Author's Note: It's good to be back after so long! I know I haven't touched it for a long, long while, but I believe that it may have done me good to pause and re imagine things at a different angle. Though I never intended this "pausing" to last for two years...haha. Anyway, I'm back! Things are going to be slow since I need to get my gears back to shape and many things have happened along the way what with my mother's surgery and me getting into graduate school. But all the same; once again, dozou yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

Chapter 1: Contemplation X Hot tea X Shopping nightmare

It had been a week since Senritsu and Kurapika left York Shin to return to the Nostrad Manor. It had also been a week since Kurapika recovered from his sickness and yet, Senritsu felt that something was still off about him. His eyes told her that he was void of happiness, his energy drained. His heartbeat confirmed for her that he was still feeling unsettled and confused over something she had no idea about. Whatever it was, Kurapika would never be the same.

Senritsu sighed. She had promised LeoRio that she would watch over Kurapika in his place, but it was getting rather challenging. She could figure out his emotions through his heartbeat, but Kurapika guarded his thoughts well enough to prevent her from reading all that he was holding back and torturing himself with.

Senritsu sighed again and got up from the window seat in her room. She knew that whenever she had a headache from intensive thinking, she needed to play music for relaxation. She headed over to the lounge, sat down at the piano rather resignedly and began to play.

Kurapika sat up abruptly from his bed, breathing as if he narrowly escaped drowning. He had been having the same nightmare, of killing the two Genei Ryoudan members, the blood on his hands. He knew he wanted to take revenge and retrieve the scarlet eyes ever since his tribe's annihilation five years ago, but actually taking away their lives, smelling the metallic odor of blood on his clothes and face made him shudder slightly on the inside. How the Genei Ryoudan managed to murder hundreds of thousands of people and not bat an eye was a mystery to him. He sat on his bed and closed his eyes, as he attempted to stabilize his heartbeat and unwilling to continue in that line of thought; it just shows that he was weak, right? Then, he heard it. Someone playing the piano.

Most likely Senritsu, he thought, as he got out of bed.

As he was dressing in his usual clothing, he noticed a cup of steaming black tea and a neatly cut sandwich on a table next to the door. Kurapika smiled to himself. He had to admit, Senritsu really knew what he needed before he ever spoke. She is too kind and thoughtful.

Senritsu sighed in relief as she played the final dramatic chords to the piece she was playing, leaving the notes reverberating across the room. She looked down at the floor as she let her fingers slide off the keys and onto her lap. She gave up trying to figure out what Kurapika was thinking. It was too hard to understand what he was going through. Besides, that would be too nosy of her. She would wait for him to tell her at the right time, when he's ready.

Well, she concluded to herself, I guess I will go check on the others and Neon-sama. She stood up and absentmindedly dusted off the front of her slightly tattered and unattractive shirt, before heading to the door leading to the hallway. Just as she reached for the knob, the door opened, revealing Kurapika and Bashou. She quickly side-stepped to prevent being hit in the face.

"Oh! Sumimasen, Senritsu! I didn't realize you were still here!" Bashou loudly exclaimed as he stepped into the room.

Senritsu smiled softly. "It's alright. I was about to head out to see how you all were doing, and check on Neon-sama. Are you all well?"

"Ah… yes." Kurapika murmured, smiling. "Thanks for the sandwich and tea, Senritsu… and sorry about the door."

Senritsu laughed lightly. "I did say it's quite alright. I am in one piece. And you're welcome, Kurapika. I hope you enjoyed it." She glanced at the clock. "Well. I better see to Neon-sama."

"Oh! We'll go with you." Bashou said, winking. "We were looking for you to go with us to report to head boss anyway. A small stop to ojou-sama is not much."

"My, what a coincidence!" Senritsu chuckled.

It was a whole hour and a half before the three were dismissed from their boss' presence and allowed a half day off. With the auctions' finish and their team leader dead, Kurapika was appointed temporary leader at the last second during the emergency. However, now that the incident was over, the boss needed to regroup more Hunters, thus, there were few to no assignments given to them other than to protect and guard Neon-sama. This left them with hardly anything to do.

'Well, all we have to do is accompany ojou-sama to shop for an hour before we have the rest of the day off, right?" Bashou pondered aloud.

Senritsu sighed, "Indeed. However, she usually ends up taking more than an hour during her shopping sprees."

And I think it's about time I got back on track with finding the Sonatas of Darkness… She thought to herself. And Kurapika, I am sure, would want to get started on recovering the rest of his clan's scarlet pupils.

Senritsu shook her head and sighed again. "I suppose I will get myself ready for this last task. I will meet you both in the lobby, I assume?"

Kurapika glanced at her, deep in thought, before he answered. "Yes. We'll meet in the lobby with Neon-sama, in three minutes."

With that, they separated, each to prepare for an hour plus of shopping torture.

A/N: So as you've noticed, I have updated the chapter titles as well as proof-read it again. I kind of realized that me staring at the computer for so long after typing it prevented me from proof-reading it as well as I could have... BUT, all is well and I sifted through the chapters again just to make sure. If you still see any, though, please let me know!

Also, I have mentioned before that I may change some events that happened in the actual manga. As it is, I am extremely unhappy and angry about the callous way I believe the author of HunterXHunter is going about shaping the characters, ever since the Ant Arc, as my sister was. If you guys have read the recent chapters, you would notice the lack of Kurapika and many other people. (Though some explained that it was because he was so focused on his revenge and getting the scarlet eyes back, I don't think it's true.) Despite the fact that he was quite obsessive about those two things, he had shown before that he still highly valued his friends, no matter how hard he tried to deny his need of them. But with the recent events, Kurapika doesn't show up at all! ... Alright, enough spoiler, neh? I will try to update the rest of the chapters as soon as I can. Right now, I am proof-reading and finishing the newest chapter (though in reality, it was a chapter I finished halfway in 2013 but stopped because of... unpleasant circumstances. I hope that you guys don't give on me! Please R&R! It will help motivate me much!