Foreign Lands (BC X HxH)

4 A bird and anxiety

Killua was hanging upside down from a tree branch, utterly bored. He was next to that big ass skull and it had been a week and 5 days since he'd gotten there. A week and a half left until the exam. Damn it I'm bored. He dropped down to the ground and slid out his knife. "Might as well practice with this" not like it was necessary, but it wouldn't hurt. It was also a way to pass time, which he had way too much of. School didn't run for nearly long enough, and dinner wasn't for a few hours. He took a few swings, changing his grip and practicing different styles each time he struck. "1, 2, 3-"

That went on for a few minutes. "104, 105, 106-" Suddenly he heard fluttering and paused, then twirled his knife between his fingers as he turned to look. Killua blinked. It's... a bird. "Bird?" The bird was blue, white, and red, it also had some strange hornlike feathers at the top of its head. He squinted a little. "Never seen that type of bird before" he shrugged, then groaned. "Damn it I'm so fucking bored! There's nothing to do out here!" Chirp Chirp. He looked back at the bird again, who was pecking at a hole in a tree trunk. Curiosity got the best of him and he walked over, then reached a hand in. his hands brushed against something and he pulled it out, then his eyes widened. Is this a...training schedule? "1000 pushups a day" he muttered. "talk about a low number" Killua rolled his eyes, then he caught something. What's that? I've never done that type of exercise before. It was like a handstand pushup, except with one arm behind your back.

"I'm bored as fuck, why the hell not?" he said with a slight smirk. Killua patted the bird on the head. "Gon's right, animals aren't too bad" then his mood darkened a little. "Gon..." Killua wiped his eyes, turning away. I wonder what he's doing right now? Does he even know I'm missing? He slapped himself. "Goddamn it stop thinking about him! He's fine, Gon can take care of himself." then he snorted. "idiot" He didn't know why he felt like talking out loud, maybe because nobody else was there. He stretched his arms then did a handstand, before putting one hand behind his back like he saw in the diagram. "Hmm... maybe I should do Ren as well" Killua activated Ren, then started going. "1,2,3,4-" about ten minutes later he was getting kind of bored. "305,306-" an hour passed, and now he was really bored. "2609 2610 2611-" he had barely broken a sweat by the two hour mark. "4509, 4510, 4511-" Killua finally got an idea ten minutes later. He remembered Bisky's emitter training and pushed off with his Nen as he went back up. Killua was ejected a good 5 inches in the air. He grinned. "Hell yeah"

"9997,9998,9999,10000!" Killua pushed off of his arm and flipped, landing on his feet. He was panting slightly, that trick he'd learned about halfway through really did wonders. It had actually given him a workout, which was nice. He placed his hands behind his head after wiping some sweat off his brow. Chirp Chirp. Killua blinked, then his eyes fell on the bird again. It was surprisingly in the same spot, and seemed to be watching him. "Oh, thanks I guess" He snorted. "Talking to birds" The bird fluttered over to him and pecked at his face, which was annoying. "Oi!" Killua swiped at it, then growled when it stole his favorite pen. It was green and orange striped with a frog on the top. "Give it back you little shit!" Killua shouted, but for some reason the bird was extremely fast and unpredictable. He chased it all the way into the skull, at which point he got an idea. Killua grinned, then activated Zetsu. He ducked behind a wall of bone and listened for the flapping of wings. I'm gonna have roasted bird tonight. He thought with a gleam in his eyes.

He listened for the bird, then bolted out of his cover and caught it by its wings as soon as it got close enough. The bird squawked, and he glared down at its little slanted beady eyes. "Listen here you little shit. You're lucky I'm not cooking you for that little stunt of yours" He pried the pen from the bird's beak and slipped it into the pocket of his shorts. Killua cleared his throat. "Now. How do I go about acting in a magic knight squad?" He speculated, letting the bird go. Said bird fluttered and landed on his head, which he was about to get mad at when he realized that it was actually kind of comfortable. Killua shrugged. "Cold intimidation or absolute brat. Which one do you think?" He asked, glancing up at the bird. The bird blinked, then tapped once. Can it really understand me? Killua put on a monotone expression. "Hmm" he snickered, monotone expression falling. "Hold on tight little bird" Then he leapt upwards and grabbed onto a tree branch. He swung himself along the branches, swinging from one to another.

Killua practiced different types of jumps and ascended higher and higher until he reached the topmost branches of the tallest one. He huffed, then lifted the bird off his head and placed it on a branch. "You wouldn't be able to handle the rush I think" a head tilt, and a chirp. Killua grinned, before slipping out his knife. "Wanna see something cool?" Honestly he wasn't sure why he was talking to this bird. Maybe it was to fill the gap that Gon had made when he was torn apart from him. Killua stood, then looked down at the drop. It was about 4 stories. "a 4 story drop, and a knife." he said, tossing said knife in the air and catching it by the hilt. "it's been a while" Then he fell. Killua spread his arms and legs out to slow descent as he looked on towards the ground. He heard furious flapping from behind him, then the bird zoomed down alongside him. Pretty fast. He landed a few seconds later, bending his legs a little and darting forward to slash a few times as if there was a target in front of him.

He leapt backwards, battling with an invisible enemy. Killua twisted to dodge an imaginary attack and threw his dagger to catch a falling leaf. The knife imbedded itself into a nearby tree, the leaf pinned beneath the point. He stood up, hands behind his head. "Damn it this is boring without a real target to practice on" he turned to the bird, and he could have sworn that he caught a hint of a slightly startled expression. "Are there any child abusers around here I could beat the shit out of?" He grinned. "Always love making sick bastards regret their life decisions." He felt a peck on his hand and glanced down to see the bird seemingly angerly jabbing at him with its beak. "hey, I need an outlet and if a sick bitch deserves it why the hell not?" Killua shrugged. "I mean, I could just kill them and get it over with but then they wouldn't regret it. So leave a few scars for the rest of their life and they'll never hit a kid again" This had in fact happened before, some bitch was kidnapping kids and abusing them. So Killua had gotten himself kidnapped as well and taught him a very important life lesson.

"this one time there was this guy who was kidnapping kids and uh, well. He was doing some distasteful things" He said, with a disgusted face. "So I got myself kidnapped by him and cut off his arm." He grinned. "That man learned a very important lesson that day. After a few months I visited him and he was giving charity to a children's hospital" some of that was accomplished with threats, but I think it turned out quite well. The bird had stopped pecking and was looking up at him again. He held out a finger and it hopped on, Killua smiled a little as he brought it closer to his face. "You know, maybe having a bird as a companion is a good idea." then he sighed. "You probably need to go get food and stuff though, whatever the hell birds do in their free time. Lay an egg or something" The bird poked it's beak on his nose, and he chuckled a little. "Gon would love you..." He trailed off, biting his lip. Gon.

Killua sat down on a fallen tree trunk, feeling slightly morose. "I miss him. He's great with animals, grew up in a forest all his life pretty much" The bird settled down on his shoulder, and he stroked it softly. "not like you can actually understand me, but he was my first friend...my best friend" He said softly, then he felt a tear roll down his cheek. Damn it I can't stop thinking about him. "Who knows how far away from home I am, how many continents..." then a thought hit him. "W-What if...I never see him again. What if I'm stuck here, with no way to get back home" Killua gritted his teeth, hands clenching into fists. He squeezed his eyes shut, and more tears streamed down his face. "Damn it what if he's in danger and I can't be there?"

Killua started hyperventilating at that thought, the bird started to flap wildly as well. Killua grabbed for his bag, then fumbled through his items until he came across a plush. It was of a green tree frog, Gon had given it to him as a present a while back and he made sure to hug it before he left when they were still together so he would have his scent. Killua buried his face into the frog plush, breathing in Gon's scent. Killua took a few deep breaths, gradually calming himself down. He's fine. Gon's fine. "He's fine, he has all sorts of friends to support him" Killua tried to reassure himself. "He has Bisky and Leorio and Kurapika with him. The spiders can't touch him while Kurapika's around, Bisky's strong enough to hold off Hisoka if he tries to get him" Then he took another breath. "Illumi won't be hunting him, he'll be hunting me. Since I'm no longer with him he won't be attacked" Killua smiled a little. "He's safe."

1757 words

To be continued...