Reincarnated in Hunter x Hunter

"Yo." Illumi casually greets to a drenched in cold sweat Killua.

"Is that Killua's brother?" Leorio asks suprised at this revelation.

"Did he use those needles to alter his appearence?" Kurapika asks in response.

The rest of the audience remains unfazed by this sudden revelation, except for Nicholas, who shivers in nervousness and fear with his eyes wide open. Whether it is due to the revelation of another member of the Zoldyck Family, his newly awakened perception of the aura, or a mixture of these two is something I don't know.

"I heard you stabbed mom and Milluki." Illumi continues.

"That's about right." Killua responds.

"Mom was in tears" Illumi says.

"As if anyone would blame her? Any woman would cry if her son did that to her." Leorio says aside.

"She was so happy." Illumi adds, causing Leorio to fall to the ground from the misleading and making me wonder if he made that pause on purpose. "She was delighted to see that her son had matured."

"But she's still concerned about you being out on your own, so she asked me to check up on you if I got the chance. Although I had no idea you wanted to become a Hunter."

"As for me, I'm here to get a license for a job that's coming up."

"The truth is I don't really want to be a Hunter. I was just curious about the exam." Killua states.

"I see. That's a relief. Then I'll give you a piece of advice... You are not made to be a Hunter. You were born to be... an assassin."

Killua then begins to lose his composure at his older brother's words.

"You are just a puppet of the shadow world, devoid of passion. There is nothing you desire, nor anything you long for. As someone who lives in the darkness, the only joy you can feel is causing death. That is how dad and I molded you. What did you think you would achieve by becoming a Hunter?"

Killua takes a second before answering, "It's true. I'm really not interested in becoming a Hunter. But there are things I want!"

"No, there aren't." Illumi replies.

"Yes, there are! And one thing most of all!" Killua angrily responds.

"Hmm. Then tell me, Killua, what is this one thing you want?" Illumi asks, causing Killua to lower his head, feeling hesitant to answer. "What's the matter? There's really nothing, right?"

"There is!" Killua screams trying to stand up to his brother. "I want... to be friends with Gon. I'm so tired of killing people. I want to be friends with Gon, and be just a normal kid."

"That's impossible. You're incapable of feeling friendship. The only thing you can do is discern whether or not you can kill someone. That's how we trained you. You just don't know how to classify Gon because he has a radiant personality in your eyes. You don't really want to be his friend." Illumi resplies, trying to slowly take control over his little brother psychological state.

"No..." Killua retorts.

"If you try to be friends with him, you will one day want to kill him. You'll wonder if you can, and you'll want to check. Because you're by nature a murderer."

"What a load of rubbish!" I shout feeded up by Illumi false and manipulative statements about Killua, gaining the attention of Nicholas and Ponzu at my side, and Leorio, who was about to explode in my place. "Listen to me carefully, Killua! Even though he is your brother, you must not listen to anything he has said to you! He is a manipulative sociopath who will make up anything to try to impose his control over you!"

Unable to bear the harrasment Illumi is putting Killua through, I continue saying the words I've always wanted to say in this canon scene. "Killua, you're not some machine devoid of desires or passion! You're just a boy whose family doesn't try to accept or understand! No matter how much they want to talk to you about the training you've been through, or the environment you've grown up in, you're still a person at the end of the day! And like a person, you're bound to want things, to form bonds with people, and to have feelings! No matter how much your family tries to deny it, because not even they can deny that they feel those things!"

"Are you by chance including me in that claim of yours?" Illumi asks looking at me with an air of skepticism.

"Of course I am, you jerk! You're no exception either, no matter how much you want to deny it! You have no right to throw those accusations at Killua when you don't even know him as a person!" I angrily shout at one of the most evil and hated characters in Hunter x Hunter.

"H-He's right!" Nicholas suddenly yells at my side, shocking me with his sudden surge of courage. "It's true that I was scared when I found out that you belonged to the famous Zoldyck Family, but I know that you are not a bad person like your brother says."

"We worked together on the fourth phase, you gave me encouragement and support when I was feeling down, and we even shared laughs together. A murderer without conscience or morals would not be capable of doing that, I'm sure."

From the story I knew, Nicholas was just a convenience character, introduced solely to prove how difficult the Hunter Exam is for normal people. With his performance, no one would have guessed that he could accomplish anything on his own.

And yet, here he is now. A prodigy who has been able to awaken Nen on his own without any prior knowledge of the subject, and who finds himself defying the claims of undoubtedly one of the most terrifying people in this new world in order to protect a friend.

I can't help but smile as I watch life begin to return to Killua's face at the words of the chubby kid who I first saw exhausted and broken in the tunnel of the first phase. 'He has grown so much that I don't even recognize him anymore.' I think looking at him.

"They're absolutely right Killua! You don't have to listen to what that jerk tells you! Just beat him and pass already!" Leorio yells, joining our allegations against the bully brother.

"As for being friends with Gon?! No sweat, man! You already are!" He yells pointing at the two combatants, picking both interest. "Gon sure thinks so, anyway!"

Illumi looks at Killua before looking at Leorio. "Is that true?" He asks Leorio.

"Of course he does, you idiot!" Leorio angrily answers.

"Really... That's a problem. So he considers Kil as a friend. Well, I'll have to kill Gon." At this comment from Illumi, Leorio, Kurapika, Nicholas and especially Killua react in shock.

"An assassin has no use for friends. They only get in the way." He says, picking up his needles with his stoic bu dreadful look and turning around on his way to the door. "Where is he?"

At this action, one of the suited Hunters approaches to try and stop him, but Illumi stops and throws his needles at the man's face, and as the man's head deforms, Illumi asks again where Gon is, thanking him when he is told he is in the waiting room next door before setting off again.

However, the Nen Manipulator user is forced to stop again as the exit is blocked by me, Nicholas, Hanzo, Kurapika, Leorio, and the rest of the suited Hunters.

"This is a problem. I need to get a Hunter license to do my work. But if I kill you, I'll fail the exam and Kil will get an automatic pass."

"Oops... The same will apply if kill Gon. Hmm..."

"Ah! That's it! First I'll pass the exam and then kill Gon."

I can't help but look at Illumi with contempt as does Leorio while Killua is a nervous wreck.

"If I wait until after I pass the exam, I can kill everyone here and still keep my license, right?" Illumi asks looking at Netero position.

"Yes, according to the rules." Netero nonchalantly affirms.

"Did you hear that, Kil?" Illumi asks turning around to face Killua once again. "If you really want to save Gon, you're going to have to fight me and win."

With these words, Illumi begins to walk back to Killua while delivering his speech about Killua's helplessness to face him, and knowing what's coming next, I activate Gyo, and as Illumi says his command, I can just about sense the fleeting little glimmer of aura coming from his hand. Despite noticing it by concentrating, I didn't manage to see it, and I could have very easily missed it if I didn't know beforehand and concentrate my Gyo accordingly. 

'He really is a very stealthy individual. No wonder even Netero didn't notice.' I think with both: appreciation for Illumi's skill and frustration at my increasingly apparent lack of skill.

"Come on Killua, finish it! You don't have to worry about Gon! We won't let this bastard lay a hand on you or Gon—we promise it! So beat him now!" Leorio screams, trying to encourage a Killua paralyzed by fear.

Killua on the other hand continues to tremble in fear before lowering his head and saying: "You win Illumi. I admit defeat." Killua concedes, much to Leorio, Kurapika and Nicholas shock.

"Oh, good." Illumi says clapping his hands. "Then we don't need to fight, eh?"

"Jajaja. I was kidding. I never planned to kill Gon." Illumi says laughing and patting Killua shoulder. "This was all just to test you. And now I'm sure."

"You're just not qualified to have friends." Illumi says placing his hand on Killua head. "You don't need them either. You'll keep doing what you've always done—The job dad and I trained you to do."

"When the time comes, I will order you to take the Hunter Exam." With these final words, Illumi walks away from Killua.

As he heads back to the spectators side, Leorio and Kurapika head over to Killua to try and check on him, but he simply ignores them and walks into the crowd. As they try to draw him out of the shell he's locked himself in, I ponder the current circumstances and how to deal with them.

'It's a very risky move that can easily go wrong, but it's the best I can do in this situation.' I think, clicking my tongue at what I'm about to do.

After about an hour, Leorio and Bodoro have rested and recovered enough to face their fight, and when they position themselves in the center of the arena, I quickly dash to intercept Killua, who was already heading towards Bodoro without anyone noticing.

He raises his gaze, showing his empty, lifeless eyes, and with his elongated nails he tries to stab me directly in the chest, which I barely manage to dodge. After his first failed attack, Killua begins to move his arms in fast and chaotic swings, with his empty gaze focused solely on me.

"Hey, what's happening here!?" One of the suited Hunters yells, as he and the rest of the present people changes their attention to us.

"It's obvious—He's trying to kill me!" I yell trying to dodge the many attacks that Killua throws. 'Good, his focus has been totally directed at me.'

In order to stop Killua from killing Bodoro, I had to intercept him before he got close. To do so, I had to refrain from using Ren once again, as that would have alerted Illumi (who doesn't yet know that I can use it), and let Killua attack me so that his focus would shift from his original target (Bodoro) to me.

'The next thing I need to do is get Killua to do something that will get him kicked out of the Hunter Exam.' I think deflecting Killua's quick and deadly attacks, forced on the defensive not only by my current state, but also by the incredible speed and flexibility of his arms.

Having turned on his kill switch, Killua proves to be clearly superior in combat to Hanzo, swiftly and seamlessly twisting his arms as if they were whips attached to his body. Trying to resist the relentless assault of the the young deuteragonist, I end finding myself with my back against the wall. Killua then throws his right sharpened hand towards my head, and although I manage to catch it by grabbing his wrist, Killua stabs me in the right side with his other hand.

"KAI!!!" Nicholas, Ponzu and Menchi scream at the sudden stab.

The jab is deep, reaching my ribs, and it hurts so much that I feel like I might collapse, but...

"I got you." I say with a forced smile as Killua finds himself unable to take his hand out of my side.

The reason is the compression of my muscles in the stabbed area (a little trick I learned from Machi). With both hands tightly held, I throw my head back, and activate my Ten at the same time I throw a quick headbutt against Killua's forehead, making him bleed from the head and become unconscious from the impact.

Releasing my grip on both of his hands, Killua falls to the ground unconscious. However, I too cannot resist falling to the ground due to the exhaustion and injuries I have accumulated in this tournament. Feeling a surge of killing intent, I look up to see Illumi preparing to attack me, but Hisoka and Menchi stop him in place.

'I didn't expect Menchi to defend me as well, but it seems I prevented the murder. I hope this is enough for Killua to fail the exam.' I think before I fall unconscious due to the exhaustion of the fights and the pressure and worry for Bodoro fate disappearing from my mind.