DISCLAIMER : Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: TOGASHI YOSHIHIRO, the publisher, the broadcasting companies of the anime both 1999 original version and 2011 remake - Nippon Animation and Madhouse, respectively and etc.

REPLIES TO COMMENTS

Guest : Well, yeah :D But Kil seems to be happy about his decision no matter how selfish it sounds like. He's a kid after all ^_^ Like what his dad said, someday, he would come back cuz he's still and will always be a Zoldyck xD Killua STILL has the instinct of an assassin. He can change and learn to control it, but he can never take it away from him. :-)
Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D

Infinityworlds : Thanks! :D The drama is about to start xDD

Milye6 : Haha ^w^ What he's building will be revealed in Chapter 20 xD Its an interesting part of Illumi's character that remains an unsolved mystery to me that was never justified in the series so I decided to write something about it xDD The emotions in this one wouldn't be that apparent as I usually write the whole message of the story subliminally sooo, yeah ^_^ The drama / sadness / feels in this story would only work IF the reader pays attention to the details :D Thanks again for the review!

CHAPTER 9
- SHARPENER -

"There! The floors are done..." He stood up as we finished the rectangle he was telling about. He whisked off the sand in his pants.

"Oooh.. you said floors... So you mean, we're building a house? Or a castle!" I asked.

"Yeah..." He then dug a hole in the sand pit.

There he is and his weird habit of digging holes. I peeked from behind him to see that some other toys were already hidden in it.

"Oh snap..." He scratched his head in frustration. "I think I shall move these somewhere else... Kill!" He called me out.

"Yes, Young Master?"

"Can you help me dig a hole at least 2 feet deep over there?" He pointed out to a bald patch in the ground where grasses didn't grow and where the soil is a little hard and crunchy.

"Haha, piece of cake!" I began twitching the joints of my hands as the veins on it started to bulge to realize he was actually looking at me... DAMN! How could I forget? How can I be so stupid? I must NEVER use this here!

"What are you waiting for?"

"Oh... haha!" I quickly retracted my emerging claws hoping he did not see it and started to thrust my hands on the ground repeatedly to dig a hole. "There ya go!"

"Thanks..." He carried those toys and placed it in the hole, then covering them again with soil. He walked back to the sand pit and placed the 'flooring' he made a while ago into it before covering it once again with sand.

"Ok... done." He marched towards the playground's exit, leaving me behind...

"Ah, wait for me Young Master...!"

"Let's hurry, it's about time..."

Brrrrrrrrrr...

The sound of my stomach growling...

Daaaaamn... Now I'm starting to get REALLY hungry. It's a couple of hours past since the moment I fed my noodles to the grass and earthworms. Thanks to that little devil, if not because of him, I shouldn't be starving.

We're back inside the mansion and we're walking on the hallway towards the torture chamber.

He was staring at me as I walked besides him.

"Is there anything you need?" I asked him.

"Naah..." He finally looked away from me. "Your stomach growls too loud... did you not have lunch?"

Wow... this kid's just... I don't even know what to tell him... can I just break his neck right now? Who made me feed my noodles to the earthworms again?

Brrrrrrrrrr...

We stared at each other for a couple of seconds...

"Hahaha! Looks like I'm not alone!" I sneered at him, poking him at his temple.

"Yours is louder though."

"Nonetheless you're still hungry no matter how you deny it! I can eat later! CAN YOU? I WON! HAHAHAHA! Loser!" Oopss... I think I just forgot my manners right here.

Oh look at that frustrated frown in his face...! Priceless! I can remember he gave me the same frown last year when I refused to hand him over Alluka so he can get rid of her... only that this one's a million times less intimidating...

"Hahaha!" I dashed in front of him. "Look, I'm sorry... you look so cute when you get mad I can't help it!" I scooped him up. "There! I'll carry you on our way as an apology... Do you forgive me now?

He wasn't speaking. He just crossed his arms while I carry him as I walk. He was still frowning.

There it is.

I stopped as I realized we've finally arrived. In front of us is that huge, metal door. And besides it stood dad, and gramps...

The little devil squirmed a little to tell me to put him down so I did at once.

"Good afternoon, Master Zeno, Master Silluva." I gave them a bow as that little Illumi walked towards them.

"Pheeew!" I walked into the servants cafeteria to finally get some food to shut my stomach up from growling. "Finally! Break time..."

I took a seat and placed my tray-ful of food on the table to find out that another butler is occupying the seat besides me.

"Hey!" I greeted. "I'm gonna sit here, is it fine?"

"Yeah." He nodded, then went back to eating.

"Sankyu!" I unwrapped the burger and started munching.

"Are you new here?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh so which department are you working at?"

"Babysitter..."

"Oh..." His eyes widened and he went speechless.

"Riiight... A guy babysitter haha! I applied yesterday and got lucky I was accepted immediately by the Madame herself." I tried to liven up the mood so to force the person to open up. Who knows? This person might have clues as to why the little devil killed his former caretaker. I probably just can't get the infos I needed from just hanging around with that little devil.

"Hahaha!" The guy chuckled. "That's actually the first... in fact, Madame always hired females to look after the Young Master, specially that there's another one coming up..."

"Indeed..." I nodded. "Say... where's the former babysitter anyways? What happened to him or her?" I played dumb.

The guy stared at me with hesitations for a few moments before he came back to his snacks and looking away from me. "Well... I don't know..." He denied.

"Your eyes say otherwise..." I smirked. "You don't sound too convincing..." I gave him a hint through my eyes that I am just basically out of their league and they won't be too happy if I show them what I'm made of.

"Err..." Intimidated, he stammered. "Umm... (sigh) fine..." He scooched closer. "Well, she died... rather, killed by the young master..."

I raised a brow. "Do you know why?" I whispered to him.

"I don't... I am not entirely familiar with the babysitter. She was just found lying mutilated, lifeless, bathing in her own blood in the young master's room the day she returned from her day-off."

"I see..."

"You should be careful..." He added. "It's possible that you're being watched judging how easy you got into THAT position..."

"You realize eh..." I chuckled.

The little devil can't kill me. Unfortunately people don't seem to known why and how the former babysitter died. And they weren't lying... They all just know that she was killed by that little devil.

I guess I had to find it out on my own...

"Quick!"

I paced on the corridor along with a team of medics that worked as regulars in the estate.

We're headed to the torture chamber. They were all ready with the necessary equipments for rescue. Lame...! This only happens when someone from the family was BADLY injured OR, a servant. And when I said 'someone from the family', it is a VERY RARE OCCASION. We were trained strictly never to fight opponents that are stronger than us so basically, severe injury is a rare occasion. And mere accidents don't just handicap us bad enough to need medics around like THIS unless during training or tests.

It's been 5 hours though since I left him with Dad and Gramps for his Pain Tolerance Training. I'm supposed to fetch him right now and help him for whatever he needed.

However, it seems different this time.

Here we are finally...

I pushed the huge, metal door open for the medics so they can make way with the equipments they brought along with them.

I then proceeded after them.

Ah the nostalgia... The last time I got myself locked up in here was like 3 years ago. The smell of rust, blood, burning metal and skin smelled like my childhood... I looked around and found no one.

"You know what to do." The other medic told his team before they each rushed to their own positions to do their own tasks.

I went down the stairs.

Oh... There he is though. I found the little devil shackled and hung on one of the torture devices. The one used to hold down the test subject while performing various rituals to evoke pain, name it from stabbing, whip lashing, burning, breaking limbs, electrocution and many more.

His eyes were open, with his head drooping down towards the floor. He wasn't moving at all other than randomly twitching a little. From what I can see, he is unconscious. Blood was dripping from his orifices, random cracks and wounds on his body that it created a wide red puddle just below where he is hanging. This day was probably the 'Skin Test'. Where we were being whip lashed, stabbed, cut, shot, or poured with corrosive liquids etc.

The sound of chains rubbing against each other ensued the moment he was being lowered towards the ground to finally unshackle him safely.

"OK!" The one assigned to operate the whole contraption signaled the team. They prepared the stretcher, and the rest of the equipments nearby.

"Are you just going to stand there and watch?" One of them scolded me.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." I bowed and dashed towards them to give aid as the personal butler of the 'young master'...

"Noobs..." The medic guy scoffed.

Is it wrong that I have mixed emotions about seeing him badly injured like this...?

END OF CHAPTER 9