Untitled – Sequel Chapter 3

Authors notes: I've decided to take a small break from writing the last chapter of The Definition of our Existence Book I. I wanted a change to something less serious, more warm and fuzzy and lighthearted, so I wrote this chapter today. For any of those still hankering for the update, I offer my sincerest apologies for taking so long to update and I hope that this chapter meets your expectations

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter.

Chapter 3: Busted

A modest two storey brick home, with weather beaten ivy clinging to its north face, was Illumi and Hisoka's home in Florence. Neither of them being adept gardeners had hired a local to attend to their front yard, and so the lawn was well cut, the edges trimmed and the flowers of the season lined the path to the front door. At first glance, it was a picturesque and comely home that was well maintained and the sounds of children's silver laughter were never far from one's ears. But as Killua and Gon discovered, if you activated your gyo, you could see that the house was concealed behind two force fields, opaque and shimmering as it was hidden by in, as well as two intimidating guards at the front door, armed with functional halberds.

"An impregnable fortress," Killua breathed out the words in awe.

"You can never really rid yourself of an assassin's paranoia, can you?" Hisoka dryly commented, ushering the kids along towards the house, stopping just a bare foot from the first forcefield. "If you bear no ill will in your aura, you will pass unharmed."

Gon gulped. "Otherwise?"

Hisoka gave him a pitying look. "You become human french fry."

Gon gulped again and took one step back.

"And what about those guys?" Killua gestured, with a tinge of hysteria in his voice, to the impassive-faced guards who stood at attention immediately on hearing the magician's voice. Their ghostly nen hands gripped around the halberd's handle and the sensation that Killua first received from the apathetic nen defence suddenly became uncomfortable and tense. It reminded him of the time when he was still clueless about nen and his brother, by his mysterious magic, had instilled the fear of gawd in him and reduced him into a stuttering coward. Whatever illusions of change he anticipated of his brother were immediately dashed into a thousand irrecoverable pieces against the proverbial rock that all dreams and expectations are broken agaist.

Hisoka and Illumi, using whatever wonderful and terrible science, had managed to produce two children, but it looked like that didn't equate to a drastic alteration of his brother's infamous icy and unapproachable character.

"So children, no ill will, no intentions to harm your brother and you just want to come in and say hello."

The two teenagers could only mechanically nod their heads and lifted their foot, steeling their will against the arbitrary wall of death. Maybe, just maybe, Hisoka was right about the devil living insider after all.

He caught her sombre expression, a look peculiar to a child of her age, directed at her sleeping brother, who was sleeping in Kikyou's arms. His head rested in the crook between her neck and shoulders and as Kikyou walked, his head would loll from side to side, limp like a lifeless doll.

"You think he does it for attention?"

She pouted and fiercely shook her head. "There are plenty of other ways to get attention. Giving myself nightmares is the last thing I'd do."

"Does your brother have these sorts of dreams all the time?"

Kim kicked up some of the gravel on the road with her new shiny black shoes, and her frown sunk to greater depths. "Only once in a while."

"Sorry Kimmy," her brother croaked. Hours earlier, he had screamed until his vocal chords were raw and Hal only stopped because the pain was too much to bear. His docile grey eyes were mournful and filled with sadness as his gaze lingered on his sister's sulking expression.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm just angry because I can't do anything to help. If anyone ever bullies you, Hal, I'll beat them up for you. I'll hunt down whoever hurts you, even if I have to go to the ends of this universe. But I can't beat up those bad dreams you have and tell them to stay away from you. I feel useless."

Silva bent down and scooped up the bitter little girl into his arms, sighing as he did so. "Kim, your brother has to learn to stand up for himself. He's the bigger brother you know. At this rate, people are going to start thinking you're the bigger sister."

"I don't care what people think," she fumed, writhing in Silva's arms. The older man grimaced and tenaciously held onto the struggling child. His wife turned around and glared at the pair of them, then snapped and warned them not to muck about on the busy streets of Florence.

"It's not my fault," the protest escaped past Silva's lips and he instantly regretted it as the long black skirt of his wife swivelled to a stop and she spun around and bore down on them like a vengeful thunder god. Meanwhile, standing from the side lines observing, Hal gave a small smile and Kim giggled out loud as Aunty Kikyou sought to bap the living daylights out of Uncky Silva using her handbag whilst the older man could only duck and cringe.

"Kind of reminds me of mama and dada," Kim said to her brother. Hand in hand, they jubilantly walked away from the scene, the roads of Florence as familiar to them as the lines on the palm of their hand.

"Children! Wait for Aunty Kikyou!"

Originally, the plan had been that Killua and Gon would plead on Hisoka's behalf and if all went well, the magician's life would be spared. What automatically went wrong however, was a miscalculation on their behalf of Illumi's capacity to react and explode like Kikyou Zoldick.

Their entry at first created genuine surprised. Illumi was dressing up the final touches on a young lady's eighteenth birthday dress when the door opened and Hisoka entered with not his two adorable children, but two teenagers who'd just been strip searched by the nen guards at the door – standard procedure you see. They were lucky that Hisoka was able to bargain with them and prevent the other, more probing, cavity search.

"How was camping? Hungry? Take a shower first and I'll – "

After that friendly opening, everything pretty much shot to hell. Killua and Gon were not Illumi's young, obedient children. Seeing that they weren't hiding behind Hisoka's legs, nor were cradled in his arms sent his alarm bells ringing. Two questions, piercingly delivered, later and the truth was uttered.

"You lost them?"

"Please Illu, listen to me – "

"You lost them and told me you took them camping!"

The rumbling sound of thunder reverberated around the cosy living and the afternoon sunshine was swallowed by darkness along with all the furniture until nothing but pitch black remained. Unaccustomed to such temperamental shifts in weather, especially indoors, Killua and Gon found their backs firmly pressed against what they believed to be the wall, and their scheme to put in a good word for Hisoka clogged in their throats.

Illumi's booming voice made their knees knock and Gon sniffed in despair, wondering where the exit was.

"Camping you said! CAMPING?!"

"I couldn't help it Illu. I knew you'd respond like this! You won't let me explain!"

"Explain your incompetence? You think I'm interested?!"

The magician was close to tears. His world had been consumed by utter darkness and the exists were lost to him. Despair was overwhelming and Illumi's resounding words of accusation ripped away the last of his defiance. Hisoka was folding – it was inevitable, and soon, he would be nothing but another squashed bug trodden beneath Illumi's foot.

Hisoka's fate was rewritten when the doorbell chimed and reached out to him like a slender lasso pulling him from the sea of his doom. Illumi looked surprised, but not enough to erase the murder written on his face. He shouldered Hisoka out of the way and stalked to the door, not deigning to give his cowering brother and his friend a glance.

The front door was flung open and white sunlight washed into the room, scouring away the last of the shadows clinging to the corners. There were two very familiar faces.

"Mama! Dada!" Killua heard two high pitched voices chirrup like a pair of sparrows in spring. Beside him, Gon blinked like an owl in daylight as light returned to his vision and everything was normal again and day was day.

"Oh gawds, Hal, Kimmy, you're safe!" Illumi knelt down and tightly hugged his children. He kicked the door shut and set the kids down, eyeing them all over for any injuries and sores.

Kim soon struggled out of Illumi's embrace and fervently searched for her father. Hisoka stood only a few steps away but in silence as he watched in disbelief at the miraculous return of his missing children.

His little girl was tugging at his pants, demanding to be picked up.

"Where the hell did you two go?"

"Well Silva, there go the children. I think I will miss them."

Silva was gingerly fingering the bruise on his jaw, created when the gold buckle on Kikyou's handbag collided with his head at over a speed of three hundred kilometers an hour. His wife was staring, teary eyed, at the plain residence that the children had ran towards and subsequently disappeared into. If he was honest with himself, he would admit that he did feel a degree of loss. Hal was quiet and pensive, disinclined to speaking unless it was absolutely necessary or unless he was on ultra friendly terms with you. By the beginning of the third day, he had begun to warm to Kikyou and initiated a few more conversations. Kim on the other hand was exuberant, a touch reckless and not afraid to speak her mind. In the three days that she was with him, he had already learnt to watch out for her signs of terrible sulking and was ready to either stand her down with his fearsome stare or to vacate and leave his wife to pick up the pieces of her tantrum. Kim's movements also evinced signs of rigorous physical training – it did not slip past Silva's mind that both Hal and Kim moved with an adult's control and grace for their age, reminding him of Killua's earlier years. Both children had hinted at their father being a fighter of sorts who constantly attracted challengers to his home. It was no surprise that Kim's punches were not amateurish and Hal's had the ability to move without detection.

"What's that on your jumper, dear?"

Silva glanced down at his shoulder and found something gold and twinkling hooked onto the rough fibres of his woolen sweater. It was a small charm of a pair of crossed swords that must have come off Kim's bracelet. He held out the delicate object to Kikyou.

"Yes…I should return it, shouldn't I?"

"A good excuse to say goodbye once more. Come on Kikyou, they're not our grandchildren, you can't keep them."

"She'll grow up to be as pretty as my sister. And imagine the coincidence with her name! Kim."

Silva sighed and took her hand, leading her to the house.

Illumi was kicking Hisoka away from reuniting with his children, yelling that he had no right to ever touch them again.

"Irresponsible, lying little man! You're not fit to have kids – "

"Ah, aniki, I told him all that already."

Illumi pursed his lips together and swallowed the rest of his lecture. His severe gaze swung towards the door for the second time today when the bell chimed again and he grumpily marched towards the entrance.

"What do you want?" he growled as he pulled the door open, displeasure painted across his face with unmistakable vividness. Then all colour drained from his features and he sought to slam the door shut, only that a strong hand stopped it in midway and fought to have it opened again.

"ILLUMI! IS THAT YOU!"

Illumi turned to Hisoka, lips quivering and eyes wide. "Take the children and run. Our hideout's been sprung!"