Illumi x Reader

14: On the Airship

After clearing the Exam's Second Phase, all the applicants who passed, fly through the starry sky towards the sight of the Third Phase.

You were now inside the airship where all 42 applicants stood before the chairman and his secretary. "I will now take the opportunity to introduce myself properly to the remaining 42 applicants." The Chairman said. Killua's group was standing at the front of the crowd while you stood after Hisoka who was beside Gittarackur.

Whilst listening to the chairman, you felt extreme fatigue. Your head felt light and heavy at the same time. But, you were better than that. You masked up your exhaustion, putting on a stoic and bored expression as usual.

"I am Netero. The Chairman of the Selection Committee for this year's Hunter Exam. It is a pleasure to meet all of you." He introduced himself.

"And I am his secretary. Beans." The little green creature beside the chairman spoke.

"I had originally planned to make my appearance during the Exam's final phase. But, well seeing as how I'm already here..." His eyes trailed to every applicant until you made a short eye contact with him, he sensed the familiarity. His eyes left yours, "There's nothing I love more than this feeling of tension in the air."

"So. I think I'll stick around for the remainder of the trip." You noticed Killua yawned from boredom. You wanted to do the same because of how terribly sleepy and tired you were.

"We are scheduled to arrive at our destination tomorrow morning at 8: 00 a.m. exactly." The secretary, Beans said.

"You'll find dinner waiting for you in the dining hall." I'll eat something first and then secure a spot to hide and rest.

"You're also welcome to get some rest, of course. You're free to do as you please until we contact you." You almost sighed in relief. Hisoka noticed this he glanced at your back and chuckled lightly.

You didn't only felt Hisoka's eyes, but Gittarackur's as well. You felt uneasy and disturbed. Gittarackur's aura was awfully eerie and strange.

"The evening is yours." With that everybody thought and decided if what they were going to do, but your plan was simple. Eat and rest, and then go back to work.

The secretary did mentioned you were all free. They wouldn't resort to cheap tricks like carrying out the third phase of the exam after they told the applicants to rest and eat.

"Hey come on, Gon. Let's go explore the airship!" Killua said to Gon. Kurapika amd Leorio's eyes averted to them, thinking to themselves how energetic and hyper they are. "Yeah!" Gon agreed running after Killua.

"They got so much energy. Not me though." Leorio commented, clearly tired, "All I want to do is crash."

The Air ship will be safe, the chairman is here after all. Even if the other applicants plan on harming Killua, he'd be capable of defending himself. In order to continue and end the mission successfully, you needed rest first.

Rain was pouring. You were soaked with tears, sweat, and god knows what else. You had trained your nen non stop in the middle of the forest of Kukuroo Mountain. Your foot was muddy from the softened soil. Your eyes were blurry, the fog that the rain and the cold atmosphere created weren't of any help. It was freezing. Your limbs were cold and lips were pale.

"Perhaps I overestimated you." Illumi's degrading words echoed through your brain like the forest was an empty enclosed space. You couldn't stop thinking about the words he dropped after you left him discouraged and disappointed with your performance.

Because of what he said, you practiced your nen, alone somewhere in the vast forest of the Zoldyck estate. You lost touch of time, you couldn't remember when it was the last time the rain stopped. You couldn't remember how many days you were standing there.

"That's enough, Y/N." You heard a voice that seem to come from your head, but it was actually Illumi behind you.

When you confirmed that you heard his voice and felt his presence, you gathered all your remaining strength that you didn't know you still had in you.

You strengthened your Ren, your aura was powerful than ever, this took Illumi by surprise. His eyes slightly widens as his hair gracefully danced in the rain due to the immense pressure that came from your aura.

The droplets of rain around you was distorted, your aura now acted as an invisible umbrella, shielding you from the heavy pour because of how immensely powerful it was.

"If you keep that up you'll pass out or maybe even die." You heard Illumi's voice once again. You turned around with raised brows with wet and tired eyes looking at him, your nen suddenly deactivated because of exhaustion.

With that, the last thing you saw was Illumi, his long dark hair was soaked from the heavy rain as he looked at you with a plain expression before your vision turned completely black.

After that incident, Illumi carried your incapacitated body in his arms. Illumi left a trail of wet footsteps in the manor leading to his father's chamber.

"Dad, I found her." Silva wasn't worried about your condition after what happened. Instead, he was amused and Impressed. He wished that he had witnessed it with his own eyes as Illumi told him about it.

Kikyo however, was worried— She was enraged that you almost got yourself killed because of how strained you were. What surprised you is that she never acted like that, until that incident. Illumi received a scolding from Kikyo after that.

You were bed ridden for a week. Illumi didn't expect you'd risk your life training like that after he made you aware of how disappointed he was after your performance. You expected that you'll be met with a punishment after risking your life, but surprisingly, you weren't.

That was the time Illumi was convinced that you were able to train yourself from then on.

When you recovered, Illumi reminded you that you were human. As if he wasn't either. He lectured how resting and recovering was just as important as training. He threatened you that if it were to happen again, he'd make sure to get you the punishment you deserve.

You head towards the exit of the room to head to the dining hall but you saw Kurapika and Leorio were talking to number 16, Tonpa. When he felt your presence he side eyed you and sweat drops, "W-well good luck to all of us, eh?" He then smiled nervously at you and walked away. This made Kurapika and Leorio raise a brow.

"Hey, aren't you the girl from Split Mountain?" The man with the suit asked, you only looked at him with a raised brow. Your face looked impatient. You were desperate to replenish your guts in the dining hall and rest but this guy spoke to you.

"Yeah."

"I don't know what your intentions are. But I feel like you're watching us." Leorio said suspiciously. His eyes were squinted as he looked down on you with his fingers on his chin. Kurapika however was surprised with what came out of Leorio's mouth. He thought it was a bit straightforward and rude.

You scoffed rolling your eyes, looking so annoyed. Your patience was running thin, you were also annoyed by the fact that someone other than Hisoka noticed. You're too exhausted to converse with anyone that you acted quite rude. The blonde cleared his throat. The tall man in suit pouted angrily.

"I apologize for what he said." The blonde's voice was calm and assertive. He closed his eyes lowering his head, clearly embarrassed.

"Kurapika! You shouldn't be apologizing!" The man complained. Kurapika's eyes remained closed and his head remained low. As Leorio's hand was on his shoulder, the blonde's eyebrows met with annoyance.

When Kurapika opened his eyes to look at you, he no longer saw you there.

"W-where the hell did she go?!" Leorio said with an annoyed expression on his face while Kurapika was stunned by the fact how swiftly you were when leaving.