WARNING: Pretty short because balls aren't my thing. xD I did put in moments that will hopefully satisfy the fluffball in you though!

DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own HxH



CHAPTER 11: Festivities

It was so colorful in the grand hall, much like balls in the fairy tales Mito-san told her about during bedtime. It was very beautiful and the feminine side of her was very much swelling. As she entered, she closed her eyes, hearing the classical music blend in nicely with the happy chatters of her peers, as if the sound itself was welcoming them.

Everyone was so happy, and Gon could feel herself grinning.

"Whoa there. You're going to break my arms." Killua said jokingly and she turned her head to him as she lessened her grip. They let out a chuckle at the same time.

"Sorry." She said, that grin still on her face. "I like it when everyone's happy." After all, the atmosphere in school during normal days was a lot more… competitive. This was a nice change.

He smiled back and led her deeper into the crowd. Under the largest chandelier there were already a few pairs slow dancing with the background music. It was somewhere at that time when her eyes wandered off somewhere random to see two very familiar faces.

She beamed and dragged Killua to the other pair. "You two look wonderful." She said and the two raven haired classmates bid their polite thanks. Shizuku was blushing a little and told her she looked great as well. She never saw them together before but now that she did she could see from the way they stood—the comfort—that told her they were close.

"We were childhood friends." Feitan said as if hearing her thoughts, and meeting Killua's gaze with a wordless nod.

"I didn't know that."

"Of course you wouldn't." He said with his usual tone of voice, but Gon's sensitive ears always knew it was nonchalant.

She smiled, silently recalling their conversation a week ago, just before she went out of her way to find Killua. Contrary to what most people thought, they were still interacting like the duel never happened. The naïve girl and the brooding boy wordlessly became better friends than anyone would have expected.

And if they did feel slightly awkward, neither of them let it on.

Gon gently tightened her grip of Killua to get his attention as they excuse himself. But as they turned, Feitan's eyes sought out Killua's and they met for an instant.

"Hey, silver head." He said, just loud enough for him to hear. "You better train harder next time."

Killua stared at him for a split second, and smirked. "You won't be as lucky the second time."

Feitan smirked back, nodded, and turned away. An affable challenge had been passed.

.

"Well, he's acting graciously." Shalnark whispered, impressed, to the danchou as they stood rather inconspicuously as wallflowers. Interestingly, they weren't the sort that could be invisible even if they were acting as wallflowers… unless they used 'In'.

When the danchou didn't answer, Shalnark said it twice, and he did so as he looked away from the smiling Shizuku. The danchou was uncharacteristically staring blankly at space and had been in a daze. The younger man couldn't help but notice he was a bit… unhinged.

"That girl is familiar somehow." The older man said, finally. "Or rather she reminds me of someone. In any case, if we do think Feitan's fond of her, I don't think he'd want to get on her bad side."

Shalnark could not help but chuckle at his vertically-challenged friend. "So cute…" And Kuroro did not disagree.

And a second later they swore Feitan sent a very annoyed glare at them.

Gon and Killua moved occasionally, meeting classmates, chatting with them, and eating finger foods at different tables. Gon particularly loved the set up of travelling from differently themed food from buffet table to buffet table.

They met a lot of freshmen, and occasionally an upperclassman who was in the organization committee. Neon was there, absolutely surrounded by (as Killua called them) boot-licking students. But there was another upperclassman, however, they were expecting to see… but couldn't find a trace of.

Bisuke was with her date, a shy kid with brown hair, and they were in the Eastern Food table. "Yo."

"Hello~" Then Bisuke looked at her. "You look so pretty." Her partner nodded, and Bisuke pinched his hand.

"So…have you seen Kurapika?"

The two shook their heads in response. "But she's probably doing security checks outside."

"Yeah. That's something she'd do."

"Well then." Bisuke said clasping her hands, and—upon hearing the beginning of a familiar instrumental song—pulled her partner to the dance floor. "No need to worry, then!

"Dance, Dance, Dance~"

Meanwhile, on the school's clinic practically a building away from the grand hall, two old friends sat silently as they stared at the ceiling and the wound, respectively. "There. Done." Leorio said with a huff as he set the final round of bandage on her arm.

"Thanks."

"So…glad red's turn blue again." He said, opening a topic. "What made you so angry?" It certainly wasn't the wound. Kurapika's eyes never turned red for physical pain alone, even as a little girl, back when she was with her family, and his father was still the family's doctor.

"How's the apprenticeship going?" She asked as she gingerly patted the bandage, openly ignoring the question. Leorio shrugged as he stood up and returned the items back to their respective places.

"Fine." Ha said. "Just one more year and I'm officially a doctor."

"Yet you want to be called Leorio-sensei already."

"You know what they say…" He paused for effect. "Act the person you want to be."

They turned to the direction of the grand hall when they heard a change of music. The piano was the main sound and Leorio found himself smirking, gingerly turning his head towards his blonde of an old friend. "I remember when you were small and sweet and loved to play the piano."

Kurapika almost smiled. Almost. Leorio mused how he missed it. "Hmn." She uttered. "A long time ago."

Killua's heart was thumping as he danced with Gon. They were both surprisingly good dancers. Or at least that was what the people watching them were saying.

What the hell is with this music? He said. Way too slow. The adrenaline coursing through his veins was making him very jittery. He needed to move more… or else he'd go insane trying to stop himself from doing anything that would definitely make Gon uncomfortable.

"You're sweaty." Gon said absent-mindedly placing a few fingers on the hair that loosed through time. She combed it back with her palm.

He pushed down a blush and smiled. "You don't say."

It was then she realized she got a tad stiff as well, and at that moment he knew she was having the same problem. And knowing how energetic she was—she was probably having it harder. But she grinned anyway, reassuring him. Typical Gon. "Relax, Killua." She said softly. "Let's just go run around later."

Killua stared at her for a while as they danced, thinking of her words. She looked back at him and then he realized she was dead serious. She grinned when a glint in his eyes told her he finally understood, and he grinned back.

He asked the limousine to go home after that, and they decided to run home.

It was a little past midnight when the gathering ended, the two haggard-looking (well, relative to their clean-cut appearances less than hour prior) appeared by the gates of a middle-class community precisely 12:36 am in the morning.

They panted as they let the wall support most of their weights, their bright grins pasted on their sweaty faces. "So much more fun than a dance." Gon chuckled and Killua did not disagree.

A few minutes of silence pass by, in the pretense that they were still recharging. But really, they just didn't want the night to end. So Gon looked around and her eyes ended up on the surrounding forest and caught Killua's eyes, which startled to gleam again in understanding.

They turn their bodies towards the forest and leaned down at the same time. They didn't need a signal to know when to start sprinting towards it—they just did. "Race you to a clearing!" Gon yelled, and both of them let their instincts take over and run a straight path until they found a clearing.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the nearest clearing wasn't very far away.

"I win!" Killua yelled as soon as he stepped foot on the clearing. He turned around, grinning, but it was replaced by a gape as soon as Gon appeared.

"Mou—" She exclaimed as she held up her dress. It was torn, very torn, and at different places. Killua was just glad he wasn't seeing anything he wasn't supposed to. "Bisuke's gonna kill me."

"…ha." Killua mumbled, before allowing his grin to return. "Nah. It outlived its usefulness."

"I would've won if I wasn't wearing a dress you know." She said as a matter-of-factly, and Killua almost snickered. Competetive-Gon was adorable.

"Think whatever you want Gon." He said before flopping down the soft grass and savoring the cold wind on his skin. He loved the feeling of letting his instincts take over and run and win, to let the adrenaline flow through his vein without having to feel remorse afterwards—to feel alive when he wasn't killing anyone else.

In retrospect that only began happening when he was with her. And he let out some sort of amused wheeze at that thought. "Thanks Gon."

"Eh?" Gon asked, puzzled, as she sat down beside him. "What for?"

He turned his head to look up at her and shook his head. "I just wanted to say it."

"Killua's weird."

He closed his eyes, a rich smile plastered on his face. "Hmn." Gon only shrugged, thinking once again how weird he was.

And they allow an amicable silence to accompany them once more.

They arrived at her doorstep some hour later, and stayed there for another half... albeit they didn't quite realize they took so long. They had no idea where the topics come from, but they pop up, and neither pushed them away.

He wanted to lean in the whole time.

But instead, he found himself stepping half a step back, just to be safe. "Ara…" Gon uttered during his latest movement, when she finally realized the initial distance to what he made now. "How'd you get so far away?" And to his surprise, she stepped closer so they were a mere foot apart.

If he was palpitating before, he had no words for what was happening now.

Somewhere at the back of his head, he could tell that his hands were moving on its own, his head leaning down of its own accord, while the rest of his brain watched and listened. Gon stared at him, perhaps unaware of what he was about to do, or was simply getting caught off-guard.

But when they were an inch apart the door opened suddenly, pushing Gon towards him so his mouth met her forehead instead. They simultaneously turn around to the door, shocked, and batted eyelids as the door closed again. But they had someone with them on the porch then, someone whose presence made them both shiver.

"Oi, kiddo." The man said coolly, but his aura was still making Killua shiver. Killua almost lost his footing when Gon spoke afterwards.

"G-Ging?!"

Almost. He knew he wore a very stupid expression though. He made very stupid-looking dumbfounded expressions, simply because he never had to wear it before. "Ging—Your dad?"

"Y-Yeah."

Ging, seeming to adopt a lighter mood, only crossed his arms and stared at them alternately. "It's almost two in the morning." He paused and continued on, as if stating objective facts. "You're dolled up." He paused again. "But your dress is torn.

"Tell me what's a father to think about this?"

"W-We weren't doing anything inappropriate—sir!"

"Oh?" Ging said smoothly, turning his head fully to him now. "It's interesting that that's the first thing that came to your mind, eh?"

Killua gulped. Gon sweat-dropped.

"Stop scaring him, Ging!" She mumbled. "We went to a ball. From school." And sighed, before turning to Killua. "Sorry about my dad." She said, sending him a soft smile. "Thanks for today. I had fun."

And, just before heading in, she stepped forward to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

He felt like he was floating then, until he sensed a certain father's glare. "I'm watching you kid." He said, and slammed the door on his face.

He was so screwed.

And then he remembered the kiss.

So he thought it was worth it.

.

He was still screwed, though.

At least he got a kiss.

.

Ah, he mused, partly amused and partly terrified. It seemed that even his brain got screwed.

.
.

END OF CHAPTER 11

Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 12: Training


REPLIES TO ANGELS

A – Thank you for the review~! I'm glad you liked the scene. Hope I can write more of those very soon. ;)

Chamcha – Awww. I'm super glad to know that my story somehow made your mood better. And sure! I'll give Feitan and Gon more moments… not in this chap tho. *cackles* Thank you for the review! :D

Retz – Yep! I ship Shorty pair as well. xD So yeah, Kalluto (fem) will be entering sometime in the future. And ohh marshmallows. I remember I camped out last week and we made smores! *yum* And lol. The Quotev thing is just a way to get more traffic here, I don't really do much there. Oh and thx for the review~

Aimiera - There you go. Thank you for pointing it out! I allow too many weeks between chapters that I couldn't remember some details. xD So embarrassing! But thanks to you I can correct them. xD I'll show more Chain Pair stuff in the future and thanks again for the review~

Yuki Candy Heart - Thank you for the review! Ahahha glad you found the chap cute and Kuroro FTW! *Cheers* I miss writing him already. xD

Obsessed Dreamer – Oh hello former Guest Apr 21 xD Glad you spotted which reply was yours and it wasn't a problem for me to reply at all. All I can say for now about the whole Chain Pair thing is that Kurapika's head did a little… regression. xD Anyways, thank you for reviewing! :D

Yuu Hoshimura - Thank you for the review!Glad to know you found it interesting. Hehehe. And a LeoKuraKuro LT? Maybe? Maybe not. Depends on how events unfold in the future. *wink*

LordOfTheWest - hahahah. Yay! I love writing Yinyang pair. xD And yep~ Your worries are understandable. I'll try to shed some light on that some time soon. And oh, thx for the review~! *brofist*

KG-Ai – Yay! Glad you liked them~ If I had better fashion sense I would've designed and drawn those dresses but sadly… xD And Kurapika's eyes were red since she was with Kuroro so he saw. *wink* Oh, and thank you for reviewing~

Mystic - Hehehe glad you think the Yinyang pair is adorable as well! xDD And thank you for commenting~! *brohugs*

Jonica77 – (ch9) Thank you for reviewing! It's awesome to know you find the story cool so far and I shall try to keep it up! :D (ch10) Glad you agree with my decision on who I'll make Gon to go out with. *high five* And once again, thank you for the reviews~

Xxfeichixx – Huehuehue. xD Don't worry! The spiders will have their better moments. Probably. xD Glad I made you happy…, and do tell me which pairs you prefer tho so I can consider them. And thx for reviewing~! :DD

HanaAlz - I shall try my best. I have outlined a few chapters up tho (only 100 words per chap but I can get there xD ) and I can really use as much support as I can. ;) Thank you for reviewing by the way~

Phoenix-Thunder – Hahahaha OMG Bisuke would punch you if she heard that! xDD Oh glad you enjoyed the chain pair exchange. It was interesting to write and I'm excited to write some again. And of course, thanks as always for reviewing! :D

Charlotte Hevelesca - (ch3) hahahaha. I'm glad you liked the lunch part!xD I distinctly remember that was fun to write. xD (ch10) hahahah let us fangirl together. *squeaks* XDD Happy to know you liked it and thank you for the reviews!

PrimsoneClementine - Yoroshiku new reader! :D I'm glad you like my fic so far and I'm so happy to know that you think my style's unique. That means a lot. And of course! It's likely that Kura will end with Kuroro, probably, and I am considering your vote. Thanks for reviewing~! :D

Septsunny – Yay! Glad you liked how I set Gon and Kura's character. I'm really relieved. Glad that the Chain pair meeting fit to your liking as well! Thank you so much for reviewing. :D

Kh07gl – It's cool that I uploaded the sequel before this chapter. xD And I shall gladly insert more YinYang pair moments. Hope you like 'em and thank you for the review! XD

Shiver-Fire – Thank you for reviewing! It's great to know you found the chapter exciting and beautiful and now I'm guilty for not putting much things into the dance. Forgive me. But I hope you like the chap regardless. :D

Akatsuki . yaoi. Fan – hahah I want to see the dresses too, but my fashion sense is way below average so I decided to let you guys imagine it. xDD And I just noted your pairing votes! xD Oh, and thank you for reviewing~! :D



Thank you sooo much guys!

I hope you enjoyed it, but whatever you thought
please let me know. :D