Note on Updates: so the next chapter will be posted in 2 weeks. I'm at the end of my semester, and once its over the updates will pick up again. If you're afraid of missing out on an update, hit the follow button!

As promised, here's out angsty Leopika chapter, with a hint at what the heck is happening between all of these boys.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter, but what a dream that would be.

Heavy. His body, his arms felt heavy. He couldn't feel his legs.

The first thing he saw was a ceiling, one he did not recognize. It was dark, light flickering haphazardly as if it could not be contained, illuminating the stains on the walls. He took a moment to focus on breathing, a task that seemed more difficult than usual. Something was weighing down on him, something that covered his entire body. A blanket was pulled up to his chin, entirely too suffocating and smelling of death. Focusing, he lifted his head, failing on the first try but succeeding well enough on the second to make out a figure, the center of what was keeping him pulled down.

Leorio was asleep, half on the bed and half in his chair, his arms tucked under his head in the younger one's lap. The look on his face was restful if not exhausted, bags clear under his eyes His breathing was heavy, but quiet, strangely juxtaposing each other as his chest lifted and fell. It was a foreign feeling, having the other so near, but it immediately put him at ease, a sort of relief washing over him in an instant. Whatever he expected, whatever had happened, if Leorio could sleep soundly then everything was alright. Had his hands not been weighed down by some invisible force, he'd have reached out to run his fingers through the other's dirty black hair. Or perhaps he wouldn't have. It didn't matter, as the urge was unfulfillable. In much the same vein, the Kurta opened his mouth on instinct, trying to say something, but the words were caught. Instead, a small noise escaped him, his throat burning from the effort.

Leorio sat up immediately, awake at the sound. His eyes widened as he took in the sight before him, shock setting in timely and turning into something else. Kurapika stared, his throat rebelling against his desire to say something, anything.

Leorio smiled up at him, genuine and overjoyed. For a moment, the Kurta's heart actually stopped.

Then he was up, arms out to take the younger man's head in his hands and lay him back down, saying something about rest and exertion, words that were lost on his friend. His ears tingled. It was a moment before his senses sorted themselves out, the doctor pulling his chair up so that he could sit by Kurapika's head, which he had propped up to the best of his ability with a combination of what was supposed to be a pillow and his suit jacket. When his equilibrium returned, the blond looked over at him, coughing for a moment before opening his mouth again. Leorio was scrambling for water, torn between leaving the room to get it and staying exactly where he was.

"Leorio."

He stopped moving immediately, the sound of his name almost bringing tears to his eyes. Still, he held back, keeping himself as in check as he could be as the other stared at him. His voice was hoarse, as if he'd swallowed sandpaper, but it had a profound effect. He was awake. He was alive.

"You're here." He croaked, his voice revealing his disoriented state. The doctor smiled lightly at him, moving to reach for his hand before stopping himself. He was conscious. It wasn't the time.

"So are you." It was a question more than a statement, but he let it pass as one. Kurapika eyed him willfully before closing his eyes, his head spinning for no reason. It was hard to speak when he couldn't manage breathing.

Leorio put a hand on his shoulder, grounding him for a moment. He looked back at the doctor, clear worry in his face. He wanted to laugh, call him stupid for looking like that, but it was too much effort. It didn't reflect how he felt anyway.

"You're not going anywhere, are you?" The doctor looked at him with hard eyes, as if he were bracing himself for something. It pained the blond's chest to hear such a question asked so seriously, as if he'd give in to death so easily. At the same time, he knew how much he deserved it.

"Just sleeping. You?" The grip on his shoulder relaxed, turning into a smooth caress as it moved down his arm. The blond let out a breath he didn't know he was holding at that. He wouldn't be able to manage if he needed to keep reminding himself to inhale every few seconds. The hand settled on his wrist, drawing soothing circles on the pale skin. Kurapika had the fleeting notion that he should be scolding the other for it, forbidding it for some reason, but the relaxed sigh that escaped him was evidence that he didn't have it in him. It felt nice. Briefly, he wondered how impaired he must have been.

"I'll be here, right next to you." Leorio's words were uncharacteristically meticulous, something Kurapika noted he'd have to remember for later. He wasn't sure if it was hours or mere seconds later, but his eyes had closed, making way for sleep.

When he woke later, more aware of his surroundings, Leorio was there, by his side.

The doctor had watched him slip in and out of consciousness, reaching for his hand when he slept, as if it kept him there. The blond had opened his eyes a few times, losing consciousness quickly thereafter, but having grasped it for a moment. Each time had been a small terror for the man standing by, a moment unsure if he'd wake back up, or if he'd slip back into a state of deeper slumber. This time, though, he was entirely there.

"Where am I?" The words came out more naturally than the last had, startling the doctor. Kurapika hadn't lifted his head, staying utterly still.

"Hospital… kind of. We're in Moa-tuao." He noticed when the other's eyes tinted red at the edges, but did not change fully. It was a hint at his exhaustion.

"I see." Quiet followed, a quiet that the doctor was keen on interrupting, but couldn't. "How long have I been here?" Leorio shrugged, leaning back in his chair to look at the blond.

"You, no idea. Both of us, about a week." The Kurta stared openly for a moment before turning his head away, seeming to think about something. Leorio let him, knowing that the rest was going to be complicated.

"How did you find me?" This was not one of the first questions he thought he'd be answering; in fact, the doctor was sure that he had more that he was owed in terms of answers than the other, but he obliged him anyway.

"Someone here speaks our language. They found my name in your phone and boosted the call so that it could get through the mountains. I got here a couple of days later." Seeing that the other was about to say something, he pushed a bit. "You were asking for me."

Kurapika's mouth shut immediately.

Taking his silence as an excuse to dive right in, the doctor scooted his chair closer to the bed, seating himself directly in the other's sideways line of view. The blond was avoiding his gaze, expression as blank as he could make it in his state. Even so, it said that he knew what was coming next.

"What the hell happened, Kurapika? Why would you even come here? It's been two years since I've heard from you, and this is how I find you?" His voice was growing steadily louder, elevating as his original questions became lost in what he had been holding in for far too long. He seemed to realize this, though, falling to a near whisper as he voiced a hurt the other had been avoiding in his absence.

"Leorio-"

"You almost died, do you know that?"

"Leorio!"

The doctor looked down at the other, his voice breaking through the barrage of thoughts that had been slipping past his lips. The Kurta was trying to return the gaze, but the angle and the effort was too much. His shoulder rolled as he tried to readjust, punctuated with a sick popping noise. They both grimaced in response.

"Could you… lift me? I can't sit up." The anger was immediately gone as the older man jumped to his aid, circling an arm around the other's back and holding his head with his free hand. It took a minute of maneuvering, and trying to find something for him to lean against, before he was situated properly. The whole ordeal seemed to exhaust the blond even more than he had been.

"Thank you," he breathed, eyes closing with the effort. The doctor gave him a moment to steady himself, knowing how difficult it must have been for him to even stay awake, let alone be interrogated. Still, it didn't quite stop him.

"Where have you been?"

The blond sighed, knowing better than to try to play around the question. Leorio had a way of infuriating him like no other; that's why he had stopped calling with shallow updates to begin with. Well, that and the fact that Leorio felt like the closest thing to home he could remember. It made it harder to stay away when taking refuge with the other was so enticing. So warm.

He didn't have the time for such trivialities.

"Around. I was freelancing with the Family," he didn't have to say which one for Leorio to understand, "but then I came across a lead that I couldn't pass up. It took me to a dead end, but that dead end turned out to be another job. Things had been like that for a while until…"

He began to cough, segwaying into an awkward silence as the doctor stared him down. The blond brought his fingers to his lips, a silent gesture. The other understood, somehow, and fumbled with something on the other side of the room. He returned a moment later with a chipped cup, bringing it to where the other's fingers had been so that he could drink. The water was devastatingly needed, coating his throat and bringing him back to a place where he could speak.

"I thought I was being underestimated. It seems that the opposite was true." He looked out past the barred window, really no more than a hole in the wall, the rusted metal infrastructure peeking out. It was enough to warrant a distraction, of at least the pretense of one.

"What happened?" He shook his head, but stopped immediately, as it was a dizzying feat.

"How about a trade, Leorio? I'll answer your questions if you answer mine." The older man looked about ready to throttle him. Playing up the illness, the Kurta shot him a weak look, forcing the hint of a smile. Surely, the other could see how exhausting talking was. It seemed to work, as the tension eased from the other man's body, his look still hard. Perhaps he wouldn't give up just yet. No, Leorio was stubborn that way. He cared too much.

"Fine, so long as you answer all of my questions. What do you want to know?"

Kurapika ignored the ultimatum, neither agreeing nor disputing it.

"What's my condition?" He gestured down himself, wincing at the movement. The doctor sighed, running a hand through his hair and pulling out a tiny notepad from his inner jacket pocket. He fiddled with it between his fingers, but didn't open it. He didn't need to.

"You won't be up walking around anytime soon, if that's what you mean. You've got a shattered kneecap, fractured ribs, and who knows what else. I had to reflate one of your lungs; that took minor invasive surgery on my part, so mind your left side. I'll need to give you a proper once over as soon as we're out of here. You need a hospital."

So his Nen had improved, that was something he'd have to make use of. They both knew there was no way Kurapika would willingly enter a hospital, but neither of them said it. Still, the implication of Leorio's words hung over them heavily. The Kurta worked down a rising panic, his emotions not quite as in check as they usually were. Of course Leorio wanted to keep an eye on him. He'd be sure to change that.

"Thank you. What else?"

"How about what happened?"

Silence.

He didn't realize he was frowning until he noticed how the edges of his mouth hurt. Instead, he schooled him expression to blank passivity.

"I don't know what you know, where you've been or how involved you are with the rest of the Hunter world, but things have changed since we were young, Leorio. Things have become very different. My vengeance is no longer a dream; it feels close to becoming a reality. There's a new member, of the Ryodan. I received word that he may be out here, somewhere. His Nen abilities are still unrefined. It seemed like a logical progression to finding what I seek."

The doctor had been looking at him when he began speaking, but his eye were now downcast, stuck to a spot on the floor that the other could not see. Kurapika looked at him inquisitively, wondering if he had said enough.

As far as Leorio was concerned, he never said enough. He never said anything, just half-truths and empty details about where he was, what he was doing. It only made him worry all the more.

"Killua was here."

Kurapika's eyes became wide, holding back the red as he tried not to give anything away.

"I called him as soon as I got here. It took him less time to get here than it took me, but the kid's always been good. He stayed by your side the whole time." Leorio paused, looking him directly in the eye. "He wept, for you." Kurapika swallowed, which must have been enough for the other, as he continued. "I've never seen him cry so much. Hell, I didn't think I'd be able to pry him off of you, at one point."

Perhaps Leorio wasn't as ignorant of his situation as he thought.

"When did he leave?" The doctor leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs as he went. His arms were woven in a tight x across his chest, eyebrows tight. The blond didn't have to be a genius to know how angry he was.

"Day before yesterday. He stuck around until he knew you'd be alright." Then he ran from one of our friends. "What makes you think he deserves what you're doing to him?" The Kurta was about to retort, make a clever statement about how it was his turn for questions, only to discover that he'd used his already. The look Leorio gave him might have well said "nice try."

" I assume Gon wasn't here, then."

"Yes, Gon was here," the doctor snapped, losing his patience. He wasn't as much of a fool as the other liked to pretend; he'd been around Kurapika for long enough to know of his games. He'd spent about a month two years ago dealing with just this. "He stayed, despite that."

"I see." He really hadn't expected that. He'd run into Gon once before, during the absence, only to find the white haired teen not with him. It had been a shock, to say the least, when the other had shied away from the topic, but he had been on the lam, hiding from a bounty hunter who had wanted his head on a stake. Well, his eyes in particular.

"You see? Kurapika, what makes you think he deserves what you're doing to him? You're hunting his brother!" No, Leorio was not as ignorant as he liked. He looked away again, fearing what he would say if he met the other's eyes. How his would change.

"Perhaps I could save him."

It was a whisper, the hinting of words and no more. Again, he had paled, his eyes blank, staring out into a vast space that didn't exist within the confines of the room. The doctor stared at him, bewildered, then stood and made his way to the door.

"He's not the one who needs saving right now."

And for the first time since he'd held the bleeding blond in his arms, Leorio left the room, more afraid for him than he had been before.

Like it? Sitting on the edge of your seat? Want to throttle Gon and Kurapika? Drop me a review! Nice comments help with the writer's block!