Vengeance ||Book Two||- Discontinued

Twenty-three

Chrollo's pov

When Illumi came back, I instantly knew something was wrong. I pretended to sleep as I watched him walk into the bathroom. He walked slowly, as if he were in a lot of pain, and I felt my heart drop. It wasn't like Illumi to act like this, and I knew it was Hisoka's fault. Still, I decided that it would be safer to ask Illumi about it tomorrow, and just be there for him tonight. He needed comfort, not a confrontation.

I sat up as he came out of the shower, and I instantly examined his body. It hurt me, seeing him like that. His body was bruised, with large wounds covering his chest and back. He seemed to cave in on himself, his wide eyes brimming with tears. He slowly came over to the bed and got into it, curling up by my side and resting his head on my shoulder. I stroked his hair as he cried, his tears wetting my skin, and I decided that I was going to fight Hisoka as soon as I could. It was wrong, him hurting Illumi like that. I was sure that he wrecked Illumi mentally as well as physically, and I couldn't stand seeing him hurting.

"Hey, baby," I whispered into his dark hair. "It's okay. You're safe now. You're with me, and I'm not going to let him hurt you again. I promise."

Illumi sniffled quietly and sat up, his bloodshot eyes staring into mine. I gave him a small smile and kissed his on the lips, feeling them tremble under mine. It broke my heart but I tried not to show it. Illumi needed me to be strong right now.

"I don't want you to leave me," Illumi whispered, gripping my hand tightly. "Promise that you won't leave me."

I gave him a small smile and pulled him into a hug. "I'm not going to leave you, Illumi. We'll stay together for a long time. We'll kill people together before going to dinner, torture someone before our date, smuggle some illegal artifacts and then go back to our home. We're going to have a good life together. You'll kill Hisoka and then it will be just the two of us."

Illumi nodded his head and sighed softly. I brushed the hair out of his face and got comfortable, putting the blanket over us and cuddling into Illumi, wrapping my arms around his torso. I avoided touching any of the more painful parts of his body and we soon fell asleep together.

I woke up early the next morning and found Illumi looking at me, smiling softly as he played with my hair. I cracked a smile and brushed my thumb over his cheek, grinning at the faint blush that washed over his skin under my touch. He really was beautiful, even when he just woke up. His long, dark hair fell around him in messy strands like a dark halo. His usually wide eyes were now heavy with sleep, and his skin was practically glowing as the light from the early morning sun washed over him.

Illumi Zoldyck was breathtaking, and I was in love with him.

"Good morning," he said, his deep morning voice making my insides warm. "You looked peaceful. I'm sorry if I woke you up."

I just shook my head and pulled him into a kiss, taking my time as my tongue explored his mouth. "You didn't wake me, Lumi. Anyway, I like that an angel is the first thing I see when I wake up."

Illumi blushed at that. "I'm not an angel."

"Sure you are," I said with a smile. "You're my angel. So beautiful, so cold. An angel of death."

Illumi and I looked at each other for a few minutes before I put my hand on his chest, circling one of the deep bruises on his skin lightly. Illumi's dark eyes gave no indication as to what he was feeling, so I decided to ask him about it, to find out what exactly that bastard did to him.

"What happened?" I asked quietly, my voice barley above a whisper.

Illuni took a deep breath before looking into my eyes and telling me exactly what happened. He explained all of it, from the way Hisoka spoke to him to the way he treated him with hard beatings. He described the whip to me, and how Hisoka got one made so it looked exactly like the one his parents used on him. In any other situation, that detail would be meaningless to me, but just seeing what it did to Illumi broke my heart. No man should have to go through that, be treated in that way by someone who once loved them. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if Hisoka still did love Illumi, and was using his own, twisted methods to show it.

"I'm going to kill him," I said quietly once Illumi had finished talking. "He's going to regret ever doing that to you, Lumi, don't worry."

"Don't, Chrollo," Illumi said, holding my wrist. "I can't see you get hurt. I can't lose another person. Not when I love you this much."

I said nothing to that and got out of bed, walking towards the bathroom. A long, hot shower would help me calm down and allow me to come up with a way to Kill Hisoka. I knew it was stupid, fighting Hisoka would be a suicide mission, especially if I wanted to win. And I would win. For Illumi. No matter what the cost was, he wasn't going to be hurt by Hisoka ever again. I'd make sure of it.

I got out of the shower and quickly pulled on a pair of pants before walking into the kitchen, finding Illumi making eggs for us both. He was wearing one of my t-shirts and a pair of boxers, his long hair hanging down his back, now neatly brushed. I stood next to him and made some tea for us both, trying to keep my expression still as I did so. If Illumi knew that I was going to try and kill Hisoka, he'd never let me fight him. He'd try to talk me out of it, maybe even use his needles on me in some way. I just don't want him to get hurt.

"Chrollo," Illumi said, his calming voice pulling me out of my thoughts. "I said that the eggs are done."

Nodding at him, I finished the tea and sat down with him at the table, placing the tea in front of our plates. Illumi smiled at me and we ate in silence. It was comforting, and I found myself relaxing. Even Illumi seemed to be okay, and his bad wounds were now bandaged up. The silence between us wasn't awkward, but I found myself blurting out my plans to Illumi, who just looked at me with those blank expression the entire time. When I stopped talking he just sighed and gave me a small smile.

"I guess I can't talk you out of this," he said. "Just... be safe, okay? Like I said before, I can't loose you. Not now."

"You won't loose me," I said, holding his hand over the table. "I'll be with you for a long time."

We sat together quietly for a while before getting on with the rest of our day. I managed to find Hisoka sometime in the afternoon and punched him hard, hearing the satisfying crunch of his jaw breaking as I told him we would fight. He looked happy to hear it, and we went our separate ways before I could hurt him even more. He deserved it, though.

Illumi and I watched some films together in the evening, a large bowl of popcorn between us as we watched a marathon of horror movies. They were funny, and we often found ourselves laughing at a murder scene, or the part where the killer would almost win but then ultimately fail at the hands of some guy with a gun. We fell asleep easily that night, our arms wrapped around each other in a tight embrace.