The rolling vibrations murmuring beneath the two friends' feet left half of the pair feeling grateful for the excuse to refrain from speaking for a spell. The quakes appeared more often now than they had previously; varying in intensity and length. Indeed the message was delivered loud and clear that time was running ever shorter with each passing day, hour, and second. The more optimistic boy turned suddenly, his lips miming a cry for his comrade's attention as his index finger lined itself up with his intended display. A flood of butterflies simultaneously took flight from their perch among a patch of red, seeded flowers. The flutter of colours- seemingly every imaginable colour- whirled and looped gracefully until it merged with and finally disappeared into the slow falling of green leaves from the surrounding trees.
Oftentimes Killua could not wholeheartedly share his companion's unconditional adoration of nature; at least not nearly as openly. This time however, in his mentally knotted state, the scene somehow soothed him and he allowed himself a moment- just one, simple moment- to be transfixed and seduced by its effortless beauty. Gon smiled, seeing his expression.
"We're going to get her back."
It was just then that the lighter haired boy realized that the soft rumbling below the earth had ceased. He turned his head, collecting back his bearings, and forced his clear eyes to cloud over and harden.
"There's not enough time to worry about that right now."
As he had easily predicted, two soft, brown eyes widened with surprise.
"Misaki-san is our friend! We can't just leave her like that!"
Trying to appear aloof, Killua slid his hands into his pockets and flipped a strand of hair off his forehead with a toss of the head.
"Right now, the most important thing is trying to stop the eruptions. The earthquakes are happening more often. If we spend time trying to save her, everyone is just gonna die anyway."
"But we wouldn't even know about the eruptions if it weren't for Misaki-san!"
"Idiot! Whether one person lives or dies shouldn't be what matters right now!"
"It matters to me!"
Killua groaned.
Lowering his voice, Gon asked, "Don't you care if Misaki-san is being controlled?"
Despite having wanted to answer the question right away, the paler boy simply bit the inside of his cheek. Since discovering the truth, his contradictory thoughts had been in constant battle for superiority. Everything had changed so suddenly. In fact it was startling, if nothing less, for him to acknowledge that he did have feelings for the long missing girl. Now he understood that Illumi was banking on that, which put him in a terribly hazardous position. It was a dangerous and very specific game where he and Illumi were the players and Misaki and Gon were merely pawns in the grand scheme.
'I knew I sensed his shadow...'
He straightened, well aware that the twisting lurch in his chest was unacceptable. He couldn't let himself just-...
...But the look on Gon's face was beginning to win him over. The part of him that felt guilt and pain for the situation, for his hopeful best friend, and for the girl he had (against his own better judgement) come to feel something resembling affection towards, wanted an excuse to abandon his decided "responsibility". He wanted to free himself. He wanted to defy fate and his eldest brother, at that. Had that not been the reason he had stayed here with Gon in the first place?
"Fine," he said before he could stop himself, "we'll try. One time. If it doesn't work, we're going back to working on the eruptions."
Gon brightened. Killua averted his gaze in order to avoid doing the same. Apparently his friend had not realized that he did not believe that failure would even allow them a second chance, nor an opportunity to choose an alternate path. After all, he knew that trying even "one time" was going to be a very risky and draining experience for him, if not fatal. His rational half would hardly fathom that he'd agreed to it.
"...But we need a plan," he continued. "He only has one obstacle standing in his way; that we found out Hoshii is Misaki. We have almost everything working against us."
The darker boy frowned.
"Oh, I guess that's true... but there are things that we know, too."
"Like what?"
"Well, you know how his ability works. That could be helpful."
Folding his hands behind his head and leaning back against the trunk of a nearby tree, Killua sighed.
"Not really," he admitted. "I understand how parts of his ability work. I guess I'd just gotten comfortable enough that what I knew was everything that I didn't even suspect he could actually do something this elaborate... but when I think about it now, it's really just combining the stuff I did know..."
His eyes met those of his too-quiet friend. The silver haired boy suppressed a smile at the dumbfounded expression before him.
"Anyway, there's really only one thing that makes me think we even have a shot at all."
Perking up once more, Gon pressed, " What is it?"
"Somehow she managed to pull out of his control for a few seconds before on her own..."
The terrain was fairly open aside from a few larger boulders at the foot of the volcano. Occasionally the small pebbles jumped to the light vibration below. The boys had agreed that this was the best place to greet their adversaries, as it would avoid any surprise confrontation. The flat landscape worked to their advantage.
"Killua? Do you think she'll come today?"
Narrowing his eyes, he replied, "I know she will. He probably will, too."
This seemed to satisfy the boy. He nodded with conviction and turned to face head on.
'Let me do the fighting,' he mentally begged as his eyes scanned the open horizon. 'Just this once, please stick to the plan, Gon!'
"Killua..."
True to the tone of his companion's voice, a shadow steadily began to grow in the distance. It started indiscriminate; barely more than an abstract shape obstructing the glow of the setting sun, and ever so gradually it evolved into the defined silhouette of Hoshii's height and hair. There were no signs of urgency as she seemed to take one painstakingly even stride after another.
"It looks like she's alone."
"Something isn't right," the paler boy added. "Her movements are off somehow. It might be intentional to distract us."
Gon clenched his fists in preparation.
"Should we wait for her to get to us?"
"The best thing to do would be-...Gon!"
Mid sentence Killua had sensed it coming; a formidable blow toward his friend's core from behind. The intent to kill was suffocating and in a desperate attempt to act swiftly, Killua drew out his claws and applied a thorough focus of aura through Ko. The impact was enough that the terrain beneath the contact point between the boy's hand and the tip of the umbrella turned concave under the terrible pressure.
"Wow, Killu-tan!" Hoshii's singsong voice cried out from the opposite end of the deflected weapon. "You saw that coming from an inch away at the same time as you thought you saw me coming from a mile away!" The girl's cheeks turned rosy as she lowered her jaw and fanned herself with her free hand. "You're one smooth operator, Killu-tan! I'm getting all tingly!"
"M-Misaki!"
"Misaki-san! Please, listen to us!"
"Talk while we fight, okay? I listen better that way."
Before either boy was given a chance to object, the girl resumed her offensive stance and thrust the shining tip of the parasol toward the darker haired boy. Gon followed suit to his friend's actions earlier and used Ko through his forearm to block what may have otherwise been a fatal swing. The agility with which she had launched her attack was, however, enough that even with his defences in place the tanned boy was sent backwards over the small drop from the cliff of rocks on which the three stood. Giggling merrily, Hoshii gladly pursued him.
"Misaki!" Killua shouted after her, propping himself onto the ball of his foot with the intention of following.
A rustling from behind hindered him. The boy glanced over his shoulder to see Hoshii's features staring back at him momentarily before morphing into the familiar, blank slate of Illumi's.
'I should have guessed that from the start!' his mind hissed as he fully understood now why the figure originally approaching from the distance had seemed off. Killua reflexively clenched his jaw and tensed his shoulders at the sight of his eldest brother.
"I don't have time for the likes of you," he said coldly, hoping very much that he sounded as confident as he intended to.
"The likes of me?" Illumi responded carelessly. "You say that as if I've done something wrong."
"Tch. If you don't know what you've done, then that's your problem. I'm not gonna waste time letting it be mine."
Expecting their interaction to abruptly end there, Killua turned and made a motion to push off his back foot. He could hear Gon and Hoshii locked in combat below him; Gon relying solely on the defensive as he every so often called out to Misaki (as they had planned) to try to trigger her mental release once again. Apparently, Illumi had other arrangements in mind. In the blink of an eye, he stood before Killua, staring down at him silently.
"Move," the former assassin warned, defying every muscle in his body by holding his position.
"What will you do if I don't?"
"I'll... I'll make you m-move."
"You'll fight me, then?"
Ba-bump. Killua's heart strained and his breathing was heavier than it ought to have been.
"I won't let you stand in my way this time."
Ba-bump.
"You're serious. You would risk fighting and losing to your brother just to fuck that girl?"
Ba-bump-ba-bump. There was nothing the boy could do to slow the rush of heat and blood to his face. He wanted to tell him to shut up, but no sound would come and his tongue tensed the syllables away against his will.
"That's it, isn't it? Do you want to have sex with Tanoh, Misaki, Kil'?"
Ba-bump-ba-bump. This time, the words did come.
"Shut up!"
"There's no need to be embarrassed. I understand completely. If that is your wish, Kil', I can make it happen."
"W-what?"
"When I was your age, I wanted to fuck Tanoh, Misaki also. And I did." Illumi brought his fingers to his chin, half lowering his lids as though deep in thought. "Hmm... I'm not sure if she'd want to have sex with you, though." Glancing up, a small smile worked its way into the eyes of an otherwise expressionless face. "No matter; I can still make it happen... if you're willing to cooperate with me."
"Cooperate...?"
"Of course. Anything you could possibly want from Tanoh, Misaki, I can make her do for you. Just say the word and it's done."
Ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-bump.
"Oh? Do you doubt me? I suppose I can prove it, if you like."
Ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-bump.
"No!"
"There's only one thing I require to make your dreams come true. Everything comes at a cost."
"I-..."
"In order for me to give you Tanoh, Misaki, you must be willing to sacrifice someone in exchange."
Ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-bump. A small, involuntary gasp of air rushed through Killua's lightly parted lips. His limbs were sore simply from fear and stress and anger. He trembled with a mixture of anxiety and concealed rage. Amidst the two emotions, it seemed that the disgust sobered him up enough from his previously helpless state to aid him in once again resisting. The blood bubbled beneath the flesh, pumping liquid fire through his veins.
"I will... never stop protecting Gon," he growled steadily between clenched teeth, "and I will never use Misaki that way. You don't think I can be loyal to my friends without having an ulterior motive... but that's wrong. I'm not like that. I'm..." Eyes flaring, he met his brother's gaze. "I'm not like you!"
Despite the frightful aura the silver haired boy was emitting, Illumi appeared entirely unshaken. He tilted his head at his younger brother. The smile had, however, seeped away from his eyes, much to Killua's delight and relief.
"You misunderstand me, Kil'," the man finally commented. "I was offering you something off the table, as your brother."
"What are you talking about?" the younger boy hissed, nearly reaching the limit of his temper.
"Regardless of what you pick, your 'friends' will die. It's up to you to decide which shall be the sacrifice for the life of the other."
"Are you daft? I'm not letting either of them die, much less choosing which one should live!"
This time, the smile showed through the man's lips.
"If you do not choose," Illumi stated, placing his hand upon Killua's back and pivoting him to face the battle between Gon and Hoshii, "you will have proven that you truly are too selfish to have friends. You will simply watch them destroy each other... like a true killer."
A/N: I apologize for taking so long to update again! I've been horribly busy and likewise uninspired. -_- Anyway, thank you to all those who have been reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting this story. You all give me such warm fuzzies. :)