-Art by kuronaken on Instagram-
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It was a stormy afternoon when I was sat in the billiard room, listening to the news and to the hail pelting every window in the estate. I fidgeted with the steel revolver in my hands, spinning it through every one of my worn and scarred fingers, as I observed the woman with sea-foam green hair ramble about the Hunter Association.
I could only recall a few of the things she was mentioning, something about the result of the chairman election, before my mind drifted off once more. It never occurred to me how much about the outside world I had been missing out on because of my job. August is almost over. I had discovered the details of the tragic events that took place during the Chimera war embarrassingly late. It appeared that Gon and Killua were also involved in it in some way from the ridiculous amount of missed calls I had gotten over the past few months from both Killua and Leorio. Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule, I never had time to call back.
In fact, I never even checked my phone until recently. Ever since that battle with Hisoka so many months ago, the mission to retake the Scarlet Eyes had gotten a whole lot more serious and fast-paced. Things moved so quickly that before I knew it I had worked away my entire summer without a single day to relax.
A sigh echoed through the room as I turned off the television midway through Cheadle Yorkshire's speech and closed my eyes. Just as I let myself relax, the door creaked open.
I sat up as Kurapika made his way over to me. About to speak, I silenced myself upon noticing how weary he was. The dark bags that hung under his tired eyes only added to how fatigued he looked in addition to his pale, skinny body. He had this dismissive, offhand aura about him that made you want to steer clear in fear that he was someone not to disturb. The sight made me rather upset.
"I just finished putting away the last pair of the Scarlet Eyes in that church." He muttered while taking a seat on the leather sofa next to me.
Pursing my lips, I placed a hand on his back gently. He looked at me and gave me a sad smile. "How's your wound doing?" I asked finally.
The Kurta only hesitated before placing a frail hand on his chest over his slim waistcoat, "Fine. Don't worry about it too much."
"How could I not worry," I scoffed as I thought back to the exact day Kurapika had been shot. God, how terrifying an occurrence I was. We were all really convinced that he was about to die when a certain flesh collector managed to shoot him in the chest, barely missing his heart, while we were making our great escape with the stolen pair of Kurta eyes. If it wasn't for Basho and I rushing to carry his immobile body while Melody covered us, Kurapika may have just bled to death.
We sat in silence after that. Neither of us uttered a word as we stared at the wide pool table in the middle of the otherwise empty room.
As I stared into the distance, lost in my own thoughts, I could feel a slim hand place itself on top of my own. Head turning to Kurapika, I let out a light breath. The blonde took my ghost of a smile as an invitation to intertwine his slender fingers with mine. With just that brief contact, we both once again returned to sitting in our comfortable silence as our own thoughts bombarded our minds, however, this time, with the reminder that we had the other right there by our side.
It was rather pleasant, sitting there with Kurapika in a comforting silence. After living almost an entire year full of nothing but bloodshed, constant stress and dangerous battles, it was nice to just sit back for once. If only I had known back then that this is how my life would have turned out, but, then again, I wouldn't really like it any other way; even though I've always despised the work I'm forced to do here, I'd do it all again, given the chance.
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.
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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.