CHAPTER TWO: WISHFUL THINKING

Meilin was rudely awakened out of another Syaoran-infested dream by a crudely and shamelessly delivered whack on her butt. In her waking annoyance, she swung an arm toward the culprit and would've deftly hit him square on the face had not the said culprit acted fast enough to save himself.

"Geez, that was close!" he exclaimed with relief.

The flushing, raven-haired girl sat up among her rumpled blanket and cast a piercing glare at the pervert who had all the nerves to stick his filthy hand on her precious ass. She saw him wipe out a non-existent sweat from his forehead while sighing in an exaggeration that seemed to mock every single one of her girlish hormones--which was exactly what it did.

"You prick!" came her initial outburst. "You... you... PERVERTED MANIAC!"

"Perverted? Me?" the spike-haired guy leaning on the door cried in utter astonishment. "But I was just waking you up!"

"You didn't have to touch me!" she snapped.

"I wasn't touching you!" he snapped back. "You wish!"

Meilin's temper burst in an all-out chaotic fracas that choked and pierced and tortured her ego in a way that numbed her up with both embarrassment and rage. She was thinking of a hundred different ways to maim him up to get back at him for the insult he had done to her sensitivity when the unbelievably tactless guy suddenly doubled over with laughter. The Chinese girl's head almost literally steamed from so much anger.

"You call me perverted when you were the one mumbling and saying all these twisted stuffs in your sleep!" the loathsome imp chortled.

Meilin's jaw dropped in shock as more barrels of blood rose to her cheeks. God, this kid didn't just hear her talking in her sleep, did he?

"And you were moaning and gasping and was doing all these weird sounds!" the kid went on nonchalantly.

Now that was way too exaggerated... "SCREW YOU!" the utterly irked and humiliated Meilin exclaimed, finally overcoming the initial numbness to make a hysterical attack. The nimble guy immediately jumped off her path and was in a blink standing a couple of feet away to her left, hands casually stuck in the pockets of his school pants.

"And you say I'm perverted," he said mockingly. "Ms. "Screw-you"!"

Meilin growled angrily and made another lunge for the arrogant, laughing jerk who only jumped off once again and evaded her fuming fist. He was now standing behind her and she was now beyond rational reasoning. Her rage had just blinded her and she went on attacking him in vain as he in turn bounced and practically flew all around the room, all the while laughing his head off and taunting her clumsiness and slow-paced assaults.

Meilin's ire escalated with each jeer and she went on thrashing around the room--alternately punching and kicking the air in a desperate attempt to avenge her awfully disgraced existence. Her long, disheveled hair flailed about her in a crazy maelstrom that served to manifest the intensity of her fury. Her chestnut eyes were just flashing with vengeance…

This went on for a few more minutes until Meilin, having turned in an awkward angle, lost her footing and began toppling forward. The spike-haired kid instantly sprung in front of her and caught her by the shoulders, his grip firm and tight.

"Klutz," he scoffed, an impish grin stretched widely on his lips.

But the impetuous kid should've known better than to incite an already angry girl to a deadlier wrath. Meilin's eyes glinted with vengeful mischief a second before she furiously and forcibly drove her right knee to his groin... o

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Killua's world reeled wildly as soon as he felt the numbing pain down there. His hands slipped off Meilin's shoulders and cupped around his aching possession as he wilted to his knees, wincing and groaning pathetically.

"What was I saying?" the girl's voice was hard and defiant and went straight through the agonized Zoldick's ego--if he still had it, that is. "What did you hear me say in my sleep?"

"Nothing," Killua had to actually force that single word through his throat, pass the long queue of groans still waiting to be released.

Clearly not pleased by his weasly answer, the brawly girl's foot immediately made contact with his gut. He wheezed and clutched his smarting stomach as he consequently bent over, forehead hitting the cold floor.

"Liar!" came the angry accusation. And actually, that exactly was the whole deal...

Killua raised his head up to his tormentor in an attempt to defend his sorry self... somehow. "You weren't saying anything! I was lying!" Another kick to his side bore his face back to the floor as he snorted and recoiled like a helpless fetus. God! Was he that convincing a liar that he could make even the truth sound very much like a lie too? Or did it come along with the reputation?

Why the heck did he even agree to brave this room in the first place and wake this grouchy angel from the darkest side of hell? A few minutes ago, he would've--though rather distraitly--compared her to a cherubim from God's court while he was watching her in peaceful slumber. And it would've been his biggest mistake, of course, if he did. That sleeping girl he had watched with subtle amusement back then was human. This girl standing before him now was a monster!

He had never expected that simple waking whack could incite this much anger in her. What else could he do when she wouldn't even budge by milder means?

Luckily enough, before his body could get literally mangled by the abominable amazon hovering over him, the door cautiously creaked open and let in an unexpected savior. Killua had never even imagined he'd actually owe his life to this particular guy...

"What are the two of you up to now?" the ever-incredulous Chinese brunet asked, frowning first at Meilin, then at him. Killua swore by his life that the guy's frown became darker and fiercer the moment it was cast on him. Well, how could he expect a highly speculative guy to learn to trust him in a week anyway?

"We were just... having fun!" Meilin sputtered--a little too enthusiastically for Killua's liking. The irksome girl even had the guts to paste a façade of innocence over her diabolical face that he had to practically keep himself from strangling her right then and there.

Or, perhaps, he could use some unnatural means to get even...

"Oh," Syaoran said, looking unconvinced. "Then what is that kid doing on the floor?"

The spike-haired youth bristled at the look of contempt the brown-haired kid was giving him. Add to that the fact that he had just referred to him as "that kid" as though he had never heard of his name. Was it too much to ask for this Chinese prick to at least remember his name after a week of living together in the same house? Not that he remembered his name in turn, anyway. But still, this snob's attitude was as subtly rude yet sharply disgracing as that of a certain chain-guy Killua could remember from the past. And he, coming from an elite family, had never really been used to such a kind of treatment.

He was now more than tempted to galvanize both of them with his highly powerful will...

"He tripped, of course!" the longhaired witch replied, following it up immediately with an appositely witchy laughter. "He's that clumsy, y'know!"

Clumsy my ass! Killua thought spitefully, ever so aching to wrap this particular girl up in his aura and electrocute all of her pathetic cells to extinction.

This once... Just this once... The desperate urge was echoing through every corner of his mind. NO! His hand balled into furious fists against his gut as he closed his eyes and willed himself to be patient for a little longer...

Just a little bit longer...

"Syaoran-kun!" a deep, amiable voice suddenly called out from downstairs. "Sakura-chan's on the phone!"

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Syaoran barely heard the butler's call as he was suddenly assaulted by a kind of feeling... That familiar, instinctive feeling that had always alerted his senses to the immediate environment, making him more cautious and aware...

He could not be mistaken. There was a kind of force lurking about the room and it seemed very powerful, though rather faint and unsteady. It was like, whoever was emitting it was fighting to keep it back deep into concealment. His eyes instantly darted to the kid, still doubled over in a pathetic ball on the floor. His eyes were closed rather tightly and he seemed to be mumbling a kind of mantra or something. He was even slightly trembling and was clutching his stomach a little too tightly--

"Syaoran?" Meilin's voice cut through his grave scrutiny of the kid. And as if on cue, the feeling abruptly disappeared as well.

"Syaoran-kun!" came another call.

"Sakura-chan's on the phone," Meilin informed him, curious frown still in place. "Are you okay?" she prodded when he suspiciously refused to budge.

Despite all attempts to sway his attention, Syaoran stared on grimly at the kid as the latter slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position and sighed. What was that feeling? the perplexed youth wondered. What was that force? Syaoran's frown deepened when the kid suddenly turned to him and met his gaze squarely, an equally incredulous glint dwelling in his dark blue eyes.

He had always thought this prick was no ordinary kid. Ever since the night Meilin brought him home and insisted on letting him stay and live with them, he knew there was more to him than what readily met the eye. Much, much more.

Still, he was rather astounded by the truthfulness of his own perception. And that force--powerful yet in its faintness and unsteadiness--was rather unnerving even for a guy like him...

"What is it, Syaoran?" Meilin asked, obviously noticing the way he and that kid were regarding each other. And, still reeling from the impact of that sudden unspoken revelation, Syaoran decided to just ignore the question. Anyway, he had no clear enough explanation to offer at this point. At least, nothing clear enough for a powerless girl to fully understand.

"Syaoran-kun!"

A slightly annoyed sigh suddenly escaped Syaoran's throat. "Breakfast's ready," he said, giving the kid one last meaningful glare before turning and walking out of the room.

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For the first time since he came to that place, Killua Zoldick was in a panic. God, that kid... he knows... but... how the hell--

"Care to tell me about it?"

"W-What?" Killua was abruptly awakened out of his trance, his head instinctively turning to the source of the utterly demanding voice.

"Why were you guys staring at each other like that?" the scowling girl prodded on, her eyes flashing with the desperation to get into the same level of understanding that he had just shared with that Chinese prick.

That should clearly manifest her total ignorance of his... real being.

Killua sighed and casually pulled himself up to his feet. It wasn't like he was gonna tell, right! He turned his back on her and headed for the door, pushing the anxiety off in exchange for his usual calm. So what if he knew? So what if he had been found out? That snoot could never prove it anyway, right? It was still up to him to make himself look normal and thus live a simple life, or give in to every recurring urge of using his nen and risk losing all that he had right now--

"Was it about... Sakura?" the unrelenting snoop's voice was quiet and cautious.

Killua halted right at the doorway, not even bothering to turn around. Sakura who? he thought. Not one to care about girls all that much, he was rather... insulted. He would never be so stupid as to waste his precious time staring a guy down just because of some irksome girl!

Then again... The spunky kid's eyes glinted with recurring mischief as his lips twisted in a baneful grin. "Are you jealous?"

Killua didn't know what exactly hit him. The next thing he knew, he was flying out of the doorway and was subsequently kissing the wall directly opposite from it.

"Jealous? Me?" the infuriated witch snarled. "You wish!"

The door was closed a little too violently as a swirly-eyed Killua slowly slipped to the floor.

So much for living a simple life.

tbc

A/N: Er… excuse me if I seemed to have made the characters a bit OOC. -;;; It happens all the time… sigh

A/N II: Actually, if you have watched Hunter X Hunter's 2nd and 3rd sets of OAV, Killua won't seem all that much OOC… Meilin does resemble Bisuke-chama in a way, don't you think? wink