Thank you very much winddemon199, Razorblade Mistress, 5O5AAA, Guest, ultraviolet read, Sailor Pandabear, ItsLiz, Deja Via and Beingqueer2.0 for reviewing to last chapter!
"This is crazy. We're not doing it."
"It's the best way, Killua. If Illumi believes that you followed me without my knowing and think I'm a traitor to you and Gon, chances are that he'll finally give up trying to use me to get to you. We both know that giving him a hard time in doing so isn't quite enough. For him to let go, we have to get him to believe that you hate me and won't allow me near you again. We must get him to believe that controlling me would be completely useless. I've already installed a fake tracking chip in my phone; all we need for this plan to work out is you to play your part just right."
"But that means I have to leave you completely at his mercy. I… I don't want you or Gon to get hurt because of me. Again."
"Awww! You can be cute when you want to after all."
"Stop messing around! This is serious!"
"Calm down, brat. No need to get your boxers in a bunch. Anyway, I know you don't like the idea of leaving me all alone to deal with Illumi - hell, I don't like it either – but I honestly don't think it'll be that much of a big deal. It wouldn't be suspicious for me to make sure he isn't carrying any of his needles with him so I can, at least, ensure that he won't be able to manipulate me as long as we remain in the motel room. If he actually finds a way to take me somewhere else… Well, in this case I'll be compromised and I want you to follow with your supposed to be fake promise of keeping me away from you and Gon."
"Or I can just take out the needles from you like last time."
"Do you really think Illumi would give you the chance to do so again?"
"…No. Aniki doesn't repeat mistakes. Still, I'm not giving up on you just like that. And neither will Gon once he finds out about that. We'll both fight until you're safe from his Manipulation again."
"Killua, be rational here. We need the intel your brother has on the Republic of East Gorteau to increase the success-rate of our mission; it's essential for Gon and yours survival inside that place. My well-being is secondary to that."
"Bleach-"
"And, if all goes as planned, we'll get both. I'm pretty sure Illumi won't do anything to me if he believes I'm useless to get to you. After all, it was the whole reason he started showing… interest in me in the first place."
"Don't even mention it. I still don't understand how you two ended up… Ugh! I don't like even thinking about it."
"Then don't. Please. God know I'm ashamed enough about that without having you actually picture what happened. Back to what matters: promise me you won't get anywhere near me if Illumi is still present or if he finds a way to manipulate me again. Don't meet up with me until, at the very least, hours after Illumi gets away from me. If I'm alright, I'll find you and Gon by sunset."
"…"
"Killua. Do it for Gon."
"Fine."
When Bleach woke up, alone and half-naked inside a motel room, she couldn't help but smirk bitterly at the sense of déjà vu that hit her. Many times before she had woken up in the same situation, after passing out once her clients were done with her. The only differences were the current lack of physical and emotional pain and the presence of a thick duvet covering her body. The self-disgust and the craving for a drink were the same.
Slowly Bleach sat up, raising her left hand to her forehead as she felt the beginning of a headache start to form. The blanket started to slid down her mostly bare upper body but she didn't mind it, since she was alone.
"Ew! Cover yourself! No one wants to see that!"
Or so she thought.
Startled at the familiar voice, Bleach quickly gathered the blanket and brought it up to cover her chest.
"Fuck, Killua!" The woman yelled, turning her head to stare at the boy standing by her side, with his tense back turned to her. "A heads-up would've been nice!"
"You know what else would've been nice?! If you didn't go parading yourself naked so easily!"
"I didn't know you were there! And I'm not naked!"
"It's no excuse! What woman just lets a blanket fall from her exposed chest like that?!"
"A woman who's dizzy and believes she's alone! And I'm wearing a bra so my chest isn't that exposed!"
Finally, Killua turned around to face the woman with a flustered blush in his face. "As if I'd leave you alone and risk Illumi coming back for you just like that!"
"Yeah, well-!" Bleach suddenly stopped talking as the shame and frustration on her face were replaced by surprise. "What?"
"Don't act so surprised." The boy let out in a low voice, lowering his embarrassed eyes to the ground. "As soon as Illumi left, I came in to see if he had managed to put needles in you again. Then I wrapped you in a blanket and took you to another room to make sure he wouldn't be able to come back for you. Despite what you said about waiting a few hours, I couldn't just leave you alone like that; no matter how disturbing it was to find you passed out on the bed dressed… indecently. By the way, just… why did you let my brother… you know…"
The embarrassed blush on Bleach's cheeks was as bright as the one on Killua's. "Touch me again?"
"…Yes."
"W-Well… It's a grown-up thing, Killua. As I told you before, Illumi and I… got together in that trip to get my new weapons. And it was… nice. And your brother knows that and knows how to use it all too well. It helped to make Illumi more… compliant and talkative, to let him believe he had me wrapped around his finger so… you know. I let him."
And I couldn't really help myself.
"Adults are disgusting." The boy spoke as a scowl grew on his lips.
Bleach couldn't help but smirk. "Just wait until puberty hits you, brat. We'll see if you still think that."
Killua's scowl deepened as he once again gave his back to the thief.
"Just put your clothes on. I want to go back to Gon as soon as possible. I don't want him spending more time than necessary with that crazy Palm."
Bleach didn't need more prompting.
However, instead of going back to Gon as both wanted, as soon as the thief was dressed Bleach called Illumi, pretending to be angry and confused.
"What was you plan, you piece-of-shit?! What the fuck did you do to me this time?!"
"I haven't done anything to you, lovely."
"Don't you fucking call me that! And why would I believe you?!"
"Is it really so hard to believe that I only wished a kiss from you?"
"Yes."
"So distrustful… After everything we've been through together, one would expect a little more consideration from you."
"Though luck. Now tell me what the fuck you did to me!"
"I honestly didn't do anything after you fainted. There was no use or time anymore."
"What do you mean?" Bleach asked in a confused voice as she gave Killua a thumbs-up.
"Killu followed you to the motel. He saw us together."
"Don't even joke about shit like that, you bastard. It's not funny. Killua couldn't have seen us!"
"He did. By the way, I suggest you not to go back to him or his little "friend" anytime soon. My little brother issued a very convincing death-threat to you if you did so. Sorry to say, but you lost your company, Bleach."
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Bleach yelled in outrage, as she fist-bumped Killua. She was very thankful that Illumi couldn't see her right now; acting or not he had a very easy time reading her emotions in her eyes and would see right through her lies. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING MURDER YOU, YOU PIECE-OF-SHIT!"
"Don't get mad at me. It was you who allowed yourself to be followed. If you had removed the tracker from your phone before coming to me none of that would've happened and all would've ended well."
"By well you mean that I would end up with needles inside my skull and no free-will."
"I never said it would end up well for you. Now, if you don't mind, I'll hang up now. My airship is about to take flight."
"Huh? You're leaving?"
"Time is money, as you surely know. And I've already wasted enough of it on you for now. Don't worry though; I'll make sure to open some vacancies in my schedule just for you every once in a while. The sex was quite worth it, don't you agree?"
"F-Fuck you!" Bleach spat in an embarrassed and angry voice before ending the call. This time, the emotions were not faked.
"So?" Killua asked eagerly.
Immediately, Bleach's blush was replaced by a cocky smirk.
"He's inside an airship, leaving the country. We're free from him, Killua."
Both smiled in relieved, even though the same dreadful thought went through their minds:
For now.
"Killua." Bleach called in a low voice as they walked back to their hotel room. "I'm very sorry for getting you involved in this. I didn't want to get you in such… dirty business. But I promise nothing much happened between me and your brother in that room."
"You talk as if you made me watch you and Aniki do anything." The boy responded with a roll of his eyes. "I didn't even hear anything going on. All I heard was you and Illumi talking." Then the former assassin smirked. "We got plenty about the Republic of East Gorteau."
Bleach sighed. "Good."
Now all they had to do was plan and prepare.
Some weeks later, on the 29th day since Gon had lost his Nen, the trio of Hunters, alongside Morau, Knov, Knuckle, Shoot and Palm, found themselves inside a train, going full-speed to the Republic of East Gorteau.
On the way there, the Hunters stopped to have lunch in a small restaurant in which there was an old TV broadcasting news about the totalitarian country. It seemed that, ten days from then, a three-day celebration would take place in the capitol city and all of the citizens were invited. However, according to Morau, the leader of the Republic of East Gorteau was being manipulated by the Chimera Ants' King and his Royal Guards, and the "celebration" would actually be a sort of screening of humans. What the screening was for, no one was sure, but they knew it had to be stopped.
Netero was already inside the country and sent Knov a message telling them what to do to stop the screening:
Divide in three groups and draw the Royal Guard away from the King. The operation will begin at midnight of the night before the celebration.
From the sharp-eared old man.
A few hours later, the party found themselves in a large metropolitan city close to the Republic of East Gorteau. They quickly went to one of the best hotels in the city and rented themselves some rooms. After some hours of unpacking, at exactly midnight, they went to a large open area of the hotel for the one thing most of them were desperately looking forward to:
It was time for Gon to get his Nen back.
Bleach smiled warmly at seeing the boy return to using his Ren and allowing his warm and strong Aura to flow through his body. It had been unsettling and kind of sad seeing such a honest and straightforward person like Gon being forced into Zetsu all the time; that state was better suited for more… tricky and vague people, like her.
"It's great to have you back to using Ren, Gon." The thief spoke, laying her hand on the boy's shoulder. "Zetsu is kind of my thing you know?"
The boy just smiled brightly to the thief.
"Gon."
Both Hunters turned their heads to stare at Morau as he took some steps forward, until he was standing right in front of them.
"Sorry, but I'm still not convinced we should keep you around. I want to see your resolve. Attack me as if I were responsible for Kaito. If your attack is too weak, we'll replace you with another Hunter."
Then, the large man removed his shirt and Bleach couldn't help but raise an appreciative eyebrow at the sight. Oh my, he's in great shape for an old man. Too bad he's going to die if Gon takes his request seriously.
Thankfully for them all, Gon aborted his Jajanken attack at the last second, allowing Morau to walk away with his body intact. After that near-death experience, the Sea Hunter, assigned the teams and gave them the green card to so whatever it was necessary to assure the success of their mission.
Gon, Killua and Bleach were left in charge of dealing with Neferupitou, something that demanded them not only to be strong, but also have a very good intel on the situation in the country so they could develop a safe strategy to fight the Chimera Ants.
And that was why, on the next night, the party decided all the groups would enter the country in a "private tour".
"Sneaking in was easy." Killua began. "But the question is how to get close to the enemy. And we can't let anyone see us either; this country has a powerful information system. If you discover an enemy spy, you receive a reward. If you stop anyone from fleeing the country, you receive a reward."
"And the people will do anything for that reward." Gon concluded.
"Yeah, and…"
As Killua started to explain to Gon every bit of information he and Bleach had managed to extract from Illumi, Gon's brain started to overheat bit by bit and Bleach couldn't help but crack a smile when Killua exploded on the confused boy.
"I'm sorry." Gon said sheepishly as he scratched his face. "It's just so complicated… But you sure know a lot, Killua!"
At that, both white-haired Hunters exchanged a look of complicity that went completely unnoticed by Gon.
"Aniki… he told… me everything." The former assassin half-lied in a firm voice, eyes fixed on Bleach's.
The thief nodded in approval and turned her head away so she could stare forwards again. The fact that Killua already knew about her and Illumi's "relationship" – former "relationship" – was bad enough, but having Gon conscious of it too? She'd end up burying herself on the ground and never coming up again.
Just as Killua had finished talking, the trio reached a small village. While Gon waited, Killua and Bleach, whom were more used to stealth, sneaked into the place to check what was the situation, only to find it completely deserted.
"Maybe everyone already left for Peijing?" Gon asked as he took in the insides of one of the many empty houses.
"No." Killua answered. "Something happened here."
"And someone's trying to hide it." Bleach put in, voice and face all business-like. "Killua, move that chair behind you a bit."
Nodding in understanding, the former assassin did so, revealing a small bullet-hole in the wall behind said chair. "They did a sloppy job."
The trio walked out of the house, following a trail of blood until coming upon some human remains, on which many wild dogs had feasted.
"They didn't dig deep enough so wild dogs got to the bodies." Killua explained to Gon. "I imagine the whole village is buried here."
"What's going on?" The brunette couldn't help but ask.
As Killua started answering, Bleach's hands tightened into fists at her sides.
"That's the purpose of the National Celebration. It's a pretence for entire populations of towns to disappear without raising suspicion. The Selection has begun."
After a long conversation about what the Chimera Ants were doing and how, the trio of Hunters came up with a plan of action.
"Causing a commotion to stop the Selection will be simple. We merely come up, stop whoever is being manipulated, and free the people. Then we encourage the people we freed to check on nearby towns and leave the country." Killua spoke with a confident smile on his face. "If we'll deal with puppets instead of actual Chimera Ants, defeating them will be easy."
"Yeah…" Bleach agreed, though she had a scowl on her face. "But that means we'll be discovered too quickly for my liking. It won't take long before they send actual Chimera Ants to find out and kill who is causing the commotion. And if we're to follow Netero's plan, we should stay hidden. I say we do things from the shadows."
Immediately, Killua stopped walking, prompting Bleach and Gon to follow his example. He knew Bleach would say that and, frankly, he agreed with her. However, being stealthy and holding back emotions to wait for the best opportunity to act and get the job done was something that only the two of them had ever done. Gon on the other hand…
"What do you think?" The former assassin asked, looking directly at Gon. "Can you rely more on stealth than your fists?"
The brunette understood the depth and importance of the question; eyebrows furrowed in concentration he regarded his answer.
"Let's do it." Gon finally answered, serious eyes full of determination. "If the Selection has already begun we can't just stand around watching."
Bleach couldn't help but sigh in relief. Since the beginning she feared that Gon's big heart would get the boy to reveal himself to danger in order to save anyone he could. Knowing the boy was willing to try and keep himself hidden, while not being the same as knowing he wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him, was already deeply reassuring.
Still, I have a very bad feeling about this. Something's bound to go wrong. As usual.
Well, I hope the explanation about what exactly happened between Killua and Bleach was enough for you all. I know many have been bothered by how I ended things last chapter... =.=
Now, we're back to the Chimera Ants arc and, while it'll take me quite some chapters to finish it, I don't intend to put more than the absolutely necessary explanations to understand what is going on. We've all watched/read everything and I don't want to make the chapters so repetitive and boring you're not able to read it.
For that, I count on your help. If I dwell too much on something, please let me know. If I don't explain it enough, plese let me know. If you think I should spend more time dealing with the characters' feelings and thoughts, please let me know. ;)
Kisses,
RedVoid