A Genius Thrown to the Wolves

A New Face Ch. 35

Down on the arena Hisoka was getting ready for the finale. "I told you he was mine~" Kastro looked up at him, he had gone manic and began charging Hisoka. Hisoka stayed planted right where he was. Right before Kastro made contact with him, Hisoka brought his hand up and snapped. In an instant Kastro was knocked back with 4 cards imbedding themselves in the vital points of Kastro's stomach. Hisoka walked over to him, grabbed a fist full of hair and got right in his face. "I win~. You lose~." Kiyotaka kisses two of his fingers before pressing them to Kastro's lips forcefully, his chin meeting his chest, and his final breath was drawn. Hisoka reveled in the awesome feeling this win brought him, all thanks to Kiyotaka, as the ref. announced Hisoka was the winner. It was about 6 seconds of silence before the audience roared to life. It would be a fan favorite for a very. long time.  

Gon was at a loss for words, Kiyotaka's behavior had truly shocked him. Killua on the other hand was cheering right along side the audience, and found himself cheering even louder when Kiyotaka had made brief but intentional eye contact with him. Killua could officially, for the first time in his life, call himself a fanboy. Wing was sitting beside his student with a thoughtful look on his face, but having only one thought on his mind, 'those two are dangerous'. Killua had dragged Gon with him to try and meet up with the victor and the real star of the fight, but had just missed them, as they disappeared into a crowd of people. 

Kiyotaka was still on Hisoka's shoulder when they went into a room that wasn't there own. He thought about voicing his confusion, but decided against it, instead just opting for being on extra high alert. Hisoka had taken a seat at a small table before a pink haired woman entered the room, and sat down across from him with an annoyed huff. "Well?" "Right here my dear" Hisoka said as he placed the severed arm he'd been carrying on the table. Machi only glared at Hisoka for addressing her so familiarly before getting to work using her microscopic nen needles and thread to reattach his arm before signaling him to let her do the other arm. Through the whole process Kiyotaka was watching with gyo to add a new skill to his nen arsenal. 

"Are you gonna tell me who the kid is?" Hisoka looked at Machi and chuckled, half at Machi's stupidity (at least in his eyes) and half in mockery of the implication that Kiyotaka was a child. In recognition of this Kiyotaka made what could only be considered a hissing sound before hitting Hisoka on the back of his head with his tail. The force of the hit caused Hisoka to also fall forward and his his head on the table in front of him. Throughout this whole process Kiyotaka remained un-bothered on his shoulders and exuding an air of brattiness. 

"And he looks to be a handful, is your head okay?" Machi asked in mock concern. Hisoka only rolled his eyes. "First I am of perfectly sound mind, and second, he is not a child. He's actually only 2 years younger then myself." Hisoka reached back and lifted Kiyotaka up off his shoulders and placed him on his own two feet. "Was that supposed to convince me he wasn't a child? He's unusually short considering the age you just gave me." Machi said deadpan, having been down with Hisoka's antics since their first meeting. "I guess not, just thought you might want to have a good look at him since he'll be joining me where ever I go from now on. That of course means to meetings, I can't wait to introduce him to the big boss!" "You can't be serious! The troupe would eat him alive!" "Please! They couldn't even if they wanted to." Machi was surprised but didn't want to argue, she actually just wanted to get out of there. 

Before she could get herself out the door curiosity led her to asking one final question, "What's his nen type?" "He's got a special type" "Which means?" "Even I haven't figured it out, but I do know that it is somewhat feline based." "Why would you think that?" Hisoka pulled Kiyotaka into his lap and whispered  something in his ear. Machi could see the protest in the boys eyes, but another whisper from Hisoka and it disappeared. Less then two seconds later Machi saw cat ears and fluffy tail appear, she struggled to contain herself. She was a cold blooded person who could murder countless people and families if it meant following orders or getting what she wanted, but cats?! Cats were her weakness, and Hisoka new it. Without waisting another breath Machi and practically rushed over to them, swept Kiyotaka out of Hisoka's lap, sat down on the edge of the bed and placed him in her own lap. 

Usually Kiyotaka would be repulsed and not even let this situation happen, but Hisoka had told him that if we get on her good side, it would be even better when he finally met the rest of the troupe. Kiyotaka didn't care about first impressions though. He cared about observing and gaining the nen abilities of some of the most powerful nen users in the world. Kiyotaka would make sure that no matter what world he was in, he was on top. His pleasant relationship with Hisoka had not swayed that goal in the slightest. 

So he sat there and let Machi play with his tail and pet his ears. He was a little scared at first because the last time Hisoka touched his tail he felt super weird and almost itchy all over, but it didn't feel like that with Machi, maybe it was just Hisoka. But this also made Kiyotaka curious as to why he would have reacted that way even when he hadn't know Hisoka yet. It confused him and he didn't like it, he wanted to find the answers to these questions. 

Kiyotaka found that the ability to hold on to a thought was getting increasingly harder. He was getting lost in the innocent pleasure of Machi gently playing with his ears and tail. He didn't like or trust new people but if she could scratch the itch behind his ears this perfectly, he might need to make an exception. Hisoka watched in amusement as Kiyotaka slowly relaxed into the touch of his fellow troupe member as she cooed and fawned over him. He was a tad bit jealous, but loved the new angle he could see Kiyotaka enjoying himself from. Though after watching for a minute he got board and decided to ask Machi for tips on properly petting a cat. He couldn't let himself be upstaged, now could he?