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Kurapika jolted awake suddenly. It took him a few seconds to process what had happened. “Oh right,” he thought, “I was just having a nightmare.” Kurapika began to observe his surroundings and realized he was still in the small building where Leorio and Melody had been treating him after he got sick from his fight with Uvogin. He felt a lot better now than when he first got sick, but he still got the nightmares every night and now they were even worse since he had come face to face with some of the Phantom Troupe’s members.
“You’re awake!” Leorio cried as he walked into the room, “You were so sick and I was really worried about you.”
“I feel a lot better now,” Kurapika replied, “thanks for treating me.”
“It’s really no big deal, we’re friends so of course I’d be there for you,” Leorio blushed a little before he began to recount the last few days for Kurapika, “Gon and Killua are out looking for a way to get to Greed Island. Also, Melody had to go back and cover for you with Nostrade but I’m sure once she hears you’re awake she’ll come back to meet up with us.”
“I can’t believe I almost forgot about my job,” Kurapika said, “I really need to go back if I’ve already been gone for this long.”
“Hold on Kurapika, I think you should rest for a bit more,” Leorio responded, “No offense, but you still look like hell.”
“It’s really nothing, I’ve just been having some nightmares lately that’s all” was all Kurapika could say in response.
“Nightmares?” Leorio frowned “What about?”
“Can we maybe just talk about this another time?” was what Kurapika wanted to say but he was still too drained to leave and he knew Leorio was concerned and wouldn’t stop asking about it so he ended up opening up to Leorio.
“My nightmares about my clan’s massacre have come back, except now they’re even worse because I can see the faces of my clan’s murderers and picture their expressions as they nonchalantly killed my entire clan. It’s always the worst when I see Uvogin, it feels like he’s been resurrected in my dreams and I’ll never truly be able to escape him. It’s always him that kills Pairo too-” Kurapika couldn’t continue because he was sobbing too much to even speak, he didn’t even know how to feel as he had never had anyone to open up to about any of his nightmares before.
Leorio was almost in shock as he had never seen Kurapika like this before and he was struggling to figure out how to properly comfort him. “I’m sure that the return of these nightmares was just a result of Uvogin’s nen haunting you, they will probably go away in a few days. For now, how about we just focus on good things for a bit? Tell me about this Pairo, he sounds like he was a good friend of yours.”
Kurapika began to smile a bit, “He really was, he was always there and supported me whenever the clan elders chastised me for my sense of adventure, and I was always there to support him whenever someone made fun of his blindness.”
“They made fun of him for being blind?!?” Leorio exclaimed
Kurapika smiled, “I mean they were all young kids at the time, and whenever they would group up together to play soccer Pairo couldn’t join as he could never quite pinpoint where the ball was. I guess they just didn’t really understand and assumed he didn’t want to play with them. It didn’t matter what they thought though because whenever they were playing Pairo and I would go adventure together.”
“That reminds me of when my friend Pietro and I had to sit out of soccer once his disease had progressed too far. We ended up making a board game version that we could play while sitting so we didn’t have to give it up completely.” Leorio shared
Kurapika was a little surprised, “I didn’t realize you had any friends back home.”
“I mean I’ve never been the best at making them,” Leorio replied, “but Pietro was different. He was always kind to me when everyone else just ignored my existence.” Leorio took a pause, clearly getting choked up as he continued, “When he got sick I didn’t know what to do with myself. I tried everything I could to raise money for his treatment but-” Leorio cut off, he was going to say “it was too late” but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Luckily Kurapika seemed to get what Leorio was saying, “I know what you mean, I took the exit test as a child because I wanted to search for a way to heal Pairo.” Kurapika sighed before he went on, “That was the reason I wasn’t there when my clan died. I often wonder whether I should have just stayed with my clan, after all, it was probably me that exposed our existence and got us killed.”
“Kurapika,” Leorio started, “You were just looking for a way to heal your friend, its what I did, and it's what anyone would have done. You should be grateful that you are alive to carry on Pairo’s memory as well as the rest of your clan. Please don’t ever think that it was your fault and that you should have died.”
Kurapika smiled, “Thanks Leorio, that means more than you know.”
“Anytime, friends have to stick together.” Leorio responded, “besides I never knew our pasts were so similar.”
“Similar?”
“Yeah, I mean, you’re fighting the Phantom Troupe to prevent what they did to Pairo and your clan from happening to anyone else, and I’m going to become a doctor someday to prevent Pietro’s disease from taking another life.”
“To think that just a short time ago I thought you were a shallow man who only cared about money.” Kurapika laughed
“I suppose I do care a bit about money even though I would never charge anything for treating people, after all, Pietro and I did do a lot of pickpocketing in our time,” Leorio said happily
“Pickpocketing?” Kurapika said dramatically, “To think my good friend could be stealing in his free time.”
“Oh come on!” Leorio cried lightheartedly, “Cut me a break, I got caught most of the time cause Pietro was way better than me.”
“I feel like Pairo would have been a good pickpocket too if he had decent vision.” Kurapika said, “he managed to switch out eyedrops for water during my exit test so I didn’t end up failing when my eyes turned scarlet.”
“Maybe they’re somewhere in the afterlife pickpocketing together,” Leorio said with a small smile
“Yeah based on how you describe Pietro so fondly I can tell that he and Pairo would probably be good friends,” Kurapika replied
“I wonder if they’re proud of how far we have come because of them,” Leorio said while deep in thought.
“I’m sure they are, and by the way, you’ll have to show me that soccer board game sometime,” Kurapika said cheerfully
Before Leorio could answer, Melody came into the room, “Kurapika I’m so glad you’re awake! Miss Neon has been asking for you and we’ve all missed you!” after seeing Kurapika and Leorio’s expressions she paused, “wait I’m not interrupting anything am I?”
Leorio blushed, “Oh um of course not, Kurapika and I were just sharing stories.” he said awkwardly.
Kurapika laughed at Leorio’s embarrassment before he spoke, “I suppose I’ll have to get back to work now, but I hope you’ll stick around for a few more days before you go to school because its nice talking with you Leorio.”
“I sure will, then I can show you the soccer board game!” Leorio said excitedly
“You two certainly seem a lot more cheerful than before,” Melody remarked
“I guess we are now that I’m feeling better after talking things through with Leorio,” Kurapika replied as he began to walk to the door, he then turned toward Leorio before he left, “I’ll see you at dinner Leorio!”
Before Kurapika walked out the door the pair’s eyes met and both could see deep down they each had a newfound understanding of each other through their shared memories.