1,582Chapter 70 - Low pressure
Author's note: Peeks from a corner and throws some angst and a massive heartfelt thank you for all the support through the years, only to hide again. We are back in normal POV
''Gin, come have a snack.'' Mito called softly from a nearby window.
Fresh laundry, soft white sheets fluttering in the wind. The soil cupped in my hands was cool to touch. I rubbed the dirt between my fingers and relished its softness.
I might never see the sapling in its full glory but I hope one day, someone will enjoy its fruits.
''Gin!''
Mito called again, a sharpness in her tone, indicating she was getting annoyed.
Properly washed and dry, I sat next to my grandmother, forking a piece of apple. She was knitting once again - another cardigan for me.
''Have you heard anything from your brother?'' Mito asked as I held a fork of honeyed apple to my grandmother. I have tried beekeeping recently and was rewarded by my efforts. She smiled and thanked me softly, a wrinkled hand petting my cheek.
I loved everything I did in Whale Island. Every hard work I'd put in gave me a happy result.
I take care of bees, and I get honey.
I take up diving, and I get oysters to eat and pears to gift to people I love.
''No, but I know he's fine.'' I said, flicking a sudoku book I picked up yesterday, already halfway through even though I said I will try to savour it slowly.
Without the Ant Queen, there will be no need to keep stalking Gon. I decided to let him be at least for a while, until I fully healed my mind since it had come to my attention I never fully rested when I kept watching him.
The adorable idiot simply likes to do too many things that I wouldn't do.
But there it is, I was not him, and he was not I.
It took weeks in the making and now that I've stopped, I realise how a tad overprotective I might have been. Shimura-sensei seems to think it might have to do with our absentee father.
An attachment disorder, he called it.
''So now, I have daddy issues. This isn't news to me,'' I replied drily then, earning another lecture on psychology from the doctor. He never lost his calm composure, no matter how snappy I got the deeper he got into my psyche.
''Do you think that maybe you do not treat him like a brother, but more of a child? Your child?''
Therapy sucked balls.
I feel healed now and so much more fully rested that I cannot believe I've never done this earlier. All the darkness that I never thought clouded me, felt like a fever dream now that I am basking in sunshine.
This is Gon's story anyway and I was only a secondary character.
He will be fine. Even better now that there will not be any Chimeras.
A shounen is meant to be for little boys and it must stay as is.
I have done my duty, I think as I took another bite of my apple and decided I will give him a little visit perhaps by the end of the week just to soothe Mito's worry.
But for now, I want to go back to the water. Perhaps an afternoon swim will do me good.
''He hasn't written in a while.'' Mito comments, a frown between her brows.
''Killua will contact me if something happens.'' I assured her, thinking of the note I left him, my nen stored within the ink. As she looked unconvinced, I added, ''when he calls, I will be there as fast as night fall.''
[The metaphor suited her well. Nightfall does come too fast when one is having too much fun.
A piece of paper is easily lost, blown in the wind like dried leaves.]
Sometimes I like to pretend I was a mermaid in the ocean. I could not help it how beautiful it feels to be a part of it.
I would craft stories in my head. Who knows, maybe I will find Atlantis or an equivalent of it in this world. And maybe fall in love with a Merman, even the thought made me giggle as I made a note to buy a romance story like that later.
It will be so hot -
Maladaptive daydreaming, Shimura-sensei called it one therapy session ago.
The old man sure likes to burst my bubble sometimes.
To be fair, I would find myself in it far too long, enjoying the silence underneath the waves and the beautiful things hidden in it. If I could, I would stay there and make a home in it, away from all the Paristons and Hisokas of the surface world.
The water was unobtrusive and gentle. No one was watching here. Sharks do not often come close to their island, but even if they did, they did not notice me with Zetsu on, and the rest of the wildlife did not seem to mind.
I was admiring a coral reef, making faces at some fish when I felt a pull.
Thinking it was caused by a change in pressure or another case of overeating, I merely ignored it, swimming away further.
I was but a princess of the sea, in the bottom of the deep blue sea, twisting through and dancing underwater.
Something stretched into snapping, then there was nothing but black and white, and a man - Gon - in my mind's eye. Older and sad, he was missing an arm.
He cried my name and I felt like my heart swallowed itself.
I could not swim up to the surface fast enough.
Shimura-sensei asked one day: "Do you think that you somehow ended up taking a different role for him - the third parent, a mother perhaps?"
Mito was at the shore, trembling where she stood. She was not wearing any shoes so she was almost covered in sand.
''War.'' Mito said. The word did not fit her at all. ''There's been a declaration of war. T-these monsters... C-chimeras have this army… And they want to invade the world. Make us into livestock and they're sending men now but Leorio, he rang and...Gon... Gon was there and he's in hospital. Right now, Gin. He's...dd-'' Mito cried, fat ugly tears streaming down her face as she fell into the sand.
''This is weird,'' I said, digging a nail into the flesh of my fingers as deep as it can go.
''What?'' Mito gasped.
I took in her mane of hair, normally pristine and held back in a bun but now floating around her head, as if underwater.
Were we underwater?
It sure felt like it. I have overdone it.
I must come up for air.
''Gin!'' I gasped. Two strong hands held me by the shoulders, shaking me awake.
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