Gon woke up to blinding pain.

He was sleeping in a ramshackle hotel that needed to be repaired several years ago, but it was the only hotel in town. Gon had taken the bed to the right, Killua the one to the left.

But now, Gon was on the floor.

Gon often fell off of his bed. It happened to him almost everynight. But it was not falling off the bed that was causing this blinding pain. Gon's eyes were wide from both the pain and the shock of the situation.

Killua was also on the floor next to him. His pale, silver hair rested on the maron colored carpet. His eyes were closed, but Gon knew that Killua was asleep because of his erratic breathing. The only time Killua wasn't breathing evenly was when he was asleep.

Killua's hand dug further into Gon's side. Gon grimaced in pain, but fought the urge to scream. Slowly, Gon slid away from his friend, so that his hand smoothly slid out of his side.

Gasping Gon rested his cheek on the rough carpet, staring at Killua. They were both drenched in sweat. Gon, from the pain, and Killua, from supposedly a bad dream.

Suddenly Killua's hand flashed up towards Gon's face. A long slash sliced open.

The scratch wasn't deep, but it was about a centimeter from his eye. Gon blinked, blood running down his face.

Grabbing Killua's arm gently, he began to massage the tense muscles. Killua sighed in his sleep. Gon smiled, then closed his eyes to prevent tears of pain from seeping out.

When Killua's hand was back to normal, Gon didn't even hesitate. He couldn't let Killua figure out what happened. He knew that Killua would never forgive himself. He would probably do something drastic.

Careful not to wake his friend, Gon got up and bandaged his stomach, trying to think up ways to fool Killua. He was really bad with lying. He just couldn't keep a secret.

He would have to feign sickness or depression. Gon winced. Taking a towel, he cleaned off Killua's bloody hand, making sure that he wouldn't wake up. A little bit of blood refused to part from the end of Killua's fingernail. Gon hoped Killua wouldn't notice.

Gon looked at the blood on the floor. The carpet was crimson colored already, so that you could only just barely see the outline of the bloody pool, and even then you really had to be looking for it to notice.

Satisfied that Killua wouldn't question his surroundings, Gon sat by the window and stared out at the moon. What he was more concerned about was how Killua was going to react with Gon's sudden change in behavior.

Pain tugged at his face. Gon dabbed at the cut on his cheek. The moon shone brightly, he thought. It was so beautiful...

"Gon?"

Gon started and looked over at Killua. Killua gasped.

The long cut down Gon's face was ghastly in the moonlight. Even now, blood was dripping from the scratch, sticky and dark. Gon smiled his thousand dollar smile that spread from ear to ear. It only made that slash look more gruesome however, and it hurt Gon a lot.

Killua sat up from his position on the floor, his eyes widening.

"I fell out of bed." explained Gon. That wasn't a lie.

"Anyway, are you ok? You looked like you were having a bad dream." Gon asked, concern lacing his voice. Gon was thankful for his concerned tone. He was worried about Killua, but it also served as a mask for the pain that bombarded him.

Killua stared at him.

Judging by the position of the moon, Gon surmised that it was about 3:00 am. Killua didn't look like he was going back to sleep, so Gon hopped up from his seat by the window and turned on the light. He then proceeded to walk over to his bed, where he carefully lied down.

"I don't feel...right." he whispered, making his statement vague to cover for his suspicious "lack of energy." Gon closed his eyes. Killua wasn't saying anything. Gon wondered if he had guessed what had happened.

The room held its breath in silence.

Gon opened his eyes and looked over at his friend. Killua was staring at his hands, particularly at his finger where the trace of blood that Gon couldn't rub out was.

Gon closed his eyes again. He felt that if Killua looked into his eyes, he would see the truth. Gon didn't want Killua to have to go through the pain of knowing he had hurt his best friend.

Silently, Gon begged for Killua not to think about it. Not to connect the dots.

Gon opened his eyes again. Killua was staring at the carpet beneath him. It was still a bit moist, Gon knew. It still smelled faintly of blood. Killua's eyes were tracing the large pool of dark crimson.

Gon closed his eyes again. Killua wasn't stupid. That much blood on the ground couldn't come from just the cut on Gon's face.

Suddenly, Killua was on top of him.

It was a surprise attack, a frenzied, tickling battle often held between the two of them. Gon winced, but swallowed all the pain and attacked back till the two lay panting next to each other on the bed. Gon's vision was swimming. Pain seared through him like heated barbed wire pressing against his side.

Still, Gon smiled at his friend next to him, hoping that his blank eyes would go unnoticed. When Gon dizzily stared at his companion, his smile melted away from his face.

Killua was staring at him with serious eyes, not a trace of humor glowing on his pale face.

"Gon...what happened?"

Gon closed his eyes, his breathing becoming ragged and labored. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. Peeling open his eyes, he found no difference from when they where closed. Everything was black.

"Gon!"

Gon felt blood seeping out of his hastily wrapped bandage. Gon tried to stand up, to maybe make it to the bathroom and lock the door before Killua figured it out.

Horrible pain tried to slam him back down, pushing against his will so much that Gon's teeth grinded and he wanted to scream. But in the end, the reason why he fell back down on the bed was because hands pushed him back.

Gon felt fingers tugging at his shirt, felt his shirt be pulled off, and the gasps of horror that followed.

Before he knew it, he was laying in bed while gentle hands peeled off his blood soaked bandage. Gon didn't have the energy to resist, yet he managed to squeak a few words.

"Killua...not...your...fault."

A cold cloth dabbed at the wound. Gon yelped in pain, than bit his lip so hard that blood accompanied the tears that streamed from his eyes. Gon felt himself passing out due to the pain, but he fought the sensation that beckoned with the cold, painless ease of sleep and relief.

"I...won't leave you like this..." he whispered, choking. He said it to himself, but the silver haired ex-assassin heard him clearly.

Killua marveled at Gon. How his friend could feel compassion for him, worry for him, who had not long ago stuck his hand in his side, baffled him. Killua was dying in shame, and Gon was trying to help him even as he suffered from the wounds Killua himself had inflicted.

Killua remembered when he had first woken up, how Gon was concerned about him. He had asked if he had had a bad dream.

Killua did have a bad dream. A dream where Gon was leaving him, and Killua was killing people left and right to try and get to him. It was awful, because at the end, Gon had turned around and flat out told him that he didn't care about him.

"I am such an idiot." whispered Killua. Gon flinched, and then couldn't take it any longer. He drifted into unconsciousness.

When Gon woke up, Killua sat cross legged at the foot of his bed. He was staring at his hands with a blank expression on his face, though Gon's practiced eye could tell that he was ever so slightly trembling.

"Killua..." murmured Gon weakly. The taller boy immediately looked up, attentive. Gon smiled, wincing from the slash on his face. Faintly, he hoped that it wouldn't leave a scar.

"Don't leave me..." Gon mumbled. His eyes fluttered shut, slowly slipping into sleep once more.

As light snores came peacefully from his friend, the only thing Killua could do was smile.

DISCLAIMER- I don't own Hunter X Hunter, but I wish I did!

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