A Genius Thrown to the Wolves

Intermission II Ch. 12

It was now a little past sunset, and the ground below was barely visible, yet Kiyotaka didn't look away. Hisoka figured with his cat like features and behavior he mush also have the same eyes. Despite Kiyotaka's determination to take everything in, Hisoka could see his eyes beginning to droop, and his shoulders begin to sag. He gently reached over and guided Kiyo's head to rest on his lap. He began playing with the boys hair and dozing off himself with Kiyo's quiet purring at the forefront of his mind and a satisfied smile on his face. It was one of the only times in his life that he'd been this soft, and this content.

Kiyotaka's ears begin to twitch. He was picking up on fighting that was going on a floor or two above him. It slowly brought him out of his sleep. He had to quickly register why he was laying in Hisoka's lap before he struck him. He divided that since nothing really happened and he didn't feel off in any way, he didn't mind. For now. Instead he focused on the fight sounds. It sounded like 2 kids and the old man that brought them on board. He decided he wanted to check it out. He wanted to observe, but didn't want to be seen. He knew since the old guy was the boss, he must be strong and able to sense him no matter what, but oh well he'd try anyway. He began to surround his body in nen. It felt strange since this was only the second time he'd used nen. He thought about how he would use the nen to make himself look transparent or invisible. Of course he would only know if it worked when he saw their reactions. He walked sideways through the door as to raise any suspicion. As expected the old man noticed him right away, the boys however did not, not even when they looked right at him.

He watched them fight and decided on his own challenge. To completely disappear from the old man's senses. Kiyotaka almost chuckled to himself thinking he'd like to see someone so skilled, confused and truly alert. So he got to work. He began on eliminating himself from one sense at a time. Every time he succeed, the old man would shoot him a glance. It was satisfying. He'd finally got all the senses, now all he needed to do was eliminate himself from other  nen. He new it gave off a signature when in use. He new if he stopped using it, and hid it, you couldn't sense it, but he needed to use it, so how could he get around it? No matter how he thought about it it's impossible to manipulate just himself to accomplish this goal. So what if he didn't? What if he manipulated something else? He could target someone's eyes, and spread a layer of nen over them so they couldn't see him. But no. That was very inefficient. What if instead of a veil over the eyes of one opponent he spread a layer of his nen over a large area. That way his nen might still be visible, but they would know where he was within the veil, they'd have no way to. It was perfect, so he tried it out. He covered and filled the room with his nen, he was completely invisible. It was as entertaining as he thought to watch the old man snap his head over to where he was before, and get distracted from the fight.

That moment of distraction gave Killua and opening to strike, and he took it. But the old man is was too good. While he was caught off guard, he was still able to reach in time to deflect the hit and land one of his own. Killua was sent flying at the wall. He was bracing for impact, but impact never came. Gon was starring on in wonder, Netero was smirking and said a quick "so you didn't move" under his breath. Of course Gon caught it "who didn't move? Cause im pretty sure you just threw Killua at the wall sir" Gon was confused at who Netero was talking about. He couldn't see or sense anyone else in the room. Killua had slowly opened his eyes in confusion when he didn't collide with the solid wall. He saw nothing. He saw nothing, but he felt something. It was odd he could feel himself being held, but couldn't sense anything. "What the hell!" He accidentally let his confusion show. Everyone watched as he was slowly lowered, still not touching the ground, but Killua could feel himself resting on something, it felt like he was sitting on someones lap, and if he paid attention, it did feel like a hand that was holding him up. "You can come sit out now" Netero said. The boys were surprised to see the stoic faces boy they'd see at the beginning of the exam, and Killua was  indeed resting in his lap. "Who are you!?" Killua yelped, but remained where he was. "My name is Kiyotaka Ayanokoji. You are?" He ases nonchalantly. "My names Gon! And that's Killua!" "Hm" he said before moving his eyes to the old man in front of him. Taking the hint the man responded, "I'm Netero. That was pretty impressive." "I'm just glad it worked." "Was that the first time you did that." "Yup just thought of it because I didn't want to interrupt your play session." Netero chuckled but stayed silent. Killua was concerned as to why he couldn't sense Kiyotaka even when he was in his arms. That must mean he's strong. Killua's eyes lit up in slight admiration. Kiyotaka looked down at Killua, seeing the look in his eyes but choosing to ignore it. Instead he held on to the kid, stood up, and set him on his feet. Killua took a few step backs to fully look at the person who kept him from barreling into the wall.

The three looked at Kiyotaka fully standing up. None of them had paid much attention to him before. His face was stoic and cold which made him either dismissible or scary depending. Upon closer inspection, however, he was a cold beauty. His eyes were very uniquely colored. They had two totally different colors in one eye. None of them has seen something like that, sure they'd seen two differently colored eyes, but not like this. Moving from his face down, they took notice of his cloths. He was wearing an outfit that clearly allowed you to see that he was male, but despite that, it gave him a feminine allure. Dangerous. No one knew what to say, well except for Gon. "Wow! You're pretty Kiyotaka!!" Kiyotaka let his head fall to the side slightly, the other swearing they could also see cat ears for a split second that helped to convey his confusion despite his face remaining the same. "But I'm a male." "I know! But I still think you're pretty!!" "Okay then." The exchange made Killua recoil in embarrassment from the awkwardness. Then he realized something, "Of you're a boy, why are you wearing women's clothing?" Kiyotaka briefly looked down at himself, "I didn't have a choice, someone else picked them out for me. It was also the only size that fit from the store closest to us and I was in desperate need of clothing since mine were a tattered mess." "Did you get into a fight!?" Gon asked excitedly, the other two also gleaming with curiosity. "Oh, no. I fell through several layers of thick tree branches." "Well why'd you do that? Why go so high up in the first place?" Killua asked. "I don't know. I was unconscious, and awoke in the middle of falling." The three others almost fell over. How is this guy so nonchalant about something like that!?!