The Upper Ranks (KNY X HxH)

Chapter 6

Gon was currently standing outside with a katana in his hands, Tanjiro walking him through the motions. Gon swung, and Tanjiro let out a frustrated sigh. "Gon, we've been doing this for days." He huffed, then pouted. "I've never held a sword before, the only weapon I've really used that was this length was my fishing rod" Tanjiro blinked. "You...fight with your fishing rod?" Gon shrugged, "I used to before I got my knife, it's long range and close range." Then he beamed. "Oh! I can also catch a bird midflight with it's easy once you know the trick" Tanjiro thought for a moment, then gestured to the sword. "Try swinging it like it's your fishing rod, we'll go from there"

Gon nodded and shifted his grip on the hilt, then swung it like he was casting a fishing rod. Tanjiro moved his shoulders and grip slightly. "That was closer, now try doing it like this" He took his own katana and slashed it, Gon could instantly tell he was holding it the wrong way though. He guessed that Tanjiro was trying to alter it a bit so he could get it. "You're not swinging it the right way" Gon pointed out anyways. Tanjiro tilted his head slightly. "How would you know that?" He let the tip of the katana drop to the ground and sighed. "I know what it's supposed to look like, but doing it is a whole other thing. I can just stick with my knife-" Tanjiro shook his head. "You can't, it has to be made of Nichirin. It's the only weapon that can behead a demon, I told you this"

We've been doing this for half a week! Gon groaned. "I don't need to know how to swing it to kill a demon, all I gotta do it hit it hard enough in the right spot" he protested. Tanjiro crossed his arms. "No, you have to learn how to use a sword. If you don't then I won't let you take the final selection exams, and then you can't get your own personalized weapon" Gon paused, looking over at Tanjiro with interest. "Personalized weapon? Like...not just a sword? Anything I want?" He nodded. "I'm not letting you go until you cut one of the boulders, which you can not do without swinging the right way" Cut a...boulder? That's easy! Gon puffed out his cheeks and grabbed his katana again. "I can cut a boulder easy! Give me one, I'll show you"

Tanjiro sighed. "It's not possible, you-" Gon infused his sword using Shu and slashed sideways at a tree. The tree fell, a clean cut straight through it. Tanjiro's eyes widened in shock and he huffed. "That wasn't hard at all, all I needed to do was make sure the blade was flat or else it would've just smashed it" Tanjiro composed himself, then looked thoughtful. "Can you explain to me how you did that?" Gon nodded, smiling. "So, I used a technique called Shu" Tanjiro blinked. "Shu?" Oh right, they don't have Nen. He forgot that sometimes. "So it's hard to explain and I'm not very good at explaining anyways, I'm just gonna simplify it" he gestured to himself. "There's this thing called Nen that runs through your body like blood, but in order to use it you either have to meditate for months and months or force open the aura nodes which is not recommended but that's what I did" He explained, then thought for a moment.

Tanjiro was watching with interest, listening to every word he said. "There's bunches of techniques but the one I use the most is probably Zetsu and Ko. Zetsu is closing your aura nodes and completely hiding your presence. It makes you impossible to detect with anything except sight, and even then you don't have a presence so people aren't likely to see you unless you're out in the open or wear something really noticeable" Tanjiro glanced over at a nearby tree. "That's how you hid your scent, and moved from tree to tree without anyone hearing or seeing you" Gon nodded. "Ko is...well, it's closing all your aura nodes except in one part of your body. It strengthens it depending on how much aura you use" Gon activated Ko on his hand then slashed his katana along his palm. Tanjiro's eyes widened slightly as it slid right off the skin.

He beamed. "I usually use it when fighting to defend and attack, Bisky taught us how to react instantly and read Ko amounts in a flash" Tanjiro nodded, whenever he said 'we' or 'us' he usually meant Killua. Then he ran a finger along the blade. "Shu is pushing the aura out of your body and into an object, like a shovel. Bisky made us dig through mountains until we perfected it" he added the last part with a grumble. Tanjiro hummed for a moment, then turned towards the peak of the mountain. "Well, since that alone can't guarantee your strong enough to survive I got another idea" He whined. "Why can't I just take the exam already? It sounds like that tag hunt game from the hunter's exam except there's no tags and there's nothing to worry about during the day"

Tanjiro looked intrigued. He liked hearing about the customs and places and activities of Japon, the hunter's exam in particular. "Mind explaining this tag hunt game for me?" Gon nodded, leaning his katana against the tree and slipping out his 405 badge. "We had to stay on a deserted island for an entire week, everybody had a target." He said, then attached his tag to his shirt. "Your own tag is worth three points, your target is also three, and every other tag is a single point. You need six points to pass" Gon liked talking about his adventures, it took his mind off all the pressing issues most of the time. "It was pretty much a free for all, your allowed to acquire the tags by any means" Tanjiro's expression changed a little. Whenever Gon said 'by any means' it meant killing was allowed.

"I got Hisoka's tag, he's creepy" Gon said, shifting a little with a slightly uncomfortable look. Tanjiro looked kind of worried, Gon usually had nice things to say about people and wasn't scared of very much. "How so?" Gon gulped. "Well, first of all he dresses up like a clown" Tanjiro blinked in confusion. "He's got this creepy aura, and he's really strong. He took out like 20 people with a single card!" his eyes widened. "Card? Like a playing card?" Gon nodded. "yeah, and he calls me an 'unripened fruit' and says that he wants to watch me grow so he can kill me when I'm really strong and 'worth killing' or something" Tanjiro's eyes narrowed slightly. Then Gon rubbed the back of his head. "After the exam he kind of used to stalk me sometimes"

Now Tanjiro looked really concerned. "Killua calls him a pedophile but I don't know what that word means and he won't tell me no matter how many times I ask" Tanjiro froze, concern turning to alarm. It must mean something bad, why won't anyone tell me? "Did he touch you?" Gon blinked a few times. "Touch...me?" Gon frowned slightly. "I mean...he punched me in the face a few times." Then he remembered something and raised a finger. "Oh! That one time at greed island. Me, Killua, and Him were playing dodgeball and made this weird brace thing and Hisoka and I were on opposite ends. He didn't really touch me all that much though it was more like his arms brushed my sides for a second" Tanjiro seemed to be torn between relief and concern still.

Then Gon beamed. "That's why I learned how to catch a bird midflight, I was only gonna get one shot and if I screwed up I had a feeling he'd kill me. This was before he said he wanted to watch me grow by the way" He set his jaw. "I couldn't fail, but I couldn't get anyone else's tags. So I used Zetsu to stalk him, actually this was before I knew Nen existed and I didn't know I was doing it until much later when it was explained" Gon looked upwards. "The time when a moving target is the most predictable is when their attacking their prey. A bird waits until a fly gets close to the water so the fish jumps, then times the action for when it does" Gon winced slightly, eyes going back down. "I felt really bad waiting for him to prey on someone but it was my only chance, I snatched the tag with the fishing rod and managed to run away"

Gon looked down, "The person who had me as a target got me in the back of the neck with a blowdart that had a quick acting poison on it that relaxed all your muscles so you could barely move. He took mine and Hisoka's tag" Tanjiro looked confused. "Then how'd you pass?" Gon bit his lip. "Hisoka...killed him, then dropped both tags next to me. I tried to refuse, it wasn't fair. But then he punched me in the face when I tried to get up and said he wouldn't take it back until I could punch him in the face like that" Then he smiled. "I did, at heavens arena. I got this replica about a year ago from Kurapika" Gon said, pointing to the tag currently on his shirt. It was then that he remembered that Tanjiro had a plan for something he could do. "Oh right, you had an idea to test my strength" Tanjiro nodded, then pointed to the mountain peak. "Start from up there tomorrow morning, you have to make it back by nightfall"

1634 words

To be continued...