Chapter 13 : His x Scarlet x Eyes

~~~

-Rou-

As my eyes fluttered open, it met a familiar closed eyes having blonde locks, only inches away from my face. I quickly choked on my own voice, realizing the situation.

D-did I... did I fell asleep on him?!

I mentally squirmed, shaking myself out of my senses.

I can't move, what should I do? Should I wake him up already? It would be awkward!

"We have now arrived at our destination. Kindly prepare yourselves to depart." an announcement from the speaker woke everyone up.

Kurapika opened his eyes slowly as he caught me staring. I gulped as I felt my cheeks creep a blush.

Kurapika sat straight as I quickly sat on my own too. I couldn't seem to meet his gaze anymore. Everything between us is getting far worst!

As if to clear the awkwardness, Kurapika cleared his throat. "Ohayo, Rou..."

I turned to him as a small smile formed in my lips. "Ohayo. Erm--sorry for sleeping in you..." I mumbled the next few words as he giggled. "It's my own discretion, no need to worry. Just glad you had a nice sleep."

'Yeah. Too nice though...'

~~~

The airship dropped us on top of a seemingly tall tower, as Bean-san started to give out instructions. "This is the Trick Tower where the third place will take place. All you need to do is to figure out how to reach the bottom in 72 hours time limit. I wish you all the luck."

When we are all left in survival, we got busy thinking how to start. Leorio peeked into the heights of the tower before shivering. "Climbing down might kill us,"

Then suddenly, a man appeared, boasting his climbing ability as he started to climb down fast. But then a strange looking birds, about larger than human in size, flew over the man's direction. We watched as it devoured him, screams echoing on top.

"I guess that is a bad idea," Leorio commented.

"Hmm... look, we are about a half in number here unlike earlier," Kurapika pointed out, which is true.

"It means there must be hidden pathways here..." I said.

"Guys! Come on over here!" Gon suddenly called us out into their direction.

"Gon found a secret door," Killua said as Gon tapped his foot on a tile, moving it a bit.

"That's right! Maybe this should be it!" Leorio praised the shy Gon.

We all agreed to go down as we found our own door. Killua said that one door only require one person when they tried it earlier with another man. And after briefing our goodbyes, we all stepped on a tile at once.

I was a bit anxious when the dark falls in. But when I landed on my feet, the light burst open. It reveals the boys whom I bid goodbye just a moment earlier.

When we realized that we have entered the same room, all laughed sheepishly. "This is unexpected," I said between my laughs.

"Look! There's a monitor!" Gon pointed out. And then there are five watches also on the stand.

"Finally! You have now entered a majority rule room. Since you're now complete, the exam will begin. I am Lippo, your third phase examiner. All you have to do is to decide for every question, and then the majority wins."

Someone spoke in the speaker as we all grab a watch, putting it in our wrists. It has an O and X button on it. Maybe for voting purposes.

Then suddenly, a door revealed behind with a monitor saying, "O for open, X for no". With that, we all pressed the O button, followed by the opening of the door.

As we reached the end of the path where two ways revealed, the monitor says "O for right, X for left". We all stopped as we ponder for a while.

"Let's go left!" Leorio was the only one voted for left, that's why we proceeded to the right. Leorio started bickering with us again, but Kurapika defended it to be a logical decision.

I just sighed. I've accepted long before that these two will always have to clash in some situations.

Not long after, an open space met us at the end of the way, with a square shaped mini stadium in the middle and a space on the other side like ours. Steel bars closed behind where we come from, as if preventing us to escape. This is actually a no escape place for the dark depths under are the only thing that can be seen through the naked eye, as if we are floating. One wrong step off the floor will be our end.

"Listen, everyone..." Lippo-san started to explain on the speaker. "These are the Trick Tower prisoners, but they are also hired as examiners..."

And then four--no, five hooded people appeared beneath the shadows of the other side. "In order to get passed, you'll need to face them on a one-on-one battle according to their rules. Interruption of the other is prohibited because this will be an individual battle."

He added. "Win 3 matches and you'll pass. But if they win, their sentence will be lessen by 72 years."

We all turned serious as the surroundings get intense. "Time will be a crucial part in our matches," Kurapika said.

When the speaker turned off, one hooded man emerged from the other side as the shackles were removed from his hand. He took off his hood as he revealed a petit man.

"I'll come up first." He spoke.

Gon suddenly moved forward as he volunteered enthusiastically. "Then I'll go up first too!"

We all know that there is nothing to worry about, especially when judging the appearance of Gon's opponent. But who knows what he can do?

"Are you sure, Gon?" Kurapika asked worriedly.

Gon just nodded with a smile, telling us to ease our backs. A steel bridge suddenly appeared, moving slowly to connect with the stadium at the center. The match players walked towards the center.

"Actually, I'm not fond of physical activities," the man spoke.

"On the other hand, I don't like mental activities," Gon replied.

"Hmm... why not we just play a simple game?" Gon agreed happily.

"This will involve a candle. The first one to get the light off will lose." And then he showed two candles, one is long while the other one is short.

We all sweatdropped. "Choose one through majority votes,"

Gon turned to us, asking what should we pick. "This is kinda tricky. We can pick the long one but we don't know what trick he has done on it. But the short one can be pretty risky," Leorio said.

We all took a while to ponder over it. "We don't have enough time to think this over. Tricks can be done on both candles. Let's just leave this to Gon's instincts." Kurapika suggested.

"Gon! You can choose and we will abide," Gon nodded as he picked the long candle.

"Why?" The man was amused. "Because it will be longer to take before the light go off,"

We all sighed. "Gon is just taking it plainly," Killua said.

The two both set the lights on their candles as they go back to their position. We waited in anticipation, as Gon keep on watching carefully over his candle while keeping an eye to the man.

"If you won't focus on yours, it will go off..." the man said. "You may try something tricky though," Gon replied. 

Suddenly, a gush of wind was blown upwards from beyond. Gon protected his candle, but then in a blink of an eye, the fire suddenly went strong. "Ittai!"

The candle is fast melting down. "Hey! That's dirty!" Leorio shouted at the man. He could've put some flammable into the long candle!

The man only smirked as if victory was already on his side. But then his mood quickly dropped when he saw Gon's smile. "In this case, the fire won't go off even for a while..." and then Gon put his already small candle unto the floor.

He dashed right in front of the shocked man as he blew his candle. "Yatta! I won!" We all cheered on him while still not getting over the fact that Gon had outsmarted him.

"That's amazing, Gon!" I said once he came back. The first point goes in our team.

The next opponent comes up, showing a blue skinned bulk man with a distorted face. What a creep.

"I should go next," Kurapika said. I looked at him with a visible worried eyes. But he just nodded in reassurance.

"Will Kurapika be okay? That man looks dangerous," Leorio said.

"I think he will be fine," Killua said.

When Kurapika's face to face with the blue man, it spoke in horrendous manner. "Look at this, young man! This is the 19 people I've slain, and I'm so excited I've got to meet the 20th." he pointed at the 19 hearts tattooed on his left chest.

"I see. So, how should we start then?" Kurapika said, unbothered.

"Let's fight until one surrenders or die, won't you?" the man then laughed in malice as Kurapika just took off his tabard.

"A-also... no weapons! Because we're still prisoners and we're not allowed to carry that,"

I massaged my temple lightly. This man is obviously a coward. He's just trying to scare off Kurapika. What does he think of my Kurapika--

Ehem.

I watched carefully as Kurapika tossed his twin swords behind. "Shall we start?"

"Very well..." the blue man then stretched his muscles, making it appear more enhanced. He then jumped high and aims to the direction of Kurapika. His fist met the floor once Kurapika evaded it, causing a hole in it.

Kurapika has his full attention to the match. When the man lift up his fist and turned around, my lips started to part as a shaky breath comes out.

The man has a spider tattoo visible on his back. I knew then it was a fake, real spiders has number imprinted on it.

But... this is too much... for Kurapika.

I crossed my arms tightly in front of my chest as I watch Kurapika rose up, trembling. When he lift his chin up, I met a pair of scarlet eyes I've been longing to see, but long been running away from.

"Behold! I am one of the four kings of Phantom Troupe! Go on, fear me!!" the man haven't had the slightest idea that he just made it worst.

"A spider with 12 legs," Gon mumbled.

"They are an elite group of robbers," Killua added.

"Yeah, I heard about them right from Kurapika..." Leorio said.

I kept my feet on where I'm standing, fighting the urge to find an escape. Even here, and everywhere, Phantom Troupe continues to haunt me.

The man was startled when he lost sight of Kurapika as he appeared behind him, choking him with his hand gripping on his mouth with so much hatred.

"I-I..." the man seems to be giving up when Kurapika punched him hard that he had his face buried on the floor.

"Just for a few warnings, first, a real spider has a number on it... second, the Phantom Troupe doesn't bother on counting their victims... and lastly the third, try to mention them again and I'll surely kill you."

This is my first time hearing such a terrifying words of Kurapika. It trembles me down to my deepest core. His grudge is like a wild fire, never wanting to die but instead just grow more stronger.

I just realize that I've been sweating a ton when Kurapika's already back. "Are you okay? Is it fine for us to be around you?" Leorio asked, worried a lot.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I must have startled you guys. It's just that, everytime I see a spider, even a real ones, or heard anything connected to that troupe, my mood is turning into complete foul." I gulped.

"I guess my grudge has become stronger than before, and I should be glad." He said as he sat behind.

Everyone seems a bit worried about Kurapika.

While I am so worried... about us.

~~~

The next match involved Leorio against a certain woman with a vibrant violet hair. Their match is about a gamble where they used a 50 hours time in every tenth as a chips. The first, they bet upon whether the blue man is still alive. Leorio won it earning 10 hours.

The next one they bet on whether the blue man is truly unconscious or not. The woman smells sneaky when she changed her bet once Leorio was about to push the blue man off the edge. That's why the woman won a 40 hours of Leorio's. The next one was about whether the woman is a real woman, which completely got Leorio lost over his pervy self.

When the last bet included rock-paper-scissors, we already knew that Leorio is going to lose because he's so easy to read. At least we've got an idea, next time, we won't let Leorio handle a woman. Jeez.

In the end, Leorio lose our precious 50 hours and we had to pay for it later. It's about time that Killua had to face his match.

A small commotion on the other side made us look over. A pale huge muscled man with a cold eyes ripped the walls with his bare hand.

"Killua, you don't have to fight him. He's the most notorious mass murderer in Zaban City known for his iron grip, the Johness." Leorio said, shaking.

"No problem with me." Killua just smirked.

If the hunter exam allows this, they are surely merciless.

"Today I am not an examiner. I'm free to do whatever I want. I shall crush you bit by bit, hearing you whimper will be a pleasure..."

It happened all too fast. In the blink of an eye, Killua was on the other side as he left the psycho confused. And then he suddenly felt cold.

When Killua turned, he revealed his bloodless hand, holding the man's heart, still beating.

"G-give that b-back... i-it's m-mine..." he stumbled as he fell unto the ground, pleading for his dear heart.

When the heart stopped beating, the man was completely lifeless, as Killua put his heart on his reached out hand.

The whole scenario shook us as we try to understand what happened. And when Killua came back, Gon explained that Killua came from a family of elite assassins. So that's how.

I was still in awe I didn't realize that we already won the stage. But when we are about to move, someone spoke from the other side.

"Care for a fight, young lady?"

~~~