When I exit the interrogation room, Kurapika follows while throwing me a disgusted glare. "I can't believe you let that monster touch you."

"Believe it or not, Uvo can be surprisingly tender," I respond.

His brows furrow. "You're just as crazy as he is."

I chuckle. "What are you 16? 17? If you stay in this world long enough you'll understand how enemies can be friends, friends can be enemies. In between that being lovers isn't as far-fetched as you think."

"You and I are not the same," he says sharply.

I smile as he walks away. When I was his age I was altruistic and shiny and new too. Everything was so black and white. Being dark and brooding was second nature. Everyone was either good or evil. Life became a lot easier when I just let people be what they are. It was easier to get I wanted and occasionally give other people what they wanted too.

"So?" Dalzollene says behind me.

I stare in the direction Kurapika walked off. "The Shadow Beasts took the treasure before the auction even started. The Phantom Troupe likely tortured one of them for the treasure's location."

Dalzollene sighs. "Well, the auction will still be rescheduled. There's more treasure. Hopefully the troupe isn't aware of that."

If they knew once, they'll know again. But I decide not to say anything for risk he'll put me in charge of security. I don't feel like being held responsible for hundreds of people dying. And I don't fight losing battles. I look into the living room and see the other guards sitting and resting. The phantom troupe is likely on their way now so it'd be safer for everyone to get out of the building, but one has to stay behind. It'll probably be Dalzollene. Wish he didn't have to go, but at least everyone else will be safe...and my check's been cleared. "You called community to get Uvogin?"

"I'm about to," he says.

"You should send everyone else home to get some rest. It's been a long night."

Dalzollene nods. "That'll mean you too."

"Thanks, but I don't have a bedtime."

He smirks. "Guess the freaks gotta come out at night."

"That we do."

I walk down the hall and see Kurapika on his phone, his eyes widen at whatever message he's reading. Since I'm a nosy bitch I look at the message out of the corner of my eye. Meet as promised at the agreed upon place. ❤️  He sighs and looks up at me. "What do you want?"

"Is everything okay?" I ask

He looks back down. "Everything's fine. I have somewhere to go."

"This time of night? Alone?" I question.

Kurapika purses his lips. "I'm not a child."

"Doesn't mean you don't need back up, especially after what's taken place tonight."

"I don't need your help."

Honestly I know he doesn't, but I'm bored and want to stretch my legs. "Look either I go with you knowingly, or I go stealth mode. I'd prefer the first option. Plus you're not strong enough to stop me. Take the help, kid, and be glad somebody cares enough to watch your back."

He looks at me begrudgingly. "Fine."

"Who are you going to meet?" I ask as we leave the building.

"His name's Hisoka Morow. He's a sociopath I met during our hunter exam. We fought him at the Phantom Troupe hideout earlier, but I don't think he knew it was me. He might have information that could help me."

I try to hide a grin, but my body's getting excited.

"I take it from that stupid grin you know him."

I shrug. "We've met."

Kurapika shakes his head. "Do you have a thing for bad boys or something?"

"Not necessarily, but they're hard to avoid in the underworld."

"I just don't get it. You seem level-headed, you're established, you're beaut—" he stops and clears his throat.

I chuckle. "It's okay if you compliment me. I won't tell anyone."

"I just think you can do better."

What a sweet, misguided thing to say. He'll be a prince of a husband someday...if he ever gets out of this dark soul phase. Since I don't believe in explaining my personal life to anyone, especially children, I change the subject. "So, would this meeting have anything to do with the Kurta Klan?"

He stops for a moment and looks over at me. "How did you know that?"

"Your eyes turned crimson when you punched Uvo. I suggest getting ahold of your emotions if you don't want people figuring that out."

"I usually wear contacts. And yea, Hisoka might have some information for me."

Wonder what he'll want in return... About 15 minutes later we come to an abandoned amusement park. How appropriate. I look around for a spot where I can keep watch. There's a giant water slide in the center of the park. "Go in. I'll keep watch from the staircase leading to the giant slide. It's pretty much close to any place he could be."

"Fine," Kurapika says before heading inside.

I jump into the trees and move towards the stairs. Once I climb up high enough I see Hisoka sitting on a horse in a broken carousel playing with a deck of cards. He's wearing a green crop top with suit symbols and his typical face paint. His biceps bulge against his arm bands. Dark green slippers instead of heels this time. Interesting. Kurapika eventually stumbles across him.

"A bit early aren't you?" Hisoka greets.

Kurapika fires up his nen until he notices Hisoka isn't using his.

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in fighting you at the moment."

"Let's just get to it then. Tell me everything you know about the troupe."

"Already? I thought we could chat a bit first."

Kurapika remains his quiet, stoic self and waits for the conversation to move along. Man, nobody can catch a break with this kid.

Hisoka laughs a little and begins explaining what he knows about the troupe. It's nothing I don't already know, but I love hearing him talk. His voice is like velvet. Soft. Smooth. Supple. Hell, he could be talking about corn flakes and I'd still be turned on. My nipples prickle the longer he speaks. I watch his mouth move, the slight sheen on the bottom lip, the way his tongue shapes each of his words.

I imagine burying his face in my cleavage, his tongue curving along the outline of my breasts and stomach. And his hands, long slender piano fingers and cat nails. How potent the veins running from his hands and arms are. They're so strong, yet I can tell they're capable of softness. I can't take this anymore. One of my hands slides into my pants between my legs and pretend it's him touching me.

Focus.

Hisoka talks about why he joined the troupe. "I wanted to fight the boss."

"You joined just to test your strength?" Kurapika asks.

Hisoka moans and wriggles around his seat. "The thought excites me...Even thinking about fighting him now arouses me."

You sick bastard. Why do you turn me on so much? If he feels that way about fighting Chrollo, could he ever feel that way about me? Fight or fight? My insides throb as I look into his amber eyes, rolled up and orgasmic. I want to finish so badly, but I know I won't be quiet, so I bite my bottom lip and pull my hand away. Guess I'm done being a pervert for now.

Hisoka continues. "What do you say we work together? I tell you the troupe members' abilities and when the time is right you help keep them out of the way so I can fight Chrollo. We'll work together when it's convenient and go our separate ways when it's no longer so."

A few moments of silence pass between them before Kurapika's phone rings and he answers. "He escaped?...What about our leader?"

Knew it. They got Uvo. How did no one else see the troupe coming? Kurapika hangs up, still looking at his phone.

"So, what do you say?" Hisoka croons.

Kurapika turns on his heels to leave. "I'll meet you here tomorrow at the same time with my answer."

Warning: This next paragraph is sexually explicit.

I'll follow shortly, but I'm no use to anyone when I'm this excited. Best to take care of it now. Sliding my hand back inside myself, I close my eyes, replaying every word and gesture of Hisoka I can remember. Reaching under my shirt, I play with my nipples, wondering how his sharp nails would feel pinching them. What does his cock look like? My thighs tremble as I cum. It feels like a tide is turning inside me. My lips fold into my mouth in attempt to stay quiet. Breathe. I remove my hands from my body, stand up, and look over the railing. He's gone, as expected.

But when I turn to leave, I see Hisoka's ambereyes glowing in the dark a few stairs away. "Well, well, well."

*

"That was quite a show," Hisoka says, "I take it I was missed."

"How'd you find me?" I ask.

He inhales. "Your smell. It reminds me of rocks in a river."

I begin walking down the stairs. "It was nothing. Just tension release."

As I pass him he grabs the hand I used to touch myself. Though I pull away half-heartedly, he pulls me towards him and licks my middle and ring fingers. "No, the taste of you is definitely something."

I smirk. "Better than your cards?"

"Sorry, but paper beats rock."

We both chuckle at this, but I back away, determined not to be seduced by him any longer. "Seriously, I have to go. Kurapika needs me."

Hisoka shakes his head. "No, he doesn't."

I fold my arms. "You may not, but he and Nostrade's guards do. Unlike you I don't mind being needed by people."

He rolls his eyes. "Yes, I get it. Help for help's sake, but I guarantee you'll have a lot more fun with me."

"I don't find your arrogance entertaining," I say.

Hisoka's eyes narrow. "You're not a very good liar. Besides, you owe me 9 more rounds."

"I don't owe you anything."

"Now's as good a time as any. We have the place to ourselves. Plenty of space. No rules."

"Don't you need to get back to the troupe to count all the treasure you stole?"

Hisoka gives me a look like Bitch, please. "They stole. And no, I have the night off, which means I can give you my full, undivided attention." He tries taking off his shirt and I see the tip of his abs. They're so hard I could eat off of them.

No. I don't need any more distractions. I pull his shirt down. "That won't be necessary. I'll catch up with you later."

His sharp fingers wrap around my neck, pick me up, and throw me over the rail. Tree branches scrape at my clothes on the way down and disturb whatever birds are hidden away in their nooks. I catch myself and land on my feet, scurrying back into the moonlight so I can see where he is.

"If you want to leave, you'll have to get past me first," he says. I can hear the smile in his voice.

He's nowhere to be found as I look around. The carousel, teacups, food trucks, even back up at the slide. All of them are empty.

"I won the first round. Let's see if you can redeem yourself." His voice circles all around me.

Where are you you sneaky bastard?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested. Fine. Three rounds. That's it. I decide to wait for him to come to me. Panicking will only slow me down and I refuse to play his games. In the meantime I can look for some contraption to keep him off me long enough to escape. There's a fallen clown pillar on the ground not too far away. If Hisoka uses his bungee gum on me, I can use it to grab the pillar to throw it at him. A few fireflies light up the sky overhead. I put my hair up in a ponytail while I wait.

"Leave it down. It brings out the turquoise in your eyes," he says.

I turn behind me in the direction of his voice. "Am I modeling for you or fighting you?"

"A little of both."

I sigh. "Come down and finish what you started or I'm leaving."

He chuckles. "No you won't. You're too curious to see what'll happen next."

"Enough foreplay. As you've smelled, I'm ready to go."

His voice sneaks up behind my left shoulder. "Are you?" He lands a blow to my back that sends me tumbling to the floor. "Two down, eight to go."

I get to my hands and knees, coughing and trying to catch my breath. The gravel shifts beneath his feet as he walks towards me. Will he use his gum this time? I use gyo to see if he is, but there's nothing. I don't feel any pull on my backside. Perhaps he wants to keep the fight as physical as possible. What other device can I use as a weapon against him?

When I see my ponytail hanging over my neck and pooling onto the ground, I get an idea. "Since you prefer my hair down," I say while taking the band off, "here you go." Launching myself in the air above him, I use my hair as a lasso and wrap it around his neck. His eyes widen. I yank my rope of dreads up and him along with it fast enough to punch him in the chest. The air around us ripples as I send Hisoka flying backwards into the carousel. The rickety ride collapses after he hits it.

A point for me, two more to go. Wonder if he'll be pissed off when he gets up from that. I look around and see there's a house of mirrors. What the hell, let's mix it up a little. The creak of metal and wood fills my ears as I run towards the entrance. He probably saw my shadow as I entered the house. At most, I have five seconds to hide. I flip the switch to see if the lights work. Surprisingly, they do. Cobwebs decorate the ceiling and tops of the mirrors while I see duplicates of myself through the cracks of broken ones. My reflections are short and stout, long and thin, squiggly lines, even cubist.

Though I start off running, once he enters the house I tread softly. Right, left, right, left. Those are the directions I went in. Easy enough to go back the way I came when it's time to get out. I use In to hide my aura so Hisoka won't sense my presence. It sounds like he's going straight, closing in some of the distance between us.

"You realize this is my wheelhouse as a master illusionist, don't you?" he asks.

If I answer, he could track my location by the direction of my voice. I've never met a man who's this sensitized. I remain quiet, unwilling to let him drive me out that easily.

"Clever girl, but it won't help you. I can still smell you, remember?"

Tension lines my back at first, then I realize he's lying. The air outside was warm and moist, but it's cold and dry in here and the dust adds another layer of disguise. He's trying to psyche me out, like he does with most of his opponents, but I won't let him.

"Hmm," he moans, "I didn't realize you were into games. I took you as more of the straightforward type." Suddenly I hear glass cracking a few mirrors down from me. The punches and cracks continue until it's just over my head. A few pieces of glass fall by my feet. I feel several of the mirrors fracture as if they were my bones.

"Being quiet won't help. Eventually I will find you," he whispers.

I realize I'm prolonging the inevitable, building up the fight. Why? Why do I want this moment to last knowing I have somewhere else to be? Even when I'm not playing Hisoka's game, I make him play mine. Guess we're more alike than I thought. Most of the time I'm bored with people, but he challenges me. When my life's in his hands, the threat is real, my fear is real, my want is real. There's no choice but to be better, stronger, faster if I want to live.

I love figuring him out, him figuring me out, proving me wrong. I'm so used to being in control and he takes it away from me so effortlessly. He's one of the strongest bodies and tactical minds I've ever met. For that reason, it's hard to gain his respect and now that I have, I know I've truly earned it. I feel more alive in the pain and pleasure he gives me than I have with anyone else in a long time. Just feeling him walk in my direction excites me.

Focus. How can I fight from this point? I look around and take in the set up of the house as much as possible. I can dart around and make some noise at different locations to confuse him before going in for a knockdown punch. Before I move, something pulls at my shoe. I look down to see a rat nibbling on my shoelace. I shake it off, but make a shuffling noise in the process. Shit. The glass shrieks when it shatters and Hisoka's feet land on my back.

He takes out one of his sharp-edged cards. "That's 3. What a shame. You were doing so well. Only to be ousted by a —"

I flip over, launch into the air, and deliver a scissor kick to his torso, sending him through sheets of glass towards the opposite side of the house. As his card floats down, I catch it and laugh. "Scissors beat paper." Now that the house has been totaled, I decide to move on, but as I run, something yanks me back. He's finally used his gum. I can't go down again or else I'll lose this match and it'll be damn near impossible to get away. Once I use gyo to see where the gum is I grab it and begin absorbing it into my skin.

Rather landing face first on the floor, I angle my body for Hisoka's. Instead of knocking him over, he catches me and stands upright, solid as a tree. His body is hard and holds me like I'm just a breeze against him. I honestly could've cum on impact or if my thighs squeeze any tighter around him, but now's not the time. I grab his neck and choke him, feel his veins pop out beneath my hand and the marks from where my hair yanked him up earlier. Everything is so hot between my legs. Can he feel how wet I am? The amber of his eyes glows and his pupils dilate as we stare at each other.

"Don't look at me like that," he says in a strained voice, "it's turning me on."

My sex is only inches from his and it's throbbing so hard it hurts. Both of our nen picks up to En. I can feel pins and needles in my skin, but that may be the remaining glass shards sticking in my hands and his arms. A trickle of blood streams from my eyebrow and his mouth, dozens of scratches adorn our exposed body parts.

I can already feel a bruise forming on my back. The dust is still settling around us. His sinister purple aura vibrates against mine. It's all so romantic I want to bite him, taste him. Actually that might be the answer. I can use Parasyte to suck a little life out of him. My lips get close to his, I can feel his breath on my face. The way he bites his lip, I can tell he wants it too.

But the moment is destroyed when he throws me away, back outside into darkness. I refuse to lose, refuse to fall, so I turn my feet downward and let the ground absorb the impact. Dirt kicks up around me the further I slide. My right big toenail, already cracked from my dance performance earlier, breaks off completely. The pain gnaws on my entire foot. I have to end this quick. Two cards fly out, barely missing my neck, and pin me by the sides of my jacket to a wall.

"You should know better. I've seen the damage your lips can do," he says.

He's right, that was a low blow. Now he's charging for me, another card in his hand. Is he planning to kill me with it? I thought we agreed no fighting to the death, but then again transmuters are liars. I look around and see the pillar I saw before to my extreme right. I slip out of my jacket only seconds before he pounces and launch the gum towards the pillar and swing it with all my might in Hisoka's direction. It knocks him against the tea cup ride and lands on top of him. Wouldn't be surprised if he had a few broken bones, but he's a big boy, he'll heal in no time.

That's two knockdowns for me and three for him. He'll have to be in the lead for now.

I swiftly take the two cards and my jacket as he starts lifting the pillar. Turning my zetsu back on I hop into some nearby trees and leave the park. I can almost feel Hisoka searching the park, frantically looking for me, thinking I'm playing a die hard game of hide and seek, only to be disappointed by the fact that I'm really gone. It was fun and I can't wait to do it again, but I have a duty to Nostrade now. In the meantime, I have three souvenirs freshly coated with Hisoka's tongue to keep me company. We'll see how well paper covers rock.

Note: Next up, we'll return to the Phantom Troupe storyline and hang with Gon and Killua for a bit. Vote and comment! ❤️❤️❤️