Beta: TaintedLetter

(≧ڡ≦*)

Heaven's Arena was an absurdly tall white tower that loomed above any skyscraper Miwa had previously seen. Killua, who had already been here before, expertly guided Gon and Miwa from Miwa's mark to the tower. Once inside the tower, the trio of kids had to join an absurdly long line.

"Whoa. Are all these people here for the arena?" Gon asked, impressed by the line.

"There are no rules fighting here like for the Hunter Exam. You just have to knock your opponent out. The higher you go, the more prize money you earn. This is as good as it gets for those looking to make a living with their fists," Killua said a cheerful smile on his face. "We'll be able to do some good training here, and make some money for our adventure."

It took about two hours of waiting in line—the kids passed the time by coming up with outrageous stories—but they did eventually reach the registration form.

Miwa stared blankly at the form, unable to read what it said except for the words: Name and Age.

Killua took it for her, and filled it out on her behalf. "You really gotta learn to read sometime."

"I'm working on it!" Miwa defended, embarrassed.

"Killua Zoldyck you are #2054, Gon Freecss, you are #2055, Miwa, you are #2056. They'll call your number on the first floor of the arena, so make sure you remember it. Please go ahead."

The trio of friends headed off to the arena, entering a large white-walled room with numerous little fighting rings scattered about. A lot of the contestants were absurdly large men trying to wrestle one another, each covered in sweat and blood.

It reeked.

Miwa reflexively pinched her nose shut, hating the smell. It was literally so bad she almost reflexively shot out a bijū bomb to destroy the disgusting pig pen they had to inhale.

'I wish I had some oil to dab under my nose. Ugh, have they never heard of a shower?'

They look like they would taste of nothing but grease, Kurama muttered disdainfully. Revolting.

"You okay Miwa?" Gon asked, noticing how she was clutching her nose.

"Fucking reeks," she muttered crossly. "Ugh, this is nauseating."

"It gets better later," Killua reassured her. "Hang in there for a few more minutes, okay?"

"Okay..."

The three children took a seat among the benches, barely getting a minute to relax before Gon's number was called. Gon excitedly hurried up to one of the fighting rings. She couldn't hear what the referee was saying—the other fights were loud, and he was apparently speaking quietly—but Gon and the stupidly large man he was about to fight both nodded before taking up positions.

Gon raised the palm of his hand and then—

Miwa's breath hitched the moment she sensed Gon's chakra—nen?—core fluctuate. A trickle of its energy rushed out to Gon's hand and Gon shoved the large man straight out of the arena.

'Did he just use chakra?'

He's never done that before, Kurama observed. Intuitive brat?

Gon stared down at his hand in amazement before letting out a cheer and heading back to his friends.

"That was an impressive push," Miwa praised Gon when he returned, her eyes narrowed as assessed his calm core. "How did you do it?"

Gon shrugged. "I just did what you did when you opened the gates."

'Whoa.'

Unexpected genius. An idiot in a lot of regards, but maybe he has some potential in combat?

'As soon as we have time I'd like to test them to see if they can use that energy like chakra.'

"Good job, Gon," Killua said, clapping Gon on the shoulder. "What floor are you being sent up to now?"

"50," Gon answered.

"2056 against 1798, please step forward."

"Ah, that's me," Miwa murmured, hopping off her bench and heading to one of the empty rings.

She was also fighting another robust man who reeked of body odor. If Miwa had less restraint she might have gagged from the foul stench that assaulted her sensitive sense of smell.

The referee called for the fight to start, and the man threw himself at Miwa.

Miwa absently waved her hand, conjuring a blast of fūton chakra that blew her opponent out of the ring and through the wall behind him.

Weaker than ants. Ugh.

Miwa idly ran her fingers through her pigtails, internally agreeing with Kurama's assessment.

The referee frowned thoughtfully at the unconscious man before turning to Miwa. "Alright, I'm going to move you up to floor 50."

He signed off on some piece of paper with scribbles Miwa couldn't read and handed it over to Miwa. Miwa accepted it before hopping off the arena and taking a seat next to Gon as Killua finished up his own match.

Killua waved a sheet paper that looked similar to Miwa's. "Looks like we're all going to 50."

"HWAH!" came a loud warcry, drawing the trio's attention to it. The one who had bellowed out this cry was a tiny little boy in a white karate gi. He was half their size, and this little boy had furiously punched his opponent straight out of the arena.

'So tiny,' Miwa thought, having a hard time not viewing the tiny boy as a tiny little baby animal. He had fluffy caramel brown hair and baby fat on his cheeks that made Miwa want to pinch them. 'Cute.'

Feh, scoffed Kurama.

"C'mon guys, let's go," Killua said, turning away and heading off. Gon and Miwa followed closely behind him. It was such a relief to step outside of that nasty ass rank gymnasium that Miwa loudly sighed and wiped at her nose.

"Maybe we should get you some eucalyptus oil," Gon suggested. "When the fisherman came to visit our island they said that when they first started out they had to dab some under their nose to keep from gagging from the smell of the fish."

"As long as we don't have to go anywhere near such a gross room again, I'll be fine," Miwa said after a moment of thought. "Killua... we don't have to go into another room like that again, do we?"

"None of the other levels are quite that bad," he said. "Probably."

Miwa gulped. "Probably?"

(≧ڡ≦*)

"The first 200 floors of Heavens Arena are divided into classes, each comprised of ten floors. Which means that a fighter who wins on the 50th floor advances to the 60th floor. If they lose, then they drop down to the 40th," the elevator lady began to explain as they began the climb up to the 50th floor.

Gon, Killua, and Miwa had hopped on the elevator as soon as they could, but they were joined by that small kid with the chubby cheeks.

"I heard that they comp you a room once you reach the 100th floor," the little boy chirped, drawing the trio's attention to him. He grinned widely at them. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Osu! My name is Zushi! What about you guys?"

"I'm Killua," Killua said, offering the boy a polite smile.

"I'm Gon! Nice to meet you," Gon said cheerfully.

Miwa nodded her head to the boy, trying out a polite smile. The smile felt awkward on her face, and she was worried that the boy might be intimidated by her fangs. Small children tended to look away quickly when they saw the fangs. "Miwa."

"We've arrived," the elevator girl said, and the doors to the mildly stinky elevator opened up.

As the children began to file off, Zushi said, "I saw your fights earlier. That was really amazing!"

Killua frowned at that. "What are you talking about? You made it up here with one match, too."

Zushi held up a flat hand. "No, no. I still have a long way to go. By the way which martial arts discipline do you practice? I study the Shingen-ryu fighting technique."

"Discipline?" Killua echoed, eyebrows raising in thoughtful surprise. "Gon and I don't have one, I think. Miwa maybe?"

Miwa made an affirming noise. "I suppose taijutsu, then."

"Ehhh?! You two are that strong with no training?" Zushi gasped, then hang his head. "I'm kind of shocked. Osu! I still have a long way to go."

He's peppy.

'Like a puppy. Puppy wuppy.'

Zushi raised his head, his bright amber gaze now on Miwa and he asked, "I haven't heard of taijutsu before, though. What's that?"

"It's a little hard to explain," Miwa hedged, not really wanting to get into the middle of an explanation on chakra and taijutsu while they were still standing in a crowded hallway.

A disheveled man in a pink shirt, unkempt dark hair, and crooked glasses clapped as he walked to the group. "Well done, Zushi."

"Master!" Zushi exclaimed.

"You adhered to my teachings," the man praised, lowering his hands and offering a smile that reminded Miwa of—

A playground that was empty, and teachers who smiled nicely at the other students but sourly at her. The smile was still on their faces, but there was an unspoken layer of disgust.

Of resentment.

Of pity.

Miwa subtly shifted her posture to take a step back from the man that had approached them, eyes narrowing warily.

"Osu! I'm honored. Master, your shirt is untucked again," Zushi added.

"Oh, sorry, sorry," the teacher apologized, quickly tucking his shirt back in. "Who are they?"

"Oh this is Killua, Gon, and Miwa," Zushi explained.

The man slightly bowed toward them. "Nice to meet you. I'm Wing. I wasn't expecting other kids to be here besides Zushi. Why are you here?"
"Um... we want to become stronger, but we're also broke," Killua explained nonchalantly. "So we're making money simultaneously."

Gon added, "Killua's been here before."

Wing let out an oooh. "If you're up here, you must be fairly skilled, but you should pay strict attention to your opponent's body as well as your own."

(≧ڡ≦*)

The children had to bid the teacher goodbye to collect their reward before moving up to the next floor. A quick stop at one of the desks and they were each given an envelope with prize money.

"What good does money do?" Miwa wrinkled her nose.

"The only person who says that is someone who doesn't understand the value of it, or doesn't need it," Killua dryly remarked.

Miwa shrugged, nonchalantly answer, "I don't need money. I just steal what I need."

Or take it off their corpses.

'Yeah, that too.'

"I'm going to guess you don't have a bank account set up either," Killua sighed.

"No. Can't you take it?" Miwa asked.

"Yeah, sure," Killua said with a wave of his hand, rolling his eyes. Miwa grinned at him, happily handing off the envelope to him.

"There's only enough in here for a juice," Gon observed, counting the jenny coins.

"Win or lose on the first floor and that's all you're going to get. A win over an opponent in the 50s nets you fifty thousand. On the 100th floor I think wins are worth a million." Gon and Zushi did a double-take at that number while Killua used the money to buy a juice from the vending machine for him and Miwa. He tossed one of the cans to Miwa, who shrugged before opening it and taking a swig. He took a sip of his own juice before continuing, "Once you're past the 150th floor, you get ten million a pop."

Gon was gaping like a fish out of water. "T-Ten million? Didn't you make it to floor 200 when you were here before?"

"Th-The 200th?!" Zushi squeaked.

Miwa's nose crinkled as she tasted the odd juice Killua bought for her. It was way too sour, no sweetness at all! She abruptly handed it back to him.

"How much do you get for winning on the 200th?" Gon asked.

Killua shrugged. "Dunno because I quit once I reached it. But when I won on the 100th floor, I had around two hundred million in total."

"Where's that money now?"

"That was four years ago, of course, it's gone now," Killua laughed. "I spent it all on snacks."

Killua chugged Miwa's drink, finished his own, then tossed the cans away in the recycling bin. "Come on. Let's go to the waiting room now. We made it through unscathed in the first round, so they're going to put us in another match today."

(≧ڡ≦*)

The waiting room did not smell nice.

It did not smell nice at all.

It was filled with men—where are the girls?—who were too muscular to be healthy, and who apparently did not understand the concept of basic hygiene. They wore shirts that were soaked in sweat, some had blood stains on them, and all of them fucking smelled fucking gross, fuck.

Miwa hadn't noticed she had pulled out two kunai and was about to start a bloodbath (fresh blood overrrode everything else and was much better to smell than their fucking nasty BO), but thankfully Killua and Gon carefully put their hands on Miwa's arm. Killua gently plucked out the kunai, "Easy now."

Gon fished out a ragged handkerchief. "Here, breathe through this. It doesn't smell the best, but it's better than those guys."

Miwa reluctantly allowed Killua to take her weapons away, gratefully accepting Gon's handkerchief in the process. It still stunk, but it stunk like Gon which was significantly better than the BO of strange men who apparently don't shower.

"#2056, Miwa, and #1512 please report to arena 3."

"Looks like the first thing we buy with the next round of money is some scented stuff since Miwa's too delicate," Killua whispered to Gon, a wide taunting smirk on his face.

"Probably for the best. I don't think Miwa could handle much more," Gon whispered back, eyes sparkling with mockery. Both boys gave Miwa a mockingly pitiful look.

"Brats," she muttered crossly, resisting the urge to react to their blatant teasing as she headed off to her next arena match.

(But true to their word both boys started carrying around scented candles, and oils after that day. Cheeky brats.)

(≧ڡ≦*)

Nothing against Wing. Miwa just... isn't that fond of teachers.

Chapter also known as: The day Killua & Gon started to forever smell like pine because pine is the best scented candle smell ever. Fight me.

Gon's instinctive use of nen will be explained more later on. I promise it's not a plot hole. :)

Lastly, next update will be 2-24-2020. I'm switching it to update every other week because I want more time to work on future chapters. I keep changing my mind how to handle the Chimaera Ant arc. ;-;

Answer: It's heavily tied with memories of trying out food, Pokemon, and being comforted.

Question: What would be your "one-shot" ability?

Reviews are love!