Leorio stood tall, but apprehension was clear on his face.

"You know, anytime you call, I feel sick and come around expecting to spend my afternoon plugging up holes in your guts, because you once again took knives to a gun fight."

"Guilty as charged."

"However I now know, seeing you standing here, guts in tack and massive wad of cash in your hand, that there are worse things you can make me do."

Sireno gave a wicked grin, blue eyes glinting from under their black bangs as they waved the wad.

"As long as cash still talks, am I right?"

Leorio sighed, snatching the money from their hand, "And it's still talking. What do you need?"

"Latest haul didn't come easy, need your patch work to keep its value up." The gangster jutted a thumb over their shoulder, where the warehouse became cluttered with boxes.

"Moved onto live trade hu?"

Sireno sauntered away, almost vanishing from sight as they became dwarfed by the collection pilled in stacks on stacks. Even being a head taller didn't help much as Leorio took long strides to keep up, thinking on how many times he'd come here.

There were few places out there that would employ an unqualified medic, and zero places that would train him without the money. So what had he done? Gotten involved with Dasyurid's biggest gang as their go-to 'patch up' guy, where their injury prone operation manager was happy to give him a cut so long as they survived. A mutually beneficial agreement, so long as he was willing to look past the gore and illegal dealings.

The deeper they went, the louder was the cacophony of sounds that grew. Caws and barks and screeches echoed in the small space, but so did the sound of sobs and wails. Leorio's stomach was doing serious flips as boxes became crates and cages towards the back of the building, holding not just animals, but children too, most looking between six to fifteen years old. Some clung to the bars, crying out in fear and anguish, but most were huddled together, either sleeping or watching with wary eyes.

"These ones here." Sireno kicked a particularly short cage, which Leorio had to crouch to look into. Two boys, probably only around 12, were pressed against each other, and had clearly been in a loosing fight. The one with black hair was covered in bruises, and had his right forearm and left ankle twisted at a nasty looking angles. The one with white hair was covered in countless cuts, some clearly deeper than others, though the death glare he had showed he was ready to fight again if provoked.

"As much as a buyer could appreciate some spunk, kids like this are a total pain. Just put 'em on the path of mending and we'll leave it at that."

Sireno lent against another cage, watching with bored eyes. Leorio couldn't help but sigh again as he moved to the side of the cage, daring to get a bit closer. When the white haired boy began to bristle with hostility, he stopped moving, and did his best to look as non-threatening as possible.

"Hey there. That looks kinda painful." He pointed at the boys clearly broken arm, "Do you think I could have a closer look? I have a bit of medical knowledge."

He didn't mention is was all mostly self-taught and un-practiced. Wide eyes stared at him, curious and assessing. After a few moments, he began to scoot forward. The white haired boy actually hissed at his action, and remained close to his side. As the discoloured arm came up to the bars, Leorio was thankful to see that nothing had broken through the skin. He slowly put his arms through the bars, gently resting one under the elbow and one over the wrist, that he then moved closer to the break point. As he softly squeezed, looking for signs of multiple fractures, the boy flinched and his friend looked ready to go for his throat.

"Okay, that's fine!" He carefully pulled away, putting more than the child's arm length between them, "It seems to be just one break. Splinting it would be the best thing now to let it set right." He looked over his should to Sirneo, "I'm sure you've got some planks?"

"Sure, but isn't that like arming these kids?"

"Yes, because I'm sure with a some wood strapped to his broken arm he'll be ready to fight again. "

Clearly not impressed by his sarcasm, Sireno stared down at the cage, before walking away. Alone with the cages, Leorio opened up his briefcase, preparing bandages and a sling. Sorting through his ointments, he glanced between the antiseptic and the white haired boy.

"You should let me treat your injuries too."

He got a glare in return, and then a small noise.

"What?"

"-said I don't need it."

"Stubborn kid." He glared in return, however the black haired boy turned to his friend.

"You should let him help."

"Huu? Why the hell would I do that? He's just another shitty old man who just wants something from us."

"Hey I'm not that old!"

"I still think you should let him help. He doesn't seem so bad."

Those big eyes were so trusting, it brought back the sickening reality of where Leorio was and what he found himself doing.

"Delivery."

A few lengths of wood clattered beside him, Sireno returning to their spot. He inspected them, picking out one about the size as the boys forearm, and gestured for the child again, who came right up to the bars. Under the watch of several sets of eyes, he applied some gauze as padding, before setting the plank under his arm and securing it with a wrap of bandages, uttering words of encouragement all the while. To the boys credit, he held still and barely flinched during the process.

Having not lost his head to the more aggressive boy, he fitted the sling and repeated the check with the boys ankle. Breaks that low were more awkward to splint, so instead he did his best to bandage the area to restrict its movement.

'Not like he could go anywhere right now.'

With a yawn, Sireno suddenly stood, "That's good enough Bud, you can head off. I'll send word when there's more work, you know the deal"

As the gangster began to saunter away, Leorio reached back into the cage, dropping a small vial of antiseptic and a roll of bandages into the boys hand. Met with a curious look, he nodded towards the white haired boy. He closed his case and stood, following after Sireno.

He spared one last glance as he left, catching sight of the children arguing over the bottle.

Flicking the remaining bills between his thumb and forefinger, Leorio let out a low whistle, before carefully tucking them back into his briefcase. After restocking his inventory, buying food and treating himself a little, there was still quite a bit left of his pay to put into savings. Since his first encounter with Sireno, his little stash had been growing semi-steadily, drawing his dream closer by the inch.

But then the memory of his bored looking employer, and all the children in cages soured that sweet taste of escape. He knew those eyes, both the ones full of trust and devoid of it, would be haunting him for some time. He wanted to help those in need, and saying that he couldn't until he'd reached his goal sounded like a cop-out, not when there was always something he could do.

'Had there been anything else I could have done for them?'

Not without Sireno questioning him, pushing the boundaries of their give and take trust. If he lost this source of income, he'd practically be back to square one, not to mention the target he'd paint on himself, since their be no way he could go toe to toe with with the knife crazy maniac.

'... pretty lame excuses, honestly.'

He mentally kicked himself. Was it really worth it? The work, the money, the trust, the fear of being sliced apart, compared to the lives of all those children, locked away from everything they'd ever known and sold off to who knows where?

He pushed his thoughts away as he turned into the darker side roads. Dasyurid wasn't a nice town by any means, but there were parts where people knew him, and parts where people didn't care who you were, only if you looked like an easy target. Keep alert, have your wits about you, and don't show any weakness, those were the keys to staying alive.

Of course, it was hard to stick by those principles when you had a bleeding-heart as big as Leorio did.

Keeping an eye out for figures in the shadows was instinctive for protection, but as he got closer to his dingy apartment block, the smell of copper blood caught his nose and put him on high alert.

In the shadow of his doorway was a figure, hunched and clearly trying to keep their breathing steady. Blond hair hung low enough to obscure their face, but the blue and red robes marked them as a foreigner, as well as the two wooden swords at their side.

Leorio tried to approach cautiously and quietly, but his foot immediately nudged one of the countless broken bottles on the dirty landing, and the stranger was on the move instantly, grasping his weapon and assuming a defensive crouch. Now out of the shadow, he could see the massive red stain on the foreigners left shoulder, as well as several other signs of fighting across his body. He raised his arms, using his briefcase to shield his face from any possible attack.

"Whow! Hey! I-I'm not looking for trouble! Let's stay clam!"

He waited a moment. When no attack came, he dared to lower the case enough to see blue eyes, watching with caution. He let out a breath, but didn't lower his protection much further.

"...You're kinda blocking my front door."

There was a slight twitch of a blond eyebrow.

"...I though this place was abandoned."

Leorio couldn't argue against that. He lived on the dark edge of town because no one came looking for rent, seeing as the majority of the building was dilapidated and empty. He never bothered cleaning any of the trash or fixing anything to keep up the un-lived look.

"That's how you trick people into not robbing you."

He reaching into his pocket, fishing out a thick, old key. Now feeling the stranger wouldn't attack him unwarranted, he slowly circled around them to get into the doorway, listening to the soft shuffle as they turned to follow his actions. He pulled away the planks and board covering the door, uncovering the lock to match his key, which let the actual door freely swing into the apartment. He took one step in, the stopped, turning to the blond.

"Come on. Can you stand by yourself?"

"What?"

Shock, then suspicion graced the blonds face, weapons raising higher. Leorio did his best disarming posture, keeping his palms open and facing out.

"You're hurt. If you think I'll just ignore an injured person, then you picked the wrong apartment door."

Saying that, he probably would have looked for the foreigner had they been elsewhere, the trail of blood drops on the ground now clear as day to him. His senses always seemed to prickle when his stress levels rose, a strange sensation that grew when he assessed the injured. It innately told him that leaving someone bleeding like that would be a death sentence, whether from the loss itself, or from another vagabond wanting this territory.

When the blond didn't move, he sat his case inside and dared to get close to them, crouching to his right.

"I just want to help. You're injured, but it'd be better to treat it where it's cleaner... and I can see what I'm doing."

They remained still for several moments, eyes locked, the blond clearly searching for his intention. Finally they lowered their weapon, and pushed themselves to stand. When they faltered, Leorio shifted to lift under their arm, keeping them steady and slowly guiding them inside.

After lifting away the coloured tunic and shirt, peeling back the singlet that was plastered to the would with blood, he'd found a hole in their shoulder, as deep as his thumb, rough on the edges and without an exit wound. His patient, a boy likely still in his teens, had probably been stabbed with a length of something round, and was extremely lucky not to have suffered further damage or more bleeding. It took some fine needle work and a lot of gause to get the wound in a reasonable state, where I'd hopefully get better before getting worse.

The blond remained still the entire time, eyes closed, and Leorio's thoughts drifted back to the children who'd also trusted him and remained so still.

"I'm glad you know what you're doing."

"Hu?"

He blinked up, falling from his state of concentration. Those blue eyes were half lidded, watching his hands as he finished wrapping the wound. Satisfied with his level of work for now, he pulled back, giving the boy some space.

"Efficient, precise, equipt. Certainly not some chop shop butcher."

"I'm no doctor either." Leorio grimaced, but quickly shook his head, "Are you injured anywhere else?"

The blond sat still for a moment, before a hand tenderly went to his ribs. There was a bright bruise blooming on his side, and a few smaller ones dotted across his torso, alongside scratches and scars of different ages.

"Nothing pressing. Thank you, though I'm afraid I don't have anything to repay you."

With a nod Leorio stood, shifting to the tiny kitchenette.

"Don't worry about it, treatments free." Something warm spread in his chest, almost giddy that he could say those words, "You should just focus on resting up."

As he tried to sort the dirty from the clean, he heard his patient lie down.

"I'm actually looking for work."

"Is that so?" He couldn't help the surprise in his tone.

The mug in hand was clean enough. He filled it with some instant coffee and set the kettle boiling, before turning to watch the stranger.

"I wouldn't advise you to stick around here. Nothing but destitutes and mobsters in this town, works never clean." He waved a finger, "You've obviously been acquainted already."

"Yes. Which makes this the right kind of place."

"What does that mean?"

There was no reply. Seeing the slow, even breaths, Leorio finished making his drink, setting himself back in his only chair and picking up one of the new books he'd let himself buy. As the light faded from the day, he found himself drifting off.

And when he next woke, his patient was gone.

AN: Yo, I primarily use they/them for my OC Sireno, but sometimes she/her too. They're here to drive some of the conflict, sorry not sorry Leorio. Everyone comes together next chapter!

Please leave a review if there's anything your like or dislike about the story, since it's my first time writing HxH and putting an OC so prominent in a fic.