PitoKai

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PitoKai
Art by raintalker
GENERAL
Hunter x Hunter
Character	Neferpitou
Character	Kite
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Enemies; Pitou is dead
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Non-binary

1

PitoKai is the non-binary ship between Neferpitou and Kite from the Hunter x Hunter fandom.

Canon

When Kite enters NGL with Gon and Killua, he feels uneasy though he doesn't know why. They are able to defeat every opponent they encounter at first, which leads Kite to believe that his intuition is wrong, though he has a sense that there is some more powerful force lurking somewhere in NGL. This turns out to be true when Neferpitou is born shortly after their arrival. Neferpitou is born knowing how to use nen, and they test as a specialist after learning more about nen from Pokkle. Wanting to test the extent of their strength, Pitou extends their en to search for a suitable opponent to fight, finding one in Kite. As soon as Kite feels the presence of Pitou's aura with his own, he yells at Gon and Killua to get away from him, and in that slight moment of distraction, Pitou arrives and cuts off Kite's arm.

Once Gon and Killua have run away, Kite summons his Crazy Slots ability and rolls a three, getting ready to fight Pitou. Pitou appears to be impressed by this, saying, "Ooh, so even something of that sort [of ability] is possible." The outcome of the battle is shown shortly afterwards, with Pitou sitting cross-legged and holding Kite's severed head in their lap. Pitou asks the other ants below them to prepare a refrigeration unit in the nest, so that they can preserve Kite's body — "So the trophy doesn't rot." Having won the battle, Pitou concludes that they are "pretty strong," which is also Pitou's acknowledgement of Kite's own strength.

After Kite's head and body have been frozen, Pitou is seen sitting in front of the refrigeration unit, looking at Kite longingly. Referring to their fight, they say, "It was fun. I felt like I was dreaming. I want to do it again... with you." Pitou then has the realization that they can fight Kite again, if they repair him and then animate him by using their nen. Because of this, both of Pitou's abilities, Doctor Blythe and Terpischora, were inspired by Kite and were created for the sole purpose of Pitou being able to fight Kite again.

At the climax of the Chimera Ant arc, Gon brings Pitou with him to Peijing, where he demands that Pitou revive Kite with their ability. Pitou had restored Kite's body with Doctor Blythe but Kite no longer behaved like himself, instead being controlled by Terpischora. Regretfully, Pitou tells Gon that they cannot bring Kite back because "when we fought, he was already dead." They explain, "I couldn't bring someone back from the dead. All I could do was keep him from rotting and control him. His spirit is no longer here. He won't come back again. I'm sorry."

At the denouement of the arc, when it is revealed that Kite was reincarnated as the twin sister of the ant king, Gon goes to have a conversation with Kite. She acknowledges Gon's strength, saying that while she herself could not defeat Pitou, Gon was able to even if he risked everything to do so.

Fanon

PitoKai is a rare pair in the Hunter x Hunter fandom, though it is surprisingly popular for being a pairing between two side characters. Some fans feel that this pairing is toxic due to the fact that Pitou was the cause of Kite's death. On the other hand, fans of this ship may feel that Pitou only acted the way they did because they didn't know how to express their interest in Kite properly, due to them being recently born with only their natural killing instincts. It's also a popular belief among supporters of this pairing that, under better circumstances, Pitou and Kite would have gotten along well, becoming friends and perhaps even lovers. This is on the basis that Pitou was shown to have a fascination with Kite. On the other hand, Kite is an expert on animals, always having shown to be sympathetic with them. Being a cat-humanoid, Pitou might appeal to that side of Kite's character.

Fanfiction of this pairing often places them in more favorable circumstances, even a domestic environment where they were not fated to be enemies. On AO3, it is the second most written ship for Kite, and the most written ship for Pitou.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

PitoKai tag on AO3

TUMBLR

PitoKai tag on Tumblr

Trivia

• Within the fandom, there is some debate over whether this is a het ship or a non-binary ship. Some fans prefer to see it as het, due to the fact that in the 2011 anime, Pitou's character was made more feminine than was perhaps intended by the mangaka. For example, Pitou's voice is feminine and they are given a more prominent bust in the anime compared to the manga. This only compounds Pitou's already feminine appearance. However, Pitou is referred to with masculine/unisex pronouns in the original Japanese, both by others and by Pitou themself. In the manga Pitou's gender is never confirmed, so this ship is more accurately described as non-binary.
  • Another reason to categorize this as a non-binary ship would come from the fact that Kite's gender changes after they are reincarnated as a Chimera Ant.
• When Killua runs away from the fight between Pitou and Kite, he reflects that if he and Gon hadn't been there, then "things probably wouldn't have ended up like this." This suggests that Pitou and Kite would have been more evenly matched, even to the point of changing the outcome of their fight, if Gon and Killua hadn't been there to distract Kite.