Hisoka plays Examiner

When Sakura discovered an odd book in the library, she didn't expect it to be a portal into another dimension. Now she has to get through a trial known as the Hunter Exam, in hopes of reaching the c. The First Phase of the Hunter exam included a run through a dark tunnel with seemingly no end and when the applicants finally made it out, their relief was short-lived to discover they still had to run through a dangerous forest filled with strange creatures-some of which had a taste for human flesh. That wasn't the worst of it though; for Sakura learned that danger tends to lurk so close, you can't see it until you stop looking around to see what's right in front of you.

"Be sure to stay close behind me," Satotz warned the applicants.

The run through the marsh was more challenging than the run through the tunnel. The ground was wet and damp; sinking your feet in the soil, forcing you to carry more weight than usual when moving. The fog made it hard to heed their examiners instructions. It was no better than running in the dark without a torch, the only indicators of direction being the silhouettes in front of you.

"It'll be a miracle of half of the applicants make it through," Sakura said narrowing her eyes at the people in front of her.

"As long as we're in that half, it doesn't matter," Killua said.

Killua was running on the right side of Sakura, Gon on her left; unfortunately, Kurapika and Leorio weren't able to keep the same pace as the three.

There was a raven's call through the sky; it was strange, Sakura had thought that with Satotz warning that they would've encountered some of these creatures he had told them about, but they have been running over thirty minutes now and nothing. Everything was so quiet, all you could hear were the sounds of the applicant's heavy footsteps trampling through the mud.

'I hope it stays this way.' Sakura thought, even though she was sure something would happen eventually. Her experiences in the forest were hardly ever peaceful ones, but that was usually because of enemy ninja's and not the natural wildlife that lived there.

The fog started to grow thick once again, as time passed. The silhouettes that were once clear, were becoming dark blurry blobs in motion.

Sakura felt droplets start to form from the fog hitting her skin. The way she usually traveled was leaping through the trees, at least they gave a firm base to plant your feet on.

'This couldn't possibly get any worse-

She paused; nearly stopping her run. In a certain space, it was usually possible to feel another living presence, for a ninja it was a sense that had to be sharpened and refined as it was crucial for survival. Past experience had left Sakura sensitive to detect these kinds of things, especially bloodlust. Right now, she felt like it had taken on physical form and was breathing down her neck.

She wasn't the only one, as Killua glanced back behind them.

"We should move up ahead," Killua said, addressing Sakura and Gon.

Sakura peeked behind her shoulder to see the source of the change in atmosphere that had a chill run down her spine. The one Tonpa had explicitly warned her about. The magician, Hisoka. He was running near the three, near enough for them to see him in the fog; behind Hisoka were a few more applicants that were glaring at him. Their intentions were all too obvious.

"I agree," Sakura said, "Let's go."

"Yeah, we don't' want to lose sight of the examiner," Gon said

"I'm more concerned about increasing the distance between us and Hisoka." Killua told him, "Staying too close is dangerous. I can smell it in the air."

After that stunt he pulled back at the tunnel with the examiner, Sakura had to agree with that statement. The sooner she was away from him, the sooner she could breathe a little lighter. Gon on the other hand hadn't noticed the tension; that was thicker than the fog.

Gon took a sniff of the air "He doesn't smell strange to me."

"That's not what he meant Gon," Sakura whispered, "Let's just move up please."

Gon nodded, he craned his head to the side and shouted out "Leorio, Kurapika! Killua and Sakura want us to move up!"

Slapping her forehead, Sakura glanced back behind her. The fog had grown so thick now that everyone was becoming nothing more than silhouettes in the mist. She thought it would be better if Kurapika and Leorio joined them in the front just in case.

"Can't you sense the tension around us?" Killua asked

"Idiots!" Leorio's voice carried from the distance to the three, "If I had the strength, I'd already be there!"

"Don't worry about us!" Kurapika called to them.

Killua, Gon, and Sakura ran up further up together attempting to reach Satotz and distancing themselves from Hisoka but the fog had become so thick, wrapped around them like a cold wet blanket. The silence that surrounded the applicants was lost when several screams erupted. Screams of pain, screams of fear; the final screams before they were silenced for what would be 'long term'. It wasn't only the screams of people that they could hear, but the growls and snarls of the unknown creatures that called this foggy plant of nature their home.

Sakura's head started darting around "Do you guys hear that?"

Killua nodded, narrowing his eyes, "We should pick up the pace, don't know what's out there."

"I'm worried about Kurapika and Leorio," Gon said glancing behind him as if he could see his friends when he obviously could not. "Maybe I should go back-

"Chances of you finding them in this fog are slim," Killua interrupted "You can't see the way we came from."

"I can't even see where we're heading," Sakura said, squinting her eyes trying to avoid running into a tree.

The three had continued to run in an attempt to reach the front, however, they had lost the people they were tailing amongst the panic that had broken out all around them. They couldn't see what was happening but they could imagine and it was nothing pleasant.

"I think if we just go this-

Sakura stopped as they crossed a certain patch of land that felt slightly unnatural, a sort of bump that sucked in with a texture different to the soil they were trampling in.

Before anyone could ask anything, Sakura, Gon, and Killua felt the earth shake beneath them. Then it cracked, falling with the three.

It happened so fast they barely had time to scream as a loud noise was heard before they were engulfed in darkness. As they struggled to gain their sense of gravity within the dark, it felt as if a tremendous vacuum was trying to pull them down.

Sakura couldn't see much but she could feel and hear plenty, a force pushed her to the back, where she felt Killua and Gon's limbs moving about before a sloshing sound. Her entire body fell in what she would describe a warm liquid, like dirty water.

"W-WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Sakura screamed.

"Sakura!"

"Gon!"

"Killua!"

"Where are we?" Sakura asked again, frantic. It was unbearably warm in this place as if something was trying to suffocate them.

"I think we were swallowed by something," came Gon's unnaturally calm reply.

"Probably a swamp creature," Killua said

Sakura ceased all of her movements straight away, if what they said was true then that meant that they were currently in the belly of that creature. "Are you telling me, that we were eaten?"

"Swallowed," Killua corrected, he was so calm Sakura felt herself becoming irritated. There wasn't much of a difference since they would've still ended up in the same place.

The unstable base beneath their feet made all of them fall into the mysterious liquid; which once could guess was the digestive juices in the creature's stomach. They felt as if they were moving, even as they remained stable which meant that whatever swallowed them was on the move again.

Attempting to breathe despite the musty stale air, Sakura held out her arms and began searching in the dark. An 'oops' was heard as she felt pressure on her back. Spinning around, Sakura felt her hand hit something hard.

"Ouch!"

She gasped, "Sorry Gon!"

"That's okay," the boy said,

"Killua!" Sakura called,

"I'm right here." The pinkette jumped when she felt a tap on her back.

"Good; now we should get out of here," Sakura said, 'I am going to punch a hole through this thing, but first I need to know where Gon and Killua are so there aren't any mishaps.'

It would be bad if she accidentally ended up hitting one of them in the process. Feeling around for the other boy's hand until she caught hold of his shoulder, trailing her hand down his arm to his hand.

"Already took care of that," she heard Killua say.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"Just get ready,"

Again, Sakura wasn't' able to get the words out of her mouth because they were hit with a force that squashed them together, it felt like they were being crushed by slimy walls, the liquid rose up and over their heads, their air lost. The muscles of the creature were contracting, pushing them up and they weren't able to stop it before they came sliding out of its mouth along with the bile.

When they hit solid ground Sakura saw that they were back outside once again, she took a big gulp of air before sitting up to see the creature that had swallowed them. A giant frog, that was currently waddling away; her disgust overpowered her anger and she remained beside Gon and Killua.

Gon smiled as he watched the frog leave, "Guess he didn't like the taste of us."

"It was this." Killua held up a familiar orange can and Sakura realized that he had opened it, the laxative inside had caused the frog to….

Sakura shivered, she didn't want to go there.

"That was from Tonpa-san!" exclaimed Gon, "Guess he saved us."

Killua threw the can aside, "Well I could've gotten out if I wanted."

Shaking her arms, Sakura started looking around "Okay, forget finding the group. I'm going to find a place I can wash all of this off of me."

"I'm still worried about Leorio and Kurapika," Gon added.

"We can still catch up to the examiner, we don't' have time for this," Killua said standing up, he started running ahead, followed by Sakura who believed that Gon was going to be right behind her.

However, both had missed the point where the boy had stopped mid-run and turned around, disappearing into the fog. Heading straight into the heart of danger.

"Please."

"No,"

"Please."

"No,"

"Please."

"No,"

"Ple-

"We cannot take a detour to find a river," Killua said,

Sakura rolled her eyes "You know just because you say it in that definitive tone doesn't mean it means anything."

"We've got to find the main group, if we try searching for a river now we might run into something else that wants to eat us I'm out of laxative cans."

Pouting, Sakura didn't respond knowing that Killua was right. She was in the middle of an exam after all and she didn't know what might come up and attack them.

They have been running for a few minutes now and Sakura realized that Gon had been silent, his presence seemed non-existent.

'Oh crap,' was what Sakura thought when she turned around to see that Gon was nowhere in sight. She couldn't hear any footsteps either which meant he hadn't been following them for a while.

"Killua, Gon is-

When Sakura turned back, she realized that she had lost sight of Killua as well, the boy must've run off without realizing she wasn't following him anymore. A throbbing began in Sakura's head, as she drew in a deep breath before screaming out into the fog.

"THOSE IDIOTS."

After losing a bit of her frustration with a fraction of her voice, Sakura attempted to think of what to do next. It had been a long time since she's endured this kind of frustration, but oh she remembered it well. She didn't think she would need to read until she got to their destination, but given the circumstances. She needed an idea of what to do next. Pulling back a few pages, she saw that chapters three and four had appeared already; but she would deal with that in a less stressful environment. Going to the heading that said Chapter Five, she sped through a few pages which had appeared.

'It has everything we've done so far,' Sakura realized; she was only skimming through but from the moment they had left the tunnel the book talked of their run through the marsh and what had happened by far. With the fog, the creatures, Sakura, Gon, and Killua getting swallowed by a frog (she shivered), Leorio and Kurapika facing a swamp creature on their own and then coming across Hisoka who just finished killing several exam-

"Wait what!"

Elsewhere in the Swindlers Swamp, Kurapika and Leorio; being the only two to have survived the surprise attack from one of the many creatures, had lost track-not only of the examiner but the other applicants as well and were running aimlessly in hopes of finding someone. Leorio came to a stop when he saw a human-like figure in the distance, pulling back Kurapika the two watched as the fog began to clear. Revealing Hisoka, surrounded by several applicants, all pointing their weapons directly at him.

One spoke, claiming that he had seen Hisoka last year and deemed he was unfit to become a Hunter. Saying that his life would be spared, should decide to never take Hunter's exam again, Hisoka only appeared amused by the offer. He claimed that he would not be taking the Hunter's exam again for this year he would pass….

Sakura read on to find that Hisoka had killed all of the applicants attempting to take him out and with very little effort. All the while Leorio and Kurapika watched. However; when they were all dead Hisoka's attention averted to Leorio and Kurapika who didn't do much to hide their presence.

…Kurapika understood that there was a large difference in power between Hisoka and Leorio and himself. He suggested to Leorio ever so silently that they should run in opposite directions as the fog would provide a decent cover for them to escape.

Silence fell between them for a few moments as Hisoka began making his way over to the two, he flicked his fingers revealing a card. At the sound of a crow's cries, Kurapika signaled for them to run and the two separated, rushing past Hisoka and into the fog.

Hisoka watched, fairly amused; though agreeing that it was a wise decision. Despite still having the itch to fight. He was about to leave himself when he heard footsteps and saw a tall figure emerging from the fog. That figure turned out to be Leorio; who said he could not turn his back to what he had just witnessed. With a thick branch in hand, he charges towards Hisoka-

Sakura's eyes widened as she read the end of the page, of what was going to happen next; what happened after Leorio's attack had her pumping chakra to her feet, she took off at inhuman speed.

She ran, she ran as fast as she could, despite not knowing exactly where exactly she needed to go. It had taken but a moment for her to figure out where Gon might be. He had been constantly worrying about Kurapika and Leorio, although the odds of him leaving the group to go and find them were slim compared to the chance he had just lost them in the forest. However, from what Sakura read; the latter would not be the case.

If Gon was going to confront Hisoka she was worried, that was it. She didn't care about what the book said; it did nothing to calm her growing anxiety.

'Dammit,'

Sakura jumped high into a tree, in hopes of catching a glimpse of something through the thick fog. There seemed to be nothing for miles, however soon the familiar sound of footsteps reached her ears and her eyes started darting around; at first, there was nothing but fog and a few visible vegetation before she spotted-Kurapika!

He was running her way, but he obviously hadn't seen her in the tree yet.

"Kurapika!" Sakura called down towards him as he came closer and within an earshot.

The blonde boy looked up in the trees for a while before he spotted a small blob of pink, he waved indicating he's seen her.

"Hey!"

"Do you know where Leorio and Gon are?" Sakura asked quickly.

Kurapika frowned, "I was heading back to find Leorio now,"

"Which way?" she asked cutting him off from explaining that he and Leorio had an unfortunate encounter with Hisoka.

"What?"

"Which way?" Sakura repeated, frowning at him.

Kurapika pointed forward, in the direction he had initially been running. Sakura realized that she must've somehow passed them.

"Alright, thanks."

"Wait-

Kurapika watched as the pinkette vanished in a blur, the branch that she was once standing one, vacant. A cool breeze blew across the forest, rustling the leaves. Kurapika stared at the tree he had seen the girl once standing.

'What was that?' his eyes widened as he realized she was going in the direction of Hisoka!

Gon had smelled it. He picked up on the scent immediately after he, Sakura, and Killua escaped from that frog's belly. Leorio's cologne had grown closer to them and he thought that he and Kurapika caught up to them, but then he also picked up on another scent. One he came to recognized recently before they moved on ahead. Hisoka's. They were close together. Killua's words rang in his head about Hisoka and how dangerous it was to be around him. So he took off after the scents. Only to come across a clearing in the forest, where several candidates now lay, dead on the wet grass.

There were only two people in that area that were standing, Leorio and Hisoka. When Leorio had gone to attack Hisoka, the magician effectively dodged his attack and was about to strike Leorio down.

That was before Gon intervened.

He swung his fishing pole, the end hitting Hisoka on the side of his head, drawing a bit of blood. Although the hit barely seemed to affect Hisoka as he then made his way towards Gon. It was then the boy discovered that the element of surprise was what allowed Hisoka to take that hit because from then on, none of his attacks were hitting Hisoka. That was after Leorio attempted to hit Hisoka from behind and ended up on the ground, knocked unconscious with one powerful and painful-looking punch.

Gon tried hitting Hisoka while his back was turned, but when he thought he made contact all he saw was smoke-literally.

"You came to rescue your friend." A voice came from behind Gon.

He jumped away from Hisoka quickly, but the voice still appeared from behind him along with the person who embodied it.

"Such a good boy." Hisoka was crouched down, his hand under his chin, a smile on his face.

Gon swung his fishing pole behind him, while it appeared to go straight through Hisoka, the man disappeared into smoke once again-like magic.

"And that expression…."

Hisoka was now standing, further away from Gon, his arms crossed and eyes closed. Gon jumped back, before swinging his line towards Hisoka; who was now walking towards the boy. With subtle movements of his head, Hisoka was able to avoid Gon's line every time. Getting closer to him.

Gon drew back one more time, reeling his fishing pole before flinging it forward again. Only this time, the hook and sinker landed on the ground, creating a small dust cloud and catching Hisoka's attention. While Gon moved in front behind, his arms pulled back with his fishing pole, about to strike Hisoka while he was distracted. But Gon was barely able to gasp before Hisoka wrapped his pale hand around Gon's neck. Keeping him up, no matter how hard Gon kicked, he wasn't able to get free of this grip.

"How wonderful…" Hisoka trailed.

Opening one of his eyes, he looked at Hisoka's face. Yellow eyes narrowed and his face twisted into a large grin.

"I really do love that look."

A whizzing noise cut through Gon's strained noises as he attempted to breathe; despite Hisoka's tightening grip. Something warm and wet slid onto Gon's hand; that was holding Hisoka's wrist. Suddenly he could breathe again.

Gon landed on the ground, falling forward on his hands and knees. After he stopped coughing, his head trailed up on Hisoka's figure. When he got to his head, Gon saw that it was turned to look at something in the distance.

Following Hisoka's gaze, Gon realized what he was looking at-who he was looking at.

His vision was still blurred, but it was hard to mistake that dot of pink even in the fog. Sakura was standing a few feet away, glaring at Hisoka.

"Sakura…"

"Gon, are you alright?"

He nodded in response.

Sakura sighed softly, putting a hand to her chest touching the area her heart rested "Good."

Hisoka stared at the pinkette that had come out of the fog and then at his hand, drops of red were slipping from the cut and onto the grass, but that wasn't what interested him. No, it was what had been used to make the wound. Embedded in his hand, a plain card, one of his cards.

Sakura stiffened as Hisoka turned his body towards her; he had a wild look in his eyes that sent shivers up her spine. There was clear bloodlust in them, she could feel it even from this distance. He began taking painfully slow steps towards the pinkette, whilst removing the card she threw into his hand.

She had arrived just to see Gon being strangled by Hisoka; she meant to reach for a kunai but instead felt the card poking out of her pocket. So, deciding to play a little trick herself, she used chakra to sharpen the card and threw it at Hisoka.

'I might have just made a big mistake,' Sakura thought, feeling her feet shift but she resisted stepping back. If she made one false move, he might attack her. After all; sometimes prey only becomes prey when they try to run away. Revealing their weakness. As Hisoka drew near, Sakura kept her eyes open, sharp. She urged herself to calm down. Reminded herself that if he did try anything, she could fight. She had more strength than twenty men put together and then some.

'Of course, that's not going to count for much if I'm petrified to a statue.'

Then she began to think. Thinking back to a time in her world. The time she had first encountered Orochimaru. How his bloodlust had shown both her and Sasuke the moment of their own deaths. The way the kunai pierced through their heads. How they weren't able to move after seeing that. It was what made her so sensitive to bloodlust. And there were so many more near-death experiences, that she had to overcome that this was just another one of those moments.

A crooked smirk appeared on Sakura's face 'Been through this before,'

Hisoka noticed the grin on the girl's face as he continued to approach her. Any trace of fear she had was gone, that hesitance gone. Well hidden beneath the surface.

With a few more silent steps, Hisoka stood in front of Sakura, inches apart. With his height he practically towered over her, but if Sakura was intimidated she hid it well.

"Well now, this is certainly interesting." Hisoka said playing with the bloody card between his fingers, "I didn't think I'd be hit with my own card."

"Then you shouldn't leave them lying around," Sakura said, looking up at Hisoka, her arms crossed. "Or next time I won't return it."

Hisoka gave a very amused smile; that caused Sakura to internally bristle. She resolved, if he attacked then she would fight; she would fight and show him what she was capable of-everything she was capable of.

"Well then, you have my thanks but these are disposable," Hisoka said with a flick of his wrist, the card was gone. Hisoka leaned his head down towards Sakura's face, now at eye-level with the pinkette. Sakura's emerald green eyes shone with powerful intent.

"You really shouldn't look at me like that," Hisoka trailed somewhat strained, his hand reaching out slowly for her neck…

"It's making me excited."

A frown appeared on Sakura's face, her hand shot forward grabbing the front of Hisoka's shirt, bunching it tight while flicking his traveling hand in the process.

"If you want to test me, you should pass the exam yourself and become a Hunter first." Sakura hissed, "Because I don't do pretend."

Sakura couldn't handle staying any closer to Hisoka, his bloodlust seemed to spike after she said that. So Sakura pushed Hisoka away from her before she took quick footsteps towards Gon and the unconscious Leorio.

She could feel Hisoka's gaze on her back, but she didn't look back. Finally reaching Gon, she crouched in front of him to inspect for any injuries. Touching his neck where Hisoka had grabbed him; there weren't even any marks.

"Sakura…." Gon trailed, taking her fingers away from his neck; he felt her trembling.

Almost in an instant, Gon felt thin arms wrapped around him. "Next time, give some damn warning before you run off."

Hisoka cleared his throat, Sakura moved away from Gon so that the two could look at him. In that short time he had moved closer to the three only a few feet away, but clearly visible. Both giving him wary expressions.

"Don't worry, I won't be killing any of you today." Hisoka said suddenly, "You all passed."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Hisoka again, "I thought I told you; I don't play pretend."

Hisoka continued to smile at them, "Well; I was."

A beeping noise filled the silence around the three, Hisoka reached into his outfit to pull out a rectangular device, with a green screen and judging from the antenna Sakura guessed it was meant for communicating.

Clarifying her observation, a voice was heard through the speakers, it was deep but hearing it they knew it was masked, whoever was speaking was not using their real voice to do it. "Hisoka you should get back here. We're nearly at Phase Two of the site."

Hisoka held the device to his mouth, "Okay, I'll be right there."

With that Hisoka went over to Leorio, Sakura's eyes widened and she was about to stop him from going anywhere near him when Hisoka picked Leorio up and threw him over his shoulder.

"It's always good to have friends." Hisoka said to them, "You can find your own ways back right?"

Gon nodded, while Sakura kept glaring at him. She knew he had no intention of killing Leorio and she wouldn't have minded carrying Leorio back herself.

Turning his back to them, Hisoka started walking away but not before saying one more thing.

"Next time, it won't be pretend."

Sakura's entire form became rigid and in that instant, she wished she hadn't said what she did; because she had just intrigued him.

After Hisoka's form and presence vanished into the fog, Gon and Sakura felt like the crushing imaginary weight of anxiety disappeared along with him. Both were silent, taking quick breaths of the air now free of bloodlust. They remained stationary.

"Gon! Sakura! Are you alright?"

They heard Kurapika's voice called out to them, turning around they saw him running passed all of the dead applicants on the grass that Hisoka had offed. It was only then that they realized-the fog was clearing.

After a few minutes, Gon and Sakura were able to regain their footing and took off with Kurapika. Once again, the three were running through a forest; most likely the last applicants to be doing so. The others were either already at the next exam sight or 'failed'. Gon was leading, saying that he'd be able to find his way to the exam sight. When they asked him how he was able to find his way; he told them he could track Leorio with his scent.

They were running on a dirt path; they found that with the fog gone most of the animals had retreated with it. Suppose foggy days were their perfect hunter conditions. Now it was all a matter of getting to the sight before they were out of time.

"Hey, what did Hisoka mean when he said we passed?" Gon asked,

"He was acting as an examiner," Sakura told him; that was what she had read at least. The applicants that Hisoka killed had challenged him, in turn, he offered to play examiner and test them. Their dead bodies were evidence that they had failed.

Gon glanced back at Sakura, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "What does that mean?"

"As Sakura said, he was acting the part of an examiner," Kurapika explained, his breath coming in soft pants. "My guess is, he was testing you to evaluate your power. You, Leorio, and Sakura must've met his standards."

Sakura cringed, thinking to that moment she was so close to him. As he reached for her neck, she wanted to back away and when she grabbed him, she had gone for his top instead of his neck like she initially planned to. Sakura knew that if she gave him the slightest hint of the intention to fight, he would've gladly taken it.

There was just something about him that made her skin crawl; his presence was suffocating in a way that was different from other enemies she had faced before. Almost as if he could physically impose his bloodlust onto her instead of just making her sense it.

'Next time,' Sakura thought starring down at her hand, she clenched it tight 'I won't hold back.'

"I get it," Gon said, "But I was powerless against him."

"You hit him first though right?" Kurapika asked, keeping beside Gon while avoiding a tree stump on the path.

"Only because I surprised him; and Leorio passed even though he lost." the boy then turned back to the pinkette running nearly right behind him, "But Sakura injured Hisoka with one of his cards. He went over to her; then they just whispered to each other."

Kurapika turned to Sakura, "Whispered?"

Sakura sighed softly, "I told him I had no interest in playing his little game of examiner; so he didn't attack-although he was barely able to contain himself from killing me."

"You were so calm though,"

Letting out a humorless chuckle, she looked down; "Honestly; I was a little light-headed."

"Eh, then why did you come there in the first place?"

"To look for you idiot!" exclaimed Sakura, "You could've at least said something before you took off."

While Gon and Sakura were chatting, Kurapika had a thought while he watched the two converse. He knew that Hunter's exams brought together the type of people who were considered far from normal. To him, however, Sakura seemed especially odd. It wasn't something he could explain but he could see that she was trying to blend in. Why would you try to blend in with a group of hunter applicants; who each held a unique quality and naturally stood out in a crowd?

'And how did she know Hisoka was acting a judge? She only appeared after.'

That wasn't all he wondered, Sakura had been heading back searching for Gon. The way she looked then told him that somehow she knew Gon and Leorio was in danger when she asked about them. The expression on her face gave it away.

"So Kurapika, why did Hisoka let us go?" Gon asked, breaking the blonde's train of thought when he realized all eyes were now on him.

"Well, it's possible Hisoka felt that you were kindred spirits."

Sakura pulled a face, "You mean we're like him?"

"Not exactly," Kurapika told her, he could tell that she assumed he insinuated that they were similar to Hisoka in terms of the man's less dignified attributes, like his killing habits and such. "While I doubt that Hisoka would qualify as a Hunter. He is very skilled; with his superhuman agility and graceful technique. Commonly, those possessing special talents are drawn to others with unique gifts. Hisoka's experience and training must've told him that you had the skill and potential to become Hunters. From his point of view, killing you now would've been a waste."

Sakura narrowed her eyes, her cheeks puffed out "Well don't sugar coat it."

Kurapika's sweatdropped, "Sorry,"

Sakura shook her head, he wasn't wrong though. This familiar turn of events however was still proving hard to shake.

'I hope there won't be a next time.'