Four Years Later

II Gon

Sunlight pierced through his eyelids, filling his half awake visual field. He groaned and rolled over to face away from the window letting in way too much light.

"Oi, Gon," Ging said from somewhere in the room. "You can't sleep all day, we have work to do." Gon felt a nudge on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm up, I'm up," he muttered, rolling onto his back and sitting up, opening his eyes, seeing his dad standing over him with his arms crossed, impatience smeared over his features. Ging was such a spaz, always wanted to go, to move. So was Gon, but he tried not to be so obvious about that anymore, since it seemed to get them into worse situations than if he were to restrain the tendency to yell and disrupt what is usually seen as peace.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked very suddenly, catching Gon quite off guard. He'd hoped that it wouldn't have to come to this.

"About what?" He feigned ignorance, hoping that it would trick Ging somehow to just let it go; Gon really didn't want to think about what was happening around him.

"You met up with your old friend yesterday right? What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno, I mean, we're leaving soon aren't we?" Gon attempted to look casual. The truth was, he couldn't choose, like he was torn between reacquainting with his friends and running away like his father.

"Gon." His eyes softened. "Spend some time with your friends."

As he left, Gon sighed and yawned, swinging his legs over the side of his bed, standing. He yawned again and stretched his arms up over his head.

From the doorway where Ging had disappeared came a whistle, and Gon dodged a pencil that imbedded itself into the wall beside him. He hadn't had to dodge Nen from the old man in a long time and it caught him a little off guard.

"What was that for, Ging?" he called, pulling it out of the dry wall.

"Since you'll be in town without me to watch your back, I wanted you on your toes!" Ging called back to him.

"Like I've ever needed you to!" he replied, rolling his eyes. He felt a little warmth in his chest that Ging worried about him, even if he could have taken his face off with that pencil.

|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|

The day was just as frosty as the night before, chilling and perfect, and though he didn't really need it, Gon was wearing a brown leather jacket and long canvas pants. It wasn't his style really, and he kind of missed the clothes he wore as a child, but he could live through it for normalcy's sake.

Heeding his father's warning, he put up a soothing layer of In around him, enfolding his own body in a rich layer of Nen, unseen to any eyes not using Gyo.

It felt warm, like a hug. That made Gon a little uneasy. Killua had embraced him, and just stood there in his arms, broken and nothing like the strong Zoldyck assassin that he'd once known. It broke his heart.

Did I do that to him? he asked himself.

He shook his head to clear it. Even if he had caused this, he would fix it.

They were right where Alluka said they would be, the outdoor dining area of a warm cottage inn. It smelled like roasted coffee and soft bread, and the inside was lit with orange lights that fit their way through glass and cracks in doors.

Killua was sitting beside his sister with a lax expression, much calmer than last night. That made Gon relax. He was starting to look like Killua used to.

Alluka grinned, the sides of her eyes creasing at the edges. "Morning!" she sang. It still surprised Gon how grown up she seemed, how much of a beautiful girl she was growing into.

"Hi!" Gon replied as cheerily as he could, sitting down across from the pair.

"Hey," Killua said. He was a lot more like how Gon recalled him to be today, and it soothed him.

"How have you guys been?" he asked as he made himself comfortable.

Alluka smiled and shifted to look at her big brother.

He rolled his eyes. "Man it's been boring." Alluka looked offended. "I mean, we've been good, but everything I do has like, zero adventure."

"What have you been doing?" Gon asked.

"Brother's started a business!" Alluka chimed in.

"I find people and body-guard and stuff. It's not really what I'd call a business," he clarified. "What about you?" He looked at him expectantly.

"I've been traveling with Ging," Gon said.

"Doing what?"

He smiled wide and immediately dove into retellings of what they had done. Dungeons and monsters and fighting, oh he loved talking about the fighting, and anything and everything. He told them about the time they took Kite with them, and the time he lost Ging for a while.

His father often seemed to try to shake him, out of fun or just getting tired of him. He'd recently gotten much better at finding him due to his predictable behavior, so whenever Ging ran away he gave him a few weeks to chill out.

Killua was leaning forward in his seat by the time Gon stopped. His eyes were focused, hanging on every word he heard. He seemed startled when Gon said, "Yeah that's pretty much it."

"Wow, that's so cool," Alluka said in an admiring tone.

Killua sat back in his chair. "Sounds like you've had a lot of fun."

"Oh definitely!" He knew his eyes were wide and bright. "You should've been there, Killua," he added.

Killua looked away from him, jaw clenching a little. He just nodded silently and Alluka's brow furrowed worriedly.

Don't ask, don't ask. "You okay?" he asked in spite of his own advice.

Killua looked at him and sat up straight in his seat. He looked almost like glass again. Gon couldn't stand the idea of him shattering.

"Y'know it's really nice out today. Do you guys want to do something?" Gon asked.

Killua started and swallowed his breath. "Yeah sure. Alluka?" He looked over to her.

"I'm actually kinda tired..." She trailed off and brought a hand to her chin. "I'll stay at the inn and you guys can do something."

He wished she hadn't said that.

Killua looked at him, glass not quite cracking yet. "Gon?"

"Sure yeah." Sure.