A/N: Okay, so I wasn't going to post this just yet, until I had a few more chapters finished, but... It's just so fun I couldn't help myself! I make no promises that the next chapter will come particularly soon, but we'll see what happens (aka how work goes for me this week...). Anyways, I hope you all enjoy! I'm really having a lot of fun writing this story, so I hope you all have fun reading it too! Please let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing you may recognize from either Hunter X Hunter or Howl's Moving Castle. However, I do own this particular story! Cross-posting between ChocolatteKitty-Kat on FFnet and Ao3 and maliciousbubbl3s on Tumblr.
.*.*.*.*.*.
Leorio leaned back in his chair and sighed, slinging his arm over his eyes.
Knock knock.
"Come in!" Leorio called, sitting himself back up.
"Hello, Leorio," Melody's soft voice chimed from the doorway. "The infirmary is closed for the day. You don't have night watch tonight; do you want to come out with the rest of us?"
"No, that's okay," Leorio half-turned to look at her. "I want to get some more studying done tonight."
"Are you sure?" there was a gentle admonishment in Melody's tone. "You can't stay cooped up in here forever."
"It won't be forever," Leorio grinned. "Just until I graduate with my M.D."
Melody laughed. "I suppose that's fair. Well, if you change your mind, the rest of us will be over at Forger's."
"Okay," Leorio had already turned back to the textbooks spread across his desk. He heard the click of the door settling back into its latch and sighed again. Soon, he promised himself. Soon. Final exams are in a few weeks, and then you'll be able to go out with the others.
.*.*.*.*.*.
Despite his best intentions, Leorio found himself unable to focus. Finally, after being distracted by the whistle of the train outside for the fourth time in an hour, he slammed his book shut and stood up with such force that his chair fell backwards to the floor. "One night won't hurt," he declared to the closed window in front of him. "I'll come back and study tomorrow. Maybe even later tonight!"
With that decided, he grabbed his jacket and was off. He waved at a few of the nurses and field doctors who were still around despite the late hour on his way out the door, but didn't pay much attention to them. He hadn't really taken the time to get to know anyone at the field hospital. Melody he'd known before, and she was the one who introduced him to Zepile, owner and bartender of Forger's, the best bar in town. They were his only two friends in this lonely place…
Outside, the air was crisp and clear, and smelled of locomotive smoke and fall. The town had really cleaned up for the parade of soldiers passing through. Leorio hadn't gone to the display that afternoon; he was too busy in the infirmary taking care of the wounded from the war-the true heroes, as far as he was concerned-to laud those who had spent the battles watching from the background. He pushed the war out of his mind. There were no signs of it on a night like tonight, after all. No sense in spoiling a perfectly good evening with something so foul as senseless fighting.
Leorio took the long way to Forger's. It was nice enough to do so, and he could avoid the parties of visiting soldiers spilling out of just about every bar or restaurant by taking the back streets. Unfortunately, he didn't actually know the back streets particularly well, and soon found himself lost as the sun dipped below the distant hills.
Leorio was trying to get his bearings when he ran into… someone. He staggered backwards, a rebuke on his lips (despite fully knowing that he was the one at fault) until he saw the bright blue and red uniform on the man in front of him. He immediately swallowed his pride and muttered an apology, attempting to continue on his way.
"Hey!" the blond soldier-he probably would have been attractive in any other situation, uniform or not, Leorio mused-barked, grabbing Leorio's arm as he tried to brush past. "Watch where you're going, buddy!"
"I said I was sorry," Leorio kept his voice meek and his eyes directed at the ground. Maybe if the guy thought he was a coward, he'd let him go. In truth, it was everything Leorio could do not to punch the soldier in his smug, pretty face.
"Mousy little thing, aren't you?" the blond laughed, shoving Leorio back into the stone wall behind him.
Little? Leorio, who stood head and shoulders over the brawnier soldier, arched an eyebrow.
"What's going on over here?" an even gruffer voice called from the nearest doorway. Leorio didn't find it hopeful; the only person who would consider getting involved in a dispute with a soldier was another soldier.
"This little mouse bumped into me and thought he could get away without apologizing," the first soldier called back.
The man who stepped into view sent Leorio's heart into his mouth. He was huge; easily as tall as Leorio, and twice as broad. His biceps were thicker than Leorio's thighs-and Leorio didn't consider himself a small man. "I, uh… I did apologize, actually. It was just a little… quiet?" Leorio stammered.
He didn't even see the fist coming.
The blond soldier's punch hit him square over his left eye and cheekbone, and sent his head slamming back into the stone wall, effectively dazing him.
"Ow," Leorio mumbled.
"You calling me a liar, pretty boy?" the blond sneered, grabbing Leorio by the jaw.
Oh. That's what he wants.
The other soldier was already pinning Leorio in from the other side, reaching up to grab his tie. He leaned in close enough for Leorio to feel his bristling mustache and smell his breath-heavy with alcohol-and spoke: "It's not smart to tell lies to people like us."
"Hello there."
Three heads snapped around to find the source of the new voice. Leorio's heart pounded with terror on behalf of the new arrival. A small, slight blond with shaggy hair and perfectly tailored clothing stood in the dark alleyway a few feet from them, hand on his hip and head cocked to the side.
"What's going on here, darling?"
Is he talking to me..?
"You with this guy?" the big soldier laughed. "You're way out of his league."
"Yeah, you should stick around with us for a little while," the blond soldier simpered. "We can really show you a good time."
"Too bad," the new arrival sighed.
"'Too bad'?" the blond soldier repeated.
"Too bad you two were just leaving," the gentleman-because, with clothes like those, despite his haircut, he had to be something more than just a normal townsperson-twirled a finger in the air.
The two soldiers snapped to attention, saluted Leorio, and marched down the alley, past the cute blond, protesting the entire way.
"Wha-uh, what just happened?" Leorio mumbled as the blond appeared at his side-Leorio didn't even see him move-and slotted himself against Leorio, draping Leorio's arm over his shoulders.
"Just a little fun," the blond smiled up at him through his messy golden hair. "They're harmless, really, they just need to be reminded of that every now and then." He started walking, pulling Leorio with him.
"'Harmless'?" Leorio didn't even try to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
"Where were you heading?"
"Oh, uh… Forger's. It's a bar."
"I know the place," the blond said. "Just stay close, and act natural. I'm being followed, and by something more dangerous than those two."
"I'm sorry, what?" Leorio looked around. He thought he saw a shadow in the alley behind them, but couldn't be sure.
"I said 'act natural'," the blond hissed. "I may not know you, but I don't think that's natural."
"Sorry, but I got a little concerned when you said you were being followed by something dangerous," Leorio grumbled, doing his best to keep his attention on the alley ahead.
"Too late."
"Wait, what?" Leorio panicked.
"Run."
And then the blond was pulling him along, racing down the alleyway faster than Leorio thought was humanly possible.
"Hey, you do know this is a dead end, right!?" Leorio yelped. There were definitely moving shadows all around them now.
"Not a problem!" the blond sang out. "Jump!"
They jumped.
They jumped up, and up, and up, and then… they were sailing through the air, over the rooftops of the buildings that had surrounded them moments before.
"Don't look down!" the wind nearly stole the blond's voice away, but the warning came just in time, as Leorio had been about to look behind them for the shadows. "They can't fly like I can. We'll lose them this way, at least long enough for me to drop you off."
The flight didn't last nearly long enough. Before Leorio knew it, they were beginning to descend, and then the blond was slipping out from under his arm and depositing him on the balcony of Forger's.
"I'll lead them away, don't worry," he smiled, not unkindly, down at Leorio before turning and taking a leap off of the balcony railing.
"Wait!" Leorio shouted, racing to the edge and peering down, half-expecting to see his newfound friend splattered over the cobblestones below. Instead, he saw a huge black bird soaring up from the courtyard and away into the night sky, shadows flitting along the ground behind it. "I didn't even get your name…" Leorio sighed.