Hunter x Hime: Chapter 52

Gon's date

...

Early in the morning, Himeko was still fast asleep, but she couldn't ignore the noises in the room. The wardrobe being open and slammed closed, the drawers of the dressers being pulled open and shut closed every few minutes, although it was irritating, she chose to ignore it and just keep sleeping. Sensei was gone, she didn't have to train anymore which meant that she could just take the day off. But Palm who was busy since morning trying to find something nice to wear, pick out the right accessories, trying on different make-up looks couldn't help but disturb her every once in a while, having no one else left to turn to ask for an opinion.

"Kou," Palm's voice sounded reasonably normal that morning, almost unrecognisable for that matter. "How does this dress look on me?"

"Hmm," Himeko hummed in response, not even opening her eyes to see what Palm was wearing, hoping to shut her up.

"Should I wear the blue necklace, or the turquoise one?"

"Hmm."

"You have a point, I don't want to over accessories either," Palm nodded seriously, agreeing with Himeko. "Earrings should be more than enough, don't you think?"

"Hmm."

"You are right, the ones Bisky picked out for me would look good with this dress. What about make-up?"

"Hmm."

"I see, I should keep the make-up light on the first date."

"Hmm."

"Thanks, I will have fun on the date. You have fun training with Killua too!"

"Hmm."

Palm soon gathered all her important belongings in a little shoulder bag before she headed out of the door, to the place she was going to meet Gon. There were still two hours left until the meeting time, but nonetheless Palm couldn't keep in her excitement and left ahead of time just in case there was traffic on the way. With her gone and the noise level in the room back to zero, Himeko was finally able to get her well deserved rest after that month of training with Sensei.

Not even an hour later, the door slammed open. Himeko didn't make much of it; whoever it was could just come in, take what they want and leave. As long as they left her alone she was fine. However, that wasn't the case this time around. Before she knew it, her blanket was pulled off, leaving her curling up into a ball trying to retain the heat. The intruder waited patiently for a couple of seconds, hoping she would eventually give in and wake up, but that took much longer than he expected.

"Oi, washboard," he yelled loudly in an attempt to wake her up, "it's time for us two to leave. Weren't we going to follow Gon and Palm?"

"Five more minutes," Himeko mumbled back in response, "actually, make than a couple more hours, please."

"Their date will be over by then." Killua pointed out.

"Don't worry, just call Gon and tell him to make his date longer," Himeko suggested, still half asleep. "While you are at it, make me some blueberry muffins for breakfast, along with some freshly brewed Earl Grey tea. I don't want too many berries in my muffins, and make the tea moderately hot, no more than two tea spoons organic, brown sugar. I also want scrambled eggs on toast; eggs should be really fluffy, not overcooked or overly seasoned -"

The little patience Killua had left started to fade bit by bit, hearing that long, picky breakfast order; something she must have ordered while she was still rich and had servants doing everything for her. At some point, he had more than enough of her nonsense, "the Toilet paper ghost is out to get you!" He whispered in her ear. Somewhat amused by this, Killua smiled in satisfaction only to be punched straight in the face, falling back due to the impact. The moment he landed on the floor, Himeko finally opened her eyes and shot up, frantically looking around for whatever she might have hit right now hoping it was the so called ghost the stranger in her dreams warned her about. She was slightly disappointed to see only Killua lying on the floor with a nose bleed.

"Oh, it's just you Killua," she said in a slightly relieved tone, "you didn't see any ghost looking dudes around here, did you? High schooler, apparently quite good looking, might have been carrying colour toilet rolls around to offer to his victims."

Killua slowly got back up on his feet, rubbing his red nose in the process, "cut out this nonsense already and go get ready already! Gon and Palm are supposed to meet up in a bit."

"Ah," she seemed to have remembered something, "can you stand guard for me outside the toilet again? Just in case something happens to me inside."

Killua lost all patience to deal with her anymore. He quietly left the room, making Himeko wonder what was wrong with him or whether he finally snapped now. But he returned not too soon after he left, and handed her a white toilet paper roll. "Here, if the toilet ghost does end up coming, tell him that you already have toilet paper!"

Himeko ended up staring at the roll in awe, as if she had never seen one before. "Clever!" she commented before finally getting out of bed and making her way to the toilet, now suddenly fearless of that non-existent ghost in the toilet. Although Killua somehow managed to get her to get ready, he was already exhausted having to deal with her so early in the morning even though the day had just begun and they had a whole day of stalking to do. She couldn't recall anyone who needed someone to guide them to the toilet at this age; even his younger sister Alluka for that matter grew out of that phase a very long time ago.

Killua decided to wait in the living room, watching the news to check if there were any more incidents similar to the one from the previous day. He wasn't sure what the bigger threat to Gon was; it could be Palm who could lose her shit at any moment, or it could be the ants if they find him. Whatever it was, he felt the responsibility to make sure Gon doesn't get injured until he can look after himself. A half an hour wait paid off when Himeko finally came out of the bedroom ready to leave.

"I'm done!" She announced once she came out, and Killua nodded still focused on the TV screen. "How do I look?"

"Hm, it looks alright," he replied indifferently.

Himeko narrowed her eyes at him, "you didn't even look..." she pointed out, annoyed at him.

But once Killua looked, all he did was just stare at her, tilting his head ever so slightly. "You do know that you aren't the one going on the date, but stalking the ones going on the date?"

Himeko decided to take a double take on what she was wearing. A plain, white skirt with a lace hem along with a beige sweater with a floral print tucked into the skirt. Along with that, she wore white shoes and carried a small, black shoulder bag. Her outfit contrasted the plain, purple hoodie, jeans and trainers Killua wore. "But I look really good," she shamelessly complimented herself.

"You are drawing too much attention to yourself."

"But I look pretty in this," she repeated, trying to make it work as an excuse, "I only wore gym shorts and t-shirts for the past month, can't I wear this?"

"That's not the point, you don't want to stand out too much," Killua stated, "boys tend to stare if a pretty girl walks past."

"But wouldn't it be suspicious if two fully clothed children wearing hats and sunglasses, holding newspapers to cover their faces walk by?" Himeko questioned, only to find Killua dead silent all of the sudden. "Don't tell me... you were going to do just that, weren't you?"

"What else do you suggest in that case?"

"We'll follow them like normal people," she suggested, "like two siblings spending their day out in town."

Killua was dead silent once again, "we don't look anything like siblings..." he pointed out.

"Step siblings? Half siblings?" Himeko continued to throw random ideas at him, "friends chilling in town? A pair of tourists looking around town? A couple on a date?"

Killua continued to think, not really being that impressed by her ideas, while the last idea just made him too nervous. He didn't exactly know whether she was joking about some of these, especially the 'a pair of tourists looking around town' and 'a couple on a date' sounded like one of Himeko's lame jokes, so he didn't want to randomly choose a scenario she just made up for giggles and make things awkward for them. In the end, he stayed quiet, which somehow started to annoy Himeko. She went back into her room and came back with what seemed like a mustache stuck under her nose. For some reason, the combination of her clothes and the out of place fake mustache was funny enough for Killua to have to hold in his laughter.

"Okay, we'll go with your plan and use disguises." she declared before handing him a white beard, "I couldn't buy you a mustache since they were all black, but they had things from last christmas so I just went for the santa beard. It matches the colour of your hair!"

He wondered whether she was actually being serious now, or whether it was one of her lame jokes again but she seemed dead serious. "Friends chilling in town it is!" Himeko smiled in satisfaction and went back to put the Santa beard away. Let's not wonder why she had a fake Santa beard and mustache ready. She then returned with the mustache still stuck on. Killua pointed at it, "you forgot to take it off."

"Can't I just wear it now that I have it on?" she asked, once again completely serious, "it looks funny, come on even you were about to laugh!" Killua responded by ripping the mustache off, making her scream in pain. "Ouch! Fuck, that hurt!"

"Let's get going!" Killua gathered his phone and keys together before walking towards the door. Himeko smiled and followed.

"Hey, there is a good restaurant around here, can we go and visit it afterwards?"

"We won't have enough time."

"Oh, come on." she pleaded. "I'll treat you!"

"Maybe."

"I'm being nice to you and offering to pay for lunch. You should accept it while you have the chance."

"I said maybe, if we have time."

Himeko and Killua knew exactly where Gon and Palm were going to meet up that noon, so they were there ahead of time, trying to blend in with the crowd so Gon, who was already waiting there couldn't spot them. He was there already, but Palm was still missing. But then, the pair noticed a pretty, young lady in her twenties approach Gon. She had long, straight, brown hair, wore a modest dress along with some make-up. Gon seemed confused at first, but once he recognised who it was he broke out into a huge smile.

"Palm, I almost didn't recognise you. You look really pretty!" he commented cheerfully, making Palm all flustered.

"Who the hell is that?!" Killua yelled, seeing a completely different looking woman claiming to be Palm.

"If you were in Gon's place right now and commented like that, you would have been dead." Himeko told him. "You should learn a thing or two from Gon if you don't want to spend the rest of your life alone!"

"Speak for yourself!"

"Shush, they are leaving!"

"Let's go after them. I swear, if we end up losing them it's probably going to be your fault!"

"Shut up, Killua!"

Gon and Palm's first stop turned out to be an aquarium. According to Killua, Gon was the one who planned the date and although having a date at an aquarium was pretty cliche, it was still a safe location to choose for a first date and still really romantic. Of course, Killua and Himeko were not too far behind the two love birds keeping a close eye on them whilst trying to get through the sea of couples flooding the building. Killua carefully kept an eye on both Gon and Palm who were watching the penguins. Palm seemed to have initiated a conversation with Gon, but neither of them were close enough to hear what she said. He saw Gon letting out a chuckle before the two of them started moving towards the next tank.

"Come on," Killua motioned for Himeko to go after them, "we can't lose sight of them here!"

"Um, Killua. There is a small problem."

"Deal with it later, we have to keep an eye on them if we don't want to lose them in this crowd."

"I could deal with it later, if the problem wasn't hugging my leg that is."

"Hugging her leg, what the hell?" Killua turned around to see Himeko standing there frozen, possibly crying inside. There was a little boy, no older than four clinging onto one of her legs, hiding behind her. The little boy peaked over at Killua with his large, innocent blue eyes, before he hid behind her again. Himeko on the other hand was just trying to send out SOS calls to Killua as she had no clue on how to deal with children. The little boy who seemed overly attached to Himeko making Killua wonder whether they knew each other, but from Himeko's body language that wasn't the case. "Do you know this kid?"

Himeko frantically shook her head, trying to tell him that she had absolutely no idea who this child was and why he was clinging so tightly to her.

"Then just tell him to go back to his parents, it's not that hard!"

"I could," Himeko started off, "but I don't know how!"

"It's a four year old, just tell the kid to go back to his parents and he will listen."

"That's the point, I don't know how to deal with kids. Help!" she let out a yelp in a state of panic.

Killua looked back to see whether Gon and Palm were still around, but they were not. They had wasted too much time with this nonsense and they've lost sight of the two. Killua sighed in annoyance before he calmly walked to the child and knelt down, so he was at eye level with the little blonde boy. The boy curiously peeked over to see who this was, but after confirming that it was a stranger he shyly went back to hide behind Himeko.

"What's your name? Where are your parents?" Killua asked, but the boy just quietly shook the head refusing to talk to a total stranger. Well, at least his parents taught him well; although he was hiding and clinging to another complete stranger. The boy shuffled over further behind Himeko, hoping that if he wasn't able to see Killua, Killua wouldn't be able to see him. Killua tried repeating the question again, but with no results. It seemed to have only made the little boy a lot more cautious of his surroundings. "Why don't you try, he seems to know you."

"I don't know him though!"

"Just try for god's sake so we can go find Gon and the crazy woman."

Himeko hesitantly turned around to see the boy look up at her with his large, sparkly eyes. "Why me?" Himeko sobbed internally, before bending down so she too was at the boy's eye level. In an instant, a big grin appeared on the boy's face before he pulled Himeko into a big hug, startling her in turn. She turned to Killua, trying to send out SOS signals again, hoping he would help her out of this awkward situation.

"Mommy!" The little blonde boy exclaimed full of happiness, making Himeko's face darken.

"Eeeh?! Mommy?!" She almost screamed in surprise. She had never seen this boy before, neither did she remember ever popping out a kid or adopting one. Maybe the kid mistook her for someone else and started clinging to her. She lightly pushed the boy away from her to examine his features again, but nope, she couldn't recognise the four year old.

Killua too couldn't believe his ears and stood there, blankly staring at the little boy, then at Himeko, and looked back at the little boy. He narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion, "did you perhaps... you know, the birds and the bees?"

"No!" She yelled at him before he could even finish his question, "this kid doesn't even look like me! Besides, how can I have time to have a child when I'm a complete character cliche who needs to take revenge for my clan's death?"

"I don't look like my mother either, you know," Killua pointed out, telling her that he looked a lot more like his father than his mother, "he could just take after his father." Himeko took another close look at the boy. There was only one person she could think of that had blonde hair and light blue eyes, and just the thought of that made her face turn red. "Wow, your face actually went red. You pervert, you actually did think about someone, didn't you?" Killua pointed out the obvious, much to Himeko's annoyance. "Hey, you didn't think about Kurap-"

Himeko loudly objected, "Killua!"

"Calm down, it was just a joke."

"Your jokes suck, Killua, just like you!"

"We should look for the kid's real parents and get out of here, ask him where his parents are."

Himeko turned to the child and did as she was told, "where are your parents?"

The boy took a moment to look around the area to check for the whereabouts of his parents, but it didn't seem like he could find them. He probably ended up losing sight of his own parents after following Himeko for whatever reason. The boy looked back at Himeko before shaking his head, "not here," he said.

Not knowing what to ask next, Himeko once again looked at Killua for the next step. Killua just sighed at how clueless she really was in this situation, "you really are useless when it comes to kids, aren't you? We should take him to the front desk and ask them to do an announcement for his parents to come and pick him up."

"That's smart!"

"It's common sense," Killua corrected her statement, "come on then!"

Killua stood up and looked at the little leaflet with a map of the aquarium, trying to figure out the way to the front desk. Himeko too decided to stand back up, wondering what she should do with the little boy that was staring at her with awestruck eyes. The boy was cute, but it was slightly awkward for her to deal with young children as she never had to deal with them in the past. "Mommy," the little boy beamed once again, giving her the brightest smile.

"So cute!" Himeko smiled to herself, "sorry kid, I'm not your mother!"

Killua folded the leaflet and put it away after figuring out where to go. "Let's go," he said, "keep and eye on the boy so he doesn't get lost in the crowd. It would be better if you held his hand."

"Me?" She asked, "why can't you do it? You seem to know a lot about kids anyway!"

"He obviously feels more comfortable with you."

"I can ask him," she turned to the boy with hopeful eyes, "hey, would you mind if grandpa Killua here held your hand?"

The boy shook his head, indicating that he didn't want to walk with Killua before safely hiding behind Himeko, tightly gripping onto the hem of her skirt.

"Look, he'd rather walk with you. So stop being such a baby and suck it up! And while you're at it, stop calling me grandpa Killua," Killua said before he turned to the little boy, "make sure to hold this nee-chan's hand really tightly while walking, and don't let go until she says so, okay?" Compared to Himeko's tone and way of speaking to the child, Killua's seemed a lot more appropriate. He knew how to speak to children, speaking softly and slowly, emphasising on certain words whilst giving his instructions.

Killua led the way to the front desk, and Himeko tried to walk as closely to him as possible. However, pulling along a four year old while trying to keep up with a fast walker like Killua seemed difficult. The boy tried his best to keep up with her speed, but Himeko soon realised that she had to slow down and walk at the little boy's pace. Now that she managed to slow down, the boy seemed a lot more comfortable and skipped along happily, making her smile. Killua also slowed down his walking pace after he noticed that the two weren't keeping up with him.

"You're really good with kids, you know," Himeko commented.

"That's because I have younger siblings," Killua replied, "speaking of children, you suck at taking care of kids. I feel sorry for whoever has to deal with you in the future."

"Well, excuse me! I don't have any younger siblings, and most of my cousins were around my age, so of course I'll suck!"

"He's looks like he's getting tired from the walking."

Himeko looked back at the boy she was literally dragging along now. He slowed down in pace and did seem worn out from all the walking around. "Are you tired?" The boy nodded his head, before letting out a loud yawn. Seeing this, Himeko crouched down, "I'll carry you, get on my back and hold on."

"Make sure to hold him tightly," Killua reminded her, "he's still young, so he might let go if he get's distracted by something. He already seems to have his head in the clouds, considering that he's actually followed you instead of his own parents."

After hearing Killua's instructions, Himeko made sure to check up on the little boy, making sure he was holding onto her every once in a while. They were now able to get through the crowd much faster, and it didn't take them long to reach the front desk. After making an announcement, the pair waited for the little boy's parents to turn up. They didn't have to wait too long, as an overjoyed woman in her late twenties rushed over after seeing the little boy.

"Shouta," she cried in joy, hugging the little boy tightly. The little boy let out a bright smile, hugging her back.

"Mommy," he beamed at the sight of his mother. Seeing the reunion of mother and son, Killua and Himeko couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility being lifted off their shoulders. The woman soon stood back up with her son in her arms and thanked the pair. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to thank you two, I let my son out of my sight for a second and the next he was gone," she explained, "it's pretty busy today, so I was hoping that he didn't get too far and looked around the area. Thankfully the two of you found him."

"That's not the problem, just make sure to keep an eye on him the next time." Killua told her in a slightly stern tone, "he's still young, so he could have followed some shady people not knowing the dangers. It's crowded, so it would have been really hard to find him."

"I'm really sorry about this, I'll make sure to keep my eyes on him. I just don't know what made him walk away from me today, that's very unusual."

Just then, the young Shouta pointed at Himeko, "Mommy, look mommy!"

"Kid, I'm not you mo-"

Upon examining Himeko closer, the Shouta's mother let out a surprised gasp, "you're right, Shouta, this nee-chan looks like Mami!"

Being very confused at this point, Killua gave Himeko a little nudge, "do you perhaps have a nickname, or middle name, or maybe a stage name?" he whispered over. Himeko just shook her head, not having heard of the name Mami before. At least it sounded a lot better than being called mommy by a child she didn't even know.

"I see now," the woman laughed wholeheartedly, "you resemble one of Shouta's favourite characters quite a bit."

"Favourite character?" she asked.

"Yes, Mami from Mami's Delivery Service*," the woman answered, "I'm sure you would have heard of it, it's quite a popular movie by Studio Chibli**."

After a quick yet awkward conversation, the woman and Shouta departed, thanking the pair once again, leaving them dumbfounded by what just happened. A child followed her because she resembled his favourite character from a movie, he clung onto her mispronouncing the character's name and calling her 'mommy' instead which made Himeko doubt herself on whether that kid was actually hers, then they looked for the irresponsible mother. In the end, the two of them completely lost sight of Gon and Palm.

Killua let out a frustrated sigh, to which Himeko couldn't help but feel a little bad. "I'm sorry, I'm going to look for Gon. I'll call you once I found them."

Before she could walk back in the direction they just came from, Killua grabbed her wrist. "It's no use, they would have left by now."

"Then I'll go and look for them outside," she told him.

"Don't be stupid, you're going to get yourself lost in the process," he pointed out, "we'll run into them sooner or later. I'm hungry, buy me lunch."

"I thought you didn't want to eat out."

"We might as well go to the restaurant you wanted to go to, now that we don't know where Gon went."

"Fine, let's get something to eat first," she sighed at Killua's sudden change of heart, "and by the way, how long are you planning to hold my hand. Want me to take you to the lost children's section at the front desk too now?"

After checking whether his hand was actually holding hers, Killua quickly retracted his hand and hid it behind his back out of embarrassment, "I-I didn't hold it on purpose, I was just making sure that you don't go off and do something stupid again."

Meanwhile, Himeko looked around the area, "is it just me or is it really hot today?" She asked randomly, scanning the large crowd of people visiting the place, "look, even your face is red. Let's get ice cream after lunch, okay?"

"Thank god, she was in her own world just now."

"Killua, is something wrong? Are you not feeling well? Didn't you get enough sleep last night? Wait, what even happened after I fell asleep last night?" Himeko gave it a quick thought before it finally clicked, "Ah! You must have carried-"

"Let's go and get lunch!" Killua cut her off in embarrassment, before dragging her along out of the aquarium, trying to change the topic, "I'll buy you ice cream afterwards."

"Really? You serious? Cheapskate Killua is actually going to treat me to ice cream?" It didn't take much for Killua to change the topic, and on the way out she listed a list of ice cream flavours she wanted to try out but hadn't had a chance to because of her training getting in the way. Although Killua was glad that she didn't bring back memories from last night, he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for his own wallet that was going to get emptied in a while.

In the restaurant, Himeko left to go to the counter to order the food while Killua waited by their seats. After being reminded of his thoughts from last night, he couldn't help but get red-faced every time he thought of it. He quietly started chanting what at first glance sounded like a mantra, attracting quite a lot of attention from some other customers sitting nearby, "washboard, washboard, washboard, washboard, washboard." After venting all of his frustration, he looked back out of the large shop window ,"I can't believe I actually thought that she liked me yesterday, even if it was just for a moment. I even got happy about it, I mean she isn't even that cute. Maybe just a little when she keeps her mouth closed, or when she mumbles in her sleep, but even that's pushing it a little. I should probably go and hang out with real women, staying with three crazy gorilla women must have really messed up my senses and I'm definitely not in denial! Why do I feel so perverted for checking her out while she was asleep? I can't even call her washboard anymore without feeling guilty about it. I mean she's flat, but not actually flat flat. I'm not even making any sense anymore, wait, I even recorded her sleep talking didn't I? Great, now I'm not just a borderline pervert, I've scooped way lower than that."

"Mommy, that nii-chan is scaring me," a little girl commented, pointing at the deep in thought Killua. The girl's mother just quietly scolding her daughter.

"Don't point at the creepy nii-chan, Mai. Come on, eat your food."

"I am not a creepy nii-chan!" Killua told himself, "Washboard isn't even that cute, I must have made a mistake because it was dark. Yeah, that's right, I made a mistake because it was dark and she looked better than she does normally."

"Let me guess, you are thinking about the all mighty Himeko Inoue," before Killua knew it, Himeko was already back after ordering the food and sat down in front of him.

"W-what?" Killua started to stutter as he was caught red handed, "n-no I wasn't!"

"Calm down, I was just joking!" She chuckled at his reaction, "don't worry too much, Gon will be fine. He can handle Palm somehow, and if an ant is around we should be able to sense their presence. It'll be fine!"

Killua could only return a guilty smile, slightly relieved by how oblivious Himeko was, "she thought I was thinking about Gon."

"That aside, I'm sorry I fell asleep last night. I was tired!" She apologised before bringing back last night's topic, "I hope I didn't miss anything important."

"No, you didn't," Killua just shook his head, "it's better if you didn't get involved and wreck your brain with other people's problems. You probably have your own problems to think about, don't worry too much about me."

"I promised Bisky that I won't interrupt your fights, they will be yours and I will stay out of them. But that doesn't mean that I won't try and come up with a solution for it all. You always hear me out when I have something on my mind, even back when we weren't even good friends, so please, I want you to rely on me in return. You promised me back in Yorkshin that if you were to ever be in any sorts of trouble, you'd tell me about it."

"That was a one sided promise made by you," he pointed out, reminding her that he didn't exactly promise anything. She just forced it all onto him.

"You know, I don't know what your family nailed into your head while you grew up, but it doesn't matter how strong you actually are. At the end of the day, you are no god, just another human being. There is a limit to how much you can bear, once you reach it you will break down and try to vent it all out at once. Whether it be you being too afraid to fight, being afraid of what might happen to Gon, or whether it be your promise to leave Gon's side if you were to lose to Shoot, I heard it all from her," she admitted. "But then again, why would you even agree to leave Gon? Weren't you the one that wanted a friend. Even when you gave up on it, wasn't it Gon that got you back from the Zoldyck estate? Wasn't it him who got angry at your brother back then? He even went as far as breaking his arm in anger. You got what you wanted, at least try and hold onto it properly."

"That's why I've decided to protect Gon until then," he said, "until it's time for us to go separate ways. Do I really deserve a friend like him when I could potentially leave him behind in danger just to save myself?"

"Do you even remember how cocky and full of yourself you were during the Hunter exam?" She questioned him. "'This is easy', 'it doesn't require much effort', 'this wasn't a challenge at all', you were the cocky bastard that said all of that. It was annoying seeing you not even breaking a sweat when I was barely passing each of the phases. I started to take training seriously after seeing you, hoping that one day I wouldn't need yours or anyone's help. But honestly speaking, I'd rather listen to you brag about yourself than hear you doubting yourself when you can do all the things you put your mind to. Watching you and Gon train makes me envious sometimes, you make it seem so easy."

"I was really full of myself, because I wasn't as mature as I am now."

"I was too scared to face stronger opponents, and the more I see Gon, the more worried I get," she confessed, "I realised that you were the one who kept us two out of trouble all this time, so out of all three of us, you need to snap out of it the most. Even if it's not me, even if it's not Gon, it has to be you. Maturity doesn't have anything to do with it, how can Kite still be so confident with himself yet be so strong?"

"There is no use now, a promise is a promise and I can't go back on a promise I made involving my friends," he explained, "I think of you the same way I think of Gon. In that way, I might have to leave you too."

"It's nice to know that you actually think of me as a friend," she teased, "but just because you have to leave me, doesn't mean I have to leave you," Himeko cleverly pointed out, "it's your promise, it stays between you and Bisky, but I have made no such promises with her and neither am I planning to make one. If I stick with you then it's my choice and you can't force me to leave! The same goes for Gon of course," Killua was slightly surprised by her reasoning. Her stubbornness was on par with Gon's, "After all, I'm a Hunter, and in order to be qualified as a Hunter, I must hunt something. Just try running, I'll hunt you down!"

"Excuse me," the waitress interrupted and placed two plates in front of them, "please enjoy your meal."

"Thank you so much!"

The waitress smiled at them, "Please let me know if you need something else."

"Sure!" Himeko grinned back. Once the waitress left back to her station, Himeko and Killua began eating in silence. Killua seemed a little speechless for now, so he quietly continued eating without making much fuss. After being done eating, they ordered dessert and looked out of the window, waiting for something to happen. Who knows, maybe Gon and Palm could decide to show up at any point.

"Is there anything you want to do?" She asked him, breaking what seemed like an eternity long silence.

Killua thought for a while, still looking outside before he managed to think of something he wanted to do, "they rent out bikes in the nearby park."

"I see," she commented, unenthusiastically, "well, knock yourself out. I'll just watch."

"Why, are you too scared to get left behind in my dust?" He let out a snicker, but she responded with silence. "Could it be... Don't tell me, the great Himeko Inoue doesn't know how to-"

"That's right, I don't know how to ride a bike," she admitted putting up no fight at all. Killua who was just trying to provoke her found himself blinking at her sudden confession. He found it quite hard to believe at first, riding a bicycle was one of the simplest things in life. He was surprised to hear that she didn't know how to do such a simple thing, especially since she was one of those kids that learnt a lot during childhood. Noticing his shocked expression, she explained, "I was never required to learn how to ride a bike, so I was never taught how to. My parents picked out the things that I needed to know and were actually useful for my future. I couldn't afford to waste my time with things I didn't need in the future and those things were generally left for the servants to be done. If I was feeling hungry, I could just tell someone and I'd have food in front of me in no time, if I were to be in any sorts of danger I would have had dozens of guards lined up just to protect me," she let out a suppressed snicker thinking back, "thinking back I was spoon fed by everyone, but honestly is there really a point in knowing how to do something you never get to do?"

"So you never did any kind of sport as a child?" Killua asked curiously.

"There was traditional dance, but I never really like it," she continued to explain. "It was supposed to help me become more ladylike and elegant." Killua could have just laughed at that statement, but he held it in as it would have been really rude, especially since she didn't even have the freedom to choose what she could do as a child. But while he was trying his best to hold in his laughter, Himeko started laughing, "I guess that didn't exactly help, huh? I mean look at how graceful I've become, it's actually really funny!"

"What about martial arts? You just learned dancing? That's it?"

"I just started learning how to fight after joining the dojo."

"What about before that?"

"I guess I just went with the flow…" she thought back at how reckless she really was, "my body has the ability to adapt quickly, so learning how to throw a few punches on my own wasn't too hard after watching a couple of people do it. I never really bothered with it; I was always satisfied with how strong I was, until I finished the Hunter exam."

"Then, I'll teach you how to ride a bike," Killua suggested, earning a blank expression from Himeko. "Or could you just be too chicken to try. My body has the ability to adapt quickly you said?" Killua asked mockingly, "you just don't want to fall off and humiliate yourself in public. Well, if you don't want to then you can just watc-"

The more Killua provoked her, the more annoyed she got, "bring it on!"

Killua victoriously got out of his seat and grabbed Himeko out of the shop, dragging her all the way to the bike rental store. After fighting over whether to get the baby blue bike, or the midnight blue bike, they eventually settled down on a medium shade of blue before heading to the park already packed with many people enjoying their day off. With the bike, Killua led the way to find a clear spot for Himeko to practice before stopping at a good spot with a smooth path.

"Let's practice here," he declared, handing her the bicycle. Himeko held the handles, trying to figure out a way to get on the seat without falling off. "Use the pedals to get on, I'll hold the bike while you pedal."

"Make sure to hold the bike tightly, I don't want to fall!"

"Yeah, yeah, just get on already." Himeko looked down at the pedals, and rolled the bike back a little so the pedals were in a good position for her to use them to get on. After looking back to check whether Killua was actually holding the bike properly, she used one of her legs to step on one of the pedals and managed to get on the bike. She took a couple seconds to get used to it, panicking whenever it felt like she was about to fall off. "Stop panicking, look forward, keep pedalling and keep holding onto the handles," Killua instructed sternly.

"Roger, sir."

"Just remember to keep pedalling, you'll topple over if you stop."

"Okay," Himeko continued to pedal, looking straight ahead to make sure she wasn't running into anyone, "h-hey, this is actually kinda fun."

"I told you so."

"Are there any tricks you can do with a bike."

"You just started learning how to ride a bike less than a minute ago, hold your horses."

"So you can! What about flips and stuff? Can you do them? You used to be able to do them on the skateboard."

"You need a proper bike and a proper skatepark to do them in," Killua explained. "You can't do much on flat ground. I'll teach you if we go to a skatepark."

"If we ever go to one," she corrected him, mocking him in the process, "how do you plan to take me to a skatepark if you are planning to leave me and Gon?"

"You are still talking about that? Weren't you the one who wanted to hunt me down if I were to run away?"

"I can't do that forever, the world doesn't revolve around you Killua!"

"I never said anything about the world revolving about me."

"Listen up," Himeko started off, looking back at Killua wanting to continue her argument, but she stopped when she saw Killua casually walking, not holding onto the bike anymore. "What the hell are you doing, you said you'll hold onto the bike so I don't fall!" She screamed at him, trying not to panic now that she was left on her own.

"Calm down, I didn't promise to hold onto the bike for your whole journey," he pointed out, "besides, you've been doing this all by yourself. I only helped you get on and let go."

"Traitor..."

"Oi, watch where you're going! Pay attention to where you're going!"

Following their short argument, Himeko kept going and eventually stopped after a few laps and passed the bike to Killua who also wanted to try riding a couple of laps. Himeko kept him company, occasionally trying to start small talk and tried hard to keep up as Killua purposely sped up. Once he was done, Himeko was too annoyed trying to keep up with him and told him to return the bike. Killua returned from the bike rental store, "let's go to the arcade," he insisted.

"Arcade?"

Before she could even complain about her wallet being lighter than usual, Killua proceeded to drag her the nearby arcade which too was packed with teenagers trying their luck getting high scores and win prizes. He led the way in once again, looking around for something to catch his eye. Himeko followed, looking at everything in awe as this was her first time in an arcade. She felt a little out of place, but looked very out of place as she made it very obvious that she was a complete noob.

"Hey, let's play that first!" Killua said, pointing at one of the two-player shooting games that was free. Himeko had no chance to disagree or at least agree to his choice and was dragged along to the machine. Killua dropped in some silver coins and started to explain the game, "you just have to move the gun controller around to aim and shoot at the bad guys using the trigger before they kill you, got it?"

"This button?"

"Yeah, that's right! If you run out of bullets you have to reload using the other button," Killua told her, before showing her which button he was talking about. He then pressed the start button and the pair waited for the zombies to appear. One by one, the started coming closer and Killua had no trouble shooting down anyone on his side, while Himeko was just really bad at aiming and quickly ran out of bullets. Guns weren't exactly her specialty, after all she used swords to fight and was more comfortable with them. It wasn't too long before she got herself killed, losing all three lives and waited for Killua to complete it. Although one player was down, he managed to beat every single one without breaking a sweat. Once they were done, Killua looked around and pointed at a racing game that was free. "That one!"

Once again, before Himeko could even have any say, she was dragged along to the next machine and obediently sat down. Killua seemed to be paying for all the games so she didn't exactly mind. This game was simple enough for Himeko to figure out on her own; just step on the accelerator and steer using the steering wheel. Killua didn't bother explaining the rules and just pressed start. All Himeko had to do was stay on the lane and reach the finish line before Killua and the computer simulated cars and she was surprising very good at it. She even knew that she could take out her competition by tackling their cars without Killua telling her, which annoyed him a little as she kept trying to push his car out of the way.

"Hey, stop tackling me!" Killua shouted once he had enough. "You don't see anyone doing that on the road."

"Nope, this is a game, I want to win!"

"Now you're going to get it," he too began tackling her car now, "take that!"

"Hey!" Himeko complained once her car was pushed off the lane. The two started to get competitive, trying to shove each other off the lane and stopped paying attention to the actual race, causing them to both come in at last place. Well, Himeko came in at second to last place, making Killua officially last, but she was still satisfied because she beat him.

Now that he lost to a complete newbie, Killua tried to make it his mission to win the next game. He pointed at the DDR machine and once again dragged her along before she could say anything. After one game was done, they took turns to pick new games to play now that their prides were both at stake. Killua chose different shooting games, knowing that Himeko was completely useless at aiming while Himeko picked the racing games. Rhythm games, shooting the basketball into the hoop, crane games; they tried them all before they've had more than enough.

Himeko however was still stuck at one of the crane games, trying to get out a cupcake plush. After three tries, she still failed and eventually gave in. "Hey Killua, try to get that one for me."

"Which one?" he asked, peeking through the glass.

"The cupcake."

"That has a creepy face though," he pointed out, "why don't you just get the purple dragon over there."

"I want the cupcake though."

"Fine, move out of the way!" He put in a silver coin before trying his luck, carefully watching the crane move before pressing the buttons. The pair watched nervously as the crane moved down, hoping it would grab the plush she wanted. They both sighed in relieve as the crane managed to grab hold of the plush and pulled it up, dropping it into the little hole for them to take out. "There, take it out!" Himeko grinned in satisfaction before taking out the hard earned cupcake plush. "Let's go and find Gon, we wasted a good few hours in town already."

"But weren't you the one who wanted to go bike riding and play arcade games?"

"Shut up, you had fun too!"

Himeko remembered how Bisky told her to keep an eye on both Killua and Gon while she was gone, and she also knew that both of them were quite upset leaving Kite behind; she was too, so she understood how she felt. But it took her some time to realise that both of them had other worries too and that Killua didn't just worry about himself, but everyone else too although he had his own problems to think about. She told her to try and get along with him better, even if it was just for a little while and to be honest, she did try her best not to argue too much with him and surprisingly it was a lot of fun.

"Let's go then," she smiled before leading the way out, but before they could reach the exit, two figures blocked their paths. Himeko and Killua looked up to see two taller boys standing in front of them, crossing their arms and smirking at them. Neither of them knew the two boys, so they tried to find a way to walk around them, only to get their paths blocked by them again and again. "Hey, do you know these two bastards," she whispered over to Killua.

"No, I was hoping that you knew them," Killua whispered back.

"Does it look like I'd befriend cocky people like this?"

"Touche!" Killua said, as she had a very valid point, "they might be fans of Mami's Delivery Service."

"Oh, just shut up Killua!"

"Um, just to let you know, this girl isn't Mami from Mami's Delivery Service, so please don't follow us thinking she is," Killua told the two boys, only for them to start snickering at him. Killua had an instant urge to punch the two in their faces, but controlled himself as they were in a public place and didn't want to cause trouble.

"Hey, girl, is this joker your boyfriend or something?" The slightly obese, blonde boy asked Himeko, only to get an instant glare from her.

"Oh no, they stepped into a danger zone," Killua thought, "hey, washboard, I think they are trying to hit on you," he whispered to Himeko, loud enough for only her to hear.

"Firstly, the name's Himeko, secondly I'd like some respect when being addressed, thirdly, the only jokers I see is you two and lastly no, he's not."

The boys didn't exactly pay much attention to the long list just now, neither did Killua. They all just payed attention to the last bit. The pair instantly looked at each other before the tanned boy with black hair started talking, "why don't you hang around with us for a little longer?"

"They are definitely hitting on her now," Killua thought, "are they blind or something, why would they hit on her?"

"I'd like to point out that I'm thirteen, so no."

"Don't worry, we are both fourteen."

Killua thought that this was the perfect opportunity to interrupt and warned the two losers, "woah, whoa, whoa, have you two taken a good look at her? Is she really worth trying to chat up although she has such attitude? Just take my advice and play your games."

"She's just playing hard to get," the blonde tried to inform Killua on the arts of flirting, "all girls do it! Besides, she's pretty cute, you can't be spending time with her and think she's not."

"Playing hard to get, huh?" Himeko asked before clenching her fists, ready to storm into action. "I'll show you who's playing hard to get; hard to get a slap that is!"

Before she could cause any sorts of trouble, Killua had to hold her back so she doesn't send two idiots to the hospital. Paying hospital bills is something he didn't want to do, neither would his wallet appreciate it. "Calm down, just ignore them. Let's just get going."

"Oh, look who's scared and wants to run." Killua didn't let it get to him, he just stayed cool knowing these two weren't worth the fuss. "The midget is too scared to fight us." This however was enough to make Killua stop and accept the challenge, this time being held back by Himeko.

"Calm down," she repeated the exact same words he told her earlier, "they aren't worth the trouble."

"How about this, the midget and I play a game," the tanned boy suggested, "if he wins, we'll let you go. If he loses, Himeko stays here."

"That's more civilised than breaking your teeth," Killua commented. He could still choose to ignore these losers and walk away, but he didn't want to run from weaklings too now. "Choose the game."

"Do I even get a say in this?" Himeko asked, irritated by the fact that they chose to completely ignore her now.

"No," all three of them gave her a firm answer.

"Geez," she sighed, and followed all three of them to the machine the tanned boy chose. It was one of those strength testing machines where the player had to use a hammer to hit a platform which then measures the players strength. The two boys were overly confident, while Himeko and Killua just blankly looked at their choice, asking themselves whether they should be taken seriously, "should I just tell them?"

"They won't believe that were are stronger than them even if we told them."

"Fine, just don't break the machine. I'm not going to pay to get it fixed."

"Sure, just tell your admirers to go easy on me," Killua snickered, before turning to the tanned boy. "You can go first."

The tanned boy went up first, using the hammer to hit the platform and then waiting for his score to be displayed. It wasn't that high to be honest, but he seemed pretty proud of it. "290, that's my personal best!" He turned around to see everyone's reactions; his friend was overly happy for him, Killua just shrugged indifferently, while Himeko just gave him a sarcastic slow clap. He handed the hammer over to Killua, "let's see you beat that, midget!"

Killua didn't go all out, he just lightly hit the platform with no effort at all and the machine chimed, displaying the new high score. He put the hammer back down and looked at the two boys who's mouths were wide open, "1998, I won!"

"What?!" The blond started to protest, "there's got to be something wrong with the machine. There's no way a midget like you can get such a high score!"

"Anyone can beat your score, even she can," Killua said, handing the hammer to Himeko. "Just see for yourself."

Himeko swung the hammer lightly, trying not to break the machine. The machine chimed once more, displaying the newest high score. "I got 4001!" She said, pointing at the screen, leaving the boys' mouths hang wide open.

"You told me to hold back, yet you didn't."

"I did hold back as much as I could, it's not my fault I'm stronger than you."

"No you're not, just keep telling yourself that!"

The tanned boy felt the need to interrupt their little argument on who's the strongest out of the two, "you two obviously cheated, there's no way you two midgets are this strong."

"We obviously won, now do me a favour and back off before I give you a reality slap, literally!"

"I challenge you two to another game," he said, pointing at another game machine in the distance, "if you win that, we'll let you go."

Himeko had more than enough of his stubbornness, but before she could argue with him Killua kicked the boy in his shin, making him groan in pain. "She told you to back off, didn't she?" he asked in an irritated tone, "besides, she is too pretty to be hanging around with morons like you, so run off and find someone who's in your league. I'm not going to let her stay here with you two losers no matter how many stupid games you challenge us to play," he vented all his annoyance at them before turning towards the exit. Himeko wasn't following him, and once he noticed he looked back to see her looking at him in utter confusion, "what the hell are you looking at, let's go."

"Right," she snapped out of it and followed quietly, looking back at the boys to make sure they weren't following them. Once they were out of the arcade, she kept up with Killua, still carrying that giant cupcake plush.

"'I want to look pretty' she says, 'I want to stand out' she says," he mocked her in a high pitched voice.

"Hey! I don't sound anything like that!" Himeko started to protest.

"'Hey, I don't sound anything like that!'" Killua continued to imitate her in a high pitched voice.

"Seriously, stop it!"

"'Seriously, stop it!'"

"Hey, isn't that Gon and Palm over there?"

"Hey, isn't that Gon and Pa-,'" Killua stopped to look around, "where?!" Killua carefully scanned the area for his best friend before he finally found them. "Let's follow them!" He exclaimed before dragging Himeko along to continue following Gon on his date.


A/n- Whoop, I know the chapter is called Gon's date, but ended up being more of a date for Killua and Kou. This is probably a moment a lot of you have been waiting for since last december (that's when I started writing this fanfic btw, and also if you didn't know already, Himeko's birthday is the date I first published the first chapter. Now you know!) If you are wondering why I'm updating so frequently, it's because I might go on a mini-hiatus soon for like a month or so because I have mock exams coming up in January. They're just mocks, but I still wanna do well.

Review Corner-

SilverDewDrop- The story Palm told is an actual urban legend in Japan. I just find Japanese urban legends really interesting to read, so I just read them. And I'm not sure what would happen if someone asked for purple paper; maybe strangulation followed by stabbing. I don't know, someone should really try it out! Not me though, I don't really plan on dying like that.

That's a really funny habit xD I'm just a really heavy sleeper, so I don't wake up easily. That's why either my mum or dad have to wake me up because I don't hear the alarm. Killua's dilemma was cute, I tried to imagine it while writing!

Call me a nerd, but as much as I complain about math I still like it. Sure, now that I'm 16 there seem to be more letters than numbers involved, but compared to english lit., history and all those written subjects you can either have a right or a wrong answer with math. It's simple that way, so I like it. Feel free to judge everyone xD

JJ- Omg, I just used Cardcaptor Sakura as an example, thinking you wouldn't have watched it but you have. I do like the japanese version more because they cut out all the SakuraxSyaoran moments in the english version. I feel like Kou's crush on Kurapika is kinda like Sakura crushing on her brother's friend (forgot his name). But yeah, I do see where you are coming from. Kurapika isn't going to appear in this arc at all, I might decide to add him in the Election arc, but if I don't then he won't really have a moment with Kou until I write the sequel to this. Until then, it just has to be Kou and Killua I'm afraid.

And a voice actress? Let me scan my anime database! [One Eternity later] Okay, I'll be honest, I couldn't think of a thirteen year old that isn't too nice for their own good. I mean Sakura is too sweet and innocent, then I thought of Ichigo from Yumeiro Patisserie and all other young shojou protagonists, but they all seemed a little to soft spoken. Then I Kagura from Gintama (one of my all time favourite anime), and I feel like her voice would fit right in. She is quite silly, simpleminded and outgoing but at the same time her voice portrays that a sense of childishness and innocence. Kagura doesn't really get angry that often but she can seriously lose her shit when provoked which once again fits in. The name of the voice actress is Rie Kugimiya by the way, and she also voiced Taiga (Toradora), Happy (Fairy Tail), Nemu and Karin (Bleach), Al (FMA) and a lot of others. Just youtube Gintama Kagura's rap to hear what kind of voice I'm talking about. You'll see my point.

JokeLover123- Nope, I didn't come up with it actually, it's a japanese urban legend. I'm kinda glad there is someone who can relate to Himeko though as I'm trying to make her relatable, although I over exaggerate a lot of the time. This chapter had more interactions, and spoiler alert (not really) there are more interactions coming up this arc!

Last Future of Embryo- I love Palm, she always reminded me of that girl from The Ring and because Himeko's scared of ghosts I really wanted them to interact like this.

And that's actually really cool! I really want more HunterxHunter, but it must really be hard for Togashi to do all the work by himself. I mean his wife created Sailor Moon and could help him, but he is still doing all his work by himself without a team or anything. 2016 isn't too far away now, so I hope you are right! In a way it was smart for MadHouse to end it after the election arc so the series looked a little complete, but if you continue reading the manga you can clearly tell that there is a lot left.

havanatitiana- I'm glad the previous chapter made you laugh xD

Jikola- Hmm.. is Killua jumpy because he was surprised that Kou came out of no where or is it because of something else? I'm guessing Himeko would have teased him and then made it awkward.

I can't remember the name of the movie, but it has a lot of Kurapika in it. It was a little after Yorkshin though!

And Togashi is quite young, so I wouldn't worry too much. He's been stressing and overworking himself during YYH, but he'll return eventually. Like he always did. Then he trolls us again by going on another hiatus.

SlightlyYandereMelissa- Yeah, sure! Call me L, Lu, Lucy, Luciya, anything is fine tbh! And it's good to know my sense of humour is good enough to make you laugh XD

Queechi- What's the point of toilet paper that gives you paper cuts? That would be the most useless invention ever. I thinking pretending to be mute is the best idea, but I know I'd probably die by guilt tripping the ghost by pointing out that I'm in a girls toilet or that I'm a girl in a toilet and he's a pervert for offering me toilet paper.

You forgot Leorio as Brook, pre Yorkshin Kurapika as Nurse Joy, badass Kurapika as Officer Jenny and team rocket consisting of Hisoka and Illumi with a little pet mascot (maybe Chrollo). Actually, forget the team rocket idea! And yeah, I get the Masterball reference, but I'm not sure if Kou would be able to find it considering how much I had to look for a Masterball on the ds games.

Hikari. AA- Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the chapter ^^