The Assassin's Sin

chapter 3- gourmet hunting

       The examiners for the next phase, Menchi and Buhara, sent all the applicants into the forest to find pork for the meals they'll be preparing for the exam. Y/n went off on her own to hunt down a pig. She had only been looking for a few moments before her new friends came running over the hill, being chased by a stampede of large carnivorous pigs. They had huge, tough-looking snouts that covered most of their face, and a few had bones sticking out of their large teeth. 

       Y/n hopped up into a tree to avoid being flattened by the stampede. She waited and watched as the other applicants were sent flying by their snouts. The glimmer of a fishing rod in the sun caught her eye. She looked over at Gon, who was attacking one of the pigs using the fishing rod. He hit it directly on its forehead, and almost instantly, it dropped to the ground. 

       "Their foreheads are their weak spots!" Gon shouted out. 

       Soon all of the applicants headed back, each carrying their own pig to prepare for the examiners. Most of the applicants just served their pigs roasted and completely whole, but after watching Menchi's reaction to a few of them y/n decided that she was looking for something more. Her attention turned to the man she had seen knocked out earlier, Leorio, as he presented Menchi with the same kind of roasted pig the others had served. The only difference was his sported a small flag on top with the hunter association symbol. Gon tried a similar decoration on his. Menchi wasn't impressed with either. It was Kurapika's turn now, his looked really good, but the moment Menchi tasted it she began to yell at him about the flavor. 

       'So, she wants presentation and flavor.' Y/n thought.

       Y/n made a dish as quick as she could with some of the ingredients that she had found. She arranged them nicely on the plate and brought her dish to the picky examiner. 

       "Hm, this doesn't look too bad, but does it have any flavor to back it up?" Menchi hovered over the dish, obviously inspecting it. Buhara took the first bite and gave it a thumbs up, but Menchi was the real challenge. She cautiously lowered her fork into the dish, scooped up some of the dish, and brought it back up to her face. "Huh, this actually smells somewhat decent," she said pensively. She took a bite. 

       Menchi didn't have time to finish chewing before an old man dropped out of an airship. He introduced himself as the head of the hunter association and scolded Menchi for being too hard on the applicants. She quickly admitted her fault and apologized. He told her that it was unreasonable to fail all the applicants. She agreed and apologized again.

       "Oh, but actually, not all of them failed." Menchi perked up and pointed at y/n. "She passed, though barely." Everyone's eyes turned to y/n. 

       "Quite impressive of her to satisfy your palate," the chairman looked thoughtfully at y/n. "However, just one is still quite unreasonable."

        "Yes, I am aware. I'm very sorry." Menchi bowed down. 

       The chairman told Menchi her punishment would be competing alongside the applicants. That seemed to give her an idea, and she asked the chairman to give everyone a ride on the airship to a place called Split Mountain. 

       Once everyone arrived, Menchi pointed out a spider-eagle's web in the split of the mountain. Within the web, there were eggs. Menchi explained that those were the eggs they would be cooking and made haste jumping right over the edge of the cliff. She clung to part of the web and waited for a few moments before drooping down, grabbing an egg, and beginning to fall. She didn't fall far though, because as soon as she grabbed the egg an updraft began to carry her gently back up to the edge of the cliff, where the applicants waited apprehensively. 

      "Sounds like fun!" Gon shouted above the rest of the applicants worried murmurs. Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, and Y/n all leapt down into the canyon. Many of the others followed quickly behind. They all held on to the web. One dropped and grabbed an egg, but there was no updraft to carry him back up so he continued to fall. The web y/n and the others started to detach itself from the wall of the cliff under all the wait, but Gon said to keep waiting. Tension was high as the webs threatened to snap under the weight, and a few more applicants dropped down to their deaths in impatience. They all waited for the signal.

       "Now!" Gon shouted and dropped down to grab an egg, right as the updraft began. They had all gotten eggs and were carried up to safety by the updraft. It didn't take long to cook the eggs. Y/n held the large cooked egg and took a small bite. 

       "Wow! So yummy!" She took a larger bite that her mouth could barely contain. She walked over to Gon and Killua's group. "Aren't they delicious?"

       "Whoa! Hey there, I don't believe we've met." Leorio stood up and walked over to y/n. 

       "It's Leorio, right? I suppose you were still out cold when I introduced myself." y/n giggled.

       "Oh," Leorio stepped back slightly embarrassed and rubbed the back of his neck.

       "That's y/n!" Gon informed him.

       "She fought Hisoka off by her self," Kurapika added.

       "And she's training to be an assassin," Killua chimed in. 

       All of them turned their heads in sync to stare at y/n after that last bit of information. She smiled and let out a slightly nervous laugh, "well, technically, not yet. I have to get my hunter's license before I can actually start my real training."

       "That actually makes a lot of sense," Kurapika mumbled.

       "Yeah, no wonder she could fight Hisoka by herself and live!" Gon said. 

       Y/n's attention suddenly drifted from their conversation when a chill ran up her spine. She turned around to Gitterackur, as well as Hisoka, staring at her while conversing. She quickly turned back around, pretending that she hadn't noticed. Everyone else turned to look behind her, their faces growing concerned. 

       "Hello dear, might I have a word with you?" Hisoka placed his hand on y/n's shoulder making her jump.

       "No. Please go away," she groaned. 

       "Again so hostile, aren't we friends, sweet y/n?" Hisoka wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

       "What on Earth gave you the idea that we're friends?" Y/n removed his arm from her shoulders, trying to touch him as little as possible while doing so.

       "Oh, I guess I'll just have to try harder then," he sighed. "But this chat will only take a moment. I promise you will be returned to your little friends here unharmed." He held up a card, silently threatening to hurt someone if she refused. 

       "Fine, but don't touch me." She stated flatly.

      "Hm, I guess that's fair. This way now." He gestured in Gitterackur's direction, keeping his word and not touching her at all.