Disclaimer: I don't own Hunter x Hunter.

Fundamental Needs

Chapter Four

He recognizes that he is in a memory.

He is in a field, hunger churning in his belly, and there is a human child before him. Making a futile attempt to flee.

He feels nothing beyond that hunger, watching the child scramble for dear life. Not anticipation, nor anger, nor even amusement. He is empty inside, when he crushes the boy's skull.

Except now, when the boy falls to the damp earth, his form is replaced by Komugi's. Even so, the King still crouches down to scoop out her brains. Her eyes are open, unseeing in a way that even her sightlessness has never been. Her brains are warm and soft in his fingers, on his tongue. They taste bitter. Rancid.

He turns away to vomit, stomach cramping and chest aching. He cannot bear to turn back - to see her lifeless body with its skull caved in. He has killed her, thinking her to be another. He has killed her, and he cannot undo it. He digs his fingers into the meat of his own legs, sinking them into the flesh.

Komugi is gone. He will never again face her across the gungi board; he will never again see her smile or blush or laugh or cry. He will never again make her tremble beneath his touch.

Komugi is gone, and the world is pain.

Awareness returned to him with a strange thumping in his chest. It took him a moment to realize that it must have been his heart, and another moment still to realize that he must have been asleep. The King didn't require rest very often, or for very long, so the experience of drifting off to sleep unawares was completely alien to him.

There was also a strange, squirming pain in his stomach, accompanied by a desperate desire to see Komugi. These feelings, too, were alien to him. Perhaps that was why he found them so difficult to resist.

He made his way to her chamber with inhuman speed, flinging the doors open with such force that they came off their hinges. He was greeted with the sight of Komugi, sitting on tucked knees, covering her head with her arms as a hawk pecked and scratched at her in earnest.

The pain in his stomach slithered like a serpent, an odd rushing noise in his ears, and he batted the creature away from her with his tail. Its body was cut in two by the blow, blood and guts splattering on the tiled floor.

"Why did you not call for help?" he demanded, voice much louder than he'd intended. He rushed to squat down beside her, hands trembling as her grasped her arm and drew it in to examine it. "You're covered in blood!" There were welts all over her body from the bird's talons, some already scabbing over, while rivulets of the viscous red liquid still welled up from others.

How easily she was harmed by a creature one fifth her size. What a fragile, breakable thing she was.

The realization caused the squirming in his stomach to slither up into his throat, making it difficult to draw breath. His eyes burned.

"It's early," she murmured. "I didn't want to wake anyone."

The words made his entire body go hot with that strange, overwhelming feeling that he'd only ever experienced once before. This time, though, there was no impulse for violence. Instead, his arms swept her up, as if of their own volition, cradling her to his chest. All at once, strength drained from his legs, and he toppled onto his side.

Komugi was still in his arms, though, warm and soft. He curled his body around hers, trembling, heart still pounding.

At last, the painful squirming in his stomach began to subside. "You are a precious guest," he murmured, unable to bring the customary force to his voice. "If you are ever in danger or pain, I forbid you to endure it in silence."

She was trembling now, as well, and he felt wetness against his chest. No wails accompanied the tears this time, however - and for some reason he couldn't quite parse, that made them all the more disturbing. "I d-didn't mean to trouble you, Supreme Leader," she said, voice wobbling.

"You will only cause me trouble if you come to harm," he replied, resisting the impulse to draw her in even more tightly. He didn't know how much control he had over his strength, with his body behaving so erratically. A thought struck him, then - so obvious in hindsight that it was truly baffling that it had not occurred to him previously. "You will remain at my side from now on."

He wouldn't need to be concerned that she was in danger, if she remained by his side. Nothing could possibly harm her.

"I'll be a bother," she said softly, sniffling. "Everybody always gets annoyed with me, eventually. I don't..." She let out a muted sound that might have been a sob. "I'm no good at anything but gungi. I never know the right thing to say or do. Everybody tells me that I'd be insufferable even if I wasn't blind."

The King frowned. "They are fools, then," he said. He didn't really know enough about humans to discern what it was about Komugi that would cause them such consternation. He could see them being initially misled by her outward demeanor, as he had been. But once he'd seen beyond it, it was clear that there was nothing bothersome about her. Perhaps humans resented excellence, or disliked the single-minded drive required to attain it. That would certainly explain why so many of them were mediocre. Another thought occurred to him.

"Could it be that you do not wish to be in my presence?"

He was expecting an immediate, flustered dismissal of the possibility. Or perhaps it was what he hoped for. But instead, she said, "...I guess the thought of being with you all time is a bit scary." She quickly amended: "N-not that I find you scary, Supreme Leader. It's just that...I'm used to being alone. I don't know what it's like to not be alone."

He found himself chuckling, in spite of the strange tightening in his belly. "You should be afraid of me," he pointed out. "I am a predator, and more powerful than any human alive. I could kill you on a whim."

"If I was scared of everybody who could kill me on a whim, I'd never stop being afraid." He could feel her smile weakly against the skin of his chest. "Besides: if I knew that killing me would make you happy, I don't think I'd mind you doing it. Just as long as you played gungi with me one last time before you did."

For some reason, those words left him feeling mildly annoyed. "Have I not thoroughly established that it would not make me happy?"

She made a noise of assent, and snuggled in closer of her own volition.

"Remain by my side, and see if you find it...pleasant," he said, after several minutes of simply soaking in her closeness. "If you do not, you may return to your solitude." It was a new sensation, this...accommodation. But he found that he didn't dislike it. He was confident that he could make her see the benefits of his company.

His Royal Guards were born to serve him, and they caused him no end of frustration. He needed no such mindless devotion from Komugi.

Her stomach growled upon their return to the throne room, and the King summoned Youpi to arrange some food for Komugi to eat.

"Are you not hungry, Supreme Leader?"

The King set her down on the cushion in front of the gungi board, though he regretted the loss of contact almost immediately.

"I do not require food as often as humans do," he replied. In truth, it was the nature of his food that allowed him to go so long without. The flesh of Nen users was nourishing in a way that normal humans were not.

It occurred to him, then, that Komugi did not know that his diet differed so drastically from her own. It was of no consequence, he decided.

"Can we play a game while we wait?" she asked.

"First, we must treat your wounds," he replied, and summoned Pitou.

They arrived promptly, bowing deeply. "How may I be of service, sire?"

His gaze fixed on the human girl sitting across from him. On the lessons that littered her body. "Komugi has sustained injuries," he said. "You will heal them."

Pitou straightened. "Doctor Blythe requires the use of all my Nen, sire. I cannot maintain En, or my puppets, while I use it."

"Your En is tiresome to begin with," the King said, not taking his eyes from Komugi. "I am more powerful than any human foolish enough to attempt an infiltration of this palace. In the unlikely event that they manage to do so in the minutes it will take you to fix Komugi, I will deal with them personally."

"As you wish, Your Highness." Pitou gave another bow. "I'll begin the treatment nyow."

Much to his chagrin, the King felt Pouf's En replacing Pitou's as they activated Doctor Blythe. He had sensed the other Royal Guard lurking outside the throne room ever since Pitou had arrived.

Pouf's shameful display earlier that morning had not been enough to halt his meddling, it seemed, thought it did apparently compel him not to show his face. Pouf was lucky that Komugi was present to take the edge off the King's temper.

"That feels strange," said Komugi, as Doctor Blythe began its ministrations.

"It shouldn't hurt," Pitou replied, gaze intent and unblinking. "But I can render you unconscious, if you'd prefer."

"It doesn't hurt!" Komugi squeaked hastily. "It feels like...buzzing, under my skin."

Pitou continued their work under the King's watchful eye. Youpi made a brief appearance to bring in Komugi's food, only to make a swift exit.

The King saw the blemishes on Komugi's body began to fade before his very eyes. "You will also heal any lingering damage from before the attack," he pronounced, when the only marks remaining were old scars.

Pitou's ears twitched. "I have already done so, sire." Their lips curled up at the corners. "Her blindness is caused by a congenital defect and would require a transplant to fix, but I dealt with some of the more troublesome scar tissue and corrected the badly-healed septum that was causing the problems with her nose."

Indeed, the King could see that Komugi's nose had ceased to run. The human girl took an experimental breath through that now-open pathway, let it out, and gave them both a wide, ecstatic smile. "Thank you so much, Lord Pitou! Supreme Leader!" She felt around her immediate vicinity - looking for her cane, he realized - then, failing to retrieve the item in question, pushed herself to her feet anyway and lurched in the King's general direction. Equal parts bemused and intrigued, he used his tail to guide her towards him, whereupon she flung her arms around him as tightly as her fragile body could muster.

If Pitou had any misgivings about the display, they kept it from showing on their face. Between their discretion, and the initiative they'd taken with Komugi's treatment, Pitou was quickly proving themself to be the least obnoxious of his Royal Guards.

"You have pleased me, Pitou," he said, feeling their En slide back into place. He returned Komugi's embrace, allowing her to nuzzle into his chest, and began to run his fingers through her hair - now clean and worn loose after their time together in the bath. It felt good between his fingers. "Now, leave us."

They gave one final bow, said, "I am grateful as always to be of service, sire," and departed.

Alone again with Komugi at last, the King allowed a small smile to spread across his face.