Chapter V
The sounds of a violin being played could be heard.
More specifically blaring through my ears.
"Ugh..! Someone turn that off…" I grumbled, slowly waking up from my comfortable sleep. "Seriously..?"
I opened my eyes slowly, the noise becoming somewhat bearable. I tried to get up but something was preventing me from doing so. I looked in front of me.
An adorable cat was sleeping soundly in my chest, completely ignoring the sound.
I mean, normally I would just ignore it if it was a normal cat, but to be specific, this wasn't a normal cat. It's the most dangerous one. Obviously, you know who I'm talking about.
"Pitou…?" I poked her, trying to get her attention. Which to no one's surprise didn't work in the slightest. "My body hurts."
"Do you need help?" Someone else says from the sideline. I looked over and found Pouf a distance away, still playing the violin. So, that's who woke me up.
Honestly, I was surprised he still hasn't killed me or even tried at least once. He either didn't see me as a threat or just didn't care enough. Or maybe he respects Pitou's wishes.
"..It's fine," I replied, glancing back to the problem at hand. "I got this."
"Suit yourself," Pouf shrugs.
I sat up, which I thought would be enough to push Pitou away. It didn't work. Her arms were still around me, which was honestly killing me because of how strong she was. Remind me to never get on her bad side.
I tried to stand up, but I immediately fell on my ass. I tried to pry her arms off me, but that also didn't work. I'm starting to honestly run out of options here. I pet her hair, still thinking, which she purred in response.
My face flushed as I zoned out, still petting her. Ack…
The petting didn't last long before she finally woke up. Pitou released her death grip on me which I quickly cheered.
"Yus! Finally," I stood up and stretched, my body was aching from all the sleeping.
Pitou stared at me weirdly, "Nya~? What are you doing?"
"Uhm, nothing," I said, remembering where I was currently. "It just took me a while to get out of your deathly grip. Did you know you have a strong grip when sleeping?"
Pitou raised a brow. "Why didn't nya just wake me up…?" She asks as she yawns halfway,
I stared at her, "I… don't know?"
Pouf chuckles in the corner. I glared in response, which he doesn't even seem to notice or care about.
"Idiot…" Pitou says as she stood up to meet me in the eye. "Next time just wake me up, nya~?"
"Next time..? So this isn't a one-time thing? Alright…" I shook my head, "I'm getting kinda hungry. Do you have anything to eat here?"
"Oh~! Are nya gonna try out eating humans? We have those if you're interested!" Pitou smirks proudly with a glint in her eye.
"I forgot I'm in a chimera ant colony…" I stare at her blankly and shook my head in response, "Nope. Never. Any food that humans eat perhaps? Like… uh animals or maybe some vegetables and fruits."
"Hmm~" Pitou glances at Pouf who was still playing his violin. "Do we have those, Pouf?"
Pouf pauses for a moment before replying, "Most likely not. So far I haven't seen any ants that were interested in human-based diets."
"That's… true… I also haven't seen a single one of them that was interested in it as well."
"You can ask the other ants if you really must."
"Hmm…" Pitou thinks, tilting her body from side to side, which was rather adorable… "Ah! I think I have an idea…"
"Yeah…?" I ask reluctantly.
"It's a secret!" Pitou smirks before standing up. "I'm going to talk to someone. I'll be back quickly. Don't let him out of your site Pouf!"
Pitou quickly leaves the room, not letting Pouf say anything back.
"She seems really childish…" I comment.
Pouf lets out a small laugh. "And yet you humor her."
"What can I say, I'm that nice," I shrug, looking at him with a not-so-humble smile.
"I'm sure that's the only reason." Pouf shakes his head, clearly not convinced. "You should know that she's extremely interested in your strength. But somehow I can't see that. I doubt you're even close to actually beating at least one of the royal guards."
"Ouch," I chuckled. "Glad to see that I'm not considered a threat."
"That's the only reason I allow Pitou to keep you here and not take it in my own hand to kill you," he said with an empty smile.
"Ah, the perks of being strong but at the same time weak. I never expected you to take that much risk though?"
"I trust that even Pitou doesn't consider you much of a threat."
Does everyone really underestimate me that much? Well… as long as it works in my favor, I'm all up for it. But still, it does sting to say that I'm considered weak.
One thing to notice is that most of them are arrogant… Heh, they really took the worst trait of humans. But I still wonder if they also have empathy. Ah… Gon really is rubbing off on me. I'm getting soft, killing them should be of priority.
"Well, hey, if being called weak is preventing me from dying. Then I guess I'll just be harmless," I shrug.
Pouf looks at me weirdly, "You're proud of that? Being at the mercy of someone like Pitou?"
"Well it's not like I have a choice, either that or she's going to try and kill me again." I sigh, "Fighting her isn't exactly an easy task. I have to focus so much just to not die in one hit."
"You humans and your fragile body…" Pouf says in a mocking tone. "And you wonder why you aren't considered a threat."
It was more like the other way around… These guys are just too strong. Seeing their aura is enough to give me shivers. I seriously hope Pitou sees me as a friend rather than prey… it's just classic for cats to be like that, I wouldn't be surprised if she just sees me as a plaything.
"I'm actually surprised you can make complex decisions being only born yesterday…"
"Don't compare your feeble kind's mind to ours," he scoffs. "I said it before, humans are just that different. They are far too weak, both mentally and physically."
"Eh? Then what's your goal after the king's been born?"
"Whatever the king desires, we shall provide. If his goal is to ever annihilate humanity, then we shall support him," Pouf says, continuing to play his violin.
He says it so casually… They really want to underestimate humanity, huh? Hopefully, we don't do the same to them. Chimera ants themselves aren't a joke. Their ability to reproduce quickly will be the end of humanity if they ever get a chance to spread throughout the world.
I really wanna say something back… Just for the sake of not dying, I'll ignore it.
Soon enough, Pitou came back to the room with some joy in her steps.
"Nya~! There should be food later, Shiro!"
"Really? Thanks, I guess…" I smile for a moment. Despite first impressions, Pitou was quite hospitable, surprisingly. "Where did you even go?"
"It's a secret," Pitou says, with a cat-like smirk. "Do you want to try fighting now?" She says excitedly, with a gleam in her eyes. "Do you wanna? Do you wanna?"
Her enthusiasm was probably enough to kill me honestly. "Sure…"
"Nya~! Alright! Hehe… I want to experience our first night again!" Pitou says innocently. "That was really fun!"
Pouf looks at us weirdly, "How perverted…"
"Hey! I didn't do anything!" I said defensively. "It was a fight! Nothing weird!"
"How suspicious…"
"Stop with your imagination!" I yelled, slightly flushed.
"Nya?" Pitou stares at Pouf and I, as she looked confused. "Hey… hey…! Let's do it already… I want to do it right now!"
"Fine…" I stood up. "Where exactly?"
"We can do it here!" Pitou smiles widely. "The room is large enough and no one will disturb us all day! Even if we're extremely loud!"
Pouf sighs deeply, "...Should I just leave?"
Pitou nods innocently, "Sure? If you wanted to?"
"You know full well that's not what she meant!" I interject, pointing an accusing finger at Pouf.
"I'm sure she didn't," he says as he starts to walk away and head towards the exit.
"Hey! Come back here!" I said trying to reach out to him but he was already gone. "I swear that guy…"
"Nya?" Pitou looks at me, before laughing. "You're so weird, human."
"Maybe I am weird for thinking about it in that context…" My head droops for a moment before looking at Pitou. "So, what now? We're not actually going to go all out inside your home base right?"
"Of course not, why would we?"
"...I don't know… you just seem so excited to fight, so I just assumed that… well you want to fight all out."
"If I fight all out I might accidentally kill you!" Pitou grins. "I don't want that! Well, I can fix you… but it's not the same."
I put my hands up defensively, "Woah before you even talk about fixing me, how 'bout you try beating me first? I don't think you defeated me last time. It was a stalemate, remember?"
"But I did cut your arm off."
"Touche… Yeah, no, thanks for reminding me." I rubbed my arm that was amputated during our fight. At least it was reattached now. "That was a lucky hit. But anyway, we probably can't fight here… so let's just not do any fighting at all!" I smiled as I gave her a thumbs-up.
"Nope! Then let's try somewhere else… like…" Pitou hums thinking for a moment before smirking.
…
An hour later…
…
"Come on… let's calm down for a bit!" I jump away as Pitou pounced at my previous spot, making a small crater. "Isn't this supposed to be a friendly fight?! I haven't even gotten to counter attack yet!"
Thankfully we were outside, just below the ant base, surrounded by trees. Well… it used to be until Pitou accidentally cut some of them down…
"Nya just have to fight back like last time!"
"I know! But I didn't expect this fight will be like a fight to the death!" I scoffed as I kept dodging her attacks. "Ya have to give me some room here. It's really hard dodging these attacks, you know?"
Pitou giggles, "And somehow you're dodging everything? I don't believe nya!" She continues to attack.
Something I noticed during our fights is how predictable her fighting style was. Her raw strength and power was amazing, especially her animal instincts… but she still lacked experience.
I didn't want to attack much because it would feel like I'm training her… but somehow she was still improving alot, at an extremely scary pace.
What to do…
I dodge another attack from Pitou and conjured my sword to try and blocked her next attack.
"Oh! You finally took out your weapon! Are nya going to fight back now, Shiro?"
"Mhmm… I'll think about it." I continued to block her attacks. "Besides, I don't think I would be even able to hit you."
"That's because you aren't trying!"
I sidestep, dodging another attack. "I am trying! Trying not to die, that is…"
"I just want you to show me your abilities." Pitou smirks, still continuing to attack me.
"Eh~? That's a big secret though…" I shrug. "Personally, my abilities are my sword."
"...If you aren't going to tell me then I'll just let you show it!"
"Sure, good luck with that."
…
The fight lasted for a few hours before I started to get exhausted.
"W-Wait!" I huff. "Let's continue later… I'm hungry!"
"Nya… you're right. Fine." Pitou stops with the attack.
"Alright thanks…"
I took a seat on the grass and glanced opposite of the base. I can sense them… Someone… no… at least three people have been staring at Pitou and I. Most likely it was the chairman and two other hunter.
Even the chairman is afraid of taking direct confrontation eh? What a pain… I don't think I can also escape. It'll probably bring trouble to the chairman if I brought a crazy cat girl towards them.
"Pitou-san. Shiro-san." Colt comes from above and flies down towards us.
I greeted him, "Ah, hey… Colt right? What's up?"
"Nothing much… I was just passing by," Colt looks around the area. "I was just curious to what you were doing… ah, and I heard there was human food for you inside, orders from Pitou-san."
"Nice! Great timing!" I say as I pat his shoulder.
"Aah… such a glutton." Pitou shakes her head.
"Says the fighting crazed cat girl…" I retort.
Pitou smirks proudly, "It's fun!"
I stare at her before letting out a small smile. "Ah, I guess that's true…"
…
Chapter End
...
Author's Note
It's exam week... but that doesn't matter! It's time for an update!
Sorry for the late update! Been busy with school. And I also had to rewatch the whole HxH series again, which gave me more ideas. Updates won't be frequent since I'm still busy, but I'll try to update again soon.
Hope you enjoy it!