SOUR CANDY | killua z. ✔

12.5 | warm

note: this is a short story going a bit deeper into sen's family, and also introduces some characters that will be important in the future (shh). this takes place around trick tower/zevil island, even though the main storyline isn't quite there yet. at this point, sen's siblings have returned from their yorknew mission.

MAHA ZOLDYCK was not the born heir, but he was made as such after he failed a mission.

There was a skirmish. A miscalculation. An unavoidable Nen attack. Thirteen-year-old Maha had been thrown from a ship and cast into the turbulent sea. In all honesty, he'd been prepared to die. But fate had other plans.

He washed up on the shores of an island southwest of Jappon. Maha couldn't recall what the place was named at the time, only that it was ruled by a small, tyrannous family.

If they found him, he would've been dead. But someone else got to him first.

The girl appeared no older than Maha himself, but he would later find out her lovely face belied her actual age. She was part of a powerful species of kitsune enslaved by the ruling family, kept docile through Nen abilities.

She called herself Kanna.

Her hair was long and dark, fluttering like a reaper's robe. Between that and his wounds, Maha had been convinced he was moments away from being dragged to Hades. Instead, she saved him. 

She hid him deep within the island and nursed him back to health in four days. Her abilities were beyond normal human understanding. Beyond Nen, even.

"In future," she touched his chest and then her own. "Return favor."

Years later, after he took up the mantle of the Zoldyck heir, Maha would hear of the coup. How the yako-kitsunes rose up and hacked the ruling family to pieces. At the head of the operation was Kanna herself. 

She renamed the island Inariyami, for her people, and changed the spelling of her name to 'Kana', as was common on mainland Jappon. 

She even stole the ruling family's name for herself— Inoue.

"That favor's haunted me ever since," Maha admitted at the conclusion of his story. "And now she's finally calling to collect, over a century later."

As if Kalluto Zoldyck needed a reminder that their family members lived to be abnormally old.

"You still haven't told me what the kitsune has asked of you, Grandfather."

The old man grinned wryly. "That's because I don't know yet."

Killua was supposed to be the one accompanying Maha to Inariyami Island, but last week he fled Kukuroo Mountain in bloody pomp and circumstance. Kalluto was just their older brother's weaker replacement.

And because of that, it was possible Maha was purposefully keeping information from them.

From the airship window, Kalluto could see the ocean below; an endless, glittering sheet. Concealing everything underneath.

"How many children does she have?" They asked curiously, changing the subject. Something Kalluto excelled at.

"A son and five daughters."

Before the two left the estate, their mother had cloyingly explained Kalluto's task while adjusting their kimono. Kalluto had to gather information (read: weaknesses) about the children.