"Hisoka," Illumi glared at the pink-haired man. "I told you to take care of those Bounty Hunters, why did one of them get in between me and Killua's conversation?"

"Oh~ oops! My bad, my bad ♢" Hisoka gave Illumi a mischievous smile as he looked at Sanguis from the corner of his eye.

Sanguis scoffs. "All he cares about is himself and his 'prey' or whatever. Seriously, I don't get why someone like him is still working with us!" He glares at Hisoka with disgust.

"Oh? But you do the exact same thing, dear Sanguis~"

"What did you say, you freak?!" Sanguis glares daggers at him, only to be chuckled at by Hisoka.

Illumi ignores Sanguis, narrowing his eyes at Hisoka instead. "If you get in the way between me and Killua again, I'll kill you."

"Yes, yes. ♤" Hisoka smirks. "You're leaking bloodlust, by the way. Are you sure that's okay~?"

He lets out a deep sigh, immediately going back to his normal, emotionless state. "Sanguis, that girl Killua was with." He turned to Sanguis with his usual poker face. "She's your sister, right?" he asks nonchalantly.

Sanguis smirks. "Yeah."

"You had your chance earlier, why did you let her go?"

"...Let her go?" He chuckles. "I already have her within my grasp."

__________________

You walked back to the city hand-in-hand with Killua. Oddly enough, he insisted to hold hands with you, saying it was to "keep you from doing stupid things"

_

"Here, climb on my back," Killua says, turning his back to you and bending down.

You can feel warmth rush to your cheeks as you take a step back. "W-What?!"

Killua gives you a side glance. "Your whole body is covered in cuts, (Y/N). There's no way you're walking back in that condition."

"But you're injured, too! There's no way you can carry me all the way back!" You exclaimed, pointing at him.

"W-Well–" Killua stammers, averting his gaze. "T-That doesn't matter right now! You should be worrying about yourself!"

"No!" You walked in front of him, pulling him to his feet.

Killua widened his eyes. "Oi, (Y/N)–"

"I'm not gonna ride on your back. Let's just walk together!" you say, giving him a stubborn glare.

Killua stares back at you in disbelief, before letting out a deep sigh. "Alright, alright, fine. There's no arguing with you anyways," He slumps his shoulders in defeat.

You gave him a huge grin.

"B-But on one condition!" Killua clears his throat as a rosy hue dusts his cheeks. He then averts his gaze, holding a hand out to you.

"...What?"

"Idiot! Hold my h-hand," he stutters. "It's to keep you from doing stupid things..."

You stare at his hand, then at Killua's red face, then back at his hand. Soon after, you find yourself giggling.

"Oi, stop laughing!"

"Alright, fine!" You smile, taking his hand in yours and interlacing your fingers with his.

-

Despite that entire situation, the whole walk was silent. Now that your battle with Illumi is over, and the adrenaline has started to fade off, your mind couldn't help but wander to your encounter with Sanguis, or rather, your brother.

'Hey, (Y/N)... Why don't you come with me?'

Your brows furrowed at his words as you looked down on the damp grass. Without knowing, your grip on Killua's hand tightened as you plunged into deep thought, reliving a lot of your childhood memories.

Killua immediately whipped his head to face you, about to ask what's wrong. However, the serious look on your face made him hesitate. It was something he's never seen before. Your brows were knitted very closely together, as if you were stuck in your own world, thinking about something very carefully. He raised a brow. Since when did you put so much thought into anything?

He found himself smiling as he watched your expression, gripping your hand tighter as well.

By the time you two exited a forest, you can see a figure running towards you at full speed.

Killua squints his eyes. "Oh, it's Ryu."

You snapped out of your thoughts, watching Ryu run closer and closer. You managed to crack a sheepish smile and a small wave with your other hand.

"(Y/N)! Killua!" Ryu was panting slightly as he reached the both of you.

Killua gave him a small wave. "Yo, Ryu."

You noticed the color on Ryu's face was back to normal. You sighed in relief. The thought of Ryu's ghostly pale expression as he watched Senka was enough for knots to form in your stomach. Somehow, a part of you felt that this isn't the first time he experienced something like this.

"How's Senka's condition?" Killua asks.

A look of relief washes over Ryu's face. "She's fine. Alluka's taking care of her right now," he says, before going back to a more serious expression. "Enough about that. Are you seriously fine with all those cuts and bruises? Especially you, (Y/N)." He narrows his eyes at you.

Killua gave you a side glance as you laughed at Ryu sheepishly. "Yeah! I'm totally fine!"

Ryu gave you a deadpan look as Killua let out a deep sigh. "Idiot. No, you're not. It's a good thing you developed a Hatsu during the battle. You would have been 100% dead meat otherwise."

"Hey!"

"Hatsu? Since when did you develop a Hatsu ability?" Ryu tilts his head in confusion.

"Uhh–"

"Well, you can tell me later. Now's not the time for that." Ryu sighs. "Let's get back before those injuries get infected." He turns his back and leads the way back to the city.

You and Killua nod as you follow Ryu, never letting go of each other's hands.

_ _ _

By the time you arrived at the inn Ryu and Senka were staying at, Alluka immediately jumped and ran to where you were.

"Onee-chan! Onii-chan! Are you okay?!" She exclaimed as tears streamed down from her face. You could tell she wanted to give you both a big hug, but she held herself back due to your injuries.

Killua gave her a small head pat. "We're fine, Alluka. We just need time to heal up."

"Where's Senka?" You asked, looking over Alluka's shoulder.

"She's still unconscious in the other room," Ryu replies.

Alluka nods, aggressively wiping her tears off. "I'll help you, Onii-chan and Onee-chan!" she exclaims once more before running off to get bandages.

Ryu shrugs. "Aaand there she goes. Well, I guess you can just sit over there while waiting for her," he says, gesturing to a couple of seats nearby, before going ahead to check on Senka.

You sat down, plunging into deep thought again as you waited for Alluka to come back. (B/N)'s words somehow stuck with you, and you couldn't get it off your mind.

Killua took notice of this once more. 'It's very unlike her to be this quiet...' he thought.

"(Y/N)," he calls for you.

You jumped in your seat. "Yeah?"

Killua looked you in the eye. "What happened between you and Sanguis?"