[𝐄𝐧𝐠] to ---- a monster | Hunter x Hunter Fanfiction

hunter exam arc ❚ hunter ✕ and ✕ hunted

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It was Zeno the one who took her back home with him, quite some years ago.

Just after a job well done, he noticed the skinny little kid in the corner of the room, bundled up in a light sheet big enough to cover her four times around at least. Her skin was of an healthy pale shade, not unlike a doll's, if not for the red marks and bruises she wore like clothes. Despite the fact that she just witnessed a murder, she didn't turn her eyes away in the slightest--the only hint to her fear being the tremor in her fingers, gripping the soft material of the covers.

Not an unlikely reaction, he told himself. Still, he noticed something interesting.

That was what made him interested in her, as he explained her a few weeks after taking her in: it was the burning light in her eyes: "you looked at me like I just stole your prey", he said, to which the kid simply blinked in confusion, at first.

It didn't take long before it became clear what Zeno's reason truly was.

He saw something worth nurturing in her--bloodlust. She had the eyes of a killer, even as a mere civilian little girl, and that seemed to be enough for him to bring her back home, like a souvenir. Or a present for his grandchildren.

She wouldn't say she wasn't grateful for that, but the training she went through wasn't something she'd expect: being a toy, sure (she'd been there already); but becoming something akin to a family member? Not at all.

It felt... unhealthily nice, to be accepted like that, even if it took a long time.

Even the matriarch, who had been quite cold and distant in the beginning, considered her as one of her own, in a way. The fact that she could pass as a Zoldyck herself, with pale blonde hair similar to Silva's and as silky as Kikyo's own, could have played a role in that.

Still, even back as a child, she never forgot her place--Eirene was not a Zoldyck by blood, merely by training and skill. Nonetheless, she was never shy enough to hold back when she knew she could get away with it.

Which brought her to the current predicament.

«What do you mean "he's gone ahead to the Hunter Exam's place"?»

Grey eyes locked on the elegant figure of a woman, dressed in a long, bright yellow dress and a quite curious hat to complete her extravagant looks. Kikyo Zoldyck sat on one of the comfy chairs of the living room, quietly sipping her lukewarm tea. Her posture, Eirene notices, spoke of both composure and irritation, uneasiness.

«Illumi already planned on taking the Exam this time. His next job requires the Hunter License and all its benefits, so he deemed it logic to go directly there after his last hit.» Kikyo's tone felt like usual if not for that light strain in her voice, which made the blonde stare over with a look that asked "what else?". «... It seems that Killua is going to take the Exam, too. Aah, my little boy! Why have you ran away from home?!»

Oh, everything fell into place like that. The reason behind Kikyo's nervousness and Illumi's sudden change of plans.

She just rolled her eyes annoyedly, then stood up from her own seat and proceeded to the door before the house mistress begun to give in to her frail nerves completely. Saying her goodbyes swiftly, the blonde woman headed to her room to collect her phone and a few other belongings for the upcoming journey.

Almost at the end of the seemingly endless hallway, which leaded to the front door of the Zoldyck's main house, the woman stopped in her tracks. Her pupils shrunk, until they were barely visible amidst those pools of grey.