Chapter 8: Real Impostors, Fake Impostors

It wasn't long after we rested that we walked into town. At first glance, it wasn't much different from the town we had just come from. The buildings all seemed really old and broken down. However, as we walked through town, we noticed that there were new buildings and people were going in every direction, trying to get themselves whatever they needed before other people got them. I tried to stop somebody, but they either didn't hear me or was too busy to have time for me. Gon tired to do the same, but again, the person was too busy.

After several attempts at stopping people, we managed to find one person who wasn't acting like the world was ending the next day. At first the old man gave us a suspicious look, as if wondering what two kids were doing just wandering through town. Then, he looked down to see us holding hands and smiled a kind smile. It was the first time I noticed we were holding hands so I let go of Gon's hand and looked away, a little red. I noticed Gon was a little red, too, before I asked the man where the airport was.

"Airport?" The old man said, "We hadn't had one o' those in a long time." My hopes were slightly dashed, but not for long as the old man continued, "Yep. The last airport we had was way back in eighteen-oh-two, when I was just a lad. Back then, we had horse-drawn carriages with wings attached. And not just any old wings, they was dragon wings! Each day, our lads would find discarded dragon wings when they was runnin' through the forest. And our lads would bring them back into town so the goldsmith could tie them onto the carriages."

As soon as the old man said that horse-drawn carriages could fly, I immediately knew that his story was made up. Gon, on the other hand, seemed completely fascinated about it. He was hanging on the man's every word with anticipation of what was going to come next. A younger man came out of the building the old man was sitting in front of. He didn't seem happy that the old man was telling us his story.

"Grandpa," the younger man said, "How many times do I have to tell you, not to tell your crazy stories? Especially to kids. Now, run along inside, it's time for your daily exercise routine." He turned to us as his grandfather slowly walked inside and continued, "I'm sorry about my grandpa. Sometimes he watches shows on TV and they all mix together in his head, making him believe that they actually happened." He looked us over and said, "I see you aren't from around town. What did you need? Food? A drink? A place to spend the night? I'm sure I could be of some help."

Gon's eyes lit up at the mention of 'food' and I could tell that he was about to say something, so I covered his mouth and said, "Actually, we were looking for an airport. You see, our plane had to make an unexpected landing around here a few days ago and we were told that the best thing to do was go to an airport. Do you know where one is?"

"An airport?" The young man said, "We have an airport just on the other side of town. I can take you there, if you want."

The young man seemed sincere, but I was a little wary. Mainly because I didn't want another "Kitakura" incident. I respectfully declined his offer and just asked if he'd give us directions. He wrote some down on a piece of paper, as the town was much larger than I had first imagined it being, and gave it to me. I thanked him and we walked away.

As we walked, I put my hand in my pocket and felt a piece of paper. I had completely forgotten about the list Kitakua gave me. I figured I might as well see what items he was using for the Youth Potion so I took the piece of paper out of my pocket and opened it. There was black marker covering up some ingredients and the top of the page. I held it up to the sun in order to see it clearly. Most of the items were everyday foods, like ripe apples and fresh bread, but some were things you'd expect to find at a witch's house, like Eye of Newt and other things like that.

I crumpled the paper up and focused my Nen to let out a park that caught the paper on fire. I put the paper on the ground and the fire consumed it quickly. Before anybody could notice something was burning on the ground, I stamped it out. Gon was ahead of me a ways because I had stopped, so I ran to catch up to him. I just had to do one last thing before I could completely forget about Kitakura. I hit Gon over the head.

"Ow!" Gon said, "What was that for, Killua?"

"For using the eyes on Kitakura," I said, "Now, let's never bring him up again."

Gon's happy mood seemed to be ruined because I hit him. But I knew that his day would brighten again. It always did. No matter what happened to him, be it getting taken hostage or getting his arm blown off, he always manages to make the most of his day. And not even a minute after I had hit him, did a smile return to his face. It made me smile.

We walked to the airport all smiles. We walked up to the desk and I pulled out my plane ticket. I asked if we could still board with them. The lady behind the desk took my ticket and looked at it for at least a minute or two before she handed it back to me. She said that the tickets we had weren't any good and that we'd have to buy new ones. I asked if we could just exchange them because we were still going to the place on the tickets. She thought about it for another minute. I was getting a little impatient.

"Alright," she said, "Here's a note that you can take to the exchange counter over there." She handed me a piece of paper and pointed to the wall.

Gon thanked her as I ushered him to move. It didn't take long to reach the exchange counter, but it still took a few minutes because of all the people. Gon and I almost got separated, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards me to prevent that. I must have pulled a little too hard because when I let go, he was rubbing his shoulder. I didn't pay it any attention, though and told him to keep close.

As we got closer to the exchange counter, I told Gon to give me his ticket. There was a line of maybe ten people when we got there. It moved pretty fast, though. When it was our turn, I gave the guy the piece of paper with out tickets. He read the note and gave us new tickets to Yorknew City. He explained where we'd be boarding and pointed us in the fastest direction. I was in too much of a hurry to thank the man so Gon did it as I pulled him away.

Our boarding gate was on the second level and the man said that the escalator on the north side of the building was the fastest way to get up there. So, we walked to the north side of the airport and saw a couple of familiar faces. Two men, both around their late teens or early twenties, stood by a pillar. The taller one had spiked black hair and wore a navy blue suit and dark sunglasses. The shorter of the two had blond hair and was wearing a blue tabard. We recognized them as our friends, Leorio and Kurapika. Gon was about to run to them, but I held his shirt and stopped him.

"What're you doing, Killua?" He demanded, "Let go!"

I hit him over the head and said, "Use your brain, you idiot!"

Gon was confused by this. I sighed and said, "Think. Why would Kurapika and Leorio be here?"

"Well," Gon said, "They obviously want to catch a plane to get to Yorknew City!"

"Okay," I said, "but why would they be here?" I pointed to the ground to emphasize that I meant where we were. Gon seemed confused so I continued, "Why would they be at this particular airport that's in the middle of nowhere?"

"They wanted to fly to Yorknew with us?" Gon tried.

"And how would they know where we were?" I countered, "We didn't send any emails or letters saying where we were at. Plus, we don't even know where we're at! Leorio and Kurapika were doing different things, probably thousands of miles away from each other. Why would they just randomly show up at an airport together?"

"Um…" Gon was obviously at a loss for words at what I'd said.

Even though I knew they weren't our friends, they looked exactly like them. I could see their lips moving, but I couldn't hear what they were saying or even if they sounded like our friends. Curiosity got the better of me, as I started moving towards them in silence. Gon followed close behind me. As I got closer, I noticed a slight height difference between these impostors and our real friends. Leorio seemed just a bit shorter and Kurapika was a slight bit higher than normal. It probably would have fooled me if I hadn't been paying attention.

"Man, why do we have to stand here waiting for a couple of brats?" Leorio said, "I feel like I've been standing here for days. Are we sure they're going to come here? This suit is so uncomfortable, it's making me look ridiculous."

"You feel ridiculous?" Kurapika asked, "Look at me! It looks like I'm wearing a freaking dress! I'd feel embarrassed just wearing this in my house."

Their voices sounded almost exactly like the people they were impersonating, with one slight difference. The difference was so slight that even I had to concentrate hard to pinpoint it. To be honest, even concentrating, I had difficulties. However, it wasn't me that had noticed the difference, it was Gon.

"Leorio's voice is too deep," Gon said, "And Kurapika's is too high."

I nodded, understanding, and said, "We need to find a way to get past them without being seen. But what could we do?"

My eyes darted from side to side, object to object, to find a suitable way past them. Then, my eyes noticed a rail on the second floor of the airport. I remembered back to the Hunter Exam and how Gon said he'd used his fishing rod to snatch Hisoka's ID Tag. That's when I had an idea.

I turned Gon around so his backpack was facing me. He protested as I looked through it for his rod, but I didn't pay him any mind. I found the object I searched for and put it back together. He asked me what I was doing and I just told him to watch. I flung the string and it hooked onto the rail. When Gon saw this, he complimented my genius. I tried my best not to let it go to my head.

"You go up first," I told Gon, "I'll follow right behind you."

Gon nodded and grabbed onto his pole. He put his feet against the wall and started climbing. I kept a lookout for the two impostors to make sure they didn't see us. I looked up to see Gon still climbing, but almost finished. I took this moment to start climbing myself. As I was climbing, my eyes weren't fixed to the wall in front of me, but on Gon above me. It felt a little weird, staring at Gon's ass as he climbed, but I just couldn't help it, it was sort of mesmerizing. I saw Gon's eye look down, but didn't think much of it until he said something.

"Enjoying the view, Killua?" He asked.

I blushed and looked at the wall in front of me and said, "I-I don't know what you mean, Gon. I-I'm just looking at the wall."

Gon laughed and I heard a new voice saying, "Hey! It's them!"

It was the Lerorio impostor. They had heard Gon's laugh and came to see what was happening. I started to climb faster and I bumped into Gon. He hadn't moved since the Leorio impostor had spotted us. I pushed him up with my hand, while I put my foot under the pole and kicked it into the air. I hoped that it'd stay airborne long enough for us to get over the rail. I kept pushing Gon, even though he was moving by himself. I heard the clack of the pole hitting the wall but didn't concern myself with that, as I knew it'd go right back into the air.

"Move, Gon," I said, "Hurry!"

"I'm hurrying!" He said, "I'm hurry-ah! Got it!"

He lifted himself up over the rail, turned around and offered me a hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. He pulled a little too hard, though, as I fell right on top of him ass soon as I was over the rail. Our eyes were locked into the others' for what seemed like a minute, but was only around a second before I heard another clack on the wall. I remembered the pole and got up to get it. Before the Leorio impostor could grab it, I put my hand underneath and flipped it up. I'd intended to flip it so I could grab it, but it went over my head. I followed it's path as it fell into Gon's arms.

I almost complimented him on his catch, but I saw the Kurapika impostor just get off the escalator and look around for us. I grabbed Gon's arm and dragged him along towards our gate. The Kurapika impostor noticed us and started after us. However, we were already at the gate, where I showed our tickets to the attendant. She looked at our tickets for a second and gave them back to me, saying we could go on. We ran onto the plane with the Kurapika impostor getting stopped before he could chase us. I looked back and stuck my tongue out at him.

==-==-==-x==-==-==-==-x-==-==-==-x-==-==-==-==x-==-==-==

Once the plane was in the air, I let myself relax. It had been a long day and it was only still morning! Well, early afternoon, by now, I'd imagine. Still, I was almost to the point of exhaustion. I could only imagine how Gon was feeling. I looked over to him, expecting to see him breathing heavily, but he was just staring at me.

"W-what?" I asked.

"When we were climbing," he said, "you were staring at my butt, weren't you?"

I turned a little red and said, "What? Don't be ridiculous, Gon."

"I knew it!" He exclaimed loud enough that the rows close to us looked over. He noticed this and then whispered to me, "So, what'd you think? Was it nice?"

I couldn't believe my ears! I looked away and said, "I… I really don't know what you mean."

"C'mon, Killua" He said, turning his finger on my cheek, "Say it."

"No." I said.

"Say it." He said, still turning his finger.

"I'm not going to say it."

"Say it."

"No."

"C'mon, Killua, just say it this once."

I sighed and said, "Alright." Then I muttered under my breath, "You have a nice ass."

"What was that?" Gon asked playfully.

"You have a nice ass!" I said louder, "There! Are you happy now?"

"Yup!" Gon's whole face was smiling.

Sometimes I really despised his cheerfulness. He was always cheerful, no matter what. I don't think there was a thing that could ever bring him down. I don't think he even knew the feeling of being depressed. It was just one of those things that made Gon, Gon. Just one of those things that made me like him.

He quickly leaned in and pressed his lips on mine, then sat back up just as quickly. I was shocked for the brief instant. I was confused at what had just happened. It happened so fast that my brain had to register it a second longer. I couldn't describe any other feelings as they were all mixed together.

"Thanks," Gon said, "I think your ass is pretty nice, too."

He laughed. I was still shocked that Gon had actually kissed me. He kissed me! On the lips! I must have looked retarded sitting there, gawking at Gon with my mouth slightly open, but I didn't really care. That is, until I saw Gon look concerned.

"Killua?" Gon asked, "Oh, God. Killua, did I break you?"

I blinked and shook my head. "Huh? Wh-what?"

Gon sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God."

I looked at him in confusion. "What?"

Gon returned my confused look with a smile. "Nothing."

A thought returned to my head suddenly. "So, back when we met Kite," I said, recalling the question Gon had avoided, "What were you going to introduce me as?"

"Huh?" Gon asked, "Oh. It's nothing to concern yourself with, Killua."

He let out a nervous laugh. I swore that someday soon, I'd get him to admit it. I was a little bit mad that he didn't admit it right then. After all, he had kissed me. Yet, here he was, unwilling to admit wanting to introduce me as his boyfriend.

Perhaps it's not the right time, I thought, After all, it was only a kiss. It could have meant anything.

I remembered the book we'd taken from Kitakura's. I thought that I'd spend some time trying to read it so I asked Gon to give it to me. It was better than thinking about the kiss the whole time. Gon was looking through his bag and sat up saying he couldn't find the book. I looked at him in disbelief. I knew the book was in there, I had seen it when I was looking for his fishing rod. He suggested that I look for it so I leaned over him and searched through his bag. He leaned down and kissed the back of my neck and sniffed my hair before I sat back up with the book in one hand and the other over the spot where he'd kissed.

"Cut it out, Gon." I said.

"I can't help it, Killua," he said with a smile, "It's just that you smell and taste just like chocolate."

He laughed again and I opened up the book while slumping down in my chair, grumbling. Looking at the book, I found that it, once again, had nothing in it. I flipped through the pages, once gain, not expecting to see anything on them. Sure enough, nothing was on the pages, except for the last one. The last page still contained that small print. I sighed. This book was impossible.

At that moment, one of the flight attendants was walking by. She stopped at our row and asked if we wanted anything. I asked her for some chocolate and Gon asked for a drink of juice. I decided I'd have a drink as well. When she asked if we wanted anything else, I looked at the small print in the book.

"Is there a magnifying glass anywhere?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, "We have a magnifying glass. Would you like to use it?"

"Yes please." I said.

"Certainly." She said and walked away.

I thought that if I had a magnifying glass, then I could read the small print. I had to admit that not being able to read the print had frustrated me to the point where I wanted to rip the book to shreds. However, I restrained myself because I knew the book was our only chance at true happiness. The flight attendant returned with our drinks, my chocolate and the magnifying glass. We thanked her as she walked away again.

I opened up one of my chocolates and put it in my mouth. It had seemed like decades since I'd last tasted the sweetness of chocolate. The texture, the flavour, everything just melted and merged inside my mouth. I was in absolute ecstasy. However, I knew that I had to find out what the small print said so I took the magnifying glass and put it up against the book. The only thing that was written on the book was just one word. One three-letter word.

"Gyo?" I thought out loud.

I closed the book and thought about what Gyo had to do with the Fountain of Youth. Why was it the only thing written in the book? Why was it on the last page? Why was it written so small? I had to find out the answers, so I decided to do a little experiment. I opened the book to the first page and concentrated my Nen into my eyes. I couldn't believe it.

I tugged on Gon's sleeve and said, "Gon, Gon! Look at this!" I pointed to the book.

Gon looked at it and then he looked at me, confused. He said, "I don't see anything, Killua."

"Use Gyo and look!" I instructed.

"Oh!" Gon said, "I see!"

For the next several hours, I read the book. It was written in an old language. Fortunately, I'd studied almost every language known to man practically to death when I was younger, so I knew how to read it. It's just that it was hard to understand at times. That, and it's hard to concentrate when you've got a sensation unlike any other in your mouth and your best friend trying to find ways to trick you so he could kiss you.

Eventually, the chocolate ran out, the sun went down and the tricking stopped. Everybody else on the plane was asleep, including Gon, who had his head on my lap. But I was still awake and I was still reading. My eyes would occasionally wander down from the book to my lap and I saw Gon sleeping as peacefully as if he were using a fluffy pillow. When I saw him, I smiled and then continued reading. Pretty soon, my eyes grew heavy and they closed.

==-==-==-==-x==-==-==-x-==-==-==-==-x-==-==-==x-==-==-==-==

A couple days later, our plane finally landed at Yorknew Airport. I didn't know the exact day that it was, but I knew that it was close to the day we were to meet our friends in this city. I was actually pretty excited to see them again and I knew that Gon was ecstatic. All we had to do was find them. I figured it wouldn't be that hard since we could just call Leorio and Kurapika.

As son as we got off the plane, I felt a pair of eyes watching every move we made. I figured it was just paranoia, as I'd had plenty of encounters with the feeling, so I ignored it. However, the feeling persisted throughout our journey in the airport. I decided to scan around and find out where the eyes were coming from, without letting on that I was doing so, of course. I noticed two men, a taller one and a smaller one, wearing trench coats and hats that looked like they belonged in an old movie or something.

Those guys really need to get with the times, I thought.

I noticed one of them flinch when I looked in their direction. It was a slight movement, barely noticeable, but it was enough to make the trench coat guys suspicious to me. If I could get closer without being seen, I could figure out what they were saying. However, the 'not getting seen' part of the was especially difficult. Ultimately, I decided they weren't worth my time.

Gon and I moved on ahead and I noticed the trench coat guys start to follow us. They were starting to get on my nerves. I gradually walked faster and Gon kept up with my pace. I noticed the trench coat guys fall behind. However, I still didn't let up on my pace.

"Killua," Gon said, "why are we walking so fast?"

"I just wanted to meet up with our friends faster, that's all," I lied.

I turned and headed in another direction. Gon pointed out that the doors were in the direction we were headed before and wondered why we were going in this one. I informed him that I needed to take care of some business and he just said 'oh'. I once again felt the eyes on us and saw the trench coat guys a short distance behind us. I thought we had lost them. I wondered how they caught up to us so fast.

I once again gradually began to walk faster and Gon again kept up with my pace. I thought that we could lose the trench coat guys again, but they seemed to be keeping up with out pace pretty well. Gon eventually got curious as to why I was looking back all the time and decided to look back. He looked at me and then back and then to me again.

"Those trench coat guys have been following us, haven't they?" He said.

I nodded. Thankfully, we were at the restroom now. We went in and the trench coat guys didn't follow us. I don't know why they didn't follow us, but I was happy because it meant that I could do my business in peace. After I washed my hands, I took a peek outside of the restroom. When I didn't see the trench coat guys, I called for Gon to follow me out.

We were about five steps out of the restroom when Gon said, "Killu-mmf!"

I turned around to see that Gon was no longer there. I looked around the area but didn't see any trace of him. I wondered what had happened to him, when I heard a scream. It wasn't the scream of a woman, it was the scream of a man. The sound that I was most familiar with. It was the scream of a man in pain.