A/N: I have been waiting FOREVER to write this chapter. May God have mercy on pretty much everyone's souls.

Disclaimer: I do not own HunterXHunter

xxxx

"Killua! I-I didn't notice you there…." Gon's voice shook as he spoke, his unease with the situation clearly expressed on his face. He felt a soft rumble against his back as Hisoka tried hard to hold in his amusement.

Killua looks angry. This won't go well….

At first, Killua did not respond. He simply stood there, mouth agape and fists balled at his sides. His blue eyes reflected his disbelief and fury with what he just witnessed.

Hisoka just kissed Gon. And Gon kissed him back? No, no Hisoka must have forced himself on Gon. He would never be that stupid. He wouldn't put himself in such danger. He... would… never…. But…. It almost looked like he liked it? Oh Gon, what have you gotten yourself into?! No, this isn't what it looks like. It can't be.

"Explain" he said calmly, too calmly.

"Well, Hisoka… He, well when I was in the woods… and then we came here… and I won my goldfish, Kraken… but he took my cake… Hisoka, not the fish" Gon stumbled over his words as they spilt from his mouth like vomit, projecting everywhere.

His friend shook his head, trying to put the pieces together but not understanding what Gon was trying to say. He put his hand up to stop him from continuing. "What the hell are you saying?"

Gon fell silent, suddenly having a question of his own. "Wait a minute. What are you even doing out here?"

"That's not important! This is about you!"

"No, I want to know what you are doing out here. Did you follow us?" Gon looked at his friend in suspicion.

"Yes, Gon I followed you! Can you blame me though? I was coming to your hotel to discuss… some things" He glanced at Hisoka before continuing. "And imagine my surprise when I saw the two of you leave the hotel together. So yeah, I followed you." Killua was not going to be guilted for worrying about Gon. Hisoka is dangerous after all. "Now answer my question Gon."

Gon noticed Killua had transitioned into assassin mode, his overly perceptive eyes watching his body language closely while his ears listened for any hint of a lie. He wouldn't be able to get out of it this time. Even his attempt to divert the conversation back to his friend had not worked. He sighed deeply, hoping he wasn't about to destroy his friendship.

"Hisoka and I are living together in the hotel and you saw us kissing just now because that's what people do when they're…" He stopped for a moment, unsure of what they were. "Uh, interested in each other I guess." He blushed a little while shifting his weight between his feet uncomfortably.

Killua stared blankly at Gon, trying to absorb what he had heard but refusing to believe any of it. Without thinking he activated his God Speed and in under a second he had pushed his friend away from the dangerous clutches behind him and found himself holding Hisoka by his shirt. "You!' He seethed.

"Me" Came Hisoka's sing song reply as he returned Killua's death glare with an unconcerned, closed eye smile. Internally though, he felt as if he were about to combust. This was all just too much. Killua clearly had become stronger since he saw him last, maybe not Hisoka's level of stronger but stronger nonetheless and now he was out for his blood. He couldn't hold back his moan as he thought about facing off with him shortly.

Though he was in danger with being so close to Hisoka, Killua's fury overrode his survival instincts. He pulled the man down closer to his face. "What have you done to Gon!? What kind of brainwashing crap have you done to capture him like this?" He needed to hear Hisoka admit he had brainwashed his friend. There was no other explanation.

"And why should I answer you?" Hisoka asked, pleasure still expressed clearly on his face.

"Because I need to know what you did so I can fix it and get him away from you!"

"There's nothing to fix. I didn't brain wash him at all" he shrugged coolly in his reply.

"Then what the hell did you do to him!"

Hisoka's features twisted into something more carnal and sinister, his aura seeping out from him in dark waves. "I fucked him." He said smugly, anticipating the enraged boy to lose it over the news.

Shocked, Killua's eyes widened in disbelief and he took a step back, suddenly feeling violently sick. It had to be a lie. He thought back to when he and Gon swam together in the hotel's pool and recalled the purplish bruise he saw. It was a hickey! Killua's breathing slowed and he clenched his fists so tight that his nails dug into his palms making small, crescent shaped cuts. Suddenly, he saw red. That clown was going to pay for what he did.

The magician watched with glee as the teen processed his blow, looking like he couldn't decide between being ill or attacking. He eagerly looked forward to the latter, it's been awhile since he had any fun.

He was about to taunt him some more to pull a stronger reaction out of him when Gon abruptly walked between them, face red with embarrassment and eyes glowering in warning. "Hisoka" he was angry, extremely angry. "There is no way Killua could have tailed us like that without you knowing."

"Is there a question in there somewhere, Gon?"

The teens nostrils flared, and he puffed out his cheeks. He was not in the mood to be played with right now. "Did you know Killua was following us?"

"Naturally."

Gon's eye twitched and he clenched his right fist tightly. Hisoka knew Killua was following them and he still kissed him openly like that. He knew and he must have wanted Killua to see it, to react to it. Throwing caution to the wind, Gon pulled his fist back before flinging it forward as hard as he could, connecting directly with Hisoka's face. The force of his punch caused the man's lip to split open and blood to trickle down his chin from the wound.

Hisoka saw that punch coming from a mile away, but he didn't bother blocking it or protecting himself with nen. His fruit needed to blow off some steam and he just loved it when Gon lost control of his anger like that. It was such a turn on, the hit causing a surge of pleasure to spike through the older man's body.

"Mmm, Gon" Hisoka was on cloud nine. This couldn't have gone any better.

"Shut up, Hisoka." Gon felt like he could punch him a hundred more times, but it wasn't as satisfying when the face being punched was smiling back at him. To make matters even more infuriating was how his body was reacting to the lust he saw in Hisoka's eyes.

Noticing the mild stinging coming from his hand he looked down at his knuckles and found his skin had cracked causing his blood to mix with the magician's overtop his hand. Hisoka saw this too and gingerly wrapped his larger hand around the smaller one and brought those bloody knuckles to his lips. His tongue darted out, lapping at the wound and reveling in the taste of their mingled blood.

"That was a good hit for someone without nen" he praised while lazily licking the back of Gon's hand.

The teen reluctantly pulled his hand from Hisoka, still angry and not wanting Killua to see more then he needed to. He squirmed a little from how uncomfortably tight his pants had become, hoping no one else would notice. Speaking of pants, he looked down to realize he was still wearing his foxbear lounge pants. He closed his eyes and breathed out through his nose, trying desperately to wish the day away like it never happened.

Killua watched the strange interaction between his best friend and the fucking clown unfold right in front of him. Gon actually hit Hisoka and the man allowed it without retaliation! And then he licked the blood from his hand like it was the icing on the fucking cake. What possibly could have happened to allow them to become this close?

It doesn't matter. I won't accept it. Out of everyone Gon could have had a relationship with, why did it have to be this guy? This fucking… sociopath!

He grabbed Gon by the wrist and pulled him back so his body was flush against his own. He would be damned if he were to let this continue any longer. He needed to protect Gon from the vile creature, this man who stole his innocence and brainwashed him into thinking he wanted it.

Hisoka narrowed his eyes at the move, feeling possessive of his fruit and not appreciating how Killua was pulling him away. Before he could intervene, Gon removed himself from Killua's grasp to face him.

Gon pushed his anger towards Hisoka to the side, knowing he could deal with that later. He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, regarding his best friend sternly. "Killua, you don't have to like it or even understand it but this is what I want."

[THWACK]

Killua struck him hard right in the middle of his skull causing Gon's ears to ring.

"Hey! What was that for?" Gon rubbed his head indignantly.

Killua raised his hand again, preparing another blow. "I'm knocking some sense into that thick head of yours since you clearly have none!"

[THWACK]

[THWACK]

He hit him two more times for good measure.

"Ow! Ow! Stop it Killua, that hurts!" The teen covered his black hair with his hands while glaring daggers at his abuser.

"I'll stop when you get enough sense to stay away from that clown. I mean, he's a fucking sociopath Gon! Everything he's promised you is probably a lie!"

"You forgot murderer extraordinaire" Hisoka supplied with a flourish of his hand.

"SHUT UP!" the friends yelled in unison before returning to their own altercation.

Killua raised his hand to strike a fourth time, still not convinced Gon was regaining an ounce of his sense.

"Will you stop it with that! My head really hurts!" Gon raised a hand to stop him while rubbing his head some more to show how much it hurt. "You can hit me all you want but It's not going to change my mind."

The white-haired assassin took a step back, the futility of his attempts to reach Gon finally donning on him. "I-I just can't accept this Gon. I can't believe you let him touch you like that. That you had s-sex with him!" Saying it out loud made his mouth feel dirty, causing his stomach to roll. He needed space to breath, to think. He looked to his friend, pain emanating from his blue orbs. "I need to be alone so I can think. I just need some space." He turned to walk away but Gon grabbed his hand, preventing him from leaving.

"Wait Killua, just wait. We can talk about this and-"

"No, I can't talk about this with you right now. I just need to be alone." Killua chanced a look into his friend's eyes, feeling overly affected by the storm of emotions he found there. Gon was hurt but he was too.

"You'll come back though? Please, Killua. I don't want to leave you like this."

"Just let me have some time and I'll come find you when I'm ready." Killua hated to see Gon like that, his heart mirroring the hurt his friend was feeling.

"O-Okay." Gon's despondent tone cracked the shell Killua tried to surround himself with. He needed to leave now. He shot one more glare in Hisoka's direction before using his God Speed to get out of there quickly before he couldn't anymore.

After halfheartedly watching his friend's departure, Gon turned around to face Hisoka, irritation quickly overriding his hurt. "What the hell is wrong with you? I needed to tell Killua on my own terms. He didn't need to find out like this!"

"You're being rude, Gon. If anything, you should be thanking me for removing such a burden from you."

"Thankful? Killua is angry and its your fault"

"He would have been upset either way." Hisoka waved his hand dismissively, growing bored of the argument. "What's done is done."

A cool breeze swept through the area, carrying with it, multicolored leaves and debris swirling around the pair before settling back down along the trail. Gon reached up to remove a single yellowish orange leaf that found itself caught within his spikey hair, the pad of his finger running over the bumpy veins spread throughout its crisp flesh.

He needed to find a way to make peace between Killua and Hisoka, two of the most vital people in his life. If Killua continued to resent Hisoka, and Hisoka insisted on baiting Killua at every turn then everything would unravel, and he would lose one or both of them. Gon would find a way to make this work. He just had to.

With more composure then he felt, Gon addressed Hisoka. "Killua is my best friend and I want you two to get along. It's important to me."

"That's probably not going to happen."

"What? Why not?"

"Isn't it obvious? Its so easy to get a reaction out of him that I don't think I could help myself. No, that's not it. I don't want to help myself." The magician's cold eyes gleamed with mischief as he considered all the ways he would be able to fuck with the young assassin now that their paths would likely cross regularly.

Upon hearing Hisoka's refusal to play nice, Gon felt an all too familiar fiery ball of anger well up inside him, causing his chest to tighten and his focus to falter. He zeroed in on that beautiful, proud face and felt an overbearing urge to mess it up a little more. Before he knew it, his tight fist was once again sailing through the air, but this time his target blocked him right before his punch could further blemish that pale complexion.

"If you wanted to play, all you needed to do was ask. I'm always happy to play with my little fruit." Hisoka's carnal voice deepened with his last sentence as he pulled the teen closer to him. The familiar warmth emanating from Gon's smaller frame delighted his body while he embraced the struggling boy.

"Hisoka let me go!" Gon continued to yank his arm back, trying to free his captured fist but to no avail. Exasperated, he looked up to the magician with a huff, his eyes conveying a silent challenge even though he was far outmatched.

"I just need to calm down. Leave me alone." Gon tried one last time to free himself and this time the magician allowed it.

"Calm down, huh? You do realize you are still wearing your loungewear, yes?"

Gon averted his gaze with a blush. He would have preferred to think no one else had noticed.

"Hmm, alright then have it your way. Come find me when your done sulking, my little fruit."

By the time Gon looked back to where to man had been standing, he was gone. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding while trying to decide what he should do. His thoughts went back to the mission, deciding he could only be more helpful if he were better educated on the issue. He turned on his heal to head back toward the heart of the city where he would find the Hunter's library.

xxxx

The Hunter's library was positioned near the HQ building though its architecture differed greatly. Where the Hunter's HQ was a modern tower of glass and steel, the library was situated inside a renovated cathedral, its design reflecting a gothic age long since forgotten. It was a mass of grey stone, tall columns, and pointed archways which gracefully towered over the busy street. Intricate designs and intimidating statues dressed the outside stonework of the building causing it to stand out amongst its contemporary counterparts.

Gon perused the enormous shelves that stretched along the walls, fully encasing all four levels of the cathedral in a wide array of books. He wasn't accustomed to the intricacies of the classification system used to find specific books and quickly found himself feeling overwhelmed as he stared unseeingly into the sea of leather and paper. A librarian noticed his struggle and took pity on the poor boy.

"Can I help you with something?" She was an older woman who walked with a hunch, likely the result of spending countless hours leaning over while reading from her cherished collection of books. She reminded Gon a little of his Granny and he found himself liking her instantly.

"I'm looking for books about the cult called Righteous Destiny. Do you have any available?"

"Actually, we did have one copy but unfortunately it was checked out yesterday." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Its not a very popular book so its interesting to have two people looking for it within such a short span of time."

Disappointed, Gon deflated a little before a thought occurred to him. He realized that if it was in fact not a very popular book then it probably wasn't a coincidence for two people to take interest in it.

I wonder if I could get information on whoever checked out the book.

"Do you have any information on the person who checked it out?" Gon was hopeful as he asked for the information, praying it could really be that easy.

"Of course I do but that information is confidential. I can't just go around giving it out." The librarian looked at Gon like he was crazy for even asking such a question.

"But Ma'am its really important. It could help me with something I'm working on."

"And what is that?"

"Well… I can't tell you."

"Seems we both have our secrets then."

She chuckled to herself as she turned to leave. Shortly after she hobbled away to work on taking care of a large stack of returned books, a patron who was seated at a nearby table waved Gon over. Curious to know what he wanted, Gon swiftly made his way over to the strange man.

He was dressed in dark jeans and a purple, form fitting crew neck shirt. His black hair was slicked back and contrasted noticeably against his pale complexion. His demeanor was relaxed and nonthreatening, though perhaps a little suspicious.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Elma."

"Elma?"

"Yeah, Elma. The librarian you were talking to." He nodded his head in the librarian's direction, watching as she surveyed the stack of books, checking to ensure they were returned in good condition.

"Okay, so what do you want?"

"I may have the information you are looking for."

"Really?!" This caught Gon's attention instantly, returning his glimmer of hope.

"Shhhh! Not so loud, kid."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Gon's voice was softer now, trying to be inconspicuous.

The stranger laughed softly, amused by this over eager child. "Anyway, as I was saying, I believe I have the information you want, and I'll happily give it to you for a price."

"A price? Like you want Jenny?"

"Yes, like Jenny." The man tore a piece of paper from his folder and wrote a number along its surface before turning it over and sliding it across the table to Gon.

The teen picked up the paper and glanced at the number, feeling his heart sink a little. The amount the man wanted was basically all he had on him. He shook his head, remembering the importance of the mission and decided to put that first. As he reached into his pockets his fingers were met with the soft Sherpa lining of his pants instead of his wallet. He let out a soft sigh in annoyance.

Damn, stupid lounge pants.

He imagined Hisoka shaking his head in disappointment for his forgetfulness. He needed to prove that he could handle this mission, not strike out at his first lead. He reached into his other pocket and felt immediate relief to have found his phone resting against his thigh.

"I think I forgot my wallet when I left the hotel this morning." He smiled at the man, as he shyly scratched the back of his head. "Could I transfer the money to you instead?"

"That would be alright with me, but I'll have to charge you a ten percent convenience fee."

Gon's eyes widened as his features shifted from embarrassment to an agitated pout. "That doesn't sound very convenient."

"I'm allowing you the convenience of transferring the money to me instead of paying upfront in cash."

"Well, that sounds like theft. How do I know you even know who this guy is?"

"Its not theft when you label it as a convenience. That's just the way the world works kid. As for your other question, I'm a university student so I basically spend my entire day here working on assignments when I'm not in class. The money you're going to pay me will go towards my tuition."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense. So um, how much is ten percent?" Gon has never been good at math and he wasn't interested in making himself look even dumber by attempting to figure it out on his own. Aunt Mito had tried her hardest to teach it to him but clearly, she still had a lot of work to do in that area.

"10,000 Jenny extra should do it."

Gon took a seat at the table and pulled out his phone so he could enter the correct information that the man was offering him for the transfer. His phone made little beeps as his fingers blurred over the keyboard until finally, he received a message that it was successful.

A little jingle could be heard through the library when the man's phone received a confirmation email, causing Elma to immediately shush them both. Their disruptive behavior was becoming too loud for the confines of her library.

"Alright, it looks good to me." He pocketed his phone and continued. "Okay, so yesterday a boy your age came in here to check out that book you were looking for. He's a few inches taller then you with short, messy hair that's a whitish, silverish color. He had hardened blue eyes, eyes that have seen too much for his short life and they were strangely catlike." The man thought for a moment before adding "Oh, and his skin tone was really pale, almost as white as his hair."

That description sounded a lot like Killua but Gon couldn't be certain. "Okay, did you get a name?"

"Nope."

"But you said you knew who it was!"

"I never said I knew his name."

Exasperated, Gon threw his hands on his hips. "That's dirty!"

The man shrugged like it was no big deal. "You should ask more specific questions before you enter an agreement."

"Or you could just be honest!" Gon's voice was beginning to rise with his indignation.

"This isn't an honest world." The man replied like it was the most obvious answer. "So, what's your name anyway kid?"

"I'm Gon Freecss" the teen growled, still pissed by his own gullibility.

"Gon Freecss, hmm. It was a pleasure doing business with you kid." The man smiled playfully and gave a little wink before returning to the bright screen of his computer.

Uncertain of what just happened, Gon couldn't help but stand and stare before he finally turned around and bitterly stalked out of the library. After some deliberation he decided he could probably find just as much information on the cult using the internet and probably wouldn't need the book. But that still left Gon wondering if Killua was in fact the current occupant of the book he was looking for and if so, what was he doing with it?

I guess the only way to find out is to go ask him.

He rested along one of the many wooden park benches outside the library, enjoying the heated rays that warmed his skin against the chill of the autumn breeze. He warily fingered the cell phone in his pocket, wondering if the assassin had enough time to think and cool down. Its been several hours since he was caught with Hisoka so perhaps its been long enough. He pulled his phone out and dialed Killua's number. His friend picked up after the first ring.

"This better be important." Gon frowned at his friend's exhausted and overly stern tone.

"Killua, we need to talk. I-"

"I told you I needed time, Gon. I'm not ready to get into this."

"Its been a few hours and that's not what I am calling about. Please Killua, its important."

Hearing the desperation and hurt from his friend was enough to get the assassin to cave in to his friend's request. He doesn't want to be mad at him. Hisoka is the bastard here, not Gon. "What is it?"

"What do you know about…" Gon stopped to look around for prying eyes and ears, "Righteous Destiny?" He whispered conspiratorially.

Nothing but dead silence could be heard on the other end of the line before Killua harshly whispered, "Meet me at The Empty Pocket in one hour." With that he hung up before Gon could say another word.

Looking at the time on his cell phone, Gon figured he would want to be there around 5. He looked up the location of the place and found himself to be overly confused why Killua would suggest they meet at a bar of all places, but shrugged it off, assuming his friend knew what he was doing.