The Joker's Assassin

Auction Night

Illumi stumbled to the kitchen at 6 am, he had dark circles under his eyes, he still hadn't slept for days but no matter how hard he tried, his brain was dedicated to finding his target. Normally when both Hisoka and him were at home and Hisoka noticed Illumi wasn't sleeping he would run his fingers through Illumi's long hair and braid it. This would always put Illumi out in an instant, even if he only slept for a few hours. The young assassin had never liked how babysish it was to let Hisoka do that for him but there was no other way he could fall asleep. He rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger as he poured tea in a cup and splashed water from the sink on his face. His skin was red and extremely irritated since he hadn't taken his needles out for almost two weeks.

Just as he was sitting down to get back to work, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket.

"Yes?" he answered.

"I'm boreedddd Illumiii." whimpered Hisoka on the other end. "I don't have any fights for another two months and the Troupe rarely gets together, what am I supposed to do?"

Ilumi sighed, pulling the phone away from his ear.

It was way too early in the morning for loud noises. He needed peace and quiet to think about the auction.

"Quit your whining you baby," he said. "You can always just come out to Yorknew, I'll tell you what hotel I'm in. But don't expect to help me, I need to do this case on my own."

"Yayyy!" replied Hisoka. "I can be there by 10!" He hung up and Illumi got back to work.

"Ok the auction runs for 5 days. I'll have to go on all 5 to monitor everyone. I'll sit in the back row and keep a keen eye on anybody that makes a bid on drug related pieces. I should be able to throw my needles at them without anyone noticing, even though Hayato is probably filthy rich, that doesn't mean he won't have a limit to what he pays. The safest way to handle this is to just track everyone that makes an offer." He continued to explore what items were being auctioned and he set up driving arrangements to get to and from the auction.

After four hours of work Illumi got a text on his phone. It was Hisoka:

Hey I just arrived in Yorknew. What room are you in the hotel?

215, the suite.

20 minutes later there was a knock at the door. Illumi got up and stumbled over, he was losing concentration from insomnia. Before he opened the door, he straightened his back and tried to open his eyes to look energetic.

"Hello," he said casually, facing Hisoka.

"Hey," said Hisoka, clearly tired from jet lag. He walked in and set his suitcase on the couch. But before he could turn around Illumi had grabbed his chin with his hand and forced his head around to face him. The assassin eyed Hisoka's poorly taped nose and lip that was still partially bleeding.

"How'd you break it," he said firmly.

"Chrollo and I got into a friendly game of wrestling," laughed Hisoka nervously, averting his gaze.

"Don't lie," said Illumi, his big black eyes staring like puppy dogs at Hisoka.

The magician couldn't lie to such an innocent face.

"Fine," he sighed. "I may have let him hit me a little, but it was just so I could assess how strong he really is."

Illumi grabbed Hisoka's hand and led him to the bathroom.

"Sit," he commanded, being bossy. Hisoka sat up on the sink. Illumi carefully took off the medical tape Hisoka had put on and he got a q-tip with water, he cleaned out the cuts and scrapes all over his face. He worked swiftly and softly, his touch was like a feather and Hisoka couldn't help but appreciate Illumi's gentleness. It was strange how his nimbleness stemmed from assassinating; killing people was an odd way for a person to acquire calmness, but then again, maybe it also wasn't.