"Tell me what you know."
The beetle phone flashed 10:23 P.M.
Killua was sitting on the small bed spread the Kiriko's loaned him in their tiny little cabin on the hill. Since he was apparently too early to be dropped off at the Hunter Exam's testing site, he was forced to wait it out the next few days until he could leave. That meant sleeping in a shack full of magical creatures, who in a way, weren't as bad as Killua was expecting to be. He'd never encountered such a thing before in his lifetime and had been warned by his family to steer clear of them as they were devious and often times diabolical towards humans.
Racism existed even between cross species – Or so he was told. They didn't often take too kindly to strangers, let alone a strange human to boot.
But, alas, they were swayed by the Hunter Association and in another case – By Gon's natural charm. So when Killua greeted them, half-expecting a fight to brew, he was welcomed by open arms and long-nosed grins with inhumane, squeaky chuckles.
Killua wished his family could be this friendly and tight-knit. They were all so supportive of each other, working as a team. There were two parents and their two children. Together they performed a very convincing act to fool any would-be Hunters seeking out the testing site location. Only by out-witting at least one of them would they allow passage rights. Killua was fairly convinced that even he would need a few minutes to come to a conclusion on who exactly was who and what type of act they were pulling.
Gon was the prized winner who apparently can tell the parent's apart simply by their voices and faces alone.
Killua couldn't tell them apart even if his damned life depended on it.
After swapping tales and sharing stories (without shedding light of Gon's current drug predicament), Killua called it quits when the sun touched down and the full moon was out on display across a dazzling, starry night. He never realized how clear the sky was out over Dolle Harbor but he certainly appreciated it in comparison to the smoggy atmosphere looming overhead on Kukuroo Mountain.
Flipping over on his spare mattress, Killua illuminated his own face in the poor fluorescent lighting of his beetle phone and hummed a random, off-tune song. He thumbed through his enormous list of contacts (too lazy to ever delete anything) and found a certain meddlesome Doctor-to-Be listed and clicked on the displayed phone number. It took his phone a moment to catch a signal before it was ringing obnoxiously against Killua's ears as he laid on his side, eyes shut in the darkness of his cramped spare room.
Ring, ring.
Ring, ring-
Click.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
Killua felt the way Leorio rolled his eyes at how lackluster and bored his own voice sounded but the training medic coughed and there was some shuffling on the other end until, "Took you long enough to call me. Do you know how late at night it is?"
"Oi, it's not that late and it took me a long time to catch up with your friends. Don't blame it on me."
"The Kiriko's?"
"Yeah. If that's what you call them, anyway."
"They are pretty friendly, aren't they?"
The white-haired teen giggled against his pillow and a small smile flit over his pale features bathed by the bit of moonlight creeping in through the slit of the window curtain. "Yeah, they are. As soon as they found out I was Gon's friend they totally flipped out. They were all like a bunch of kids. It was funny."
"It's good to know they're still so fond of him after all this time. Make sure to give them my regards."
"I will."
"When does the Hunter exam take place?" asked Leorio and Killua tapped his chin a few times, trying to remember when it exactly it was. After all the effort he did just to get here, he couldn't just skip out. He came to get his license and he most certainly wouldn't waste that expended time brawling with a fat, grimy ports' man for a ticket out of Greed Island, that's for sure.
And leaving Gon alone to do god-knows-what without Killua there to support him.
Or control him, better put.
"I think it's in two days so I have a little bit of time to prepare beforehand. I found the Kiriko's early so it'll give me some leverage to do what you asked."
"When you're done with the research notes, will you send me the links and the information you gathered via email?"
"I won't make any promises." The Zoldyck boy grumbled, dreading how much more energy that would consume to do, let alone time. "It's enough I'm going to be trying to find out about this shit in the first place."
"Well, you're the one who's better than any at info-hunting. And you have free time to boot. I'm swamped with my studies as it is or I'd gladly be helping." Leorio countered. Killua knew he was right. He'd spent many years of his childhood gathering information about his target's behind their backs – Whether via phone calls, books, internet, or straight from a person's mouth. If he was going to learn more about this drug called Methamphetamine; then he'd have to get his hands a little dirty in order to do so without too much risk.
"Is that photo you sent me really the only thing Zepile got his hands on?"
"Unfortunately. Most of the news clipping he found was ruined and when he tried to look it up, there wasn't any trace of it left behind. Either it was so long ago that it'd been dropped from public eye or somebody else did something about it to make it disappear."
"It could be possible to hack a system and delete it." Killua thought out loud, thinking about how Milluki could easily remove a news feed from a website with simply a flick of his wrist. That would be a no-brainer for someone with the skills he possessed. He would know; he's used his fat brother's hacking prowess several times when in a bind, much to everyone's annoyance about playing things more cautiously and careful. Even Killua had a slip or two in his life – The tracks needed to be covered. "I wouldn't be surprised with how big the drug community probably is if Gon really got that deep in the mists of it."
"That makes sense." Leorio sounded disappointed. Killua rose a brow in the darkness while his eyes remained firmly shut. "I just want all of this to be over and done with. This is insane."
"Yeah." Killua said, loathing the hurtful tone in his voice that he couldn't quite disguise the way he wanted to, to their old friend. Yeah. This is insane.
"Hell, I wish Kurapika would answer his damned phone already and help out for a change. All he cares about is his stupid revenge schemes. We're supposed to be friends! Why the fuck isn't he actually being one then? He's the one who said we were pals and could always rely on each other. Well, we need him now! Shit, come on, Kurapika. What is your problem-?"
Leorio started rambling to no one in particular about the former blonde member of their group of four and Killua found himself spacing out to the rough, edged voice of the doctor-in-training as he hummed the tune from earlier. It was faintly quiet, subdued and lazy, but oddly pleasant when it flowed in the back of his throat and out through his nose; sounding something like a dry-mouthed trumpet sound but more high-pitched. Coupled with Leorio's shark-bite sounding tone, it made for a dramatic yet hypnotic beat – Like the waves on the sea with their dramatic plunge and peaceful lulls in between.
Killua wasn't a singer nor was he that gifted to be graced with a beautiful voice, but he did like to sing or hum now and again when he had a private moment like this.
"Did I mention how much of a snobbish punk Kurapika can be sometimes, Killua? Yeah, I'll tell you alright. Like this one time where he-"
Well, at least semi private, anyway.
As Leorio went on and on without respite, Killua began to doze to the thrum of the voice vibrating through the speakers and the vibration of his own throat. It felt nice, like his own weird personal massage, and Killua felt his thoughts drift to that very subject without realizing it.
"Hey Gon."
Gon turned from his 500 set of push-ups for being just a tad too slow on the Biscuit's Gyo number competition to stare at the white-haired boy with curiosity.
"What's up, Killua?"
"When you're done, let's give each other a massage."
"A massage?"
"Yeah." Killua laughed, cheeks coloring pink at the thought. It was only after pestering to see Biscuit's abilities that the secret Cookie-chan Nen technique came to light and the idea had hit him in the first place. Killua never once received a proper massage in his life (being beat and whipped relentlessly hardly did anything to the strain or ache in muscles), so the curiosity had been nagging him ever since he saw it – And hated how pointless of a power it was also. "I figured since we've been training so hard lately, it'd be nice to treat ourselves to something good. What do you say?"
"Sure! That sounds fun. I'll do it." Gon returned to his 500 push-ups with more pumped up vigor then Killua liked seeing in his already-too exuberant friend. But he shrugged and sat to wait it out regardless.
When Gon eventually finished his push-ups (much to Killua's insistent nagging to just cheat and skip the rest because he wasn't required to finish them all and Gon; naturally, wanted to complete every single one anyway), Gon took a seat behind Killua and thumped his hands over the small shoulders with a squeak.
"Is there any particular way you want me to do this?" asked Gon. Killua shook his head.
"Just do it however you like."
Gon did; of course, do it however way he felt right. Which in turn, consisted of really painful squeezing, hard bruises lining where he pressed the indents of his fingers in too hard, and blunt scratch lines where Gon thought he was merely tickling the skin there; before Killua finally conceded with a frustrated cry and stood.
"Okay, okay! Stop already, Gon! You're doing more damage then good at this point, sheesh!"
"Sorry, Killua." Gon apologized, rubbing at his neck abashedly. "I've never given an actual massage to someone before so I wasn't sure what I was doing."
"Obviously." Killua pouted, kind of looking forward to a good massage but his hopes were dashed and he called it quits before they got too big to burst like a bubble of resentment. What he didn't like, was seeing the pained look on his friend's face for feeling so pathetic as to not be instructed on how to give a proper massage.
"Killua doesn't have to return the favor then if I was really that bad."
"No, no. I'll do it." He gestured as he sat back down for Gon to turn and he did. At least Killua didn't have to see the sad puppy dog face of Gon now, with his back to him. "I'll show you how it's properly done, idiot. That way when you do me next time, you won't be so damn rough."
"Eh heh, heh."
Killua began and he swore he worked magic on Gon's body, because the boy was a happy, squirming mess of himself the longer his thin, pale fingers rubbed each thick knot from his sore muscles. He applied little jolts of electricity now and again, enjoying the pleasurable groan of Gon's sweet voice in the air and the way he wiggled in place. The smack of his lips pressing together stirred a fire in Killua's groin and although he desperately wanted to act on it; he didn't, for the sake of comforting his friend for the time being.
Gon's body felt like it needed this, so Killua needed to do this also.
For Gon.
"Hey, lift your arm a little." Killua nudged at the inside of Gon's armpit and instantly, he flinched away from him with a startled yelp. Killua's mouth formed a perfect 'o' and Gon glanced over his shoulder, appearing apologetic again.
"Sorry, Killua. My arm's a little sore. Can we skip that part for now?"
"Uhm, sure." said Killua, slowly, but he glanced down at it anyway and as he lowered his hands more along the junction of Gon's shoulder-blades; he worked the fabric of his shirt enough to expose the ugly, blood-crusted lines there where obvious nails had scratched. Killua recognized the jagged appearance anywhere, knowing how to tell the difference between a cut with his claws and a cut with a blade any day. He had done it multiple times enough experimenting on his targets to remember what each cut mark looked like so it was easy for him to notice Gon's wounds without seeing too much of it.
His hands dropped, brows canted forward towards the bridge of his nose and he hummed, tenderly touching around Gon's shoulder-blade a little longer and listening to the quiet hiss of the other boy in response.
"Killua, please stop touching my arm. It hurts."
"I'm not touching your arm though. I'm touching your shoulder." countered Killua and Gon twisted in his seat to cross his arms albeit wincing in the process. Now Killua was dead-set on obtaining information if it was the last thing he did today.
"What did you do to your arm to make it hurt?"
"I just did 500 push-ups and YOU ask why my arm hurts?"
"You normally do 1000 push-ups and sit-ups when you lose, Gon. That's a stupid excuse."
"Well, maybe I'm just a little tired okay?"
"You're never tired from doing push-ups. You're the one who insists on doing MORE when you shouldn't be."
"I strained my muscle a little, Killua! Get off my back already."
"We all know that's total bull-shit-" Killua reached out, grabbing hold of Gon's left arm in a vice-grip and he watched the tan-skinned boy visibly jerk and react and he knew he was screwed. It happened so quickly that even Killua's assassin training didn't prepare him for the fist that came his way and smashed into his mouth, catapulting him across the dirt a few feet away with Gon's arm no longer in his grasp. He sputtered, spitting out a mouthful of rock and dirt and blue eyes narrowed over in Gon's direction but fell the second he saw the hurt look in those amber eyes, making his chest hurt worse then the blossoming bruise on his mouth now. "Gon-?"
"Leave me alone, please." Gon cradled his arm, other hand cradled in the nook of his armpit where Killua caught a glimpse of even more red, blood, dripping down and staining his white tank-top. As he reached up, in a notion to make Gon stay; he was gone before he could say a word and his hand dropped back down, defeated and useless.
Like he was, pretty much.
"I'm sorry, Gon-"
"I'm sorry, Killua."
Snapping from his daze, a loud cough pulled him back to reality and his eyes shot open; temporarily blinding him in the darkness of the room that he actually hissed. Leorio's scratchy voice was still on the line, coughing again to gain his attention.
"Hey, I said I was sorry, punk. Are you even listening to me-?"
"Yeah." Killua interrupted, pressing the back of his wrist against both of his straining eyes and wanting to keep the dark at bay, keep that last bit of light there for himself. For now. "Yeah, sorry. I'm listening, Leorio."
"Good, because it's time you get some sleep. You've got a busy day tomorrow and so do I. After I'm done with my finals test I'll be giving Kurapika a piece of my mind alright. Then maybe if I can get him to help, we can figure something out to save Gon."
"Yeah." Killua was repeating himself but he couldn't find a reason to care, "Yeah, you do that. I'll find out about that incident in the morning, so, you do that."
"Are you sure you're okay, man?" There was a hint of worry in Leorio's tone that wasn't there before and Killua chewed on his bottom lip, rolling onto his back as his face felt moist from unexplained wetness. "You don't sound very good."
"I'm fine."
A tear rolled down, escaping through the slightest crack that his wrist couldn't close over, to keep his eyes hidden in the blackness and Killua smiled; feeling so fake in the process. He knew Leorio wouldn't buy it, but he had to say it anyway, just to get it off his chest.
"I'm fine, Leorio."