Midnight Resolve [Kurapika x Kurta!Reader]

[17] Sapphire Memories, Part I

Ever since you could walk, you were always getting into trouble. That wasn't to say you were a nightmare child — on the contrary, you were sweet and polite to everybody, even when there were plenty of reasons for you to not be.

However, despite your compassionate personality, you had a habit of going into places you shouldn't be in, or getting into situations you have no business being in. Your curiosity in exploring the unknown had led you to get scolded by the village elders on more than one occasion, and yet you never seemed to learn.

Today had been one such day — ever since you had gotten in the crossfire of a nen attack, the elders trained you day and night in both nen control and advanced academics. You didn't hate your classes. Your friends may call you a nerd and tease you, but you did enjoy them, as it was the closest you got to learning about the outside world. Just because you liked them well enough, though, didn't mean you wanted to study and train every waking hour of every day. That was just ridiculous!

Tired of the exhausting schedule you had been put on, you decided to finally take the jump and skip a day of classes as your own little protest. With your 13th birthday coming up, the difficulty of your training had been amped up, especially your aura control classes with Elder Pathan.

You seriously needed a break before you lost it!

Even though you knew you would get reprimanded when you got back, you found yourself ducking behind a house as two of the aids ran through the village, trying to find you. It was hard to suppress a giggle — maybe you could convince Elder Pathan that you were practicing your zetsu, since that was what you had currently been practicing.

Goodness, he was probably regretting teaching this technique to you.

Assured that the aids had passed, you snaked your way to the cemetery. There was a small crevice in the wall, nowhere near big enough to fit an adult through, but a wiry child?

A piece of cake.

You had managed to make it to the cemetery and through the crack in the wall without getting caught, and for a moment you leaned against the wall to take a deep breath.

If Elder Pathan or, gods forbid, Elder Tajiki found out about you not only skipping lessons but going outside of the compound, you'd be in big trouble. You couldn't help it, though! They refused to let you take the test to leave the village until you finished your nen training, and who knew how long that would take? It had already been eight years since you first started! You craved for more.

Up ahead, about a ten-minute walk from where you were, was a grove hidden by a curtain of weeping willows. It was a gorgeous and secluded place that nobody else knew — your own little secret garden.

Wasting no time, you started to trek through the forest confidently, having gone this way plenty of times before. Eventually, you came to a stop outside what looked like the remnants of a rockslide from the mountain, blocking off the path. Around the rubble was a clutter of weeping willows, obscuring the mess of tree trunks, rocks, and moss. Pushing through the branches gently, you found a rather thick log at the bottom of the rock wall, and without hesitation, you crawled into it.

You weren't sure who made this path, or how it was possible — it had been like this ever since you could remember, and you had only stumbled upon it by accident. The 'log' was a sturdy one that was twice your width. Crawling on your hands and knees, you wondered how much longer you could fit in here. In a few years, you'd have to inch along it like a caterpillar, probably. Either that or find a new entrance to your hideaway.

After a few seconds, you emerge on the other side, standing up and brushing your legs off from the dirt your pants had accumulated.

It really was a small grove — enclosed within a mossy rock wall that proved to be difficult to climb (you had attempted more than once to climb it, only to wind up with cuts and scrapes and bruises) was a field of wildflowers in an area that was probably as big as your house. The weeping willows, on top of the rock wall, provided a canopy that let the sunlight filter in just enough to illuminate the area but not scorch your skin.