Where Do I Begin. ( HxH - Reader Insert )

.:7:.

You remembered the stench of blood like the back of your hand.

An almost indiscernibly sweet undernote to a horridly bitter metallic tang. Even now. Standing at the doorway of the cabin, destruction all around you and a pool of blood soaking through the floorboards under the crippled figure of the man on the floor, you could practically smell it.

Practically.

But you couldn't.

If you hadn't been so worked up by the sight of those piercing eyes locking onto yours, perhaps it might've made you second guess, might've risen concerns. But how could you possibly question the depth of the situation when there was a woman hanging from its clutches and the hair rising feeling of rage pouring off of the boys standing at your side. You understood their anger, you could feel it yourself, a pulse of it beneath your skin that set your cells alight. But above the anger, above the desperation to make things right, was fear.

You had never encountered anything like this before, never had to stare danger right in the face like this. All your life you had had the option to hide. To hide behind your blankie, to hide behind your parents, to hide behind those closet doors. There was nothing to hide behind now. There was nowhere for you to run.

There are people standing at your side, people with histories you weren't aware of, people who might have reservations of their own, yet people who still faced this creature with conviction. You wished to be like them.

"A magical beast!" Leorio choked out.

"Magical beast?" Gon repeated in confusion, tense but intrigued.

"A shape-shifting magical beast, the Kiriko!" Kurapika explained briskly, "the can take human form, they're extremely intelligent"

The beast, the Kiriko, had long since noticed you all, so it was no surprise that it turned to face you once its name was spoken. Those eyes that had frozen your body in place gleamed with what you could almost discern to be amusement. The intelligence that Kurapika spoke of was clear as day in its expression, and the way its curled grin only seemed to widen in recognition.

"It has a woman!"

Your eyes dropped to the figure slumped in its fist. She was limp in its arms but still conscious. She was grappling at the hand around her throat, her eyes screwed tight in pain, and the Kiriko showed no signs of letting her go. If she was to share to same fate as the man on the floor then you were all in trouble.

"The man on the floor needs medical aid-"

Before another word could be said, before you could digest what had even happened, there was a shattering of glass and a gush of wind. On powerful legs the Kiriko had sprung for the window, crashed through the frame, and fled the cabin with the woman in hand. Your fear for her life was quick to overpower the fear for your own.

"P-please--" the quiet, pained rasp was almost deafening over the sound of falling glass and howling wind, "please, my wife-! Please save my wife..." the man on the floor, covered in his own blood and splintered glass, had his hand stretched out towards the shattered window. Drenched in his own blood and trembling with fatigue, he pleaded quietly for the life of his beloved, and a deep rooted swell of emotion crashed into you.

He wanted to protect the person he loved regardless of his own wellbeing.

All at once, fear seemed to trickle from your system in one fell swoop. This was more than just an exam, this was a person's life, this was a person's family- there was no more room to act like a scared child, not anymore.