Hunters X and X Heroes

A Step Farther X A Step Closer

"Ah, Rukei, you were there?"

The words came out scratched and damaged, the end of his question almost disappearing as if it had been burnt up like his left hand. His windpipe had been destroyed. The skin around his right wrist was almost nonexistent. What was left of it was blackened and barely hanging on. His minor injuries were more serious than Rukei's worst.

The adrenaline that held back the full brunt of the pain was slowly being drained out of his body. He staggered towards the girl and gave her a weak smile. "Can you help me get Genthru out of here? I don't think I...," he had to pause for a second to give his throat a rest, "can lift him by myself."

If Gon was not injured, Rukei would have punched him.

"I could tell," Rukei replied sternly. And yet, Gon could hear a crack within her steel voice, "I could tell," she repeated in vain for it sounded no stronger than the last, "Gon, did it occur to you that you- you shouldn't be this hurt, what did-" she had settled on the simple, "Why?"

Gon looked down. He didn't want to give his explanation to Rukei because looking back, he wasn't too sure himself. "I wanted to... try out this great idea-"

"Great idea?" She echoed.

"... Archangel's Breath can-"

"That's not an excuse!"

Rukei had never yelled at Gon personally before. She had yelled at both him and Killua together, and Killua by himself a couple times and none were ever that pleasant. Gon found it painful to listen to her. There was always something so... Sad behind her voice. Something so disappointed.

Gon was not aware that it was with herself.

"Rukei-"

"That's enough talking," she cut him off. Her quiet, steady tone had returned, "Your windpipe is crushed. I apologize for making you speak."

Instead of feeling relief, he could only feel a prick of guilt in the back of his mind. But they needed to get the Bomber out. He gave a sort of gesture towards the man after tapping Rukei on the shoulder, who seemed to have spaced out for a moment. He felt like he would get chewed out again for speaking.

He noticed that the area around her ankle looked to have been burned or corroded by something as she hefted the man over her shoulder. A splotch of her blood color stained her jacket. If she stayed with Bisky, she should have been fine...

Gon pointed at the marks as he trudged beside her to which Rukei looked back ahead and shifted Genthru so that the body covered it from the boy's view. "It doesn't matter. I apologize for yelling. I was just..."

She didn't finish her sentence before changing her words and giving him a small smile.

"You've beat the Bombers. That's something to be proud about," the girl commended, "But please be more careful."

Despite all the pain, Gon could grin honestly.

-

She recoiled at the ridiculously loud screaming, slamming both hands over her ears to block out her teacher and her friend. She turned her eyes away from the castle doors that Gon had just disappeared through and to the two of them in the most stoically annoyed way possible.

After feeling that it was safe to remove the temporary mufflers, she asked them slowly, "What is it?"

"We've been trying to get your attention for a while now," Killua huffed and shoved his recently healed hands into his pockets, equally irritated with her.

Bisky nodded, folding her arms and leaned in to scrutinize her apparently spaced out student. "You've been really out of it ever since you and Gon met up with the rest of us. Was the encounter with Flask that bad?"