The candlelight flickered ever so softly as the sway of human movement passed through the otherwise blackened corridor. A faint sheen caught small sections of midnight hair in the gently wavering flames now and then as the broad shouldered figure steadily made his way through. The gaunt, unconscious frame of the female, needle-littered arms and legs dangling uselessly, seemed to be enveloped by the shadow of her carrier above. Her chin was dipped forward into her chest, purple hair scattered messily over the eyes, cheeks, and pin covered neck, while a lazily draped white towel hung to her captor's knees and served to barely conceal her core.
The game had changed.
As Illumi borrowed back one of his hands to push the door to his right open, he pondered the situation at hand. He supposed that the most recent advances could hardly be described as a nuisance. It simply called for a switch in strategy. Entering the doorway and securing the lock behind him, he could hardly suppress the gleam in his eyes as he studied the girl hanging helplessly in his arms.
The idea that he had initially considered Misaki useful to his cause without his acting as her puppeteer was mildly amusing to him now. Of course she could not hold a candle to his stoic resolve; she wasn't created or molded to. Until now. Now she was much more than she had ever been. She was an extension of him, and far more of a threat than she had ever been or, he was certain, could ever be lacking his influence. She was far more proficient than she herself was capable of governing, but thankfully he found that under his control she was indeed a reasonable force to be reckoned with. After all, he knew how to properly harness her abilities to actively match her potential skill-set.
He crossed the dark room as simply as though it were lit clear as day, although other than a large dresser against the left-hand wall, it was starkly bare. As he reached the one other piece of furniture, an untouched bed (which was, true to its appearance, hardly ever used since he quite preferred the comfort of the floor to sleep), he dipped forth and transferred the sleeping girl's weight to it. The mattress withdrew mildly, and he studied the gentle part of her lips intently as she continued to snooze peacefully.
Peacefully was the key word, and the one that drew the corners of his mouth into something resembling a smile. Indeed, despite everything she had done in the last week Misaki was able to slumber in comfort even still. She was helpless to fight him, he knew, and she had no desire to escape the realms of infinite pleasure where he had left her during her bathing experience. She was happy to hold onto the feeling of having him inside her skin and showed no signs of resistance. This of course made her incredibly easy to control.
Except...
When Killua had spoken last, something unexpected had happened. It was true that Misaki had, after her earlier encounter with Illumi in the bath, gladly given herself to him and had not once opted to even try to fight his authority. However, during her last confrontation of sorts with Killua, she had managed to suddenly and without warning pull away from Illumi almost entirely. He had felt the shift in her body, the understanding awakening from within her, the soft calling of her voice crossing from her mind into his ears...
"Kil...lua...?"
Of course he had no choice but to withdraw her from the situation, to shock her body with pain to block her impedance and inspire retreat. It was a wonder she had been able to retract from his power, however briefly, at his younger brother's beckoning. Even so, he had learned from his mistake.
It wouldn't happen again.
Pacing around to the opposite side of the bed, he collapsed neatly into a sitting position before shifting around onto his side to face the girl once more. He slipped his outstretched fingers through the bulk of the plum hair against her scalp, collecting a generous handful in between as he leaned against her forcibly sleep-paralysed figure and buried his face at the base of her neck. Purposefully, he inhaled deeply her scent, smiling wickedly against her tender flesh as her only movement remained the light rise and fall of her chest from beneath the shelter of the towel.
So, Killua knew the truth now... What the boy didn't expect was that Illumi had always anticipated the possibility of that. In fact, had he failed to realize it before Gon's demise, he had always intended to reveal Hoshii's identity after. If anything, this saved him the trouble... and he had devised a back up plan even in the earliest development stages. There were areas he could willingly exploit while Killua was aware of Hoshii really being an alias of Misaki that he couldn't have otherwise.
He was more than ready to take full advantage of changing the game.
For a moment while lightly tracing the girl's collarbone with the very tip of his finger, he wondered just how badly Killua wanted to enjoy a moment like this; curled up intimately with Misaki. His breath hitched in excitement at the thought. After all, she was here, helpless and drowning her sealed mind and senses in pleasure the likes of which she had never known before. She was so very fragile...
Yanking her weighted head back into the pillow and running his bottom lip over the decorative knobs of the needles lining her throat, he whispered in a monotonous voice just barely dripping with cruel contentment, "You're mine, Misaki."
He willed her to open her eyes, and without blinking she replied, "Illumi-sama."
Something inside him wished Killua could have heard her. He could almost see it...
"Do you hear my voice?"
"Only yours, Illumi-sama."
"State your purpose."
"To kill Gon," she answered in a trance-like state without hesitation.
"Tell me again."
"To kill Gon, Illumi-sama."
"You're mine, Misaki," he repeated. "Tell it to me."
"I belong to you, Illumi-sama."
"Do you feel me?" he asked, running his fingertips down her arms.
"Only you, Illumi-sama. Everywhere. Always."
Rolling onto his back, he mentally worked to bend her up into a sitting position. The towel mostly abandoned its haphazard purpose.
"You know what is required of you."
"Yes, Illumi-sama," Misaki agreed, robotically moving lower...
Illumi smiled once more. Indeed he was enjoying his self proclaimed role as the game master...
...especially when he was only a few moves away, in more than one regard, from checkmate.