Thank you to everyone who read this far! Special hugs, as always, to those who reviewed, faved, followed, and C2d the story! Seemingly simple clicks and types mean so much to me! xD
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Hunter X Hunter
…
CHAPTER 25: Gambling X Push X Pull
DORIAS
The gambling city, Dorias— paradise to all who loved the thrill of the uncertain. Or to the mere hopeful ones who retained the belief that someday, if they persevere, they would hit the jackpot. One in a million chance of winning had nothing to do with it.
The three "kids" stared at the ostentatious banner at the entrance before finally entering the city's territory. They did not expect some guy hanging around the entrance calling them out so early in the morning.
"You three."
"Hai…?" Bisuke asked demurely while the other two only stared.
"Come here."He said, and considering his gruff appearance and his tone? He was bound to place a few veins on Bisuke's head.
"Ano… we're not allowed to talk to strangers." Killua scoffed at that.
"C'mon Missy," the man laughed, "Just a little bit of your time? It's kind of my job to make newcomers have an eventful stay here." That moment they knew he was an NPC. They looked at each other before approaching him.
"Eventful?"
"Mah, you'll see soon enough." He said before pointing at his television. "Let's bet?"
The three looked at the TV and saw a hippodrome, the man continued to speak as they stared at the screen. "Bet on who'll be the winning horse. 20000 zennies per try."
"Eh? That's too expensive!" Gon yelled, but the other two remained silent.
"Your loss kiddo."
Gon pouted. "Hmnmnmnmnn…"
"Okay." The other two said simultaneously cutting her ponders off. She stared at them and they said something about a high chance a card'll be the price.
"Okay!" The man grinned and gladly took the card money. "You don't need to answer now though. You can answer after the gun was fired if you want to."
That was a hint, wasn't it?
The three knew that, and the instant they saw the horses getting into position, Bisuke held out her finger. They used gyo but there wasn't anything there. Bisuke sighed and pointed at the television.
'Oh.'
BAM!
"Bets?"
The two kids looked at each other. "Number 2 please."
"Ok."
And after a few minutes of the 'close' race, as anticipated Number 2 won.
After all, the outcome could be determined easily with nen. The winning horse emitted an instantaneous aura right after the gun was fired. The hint was the fact that the weird old man said he would collect the bets after the shot.
"As a reward, here."
The three huddled together to see. The risky die, a designated card. "It is an unusual die with 20 sides, one terrible luck with the other 19 being good luck of varying degrees. That one side made 'terrible luck' would throw misfortune enough to cancel out the previous blessings." The man said almost poised, which was rather out-of-character of him.
The three thanked him before asking if they could go again. He nodded and they got three.
…
"Whooaaa." Gon said as she stared at the large structure everyone called the casino. Killua had that face on, and Gon could not help but feel worried. But since they have Bisuke with them, unless she was a pathological gambler too, they should be just fine.
Gon always wondered how Killua could gamble so much in casinos but be so careful with everything else…
She shrugged in the end, though. She'd find out soon.
They would have a long time together, anyway.
…
The trio arrived at the very grand interior of the casino and thankfully, age didn't seem to matter there at all. (There were kids as young as Zushi with their parents running around).
The first thing they went to was the slots section, being the nearest attraction to the equally grand double doors. They asked the nearby staff information about a designated card from the jackpot. But when they found what it was, Bisuke and Killua quickly calculated and realized that the chances were way too low.
It was risky, both to their pockets and to their watches.
Risky
It was then that something hit Killua.
Use the Risky Die.
They used one of their cards and stared at the dice for a while. "Relax," Killua said to the rather worried-looking Gon. "There's less than 5% chance we'd get terrible luck. Otherwise it's great!"
"Hmn…" Gon whispered and she didn't even realize Killua kissed her in the cheek until he was done. She blinked and stared at him in surprise. He only grinned.
"E-EH?" And before she could say anything else, Killua threw the dice and—after some odd slow motion of movements—got 'terrific luck'. Killua looked at Gon and grinned even more, the hint of blush evident on his face.
"Lucky~"
Gon blushed and Killua did, too. Bisuke just watched them guardedly in case Killua did something bordering perverted again, but was otherwise amused.
Ping~!
Their attention was taken back by the sound of what else… but the awesome and fabulous jackpot? On the first try, too…! And as a prize, they got the very lovely diamond die.
They celebrated for a while and soon diverted their attention to getting the other cards. They knew there should be at least 3 designated cards there. And of course, the gambling-addict Killua wouldn't stop with using the glorious die once right? (And not to mention the bonus, unperturbed, stolen kisses he could get). That would be blasphemy!
Knowing his tendencies on gambling, the two girls just decided to just stop him by force (i.e. by KO) when the time came. And after obtaining the Gambler's Egg from the Fledgling series, they did just that.
And since Gon was too flustered after another surprise attack, Bisuke was the one to actually knock him out.
/Later/
Killua's eyes eventually opened as if he just had a hangover. His head hurt, recalling the dream he just had. It was so… disconcerting. Anything involving Illumi did. It was calm, yet so dark. He saw his deep, dark, and unfeeling eyes the whole time.
And he was seeing it more often.
"Hayou~" He blinked in surprise, and soon smiled, noting how especially chime-like her voice was… and how it livened him up—despite just having that tiring dream. He turned his head and stared at her, his eyes were finally adjusting so he could see her face in HD again.
He recalled the last time he saw her face was when he stole a peck. A surge of embarrassment and joy surged through him. It was then that he realized that he was in a natural setting, far from the grandiose of the casino he enjoyed being in so much.
He had to admit he had a serious gambling problem. It was almost instinctive, really, to risk whatever money he could risk. He didn't understand where it came from, but it also gave him excuses to steal a few kisses from the girl he loved. Which also lead to the issue why he wasn't there anymore.
He glared at Bisuke, who in turn glared back at him.
And they went to vocal fighting mode again.
…
Gon watched them fight again, so closely with each other. And up until then, it seemed, she couldn't shake the image of them kissing away. Something snapped.
"AAAHHHH!"
The other two stared at her and she immediately flinched when she realized. Well, this is embarrassing.She blushed and quickly rummaged her brain for excuses—anything would do, she mused. She pondered and pondered at an incredible rate but she was not good at lying. So instead, she found something she'd been meaning to say for quite some time.
"L-Let's visit Kusa!" She said happily, for many reasons. "I mean…, the tournament!"
"You're right." Killua looked around. "Ah! What date is it today?"
"The 28th."
"The tournament's tomorrow then!"
"Kusa?"
"Kusa's an old friend from Antikoba. He's really cute." Gon said. She could still remember him very vividly.
"Okay." Bisuke nodded in understanding, send a final glare to Killua, and smiled before finally taking out a card. "Shall we?"
And the kids nodded in assent.
…
ANTIKOBA
When they arrived, it was already night, so they decided not to bother Kusa and her owner. The trio decided to rent two rooms and sleep in for the night. The next morning, they went to the tournament committee and check on what time it would start. They had the time for breakfast and a quick visit for an old friend.
They had a simple breakfast at a restaurant near the pig's Eatery, which they found somewhat nostalgic. Bisuke ended up laughing pompously at their stupidity. "What the—who would think Gargantua was a weapon?!"
They ate begrudgingly at the restaurant afterwards.
Thankfully, Kusa's home was nearby so the time wasted in travels wasn't that much. They had a good 15 minutes to greet Kusa that morning, and decided they'll just go back afterwards if Lovely-baachan (Gon tended to refer to her that way) was still available.
After knocking, Gon's ears perked and the two looked at her in puzzlement. But before anyone could react further, someone—or something, rather—jumped down from the house's balcony.
"Whoa!" They said simultaneously, with Killua and Bisuke already in attacking position. They were surprised when they saw Gon looking defenceless as she stared at the dog that was as large as she was.
"K-Kusa?"
Killua blinked. "WHAT?"
Bisuke nodded. "That is not cute at all!"
"Where's Nanou-baachan?"
Bisuke stared. 'Nanou?'
The canine shook his head and barked loudly but in a friendly manner. He ran in circles as if chasing his tail before abruptly going behind Gon and raising her up with his head. The next thing they knew Gon was riding the large dog.
"HAHAHAHAHAH! This is so cool." Gon laughed. "Ne, Killua? Bisuke?"
"A-Ah?"
"Nanou-san's not home." She smiled, and grinned. "Can I ride him to the tournament?"
That twinkle in Gon's eyes told them she would do it regardless of their decision, so they only nodded in assent.
…
"What a large dog!"
"What kind of monster is that?"
And such whispers dominated the air around them when they arrived at the plaza. At least it made way for them to see the instructions better. The instructions were posted 15 minutes prior to the actual tournament, for fairness.
And there was a twist on that month's tournament. It was a tournament for groups of four.
"Could one member be a dog?" Killua asked the NPC in-charge.
"No."
"Aiyaa…. We'll have to look for a comrade. How troublesome."
"No one would want to team up with children." Bisuke sighed, and the three stared at each other in ponder. Kusa was nonchalantly sitting with his tail wiggling up and down.
There was only 5 minutes left before the applications end, and they were starting to feel a little worried. It was then when someone shyly took their attentions.
"Ano…"
They turned to the person and they stared…
And stared…
And after realizing who it was, Gon beamed immediately. "Mitsuke-jisan!"
And just like that: The old man, Mitsuke, became the team's lucky fourth member.
…
Tug of war
That was the game.
A challenge?
"Not with my muscles it ain't!" Bisuke said proudly (to herself) and rolled up her invisible sleeves.
She and her team went up the stage and met their opponents. The stage was huge and 4 games were held at a time. She analyzed them and held out her finger and told the other three to huddle close.
Mitsuke sweat-dropped after seeing their opponents (with incredible muscles, mind you) and leaned down to the kids' level. He always knew the kids were extraordinary, but it seemed like this one's out of their rea—
"They're pretty weak."
Eh?
"Be sure to pretend to struggle, alright?"
What?
"I know showing our strengths is good since that would lower the risk of people who would try to steal from us." The new girl said. "But where's the fun in that?"
By this time, good old Mitsuke had no idea what was going on.
And before he realized the other two already said their easy 'understood' and they were in position in front of the large bulky men of four. He wasn't even supposed to be there, really. When he saw the kids again, his feet moved by itself and wanted to give them a greeting—with the terrifying dog or without it.
And then poof! There he was… joining a game he never even dreamt of winning before.
He found an awkward smile when that large dog they were with barked in encouragement or cheer (and at the same time scaring away all nearby spectators), but otherwise he was terrified with the stature of the men compared to his weak ones and the small ones beside him.
But… there must have been some basis for their confidence, right?
He stole a glimpse, and his eyes ended up on that girl who showed him with such kindness—there was an admirable firmness in her eyes that made him, the wimpy Guino Mitsuke, to suck it up and…
Believe.
…
Pull
Mitsuke pulled as hard as he could. If anything, he wanted to contribute to this battle's results positively. He was firm—he wanted to do what he could for these kids.
Puulllll
He let one of his eyes open slightly so he could see the situation. The men in front of him were making the same faces he was doing.
He gulped in anticipation. Perhaps they had a chance?
He pulled harder, and harder, and harder. Until his hand could no longer take it. He felt tears lining up from the tension, the tiredness, and the excitement piled up within him. He could see the enemy were feeling the same—but they looked much more exhausted.
But he couldn't take it anymore, his hand would go bleeding soon.
I'm sorry.
A part of him expected that the force would go slightly against them—but that wasn't the case. Heck—it was as if he never even let go!
Well, that was kind of embarrassing.
…
Unbelievable, Mitsuke mused and stared at the kids in front of him with awe. It had been half-an-hour after the games started…, and they had already won 6 games.
He couldn't believe it (as he already established)—and it didn't even feel like his pull was of any use. He didn't feel it (or believe it) during the first game, and he pulled as much as he could.
The three kids were able to beat all of those men—and they weren't even breaking genuine sweat! The adjective 'genuine' was there because they were certainly not failing to fake their fatigue.
It didn't take long for them to be declared the winning team. And when they thought it was over—
"Now for the final round!"
"Eh?"
The man grinned. "What? You didn't expect we'd give four designated cards, now would you?"
"Well, no…" was all he could say. He heard a silent 'tsk' from Killua and Bisuke.
"I knew something like this would happen." Bisuke muttered and Killua nodded.
"So what's next ossan?"
"Well…" The master of ceremony forced a smile at the kid's rudeness. "You shall pick up your opponents." And held out a hand with four pieces of paper. "The winner of the two fights will win the designated card."
The four stared at each other and shrugged. (Well, not exactly. Mitsuke was very worried)
"Well, here goes…" And they picked up a paper each.
"Ara."
The four held out their papers simultaneously. Gon got red, Killua and Bisuke with blue.
That meant Mitsuke was up against the lovely Gon. She stared at him for a while before smiling. It was not a smile of relief, it was just her usual smile and he found himself smiling as well.
"Let's do our best!" She yelled and held out her hand. He automatically did the same. But…
"Your hand…" Gon frowned as she stared at his palm. He followed her line of sight and saw what she was seeing—his hand was red…, as if it would bleed soon. "Maybe I should—"
Mitsuke quickly held her shoulders.
"No" How could he let her quit because of this?
"Demo… Mitsuke-san!"
"I will not forfeit. Things may happen but I will not quit!" he said proudly, not quite knowing where all this dignity came from. "
He held the rope and gave her side to her himself. "Give it all you got Gon!"
"A-Are you sure?"
"Hai." He said firmly. "A man's honour is on the line."
"But…"
"Please." He smiled. "For me."
Gon only nodded in assent, but he knew she would do as he asked. His heart throbbed as he saw the MC preparing to signal the start. And less than a second after his signal—Guino Mitsuke was gracefully sent to the heavens.
Good thing that dog caught him, though.
…
Kusa arrived back with Mistuke unconscious on his back, with matching stars floating around. He seemed to have lost his soul as he laid unconscious on Kusa's back but otherwise okay. Soon enough, it was announced that Bisuke won her match with Killua.
"Congrats Gon."
Gon sweat-dropped and looked at Mistuke's and Kusa's direction. "I hope he's alright…"
"Let's have a handshake, Gon~" Bisuke said pulling her back to the contest. They stared at each other for a while just before Bisuke wore that familiar face. "Ne, Gon."
"…hai?"
"Wanna try and win this? Who knows, right?"
"…eh? But you…"
"Imagine this rope is Killua." The older girl said immediately effectively making Gon gape at her. Bisuke only grinned. "What… if I tell you whoever wins rope—Killua will get to hog him for a day?"
Gon flushed several shades of red."He wouldn't allow that."
"That was kind of our bet earlier. But as you can see… he lost." And Gon could only continue staring. "Do your best against me—but don't show everything. We might use their underestimating us, after all."
"What? H-How?" But the older girl already turned around to her side of the rope.
"Bye Gon~"
When Bisuke lifted her side, Gon reluctantly had to lift hers. Was she ready? Bisuke was strong… but furthermore…, what was Killua doing betting things like that?
"Go!"
She gulped and almost lost her footing but managed to get her stability back. She gasped and stared at Bisuke who was acting really tired but she definitely was holding back. Gon was starting to get what she meant—to use power without having people notice it.
But then without prior notice Bisuke increased her power and this caught her off-guard. She was literally just an inch away from the center line then and her eyes caught glimpse of Killua and his baka-ness and then Bisuke with her boredom.
Her eyebrows furrowed and—
"Kya!"
She stared at her opponent—who no doubt created that abrupt scream. Gon blinked.
Bisuke was already on her side of the arena. There was a burst of cheer that came afterwards and the MC singing his expressions of joy.
"Congratulations! Gon-san is our winner!"
And Gon would spend her energy, wondering how she did it.
…
The card was the 'Paladin's Necklace' which could apparently go against curses from other players and could remove curses within cards. She took it gladly and placed it on her pocket before the others ran to her.
"W-What happened?" Killua asked and hugged Gon. "You beat the old bag!"
"I don't know either." She said before frowning at him at a recollection. "You baka."
He blinked. "What?"
Bisuke quickly went between them. "Gon used such instantaneous reinforcement that even I was caught off-guard. That's some strength—behind this beautifully shaped body of mine, hides a lot of muscles. Good job, Gon."
"Okay." Killua said apathetically before staring back at Gon. "What did you mean?"
"You baka."
"Oi, Gon!" Killua said and held her hand. "What'd I do?"
She glared at him. "You—" but then her peripheral view caught Bisuke. The old woman was mouthing: "I lied."
And Gon blushed 50 shades of red.
"G-Gon?" Killua ran so she would face her. "W-What did I do?!"
"I-I can't say it!" She closed her eyes. "It's too embarrassing!"
"Oi Gon—" Killua yelled when she turned away and ran to Kusa. Killua glared at Bisuke and went closer. "What was that about?"
"Oh, nothing." The blasted old bag smirked before stepping closer and whispering to him everything.
This time Killua's face seemed like it was going to explode. He gulped and ran after Gon as quickly as he could. Eventually he caught up to her but she was still running, and so was he.
"Gon!" he yelled as he ran. "You could hog me all day if that'll keep you calm."
"Go away!"
"Mou—Gon! I'm not bothered by it, I swea—"
"It's not that!" She yelled as she stopped her steps, allowing Killua to catch up and got to see her face again. "It's just that I… don't know why I react like this anymore… it's stupid."
"It's not s-stupid." He said. "Every and each one of Gon's reaction is very cute."
And she blushed even further. Killua did, too. Kami,he thought. Gon is really becoming too… pretty.
"K-Killua?!"
"W-What?"
"Your nose! B-Blood!" His eyes widened and his hand automatically moved to wipe off the liquid dripping from his nose. Instead of fretting, he chuckled.
"And you call your reaction embarrassing."
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 26
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 26:
Mothers X Masters X AiAi City
REPLIES TO ANGELS
((Whoa! I have a long list again. You angels. Are. Awesome. ))
Slytherin Studios- Thank you for the review~! And I'm glad you liked the interactions. They were the most fun to write. xD
Phoenix-Thunder- Yay period. The curse to women xD hahahah. And… and…but it's hard to stop hormonal teenagers. LOL. Anyway, thank you for the review and so happy you found it funny. xD
SnowTime- Thank you for the review~! Hahahah. And glad that you liked it~ I really do hope I can update faster, esp. when so many readers finally start talking to me. Hope you liked this! :D
Sanity'sRival- Oh, you're here~ xD Thanks for the review. And yeah, if you don't mind spoilers… GI will be a much better arc (in terms of lighthearted awesomeness) compared to the other two. xD Thx for the review~
Kei-kei Yuki- I saw ittt! It's friggin' cute. xD I wish I can draw like that and/or have the time to actually practice. Haha.
Shabondy- hehehe. First off thanks for the review~! But unfortunately, no. xD It is not the clown. Although… *spoiler* If you haven't read the Chairman election arc you probably won't know him yet. *wink*
Aladdina Magi- Hai~ It has been changed. xD Thanks for reminding me. I actually shared the rating system just then and it was so embarrassing that I forgot to follow myself. xD
Road and Tyki- Oh my you're here! I know you from the PoT Fandom. xD Remember me? Hahah. It's not Hisoka tho. Hihihihi~ Not sure if you know the character atm tho, but you will. ;) Thx for the comment~
Papilio. Ageha- Indeed, it's a rarely dwelled in topic. xD But it's kinda fun to write. Lololol. Hope it wasn't awkward and thx for the comment~
Mistuki- D'aaaww. You're so sweet! \o/ hahaha. And here's the new chap! Hope it was also fine and thank you for the review~! xDD
Kyouno-Aru - Ah~ Curse the unfriendliness of the phone~! xD Anyway, I'm really glad you didn't. xD *hugs* And right! xD I know that. Loool. How silly of me. xD And thanks for the comment~ xD
Shiro0Neko- loool. Glad I made you kinda-laugh. Hahahaha. Where are you reading this? Tell me it's not the library! xD And thanks for the review~! Haha
RabuRuka-sama- hahaha. And thank you for reviewing! Glad you still found them cute! (Fluff banzai~) And in every chap so far, too. Hihi~ I'll try to keep it up. xD
TunaSFX- Thanks for the review~! xD And I didn't make it freak out more since he was used to blood and he wasn't sure what *cough* kind of blood Gon was… exuding. LOL
Angel N- Could the N, by some chance, mean Nephalim? xD And looool. Right! Pervy Killua should control himself! Hahahahah. And thanks for the comment. xD
Tifa2001- hahaha. You did?! xD Maybe that means you identified with Gon more? *Cackles* Anyway, thanks for the review~
AsukaSaru- hahaha. Because puberty is sooo fun to write about. xDD And oh you… aren't you too young to love the neck scene?*cackles* And here it is~! Hope it was fine and thx for the review. Hahaha
Guest [6/21/13] – Okay~ Actually *whisper* another story was supposed to be updated before this, but seeing all you angels… I pushed this forward. Hope it was fine and thx for the review. ;)
Titaniacherry- It just went up to T. xD I know most my readers are too young for… M. Gon and Killua are too lol. I'll leave the rest to the reader's imagination. (Ohgosh) And actually I did make one a few months back. But I scrapped it since Two Rivers at the time was still unplanned. xD I'll try to look for it. Haha. Thx for the review btw~
RaWindsG-ing – I have one more! Hahah. It's entitled 'Entwined' and is an AU tho. Lol. And okay~ I'll do my best to keep anyone from dying. xD Thx for the review! ;)
Hamster1st- You think so?! I'm very glad. xD Thank you for the review and hope I can keep it up~
Bushwah (ch1)- But I can't write Japanese characters. xD I think it's easier to understand desu that way. I do get your point tho~ Thanks for the review. ;)
Rockfell- lol. Thank you for the review~! Glad you liked it! And hope this chap was as remotely nice as ch24. XD And ne, ne… I couldn't find your username in search ne…
Seraphinit- hehehe. Hope I can keep up this cuteness for you angels~ And thanks for the review. xDD
…
Thank you for reading, my loves~! xD
Hope you liked it, but whatever you thought I will love to hear (or rather, read) them! Ahaha~