Apex Predator

Hyena II

Beta:

Second warning for gore because Meteor City. Let's just assume there's gore and violence here on out since Chimaera Ant is next, okay?

(≧ڡ≦*)

Miwa gripped at the phone. "U-Um. This is Miwa—"

"I am aware."

"Um—so—I'm—um—I'm at Meteor City," began Miwa, oddly flustered from hearing Kikyo. With her free hand she reflexively reached out to grab Gon or Killua but when she found neither were there she felt a rush of sheepish embarrassment which only flustered her further.

It didn't help that Chrollo cocked his head in confusion when she reached out to him. She abruptly snapped her hand back, her cheeks flaming.

Kikyo's silence didn't ease Miwa at all.

"I'm—I'm—I'm just, kind of, destroying it?"

"You're destroying Meteor City?"

"R-Rebuilding it," she hurried to explain. "But I—I don't know how to build a city. Killua said you know a lot of stuff, I—I was hoping maybe you'd know someone who—"

"Killua said that?" there a note of joy in her voice. "He said that I knew a lot?"

"Yes," affirmed Miwa.

Kikyo's voice warmed considerably. "Yes, of course. He's right, I do. You're laying siege to Meteor City then? Did you know I grew up there?"

Alarmed, Miwa gasped. "You did?"

She didn't want to imagine Killua's family living in the disgusting hellish pit of Meteory City. Even Miwa was surprised by the depravity of some of the citizens. Cannibals, slavers, deranged "scientists", and everything in between.

Gosh I really hope Killua's mom isn't a cannibal.

The woman didn't strike Miwa as a cannibal, but earlier that day one of Miwa's clones literally saw a mother eat her stillborn, so—

"Yes," repeated Kikyo softly. "Then I met Silva and he rescued me. I'm glad you're destroying it."

Miwa gripped at her phone, closing her eyes. From Kikyo's soft tone she could hear... sincerity.

It was hard for Miwa to connect to other humans right away. No one mattered to her until they suddenly did. She was repulsed by the things witnessed in Meteor City, but none of it upset her. She held disdain because it smelled bad and looked gross, not because it was morally wrong or unethical.

Maybe once upon a time that would have been the case, but time (too much of it) worn that voice down. There was a touch of exhaustion in her heart that resurfaced every time Miwa pondered the ambiguous concept of morality.

Society decided what was right and what was wrong, but when society was devouring the weak and hosting tea parties with skulls as teacups was that society to be trusted?

How did anyone trust society to determine what was good and what was evil?

Miwa understood the concept of it, but she lost the attachment to it.

In doing so, she continued to distance herself from terms of empathy and sympathy.

No one mattered to her until they suddenly did.

And somehow the idea of a young little Kikyo laying witness to the things Miwa had already seen...

She felt a tug inside her heart, the stirring echoes of warmth and kindness.