Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 211 SHELTERED

We gathered by the shore where we had been dropped off. A large cannon had been blown an hour ago announcing the end of the 4th phase of the Hunter exam. I had limped my way there with the help of Jill and Kiri. 

Hisoka had kept his word. He came back every day and we fought from sunup until sundown. I was beat to shit. I didn’t understand how the man could have such endurance. Even with my cheat of Kame Mode, I was struggling. Without it I would have lost a long time ago. 

There were 10 people left in total. Me, Jill, Kiri, Hisoka, the guy with all the piercings, the bald guy that had the nerve to call himself a ninja, Killua, Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika. Most all were dirty and stank. I was easily the most beat up though. Hisoka had the nerve to smile at me, pristine as when I had seen him the night before. 

“Weston,” Gon said excitedly. “What happened to you?”

“I fell,” I grumbled as I sat down by the shore. 

“He’s been-” Jill tried to say. 

“Don’t say it here,” I hissed. “Ignore it. You guys pass?” 

“Yep,” Gon said, showing off his tags. The examiner announcement warned that the island was watched and if anyone tried to steal anymore tags they would be eliminated immediately. “Just barely.” 

“Winning is winning,” I said as the boat docked. The Hunter Examiner with the mohawk walked out in good spirits.

“Congratulations one and all,” he said. “You have passed the 287th annual Hunter Examination.” I was a little surprised by the news. In the manga there had been a tournament. The tournament had honestly been dumb though. Only 1 person would fail it. I was pretty sure the author had simply done it to create some drama for Killua. All in all I was happy the hell of the last few days was finished. 

I learned a lot. But every day I worried it would be the day Hisoka decided he wanted to kill me. Many times I thought he would, but I scraped by. Narrowly dodging one of his playing cards only for it to cut a boulder in half. 

We were allowed on the ferry/boat and soon on our way. The boat took us to the same place the second phase had been conducted. The blimp was waiting for us and we soon had access to real showers. I jumped in without hesitation. Enjoying the immense heat as I felt the struggles of my fights slowly wash away. 

I was honestly reconsidering Hunter X Hunter. The manga and show were good. I forgot how much waiting around there was and drama because it followed a 14 year-old kid. Gon was strong, sure, but I had otherworldly powers. I was used to showing up in a world and wanting to join the canon. Here now, I felt like the weird older kid that befriended younger kids because I wasn’t mature enough to hang with people my own age…not to diss Kurapika and Leorio or anything. But I was focused, not in the world to laze around. 

It was probably a good thing that Hisoka had spent the last few days trying to kill me. I got some amazing training in and became a lot more confident using my powers. Before, it felt like I was trying to think 3 moves ahead. Water gun, then punch, then water slash, finish with a karate chop. But now I felt like I was reacting more than planning. It was a helpful tool to punch someone in the face and they came running back, hitting you just as hard. 

I was becoming more confident using my chakra to strengthen my punches too, like how Sakura fought. There were times when I hit the ground and shattered the dirt underneath me. Expelling chakra out to help empower me and push into other objects, breaking them apart. I was slowly coming into my own fighting style, which was a little sad to say the least. 

I had never fought in my old life. I had been here for years though, had memories of decades worth of my other lives. But I will still becoming stronger. Learning new things. There was so much I still didn’t know. I had to challenge myself more often. Risking death was needed. I decided to bite the bullet and stick around in HxH. 

The main cast could go off and do their own thing. I could potentially learn Nen. Then decide from there. The world had plenty of super strong people to challenge. Whether at Heaven’s Arena where I could live like a king, or if I decided to join the main cast and help take down the Phantom Troupe. Their leader still freaked me out, but it might have been good to take on that Uvo guy. 

I was brought out of my thoughts as Jill came into the shower. The girl was just as dirty as I was. Switching places I was happy to have a moment to relieve some stress. The young girl had a wide smile on her face as I began washing her up again. 

“Finally have a moment alone,” I mumbled as I began scrubbing her down. My aches and pains forgotten as I became harder. 

“You um, have been very patient,” she whispered. Her hands on the wall as I continued to explore. 

“You know, you can join in on exploring too,” I said, kissing her neck as my hands moved all over her lithe body. 

“I-I can?” She mumbled. Slowly turning around I noticed how wide her eyes were as she looked me up and down. 

“We’ve had sex like twice now. Are you still scared?” I asked, teasing her. 

Jill blushed, showing how inexperienced she really was as I played with her nipples from the front and moved my dick in between her thighs. I could feel her shaking still as I learned every part of her body. 

“I um never spoke to a boy I wasn’t related to until last year,” she whispered. That slowed me down as I looked down at her. “I ran away from my arranged wedding. But as soon as a boy paid attention to me I was willing to get pregnant.” That brought my hands to a screeching halt. 

“Pregnant?” I asked. My heart constricting with the idea. “But you said we could have sex.” 

“Of course,” she said, nodding. “Sex leads to pregnancy though.”

“Don’t you like track your cycles and know when it’s okay to have sex?” I asked, pissed off at myself for being an idiot again. 

“What are you talking about?” She asked. “We had sex, I get pregnant. That is how this works.” 

My mood was killed as I realized she might have been more of a princess than I thought. “Have you never heard how kids are made?” I asked. 

“Of course, man and woman lay together. Become one. And a child is made,” she said seriously. 

“Goddang it,” I said, running my hands over my face. “Let’s wrap up. We need to have a talk.” 

—

“So I am not guaranteed to become pregnant?” Jill asked. 

I shook my head. “It depends on your…you know.” I eyed her crotch. “When will it…bleed.” Despite all the sex I had I was still not too comfortable talking about periods. I didn’t mind having sex during them. But talking or thinking about it was still out of my grasp. 

“A week?” She guessed. I internally cursed. I had no idea when a girl was fertile…or when it was safe. But it looked like I might have another kid on the way. “So you don’t want to get married?” Jill asked, some tears coming to her eyes. 

“I-” Almost said hell no, not right now. But I was starting to see that Jill was far more innocent than I originally thought. At first I simply wanted to get laid. I enjoyed her company, but I had been focused on finishing the exam. If she wanted to tag along in the future that was fine, but I wasn’t going to hold anyone to anything. “Of course,” I said instead. “But you know you don’t have to, right?”

“But we had sex,” she said, matter of factly. 

“Yes, and it was fun. Jill, I’m not sure how things are done in your country. But you don’t have to marry if you don’t want to. And we don’t have to risk pregnancy everytime we have sex.” I could have sworn I asked her both times if she was safe to do it without a condom. I regretted not prying more. I knew HxH had hundreds of countries and people from all over the world took the Hunter exam. A part of me was still the American guy, thinking that sex education was everywhere. I needed to watch myself in the future. “You enjoyed yourself, right?” 

Jill blushed deeply. Nodding slowly as we sat apart, facing one another. “You can do it just for fun,” I said. 

“But I want to get married,” Jill said. “To you.” She grabbed my hand. I didn’t pull away but studied her. She really was beautiful, and young. Short dark brown hair, tan skin, skinny but muscular, she had proved she was strong and willing to work. I just knew it was a little soon. 

“That’s…awesome,” I said, trying to move through a minefield of a conversation. “I really like you, Jill. I like hanging out with you. But don’t you think it’s a little soon? I mean, you were engaged for 10 years. And you left your arranged marriage.” 

“Well yes, but I never met him,” she said simply. “I met you, and knew right away.” She had a sweet smile on her face as she admitted it. My mind was telling me she was far more sheltered than I could imagine. Never meeting boys, she probably didn’t know how to react to them. She had feelings for the first time for someone, and immediately latched onto them. Like the weird Christian kids that married someone they hardly knew because they thought that was how the world worked. 

“Again, I really like you, Jill,” I said. “But we need to build toward that sort of thing.” 

“I would make a very good head-wife,” Jill defended.

“Head-wife?” I asked slowly. 

“Of course,” she said. Hope in her eyes. “You could have more, but the first is always the lead. If you can make the kind of money you say. Why wouldn’t you want many?” 

That sounded more appealing than I cared to admit. Many wives had been a dream of mine, these were real worlds. I was far more willing to make lasting changes like having kids or getting married. There was the risk of me dying in Challenges, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I planned to win all to keep this dream life going. For now, I needed to talk some more sense into her though. I narrowed my eyes and pushed my fantasies away. 

“What about your dream?” I asked. “You wanted to be free. Become a Hunter. Now you are fine being a kept wife?” 

“We had sex,” she said simply. 

“We did, and I was hoping to do it again. But I thought you wanted to become stronger. Learn chakra and Nen. Jill, I am your boyfriend, right? Not your husband. Not that I’m saying I won’t be someday,” I said quickly as tears appeared in her eyes again. “Right now, we are young. Is that your dream to stay at home and have kids? You no longer want to become stronger? I don’t know what it is like in your country. I don’t plan on making you do anything you don’t want to. I thought you wanted to challenge the arena with me. Challenge yourself? Why even finish the exam if you were okay with pushing out kids the rest of your life?” 

Jill frowned, a lost look in her eyes. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. Tears welled up in her eyes as she continued to think more and more. “I thought this was how things went. I’ve read stories. A man and woman meet, fall in love, and get married,” she said. 

“That can happen,” I said, taking her hand again. “But this is real life. You don’t rush into this sort of thing. You spend time together. Get to know one another. Then when you are sure, you make a step like that.” 

“But what if I’m pregnant?” She asked, more tears pouring down her cheeks. 

“Then we will take care of it,” I said as firmly as I could. “I’m not about to disappear on you. But ask yourself what you want. Do you want kids right now?” 

“I guess not,” she said, letting out a long sigh. “I’m sorry.” Wiping her eyes she sniffled loudly. “I don’t know any of this. My father had 6 wives. And this was already a far better romance than any of my mothers had. I-I thought that’s how it worked.” 

“You are your own person, Jill,” I said, trying to convey how things were. “Have you ever…” I struggled to think what kind of technology HxH had. There were many countries all around the world with different stages of development. I was sure they had technology as good as Earth. “Seen a movie? Ridden on a roller coaster? Had cotton candy? Been on a date? There are so many fun things out there to experience. Kids can wait for later. Don’t you want that freedom you talked about?” 

“I do,” she said, some strength returning to her voice. “But I’m scared,” she admitted. “I don’t know anything about the outside world. I lived in a hotel room for months using up all the money I had taken when I left. The first time I stepped out, I was robbed.” I was starting to wonder how the hell she survived at all. 

“I can teach you,” I said. “We can continue as we were. Being friends, having new experiences. Getting stronger. Do you want that?”

Jill nodded, smiling widely as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. “I do,” she said. I was so used to being near people part of the canon that I was a little thrown off by the whole situation. The worlds I went to were wide though. Actual worlds with actual people. I had to start being more careful if I planned to continue to live in them. 

“Good. Tell me about yourself then,” I said, moving to lay on the bed. “You’ve been so quiet about it. Let’s try not to have any more surprises.” I pulled her hand to me and made her rest back on my shoulder. 

“What do you want to know?” She whispered, still a little shaken from the conversation. 

“Had you ever been on a boat before the Hunter Exam? Back when we first met?” I asked. 

“Oh no,” she said. “Where I grew up was mostly desert. That was the first time I had been on the ocean.” I had joined up at the start of the test on a mainland after leapfrogging islands. I guessed wherever she was from had a large desert kingdom, but I had other questions. 

“The storm was pretty bad, how did you get through when so many others gave up?” 

“I don’t know why so many people were puking,” she said. “Was that bad weather?” 

“Yes,” I assured her. I had been able to stick to the deck with chakra. Jill had been below, but even I had gotten a little queasy during the storm. “What about your strength? You ran the 6 hours at the start of the test. That’s not normal.” 

“I have many siblings,” Jill giggled. “We would always race. My older brothers were much faster than I. Once I challenged them and our race turned into a marathon because no one wanted to give up.” 

“How many siblings do you have?” I asked, trying to spitball questions. 

“22?” She asked. “There is Kelafelin, he is next in line. But my father was very strong. He said no one could take over if they couldn’t beat him in a fight. Kelafelin went to become a Hunter some 5 years ago. I had hoped to find him. But the world is bigger than I imagined. My sister Fouttrest…” 

“Footrest?” 

“No, Fow,” she corrected. “She was married off some years ago. But her husband was younger. She has 6 children already.” 

“So your older sisters were married off as well?” I asked. 

“Oh yes, it is very common. I would not have been so against it. But my sister Helbhar, she had married an older man. Her sister-wives were very mean to her since she was so young. I didn’t want that for my life. So I set out. There was an old servant of the house that raised me. I contacted her and took some of my jewelry. I was able to sell it and live quite well for a while. I gifted her some and she helped me find where I needed to go for the exam.” 

“So you like jewelry?” I asked. I was noticing that her standards for men might have been very low. 

“Not especially. My father gifted all of us many such ornaments over the years. He would often show us off…” Jill continued on. I got a better sense of her, and honestly I liked her more by the end of my questions. I didn’t remember any of the names she told me, but she would giggle and tell me stories of her huge family. It honestly sounded kind of nice…except for the forced marriage part anyway. 

“What about you?” She asked with a yawn. “What about your life?” 

I considered telling her the truth about this Weston Watanabe. But she was so sheltered it wouldn’t hurt to add in some other truths. “I grew up in this ninja village,” I said. “We were always at war with other villages like it.” 

“I’ve heard you speak of them, but what is a ninja?” Jill asked innocently. 

“You don’t know what ninjas are?” I asked in shock. “Let me tell you about 4 very special ones. Back in the day there was this ooze that broke in the sewer. Think of this ooze like a magic potion. It just so happened to break on 4 baby turtles and a rat…” It wasn’t long until Jill was asleep and we were waiting for the blimp to arrive at the Hunter’s Association Headquarters.