Author's Notes:

PAIRINGS: Leorio/Kurapika (Leopika). Hisoka/Kurapika (Hisopika). Leorio/Cheadle.

RATING: Mature.

SPOILERS? Yes, until chapter 390 of the Hunter x Hunter manga by Yoshihiro Togashi. You may want to click off until you've caught up with the Succession War Arc, or have decided that you don't care. I do attempt to explain the context for the uninitiated.


Chapter 40: Resigning to echoes

In the end, it is the 14th and youngest prince who vanquishes the Succession War for good, ushering in this promising new era of peace, to be led by her eldest surviving sibling, the 9th Prince.

Kurapika doesn't see any of this happen. But as the 8th Queen tells it, she's never witnessed a more wondrous sight — the 14th Prince's Nen beast swallowing its twin, the Seed Urn controlling the contract compelling the war. Even though the battle's bindings can only ever be invisible, she felt them dissolving from around her daughter's wrists. She swears it.


Three days pass as Kurapika rests and recovers. For a time, he positions Pairo's head by his bed, but Melody, noticing by Kurapika's heartbeat the distress that it causes, takes it away for safekeeping.

Though all the other Hunters are looking forward to docking at the Dark Continent in a day's time, Melody has instead elected to accompany Kurapika during his next mission. The two of them plan to sail back with the survivors of the Kakin royal family, including Queen Oito and Prince Woble, and their employees.

Once he has reunited Pairo's head with its body, buried alongside the rest of his fallen brethren, Kurapika intends to enlist the help of a team of Hunters who are particularly skilled at tracking objects, the same way he is. Together, they can search for the scarlet eyes that the late 4th Prince scattered over the vast expanse of waters between the New Continent and the Dark Continent.

"Will Hisoka be returning with us, or moving on with the rest of the Hunters?" Melody inquires.

Kurapika sits up in bed. "Right, I have to talk to him about that. If he's still hanging around the 14th Prince's quarters, will you please send him in?"

"Are you ready to see him now?"

"Honestly, I still don't feel like seeing anyone." Except for one person, that is. But that one person hasn't visited, and Kurapika isn't about to ask for him. "There's no point in continuing to put this off, however. I need to have this conversation with Hisoka, sooner or later."


Sitting on a chair by Kurapika's bed, Hisoka listens to the plans to scour the seafloor for the scarlet eyes.

Kurapika is rubbing his temple with his fingers. "I'm hoping that most of the eyes are still in their jars. If Prince Tserriednich separated them from their containers, then this task is going to be that much more troublesome. . . ."

Hisoka perks up. "Ooh, this is just like playing hide-and-seek, except underwater. I might even get to punch some sharks. Count me in."

"No, you should move ahead with the other Hunters. The thrills that you've truly been craving are waiting for you in the Dark Continent. If you're stuck searching for the eyes with me, you'll only be bored."

Hisoka leans forward on his chair. "I'll never be bored. Not if I'm with you."

"But you're already bored with me, aren't you? I know that I disappointed you during that last encounter with Chrollo. I was the one who dragged you into that game in the first place, yet I failed to follow through. I'm not surprised that you haven't attempted to play with me since then."

Hisoka shrugs. "Can you blame me? You obviously haven't been in a playful mood lately. But once your health picks up again —"

"Let's not keep lying to ourselves," Kurapika tells him. "We both know that it's over."

Hisoka hesitates, then says, "You don't want to play with me anymore."

"Yes, I'm done with these games."

"You want to break up." It's a statement, not a question.

Kurapika nods in response.

Grinning in apparent amusement, Hisoka folds his arms over his chest. "I think I already know why you're doing this, but I may as well indulge you and ask anyway. Why are we breaking up, Kurapika?"

"I'm in love with Leorio," Kurapika says simply. "I'll always love him, so there's no point in being with anyone else from now on. If I can't be with him, then I'm fine being alone."

Hisoka's grin only widens. "So the truth has finally come out. Took you long enough to get there."

"I'm sorry, Hisoka."

"Hey, who's complaining? I don't regret anything that happened between us. It was thoroughly entertaining — watching you struggling against your endless cycle of self-sabotage, torturing yourself repeatedly with me, trying any damn thing to deny to yourself that you could ever feel anything as pointless and as fanciful as love."

"I admit that I was embarrassingly slow to arrive at this particular epiphany," Kurapika says. "By the time that I realized how I felt about Leorio, I was already too late. He's happy with someone else now. And she's good to him — good for him — as far as I can tell."

"But of course." Hisoka is snickering as he stands up from his chair. "If you're going to deprive me of the best sex of my life, you deserve to be blue-balled as well. It's only fair."

Hisoka moves toward the door, then turns around at the last moment. "I'll write to you from the Dark Continent. You'd better write back."

Kurapika raises his eyebrows. "How are you even planning to accomplish that? Does the Dark Continent have a mysterious mailing system that I haven't heard about?"

"Oh, shut up. If I want it to happen, I'll make it happen somehow. I'll bombard you with letters of my heart-pounding adventures and photos of scary monsters so that you won't be able to resist visiting the place yourself someday."

Kurapika smiles at him. "If I ever do, I'll be sure to look you up."


Hours from the Black Whale's expected arrival at the Dark Continent, Kurapika finally regains enough strength to stand up on his own. Of course, the first place he visits is the medical ward. He wants to see Leorio, his favorite person in the world, for what may very well be the last time.

Leorio is away, finishing his final rounds of the voyage, so Kurapika waits for him at the ward's entrance. Kurapika quietly observes Cheadle as she works behind the front counter. She doesn't say a word to him, and neither does he.

When Leorio returns, face sweaty and expression subdued, Kurapika's heart leaps in his chest, and he leaps up from his chair too.

"Eh. . . ." Leorio is lost for words at the sight of Kurapika being so sprightly again.

"Leorio, are you free to talk?"

Leorio glances at the front counter, then nods at Kurapika.

Once they're alone, Kurapika explains his intentions to search for the remaining scarlet eyes with Melody.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the Dark Continent with us?" Leorio asks him. "Even for a little bit? I'm only planning on staying with the others for a year, then I'm heading back to medical school."

"No, I need to do this. I have to finish my hunt as soon as possible."

"Kurapika, you've been hunting for the eyes nonstop for the past two years. Come on, you deserve a break!"

"A break is the last thing I can afford right now," Kurapika tells him. "Who even knows how much time I have left?"

Leorio looks momentarily stricken, then says fiercely, "Don't talk like that. Don't you dare. I don't want to think about it, so don't go beating yourself up about it either."

"I'm not being pessimistic. Just pragmatic. There's no point in denying the damage that I've already done in this one voyage alone. I need to make the most out of the remainder of my time. So before I die —"

Looking extremely agitated, Leorio turns to go. Kurapika steps forward and hugs Leorio hard, hugs him close so that he can't get away. But Leorio refuses to hold him in return.

"I apologize," Kurapika says softly. "If this is upsetting you, I'll stop talking about it."

Leorio's voice is teeming with emotion. "How can it not upset me? I hate this, Kurapika! I hate this so much!"

"I know. I'm sorry, Leorio. I just came to say goodbye, not to ruin your day. Just let me hold you, okay? Even if you hate me right now, please do this for me."

Leorio maintains a stony silence as Kurapika squeezes him tightly. Unbeknownst to Leorio, Kurapika is trying to imprint the rhythm of Leorio's heartbeat in his brain. The days ahead will be difficult, no doubt, but perhaps the warmth of this remembered sound will be enough to sustain Kurapika through every struggle.

"Look," Leorio says after a minute, "I should probably get back. Cheadle will wonder where I am."

"Okay." Kurapika forces himself to let go, to resign himself to these echoes. "Goodbye, Leorio. Please take care of yourself always. This time on the Black Whale with you means more to me than you will ever know."

Leorio doesn't meet Kurapika's eyes as he himself mutters a brusque farewell. Leorio walks off like he can't wait to be alone.

It's sheer torture for Kurapika to see Leorio, his love, leaving him behind. Kurapika keeps watching as Leorio walks away, hoping against hope that he will turn back and wave, but he doesn't.


Melody has also been wrapping up some business in the third tier, so she and Kurapika head back to the first tier together.

After a strangely awkward stretch of silence, Kurapika speaks up. "What is it? You keep throwing me these glances as if you have a million questions on your mind."

"Maybe so, but you don't want to hear my questions anyway."

"I want to hear them. Why else am I bringing this up? Listen, I'm aware that I've been unreasonably difficult with you lately, but I'm trying to make up for that, all right?"

With this encouragement, Melody launches into her interrogation. "Are you sure that was the right decision? Leaving things like that with Leorio? Do you really want him to remember you this way?"

"You were listening in? That conversation was private, Melody."

"I'm sorry, but I had no choice except to invade your privacy this time. It was the mildest breach of many unsavory alternatives, believe me. There are so many — too many — couples who are taking full advantage of the closed doors and the proper beds before they all have to disembark at the Dark Continent. I can even hear Basho with — oh. Never mind. Forget I mentioned anything."

Kurapika shakes his head ruefully. "Even Basho, huh? That's too bad. I could have used the distraction."

"Why do you need any distractions at this point? You're in love with Leorio, aren't you? What's the harm in letting him know?"

"Don't tell me. You were listening in on my conversation with Hisoka too?" But Kurapika sounds more exasperated than seriously offended.

"It's difficult not to eavesdrop when the two of you are right there, just on the other side of the door. Besides, I didn't learn anything from that conversation that I didn't already know. I knew that your relationship with Hisoka was only a game for him and a convenient escape for you, so it was only a matter of time before either of you ended it. I also knew that you viewed Leorio in a romantic light, long before you discussed the matter with Hisoka."

"Ah, let me guess. My treacherous heartbeat gave me away."

"Indeed," Melody confirms. "Your mind might have lied to you, but your heart has always been remarkably honest. In fact, I had detected early hints of your budding feelings for Leorio as far back as two years ago. But that time after you returned from your checkup in the medical ward for your back injury . . . that was the moment I knew for certain that it was love."

Kurapika thinks back to that time. "Yes, I can see why that would be the definitive tipping point. That day was special to me. Unforgettable, really. But I'll be considerate and spare you the details."

"I've never heard your heart pounding so passionately — so expressively — before or since. And that told me everything I needed to know."

"If you were aware of how I felt all this time, why didn't you just talk to me about it? You could have saved me a lot of trouble."

"I wanted you to come to terms with your feelings out of your own volition," Melody tells him. "Otherwise, how can I ever trust you with a heart as rare as Leorio's?"

Kurapika sighs. "I can never deserve a heart as rare as Leorio's."

"Now that's not true at all. There's a good reason that both Leorio and I never gave up hope in you, you know?"

"Melody . . . do you think I can change? It really isn't too late for me?"

Melody looks at him carefully. "What do you think?"

Kurapika furrows his brows. "I think . . . it doesn't matter if it's too late or not. I have to try. I want to be better. I need to be better."

"I've always believed in you. It's about time that you started believing in yourself too."

Kurapika takes a deep breath. "That type of confidence in myself . . . it might take a while. But I'll get there eventually, maybe."

"I'm here, okay? I'm with you. You don't have to do any of this on your own."

"Thank you, Melody. You're a wonderful person, a wonderful friend. I'll work as hard as I can to be a better person for you. And for myself too."

Kurapika reaches for her hand and squeezes it. Before he can let go, Melody squeezes his hand in return.

They continue walking like that, hand in hand, not caring who might see them or who might misinterpret this connection they share.