"I don't think Alluka's back yet..." you say to Killua, looking around the empty room as soon as you got back.

Killua nods, looking around as well. Soon after, his gaze eventually landed on you, and his neutral expression quickly turned into a worried one once more.

"(Y/N), you okay?" he asked, reaching out to you.

You were looking down at your feet, clearly deep in thought. A slight frown overtook your features as you couldn't shake those words. 'What did Hisoka mean when he said all that...? Why does he keep saying that it's dangerous for me to stay with Killua and Alluka?'

A hand touched your shoulder. "Oi, (Y/N)."

"Huh?" You looked up with a start, noticing Killua's gaze on you. "What's up, Killua?"

He let out a deep sigh, shaking his head. "That's my line! Are you sure that creep didn't do anything?"

"No! He really didn't! I'm safe... for now," you mumbled at the last part, letting out a deep sigh as well. Slowly, you walked forward and sat on the nearby couch. "It's just–"

You cut yourself off. 'No... I can't tell him that. There's no way I'm in danger by being with them...'

"Just what?" Killua plopped down right beside you, watching your every move with that piercing blue gaze.

You looked into those shining eyes, before turning away with a small sigh. "Well... since Hisoka found us... does that mean Illumi knows where we are as well?" You ask, remembering Killua's question to Hisoka a while ago.

"What did you do to her? Did Illumi send you?"

Killua frowned, averting his gaze from you. "There is a possibility. He really only works with other people if he wants something in return. Illumi could have promised him something."

"I see..." you trail off, remembering Illumi's empty gaze. "So we're gonna have to move somewhere really far from here, then?" you ask, looking out the nearby window at the cityscape.

"Yeah, but we'll have to be extra careful," Killua replies, following your gaze to the window. "Our trips were never meant for us to relax anyways... it's meant for us to hide from that bastard." He frowns, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white.

"But–" you whip your head to face him once more, your gaze desperate somehow. "But what if we stopped hiding? What if we faced him...?"

Killua's eyes widened at your question. "Are you an idiot?! Do you even remember Illumi's abilities? There's no way we can stand a chance against him!"

"Well... but at this rate, he's gonna find us! And..." you paused. "He's gonna hurt you and Alluka again until he gets what he wants... we can't let that happen, right Killua?!"

Killua sighed deeply, shaking his head. "It's no use."

"I'm sure you faced stronger opponents than him anyway! We can do it, right?" You faced him with a hopeful gaze.

Killua sighs once more. "You idiot! It's not about strength here!" he clutches his head. 'There's... There's no way I can stand up to him.' He thought to himself, remembering Illumi's empty, expressionless gaze look down on him, accompanied by that twisted smile.

"...What?" You raise an eyebrow in confusion, wondering why Killua was so against it. "But–"

Suddenly, you hear the sound of the front door opening.

"Hmm... are Onee-chan and Onii-chan back by now...?" A familiar voice mused. Right after, you see Alluka enter with a small smile on her face.

"Alluka?!" Your eyes widened. Killua noticed her enter as well, as he immediately stood up and walked over to her.

"Eh...? Ah, Onii-chan! Onee-chan too!!" Alluka beamed, her eyes brightening immediately as her lips tugged upwards into an even bigger smile.

Meanwhile, Killua took no time at all to start asking questions. "Oi, where were you this entire time, huh?!" A vein was popping from his forehead as he asked that.

You rolled your eyes with a smile, walking over to Alluka as well. "Come on, Killua. She just got here. Plus, she's safe right?" you said, trying to push your thoughts about Illumi away.

"Tch." Killua sighed. "Look, Alluka, I'm not even gonna keep you from going out on your own anymore. Just tell me where the hell you went!"

Alluka only smiled at him. "Ehehe, that's a secret!" She put a finger to her lips. "I promise I stayed in the area though!"

As if expecting this answer, Killua let out a long sigh. "Geez, I give up. Do whatever you want," he says, resting his arms behind his head and walking back to the couch. "(Y/N), you go tell her what just happened." He looks at you from the corner of his eye.

"Huh? Oh okay!" You reply.

Alluka narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Oh! So something did happen!" She giggled, dragging you to the couch as well.

You chuckled. "A lot of things happened actually," you replied, noticing Killua's irritated gaze.

"I knew it! So that's why the both of you looked so tense when I walked in! You were talking about something serious!" Alluka smiled in triumph.

"Huh?"

"Oi, what do you mean?" Even Killua looked taken aback.

Alluka plopped down on the couch with a smile. "You both had these scary faces! I just didn't say anything at first." She chuckled. "So, what were you talking about?"

You were forced to remember your conversation about Illumi just as you made eye contact with Killua. His brows furrowed slightly, and you could tell he didn't want you saying a word.

You gave him a small smile, before turning to Alluka. "Well... we weren't talking about anything. We were just thinking about what happened earlier," you said to her. Well, it wasn't really a lie, since that was also one of the reasons why.

"Eh? Really?! What happened??" Alluka's eyes widened.

You gave a long sigh. "This is gonna be a long story."

_ _ _

"WHAT?! ONEE-CHAN, ARE YOU OKAY?!" Alluka exclaimed in disbelief, giving you a soul-crushing hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there! If I was... Onii-chan could have found you sooner! Then... then that Hisoka guy wouldn't have scared you as much! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed once more, on the verge of tears.

"W-Woah! Alluka–" you were taken aback by the sudden hug, before relaxing and giving her small pats on the back. "It's fine! It couldn't be helped after all."

Meanwhile, Killua sighed, placing his hands inside his pockets as he stood up. "Well, it could have helped if she answered my damn calls!"

"Killua!" You glared at him.

"N-No... Onii-chan is right... I shouldn't have been ignoring him," Alluka mumbled, letting you go and running over to Killua's side.

"Onii-chan!" She gave him a big hug as well. "Next time I go out on my own, I'll answer all your calls! I promise!" she exclaims. "I also promise to take care of myself and not make you worry! So please don't be mad at me anymore..."

"H-Huh?!" was all what Killua could say. "You're apologizing?!"

"Yeah!"

Killua blinked a few times, all the while staring into Alluka's teary gaze. Eventually, he let out a deep sigh, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Yeah, yeah. I get it," he said, patting Alluka on the head. "Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Okay!" Alluka beamed, wiping her stray tears away. "I'm really sorry I wasn't there at the time... I just found out about something important, and I think you should know, especially Onee-chan!"

You looked at her in confusion. "Me?"

Alluka nodded, pulling out a folded piece of paper from her kimono. "It's this!" She unfolded it, revealing a wanted poster of an all-too familiar face.

"Is that Sanguis?!" Your eyes widened, scanning the paper in front of you.

"Oi, Alluka, what's this about? Why do you have that?" Killua asked, his brows furrowing in silent anger.

Alluka took a deep breath, taking on a serious tone that you'd never thought you'd hear from her. "I found this earlier, and I talked to a couple of bounty hunters who were looking for him. Apparently he's a criminal who killed a bunch of people!"

"Sanguis... did all that?" You blinked your eyes in disbelief, eyeing the wanted poster once more. "20 million Jenny as a reward?! How many people has he killed?!"

Killua only scoffed. "Of course that snake would do something like that. God, I can't believe I'm seeing his face again..."

An uneasy feeling settled in your stomach, that same feeling you felt whenever you talked to Sanguis. Snapping yourself out of it, you turned to Alluka. "You said you talked to bounty hunters about him, right? Could you introduce me to them?"

"...WHAT?!" Killua exclaimed in bewilderment. "(Y/N), don't tell me you wanna look for him?! We're not even broke! We don't need that kind of money!" He continued, grabbing you by the shoulders.

"No, it's not the money I want..." you trailed off. "There's something... I need to settle with him," you say, remembering what Sanguis told you before. "Plus... I can't let him run free knowing he could still actively murder people!" you exclaimed.

"(Y/N), you're being reckless again."

"I'm not! I knew one day I was gonna meet him again." You gave him a reassuring smile, hoping to convince him. "Let's forget about Illumi for now..." you mumbled, loud enough for him to hear.

Killua searched your gaze, finding nothing except conviction in your eyes. He sighed, letting you go and burying his hands in his pockets. 'Well, at least she's not dead-set on facing that bastard anymore... for now.' He clenched his hands into fists.

You gave him one last smile, before turning to Alluka. "Tell me, where did you meet these bounty hunters?"