The Upper Ranks (KNY X HxH)

Chapter 19

Zenitsu jumped, Tanjiro frowned slightly. "How...could you possibly know that?" Gon grinned. "I can tell by your eyes." They both looked slightly confused. He held up a finger as he explained. "The look on your face when you come across certain situations, the hardness in your eyes sometimes." He smiled. "Your trauma is what makes you stronger. A near death experience is the best time to learn. Like when I learned Zetsu, that was only possible because of the situation. I had to find a way to hide myself or else Hisoka would kill me, I learned Zetsu just in time" Tanjiro's lips parted slightly, Zenitsu blinked a few times. "I mean, I've encountered quite a few of those and you wonder how I'm so strong?" He pointed out, crossing his arms with a matter-of-fact tone.

Tanjiro stiffened slightly. "You said how...he was always stronger than you" Tanjiro said slowly. Gon snorted. "Well duh, being forced to kill people since you were 6 years old is in fact traumatizing." They both looked horrified. Gon waved a hand, "Ah, he's stable." Gon blinked. "ish?" he wasn't quite sure how to word that. "Kids that young shouldn't have to experience that kind of thing" Tanjiro growled. Gon shrugged. "Where I'm from it's a lot different. Sure there weren't demons, but there were other dangers. And the dangers were the people, it didn't just go away once the sun rose." He said, rolling his eyes slightly. Then Gon beamed. "it's so much more nice here! Why couldn't I have grown up in a place with demons instead of the phantom troupe and Hisoka and Illumi?"

Tanjiro flinched slightly. "You'd rather face man eating demons than have to fight these people?" Zenitsu said disbelievingly. Gon nodded honestly. "With Nen, literally anything is possible. Teleportation, item creation, smashing down mountains, cutting through a solid tree trunk with a single playing card, altering your appearance, summoning elements-" The two demon slayers paled a little at each thing he listed. "Well...blood demon arts can replicate a whole lot of that" Tanjiro tried. Gon scoffed. "At least you can tell who's side their on for the most part. There's no way to tell if a Nen user is on the good side or the bad side except by their actions. They look like normal people, but their impossible to pick out in a crowd unless you know what you're looking for"

Gon laughed. "Even some of the people without Nen could still be dangerous. Most of the people in the hunter's exam didn't have it. well, Hisoka did, and Illumi. But everyone else?" He pointed to himself. "I spent the first 12 years of my life without it. Most of my raw strength isn't even because I have Nen, me and Killua didn't find out about Nen until heaven's arena, which was after I visited Killua's house" The other two were silent, thinking. Did I say too much? Well, it was already too late anyways. "Anyways, there definitely is a fine line between character building trauma and too much trauma" Gon decided to point out, rubbing the back of his head with a slightly awkward laugh. "It can break you if you're not careful. Like..." Gon trailed off, images of the ants and Kite flashing through his head. He blinked, then smacked himself.

Both of the older demon slayers flinched slightly. "Damn memories" he muttered, turning away. He took a breath, then giggled a little. "Death is normal! Killua's fine. He'll...be fine. I'll get him his memories back, then we can go back to traveling the world. It'll be fine" He was reassuring himself more than the other two, who watched him with slight concern. Then, he remembered Killua's semi-suicidal state. He set his jaw, and shook off his doubts. "It'll be slow going, but I can do it. He's broken out of manipulation on a mental level like that before, he can do it again" Gon glanced down, resolve shaking a little at the path before him. I...hope. No I know. He will get better. Gon wouldn't accept otherwise, he'd fight until he couldn't anymore. And if anyone tried to kill him, he'd punch them in the face and tell them to fuck off. He placed his hands behind his head once more, setting his jaw. I will save you.

720 words

To be continued...