HxH Pitou's Humanity Chapter 8

Chapter 8 New Directions

After the battle Magno called in some special friends that specialise in arresting people with Nen. After making sure that the leaders of the operation were arrested and that the other bandits weren’t attacking any other towns, running away, or arrested as well. Both Magno and Pitou went back to Overanu. Jessica and Mimi welcomed them back. While they were gone Jessica ran into Mimi while trying to chase after Pitou. They went back to the guest house and got Mimi patched up. As a show of thanks Magno invited them all back to his house for dinner as thanks.

“Wow this house is still as amazing as I remember.” said Jessica as they entered the large house.

Pitou would almost call it a small mansion. “This is impressive, how did you get a place like this.”

“I inherited this from my father.” explained Magno. “After his world exploring adventure, he made quite the fortune from his map making. It’s even helped with my own business, helping the hunter association or just helping others find where they need to go.”

“Help people find where they need to go, that’s kind of the reason I came to this town in the first place.”

“Don’t worry, dear my husband can help you with that.” said a voice from the kitchen. A woman with gray hair came walking out.

“Ah Shami, how are you doing, my love.” said Magno, greeting his wife. “Pitou, allow me to introduce to you the love of my life. Shami Passel.”

Shami stepped forward and grabbed Pitou’s hands. “Thank you for returning my Magno to me.”

Pitou couldn’t help but blush in embarrassment. “Oh I was just trying my best to help.” Pitou then sniffed the air. “Oh are you cooking something?”

“Oh yes, originally I was planning on a big lunch for Magno and Mimi’s return but since the bandits attacked, I guess we’ll have a big dinner.”

“Perfect, I'm starving.” said Magno

“Don’t worry dear, I made your favorites.” said Shami receiving a hug and a kiss from her husband.

“You're the perfect wife.”

“Grandfather,” said Mimi. “Please stop, we have guests.” Mimi then turned to Pitou and Jessica. “Sorry.”

Jessica just laughed a little. “Ah don’t worry about me, I’m used to it.”

“This is their house. They have the full right to do whatever they want.” said Pitou.

“Come now,” said Shami. “Let’s set the table and eat.”

~o~

Soon all of them were seated around the dining room table eating a fantastic meal made by Shami. Pitou was trying to eat slowly so as to not stuff her face, but she couldn’t deny this food was amazing.

“Wow, dear. You're eating my cooking as if you’ve never had a homemade meal before.” said Shami.

Pitou stopped at that. “Oh, no it's just been awhile is all.” Though this was her first homemade meal like this.

“Yeah she’s been traveling a lot.” said Jessica as she ate her potatoes. “Speaking of which. Mimi where’re your parents, weren’t all of you traveling together?”

“Oh yes.” said Mimi. “We were all traveling together when they got a call from the hunters association.” Pitou stopped eating at that as she was reminded again she was eating with a hunter and a hunter in training. “I don’t know what exactly happened but apparently there was an incident somewhere down south, on one of the island countries. They were called into help.”

“I see, hey Pitou did you hear anything like that in your travels?”

“Somewhat, though I kind of ignore them.” she said trying to hide at how uncomfortable she was getting. ‘The last thing I want them to know is that I fought the hunters and have killed a few people.’

“Uh Miss Pitou can ask you a question?” asked Mimi

“Uh sure.”

“Were you born with cat ears and a cat tail?”

“Yeah I was.”

“They're super cute.” said Mimi with a smile. “They make you look so cute.”

“Really?” said Pitou as she rubbed one of her ears.

“I admit they are somewhat cute,” said Magno. “Though that tail sure saved our rears today.” as he finished his drink. “Where do you come from, if you don’t mind me asking.”

Pitou knew that was coming. “NGL.” she said hoping to keep it simple.

“NGL.” said Magno with a little surprise.

“Have you been there dear?” asked his wife.

“Not personally, that place won’t allow anything that’s artificially made inside. Its like one big natural preserve. Only plants and animals, everyone inside it, are forced by the government to live off of the land. No electronics, nothing.” explained Magno

“Yep that’s that one.” confirmed Pitou.

“WHAT???” said both Mimi and Jessica

“You’ve lived your whole life without vehicles, medicine, or proper schooling.” said Mimi shocked

“Or, without proper clothing, TV, or the internet,” said Jessica horrified.

“I don’t think those are priorities, Jessica.”

“Nope, none of those things.” said Pitou. “When I could I just left and have been wondering.”

“We’ll no wonder you left.” said Jessica, grabbing her hands. “I promise you we’ll marathon all of the good shows and take you to the best clothing store I know.”

Mimi put a hand on her friend. “Jessica I think she has bigger priorities than the latest drama.”

“Yeah thanks Jessica but Mimi’s right,” as Pitou turned to Magno. “The real reason I came to this town was to find you. My whole life I had a reason, a purpose, but things have changed. I want to see the world but I can’t because there are things I have to do first and I don’t know where to start.”

Magno grinned. “Well I can certainly help you with that. If you're done with your meal, follow me, I have exactly what you're looking for.” Pitou quickly shoved her food into her mouth before following Magno. “I didn’t mean you needed to do that.”

Pitou swallowed. “It's quicker this way.”

Magno led her to a giant room, filled with nothing but maps. Maps covered the walls and the few shelves the room had was filled with more maps. “Welcome to the map room. This is where the Passel family has stored all the maps they have either made or collected.”

“Will one of these maps tell me where i need to go?”

“Somewhat,” siad Magno as he went to the desk in the room and got what looked like a compass needle. “You see the family used to be a bunch of fortune tellers, but we soon learned that with Nen we could tell a more vague prediction while still telling people where they need to be. My grandfather started this project by making maps of the whole world and my father finished it. When it was done, we could help hunters all over the world with what they were looking for. Now if I could please have a drop of your blood on this special compass needle we can begin.”

Pitou did as she was asked and punctured her knuckle that was injured. ‘No point in making a new wound, not to mention I don’t want to break the needle.’ “Okay is that good.”

“Perfect, now balance the knife hilt on your finger.” Pitou put the knife on her finger like she was asked. The needle was perfectly balanced, not leaning to one side. Then it began to spin around in a circle on her finger. “Now face the big world map on the wall and close your eyes. Think of what you want to do. What goal you want to accomplish. What goal do you want to achieve.”

Pitou closed her eyes and thought of her goals. Her wish to live a new life, her wish to earn forgiveness, to make things right with the people that she has killed. To live up to what her King had asked and to live her own life. Thud. Pitou opened her eyes as she saw the needle fly from her hand and imbed itself onto the map. She looked to see the needle had landed on one of the northern countries almost north of here. She looked at the country's name. “The Republic of Padokea.”

Magno looked at the map himself. “Looks like the Kukuroo mountains.”

“Why there?”

Magno shrugged. “I don’t know. This Nen map and needle show people where people need to go, doesn’t say why or what reason. Only that when you arrive at that location you’ll know why you’re there.”

Pitou thought it over. “Okay then I ‘ll head to that place on the map, you got a copy I can borrow?”

“You know Pitou they do make cell phones with cameras.” said Jessica as she reached into her pocket and revealed Pitou’s cell phones. “I hope you don’t mind when I went back to the guest house I grabbed it.”

“Oh thanks,” said Pitou as she took the phone and took a picture of the map. “I have a location, I now know where I need to go. Hopefully there I can figure things out.”

“You're not leaving now, dear,” said Shami. “How about you stay the night. It's already late and you won’t be able to catch any flights heading that way this late at night.”

Pitou was about to make an excuse. “That’s perfect,” said Jessica. “Hey Mimi you still have my copy of my Loveless series right, we can have a sleepover.”

“HUH?” pitou blinked. ‘Sleepover?’

“Come now, Jessica how old are you?” asked Mimi though she couldn’t help but smile at her friend. “You never change do you. I’ll go find the movies”

“I’ll make the popcorn.” said Shami, interested in a good movie.

“I call the comfy seat.” said Jessica as she left.

Now it was back to just Pitou and Magno in the room. “What just happened?”

Magno couldn’t help but laugh at Pitou’s reaction. “While we maybe great Nen warriors, Jessica is a great friend, one with a power to bring the fun out of others.”

Pitou could feel the sweat drop. “I don’t know what to do here?”

“Join us.” said Magno. “I can tell you have a complicated past, but the past is nothing more than a starting point, what you do now is your choice and even watching a movie with us, though that does come with popcorn.”

“What’s popcorn?”

~o~

After a whole night of movie watching and popcorn, a new day came. The day Pitou would be off on her next adventure. Pitou got down taking a shower and changing into her new clothes. She was now wearing a blue waist jacket with a white shirt underneath, a matching blue and white skirt that reached right above her knees. Underneath the skirt she was wearing black shorts. With new dark blue boots. Last was a white bow and a cat necklace around her neck, Jessica said it would fit her cat theme.

Pitou thought it would be too showy, but Jessica said that if she’s traveling she needs to make a statement. Pitou didn’t really know about that but she couldn’t deny the new outfit was comfortable and easy to move around in.

“I knew I made a good choice.” said Jessica as she saw Pitou step out. “Your hair really works well with the blue. Now you're definitely going to be turning heads the next time you roll through a town.”

“Thanks Jessica.”

Jessica held up a single over the shoulder messenger bag. “Here, this will complete it and give you some place to store the rest of your things.”

“Wow thanks,” as Pitou opened it and saw her old outfit and a few other necessities inside. “My old stuff.”

“I cleaned them,” said Shami. “I don’t know what they are made of but they sure are durable.”

“I also did something as well.” said Mimi showing Pitou her phone. “While you were in the shower, I put some guides and maps into your phone. It should help if you ever get lost.” Mimi then noticed a look from Jessica. “And I also put on several shows and books from Jessica onto your phone. Though I don’t think you’ll need it.”

“Oh you’ll need it. Trust me.” said Jessica before getting a little sad. “So you're really leaving that quick huh.”

Pitou smiled. “Yeah there are some things that I have to do.”

“You know you came at the perfect moment. My life made one crappy turn and when I had to head home, my car broke down and then you came and saved me. Then the next day you saved Mimi and her grandfather. I honestly don’t know how to thank you.”

“You taught me a lot Jessica. I’ve spent my whole life stuck in a backwater country. Thanks to you I think I know how to handle the rest of the world. I’m the one who should be saying thank you. I would still be totally lost without you.” ‘Well more emotionally lost than physical.’ Thought Pitou before receiving a hug from Jessica. Pitou was put aback by the sudden hug but quickly embraced her friend. Pitou liked the sound of a friend.

Jessica stepped back. “You have my number, I want updates. Don’t hesitate to call and when you come back I’ll have so much more to show you and we can binge some of my favorite TV shows.”

“Next time you come back, we should hang out more,” said Mimi. “And hopefully I can find some way to tame Jessica.”

“We’ve known each other since we were four, good luck with that.”

“Thanks, both of you.” as Pitou bowed to them. “You guys have shown me a lot of kindness and I hope one day I can pay it back.”

“Don’t worry about it.” said Jessica

“We’re friends, it's what friends do.” Stated Mimi

“Just pass it forward, dear.” said Shami

“Maybe one day, but you should head out now before you keep saying goodbye.” said Magno. Holding some papers. “Here is a ticket for an airship to the Republic of Podokea. The airship port is in the city just across the border but I’m pretty sure you can make it there without any issues.”

“Thanks Magno” as she grabbed the papers he put a hand on hers.

“I don’t know what demons you have but I'm confident that you’ll beat them. Stay safe young one.”

“Will do.” said Pitou as she stored the papers into her bag. She then walked outside of the house, she turned around. “Thank you my friends, I will never forget your kindness.” she bowed one last time before turning and jumping towards the sky.

Everyone saw her leave. Jessica began to tear up a little. “I wish she could have stayed longer.”

Shami put a hand on her shoulder.“Oh don’t worry, she’ll come back. In the meantime I might have a job for you if you're interested. My niece needs help finding a dress for her wedding.”

“Ohh. I can help with that, though for a fee of course.” as Jessica followed Shami back inside.

Mimi approached her grandfather. “Grandfather.”

“Yes, Mimi”

“I may not be a hunter yet, but your friends have been sending me emails this morning because you haven't been responding to the ones sent to you.”

“And?”

“It's about the third royal ant guard. The description it-”

“It matches Pitou. I know.”

Mimi’s eyes widen. “You're not going to do anything to her right? I don’t know what she did but she’s a good person, she saved us.”

“Mimi do you have your phone with you, can you bring up the picture you took last night.” Mimi did. It was a picture of her, Jessica and Pitou in the middle. They were all smiling, so was Pitou with a genuine smile. “This is a photo of a young girl finally for the first time having some good fun, with some genuine friends. She’s a lost child who is hunting for herself. She’s looking through a wide wasteland for a purpose and our family made techniques for that purpose. I will never hinder someone who is trying to better themselves. So don’t worry your friend is safe.”

Mimi smiled at her grandfather. “Thank you, but what about the other hunters requesting your help? You can’t just ignore them.”

“I just got done fighting an army of bandits. I don’t care what they want. I’m on vacation.”

~o~

Pitou was able to get to the airship port very quickly. So she sat back and began to read some of the books, Jessica left on her phone. Lucky not all of them were dramas, though all of them were definitely fun to read. Also whenever she spoke to someone or passed by others she got complimented on her clothes. She waited and when the airship arrived, left for the Republic of Padokea. The ship was a quiet trip, but it was nice to have a slow trip. It gave her time to read and study up on the country and other questions she had.

The Republic was quite far away and the trip took all night to get to. So when she arrived it was already morning. She thought about taking a bus or car to the locations, though decided against it. “It will be faster for me to just run.”

Pitou then followed the road as she ran, the road began to cut through mountains and followed the forest terrain of the republic. Pitou was able to see the forest as far as the eye could see. To be honest she found it beautiful and somewhat nostalgic. Though as she traveled she noticed that there weren’t any cars on the road for some reason she couldn’t see any vehicles or people along the road at all. ‘Weird I wonder what's around here anyway. I don’t sense any Nen nearby. The only signs of life here are the animals. Huh?’ Pitou was kind of wondering if she was heading into some sort of battle. Though she couldn’t see anything.

Pitou then found an apple tree and took an apple. ‘The location should be the section road just up ahead. I guess I’m about to know what I’m trying to find.’

It was a baron road. Pitou double checked her phone. “This is the place, but nothing here. Did I miss something?” Then Pitou heard something mechanical for the first time in the forest. “A car’s coming.” as she took a bite of the apple she saw a fancy limo driving on the road. That’s when she felt something familiar, a power she felt just a few days ago. As the limo passed with her eyesight she saw the inside, a few people including a few butlers and two kids, and looking back at her with an equally surprised expression was Killua. “THE BOY.” shouted Pitou with surprise as the limo went down the road. “Thank you Magno.”

Pitou then chased after the limo dropping the apple. It took her only a second to catch up with the limo. Pitou then ran up to the limo and tried to tap on the window before it sped up and gained some distance, though the speed was far too slow to give her the slip. She quickened her pace and tapped the glass. “Hey I need to waaah” as Pitou dodged to her surprise a coin shooting from the window. “Hey what I need a moment.” the coins began flying at her like a machine gun, causing her to fall back.

The butler stuck his head out of the window. “Did i get her?”

Pitou then reappeared tossing all of the coins back into the limo. “What the hell are you thinking launching coins at people? That’s rude.”

“That’s the point.” as he fired another only for Pitou to catch it with somewhat ease.

‘The nen on these coins are solid. This would easily do more damage than a bullet to a regular person.’ Thought Pitou. “Stop firing these. I just need to talk to Killua.”

“Pretty cat lady,” said a voice getting her attention. PItou looked to see a small girl looking at her. “Look big brother she has cat ears.”

“Oh hi,” said Pitou smiling as she saw Killua staring at her. She could tell that he was thinking really fast trying to figure out what she was doing. “Can I please talk to you and not the guy with the glasses. Seriously what's with me and fighting guys in suits and glasses.”

“Gotoh stop.” said Killua

“Master Killua did you not just say this is one of those ants you fought.” said Gotoh. “If needed I will sacrifice myself to allow you and master Alluka to escape.”

“LOOK OUT,” yelled Pitou as she jumped on the limo. Before the limo swerved to avoid a car driving down from the cliff. Soon more vehicles began to drive down at them from the cliff. Pitou hung on as she looked at the drives. “There's not a lot of nen coming from the drivers. Is this somesort of Suicide drivers? What the hell.”

“NO” shouted Killua. “There my brothers needle men. People killed and manipulated by nen.”

Pitou felt a chill go down her spin after hearing that. She then looked closely at the drivers and saw all of them had needles sticking their faces and bodies. ‘This bastard.’ as anger filled Pitou. ‘He’s like how I used to be.’ She looked and confirmed all of the drivers were regular people. None of them were hunters, soldiers, or anyone of combat. ‘He’s using civilians that don’t even fight.’ The limo began to go up the cliff to dodge more vehicles. “I will never use people like this ever again. I make this vow, that's my condition.” Killua and everyone in the limo could feel Pitou building up a large amount of nen. “Cats cradle” As Pitou jumped off of the limo and unleashed a storm of nen strings making a huge net catching all of the vehicles safely. Which surprised everyone who was watching but what came next topped it. “Freedom String.” Red thread shot out of Pitou’s tail wrapping around all of the needle men. Fusing with them, the needles then were pushed out of their bodies. The needle men glowed before turning unconscious for a moment.

“What I’m alive.”

“I’m free.”

“What happened, how did I get here.”

Killua jumped out of the limo holding Alluka. They saw as the drivers of the cars were not only free but alive. “She’s saving all of them.”

Canary got out as well and stared in amazement. “How? I thought everyone who was hit with Allumi’s needles died, how are they alive?”

“To control someone with nen you have to keep some part of them alive to make the manipulation work for several people.” said Pitou explaining the technique. “My new technique simply finds that part and pulls it to the surface, saving them.”

Far above them both Hisoka and Illumi were staring at the miracle before them. “How did she do that?” asked Hisoka as a smile began to form on his face.

Illumi was lost for a moment. “I don’t know. No one has ever done that before. I didn't think it was possible to save anyone from my needles like that.”

Hisoka was now grinning very enthusiastically at Pitou. “Who is she?”

“I don’t, you can kill her.”

Hisoka licked his lips as he was getting turned on. “Mmmmmmmmmm, gladly.”

“HEY ASSHOLES.” yelled Pitou, getting their attention. They looked to see her staring right at them. “GET DOWN HERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASSESS.”