An Assassin's Innocence

Chapter 2 - Blood X And X Apple

"Damn...it won't come off..."

Killua scratched at the dry, crusted blood forming on his hands, his facial expression scrunched up in a tired annoyance. Killing people was messy just as it was annoying, people begging for their lives, or pleading for their life to be taken in exchange for another's. Not to mention the gallons of blood that stained the clothes he wore. No matter what he did, he could still feel the uncertainty, clawing at the back of his brain. The uncertainty of his desire to kill, did he even have such the desire? He wondered if his family ever felt that tiny spark of remorse, why was he so different than them? He couldn't understand why his family found such an interest in the occupation of an assassin.

Allowed permission to be let out of the house when he was assigned a mission, only to come right home after-hand was really tearing on his tolerance. Of course, he was always given a mission whenever possible, so the brief time of freedom was well-cherished.

Having only briefly arrived in the Republic Padokea, he had already felt a sense of dread. He was completely positive Illumi reported every tiny detail about his mission to his whole family. Killua cringed, especially his mother. Oh how he had favoritism for her.

Being only an eight-year old child as the middle child of five, surprisingly held a heavy weight on his shoulders. For some odd reason, the tradition of the Zoldyck Family was to appoint the middle child to take the lead of the family and to continue the family trade of assassination. It was mainly the belief that a prodigy child would be named as the heir for the Zoldyck business.And he, the only one of the family who didn't desire to be heir of the family, was the prodigy child.

His mother would greatly stretch the importance of this position to him whenever she had the chance, something close to a living broken record player. As her naggings increased, so did his training. Poison resistance at three years. Electrocution endurance sessions up to five hours a day, extra if he misbehaved. He guessed was the training regimen of the ultimate leader of the Zoldyck Family.

Not wanting to focus any unwanted attention to himself in the neighboring towns, Killua found himself making his long way through the flourishing green of the forest surrounding his mountain home, Kukuroo Mountain, which paled in contrast against the vibrancy of life of the area. In the dim, yet pleasant glow of the moon above, he could see the rows of trees stretching along each of their own path, untouched by the ugly fingers of selfish humans who wanted them for their own profits. The trees, he realized, had been living there for almost thousands of years.

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar rumbling of his stomach, followed by a small dull pain, signalling his hunger. He hadn't really eaten, how could he? With his hands encased in a film of sticky blood, he didn't have the desire to eat anything, let alone even look at food until now.

It was times like these, where Killua wished he could be like Illumi, although these times were very rare, he had good reason...which did not include growing his hair until it reached down to his knees. Killua pondered for a moment, he realised he never really saw Illumi eat anything. Did becoming an emotionless robot mean that food wasn't necessary to you anymore? It didn't matter to Killua, food was great, there was no way he would ever stop himself from eating. Anorexia was far from him.

Far off into the deep dark woods, there was a tiny sound. One, barely audible to the human ear, the faint continuous noise of water gently slipping over rocks. Where there was water, there was most likely food. Without a moment's hesitation, Killua changed his direction, spinning around to walk south. He wondered why he hadn't walked through the forest sooner.

He soon came across the tiny stretch of river flowing like a small crack in the earth, his shoes began to sink into the mud, making an unattractive squelching noise. He shouldn't have expected much.