sweet talker | hxh

15 | in his debt

[NOT EDITED]

PRESENT, THIRD POINT OF VIEW

BEFORE ILLUMI COULD HIDE, Desdemona had already come out of her hiding spot and faced the two figures under the tree. Although she looked apathetic, the two could easily point out the girl's true feelings from the tenseness of her shoulders. She knew what Hisoka could do and wouldn't let down her guard just because he had flirted a bit.

Soon she realized that she hadn't seen the other participant before. His clothes were familiar. It was the same as the guy with who she played cards back at the trick tower. However, the man's face, hair, and build had all changed as if he had turned into a different person. Desdemona's gut told her this guy was no ordinary person, not when he seemed cordial with Hisoka earlier. After all, birds of a feather flock together.

"I haven't seen you before," Desdemona asked, her eyebrows furrowed, "who are you?"

There was a tense silence.

Hisoka spectated the two with interest and wondered why Illumi Zoldyck was behaving quite oddly. Then again, he hadn't been his usual self around the girl.

Desdemona stood, unsure of what she was waiting for. An answer? An attack?

Illumi proved Desdemona wrong after he proceeded to dig a hole, jump into it, and covered himself. All without saying a single word.

Only after he had buried himself did Illumi realize what he had done. It was so unlike him to be flustered like that. But he couldn't help it. Not when his sister didn't recognize him despite taking off his disguise.

What did I expect? It's been almost two decades. He thought to himself in the dark.

A part of him still wished that Killumi would remember. After all, it was her kidnapping from her own home that changed the entire Zoldyck family. After she disappeared, Zeno and Silva became engrossed with work, and their once-loving family became a hollow and broken shell of what it used to be. His father treated him more like a colleague, an assassin than a son. The intensity of their training regime proliferated so much that he had to discard his emotions. Even after training his whole life, his mother only cared about Killua after his birth.

Hoping the two would leave him alone in his dark thoughts, he slept after feeling emotionally drained. Maybe it was a good thing for him to feel emotions again.

Meanwhile, above the ground, both Desdemona and Hisoka were speechless.

What the hell just happened? The girl thought as she looked at the pile of dirt the man was buried under.

"Now, what if I told you that you were my target?" Hisoka asked. Of course, she wasn't her target. Heck, he didn't even know who his target was because he never bothered to remember insignificant people, which he believed most of the participants to be. He was just curious to see her reaction. Would she show fear? Just picturing that beautiful face full of fear made him even more excited to see what she would do next.

"Simple. I'd have to kill you."

While Hisoka was disappointed that he hadn't been able to see that delicious face of fear from Desdemona, he had to give points to her boldness. Usually, he would already have killed his opponent for thinking they could kill him, but for some reason, he didn't want to kill Desdemona. Whether because she was a delectable fruit still unripe to be picked or for some other reason.

"Now, now, why'd you get so serious? I was merely joking with you~" Hisoka smirked as he saw Desdemona visibly let out a breath of relief.

"Ugh. I don't have time for your stupid jokes," Desdemona said as she turned to walk away from the psycho.