Prologue

"What you can do, darling, is not magic. It's just nen."

"There's a difference?" She dared to ask.

The man had been staring at just her throughout the entirety of the show. Granted, her act usually impressed the audience the most, but not many kept their eyes on her with that creepy of a smile. Sharp angular feaures and a muscular physique under a shiny suit and tie. He didn't strike her as the not dangerous type. If anything, his medium-length cherry red hair only served as an additional red flag for his character.

"Oh there is." He had an edge to his voice that reminded her of a sly black cat for some reason. "Ah! You see, magic is something only achievable by a special few; while nen on the other hand is not all that special."

Hanako grimaced. What's this guy's deal?

"...which is why I'm not here for your nen, or 'magic' as you'd like to call it. Rather, I'm here for-" He paused for dramatic effect, "-you."

She needed to call security. And fast. However, the moment her body tensed to move, the man was behind her, keeping a tight grip on her shoulders. "Don't call anyone... unless you want them dead, mhm?" His mouth was right beside her ear, practically breathing his words into it. Gross.

"What do you want?" She huffed out, buying time for her next trick.

"You, darling. I came here to take you." He tigtened his grip. "I'd recommend you to resist. It'd make it more fun for me that way."

"Fine." Careful not to show it in her stance this time, she gathered enough energy in her hands for a decent attack. She just had to make contact. Without warning, she thrust her hands behind herself, palms aiming for his knees. He won't be able to walk after that one. Ever.

A chilling chuckle and his grip had moved down to her wrists, painfully angling them upwards. The bastard didn't even allow her to catch her breath.

"Which one should I break first, hm?" He applied more pressure, eliciting a sharp hiss. "Or maybe I should break both of them at the same time. What do you think?"

Amidst the tension, her brain struggled to catch up. Truth be told she'd never been in a real fight, not with an actually capable adult. She'd been trained for show, not violence. If the latter had been true, she'd been out of this place a long time ago.

Still, she couldn't just give up, right? She continued to struggle against his grip, but to no success. His dark energy seemed to encompass her whole, forcing her own to stay down.

"Why do you even want me?" She gritted out. "There are-" She gasped as his energy grew stronger, "-easier targets. Leave me be."

"Because you're special. And because... you're mine."

"Yours? You're delusional." Her voice began to crack with fear. "There's no way-"

A swift kick to her abdomen sent her all the way to the other side of her tent, knocking the wind out of her. Coughing, she struggled up to her knees, one hand on a tent pole. The back of her head throbbed from where it had hit the ground, nearly blinding her vision.

She glared at the man as he walked over to her, strangely graceful. A few feet away, he stopped, eying her with a smirk. "I'm offering you an out, little girl. Take it."

"There's no way I'm gonna be-" She pulled herself back up to her feet. "-trusting a creep like you. I don't even know who the hell you are."

"Ah! Right." He looked midly surprised for a moment, eyebrows arched up high. "I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me. I'm Hisoka Morrow, renowned magician and- of course- your dear older brother."

"What?"

Hisoka grinned. "Don't believe me?"

"Of course, I don't. That's- that's stupid."

"Well you can just ask your ringmaster then... and if that doesn't work." He pulled out a bundle of folded paper out of his pocket, before offering them to her. "Curious?"

Hanako's eyes narrowed as she grabbed the paper from his hands, quickly unfolding it to reveal its contents. "How did you-"

"Trust me now?"

"You could have just stolen it from my actual sibling." She shot back, pocketing the bundle herself. "You're just a thief."

"You really think your brother would allow that to happen?" Hisoka dramatically rolled his eyes. "Well if you don't believe me, you can just give me those papers back, hm? When I could have stolen them-- as you say-- I could have also forged them, no?"

"No." She braced herself for a fight.

Hisoka tilted his head, making a show pf consideration. "Come with me and I'll let you keep those. How about that?" After a pause, he continued. "You know you can't win against me; I can easily take those away from you... along with the rest of the journal."

Hanako hesitated. "Do you-" She took a deep breath in an attempt to steady her thoughts. "What would you do if I come with you?"

"Simple. I'd train you to be the stongest."

"And... then?"

Hisoka closed his eyes, as if imagining the moment. "We'd have a fight to death. Sounds fun?"

Hanako smiled. "Sure. And you'll lose."

"We'll see about that." Hisoka shrugged, smiling back. "Now what'd you say to burning this whole circus down and beheading everyone here except us, hm?"

"Sounds fun."

[A/N: As I mentioned in the summary, this is a self-indungent fanfic. In other words, I am ignoring any potential cringe moments so... just beware. The next chapter will be a timeskip to their first hunter exam which yk Hisoka failed in canon.]