Hunters X and X Heroes

A Circus X is not a Cirucs X Without a Clown

"It's been too long."

"It's been too short," was the caustic, curt counter, "Unfortunately."

The man following him down the cold, echoing corridors gave an amused huff- he had not taken much offense, but had expected the reply. "So? What prompted the face of the Zakuya to speak with me? It must be something very interesting for you to purposely bring an end to your own good fortune."

From behind, the man really looked like he had just crawled out of bed after a terrible sleep or nightmare; brown flyaway strands poked up in every direction and some tuffs of hair clumped together to make him look even more ridiculous; but the ridiculousness did not stop as the man stopped in his steps and turned to face the one behind him.

The contrast was weirder. Looking at his face from the side made the split very obvious. His fringe was neatly groomed. From the front, he appeared tidy and professional. "Gon Freeces and Killua Zoldyck- they are familiar to you."

It was hard to tell from the other's painted smile wether it was delighted to hear names he was so invested in, or strained because names that came out of the brunet's mouth tended to have bad ends. But wether it was this way or that way, the painted smile remained. "They are."

"I'm curious about them."

The jest sounded humorless. "Subjects of your curiosities always end up more curious than they started."

"If you are not going to cooperate, say so."

"Now, I never said I wouldn't cooperate," the red-haired man returned, "I would be depressed if I missed the circus."

A circus. Solriss supposed that it wouldn't be a bad analogy considering those involved. It was a brief thought and did not linger.

"But I do require a pay for performing," the jester swung his arm in some ludicrous gesture, "I'm sure you already very well know, but clowns are the life of a circus!"

Solriss sighed, shutting his eyes to relieve annoyance for a moment before turning back around and walking ahead, "Hisoka."

The man knew what Solriss was about to address; perhaps it was the only reason Hisoka dropped by. He wanted to know what Solriss wanted to do with Subject 9. What was Subject 9 supposed to become?

It was going to be a circus- a confused frenzy that she would have to face, a filthy mess of everything she didn't want to remember, a freakish battle with everyone she feared there was going to be a circus!

"What if you had an opponent you could fight forever?"

-

The woman sputtered out a string of curses through the gurgling of blood that spilled over cracked lips, as she tore away the fabric over her shoulder to get a better look at the wound. Her entire shoulder was either black, blue, or coated in a sickly, running red. Something was broken, and it was broken good.

She stared at her right hand; the marked stitches along her thumb were erased by blood. She reached over to grab the gun the girl had discarded blankly, holding up what was considered by the child to be a weapon. It was damp with sweat from the girl's overworked body and her cold apprehension.

"No one," the woman whispered. The way the word came out slowly made it seem unfamiliar, like it was spoken by someone who never spoke before. The woman tightened her grip on the toy with her supposedly useless hand, before tossing it among the trash bags beside her tiredly, "Nothing."

The exhausted woman stood and ran.

They couldn't have gotten far, not with that girl in that pathetic condition, and the spiky-haired boy took more than a few hard hits himself. Left didn't know the twists and turns of Jianghai- Left had never been to Jianghai before, and its towering, tireless, vertical way of living.