The Aura

A playmate for Baby Kurta

It is the morning of December the twelfth. The past eight months quickly went by. Leorio had proposed to Aimi a few days after he told his friends about the baby. She said yes and they got married in October.

Shortly after Kohana's death, Kurapika had a meeting with the medical team at the hospital. The doctors explained everything that had happened to Kohana right after delivery. After the meeting, Kurapika asked Aimi for forgiveness and they have been getting along ever since.

Kurapika thinks about Kohana everyday and he visits her grave at least once a week. He has not seen her aura since the funeral. Every time Kurapika visits her grave, he is hopeful that her aura will reappear. He still has a lot of Kohana's things scattered around the house. He breaks down whenever he thinks he is ready to get rid of something that belonged to her. His friends worry that he is not grieving well.

Scarlet is crawling everywhere and Kurapika is having trouble keeping up with her. She crawls up to the Christmas tree and grabs an ornament to put into her mouth.

"Scarlet!" yells Kurapika while running toward her.

He gently takes the ornament away from Scarlet. He wipes the sweat off of his forehead and looks at the tree.

"Okay, I'm going to put these a little higher up." says Kurapika while rearranging the ornaments on his Christmas tree.

Scarlet giggles at Kurapika and he can't help but laugh back. He starts to tickle her and she laughs harder. Kurapika loves the sound of his baby's laugh.

"Are you excited for your first Christmas, my precious jewel?" Kurapika asks Scarlet.

She continues to laugh. Kurapika's phone starts to ring. He answers his phone once he notices it is Leorio.

"Hello?" answers Kurapika.
"Hey! Aimi is in labor!" says Leorio, excitedly.
"Really?" asks Kurapika.
"Yes, we are headed to the hospital now. I'll keep you updated. I really wish you could be here." says Leorio.
"I know. Good luck." says Kurapika.
"Bye!" says Leorio.
"Bye." says Kurapika and then he hangs up.

Leorio understood that Kurapika would not want to go back to the labor and delivery department. Kurapika will meet the baby after Aimi is discharged from the hospital.

"Your cousin is about to be born, Scarlet! Isn't that exciting? Let's see. Do we want Leorio to have a boy or a girl? I'm going to say girl." says Kurapika to Scarlet.

Scarlet crawls away from Kurapika.

Kurapika feels happy for Leorio, however, he is reminded of the day Scarlet was born. That day started off so exciting. His baby was going to be born on his birthday. The best birthday gift he could ever receive. She is a new beginning to the Kurta clan. It was also the worst day of his life. The day he lost his precious Kohana.

Kurapika decided to distract himself by going Christmas shopping. He was almost finished with gift buying. He still needed a gift for Alluka and Leorio's baby. Kurapika also wanted to buy something for Kohana. He knew it probably wasn't healthy, but it made him feel better. He didn't want to show up to her grave on Christmas Day empty handed.

"Okay, Scarlet. Do you want to go to the mall with daddy to finish buying Christmas presents?" Kurapika asks Scarlet, who is being entertained by her musical toy.

Kurapika pulls into a parking spot at the mall parking lot. He opens his trunk to take out Scarlet's stroller. The mall was packed.

"This is going to take longer than I had originally anticipated." Kurapika says to himself.

Kurapika's first stop was at the coffee shop. He felt like caffeine was necessary to make it through his shopping trip.

"Oh, my goodness! What an adorable baby!" exclaims the perky college-aged barista.
"Thank you." says Kurapika while taking out his card to pay.
"Hey, you gotta try our gingerbread biscotti! It is the best!" exclaims the barista.
"No, thank you. Just the coffee." says Kurapika.
"Okay, if you say so. Name for the order, please?" asks the barista.
"Kurapika." answers Kurapika.
"Okay, one grande cappuccino, extra hot for Kurapika!" exclaims the barista while writing his name on the cup.
"Uh, yeah." says Kurapika.
"It will be right up! So, are you shopping for your wife today?" asks the barista as soon as she notices Kurapika's wedding ring.
"Yeah. Have a nice day." says Kurapika as he leaves the counter.
"Merry Christmas, Kurapika!" exclaims the barista while waving at him.