Sᵾđđɇn̷ Ɇm̷øŧɨøn̷s̷ a̷n̷đ Ⱥƀn̷øɍm̷a̷łłɏ Ꝁɨn̷đ Sᵽɨđɇɍs̷

Đɨs̷ȼᵾs̷s̷ɨøn̷

Illumi had fallen back asleep soon after and, assured that he would recover, Hisoka decided to leave him alone. Once he had slipped out, there was one person who he immediately thought of; Chrollo. The Spider Head would know what to do now, and it seemed that he had already called the others together.

"How bad is it?" Machi asked Chrollo as Hisoka slipped onto his perch.

"He will be out of commission for a while, I healed his wounds but he will still be sore. The more he rests, the quicker he can return back to his house."

He had felt him slip in to sit next to him and tapped his fingers on the stone.

"Boss wants him to go back?" He murmured softly, traces of surprise in his voice.

"You know Illu," Hisoka sighed, fiddling with a card. "He'll want to go back after he's better."

He turned to look at Hisoka with a frown, subconsciously linking some of his chains and tugging on them. "But is that going to be okay? What if they do something like this again and you don't make it in time? You see how scared Purpurea looks."

Indeed, Kalluto did have a new aura to him, his eyes were slightly wider and his posture more tense. He looked as if he would set off at a moment's notice of danger.

"Since when do you question Chrollo?" Hisoka asked, for it had just hit him that he was questioning his 'beloved boss'.

"Mnimm." He shrugged.

"What?"

"Mnimm, mm-uh-mm, but with your mouth closed. I don't know, it just seems a bit strange this time." He elaborated.

From what the two could observe from the perch, it seemed that a few of the Spiders had the same problem. Nobunaga was even brandishing his sword- something that he absolutely loathed with a passion, especially since he did it so close to Chrollo.

"Calm down, he'll stop in a moment." Hisoka sighed again and propped his chin up with his hand.

"You all know how Illumi is, even with the recent events he will still wish to return back to his home." Chrollo said, which made Nobunaga sheathe his sword if not at least reluctantly.

"B-But they'll be even more mad since he suddenly left!" Kalluto protested, he started shaking a bit but Machi was right next to him and whispered something into his ear which seemed to calm him down a bit.

"I won't force him to go back if he doesn't wish to do so, but he'll need a place to stay if he decides he doesn't want to go. His siblings are out of the question, so either he stays here, fends for himself, or one of you takes him in."

He could see the slight reluctance on the other Spiders' faces which he expected, so he tilted his head to him.

"Do you think I should..."

"Do I think you should?" He snorted and Hisoka could swear that if he had been taught how to, he would've rolled his eyes. "I know you should, Nine."

"Mmm, stop calling me that." Hisoka grumbled, turning his head in the direction of where the room Illumi was in was.

"Fine, Trapdoor."

"Jeez, why not just Hisoka?" He questioned with a sigh, but then a small smile crept across his face. "Bl-"

"Nope, I take it back." He quickly cut in and Hisoka let out a soft snicker.

"That'll work out, it just depends if Hisoka agrees." Shizuku said thoughtfully which caught both of their attention.

"Wait, what?" Hisoka whispered.

"And this is why I always have one ear on their conversations. They were talking about how you could take care of Illumi once he was better since they can't really just hang out here all the time and can't afford to leave him alone. Along with that, since Purpurea might also be a target for their parents, you might have to shelter him as well." He explained, crossing his arms.

"Oh, I could make that work." He said, and Chrollo looked up at where the two were sitting.

"Did you hear that?" He asked them, and they both nodded.

"Yes, and I'll do it." Hisoka replied with a slightly bigger smile.

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Chrollo turned back to the other Spiders and started talking about something else. Once the attention was diverted from him, he let out another soft sigh.

"I get that you're worried about Illumi and you feel bad about not being able to see anything sooner, but why are you sighing so much?" He asked, leaning forward a bit. "This is like- the fourth time in the past six or seven minutes."

"I sigh for every new depressing thought I have." He said and the loyal Spider sat back and gently whacked him on the back of his head with one of his chains. He let out a small yelp of surprise and whirled around to face him. "What was that for?" He asked haughtily.

"Stop being so depressed, you're usually the joy of the party and now we have no one to cheer us up." He said, but then smiled a bit after a moment. "Well, whacking you is amusing but I think you'd get a headache or concussion after too many times."

Hisoka turned away and focused back on the meeting, grumbling to himself, but his mind kept wandering back to Illumi when he tried to focus on what they were saying. He stood up when he saw the Spiders splitting up and going to their respective groups or staying by themselves. He slipped down and presumably headed for Chrollo. As for himself? He found himself walking back over to Illumi's temporary room. Illumi was awake when he entered, but he didn't seem to notice the magician, simply staring at the wall.

"It's dark in here." Illumi finally said after a long moment of silence.

"Chrollo didn't think it would be a good idea to have you in a room with a window and the light was broken so we had to improvise." Hisoka explained quietly, as if afraid that if he spoke any louder than Illumi would become scared of him.

"Do I get to stay?" He asked, looking over at Hisoka.

"Chrollo said you can while you rest." The ravenet nodded before lifting up one of his hands. He didn't know what he was doing until Illumi said,

"I got your paint job dirty." The magician gave him a very small smile.

"That doesn't matter, Illu. You'll be safe now."

Illumi nodded absentmindedly and turned back to the wall. Hisoka took this as a way of saying that it wasn't the best time to be there right now, so he turned around and opened the door to leave. If Hisoka hadn't been raised the way he was, he might not have heard what Illumi said quietly just before he shut the door.

"For how long is the question."