A.N: Happy New Year! Now please don´t kill me, this is the best I was able to do. I made this for New Year, and that´s why I´m publishing it today even thought it was ready already a couple of days ago. I´ve written one other HxH story too, but I got this ready before it. And now people, here´s a question for you: why is there so little Senritsu stories? She´s an awesome character and she deserve more stories! Right? Yeah, I think you got it: this is about Senritsu.
Disclaimer: I don´t own HXH or the song in this story. I only own Akira the idiot.
New Year´s Foolishness
Senritsu sighed, going to her room. It was New Year again. Last year she had been swimming in self pity, but not this time. This time she was just sad. No one else was around, so she took an old picture out of her back.
In the picture was a beautiful woman with reddish brown hair and brown eyes. Next to her is a black haired man with green eyes.
"I will find the Sonata of Darkness, you just wait, Akira. I will destroy it and return back to normal." Senritsu thought. The picture was taken two years ago in New Year, when Senritsu still looked like a normal person. And when Akira was still alive.
Flashback:
"Sorry I´m late, Akira!" yelled a young woman in her late teens when she caught up with a young man. The man, Akira, laughed.
"It´s alright, Senritsu." he said. It was December 31st, 9 pm. They were planning to have a nice night in the bar and then go spend the rest of the night to Akira´s apartment. They went to the bar and drank a lot. Well, Akira did. Senritsu drank only a little bit, but it was enough to get her dizzy. She wasn´t used to drinking.
At 11 pm they left the place, both drunk, but not tired. They went to Akira´s apartment to celebrate the New Year.
"Happy New Year!" Akira cheered.
"You said that an hour too early!" Senritsu protested. Akira laughed.
"Aaw, so what?" he said, taking another wine bottle from the shelf.
"Maybe you shouldn´t drink anymore", Senritsu said when she noticed what he was doing.
"Aaw c´mon, Sen, people need to live in a moment!" Akira yelled, opening his bottle. Senritsu laughed.
"You´re right", she said "Give me some too!" she reached towards the bottle, but Akira didn´t give it to her.
"No way", he said "Go get your own!"
Senritsu frowned.
"You´re no fun!" she whined.
"Hey, this is my alcohol! And there´s still some left in the shelf, so go take your own!" Akira said. Senritsu stuck her tongue out at him and went to take her own bottle. When she came back, she saw Akira looking for something from the boxes. He had just thrown everything on the floor when it wasn´t what he was looking for.
"What are you trying to find?" Senritsu asked, opening her bottle.
"A camera", Akira replied and continued searching. Senritsu sweat dropped.
"Umm… Akira?"
"Yeah?"
"There´s a camera on the table", she said, pointing to the table in the middle of the room. A silence fell in to the room.
"Yeah, I knew that." Akira said awkwardly.
"Sure…" Senritsu said, rolling her eyes. Akira took the camera and said: "C´mon, let´s take a picture!"
Senritsu blinked.
"Now?"
"No, next year." Akira said sarcastically "Of course now!"
"But I look terrible!" Senritsu protested.
"You look always terrible", Akira commented with a smirk.
"What! Why you-" Senritsu was interrupted by a pillow that flew to her face.
"C´mon Senritsu, just one picture!" Akira said.
"Fine", Senritsu said. They sat on the couch and Akira set the camera.
"Smile!" he yelled right before the camera flashed. The picture came out good, both teens smiling widely in it. Akira looked at the picture and said: "Aah, what a great life!"
"How can you be so happy about such a little thing like that picture?" Senritsu asked.
"It´s better to be happy about little things ´cause they´re easy to get. That way you can always be happy", Akira explained.
"That´s stupid", Senritsu said.
"Maybe, but that´s why I´m always happy and won´t get wrinkles because of worrying about things." Akira told, making Senritsu frown.
"Are you saying I have wrinkles?" she asked, taking a sip from her bottle.
"Maybe", Akira said, taking a sip from his own bottle.
"You´re mean", Senritsu said.
"Your point?"Akira asked. They were both silent for a moment and then they started to laugh.
"Hey Akira", Senritsu began.
"Yeah?"
"Play something for me", she said.
"Only if you sing for me", Akira said. He had always liked Senritsu´s singing. In his opinion, she should have become a singer, not a hunter. But she hadn´t listened him.
"Do I have to?" Senritsu asked. She didn´t like her voice. In fact, Akira was the only person that had said her voice was beautiful.
"Yeah"
"Fine. But you´ll have to play first", Senritsu said.
"Okay", Akira said and got up. He took some paper from the floor and started to look for his flute.
"What´s that?" Senritsu asked, pointing at the paper.
"Oh, this? Just some notes I found. I was planning on playing this song with my flute", Akira told.
"What is it called?" Senritsu asked, resting her head to her hands.
"The Sonata of Darkness", Akira answered with a light laugh. Senritsu blinked; she was sure she had heard the name somewhere before, but she dismissed the thought. She was a music hunter; it wasn´t weird if she had heard the name before. She turned her attention back to Akira and asked: "What are you looking for?"
"My flute", he replied. Senritsu face palmed.
"It´s next to your foot", she said, holding her laugh. Akira blushed and took the flute. He turned to Senritsu´s direction and frowned.
"Are you laughing at me?" he asked.
"N-no", Senritsu said and started to laugh.
"Yes you are!" Akira said. After a moment Senritsu stopped laughing.
"Agues I´ll never be able to understand how you can be so stupid", she said.
"Hey I´m drunk, of course I´m stupid!" Akira said and started to laugh with his friend. After they were done laughing, Akira started to play the Sonata of Darkness. It started, in Senritsu´s opinion, weirdly. Not bad kind of weird, not yet at least, but still weird. Then it started to sound funny. Senritsu relaxed, closing her eyes. They shot open when the tune started to sound threatening. She used gyo and was able to see nen in the flute and the notes.
"Akira, there´s something wrong. Stop playing", Senritsu said. She didn´t like this nen; it was too threatening. She got even more worried when her friend didn´t stop.
"Akira?" Suddenly she saw how Akira´s body started shaking. He, however, was still playing the flute.
"A-" her eyes widened: now her own body started to shake too.
"What´s happening?" she asked from no one. Still using her gyo, she could see the threatening nen from the notes crow bigger and bigger. The nen formed creatures, dangerous looking creatures, like monsters. Tens of them. Senritsu began to panic.
"Akira, stop it…" no reply "AKIRA!" she yelled, grabbing his shoulder with her right arm. And then it happened.
The nen creatures started attacking them. Biting them, burning them, everything possible. After a moment Senritsu let go of Akira, trying to fight the creatures off of her. She glanced at her friend, noticing that he was still playing his flute.
"Akira, stop it already!" she screamed, tears starting to fall from her eyes. But her yelling went to deaf ears. After a couple of more minutes of fighting, she passed out.
"Sen…. rit… su…" Senritsu heard her name being called when she woke up. She sat up and touched her forehead, the memories of what happened coming to her mind. Her eyes widened.
"Akira!" she screamed, running towards her friend with her now really small feet. The sight in front of her shocked her; Akira was burnt, and he was barely breathing.
Akira smiled lightly when he saw his friend.
"Hey Senritsu, you-"cough "You look terrible." Senritsu ignored what he said, not even noticing her own state at first.
"Don´t speak, you need a doctor!" she told in panic.
"So do you with that arm", Akira said, gathering his strength and pointing at Senritsu´s arm. Senritsu blinked, finally looking at her arm. And then the rest of her body. Her eyes widened.
"What happened!" she asked in panic.
"I-"cough "I don´t know", Akira said. Senritsu turned her attention back to Akira, alerted. His heartbeat was slowing and-
Wait.
Did she just hear his heartbeat from this far? But how?
"Senritsu… I´m dying aren´t I?" Akira asked, spitting a pit blood.
"No you´re not", Senritsu said, watching her badly hurt friend "No you´re not", she repeated.
"Senritsu, could you" cough "Do me a favor?" Akira asked. Senritsu nodded, wiping away tears she hadn´t noticed earlier.
"Sing to me", Akira said simply.
"What?"
"Sing, Senritsu. I want to hear you sing one more time", Akira said, starting to cough again. However, Senritsu could not sing. She was afraid. Afraid that in her new… form she could not sing beautifully. She didn´t want to admit it, but she knew Akira was going to die. What if her singing would sound terrible? Then the last thing her friend heard would be something terrible… no, she didn't want that!
"I can´t, Akira, I just can´t!" Senritsu sobbed. To be honest, she expected Akira to be mad. But he just smiled at her.
"That´s okay Sen-" cough "…ritsu." he managed to say right before his heart stopped beating. Senritsu, getting in to a shock all of sudden, stood up and took the picture from the table, leaving the apartment and never coming back.
End of flashback
Senritsu sighed, hugging the picture tightly. Ever since then she haven´t sang, not even once. And every time she cried, she made sure that no one, absolutely no one, would hear. And that´s why she couldn´t cry now. She heard his steps and heartbeat. She knew he was coming, and that he was already close.
"Senritsu?" Kurapica said, opening the door. Senritsu put a fake smile on to her face and turned to her friend.
"Yes, Kurapica?" she asked, trying to hide all the sadness from her voice. Unfortunately for her, Kurapica was not a fool. He noticed immediately that something was wrong with his friend, and he wanted to know what it was.
"What´s wrong, Senritsu?" Kurapica asked.
"Nothing", Senritsu answered, making Kurapica narrow his eyes.
"Your eyes tell me that you´re lying", he told. Senritsu looked away, knowing that she couldn´t fool her friend. If it didn´t work on the first try, it wouldn´t work at the second one either.
"I would not like to talk about it", she told. Kurapica frowned, but decided to leave it to that. He knew that he shouldn´t push his friend too far. To get rid of the uncomfortable silence, he changed the subject, asking: "Do you want to come celebrate New Year with us?"
Senritsu shook her head; she wasn´t in the mood for celebrating, especially not with her childish, loud boss.
"No thanks, I´m not in the mood right now." Senritsu told. Kurapica nodded and was about to leave, but then he noticed the photo on Senritsu´s lap.
"What´s that?" he asked, pointing at the photo.
"It´s a photo", Senritsu said simply, making Kurapica frown.
"I know that", he said "May I see it?"
Senritsu thought for a moment; should she let Kurapica see the photo or not?
"It can´t do any harm", Senritsu thought, saying: "Go ahead."
Kurapica walked over to the bed where Senritsu was sitting and took the photo. He studied it for a moment. There was a man and a woman in it. He had nothing to say about the man, but the woman looked like, at least to him, a little bit like Senritsu.
"Are these your parents?" Kurapica asked after a while, making Senritsu laugh silently.
"Guess again", she said. Kurapica frowned. Not her parents, huh? He thought for a moment, but nothing came to his mind. So he gave up.
"Mind telling me who they are then?" he asked. Senritsu sighed, taking the picture from him.
"The man is my old friend, Akira. And the woman", she paused "Is me."
Kurapica blinked. He looked at the photo in Senritsu´s hands, then at Senritsu herself. The woman in the photo did look a little bit like her, but-
"Your heart tells me that you´re confused", Senritsu said with a sad smile.
"Pretty much, actually." Kurapica said, still looking at the photo.
"It was taken two years ago", Senritsu told "Just a couple of minutes before Akira played the Sonata of Darkness with his flute."
Kurapica frowned, looking at the picture. So this was what Senritsu had looked like before. And in the photo, next to her was the man who had caused it. Kurapica didn´t know why, but he was angry. He tried to calm himself before Senritsu would notice, but it didn´t work.
"What are you angry about?" she asked. Kurapica couldn´t say that he wasn´t angry; he knew that he wasn´t able to lie to Senritsu.
"Because of this person… you´re now in that state." Kurapica said. He wasn´t surprised to see Senritsu shake her head.
"No, it was my own stupidity." she said.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Kurapica asked. He had often wondered how Senritsu actually ended up like that.
Senritsu thought for a moment again. Should she tell him? Well, people said that talking helps, so why not? Senritsu nodded, motioning Kurapica to sit down next to her. She started to tell Kurapica about the night two years ago. Kurapica didn´t say anything, didn´t ask anything. But when Senritsu stopped, he asked: "Aren´t you looking for that Sonata of Darkness? Why didn´t you go to look for it from your friend´s apartment?"
"I tried", Senritsu said "But when I had finally gathered enough courage to go back, the police had already cleaned the whole place, including the Sonata. I asked from them about it, but they said they hadn´t seen it. That´s why I was finally planning to go to the apartment, to check if it was still there. But I never made it to the apartment; the whole building burned down."
When Kurapica opened his mouth, Senritsu continued: "Yes, I´m sure the Sonata didn´t burn with it."
"I didn´t say anything", Kurapica said.
"No, but you were about to." Senritsu said with a slight smile.
"Yeah", Kurapica confessed, second question popping to his mind.
"Senritsu"
"Yes?"
"You mentioned that you haven´t sang ever since then, didn´t you?" Senritsu nodded; she just couldn´t sing. In her own opinion, she had always been pretty bad at singing. What if she had gotten even worse?
"Could you sing to me now?" for the first time in two years, Senritsu wondered if she had heard wrong. Did she really just hear `Could you sing to me now´?
"What?"
"Could you sing to me now?" Kurapica repeated. He didn´t know what to think when Senritsu said `What´, but he repeated what he had said anyway. It was possible that Senritsu hadn´t heard him, right? …yea right.
Senritsu shook her head. No, she didn´t want to sing. She had told Kurapica that she hadn´t sang in two years, but she hadn´t told why. She knew that Kurapica would think the reason was childish. How did she know, you ask? Well, she knew because she herself thought it was childish, too.
"Why not?" Kurapica asked, but Senritsu didn´t answer.
"Sen-"
"Kurapica!" Senritsu hissed before Kurapica could say anything. He looked at her, seeing the depression in her eyes.
"…"
"…"
"Found myself today Oh I found myself and ran away. Something pulled me back…" Senritsu´s head turned to Kurapica´s direction.
She never knew he could sing.
"Voice of reason I forgot I had, all I know is you're not here to say…" she continued to listen her friend singing.
"What you always used to say…" she knew this song!
"But it's written in the sky tonight…" slowly and quietly, she started to sing with him.
"So I won't give up, no I won't break down. Sooner than it seems life turns around…" she raised her voice a little, happy that she was able to sing again.
"And I will be strong, even if it all goes wrong…" Kurapica silenced his voice, starting to watch Senritsu.
"When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe…"now Kurapica stopped completely, leaving the singing to Senritsu.
"Someone´s watching over me…" Kurapica looked at his friend with a smile on his face. He relaxed, listening to her beautiful voice. It had been a long time since he last heard something so beautiful.
No, he had never heard something so beautiful.
Senritsu sang the whole song, and when it finally ended, she looked at Kurapica.
"You sing better than anyone else I know", Kurapica told. He knew Senritsu would believe him, because heartbeats never lie. With that said, he stood up to leave. When he was at the door, Senritsu called: "Kurapica"
The said man turned to face her.
"Yes?"
"You sang pretty well too", she said.
"Thanks", Kurapica said, a small blush coming to his cheeks. Then he left, closing the door behind him.
"`You sang pretty well too´? I was supposed to say thank you!" Senritsu cursed in her mind, but smiled to herself. It had been long time she had felt so relaxed, so happy.
And so in love.
A.N: Okay, I admit it: this turned out as KurapicaXSenritsu. They might have been a little OOC thought. Please don´t be mad, and please review.