A/N: Hey guys! What's up? I feel like this habit of mine updating once a month is getting worse. Ugh. Anyway, I seriously needed time for this. I had to ask a lot of people about their opinion on Yuhi and Killua's situation, weigh them, and formulate my own ideas for future references. I feel like I should do it now or this will turn out like trash, thus the long interval. But here's the chapter now so yay!
Trivia: Kurapika and Leorio mentioned Yuhi's name in HxH Phantom Rouge movie. I'm not entirely sure if Gon and Killua did too (haven't had the time to review the film) but Kurapika and Leorio, yes. It's what her name means. J
Disclaimer: This is high-school—in all ways.
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCE
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
And Now What?
"Huh!" Yuhi breathed out as she pulled herself up the bed for the nth time, pajamas still on, hair a perfect mess as she remained still sitting on the undone covers of her cot, eyes blinking drowsily as she stared at the empty wall in front of her before she turned to check the sky from her window. The outside was a dull painting of a cold winter day, the streets wet, the sidewalks empty, the sun only halfway through the horizon, and the air a crisp, calm and peaceful silence. It was only a quarter to seven in the morning, and Yuhi was already awake for an hour.
For students like her, sleep has always been the greatest gift holidays had to offer. But on the very first day of her two-week break, Yuhi was already restless. She lacked sleep in a huge way—dozing off in the wee hours of the night, and waking up in the wee hours of the day. She never intended it to happen. It was just that she couldn't sleep. Her mind was full of thoughts. And as she shifted her gaze towards her desk, staring at the wooden pendant that held a small carving of her favorite flower for a hundredth time, she couldn't help but wonder again if everything was only a dream, because it felt like it. She then suddenly held her breath, grabbed her blanket, bit it hard, and buried her face against her pillow—recalling how it all went down.
XxxflashbackxxX
"Killua, I like you!"
"…What?"
Yuhi froze in her position, breathless. "Why… You're still here…" she muttered, subconsciously saying aloud what was in her mind. She couldn't believe that Killua was still in the same spot he was a minute before. But more so, she couldn't believe what she said. She absent-mindedly gasped, chasing for air. Her joints were locked. She didn't know what to think. What did I just do!?
"What did you say?" Killua asked again after an eternity of silence, louder this time, stepping a foot forward. He never averted his gaze from the girl's face.
The latter felt fear crawl up her spine as she gazed back in Killua's eyes—the fear of the unknown, uncertain aftermath of something her gut feeling dictated. What was happening was incredulous beyond belief. But she knew she should not back away. She had to let it out. It had to happen anyway, and the chance was there. It took time for her to look down, breathe, and move a muscle to stand properly and head-on face the challenge she had started.
When she looked up, she again met Killua's eyes, and they were closer. He was closer. The pulses were constantly going crazy, blood filling her cheeks. She thought she had to hide her shameless face at least. "I… I said… I think…" her voice trailed off, thoughts mashed up.
"What?" the boy pressed, voice a silent whisper in the air.
Yuhi took a deep breath and clenched her fists, eyes closing as she mentally prayed for her stars to help her trembling lips. "I lied earlier when I said that I ran up to get the gift when I saw you walking out the booth. The truth is," she inhaled, "I went up to get the gift but it's not only because of that. It's because you're— I just… want you to know that I really… like you, that I get sad whenever I see you hanging out with other… But I… that's okay! It's just— I really think that you're the coolest boy I've seen, and since the first day this year I… I l-liked you, ever since then, and I…" Pausing, she breathed in once more and glanced at the boy who remained unmoving in his position when she realized that she had been speaking in exclamations, feeling the fire in her face blazing. "I don't expect… I'm sorry for not telling you sooner." she added slowly. "But please say something."
Killua let out a sharp exhale, and after an eternity of silence, he breathed out the words to the air in a faint mutter, tone of absolute disbelief. "You like me."
Too much expectation could be fatal to one's spirit. Yuhi was aware of that. She never expected anything from the boy while she thought of exploiting her emotions in the past. She dreamed of it, but she never expected. It should give her less heartache, instilling in her brain that someone like Killua would never like her the same way she had. But at that moment, Yuhi thought it was all just the same. Because there would still be pain—the pain of cutting the ties of a civil acquaintance. It was over, and she decided that it was enough. Killua never said anything after, and so the girl thought she had to go away from there.
But before she could bid him goodbye, Killua stepped a foot forward and started lifting his left hand slowly. Yuhi watched him with wide eyes, heart racing. She stepped a foot backward of reflex, but she couldn't seem to get the rest of her body moving. Killua never removed his eyes from the girl's. It seemed as though he did not know what to do. Yuhi saw him swallow, his lips parting. It felt as though he was getting closer, but the girl had no idea what was happening, and why it was suddenly so quiet, and why Killua kept gazing straight into her eyes, and why she was not moving away when in fact she knew that she should.
"What," Killua began, his voice low and soft as though he was whispering, exasperating the words out, "do you want me to say?"
Yuhi took another step back as Killua made another step forward. She could only blink, recalling that one afternoon at the rooftop. Killua's approach was almost the same, but his expression was completely the opposite. That night, his eyes were not intense. They were warm, light. She blinked, unsure of what to say. "A-Anything." She was ready for rejection even before she could plan the whole thing.
"Then… can I ask a question?"
The girl nodded.
Killua took another step forward, before stopping and locking gazes with the girl. "Don't… " His face was so close to hers that he seemed to have the need to look away, look down, and end up only glancing. "Don't you think you can hang out with me instead?"
What?
Yuhi's nerves reacted beyond bewilderment. She thought she was gone, having been shot straight in the chest by Killua's bullet voice. She stared at him to find the jest in his irises. There was none. "Wha…?" she let out faintly, not entirely sure of what she heard anymore.
Killua started blinking, eyebrows slowly flexing as he looked down and hid his face behind his forelocks. He let air out of his lungs, releasing smoke from his lips. "Didn't you say you feel sad?" he asked before peering from under his bangs and looking at the girl. "Then hang out with me instead."
The latter blinked, her breathing heavy as she assumed that the boy might have felt sorry for her because of what she said. She forced a smile. "It's okay. You didn't have to go that—"
"I'm asking you," Killua interposed, stepping a foot forward.
Yuhi was taken aback by the sudden change in the boy's tone. It came back to his normal lazy, frustrated tone. But it sounded too frustrated. She started to wonder what he was trying to say, what he meant by hanging out—what he felt. "I… I don't understand. Why are you—"
A pause.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-thu-dump.
Heh—! All of a sudden—too sudden—everything stopped. Yuhi's system stopped. She was breathless for seconds as she stared at Killua's face with absolute daze in her eyes, heart racing faster than a jet plane, louder than ten thousand speakers. Surreal as it was, she quickly processed that she was in a nice dream, that everything that had happened had only been one of her girly delusions. But no, she was standing in the world of reality that time, and she couldn't believe that she was feeling Killua's fingertips against her right cheek for real. The sudden touch was subtle and tiny. But Yuhi's nerves trembled and her head spun as the boy's cool flesh danced around her burning skin.
Killua's gaze was gorgeously serious. But his face was calm, his eyes were serene, his air comfortable, that Yuhi had no idea what to do. She did not know what to say—or whether moving was the best thing to do at that moment. She was incredibly confused, yet her mind was opening up to a possibility, an improbable possibility. So she waited, for what felt like an eon of staring, until Killua spoke in such tender tone.
"Hang out with me."
The words were suddenly magical music to her ears. She was still confused—extremely. Questions were flying by in her head at that time, but Yuhi ignored them for a while—savoring the present moment, because she felt happy, her glee reaching the heavens. Killua's sentence had a very good ring to it, making her want to smile. So she did, and it felt so, so good.
After that, she hardly ever knew what was going on. All she could remember happening was that Killua was touching her cheeks as he exhaled that small, pure, easy smile that she always loved. She thought she would not ever forget the feel of his cold sweaty palm against her skin, and how his eyebrows flexed of unpretentious gladness as he gazed right into her eyes, drowning her vision with the sea-blue jewel of his orbs. Then, as most of the perfect timings, the night sky started to light up in different colors, dancing under a joyous music. There were fireworks. It was magic. Everything was magic, and it was so beautiful.
Xxxflashback-endxxX
If it were only a dream, Yuhi wished that it would appear again in her sleep. But she knew it wasn't only just a dream. Yuhi squished her blanket with her fists and bit it again—only to squeal and squirm around in it, because she couldn't help it. The soppy goo spread fast through her veins whenever she recalled what happened the night before. There was nothing special during and after the fireworks display. No sappy words. No skin contact. They just talked, as how they used to, walked around incognito, Killua buying the cotton candy and walking her to the bus stop when the festival was announced over. Nothing special—but it felt special. It felt so nice. And that was what kept her up. She couldn't stop thinking about it, and she couldn't keep her eyes off the lovely gift the boy got her.
The girl finally stood up and fixed her bed, biting her lower lip as she couldn't help but unconsciously let out a smile that morning.
A Daffodil—Yuhi was surprised to find that Killua would actually give her something she mentioned that she liked, and he remembered. His gift was an antique-like wooden piece of decoration. In the beat-up, varnished oak, covered in glass, was a miniature embossed porcelain of a Daffodil. It wasn't huge. It didn't look fancy at all—not that the girl wanted it to be such. But it was pretty, and fragile, like one of those centuries old artifacts that grandmothers pass onto their grandchildren that they would pass onto their grandchildren. It's absolutely precious—so precious that she never wanted to risk losing or scratching it by keeping it away from its box. Admiring it was enough at the moment, and with a lovely sigh she would recall everything—albeit also immediately gazing to her phone, which was the most bizarre thing she thought she was doing, to wait for that something that would confirm whether it was all true.
She got dressed for a normal Saturday inside the ramen shop, thinking of doing extra work to help Roroturo inside the shop, since her vacation had officially started—and since she kind of had a sense of productivity the moment she woke up.
Killua asked for her number. And Yuhi never thought that there would come a time when she would really wait for a buzz on a cellphone she ignored forever since she got it. She was keeping an eye out on the gadget on her desk, practically since she woke up, waiting for a call, or a text. She tried not to though, and she kept telling herself that she wasn't that anxious, and that Killua maybe was still asleep, but again, she couldn't help it. It felt so silly. But it was strange, because she was cheerily staggered—genuinely happy. It was the most amazing thing that she felt since she found out about her brother's existence—as though her system was fueled—full tank. She glowed like the sun.
Yuhi gave herself a smile at the mirror before marching with high spirits down the stairs, inhaling the fresh morning air of hot breakfast soup and bread.
Roroturo's ramen shop did not open until seven o'clock in the morning. But if preparations for the were done earlier than scheduled, the shop would open earlier than scheduled as well. That morning, it was the former. The shop was still closed. But the food sure smelled and looked ready. Yuhi loved the morning air of an empty ramen shop. She loved the sound of utensils clashing while the cooks did their job and the silent footsteps along the wooden flooring of the shop while waiters fixed the tables. Roroturo's workers were silent while working, and Yuhi happened to love the still comfort of their warm presence during chilly mornings. The girl headed straight to the kitchen, greeted everything she passed a good morning, to announce her early presence to her beloved guardian.
"Wow, good morning! Please don't get me confused. Your holiday break already started, right? Why're you up so early?" the latter greeted with a huge smile and a loud voice, surprised, glancing at the girl while stirring his special ramen soup in a huge stainless pot.
Yuhi laughed and seated herself on a stool at the long kitchen table. She shrugged. "Nothing! Just got used to waking up this time of the day so…" Then she released a toothy grin.
Roroturo chuckled his loud and husky chuckle to the air before nodding. "Alright. And since you got up first, I'm going to make you a breakfast platter you won't ever forget. I bet Yel won't be up until later this afternoon." He turned to the girl and gave a wink. "Early bird gets the most delicious worm. You know what I mean."
And the moment she heard it, she wanted to go upstairs. "Onii-chan's here?" she asked excitedly. Yellich was always like a surprise gift. They would never know where he would be staying or whether he would be there when they woke up. He pops out of nowhere most of the time.
Roroturo nodded. "Glad I didn't close the shop yet when he came in. It was pretty late. But he sure was still excited." Then he sighed, laughing. "I almost locked him in his room for his mouth. He couldn't stop talking about the darn festival! Like a little kid! Your brother, really! He's one in a million."
Yuhi laughed heartily. The way Roroturo said it was funny. She nodded in agreement and couldn't keep her smiles to herself anymore. Yellich never mentioned anything about going home at their house that night, and the girl didn't hear them come up which was strange. But she wanted to tell her brother what happened, what she did, what his advice made happen. She wanted to share her excitement so bad.
"How about you, honey? Did you enjoy the festival yesterday? You were pretty rushed last night when you came in. Something happened?" Roroturo suddenly asked, turning a little to give the girl a crooked grin. "You don't look upset though."
Yuhi instantly pressed her lips together at that—not because she recalled that Roroturo knew nothing of her day at the festival, but because she was suppressing a very huge smile her brain was forcing her to let out.
The moment she got home the night before, she remembered, she gave Roroturo a kiss on the cheek and headed straight up the stairs after bidding him a good night. It really was abrupt, but she had to be alone immediately, she reckoned, and comprehend every single thing that happened. Oh, she never wanted to hide it from her guardian, not ever, but she suddenly didn't know how to explain it. She began by clearing her throat and tried toning down the glee in her chest. "I definitely had fun!" Roroturo completely turned around to face the girl and listen. And thus began the story of her day at the festival.
She told her guardian the exciting things she did—excluding her girly moments, of course—and only stopping at the part where her friends signed her up the Marriage Booth to get married to Gon, as Roroturo placed the breakfast platter she would not ever forget on the table for the girl to dig in. She was surprisingly hungry.
Roroturo was laughing. "You have got to bring Gon here!" he said playfully loud for the fourth time since Yuhi told him about it. He seemed not to get over that particular story. The shop already opened during that time, and he seemed not to get over that particular story.
Yuhi found it funny. She started to laugh.
"I mean, he married my girl without consent!"
Then she almost choked—surprised at her reaction, trying to hide it by chuckling. That without consent phrase got to her real good. Slightly feeling tensed, she let out, "Without consent…" under her breath as she reached for a glass of water to her right.
"But of course!" Roroturo announced. "If some'll try to get with my Yuhi, he should definitely go through me first!"
Then she almost choked—again. There was nothing to freak out about. But Yuhi was starting to. She placed the glass tumbler on the table and forced a sheepish smile. "Ne, Roroturo-san, about that…"
Roroturo was laughing once more. "Yep?" he asked, as if to dare, leaning an elbow on the table and raising an eyebrow with that crooked smile on his muscular face.
Yuhi unknowingly gulped, forcing another smile. Then she started playing with a piece of scrambled egg on her plate. "You see, there's something I w—"
"Roroturo-san! Tohiko-san!"
Both snapped their heads towards the counter window separating the bar from the kitchen. It revealed a huge man with a naturally red nose in a thick winter coat, smiling at them. He was one of Roroturo's old friends and a regular costumer of the shop. They exchanged their morning greetings accordingly—with Roroturo even waving a hand. He then turned to the girl as he stood up. "Hold that thought. I owe Tohiko a really long chat." Chuckling, he patted the girl on the head and went out at the bar to greet his loyal customers a good morning.
Yuhi gave a little smile to herself as she turned to finish her big breakfast, nodding slowly while thinking of absolutely telling her guardian about what happened the night before—about Killua—surely. She then absent-mindedly put a hand on one of the pockets of her denim overalls for her cellphone, suppressing a laughter at what she did, finding herself silly waiting for a boy's message so early in the morning for the first time in her life.
"Our Yuhi looks inspired."
When she looked up, she found the female cooks in the kitchen with her giggling while giving her funny looks. Her face instantly reddened. She smiled sheepishly, bowing a little as a shy response for the surprising comment. The ladies then released airy chuckles as they returned to work.
Maybe it was true—that was it. Inspiration—she never imagined it could be that alleviating. The white-haired boy's face then invaded her train of thoughts as what it had been doing since, making her recall the previous night. She started to wish, and hope, that they could be like that for a long time.
"Killua! Killuaaaa~!"
A small hum of a grumble bloomed from underneath the thick sheets of an occupied bed, and a lazy rustle, as the boy responded languidly with the mention of his name. He pulled the pillow from under his head and flopped it over his face, trying to get back to sleep.
"Hey, Killuaaaaa!"
Another grumble—more like a groan—and a rustle, as he buried his head onto his bed deeper with his pillow. "…Whaaaat?" he let out, eyes still closed, sluggish as ever.
"Aren't you going to wake up already?"
Killua moaned in protest. He was completely awake, already stirred the moment he heard his name being called. But he wanted to fall back into slumber again. "Why?"
"Well, first of all, it's already late." The latter spoke optimistically despite the critical situation. He knew that Killua was not a morning person, but Killua knew that Gon was.
Killua's eyes popped wide open at that. Already late?
"Second of all," Gon continued, "Mito-san wanted me to wake you up already. And third of all—" Gon paused, eyes wide as he watched his best friend sit up from his bed and snap his head at the clock. He blinked, curious. "Killua?"
The addressed was still as he stared at the time on the digital clock on his desk, blinking. 01:40 PM. Gon was right. It was already late. But it felt as though he had just gone to sleep the moment he heard Gon waking him up. He shook his head to get his mind working—the same time he heard Gon releasing a hearty laughter. He snapped his head towards his best friend, raising an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"
Gon pointed to his face. His smile was as huge as the sun. "Your hair looks different today."
In an instant, Killua had his hands on his head, feeling the messy groom of his white locks againt his palm. He sneered at Gon before looking away and standing up to fix himself in the bathroom. It was embarrassing—because the messy hair might have resulted from his endless turning and rolling on his bed the night before, and early that morning, sleepless, restless—trying to tire himself so he could doze off. He couldn't sleep, and that time was worse than any sleepless nights. He finally dozed off at half past eight o'clock in the morning, for Pete's sake. Half past eight in the morning.
The reason why was because of her. He could never get her off his mind and he couldn't seem to get his eyes off his phone all night and dawn long—especially when the sun's dull rays had touched the glass of his room's window. Even that morning, when Gon woke him up, the moment he decided that he was awake her face was the first one to greet him a good morning. It must be because of that funny thing he felt crawling up his spine—as though he drank a gallon of coffee and his nerves were wide-awake and jumpy. But it was ridiculously stupid, because he would never mind. It was okay. In fact he liked it. He liked every bit of it. And thinking about how much he liked it made him feel very funny—in a good way.
Killua then paused halfway in brushing his teeth when he happened to glance at the mirror and caught himself smiling. He immediately erased it, cleared his throat and tried preparing for the day fast.
His best friend was still in his room when he got back and he could feel him observing his every move as he walked in, a towel on his damp hair and with a change of clothes. He glanced at Gon as he started to feel something awkward rolling about his gut. It made him act as if he was pissed, because it was awkward. He gave the spiky-haired the eye and grumbled, "Whaaaat?" But he almost freaked out when he saw what was in his best friend's hands.
"Oh, hey, Killua!" Gon greeted with a smile before meticulously inspecting the designs of the object in his hands. "I didn't get a chance to look closely at this last night. Yuhi's really creative, isn't she?"
And then Killua was suddenly slightly coughing, looking down and trying not to get too much blood in his face. "Yeah, I guess." He walked and sat on his bed with a cool air, trying to act like it. "Be careful with that thing," he added, and he was serious. It was silent for a while again after that, and when he looked up, he saw Gon's hands unoccupied and giving him the look again. He glared and pressed, "What?"
But the latter remained unmoving in his seat at the desk, smiling—no, beaming—at his best friend while his huge, bright chocolate brown eyes blinked endlessly, as if he were a puppy. As if he were a puppy waiting for something.
Killua knew Gon too well not to get what he was trying to do. But he was starting to feel very uncomfortable of his position. Gon's gaze could feel like laser sometimes. They could indisputably see right through a person's darn flesh for some reason. And that time, Killua was so sure that he was not going to get away from it. He tried acting natural and cool, and tried ignoring the fact that his best friend was giving him the look—which he was so sure he was doing well at.
Silence—until Gon's impatient little curiosity reached its limit, just in time for Killua to reach the door going out. "Killua, you have to tell me!" he suddenly chased in a rushed exclamation.
Pausing, Killua almost grinned at the air for hearing again Gon giving up the game of silence first, before turning and raising an eyebrow, eyes wearily half-lidded. "'Bout what?" But he knew too well what it was he had to tell.
Gon blinked. Then his face fell into disbelief as he threw his hands in the air. "Aw, c'mon?" he expressed. "Are you still mad at me? I already said I was sorry. And I really am. So please don't be mad anymore, Killua. I'll make it up to you, I swear!"
The white-haired boy was struggling to suppress his laughter at his best friend's careful yet forcefully sharp tone. Gon was apologizing for abandoning him and not devoting the time promised for them to spend at the festival. He did it a gazillion times when he got home in the was only bummed, and a little vexed though. But he easily shooed Gon away to be alone in his room and vent. He grimaced, shrugged, and said, "I wasn't even mad, you dweeb." So much for keeping the mad mood going.
And then Gon was beaming again. "I know you aren't."
"Ugh. Creepy."
"Huh?"
Killua groaned. He was feeling very awkward. "You always say that you know even if you keep acting like you don't. Seriously, dude. What are you, psycho?"
Gon blinked, eyes wide. "I believe it's psychic."
A long stare was all Killua could think of responding with aside from the "I know. But whatever." It was always like that. Gon was always like that. Perhaps it was because he could perfectly read Killua now. But it was even more alarming to admit that the white-haired boy had been continuing to do stuff he knew Gon could read about even so.
The thing was, Killua was indirectly telling his best friend to stop with the gooey gazes because of something he might have had an idea on before it gets severely awkward for him. But he didn't mean it in a pissed off way as how he said it. He meant it in an honestly nice way. It's just that his nerves were suddenly acting up. Tense. It was so weird and awkward it made him want to hurl.
Gon gave off a slight frown—or a pout—before shrugging. "I was just waiting for you to tell me 'cause you promised last night."
Yeah, he did.
"But if you don't want to talk about it now, I totally understand!" Gon said, suddenly smiling and jumpy. Then it kind of became playfully. "I know it feels strange to talk about, and you don't have to say it directly because I certainly can tell because you're all red right now. But I understand—"
Killua grumbled again. Gon laughed. Killua stared, and glared, and stared, and then finally, "We just talked…," he said. It was the usual Killua style of shy-talking, turning around, pretending to do something, and muttering words under his breath. But he couldn't believe how hard his pulses banged against his skin when he blurted it out.
"Come again?"
Sighing, the white-haired boy turned back around to face his best friend's sunny face, shrugging. "We just hung out."
The funny thing about Gon was that there were words jam-packed with common sense and he still wouldn't understand, and there were words lacking reason he'd completely get in an instant. With Killua's case, Gon was the latter. Maybe Killua was thankful for it, because he didn't have to go as far as embarrass himself with his own words by saying stuff directly as they were.
Three days before, after an eternal series of self-contemplation in his room, he barged into Gon's, and just by the look in his face Killua knew that Gon was waiting for him to actually say something that was obviously bugging him ever since. He told Gon about the unprecedented sensation he was feeling oozing from within the gates of his ribcage. Well—sort of.
Gon asked then, as his innocent eyes blinked, "What's up?"
It took some time, and some unnecessary movements, before Killua started off by talking about problems and the whole concept of friendship, echoing Lykira's cheesy words when she talked to him about that particular thing, and explained how Gon knew that Killua found that all corny and overrated. Gon said okay, waited, and Killua finally let out, "I may have a problem. A serious problem."
"Did you flunk Math?"
"Not that."
"Are you sick?"
"Well, I…"
"Did someone from your family called?"
"Ugh. No."
"Then what?"
"Heh… It's kinda…" Killua gulped, not knowing how to say it. And he was feeling awkward to his bones. It was perhaps one of the most nerve-racking things he had ever felt in his life. He cleared his throat, looked at his best friend and lightly punched his left chest twice.
It was easy. Gon's face seemed to have lightened up. And Killua had a feeling he got it, because Gon was blinking nonstop, as though he was trying to comprehend the sudden revelation. Then slowly, the corners of his lips were lifting into a grin. "It's a girl!"
Killua started to feel the temperature in his face rise, and, "Of course it's a girl, you moron—!" was what his impulse blurted out.
At that, Gon laughed heartily, and that's about it. He understood. He was a true psycho—psychic.
But the funny thing about Killua was that he knew of these things—in a much broader scale than Gon perhaps—but he had no idea how to deal with it, let alone talk about it. He didn't know whether talking about it was even the right thing to do, or telling his best friend as soon as he kind of figured it out would help or make it worse for him. His brain debated then, and he couldn't look Gon straight in the eye. Everything seemed awkward and so weird. Talking about it felt so awkward and so weird. But he told Gon anyway, that he was dealing with feelings he didn't understand, and his best friend listened—even though his words were made up of metaphors and obscure meanings.
So he trusted that Gon would get what he just said.
The response was positive. Gon was suppressing his beams. "You just hung out," he repeated. "But you hung out! That's a good thing, right?"
Killua shrugged again, trying to act cool in spite of his jumpy cells. "Not a big deal."
Gon smiled at Killua, and it was one of those smiles one would find weird, or annoying, or overflowing with cheeky ulterior motives. And he remained in his smiling position for seconds while Killua remained defenseless, with nothing to guard his sight from the powerful unnerving gaze of his best friend. Then all of a sudden the spiky-haired boy stood up, nodded once, and started walking towards the door. "Let's go eat, Killua. Mito-san cooked delicious food today!" He smiled again before disappearing into the hallway.
Killua's eyebrows were confusedly furrowed as he watched the door of his room clicked shut. He stared at it for a while, blinking, wondering what on earth has gotten into his spiky-haired friend. If one would be around Gon for more than three years, he or she could easily tell that that was him being so obviously mysterious of something he mysteriously did. Killua grimaced and went straight to his desk, as what he continuously did the whole night and dawn—which was weird and creepy, he admitted—and pried for what was in Gon's hands a little while ago.
The boy now understood what the ramen girl meant by 'not done yet' when Hikari asked about the gifts. Because the gift he got definitely was made from scratch. One could easily determine that fact. But it looked great and creative—overflowing with art and effort.
It was a 6-inch tall, battery powered dull yellow bulb-lighted, square lamp-slash-lantern—with its pillars and foundation made from small bamboo sticks and its shade from very thin off-white cloth that was covered in artistic paintings. The colors and style were similar to that of traditional art. He switched it on the night before and it looked cool with shadows of the designs on the shade blasting through the walls of his room. He was happy about it, especially because his name was written in traditional calligraphy on one side.
Oh, the white-haired boy knew well what that meant. Gon gave him a mini lantern exactly like that back at camp trip, his name written with a marker on one side, and told him the story the man at Gassho Zukuri told him. Killua thought that it was mere publicity, to sell a good deal to tourists, but he still kept Gon's small souvenir. Now he had a 6-inch tall version of that. Given by the ramen girl.
Absent-mindedly then Killua let out a small smile. I see what you did there, he spoke mentally as he gazed at the lamp-slash-lantern gift, mind drifting completely towards someone else. Then he jolted his back straight, recalling the night before. He blinked, put the gift down, and scrambled through the junk on his desk for a piece of small paper he left lying there. The first thing he saw was his phone, and he immediately shot it in his pocket before he began again with the search. He opened drawers, peeked underneath his room's furniture, examined his pockets, rummage through his bag. It was missing.
Killua breathed out of frustration, wondering why he had not saved it on his phone when he never did anything but stare at it and wonder if he should send a buzz already or not all night and dawn. What the heck's wrong with me? He slumped on his chair and stared at the lamp-slash-lantern again, and stared at it even closely when the dull rays of the sun hit its cloth.
There was a weird shadow inside.
With careful hands, he grabbed the lamp-slash-lantern and pulled out the thing causing the shadow from the inside. Killua sighed of relief when he did. It was the paper he was looking for—the paper that contained the ramen girl's number. He flipped it and confirmed. Then his eyes grew wide as he read a note on the lower right corner, handwriting extremely familiar.
"Call her! :D"
The white-haired boy couldn't help but smile exasperatedly as he stared at it. Gon, he guessed.
Yellich was an excited little kid in a 19-year-old young adult's body, rocking back and forth in his sister's study table chair, taking on a box of cookies he snatched secretly from the ramen shop's kitchen as he cackled musically, eyes glowing, face bright. He listened to every word Yuhi said—he asked her to tell him—even though the girl's words were confusingly scrambled at times, and he was an excited little kid. There was a moment of silence after the story, and in that moment he gazed at Yuhi, who was brimming with sunshine and youthful flushed countenance. And he was confident. He smiled. "And? What did he say?"
The girl looked down and tried to hide her blushing face and the upcoming smile her racing heart wanted her to emit. She thought it would be easy, but she felt different sorts of things as she uttered the words to describe what happened the night before. She was fidgety, nervous, excited, and shy. But talking about it made her feel good—and the feeling was greater when she answered her brother's question.
Yellich paused midway of chewing. Then he swallowed hard, smile widening. "What?" he asked in a whisper before he started to laugh. "Hang out? Hang out," he suddenly outburst. "Hang out! He wants you to hang out with him! That's what he said?"
Completely surprised, the girl shrugged and said, "Yes."
"Hang out!" Yellich repeated, dropping his shoulders and looking out the window. He grimaced at the air, but his smile never left his face. He shook his head of disbelief and spoke as if he was talking to himself. "Killua, wow, hang out? Really? Oh, please. I was expecting some theatrically dramatic words you'd find in classic novels. I guess that doesn't happen much in real life now but, heck, hang out? What kind of response is that to a love confession?" He pressed his point quite frustratingly. Yellich seemed amazed yet incredibly ridiculed.
Yuhi was starting to think that something might be wrong, according to the self-righteous laws of his brother's philosophy. "Is that…not right?"
When Yellich looked at his sister and saw her wide curious eyes, he instantly retracted, waving his hands frantically in front of her face in an attempt to assure her that it was okay. "It's just that he could've said something more... straight to the point, something… mind-boggling, or something that can get your muscles to feel all squishy."
Fidgety, Yuhi silently said, "Well, that's kind of how it is, actually."
"Really?"
"Heh… Yes."
"Oh? You're muscles felt all squishy?"
Yuhi blushed.
Yellich laughed, scooping two cookies and shooting them in his mouth. "Ah, whatever. As long as your muscles felt squishy, that's fine enough."
Her brother's face looked so frighteningly daring Yuhi could only nod and smile, her face a tomato with a temperature hot as the center of the earth. She was starting to feel the shy part of her system take over.
"Okay. So," he started, stretching his neck and looking at his sister straight in the eyes. "I hope you don't mind me asking. What's the status?"
Leaning back a bit, the girl blinked, surprised at the question she didn't know the answer to. She asked what Yellich meant and he pressed the word relationship. It got Yuhi's heart racing. She had no idea.
Yellich stared. He raised an eyebrow. "He asked you to hang out with him and nothing? I'm not encouraging you to be lovey-dovey but that's the whole point of a confession, in my opinion. Baby sister, you ask for what would happen, and it seems to me that you didn't get an answer. Did he ask you out? Did he tell you he'd come by or call or anything?"
And suddenly, Yuhi had no clue what her brother was talking about. She shook her head to answer the question. Then she blinked, and began, "Well, there is something he did ask." Yellich waited. She took a breath. "My number."
There was another moment of silence, with Yellich's facial muscles slowly relaxing and transforming into a grin. He leaned back and stuffed another cookie in his mouth while nodding in a funny, villainous, impish kind of way. "Sly," he commented. "So he did call you already? Oh, wait. Was it a text? I feel like Killua would start of by sending a text."
Yuhi felt her bones breaking with each word Yellich uttered. Wrong. She sighed and smiled, mentally negating what her brother was assuming. Killua did not call her yet. There weren't any messages. And Killua had not even started anything, not even by sending a message. Yuhi expected that Yellich would react as how he did earlier when she gave no abrupt answer, but she was surprised to find that he was perfectly calm with that smile on his face, as if he was having an afternoon tea at a garden, confident that all of his plans were executed smoothly.
She wanted to tell him, to clear out that part of the topic in the least, but Yuhi decided that it was hers to keep. So she only smiled and gazed at her toes for the zillionth time.
Yellich then rose from his seat, stretched for a second and gazed at his sister with his bright hazel eyes, one hand on his hip, the other around the box of cookies. He told Yuhi that she must be satisfied with the circumstances now, about her having to speak her heart in front of the person she wanted to speak her heart to for the longest time, that that alone was already a winner, and Killua's response was only a bonus that she should be grateful for however he said it. Yellich commended her for her courage before teasing her with it. And eventually, he left the room—to help out at the shop for a while—with a wink and a beam, like an excited little kid that he was.
When Yellich was gone and her room was a quiet cell again, she stared out the window without moving from her spot on her bed, Yellich's words echoing in her head. He was right. She must be satisfied now that she told Killua how she felt. She did it for herself in the first place, and she did feel a huge lump break out from her chest. But that thought couldn't get her mind off her cellphone. She took it out from her overalls pocket, stared at the screen and reflexively stuck out her bottom lip. Why didn't he give me his?
Killua didn't even know what on earth he was watching. It looked like some kind of reality show about how monkeys act and behave as pets. Yes, that's right, a reality show about monkeys—on a channel called Animal Universe that was always automatically on whenever he booted up the TV. He started to wonder whether it was a girl thing, because he and Gon barely watched TV, and aside from Mito and Gon's grandmother, there weren't anyone else with them inside the house to watch.
Gon seemed to like it though. He looked incredibly entertained and amazed of the fact that monkeys could actually do housework as humans do. "Maybe that's why they say that humans were monkeys once. What did they call that again?" he asked that afternoon. They were flopped onto the couch, resting. Their lunch was divine.
"The Theory of Evolution," Killua answered eyes half-lidded as he got himself completely incredulous of what he was watching.
"Right!" Gon could be very bad with words at times. "Ne, Killua, what if we were really monkeys?"
Killua grimaced, one corner of his lips lifting into a smirk. "If that's true I'd say that I've evolved really well and far from their species. Physical appearance-wise." The need to express a little mischief.
Gon laughed and said, "Didn't we all?" Then returned to being entertained by monkeys now working at a restaurant.
He, on the other hand, was not paying much attention. He was watching, but he could not help but glance over the cellphone he placed on the coffee table in front of the couch from time to time. It was not as if he was a chicken feeling helplessly coward and nervous of the fact that he was pressured to call a girl. It's just that he was taking his time, waiting for the boost to push him to know what he would want to say if ever he attempted to send a message. In short, he wasn't in the mood yet, he forced. But he was absolutely in the mood to pretend watching TV when in fact he couldn't even get his eyes off his phone for more than five seconds thinking of how to kick it off.
A groan escaped his throat when he thought of it. He sneered to the air, grabbed the gadget and stormed up to his room.
Yuhi felt like a ninja while she mashed dough inside the ramen shop's kitchen—keeping her focus on the task the same time as fixing her senses towards the gadget in her pocket, waiting for a beep or a ring, because although she did not want to admit to it, she was feeling honestly anxious, or maybe a little excited—or both.
The girl pouted and took a breath, mentally hitting her head for being so impatiently silly. It was not as if Killua was required to call her. And it was not as if Yuhi was required to wait for it. Well, maybe it was, because the boy promised, or did he? Yuhi started to think of the exact words. Did Killua promise or did he only say that he might? Now she was unsure. Last night was like a dream and she was starting to think that she might be waking up from it already.
But she kept her optimism up by thinking otherwise. There could be plenty of reasons why she hadn't received the said buzz—Killua doing something important, Killua hanging out with Gon, Killua still asleep, Killua losing her number, or her actually making a mistake by confessing. She huffed. No.
A few minutes passed, as she rested on a stool at the long table, taking a break from shop duties, she checked her phone for the nth time as though she was waiting for a call or a message about the impending apocalypse, and browsed through it as if there was something sentimental about the godforsaken object.
She sighed, placed it back in her pocket and stood up to get a drink—until she stopped, blinked, and scrambled through carelessly wiping her hands with her apron and taking out her cellphone again. She was certain she heard a twing! And as definite as she was, there really was a text message. Her heart raced as she clicked open, suppressing the smile from emanating through her face. Then she froze—incredulous and flustered. Eh?
A few meters away was Yellich slowly letting the rhythm of his laughter come in contact with his voice box. He was guffawing hard he was out of breath. "Seriously, baby sister," he started in between chuckles. "I'm sorry for saying this like a gazillion trillion times but I still can't believe that you have a phone!"
Yuhi shifted her gaze from her phone's screen to her brother, her face twisted and blood-drained. She felt cold sweat trickle down her nape and could sense her soul departing her body. Humiliation. Because of her overrated anticipation. Witnessed by her brother. Again. The message was from him, containing the exact words that he just said, and Yuhi felt sorry for her shame as she watched Yellich and the other staff in the kitchen giggle. She smiled sheepishly at each one, cheeks suddenly hot and red, and then shot her brother a forcefully fierce glare. She wasn't mad, but she thought that Yellich deserved the eye. "Very funny," she flatly said.
And Yellich was still laughing. "It is!" he exclaimed.
Then he stopped. Both of them stopped, eyes wide as they blinked. Yellich was the first one to break the twin reaction. His face slowly formed a grin, gazing at his sister.
Yuhi blinked again. Then her face dropped, grimacing and shaking her head. "Very funny," she repeated in a forcefully sardonic tone, lifting her phone to her face and seeing another text message. Her brother had done a great deal of teasing since she told him about the thing. Yuhi thought that she would not let herself look stupid again by assuming that everything she was expecting came from her brother. She opened the message, and she did not see that coming.
Unknown Number
"hey… it's me."
For a moment she held her breath, and in that moment Roroturo came walking in the kitchen. "Oh, you brought out your phone. Wait. You brought out your phone!" he exclaimed, surprised. "And here I thought you'd want to receive snail mails for the rest of your life." He cackled a little and walked past the girl to talk to a female cook.
Yuhi started to feel all giddy. She turned around and asked Roroturo if he had sent her a text using a different number. Roroturo said no, that was ridiculous, why would he do that? She looked around and saw everyone's hands in the kitchen occupied by cooking utensils. She looked at Yellich who was leaning his elbows on the counter window, shrugging. And her heart was racing. Yuhi turned to her phone again and sent a reply.
"hi! it's you…?"
"yeah. ramen girl?"
And at that Yuhi could not hide her glee anymore. She bit her lower lip and took a deep breath, looked around, saw everyone busy, Roroturo left for the counter, Yellich out waiting tables. She pulled a chair and began texting, eyes sparkling like gold.
"Why do you keep calling her ramen girl?"
Almost jumping off his seat, the white-haired boy instantly snapped his head around, face reading a look of shock—as though he was doing something illegal and he got caught. Gon was leaning on him from behind and Killua had no idea when he came in his room. The first thing he thought of doing was sneer. "What— Why are you here?" his nerves demanded.
Gon blinked and stood straight, pushing his lower lip so it would look like he was pouting. "I wanted to see what you're doing. You disappeared." Then he grinned his toothy grin. "But now I see what you're doing."
Killua was aware that his mouth was half-open of absolute disbelief. He locked his jaws close and exhaled. "Gon, you don't just read other people's messages," he said between gritted teeth. There was a pause. And in the silence he was starting to regret his outburst, because Gon was not just somebody. He was his best friend. Then Gon started to giggle. Killua dropped it. He was feeling his face burn. He groaned.
"I didn't read it. I just happened to see."
"That's exactly the same thing!"
"No, it's not!"
"Yes it is!"
"Why do you keep calling her ramen girl?" Gon shouted. They were practically shouting in the room anyway. But neither sounded pissed. Maybe Killua, a little. Gon didn't. He was giggling, and when he asked the question he was on the verge of laughing so loud at his best friend's face.
Killua was aware of that as well. He rolled his eyes and turned away from Gon's sight. "I got used to it."
"You can get used to calling her name too! Yuhi's name is nice. I like saying it over and over. It's cute," Gon said warmly. When Killua looked at him with a raised eyebrow he added, "Yuhiyuhiyuhiyuhiyuhiyuhiyuhiyuhiyuhiyuhiyuhiyuhi—"
"Okay. Okay! I get it! Jeez! You can stop now," Killua rushed exasperatedly while he silently did breathing exercises. That was too much Yuhi he thought his pulses would explode.
Gon exhaled through his mouth, as though he just drank a shot of liquor, and ran his palm through his nape, smiling sheepishly. "It's tricky though, like a tongue twister."
Killua grumbled. He did not know why but for some reason, whenever Gon brought up the ramen girl or whenever there was something about him that involved the ramen girl and someone else noticed, his nerves would act up, and it would look as if he was mad about the world, and he was not mad at the world.
"You texted her?"
Slightly lifting his blue eyes, the white-haired boy glanced at Gon. "Yeah. Just now."
"Say hi to her for me."
"Sure."
A pause.
"Go ask her out." Gon crossed his arms against his chest, looking like the good person that he was, supplying trustworthy suggestions.
But it surprised Killua in a way that he was surprised that he got surprised. "What?" And he was suddenly feeling cold sweat trickle out of the pores of his nape.
Gon giggled. "Ask her out. Isn't that what guys usually do?"
Yuhi retreated to her room immediately after wrapping up her work at the shop, surprising Roroturo, for she would normally either stay or volunteer to wait tables. She made an excuse by saying that she was in the mood for slacking around in the house—which was partly true—and she was spared. Roroturo wanted Yuhi to actually slack around in the house instead of doing chores for once.
"Slack all you want! But don't clack too much. You still have school after two weeks," the buff man had said with a huge smile, and Yuhi was off.
She took her phone out her pocket the instant she flopped herself on her bed, grabbing a pillow and flipping the switch on to her table lamp as it was already slightly dark out. The cool December nights were getting longer.
"it's hard to tell. who'd know? they might've come from an even uglier species before they evolved"
The text from Killua was from one and a half hours ago. She felt bad for keeping him waiting. Their topic was Science, but it was fun. Killua's ideas were ones to think about. Yuhi thought how bright the boy was for saying stuff she had not even took time to consider. They were talking about monkeys.
"hi again! sorry for the late reply! shop duty called. ^^" anyway, you're saying that every creature in the world evolved from something? then where do you think it all came from?"
She clicked send after a minute or two of thinking of what to reply wisely. Yuhi gave an option. She believed in the idea that there is a God in the heavens above and she wanted to hear what Killua had to say about it.
Propping for an Indian-style of sitting, she placed her phone in front of her and held her fingers to her cheeks, praying that Killua would not get crossed about her late reply. It was about five minutes until her phone lit up and twing!
"ramen girl :) and yeah, but I was pointing out that maybe humans evolved from being gross stuff the earth could only manage to provide for in the past or something"
"I guess I deserve that name haha :) eh? do you really think so?"
"sometimes. bacteria, fungi, turds, boogers…"
"oh nooo hahaha that's terrible!"
"in fact disgusting. and scary. but it's funny esp when u kinda want to get back at someone but you kinda cant. just think that he evolved from turds and ur good ha ha"
For three hours they talked, about where the words led them—Tomo, school, student council officers, Gon, what they were doing, even more Gon, Roroturo, the ramen shop, Mito, if they have eaten already, and even more Gon. Yuhi learned that Killua was weak in Math and a genius in everything else, that he truly has a sweet tooth for candy and chocolate and his favorite treat's called Chocorobo, that he was home-schooled when he was little—as well as Gon—that he never did his homework not until the day before the deadline—unless Gon would have to use the magic word "Mito-san"—and that he was doing nothing but text her during that time.
Yuhi's face bloomed immensely as the light from her cellphone glowed through her skin, her bright eyes illuminated and her lips a solid drawing of a gleaming convex. The night sky was getting darker as the evening closed in deeper, and she should be doing something as rising from her bed and turning the light on in her room, but she couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop. There were so many things she found that she loved talking about, and she liked the fact that even what she thought were nonsensical ones were taken into account by the other.
Excitement was written all over her face, tattooed on her flesh, injected in her DNA. She wanted to know him, and him to know her. Her cellphone's twing! became a powerful conductor of energy, like an electric current had been continuously flowing through her veins whenever she received a reply, making her pulses beat in the rhythm of an Indie rock song. It was insane. In those three hours she felt as though everything was in place, everything felt right, and she wanted more.
After dinner Yuhi rushed back to her room and pinned herself on her chair, arms wrapped around her legs, staring at the rectangular gadget in her hand, contemplating the twang that constantly nipped her skin, weighing the boxes. She did not know how to start saying it, or if she should even begin. What if the more would sound too much?
She wanted to see Killua, to talk to him in person, where she could see his blue eyes blink and his lips move. In flesh. In front of her. To her.
The thought was flooding her lungs. She didn't know how to start saying it, if she should even begin, or let nature run its course. Her emotions were something extraordinarily ridiculous. She needed a manual, anything like "Having-the-boy-you-like-hang-out-with-you For Dummies." Sighing, she released a smile, eyes lit up, with her cellphone lightening up with it.
"hey…"
Killua.
"hi!"
"hey hey"
"hi hi"
"it's like ur laughing or somthing"
"now i am :)"
":)"
":) doing something?"
"meh. u?"
"not much :) did you have dinner already?"
"yeah. food fight night. gon lost. u?"
"yes. but no food fight haha congratulations!"
Stretching, Yuhi placed the phone aside while she got ready for bed. And to get her brain working on something good to say about how much she wanted to see him. When she came back, sitting on the same chair, she found that she didn't receive any messages yet. She shrugged and thought of placing it away again for a while when twing!
"hi"
Killua. Again.
"hi!"
"so… tomorrow's sunday"
Yuhi blinked, feeling the surge of tsunamis inside her chest. There was something about Sundays that got pictures of cheesy scenes at the park of the movies she had watched rolling like silent films in her head. She swallowed, feeling her face burn as she licked her lower lip, slowly typing in a reply.
"well, yes… are you doing anything tomorrow?"
She wanted to melt right there and then when she clicked send. Waiting for Killua's reply felt like an eternity.
"why? are u doing anything tomorrow?"
Yuhi choked on her own breath. She was so nervous and fidgety, like all of her cells were drunk and reveling.
"nothing but help out in the shop, I guess. are you doing anything tomorrow?"
"oh… do you have a shift or something?"
"i'm in until a Rowella-san arrives. :)"
"until what time? usually"
Yuhi thought of it.
"usually around 5 :) why? are you doing something tomorrow?"
For some reason she felt more courageous in text than in person—in anywhere and anything but in person. Yuhi really wanted to pursue with it. Maybe the hanging out part could happen that Sunday. It was not as if she would be asking him to go out with her alone. They could bring friends, classmates. Just to hang out. See each other.
Yuhi felt her heart punch her brain. Who was she kidding? She hoped for a date. And her new found confidence was pushing her through it.
It took some time before Killua's message arrived. And during the interval she scrolled through their conversation thread, giggling and smiling to herself. Then when she reached the recent messages, all of a sudden, she started to wonder why Killua was asking. Yuhi didn't want to get ahead of herself but she had this funny feeling in her stomach. It was making her smile reach the back of her neck. What if—?
Twing!
Killua.
"no. well… gon won game coupons. tomorrow's sunday. are you free after 5?"
She flipped.
-CHAPTER END-
Today is the day that TOC celebrates its first birthday! I'd like to thank everyone who read, is reading, will read, followed, fave-d, reviewed, and kept up with me for one whole year of cheese and teenage love-ish affairs. I wouldn't be able to write this story this long if it weren't for your constant messages and support for the characters. It's totally awesome. The awesomest. Bestest. Thank you so much! But today's true celebration is Killua's birthday so yay! /splats a 10-layered cake on his pretty face/ If they were real, he'd be 27 by now. Ha-ha. Old man. But of course he's still a baby. Gon and Killua are forever 12. Babies. Adorkable babies. /ugleh cries/
Soooo, what do you think of the chapter? Like I said earlier on, I had to ask a lot of people about the current situation of the characters in this story. I feel like I needed guidelines and advise from now on, because Yuhi and Killua are sort of working it out already. You need a hefty amount of feels to write romance and right now I've got plenty, but I need to tone it down to level with reality so there. What do you think about it? What can you say about the confession part? (the cheesy part haha) Do you think Killua (this time) did the right thing by asking her to hang out with him? Come on, pips! Let's hear you out. I'd like to know your thoughts because your thoughts are always so special and important. :)
NEXT CHAPTER: Is it a date or a what?
Oh and glob, to those who reviewed in the previous chapter, thank you very much! I'm sorry if I couldn't reply to everyone but I hope you know that I love seeing and reading your thoughts so much. They are the fuel to my fire. Seriously. I enjoyed writing this chapter. All the cheese. And the mush. Makes me feel in love. Haaaaha! So I hope to see your reviews again in this! Make it long, make it short, I'll read them all. ^^
