#I WOULD WILLINGLY CONTRACT RABIES FOR THAT MAN

[little-red-fool]

Whilst Ocelot’s my favourite character in the series he’s not really my type. That being said. MGSV Ocelot’s been growing on me a lot the last few weeks.

[shimmy-sham-with-the-fam]

Hunting X For X Bruises: Chap. 3

Prologue is here!

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Alrighty! And here we have the next addition to the fic!

 I’m really excited to see what people think about this chapter! :) Have fun with reading!

Words: 2663

Rate: T

Summary:  An AU where the bruises and cuts of a soulmate appear on the skin. Gon becomes increasingly worried about his soulmate as he gets tattooed with new marks everyday, and hopes to find the person soon. Killua, on the other hand, has been brainwashed by his family to believe that the spots on his skin are a curse from the person who plans to target and kill him, as they believe learning about a soulmate would make him soft during jobs. 

Chapter 3: Animals X Love X Hunters

Killua tapped his finger repeatedly on the table of a cafe he lingered in close to closing time. Many of the employees, he had noticed, had been whispering amongst themselves. It seemed that it was unusual to see a child eating on his own at a restaurant, not to mention the fact that it was after dark. His server had asked him if he was waiting on someone to join him, to which he replied in subtle amusement that he was by himself. Eventually, the server sighed, took his order and left him to sip at the glass of water at his side. Killua ignored the whispers and stares. He had better thing to focus his attention on.

Killua had two major problems to figure out in less than two weeks. The hunter exam itself would be held in two weeks, and finding out how to get there was one of the two problems at hand. However, the larger and more pressing issue was applying for the exam. Since he was only twelve years old, it was required for a guardian to sign off permission, as the exam was known to be dangerous. In fact, the application even warned that in almost every exam held, at least one person lost their life during the process of the examination. If Killua would have known what going on a fieldtrip with a class was like, he definitely would have compared the rules to the simplicity of a “permission slip”. Of course, Killua had tried forging a signature, but the application was almost immediately sent back declined. The assassin child had figured that the association, with all of it’s ties and connections, had reached his family. It was probably a safe assumption that the application had fallen into his mother’s hands; who would have rejected it without a second thought. His second plan was to get someone else to act as their guardian, but he realized that this idea would have the same result as his first attempt.

The server, in all of his blond, concerned glory, appeared with a large chunk of chocolate pie with a side of vanilla ice cream. Killa’s face perked up when the food came into his sight. If there was one thing that could get him out of a miserable mood, it was chocolate.

A spoon scooped into the soft dessert, filling his mouth deliciously. There was a sensational melting taste of the chocolate in his mouth, which he savored for every second he could before wanting another bite. The boy could have admitted to anyone still lingering within the cafe that he was tasting the textbook definition of heaven.

After scarfing down half of his plate, the manager politely stepped her way over to his small corner table. “Excuse me…. Sir,” their voice fumbled at the word “sir.” Killua’s eyebrows raised with a slight grin, wondering what the woman had in her mind to tell him.

“Mmm?” he focused down on shoveling a not so large chunk of ice cream into his mouth.

“We have passed closing hours, sir. I’m afraid we must close up the restaurant for the evening.” Killua stared down at his plate, longingly. He wanted to finish his treat, but he couldn’t take it along with him. It would be a hassle to carry a box around.

“Sure, alright. Just gimme a sec,” His hand waved her off, as if to say “go away, I’m busy.” A vein seemed to have popped out visibly from the woman from his unintentional rude behavior. The poor woman, after all, just wanted to go home from a long day of work. Nonetheless, Killua ignored her standing presence and picked up his plate. In three gigantic bites, he finished the dessert and sighed out in satisfaction. “Here!” An empty plate was pushed into the woman’s hands as he stood up. He placed an inappropriate amount of extra money for the food on the table, to which the manager eyed in utter confusion.

But Killua paid no mind; it wasn’t important.

He had more pressing issues to deal with.

The city Killua had managed to fly to via aircraft seemed well accustomed to a divided line of poverty versus well off. Or rather, the “well off” was more “they could pay for necessities and still have a bit left just in case.” As he walked farther and farther away from the center, he noticed most of the buildings were not completely in ruins, but most of them were outlined in planked windows and haphazardly stacked bricks replaced old ones that had been broken away. Killua wondered if the state of the buildings were really because of the poverty line or if there was more to it. Even with the limited resources available to the people, for multiple houses to have broken brick walls seemed a bit unusual.

Killua decided that he needed to find a stable place to stay for the night. And the tenants of the shabby buildings were most likely not going to be welcoming a strange young teen into their house willingly. He’d either have to find a hotel or look for a stable alley way to spend his night. Or maybe he could find a steady tile roof to sit upon for the evening. A hotel would definitely be ideal…

An indistinguishable whine broke the boy’s train of thought. What was that? There wasn’t a person to be seen in any direction. The whine broke the silence once more, which Killua figured might be a dog. The whimpers seemed to be coming from behind him. His eyes turned over his shoulder, looking back behind him. There was a small pup shivering and smashing it’s nose into a small pile of litter on the ground. Killua paced over to the small puppy, and bent down at it’s side. The puppy would have looked gorgeous had it not been covered in a few layers of dirt. Killua figured it might have had white fur at one point, back before it was scavenging on it’s own.

“I take it you want something to eat, huh?” the silverette held out a hand for the animal to sniff, making its judgement to trust him. It reminded him of the puppy he had years ago. He had named it Wolf, and was one of the few pleasures he remembers having as a younger child. Unfortunately, his dog had contracted rabies, and his father had told him that the dog had no choice but to be put down. A flash of his own small friend’s blood staining his hands made him grimace.

The small puppy barked weakly at him. “I’m sorry, I really don’t have anything good for you to eat.” His hand scratched the dog’s ear, hoping that it might be enough. When he stretched back up to his full height, the small animal barked once more at him. “I hope you find something good to eat.” he replied.

He was almost all the way turned around when he felt a tug on his shorts. “Huh?” The puppy ran passed him while yapping happily at him. He couldn’t help but grin light heartedly. “So you wanna play, huh? Alright.” He ran after the pup, his laugh bursting out of him before he could think to contain it in the night. Both young lives raced through the halls of the city. The puppy was excitedly huffing out woofs every time Killua passed it, just for it run harder to gain distance between them again. It was such an exciting moment for him, he hardly noticed that he had ran to the outskirts of the town.

There was a small shed located behind a house. The door was lightly propped open, with more whimpers and whines from within the small structure. He peered through the door, finding a mother dog with two other pups at her side. Killua eyed the small puppy that led him to his family. “Wow…” he gasped. “I guess it’s alright then, huh? For me to stay with you guys tonight?”

A hearty yap from the mother suggested that his stay was welcome. He hoped he wasn’t actually intruding upon someone else’s shed that just happened to be occupied by a family of dogs. It would be an awkward explanation to the person who opened the door to see a teenage boy keeping house in their shed.

Killua curled up in the farthest corner of the shed, warmed by the bodies of the dogs at his side. For the first time, Killua felt comfortable enough to sleep without worry.

The morning shined brightly in through the crack of the door, coaxing Killua to rise from his slumber. He rubbed his eyes sleepily when he sat up, realizing that he was no longer covered in a blanket of fur. Where’d they go? His mind wondered, groggily. He briefly wondered if they had decided to go out to look for food.

Oh, well, I guess I better get moving, He decided. However his thoughts were infiltrated by the sound of high pitched playful howls from outside. His grin intensified and he burst through the doors only to find a man leaning against the tree rooted next to the tattered shed. His heart skipped dangerously as they locked eye contact. Killua went on guard immediately. The man however, stayed perfectly calm whilst a puppy rubbed their head into his hand.

Before Killua could prepare to take action, the man asked him “Did you sleep well?” His voice was entirely gruff against the morning.

The addressed boy tensed his eyes over the man. He scanned carefully, but noticed no weapons. But the man wore many layers and sported a raggy hat. There were many places to hide a weapon on the human body, and Killua knew all too well from personal experience that it was just as easy to convert the body into a weapon as well.

“It seems these dogs really like you.” the man continued. The pup in his lap licked happily at the stubble on his chin.

From the structure of his body, the man didn’t seem to be all too tall, but his facial structure suggested that he was probably well into his thirties. From the bits of hair that he could see poking miscellaneously through his hat, it seemed that the older male possessed black hair, which was noticeably greasy. His thick strands probably hadn’t been washed in over a week.

“I guess so.” Killua answered consciously.

“You’re an overly suspecting kid.” The man gestured to the mother sitting upright. “I get not trusting a stranger, but you have enough distance between the two of us to run if I try anything. At least sit down, there. The mom’s getting uptight with all that tension you’re brewing.”

He was right. The mother was eyeing Killua, no longer a peaceful stare like last night. Killua obliged to the small male and leaned against the shed.

“So what are you doing by yourself?” The man started.

“None of your business.”

A snort followed Killua’s bitter reply. “You don’t entertain much, do you?”

“Never needed to. What do you want?”

“Well, I was the one who originally housed that shed. When I got back early this morning, there was another body in there. I figured I wouldn’t disturb you.”

Killua’s eyes widened. How had he not woken up at the new presence? Normally, he’d wake up instantaneously at the slightest movement of a new soul. How had he hidden himself? “Sorry,” he faked. “One of the pups led me here.”

“Eh, I’m not mad. But you seem to be a bright kid. How old are you?” Killua tensed at the sudden question. He felt a little creeped out. Not only could the man not hold a coherent conversation without changing the subject after every sentence, but he was asking such a personal question.

“Why the hell should I tell you?” Killua spat.

“Have you ever heard of a group of people called ‘hunters’?” The man changed again. That caught Killua’s attention.

“… And if I have? What’s it to you?”

“Well, like I said, you’re a bright kid. And this is a little known fact, but good hunters are usually loved by animals. The applications are due soon. If you don’t have any other plans, I suggest taking it.”

Killua finally burst out laughing at him. How ironic was it, that this man was telling him to do the very thing he was setting out to do. “It’s funny you say that,” he grinned. “That’s currently what I’m trying to do. Unfortunately, I’ve been having problems submitting my application. Since I’m underage and my parents are… not exactly accepting of the idea of me taking the exam. I actually ran away from home.” Killua suddenly felt entirely comfortable around the man.

“Sounds like you’ve had quite the adventure. Well, it just so happens that I might be able to help you.” The older male smirked.

“Really?!” Killua leaned forward. “How?! I don’t think you’d be able to sign for me. I tried to forge a signature and they declined it. I don’t really think you’d be able to act as my guardian.”

The man bellowed out a huge laugh. “No, I don’t think I’d want to, either.”

Killua huffed. “What’s that supposed to mean, old man?”

“Nothing, nothing. Anyways, another little known secret about hunters is this: a hunter over the single star ranking has the power to immediately pass any applicant to take part in the exam. It just so happens that I’m a double star hunter. So if you’d like, I can-”

“Yes!” Killua shouted. He realized he had gotten overly excited, so he cleared his throat and calmed himself. “Ah, yes. I’d like that a lot.”

The man finally stood up, revealing that he was only a couple inches taller than Killua. The young boy snorted at the man’s short stature. Killua finally stood to meet him and brought out the application from his pocket.

The man pulled open the form, and entered in his information. Before closing it out. The ding from the electronic piece confirmed that the application was approved, and that Killua was now officially an applicant for the exam. “There,” The short male confirmed.

“Thank you!” Killua’s smile was entirely radiant and sincere. This was an incredibly convenient turn of events.

“Also, you never answered my question.”

“What question?” Killua raised an eyebrow.

“How old are you?” the repetition of the question made Killua frown, but he decided to answer truthfully.

“I’m twelve.” He answered triumphantly. A hand was placed on his shoulder, and Killua realized that the man smelled as awful as he looked. He held back the comments, as the man was nice enough to pass his application. It was a bit of a surprise that a man like this could really hold such a high position.

“Ah, I knew it! You’re the same age as my son! … I think.”

“You think?”

“Well, I haven’t seen my son since he was a baby. It’s hard to keep track after the years go by.” The man shrugged, before starting to walk away.

“You haven’t seen him since he was a baby? You sound like a pretty damn terrible dad.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I probably am. Probably.” After that, the man had decided to take off. “Good luck kid.”

Killua smiled. He knew he had no room to judge in terms of terrible family connections. However, he found the man to be quite amusing. He also felt a little bit of sympathy for the old guy’s son. But overall, he thought about what his son must be like.

They’re the same age, and if his son was even a little like his father, from what Killua could tell, he’d bet anything that the boy would be a pretty interesting character.

Killua almost wished he could meet him.

It’d be nice to have a friend his age.