Icy Eyes •||• Hunter x Hunter

Chapter 16

"You call this clean you useless brat?!" Dahlia, my mother, stood above my 6-year-old self as she held a mop while pointing to a stain on the floor. "I told you I wanted it spotless!"

I winced and screamed in pain when the wood shattered on my back and a kick was delivered from my side, sending my body to the floor. I noticed a 9-year-old boy with black hair, wide, dark, teary eyes eyes and freckles watching helplessly  as our mother beat me.

Tears were streaming down my face as I cried out again, apologizing and telling --begging-- her to stop, but she wouldn't. Soon, my body had several cuts on it, a split-lip, bruised jaw and a possibly broken rib. As soon as Dahlia was out of the room, Ace ran to me, hugging me close.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"  He whispered, pulling away and looking at my weak form. 

"It isn't your fault, Ace. You do not have to say 'sorry'," I replied. Managing a strained smile up at my adoptive brother.

"But I'm so weak! If I were strong, I could protect you. I'm your brother..."

I fell unconscious before hearing the rest of his sentence. When I woke up, I was in my bed, bandages covering my wounds. A hand was holding mine and a head was resting on the side of the mattress. I tried to sit up but fell back down, groaning in pain.

Ace's eyes opened and he turned his head to look at me, a smile breaking on his face when he saw I was awake.

 "Are you okay?" My brother asked, tilting his head to the right cutely. I nodded at him. "You were asleep for two days, and mom was away that long, too."

"Thank you, big brother. I love you," I snuggled into his chest.

"I love you, too, Kat."

I was gently shaken awake from the memory by the train attendant, telling me that we were in York New City. I thanked her and grabbed my bag, making sure my Hunter's License and money were still there before leaving the train and heading for the nearest Hotel, as it was pretty late at night. The city was lively, even though there were drunks stumbling along alleys and whatnot. 

I got my self a room at the five-star hotel, took the key and went to the elevator. I listened to the music as the elevator ascended. I entered my room and plopped down on the soft bed, thinking back to my old life.

*Flashback*

Ace came to my room, where my 11-year-old self was doing homework while listening to a song. I glanced at him then back to my notebook before my eyes widened and I looked at the sword strapped to his hip.

"Ace, my dear, loving older brother, I know you said you were gonna start training and learning how to use a sword... but I didn't think you were actually serious." I uttered, staring at him.

"Hey, I'm always serious!" He argued, looking amused.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Yeah, and Donald Trump is a great person. Anyway, when do you start?"

"I already started a month ago, it's so fun!"

"Mind if I tag along? I'm pretty bored," 

He gave me a wide smile and stretched out a hand, which I took. "This is the reason I stopped by in the first place. Would you like to start training, too?"

"Is this even a question? Anything to get out of this house is okay in my books,"

I changed into comfortable clothes that I could move freely in before following my freckled, hot-headed brother out of the house.

A year passed since I had started training and saying I was a natural would be an understatement. Somehow, I was very good with a blade, and soon enough, I had beaten most of the older students. Along with swordplay, I started hand-to-hand combat and endurance and stamina training. Dahlia's beatings affected me less and less as the time went on; maybe because I got used to it and built some pain tolerance or because I had my brother on my side. 

Having him with me gave me strength.

The day he died was the worst day of my existence. We were walking through the streets after training when a group of thugs came at us. We beat them up, but they had still managed some pretty good punches. When we thought they were all knocked out, we turned around and continued walking like nothing happened... until we heard a gun click. 

It all happened so quickly; we looked behind us in alarm only to see the leader of the group pointing the weapon at me and pulling the trigger two times. Ace pushed me out of the way, receiving the two bullets. One in his chest, one in his stomach. 

I screamed, kicked the gun out of the man's hand and falling next to my dying brother. 

"You idiot! Why... why did you do that?!" I cried.

He sent me a weak smile, blood dripping from his lips. "Because--because you're my sister and I love you. Be strong, live..."

He trailed off, his eyes slowly closing. I screamed, begging him to wake up, to tell me this is just one of his stupid jokes. He didn't respond. 

My brother was dead and it was my fault. 

"Come back, brother... please. Don't leave me alone like that. I need you," My voice was strained and broken, tears falling from my eyes, dripping onto Ace's lifeless hand. Sobs wracked my body as I cried, unable to stop.

I got up, unsheathing my Katana. I looked at the men that killed my brother with an empty look on my face, my blue eyes cold and angry. I wasn't in control of my own body anymore. It was moving by itself as I drove the blade through his heart, ignoring his pleas. 

Eight bodies laid there; my brother's and the thugs'. I stood above them, sword dripping with blood.

I didn't realize that I was crying until I turned in my bed and my cheek touched a damp spot on the pillow. I quickly wiped my tears away. I have to be strong, for him. 

A/N: I'm not crying. I'm not crying. I'm not crying. Scratch that, it's a lie. I literally wrote this during my English lesson. 

What do you think? I realized that I keep mentioning Kat's brother but never actually made a scene with him, so here we are.

It's pretty short, but I like it.