Chapter Text
"Ughhhh my headddd wait- where are we? Killua?"
"I'm here" Killua wheezed weakly. Gon rushed over to his friend to get a clear view of him. He had a clear wound on his stomach and was suffering from some pretty severe blood loss from what Gon could tell.
Gon quickly jumped into action. He pulled off his jacket and pressed it up against the wound and applied what he assumed to be the right amount of pressure based on his amateur medical abilities. "Hey, I know it's hard to stay awake, but you need to fight off the sleep. You're more likely to die if you fall asleep and Nanika's hard work would be in vain."
"Yeah I know," Killua responded, lifting his head up slightly to get a better look at their surroundings. "It doesn't hurt too bad, it could be worse."
"Just because you have a high pain tolerance doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt, all it means is that you can handle the pain well," Gon reprimanded. Killua slowly put his head back down and was clearly fighting the drowsiness that was likely overtaking him.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A boy with purple scars covering a good amount of his body asked. He had black hair and what looked like staples that seemed to be holding his skin together. Gon didn't like him. But he might be able to help them.
"Gon, stand back," Killua rasped, trying to stand up carefully, pressing Gon's jacket up against his wound, though Gon just pushed him back down on the ground before moving to stand in front of Killua.
Gon let out a low-pitched growl that he didn't even know he was capable of. "You had better stay away or I'll make you regret it," Gon felt his back arch, like a cat or a dog that was ready to attack. Then he felt something furry brush up against his leg and his hearing became amazingly better.
"Well then, looks like somebody's got a mutation quirk, and quite a strong one at that. Say, what would you say about coming with me? I have some medical supplies that just might save your friend's life."
"What's a quirk?" Gon asked, his demeanor suddenly changing. He cocked his head to the side and felt something flop against his head. He remembered that he felt something up against his leg and turned to look. Sitting there attached to his lower back was a tail. His hands shot up to his head where he felt two ears. "What the- Killuaaa am I going crazy?" He turned to look at his friend.
"I-I don't think so- I see ears and a tail."
"Okay, looks like I've got my work cut out for me..." the boy sighed to himself. "Alright, help me pick your friend up and we can get going."
"I- okay," Gon moved to Killua's side, helping the man lift him up. "You tell me if it hurts too much. I don't care whether or not you can handle it, I want to know if it hurts more than it does right now."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
"Alright, you two ready?" The boy asked. Once he got a nod from both boys he lifted Killua by the legs while Gon got his arms. Luckily they managed to not make Killua lose too much more blood as they moved him into a door down the alleyway that they had been in.
"Where to now?" Gon asked as he closed the door behind him with his foot.
"Just through this door," the boy replied, nodding his head to a door off to the side, starting to turn so that they could fit through it. "Alright, now help me lay him on the couch. Stay here and I'll go get some medical supplies," he said before walking off.
"Do you feel okay?"
"Y-Yeah. What's up, do you smell something?" Killua asked when he saw Gon stick his nose in the air and sniff.
"Well other than blood I can smell something that seems to be food, and I'm hungry."
"Oooooo! You didn't tell me that they were almost my age!" A blond girl squealed loudly. "Hi! I'm Himiko Toga, though you can call me Himiko! Introduce yourself," she said, elbowing the boy that stood next to her, holding two bowls
"Just call me Dabi. Anybody hungry? I have ramen."
Gon looked over at Killua, who nodded before attempting to prop himself up on the couch before wincing and laying back down. "Is it really okay to have some?"
"Geeze you, sometimes I think your aunt raised you to be too polite," Killua piped up, making Gon swing around and stick his tongue out. "I don't think that eating is the best idea for me right now, but that idiot refused to eat yesterday cause we didn't have enough food for the both of us."
"And you didn't eat the day before that!"
"Yeah well I can go a week before I need food."
"I don't care! It still isn't good for you! Now stop yelling before the bleeding starts up again!"
"You sound more like a mom than mine! Just eat the food already."
"Fine. Thanks for the food," Gon said before digging in, Himiko and Dabi just staring in surprise at what had just unfolded in front of them.
"You remembered the gauze and stuff, right?" Dabi asked, turning to face Himiko. She responded by holding up what looked like a large first-aid kit, handing it over. "Okay good, do you want a piece of cloth so that you don't bite your tongue?" He asked Killua.
"Yes, somebody doesn't like to say when something hurts too much," Gon answered for him. "Oh! We forgot to introduce ourselves, I'm Gon and that's Killua. We've known each other for a while now and travel around doing jobs with Killua's little sister."
"Do you know what kind of injury this is? It's a little too bloody to tell if it's a gunshot wound or a stab wound."
"I think I got it when Hisoka threw one of his cards, right before Nanika sent us here," Killua looked to Gon for confirmation.
"Yeah, I think so. By the way, we aren't of this world, his sister sent us to another world to keep us safe, and that ended up being here, so if you don't understand what we mean by stuff, that's why. Though. I was gonna say that I didn't think Hisoka's cards could do that, but then again I've seen him cut off people's arms before."
"So we're just gonna gloss over the fact that you're from another world?" Dabi asked after he set down the other bowl he had been carrying. "Though I guess it would explain why you don't know what quirks are. They're a superpower that 80% of the population is born with. We have heroes and villains. The two of us are considered villains."
"I mean I could probably be considered a villain with the amount of people I've killed, so if stuff that we say doesn't make sense, that's why."
Killua took the piece of cloth Dabi offered and put it in his mouth, biting down on it. "Yeah, we have something called nen, though nobody is really sure about Alluka and Nanika. Everybody has the ability to use nen, it just has to be activated somehow, whether that be naturally or forced," Gon explained.
"We can talk more about this another time, I need to clean and dress this. Do you have any allergies?"
"I have immunity to most poisons and stuff, so if I did have any allergies, I shouldn't have them any more," Killua responded, taking the cloth out of his mouth for a few seconds.
"Alright, are you ready?"
"Yup." Upon hearing the answer, Dabi lightly touched the wound with another piece of cloth to get Killua ready before he started gently wiping it against the wound and the skin around it. Killua bit down harder on the cloth as he felt the cold of the rubbing alcohol and the sting that came with it.
"You're lucky he didn't hit anything major, this seems pretty deep and might need stitches. Himiko, go get the other medical stuff," Dabi told the girl, who had been just watching up until that point.
"Kay, I'll be right back!" Himiko said in a sing-song voice as she skipped out of the room. Gon finished eating after she skipped back in, having been pacing himself for once so that he wouldn't get sick after not eating for a day.
"That was amazing!" Gon half yelled before he walked over to Killua and sat down next to him, making sure he was out of Dabi's way. "I'm tireddd, can I take a nap?" He asked, looking over to Dabi.
"Sure, just stay out of the way and don't snore too loudly." Gon turned so that his side was up against the couch and he was facing Dabi with his head leaning on the cushion just above Killua's, falling asleep after only a few seconds. "He must've been tired."
"Mhm," Killua managed through the cloth. Dabi decided to give him a bit of a break before he started stitching the skin together. "He rarely sleeps anymore, since we're always on the run and trying to keep Alluka safe. He always insists on being the one to stand guard, only letting me take over for two to three hours a night."
"Hey, how old are you two? You seem to be similar in age to me," Himiko asked after a moment of silence.
"Hmmm, I think about thirteen, maybe fourteen, we haven't really been paying attention to the date, though he's two months older than me and I think we last checked two or three months ago, so Gon should be fourteen. How about you two?"
"I'm twenty, Himiko's about fifteen I think."
"I dunno, I stopped paying attention to how old I am ever since I ran away."
"I think I'm ready for the stitches, might as well get it done sooner rather than later, right?"
"If that's what you want, put the cloth back, I haven't done this part too much, so it'll hurt more than it normally would," Dabi warned. Killua just nodded and put the cloth back in his mouth, laying his head down on the throw pillow that had been moved there to support his head.
It was difficult for Killua to not make any noises, he knew that if he did, Gon would wake up and not go back to sleep. It took a while for Dabi to finish up stitching, but he did a pretty good job in Killua's opinion.
"Do you want to wait a while before dressing it?"
"Nah, that won't hurt, at least not too bad." Dabi grabbed some pieces of gauze and some gauze wrap before slowly dressing the wound, careful not to irritate the skin too much more. It took a few minutes of trial and error before it was deemed to be good enough. "How long has it been?"
"I think maybe somewhere between twenty and thirty minutes," Himiko responded as she walked over to help Dabi pick up and put away the medical supplies. "How come?"
"If he sleeps for too long it'll be impossible to wake him up again until it's been long enough," Killua explained before reaching to tap Gon on the head with one of his knuckles. "Hey, it's time to wake up," he whispered.
"Mmmm."
"Gon, you know you can't stay asleep for too long."
"Fine..." Gon mumbled as he lifted his head up slowly. "How long has it been?"
"Don't worry, it hasn't been too long," Killua responded. He seemed to be thinking for a minute or so before he spoke up again, "Why don't we try using Ten? To figure out if it even works here. Though maybe Zetsu would be better, since that way we wouldn't have to worry about drawing too much attention."
"Let's go with Zetsu. You ready?"
"Yup." And with that they both attempted to use Zetsu, only for it to not work.
"I don't like that look, please tell me it worked for you."
"I don't think so- how about Gyo?"
"It's not working," Killua said in a concerned tone. "Is it working for you?"
"I don't think so, either it isn't working or there isn't any aura to be seen, though it's probably both."
"Right, we aren't from this world. It would make sense that we can't use abilities from our world, after all, you have a quirk I think Dabi called it?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I wonder what yours is."
"We'll find out eventually. Probably."
After a few more minutes the other two walked back into the room, bickering about something. "It's a bad idea," Dabi hissed.
"I don't see how. Let's just ask them. What would you two say to reforming the hero society? The system is discriminatory and allows abusers to continue being heroes," Himiko asked, turning to look at Killua and Gon.
The two looked at each other for what seemed like forever, seeming to have a silent conversation with their eyes. Suddenly Gon's ears perked up and his tail started wagging. "We don't really have anything to lose, even if we can't use nen, we're still extremely strong at least for our age," Killua responded after he broke eye contact.
"How did you do that? It looked like you had a silent conversation," Himiko asked, stars in her eyes.
"It's just something we figured out over time, we've known each other for about two years or so now, and have been on the run for about nine months, so we've spent a lot of time together," Gon explained, looking over to Killua who just nodded.
"It isn't too uncommon in our world for people that spend a lot of time together to be able to read each other like a book. We're somewhat good with each other's body language, but are better with reading each other's eyes," Killua continued. "I guess I never really thought about it until now."
"Me either," Gon agreed. "Anyways, about what you said before, we're willing to help you reform the society, we even have a bit of a plan. At first I thought that maybe we could infiltrate, but Killua doesn't think he'd be a good hero for personal reasons, so right now we think that I could infiltrate somehow and give you guys info."
"You two figured all that out in that small amount of time?" Dabi looked surprised
"You get quicker at making plans and adjusting them the more often you do it."
"Okay, well anyways, there are hero schools for students that want to become heroes, most, if not all in Japan -which is the country we're in- are high schools, so in about a year, maybe two depending on the school we choose," Dabi explained. "Do you want some painkillers or would they not help?"
"I don't think that they would help, though it doesn't hurt too bad anymore, I think I might be able to stand up."
"Let me help you, you've lost a lot of blood and it's been nowhere near long enough for your levels to be back to normal," Gon said, offering Killua his hand.
Killua took it and pulled himself into a sitting position. Gon moved so that Killua could lean on him for when the inevitable happened and the blood rushed to his head. Unsurprisingly, Killua almost fell over the moment he stood up, luckily Gon was able to change his trajectory so that he fell on Gon rather than the floor.
"Probably shouldn't have stood up that quickly..."
"I warned you."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
"Do you want to try to walk?" Gon asked, earning a small nod from Killua who was still fighting off dizziness. Gon wrapped one arm around Killua's back, putting the other in front of him. Dabi came over and did the same, ready to help if it was necessary.
Killua managed to take a few steps before he stumbled, which led to Gon making him lay back down on the couch. "You should be okay to sleep now, since you aren't losing anymore blood," Dabi commented as Gon helped Killua lay back down on the couch. "Speaking of which, it's past time you head to sleep," he turned to face Himiko.
"Do I have toooo?" She whined in response.
"You as well Gon, it's time for everyone to head to sleep, and I'm allowed to stay up cause I'm an adult, when you're older, you can choose your bedtime."
"Fineeeee I'm just going to my room, I won't go to sleep until I'm tired though," Himiko relented.
"That's fine I guess. Now then, do you want something to sleep on? We might have a futon somewhere, though I do know that we have plenty of blankets, since we don't have heat or air."
"Just a blanket and a pillow would be fine- wait, what happened to my jacket?"
"Oh I put it in the wash to try to get some of the blood out of it. Do either of you want a blanket to keep warm? Oh he fell asleep..." Dabi muttered as he looked over to Killua.
"That'd be good," Gon answered for the two of them. Dabi left to go get the blankets while Gon grabbed a throw pillow off the back of the couch.
"Alright, we have two fluffy ones and a comforter."
"I'll take a fluffy one and the comforter, Killua can have the other fluffy one," Gon said, walking over to take the blankets from Dabi. "Good night!"
"Night, kid."
Gon walked over to the couch and layed one of the blankets down on top of Killua before laying the comforter on the floor next to the couch, putting the pillow on top of it. Gon layed down, half-heartedly throwing the blanket over himself.
He fell asleep just about the second his head hit the pillow.
Killua woke up in the middle of the night when he felt something touch him, only for him to find Gon's legs on top of his, which was weird because he couldn't see the rest of Gon's body. He looked over the edge of the couch to see Gon laying up against the couch.
Killua had to hold back a laugh and instead grabbed his pillow and threw it at Gon's face. To Killua's surprise, Gon managed to catch it and throw it back at him. Killua tried throwing it again, faster this time, just for Gon to catch it again and toss it back again.
Gon opened one eye and smirked at his friend, who smirked back. The two began throwing the pillow back and forth at breakneck speed. After doing this for a minute or two, they heard someone coming down the hallway.
They immediately stopped throwing the pillow and put their heads down, closing their eyes. "What's with all that racket?" Dabi asked groggily, only to be met with silence.
He scanned over their faces, looking for any signs that they might be awake. Unluckily for him, they had both perfected acting like they were asleep in the time they spent with Bisky, since she would reprimand them if they didn't get enough sleep.
"What's wrong?" Himiko asked, rubbing at her eyes as she walked down the hall.
"I could've sworn I heard something going on... Are you two faking or something? There's no way I was hearing things..."
Gon couldn't hold it together anymore, he just started giggling, causing Killua to start giggling too. At first they were quiet enough that they couldn't be heard, but the giggling slowly turned into quiet laughter, which was loud enough that the other two could hear them and knew that they were awake.
"How'd you know?" Gon asked through his laughter.
"I didn't think you two were actually awake- I was mostly joking- why are you two up at five in the morning?"
"I felt something touch me, turns out it was this idiot's legs. Then I may or may not have thrown my pillow at him," Killua looked away and lowered his voice when he said the last part.
Dabi pinched the bridge of his nose, "And you two had a pillow fight?" He knew he hit the nail on the head when both of them avoided eye contact. "Do you two need fresh air? Maybe that would help you calm down."
"I think that's a great idea!" Himiko immediately woke up more. "Lemme go get dressed!" She called as she ran back down the hall.
"Guess I'll go get dressed too," Dabi said through a yawn, walking back to his room.
"Wait! Where's the bathroom? And do you have any spare clothes that might fit?"
"I'll go check if we have any clothes, stay there."
"Kay. Do you want to shower too?" Gon asked Killua as he contorted to get his legs off the couch so that he could stand up.
"I'll wait another day or so, give the wound a little more time to heal."
"That's probably a good idea."
"I was able to find a pair of clothes for each of you. Follow me, the bathroom is this way. You come too Killua, that way you know where it is," Dabi told them, walking over to the couch so that he could help if it was necessary.
Killua managed to sit up by himself, though he needed help standing up. He was able to walk almost by himself, though having somebody there to help hold him up certainly helped.
Once he had taken a few steps down towards the doorway, Dabi walked slowly, leading them down the hall to the bathroom. Luckily it wasn't too far, so Killua didn't have to walk too much.
"This room is empty, so if you two are okay with sharing a room, you can stay in there," Dabi gestured to a room that was across the hall from the bathroom.
"Sounds good to me, we're used to sharing a hotel room, sometimes even a bed depending on what we can afford since we always get a suite so that Alluka can have her own room," Gon replied, confused when he noticed that Killua's face was ever so slightly tinted pink.
"I'll go sit in there so you can shower," Killua said, trying to walk over to the room by himself.
"Here, I'll help you, you go shower," Dabi instructed Gon, who walked into the bathroom after double checking with Killua that he would be okay.
Once Gon closed the door, Dabi helped lead Killua into the room, closing the door behind them. "I wonder..." Dabi muttered quietly enough that he almost wasn't heard.
"Hm?"
"Nothing. Sorry if there's a bunch of stuff in here, it kind of got used for storage since we haven't had anybody stay here other than us before."
"I don't mind, and I doubt Gon will either."
"If you say so. Why don't you sit down on that chair over there?"
"I think sitting would be a good idea," Killua replied, stumbling over to the chair, letting Dabi help him sit down.
"How long have you and Gon known each other again?"
"Almost two years I think. How come?"
"I have a feeling that you like him," Dabi whispered, even though he likely wouldn't have been heard over the shower.
"H-Huh?! W-What are you talking about?!" Killua whisper-yelled, his face tinting pink. "What gave you that idea?!"
"So I was right?"
"Please don't tell anyone..."
"Your secret's safe with me, so don't worry." The two sat in silence for a few minutes while Dabi attempted to clean the room up until they heard the shower turn off.
Once Gon was done, he crossed the hall to him and Killua's new room. "Are you ready to get changed?" He asked Killua, offering his hand.
"Yup," Killua replied, taking Gon's hand and pulling himself up. Gon led him across the hall, Dabi following close behind with the clean clothes.
Gon waited awkwardly outside of the door, waiting for Killua, meanwhile Dabi went to his room to change, going to clean the room up more when he was done. There was a thump and as Gon started to react he heard Killua yell.
"I'M FINE, DON'T COME IN!"
"You sure?" Gon called back through the door.
"YUP!"
"If you say so..."
Killua took a little longer getting changed before he opened the door. He was limping and his knee was a little red. Gon took a minute to notice and it took another minute for Killua to realize him staring.
"I just hit it on the bathtub, I'm fine," Killua didn't give Gon the chance to say anything. Gon just put his arm up in response, letting Killua wrap his arm around Gon's shoulder for stability.
The two walked back down the hall, Dabi joining when he realized they had started walking. "You okay? I heard a loud thump."
"I just banged my knee on the tub. I'm okay, the stab I guess you could call it hurts more, though it is better than before."
"That's good. I'm gonna go see what's taking Himiko so long," Dabi walked off as Gon laid Killua down on the couch. "I'll be right back," he called behind him.
The two sat there for a minute in silence while they watched the door, waiting for Himiko and Dabi to return. "Somebody decided that it was a great time to wash their face and take forever," Dabi said as he walked back in, ruffling Himiko's hair.
"Hey! I just brushed that!"
"It's not like we're going to the store, do your hair how you want. She has to fix her hair and wear contacts whenever we go out since we're technically villains and I'm supposed to be dead."
"Yeah, we have to do that kind of stuff sometimes when we go out, though that's mainly because we're so well known. Don't remember if we told you this already but I'm from the number one assassin family in our world and Gon's father is extremely well known, and we're also runaways."
"Wow Killua, the blood loss must really be getting to you," Gon commented, almost sarcastically. "I mean Killua Zoldyck telling people who we are?" Gon snickered.
"Oi! You shut up! No offense but it's not like it would be easy for likely anyone in this world to take us down, at least when I'm healed. Besides, it's not like Illumi or Ging can get us here, unless they figure out a way to force Nanika."
"Like she'll let that happen. Anyways, like he said, we ran away, I mainly did because he just wasn't a good person, but he is technically my father so he reported me missing. I also just didn't like the attention I got."
"Um, same," Dabi responded. "Number two hero is my father, he's a horrible person that abuses his kids."
"Kinda same, I wouldn't say he's abusive though, he's just a douche that drops anything that isn't interesting to him. Including me when I was a baby. He didn't literally drop me though, at least not to my knowledge."
"Enough talking about our families, let's get outside!" Killua whined, trying to sit back up. "I need fresh air."
"Here, let me help you," Gon helped Killua up and helped him limp over to the door. "Can someone open the door?"
"I got it!" Himiko said cheerfully, swinging the door open and skipping outside. "Fresh air smells so nice!" She said as the two walked out, taking a deep breath.
Killua almost winced as he breathed. Almost. He couldn't though. If he did that would worry Gon, who wouldn't drop it. Though he apparently made at least a little sound because Gon's ears perked up.