His Scarlet Eyes

1

Kurapika leaned against the wall in the underground room. The hunters exam was about to start. "Hey, look at that cutie." Leorio said, pointing to a girl who had just walked in. She had long, straight black hair and sharp features. Leorio waved to her. She waved back and walked over to them. "Hey hot stuff. The name's Leorio." He held out his hand. She shook it. "Dahlia. Dahlia Hansen." Her dark green eyes darted to Kurapika. "That's Kurapika." Leorio said. Kurapika nodded at her and looked away again. 

"Gon!" Leorio yelled. A boy with spiky green-tipped hair emerged from the crowd, followed by a kid of similar age with messy white hair. The boy named Gon smiled. He gestured over his shoulder at the white haired one. "This is Kullua. He's a new friend. Who's this?" He asked, studying Dahlia. 

"Dahlia Hansen." She said. Killua stepped forward and also shook her hand. He was holding a skateboard with a red arrow on it. She turned around and noted that Kurapika was eying her. "Hey, the exam's about to start. We should go in with the crowd." Leorio left their corner and headed to the front of the room. 

~

Leorio was running closer to the front of the group. Gon and Killua were in the middle. Dahlia and Kurapika were behind them. Kurapika had taken his outer-garments off and was only wearing a white shirt and pants. 

"So, Kurapika." Dahlia began. "Why are you taking the hunters exam? Any particular goals in mind?"

The blonde nodded and made genuine eye contact with her for the first time since she arrived. "I want to become a hunter to get revenge. A ruthless troup killed my entire clan many years ago. I wish to locate and exterminate them once and for all." 

Dahlia's eyes scanned his body. He was thin. She grabbed one of his hands, slowly to make sure he was okay with it. She studied them. His fingers were long and his hands were slim. "Chains would be a good look on you, Kurapika." She said, letting his hand fall back to his side. 

They reached the end of the tunnel however they still had to pass through the Milsy Wetlands before they could move onto the next phase. Leorio rounded up the rest of the members of their little group. "We need to stay close together." 

"I heard there are these things in this swamp that mimic your friends appearances and voices to lure you in and kill you." Gon whispered to Killua. They heard a loud noise in the distance. Dahlia flinched and breifly grabbed Kurapika's hand. 

~

Phase two involved going into the woods and finding something to cook. Your dish would be scored based on presentation and taste. They wandered into the woods. "There is one kind of pig in here we can eat." Gon piped up. "Oh yeah?" Killua asked. "Yeah. They're called the Great something."

They cooked their meals out of the Great Something and brought it to Menchi. Kurapika's dish was the first and only she actually tasted and it still got rejected. 

"She can't fail us all, can she?" Leorio whispered to Dahlia. She shrugged. Netero, the man who ran the hunter exams, came to talk to Menchi. After a few minutes of hushed discussion, they were ushered over to a canyon that was full of spider webs. 

"Ok, you have to go down in the canyon," She jumped back into the canyon. A gust of wind from the bottom carried her back up. "And retreive a Spider Eagle egg." 

Kurapika shivered. One guy jumped off but didn't come back up. "It's timed!" Gon exclaimed. "What do you mean?" Kurapika asked. "The wind that carries you back up, it only happens every other minute!" 

The rest of the examinees jumped down. They clung onto the spider eagle's web. Dahlia, clutching an egg, looked over to Kurapika. "Do we just... fall?" 

He nodded. "Now!" Gon yelled. They let go and were lifted back up. 

~

All the remaining contestants were dropped off on top of a tall tower. Dahlia stumbled upon a rotating panel in the roof. "Hey," she said. "There's rotating panels." She demonstrated by sticking the toe of her boot into one. "There's one over here too."

"Yeah, and here."

"And here."

Leorio found his panel. "I guess this is goodbye for now."

Gon waved. Kurapika nodded. Dahlia gave a little salute. They stepped through their respective floor panels. 

Once their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they realized they were all in the same place. 

They arrived in a large room. There was an entrance to another room across from them but nothing leading to it. A large, square platform sat in the middle of the room. 

A voice over a loudspeaker explained the rules of the phase to them. 

"I'll go first." Dahlia offered. Leorio raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You don't look like you can fight." She rolled her eyes. 

"Bendot, step forward."

A large muscled man steps forward. A metal bridge extends out of the wall and provides a path to the center platform. Once both contestants were in the middle, the metal bridges dissapeared. 

Dahlia had mastered her nen. She could conjure fire from thin air but also occasionally used twin swords. She closed her eyes and unsheathed the swords from thin air. Bendot laughed. She exhaled slowly and put her hands behind her back.

"Swords? I'll kill you, sweetie. Your blades aren't gonna stop me."

She lunged towards him. He grabbed and broke her sword. "You gotta try harder than that." He smirked and grabbed her neck. She decapitated him with the other sword.

She bent over and hovered her hand over the broken sword. It dissolved. The metal bridge extended once more and she returned to the group.