How long has it been? Wait, don't answer that. I haven't had the time to think too much with the pile of assignments and the near finals week but my mind has found a way to intoxicate itself so enjoy~

Replies to Review:

Twila Star: Lol! I'm flattered XD. In a perfect world Killua would have done all of the above but it'll take more time than that haha. I think Illumi might face his own feelings himself, he's already awakening to his desire to monopolize him and stuff so… Now that you bring the needle up, I do wonder how Kiru will react to it…since he'll only be a 12-year old, perhaps he'll be forgiving—or tricked. Oh well, we have plenty of time to think about that, don't we? Thanks for the review!

Guest: Thank you! Appreciate it. Thanks for the review!

Rednotebook108: Haha this reaction of yours. I think I read your review 5 times XD. When I collected my thoughts for this chapter (like literally last night), I saw your review again—and I was like: that's it, I really gotta update even if I have a little. Thanks for the review! Hilarious—It really made my day haha.

Disclaimer in first chapter.

Chapter 14: Interlocking

Apparently Killua refused to go to his incoming job. While Illumi simply stood a few feet in front of him, observing him wordlessly like a statue would. The silverette stole a glance at the long silence that followed after Illumi's part and felt a subtle chill run down his spine when he saw those black holes stare the crap out of him without blinking.

"W—what…?" Kiru automatically faltered, digging his head lower into his shoulders. "What are you staring at me like that for?"

"…I wasn't staring. I was thinking." Illumi finally blinked and lost the dark aura floating around him. 'Yeah right.' The kid refuted in his head. "But I think I finally understand." This caught the other's attention and rendered him to stand straight again, full cognition towards the elder.

"What?" Killua repeated.

"You're afraid, aren't you?" Illumi stated as if he had just solved the world's toughest puzzle.

"Huh?! Of what?!" The younger could drop down to the ground any moment now. Apparently, Illumi was nowhere close to getting the right answer.

"Of executing the mission, of course. That must be it. Did your previous jobs leave you traumatic?"

"Did not! For your information, I'm totally fine and not afraid of anything." Killua crossed his arms. "I just wanna break." A brief pause engulfed them once again.

"Are you sure?" The elder tested, seeing the younger was fired up now. "As the heir, such minor tasks shouldn't be so intimidating."

"I'm not intimidated—er, fine! Watch me, I'll accept the job right now and prove you wrong." Killua affirmed with a stomp of his foot.

"Then you'll go?"

"Didn't I just say so? Maybe that way you'll see how much I've improved my skills too."

"That's wonderful. I'm glad you agreed, I'll let mom and dad know then." Illumi smiled in accomplishment. At that exact moment something immensely heavy fell into the pit of Killua's stomach where it crashed with a loud noise only he could conceive.

'What the hell did he just do?' the silverette attempted to back track his own claims. 'Illumi just out-smarted him—so easily too! Ugh, it's his fault too for falling for it in the first place!' The younger dreaded in his thoughts. The kid so badly wanted to bang his head with a tree or something. 'Okay, that's it next time I won't fall for that.'

"Have it your way this time but I'm staying back next time, okay!" Kiru declared seriously and hopped back on to his skateboard leaving the area.

"My way? Wasn't he the one that agreed?" Illumi thought out loud, concluding with an amused smile.

…

"Would you like me to repeat that Killua-sama?" His tutor asked while he stood over the desk with the textbooks open before them.

"Huh? Ah yeah, maybe one more time." Killua innocently grinned, mind not focused on the lesson one bit. As soon as his teacher turned to the portable black board to review the notes, the silverette resumed his plot of escape. Very quietly, he slithered down the chair under the desk, making sure not a single drag was heard and crawled towards the door—both in quick and soundless motion. He let out a condescending 'heh' when he exited the door without his teacher knowing and continued down the hall.

The assassin had only managed to walk five steps away from the room that his tutor exclaimed "Eh, Killua-sama?!" most likely upon noticing the vacant chair.

'Mayday.' Killua picked up speed, rotating his head back towards the room in case his teacher stepped out. 'Umf!' The kid happened to bump into someone and fell backward during his process of fleeing.

"Kiru?" The voice asked with uncalled surprise. The younger flinched at the audible sound of his name. 'No don't call my name out loud! That'll blow my cover!' The kid fretted, recognizing who it was immediately and pouncing on the that person, shoving him back into a corner of the hall. The doors to the study room could be heard being opened as his young male tutor stepped out.

"Killua-sama? Oh dear, not again—I must find him before Silvia or Kikyo-sama find out." The man scratched his head in distress.

Meanwhile Killua sat over the shoulders of his hostage— Illumi—giggling mischievously at the other's dilemma, at the same time covering Illumi's mouth with a hand. The raven haired gave a flat look before removing the hand over his mouth.

"Such immaturity." His aniki blurted.

"So what—it's called having fun. Now come on, we have to get out of here." The silverette pointed in the other direction towards the stairs to the second floor.

"Hm...now you've made me your partner in crime as well." Illumi pronounced, suddenly at a predicament himself as to whether he should turn the kid over or comply. "Bad Kiru."

"You'll live. On second, thought let's go outside instead." Killua instructed ignoring any other matter. Illumi didn't know why he chose the latter of his earlier thoughts and obliged, waltzing in the pointed direction while carrying the kid on his shoulders. All was well until they ran into their grandfather.

"Illumi, what are you doing?" Zeno asked, sensing something fishy almost immediately.

'Busted.' Killua frowned. This wasn't the first time he ran into his grandfather while sneaking away. However, this time Illumi was with him so he could pull it off. "Nothing we're just…" the kid exercised his mind for an instant probable excuse.

"Eluding Kiru's studies." The raven haired naively answered without further thought. The silverette gawked in disbelief. 'He just outed them like there were no consequences what's so ever! Unbelievable!'

Next thing Killua knew: he was being held in the air by the back of his shirt by his grandfather and carried all the way back to the study room. Illumi followed behind them innocuously. "Really Illumi you know better than to dote on him too much."

"I'll be careful next time." The elder teen accepted expressionless. 'Funny, he ought to know what's better for Kiru, but this time he gave in so effortlessly. Why did he do that?'

"Hmph, you ruined it old man." Killua grumbled.

"Alright Killua, back you go to educate yourself properly." His grandfather waved.

*_*_*_*…*_*_*_*

Killua jerked awake from an atrocious nightmare. "Hah…ha…haa." He panted as he sat up and pulled the covers back for air. 'Geez this was the …5th this month?' He mentally noted, beginning to lose track of how many times he restlessly woke up. "…water…" The kid climbed out of his bed when he noticed a desert growing in his throat to the point it hurt to swallow. Carefully, he exited his room, lightly stepping over the carpet in the corridor as he made his way down stairs. Their mansion itself looked like some haunted fright zone during the night: very high ceilings, millions of dull portraits flanking the halls and all swamped by dark colored paint on the walls. The silverette didn't waste time and chugged down a whole glass of water before reaching for a bottle from the fridge to carry back upstairs. Glancing around once more out of sheer curiosity, he journeyed back to the stairs.

Two doors away from Killua's room but the first door closest to the stairs was Illumi's room, who lay on his bed in shallow sleep. As the steps of the younger so lightly drummed his ears, he slowly tweaked his eyes open an angle.

Thamp. Thamp. Thamp. The footsteps were softly maneuvered with hardly any sound at all. The person was doing a magnificent job concealing their presence, so the raven thought. He shut his eyes again, this time in focus, taking him a whole minute to assess the amount of pressure and rhythm of the steps to identify who they belonged to. 'Kiru?' Illumi found that unusual. Kiru wasn't known for waking up often at night, or at least roaming the house at that time either.

Killua eluded the last step on the staircase and was prepared to pass his aniki's room. (By the way, all the siblings' rooms were on the same floor). Since Illumi was already awake by now, he stood up and decided to indulge himself—his intrusiveness? Opening the door to an angle without a noise, he poked his head out and whispered out "Kiru?"

The silverette wasn't expecting that at all and startled. He slowly turned his head around to see dark eyes popping out from an ajar door. The kid immediately paled at that and expanded his jaw to shriek on impulse. Before he could, however, Illumi locked an arm over his neck and mouth and yanked him in the room, closing the door behind them.

"Shhh, you'll wake everyone up if you scream now." Illumi warned putting a finger over his lips. "Be a little more discrete."

"And whose fault is that! You sneaked up on me—anyone would be freaked out!" KIllua hissed back.

"Really? I don't see how that's possible though…" The elder trailed off, trying to comprehend how one could be startled by a silent harmless call. The younger sighed—he forgot the elder was out of the norm.

"Why are you even awake anyways?" Killua demanded, harboring a small grudge for being alarmed.

"You woke me up."

"Eh? But I didn't even make a single sound!"

"You'll be surprised how much commotion even a single foot step can make during the night." Illumi pointed out.

'I'm going to get more nightmares after this.' Killua's eyes dropped halfway. "Anyway, I'm going back to my room, it's already late and mom's going to start racketing early in the morning." So it wasn't like he would be able to get much sleep in the mornings.

'Wow, no respect there.' Illumi noted. "It's unusual for you to wake up at night though, isn't it?"

"I was thirsty, no bigge." The kid only told half the story he found reasonable.

"Okay." The elder acknowledged it nonetheless.

"… ok, then I'm going back…" The younger didn't want to admit it but suddenly, he was feeling reluctant to go back to his room.

"Good night. Don't let the monsters bite." The elder teen smiled, giving his younger brother's hair a quick ruffle. That display of affection from his otherwise usual expressionless face was so heartfelt that it caught the kid off guard.

'Aw man, now he really didn't want to sleep alone in his own room.' What? Can't assassins be under threat once in a while? Especially if they were only ten years old? "Bedbugs."

"Hn?"

"Silly, it's bedbugs. Don't let the bedbugs bite." Killua corrected, amusement underlying his tone.

"Oh, is it?"

"Hey Illu-nii…" The kid started again and noticed that Illumi was all ears. "Can I…um…sleep here tonight?" He didn't understand why he was hesitating so much. Killua already knew he could be himself around the elder—even if that was hard to believe but again, these two went way back.

"Of course." Illumi replied. Killua wasn't surprised to hear that but relieved? Yes. He was also grateful that Illumi didn't question much about it. The kid placed the water bottle on the drawers and climbed into bed against the wall, the elder following suit.

"Night." The younger called out, feeling ample safe as sleep took over him.

"Good night Kiru."

…

In the morning, Killua woke up first and stirred in bed under his elder brother's arm. Noticing the small weight on top of him, he tousled to his right side and recognized Illumi laying on his side as well, still asleep. With his mind still clouded from sleep, he gazed at the completely stone still figure. 'Wait, was he even breathing?' Inquisitiveness got the better of him as he scooted closer to the elder and planted his ear on the bigger chest. Illumi's body temperature was dangerously low and it would take a stethoscope to actually hear his heart beat but with much concentration, the younger was able to resolve the other was alive.

Regretfully, the kid became so attached, that he didn't notice when a pair of arms trapped him in an iron grip, evoking a yelp from him. "Wha—"

"Heh, what are you scheming Kiru?" A mocking tone of voice came out from the elder. "Or let me guess, were you trying to find a weak spot?"

Killua slumped. 'That would have been a good idea actually.' "No, I wasn't doing anything in particular...I…just thought I saw a bug or something…" Seemingly, lying had become a new habit now. The raven pushed the matter aside due to its insignificance and instead his half open eyes caught notice of the younger's cute little perked up nose as he spoke.

"What a tiny adorable nose." Illumi commented, pressing his long finger on the tip of Kiru's nose.

"Hey cut that out! It's not that small."

"You can't prove that."

"Really you—I'll prove it right now. " The kid boldly stated, at the same time hopping on top of the elder. Illumi was now lying on his back, harmlessly allowing the kid to do whatever. He watched the younger straddle his stomach while he smacked their noses right on top of one another to measure the length, their foreheads grinding together.

Killua's eyes were practically all towards his nose in a distorting angle while the other peacefully watched the other's cobalt eyes and brows entirely focused.

"Well?" The elder snorted.

"Hm…so it's a little small—but that's because you're so much bigger. Check back in five years and you can guarantee it'll be the same size." The kid surrendered, straightening his back and locking his fingers on his nape in an aloof manner.

"Looks like we'll just have to wait for that. Five years it is." Illumi vowed, already looking forward to it as he raised a hand in between them. Killua was unfollowing and with the way the hand patiently floated in the air, he released one of his small hands from behind his neck and placed it flat on top like a mirror. The elder knitted his fingers with his brothers letting cool mix with warmth, night with day, black with white and brought it close to his lips, bestowing a neat kiss on the knuckles. The silverette didn't mind or was more than used to his gestures by now. He only knew that he found them very cute even if it was from Illumi. The kid inwardly chuckled at his thoughts. His motions were always speechless and small—maybe except for that long kiss when the elder stuck his tongue in—to the point it made him lose his breath. 'Ah. He had to ask him about that! He got completely carried away last time.' But…for some reason he didn't feel like now was the time to bring that up…like it'd ruin the atmosphere. 'Atmosphere?' He turned his gaze back to the long haired teen who was still lying on his back as silky black hair radiated underneath him.

"Hey aniki, aren't you going to get up?" Killua inquired.

"I can't.

"Why not?"

"Well you're sitting on me." The silverette noticed that too and blushed for a second.

"Sorry—my bad…" He said sliding off.

"It's okay, you're not heavy at all." The raven haired decided to sit up as well.

"Let's get some breakfast—I'm starving!" Killua jumped off the bed, still in his pajamas and ran towards the door.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth and wash your face." Illumi called out.

"Tell that to my stomach!"

"Kids…?" The raven didn't know how to interpret that.

To Be Continued…

Nothing to say here—I had some extra time at school so picked this up from where I left off but now I'm totally running ten minutes late to class haha. Next time!