Heart of the Assassin (A Hunter X Hunter Fanfic) {Killua Zoldyck}

{2} Hope X and X Ambition

Two hours have passed since the start of the exam and the applicants have traveled over thirty kilometers from the start. None of them know how far they must go. They are forced to run at the leaders pace, with no goal specified. It's a monstrous exercise with no end in sight, and many applicants have already dropped out.

Gon is running more towards the back of the group while I'm closer to the front of the pack. "Hey kid, wait up!" I hear someone from behind me call out, "You should show the Hunter Exam some respect!" It's Leorio. I sigh and turn to see who he's yelling at. Sure enough it's the boy I met before, Killua.

"What do you mean?" he asks innocently.

"You're using your skateboard? That's cheating!" Leorio shouts.

Killua looks at him with a blank stare. "Why?" He questions, angering the old man.

"Why?! This is an endurance test!"

Gon, catching up to them, defends Killua. "No it isn't," he interjects.

Leorio looks peeved. "Huh? Gon, what are you saying?"

"The examiner only told us to follow him."

"Whose side are you on, eh?" The old man complains.

Killua slows down to match Gon's speed. "Hey how old are you?" he questions my brother.

"I'm twelve years old."

Killua ponders for a moment then does this really awesome flip on his skateboard and effortlessly catches it in his hand, tucking it under his arm. "Guess I'll run too."

"Wow! That was cool!" Gon says excitedly. I'll admit it was pretty sweet.

"I'm Killua."

"I'm Gon," they both introduce themselves.

Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my side and trip over someone's foot, falling to the ground.

"Damn it..." I say hitting the ground with my fist. One of the applicants elbowed me right in the gut while another one tripped me. I was so preoccupied watching Gon that I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. I could hear them laughing ahead of me. That should not have just happened.

"Are you okay?" someone asks me. It's Kurapika, he's holding out his hand to help me up.

"Yeah I'm fine," I say grudgingly taking his hand. We start to run alongside one another. "Thanks..." I mumble.

"No problem," he says. "It may be the Hunters Exam, but I'm not going to stoop that low."

There's a moment of silence between us.

"Kurapika..." I pause. "If I can ask... why do you want to become a Hunter?" His eyes cloud over and he looks away leaving my question unanswered. Oops. I try to retract my statement. "I'm sorry I didn't mean... you don't have to tell me."

"No it's just..."

I shake my head and put my hands up surrendering, "Nope, I don't want to know. You can tell me some other time, if you want."

"Well I know why you want to be a Hunter..." He says.

I look at him confused. "How?"

"Gon, he couldn't stop talking about you on the way here... he said you were looking for your family. I guess in a different way I kind of am too." There's darkness in his eyes.

"Oh..." I study him. Something horrible must have happened. "Well if you don't mind me asking, how did you meet Gon?"

"On the ship we had to take to get to the Hunter Exam. He jumped off the boat to-"