A Joke
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Hunter X Hunter: Grounded
🕑 Added 2020-08-23 23:46:33 +0000 UTCChapter 5
Title: Being Watched...
….
I don't really own anything from this house, not even the rags that I am currently wearing.
I contemplate killing the caretaker so she doesn't do something like chase me later or something like that. But I dismiss the idea, that would be illogical and wouldn't have any benefits for me. Plus after my first kill I might panic, so I better leave it at this.
I slowly get up and go towards the kitchen drawers. I have to stand at the tips of my fingers to take something from the drawer that I opened. Slowly I pull out a cooking knife and immediately I just walk outside. There was no obstruction, I waited and chose the perfect time to escape.
Now… a whole new world of options is open for me. And a whole world of danger is waiting for me now too. It is currently dark and two in the morning, and as it's the first time I truly see the world outside of that small house.
It isn't anything amazing, it's just heaps of trash upon heaps of trash. I don't really see anyone. I slowly enter a state of Zetsu, to dull my presence, and due to the Aura being inside the body, Zetsu also helps me sense Auras on the outside.
….
I walk for about thirty minutes before I see something even remotely interesting. A group of people wearing suits just walking around with guns on their hands. They seem to be extremely dangerous. I know Nen, but not at the level where bullets aren't a problem to me. I mean my young body or premature muscles can't protect me at all.
They don't seem to have noticed me at all. What would the best outcome of this situation be… hmmm… damn, if it's a confrontation where I am not confident of winning. I better not fight, it will spell my death if I fight here. So I better run away from here. Who knows what they are looking for.
….
So after another thirty minutes of running away, I finally see a structure on the horizon. I immediately use Gyo and see that it seems to be some type of apocalyptic like settling. Every building (if you could even call them that) is made of scrap metal and it looks like it was put together by a child.
I feel my eyes heavy and my body tired… as expected. Even with Nen, due to my young body I can still get sleepy and can't even stay awake a full day without sleep. I just look towards one of the trash piles and I look for a 'clean' spot, and after that, I just sink myself into the trash pile, I cover myself so I can't be seen by others and slowly close my eyes… falling asleep immediately.
….
The next time I wake up I could see that it is day, and the sun is up. I get out of the trash pile and pat the knife that I have covered in cloth and under my t-shirt.
Judging by the sun's position, it should be around 11 AM. I see that in the trashy town, people seem to be moving around. They also seem to be wearing normal clothes and not just dirty rags like I am.
That is when I slowly and cautiously walk towards the city, sticking to the shadows as in a state of Zetsu I walk outside of people's eyes. None of them seem to notice me.
I slowly walk amongst the alleys and look around. First thing I will need is food, the last resort for my body to not break down and limit my future prospects, I am willing to eat human flesh. Though that is unlikely to happen due to the abundance of rats around here. But I am still willing to eat human meat, than allow myself to weaken in a place like this. I also know that eating human meat has no negative effect on me.
I am not willing to let something like morality weaken me in a world like this. I wanna see how far I can go with Nen.
But really though, even I plan for situations like this. They are unlikely to happen, especially as I look at a food stall. Pretty good place to steal from.
Still though, this lifestyle isn't exactly sustainable, I have decided that I must join some type of organisation that offers training at the same time. So like a mercenary organisation or something like that. But how do I find them... I need to wait for the right opportunity to present itself.
….
Like this, one week passes. I survive by stealing food from the food stalls or the people around. I steal money from them. Using Zetsu to keep my presence undetectable, was a big factor that made up for my inexperience in thievery.
I look at the money that I just stole today and see that it had a 1000 jenny note… which it pretty much means that it is around 10$. It isn't much, but it is still way better than stealing food. I am new and no one knows of me or that I exist, after all, my thievery is done when the time is perfect with no witnesses left behind.
Or so I would like to think… for the past couple of days I can feel that someone is looking at me. I can't place what this is like, it's more like an instinct or a sixth sense. I never had this type of instinct in my first life. It's like someone is nagging(?) at the back of my head. Is this body like those people in the Hunter X Hunter who had instincts like this. Or maybe this was developed because I awakened Nen so early in my life. Well it doesn't matter anyway...
That is also the reason why I have been only stealing money and buying food. Since I am already discovered, I will need to make the best out of the situation. I will make myself seem like a child growing up in this bad place while still trying to do good.
I don't see any other reason why this person would stalk a three year old running around except that he maybe wants to discover my personality. I planned to start creating my special ability but with someone looking at me. There is no way I will do that.
Hmmm… also this person is definitely good at hiding. I have moved rapidly and I was never able to figure it out, who it was? Or what was his true intention with me. Hope it isn't some psycho who is into little kids, well I have a knife and Nen so I am fairly confident in taking care of him. Plus even if he too knows Nen, I will just wait for him to pull his pants down and then stab him in the balls. Though I plan for a situation like this, I do know that it is unlikely to be so.
….
It takes another two weeks of me just wandering around and acting normal when. Suddenly as I am in a dark alley, I feel that the eyes looking at me suddenly stopped looking.
Immediately I am even more alert as I look around, but at the end of the alley I see a man with his dark hair cut short, he was wearing casual clothes and he had dark circles around his eyes. He seems to be around his forties.
When he sees me, he has a calm unreadable look on his face. I can't read him at all.
He calmly just says to me. "Where are you from kid?"
His voice is strangely calming, and I immediately recognize that he has a strange way of speaking. He is trying to calm me down… so that means that I have already been read through and he knows that I am panicking.
I try to keep calm as I answer him. "I don't know?... Around here? I have always been from around here."
He nods at this. "Do you have any caretaker or something like that?"
Well he obviously knows the answer, I am pretty sure he is the one who has been trailing me all this time.
"N -No sir. I live by myself." I answer him with a nervous voice. He can see this, so his eyes just narrow.
"I see… my name is Lovro, a member of the Crimson Hand Organisation." As he says that, the way that he says calms me down. This guy is good, just by the way he speaks he can put someone at ease. This is not a Nen skill or something like that. It is just pure charismatic skill.
My brain immediately goes through countless options and ways I can answer him, trying to find the best response. "I see… then… are you here to take me away or something?"
He reises an eyebrow at this. "You make it sound like I am here to kidnap you."
"You aren't?" I ask as I tilt my head to the side in a confused manner.
He seems a little surprised when I say that. "What? No I am not here to kidnap you. I just noticed that you have a way that somehow you hide yourself. Like an animal when stalking its prey."
He must be talking about Zetsu. It is true though, some animals can use Zetsu instinctively. So he doesn't seem to know about Nen… or maybe he is faking it. I don't know for sure though. I can't read him at all.
"So wanna join my organisation?" Asks the man suddenly as he looks at me with his haunting eyes.
I act like I am unsure about this, but I am a three year old and I wanna seem smart but not too smart. No one likes people who are too smart for their own good.
So in the end I decide to ask him one final question, even though I already know the answer. "Do you feed your workers?"
The man nods, as expected obviously. But really though with a name like Crimson Hand, the organisation definitely isn't a nice place to be.
He just walks away. "Follow me kid."
While he acts casual towards me. I know that there is no way that he doesn't think that I am someone special. He did stalk me for weeks after all. I might not be able to read him due to his mask, but I can definitely predict his reason and reactions by looking at his past actions.
…
As we walked away casually, I decided that now it is the best time to ask him. "So what does your organisation do anyway."
The creepy man… whose name is Lovro, he looks at me, and his eyes widen a little in surprise. "You really are a kid."
I immediately get 'angry' at that by asking him. "Hey! What is that supposed to mean?"
I know that he means that I joined an organisation without even knowing what it does. But that was my plan all along. For him to think that.
Lovro just shrugs at this. "Well it means what I said. Anyway our organisation is the strongest organisation you will ever meet in Meteor City. Crimson Hand deals with everything, from assassin training to espionage, vandalism. Anything bad, you name it and we have done it."
I just nod, and ask again. "So what food do you serve in your organisation?"
He smirks at this. "We feed our comrades with whatever they want to eat. When you join Crimson Hand, you have joined more than an organisation. You have joined a family, and a family takes care of itself, never forget that kid."
I just nod at him. Yeah right, that just sounds like some bullsh*t you say to your employees to make them feel more comfortable.
I look at his back, and I can't help but contemplate.
I will learn everything that they have to teach me and then…
….
AUTHOR NOTE:
Longer chapter because a patreon on discord told me that he would like longer chapters.🤣
Also we see that the MC is a pretty charismatic person, and pretty logical too. Able to come to conclusions like that.
Hope you like it.😁👍
And like a Transmuter, he is a whimsical liar and never tells his true intentions.
