The Wife

10: The Killing Joke

"Is this not the cutest outfit you have ever seen Zenko wear?" Chrollo called out to you as he presented your son, now wrapped in kitten pajamas. "I saw it and thought he would like it."

"I sincerely hope you bought something for Akio. Perhaps I didn't make it obvious, but you have to give them the same thing. Fairness is the name of the game with twins." You sighed as you looked for Akio. Chrollo smiled-- he wasn't that dumb. He quickly presented Akio in a set of puppy pajamas.

"I never pay anyway, so I thought I'd get at least two."

"What, and the people in the store just let you walk out?" You chuckled as you held your sons closely, tuning out their mindless chatter. "You and your 'troupe' are so strange, you know. Hisoka acts like its just a social group, but you seem to take it really seriously."

"No, I just kill them." Chrollo looked at you oddly. Did you... not know who the Phantom Troupe was?

"Everybody with the killing jokes these days. Hisoka jokes about killing people all the time. It's almost not funny anymore."

"Yumi... We're not joking." His face looked at yours like it was made of steel.

"What? Of course you are. Hisoka would never kill anyone. He had to do it one time and swore he would never do it again. I was there; he was in pieces." You looked hard at Chrollo to detect any sense of a joke. It wasn't there and your heartbeat increased.

"I'm not joking, Yumi. Hisoka probably kills the most people out of all of us. It's his favorite thing. And his second favorite thing is telling me how he's going to kill me when he gets the chance to fight me."

"No..." It wasn't a disagreement-- it was disbelief. You had trusted murderers around your children. Who knew what other crimes they were committing? Chrollo was secretly pleased to hear Hisoka had been hiding such a big secret. It made his life more interesting and made teasing and pushing Hisoka even more fun. "Could you... watch Chouko for a minute? Akio, Zenko, why don't you go play in the room we're staying in? We're leaving here soon and I need to pack." You weren't going to stay with a bunch of murderers. And that included your husband. He was going to get a call as soon as you left.

"Leaving? Are you sure, Yumi? I promise we would never hurt you or your children. It's just business. Truly." Now he regretted it. By telling you the truth, he pushed you away.

"I... I know you wouldn't... but I don't think I'd like my children raised in that environment..." You were quickly packing up everything in sight having not unpacked much. "This is just a shock for me. I needed to pick up and move anyway."

Chrollo sighed, knowing this would happen soon enough anyway. It didn't take you much longer than an hour to pack before you and your children were leaving Yorknew City and headed south, no city in mind. You'd go as far south as possible, and then head east. Maybe then, you'd spend the money to fly to the northern most continent. That is, if you had the money. Hisoka had always been in charge of your account, usually providing you with some semblance of an allowance. It was usually decently generous, but you were quite careful with your money. Unfortunately as you left the compound, Machi hit you with one infuriating request.

"Tell your husband to stop inviting me to dinner. I don't want to go."

Fury flowed through your veins at the insinuation. Hisoka was going to get it when you accepted his next call.