One: Gone

In many ways, Senritsu's entire life had been one giant mistake after mistake up to a very catastrophic mistake which had led to her permanently disfiguring herself.

Or at least, she always thought it was permanent.

The idea, even loosely, that finding the Sonata would some how restore her body to its former glory had been wistful thinking for the most part. Childish fantasies, but a hope she'd held onto nonetheless.

And somehow, that false hope turned out to not be so false after all. Though not quite fully restored, finding part of the Sonata had given her most of her old charms back, physically at least. And as she stood outside their coffee shop, staring at her reflection in a glass window out of the corner of her eye, she thought things did start looking up for me after all...

"I don't think this is going to work out," Kurapika said, his eyes looking everywhere but at her, one hand shoved lazily in the front pocket of his hands.

"Oh." She nodded. But even to her own ears, the words sounded pathetically stupid. "I mean...yeah, I agree actually." Is he breaking up with me? They were hardly even dating. More akin to close friends. He can't be breaking up with me.

"Really?" His right eyebrow went up, and his darting eyes finally landed on her with a look of affected boredom, like he was trying not to reveal his true feelings, which was a very Kurapika-thing to do.

"Yeah." She attempted a half-smile. "I just... it's been a nice three months together and all, but it's just not...there." What a bold-faced lie. The last three months, looking for the Scarlet Eyes with him, had been nothing short of pure bliss.

Kurapika remained stone-faced as he nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, this is super awkward now," she said, attempting a more genuine smile. "Uh so I think we should just..."

"Part ways?" His suggestion seemed sincere, even if the look on his face had doubts.

She nodded. "Yeah. Good luck and let me know if you need any help at all looking for the Scarlet Eyes," she replied. "My offer still stands, even though we didn't get much done together." Also true. They had found several leads of course, and even one pair, but it still wasn't enough for Kurapika. And she suspected that played a large role in why he was leaving her, breaking up with me. She was a distraction. And Kurapika didn't want those.

"Sure thing." He smiled at her. And it was the sort of smile that made her fake grin turn real. "I need to do this on my own. It's not you, it's me."

Famous last words, she remembered thinking as she waved goodbye at him and turned to walk down the street to her apartment.

And how damn true that had been.

Because that was the last time anyone heard from Kurapika. Or saw him. Not that she was worried or anything; Kurapika had a habit, even when they were working together at the Nostrad's, of going long stretches of time not talking with anyone. But this feels different. And while she wasn't the type to blow up anyone's phone, she had called Kurapika two more times than was appropriate in the span of two weeks. Because if nothing else, Kurapika isn't the type to make me worry unnecessarily. Even when he fell off the face of the Earth, he always made a point to at least give her, or LeorioGonKillua, or someone, some kind of indication that he was about to disappear for a bit. And to go almost four months without so much as a text saying screw off, stop texting me was too far out of his character.

Sighing heavily, she sat her phone on the nightstand in her bedroom. Outside, the sun was beginning to rise and there was a list of things waiting to be done. Things more important than worrying about Kurapika's current whereabouts. There was the expedition she was about to embark on, can I really throw that away to look for someone who might not want to be found? It was good money and a great opportunity, even if there was a high chance, like one-hundred percent, she'd die along the way. Her life goal had already been accomplished. She found the Sonata and destroyed it. At least, she found part of it. There was more, and maybe it had originated form the Dark Continent, and beyond. Maybe she would find the rest of it out there. Maybe not, but it was worth the risk.

And can I really throw that chance away for someone who might not want to be found?

Yes, she most definitely could.

Pressing the phone to her ear, she tried again. If he doesn't pick up that's it. She'd hop on the boat and be done with it. Hell, maybe they would meet there. It was highly likely one of the princes was in possession of some of the Scarlet Eyes anyway.

"Hello?"

"Kurapika!" She jumped to her feet. "Where are you?"

"…I think you got the wrong number," a man said.

"What?" She said, pulling the phone away from her and checking the screen. She'd called this number dozens of times, memorized it even, of course it's the right number. "You're not Kurapika?"

"Uh no...I mean, I just found this phone a few days ago."

"You found it?" She asked, beginning to pace around her small bedroom. "Like lying around on the ground or what?"

The lack of response on the other line was telling. He was lying about something, probably about how he'd acquired the phone. She could hear it in the irregular way he was breathing.

"Where did you find this phone?" she asked, with surprising boldness. Ever since restoring her old body to it's previous form, she'd found herself feeling more confident, outwardly at least. But more so, her temper overall seemed to be shorter. She had less patience in general and grew irate easier "Look, I don't care about the phone, or how you got it really. I just...this number belongs to my friend. I've been calling him the past few months and heard nothing. So if you brought that phone brand new and just randomly got this number, just tell me," she added.

"I got it at a secondhand shop. I just needed something cheap, ya know? I just have to factory reset it, which I couldn't figure out."

"Where did you buy it?" She asked.

The secondhand shop was called Tomin's Pawn and Lawn, where apparently Tomin "pawned" random items off the street and did lawn care on the side. She'd never heard of anyone buying phones from a pawn shop that mowed lawns, but whatever. I just hope he wasn't lying...She'd attempted to call the man several times after he'd given her the name of the store with no success.

A blast of warm air hit her face as she entered the shop and she found herself wondering for the hundredth time if she was making a mistake by even looking for Kurapika. Maybe he was truly immersing himself in the world of the mafia to never look back. Maybe he's not just immersing himself, maybe he had really become a criminal.

She snorted at the thought of that. Kurapika, a criminal? Never. Because despite the tint of logic to those thoughts, the Kurta would never sacrifice his morals completely.

"Hello!" A blonde-haired lady stood behind the check-out counter. "I'm Tomin! How can I help ya?"

"A friend of mine lost his phone," Senritsu said, which was her first mistake. Should've said it was my phone. "I've been calling the number and the guy said he got it from here."

Tomin's eyes darted around. "Really, sorry miss. There's really no way for me to verify stolen goods. I can give you half off anything else you see here though," she replied. "And for your friend."

She shook her head once. "Well I was actually wondering if my friend came here in the last...oh few days I suppose/ Blonde hair, black eyes, maybe wearing a suit."

"Don't ring a bell, sorry miss. I'll make it two-thirds off. Throw in a BOGO deal."

I don't want no damn BOGO deal. Senritsu's eyes scanned the small shop. No phones. "Do you remember anyone who gave you a phone in general in the past few days?" she asked.

Tomin rubbed her nose with her middle finger. "Uh not really. I mean, I get a lot of people coming in and out of my shop...oh, I guess I do sort of remember this fine gentleman that came in...he gave me a phone too, and a bunch of other stuff, but he's a regular of mine," she said. "I honestly don't normally take phones, but made an exception only cause he was trying to get rid of it."

Senritsu took a step forward, placing her hands on the counter. "Who gave it to you?"

Tomin threw her hands in the air. "Hey, confidentiality." But her heart was beating awfully fast. She's lying, but about what? And why?

"Look, I don't care who sold it to you. I think that phone belonged to a friend of mine and I just want to track him down. If I know who had that phone before you sold it, they might know where he is or at least the last place he was. You can keep your BOGO deal," Senritsu said.

Tommin sighed. "81-507155381. Call it soon, because it's definitely a burner. And don't tell him you got this number from me."

Senritsu was already punching the numbers into her phone, walking out of the door to stand on the sidewalk. The phone rang a few times before someone answered.

"Hello?" a male voice said.

Senritsu hung up faster than she could blink. That voice...but there's no way it's him. What an overreaction, Senritsu. Relax. Call the number again and apologize. She re-dialed the number and pressed it to her ear, swallowing hard.

But that had sounded an awful lot like a certain leader of the Ryodan.