𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗿 (Killua x oc)

➵ Chapter 18

The gentle rays flashed onto Killua's face, waking him up in the most pleasant way. His eyes fluttered, seeing blurs. Adjusting to the light, his eyes focused, and the first thing he saw was Itsuki's sleeping features, their face almost touching.

This was the first time Killua got to see her up close, and lions she was beautiful. He gazed at her. Her eyelashes were long, in a beguiling way. Her skin were porcelain, flawlessly smooth. And her luscious lips, pigmented with the most vibrant red, coated with a layer of velvety. God, he never realised how divine she looked, how heavenly her features were. Killua's face tinted a light shade of pink, an inexplicable tingle bounced around in his chest. He sat up, alarmed at the sudden change of emotion.

What was this feeling?

He shook his head violently, clearing up his mind.

"Killua, what are you doing?" Itsuki murmured sleepily.

Killua jumped at the voice. "N-nothing."

—

The three teens talked through their plans for today.

Gon is going to spend the day signing up as many matches as possible while the the other two would spend the day training. They all agreed to the plan.

And here are Killua and Itsuki, standing under a Sakura tree in a nature reservoir 6 miles away from Heavens Arena.

Killua cleared his throat, "From today onwards, I'll lead you here by running. Every time we start training, I'll tie a loose knot of this red ribbon on my arm. On the way of running here, you'll have to try to catch me by pulling the red ribbon off my arm. If you are not able to catch me by the time we get here, there will be a forfeit of a thousand push ups." Killua finished. "Today I'm just letting you get familiar with the route."

"Sounds good," Itsuki nodded. "So this is to enhance endurance?"

Killua shook his head, "Nope, this is to test your speed and your ability to hunt."

Itsuki tilted her head, confused.

"Do you honestly think I will just stay still as you pull off the ribbon? Of course I'm going to dodge. Therefore you'll have to think of a tactic." Killua explained. "Plus, how would 6 miles be even close to an endurance enhancement? But anyways, you'll have your endurance training right now so I guess you'll find out." Killua said as he brought out a timer. "Run back to the cities and bring me a bottle of water. Your time limit is 30 minutes, starts.... now."

"H-hold on. I don't have any money to buy it." Itsuki tried to reason.

"Well, that's your issue to figure out. By the way, ten push-ups per minute late, you better hurry."

After hearing that, Itsuki dashed off.

—

Itsuki panted lightly as she handed Killua his bottle of water which took a lot of effort to get considering not spending a penny.

"You're officially one and an half hour late." Killua announced before gulping down the water. "That's 900 push-ups."

Itsuki obliged, whizzing past through them. "Was- I- meant t-to be on t-time?"

"Nope." Killua said truthfully. "But I'll be expecting you to be after a week of training."

—

With extremely sore arms, Itsuki finished.

"Now bring me a sandwich, your time is still half an hour. Same rules."

Itsuki struggled up and ran off to the direction of the cities.

She came back with the sandwich three hours later, 1500 push-ups.

"A bar of chocolate."

There she went again.

"Biscuits."

She's off.

This continued until dawn before they finally finished. Itsuki and Killua returned to Heavens arena. They came back too late to be able to sign up for any matches.

Itsuki's legs trembled as she walked along the hallway. She felt as if her legs were going to give away at any given moment, and it did when she reached the elevators.

"Crap..." she muttered to herself. She pulled herself back up with great difficulty, only to fall back down again.

Killua sighed as he picked her up and carried her on his back. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to endure it." Killua said in an as a matter of fact tone. "I think we should call it a stop from here."

"Giving up on the first day? Hell no." Itsuki denied, irritated that Killua even brought up the idea.

"Killua! Itsuki!" It was Gon, hurrying towards the two of them. "I've earned 8000 Jenny today, I've bought three rooms!"

"Thank you Gon, I'll pay you back as soon as I earn more money." Itsuki thanked him gratefully.

Killua unlocked Itsuki's room, feeling the lights in the dark. Killua walked over to the bed, dropping her on the covers. "You don't have to do this you know."

Silence

She was asleep.

Killua wrapped her in the covers. He looked at her peaceful expression. Heat crept up his cheeks, it was that tingly feeling again. He quickly rushed out, quietly closing the door.

What was happening to him? Was he ill? Why did he feel so hot? Why was his heart accelerating?

This only happens whenever he was around Itsuki. Did this mean...

He likes her?

—