X Syn X (Illumi) Hunter X Hunter

X Chapter Three X

Syn- Age 8

Illumi- Age 12

I'd been with the Zoldyck family for nearly a year. Illumi had yet to directly speak to me, though I did learn quite a bit from our sparring sessions, even if he almost killed me nearly once a day. Milluki, Illumi's younger brother, liked to spend his free time annoying me and following me around when I wasn't training with Illumi. I lived for the moments I could escape the Zoldyck's and wander down to the kitchens to watch Shea cook and listen to her sing. She taught me some of the songs in her native tongue, it was a most pleasant escape from a most unpleasant family. I didn't have to constantly be on guard with Shea, I could let loose and be myself.

After a particularly rough day of training with Illumi, in which he'd sent me flying through two stone walls, for letting my guard down, I lay flat on my back sprawled across the lawn of the garden, gasping for breath. I was sure my spine had been severed, everything hurt and I could feel a warm sticky substance clinging to my back. Illumi appeared hovering over me.

"Sorry, Illumi-sama, I think I'm done for the day." I wheezed, something was definitely not okay.

He knelt next to me without a word and I squeaked in terror as he swept me into his arms. My heart pounded in my chest.

"I-Illumi-sama, w-what are you doing?"

He didn't say a word, didn't even cast a glance in my direction as he carried me into the mansion. We passed a very pregnant Kikyo, Illumi's mother, who was about to pop any day now and a very curious Zeno, Illumi's grandfather, the man who'd been with Silva when he purchased me. I had no idea where Illumi was taking me, but decided it was pointless to try to question him as we'd been sparring partners for nearly a year and he'd yet to actually speak to me.

We reached my room as the edges of my vision began to blacken and I attempted to look down at myself to inspect my body for injury only to be halted by a single look from Illumi's soulless dark gaze. "Don't."

My breath hitched in my throat, he spoke to me! He was surprisingly gentle as he lay me down atop my bed before he made his way to my adjoining bathroom to retrieve my first aid trunk. It had become necessary for nearly all of our sparring matches as Illumi had been trained since birth to kill while I'd only picked up my skills as a necessity to survive.

"I can do it myself, Illumi-sama." I attempted to sit up on the bed but felt resistance and something pull in my chest before I was enveloped in agony. Something had impaled me, and it was still piercing through my body. I fell back with a wince and my stomach churned as my back hit the bed and my ribs screamed in protest, there was something lodged between my ribcage.

He stared down at me blankly for a moment before setting the first aid kit on the bed beside me and for a moment I thought he'd leave it there and be on his way, but instead he surprised me by sifting through the first aid kid to find the supplies he'd need. At least while learning how to kill, he'd also been taught how to fix any injuries he received, not that I could ever imagine anyone possibly injuring him.

Without warning he wrenched a small thin pipe that had been lodged between my ribs, out of me and it took all I had not to scream at the pain that ripped through me. My vision went blank for a moment as I was blinded by pain and I gripped the bed tightly as I struggled to regulate my breathing. He tended to my injury in silence and when he was done, he left without a word.

Luckily my lung didn't collapse, somehow the pipe had managed to miss the lung, it had apparently lodged itself into me when I'd been exhaling and my lung was mostly deflated, and was having a hard time expanding thanks to the pipe which was why breathing had been so difficult. I could breathe easier now, though every breath hurt.