Itsy Bitsy Spider

10. Reminders and Truth

An ear-splitting gasp rang through the air.

"Killua!" A boy sprinted toward the pair, waving his arms with unbelievable energy and shouting as he went. "Where were you? I was worried! Why were you so late? And..." He skidded to a halt when he was next to the white-haired boy, casting a wonder-filled look toward Rein. The boy leaned toward the other's ear, which was half obscured by white fluff. Pointing a not-so-discreet finger at Rein while trying his best to whisper, he asked: "Who is that?"

The white-haired boy sighed and flicked the other's forehead with so much force that he stumbled before regaining his balance. "Idiot." He glared. "You shouldn't be shouting in enemy territory. If we get caught again, then this escape is meaningless."

"Oh." His eyes seemed to light up as he turned to Rein, changing from a scolded dog back to his former awestruck person in an instant. He bounced on the balls of his feet once, loaded with the energy of a puppy. "Well, you've already met Killua, and I'm his best fri-"

"Idiot." The fluffy white-haired boy hit his head once again, this time with his entire fist. As the boy rubbed the reddening spot on his forehead, Fluffy grabbed both the boy and Rein's wrists. He pulled them forward and he started to run. "That means we escape now. Talking comes later."

*     *     *

"Man." The boy looked over his shoulder back at the base as they continued to run, corners of his lips curled into an annoyed frown. "I wanted to beat that guy up."

"That would have been impossible," his friend shot back, glancing at him for a moment with insanely blue eyes. "He'd have fought you off and killed you easily."

He stuck out his bottom lip in a small pout. "One hundred percent sure?"

A tall fence came into view, dark wires crisscrossing into simple diamond shapes. With a boost of aura to her feet, the girl leapt over, running her hand down the fence as she finally came to a crouch. The boys followed suit, and Rein found herself trying to shine back at Puppy Eyes' bright expression. His eyes were wide, warm with a promising spark of fire in them. Like a... puppy. There really was no other way to describe him. To put it simply, he was adorable, but calling him that would be weird. Thus, the nickname.

"Definitely impossible," the other responded. He pushed himself to his feet gracefully. "There's no way that we, only knowing the basics of Nen, can even think of going up against them and coming out unharmed."

He dusted his hands off on his shorts, and grinned. "You finally sound like yourself again!" He stuck out both of his arms toward his friend, palms open and facing up welcomingly. "Saying crazy stuff is my job. Your job is to stay cool and stop me. So I'm counting on you!" He hit the fluffy-haired boy on the shoulder as he started to run ahead once more.

"Tch. You're so selfish," he called as he started to go after him.

Rein raised an eyebrow. This banter. She hadn't heard any in what seemed like ages. It was a nice change, though she still wished to go back to her room.

The sky was teetering on the edge of day, the last rays fading out but not quite gone yet. Dipping darker and darker, but still clinging onto sunlight despite the fact that the sun wasn't in sight. How long had it been since... then? Stars, Rein wasn't even sure what time of day this was. Dusk? Twilight? 9:00 ish? If only she had paid attention to the actual time of the clock instead of just observing its movement, then she could have known about what time it happened to be. Ugh, but her clock had been crushed by... She glanced in his direction.

Upon noticing her gaze, he raised an eyebrow. "What."

"Fluffy, you owe me a clock."

"Did you..." He stopped running for a moment, and blinked, slightly shaking his head. "Did you just call me Fluffy?"