"The scent is getting weaker." Gon remarked.
We had been out in the crowded city streets for about four hours now, following the trail Shenka Riyoshi had left behind the last time he wandered through this part of town. Leorio and Kurapika were all the way across the city from us, checking out all of Shenka's known hangout locations. They were probably questioning the people they found there too, trying to gather as much information on this guy and his whereabouts as possible.
Gon and I were left to follow the musky scent of the criminal's cologne. I didn't have as strong a nose as Gon did, but I could read the other signs that any average person couldn't. Assassins were highly skilled in tracking down their targets.
"He was definitely here. And recently, too." Gon said, glancing up at the cloudy skies warily. "But this wind and the threat of rain might pose a problem for us later on."
The wind had picked up right around midnight, bringing in heavy thunderstorm clouds that hadn't produced anything other than dry lightning so far. It was pretty chilly, so I wore my black hoodie with white stripes down the sleeves over my shorts and lavender purple T-shirt. Gon was dressed in his green jacket and shorts like he always was, he didn't seem particularly bothered by the frigid gusts of wind.
What did bother him was the fact that those gusts weakened Shenka's scent and scattered it around, making it difficult to follow.
We made our way through a dark alley to an empty dirt parking lot behind some old, run-down brick buildings. I crouched down and ran my hands over the coarse, dust-covered ground, eyes scanning over the expanse of beige. There were many tracks I could see in the parking lot, most of which were vehicles. The larger vehicles left deeper tracks, so those were the most prominent. The smaller vehicles left more shallow tracks, so those were faded and rather hard to make out. I wasn't interested in the vehicle tracks, though. I was examining the human tracks.
"What size shoe did the file say Shenka wears?" I asked, twisting to look up at my friend.
"A ten and a half. Adult size." Gon replied, mechanically.
He was wandering around the parking lot, sniffing at the air, trying to pinpoint Shenka's scent. Based off the obvious frustration on his face, he wasn't having much luck.
"Don't fret, Gon." I said, as I bent lower to the ground to stare at an interesting track I found in the dirt. "We'll find this guy. Just because today was a difficult day doesn't mean we won't find him. If it doesn't happen today, we'll do this again and have better luck tomorrow."
"Yeah, I know. I just wish the wind would calm down enough for me to accurately determine the direction of his scent." Gon planted his fists on his hips and glared up at the grey sky, as if it would make the clouds disappear.
"Heh. I know how you feel. The wind's messing up these tracks." I agreed. "I think today's just a bad day for hunting down a moving target. We should regroup with the others and wait out this storm."
"If it starts to rain we'll definitely have to. Rain completely masks most scents." Gon agreed. He glanced down at me and the tracks I was examining and added, "Tracks, too."
Ironically, it began to rain at that exact moment. I jumped a little when I felt a large droplet of water splatter on the back of my hand.
"Well, what do you know. Mother Nature hates our guts today." I rolled my eyes and slowly stood up, dusting off my shorts.
"Dammit." he rubbed at his face with the back of one hand and started walking back the way we'd come.
By the time we made it back to the hotel with our other two companions, the rain was coming down really hard. We were all soaked and grouchy, both from the shitty weather and from the fact that we hadn't made any progress at all. But I was upset for another reason entirely.
The aching in my chest was slowly getting worse and worse.
What does it mean? Am I gonna cough up more flower petals? Am I gonna be okay?
I really didn't want to experience anything like that ever again. It was painful, it was gruesome, it was terrifying. And it wasn't the way the world was supposed to work. People don't just randomly start spewing flowers all over the place. Flowers grow in soil, not lungs.
If it happens again, I need to talk to Leorio about it.
I wandered into my room so I could peel off my soaked clothes and put on some dry ones, but that plan ended up changing entirely when Gon followed me.
"Uh, hey." I greeted awkwardly, as I struggled with my sopping wet hoodie. Why are wet clothes so damn difficult to take off? "Did you need something? Is everything alright?"
"No. I'm just frustrated right now, and... Your presence is very calming. Is it okay if I stay with you for a little while?" Gon marched across the room so he could flop down on my bed. "Sorry if it sounds creepy, by the way."
"No, it's okay." I turned away so he wouldn't see the warm blush that had crept into my cheeks. "You, umm... You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like." I decided my clothes could wait and instead sat down next to Gon. He wanted company, so I was gonna give it to him.
"Killua's such a sweetheart." Gon finally smiled for the first time since it had begun to rain. "I just really like spending time with you, ya know, even when I'm not upset."
My blush deepened. "Oh, uh... Thanks. The feeling is mutual."
The other boy scooted closer just so he could wrap both arms around one of mine, hugging it to his chest and tilting his head so it was resting on my shoulder trustingly. Although I visibly stiffened at the sudden contact, I didn't try to pull away like I normally did because I knew Gon needed this right now. He didn't seem to care that I was still soaked to the bone, either.
He made a noise in the back of his throat akin to purring and rubbed his cheek against my shoulder affectionately. "Killua's my favorite person in the whole world." he declared.
"Mmh." I sighed and tilted my head so it was resting atop his. "You're my favorite person too, Gon."
He still had absolutely no idea how much he meant to me, and I was too shy to tell him.
We sat there like that for a little while, my arm tangled up in Gon's embrace. I didn't budge, even when I lost all circulation to my arm. I wanted him to feel safe, loved and happy, so I was willing to stay put for as long as I had to to make that happen.
Gon was half asleep just a few moments later, his eyes drifting shut and his breathing slow and even. My lips twitched upward in something of a smile when I saw how peaceful and relaxed his face was.
"Ne, Gon?" I called out, hesitantly.
"Mmh?" he cracked one eye open to look at me.
"You really are special to me, I... I hope you know that." I said, softly.
"Awwww." Gon hummed and tugged on my arm, pulling me down so he could nuzzle my cheek with his nose. "You're special to me too! The most special, in fact, because you're the best friend I've ever had!"
I winced as the aching in my chest suddenly flared up to a bright, burning sensation, as if my lungs had caught fire. "Y-Yeah. Just a friend." I mumbled, almost entirely to myself. Suddenly there came the itching pain in my throat. I knew I was about to cough up more flowers, but my mind didn't want to accept it. I carefully shook Gon off my arm and stood up. "S-Sorry, I've got another tickle in my throat. I'll be r-right back." I shot him an apologetic look before rushing into the washroom, closing the door behind me.
"Are you alright, Killua?" Gon called after me, but I pretended not to hear him.
Almost immediately after I was safely hidden behind closed doors, the coughing began. I doubled over as the excruciating agony hit me like a freight train, putting my hands on my knees and shivering violently. My shoulders heaved from the sheer force of the deep, low coughs.
"Killua?" Gon's voice was laced with concern.
Please don't come in. Please stay away.
The unbearably painful coughing and hacking lasted a couple minutes before the petals came tumbling out of my mouth. They drifted silently to the ground, coming to rest on the wooden floor. I coughed a few more times, producing a couple more petals, before the fit was finally over.
I gasped and slowly straightened out, wincing at the sharp agony in my throat. My eyes were fixated on the pale pink petals sitting on the floor.
There were five of them this time, and most of them were stained with droplets of crimson red blood. I grimaced and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. When I pulled my hand away, it was smeared with blood.
Oh god...
"Ne, ne, Killua?" Gon knocked on the door. He sounded really worried. "Are you okay? You got really quiet all of a sudden."
"Y-Yeah." I nearly choked on my own tongue, my throat hurt so badly. "Sorry, I kinda got lost in thought. I'll be out in just a second."
"Oh, okay. Take your time." Gon replied, dismissively.
I could hear his footsteps retreating as he made his way back over to the bed and flopped down on it.
"You should... You should go change into some dry clothes." I called out.
"Meh. I'm too lazy to go all the way to my room, so I'm just gonna wear one of Killua's shirts." was Gon's even response.
"Sure, whatever. While you're at it, you should toss me one of my shirts so I can change." I quickly plucked the petals off the floor and threw them in the trash before walking over to the sink so I could wash the blood off my face and hands.
I finished not a moment too soon, because the door suddenly flew open and Gon threw a clean shirt at my face before slamming the door shut again.
"Idiot!" I shouted after him, peeling the shirt off my face and setting it aside so I could take off the damp one I was wearing.
The only response I got was a low giggle from the other side of the door.
I sighed and quickly changed into the clean shirt. I checked to make sure all evidence of my mysterious illness had been destroyed before leaving the washroom.
"I hope Killua doesn't mind that I'm wearing one of his best shirts." Gon said, giving me a playful grin. He was currently wearing my indigo turtleneck, the one that I usually wore under my lavender tee with the v-neck that was a couple sizes too big for me.
"I don't care." I shrugged and put my damp shirt aside where it wouldn't bother anyone before flopping down on my bed. "You still feeling upset? Or are you just gonna stay in my room forever?"
"I'm staying forever and you can't do anything about it." Gon stuck out his tongue at me.
I whacked his tan arm before rolling over so my back was facing him, pretending to ignore him. "You do that."
"Awwww. Killuaaaaaaa." Gon pouted, poking my shoulder to get my attention. "You're no fun."
I pretended I didn't hear him, pretended to have already drifted off to sleep. My mind was with those flower petals I had tossed in the trash after coughing them up.
More petals. How can there be more petals? Surely I would've coughed them all out on the first try?
I was worried. No, I was scared. Scared of what might happen if this mysterious illness didn't stop. Were flowers actually growing in my lungs? If so, how the hell did they get there? And why was I coughing up blood with the petals? None of it made any sense. I wasn't sure how to deal with this.
But I did know one thing was certain. I absolutely had to talk to Leorio about this sometime tomorrow. Maybe he'd have some sort of cure for whatever was causing flowers to grow in my lungs.
To be continued...
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A/N: I don't really have much to say so I'll keep this short and sweet. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, please remember to leave a review! Love y'all!
-UltimatexAdmin