It was dark, much darker than what she'd remembered. Breathe..
Breathe...
Why was it so hard to breathe?
The constriction in her chest was inchorerantly insufferable, so why?
Why was she still trying so hard to inhale breath into her lungs?
Was she not tired of running, constantly running.. Running, to get away.
Running.. Running.. To be free..
Free.
Freedom was what she longed for.. To be able to stop running.. To finally breathe.
So why? Why couldn't she just.. Just...

Wake up.
~~~~~~~~~~

Beads of sweat ran down Eclair's head as her eyes slowly began to open for the third time that night. She sighed, her hand reaching up to wipe a strand of hair out of her face. It was dark in her room-- that is, in her hotel room. She was never able to keep stable, nor permanent housing for that matter. She reached up and began rubbing her face in her hands, noting that her temperature was a little hotter than necessary. Upon reaching the conclusion that it was much, much too late to return to her slumbering state and get the amount of sleep that she wanted; she decided that she may as well stay up and prepare for the ongoing events that would hopefully occur in the near future.

"Toru," She mumbled from her bed, her limp form still laying in the same position she was in when she awoke. Muffled footsteps could be heard before the slow creaking of the door hinges caused her to sit upright, "Yes ma'am. Do you need my assistance?"

"Can you make sure that everything will go as planned for today? I'd hate for there to be any.. inconveniences. No matter how trivial, or unimportant." She promptly flipped on the switch of a lamp that sat atop of a nightstand next to the bed, her eyes squinting slightly at the sudden brightness it brought. "I'll see to it that everything will go accordingly miss."

"Okay, thank you Toru."

She yawned before swinging her feet over the side of the bed. They landed with a soft 'thud' before she continued to stand up and stretch. Her arms reached far above her head as she let out a breathy and seemingly exhausted yawn, before trudging over to freshen up in the bathroom.

I wonder... If he's awake right now?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Hisoka groaned, as his card tower fell for what seemed like the fifth time that day. He couldn't help it. He was just-- So. Fucking. Bored.

It was ruining whatever patience he usually had, that and, he really couldn't concentrate due to the seemingly infinite lack of potential that had been surrounding him lately.

Maybe.. A change of scenery would do.

He thought idly to himself, though deep somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that this was not the case. There just really weren't any strong fighters out there.

He sighed to himself, as this situation was getting extremely out of hand. Everyone he'd taken an interest in was either ripening, or busy with other things. Other, unimportant and boring things.

How bothersome..

He flipped the card that he was holding between his fingers uninterestedly, before expertly flicking it into the nearest wall.

Joker.

'Ding!'

The high-pitched chirp snapped him from his monotonous state of being momentarily, causing him to reach for the source of noise, which happened to be his cellular device.

Maybe it's Illumi~

This idea caused him to chuckle, the thought of the assassin texting him for whatever reason was highly unlikely, but even so, was still amusing to think about. The sight of the unknown number took him aback briefly. Who even had his number besides Illumi and very few others? He slid his thumb across the screen before beginning to scan over the anonymously sent message.

(-Message here- im lazy and am rushing to put this chapter up lol pretend its like in the first book)

If Hisoka believed in some strong, almighty entity that lived in the sky, he'd be jumping for joy praising it right about now. It was a miracle, no-- It had to be fate, it just had to be.

Hisoka swiftly arose from his seat, his legs instantly leading him on his way out of the door. His only hope being that it was really worth his time.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hisoka stood at the entrance of the Heaven's Arena, one hand placed idly on his hip, the other hanging loosely at his side.

I'm here. Albeit a bit late~

He wondered if the person who'd had the guts to breach out to someone like him, had chickened out. That'd be extremely disappointing.. So disappointing in fact, that he just might kill everyone around him within a five mile radius. If they all came at him at once, it might be a little bearable.

He sighed once again, as he briefly began using one hand to reach up and block the sun from his vision. Little did he know he was being watched from afar, the two watching him conversing on their next move, "Toru, I think that's him," The woman nudged her head towards the direction Hisoka was standing.

"Yes miss, I know."

"So.. What do we do now?"

"I suppose the best approach would be to go up and start a conversation with him." He looked down at Eclair, noting that her eyes seemed to be glued onto the man and his quite ridiculous choice of attire.

"Okay... I'll go first and get his attention."

"Wait, Ecla-"

The woman was already gone before he could warn her about how careful she needed to be when speaking with someone such as Hisoka. He could only hope that she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself as she strode over to Hisoka's spot, mentally preparing herself and the speech she'd give.

Ok, just be cool. Be cool. No messing up, you got that?

She nodded to herself before stopping, as she now stood directly next to the man, arms crossed and her head turned in his direction.

Go! Speak idiot!

Why wasn't she talking?

Hisoka's eyes peered down at the woman his eyebrow raising slightly. Was this who was supposed to meet him? She was so.. Boring, so bland. There were many words Hisoka could've used to describe her, and interesting was definitely not one of them. He didn't even feel the slightest bit of nen, which was even worse.

"I uh.. Hey, you um.." Eclair fought for words to use, before suddenly noticing a poster that sat idly on one of the front windows of the Heaven's Arena, "Oh! You're uh that fighter from the Heaven's Arena right? Woah, that's so cool.. Hah..."

Surely this pitiful creature wasn't talking to him, but just to be sure he added, "Were you referring to me?" He turned his head to glance at her slightly, taking in her form as he did.

She was short-- well, shorter than him at least. She had short black hair the reached just below her chin, and light gray eyes. Her face was rounded and her lips were tinted a light pink hue, giving her a somewhat pretty look, but if Hisoka knew anything about looks, it was the pretty ones that were always the most boring."Um.. Yeah! Hi," she smiled at him sheepishly, her hands lying stiffly at her sides.

"... Are you the one who's supposed to meet me here?" He almost frowned at her, if she wasn't then what the hell was she trying to do? Regardless, Eclair didn't like the way he'd spoken to her.

"Meet? Like a meet and greet? Sure, I mean.. Actually I uh-" She stopped as she saw the menacing look he was wearing.

"I suggest you leave, before I remove you from my presence myself~" The jester sent out a large wave of bloodlust as he gave the girl a bloodcurdling grin. A few passerby's immediately fled from the scene, not wanting to deal with whatever the man was harboring with him suddenly. He immediately stopped, once he saw and realized the girl was still wearing that clueless look she wore when she approached him, "Why.. Aren't you going to run or something?"

He was suddenly intrigued, a girl like this was unfazed by his bloodlust? It sent grown men cowering in fear but yet this tedious, nenless, slightly annoying little girl wasn't even moved by it? Interesting.

"I don't know what you just did, but I'll take that as my cue to leave due to the fact that everyone else just did," she turned to walk away but Hisoka grabbed her shoulder, "Now just a momen-"

His sentence was cut short, due to the enormous man who'd instantaneously appeared to his side, gripping his arm hard enough to break it. "I think you ought to let the mistress go, sir."

Oh yes~

Hisoka could barely contain the moan that was threatening to escape his lips. Yes, now this, was what he wanted. A strong nen user, just itching for a fight.

He grinned evilly at the man who towered him, and gripped onto the girl's shoulder a bit tighter, "What if I don't?" He let out a little bit more of his bloodlust, his arm threatening to break under the force of the larger man's grip.

"Toru, let him go. He isn't hurting me."

The man seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if not wanting to obey the woman's orders, but obliged once spoken to again, "Toru.."

"Yes miss."

He glared at the man, Hisoka once more before releasing the grip from his arm.

His arm didn't break. This man is not to be messed with, I hope that the mistress understands this soon..

Toru let out an internal breath of relief when Hisoka released Eclair from his grasp, watching as she instantly turned to speak, "I guess since you understand now, you won't mind accompanying us on a short journey?"

"Sure thing, girlie." He sent yet another small wave of bloodlust to, Toru as she called him, in hopes of getting the invitation to fight across. Eclair began to walk towards the street, instantly stopping upon reaching a black vehical. "Get in?" She gestured towards the door as Toru opened it.

"My my, is that any way to ask a guest?" He chided at her, causing her to sigh. "Please get in? She asked confusedly, her hand continuing to gesture at the vehicle. What more did this man want? A red carpet to walk out onto? Ridiculous.

Hisoka smiled a venomous smile before promptly getting into the vehicle, not missing the brief commentary that was exchanged between the two, "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into ma'am."

"Yeah.. Me too."

~~~~~~~~~~
A/n: Hello to all who're reading this! And welcome to This Is It-- (Revised)!!

I'd just like to thank you for taking the time out of your day (or night)
To read the slightly less shitty version of my first story ^-^

Now, to begin I want to start off by noting a few changes I've made,

1. Hisoka is a lot more.. Or less ooc than he was in the last book (you probably can't tell but you'll notice in the future chapters hopefully.)

2. Eclair is no longer a tsundere!! I've tweaked her a bit more to my (and Hisoka's) liking and its just-- its for a greater good trust me xD

3. The plot is extremely similar to the original version but it won't be for long so don't fret hah, the action is going to come before the romance so sorry if you hate that ;(

Other than those major differences the chapters will be a lot longer than this-- I'm talking 3500 words per chapter bc I don't like making them just 1000 words anymore >< as well as not too many an/s for a single chapter (I was just rushing to put this out bc why not) ((also please lemme know if I missed something or the grammar is wrong lol its 3 am late n I didn't edit that much bc tired.))

Phew, now that that's done, I hope I'll get to hear from some of you and see if you can tell that I've gotten slightly better at writing ^°^

Anyways thanks! Hope you'll continue reading this throughout the updates!! (Which will be regularly scheduled from now on probably, maybe, lmao idk)

Adiós! ^~^