School for Hisoka started bright and early, which he didn't mind. Science just happened to be his first class of the day, which he didn't mind too much either, because then he'd be out of the class and done for the rest of the day. What he did mind was that his partner who was supposed to be presenting with him... never showed up. 'How convenient.' He thought solemnly to himself, but made no open complaints. He didn't want Muraki-sensei jumping on his case anymore than he already was.

"Do you suppose he is sick?" The teacher drawled from his desk once Hisoka was up in front of the class. He smiled when the boy simply shrugged, "It wouldn't do if something bad happened to him, don't you think so?"

At that moment, a cold vibe rocked the classroom, and Hisoka had to be stupid to miss the implication, which he wasn't, so of course he noticed. But still not wanting to be affected by the scary vibes, he continued with the presentation, "...If I may get back to the project... This shows the stem structure of a cell as it-"

"You know if you don't present together, you only get half-credit." Half of the entire class nearly fell over, seeing as many students decided to skip that day. But Hisoka tried his best to hold his ground. The blonde wasn't sure what the maniac was getting at, or why he was being so insistant about the whole issue, but it was more or less unnerving him. "Tell you what. I'll let you present tomorrow if you go see him."

Ok, now this guy definately knew something, and Hisoka really didn't want to know how he knew. But either way he put it, Hijiri really must have fallen... ill. They did pull an all-nighter, so maybe he caught a cold from lack of sleep... Is that even possible? "Thank you, sir." He reluctantly answered, and went to sit back down until class was over. 'He must be really sick to have stayed home. I know he wouldn't skip out on me like that.' Tsuzuki might try and scold him later, but Hisoka made up his mind to skip class before lunch.

He found the door unlocked. Infact, the door was open a creek, so Hisoka let himself in. The apartment was dark, but showed definate signs of activity. There was a plate of half eaten eggs and the TV was still on, for a start. "Hijiri, are you home?" He called into the empty living space, but receive no answer. After searching every room, he could conclude that the boy was in fact, absent from both school and home. 'But why would he leave his apartment open?...' The swirled over and over again in his mind, yet he couldn't come up with a solution. Everything seemed fine when they were finishing up their project, so there was no logical reason behind any of this. It wouldn't do if something bad happened to him, don't you think so? The knowing voice of Muraki-sensei rang through his head. He shook the though away however. That man couldn't possibly have had anything to do with this... Or maybe he did?

There was only one thing he could do... Sit down and wait. It took a good six hours, well into the evening, of diligent waiting before the sound of a creaking door and shuffling shoes alerted a half-awake Hisoka. During all that time, the blonde hadn't even thought about going home. But now that Hijiri was seemingly home, he could chew him out for abandoning their school project presentation like that. Hisoka rised slowly from the couch and walked into the kitchen, face fixed in a scowl, "Where were you-" He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening slightly. Hijiri looked a total wreck! Maybe he really was sick...

The brunette boy blinked at his unexpected guest, he tilted his head lazily, "Hisoka? What are you doing here?" His hair was a complete mess, as if he just got up from bed and walked out the door. His clothes were sloppy worn, no buttons were buttoned up, his undershirt fell just above his knees, his pants were far past wrinkled, and he looked like he hadn't slept a wink.

"What happened to you?" Was all Hisoka could think to ask, his eyes still wide in surprise.

Hijiri scratched his head and smiled lopsidedly, "Oh, yeah. I got a phonecall early this morning from my mom. My dad... he had a stroke," He started, beginning to drift off, but the smile quickly returned in full, "But he's doing alright now! Heh."

"Right..."

"Anyway... What are you doing here?"

"Oh." Hisoka paused, not quite knowing what to say. It seemed like a bad time to blame the guy for not showing up at school. So he thought of another way of saying it. "Well, at least now I know why you didn't come to school." He resisted the urge to smile slightly when he felt Hijiri go nervous. They both knew what Hisoka was upset about, it was a scary thing to have to deal with Muraki sensei alone... "But you could have at least called the school. I came to check on you, the door was unlocked... Open, so I let myself in."

Hijiri sighed and took off his jacket, throwing it into the living room. He didn't feel like being orderly at the moment. "Yeah, sorry about that. So how did it go?"

"He excused us for today."

"That's good." The brunette grinned, somewhat bashfully. "Well... I wanted to ask you something today... I guess it's a good thing you were here already, huh?" The boy moved to the fridge, pulling out a box of juice, then looked for a glass. "I have an English project next week. You have Ms. Hinako too, don't you?"

Hisoka blinked calmly, as a glass of fresh raspberry juice was practically shoved up his nose. He took it carefully, but didn't drink any, "What are you getting at?"

"Eh..." Hijiri shrugged, pouring himself a glass, then slamming the box on the counter, and turning to face Hisoka. A relaxed smile on his face, "I was wondering if you'd like to do a collaberation?"

At that, Hisoka stared down at his drink, moving the glass rythmatically to make the drink swirl. "...I guess."

The blonde sighed, feeling extremely tired, and despite the fact that he'd spent half his day doing nothing, he still felt a strange feeling of nearing completion. It was another step towards something, and he no longer felt the need to wonder just what that something was. Looking at the brunette's face, feeling his emotions roar, it was allsomewhat fulfilling.

Owari

A/N: Sorry the end was so short! But I wanted to get this fic over with, since it was so close near the end anyway, I didn't want to just delete it, so I wrote up a quick ending. XP I hope all you HxH fans enjoyed my piece of work. I probably won't ever write another YnM fic again, but this was still a fun experience for me.

So, this really is, The End!