Over a month had passed and still Misaki was diagnosed as being in no proper condition to leave the hospital. Despite the inconvenience this had undeniably caused the remaining three, particularly since they were guarding a member of L.I.G.H.T. who might of course attract reinforcements to reclaim him, they waited without voicing their complaints. Between them was now a kind of understanding that hadn't existed before, and no one was overwhelmingly sore about hanging back even while it was clearly not the most preferable strategy.

Killua routinely visited the girl each day, although half the time she was probably unaware of such since she was often unconscious for most or (in some instances) all of his stay. During the first two weeks or so, even during times of wake it was apparent that she was either heavily drugged or simply too overtly fatigued to really appreciate his presence at her side. Still, he'd sat in the admittedly uncomfortable guest chair (always the same one in the line of three) and either watched over her while she slept or periodically drifted off himself until the nurse entered with the announcement that visiting hours were over.

It was about the thirty third day when he was greeted by a comparatively very much alert Misaki, finally freed from the breathing machine and lying back against the propped pillows with her fingers knitted upon her stomach.

"Another week, they say," she had told him casually once he'd fully stepped in to the room.

To celebrate, she had him dig about in the oversized back pockets of her shorts, which were folded neatly on a side table, and retrieve the book she had been amidst reading to him earlier the same afternoon they had been intercepted by L.I.G.H.T. Without another conversational word, she simply opened the novel to the page with the bent back corner and read to him until her voice was strained and hoarse.

"So you'll be released tomorrow?" he interrupted her narration on the thirty ninth evening.

From the moment of his arrival she would begin reading aloud to him, and would not cease until either visiting hours were expired or her voice was- which ever occurred first. This time he was prepared to get a word or two in.

"Tomorrow morning."

"Good. It's taken you forever to heal. I guess that's what happens when you get old, right?" he teased.

"You shouldn't press your luck," she replied in a passive tone, despite smirking ever so slightly from behind the cover of the book.

"We should celebrate!" Gon's voice suddenly announced from the doorway. He rushed toward the bed and bowed low from the waist before he said, "I'm sorry I didn't visit you before, Misaki-san!"

"Haku is pretty useless when it comes to guarding," Killua sighed. "Did you leave him alone with Taiki?"

"Well, uh…" Gon mumbled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with curved palm. He frowned as he added, "I thought it would be okay just for an hour while I came to visit. You got to see Misaki-san every single day, but I didn't even get to see her once."

Killua shot his friend a glare to silence him. Although his words were true, there was something that the blue eyed boy had found comforting in the girl's probable lack of knowledge as to his daily visitation. Having it displayed so obviously was somehow embarrassing.

The sound of the book against the bedside table drew both boys' attention to the girl, whose hair was notably askew as she leaned over to open the drawer. From it she revealed a deck of typical playing cards with patterned red backs.

Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads as they stared at the cards whilst she shuffled them over and over again in her hands.

"You two like to play games, don't you?" she questioned, deadpan.

In unison, they withdrew a step.

"We could make it interesting," she suggested.

Killua's muscles locked in place. This girl couldn't possibly be associated with…

…Could she?

Scanning the faces of the boys with a grim expression, she swiped a single card between her index and middle finger. She rotated her wrist slowly, and their eyes seemed to reveal the immense terror which paralyzed their joints.

She flicked the card toward them.

Both boys reacted what could only be described as "madly". The card touched to Killua's shoulder, and he cringed before suddenly jumping and running his hands over himself as though a venomous snake had slithered aboard his body while he fought to locate and toss it away. Gon let out a cry and fell backwards, knocking over all three guest chairs.

"Shh!" a nurse spat from the doorway at them. "This is a hospital, not a zoo! There are patients in intensive care in this ward, so keep it down or you won't be permitted to stay!"

"Sorry!" Gon apologized immediately. "It's just that my friend…"

"Just keep it down!" the lady snapped before continuing on her way.

A strange, slightly high pitched and wavering sound suddenly took the stage. After the shock had lessened, the boys exchanged dumbfounded glances and then gazed at Misaki, who was trying fruitlessly to stifle her laughter from behind her hand. Killua glanced down at the card, which was lying uselessly on the floor, and picked it up.

"It's just a normal card," he sighed, quite relieved.

'She was just playing off our reactions,' Killua realized.

He cocked an eyebrow half in irritation and half in jest as he insisted, "You really are bad natured, Misaki."

The girl simply continued to chuckle.

"That means you win, I guess," Killua grumbled, pushing his cards in to a collected pile before handing them back for Misaki to shuffle.

"Don't be a sore loser; you won five games already," she scolded gently, expertly flipping the deck from one hand to the other.

"…Out of twenty rounds," he protested sourly.

"That's a lot more than I won the first time I played Platoon," she assured him. "Experience counts, you know."

"I know someone you wouldn't be able to beat."

"Someone you've played against?"

"Well, no," he admitted.

"Then you can't possibly know that for certain," she debated with an indifferent voice.

"I'm sure he cheats," Killua argued, a smug smirk fastened on his lips.

Shrugging, Misaki replied, "So do I."

The former assassin's mouth fell agape and his face scrunched as he pointed an accusatory finger at the girl.

"You're cheating?"

"No, but I usually would," she admitted.

Rolling his eyes, he bitterly whispered, "How is it even possible to cheat at this game? You need to have all of your cards set up face-down before it even starts. It would be obvious if you were switching them around."

"There are ways to cheat at nearly everything," Misaki insisted. "Maybe you're just too honest to look for them. I learned how to cheat at Platoon during a contract at a casino when I was maybe a year or two older than you are now."

The sound of the cards skidding across the steel of the night stand as Misaki dealt out a fresh hand overlapped with the soft snoring to Killua's left. His eyes turned to peek at Gon, whose jaw was slack and peaceful. The tanned boy had fallen asleep in his seat during the fourth or so round of poker, thus Killua and Misaki having opted to play something better apt to only two people.

"Was that an assassination contract, too?" Killua asked her calmly as he studied his hand.

"No, just a well paid scam, really."

"Oh."

"Excuse me," a new voice called from the doorway, "but I just wanted to let you know that all visitors need to leave now."

"We have one hand left," Misaki explained, "I'll send them away straight after."

The woman frowned.

"I'm afraid your friends must leave now. Those are the rules."

"I will send them away once this hand is through," the plum haired girl repeated.

"It's five after nine already…" the nurse started.

"Yes, and the longer you insist on arguing about it, the longer they'll be here, it seems," she interrupted in a deceivably agreeable tone.

Throwing her hands in the air, the nurse mumbled, "Five minutes more is all you get," before turning on her heel and exiting the room.

As though the woman had never been present at all, Misaki continued to arrange her hand in to five faced down groups. Her amber eyes eventually rose to Killua's face.

"Feeling lucky?" she asked so seriously that the boy was unsure of how to answer. After a moment, she said, "What I mean is, would you like to make a bet?"

The boy's blue eyes scanned from card to card. It was a good hand… maybe even a great one.

"I won't cheat," she promised, raising her arms to show him her empty palms as though that should convince him.

"I guess," he agreed in a bored tone, attempting to hide the excitement of his fortunate group of cards. While arranging his line-ups, he added, "If I win, you have to buy me one thousand Jenny worth of candy."

"Candy?" she echoed, pursing her lips to quell a smile.

'You really are a kid,' she thought, amused.

"Okay," Misaki agreed, "but if I win… you have to carry me out of this hospital on your back."

Killua snorted.

"That's a pretty lame bet."

"…Says the boy who plays for candy?" she retaliated. "Besides, my condition is more humiliating, is it not?"

"It's a deal," he replied, not bothering to acknowledge her question.

"Alright then," the girl announced obligingly. "I'll even let you go first."

Killua shifted his body to and fro slightly to adjust Gon's weight on his back.

"You should feel proud," the girl told him, "that was a very close round."

The boy refused to respond to that. Despite the score landing at a tie, the final group revealed a two point advantage to Misaki. He would hold up his end of the gamble, but that certainly did not mean that he had to discuss his loss.

"Make sure you save enough energy to lift me tomorrow," she warned him with an unrestrained sort of playfulness in her voice that he had never heard her use before. "It'd be a pity if you used up all your muscle carrying Gon tonight."

"I'm sure I can carry a frail old lady like you," Killua argued.

Without looking back, he strode toward the door and turned the corner in to the hallway.

"Good night, Kil'," Misaki's voice called after him.

A smile crept on to his lips as he shuffled away. In his head, he replayed some of the scenes from the story she had been reading him, curious as to whether or not it was entirely a work of fiction for a young adult and a budding teenager to explore passionate feelings toward one another. Not that it was important of course, but the book was somehow growing more and more intriguing the further in to it that they read together.

Misaki rested her head against the stiff, hospital pillows and sighed lightly. Before drifting off, a thought surged through her head:

'I think I'll buy him the candy, anyway.'