Title: Peer Edit

Author: NoirRouge

Summary: Kurapika is an author with a sudden fame boost, Leorio is a doctor for teenage cancer patients, Gon has cancer, and Killua is the heir of millions of dollars. Is this supposed to be funny? AU KuraxLeo GonxKillua

Disclaimer: I do no own Hunter x Hunter, I never have, and I never will! OMG

WARNING: This story contains shonen-ai / slash/ boy love. If this offends you in anyway please do not read this story and save me the trouble of reading your reviews about how I have no morals. Thank you, come again.

Enjoy the show.

Chapter nine: Father of mine


A rickety, run down bus came to a stop at a lonely bus sign and a sulky Killua stepped off. No sooner than Killua had exited the bus sped off down the road anxious to get very far away from the rather intimidating child.

Killua looked around him and pouted. There was nothing but woods. There were no houses or shops to indicate that a town was here at all. Gon had said this was the stop to take to get to his house, but to Killua it looked like a really big forest with no people and no Gon. And it was really hot.

Killua just stood next to the bus sign, unsure of what to do. He figured he would just wait for the next bus. This must have been the wrong stop. But about ten minutes later Killua heard someone calling his name. He looked down the badly paved road to see Gon running towards him waving his arms exaggeratedly.

"Sorry I'm late," Gon panted as he reached Killua. "The bus must have come earlier than usual."

"I wasn't waiting long… is your house down the road? I haven't seen anything that resembles a town for awhile."

"Yeah, it's just down this road about a mile." Gon smiled brightly.

"A mile?!" Killua shouted. "We have to walk another mile to your house?"

"Yeah, the bus already goes pretty far beyond the city limit to come to this bus stop, but they aren't willing to go just another mile farther. Silly huh?"

"Really, really stupid." Killua pouted.

"Well, we'd better hurry up or we will miss lunch. Mito is very strict about being on time."

"Fine, but I'm definitely talking to my father about this. Stupid city bus…"

Gon had called Killua up the day after their trip to the amusement park and invited him to come spend the next weekend at his house in the country. It turns out that Gon couldn't stop talking about his trips into town and the day at the park, but mostly he couldn't stop talking about Killua. Mito, after having heard so much, decided that she wanted to meet Killua for herself. Gon was usually a very good judge of character, but with the way his health was Mito was a little skeptical.

And so a week later, Killua found himself walking down a very long road, on a very hot day to stay in Gon's home. After about 20 minutes of walking Gon and Killua spotted the house, and needless to say, Killua was speachless. Gon really did live inside of a tree. The somewhat large house was surrounded with the limbs and roots of an unbelievably large tree. It was almost as if the house was being consumed by the giant leafy beast.

"Gon, you're a freak."

"What's that Killua?" Gon asked.

"Nothing…"

"C'mon, Mito really wants to meet you. She's been making a really nice lunch."

The two boys approached the house and entered through the back door. Gon loudly announced that they were home and began to take off his shoes, Killua followed suit.

Not a moment later a petite red headed woman hustled into the room, "Welcome back Gon." Her gaze was quickly directed towards Killua who, unsure of what to do, just stood at the door stiffly. She looked him over, scrutinizing him carefully and making Killua feel rather nervous, like he was getting a 30 second character test. But just as quickly as Mito entered the room her faced melted into a gentle smile, "You must be Killua. Gon's said a lot about you. I'm very pleased to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Killua stammered quickly and bowed a bit.

Mito just smiled and began to leave the room, "Lunch will be ready very soon, before that you and Killua need to go clean up. You're both much too sweaty. Bath. Now."

Gon's face turned into a pout as he went to enter the other rooms with Killua following. "But we're just going to go back outside again later," he whined.

"There are no dirty boys at my table. Bath. Now." Mito stated from the Kitchen leaving no room for argument.

Gon sighed, "C'mon Killua, we'd better hurry."

"Wait, we're going to take a bath now?" Killua asked, following Gon up a flight of stairs, "Together?!"


Turns out they didn't bathe together. They took turns using the detachable showerhead for a quick rinse-off and a change of clothing. As they were putting on their clean clothing Gon noticed a rather odd looking bruise on Killua's arm. He asked Killua about it but he just brushed it off and put on a three quarter length shirt that, although impractical in the heat, covered the bruise.

They made it to the table in record time, just as Mito was setting out all the food. Mito had prepared quite a bit of food, but as Killua reached for a piece of chicken he was told to eat vegetables first and was given a rather large bowl of salad.

Mito's cooking was very good and healthy. Killua enjoyed it a lot. And the longer Killua sat at the table talking with Gon, Mito, and Gon's grandmother, the more he realized he really enjoyed it. It was an atmosphere unfamiliar to him. It was warm, welcoming, and homey. And the more he talked with Mito, the more he felt a motherly sort of attraction towards her, something he had never felt towards his own mother.

But all good things come to an end and Gon and Killua were made to clean off the table and do the dishes while Mito finished other chores. After they were done, they took over watch of the store from Gon's grandmother.

They sat rather bored at the register counter til about three before they were freed to do as they pleased and Mito took over the watch.

"This isn't as fun as I thought it would be." Killua said, not understanding why he thought fishing would be fun in the first place.

"This isn't the right time of day, that's why. We probably won't catch anything." Gon held the fishing pole between his toes and he leaned back on the grassy hill.

"When's the right time?" Killua asked out of boredom, plucking random bunches of grass and watching them blow away.

"Dawn, around four in the morning."

Killua huffed. "Like that's gonna happen."

After a while of silence Killua assumed that Gon had drifted off to sleep and was about to do just that.

"Do you think Leorio likes Kurapika?"

"Huh?" Killua bolted upright. "Of course he does, they always hang out don't they?"

"No…" Gon paused awkwardly, opening his eyes to look up at the canopy of leaves above them. "I mean… do you think Leorio really likes Kurapika?"

"I guess, I don't know." Killua blushed then looked off in the other direction. "I wouldn't know that about them, you know them better than I do."

"I think he does, Kurapika too." Gon decided with a smile. "When Leorio first told me about Kurapika he seemed to really admire him. And the nurses were spreading rumors that he was gay."

Killua huffed again, and then rubbed his nose. "Whatever."

After another break in the conversation Gon sat up and stared at the lake. "I've never met my father."

Killua just looked over at Gon shocked at the sudden revelation, unsure of what to say.

"My mother died when I was a baby, that's when he brought me here to live with Mito. He was gone a lot because of his job." Gon hugged his legs to his chest and rested his chin on his knees. "He didn't earn a lot of money, and he rarely ever came to see me. Mito got really mad because he was avoiding his responsibilities. She decided to take full custody of me and not let him ever see me. She says he didn't deserve me. He never showed up to court. He just signed the papers and mailed them back. We've never seen him since. I was only two, so I don't remember him at all."

Killua put his hand on Gon's shoulder, trying to act sympathetic without Gon feeling like he was pitying him again.

"I'd like to think he misses me. That he really did want to see me, but he had something important that he couldn't give up, something that came before me. But I really do love Mito. She is my mother. She loves me and has taken care of me more than anyone else in the world. And I really appreciate it."

Gon got silent again for a few moments before continuing. "But when I started to get sick I felt like I couldn't let him go. I couldn't die without meeting him, without him telling me he didn't want to leave me. I've felt this sense of anxiety, that I would die and he would never know. Then one day he would show up, and he would feel the same as I did, knowing he'd never met me. Or even worse, he'd just never come."

"I've been trying to get Mito to give me permission to write him a letter. I don't want to see him or anything… I just want him to know. I want him to know me. But Mito is really stubborn, she's afraid I'll be disappointed, or that I might leave her, like he did. I wish she would understand more. I'm very grateful to her for having taken care of me, and I love her. I could never leave with Jin. No matter what he could never be my father. I want her to know that, but I have a really hard time saying it."

Killua sat down beside Gon and put his arm around him in a half hearted hug. Gon looked like he might cry any moment. Gon who was strong and never stopped laughing, who was fighting cancer like it was nothing, was going to cry. Suddenly Killua felt very weak and insignificant to Gon.

"So that's it." Gon stated poking Killua in the shoulder. "Your turn!"

"What?!" Killua fell back in shock.

"I told you everything about me. Now it's your turn, tell me how you got that bruise."

Killua felt somewhat guilty that Gon had suddenly just poured his heart out to him, and Killua had been keeping secrets, something he'd yelled at Gon about before.

"My mom did it. We got in a fight."

"What did you fight about?"

Killua sighed. "She was mad because I got suspended from school. She said that if I didn't straighten up that I wouldn't inherit the business. I told her I didn't want to anyway, and she grabbed my arm and dragged me to my dad's office. She seems like a very small woman, but she is actually a lot stronger than most people would think."

"What did your dad do?" Gon asked worriedly.

"Nothing. He just talked to me about how I was chosen out of all my siblings to be the sole heir and that I was very privileged... stuff he says all the time."

Gon had a serious, thoughtful expression for a moment. "Did you try talking to your dad about it?"

"No…" Killua admitted. "I'm a lot more intimidated by my father than my mother."

"I think you should try to tell him what you really think. If you've never tired before you never know. He might listen." Gon smiled reassuringly. "You were fighting with your mother to begin with, so she was probably strongly overreacting to the situation." Gon reached out at rubbed Killua's arm where the bruise was hidden. "But it's still not right…"

The two sat in silence for some undeterminable amount of time. Just sitting together and watching the sunset. A soft orange glow illuminated the tangle of branches all around them, creating a warm, relaxed atmosphere.

Then Killua decided he couldn't hold it in anymore. "Gon, do you love me?"

"Hm?" Gon mumbled sleepily. "Of course I do, you're my best friend."

"That's not what I mean." Killua said, his expression fixed on Gon's face. "You're the first person who has ever cared about what I think. You care about others even when you have much more serious problems. You're brave, and I really envy you for that. I really love you Gon."

Gon just smiled back innocently. "I love you two Killua, you're the first real friend I've ever had."

"I don't want to be your friend!"

"What?"

Killua blushed and stood up to face away from Gon. "I love you like Leorio loves Kurapika… I feel like I always want to be with you."

After a few moments of silence Killua felt Gon's hand on his shoulder turning him around. And before he could really comprehend it, Gon kissed him.

It was a very childish kiss. Short and sweet, just a little peck. But Killua felt like that was the best kiss he would ever get.


The two boys had come to a sort of silent agreement that they both wanted to be together. They decided it wasn't necessary to tell Mito anything right now… maybe in a few years. And shortly after the sun had gone down they both returned back to Gon's house and were welcomed with a large dinner.

Killua and Gon had both had proper baths and were instructed to go to bed exactly at 10. This was rather odd for Killua because he had never been told when to go to bed or when to bathe. He'd always been instructed on who to make a good impression on, or to be good in classes. Killua had never had a motherly figure like Mito, and he decided that although it was somewhat annoying, he liked it.

That night he and Gon both went to sleep on matching cots up in the attic. With just enough space between them to hold hands.

The next morning Killua woke up early to relieve himself. As he walked out of the bathroom rubbing at his eyes sleepily, he saw Mito coming up the stares and mumbled something unintelligible to her.

"Good morning Killua. What's that?" Killua felt a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. His bruise was in plain sight. "Did you get that outside yesterday?"

"Um…" Killua rubbed self-consciously at his arm.

"It looks like a hand print. Did Gon do that?"

"No!" Killua was quick to defend. "It wasn't Gon, it was an accident."

Mito didn't look very convinced, but she just nodded and walked back downstairs. "Tell Gon to get up for me. It's time for breakfast."

Killua did as he was told and they all ate breakfast in a rather awkward silence. Killua definitely got the vibe that Mito was waiting for him to say something. After everyone had finished and Gon and Killua were set to washing the dishes, Mito cornered them.

"I want the truth from both of you." She said sternly. "How did Killua get that bruise on his arm? I don't believe he got that from horsing around, it's too dark to have been recent."

Gon looked over at Killua guiltily, as if communicating that if Killua wouldn't say anything, he would.

"My mom did it. Its nothing serious… we had a stupid fight."

Mito's expression became very sad. She walked over to Killua and embraced him. She didn't say anything for a very long time. She just stood their holding him and rubbing his back lightly.

Killua didn't understand why, but he began to cry. His expression was wide-eyed and shocked as silent tears streamed down his face. He had never cried before in his life. Gon sensing that this was an appropriate time to exit went upstairs to change.

Eventually Mito pulled away and kneeled on the floor before Killua and wiped at his tear stained face. "You are always welcome here Killua. You can come here whenever you need. I just require that you be honest with me." She gave him a teary smile. "Me and Gon would love to have you stay with us more often."

And with that they continued on with their perfect weekend. And for the first time, Killua really felt like he belonged somewhere; here, with Gon and Mito.


A/n: Woot, longest chapter ever for this story. Don't expect the other chapters to be this long either… ooooh, so close to the end. I can't wait!

So I hope you all enjoy this chapter and anticipate a quick update.

If you read it, review it, it's only polite. And if you feel like being rude I'll just have to take you over my knee and teach you some manners.

LOVE LOVE!!!