A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait! Fortunately, I have all of Christmas week off so fingers crossed that I can get you guys some more chapters then. But on a separate note, you guys have knocked my socks off with the amount of reviews and follows. It really makes me so happy and I wanted to thank you all. Keep them coming, please!

Chapter Ten:

"My turn." My ears peaked at the voice, my attention turning fully to the other side of the room. Minoru had barely stepped onto our side before there was a scraping, shuffling sound that crept closer and closer. The sliver of shadows that hid all of the prisoners eventually gave way to the light cast from the torches and I grimaced.

Hunched and dragging along his right leg, the next prisoner would have been a monster from any little girl's nightmares. Half of his body was covered in smooth, waxy skin - as if he were a candle that had been held to close to a flame. All of his hair had been burned into smoothness from his scalp to the drooping lid of his left eye where there were no lashes.

That is one ugly inmate, Minoru whistled. I didn't say anything, taking in the jagged way that he was making his way across the bridge. Unless he was playing a rather believable part, he wouldn't be fighting. My eyes narrowed further. Would it be another riddle?

"I'll go!" Another surprise. My brows went up as Ichihiro stepped forward with a wide smile, his eyes glittering. "I know how it looked last time when Minoru had to go. I want to prove myself. We're a team right?"

Taken aback, I gaped as he made his way forward, giving me a thumbs-up as he stepped onto the metal bridge.

He just left you with the biggest competitor over there, Minoru said blandly, his eyes flicking to me as he stared across the bridge, obviously unimpressed. I hissed out a breathe, throwing up my hands. Of course he had. What a little rat. And I had actually been fooled for a moment.

Creeping in the shadows, I caught the flash of a toothy grin. The mammoth of a man had surely taken notice of who was left in the group and considering I was the smallest member, it must have been a relief.

"He's going to want a fight to the death," I said, the grimness of the situation sinking in. Big guys went down hard but I had been in too many fights to underestimate anyone. The streets had quickly taught me to restrain any sense of comfort, teaching me time after time with broken jaws and dislocated shoulders and partial guttings. I wasn't going to die in this stinking, rotten prison. And that meant that I would have to be quick. I was too small for long, endurance-related fighting. If this fight lasted longer than 15 minutes than I was going to be in real trouble. Grimacing, I cracked my neck. "Do you still have my daggers that Gon gave us?"

It's broken still. He dug around in the pouch at his stomach.

"Let's just hope I can fix it in time then," I whispered, the cool metal touching my palm as I sat down and went to work, unwinding the silky thread and carefully beginning to spool it again before I looked at the damage to the actual launching mechanism.

"My trial isn't one of physical strength or mental aptitude," a silky voice started from the depths of the withered mess of a prisoner now standing across from a smiling Ichihiro. "Instead we'll just have a simple, straight forward test of endurance."

Slowly, the torches around the platformed lowered, a smile curling the prisoner's gnarled face. Dragging himself over to one of them, he continued on. "I've been down here for ten years now… I've quiet missed the flames." That slimy smile grew, flashing yellowed teeth. "Tonight we'll be taking a trip down memory lane." Ichihiro didn't move, keeping a firm gaze on the prisoner. "Whoever can keep their hand in the flame the longest wins. Easy enough, right?"

Beside me, Minoru spluttered. This guy's a fucking psychopath.

Or he's trying to make it seem like he's a psychopath, I threw out, not looking away from the little bit of progress that I had made. Look at his hands.

They're ugly - what about them?

I grinned, reattaching my dagger to the end of the spool. They're also shaking. Either he has some sort of nerve damage or he's scared.

Minoru frowned, his eyes narrowed as the little charade continued on.

"I wouldn't blame you if you decided to back out," the prisoner said slickly. I frowned, trying to move a bit faster as I tried to find a way to resecure my spool. I would have to get rid of the spring… "Damaging your whole arm in the middle of such an intense exa-"

"When are we starting?" I blinked, all thoughts of fixing anything emptying from my mind. Ichihiro was still smiling, his eyes crinkled shut as he moved a little bit closer to the flames. I had honestly assumed that he would forfeit. Even with my own assumptions, I wasn't entirely sure if I would risk the use of one of my arms. And I didn't even want to be in this stupid trial.

The slick sides of the inmates face crinkled, his whole body stiffening for a moment before he gave a shaky laughed, filled with a little too much bravado to make it real. For a moment, my eyes drifted to the ebony-haired man. There was something almost manic about his smile, a tightening around his eyes. Maybe even the odd tensing of his shoulders as if his entire body was leaning into the challenge.

Briefly, my mind flashed to the one other person who I had met in this place with the same desperate need for-

Bloodlust, Minoru whispered to me, his fur already standing up in agitation. The swirls of glittering red all along his hide pulsed, shivering in a nervous dance.

I didn't reply, working slowly on my weapon now as I kept my eyes trained on the platform. In the dim light of the prisoner's hallway, I saw the remaining two shift warily.

"Are you sure? This could ruin your chances for the rest of the competition," the prisoner's voice had taken on a tone that reminded me of glasses, shivering against winds that were too high.

"My dad used to tell me stories about the people locked up in this tower," Ichihiro murmured, his voice amiable, almost...nice as they drew closer to the torches that were now lowering slowly to waist level. The ebony in his eyes caught the flames, making them burn like hot coals as he grinned across the way at the prisoner. Something silvery caught the light, flashing across Ichihiro's palms so quickly that I barely had time-

Knife, Minoru hissed, yanking me to him with enough force to send me slamming into the tunnel walls. Shadows crowded around me as Minoru's considerable bulk surrounded me, his face pulled taut in a grimace.

A choked, wet sound echoed around the massive enclosure. "Strange. I always thought that you would be so much more...impressive."

Something thudded to the ground. And if I had to guess it would be the bloody body of Ichihiro's prisoner.

That little bastard, Minoru snarled, his eyes glinting dangerously as he finally moved away from me. Where I stood, a slim dagger was embedded in the dirt. Not a fatal shot but definitely a warning. I hissed, anger roaring to life inside of me. Hisoka was one thing in this infernal trial but some boy scout was a completely different thing.

"YOU LOSE!" The massive prisoner from before called, his voice booming around the area as Ichihiro crouched down, his face decidedly blank as he stared at the inmate that he had just sent a dagger through.

"How did I lose?" his voice was almost bored, his hands yanking the dripping blade from the now limp chest of his opponent.

My hands clenched, my teeth grinding. "It was a pain trial, Ichihiro! Who the hell told you to kill him?!"

"Ah," he murmured, standing up as our tally beeped down a point and our opponents went up. I was nearly frothing at the mouth. "Well I'm not a masochist so I obviously wasn't going to go along with that."

"YOU LITTLE VIPER!" I shrieked, the only thing keeping me from meeting him halfway across the bridge, Minoru's arm curled around my waist. I flailed, the dagger on the launching device that was still functioning flicking down as I jerked my wrist, catching it deftly in my hands. "AND YOU TRIED TO KILL ME TOO?! I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE!"

The shit-eating grin that was spread across his face was enough to make me see straight red, Minoru giving a grunt as I kicked at him.

"SEND ME MY LUNCH!" The final inmate from before bellowed, the bridge creaking from his weight as he lumbered across.

"If I had wanted to kill you, you would know," Ichihiro said as he strolled past, his eyes closing to slits as he grinned up at me. They slid open, only barely, flicking to where my opponent was now standing. "I think you're making someone wait, little mouse."

I stilled, ice running through my veins. That was Hisoka's nickname for me. Ichihiro gave a small chuckle, going to lean up against one of the nearby walls. That hadn't been a coincidence. Which meant that Ichihiro had been listening to us. Had been watching us. For how long? At least since the Milsey Swamp trial. For what reason? My muscles knotted. I didn't know. But he had to know about my brothers. And his interests were obviously far more sinister than mild fascination.

"Let me down," I breathed.

Minoru looked at me skeptically. Are you-"

I'm not going to kill him, I replied, never moving my eyes away from the ebony-haired man as he slowly cleaned his dagger. I had no clue if he had friends - no way to find out if his interested were centered around me only or my brothers as well. I wasn't going to risk them. Which meant… We don't know if more tests require all of us. We need him for the rest of the trial.

Minoru's eyes narrowed but he set me on my feet. Or we could kill him and cut that watch off of his cold, dead body. I stared up at him, suddenly remembering why we had remained together for all of these years. He shrugged. Just saying.

We have to keep him alive. My eyes narrowed on Ichihiro. For now.

"I'M GETTING TIRED OF WAITING!" The inmate roared, stamping around like an overgrown toddler. Quickly I tucked my dagger device into Minoru's pouch, tightening the one that I still had.

"KEEP YOUR PANTS ON, BIG GUY!" I called, moving closer to Ichihiro. My whole body screamed for me to cut him up into little, hideable pieces. But that wasn't the smart thing to do. So I stilled myself, glowering down at him as he returned my stare with a smile. "If you call me that again, I'll cut off your balls and feed them to my bear."

Um...ew? Minoru choked, his face pulling back in obvious disgust. Even so, when Ichihiro glanced his way he forced his face into a snarl. I'm definitely not eating some skeezy guys' balls.

Well, duh, obviously. Giving Ichihiro a final glare I made my way briskly across the bridge and to the platform's edge. All the way back in our little alcove, the space had seemed minuscule. However, stepping foot in it made me think that it was about the size of a regular family's first floor.

"In some ways, I'm sorry that I had to break you in today, little girl," the ogre of a man said before his smile turned lecherous, his tongue reaching out to lick along his lips as he eyed me from head to toe. "In other ways, I'm not."

How was I supposed to respond to that? I glanced at the clock. We had already wasted two hours here. Not to mention that the blood from Ichihiro's opponent had seeped across the platform and was currently turning my shoes red.

"O-kay," I drew out.

"My trial-" He seemed like a talker. I really didn't need the whole doom and despair speech.

"Before you go any further," I cut in. "You want a fight to the death right?"

He blinked, taken aback. "Well...yeah-"

"Good. Kind of assumed by the whole tree-trunk vibe I'm getting from you." I cracked my knuckles, doing a couple of quick jumps to try and warm myself up a bit. "I accept your challenge so let's get started."

"Wait-"

A beep went off somewhere, echoing shrilly around the room.

If I had seemed confident - Well, it was because I was. Not necessarily because I thought I could beat the guy. No. In a fight, thinking like that was a way to severely hinder yourself. So in every fight, I treated it like it was my last. Like if I gave them too much time they could work themselves up to actually kill me. But that was a trick as well - because that in and of itself was fear. The fear of losing. The fear of dying. They all beat inside of me like a roaring stampede of elephants, keeping me wound so tight that it was a surprise I didn't snap.

It was all such a paradox. If you weren't confident then you would doubt yourself and end up dead. If you were confident than you would underestimate your opponent and end up dead. Like walking on a tight rope as thin as a single strand of hair, trying to balance between the certainty of one emotion.

My opponent changed from stillness to defense quicker than I anticipated.

"Quick-" I heard him whisper as if surprised seconds after I dodged the hit that was obviously meant for my ribcage.

I had been fighting big guys like him my entire life. So in a way, I supposed it was kind of unfair for me to fight him. I twisted, sending my knee forward as I sidestepped another punch, the air whispering along my skin as he gave a scream, his elbow popping inwards at an odd angle as it broke.

He wasn't used to fighting little girls that were faster than him.

I grabbed his broken arm, digging my fingers into the skin their as he reeled, my muscles burning as I yanked him over, sending his big body slamming to the ground. I was behind him before he could even take a breath.

Vaguely, as my fingers curled around his jaw, my other hand curling into the downy hair at his nape, I wondered what he had come in for. My eyes drifted to the soft skin along his palms. Probably identity theft with hands like those. I twisted.

CRACK!

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