"I guess you changed your mind about Misaki-san, right Killua?" Gon whispered a little more teasingly than usual in to his friend's ear.
The statement reeled the slightly elder boy from his thoughts. In truth, his mind was a little less organized this day than it typically was most others. Misaki was a good thirty meters away from the boys now and amidst purchasing an assortment of winter gear for their travels at the check-out register. According to the information they'd received from Taiki (however reliable it was or was not), L.I.G.H.T. headquarters was located on the northern-most continent. This left Killua with a lot to consider- particularly as far as potential fatalities went- though every alternating minute the plot of the book he and the girl were reading together would manage to interrupt his train of thought.
It was during one of those moments, unfortunately, that Gon had broken in. Uncertain as to whether his comrade was purposely being implicitly sly or whether it was simply his imagination projecting the sensitive subject matter of the book in to his interpretation of the words, he casually placed his hands in to his pockets and yawned. There was no reason to assume that Gon had noticed something that the silver haired boy deemed so terribly subtle unless it was obviously confirmed.
"Don't you like her?" he asked in a bored tone.
"Well sure," the island boy agreed, "but I was thinking maybe you like her a little more than I do."
"She's alright for an old hag," Killua said coolly, shrugging.
The tanned boy's face pursed mildly, and his eyes half closed. He was clearly fighting to stifle a grin from spreading across his features, and ultimately failed to hold back a small giggle while his eyes danced between Killua and Misaki.
"What?" the former assassin snapped awkwardly.
"You shouldn't keep secrets, Killua."
"What secrets?"
"I promise I won't laugh if you tell me the truth."
"Tell you what?"
Despite his initial attempt to appear calm, clueless, and collected, his eyes were narrowing almost as though he were daring his friend to voice the topic he already knew aloud.
"It's okay if you like Misaki-san."
"I don't!" he immediately insisted, forcing down his blush as much as humanly possible. Directly afterwards he realized how this sounded, and quickly worked to correct himself with: "I mean, I do… as a friend, you know? You said that you like her, too!"
"I never said anything about liking her more than a friend," Gon argued as though he had caught his friend in a lie.
"Idiot, that's what you're trying to say!" Killua growled, capturing the boy in a headlock and rhythmically dragging his knuckles back and forth against the skull through the dark, spiky hair.
"Ow, that hurts! You don't need to get angry! It's not like I'm going to steal your girlfriend away…"
There was still somehow a level of innocence and sincerity to the boy's words.
Tightening the muscles on the arm which supported the neck, he protested (perhaps a bit too loudly), "I don't have a girlfriend!"
The boys wrestled about, all the while with Gon's head still trapped in place despite all his struggling (and subsequent giggling).
"Enough!" Misaki's voice sternly interjected.
The suddenness of her appearance before them surprised the two and found them tumbling to the floor, Gon collapsing in to Killua's lap with severely mussed hair.
"Come on; we have things to do," the girl announced before turning toward the exit to the store.
Unable to resist teasing his friend just one more time (considering how stubborn he thought he was being), Gon puckered his lips and made a couple fake kissy sounds in the air. Then he ran after Misaki, well aware that a fuming Killua was hot on his trail and prepared to claim his vengeance. Secretly, he quite enjoyed the times when he could.
'That's why he's my best friend,' he thought with a sideways smile.
"Why isn't he being contained?" the plum haired girl addressed to Haku firmly, gesturing with her head to Taiki.
As the four boarded the private airplane whose time and services they had recently rented, it was true that the (now undisguised) lanky and lightly auburn stubbled man was at liberty to move his limbs as he pleased. The long, cream and brown fur coat on his back hung low at the sleeves as he raised a cigarette to his lips for the third consecutive time since lighting up. Haku laughed nervously.
"Well, we've gotten to trust him somewhat over the span of the last month, you see."
Misaki let out such an utterly mirthless laugh that it nearly moved the bespectacled man to tears just to hear it.
"He could be leading us to our graves," she grumbled, "and still it is okay to give him the freedom he couldn't allow us?"
"It's okay, Misaki-san," Gon insisted as he appeared again at the entrance to the plane, "he wants to change. He's like Haku-san."
Meeting her stare to Killua's, she said (in a manner so deadpan one might almost believe she was serious), "That puts my mind at ease…"
"Begging your pardon, miss," Taiki's baritone voice called from behind, "but I just would like for you to understand something…"
Miles upon miles above the ground, the clouds looked almost misty and translucent through the windows at the travelers' sides. The seating arrangement was admittedly odd for such a small, private aircraft, with two short rows of seats that faced one another. Taiki was wedged between Haku and Killua (who had purposely claimed a chair opposite of Misaki rather than next to her), and Gon was positioned at the girl's right.
Taiki exhaled a long, melancholy breath before speaking.
"I was born to be a Conspiracy Hunter; to follow in my father's footsteps. From the very moment I passed the Hunter Exam when I was eighteen, he flew me to L.I.G.H.T. headquarters to fill the position that had opened up. It took up all my time, and so he even chose a wife for me before he passed away; Miu.
"We lived happily at first, but it was hard to keep everything a secret from her. One day she found out where I was disappearing to. I begged the 'Holy' members not to kill her, and they took pity and let her join, too. She proved herself quickly and climbed the ranks. Now she's a 'Holy' member herself, while I'm just a Premium member…"
"You say 'Holy' and 'Premium' member… I don't at all know what that means," Misaki said blankly, moving her eyes back and forth as though attempting to read the answer in his expression.
The man parted his lips to speak, but was interrupted by a wheezy cough. He pounded his chest with a closed fist until it settled.
"L.I.G.H.T. is composed of one hundred members," he explained uneasily. "No more, no less. This gives us enough people to effectively handle jobs and still have few enough to keep control of each member individually.
"The 'Holy' members are the leaders- they're numbered as one through ten on their identification badges. Anything that goes beyond the basic outline of a job has to be approved by their committee. The 'Premium' members are people with numbers eleven through twenty. We have the power to reprimand other members at the will of the 'Holy' ones, but cannot make rules or organization-changing decisions."
"Are all members' duties grouped by number?" Killua asked.
"Yes, to an extent," Taiki agreed, "but the 'Holy' and 'Premium' members are the only ones that hold any real authority."
He held his palm up to his mouth as though he might cough again, but no sound came. Two purple bagged, drooping eyes scanned the room before Taiki finally continued.
"I've spent so much of my life invested in to L.I.G.H.T. that I guess I lost that passion I used to hold so dear as a boy; to make friends and to…" He stopped to let out a few obscure strained, choking sounds that took the others a few moments to indentify as sobbing before he added, "…Gon and Haku… they… made me understand… how blind…"
"Why take us to your headquarters?" Killua demanded. "If you're willing to kill innocent people just for being around during your operations, why wouldn't they just kill you for revealing their base to us?"
Drawing in a deep, phlegm-filled and congested breath through his nostrils, Taiki whimpered, "I never said they wouldn't kill me. I'm just so grateful to have met people who believe I can be redeemed and are willing to offer their friendship to me in spite of all the things I've done."
Misaki stared quietly from Gon to Haku, but said nothing.
"Won't they just kill us the second they know we're on to them?" Killua pressed on.
"Well, not if my plan works out," the man argued.
"Plan?" Gon and Killua asked together.
"Yes," Taiki began with a warm, inviting smile. "You see, the way members move up in the organization is when another member dies. This will leave new slots open, and since we just lost a few members not so long ago…" (Gon cringed and noticeably held back an immense pressure at this) "…I would like to suggest to the 'Holy' ones that you four join L.I.G.H.T. If you agree, I promise I will tell you everything I know about us."
The four looked at each other, exchanging a multitude of emotions and expressions within their glances. It certainly was something to consider with the utmost seriousness, after all.