"Kana!" Gon waved her over. Gon and Killua were standing outside a grocery store. It was kind of funny. Killua was carrying a bag of snacks and Gon was carrying all the healthy things. They were acting like what they were carrying was what they were going to eat. She rolled her eyes good naturedly at them.
"Give me that." She took the bag Gon was carrying and he gave them over with relatively little fuss. She raised an eyebrow at Killua. Gon was surprising pliant. What had happened in the few days she hadn't been there?
They started walking inward to the island, towards what she was told was Gon's house. She was actually excited to see Gon's family. What kind of people raised a person like Gon?
"Ging left a clue for Gon with Mito. It's a game called Greed Island. I asked my brother about it and apparently it's being auctioned in York New with the starting price of 8.9 billion." Killua explained.
"Huh." She considered it, and then started laughing. They both looked at her curiously.
"What?"
"Geez. Ging is so terrible with this communication thing." She looked at the sky, her hands in her pockets and the packet of vegetables hanging from her elbow.
"He just wants Gon to enjoy life. That's kind of all he's trying to say. Dunno if there actually is a clue about his location or not, though. He's not the kind of a guy who would make things easy for others." She looked at Gon with a smile. "Still, you'll probably see some people who know him."
"Yeah, I thought that would happen." Gon said, not looking even a little bit let down.
"You still want to buy that game even if there is no clue?" Killua asked, surprised.
"Mm! He wanted me to play it so I want to play the game he left for me. I can get lots of stories about him too!" Kaname grinned at Gon, then tucked her hair behind her ear, catching Killua's eye.
"That's good!"
"What's wrong?" Killua sighed like an old man resigned to his fate in life. Kaname smiled at him.
"I need to do something about my tells." She mock groaned. That was one of the things they started up in Heaven's Arena. She was expecting Gon to just grin and Killua to roll his eyes in response and skip topics like they usually do.
"You created your tells." Killua retorted instead. She looked at him, startled, before she started laughing even harder. She had been kind of expecting him to figure her out, but damn, if it wasn't crazy that he really did.
"How did you even know that?" She asked, grinning. Killua rolled his eyes.
"Your tells never really give away anything of any real value. You created them to blend in. Plus, your history tells us more than you realize." Killua pointed out. Kaname's smile widened.
"You used them with us in the beginning too but now you only use them when we're with other people or when you want someone else to start the conversation about something." Gon added.
"You too?" Kaname laughed. "Man, I'm a really lucky girl."
"You're also changing the topic." Killua said, annoyed.
"Ah, right. Well, I kind of found out what's up with Killua's nen. Congratulations! You're either cursed or it's an affect of someone's nen ability." Her tone changed from light hearted to sarcastic.
"What?!" Gon and Killua's voice echoed.
"But he's not going to die?" Gon asked expectantly.
"Nope!" She shook her head. "He is not going to die from it. We narrowed it down to these two options. It's a result from someone's nen ability but we have no idea what it does. But if it was killing you, Wing agrees that you would have noticed long before."
She faced Killua who looked much less worried that he should have about his own possible death. She was tempted to hit his head.
"So it's something subtle enough to go unnoticed." Killua continued, realizing.
"But we didn't meet many people who were suspicious or strong enough to do it. And we know Hisoka's nen ability." Kaname continued. Gon scowled.
"Illumi!"
"Brother!"
"Killua's family."
They all answered simultaneously reaching the same answer she had.
"And that's only taking into account that it wasn't someone random, keeping an eye on him. Actually even then, it would probably still be Killua's family."
Killua shook his head. A small smile peaked out.
"I get it. If it's Illumi, I can get rid of it. Now that I know what I am looking for."
They blinked at him, surprised.
"You can?" Killua nodded, looking for all the world like he was agreeing to something mundane. Like, agreeing with me that chocolate was the best flavor.
"Yeah, I know his nen ability." She narrowed her eyes, remembering Illumi.
"Something with needles? Wait, is he a manipulator too?" She asked, wide eyed. Killua gave her a look. She rolled her eyes at him.
"Yeah, so do it already." She made a 'hurry up motion. He shrugged.
"I'll do it later." Then he glancing at her, "Thanks."
She sheepishly rubbed her head. "No problem?"
Unnoticed by them, Gon rolled his eyes at them.
-x-
Killua emerged the next morning, feeling- and even looking- better. Lighter. Like a burden he had been worrying about had been taken from him. They welcomed him back and no one brought up the topic of how Killua dealt with it. It would probably involve something unknowingly gross. That's the way a family of assassins worked.
Mito was…different from what she had been expecting. She wasn't sarcastic like Mimi became or violent like oba-chan. Mito picked up after them, sighed at Gon being Gon and just went around being a kind of maternal figure for all three.
And Kaname? She was slightly uncomfortable with her. Not significantly, but she had never had a maternal figure in her life, other than her own mom.
So...yeah. It was a little awkward.
When she had come in for the first time, the boys took a bath and she sat by Gon's grandmother and they silently drank tea.
Mito, on the other hand, asked how she was, how she was feeling, if she could do something for her and so on. She was painfully polite to her, to the point where Killua and Gon would give her odd looks.
Mito didn't mind it too much, or so Kaname thought. After a few days Mito stopped trying to mother her too much and started giving her some slightly worried glances. She had the suspicion that Gon had told her why she was uncomfortable being mothered. She was just relieved she didn't have to say anything.
Anyway, in the end, they all spent even more time relaxing in Whale Island. Gon showed them all his favorite spots, the fox bear he raised and there were also this one time where she almost- on accident- beheaded Killua when he played a prank on her. An accident that Gon was prepared to take down in history with the number of times he repeated it.
Kaname was sure even the fishermen had heard about their stories. It was even worse because Killua tried to extract chocolates from her the first time, and when she gave in, he tried even more. Killua's face was very well acquainted with the market floor now.
Even Killua commented on her fighting skill improvement once, suspicious of her activities, and she reluctantly parted with the knowledge that she was now- going by bank accounts- the richest of the three. Not that either of them cared about that other than Killua becoming even more irritating.
Even the shopkeepers were starting to throw out helpful and a lot more of not-so-helpful advice for him. Some even started telling her that he was pigtail-pulling her. Right. Killua was pigtail-pulling her. If that was true, he was pulling the hair out of every woman he ever met. Every girl around him would grow bald by the time he actually grew up.
So. No thanks.
Gon would throw more oil at the metaphorical raging fire by letting drop the times they bought each other chocolates or that he had already met her family. Things that were true- so she couldn't refute them- but taken out of context could mean something else entirely.
The one time she had tried to explain it wasn't like that, the whole place started coo-ing at them. For some reason. It was all very embarrassing and weird.
Even Killua got put out by it.
Gon was very entertained the whole time, even as she glared murder. Then he had the guts to say that she wouldn't ever hurt him. She protested otherwise, though. Gon could totally have driven her to murder.
They also spent a lot of time checking out hiding places that Mito had found- apparently- and they spent nights with great view of the stars. There were many cheesy conversations. One of which turned to talk about the future.
It was hard to think of something. In the end, she just lay staring at the stars blankly.
"I…don't know." She finally said, her mind drifting to Kurapika. He was someone she knew and yet, didn't know that well at the same time, but she knew that he wanted revenge more than she did. The Phantom Troupe were the worst kind of people, but she didn't want to waste her life going after them. If she had an opportunity, she would take it and kill them. If she didn't, that was fine too.
That also put the whole thing into perspective. She could dredge out hate for them. But after talking to her clan, it just wasn't the burning rage that was there before. That helpless fury was gone. But for Kurapika, it was still there. He never got any kind of closure. She wished she had gone to the clan grounds with Kurapika instead. He could also have understood what she felt now.
"Then I get to introduce both of you to my dad!" Gon interrupted her thoughts with excitement. She blinked at them both. Killua was smiling at Gon, wonder clear in his eyes.
Sometimes, she never understood her boys' relationship. She started grinning, her eyes shut closed.
"I'm gonna irritate that guy till he gives up his secrets!" She gave Gon a thumbs up. "I'm totally punching him in the face!" Gon and Killua sweatdropped.
-x-
Life went on. It wasn't all fun and games.
She had nightmares that she woke up from, remembering her mother. Some nights were better. Some were worse.
She had the sneaking suspicion that both Gon and Killua were aware of it. Just like both Gon and her were aware of Killua's desire to not kill and lead a good life. Just like Killua and her were aware that Gon was trying to understand that he couldn't always run ahead of them without ever looking back to see if they stumbled.
She loved her boys.
She loved them for how understanding they were. They understood they didn't need to be there for her every time. But they also understood when she needed them.
Surprisingly, the one who joined her first while she sat outside the house, unable to sleep, was Mito. She wouldn't say anything.
Sometimes…that was enough to comfort her, and let her sleep.
Those days, she would wake up in Gon's bed, feeling like she could take on the world.
Then Killua would do something that would make her go after him with a vengeance, and the feeling would leave for exasperation. Honestly, that feeling suited her way more anyway.
She was always exasperated with her boys.
Just a little.