ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ- ᴋɪʟʟᴜᴀ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ [OLD]

31- 𝘎𝘰𝘵 𝘹 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘹 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬

The man just whimpered under the pressure of Killua's sharp nails. "So what'll it be? Hand us those badges or your life?" Killua smirked, his eyes beginning to grow dark. The man slowly but surely took out his badge.

"And your brothers? Where are they?" I sighed. Killua threw over Amori's badge over to me and I caught it with one hand. "Better not lie to us, or we'll make you regret it."

"I don't know..." He whimpered.

"He's lying." I sighed. "Oh, well." I grabbed a sword from my bag and walked closer to him. 

"They're here!" He cried. His brothers Umori and Imori came out of the left and right sides of the woods.

"Nice going, Amori!" One of them complained.

"Yeah! You surrendered to two kids!"

I turned towards the one on the left. "Gimmie your badge," I demanded.

"Yeah, what'll you do if I don't?" He scoffed.

"Stab you." I shrugged.

"I bet they won't." The other brother chuckled sarcastically. Amori still looked terrified. I just let out a small hum. I walked closer to the one on the left side, my breath steady. The man stayed still as though he was calling my bluff. I picked up the handle with both hands and steadily but quickly impaled him with the sharp point. It wasn't enough to go through his back, but he still seemed affected.

"See? I- I can hurt people when I want something." I said, questioning my decision. I removed the now-bloodied sword from his abdomen and watched as the red substance gushed from out of his body. "Oh, god what have I done?" I muttered under my breath.

"Hey, let's just get the badges and get outta here. We can- We can talk about this later." Killua sighed, still holding onto the man whilst clenching his eyes shut.

"Right, Right. I'm sorry." I sighed, grabbing onto the impaled man's badge. He stumbled backward, leaning against the tree behind him. "And yours?" The third brother standing on the right quickly tossed his badge and ran away, leaving both his brothers behind. Killua let go and picked me up, rushing us away.

We ran for quite some time until I began to weep. Killua brought us to a place that was close to our camping spot a few days ago and held me close. "Are you okay?" he asked, his tone gentle and kind.

"I hurt someone, Killua. I stabbed him!" I sniffled, looking up at my friend who had a firm grip on me. Several tears fell down my face and landed on Killua's chest. "I could've just talked it out, but I went and I hurt someone!" My wails began to grow louder. 

"It's okay. You feel terrible, I can tell. You're still a good person. He's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay. We're all okay." He whispered. "On the bright side, we got all our badges. We can head back to the steamboat if you want." I lifted my head and looked at Killua, who put on a gentle smile. He wiped away my tears.

"I wanna stay here for a little. Is that okay?" A few tears pushed out of the corners of my eyes.

"Of course. Whatever you like. You seem like you need some comfort right now." Killua put his hand on the top of my head. "You did good. You remained calm even though you weren't proud of yourself. Not a lot of people can say the same."

"Did you freeze up during your first one?"  I asked.

"No." He said, after thinking for a while. "But that's only because no one taught me it was wrong. I mean, I'd always feel really bad after a job, but I never thought much of it. I didn't know much about morality back then." He sighed.

"But, it's different for you. It's different for me now too. I care now." 

"I think you cared a little bit before. You just couldn't show it." I put on a small smile. "You're just like that." I swept some of his white locks from his eyes and he put on a slight smile. 

"No, you're like that. I'm just mean." He sighed, putting his forehead against mine.

"You can be mean sometimes, but you're the nicest person I've met." I smiled, closing my eyes. 

"I really don't deserve to be your friend, do I?" He still held onto me tightly. 

"You deserve someone better than me, Kil. I'm sorry I can't be that someone." I sighed.

"I don't want anyone better than you. Someone who doesn't have any flaws is too tiring. You're interesting and I wouldn't want anyone else to take your place." He said. "Besides, I doubt someone better than you exists." He chuckled. I opened my eyes.

"Thank you, Kil." I sniffled, my nose feeling a bit stuffed up still. "You're too nice to me." 

"No, you're just too mean to yourself." He said, beginning to rub a circular pattern on my back, the same way we usually did when we comforted each other. "You really, really need to stop doubting yourself like this."

"Okay. As long as you start caring for yourself more." 

"Y'know we keep making these little promises to each other." He smiled.

"Killua," I said sternly. 

"I'm not complaining! It's just an observation." He chuckled. "But I promise. As long as you stop thinking you're a burden or a bad person."

"It's a deal, Zoldyck." I giggled. "Thank you for making me feel better. I'm proud to call you my friend." I smiled, a few tears dripping down my face. They weren't sad, but happy.

"I know. I'm the best, huh?" He giggled.

"You're such a moron Killua." I laughed.

"Yeah, I know. We're just two morons laughing and crying together. But that's okay." His smile grew a bit wider. 

"I like being stupid with you." I wrapped my arms around his neck. "It makes me feel really happy." His shoulders raised a little bit but went back down after sitting in this position.

"I like it too..."