoka waved down the bartender, indicating for him to initiate pouring a third.
"Is it an impeding factor for you?"
A sly smile crept across his lips as he asked, "Does it matter much to you if it is?"
"Perhaps it's premature for me to judge, but you hardly seem the type to need a third party to do your killing, Hisoka."
Feigning innocence, he replied, "I hadn't supposed you would be the type to ask for my reasons. I don't suppose you gave Illumi the third degree when he hired you as well?"
"You speak as though you think you know something," she murmured in to her glass, her voice echoing inside of it. "Tell me whom you want killed, at least. I'll judge from there."
He hesitated, enjoying wholly this moment of anticipation.
"A boy by the name of Gon… Freecss."
The girl paused for a second between sips. Her eyes remained hollow and locked upon the floating ice cubes within the glass. For a period of time so brief it could scarce be measured, her wrist stiffened and released.
"That would be… a conflict of interest," she explained monotonously without bothering to retract the drink from her lips or meet his gaze as she spoke.
So it was true… Misaki had already been hired to destroy Gon. Illumi was actively seeking a loophole with which to deceive him. Naturally he had assumed that his word was less than sincere, but the fact that he was willing to keep his word under the guise of a technicality…
'How clever,' Hisoka pondered, his eyes shining almost unnaturally. '…But not quite clever enough to evade me, I'm afraid…'
Having received so soon the knowledge he sought, the man ran his fingers through his flaming red hair before simultaneously purchasing three more drinks for the girl. He rose to his feet in a small but elegant leap, smiling a deceivably innocent grin toward Misaki.
"I suppose I will have to take care of things myself then."
With some noticeable decrease in her motor skills, the girl raised a palm in his direction to halt him.
"You made such a scene about wanting my help, and then it's not a problem at all when I turn you away?" she questioned suspiciously.
Hisoka reached for a newly prepared glass of Vermouth and passed it in to her open hand, rubbing her knuckles with his fingertips until she finally coiled her hand in reflexive distaste and accepted it.
"I won't hold it against you, Misaki," he said. "Women do tend to let their emotions get in the way, so it's probably best that I take care of my own affairs."
Before she could protest, he spun on the ball of his foot to face the exit.
Glancing back over his shoulder, he announced in a darkly seductive tone, "Don't be too disappointed. We'll meet again soon."
As he cut through the small crowd and passed through the virtually empty hotel lobby, the magician quite suddenly realized something flawed about his earlier presumptions. If in fact Misaki was being hired currently to kill Gon, why was he still alive now? She had been tagging along with the boys for months, and yet no such advances seemed to have occurred. Why then was Illumi trailing them as well?
Had he made a severe miscalculation?
Drawing quiet steps out in to the silver, moonlit streets, the man borrowed a moment to pout over his dilemma. Perhaps Misaki's "too simple" answer had fooled him. Had she anticipated his game? Could it simply be that there was, for some reason he could not rationally decipher, a specific date or time that she was expected to kill Gon?
Running his thumb along his bottom lip, Hisoka smirked to himself. Perhaps he had obtained enough information to at least make some form of sense out of his observations. Until then he would simply continue to monitor the situation and pull out the aces when hour of destiny approached him.
After all, his conversation with Misaki had proven far too simple to be especially exciting, and so he needed to make up for his losses somehow.