Your Eyes ||Kurapika x Reader||

Thirty Seven || Frail Hands

I began to wonder what turn my life would have taken if someone else had shown up in the Hunter exam instead. I wouldn't have gone to York New. But I might have gone elsewhere. Wouldn't have stayed in the mafia. But I might have discovered something else which I'd missed out on and might never know about. Wouldn't have changed, would never be who I am today, would have become someone else. I wonder now who that someone else is today. Is she happier? Couldn't I dip into her life for a few hours, a few days, and see for myself- not just to test if this other life is better, or to measure how our lives couldn't be further apart because of Kurapika. Would I like her, would she like me, would either of us understand why the other became who she is, would either be suprised to learn that each of us had in fact run into a Kurapika of one sort or another, man or woman, and that we were very possibly, regardless of who we met in the exam, one and the same person still?

"(Y/N)," The boy next to me suddenly said, pulling me away from my contemplation.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"This is sudden. What are you thanking me for?"

"For staying with me all this time."

I couldn't help but snort at his sudden words. Kurapika turned his head to me, hand still tightly holding mine, and tilted his head as if pondering why I was laughing. "Of course I'd stay with you. And I'll stay forever more, I'll fight alongside you for however long you need me to. All because I owe you." I smiled at him. "For showing me what it's like to be happy, for proving that I can care and be cared for, for teaching me how to love myself."

Now it was his turn to chuckle. "You really know how to touch a man's heart." His smile died down as he stared solemnly at his shoes. "I'm sick of all this fighting, all these deaths; all this regret, shame and frustration. I don't want to do this anymore." His voice began to crack as his hand clutched his shirt, right where that horrific bullet wound lay permenantly on his skin as a grim reminder of all his pain.

"It'll be over soon." I replied quietly. "You only have a few more pairs. Just a few more to get. After that, we'll have retaken all the eyes. And then we can be happy. We can leave this bullshit life behind us and go live together with Leorio and Gon and Killua." It must have been the thousandth time that I shared this thought with him. We constantly reminded each other that someday we would live in ease.

The blonde sighed and leaned back. Silence settled in once more. It felt like years had gone by without any sounds other than that of the rain pattering against the windows.

Finay, after a long time, Kurapika spoke: "When this is all over, let's get married."

...What?

Marry me, (Y/N).

I blinked twice. And then three times. His words had taken me back entirely- it was just so out of the blue. Kurapika nor I had ever mentioned marriage over the half year that we had been in this relationship. Not that I would have declined, but it was just such a sudden suggestion.

"Did- did you just propose to me?" I snatched my hand away from his and held it over my mouth.

The blonde only stared at me nonchalantly while I still comprehended what he was conveying.

Romantic relationships were never something I dreamed too deeply about since I was a girl. But when I was young I always did imagine I would be proposed to by a dashing young man in an amorous setting. Yet, here I was, being casually asked to get married by a man who looks like a malnourished victorian boy, in the billiard room of a mafia house. How ironic.

With a wide smile, I leaped onto the frail boy and hugged him tightly. "Of course I'll marry you, that goes without saying."

Kurapika sighed with relief. "For a moment there I thought you'd say no."

"We're not getting married yet though. Remember, we can only do so after we can achieve our goal of retrieving your brethren's eyes."

The tired boy nodded his head, still looking unsure. "Don't change your mind though, okay?" He mumbled.

I chuckled at him. He always did overthink things. Instead of replying, I took his left hand and laced my pinky with his. He looked from our connected hands to me again and I only gave him a wry smile. "I won't."

He smiled at my way of promising him that my answer wouldn't change. I suppose that a childish oath was only fitting for a childish proposal.

~

Clarification: they're not married. This is only their way of promising each other for the future. I apologise if this chapter was boring, I just needed to include this all in preperation for the next one. PS, I thought for a long time how would Kurapika propose? And this, I thought, was the most in character, randomly blurting it out when he's stressed and tired. I don't wanna write a paragraph on how I found this fitting and how it linked to his personality because I'm literally exhausted right now so I'll leave that to your own interpretation.