Sᵾđđɇn̷ Ɇm̷øŧɨøn̷s̷ a̷n̷đ Ⱥƀn̷øɍm̷a̷łłɏ Ꝁɨn̷đ Sᵽɨđɇɍs̷

Ŧħɇ Ⱥn̷s̷wɇɍ

His mother and father fell oddly silent, but Illumi immediately thought of it to be surprising to them due to his lack of questions throughout his life. His mother coughed while smiling at him, but her smile seemed rather faint. His father on the other hand seemed to have no real reaction aside from his silence.

"Illumi, dear, why are you asking this?" His mother asked him, beginning to stand up and smoothen her dress. "Did someone taint your brain with these ridiculous ideas of us manipulating you?"

Now it was Illumi's turn to be oddly silent as both of his parents stared at him intently.

"No, mother, simply a question that I have suddenly come up with. Father instructed me to place a needle inside Killua and I wondered if father had done something similar to me when I was younger." He said after a moment of thinking, for he didn't want to expose Hisoka just yet.

"So you see my instructions of placing a needle inside Killua to guide him in the right direction to be manipulation?" His father now asked, eyes narrowing ever the slightest.

"I do not see it as such, I was simply curious..." He said in a slightly softer tone than usual.

"And curious is something that you have rarely ever been, Illumi. Your actions now make me wonder if your mother was correct in her assumptions, and if you lied just now." His father said, and Illumi could tell that his father was currently feeling something that he had never felt towards Illumi before; annoyance. "You sometimes speak of a partner that you have in business, and you mention how you occasionally speak with Killua when you manage to find him. Have they been feeding you lies about our family?"

Hisoka's words came ringing into mind, and Illumi nearly spoke them aloud. Don't you see, Illu? Your parents are manipulating both you and your siblings. Do you actually believe that it's okay for you to plant a needle inside your own brother, a needle that will manipulate his feelings and emotions, do you believe that he is truly happy with that? You haven't done the same to your other siblings just yet, but if your parents were to tell you to, you would, wouldn't you? You believe that you're just not good enough for your parents, for your family, but you are and they just keep raising the bar every time you pass the previous one, and one of these days you're going to fail them and they'll use that to have an even stronger hold around you.

Killua had once told him similar things in one of their encounters, but he was talking purely about himself and how he had to have put up with their bizarre standards from the very beginning. Illumi slowly began his track of wondering whether to trust his parents or not when he realized they hadn't answered him directly.

"No one has been feeding me lies, father, but may I ask you to answer my question directly?" Illumi said, returning back to his rather monotone and emotionless voice that he used around his parents.

"We would never manipulate our own children, Illu! I thought all of them would know this by being around us for so long, especially you!" His mother replied confidently as she moved closer to him and grabbed one of his hands, and that was when Illumi stilled for three reasons: One, his mother was touching his hand. Two, Hisoka had painted his nails and he knew that his parents would most likely notice. Three, he could sense another person's presence, and he

silently cursed.

Let go, let go, let go, don't notice, oh gosh don't notice. He thought frantically, and that was when everything took a hard turn with Illumi caught in the middle of it all.

It happened in an instant, his mother had lifted his hand while gripping even tighter as she caught sight of the newly done nails, his father had abruptly stood up with a rather angry expression across his face, and Hisoka was idiotic enough to actually announce his presence in front of his parents.

"Lady, let go of his hand. Don't you know he doesn't like you doing that?" The magician asked, crossing his arms while leaning on the doorway.

Oh, curse it all. Illumi groaned inwardly as he felt a rather strong and nauseating emotion: fear.