TRIGGER WARNING FOR: the effects of brainwashing, graphic violence, sadistic behavior on Hisoka's part, and two major fight scenes.
Illumi wasn't really sure exactly what woke him up in the middle of the night.
Maybe it was the soft thud he heard outside the closet he was occupying. Maybe it was the overwhelming sensation that there was someone in the immediate vicinity that didn't belong there.
Either way, Illumi knew something was wrong.
He silently reached into a hidden pocket on his shirt, retrieving three golden-headed needles from within and gripping them tightly. Slowly but surely, he unfolded himself from the tight little ball he'd been curled into and slid off the shelf to the floor. His feet touched the ground soundlessly, exactly as he'd been trained. Saki was asleep on the ground, snuggled into a blanket he'd swiped from Hisoka's room so she had somewhere to sleep comfortably. Illumi had to step around her tiny body to avoid crushing her on accident. He pushed the closet door open and stepped out before closing it behind him, pressing his forearm against it to prevent it from making any sound.
He found an especially dark expanse of floor near the opposite wall of the hallway and stepped into it, seeming to melt into the shadows and disappear. Keeping his movements as subtle and imperceptible as possible, he made his way down the pitch-black corridor to the main room.
It was so quiet that the silence was deafening. Through the large windows along the righthand wall of the large room, Illumi could see the ivory balcony and the seemingly infinite black sky outside. The moon was full, haloed in a chromatic white light that turned the sky around it shades of obsidian purple. Silvery-white moonlight spilled onto the wooden floor through the windows, dimly illuminating the room in such a way that everything was just barely visible, and yet everything looked ten times more ominous than usual because of the long, black shadows they cast across the floor and walls.
Illumi hesitated at the end of the hallway, keeping carefully to the shadows. If he stepped out into the main room, he'd be extremely visible. He wasn't ready to reveal his presence just yet. He could tell from the way the front door was busted wide open that someone had broken in. There was definitely someone in this main room that didn't need to be there, and Illumi was determined to figure out exactly who it was and kill them before they realized he was present.
All of a sudden, a huge, lumbering figure stepped out into the open from just outside Illumi's view. The figure was absolutely massive, with an extremely muscular frame, well-tanned, aging skin, and a long, thick mane of silver hair that cascaded down to his shoulders.
Illumi stiffened and sucked in a breath.
Father.
Silva Zoldyck was an absolutely terrifying brute of a man, with steely blue eyes, a sharply defined, squarish face, and a hulking figure that placed him several inches taller than even Illumi, who was known to be fairly tall.
But he was also the man who had tortured his eldest son, brainwashed him, broken him beyond repair.
Seeing Silva again for the first time since he'd left home caused a pit of terror and helplessness to open up in Illumi's chest. He knew he couldn't fight his father. Maybe if he just kept his presence concealed like this, he could sneak off to a more appropriate hiding place.
"I know you're there, Son." Silva's voice as low and deep as the distant rumble of thunder reached Illumi's ears before he could take a single step back. "Why don't you stop slinking around and come out where I can see you?"
Illumi's mind went blank. That voice... I can't disobey that voice...
His body was already moving on his own before he could stop and think about what he was doing. He took one step out of the shadows, then another and another, his head lowered and his needles clasped harmlessly between his hands. He couldn't think anymore. All he cared about at the moment was following orders. His father's orders were absolute.
I must comply.
"Ah, there you are. Pray, tell me: why were you hiding from me? You're fully aware that I knew you were there all along, right?" Silva asked, folding his thick arms across his broad, muscular chest and giving his son an obvious look of disapproval.
"Yes, Father. Forgive me, it won't happen again." Illumi said, his voice hollow and mechanical.
Comply. Do as you're told, and nothing bad will happen to you.
Silva nodded a couple times, pretending to consider what he'd just heard for a moment. "And... you defied a direct order to come home, did you not? What on earth were you thinking?"
Illumi was silent for a moment. Some small part of him wanted to protest, wanted to insist that he wasn't ready to be locked away in the dark again. He knew that, if he went back, he would continue to lose pieces of himself until he was little more than a mindless robot, mechanically following orders with inhuman precision. But the rest of him was too far gone to fight back.
"I... I don't know what I was thinking. I am deeply sorry."
"I know you are, Son. But you do understand that you will need to be punished for your transgressions, right?"
"Yes, Father."
"Good. Now, let's go home."
All of a sudden, an achingly familiar voice cut through the air, coming from the hallway directly behind Illumi.
"Oh, hi, Illumi's Dad! Care to explain what you're doing on my floor? I don't recall inviting you."
Hisoka? For a moment, just a moment, Illumi was able to think again. He glanced over his shoulder, abysmal black eyes meeting glittering amber so vivid and bright they were almost glowing.
But then SIlva spoke again, and Illumi was lost.
"I don't need to explain myself to scum like you. The way I see it, you've been damaging my son and keeping him from returning home like he was supposed to." Silva rumbled, his voice dropping to a dangerously low tone that Illumi recognized as murderous. Silva was not above fighting and killing Hisoka in this moment, and that was truly terrifying. Illumi shivered a little.
"He actually made the decision to stay with me all on his own. I had nothing to do with it. However, I am more than willing to give him a safe place to stay. I don't really blame him for wanting to hide from you." Hisoka said, leaning up against the wall and grinning from ear to ear as if this was little more than a game to him. "I mean no offense, but... you've been a terrible father."
"No, it's fine." Illumi suddenly interjected, unable to bear the thought of watching Silva rip apart his first... no, his only friend right in front of him. "I'm sorry, I need to go home now."
Hisoka blinked a couple times. Illumi's voice and body language were so very... mechanical. It was almost as if Illumi's soul had somehow broken out of his body, leaving behind an empty husk that only knew one thing and one thing only: obedience. Mindless, unquestioning obedience stemming from one-sided loyalty to people that didn't care about him at all.
"Illu-chan, do you have any idea what you're saying right now?" Hisoka asked, tilting his head to one side and regarding the raven-haired assassin with concern.
No response.
Shit. He's a lot more brainwashed than I thought he was. There's gotta be something about Silva that's keeping Illumi completely under his control. Hisoka realized, turning his attention to the man standing in front of Illumi.
"See? He wants to come home. We'll be going now. Please bear in mind that you'll never see my son again. I'm going to make sure that he's kept as far away from you as possible." Silva said, a triumphant glimmer in his steely blue eyes. He turned and started for the door, pausing every so often to make sure Illumi was following him.
Illumi took one step toward his father, then another and another. But before he could take a fourth step, strong arms wrapped around his waist and he was quite suddenly dragged backward. Illumi's eyes widened and he immediately reacted, twisting around and going to stick whoever had grabbed him with needles. But, for the first time in his life, he wasn't fast enough. Something hard slammed into the back of his head and he slumped over backward, unconscious.
"That's annoying. He's gonna wind up with a terrible headache later." Hisoka remarked, catching Illumi's limp figure before he hit the ground and gently lowering him to the floor. "I just can't believe that he even manages to fall gracefully. What even is that?"
"You dare to put your hands on my son like that!" all of a sudden, Silva was storming toward Hisoka at incredible speed, bristling with fury.
"Oh, shit." Hisoka quickly sprang forward so he was standing over Illumi's unconscious form protectively, flicking out his deck of cards from the front pocket of his pants. "I'm gonna have to ask you to stop right there. It's hilarious that you think you have a right to break into my floor and try to take something that obviously belongs to me. Whether you're a freakishly rich, terrifying Zoldyck or not, that's just rude."
"You talk too much." Silva assumed an open-handed fighting stance, his Nen suddenly flaring up as two glowing purple balls of pure energy formed in his heavily scarred palms.
Hisoka's eyes narrowed at the feeling of the Zoldyck's powerful aura filling the room, so thick and vast that it was almost suffocating. "Oooooh, you're a Transmuter! I am too, so... this should be fun." the magician purred, taking a couple steps forward so he was no longer standing directly over Illumi's prone figure on the floor. His own aura began to pulsate, snaking out from his body in tendrils. "However, I don't really think it's a good idea to kill you right now, although I would love to."
"And why is that?" Silva raised one thick, silvery eyebrow in surprise. "Scared you'll lose?"
"Oh, goodness, no. Me? Scared of losing a fight? Never." Hisoka scoffed. "I just know that if I killed you, it would greatly upset Illumi and I don't want to do that, so... how about we settle things with a friendly competition instead? If I can knock you off your feet, you have to leave. If you knock me off my feet, you can have Illumi back and I won't follow you until at least twenty-four hours have passed."
"And what's stopping me from killing you right now?"
"You're a Zoldyck, aren't you? Though you may be stuck-up and full of yourself, you do have something of a twisted moral compass. You don't take lives without good reason to, whether it be for money or for the greater good of the world. As such, I know you can't deny an offer to avoid bloodshed because I've done absolutely nothing that merits ending my life." Hisoka began rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, trying to contain his excitement at the prospect of fighting the mighty head of the Zoldyck family.
A frown crossed Silva's otherwise stone-set face. He didn't like that this pest had figured him out so easily. It was probably from all the time Hisoka had spent with Illumi. Silva's cold blue eyes left his opponent for a moment to trace over the outline of his son's body. Illumi's hair was strewn out around his head like spilt ink, contrasting starkly against his deathly pale skin. It would've been a beautiful sight if not for the fact Silva was beginning to realize his son was a lot more defective than he had first thought. How... sickening.
"Fine, then." Silva said, as his eyes met Hisoka's. "I accept your challenge. Do we fight with or without Nen?"
"You must be even more senile than I thought if you think I'm stupid enough to give up the usage of my Nen." Hisoka replied, evenly. His conniving smile was a lot more ominous than before. It was almost as if this deeply serious matter was little more than a game to him. Silva didn't like that. "Let's get started, shall we?"
The moment those words left Hisoka's lips, Silva was already charging. The two spheres of crackling purple energy in his palms suddenly expanded, tripling in size. His movements were surprisingly quick, but not nearly as quick as Illumi's. Unfortunately, his height and his muscular figure were slowing him down. The moment he flung his Nen manifestations at Hisoka, the magician disappeared.
Silva's Nen orbs careened into the wall and exploded there, forming a bright white light that radiated pure energy and caused the floor to shake from the impact. All of a sudden, Hisoka came running out of nowhere, flinging three of his cards directly at the massive Zoldyck. Silva anticipated this movement, twisting to one side and jumping out of the way to avoid being hit. The cards whistled by his head and embedded themselves into the wall on his left side, harmlessly. Even as they did, the two Nen masters were advancing toward each other again.
Silva kept making attempts to take Hisoka out with his Nen orbs. But Hisoka was much too fast, dodging these deadly attacks with ease. That was the one flaw in Silva's technique. He was a Transmuter, not a Manipulator. As such, the moment his Nen orbs left his palms, he couldn't change their trajectory. They could only move in the direction they'd been set to follow upon being thrown. That made it slightly easier for Hisoka to predict where they'd land and get out of their way before they could get there. It was a small weakness, but the magician was all about exploiting weaknesses.
Why isn't he using his Nen? Silva wondered, as he pivoted sharply to his right to avoid a dangerously accurate card attack from Hisoka. I've been using mine in copious amounts, and yet he doesn't seem interested in responding in kind. What is he up to?
Hisoka let out a high-pitched peal of laughter as he managed to evade yet another pair of purple Nen orbs. "All you've managed to do so far is form cracks in the walls of my home! I haven't got a single scratch on me!" he taunted, twirling his cards between his fingers faster than the eye could follow. "Seems your son has a lot more potential than you do. Illumi would've scored a hit on me by now."
Silva let out a roar of fury. If Hisoka really wanted a more physical fight, that's exactly what he was gonna get. The silver-haired Zoldyck was actually looking forward to the prospect of beating this pesky redhead into the floor with his bare fists.
He's going to regret challenging me to a fight like this. He's even dumber than he looks if he thinks I'll allow him to take my eldest child that easily.
Moving with inhuman speed, Silva sprang forward and swung one massive fist at Hisoka's face in a perfectly executed right hook punch. This time, Hisoka actually seemed a little surprised by this sudden move. He twisted to avoid it, but turned the wrong way and wound up having to throw his arms up to block the attack instead. Silva's fist slammed into the magician's crossed forearms with brutal, bone-shattering force, knocking him back several paces. Hisoka didn't lose his footing, though. He had intended for all of this to happen. If he could just bait Silva into throwing kicks at him...
Thinking quickly, Hisoka spun around and threw four cards at the middle-aged man. The first thudded into Silva's massive shoulder, while the other three missed entirely. This was exactly how Hisoka toyed with his opponents and baited them into doing exactly what he wanted. He loved getting their hopes up by allowing them to land hits on him, acting like their actions were too much for him.
Even though this fight wasn't to the death, Hisoka was still immensely enjoying himself. It was rare that he got a taste of the raw power the Zoldycks exhibited.
Silva threw three more punches at Hisoka, each one containing enough strength and force to send an ordinary person flying several feet backwards. Hisoka blocked one like he'd done before and dodged the other two, dancing around the room with an odd sort of grace he'd gleaned from years and years of practice.
He is using his Nen, actually. But he's using strings of it to reinforce his bones so they don't break. How... unorthodox. Silva internally scoffed. He'd been using Gyo for the duration of this fight, intent on catching the exact moment Hisoka decided to attack with his Nen. However, it seemed Hisoka was determined to play a defensive role. Idiot. He'll soon learn how unsafe it is to allow a Zoldyck to maintain a more offensive position.
It was at that moment that Silva made the mistake of throwing a kick directly at Hisoka's chest. Instead of blocking the harsh blow, Hisoka instead grabbed Silva's ankle, passing it off to one side. All of a sudden, Silva saw through his Gyo that the magician had attached a pinkish-white string of Nen to his ankle. The moment Silva's foot touched the ground, Hisoka flicked his wrist. The small motion, harmless though it was, caused the string of Nen around Silva's ankle to pull taut, yanking his feet right out from under him with supernatural strength. As the silver-haired Zoldyck crashed to the floor on his back, Hisoka placed one hand on his hip and grinned triumphantly.
"Well, looks like I win. I think it's time you leave."
Silva was on his feet in an instant, hissing under his breath when he noticed the thin string of Bungee Gum was still wound around his ankle. "Remove this."
"Not until you're out the door. Though you may think you're a fair person and all that, nothing's stopping you from killing me right now so I'm not taking any chances." Hisoka replied, evenly.
He waited patiently, tapping one foot against the floor, as Silva gathered himself and left. But before he started off down the hallway, he turned to face the magician and said, "I'll be back. Mark my words."
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to it. Have a good night!" Hisoka waved cheerfully as the massive Zoldyck disappeared from sight. Once Hisoka was certain Silva was a safe distance away, he called back his Nen, releasing Silva from his Bungee Gum. Satisfied that everything had been taken care of, Hisoka turned around and took in the state of his floor.
There were a few cracks running along the walls from the force of Silva's Nen, and a few different hardcover books had fallen out of the bookcase, strewn messily across the floor. All in all, it wasn't too terrible. The walls could be mended over with a little Texture Surprise, and the books could be picked up and put back on their respective shelves.
As for Hisoka himself, he wasn't in too bad a shape. His arms were bruising up from blocking Silva's powerful blows, but other than that, he was doing fine. He was a little disappointed that he hadn't been able to fight Silva to the death, but... at least Illumi was safe for the time being.
Speaking of Illumi...
Hisoka glanced at the slender figure on the floor. Coincidentally, Illumi seemed to be coming around. He stirred a bit, his eyes slowly opening and focusing on the ceiling above his head.
"How on earth did I end up on the floor?" Illumi wondered.
Hisoka wanted to facepalm. "I'm guessing you have no recollection of everything that just came to pass. Are you alright, at least?" he asked, moving to kneel beside the young Zoldyck, who blinked at him in confusion.
"I do. Sort of. It's still a bit fuzzy, though, so you might have to remind me what happened. I've no idea why, but my head hurts, too." Illumi said, making an honest effort to sit up. Hisoka stopped him, placing a hand against his shoulder and pushing him back down.
"I had to knock you unconscious, darling, you might not want to move around right away. Stay down for a bit, at least until your head feels a little better." Hisoka tilted his head to one side, his hand lingering against the soft, expensive fabric of Illumi's shirt. "Man, your father's strong. I'd love to have an actual fight with him one of these days."
"My father?" Illumi's eyes went so wide they were in danger of popping out of their sockets. "He was here?"
"Unfortunately, yes. That's why I had to knock you out in the first place, you wouldn't stop trying to go home with him. He was hellbent on taking you back, and I didn't want him to. Did his mother ever teach him to stay away from things that don't belong to him?" Hisoka wondered, completely oblivious to the fact Illumi was absolutely mortified.
"Oh my god." Illumi groaned, covering his face with both hands and drawing his knees up so they were touching his abdomen. "What have I done?"
"Hmm?" Hisoka finally noticed how distressed the young assassin was and frowned. "What do you mean, Lu-chan? You didn't do anything. I was the one who challenged Silva to a little friendly competition and made him go away. If anything, he's got a grudge against me, not you. You've got nothing to worry about."
"You had to knock me out, didn't you? Under any other circumstance, I should've been able to anticipate your movement and kill you before you could so much as lay a finger on me." Illumi explained, peeking at the magician from between his fingers. His large black eyes were abnormally beady and filled with horror. "How could I have allowed myself to appear so weak in front of my father? Of all the bloody bastards who could've walked in and seen me like this, why'd it have to be him?"
Realization dawned on Hisoka and he immediately started shaking his head no. "It's alright, Illumi, Silva seemed too angry with me to pay much attention to you. And besides, you weren't acting like yourself in that moment. You seemed less like a human and more like... I dunno... a robot. You were deadset on following the new order you'd been given, which just so happened to be returning home." He gently slid his hands under Illumi's head, lifting it up slightly and placing it in his lap. Illumi cringed a little at the touch, but didn't pull away. He even allowed Hisoka to lightly comb his fingers through extremely long, shimmering black strands of hair, smoothing out any tangles he found. "It's not really your fault, you know. My guess is that you had absolutely no idea what you were doing."
Illumi sighed heavily and closed his eyes. He only had vague, fuzzy scraps of memory from the incident that had just come to pass. He remembered being absolutely terrified but so very numb at the same time, unable to process anything he was seeing or hearing outside of that voice. That deep, painfully familiar voice that made Illumi feel so cold and empty inside, as if there was nothing beneath his skin except black ice. He also remembered being suddenly jolted out of his brainwashed thought process by Hisoka's voice. The abrupt relief only lasted for a second, though. Silva must've started talking again after that.
"I don't like it." Illumi said, staring up into Hisoka's glittering amber eyes. "He's gonna come back. I don't think I'll be able to avoid going home if this keeps up."
"I'm more than capable of protecting you, ya know." Hisoka smiled knowingly and ran his fingers through Illumi's hair once more, twirling the strands between his fingers. "So long as you stay where I can see you, you'll be fine."
"And how exactly did you make my father leave?" Illumi raised one eyebrow, doing his absolute best to ignore the pleasant sensation of Hisoka's fingertips tracing random patterns on his scalp.
"A simple competition. Whoever knocked their opponent off their feet first got what they wanted, essentially. As you can tell by the stunning lack of relatives in the room, I won." Hisoka grinned. "He did leave me with some bruises, though. They aren't too terrible, probably won't take longer than a week to heal up entirely."
"Bold of you to assume I need protection." Illumi suddenly pushed Hisoka away and sat bolt upright, seeming to have completely forgotten about his head injury. "I don't think you're in a good position to claim you can do such a thing. You're lucky, you know. If not for the fact you reinforce your bones and major joints with your Nen, I guarantee you that my father would've left you with a lot more than just a couple nasty bruises."
"But he didn't, and I'm not gonna stop using my Nen defensively during combat. You've got nothing to worry about. Because I'm both smaller and faster than your father, the abnormal damage resistance gives me a bit of an advantage over him." Hisoka replied, looking at his fingernails with fake modesty. "Even if he could've killed me, I would still wind up fighting him somehow."
"That's exactly your problem. You carelessly launch yourself into battles you don't know if you can win, and you treat all of it like some stupid game. I think the worst part of it is that you're proud of it. You don't regret a single moment of it." Illumi scoffed, standing up and dusting himself off. His black eyes were flashing with anger, something that Hisoka had never seen happen before. It was both interesting and worrying at the same time.
Slowly, Hisoka pushed himself to a standing position. At his full height, he was an inch or two taller than the raven-haired assassin, and quite a bit broader in the shoulders, arms and torso. While Illumi was composed of lean muscle, Hisoka was built with a much more prominent, intimidating physique.
"I'm not gonna change my ways, you know. You can't exactly be angry with me for doing exactly what I've been doing since before we even met." Hisoka reasoned, spreading his hands helplessly. "I like to fight people like your father. People who have the potential to entertain me and satiate my desire to challenge anyone stronger than or equal to in strength as me."
"That's what bothers me most about you. At the end of the day, the only person you really care about is yourself and your own selfish desires. You probably didn't even think about what would happen to me if my father killed you, which was and still is extremely probable." Illumi turned and started making his way toward the towel closet, bristling with fury.
Hisoka anticipated the movement and cut in front of Illumi, blocking the entrance to the hallway before he could get there. "I'm afraid I can't just let you run off and hide just yet, darling."
All of a sudden, faster than the eye could follow, Illumi flicked a needle out of his pocket and pointed it directly at the magician's throat. "You'd do well to get out of my way." he growled, voice dangerously low.
"Are... Are you threatening me?" Hisoka's eyes narrowed slightly. He hadn't been expecting this, but he also wasn't afraid to respond in kind. He was already picturing all the ways he could violently dismember the ravenet standing in front of him.
"Yes. Move."
"Ah, I almost wish I had figured out a way to make you this angry sooner. I love it when you look at me that way." Hisoka hummed, producing what was left of his deck of cards from his own pocket. He only had about half the deck left (the others were either embedded in the walls of the main room or strewn out across the floor,) but that was more than enough to suffice. "But I'm not letting you go anywhere until you explain exactly why you're taking your frustrations with your father out on me. I just helped ensure your safety for the rest of the night at least, and you repay me by threatening me with those lovely needles of yours."
"I don't think you're taking this very seriously. I don't need nor do I want your protection. Get that through your thick skull." was Illumi's blunt response.
"Illumi. You were dangerously close to returning home with your father, which is something you've told me more than once that you absolutely do not want to do. What makes you think you're capable of protecting yourself from the extent of your own brainwashing without outside help?" Hisoka asked, trying to keep his tone even and unwavering. He recognized both the fear and the uncertainty behind Illumi's words, and somehow understood fully that Illumi was afraid of losing him.
Illumi hesitated. It seemed he couldn't come up with an adequate response to that, so he finally lowered his needle. "Fine. I guess I'll just sleep on the couch or something, since you aren't gonna let me through any time soon."
As he made his way back into the living room, Hisoka couldn't resist the urge to call after him, "It's a shame, really. You can't even admit that you're so angry right now because you're afraid of something bad happening to me."
That was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Faster than lightning, Illumi whirled around and flung his needle right at Hisoka's face. If not for the magician's incredible reflexes, he probably would've been killed. He caught the needle out of the air, craning his neck to one side as he did. But by that time, Illumi was already on the move again. He had a set of four needles clenched between his fingers, each one shimmering in the dim moonlight that filled the room, menacing toward Hisoka so quickly that he appeared to flicker in and out of existence like some sort of enraged spirit.
"Oh. I see how it is, then." Hisoka shrugged, before rushing forward and making an honest attempt to pin Illumi's hands behind his back. As far as Hisoka was concerned, Illumi's hands were the most dangerous part of him. So long as he wasn't able to reach for more needles, he could be restrained. However, that didn't mean the rest of him wouldn't pose any problems, either.
Illumi anticipated Hisoka's sudden movement and leaped out of the way with almost inhuman speed and grace, whirling around and throwing two needles in rapid succession. The first was aimed at Hisoka's chest, the other at his skull. Either one would kill him should they meet their mark. But the redheaded magician was too stubborn and quick-witted to let that happen. He pivoted sharply to one side to avoid the first needle and ducked under the second, allowing both to sail past him harmlessly. However, Illumi's Nen type just so happened to be Manipulation, so it didn't surprise Hisoka at all when the two needles turned right back around in mid-air and tried to impale him once more.
Hisoka flung a single card out, managing to knock both needles off their current trajectory. Satisfied that they were no longer a threat, he returned his attention to the young assassin in the middle of the room.
"If you take so much as one more step, I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you." Illumi hissed, between clenched teeth. He was quivering ever so slightly, making it obvious that he really didn't want to make good on his threats.
"You're not the type to just fly off the handle and get so angry like this, darling. Something's definitely not right here." Hisoka replied, evenly.
His heart was racing with excitement. He almost couldn't believe his luck. He was getting to fight two of the most powerful Zoldycks in history, one after the other. But at the same time, he wanted so badly to curb his excitement. He knew that, if he allowed himself to indulge in this fight, he'd probably wind up killing Illumi. Hisoka was surprised to find that he didn't want that. He had to figure out a safe way to incapacitate the assassin without causing either of them any permanent damage. Given the fact Illumi was capable of bending any and every object in the room to his will whenever he pleased, that would make everything a lot more complicated (this was something not many people knew about Illumi. Just when you thought he'd run out of needles, he'd start using his Nen to manipulate random objects in the room, turning them into deadly weapons.)
Hisoka bent backwards to avoid a third needle that sailed over his head and thudded into the wall behind him, only to straighten out again and run at Illumi again. Naturally, this didn't work very well. Illumi was trained to move in all sorts of ways just to avoid allowing his opponent to touch him. He spun one direction, and then another, his fingernails elongating into claws and slashing at Hisoka's wrists viciously. The bandages that had been wound tightly around the healing cuts on Illumi's hands had come loose, hanging off in strips, partially revealing the nasty scabs that hadn't quite finished forming over the wounds.
He flung his last needle out before going to retrieve another one, dancing out of Hisoka's reach as he did. But Hisoka wasn't the kind to allow an opportunity like this to slip by him. The moment Illumi's hands went for another needle, Hisoka tackled him, using their difference in size and build against Illumi. Although the young assassin was strong, he couldn't withstand the full force of Hisoka's body weight driving against him so suddenly, so he wound up falling on his back with Hisoka on top of him, straddling his waist.
Illumi's eyes widened ever so slightly and he immediately began struggling, twisting around and trying to flip their positions. But Hisoka wouldn't allow that to happen. He fumbled around with the assassin until he managed to catch his wrists, pinning them high above Illumi's head. It was at that point that Illumi realized he had lost, and immediately stopped struggling.
They stayed like that for a moment, both panting slightly from exertion and staring at each other expectantly, waiting for someone to say something. Hisoka nearly got lost in the hypnotic effect Illumi's abysmal black eyes had.
Finally, Illumi said, "If you're going to kill me, just get it over with."
Hisoka almost choked on his own saliva. He was not expecting that. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I attacked you with lethal force. Thus, killing me now would not only be fair but considered an act of self-defense." was Illumi's even response.
"I'm not going to kill you." Hisoka shook his head, but Illumi wasn't finished rambling yet.
"It's only fair that you protect yourself by eliminating the threat altogether. My mother always told me that if I attack someone and they get the better of me, I must allow them to kill me without fighting back otherwise I bring dishonor to the Zoldycks' good name, and-…"
"God damnit, Illumi, I'm not going to kill you!" Hisoka interjected, pressing Illumi's wrists hard against the floor in an attempt to shut him up. Illumi seemed to get it finally and fell silent. "It would be extremely wasteful of me to get rid of a talented creature like you. I appreciate your honesty, but at the same time, it is up to me whether I kill you or not."
Illumi blinked a couple times before nodding compliantly. "I suppose so."
It was only at that moment that Hisoka realized the position they were in. He was still straddling Illumi's hips, pinning the assassin's wrists together over his head. Their faces were mere inches apart. Illumi seemed to realize how awkwardly close they were, and the slightest hint of a delicate pink blush crept into his otherwise deathly pale face.
"How is it we keep winding up like this, hmm?" Hisoka wondered, gripping both of Illumi's wrists with one hand so his other hand could creep down and caress Illumi's cheek.
"I... don't know. It's a bit strange, if you ask me." was Illumi's terse response.
Hisoka tucked a loose strand of hair behind Illumi's ear before saying, "It would be rather foolish of me to pass up an opportunity like this, don't you think?"
Illumi considered this for a moment before nodding again. "Indeed, it would."
Hisoka leaned down, closing what little distance there was between them, and pressed his lips against Illumi's. This time, the young assassin reciprocated, back arching off the floor in an attempt to get as close as possible to the magician on top of him. Illumi wasn't sure what he was doing, but he didn't want to stop, either. Something about Hisoka's warmth was intoxicating.
"Illumi..." Hisoka murmured against the assassin's surprisingly soft lips. "I'm just gonna reiterate what I said a few days ago. I don't want to be business partners anymore. It's not enough. I want more of you."
Illumi hesitated. There it was again. That possessive glimmer in Hisoka's amber eyes that both frightened and intrigued Illumi. He wanted to know what it would be like, having a relationship that extended beyond the borders of partnership, even friendship. But at the same time, he knew how disappointed his family would be in him should they find out. Hisoka was a male, and Illumi's family had always been against homosexuality. But... but... maybe they were wrong about things like this. Besides, he was old enough to decide for himself what he wanted. He doubted he'd ever find anyone who understood him and wanted to be near him as much as Hisoka did.
After a long moment of silence, Illumi finally said, "I suppose we could give that a try."
A/N: If y'all thought the tension between Hisoka and Illumi was bad enough, y'all ain't ready for an established relationship. I'm just glowing because I'm so glad to finally make HisoIllu canon in this fic. It may not seem that way, but before the end of this chapter, they were only semi-canon. It feels so satisfying to finally be able to write something official and legitimate going on with them, especially after all the sexual tension I've had to write them having like OH MY LORD GUYS, STOP BEATING AROUND THE BUSH AND JUST GET TOGETHER ALREADY! (Trust me, us authors get as frustrated over the content of our fics as the readers do.)
Thanks so much for reading, and happy holidays! Any comments/kudos would be much appreciated!
Please keep in mind that this fic may not be updated until sometime next week because of Christmas. I've got a couple different holiday-themed projects I need to finish up. Stay safe, take care!
-UltimatexAdmin