Cards Struck By Needles [Hisoillu]

Running Away

Illumi ran; he ran until even his highly trained body couldn't take it anymore. From what he ran? One may ask; Illumi ran away from the Zoldyck mansion, away from the whip, away from his overbearing parents, away from... not being allowed to feel.

Illumi had run for hours, and as he was slowly losing his breath, he sensed the presence of something following him. Illumi knew that running away was unprofessional of him and that there were better ways to escape his parents' grasp, but he had had no better option. "My parents have probably already sent someone after me." He assumed, because of that presence that he had sensed. As Illumi reached the end of his stamina, he stopped in the woods.

Illumi stood there, in the woods, with four nen needles held between his fingers on both hands, looking around carefully for what he had been followed by.

After a little while, Illumi felt the presence disappear; he waited a bit, until he finally calmed down and determined it was safe. He then decided to walk a little deeper into the woods, where he came across a little lake. After all of the running he had been doing, he decided on bathing in the lake. When he had removed all of his stiff clothes, Illumi stepped into the water. He began gracefully singing a song; one that he had heard at a carnival, right before his mother dragged him out of the fair, and punished him for trying to have fun. "Assassins don't have fun. Assassins don't have friends. Assassins show no emotion." This was a phrase that Illumi had heard all too many times from his mother throughout his childhood.

Once Illumi was finished bathing, he put his clothes back on and sat on a fallen tree trunk near the lake. It was peaceful there, no assassination missions, no parents, no nothing. Illumi's mind was more at peace than ever, he allowed himself to relax a little.

"That's quite a voice you've got there," said someone from behind. Illumi was shocked to have failed to notice another being in his area. He turned around, and there he saw...