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People can't simply erase their old habits with a simple snap of their fingers. Those habits will have their claws on its victim's boy with a promise of always being there on their minds. The bad ones in particular, are like an addictive poison that endangers the victim's lives. Slow but lethal.

Killua being an ex-assassin, has many bad habits, and one of them was his prominent killing instinct. He may seem calm, but the moment agitation gets to him, his killer intent shows through the shadows of his dark soul.

A perfect example of it had happened mere moments ago, when two rude applicants bumped into him. His whole demeanor and expression had done a complete one-eighty. The innocent child from before turning into something he was trained to be, something more sinister.

Without a single glance back to the mess he made, the white head turned a corner, walking down the hallway with windows revealing the dark skies. Compared to the hallway before though, this one was pitch dark, not that it bothered him much.

However, as soon as he caught sight of another human within his presence, he came to a full stop. As if on instinct, the boy tensed, eyes sharpening as he observed the person he failed to notice until he caught sight of them.

It was a complete stranger, but a stranger he had grown to be wary of. He instantly recognized the person to be the hooded girl form before, sitting on the same bench they've left her on. Killua cautiously walked forward, maintaining absolute silence while observing the prey like a predator would.

He silently noted from her posture and lifted head, that she was wide awake and staring into the endless skies, yet still unaware of his own presence.

Why didn't I notice her before? She was right in front of me! It's as if she hid her presence completely... just like... just like Illumi Aniki...

Just the thought of his eldest brother made goosebumps crawl up his spine.

She is dangerous. I want to get rid of her...

The silver haired boy held his breath, hiding his killing intent skillfully as he stopped a small distance away from the unsuspecting cloaked girl.

Being an ex-assassin, I lost count of how many people I've sneaked up on like this to kill... but this time, something's telling me to be extra cautious with her...

He manipulated his hands, nails sharpening by his sides. Then, he lunged forward, the predator aiming for the back of her neck with the intention of separating her head from her body. Aiming straight for the kill. The kill he wasn't able to get.

His claws missed by a mere graze on her cheek as her head swiftly swirled in his direction. For a mere moment in the darkness of the hallway, his royal blue clashed with hues which put the endless sky and the seven seas to shame. Time seemed to slow down as they made full eye contact, her rainbow-like blues the only thing processed through his mind before the girl jumped to a stand.

Killua wasn't done though, due to his past experiences, the boy almost immediately picked his bearings. He placed his other hand flat on the bench to jump over to her side, before doing a full one eighty spin to lung another hand to the girl's neck.

Once again, he was met with failure. To his utter shock, she took a step forward instead of a step back-her thin arms wrapping around his right limb to hold it in place over her right shoulder.

The boy barely processed her nails sinking into his soft skin, and the trembling of her arms due to putting the maximum pressure on her hold-when he saw a leg shooting towards him through her cloak. With a light grunt, Killua swiftly wrapped his other hand around her left ankle-through her shoes, his hold tight enough to block her blood flow as he stopped the limb mere centimeters away from his torso.

Within the darkness, they stared at each other. Killua's sharp orbs barely seeing the lower half of her face with the shadow of her cloak hiding the rest. The nonexistent moonlight wasn't helping either, so it was a wonder how Killua managed to see the colors in her eye's mere seconds ago.

This didn't mean the boy didn't feel her eyes on him though, because she seemed to burn holes into his being with her stare just the same his own.

Fast. No one accept Anika have been able to evade my continuous attacks like this. Even if someone managed to get lucky and dodge my fist strike, their life will end with the second... but her... Just who is she?

A moment of silence followed by. Killua taking the opportunity to observe her weird long sleeves that seemed to have a huge cut from her elbow onwards, revealing her smooth skin which disappeared under other set of sleeves-short ones this time.

His eyes flickered to the leg he held in place, noting the black socks with two white lines going around the end-the cloth stopping two inches below her knees, leaving the rest bare apart from the four-inch metal like thing going around her mid thighs.

Surely, her choice of clothes would have made him blush had it not been so dark and if he didn't consider her a huge threat. The boy's mind was unconsciously trying to figure out multiple ways to get rid of the girl when he was abruptly snapped out of it with a whisper of his name. "Killua-kun..." Her voice was a melodious as ever as it breathed out his name. The soft noise reaching his ears and making his mind slow down for a moment. "What... was that?"

Her voice was mellow and soft as ever, a noticeable shake in it which made him pull out a smirk. "Nothing much, I was just testing something." The lie left him as smooth as his lips. Not a single bit of hesitation visible on his visage. If the girl had not sensed the killing intent coming out of the boy at the moment, she would have believed him without a single bit of hesitation.

"I didn't hear you approaching at all." The hooded figure commented, voice still low and soft. "Just what you'd expect from a trained Zoldyck assassin..." Killua immediately tensed when he literally felt the smile in her soft tone, faintly seeing the tilt of the corners of her lips in the dark.

With a scoff, Killua casually dropped off her leg, reverting his hand back to normal before lightly tugging it back. Noticing this, the mysterious girl slowly released her hold to take two cautious steps back, observing the male because she could see her surrounding better than the ex-assassin despite the dark. "You're fast." Killua commented bluntly, shoving both his hands into his pockets before casually taking a seat.

"T-Thanks?" The girl knew better though, it was obvious that he was on high alert, ready to kill her off if she were to make any suspicious movements. "Also, you do know that if I had been even a second late to dodge that attack, I would've died right?" Her question was followed by a brief silence, before the boy nodded his head.

"I knew what I was doing, there's no way you would survive this exam, if you weren't able to dodge something as small as that either ways. It's not a big deal." His answer was followed by a shrug, staring straight into the night sky. Fully knowing the lies that fell from his lips, lies he got accustomed to use in situations where it was needed. Lies, belonging to a set of skills taught to him as a part of his assassination training. Lying was just another bad habit of his.

"You sure about that?" A whisper reached his ears, making the boy silently turn to the girl who seemed to stare directly into his pretty blues. "Are you sure you aren't lying to get out of the situation?" Her voice was much louder than last, but still softer than average. Words not failing to make Killua frown.

"Why do you think I'm lying?" His question was answered almost immediately.

"I'm not an idiot Killua-kun, I can tell that much." Her blunt answer was met with shocked silence from the ex-assassin. His mind flashing back to the words said to Gon a bit earlier that day.

"People only like me because they can't ever tell whether I'm serious."

A sound of a soft sigh reached his ears. "You know, I truly acknowledge the fact that you don't want to be what you were trained to become. I also know that old habits are hard to get rid of, especially the bad ones." Killua's eyes visibly widened when he clearly saw the glow of her eyes in the dark, making him go a bit tense.

"But keep in mind that you are trying to change. Let go of your past, and try to ease a bit." With that, the girl calmly turns back to walk away from the boy. "Now if you will excuse me, I need to get this scratch fixed." Her barely heard soft voice was the last he'd heard from her till the end of their temporary ride. Leaving him to think back to her words.

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It wasn't until after sunrise did the ship reach its destination at the top of a tall tower. Named as 'Trick Tower' the all structure had an off vibe despite it looking empty at the top. The examinees were given a time limit of seventy-two hours to complete the phase. In other words, they had three days to climb down or else they'll be disqualified. The task seemed simple enough—if not for the fact that you can't climb down normally-unless you have a death wish.

A certain hooded girl honestly thought of jumping off the edge. I mean it's not like she had a reason to keep on living either ways so she deemed it would be fine. The only thing stopping her was the fact that she didn't want her reason of death to be a random disgusting creature. That's the only thing holding her back.

While she was busy in her head and aimlessly wondering around though, she bumped into someone. The girl immediately stepped away from the person, about to see who it was before she felt something tilt down below her. The next thing she knew, she was free falling into a dark room.

I didn't get to see who I bumped into... I feel bad for not apologizing.

Unknown to her, because of that event. Killua and Gon managed to figure out the way down, because it was Gon who she bumped into. They were shocked when the cloaked figure suddenly fell through a tile, disappearing under it before either party could say a single word.

I have to thank her for showing us the way.

Those were the thoughts of the green clothed companion, as Killua and him rushed towards the other two with the good news. What none of them expected though was to end up in the same room, it wasn't what they were expecting, but they weren't complaining either. There was another thing they weren't expecting, and that is the presence of a person clad in mystery waiting for them.

She heard the commotion they made before they jumped in. From that alone, she instantly concluded that they were noisy people. She wasn't sure what to feel when she saw Gon's group joining her in the room-also a bit concerned for the guy who fell on his face, but she didn't really want anyone to hear her voice so soon. So, she waited until they actually notice her presence.

'The six of you must follow the will of the majority to reach the goal.'

The girl deadpanned as four of them continued to talk among themselves, not a single glance towards the corner she sat huddled against. If it wasn't for Lippo, the examiner for the phase announcing that they need one more to proceed—she was sure she would've gone completely unnoticed.

"One? Don't we need two more?" Leorio asked the speaker on the other wall opposite of where she sat, still huddled against the corner with her knees pressed against her chest.

Killua glanced at the table where the stopwatches were placed on. "There's only on left too." He murmured, before getting an uncomfortable feeling of being watched. "Don't tell me—" The boy swiftly turned around—eyes wide as he finally caught sight of the other person in the room. "You!"

This efficiently gained the attention of the rest, which had Leorio flinching back and Kurapika getting into a stance with his wooden weapons out. "WHAT THE HELL! WHEN DID YOU GET HERE!"

The hooded figure let out a sigh, standing up and letting them have a good look at her. "Since the start." The girl muttered out—her voice heard by everyone within the closed silent space.

This is a pain... why did I have to fall into the majority path? I don't wanna talk with too many people...

Her voice instantly took the two older males by surprise, having never heard her before. "You- You're a girl?!" The doctor exclaimed, pointing a finger at the dark cloak she wore. "And what's with your voice... what the hell..."

Gon on the other hand looked delighted to see her there. "I'm glad you ended up with us!" He hopped over to the girl, before gesturing towards Kurapika and Leorio. "Those are Leorio, and Kurapika, my other friends."

"Looks like we will be working together." Kurapika started, pushing Leorio back in hopes of not scaring the girl away. He nodded towards the girl who nodded back. "What is your name?"

His question was followed by silence, before they saw her shake her head, her hood following her movements. Killua instantly scoffed, having been staring daggers into her the entire time. Bothered because he failed to notice her presence yet again. "Give it up, she doesn't give her name out. I don't think she even has one."

Leorio obviously has things to say to that. "Huh? Why? That's not fair is it now?! You know our names!"

"Then, is it okay if we give you a name?" Gon asked curiously with a hand holding his chin in thought.

"Wa- That's not how it works Gon!" Killua shouted, gaining full support from Leorio. Kurapika on the other hand, observed the hooded girl, because for some strange reason, her presence seemed to call out for him. As if he was familiar with who this person was—someone whose face he had yet to see. It was a strange feeling, but somehow it didn't feel unpleasant to him.

"Eh why not? If she's uncomfortable with telling us her name, then we shouldn't force her." The innocent boy suggested, and no one could go against his wishes.

Kurapika let out a sigh, before smiling softly. "Gon has a point. There might be a reason why she is hiding behind her cloak."

With that, the four of them-well, three actually-spent the next two hours trying to come up with a name to call the girl. Said girl, ended up leaning back into the same corner, knees bent and touching her chest as she listened to the suggested names. She had to admit, there were very random names thrown in, inappropriate ones too.

Killua didn't participate much though, and even if he did, all of his suggestions were unpleasant. "I don't care what we end up with, I'm still calling her a weirdo." He concluded his own debate, before walking away from the group and towards the mysterious person, leaving the rest still debating about their own suggestions.

"So, weirdo." Killua started, leaning against the wall she sat against—making sure to keep a good distance in between where his voice can be heard by her only. "Why exactly are you hiding? Are you ugly or something?" It was obvious that he was mocking her right now, trying to taunt her into revealing anything about her.

Killua had to admit, he was not happy when he found out he'll be spending time with someone who made him uncomfortable. She seriously reminded him of his oldest brother, he hated her mere presence. Then again, there was the advantage of her not being able to escape like she used to—meaning he had time to figure out who she was. He wasn't planning to waste the opportunity.

"I think I'm pretty average looking." Her soft voice answered back, holding no malic-and being painfully vague about it. The ex-assassin instantly knew, that getting information out of her would not be easy.

"Then why do you wear that cloak all the time?" Killua asked, gaze flickering over to Leorio in the middle of an argument with Kurapika, both having different name options.

A brief silence followed by, before she finally parted her lips to answer. "I... want to be a stranger."

Killua's eyes instantly flickered over to her. "Stranger?"

She nodded, seeming to curl more into her already balled up position. "When I finish this exam, I want to leave without befriending anyone."

Killua's eyes widened, pushing off the wall to stand right in front of her balled figure. "Why?" His voice came out as a whisper, hands clenching by his side. He didn't know how to feel, not when the stranger in front of them wanted the exact opposite of what he wanted. He wanted a friend, while she chose to have none.

"Because... nothing good will come with befriending me..." Her response somehow had Killua relaxing almost instantly. Eyes still wide, as he continued to stare at her.

"... What... but is that what you want?" The boy's voice came out softer than last, feeling something bubble within his chest.

She nodded into her knees. "That way, it's better for me and for them... it's better to stay away from me."

_______[]x[]HUNTER x HUNTER[]x[]_______

FACT NO: ✕✕✕

Gon actually thanked her for showing them the way.

In return, she apologized for bumping into him.

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