"I didn't need you to do that," Killua insisted firmly once he'd managed to will away his lower body's unfortunate reaction to the friction.
After what had created the impression of a lifetime, the trio eventually landed with their feet planted firmly on the rocky ground at Tanzanite's base. The rumbling that had occurred earlier appeared far more persistent now, and the aforementioned steam hovering atop the crater now resembled many swirling rolls of puffy, off-white cloud.
Misaki spun to face the young boy, her brows freezing mid-knit and dispersing back to their original positions. She studied him for a moment, eyeing the solid pink of the apples of his cheeks, and thrust her umbrella back in its' carrying sling with a single, fluent stabbing motion. Apparently she'd caused him great discomfort, she realized, though alternately she had potentially saved his life.
"Should I have left you to die?"
"I could have figured something out myself," he mumbled, although the usual conviction in his words was faltering notably and his eyes were orbited away from her.
"Next time I can leave you on the volcano, if that is your wish," she offered as a sarcastic compromise, despite her deadpan tone.
It was not true, of course. She hadn't a death wish, which she knew would be the case if she permitted Illumi's brother to die under her watch. Besides, even without her contract acting as constant background noise in her mind, she did quite like Killua on a personal as well. He sort of reminded her of…
"We should warn the people about the volcano," Gon called out just then, interrupting the girl's thoughts.
Misaki ignored the statement and swiftly marched in a dutiful manner toward the city without a word spoken. No, that was not priority now. There was a score to settle…
"Misaki-san…" Gon said, shocked at the scene before him.
The pair had followed Misaki back to Haku's residence, and lieu of knocking the girl had forcefully slammed the bottom her brown hiking boot against the wood. The door splintered and was tossed uselessly from its hinges, making rough contact against the far wall of the first room and denting it permanently.
'Ko…' both boys recognized simultaneously.
Haku, who was sitting in an easy-chair investigating the stack of parchment in his lap, immediately leapt from his seat and attempted to escape from the room. Misaki, who apparently had anticipated this, reached for the small end table and hurled it toward him. The legs of the table tangled with the legs of the man and he collapsed gracelessly forth on to the floor; his thick rimmed glasses skidding away from him with the sheer momentum of his fall. He let out an involuntary, stunned sort of grunt from the impact.
Weighting his body with her boot on the small of his back, Misaki commanded, "Talk."
Haku coughed slightly from the pressure on his lungs. The plum haired girl retrieved her umbrella and pointed the tip at the back of his neck; just enough to barely touch the skin, which now streamed a small trail of fresh blood as though a recently sharpened blade was the weapon used instead.
"I-I'm so g-glad to s-see that y-you made it b-b-back," he stammered, his entire frame trembling as he failed to feign compassion.
"You knew!" Killua suddenly realized, and when Gon shot him a half confused expression he explained, "He knew the volcano was going to erupt."
"Haku-san," Gon said in surprise, "is that true?"
"It's true," Misaki answered for him, holding her pose without a hint of remorse. "Now I think we deserve to know why. Your choice is simple: talk or die."
Haku's eyes widened. His bottom lip quivered. Indeed he was aware that there was no negotiating with Misaki. She had (after all) completed a gruesome contract for him during her adolescence, and there was no doubt in his mind that she was both serious and capable of carrying through her threat.
He released an unsteady breath before he replied in a strained voice, "If you use Gyo and look at Gon's back, you'll see why..."
Killua followed the instructions, and to his surprise a black device Haku identical to the one he had conjured earlier to transfer seismic waves to his machines became clearly visible. He plucked it from his comrade's clothing and inspected it in his fingers before tossing it violently across the room.
"You wanted us to die so you could measure the magnitude of the earthquakes on Tanzanite?" Killua questioned incredulously.
Misaki's muscles stiffened.
"Still selfish, Haku-san," she remarked coldly.
"It was the only possible way to save the city!" he cried out, tears forming in the corner of his eyes.
He sighed, hiccuping halfway through.
"Since the government officials claimed that Tanzanite was not active, everyone was quick to dismiss the possibility of it posing any real threat. I was not convinced so easily. After extensive tracking of earthquakes from the obviously active volcanoes on the islands compared to the ones actually reaching the city, it became clear that Tanzanite had to be causing a large supply of them."
"Did you tell the people about it?" Gon asked.
"I tried, but no one would listen. I wanted to prove it by attaching a seismograph directly to Tanzanite so that I could extract current and accurate readings to show the people, but…" He paused, burying his face in the back of his arms before he squeaked out, "…I was afraid to go up there myself."
"So you thought you'd sacrifice us," Killua scoffed, severely unimpressed.
"I'm sorry!" Haku sobbed.
"Haku-san…" Gon whispered sympathetically as he rushed to retrieve the glasses that were out of the man's reach.
"Gon-kun…" Haku said, in shock of the boy's continual kindness as he was gently passed his spectacles. "I've made such a mess, and at the expense of your lives…"
"There's no time for long apologies," Misaki interjected, releasing the bawling man from all restraint. "There's no reason for the people to brush you off now."
"She's right," Killua agreed. "Tanzanite is steaming so much that you can even see it from here. I'm sure people have started to notice it by now."
"It might be too late, in that case," Haku murmured woefully.
"What do you mean?" Misaki asked.
"By the time we warn the people and even just figure out a way to get them to safety, the eruption might already happen and the gases will be on their way."
"Will it be safe on the next island?" Gon questioned, his eyes determined and focused.
"The next main island, I would think so," Haku explained, "but all of the minor islands around here are also in danger."
"We can't warn four islands worth of people in time to save lives," Misaki announced after tapping her fingers consecutively against her thumb as she counted the total of minor islands surrounding them.
"We have to at least try!" Gon argued.
"There aren't even enough available boats to escape on," the man continued sadly. "We'd probably just get everyone in to a panic and then half of them would still have to die."
"That's if they're not already in a panic," Killua mentioned. "They can definitely see that something is up by now."
"Hey, Haku-san?" the tanned boy began curiously. "If it's too late to save people when the volcano is going to erupt, how would us going up there and dying in the eruption have done anything to help you in time?"
Both Killua and Misaki exchanged glances that seemed to cross-communicate the same thought.
"You weren't ever trying to save people," the former assassin accused, glaring daggers at Haku.
"Who are you trying to prove all this to?" the amber eyed woman questioned dangerously.
Haku sighed, covering his face with his hands.
"Okay! You're right," he confessed, "my intention was not to rescue the populace of the island, but to impress the government's official league of scientists enough to gain a place in their cabinet."
The plum haired girl's eyes burned, and she aimed the enhanced tip of her parasol at the man's larynx. Her shoulders were square and high and confident.
"Still selfish, Haku-san," she repeated, her voice this time opaque and dark while her aura was noticeably tainted with a flood of blood lust.
"What's all that noise?" Killua suddenly interrupted.
"Look!" Gon called to the group from the empty front door frame, his index finger extended.
The city was nearly in a state of absolute chaos. The sky had become ominous and black, and the cloud-like rolls above Tanzanite in the near distance were so defined that they almost appeared painted on. Masses of people scurried about here and there, most with no actual destination in mind. The available boats and ships alike were becoming overwhelmed with people, some taking the liberty to toss others from the decks in order to fit on board themselves.
"This is horrible," Gon whispered.
"Mass hysteria," Haku muttered under his breath.
"New plan," announced Misaki. "Looks like people are already looting, so we're on the hunt for umbrellas. Got that?"
"Umbrellas?" Killua repeated distastefully.
"What about all the people?" Gon asked hopefully.
"It's too late for them," the girl insisted firmly. "If you want to survive, loot some umbrellas."
"…But-"
"I know a store that sells them," Haku piped up.
"You should be grateful to be alive at all right now," Misaki hissed. "For now you are our prisoner."
She pivoted to face Killua, who held her gaze.
"Can I trust you to guard the prisoner?"
With a satisfied smirk, he replied (using his thumb to gesture to himself), "Don't worry about me, old lady; you just focus on your little 'umbrella looting' scheme and leave the tough stuff to the professional."
Contrary to her previously somber nature and controlled behaviors in front of the boys, she grinned with a clearly bemused gleam in her eye. Too unexpectedly swift for him to avoid it, Misaki darted her hand out and playfully ruffled Killua's silvery hair.
"Hey, cut it out!" he shouted too late, his face hot and reddened in the aftermath.
"Wait for us at the docks, Kil'," she instructed, pointing toward the body of water she was referring to. "Let's go, Gon."
The island boy nodded, but his expression was uneasy and bothered as he followed Misaki through the wave of hysteric people.
In a quick moment of silence, with the world rushing noisily around him, Killua lifted his hand to his hair and ran his fingers through slowly. He then looked from his palm to his 'prisoner' before the two headed toward their own given destination, the blue eyed boy feeling discontented and far too aware of the awkward burning in the flesh of his cheeks.
A/N: Thanks again to Ria and Nanako, and to everyone reading :)