The Dancer & The Magician (Hisoka Romance)

Chapter 26 - Lovers Quarrel

"That won't be necessary. I can handle myself," Hisoka responds.

"I could've sworn I've seen these shoes before." Killua sniffs the air. "And that scent is familiar too..."

This boy has the nose of a wolf. There's no way to mask my scent without drawing attention to myself. Dammit, Hisoka! Do something.

"Are you here with someone?" Killua asks as he takes a few steps in my direction.

"Well, if I were, that wouldn't be any of your business now would it?" Hisoka responds.

Suddenly Killua stops moving. I can feel him staring in my direction even though my body's hidden by a big oak tree. This is making me sweat more than the fog. Does he know it's me? Maybe that's why he stopped. Maybe he doesn't really want to know that I'm here with Hisoka. Poor little guy.

Thankfully Bisky clears her throat and changes the subject. "We're trying to recruit members for our team who are very strong," Bisky says in a dreamy voice. I look over at her and see her eyes have gone soft and sparkly while talking to Hisoka. Playing down her strength and sharp wit is such an odd look for her.

"Is there a reason you're recruiting strong people?" Hisoka asks.

The boys pull Bisky into a huddle, obviously displeased with her choice of candidate. After a few minutes of bickering, they officially invite Hisoka to come with them.

"An interesting offer to be sure. I have some loose ends to tie up, but how about we meet in Ai-Ai, the city of love, this evening?" Hisoka suggests.

They all agree on the arrangements and thankfully they go on their merry way. Before I see them again, I'll have to get another pair of shoes to wear. That and maybe some new perfume. This seems like an awful lot to protect the feelings of a 12-year-old boy, but somehow, as his first crush I feel like I owe it to him. I wait for the sound of their voices and footsteps to dissipate before I move. But as soon as I turn a corner, Hisoka's staring back at me, a small smile on his face. My whole body flinches. "You've got to stop doing that!" I say.

He shrugs. "Habit."

"So, loose ends huh?"

He strokes my collarbone, "I figured we weren't done with our little game."

I push his hand away. "We are. Seeing the boys just reminded me of all the work I still have to do."

"What a pity."

"Why'd you lie to them about why you're here?" I ask.

He starts to walk in the opposite direction the group just went. "I'm on a need-to-know basis with most of my acquaintances."

I roll my eyes. "That's reassuring."

He throws me some side eye. "Gon and Killua may have tried to prevent me from finding the nen exorcist if they knew my true intentions. Since when do you have a problem with lying to people?"

"I don't. Until it involves people I care about. If I can avoid lying, I try to," I say.

"Sounds like you don't have enough practice at it."

We walk quietly in the forest for a few minutes. The mating sounds of the cicadas picks up, balls of their shiny little bodies swimming around each other in the air. The fog starts to clear.

"By the way, have you heard anything concerning the nen exorcist's whereabouts?" Hisoka asks.

There's a part of me that wants to be honest so that I don't have to be a hypocrite. But I'm in no rush to do anything that'll help Hisoka battle Chrollo sooner. Chrollo is ruthless and Hisoka's too good an opponent for him not to cheat in some way. I wish I could believe Hisoka was strong enough, smart enough, brutal enough, but I'm not going to take that chance. Not now that we might actually be working toward something together. "No. Haven't heard a thing," I say, looking through the trees.