Work Text:
Hisoka’s POV
I stared at Illumi as he calmly walked away from me and left his sister in the woods. I leaned off the wall and steadied myself onto my feet. I began to walk into the woods as I heard the little girl’s soft cries. Fortunately for me, Illumi didn’t walk too far into the forest.
I stopped in front of the little girl and she lifted her head from her knees. Tears stained her face as blood ran down her leg from her scraped knee. Her dark eyes seemed to sadden further as she noticed that I was not her brother and she put her head back into her knees.
“Hmm, don’t look so disappointed,” I bent down toward her.
“Your dear brother will be back soon.” I placed a hand on top of her head and she looked up at me.
“Really?” She asked.
She was way too trusting. “Yes, now why don’t we patch up that knee of yours.” I held my hand out for her to take.
The little girl stood up from the ground and stared at my hand. Has Illumi never held her hand before? And I thought she was so precious to him.
“Do you want something from me?” She softly asked.
I smiled, “Your hand.”
The girl frowned as she looked between my expression and my hand. She slowly brought her small hand into mine and I softly gripped her hand. I stood up and looked down at her.
“Let's go.”
***
Sister POV
The pink-haired man stopped in front of my hotel door and pulled out a key card from his pocket. I stayed quiet the whole time we walked but I would occasionally take glances at the man. He opened the door to his hotel and walked into it and I followed.
The man let go of my hand and pointed toward a large bed, “You can sit over there.”
I looked toward the red large bed and walked toward it as Illumi’s friend closed the door. I jumped onto the edge of the soft bed, brought my knees toward my chest, and placed my head on my knees. Hot tears swelled in my eyes as my knee throbbed.
Why did Illumi leave me? Is he coming back?
I tightened my grip around my knees. I recalled the first memory I had of my big brother. I was asking him to pick me up with my hands stretched up toward him. Big Brother seemed to have hesitated when he looked down at me but I kept smiling up at him. He never seemed to scold me about my expressions when I was little but now that I’ve grown he seems to be more focused on it. Big Brother eventually picked me up and threw me into the air. Back then, Illumi seemed to have never left me unless he had to go to work.
I heard a voice call my name and I looked up from my knees. Illumi’s friend smiled at me before pointing to one of my knees.
“May I?”
I unwrapped my legs and lifted my head away from my knees. The pink-haired man began to wipe my scraped knee with a cotton ball and a clear liquid while also getting rid of any other residue from my leg. He soon removed the cotton and liquid and pulled out some colorful band-aids from a box.
“Which one would you like?”
I sniffed and pointed toward the colorful butterfly. The man put the rest of the bandaids back and began putting the butterfly band-aid on my injury.
“Why are you crying?” The pink-haired man asked.
“My knee still hurts,” I lied.
The pink-haired man's smile dropped and he lifted an eyebrow toward me. But his expression was soon replaced with a smirk.
“If so then,” Hisoka leaned toward my injured knee and pressed his lips onto my knee, “That should make it feel better.”
My eyes widened, “W-Why did you do that?” I quickly moved my knees away from the man.
I’ve only seen my mother and father kiss each other and that was rare but I knew that type of physical contact was reserved for couples and married people.
“Hmm, did Illumi not tell you? When someone is injured you should have someone kiss it and the pain goes away.” The strange man stood up.
“You’re lying.” I stated.
“Am I? Does your knee still hurt?”
I looked down at my knee and the throbbing that was once there seemed to have disappeared.
“No,” I answered.
Hisoka’s POV
I smiled at the little girl’s answer and walked toward a chair.
“Will Big Brother come back?”
I sat in my chair, “I’m sure he will.”
That’s cute, how she calls Illumi, Big Brother.
“How do you know?”
“Well, he has a lot more training to give you.”
The little girl mumbled, “Why do I have to train? I don’t want to train if it means fighting my brother. I-I just want . . . ,” The girl's eyes watered back up.
I pulled out my card deck from my pocket, “Your Big Brother trains you so you can be able to protect yourself.” I simply told her hoping the explanation would be enough to stop her crying as I began shuffling my cards.
The little girl wiped her eyes, “Protect myself from who?”
“From people like me,”
The little girl knitted her eyebrows and moved further onto the bed. “I thought Illumi was training me because that’s what my parents wanted?”
“If that was true then he would train you way harsher than he is now,” I explained.
The little girl stared down at her knees. I would be lying if I said I was surprised that she didn’t understand Illumi’s actions. The way she was raised was quite different from other children. She was most likely shut off from everyone emotionally and instead of being taught to enjoy her young years she was taught to fight. But even still, she was more expressive than her brothers and she acted her age.
“It’s because your brother loves you,” I answered the question that was probably already occupying her mind.
The little girl’s dark eyes widened and my phone rang in my pocket.
Illumi’s POV
I stared at the empty forest as I waited for Hisoka to pick up his phone. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn’t even think about what Hisoka might do to my sister once I was gone. That’s a mistake that I will not make again.
“Hello, Illu-,”
“Where’s my sister?” I interrupted him.
“Hm, I thought you were going to abandon your dear sister so I took it upon myself to keep her as a . . . distraction.”
My hand twitched at Hisoka’s words. If I knew anything about Hisoka it’s that any distraction for him was just a toy that he likes to take apart piece by piece. “Hisoka, if you touch my sister-,”
“Your sister’s fine for now.”
“Where are you?”
“How about you come and find me? That should be fun,” Hisoka hung up the phone.
I stared at the phone before stuffing it into my pants pocket. I knew my sister could hold her own against Hisoka if she was pushed into a corner and I also doubted that Hisoka would try to fight a child but Hisoka was unpredictable. If he was desperate he would almost do anything just to satisfy his thirst.
I recalled the background noises occupying the phone call. The place they were in seemed particularly quiet, almost as if they were in a closed space. The only sound that I could make out was a vibrational sound much like a fan or heater. I turned and walked in the direction that I knew my sister was in.
***
I stopped in front of the hotel room door and placed my hand on the doorknob ready to force it open. An image of my sister’s tearful face flashed in front of me and I stopped my actions. I briefly remembered the fear in her eyes as I tried to forcefully train her.
She has never looked at me like that. What if she’s afraid of me now like Kil? Would she even want to come back home with me? Does she even think of me as her big brother anymore?
I clenched the doorknob and ignored my thoughts as I forced the door open. It doesn’t matter what she thinks of me or if she fears me. I have a purpose to make sure she becomes a proper heir of the Zoldyck family and if that means she will hate me for the rest of her life so be it.
I took a step inside the dimed room. “Big Brother.” My eyes widened at the nickname.
My sister jumped off the bed and ran towards me with her arms wide. She wrapped her arms around my hips and pressed her face into my abdomen. I froze at the unfamiliar contact. I’ve seen this type of physical affection from other people like when a mother comforts her child or when two people finally meet each other but to physically experience a hug was completely different from watching it happen.
My sister lifted her head away from my abdomen and she smiled, “I love you too, Big Brother.”
Heat crawled toward my cheeks at the words that left my little sister’s mouth. Where did she learn those words? Wasn’t she afraid of me?
Ever since she started her training she hasn’t called me Big Brother. So, what made her decide to call me that now?
“That’s so adorable~.”
I glanced toward Hisoka and he smirked at me, “Aren’t you going to say it back?” Hisoka teased.
I ignored Hisoka’s comment as I bent down on one of my knees and my sister unwrapped her arms around me.
“I bought you something,” I told her.
My sister’s eyes widened, “Really? What is it?”
I pulled out the small gift from my pocket and showed her the colorful hairpin shaped into a butterfly . Her eyes seemed to have sparkled as she took the hairpin from my fingers.
“It’s so pretty! I love it!” My sister gazed at the gift.
My sister wrapped her arms around my neck, giving me another hug, “Thank you, Big Brother.”
I relaxed in her embrace and a small tug at my lips.
“I love that expression, Illumi. You should smile more.”