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Sneaking out in the middle of a thunderstorm seemed like a great idea originally; the water would wash away any of the nonexistent tracks he left behind and the smell of the pouring rain would mask his scent from any curious noses at the Zoldyck estate, like a particular nosy guard dog he remembered.
But now that he was under the small roof of a bus stop with drenched clothes that clung to his body like skin and hair that was so matted and dirty it had begun to no longer look white, he was beginning to question his original mode of attack. He had not stopped running since he arrived at the bus stop and it had already been a good four or five hours since he originally left, even so, the rain failed to cease.
A normal person would probably be fighting the effects of hypothermia right about now but thankfully, for a trained assassin like Killua, his body had been waterboarded and subjected to countless ice baths to a point he could probably be frozen inside a glacier and still make it out okay.
Nevertheless, the soggy sole of his shoes and the slimy feeling of his hair sticking to the nape of his neck were enough to make anyone uncomfortable, assassin or not.
"You should use an umbrella if you are planning to jog in the rain." A voice snapped him out of his thoughts, scaring him slightly as he grimaced.
Of course, he was followed. "Kamine..." He frowned facing the familiar blackette who stood beside him, his most annoying and persistent attendant. Being a year and a half younger than himself he had to acknowledge her talents, nevertheless, he couldn't help but find her increasingly annoying because ever since she was assigned to him six years ago, she has failed to leave his side.
"Did Mother send you to fetch me?" He spat as he turned to face the girl. Her short black braids were as eerily perfect and precise as always, not one hair out of place even despite the storm. That was the type of person Kamine was, she could fight (and kill mind you) a grizzly bear and come out with her small black and white uniform as pristine as if she had just dry-cleaned it.
The only indication of her travels were the small specks of mud on her polished black mary janes that failed to dirty her knee-high white socks.
"Should she have been aware of your departure?" Her head tilted in an innocent manner as the boy just rolled his eyes.
"Why are you here Kamine?" He cut her off rudely as he crossed his arms and tilted his body away from her in retaliation.
"You didn't prepare anything for yourself. I assumed you would need someone to have packed your clothes and necessities for your impromptu excursion." She explained as a streak of lightning landed just a few feet behind her, the light showcasing her brilliant purple eyes.
She sighed before looking up at the sky, "It's turning out to be quite the beautiful day for an outing."
Killua groaned. The weather was horrendous, yet Kamine always had a preference for the dark and dreary, just another one of her weird, freak-like quirks.
"I didn't ask you to follow me." He retorted as she eventually made her way behind him, carefully brushing away his damp bangs and she lightly brushed and dried his hair. He was so used to the gesture he didn't even fight back as her small nimble fingers effortlessly untangled his knotted locks, "I wasn't aware that insuring your comfort and safety was something I needed to be directly ordered to do. Although, I'm sure this sort of excursion is something you could safely manage yourself." Her hands gently wiped away the excess water on his face, neck, and ears before carefully wrapping his hair in a comfortable headwrap.
"Exactly, I had it covered. I don't need you to dote on me." He sat up before ripping off the blue towel and tossing it onto the muddy concrete.
The girl picked it up without complaint before washing it off in the rain and folding it tightly, she placed the towel in a plastic bag before returning it to her bag. "You're standing at a bus stop." She commented as Killua frowned, "You're planning on taking the bus, correct?" She finally finished as he nodded.
"I'm curious about how you plan to accomplish that with no money." She stated as he frowned.
"Of course I brought money, I have it-..." He paused as he felt his pocket, his small satchel of coins missing. Panic ran through his body as the same satchel was dangled almost teasingly before his eyes.
He snatched it back with a growl as he glared daggers at the girl, "You left it on your bedside table, you were in such a hurry to leave you forgot to pack it." She stated simply as rain poured behind her.
"I packed a change of clothes as well, but I would recommend changing into them after a bath. For now, I packed a simple raincoat, it should keep you warm while shielding you from the cold. Out of her small black bag, she handed the boy a long gray trenchcoat that he put on begrudgingly as the bus finally arrived.
Its bright yellow lights shined on the two as Killua stared at her ghostly pale face, the lights failing to add even the slightest semblance of color to her monochromatic visage. The bus had splashed the girl as she looked at her shoes in disappointment.
"Just don't get in my way." He hissed before stepping onto the bus, he purposely tried to bump into her shoulder in doing so but only failed to do so as she nimbly shifted to the right only angering him further.
"I will do my best." She hums as she follows the boy, taking a seat beside him on the almost empty bus as he pushes her away. "There are a million other seats on this bus! Why are you sitting here?!" He hissed as she got up without warning and sat in a seat across from him, next to an ugly, churlish old man who eyed her curiously as she paid him no mind.
"Not including the driver's seat, the total number of seats on this bus is twenty-six. Not quite a million." She commented emotionlessly as the man behind her sat up, moving worryingly closer as Killua pulled her away shooting the man a death glare as he backed off.
"I meant that you should sit in one of the other twenty-two seats that are available, not the ones next to me or perverted old men..." He said, his words dripping with venom. The man looked away as Killua pulled Kamine even closer to him.
He gave a sigh of annoyance. Kamine, for being someone so smart, truly was an airhead majority of the time. Moving her closer to him failed to soothe the rare, growing feeling of anxiety that plagued him whenever she was around.
"You attract trouble like a magnet." He growled before standing up, pulling her along with him as he moved seats and shoved her against the window seat before sitting down himself with a sigh.
"It's a talent of mine." She comments simply as he groans. Normal people would interpret that comment as sarcasm but Killua knew of Kamine's sadistic side understanding she truly meant want she said, "Yeah well don't give that talent to me. I've got enough problems as it is." He replies.
The rest of the bus ride was in silence, Killua nodding in and out of an alert slumber as Kamine filed and fickled with her spotless black nails.
As the bus came to a stop several cities away Kamine gently ushered Killua off the bus before checking them into a nice hotel. As creepily as it was, she had already managed to book them a room for the night and simply obtained the keys before leading the boy upstairs.
The boy learned not to question the girl's foresight as he allowed himself to be sleepily dragged into a nearby elevator. A yawn escaped him as the girl selected the button for the fifth floor.
As she did so her head craned back in an unnatural manner as she toppled backward slightly, waking the boy up instantly.
Recovering from the shock she stuck her hand between the closing elevator doors, not reacting at all as he hands were briefly crushed before the elevator opened once again.
"We're taking the stairs." She ordered as she grabbed the boy, dragging him to the nearby staircase.
"K-Kamine? What the hell?" He gasped following her monster-tight grip that almost managed to break his hand. Less than a minute later a large boom resonated outside as Killua assumed another lightning strike landed nearby. Surprisingly enough the strike appeared to knock out the power as the lights suddenly turned off.
"The power is out..." Killua commented in awe as he followed the girl through the dark. He was trained to see in the dark so it didn't bother him that the lights had gone out. He eyed the girl suspiciously, did she know about the power going out? Or does she just have incredible luck?
Reaching their hotel room, Kamine seemed visibly distressed it wouldn't open, unusual for someone as emotionless as her. "Oh course it's not going to open the power is out." She hissed to no one in particular as she tugged on the door once again, almost ripping off the handle.
"Hey!" Killua intervenes nervously, gently pulling away her wrist, "Any more force and you'll rip off the door!" He half-joked as she failed to look him in the eye. Soon enough the lights flickered back on, the backup generators most likely kicking in and Kamine quickly unlocked the door before slamming herself into the bathroom.
"Hey, Kamine? What's wrong?" Killua called curiously as he pulled on the handle to the bathroom which was obviously locked. "Uh... are you alright?" He questioned curiously, he wanted to assume she just had to use the bathroom really bad but he couldn't shake off the growing anxiety in his gut, his anxiety telling him something was wrong.
He didn't get a response and he could feel her presence leaning directly against the door on the other side.
"Kamine is everything alright? I don't want to bust in there in case you have to use the bathroom but I'm really worried this isn't like you." He tried to push as nicely as he could, he really didn't feel like breaking open a bathroom door.
Perhaps he should just leave her alone, maybe she wanted to be alone.
Is what he assumed as he took a step back, feeling slightly hurt Kamine didn't respond to his earnest plea.
"I'm sorry young master... I just need a moment." Her voice finally rang muffled as the sound of running water penetrated the room.
That was when Killua smelt it, the acidic smell of blood and a lot of it at that.
"Kamine!" He panicked grabbing on the door handle only for it to not budge obviously. Mentally kicking himself for what he was about to do, he took a deep breath before breaking open the door. He was shocked to see a familiar blackette crouched over the sink covering her face feebly with her hands as they became stained red with blood.
Blood was pouring from every orifice of her face as she looked away shamefully, "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to see me like this..." She turned away, her voice meek as she frantically tried to stop the bleeding.
"Like this-?...Like this has happened before?" Killua questioned as he took a cautious step forward, frowning when the girl followed with a step further away.
"It happens after I get them sometimes." She explains, the blood thankfully beginning to slow as she washes off her face, only traces of blood around her nose and mouth being indications of the anomaly that had just occurred.
"Get what sometimes?" Killua interjected as she ignored him, not wanting to answer his question. "Hey, answer me! That's an order!" He demanded stubbornly as he grabbed her wrist, halting her from leaving the bathroom.
Her head craned to him with an annoyed look she had almost never shown him before, her skin was so dangerously pale he could've thought she was dead.
"Visions." Was all she replied as she shut the door, "I need to change and get some rest. I'll prepare clothes for you, you should take a shower before you get sick." She finally explained through the door as shifting was heard.
Killua was flustered by her words, he was completely stumped by this sudden indication of visions, but he also knew better than to pry any further tonight. Kamine had locked up, it would be impossible to get information out of her now.
So instead of pushing it, he took her advice, letting the hot shower water run down his back as he pondered her words.
Kamine was right, taking a shower and letting the built-up grim from the day run off his body did make him feel a lot better. He didn't even want to question how the bloody sink in the bathroom was completely wiped clean and replaced with a neat pair of folded clothes when he exited the curtains.
She had even managed to fix the doorknob he ripped off the wall while trying to get into the bathroom.
Killua wasn't even tired when he exited the bathroom, his curiosity dwindled right before him as he eyed the sleeping figure of the blackette already tucked away in one of the beds.
Her body lay unmoving as pale as if she were a corpse but her face was grimaced with distress.
Knowing he wasn't going to be sleeping any time soon he took a seat on the bed beside her, brushing her perfectly symmetrical bangs out of her face as her face relaxed slightly.
His first memories of Kamine she refused to speak a word, her eyes trailing his every movement as his mom played with her pin-straight hair. She was assigned as his personal assistant, yet she never received any personal training, she simply appeared one day out of the blue and has been glued to his side ever since.
After a few years of persistence and dedication, he finally managed to get the girl to speak to him semi-normally, making a few quick comments and quips when the two of them were alone.
He was frustrated at her presence, he was planning on doing this trip alone. But at least it's better than Tsubone or Gotoh following him. He would've lost his mind if Tsubone had been told to track him down.
His eyes trailed back to her pale face. She had unbraided her hair, it was still pin straight as she lay peacefully in all-black pajamas. Little shallow breaths let him know she was asleep but he couldn't help the small chuckle that left his throat at how ghastly she looked, he was sure a normal person would mistake the girl as deceased.
A light mumble interrupted his thoughts. It was indecipherable gibberish.
He wasn't planning on going to sleep, but after a few hours of listening to the female's soft, even breaths he couldn't help but be lulled into a deep slumber.
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-* notes *-
#1 - Killua had fallen asleep two days in a row for the first time in three months.
#2 - Killua secretly enjoys it when Kamine rubs his hair, he says the feeling relaxes him.
#3 - Kamine wears mostly monochromatic colors but her favorite color is surprisingly light blue since it reminds her of Killua's eyes.
#4 - Killua is the only person Kamine feels comfortable talking to.
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