+ Jingle Bells +

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Hunter x Hunter.

Dedication: To Yomi-san. Thank you for giving me useful advice, and also the idea to write this story

Author's Note: I've kind of forgotten all about this fic (yeah, the plot, where the story was when I left it, and how it was going to end…), until I received a review a few days ago. I've decided to continue, because I realize that there are people who actually wish to find out what happens in the story, and I really don't want to leave this one unfinished. It's my first "properly formatted" story, after all. Before this one, I didn't even know to form proper paragraphs. Sorry to those of you who have been waiting; enjoy chapter four.

+ Chapter 4 +

Illumi produced another pin and held it in front of his face, ready to fling it towards the young boy at any moment. Gon gulped and froze in place. He did not dare move one micrometer, or break eye contact. Watching his big brother's every move made Killua nervous, and every moment seemed more like the end of his friend than the previous. Though the room was pitch black and no sound was made, the two friends were sure that Illumi was aware of everything. His catlike eyes seemed to have the ability of piercing through darkness, and reading the minds of all of his victims.

"What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

Lights came on suddenly, but buzzed and then went off as the high-pitched squall echoed. Beside the light switch by the door were Silva and Kikyou Zoldick. The mister and missus looked rather odd in their matching Santa Claus and Rudolph pyjamas. Killua would have laughed at if the situation were not so serious.

"Illu, are you trying to kill our guest?" Silva asked in a doubtful tone, raising an eyebrow, ignoring the fact that his son would have a hard time taking him seriously in the joyous pyjamas.

"And why are you in the living room?" Kikyou added. "It's way past your bedtime, boys! I'm so proud that you've become creatures of the night; you've grown up so much! Oh, you boys are going to become such amazing assassins! But that's beside the point. What have you been doing up?"

"We were planning a Christmas party, you know, very assassin-ish stuff," Killua replied quickly. "And aniki here tried to kill Gon."

Silva rubbed his chin. "A Christmas party?" he repeated, and then turned to Illumi, who had put away his weapon the second the parents came into the room. He then realized that his well-trained siblings who also happened to be his accomplices have also disappeared. "Illu, my son, you should know better than to try to kill your brother's friend when he's trying to plan a Christmas party."

Kikyou nodded in agreement. "Yes, Illu, you've been a bad boy. Now apologize to Gon-kun."

Killua sweatdropped as his mother talked as if she had refused to believe that Illumi was older than five years. He then made a face as his brother looked at Gon straight into the eyes, and said, "Okay, I shouldn't have tried to kill you when you were trying to plan a Christmas party. I'll kill you later, when my parents and Killu aren't around."

"It's okay, Illumi-san," Gon replied in a forgiving tone, with his usual smile. "It could happen to anyone." At least Killua's parents were on his side – for now, he thought.

"Now that that's solved," the light that denotes Kikyou's emotions flashed green, "why don't we let them plan the party? Come now," she dragged her husband, and then her eldest son out of the room. Killua and Gon were now alone, with a lot of planning to do. Needless to say, they were both very relieved.

"Well, I think the decoration's done," Gon said, clapping happily at the beautiful room which had been transformed into a colourful room filled with holiday spirit. He and Killua had added an extra touch to improve on the already beautified room, for apparently, Milluki had stepped on a few of the items that had fallen from the tree and the walls, and they were now beyond recognition.

"Yeah," Killua grinned. "The tree is there, covered with decorations, we have multi-coloured lights up along the edge of the ceilings and the window frames, the wreath looks good on top of the fireplace…." He examined the room once again, and everything seemed perfect. But of course, he, being an assassin of this Zoldick family, was confined within his family's territory for a good part of his life, and did not know what "normal" people did, or how they celebrated Christmas.

Gon joined Killua in inspecting the room. "Wait, Killua," he gasped suddenly, "We're missing an angel or a star for the tree." He pointed at the very top of the tree, which looked bare compared to the rest of the evergreen.

"An angel or a star?" Killua made a face and scratched his head. "Where the heck are we going to find one?"

As Gon and Killua were both aware, figurines of an angel or great, big stars were not something one could find easily in the assassins' quarters. For one thing, they probably never celebrated Christmas the "common folk" way, as Killua had mentioned receiving a machine gun for Christmas one year, when he was younger.

"How about we make one?" Gon suggested. "We can papier-mâché one, or build one out of clay, or…."

"Those would take forever to dry, and we don't have much time," Killua sighed. "It's already past midnight, so it's Christmas Eve today. You said Christmas parties usually start in the evening, right?"

Gon nodded. "And after this, we have to come up with a special Christmas menu and give it to your chefs, and then we'll put our presents under the tree, and pick which Christmas carols we'll all sing later."

It was hard enough for the young assassin to attempt to imagine having a proper family dinner, with all members of his family (plus his friend) surrounding a dinner table. The family had never spent much time together except for one of the elders' birthdays or for a celebration after a job well done (or "people well murdered"). Singing Christmas carols as a family was out of the question.

"W-well," Killua cleared his throat. "How about we do the menu first? That might be easier. And at the same time we can try to think of what we'll do for the angel or star."

So it was agreed that they would first work out a carte-du-jour. First up on their list was the roasted turkey, which they did not think would be a problem, for the family was planning on having turkey anyway, as a tradition. Gon was rather relieved that there was, indeed, a possibility that the family could be somewhat normal. But he was proven wrong with Killua's suggestion of having Yorkshire pudding made with chocolate and marshmallows.

"I've heard of it before somewhere," Killua licked his lips as he imagined a rich, delicious sweet with marshmallows imbedded and covered in chocolate syrup.

"Yorkshire pudding isn't a dessert," Gon sweatdropped. "It's like a soufflé with gravy sauce. It tastes really good with roasted beef."

"Mito-san made it for Christmas, huh?" Killua asked, and his friend nodded with a lively smile. "All right, so roasted turkey, Yorkshire pudding… what else do we need?"

"How about a salad?" Gon suggested. "I think I remember how Mito-san used to make it." His face brightened, "I know, she used a lot of that plant she picks from our backyard, and those small red berries from that old tree…."

As mouth-watering as a salad made with unidentified plants sounded to Killua, he preferred having a bowl of good old fruit salad – with a whole lot of added sweetening and every kind of tooth-decaying bonbon.

"But it's Christmas," Gon argued. "Fruits-and-candies-coated-with-sugar just doesn't sound like Christmas."

"Well I like it," Killua snorted, and stuck out his tongue. "I'll just have the chef make a bowl just for me. Don't ask me for any of my salad if your poisonous leaf-and-berry salad doesn't taste good."

Gon gave Killua a look as his friend had just insulted his beloved Aunt Mito's cooking. "It's not poisonous, it's delicious!" He objected, waving his arms in annoyance. "You're not getting any!"

"Fine, fine," Killua chuckled. Gon's actions were rather endearing, and the two friends could not stay mad at each other for long. They decided to call it even. Besides, the salads were not their real enemy; their real foes were far worse than that, and they would really need to work as a team if they wanted the naïve Whale Islander to survive this festive season. "We'll just each have our own salad." And Gon agreed.

"Okay, now for dessert," Gon's face brightened once more. "I'm thinking a sugar plum cake. That and also cookies and milk for a light snack."

"Sounds good," Killua nodded. "We can have the chefs cut cookies into Christmas shapes!"

"Good idea! Oh, hey, why don't we do that ourselves?" Gon suggested.

"Y-you mean like… us? We bake the cookies?" Killua sweatdropped and gulped, his eyes round as ping-pong balls.

"Yeah, that way the cookies will be more special," Gon's mouth widened into a toothless grin.

Killua continued to sweat. He recalled his friend making a very creative platter of "sushi" during the Hunter Exam, which did not seem too edible, and seriously doubted his friend's abilities in the kitchen, as his best dish, which Gon proudly announced during the Exam was "rice mixed with raw eggs".

Could this be the first serious threat to the Zoldick family? Killua thought to himself as Gon jotted down his idea.

To be continued…