Hey everyone, thanks for sticking with this! Finally we get back the original plot and finished with flashback/background of Nana! A couple more chapters and it will be more fun with the Phantom Troupe because I miss them. Enjoy!
Nana stood getting dressed in the clothes that Mai had bought her. They consisted of a simple black sweatshirt, leggings, and black Mary Jane flats. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and tucked loose strands of her wild and freshly trimmed blue hair behind her ear. A light rap of knocking came at her door.
"Nana, can I come in?"
"Yes." Nana turned to see a melancholy Mai walking in.
"I have your discharge papers here. You are all set." Mai set the papers down on her little bedside table.
"Thank you, Mai." Nana cocked her head slightly to the side and gave her a small smile. Mai's eyes started to water as she lovingly stared at the girl in front of her. She was going to miss her and worry endlessly.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay with me until you get on your feet?" Nana shook her head no.
"You've done enough. I need to do this on my own." Mai quickly stepped towards the small girl and crushed her in a loving embrace. Nana tensed up at the surprising action and slowly relaxed, resting her hand on Mai's back, smiling. Mai stepped back and cleared her throat, wiping away the tears that streamed down her face.
"I have something to give you before you go." Mai reached into her pocket and pulled out a brand new cell phone. "In case you ever need to contact me. My number is already programmed in it along with your head doctor. I want updates on how you are doing, no 'ifs, ands, or buts' about it." Nana's eyes widened as she slowly took the phone in her hands and stared down at it.
"Mai, I-I can't accept this. You've already done s-"
"No. Don't even start, missy. You are taking it and if you don't I'll just fret endlessly worrying about worst case scenarios. Take it to ease my old soul, please." Nana gripped the phone tightly in her hands and brought it to her chest.
"Thank you, Mai." Nana picked up her discharge papers and turned to Mai, giving the woman one last hug before she stepped out and never came back. "I'm going to miss you." Nana heard Mai start crying and she pulled away, walking away and waving back to the woman who took care of her, nursed her back to health, and taught her how to control her aura and her other personality. Nana stepped out the front sliding doors of the hospital and squinted as the sun blinded her. She took a deep breath and clenched her fists.
"Heavens arena, here I come."
"-ana? Nana-chan~?" Hisoka's voiced snapped Nana out of her trance and she jumped in her seat, repeatedly blinking her slightly dried out eyes.
"Sorry."
"What do you remember?" Nana's eyes went blank as she zoned again, thinking about his question.
"Hmm…" Nana tilted her head and raised her hand, one finger pointing in the air "Eight/Hachi and," another finger went up in the air "Cigarette smoke. I guess that's why I picked up smoking. Mai hated it." Hisoka tilted his head quizzically. Nana must have noticed the action out of the corner of her eyes because she turned to him and stated, "She was the nurse who took care of me when I was brought to the hospital." Nana rolled up her left sweatshirt sleeve and ran her hands over the scars. "I'm guessing this all has to do with it and why I switch when I get in fights." The scars were tantalizing on her pale skin to Hisoka. When she removed her oversized sweatshirt showing off her upper half, he couldn't help but run his tongue across his lips. He loved seeing this beaten up rag doll's nen flare dangerously when she was in battle. He was itching to know about her, and maybe in the future it would help him reach his goal in killing her.
"Do you know why you have your other personality?" He questioned, playing the caring friend role. Nana turned to look at the clown and cocked her head.
"Defense mechanism?" It wasn't a solid answer, it was just a guess on her end. Hisoka's face fell at her answer and couldn't help but compare her to Illumi with some of her actions. The emotional disconnect wasn't as terrible as the dark, slim, assassin but, it still made him wonder if she even knew how to interact with others. "That's what Mai told me at least. She said I arrived on the brink of death and my other half is a result of what I went through. She takes it all so I don't." Nana sighed and drew her legs up to her body and wrapped her arms around her bent knees and hugged them tightly. "Why do you care anyway?" Hisoka shrugged and twirled his hand around in a flourish.
"Worried friend?"
"Don't lie to me. I can spot a lie a mile away."
"Interested?"
"Ulterior motives." Hisoka smirked.
"Aw Nana-chan, do you think so lowly of me? What if I wanted to help?"
"Ulterior motives." She deadpanned again, her voice cold and flat. Hisoka's chest rumbled with a low chuckle.
"You caught me."
They had finally reached Zevil Island for the next part of the Hunter exam. For this task they would be given a week to acquire the tag of the person they drew from the ominous box. Their target's tag was worth three points along with their own, everyone else's was worth one. All they had to do was to survive and get six points. Nana sighed and jutted her hip out rest her right hand on it as the woman in front of them explained the test.
"That's it?" Nana stopped herself before the next word escaped her mouth. She spent too much with Hisoka if she was going to whine about how boring this was for her.
"Please step forward one at a time starting from the first to finish the previous stage, and grab a number." Nana waited until it was her turned after Hisoka and begrudgingly reached into the box and grabbed her number. After the last person they were told they could peel off the coating to show their target's number. 80. Nana quickly darted her eyes around to catch 80 before they removed their tag like a majority of the contestants started to do. No luck. Nana sighed and threw her card over her shoulder, with a giant frown on her face. She'd just have to go from one person to the next over the next week to find them. One by one, every five minutes they started to disappear into the island.
"It's been five minutes. You may go!" The woman cheerfully announced to Nana who just walked into the forest with a cigarette between her lips.
"Tsk." Leorio clicked his tongue against his teeth and scowled. "She isn't taking this seriously." Kurapika placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
"She doesn't need to. She is stronger than any of us. That's why she is close to Hisoka."
"Hisoka?! That creepy clown?!" Leorio shouted with a look of surprise mixed with disgust plastered on his face. A shiver ran through his body at the thought of that young woman and the murderous clown sitting together talking. Or even worse…being intimate.
Nana slowly walked around the forest, puffing on her cigarette. She didn't know what to do. In all honesty, this whole exam was a waste of her time. This would be the perfect opportunity to just give up and fail so she didn't have to do any more. She sighed in defeat and dropped her head. If she did that she was sure that Hisoka would come after her and ruin her life forever for ruining his fun. Well, that didn't mean she couldn't take some time to relax. Nana walked until she found a spot to relax. She clapped her hands together and rubbed them getting ready to climb up one of the ancient trees in front of her. When Nana got up to the top she snapped her fingers and her nen rope slithered out from under her sweatshirt and criss-crossed together creating a hammock like net in the crook of two of the large branches. She lounged on the net with her arms crossed behind her head.
"Now to get some sleep."
For two days Nana wandered around the island, finding food and places to relax. She was actually enjoying this. She found some beautiful plants and spent hours staring at them, lightly caressing them, and talking to them. She watched animals scurry around and the birds soaring in the sky. It was bliss. Nana figured it was time to get serious and take out her target, if she could find them. She started to take off, hoping that her endless walking would bring her where she needed.
Nana blew out a puff of smoke as she walked with her eyes closed. If she emptied her mind from her objective, she usually ended up fulfilling it. If she searched for someone, she would never find them. If she turned her attention to something else, she could usually find the person of interest. She called it an itate curse. Nana opened her eyes as her body stopped walking by itself and saw the one person she was hoping to ignore at the moment, Hisoka. He was sitting there with a soft smile and his eyes closed. For once, he did not look creepy or sadistic. It was...nice. Nana shook her head from the thought of the clown ever being more than that, a clown. Nana started walking to the peaceful man and gave him a slight wave even though he could not see her "Yo." She chirped and stopped a couple feet away from him. His smile broadened.
"Were you searching for me, Nana-chan~?" He cooed, still not moving or opening his eyes.
"No. I was actually hoping to stay away from you. Have you found your target yet?" Hisoka shook his head. "Hmmm, me neither." She shrugged her shoulders and went to sit down when Hisoka's eyes shot open and he stood up making her pause.
"Well, come on out." His voice was soft as silk and it made Nana shiver. "I know you are there. If you won't come out, I'll come to you." Nana watched Hisoka in awe. He was so intune with his aura and his abilities, it was admiring. She didn't even notice anyone around them. Hisoka took off sauntering to the bushes to her right and stopped. A man bursted out from the greenery with determination in his eyes but Nana could sense how terrified he was staring at the nonchalant Hisoka. The man flourished his spear as to show off how powerful he was before he challenged Hisoka to a duel. Nana raised an eyebrow. Why would someone willingly challenge Hisoka? It was a waste of time and a death wish. Hisoka tilted his head down and smirked at the man in front of him. "You'll die." It was an honest statement but one that made everyone shiver. No matter, the man stepped out from the bushes and attacked Hisoka. Nana watched as Hisoka gracefully and almost poetically dodged every attack. His body curved, twisted, and arched with such precision, with such grace, Nana couldn't take her eyes off him. Subconsciously her fingers played with the hem of her sweatshirt and she gnawed on her bottom lip as she watched Hisoka dance around. It was sort of...arousing.
The man attacking yelled as he swung his spear with such force that the tree his attack made contact with was sliced cleanly and toppled over with a loud thud. Hisoka gracefully jumped out of the way and apathetically stared at the heaving man.
"Hisoka...explain yourself. Why won't you attack me?" He asked desperately.
"If I avoid your attacks, you'll die eventually." Nana watched as a swarm of butterflies gathered around the man. He had obviously been injured. "I can tell from the swarm of Hemotropic Butterflies that your wounds are grave." The man fell to his knees panting. "Someone else has already dealt you a fatal blow, yes? Though I do understand your desire to die in battle."
"If you...If you understand so well why, why do you still refuse to fight me?!" The dying man yelled. Hisoka slightly shrugged his shoulders.
"I have no interest in the dead." Nana's breath hitched in her throat. The man started to protest as Hisoka turned around to walk off. "You're already dead." His silk voice was flat with no care for this man and his wishes.
"Hisoka-" Nana started but thought better than to make the situation worse. She felt sympathy for the man begging for his life to be taken. For some reason, she felt she knew that feeling all too well. Her head started to pound and she gripped her head with a loud hiss of pain. She clenched her eyes shut trying to fight off the throbbing that debilitated her. She never noticed the man charge at Hisoka or the needles that came flying out from behind them. The pain started to fade and she slowly opened her eyes to stare at the dead body with needles protruding from his face. "What the he-"
"Sorry about that. I carelessly let him escape." A mechanical voice announced. Nana turned around and grimaced at the man in front of her. Contestant 301 started walking towards them as him and Hisoka held a conversation. Nana couldn't get over his appearance, it set her on edge. And her headache was doing nothing to help the situation as she just stood there silently, being ignored by the two men. Nana finally returned to reality as she saw the pin-cushion man throw Hisoka a tag with the number 80 on it.
"Hey! That's the one I need!" She exclaimed pointing at the tag in Hisoka's hand. The two finally looked at the girl with quizzical looks, a smirk plastered on Hisoka's face. Nana's nerves got the best of her as the two men stared and she turned her head away, looking at the "interesting" clump of dirt that sat by her feet and pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"Well then…" The man stated and he started to remove the needles from his face. Nana watched out of the corner of her eye as he removed each one and his face began to change. His purple tuft of hair elongated and became long and dark. His face bubbled and cracked as his bone structure became more feminine and soft. His eyes widened and changed into dark pools of black.
"This is always so interesting to watch." Hisoka mused.
"It's always hard on me…" The man's voice became less robotic and Nana turned her head to give him his full attention "I feel much better." He stated as his transformation was over.
"Illumi…?" Nana gasped. "That's so cool…" Hisoka was right it was interesting to watch.
"Nana." His monotone acknowledged her.
"I didn't know you were taking the hunter exam." He turned to her and his face was a blank canvas.
"I need it for my next job." Nana nodded in understanding. Her hand shot up as she caught the tag of her target a centimeter from her face.
"Here you go, Nana-chan~." Hisoka's musical voice quipped.
"Oh. Thanks." She pocketed the tag. Hisoka always wondered where she kept things since her oversized sweatshirt didn't have any pockets. Did she have a secret compartment? Did her ropes hold everything? Or did she have a nen trick? Whatever the reason, it was amusing. Illumi started digging a large hole and hopped in stating he was going to sleep there until the end of the week. Nana's face dropped and she gave a nervous laugh at the strange assassin. "Do you have your target's tag yet?" She asked Hisoka who shook his head no. Nana stretched, reaching her arms into the sky and standing on her tippy-toes. "Alright. Let's go get it." Hisoka smirked and his amber eyes bore into her.
"Is my Nana-chan helping me?"
"No. I'm bored. Think of it as me returning a favor." Hisoka chuckled and licked his lips.
"I know how we can make things more exciting."
"No." Hisoka pouted.
"Aww, Nan-"
"No."
One way or another, Hisoka was going to make this "fun". He was going to get Nana to snap and let her other personality out. Then, and only then, would this exam be worth it. Hisoka couldn't wait.