𝖌𝖚𝖒𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖎

t h i r t y . t w o

hanzo grinded his teeth and looked down at the stubborn boy in frustration and exasperation. he thrusted his arm forward, the blade on his arm coming into contact with gon's forehead. blood escaped the skin of his forehead, but gon still stared at hanzo with eyes of determination.

"you really don't get it... if you die, you'll never get another chance. if i kill you here, i need only try again next year. we are not on equal footing!!"

he's right, gon. killua thought, staring at the boy. you can try all you want to talk your way out of this, but he's far stronger than you. that isn't something you can neutralise on the spot. it all comes to power..

hanzo stared in gon's round, innocent eyes that were free of hatred even though he had been assaulted so by the man.

"why won't you concede? it's easy to do. you can try again next year," the male whispered weakly. "you value your pride over your life?! you're willing to die for your pride?!"

"...i'm going to find my dad."

"you dad..?"

"my dad is a hunter. so i'm going to become a hunter and find him!" the room stared in awe as he paused. "so i'm not going to surrender."

"if you don't yield, you'll die.."

gon simply pushed himself harder on the tip of the blade.

the crowd froze in anticipation. they almost leaned forward impatiently. a few moments passed before hanzo removed the blade from gon's forehead and walked away.

"i give up. you win," the hunter applicants gawked in shock. "i can't kill you. but i can't think of a way to make you surrender. i'll take this loss and take my chances in the next battle!"

[name] released a breath she didn't know she was holding. her body ached from the stress and pounding of her heart during the round. gon closed his eyes.

"i can't accept that. that's not fair!" gon shouted, using his finger to point at hanzo. "we both have to think of a way to settle this fight!"

"heh, i knew you would say that. you fool!! there's no point, because you'll never surrender!"

"but i don't want to win like this!"

"what am i supposed to do, then?!"

"we can work together to figure it out!"

[name] stifled a laugh into her fist, body shaking at the two arguing childishly.

"in other words, i've already given up on this match, but you want to try win again, while helping to determine a way to make you feel good about your victory. is that right?"

"uh-huh!"

"you moron!!" hanzo uppercutted the boy, making him fly and bounce away unconscious. "hey, ref. i lose. let's move onto the next match."

"understood."

"but i want to tell the executive committee something first. when he wakes up, he'll probably refuse his passing judgement. because he's a stubborn boy, as we've seen," hanzo claimed. "only one person will fail this round, right? if gon fails, wouldn't that make the rest of our fights meaningless?"

"don't worry. gon has passed. nothing says he can change that. if gon were to throw a fit and kill me, we still wouldn't be able to revoke his license."

"very well."

with that, hanzo began to walk back towards the rest of the hunter applicants.

"...why did you let him win?" killua suddenly asked in the silence. "i'm sure you knew how to make gon surrender without killing him. given your skills."

hanzo remained silent as he turned to face the smaller, white haired boy.

"when i torture someone, i expect that person to hate me for the rest of their life. it's more effective and less stressful. when someone is in pain, their eyes show a gleam of hostility toward the one responsible for the pain. even with extensive training, it is difficult to suppress that gleam of hate and rage.

but there was no gleam in gon's eyes. can you believe it? i had just broken his arm but his eyes had already forgotten about it. i guess you could say that he won me over. if you need a reason, there you go."

then, the second round began.

hisoka and kurapika stood metres away from each other, face-to-face as hanzo and gon had. they fought, hisoka whispering in kurapika's ear before he surrendered. kurapika had won the round.

~

[name] firmly adjusted her clothing and weaponry. her katana was sheathed, held together tightly with a rope. the katana rested in her hand, moving when her hold on it tightened with anxiety. her other weaponry and items were safely stored in the pockets of her pants or in her kosode.

she stepped forward when her name was called. she gulped nervously, looking up to meet eyes with hanzo. she looked away immediately, taking a long breath to calm her nerves. her heartbeat was irregular, her muscles were tense, her limbs felt heavy and her teeth almost chattered but as she took this deep breath, they all ceased.

her eyes snapped open. they were sharp, predatorial and narrowed onto hanzo. her companions from the crowd were taken aback by the sudden change. the girl reached over her body to unsheathe her katana.

"it'll be the first time in a while where we fight, huh?" hanzo spoke, posture looking relaxed yet on edge. "how was training with your father?"

[name] scoffed.

"wonderful. though he taught me most of the time along with my brothers, it was only my mother's lessons that has been useful," [name] whispered.

hanzo's eyes widened a fraction in shock.

"your mother? is she well, now?"

"no.."

"begin!!"

immediately, [name] dashed forwards at a speed where normal people could not see. she swung her katana over her head, the blade of the sword just barely missing hanzo's chin. hanzo grunted, wavering at the sudden attack and speed of the girl, but quickly recovered and retrieving his own blade from the bandages on his arm.

he swung the blade downwards, causing a swift swishing noise to be heard. he positioned it in front of him. he could not go easy on [name] as he had gon, or else he would be quickly overtaken. he ran towards the girl and swung. [name] dodged.

the two continued to exchange attacks with their blades before they switched to long-distant weaponry. hanzo was the first to throw the shurikan. it was unexpected, but [name] managed to dodge it, though not without a slight scratch. she ignored the insignificant wound and got her own smaller, long-distant weapons.

every now and then, they would land the slightest hit on one another, but besides that, the two seemed to be evenly matched.

[name] clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth in frustration. she snarled. she would have to use it. she nimbly jumped back and rolled her kosode back over her shoulder to reveal the tight-fitted black shirt underneath her and the kusarigama which was wrapped around her waist. she unraveled the kusarigama from her waist and removed the safety cover from the blade.

she slowly lifted her head before throwing the end of the kusarigama towards hanzo. the throw was hard, but easy enough for hanzo to grab. he disappointedly looked up at [name].

"have you really not learnt anything? all i'm seeing are the same things as years ago when we used to train together, perhaps even worse," hanzo insulted, pulling the end of the kusarigama harshly, making [name] fly in his direction.

[name] gasped, eyes widening when she approached hanzo at a high speed. hanzo had a fist up, ready to attack. he held a serious expression, but it wavered when [name]'s frightened expression turned into a slightly amused one. the way her lips curled upwards slightly confirmed it. it was a trap.

she twisted her body in the air and landed behind him. hanzo quickly turned his head, but he felt something stab into his neck. liquid flowed under his skin - poison.