Every Flower Has Its Thorns v2
.::Forging Bonds::.
Kaeko stood before Killua, still trying to piece together all the facts in her mind. She could scarcely believe it.
...A Zoldyck.
...A Zoldyck was right in front of her.
She heard all the rumors; she knew how notorious and dangerous that family was. Just their mugshots were worth 100 million zennie!
Killua smirked over at Kaeko, his hands still in his pockets, "What, you scared or something?"
"Then that means..." Kaeko pointed at Gon, still wide-eyed in shock. "You must be Ging Freeces' son!"
"Un..." Gon nodded slowly, unsure of why Kaeko was reacting the way she was.
Kaeko stared at the two boys completely flabbergasted. These two were practically celebrities! This initial shock was soon replaced with a smile and light chuckles. "Ahaha..." She covered her face with her hand as she laughed, "I was saved by Ging Freeces's son and a Zoldyck, and now I'm traveling with them. Who would've thought it?" Needless to say she would've never imagined herself to end up in this situation. Her laughter slowly died down as her hand fell back down by her side. "You two are really something. I heard all over towns and cities about how you took down the Chimera Ants."
"Oh right." Killua's face darkened as the memories surrounding that disaster flooded back into his mind. "Those guys."
One memory flashed through his mind after another, and soon enough a cascade of memories began to rush through him. All the battles, his near-death experiences... Then came the memories of Gon while he was in the hospital.
He remembered Gon's hands – something he would never be able to forget. He remembered how bony, how brittle, how fragile those hands were when he touched them. They were so broken... so bloody... And his body –
"Hey Killua! Kaeko! Let's play a game!" Gon called out, intuitively sensing that the conversation was taking a dark turn. "We'll be here for a while right? So let's do something to pass the time!"
This small outburst was enough to pull Killua from the dark depths of his mind back to reality. And as if nothing had happened, he turned over to Gon, asking cooly, "What did you have in mind?"
"Uhh..." Gon scratched his cheek with a finger and stared at the ceiling, thinking.
"Hey I know!" Kaeko smiled, catching their attention. She noticed Gon struggling with a distraction and figured the least she could do was help the guy out.
"Back in Nephele we played this hand game." She sat down in front of the two boys and positioned her fists in front of her chest. "You typically play this game with only one other person, otherwise it gets too confusing. Here Gon, can I use you as an example?"
"Un!" God nodded enthusiastically and sat across from her. He then mimicked her hands, placing them in front of his body with both hands closed.
"So you start out with both hands closed, and the point of this game is to call out a number. You can only call out 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20. So basically..." She opened her left hand. "See this? All of our hands are closed except for my left hand, so that means if I call 5, I would've called it correctly, since... I have 5 fingers. But on the other hand... Here Gon, open one of your hands."
Gon opened his right hand, staring intensely at this game Kaeko was trying to explain.
"So now, if I called 5. I'd be wrong since there are 10 fingers out. And since I was wrong it would be Gon's turn to call out a number."
"Ah. I get it. So every time someone calls out a number you have the option of either closing or opening your hands. And whoever calls it right gets another turn?" Killua asked, staring down at their hands.
"Yup! And whoever calls the right number twice in a row wins the game. Simple, right?" Kaeko turned to Gon and smiled, only to realize Gon was still trying to figure out the basic rules of the game.
"Uhh... So... We can't close or open our hands unless someone calls a number?" He asked, trying to understand the rules.
Kaeko shook her head, "Nope. Once you open or close your hands, it has to stay that way until you or your opponent calls out a number. And if you close or open your hands too slowly, then it doesn't count and you have to redo the turn. Does that make sense?"
Killua sat down cross-legged next to Kaeko and Gon, "Yeah. That's not hard at all. And 0 just means you and your opponent's hands are closed while 20 means both of your palms are open, right?"
"Yup! It's an easy game. And it's pretty fun once you're used to calling out numbers really fast. So how about it?" She looked at the two boys and smirked. "Wanna play?"
"OSU!" Gon bowed his head and lifted it back in excitement. "Can I go first?"
"Sure." Kaeko smiled and placed her hands in front of her body. "You can call out first."
"Mmm..." Gon stared intensely at Kaeko's fists and called out, "10!" opening both his hands.
Reacting to his voice, Kaeko instinctively opened one of her hands, smiling as she did so.
"My turn. 15!" She called out almost immediately after Gon, giving him no time to react, which earned her another turn.
"20!" She opened up her remaining hand while Gon was still staring blankly at their palms.
"20...? AH!" Gon looked at both of their hands, then up at Kaeko's face. "So you won?"
"You're too slow, Gon." Killua smirked and tilted himself to face across from Kaeko. "Now it's my turn."
"Alright. You ready?" Kaeko returned her hands back to the starting position.
"How about we make this more interesting?" A mischievous glint appeared in Killua's eyes as he moved his hands in front of him.
Kaeko lifted an eyebrow, unsure of his upcoming suggestion. "How so?"
"Loser does 1000 pushups."
Kaeko felt her eyes widen the size of dinner plates, "WHAT?! I can't do that many!"
"Well then, I guess we're gonna be stuck babysitting you on this trip after all." He mused, clearly trying to provoke her.
Kaeko felt her eyebrow twitch a bit from the challenge. "Why you..." She huffed and thought it out for a moment before sighing. "Alright fine. Challenge accepted." She stared into Killua's eyes intensely, competition burning in her irises. There was no way she could lose anyway. After all, she was a seasoned player and this was his first time playing. She smirked, sure that victory was in her hands. "Your move."
Killua took a moment to look over Kaeko's hands, grinning to himself. This is gonna be easy.
"5!" He called out, chuckling as Kaeko opened up one of her hands.
Kaeko stared at her single open palm and sweatdropped. "Damn it. 15!" She kept the hand that was originally open still, smirking as Killua opened up both his palms.
"Tch." Killua narrowed his eyes and waited for Kaeko's second turn, smirking as she called out the wrong number. "My turn again." He called out, "20!"
"10!"
"0!"
"5!"
"15!"
"0!"
This exchange carried on for a while with Gon watching and studying Killua and Kaeko's hands intently. It was then that he realized something. This was just like Rock, Paper, Scissors – only much simpler. All he had to do was look at his opponent's knuckles in order to figure out whether they would close or open their hands! Gon pouted, upset that he didn't think of this before.
"20!" Killua called out confidently.
"AAAUGH!" Kaeko stood up and threw her hands dramatically up into the air in defeat.
Killua on the other hand, looked over at her and grinned childishly. He crossed his arms over his chest victoriously and watched as Kaeko moved over to the side of the room to begin her pushups.
Before hunkering down onto the ground, Kaeko looked one last time at Killua and stuck her tongue out at him disdainfully. She was not pleased. Not in the slightest.
"Oi Gon. Wanna give it another go?" Killua turned to face Gon and placed his hands back into the start position.
"Un! I think I get it now! You can go first Killua!"
"Mmm.. 20!"
"10!"
"5!"
"0!"
"10!"
"20!"
As Kaeko did her pushups, she couldn't help but look up every once in a while to see how the game was going. To her astonishment, Gon and Killua's hands were opening and closing so quickly that she found it difficult to keep up with them. Her eyes began to swirl and she felt herself getting dizzy just watching them.
She then concluded that continuing to watch the two boys would be detrimental to her health and turned her focus back to her pushups. As she reached 300, droplets of sweat formed around her forehead, but still she pressed on. 301, 302, 303, 304...
At 305 she felt her arms shake and buckle under her own weight.
At 306 her arms gave way and she collapsed onto the ground. She huffed, breathless, and rolled onto her back, letting her chest rise and fall rapidly with her breath.
That's weird... She thought, I can usually do 600 on a good day... What happened?
Immediately following her collapse onto the ground, Kaeko heard Killua exclaim, "I won!" in proud victory followed by Gon groaning in defeat.
"Let's play one more time!" Gon begged, eager to try again.
Killua rolled his eyes and stood up, shoving his hands into his pockets. "No way! You're just gonna keep asking until you win!"
Gon shook his head and persisted, "Am not! Just one more time! Please?"
Killua turned his back to Gon and stuck his chin in the air stubbornly. "Nope! I won and that's that!" He then directed his attention to the sweaty girl now collapsed on the floor and smirked. "Hah? Done already?"
Gon came to Kaeko's defense. "That was mean Killua! You made her do pushups against the air pressure!"
Killua scoffed at this, "We still could've done it."
"You..." Kaeko took another deep breath. "...be quiet." She huffed.
"What, you mad that I beat you at your own game?" Killua responded, the smirk never leaving his face. "How about this then? We play one of my games. If either of you two can beat me, then I'll do 1000 pushups. Deal?"
After hearing about another challenge, Gon perked up and nodded excitedly. "Un! That sounds like fun!"
With that, Killua walked over to a drawer in the room and pulled out a Joystation. He lifted it up over his head and tilted it around, examining it to make sure it was still functional. It was a little dusty from years of neglect, but definitely still playable. He blew the collection of dust off the device and then moved over to the television to set the Joystation up.
Kaeko could only stare at the strange device in complete and utter confusion. Without looking away from it, she asked Gon, "What is that thing?"
"It's a Joystation!" He replied, moving himself so that he was positioned cross-legged in front of the television. "There's this thing called a controller that you hold and when you click the buttons and more the stick here," He reached for a controller in front of him and fiddled with the buttons to demonstrate. "It makes the picture on the screen in front of us move!"
Kaeko stared at the controller blankly, still trying to figure out how on earth one could make a picture move by clicking buttons on a rectangle-like object. Her thoughts were soon interrupted.
"Oi. You two ready?" Killua asked as he stood up and turned the power on. "I loaded a pretty simple fighting game so you two won't be too confused." He smirked at his statement and took a seat next to Gon. "Who wants to go first?"
Gon's arm instantly flew up into the air, "I wanna try!"
Killua grinned playfully as he handed the controller to Gon, "Prepare to lose."
With a few more clicks and sounds emitting from the television, the virtual battle had begun with the game announcing, "ROUND ONE. FIGHT!"
All conversation had stopped at that moment – what was left were the sounds of the game and intense clicking and clacking.
Kaeko stared on at the two boys, noting the quiet intensity that had built within them. They were so focused that they rarely blinked!She couldn't quite grasp it. How did this strange device manage to sap away all their focus?
"AAAAHHH!" Gon tilted his head up to the ceiling and screamed. "I was so close!"
Killua snickered, "Maybe next time." He turned his head over to Kaeko and handed the controller Gon was previously using to her, "Wanna try?"
"Sure." She smiled and took the controller out of his hands, rubbing her thumb over all the controls before looking back up at the screen.
This is gonna be easy. Killua thought as he chose his next character.
How... did this happen?! Killua stared at the television screen wide-eyed and mouth agape.
She beat him. Not once, not twice, but in all three rounds. Mind you, this was a game he had owned and played for years as a child. He definitely had a better grip on the controls than her.
So how the hell did she manage to wipe the floor with him?!
Kaeko looked over at Killua and grinned childishly, "I think you owe me 1000 pushups."
This girl is abnormal. Killua thought to himself as he walked over to the corner of the room in defeat. Completely abnormal.
Author's Note:
HI EVERYONE!
Oh man this was an obscenely hard and long chapter to write. I hit several walls in the process of writing this. I know it's not the most action-packed chapter right now, but the next one will definitely be better. This chapter was mainly just to establish bonds between all the characters. You know, make em like each other and such. :P
NEXT UP: You guessed it! They'll be in Nephele! This chapter isn't gonna take me as long to write because I know exactly what I want to do. I won't guarantee anything, but I will TRY to get the chapter up by this weekend. By the latest, 2 weekends from now. Tee-hee. I also have more goodies in store for you all. But hush hush.
Once again, thank you all for reading and reviewing. I will accept suggestions and ideas, so if you have any, PM me.
Take care you all!
Love,
- Moofeen
