White Fire - A Hunter x Hunter Fanfiction

Mistakes x And X Realizations (Part 2)

"You made it!" Gon exclaims, congratulating me on making it to the end of the phase. He excitedly runs up to me, engulfing me in a bone-crushing hug. I wrap my arms around him, hugging back just as tightly.

"Yeah! You did too!" I say enthusiastically. As fun and interesting as this phase has been, I'm glad it's over. "Have you seen the others around?"

"Mm! Killua's over there," he gestures to the left of the small crowd of applicants. I spot the head full of white hair in between other people's shoulders. He then points to the other side of the crowd. "Leorio and Kurapika are over there."

I scan the masses again, trying to find those two among the assortment of candidates. It takes me a long moment to locate them. They are standing a few feet away from each other, but they are both speaking with the nearby applicants.

"So, we are all here then! That's great. I'll be sure to congratulate them. Thanks for your help Gon!" I reply, waving to him as I set off walking to where Leorio and Kurapika are. Looking back, I see Gon happily waves back. He goes over to Killua and starts a conversation. A smile finds its way to my face, seeing those two animatedly talking.

I push past the other applicants, taking my time to get through the crowd. While I'm walking, I notice Hisoka sitting off to the side, building a card tower. He glances upwards, to me. He makes eye contact with me, an almost sinister grin gracing his lips. I quickly look away, not wanting any part of whatever he is planning. Not today, that is.

"Ki!" Kurapika says, noticing me making my way towards them. I stop walking just in front of him. Leorio has moved away from our general area, chatting with some applicants on the other side of the field. "You got your tags, congrats!"

"Yep! Actually, I need to thank Killua later for helping me out with that. I'm glad we all made it here!" I happily say. Without realizing my actions, I pull him into an embrace, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Nice job."

I don't know why I said those last two words, but I am not given much time to contemplate my actions because Kurapika's arms find their way to my waist. He pulls me closer to him, resting his head on my shoulder.

"You too, Ki." A shiver runs down my spine at his whispered words. I hug him tighter, pulling him impossibly nearer to me. He draws little circles into the small of my back with his hand. I can feel his chest rise and fall with every breath.

We stay in the embrace a moment longer, until I suddenly pull away, realizing that we had been hugging way too long for a 'congratulations, you didn't die', hug. Whoops.

I feel heat rising to my cheeks from embarrassment. I awkwardly take a step back, hoping the other people around didn't just see that. Sheepishly, I stutter out an excuse for why I have to leave.

"I-I've got to...u-um... go thank Killua for his help! I'll see you later," I manage to say, turning around and walking away the second I finish speaking, not waiting for a response. I leave before I notice the light pink blush dusting the blonde boy's cheeks.

I press my hands to my face, trying to get the heat to go away. Luckily, I manage to cool down before I'm able to cross the expanse of land. A few steps later I have successfully reached Killua, who has just finished his conversation with Gon.

Killua looks over at me, his features overtaken with concern.

"What happened to your face?" He asks, staring at me worriedly. It takes me a full second to remember that Hisoka was the cause of the now obvious bruise on my cheek.