Thank you for remaining here with me—you. xD Oh, before proceeding, I want to inform you that I wrote a ONESHOT! It's called 'The English Alphabet' and I would appreciate it if you check it out, and I would love it if you leave me some feedback so I know you read. ;) Thanks, and HAPPY READING!

DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own HxH

…

CHAPTER 9: Winning

The first thing Bisuke said to Gon that morning was: "I didn't know you had such a lovely voice."

"I didn't know other people found it lovely." Gon answered honestly with a humble blush tinting her cheek, before placing her bag down to the grass. They were the only ones there at the moment, and Bisuke seemed to be quite in the mood for discussing it.

"Well, it was a very lovely lullaby. Did your mother sing it to you?"

She paused at the fact that two faces appeared simultaneously—one was her Aunt, and another was, well, blank. But she shook her head immediately. Mito was her mother. "Yes." It was Mito's favourite lullaby. Albeit, she never really asked why.

Eventually Neon, his guards, followed shortly by Killua joined in. They entered some sort of idle chat for a few minutes, before another rustle of the leaves was heard and they turned their heads to the sound.

It was Kurapika who, under their stares, cleared her throat and bowed apologetically. "I apologize for making everyone worry."

And they continued their chat, with Kurapika joining the circle, as if she never did anything in the first place.

That was how the day started for the club, and it was certainly a good start.

…

"Don't we have a next assignment?" Neon eventually asked after realizing he had been staring at a certain blonde. Bisuke shook her head.

"Nope." She said proudly. "Club's going to go on a break!" And then squeaks in excitement, before mustering her composure back to continue. "The start of school ball will begin next week, after all."

Gon tilted her head in wonder. "What's that?"

"A party!" Bisuke yelled as if she was just waiting to say it. "Freshmen were expected to socialize like elites. And we all know in today's high-society, it's a no-no to go without good company."

"…" They did not get it.

Bisuke only shrugged. "You must have a date, otherwise you'll be tagged as socially inept for at least a few years. Depends how you lose. And it's worse if everyone you'll be hanging around with in the future knew you. "

"Lose? What do you mean?"

"The female population was vastly outnumbered, we know that."

"I wonder why though." Gon wondered out loud, not really expecting anyone to explain.

"It has evolutionary explanation," Said Kurapika. "Overpopulation was… maladaptive after the great fire. The Human gene pool went against double X chromosomes." By maladaptive, Gon's head was already starting to smoke, so she just nodded passively.

Kurapika saw this, chuckled, patted her head, before continuing—a little slower this time. "The males need to duel for their partnership in the dance, if the girl got various invites within a certain time frame. Men who did not have a partner are socially looked down upon, especially if they lost badly. It would be difficult to regain one's reputation afterwards."

"That's stupid…"

"Most of societies' practices are." Kurapika said with a shrug. "You'd be surprised at our history of non-sense practices..."

Killua looked up at the sky at a thought, almost scoffing at certain images. "I couldn't see all these high society boys to punch decently." Killua muttered imagining how whimpy fights would probably be held.

But then he wondered how many offers Gon would have…

"It doesn't have to be an actual fight. The boy who asked first will determine the type of duel." Bisuke said. "If I remember correctly, last year majority the boys usually settled with chess or fencing."

Gon made a huge 'o' with her mouth before whipping her head to Neon. "What did you do Neon?"

"I didn't have to fight. I had girls throwing themselves at me. And the boys were scared. They backed off before I could even shrug."

"Oh."

"Che."

"Can't the girl just choose?" Gon tilted her head in wonder. Everything seemed so… complicated. She never did well with that word.

"She can…, after the duel." Bisuke explained as she waved a finger to prove her point. "Theatrics is a must."

Kurapika was silent for a while as she placed her palm on her chin—a habit of hers when she was pondering something. "Considering what I was hearing last year…" She paused. "Last year a lot of hostilities happened. A few physical but mostly psychological and… economical, if you know what I mean."

"Teenagers." Bisuke shrugged, before looking alternately Neon and Kurapika. "In retrospect perhaps we should have an assignment—freshmen are out (school rules), so that leaves you two (with bodyguard) to help with the maintenance and security of the event, ne?"

It was then that she suddenly adopted a much more serious expression, and the two stiffened in response (because Bisuke could be extremely authoritative when she wished to be one). "Can we count on you?"

"Yes."

…

During class hours, Gon saw an odd number of girls suddenly talking to Killua. She wondered why. She always noticed girls looked at him differently. It always made her feel uncomfortable but no one really ever actually talked to him before. And they seemed to be talking longer than usual.

"They're waiting for him to ask him to the dance." She flinched. Because of the voice that appeared beside her out-of-nowhere, and for what it said.

"What about you Bisuke? Are you going to the ball?"

"Yeah, sure." She said pointing her thumb somewhere behind her. Two boys were doing rock-paper-scissors. "I know it's lame." She shrugged. "But at least they're fighting over me~"

"…ah." Was the only thing she could say, before turning her head to the ever-popular Killua. Oh how Gon wished girls were allowed to ask, but Vaise mentioned before that that may humiliate the male asked. She would've asked Killua if it wasn't the case.

So now… it was all up to Killua, wasn't it?

She really wished he'd ask her though.

…

Glare

Killua glared at a random classmate who was staring at Gon nervously, obviously formulating an invite like he was doing. The boy flinched immediately and looked away, definitely changing his mind. Killua nodded at how easy that was, but frowned at the fact that he was the 12th—yes 12th—one that morning.

Killua looked at Gon's back during class that first period, and he stared when Satotsu-sensei started writing long notes on the board again. Gon was trying not to sleep this time, Killua saw she was putting a lot more will power, but those random nods every few seconds told him she was about to fail.

He wondered how he'd go about to ask her for while when he recalled how he woke her up before. He quickly wrote a note on a piece of paper and crumpled it. At least no one asked her yet, that he knew, simply because he made sure that he glared at anyone who looked like they would.

But still Killua hesitated a bit. What if Gon didn't want to go with him?

He stared a little longer for a while, hesitating. And then he realized Gon's dozing nods were becoming more frequent, and he could tell she'd fall asleep completely in a few seconds.

But before he could throw his paper, a clean piece of paper plane already hit her head, making her stand up. Everyone chuckled at the abruptness of it all and Satotsu quickly turned his head to stare her down. Gon gulped and sat down immediately. "Sorry." Before looking back where the plane was.

She held it up, curious, and Killua unconsciously put down his hand, the one containing his invite, and watched her in reluctance. She smiled and looked back at whoever it came from.

Killua's eyes twitched.

Feitan.

…

That free period still courtesy of the Perverted Hanzo-sensei (he was still hospitalized due to that peeping Menchi-sensei incident), Killua finally decided to gather his courage and he walked towards Gon. Stiffly, he looked at her and asked: "Can we talk?"

For some reason, everyone whipped their heads to their direction. Gon's sweat-dropped but didn't really think much about it and just looked at Killua, and nodded. They went outside the room and walked to some corridor, Killua wilfully ignoring a certain guy's stare. Thankfully, Killua thought, the people here had pride not to follow them—despite obviously itching to do so. He wanted to be alone with Gon, and he wouldn't allowed prying socialites to stop him.

"Has anyone asked you out to the dance yet?" He asked, knowing that so far the only one who could've asked was the Eastern top student with an odd grammar.

She shook her head. At least whatever that guy had on his airplane, it wasn't an invite. He sighed a mental breath of relief.

In any case, it was time to use Bisuke's tips. He listened intently to her earlier that day, just before Satotsu arrived, and that old bag better be right about it. Cuz' they're very embarrassing.

'Step 1: Casual conversation. Make her smile.'

"Did you see Bisuke's suitors?" He mumbled as they meandered about. "They're a dozen, and they're all doing Jan-ken-pon."

She chuckled. "She said they were lame, but was glad for the attention anyway."

'Step 2: Compliment her.'

He practiced this already. But at the moment nothing was coming. Her eyes looking straight into his eyes did not help. Too many compliments came, and most of them he couldn't say out loud. He just couldn't.

Besides, he didn't think Gon would need to hear compliments. She was always happy. But perhaps he could make her even happier, even for just a second. But in retrospect which one of the flattering thoughts he had on his head to say out loud? Given he could actually utter those words.

"I wonder how many guys would go without a date next week" He mentally sighed. And so, he returned to step 1.

"I'm not sure." She said. "But they'll be quite a few."

An awkward silence came afterwards, with Killua trying to think of a compliment he could actually say, while Gon was…well, being uncharacteristically quiet. And then she stopped her steps making Killua's head to run about and wonder if she wanted to go back already. "Have you asked anyone out, Killua?"

Doki

'I am desperately trying to.' He answered with his head. "…not yet."

"I'm glad."

"…why?"

She scratched her cheeks, but her eyes were as honest—as they always were. "I really want you to invite me, Killua."

Doki

He swore his heart was going to stop at what she was doing to him.

And he probably made a face that made her stutter. "But you don't really have to, of course!"

It took a while before he absorbed it, and he shook his head. "I-It's not that." He smiled (grinned, really, and a very toothy one at that), trying very hard not to lose his cool and jump like an idiot. He straightened his back and cleared his throat, facing her directly, and marvelled at her eyes and how he was managing to even look at it at this situation.

"Would you… would you like to go to the ball with me, Gon?"

Her eyes widened in surprise, then.

And after a few long seconds of looking at each other's eyes—they grinned.

This ball would be awesome!

…

Little did they know that the moment was short-lived. It was during Math class when it happened, and they were asked to partner up for an exercise.

Gon was batting her incredulous eyelids several minutes after they begun. Not only had they gotten it correctly, but he managed to guide her so she could get to the answer herself! "Amazing Feitan!" She squeaked in excitement, before looking sincerely at her very amazing partner. "I'm very lucky to be paired with you."

There was a small pause, then, (making Gon tilt her head a bit at the lack of response) before Feitan finally broke it with a stingy 'Hey'.

"…Yes?"

"Want to go to the dance with me?"

She stared at him.

And the rest of the class did the same.

…

"Perhaps it's because we're study partners."

Gon was trying to make sense of it, really, all the way until Lunch. Kurapika stared at her sushi for a second before commenting. "I was honestly surprised when I heard." Gon didn't ask how she knew. "I didn't think Feitan would care if he did or did not have a partner."

"Maybe it was genuine." Bisuke noted and Killua glared at her for giving Gon 'false' ideas. Bisuke stared right back mouthing how she knew a lot of other guys would've asked her if he didn't go out of his way to 'get rid of competition'— effectively shutting him up. And then Bisuke abruptly turned her head back to Gon, catching her attention.

"So… who will you choose, Gon?"

…

Killua knew had no chance with chess or any other brain-focused duel so he chose sparring, instead. And it wasn't that Killua was underestimating him—Feitan being a nerd and small guy and all—but Killua knew he had a great shot at this.

But unfortunately, it had been a very long while since someone chose that, since most of the boys were too classy to even lift a hand. And if there was a physical fight going on, it was usually with their body guards—like they were pawns in some game set to make them fight each other for the entertainment of their masters.

Whatever the case, it was only natural that a lot of people came to watch. Many even brought popcorn with them, insensitive little brats that they were.

Kurapika, however, being the one to moderate these things, was very worried. It did not help that Shalnark stood beside her, along with Neon, and started mumbling things 'this is going to be messy', 'isn't he in for a surprise' or pretty much other things that would make her worry for her friend. She knew Killua was highly adept in fighting—but there was something about this Feitan that told her he was not as he seemed.

She sighed and pushed down her worries, knowing full well none of it would get anything done, and stepped between the two rivals, standing at their respective spot in the open field. "Rules are simple: Get your opponent to lie down, back fully touching the grass, for 10 seconds straight and you win." She paused. "No blood. Please."

As soon as Kurapika stepped out of the invisible field, Killua took a battle stance, and spirit without the use of Nen (as he sensed Feitan wasn't either—he shouldn't even know about Nen), and many who knew even little of martial arts were already tense just at the mere sight of his form. Feitan on the other hand remained still, but as the challenger he was partly expected to attack first.

A few seconds passed by and Killua thought he'd be the one attacking first until—Slash—Feitan sprinted towards him at a speed he hadn't seen in a while. His eyes widened, and he barely blocked the attack.

He countered and Feitan easily blocked it. His eyes widened but thankfully his body was trained too well to attack on its own. He placed countless—swift, practically invisible—attacks, but what came as a shock was Feitan, still, managed to block them all. Feitan—not even sweating yet—swiped his arms to him in retaliation and Killua barely dodged, before moving his feet in a way that would take his balance away. Killua managed to block the upper cut that followed and quickly jumped back to gain distance—he was then in a desperate need to compose himself.

Everyone in the audience had their mouths open. This was the first time they've seen such an impressive fight; even with their pawns being professional bodyguards. They didn't even think fellow human beings could move like that.

And there was also the fact that the intimidating Killua was losing to the batch representative.

Feitan, however, seemed immune to the audience and his attention was fully on his enemy. Killua hardened himself and shook himself awake from the surprise. Who would've thought this guy would be a fighter? He was as good as the top tier fighters in the Mafia—if not better.

His mind just flew for one millisecond, and the next thing he knew Feitan's hands was only an inch away from his face.

He flew back and hit the ground loudly, and he could sense Feitan was very close again to finish the job (who cared about Kurapika's rules. This guy already killed someone—he just knew it), and to his despair he just felt that he wouldn't be able to dodge it in time. But then—

"K-Killua!"

Gon

At that instant, oblivious of Feitan's instantaneous hesitation, Killua was empowered and he managed to kick Feitan off; at least far enough so he could breathe. He almost used offensive Nen, but managed to keep himself calm. After all, Feitan didn't seem to be using it either (assuming he knew of it) and he wasn't about to win Gon's partnership by some dishonourable act. And it was worse if he did know, with Killua being a beginner and Feitan being so strong—he might even enter a bigger disadvantage. So, he breathed in a deep breath, closing his eyes in the process to rejuvenate himself—and unconsciously replaying Gon's call inside his head.

He opened his eyes and put in force to one of his legs and sprinted towards Feitan. Feitan, looking even deadlier, did the same, and they met somewhere midway. He swore the surrounding grass made a Doppler effect then, but he couldn't really be sure with all the adrenaline pumping and making him attack relentlessly.

But something flashed in the stoic Feitan's eye somewhere in their swift exchange of hits and blocks, with disturbing amounts of those close to his neck. Was it annoyance? No. He knew that look. Feitan seriously wanted to slash his throat. His killer instincts took over and he managed to dodge everything and countered himself.

And yet, even after everything Feitan was still faster, and he managed to hit him on the chest, making him fall back first on the ground. He didn't understand how someone outside his family could be so strong and, in retrospect, that moment of hesitation on his part was the reason he lost all that useful adrenaline so quickly.

Feitan's hand sharpened—a technique Killua knew too well—and hovered it over his neck. For a moment he really thought the raven-haired boy was going to kill him, but he only sat there and made sure his sharp hands stayed in place.

Ten seconds were slow.

But they came anyway.

…

The cheers felt like incomprehensible reading inside his head. He only nodded at something Bisuke and Kurapika said as they helped him up. He watched a lot of people go and congratulate Feitan, feeling good about themselves for daring to, before politely keeping distance from the both of them.

He only appeared to be okay, but really, everything was ringing. He vaguely felt Kurapika dusting him off and Neon and Banshou patting his back in an attempt to comfort him. And then there was Gon, who touched his cheek and asked if he was alright (at least that was what he imagined she would say) and he nodded. She gave him that shy, yet still bright, smile of hers before turning away.

Killua could only watch as Gon went to speak alone with Feitan.

…

Killua sat on the school roof that afternoon. The sunset ought to distract him right now. He had always liked watching it—especially as a child. The sun, the sky, and the stars were the only beautiful things in his life then. And the sun was undoubtedly the only thing that was considered 'bright'.

It was different now though, and he frowned deeply at the thought.

Great, he mused sardonically. Even the sunset reminded him of her now.

"There you are!"

He blinked and whipped his head to look at the person behind him. "G-Gon?"

She smiled and manoeuvred herself to a better position beside him. "I've been looking for you for an hour now."

He looked down, hands unconsciously rubbing his neck, and scoffed. "I wanted to be alone. I lost pretty badly there."

"Killua…" She said in such a soothing way it almost unnerved him. "Do you know what winning truly means?" And he turned his head to look at her as if she was implying something blasphemous. She chuckled at whatever expression he showed and held his hand. "Winning is when you get the most out of an experience. You're going to get stronger, Killua."

He smiled shyly. "It was a humbling experience alright." But he didn't know what to say afterwards, and it was followed by silence. It was not the awkward sort however, thanks to Gon's hand over his.

This was so like Gon—going out of her way to make her friend feel better. But he didn't want her pity, so he gently pulled his hand away and sighed. "You know you don't have to apologize to me, he won fairly."

"I know that Feitan won than spar and I don't have to apologize you." She said as a matter-of-factly, making him flinch at the bluntness of the sentence, but when he looked at her he realized she was wearing that beam of hers. "I apologized to Feitan.

"No one said I had to pick the winner."

.

END OF CHAPTER 9

Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 10: Gatherings

Yuki Candy Heart- Thank you for reviewing~! And yes Feitan~ glad you liked his entry and here's the chapter! xD (more feitan *wink*)

Retz- No problem! Especially when you're reviewing now. xD Glad you liked the emotions I managed to show and thank you so much for reviewing! :D

Phoenix Thunder – It has! I'm having an HxH mania right now tho! Esp. with the anime ending and all—we must write much before the fans move on. xD Thanks for the review btw~

Chamcha- Ahaahah. #getsslappedwithyou. You know I always imagine Levi and Feitan slapping me…and now Killua's glaring at us! lawl And thanks for the comment!

Gummybear Studios- *blushes profusely*T-Thanks for saying that! xD And I'm so glad you think it's the best in the fandom (so far) and I will so very much try my hardest to keep that perspective of yours up. *hugs* And yep! I'm more of a YinYang (GonKillu) pair fan too. This is the only time I'm making Kurapika a female. xD And yes I did make it! One of my best works and I'm so happy you liked it! xD Finally, Thank you for reviewing. ;D

Complicatedmind21- You're here! XD Glad you liked that part ( I loved writing feels scenes) and thank you for the review~! :D

Casey Marian- Yep~ I wanted to try it since I barely even did it in my other fem!Gon story. xD She, like, got jealous once when Killua suffered a dozen. Thanks for the review btw~

Kria- Thank you for the review~! I'm glad you find the chap cute and more Feitan in this chap, indeed! xDD

AsukaSaru- Oh no worries~ I knew you'd come anyway. xD And yay! Glad you're loving this so far and yes—I shall try hard to keep at it. ahaha. Thx for the review! :D

…

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