Cherrie's Universal Rule When Reading Her Yaoi Pieces applies here. Read chapter 2 for the whole statement.

Disclaimers: Hunter X Hunter © Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump Weekly, Shueisha and Nippon Animation. This fanfic is written for entertainment purposes only.

Author's Notes: I won't even bother with apologies, I always come out late anyway. *sad sigh* As our newspaper editor always say, "Punctuality is one of the main values of a good journalist." No wonder I'm an artist, hahahaha--*gets smothered with a broom* Grrr...my computer is a traitor. *punches her PC* The start of the whole Hisoka x Illumi thing in this fanfic is due to excessive squealing over Hisoka x Illumi scenes from outside media. *long look at Yomi-san* 'Course, I'm not pointing anybody out. Hisoka x Illumi isn't a bad thing. Never a bad thing. Nyuu~ have a cookie!!! *loads Yomi with a truckload of cookies*

OF GAMES AND ASSASSINS
by: Cherrie ( kurapikasama@yahoo.com )

Chapter 8 - Blinding Mist

Gon quietly sat on the hotel's restaurant, using his fork to play with the remaining ketchup on his plate. He hummed a happy tune under his breath, a song he remembered singing when he was young. He was waiting for Killua. The young boy asked him where he, Leorio and Kurapika were staying in and promised that he would meet them as soon as he can. Leorio and Kurapika were unfortunately out, saying that they had to pick up a few things for their stay.

So with all of that said, Gon patiently sat in his seat with only the utensils around him to keep him entertained. But it didn't bother him. Waiting was something he was especially good at, and every time he would get the chance to sit down with nothing to do, he would remember his home, Aunt Mito and Obaasan bidding him to get back before dark. He would then run around until he reaches his favorite fishing spot, then he'd sit down and wait. Waiting was never unpleasant. Waiting made him think of many things, memories that never failed to make him smile.

This time, Gon was right there thinking about Killua. Killua said that he brought with him a new friend for Gon, and that it would be fun if the two of them would meet. A new friend was always a good thing, so in return for his help - though Killua never really needed to give anything back - Gon was more than happy to accept his present.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the lobby, Hisoka was just about surrendering the keys for his room when a familiar sight caught his eyes. With a sparkle that can only be rivaled with that of his gaze whenever he succeeds in annoying Hannah, he literally skipped the rest of the way before he reached the young boy's table.

"Long time no see, my little sweet fruit~!" he greeted, using without fail the title he had given the boy oh so long ago.

But Gon was on a bright mood, and the greeting went past him quite quickly when he recognized the familiar face in front of him. "Hisoka!" he exclaimed, blinking back his surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just wandering around and all," he said with a shrug. "How about you? I see that you're alone."

Gon's face brightened and he gave the man a brilliant smile. "I'm waiting for Killua!" he declared happily. "Leorio, Kurapika and I just arrived yesterday and we're going to meet Killua here. But the hotel Killua's staying in was full. Kurapika said that we should check out other places. This was the first hotel we found and Leorio wanted to check it out so even if Kurapika doubted that we'll get ourselves in he didn't argue with Leorio then when Killua's about to meet us the two of them went out saying that they'll just buy a few things but I really wanted to see Killua so I didn't go with them so here I am!"

As usual, Hisoka was amused at the young boy's well-known enthusiasm and tendency to grab a good conversation. He briefly wondered whether or not Gon still found it uncomfortable to be around him - a case in the past he wasn't necessarily oblivious to - but seeing that it didn't look like it this time, he didn't dare bring it up. Instead, he leaned closer and grinned. "Well, what are you doing in this city in the first place?"

Before answering, Gon made a grab for the huge tumbler of chocolate shake on the table and took a sip, a thoughtful look on his face. Hisoka waited until he was done, and Gon, after finishing his business, turned back to him. "Killua won't tell actually, he just wanted me here," he said. "I think I remembered him saying something about Illumi though."

A slender eyebrow rose at that, but nothing more. Hisoka decided that it would be fun to look into the other side's perspective, so he gave out his best innocent eyes and asked the young boy to go on.

"Well, all Killua said was that he was running after Illumi because Illumi won't stay home...or something like that. I found it strange really, because it's Killua this time who's chasing after Illumi." He paused, then looked at Hisoka. "Isn't Illumi your friend? Do you know where he is and what he's doing? Maybe you can come and help Killua too!"

The magician gave out a small laugh. Gon looked at him strangely. "What? Do you know anything?" the boy asked.

"Maybe," was Hisoka's reply, still giving out small chuckles.

"Then you should come with us!"

Hisoka shook his head and stood up. Gon's eyes followed him, still confused, as always whenever he was around. He stood straight and looked down at Gon, giving out a candid wink and a playful grin. "Sorry love, but I'm already taken," he said, and started walking away, leaving the boy on the table even more confused.

* * * * *

It's just not fair.

As Illumi had asked of her, Hannah obediently - albeit grumpily - waited outside the door, leaving her fiancé inside the room with that strange red-haired man. Strange, being a word she couldn't explain. For the record, she never saw him before, and though she hadn't thought about him much since she first saw him, she was able to do so when the man insisted on kicking her out of 'his and Illumi's' room. What a jerk, really. Hannah had a feeling that the man hated her, but then again, she disliked him as well anyway, so she supposed that they at least agreed on one thing.

But speaking of him hating her, she also noticed the glances he kept giving her every time she's with Illumi. One time, she could've sworn he was glaring at her so badly that had looks could kill, earthworms would've been feasting over her corpse six feet beneath the ground by now. As if he really had the right. Who was he anyway but a pesky, ordinary guy who probably met Illumi around who knows where? As far as she was concerned, it wasn't fair that he kept on taking her fiancé away while she just stayed in the background.

"Had enough yet, princess?"

Blue eyes narrowed to a glare, and this particular one was directed to the one whom the voice belonged to. But no, she would not yield easily. She knew he was trying to get to her, though for whatever reason she was not sure. But she knew he hated her because of her superior hold on Illumi, and that's a fact she wanted to give him. So instead, she just turned her body to him, the strange red-haired man, and faced him with a sneer that reflected his own.

"Oh, I didn't know you were there," she said, her voice high and condescending. "I forgot your name somewhere along the line as well, though I never had the chance to ask you because you were always so busy gluing yourself to Illumi-san."

Hannah waited for that proud face to scrunch up in disgust, or at least discomfort, but there was no such reaction. Instead, the other just let out a casual shrug and turned away from her, his eyes shifting towards the crowd to point them both towards the location of the man they were speaking of.

"Maybe you could ask 'Illumi-san' for my name. He says it a lot, I believe," he replied instead, giving out a teasing grin. "And I'm just tagging along so he won't be left staying where he doesn't want to stay," he said, casting the female beside him a discreet glance. "After all, not many people know this but Illumi really hates being forced to stay around things he despises."

A slender eyebrow rose. "So you think you know Illumi-san very well, do you?" was the next remark. A small, almost unseen smirk curved its way towards the magician's lips when the small voice shook in a silent rage, possessiveness and jealousy clearly reflected in those vague blue eyes. "I assume that you've known him for quite some time now, huh?"

"I've known him for years, but I never really had the chance to get to know him well until..." the voice trailed off, leaving only a pensive smile on the man's face. A moment of silence followed.

"Until...?" prompted Hannah, whose clenched fists were by now hidden behind her so that her agitation won't be too obvious. This was a battle he had set up for her, she just knew it! But there was little that she knew about the man in front of her. The other continued to hide a smirk, knowing about the young woman's discomfort and cherishing the thought that he was getting the result he had expected when he started to whole bout.

"I don't think it's proper to tell you so much about us. You have your story, I have mine," was all he said, looking Hannah right through the eye. "If you know Illumi well," he said, giving the other a quick wink. "You'd know that he doesn't like his secrets to be given out."

"Don't think that you know so much about him. I've known him since he was but a young teenager, and I've spent my childhood hearing about everything about him."

"Hearing is different from truly getting to know him." A grin. "I bet you the years you claim to have had with him are not enough compared with the few I've had. He has secrets only a chosen few know about."

No, her temper won't hold down. This was provoked anger. "I dare you to prove it, you arrogant bastard!"

On his side, it was frustration masked in playfulness. Go to hell. What's mine is mine. "Double dare if you could prove your own point, you spoiled little slut!"

* * * * *

The automatic doors of the department store opened by the time his foot stepped on the floor a few feet across the exit. Illumi held his packages beside him, still thinking about that brooch he saw when he passed by a jewelry stall. It would've gone well with Karuto's black kimono, and he also remembered her asking him if he could find her a diamond accessory. He still didn't know what the diamonds were for, but his sister seemed to have had a sudden interest with them. Sure, she betrayed him and chased after him for a whole damned day, but she was once a sweet and obedient girl too, right?

Well, regardless of whether or not Karuto was still on his side, he wasn't able to purchase the said item anyway. For some reason, the store was rather packed that even the men's section seemed chaotic enough to drown away the salespeople assigned to assist paying customers. That's usually an event more popular with the women's section.

As the glass doors parted open and as soon as he passed through, Illumi looked around the sea of people for familiar faces. Okay, so maybe just one familiar face. The other familiar face he would be thankful to not see, for the rest of his life if possible. Come to think of it, he'd rather not see the former either because he's just flat-out crazy, and until now he still wondered how in the world they even got together. But yes, it took but a second for reality to slap him on the face. Life sucks.

And speaking of life and how miserable it can be, the young assassin recognized two voices somewhere behind the sea of people he was with.

"I bet you didn't know that he can take bottles upon bottles of alcohol and still be able to recite the alphabet backwards."

"That's nothing. Did you know that he likes to complete 295 brush strokes every night before he goes to bed?"

"You mean 296."

"No, 295!"

"296. He hates the number 4 and wishes to not include it in the counting for 300."

"What!? Where in hell did you pick that up!? It's 295 and don't you dare argue!"

Then again, perhaps crowded places weren't so bad. After all, just in case Karuto's taken the other side, he can always bribe her with a nice trinket.

"On my 14th birthday, he told me that Karuto-chan can already walk and that he found it really cute!"

"Oh please, 'cute' isn't even in his vocabulary!"

Yes, crowded places were definitely good sometimes. Maybe Milluki would appreciate a new computer game. Or maybe Alluka could use a new dagger for his collection. If not, there's always Killua. Anything for Killua. Anything for him to get for anyone, just as long as the glass doors block out whatever it was that he just heard outside.

* * * * *

"Nooooooo!!! Oniisama's molested and dead in the hands of a stranger and we don't even know where his corpse is buried in!!!"

Killua shut his eyes and tried covering his ears. Nope, didn't work. Alluka's shameless wails still ran through both his ears, and if he would be asked to picture the kid's cries on his head, they would be like a bunch of round things carrying hammers to pound on his eardrums. Alluka was not yet trained to use nen, but Killua bet that he was a Tokushitsu. Maybe Alluka would specialize on paralysis. His voice was powerful enough to render anyone deaf and unmoving, that's for sure.

"You hard-headed scalawag! If ever Illumi really is dead by now, you'll wake him up with what you're doing and you'll have yourself strangled by a zombie!" cried Milluki irately. He was the one who had to make sure Alluka was going along with them. Right now, he had to literally drag the oblivious boy on his feet.

It didn't seem like Alluka minded being dragged on the pavement. Instead, he let out a sudden gasp, and he rose to grasp Milluki's head. "What if Oniisama isn't buried!? What if he was cut to pieces!? What if he was thrown down a river or...or eaten!?!?"

Eaten? Killua shook his head, his own discomfort about his brother and his business with Hisoka drowned away by Alluka's little tantrum. Just how many times had Milluki received glares from nice citizens who watched their little show anyway? One old lady even went as far as slapping the poor teen's cheek and demanded that he let go of the 'poor, defenseless child'. It was a good thing that Milluki was too busy holding Alluka down because if there was anything that Milluki hated more than his Playstation crashing after a three-day marathon of finishing RPGs, it was nice old ladies slapping him for the 'bad things' that he had done.

Killua sighed. He stopped walking and turned around to face the boy behind Milluki. "Fact one: Alluka, you should stop watching and taking daily news so seriously because you're going to be a part of the headlines yourself up until you've committed so many assassinations that the media won't even bother," started Killua, holding out a finger. "Fact two: Hisoka, I think, is too infatuated with Illumi right now to even think of killing him this early on. Trust me, when he obsesses, he obsesses. It's scary, but rest assured that he'll bite anyone's head off if anybody would dare as much as to go near Illumi without his consent. In other words, Illumi's completely safe...in a manner of speaking."

"Besides, even if he's not, he's still a Zoldick. What part of 'our blood is melted steel we have more lives than a battalion of cats on an alley' don't you understand, Alluka?" asked Milluki, poking the boy beneath him on the head.

"That too. Fact three: I swear that after this, I'll ask for nothing else and we'll all look for Aniki, all right?"

For a moment, Alluka merely stared at his two brothers, blinking back tears. But after a minute, his teeth began to grind together again and he started his cries all over again. "But what if that guy somehow convinces Oniisama to sleep with him or something!? What if he's a family foe and decides to assassinate us assassins?"

Killua laughed, waving a hand as if showing Alluka how ridiculous his comment was. "Oh please, like Hisoka would ever get to win so much. Sure he was able to steal a kiss..." Alluka winced. "But I bet you a mighty good beating went after that. Aniki and Hisoka sharing the same bed, what a laugh!"

* * * * *

"Illumi-kun, guess what!"

Sharing a bed with Hisoka was never one of his intelligent decisions. Illumi winced at the sudden sinking and jumping of the bed he was sitting on. Hisoka had just obviously bounced on top of it, and quickly grabbing a pillow for him to lie down on, the magician looked up to the other with the widest grin he had given out so far.

Hisoka's grins where never a good thing.

"I don't think I want to know, Hisoka," said Illumi with a frown, opening the book he was reading even wider, in case the other would pick the message up and go away.

But then again, Hisoka was never one to be sensitive, and even if he was, he wasn't the kind who'd give up easily. "Sure you do!" he said enthusiastically. "And besides, I think it'll be interesting."

A pointed look. "Interesting." He said it as if Hisoka had just said that the sun was falling and that he was the king of the apocalypse.

But Hisoka didn't waver. "Yep," he confirmed with a nod. "Come on, ask me!"

Illumi rolled his eyes. He didn't think it was a good idea, but he knew what would come next. "Fine. What?"

He oh so hated Hisoka.

The magician grinned wider. Yes, it was possible, though how it actually was allowed to happen, Illumi didn't even try to know. Instead, he turned his attention to the words Hisoka would be saying next. "Do you remember Gon?" he asked, tapping his cheek happily. If anyone would look closer, there was a light blush on the man's skin, a clear indication of sincere excitement flowing through his veins.

Hisoka had always been like that every time he would encounter something or someone he really liked. Illumi remembered that time when he first called Hisoka after so long, that overzealous greeting. So much like this one when he just bounced in a started the whole 'guess what?' thing. Only more. And for such a simple phone call. Illumi wondered if the magician's face lit up as it was doing so right now, wondered if he had the same cheerful blush. It suddenly felt as if he wanted to see how it would be like had it been him whom Hisoka saw. He wondered if...

Just where the hell did those come from!?!?

He shook his head and turned away. He wasn't even aware that he had laid down the book he was holding, and that he was then leaning on the wall beside him, as if he was hit by a sudden wind that took his breath away. He felt a familiar weight touching his shoulder, and promptly, Hisoka's voice came in once again.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, pulling Illumi up to face him. There was a hand on his forehead, feeling for his temperature. Had it been a different time, he would've slapped that hand away, saying that it would be ridiculous to even think that he was sick. He hadn't been sick for years, so why start now?

But the world really was starting to spin.

"Fuck, you're burning!"

A slight shifting. Something soft was offered to him for him to rest his head on. He was cradled by a comfortable space, and when he closed his eyes he felt a cold touch crawl under his hair, cooling the heated skin on his nape. A sigh escaped him. Why did it feel so good when his head was throbbing and he couldn't even open his eyes?

Everything seemed to fade away, all sounds coming only from the back of his head, like dull memories that come by at random. He only realized that there were arms that held him when he felt them tighten around him, pushing him against the warmth that further heated the skin under his clothes, displeasing, yet pleasing all the same. Hisoka. Yes, he remembered Hisoka.

There came the opening of the door.

Illumi-san! What happened!?

Oh no...will you please just shut up and leave? I'll take things from here.

You! What have you done to him? I knew letting him stay with you was a bad idea. Let me see him!

Leave!

A gust of wind, but he didn't feel it. A light cracking. It was the wall, he decided. Aah, the cards. By the sounds of it, they didn't hit anything. But there was silence, then fading steps on the carpet. Did Hisoka know what he just did? He'll put them both under unnecessary pain for that. But it didn't matter right now. The door closed, and it was quiet.

He smiled.

End of Chapter 8

Last notes: Well, okay, so things didn't go as initially planned (as usual), but that's okay I guess. It didn't end up so badly after all. I never knew it was so fun to write about a scene like that without knowing it would come out ^^; And I repeat, Illumi-sama does smile...only not for pleasant purposes before. But he's sick, let him off. I'll get to that next time I write =P