Killua Zoldyck's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Killua watched the taser in Gon's hand and counted the seconds until his friend pulled the trigger. The training center smelled of old wood and sweat. They had rented the back room by the hour. Gon stood five paces away, holding a compact black device with paired prongs, the kind stocked at any hardware stall in Anime City. Killua had asked for this. He needed a real jolt, real fear, to test whether he could hold his Nen steady when his body tried to react on its own. He had left his family to keep Gon safe. He would not be useful if his own power turned on the person standing across from him. Gon pressed the trigger. Blue arcs snapped between the prongs. Killua did not move his feet. He wrapped his aura tight to his skin the way his instructor had shown him and waited for Gon to close the distance. Gon stepped in. The prongs touched Killua's forearm. The current hit and slid off, harmless. Killua exhaled. "Again," he said. "Closer. Don't warn me." Gon nodded. He circled once, then feinted low and jabbed the taser toward Killua's ribs. Killua's training kicked in before his thinking did. His own electricity answered without permission, crackling down his arm in a hard white flash. He saw Gon's hand still coming. He saw the arc leap from his knuckles toward Gon's wrist. In the half-second he had, Killua clamped down on the aura and dragged it back into his chest. It burned going in. The taser hit his side. He barely felt it. Gon stumbled back, blinking at his own hand, which was pink but unhurt. "Your hair stood up," Gon said. "Mine too. You almost let it out." "I know." Killua sat down on the mat. His shirt stuck to his back. He had been raised by people who trained him to kill by six and read a room by eight, and none of that training had prepared him for holding a weapon in and keeping a friend in front of him at the same time. He looked at Gon, at the worn hunter license clipped to Gon's belt, at the scraped knees under the shorts. Gon had passed the exam. Gon was going to keep walking toward dangerous places to find his father. Killua had promised himself he would be there when it mattered. "One more," Killua said. He stood up. "I can pull it back now. I know where it slips." Gon studied him for a long moment, then thumbed the trigger and the prongs sparked again. Killua stepped in first this time, on his own terms, and this time when the current met his skin his aura stayed exactly where he told it to stay. He had found the edge. He knew what he had to drill next.