Chapter 10: Yami no Sonata, part 5

I open my eyes, cautiously. Even though the room is dim, it still hurts.

He's there, sitting on the side of the bed, concern but also relief written on his features. On the low table next to the bed, he has dropped some package.

"Senritsu...how are you feeling?" he asks in a soft tone.

I sit up slightly, groaning. "Like I've been beaten with sandbags," I say. Then I cover my mouth in shock. My voice is definitely younger. Still soft, but young.

I glanced down at my arms, moving up the sleeve so that I can see what used to be the blackened skeleton of my left arm. Complete...not only that...slender...

"HA!" I burst out. "It worked, it worked, it totally worked!"

He bemusedly observes me hopping out of bed and prancing around. His face reflects a bit of astonishment. "Um...Senritsu, that is you, right?"

"Well, yeah, who else would it be, silly?" A part of me, the energetic, spontaneous side of me that has been forcefully locked up for the past seven years, bursts out in full glory.

I tackle him on the bed, kiss his cheek, get up, start dancing again.

And then I stop short. I have realized something. This garment doesn't fit like it used to. As a matter of fact...a large portion of my thigh is very visually apparent.

Noticing my sudden flushing face and embarrassment, he chuckles and tosses that package towards me. "Go ahead and change, come get me in my room when you're finished," he says, leaving and closing the door behind him.

I undress cautiously, and slip into the shirt and long skirt. They are dark purple, and, honestly, quite a bit too long for me.

I sigh. This is the one thing I always hated about my appearance, even before the curse.

I knock on his door, and he comes out. Then, becoming aware in the closer proximity, he says, "You're still short."

I pout. "I'm taller than I used to be."

He closes the door behind him. "You're still short."

I roll my eyes. "It makes us a perfect couple then, because you're short, too."

Then I gasp and cover my mouth. His has opened with a little shock, but mostly, I think, humor.

On the train back. Entering, I earn a few appreciative looks and even one low whistle from the various young men riding with us. Until Kurapika, with narrowed eyes that lightly glow warning, puts an arm around my shoulders protectively.

I pump my arm in victory once we reach the Hunter's compartment. "Yes! It's been seven years since the last time I got that reaction!" He casts a wary, but amused, glance at me.

We sit side by side. We've been talking, laughing, like two young people.

The conversation is the same, but the dynamic is considerably different.

He becomes quiet suddenly.

A sideways glance. Then another, even more nervous.

I wait patiently. He'll ask soon enough.

Then, "Senritsu..."

"Yes?"

He swallows hard. "Can you still...do you still have that Nen gift? The...the...reading heartbeats one?"

I grin impishly. "Of course! The Sonata only awakened in me a Nen gift that was already inherent. I didn't lose it when I became...like this." I gesture at my new—actually old—body, giggling a little at the blush that arises on his cheeks.

"I...see..." He is silent again, staring straight forward, then out the windows of the train. Then,

"Senritsu...?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know what my heart beat is saying now?"

Ah, there it is, finally. He glances up at my eyes, then away, then back again, so boyishly!

I say, quite bluntly, "Right now you're thinking, 'Wow, she's actually attractive! I didn't know she could be attractive! I wonder what she would think if I'...mmmph!"

Because by this time the Kuruta has closed my lips with his. After a minute, during which time he has explored my mouth with his, my face with his hands, he pulls away, gently wiping his lips.

"That was a bit wet."

"Yup."

A little more awkward silence. Then, "Do you want to try again?"

Pause. "Yup."

"You know, I wondered what it would be like to kiss you, once," he says after the second, more prolonged time. "I mean, before."

I am genuinely astonished. "What?"

He nods sheepishly. "That day while you were playing the beginning of Claire de Lune. You looked so...cute...even in that form...concentrating on the piece...and I thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad...And then I asked myself, 'What the hell are you thinking?'"

We both laugh.

"And now, there's something you need to do," I tell him. He nods, but his expression changes. "To find the eyes of my people," he says.

"I'll help you," I burst out. He gives me a wary glance. "Look, Senritsu..."

"I know, I know, you don't need my help, blah blah blah. Not true, and you know it. Why don't you take your own advice for a change. 'Why in the world didn't you ask me to come with you?' I'm not going to let you force me to ask that. From now on, we're a team, got it?"

"A team..." he says softly. "No, more like a duet."

Ah, I think. Kurapika Kuruta finally is starting to think in the language of music.

And from then on, the two of them are "like a duet."

Fine

Author's Notes: Okay, so Senritsu is a little OOC. A lot. But she did just undergo a transformation, right? I thought a little of that side of her character shone through in "The Heartbeat Never Lies", but maybe that's just my wishful thinking.

I didn't really mean to let it get to this point, anyway. It was supposed to be a bunch of pieces about music and friendship, but then the Yami no Sonata bit was just aching to be resolved and so...

Anyway, that's the end of my fanciful, very debatable, Kurapika/Senritsu pairing. May no arrows come my way because of it.