Seventh Chapter: thanks for reading!

Classmate Time

Korosensei disappeared off into the distance, a streak of yellow zooming skywards. Killua, left with Nagisa and Karma, walked down the path. There was silence. The sort of awkward silence that everybody wanted to break but didn't know how to do; like glass, but it was everywhere, drifting through the air. It was Nagisa who spoke up. Surprising seeing his usually reserved personality.

"Where did you learn that technique?" he asked. Looking into his eyes, Killua saw curiosity. A pang twisted somewhere near his stomach. If those eyes had been brown, they could have been identical to Gon's.

"Family business," he said.

"What sort of family business?" Not many people had the guts to ask that. Not that Killua was complaining – he liked being asked. It was funny the way people looked at him - shocked and scared stiff - when he told them the truth.

"My family are assassins," Killua replied. Karma and Nagisa both turned their eyes on him in synchronised movement. Neither fear nor repulsion was written on their faces. Surprise? Awe? Yes, but not fear. Killua didn't know whether he should have expected it or not, bearing in mind the nature of this particular class.

("Both of them?")

"Seriously?" There was doubt in that question.

The contradiction was jolting. Like being dragged out of a pleasant dream.

Killua could still remember, clear as daylight, that day when Gon had looked at him straight in the eye, as an equal. To him it didn't matter that his family were killers. He was just curious. To all intents and purposes he could have been asking Killua whether he liked orange juice or apple juice.

It was different here.

"Maybe," Killua answered, a wide grin on his face.

They arrived at the bottom of their hill. The students of the main school building were coming out as a wave of people and it was difficult to see where Alluka would be. He turned his head from side to side, searching.

He saw her, bright smiley faces in her black hair.

"Alluka!" he called and she looked over, a smile blossoming on her face.

"Brother!" she replied. Running to him, hair flying backward, she pulled him into a big hug.

"Hey, Alluka, I'll fall over," Killua laughed, although he knew full well Alluka had neither the raw strength nor weight to do so.

"Brother, how…" Alluka paused. A frown slipping onto Killua's face, he followed her stare.

Killua spotted Nagisa staring straight ahead. Karma too. Then he noticed the group of Class E students standing stock still by the steel fence, all the concentration intently focused on one spot. He let his eyes travel along their stares and found them settling on a boy walking out the school.

(The empty desk.)

So somebody did leave Class E, and apparently left a lot of hurt behind him.

"Takebayashi!"

The lanky boy turned, fixing his eyes on the members of Class E. It was difficult to see through the thick rimmed glasses in the bright light but underneath, his eyes were glazed with guilt.

Despite the anger that had radiated from the class throughout the day, the expressions on the faces of most the students were nothing more than genuinely upset.

"Why did you do that? Why did you leave?" A girl with pigtails asked. Takebayashi looked briefly down onto the floor, his lips pulled in. Alluka's grip on Killua's hand tightened. He squeezed her hand lightly back, reassuringly, he hoped. From next to Killua, Karma spoke up.

"So you through away the ten billion yen then?" As always, Karma's tone was mocking.

"One billion," Takebayashi said. He pushed his glasses into his face with his forefinger.

One? Where did that number even come from? Killua wondered. He didn't have to wait long to find out the answer as Takebayashi started explaining.

"I'm not competent at assassination, so succeeding in killing Korosensei on my own is almost impossible. If I were to somehow be lucky and assassinate Korosensei as part of a team, I would be lucky to get one billion.

"…that is the sort of money my family can receive just by working. If I got one billion by assassination, they would just mock me," Takebayashi's voice was bitter. A small hallow laugh bubbled up from inside his throat, coming out quietly.

"They're doctors, and being able to work is 'normal'. Not having good grades meant I wasn't worth being part of the family. When I told my father that I had got into the top fifty and moved into Class A, the thing he said? 'Well done, you've been saved by a skin on your neck' …how much I had worked to get that!" Takebayashi frowned, face twisting.

"To me, my family's recognition means more to me than assassination," he concluded. Before anybody had the time to recover, to react, he turned and dived in to the crowd.

Recognition.

Killua had never strived for recognition within his family – in fact he avoided it as much as possible. Recognition only meant further expectations, to be better, stronger, perfect… In a way Killua didn't want. But the way Takebayashi had said it, it was like there was nothing else in the world worth more than it.

(Idiot.)

"Come on, Alluka. We're going," Killua said, tugging on her hand. She didn't move. Looking down, Killua saw her eyes wide, fixtated on the spot where Takebayashi had been.

"Alluka?" Killua said, his voice wavering with uncertainty. How much had she heard? How much had she figured out? Killua realised with an internal wince that after two months, he still hadn't told her about his purpose in Class E.

As though coming out of a daze, her eyes snapped onto Killua's.

"We're going," Killua repeated.

"OK," Alluka said. They walked away from the gate, their steps slow and rhythmic.

For almost the entire walk home, Alluka was uncharacteristically silent. Distant. Thoughtful. Killua had conversation starters resting on his lips – 'how was school', 'what did you do' – but for some reason they were stuck, unable to come out.

"What did he mean, assassination," Alluka asked. Killua froze. So she did know.

A vague feeling of panic resided deep in Killua's head. He wasn't sure he could find the right words to explain the situation, or at least one that would satisfy his sister.

"How was school?" Alluka asked suddenly, changing her tactics to one more subtle.

"Oh, it was…" interesting? Frustratingly complex? Taught by an octopus?

Killua assumed Alluka would have sensed the hesitation. Any moment now she would give up on teasing the information out of him and start grilling him. Ask more questions, sniff out a fragile lie.

"Alright," Killua concluded, truthfully, or at least half so.

"Hmm," Alluka said. Killua could sense the swirl of emotions underneath the simple sound. For all the mystery surrounding her, she was as expressive as an open book. Yet, for some reason, Killua could not pinpoint what those feelings were. An open book, but one that was written in a different language to Killua.

Alluka turned away, staring straight ahead with her bright eyes. The conversation was over.

Although surprised (it wasn't like Alluka to not push for an answer), Killua breathed a sigh of relief in his head. He hated having to explain. Silence was far simpler.

His feet paused outside their apartment. After a term of going to school with Alluka and back again, he knew almost naturally where he needed to go. A quick rummage in his pocket and he produced a set of keys. With a little twist of his wrist, the door was unlocked. With a push it was open.

They were home.

When they got home, Alluka started tackling her homework. She sat in the living room, paper sprawled out in the desk in front of her. Brother had gone to drop his bags off in his room. As her pencil scribbled away, however, her mind was elsewhere. She was deep in thought, distracted.

She knew Killua was hiding something. It was something to do with Class E – why else would he randomly decide to go to school, although he had not even shown an inkling of wanting to go beforehand. However, Alluka had not mentioned it, fearing that a single touch on the subject could break everything apart. Killua was so sensitive and it would be a huge mistake for him to not take the chance to meet new friends.

Assassination.

The boy who had come back to the main school had said something about that, hadn't he. Was that why Killua was so intent on hiding things from Alluka? He did seem to avoid the word with determination.

Alluka knew her family were assassins. She knew that when they went out to do a 'job' they would have come back with yet more blood on their hands. Even Alluka had killed (although technically it was Nanika) so she could be counted as 'normal' either. Until she had left the Zoldyck estate, she hadn't even realised it wasn't normal. And yet Killua seemed to think that the word would somehow corrupt her.

Why did he never stop, never settle, kept going as though being chased? ... That was one of the secrets that he refused to part with, and the one Alluka wanted to know the most. It was frustrating.

"If it weren't for me, everyone in the family would get along better, right?"

He still hadn't answered that question.

And Alluka was scared of asking again.

There was a click across the hall. Alluka looked up to see Killua emerging from his room. Looking up at the clock, she saw fifteen minutes had passed since he had gone into 'drop off his bags'. What had he been doing in there?

Who cared?

"Brother," she called. He looked at her, his usual warm smile resting lightly on his lips. "Don't you have homework," she said, a scold on her face although it wasn't a serious one. His smile dropped, comically. Putting his hands up defensively, he backed off into his room.

"I don't think…" He started. Always making excuses. He really did hate maths didn't he? Although to be honest, Alluka felt the same.

"Bring your bag and come here," Alluka said, pointing at the empty space next to her. She put force behind her voice. Killua sighed in defeat.

"Alright, I guess," he said and disappeared into his room.

Keeping an eye on the clock to make sure Killua hadn't run away into his room, Alluka continued her train of thought.

There was a connection, she was sure, to all the drama and Nanika. Nanika had been with Alluka for as long as she could remember, and it had never felt horribly 'wrong' in any way. She realised other people didn't have voices in their heads or powers that could squish people, but it had always been… ordinary. Her day to day.

But apparently it wasn't ordinary. At all.

Killua had told her, or at least indicated – she mustn't tell anyone about her powers, she mustn't tell anyone about her family – that they were somehow different from the rest of the world. However it was only until she had entered school that the full brunt of the realisation had struck her. She was still trying to get to terms with it. The girls at school thought differently to her. Every now and then, their actions and words caught Alluka by a dissonant surprise.

Assassination.

Class E.

Why did Brother act as though she must be protected from the world she was used to? Pushed into the 'ordinary'? Couldn't he just tell her what was wrong?

Alluka sighed. Things were complicated, and sometimes it was easier just to let it go.

After forcing by Killua to do homework for an appropriate length of time, Alluka stopped. She put her pencils away and stacked her notebooks into a neat pile.

"Dinner?" she asked, glancing up at the clock. It was about the right time. Killua looked up. He had got a reasonable amount of work done, surprisingly, although Alluka doubted he would have if she hadn't been there, watching him.

"Alright," he said. He tidies his stuff. "What do you want?"

Alluka thought for a while. They had gone shopping just a few days before and the fridge was full of food, randomly bought because they had 'felt like it' – they certainly weren't low on choice. She walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. Opening the stuffed fridge, she searched for something that appealed to her.

"Curry?" she asked. Killua was behind her already.

"OK," he said. Out of the fridge she fished out some vegetables – onions, carrots, chicken – then brought out some curry cubes from the cupboard. An easy but well liked meal. She looked back in the fridge, thinking of adding some potatoes.

After all the thing they had brought, didn't they have chicken?

Apparently not.

"Brother, we don't have any potatoes," she said.

"We could buy some tomorrow," Killua said. Alluka shook her head.

"No, I'll go to the convenience store." It's just down the road and she knew she could be there and back within ten minutes. Killua looked worried. Near the beginning of their travels, Killua had been afraid to even let Alluka out of her sight, as though he was an overprotective mother hen. Although he was better now, there was always a part of him that insisted on protecting her.

"It'll be fine," Alluka said with force. Killua nodded hesitantly.

"Don't be long," he said.

The street was busy when she stepped outside. Alluka made her way quickly to the convenience store and brought what she needed. Within ten minutes she was already coming down the road, carrier bag in her hand.

Suddenly she paused. A prickle went down her neck and she turned around.

A man was standing in the street, his black eyes staring straight at her. He looked like a nice person, with a bunch of flowers in his hands and a worn apron over his shirt. Blond hair fell over his eyes. The most striking thing about him was his smile – like molten chocolate and hot milk blended into one. Under his gaze, Alluka felt herself relaxing.

"Hello," he said. His voice was reassuring. Don't worry, it said. Everything's going to be fine.

"Hi," Alluka replied.

"Do you go to Kunugigaoka Junior High School?" he asked, his smile never slipping.

"Yes," Alluka answered before she could stop herself. Killua had warned her about giving information to stranger. However, this felt like somebody she could trust.

"Oh, that's nice," the man said. "Does your brother go there too?"

"Yeah. He's in Class E," Alluka explained. The man nodded. It was just a casual nod, nothing serious. He was just somebody who was curious, making small talk.

"Well it was nice talking to you," he said.

"Bye!" Alluka said then bustled down the street towards the apartment.

It was only when Alluka was by the door when she realized the man shouldn't have known whether she had a brother.

She shook her head - it's not like she hid it, and there were plenty of places he could have found out from.

Another chapter finished! Thank you for reading. Reviews are really appreciated.

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