Chapter 50: Tunneling
They took advantage of the opportunity they had with Binolt and spent thirteen days training. Aliara felt a lot better than she had in the past few days (no, it was not because Killua kissed her on the cheek! Of course not!) and gradually became quicker and stronger during their training. After their session was done, Bisky sent Binolt away, and the four finally- finally- started off for Masadora. When they got there and reached the spell card shop, Bisky insisted on picking up a couple things. Then...
"Let's head back for the stony area that we started in!" the blonde girl said cheerfully.
"What?!" the trio cried in unison.
Aliara smacked herself on the forehead. "You've got to be kidding."
She wasn't.
So they went back, Bisky handed them shovels, and told them to go back to Masadora- in a straight line. They had to dig through the mountains (at least the soil was soft) and they had only got through two before it was nightfall. Bisky had them sleep up against a stone wall and handed each of them a rope to hold. The rope went up a good ten or twenty feet, hooked on some sort of support, and then dangled back down with rocks attached to the end.
"If you're going to sleep, hold these," Bisky instructed, twirling a knife between her fingers. "I'll cut the rope every now and then. This will help enhance your alertness when you sleep."
Gon looked troubled, but Aliara and Killua shared a smirk. They'd both done this before.
Needless to say, Aliara and Killua got a good night's sleep. Gon did not.
That became their schedule. Digging in the day, sleep with the threat of falling rocks at night. Digging became easier when Gon came up with the idea of putting aura in the shovel, but it was incredibly draining and exhausting.
Gon had just used the wheelbarrow to pull a load of dirt outside their little cave when Killua asked, "how're you doing?"
"Tired," she replied instantly. "But not as tired as Gon." She shot a worried look over her shoulder.
Killua nodded. "Yeah, he's been pushing himself really hard, not to mention the lack of sleep."
Aliara pushed the shovel into the dirt and tossed it over her shoulder. "He'll be okay. He's tough."
"Yeah," the white-haired boy mused, taking his turn to thrust the shovel into the dirt. Aliara swiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand as Gon hurried back, empty wheelbarrow in hand. Aliara took the next load out; Killua went afterwards. By then, they'd made their way through one mountain and were on the next. When Gon left to go remove a load of dirt again, Killua turned to her. "No, seriously. How are you?"
"What'd you mean?" Aliara replied, tossing dirt over her shoulder.
"How are you feeling? How's your head?"
Aliara distinctly remembered arguing with Killua and when he claimed that he wanted to talk to her more. She wanted to be closer to Killua, she really did, so she tried to think of something to say. "It's... weird," she started, jamming the shovel back into the cave wall. "I was getting used to not remembering things, but now, if I think about things like... Well, it's just there. And I'm wondering if it's all true or not."
Killua thought back to when she first got her memory back. She had been recalling memories, replaying them, then asking if they were actually real, like she couldn't believe it. "It probably is," he said. "I mean, it's probably all true."
"What about this?" she asked hesitantly, pulling aside her jean jacket to show the long red scar that was under the strap of her tank top.
He swallowed. "What about it?"
"It was you, right?" Aliara said, her voice dangerously close to a whisper.
"Yes," he confirmed, almost wincing from the memory of Aliara collapsing to the floor, red clouding his vision, "and I regret it every time I see it. I didn't mean to, but..."
"I jumped in the way," she finished.
By now they had both stopped shoveling. Killua was staring at the scar, almost like he was afraid of it. "You don't still blame yourself, do you?" Aliara said quickly, covering the scar again by pulling up her jean jacket. They were only a couple of inches apart now. How did that happen?
Killua carefully touched his hand to the scar, under her jacket, then withdrew. He shook his head, then shrugged. "Sometimes."
"You shouldn't."
"I know."
Aliara sighed, "it wasn't-"
"Oi! Less kissing, more shoveling!"
Aliara's face flushed with heat as Gon rolled the wheelbarrow back into their tunnel, grinning. Killua grabbed his shovel and slammed it into the dirt pile, his cheeks as red as Aliara's. Gon grinned at both of them before grabbing his own shovel.
"We weren't-"
"We didn't-"
Gon rolled his eyes and cut them both off. "Whatever you say," he sang cheerily.
"I'm taking the wheelbarrow out!" Aliara announced hurriedly, trying to avoid further embarrassment.
"There's barely anything in there!"
"I don't care!"
"Gon, you made her mad!"
"You want all this dirt on your head? Do you?!"
"Just take the dirt out, Ali!"
"Not like there's anything anyways."
"Gah!"
They got through seven kilometers that day, covered in dirt, sweat, and grime. When they went to sleep, they were all holding large boulders over their heads. Aliara had to leap out of the way of the falling rock once; Bisky didn't try to interrupt her sleep after that. Gon was getting much better as well- he looked much more well rested and she was glad.
They finally, finally arrived in Masadora.
"Back we go!" Bisky cheered, pointing the way back to their starting point.
"No way!" the trio chorused, groaning.
And back they went. This time, they were told to collect and defeat monsters on the way. Aliara hunted down tiny mice that tried to control suits of armor, snatched the tails of tiny black fuzzballs that bounced around, and kicked the bubble horse's ass. It was weird, because unlike before, when they had a lot of trouble defeating these monsters... It was easy. Aliara could keep up fine with the black puff ball thing, could easily dodge the bubble horse's attacks.
They were at this for two weeks.
Killua was doing the best out of the three of them. He got the bubble horses almost first try. It took Aliara and Gon a few tries, but before they knew it, they were moving together like a machine. Aliara had never felt better.
After that was nen training- specifically, 'ko', putting a certain percentage of one's nen energy into different parts of the body. When Bisky got them to spar, it was the slowest thing that Aliara had ever done, which was painful. She'd never been a patient person, which meant that this was one of the hardest she'd ever done. It took twelve seconds to even throw a punch, when in reality, a fight could be over in twelve seconds.
"I hate this," she groaned one night after a particularly slow sparring match with Gon.
Panting, Gon grinned widely. "It's fun!"
"Of course you think it's fun," Aliara grumbled, slumping against the rock wall. Her backpack, which she had been lugging around since the beginning, had been neglected and ignored in the last couple weeks due to their difficult training and she felt bad. She pulled her bag in front of her and started tugging out her tools. The bag was covered in dirt and was nearly ripped at one side, but she could sew that up.
"Perfect," she breathed, finding the small silver box at the bottom of her bag and pulling it out.
"What's that?" Killua wondered, staring at the box in her hands.
Beaming, Aliara popped the lid off. "Miniature sewing kit."
"Really?" Gon piped up.
She nodded, pulling out the tiny spool of black thread and a needle. "Yup. I was always sewing fabric or something over my stuff, like when I fixed up my shoes or my gloves, so I bought this mini one while we were in Yorknew. It's been pretty handy." She immediately fixed the thread to the needle and set to work on her backpack. "I haven't really worked on anything new lately, so I'm kind of fidgety, I guess," Aliara finished with a laugh.
To Aliara's surprise (and relief), Bisky gave them a night off. No boulders hanging above their heads, no constant threat of having to wake up instantly. No doubt she had something planned, but when they asked her, the blonde lady just winked and said, "You seem to have the hang of it."
So they chatted. They made up stories, they laughed, they retold stories. Aliara found herself relieving the time her brother had shoved her out the second floor window in their mansion (Gon had overheard Binolt talking about it and had asked) and soon Killua was exchanging his own sibling stories. Gon, who was an only child, instead took to recalling his interactions with other people on the island, which were amusing in their own way.
Sure, they didn't know everything about each other. But they were getting there, right?
Eventually, the trio decided to try to get to sleep. Gon was out like a light, leaning up against Killua's right. Aliara was on the white-haired boy's left side, staring up at the stars. She wanted more times like this, when they had no worries or problems. Only travelling together and getting stronger, goofing around and having fun. This was everything she had ever wanted and more.
Aliara was about to drift off when she felt someone touch her hand. Her green eyes popped open to stare at Killua's hand, which had grabbed on to hers.
He was holding her hand.
Holy crap holy crap-
Face tinged red, she looked at Killua in surprise, only to find that he was blushing too. "Is this okay?" he whispered, avoiding her eyes and rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.
Was this okay? This was better than okay, oh my god-
"Yes!" she managed, trying to keep her voice low but feeling embarrassed when her voice came dangerously close to a squeak. "Yes, this is great. I mean- okay."
"What?" he said with a laugh, smirking at her.
He was smirking again, dammit. Aliara wouldn't be surprised if he could hear how loudly her heart was beating. Red with embarrassment, she turned away, clutching his hand. Killua squeezed her hand briefly.
It had been... what, a month? More?... since Killua had kissed her on the cheek and rendered her speechless. Then he had smirked at her, winked, and dashed off. They never really had any time alone after that, because of all the training they'd been doing. Besides the few moments they had alone in the tunnels when Gon was taking the wheelbarrow out.
It had been a month.
Had it really been that long? Time seemed to fly by.
What bothered her was that he had kissed her on the cheek and then smirked. The cocky little brat...
"Killua?" she whispered, preparing herself.
"Yeah?"
Aliara turned to face him and pressed her lips to his cheek, nothing but a brief peck before she leaned away. To her satisfaction, Killua's cheeks were flushed and he didn't seem to know what to say. "That's for kissing me when I didn't expect it," she said firmly, taking pride in the dark red that burned on Killua's cheeks.
"But- you-"
She squeezed his hand. "Shut up. Go to sleep." And for good measure, she smirked at him before turning away and shutting her eyes, feeling triumphant.
"So that was revenge?" he mused, but she didn't respond. "I could get used to that."
And then her cheeks burned, and Killua laughed, and they fell asleep holding hands.
xenocanaan: I'm so glad you enjoyed, thank you so much! :)
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IamAmazing326: Took them long enough, hmm? Thank you for your review! :D
The Otaku Lady Priya: Agh, I love both of these boys so so much! X3 I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so so much for your review! :)
AHHHHHHHH: I'm so glad you liked that part, thank you for your enthusiastic review! :D
At Night We Rise: Good, I'm so glad you think he's in character, it's so difficult sometimes XD Thank you so so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed! :D
Guest: You think so? Thank you for telling me. I had an internal debate whether or not to have Gon involved with this or not, and in the end, I ended up doing it. It'll take your comment into mind. Thank you for your review! :)
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Keep Calm and Be Ninja: Thank you for pointing that out. I was becoming aware of that the longer I wrote the chapter, and it's becoming harder and harder to throw unique things in. But thank you for pointing that out, I'll definitely be more wary. I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT! Thank you so much for your review! :)
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