Heaven's Empress ||COMPLETE||

|34| Red Like Sin

A/N: 6 more days to vote HxHWattyAwards =w=

|Third Person POV|

Hisoka had his hands down his pants when the knock on his door came. He frowned, releasing his grip on the inner drawstrings of his pants as he walked towards the door.

Was it Zel?

He smirked, thinking it awfully strange of her to return after the way that she stormed off the morning before.

He opened the door, to find an unamused Chidoku standing with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. This man didn't like Hisoka, it was painfully clear. The question is, why not?

"The Empress requests your presence."

"Oho~?" Hisoka said, amused.

Chidoku rolled his eyes and started to walk off, not even to bother checking if Hisoka was following as he rounded the corner of the hallway.

"And what would she want with me~?" Hisoka asked, a tinge of triumph in his voice.

"I'm asking myself the exact same thing right now." Chidoku said, frowning at the face paint that the clown in front of him had on. What, was he going to attack with cards too?

There was an unbridgeable distance of tension between the two men, but Hisoka was smiling all the while. He was someone who quite enjoyed dire situations. The worse off his predicament, the more excited he became.

"So, who are you again~?" Hisoka asked, looking over Chidoku as if he were simply a piece of meat. A very delicious~ piece of meat.

"Chidoku, the former grandmaster. I'm also Heika-sama's keeper."

Hisoka laughed. "Her what now?"

Chidoku blushed, as if shocked that he said such a thing. "I- I look after her, that's all."

Hisoka stepped closer to this man. "Do you now?" A wide grin spread over his face as he poked Chidoku in the chest.

"Then, why has your precious Heika-sama been spending her nights with me~?"

Chidoku was stunned silent. Wordlessly, He fumed and walked faster. He was unaware that Zel was this... involved with the new challenger.

Relax, Chidoku told himself. Hisoka is just a tool to her, that's all.

"And... does she know that you're her keeper?" Hisoka smirked, egging himself on. "It seems to me that she takes care of herself quite nicely..."

You're the one that's keeping her alive. Chidoku told himself bitterly.

"Besides... Zel doesn't need a guardian angel... She needs a devil that her demons can dance with."

Finally, Chidoku couldn't keep it in any longer.

"And how would you know what she needs, Hmm? You've known her what, a few weeks? I've been with her for years now!"

Hisoka laughed — his voice echoing in the empty corridors as they entered a restricted area of the Arena.

"And yet, in all those years... Has she seen you as anything more than a tool, Chi- do - ku~? Kukukukuku~!"

|::|

"We're here."

Hisoka stepped into the palace that was set up once a year for the "Rise of the Fallen."

There was a throne in the back of the room, and in the front an arena had been erected. In the ring stood the red lady, Zel, and a referee.

"You're finally here..." Zel said, a thread of longing in her voice. As soon as she saw Hisoka enter the room, a part of her guard relaxed. She basked in the warmth that he brought, not knowing that to everyone else, it wasn't a comforting flame but rather a scalding inferno.