This was supposedly for Christmas present, but I couldn't make it in time ( ._.) But still, I hope you all had fun during Chrismas yesterday :D Anyway, please enjoy the small humble present from me~
Title : Last Christmas
Pairing : Kurorox Kurapika
Warnings: OOCness, wrong grammar,typos, etc.
Disclaimer: HxH belongs to Togashi Yoshiro. I own nothing.
The snow fell from the sky, landing softly on the ground, painting it white. The glittering light shone brightly in the dark, giving the city an eternal life for one full day. Kids were running down the street, laughing and smiling happily as they threw snowballs at each other. Their happy laughter and yellings could be heard throughout the city, like a music for the night.
It was just another Christmas, when the parents called for their children to go to sleep at ten and all the children would comply without much questionings. They would obidiently brush their teeth, even more than once if they thought it was necessary. Before going to sleep, they would prepare a sock near their bed, and after that they would pray to all the Gods they could think of so that Santa would come to their house and fill the empty sock with the best sweets from all over the world and put a special present under their Christmas tree.
It was just another Christmas, when after making sure their children had gone to sleep, parents would dress up as Santa, fill their children's socks with sweets, and place the long-awaited present under the tree.
It was just another Christmas, when there were sneaky children, who wanted to see Santa and pretended to be sleeping, had their dream crushed as soon as they found out that the man in Santa costume was their daddy.
It was just another Christmas, when the city was once again filled with cries of the broken heart children.
Not so far from the lively city, probably a few meters away, there was an old abandoned mansion covered in snow. Most windows were already broken, the old wooden doors were making a lot of creaking sound, and no smoke came out from the cemetery. Unlike the city across it, the building looked as lifeless as it had always been for years. There were no pretty lights like there were in the city to light up the building. There were no colourful posters and decorations like there were in the city to decorate the building. There was no music or cries like there were in the city, only silence filling up the lonely mansion. There were no children running and giggling happily in that building, only two adults who claimed them selves as mortal enemies. Looking closely inside the building, there was a small light coming from the living room where both men were staying at. The light itself was not big enough to brighten the room, moreover to provide warmth. It the midst of the huge room, there were two silhouette sitting backing each other. One was a blonde in a tribe's clothing, while the other was a raven in dark suit. Both of them were staring at the darkness in front of them, not moving an inch from their space despite the coldness in the room. Neither spoke to each other nor had any intention to initiate a conversation to break the silence that had been with them for hours. The voices from the city could be heard inside the room, however both man didn't even bother to pay any attention to the crowds. They just sat there, quietly. The black-haired man finally got up and approached the other, intending to break the silence between them but was cut down before he could say anything, "Don't do what you're about to do."
The raven raised his brow, face still calm as always, "What do you mean?"
There was a pause before the blonde finally turned his head to the man behind him, scarlet eyes shone brightly in the darkness, full of rage and ambition. Those eyes never failed to amuse the older man, he just loved the way those eyes were directed at him, full of emotion he had never experienced before.
"You know what I mean, Kuroro Lucilfer.", the blonde hissed as he glared even more at the man before him. Kuroro just shrugged and brushed off the glare he received, instead he took more steps closer to the other boy. The blonde tried to put up a distance but failed as his wrist was grabbed by the other man before he knew it. He tried to pull his arm off the man's grip but instead the grip on his hand tightened, causing the blonde to winch in pain. Realising the pained look on the other's face, Kuroro let go of his grip and mumbled something similar to "Sorry." He took off his coat and put it on the smaller boy. The boy intended to take the coat off of him but was stopped, "You're shivering, Kurapika. Put it on." His tone was firm and demanding. Kurapika hesitated for a moment, he eyed the man before him carefully before finally deciding to wrap his small body in Kuroro's coat, "I won't thank you."
"Not that I mind it.", said the older man with a smirk on his face before he turned back to his original spot, this time not backing the other man. Silence filled the room once again. Carefully, Kurapika took a short glance at the man behind him. There, Kuroro sat in the same position as he did before, face as calm as always while holding a book in his hand, reading it leisurely despite the chill inside the room.
"What's wrong?" Kurapika flinched at the sudden question. Kuroro closed his book and eyed the currently-flustered boy, "Is it not warm enough?" Kurapika shook his head, "It's.. nothing.."
Kuroro shrugged at the response he got and continued to read the book he had been reading. Before he could realise it, the smaller boy was already standing in front of him, face bright red and his eyes were determined of something Kuroro couldn't think of. The blonde quickly took a seat near Kuroro and put his coat on both of them. Kururo was taken aback by the sudden gesture he received, it was weird for the Kuruta to approached him, moreover to share the warmth he desperately needed at the moment. Kuroro tried to study the other's expression, but it was a difficult task as the blonde had already hid his face under his bangs. "I don't want to be indebted to you."
Kuroro's usual emotionless eyes turned softer at the blonde's words. He put his large hand on Kurapika's head and patted it softly. Feeling irritated by the treatment he received Kurapika turned his head to protest, but stopped as he saw Kuroro with a gentle smile on his face. He could feel blood rushing to his cheeks, but he couldn't take his eyes off from Kuroro. It was not the first time the blonde had seen the older man smiled like this, but he still couldn't get used to it. He was always lost for words when he saw the other man's gentle smile, so gentle and so human, unlike his usual emotionless smile. It took some moments before Kurapika came back to realisation, he brushed off the other man's hand from his head, and quickly turned his face away, "Stop doing that." Kuroro chuckled at the younger boy's stubbornness, it always amused him to no end. Kuroro was about to continue what he was doing when Kurapika's sudden question interrupted him
"What are you reading?"
"First Snow by Julia Orz."
"Is it good?"
"Not my type of reading, but the story was pretty good. Sad, but good."
"I see.."
The conversation didn't last long before the spacious room was once again filled by silence. As the night grew older, the room became colder. The dimmed light that had been warming the room was gone and the only source of warmth available for both boys was each other's warmth. Sensing the other's shivering body, Kuroro pulled Kurapika closer to him. Weirdly enough, Kurapika didn't complain or refuse the gesture; probably the coldness had numbed his anger. They stayed like that for the rest of the night. No fight, no bickering, and no attempt to kill.
It'd been 4 years since both of them decided to create a truce between them. After finding the nen-purifier, Kuroro went for another journey to look for the last survivor from Kuruta Clan to propose a deal. The raven would help Kurapika to look for his clan's eyes, however the blonde had to join forces with The Spiders. After the death of Uvogin and Pakunoda, The Spiders' power weakened as it had lost its two precious limbs. Looking for a new member as their replacement took some time, and that was when the idea hit Kuroro; Kurapika's power was perfect to close the hole that had been made. He didn't expect the boy to agree with him, but a few threats would do a good job in persuading the smaller boy. Aside from promising that he would help Kurapika to look for his clan's eyes, he threatened if Kurapika refused his offer, he would kill all of his friends. Although at first Kurapika put up a fight, but in the end he was forced to accomply. Ever since then, he and Kuroro always stayed together. As much as he hated the idea of staying with his mortal enemy, however, after two years of being together, Kurapika couldn't help but to enjoy Kuroro's presence around him. Surprisingly, both of them shared the same interest; they liked reading many kind of books. Usually when they felt like it, they would stop and exchange their opinions regarding the books they had read. Their opinions were not always the same, and there were times when they would argue at each other. There were times when their fight was serious, but most of the time they would fight like children. In front of other people Kurapika appeared to be composed and careful on his actions. However, he tended to lose all his cool when he was arguing with a certain raven. On the other hand, Kuroro, who usually seemed emotionless and always put on a calm expression on his face, was actually pretty childish, especially when they were arguing on something unnecessary. There were times, when Kuroro won the argument; he would put on a childish grin instead of a triumph smirk on his face. Unbeknown to him, each time seeing the child-like smile on the older man's face, Kurapika's heart would beat a bit faster and his face would turn into a shade of unnoticable pink.
Although Kurapika always declared on how much he hated Kuroro, deep down inside, which he wouldn't want to admit, he enjoyed every moments they had spent together. The enjoyment he felt was different from the enjoyment when he was with Gon, Killua, and Leorio; it was more like a loud thump from his heart and the weird sensation in his stomach. He found it uncomfortable, but either way, he liked it. Right now, being so close with Kuroro made his heart made a lot of thumping sound and his cheeks felt incredibly hot although the other part of his body was freezing. Kurapika was so lost in his thought he didn't realise that Kuroro had closed his book and turned to face him.
"Did you remember the first time we celebrate Christmas together?"
Kurapika raised one of his brow before answering, "Was it included as celebrating? It was more like a war, I suppose."
Kuroro laughed at the answer the blonde gave. It was true, their first time celebrating Christmas together was something more like a war than a party. It all began when Phinks, Feitan, and Nobunaga were making fun of Kurapika's girly feature
"I bet if Kurapika was about to save a girl from being harassed by a couple of men, he would be the one to be kidnapped!", it was Phinks who started the joke.
"And I bet my nen, even though he was found out as a male, those kidnappers would still rape him anyway!", Nobunaga added.
"The boy looks prettier than girls, probably he is actually a she." Feitan commented calmly.
At their joke, the trio laughed as loud as they could, without paying any attention at the shaking blonde behind them. It was an all out war that included the whole Spider to stop them from killing each other. Kurapika was knocked out unconscious by Kuroro before he was finally confined in the other man's room for the rest of the year, avoiding him from murdering the trio when he had the chance to do so. As for the trio troublemaker, they were punished by Kuroro for initiating the fight. No one knew what Kuroro did to them, all they knew was how pale the trio's faces after the punishment session. From this moment, everyone in the Spiders included Kurapika finally understood; never piss off the leader.
"How about the second one? Did you remember it?",Kuroro continued to ask after some reminiscence of their past.
"Hnn.. The Spiders all went home, but I was forced to stick with you." Kurapika sent a glare towards the older man, "And then out of sudden you took me to the Yorknew Public Library to sneak inside and spend the rest of the night reading books. I can hardly say it's celebrating, but it was okay, I found a lot of interesting books there."
Kuroro nodded. He could still remember it clearly, two years ago right before Christmas he declared that the Spiders should scatter for a while. At first they didn't agree with him because they still couldn't entirely trust the chain user. However, the boss order was absolute and they had to follow it. After bidding each other with goodbye, which included Phinks, Feitan, and Nobunaga sending warning glares towards Kurapika, the Spiders finally dispersed. After seeing his companion off, Kuroro grabbed Kurapika by his wrist and took him to Yorknew Public Library, which happened to be closed since it was Christmas and all. They sneaked inside the building and ended up spending the rest of the night reading books. Neither spoke to each other as they were too deep in their reading, but none could deny the stares they exchanged secretly to each other. Once their gazes would meet and Kurapika would stubbornly insist that he was watching Kuroro's movement in case the man would suddenly kill him despite his reddening face.
"How about last year?"
"It was the only year I can say we truly do celebrate Christmas." Kurapika chuckled as he was reminded by the memories. Last year, The Spider finally had a proper Christmas party with no fight and no insult involved. It was just a 'normal' Christmas Party where everyone would sit together, enjoy their meals, and eventually exchange presents. "We always do this back then in Meteor City." Kuroro mentioned once. Kurapika got a rare book as a present, which he quickly recognised from whom it was. On the contrast, Kuroro got a jersey his present. Kurapika wondered who would give something like that as a present, but he could only think of a certain someone with a short temper and strong fist. From Machi's explanation, it turned out that years before, when Spider was first established, during Christmas everyone bought books for the exchange presents event because they all wished that their leader would be the one to get their present. Funnily enough, the books that they bought were the same books, so that year everyone in the Spider got the same presents, except from Franklin who got a Benz blade which was obviously from the Spider Head. In order to avoid the same case, Kuroro put a rule that no one was allowed to buy the same present during that event. After exchanging presents, everyone enjoyed their meal while drinking together. At that time, Kurapika was finally able to get along with the whole Spider members. Even the trio troublemaker started to open up to him, although sometimes they would still argue. He still remembered it clearly, the lively party he had with his mortal enemies. Bonolenov who nearly broke everyone's ears as he danced continuously while drunk; Nobunaga who were arguing with Phinks about Santa's existence; Feitan who snickered at the argument and later on was also dragged in the fight; and Shalnark who continued to pour liquor in his glass until Kurapika was totally drunk. He couldn't remember anything else after that because he passed out. When he tried asking people about what happened after he passed out, everyone only flushed and refused to answer him. He tried to ask Kuroro, who somewhat looked happy, but the man refused to give him answer. From their reactions, Kurapika decided that what he did that night was probably something unimaginable his pride wouldn't be able to live it through, so he decided to keep it hidden to save himself from freaking out. Kurapika smiled at his own reminiscence. Years ago, he wouldn't have expected things would turn out this way; he joined the Spider, moreover got along with them.
"What about next year?"
Kurapika blinked at the question, his blue eyes slowly turned to bright scarlet. He quickly turned his head to face Kuroro, red eyes met with the dark ones.
"Wha-"
Without paying any attention at Kurapika's questioning look, Kuroro continued, "What should we do to celebrate next year's Christmas? Shall we go on a date?", he put on his trademark smirk.
"Kuroro!", Kurapika finally snapped out. His hand clutched into a tight fist, "Stop it, Kuroro. Just stop it! There's no next year for us."
Kuroro stared at the boy before him, looking him intensely before parting his lips to continue, "Why?"
Kurapika was in a blink of tears, his body shook violently and his eyes turned redder, but he still tried to maintain his calm voice from cracking, "Our deal ends tomorrow, Kuroro. You know that already."
True to his words, their deal was not permanent. Both had agreed that it all ended after Kurapika got all his clan's eyes. After this, they would not meet each other nor mess up with the other's life. Kurapika promised he would stop hunting the Spider, while Kuroro promised he and the Spider wouldn't touch Kurapika or his friends anymore. It was the deal they had made four years ago and both had agreed to it. Kuroro's emotionless eyes were suddenly filled with something he couldn't describe, was it anger, disappointment, or... sadness? Kurapika pursued his lips tightly before continuing, "I just can't stay with you or the Spider, Kuroro. I hate you, both you and the Spider, I hate you all." He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, "Although we have become closer, but I can't stay with you. I can't have all the happiness when I remember that you are the murderer of my clan. Although my rage has weakened these past years, but I can't have it disappeared completely. It's a betrayal towards my clan. "
"So, this is the end?"
"Yes."
"...", Kuroro didn't say anything. He just sat there, looking straightly at Kurapika. Kurapika's eyes finally swifted back to his normal blue eyes. He tried to move away from the older man when he felt a something wrapped his wrist. He was about to protest when Kuroro cut him, "Let me hold your hand, then. For today."
Kurapika was taken aback by the sudden demand; he tried to study Kuroro's expression and was surprised at what he found. It was still the same emotionless expression the older man always had, but his eyes were full of an emotion Kurapika couldn't describe. "Please"
Kurapika only stayed still, his chest felt tightened by the look Kuroro gave him. He didn't pull back or said anything to refuse the man, but he also didn't say anything as an approval. He only stayed there, not moving while locking his gaze with the black-haired man's. Seeing no rejection from the blonde, Kuroro snuggled his head on the other's shoulder and closed his eyes slowly. Kurapika let the man rest on his shoulder like that for the rest of the night. They didn't say anything anymore, letting the sleepiness drowning them.
"Are you still awake?", Kuroro mumbled quietly. Kurapika heard him, but he was too tired to answer so he decided to keep quiet and see what the other would do.
"Kurapika.. Are you still awake?"
'Please answer me.'
"Kurapika.."
'I know you're awake.'
"..."
'...'
"Merry Christmas.."
'..I'm sorry.. for everything..'
"Kurapika.."
'Goodbye'
The next day Kurapika woke up, he was alone in the same livingroom. He turned around to see the raven but he was nowhere to be found. The only thing left was his coat that had warmed the blonde for the entire night. Kurapika stared at the emptiness before him. The children happy voices could be heard from outside, but he couldn't care less about it. What mattered at the moment was his companion who suddenly disappeared. Suddenly, the previous night's memories hit him.
'Goodbye, Kurapika. This is the last time.'
Warm tears started to flow on his cheek, and before he realised it, he was crying for the first time after so long. He knew, no matter how much or how loud hecried, the man he hated so much wouldn't come back to him. It was the end for them, and all there was for this Christmas was nothing but a painful goodbye.
And that's all for this fanfiction. How was it? What do you think? Please leave a review so I know what you think :D
Until then,
Thisis101113
