Bet You: Chapter 3

The next day went by as usual, but no bets were made. Betting had rules, and one of them stated "No betting shall happen if a previous bet is left unpaid". So, Friday went on as usual; they had to do some boring paperwork, they had lunch and talked about random stuff and hunter topics and headed home after a few hours of training.

Gon and Killua were home and Gon suddenly had an idea.

"Hey Killua, I was invited over to a party. It's a few hours away, but they say it's going to be a blast! I already know where we can stay at and then come back tomorrow afternoon." Gon said excitedly and did a thumbs up.

"I promised Val I would help her out tomorrow as payment, and I don't want this damn bet to last longer than tomorrow." Killua answered truthfully.

"Ohhh, that's too bad. Want me to stay and give you a hand?" Gon suggested.

"No way. I bet it'll be too boring, and a party sounds much better. You should go and have some fun. It's my fault anyways if I go around betting if I have no money." Killua sighed.

"Mouu... I wanted you to come. I'll go and arrange another party so you can come along next time." Gon grinned wildly and headed over to pack a few things and left because he was late already.

Killua watched some TV and then want to bed early. Next morning he was not going to be late; he would always oversleep if Gon wasn't there to wake him up.

/

"AGHHH!" Killua ran all across the house. He had overslept again. It was already 10 am, and Val didn't live close to his house, but if he ran fast enough, he would be there in no time.

He ate something, too a shower and got dressed in 15 minutes and then headed towards Vals house; he arrived "just" 30 minutes late.

Val lived in a SHITTY neighbourhood, it was just like gangster and crime movies in there. It was practically in the outskirts of the city; a few minutes car ride and you'd be in the country.

"Really? I mean…" Killua scratched his head. He did not mind her living there at all, but he just did not understand why she lived there. They were not rich, but the pay down at the Hunter Association was pretty good. So there had to be some explanation for why she lived there… he knew she could definitely afford a place four or five times as expensive as that apartment.

He stood in front of Vals door and knocked on it, there was no bell. He waited for a minute or so and started wondering if it was some sort of bad joke Val was making. Maybe he should hide away or something. Suddenly the door opened and a dust cloud started floating his way.

"Cough-cough" Vals voice was heard and she came out of the dust cloud. "Hey! You're late! I knew it! I was gonna bet on it but you know the rules!" she grinned at him. She had her hair up in some sort of messy bun and she looked DUSTY.

"Heh, well, if you'd bet on it I would've been on time" Killua said.

"Yeah, right. Come in!" she said leading the way inside. "Where's Gon?"

"Gon had a party out of town last night, so I came by myself. It would not have been fair if he had come, after all it's me who goes around betting all his money." He said and, somehow, felt kind of disappointed about her expecting Gon as well. Then he looked around; that place was a mess!

"How did you manage to even live in a place like this? Why didn't you clean up before?" Killua was amazed someone could come home to a place like this.

"Well.. let's say I have not had enough time lately" Val sighed. "Well, let's just get to work!" she handed killua some rubber gloves and got to work. They actually had a good time talking about stuff, mostly about food. After a while they came to Vals bedroom, which was not as messy as the rest of the house. They cleaned up that last room, and after a few hours they were over.

"Well…" she said throwing herself on the bed and putting a mock-sensual pose "You know what's coming, don't you?"

Vals flushed face appeared on Killuas mind again and he got as red as a tomato. He KNEW she was just messing with him; but he could not keep that image away if she joked about THAT.

"Hahahahahaha" Val started laughing "Come on, I never thought you'd be such a kid." She stood up and messed with his hair. "You know, it doesn't really matter."

Killua raised an eyebrow "What does not matter?" he said puzzled.

"You know." She pierced him with her eyes. "I had decided not to say anything, but you seriously are having a hard time dealing with it."

Killuas eyes widened "W-what are you talking about?" she could NOT know about it, could she? Maybe she was talking about something else?

"Ever since we came back you've been acting all shy around. We're both adults; let's just accept what's obvious".

Killua was swating like mad; what was he supposed to say? And if she had noticed him, WHY on earth did she not STOP? Had she wanted him to look at her?

Killua was about to open his mouth when Vals phone started ringing, she was about to get it but Killua decided to speak.

"Why did you not stop? Why did you not say anything?" he said while the phone rang.

"Well, I was just too close and did not want to stop. I would never be embarrassed about something as natural as that; if it made you uncomfortable you should have started by not stalking on me."

Killua thought Val was impossible, how could she say that? "I was not-"

"Hey, relax, no problem. I know you did not want to lose that bet." And then the answering machine went on.

"VAL, they're here." A deep voice spoke. "We're low in man and they don't seem to be considering mercy. We need-" Val was already at the phone and started speaking.

"I'll be right there. Wait for me!" she hung up and turned to look at Killua with a serious face. The most serious he had ever seen her make. Killua suddenly felt like a kid making a fuss about a candy. "Killua, I need you to leave. We're done here anyway." Val started walking towards the door and got her backpack while doing so. Killua just followed her. "Thank you for helping out, I'm sorry to just tell to leave, but I have an urgent matter to attend."

"Okay, no problem" Killua said nodding "See you around."

Killua watched her get on a mountain bike and quickly head away from the center and towards the country. He just sighed and walked back home. It was already lunch time and he was really hungry, so he prepared something to eat and then decided to chill out. But his mind kept going back to Vals face; not that one. Vals last face was as stern as an old persons and Killua couldn't help but wonder what had happened that made her leave that fast.

Finally Gon came back and he asked how things were with Val. Killua just told him they did what they had to and that the place had been a mess. Then, Gon started talking about how fun the party was and about how he had already organized another one for Killua to attend. Killua had always been amazed at Gons popularity; he was everybodys friend. They just trained and chilled for the rest of the weekend.

The next day, however, Val didn't show up at work and called saying she was ill and needed to stay in bed for a few days. Killua knew something was fishy, he just KNEW it all had to do with the call she received on Saturday. He wondered about it for a while and thought that maybe something bad had happened to her. Maybe she was not home at all. What was she hiding?