I retracted my claws and stepped around the final target. This had been more tiring then I had originally thought. The ground floor was filled with the bleeding bodies of the guards, all deceased or soon to be deceased. On the second floor I had found my primary target's bedroom. It had not taken much time after that to dispatch him.

I used my left hand to tear a piece of cloth from the bedspread and wrapped my limply hanging right arm with it. It would do to slow the bleeding until I acquired the supplies needed to stich it up. I was beginning to despise guns. They were annoying, cowardly weapons used by too many of the populace nowadays.

I pulled the knot tight before digging out my cell phone. I flipped it open and selected the first number.

"Illumi." Father answered after the first ring.

"It's done."

"Good." And that was the end of the conversation. Now all that was left was to return home.

I snapped my phone shut and left through the window.

"Hey Killu-chan!" Amy shouted as she ran to the silver haired boy. Killu had fit right in among them. The five of the (Killu, Amy, Manny, Natsu and Seiji) had all been playing hide and seek before switching over to tag. I smiled thinking about Killu's obvious advantage, but he had pulled back to match the other kids. Even letting himself be found.

So I watched as Amy began pulling on his arm, wanting him to give her a piggy back. But he seemed to pull back. I looked around.

"Aniki!" Killu shouted as he raced around to the front of the house. Zoldyck boy? I thought as I followed.

In front of the house there was Illumi, collapsed against the post of the porch. A cloth was tied around his right arm and it looked to be coated in blood. There was so much!

"Illu!" I skidded to my knees next to him and began unwrapping the cloth. Beneath it I could clearly see at least five bullet wounds, winding from his shoulder to an inch above his elbow. Dear god how that had to hurt!

"Aniki!" Killu called as he too saw the wounds.

"Killua, I need you to find me something I can use to pry out the bullets." I felt for exit wounds, but there was only one or two. That meant three were still in his arm.

"Onee-chan move." Killu pushed me out of the way, grabbed Illumi's arm and was digging into it with his fingers.

"Wai-" I saw as he pulled out a copper coated bullet. He dropped it and plunged into his brother's arm looking for the second. As that one too came free I saw with horror that Killua's hand did not appear normal. His nails had grown and sharpened, his hand was contorted to parallel a spearhead.

Could Illumi do that too?

"How many are there nee-chan?"

"One… one more Killua." I scrambled to my feet, finally thinking. "I-I'll go get the… the kit! The first aid kit!" I booked it into the house, taking the stairs two and three at a time to the second floor where the big first aid kit was kept.

How had this happened? Illumi was supposed to be one of the best! Being taken down by only a few gunshot wounds? There had to be more to it.

"Killua, lay him out on his back." I ordered as I told all the other children to get inside.

"I can't onee-chan. Look." Turning Illumi's shoulders, I saw something seeping through his black shirt. I ran my fingers along his spine, and pulled them away to discover blood. How many times had he been shot? How was he able to make it here? Illumi?!

"Okay, new plan. Um…" I bit the inside of my cheek. There was no way we could get him to the hospital in time… "Killua go inside, grab a sheet and cover the rug in the living room. Tell the other kids that someone needs to boil water and I need Dania out here as fast as possible."

"Is Aniki going to be alright?" He hesitated, looking at me with the widest eyes I had ever seen on his face. I saw his fear and I wanted to do everything I could to make it go away.

"He'll be fine." Now if only I could believe that as I carefully lifted Illumi's uninjured arm across my shoulders.

"Haru-chan?"

"Dania! Good. Grab the first aid kit," I tapped it lightly with my foot as I shifted Illumi again. He wasn't responding, "and follow me."

In the living room I was relieved to see Killua had done what I asked, he had even made sure to move the coffee table. I laid Illumi down as gently as I could, grabbing a pillow from one of the couches to support his head. It was difficult, because I had to lay him down on his stomach.

"Dania, set it down here. Then go find Mimi." I unlatched the lid of the kit, looking for the scissors I needed to cut away his shirt. I sucked in a deep breath as I counted the wounds in his back. Including the five from his arm, I counted eleven bullet wounds. He had been shot eleven times!

"Please don't die. No dying. You aren't allowed to die." I muttered, swiping my eyes before they could spill over.

I needed to focus on first aid.

First was to clean the wound. I dipped a rag into the bowl of hot water and slowly cleaned away all the blood, exposing the jagged edges of each wound. They looked worse without the blood. His pale skin made him look like a corpse.

I shook my head and corrected the thought. He was not a corpse.

Next was to dig out all the bullets. Could I do it? My hand hovered over the first aid kit. What could I use? Tweezers were useless, so what was my next option? Think… THINK!

"Onee-chan?"

"Killua?" My head whipped around to see the little boy hold up his hand. Once again looking more like a weapon than a hand. "Are you sure?"

"Mm." He nodded, I motioned him to come closer.

"Be careful, and do it one at a time." I watched in silence as he moved over his brother, digging his nails in to his brother's flesh again and again. It was sickeningly fascinating. Once the last six bullets were finally removed from Illumi's back I cleaned them again.

None of them had seemed to go deep. That was a good thing, right? Now I just needed to stich up the wounds? I chewed my lower lip, thinking it over.

Killua didn't seem to know any more than I did. Could I send him to look for a doctor? No. Illumi wouldn't want that. He was an assassin. That meant he wasn't exactly a model citizen.

Could you even throw a Zoldyck in jail? I mean, wouldn't they just break out? Kukuroo Mountain is a better prison than anything else in the world, and they had made that place their home.

I was sitting there, in the living room, next to an out-cold (shirtless) Illumi thinking over what I could possibly do. And failing. The one thing I did know though,

"Illu's staying here tonight." I looked to the silver haired boy who had said nothing since we started helping his brother. He said nothing so I continued, "I'm going to bandage him up, and in the morning I'm taking him to the doctor. It's too late to do that now."

Illumi had been found just as the sun was setting, and now it was after dark. Removing the bullets had been the difficult part. I had re-wrapped his arm in something clean and it was looking like it needed another bandage. Could I simply bandage his back and hope he makes it through the night?

"Aniki doesn't need a doctor." Killua said.

"Yes he does." I retorted.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!" I shouted, grabbing his shoulders and giving him a shake. "He needs a doctor Killua. I can't do anything more than this and I don't even know if this is enough to get him through the night."

"What if I brought a doctor?"

"You can't. There's no doctor around here who will make house calls. And especially not if they find out it's for a member of the Zoldyck family. Everyone around here is afraid of you and your family."

"You aren't." He whispered, looking down as something glistened in his eyes. I had nothing to say to that. The truth was, I was afraid.

I was afraid of how Illumi had so casually manipulated those corpses.

I was afraid that Illumi would one day kill me.

I was afraid that Illumi would die because I couldn't HELP HIM!

"You should go home Killu." I focused on putting everything back into the kit, only leaving out fresh bandages so I could change them later tonight. I ignored Killua as he tried to protest. I never looked back at him, avoided his eyes and blocked out his existence. It hurt, knowing that tonight could be the last time I saw Illumi.

Killua left and I sat there beside his brother.

I was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the couch, knees to my chest, and eyes slowing closing against my will when Mimi came in and wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.

"Why don't you rest upstairs and I'll watch him?" Mimi sat on the seat beside me, and I nearly purred as she began scrapping her nails along my scalp in a rhythmic sequence. It was so tempting.

"No, I'm staying here. You go to bed. Get some sleep. The kids will be needing you in the morning, plus there's shopping to do, and cleaning and…" I yawned, interrupting myself.

"Haruka…"

"I'm staying down here." Was my reply as I shook my head, pulling the blanket tighter across my shoulders. "Seriously Mimi, go to bed."

"Sigh… My pig-headed Haruka never changes. Good night. Wake me up if you need me." And with that Mimi kissed my forehead like I was back to being six years old and went to bed.

In no time at all my eyelids were once again slowly becoming heavier and heavier. I fell asleep, curling up into a ball still facing Illumi's unmoving form.

The next morning I found myself waking up, curled up to (the now awake) Illumi's side.

"Good morning." He casually said as I bolted into a sitting position, face flushing red.