*Shades of Red*

by: WhiteGloves

Chapter 2

"Friendship. Bonds. It makes one strong."

*LeoPika Pairing/BL*

Kurapika didn't find Leorio's revelation surprising. He half expected that answer with the way the two were behaving. He knew it'd be impossible to find his friend un-engaged with the way he was…. He knew despite the man's arrogance, Leorio was a true man of words and action. Those were just some trait he actually and secretly admired from his comrade.

Yet despite knowing the answer, Kurapika couldn't help but feel disappointed. He watched Leorio enter the room and felt a disturbing pain in his chest. Reluctantly, he followed his friend inside the room.

"The manager of the building is out of town for a week," Leorio was saying as he set the goods he bought on the upper cabinet of the kitchen, "you probably won't meet him until then. On the first floor I'm sure you've met Ethan. He's the boy in charge of the building and would answer to any problems—he's a nice lad. Second floor's owned by Tobias, a painter… don't mind him, he's always inside his room anyway but he's a good friend."

"Is he the one who painted all those pictures on your clinic wall?" Kurapika found himself asking as he looked at the label of the can on his hand. It seemed that Tobias was the signature under all the paintings after all. He glanced at Leorio for confirmation and saw the doctor closed the cabinet and turn to him.

"Yeah. He gave them to me as compensation for looking after him."

Kurapika's face turned suddenly suspicious and Leorio found it disturbing as he exclaimed—

"O- oi, what are you thinking? I didn't rob it off him! I told you he gave it! He's a good friend!"

"Yeah?" Kurapika raised an amuse eyebrow.

Leorio made a face and then continued relaying information to his roommate.

"Whatever. Third floor's occupied by two elders. I look after them every now and then since they're old. Fifth floor's owned by a musician by the name Tristan… he's an awesome guy, but don't tell him I said that… he'll never let me hear the end of it! And the sixth floor is owned by Mayu."

Kurapica's eyes slightly widened upon hearing the name, but Leorio who seemed not to notice it, just looked up and smiled encouragingly at the blonde boy.

"So? What do you feel like doing now? Do you want to meet those people I told you about?"

Kurapika looked pointedly at the window. "It's already dark. I don't think it's polite to barge in other people's door by this time of the day. Unless of course it's your girlfriend we're going to visit."

He shot the idea at the doctor. Leorio eyed him questionably.

"Mayu's probably sound asleep now. You don't wanna bug her when she sleeps."

There was another suspicious look from the blonde but Leorio was oblivious to it. In the end, Kurapica decided to end it with an audible sigh. He see no point of feeling resentment toward someone who was as innocent as a child, he decided.

Leorio scratched his head and headed for another cabinet by the kitchen. He took a bottle and two glasses and placed it on the table next to his couch. He then slumped on the chair and gave his friend a smile.

"Anyways—how about we drink at your first night in my hometown?"

Kurapica stared at him with his green eyes flickering. There was something really casual and carefree about this man's aura that the blonde boy couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. It maybe the be way he easily smiles… or maybe it was his bold and frank character… but no matter what it was, Kurapika couldn't help but feel attracted to it.

"I-I don't drink…" he said as he sat on the opposite chair with eyes hiding under his hair.

Leorio smiled even more and showed him the label.

"Don't worry. It's not strong."

He poured some on their glasses and then handed one to the blonde boy. Taking his glass, Leorio didn't hesitate to drink and was over within one gulp.

"AH~ this is really good. Hey, what are you doing? Try it!"

Kurapika knew he could easily refuse with just one cold look that would usually sent Leorio on the far end of the room. But just then he didn't feel like doing it as he reached down and gulped the drink.

He didn't like it one bit.

Leorio chuckled as he saw the sour expression that came to his friend's face.

"Is it that bad?"

"How can you drink this?" Kurapika shook his head and instantly felt light headed. Leorio grinned at him and then poured some more on his own glass but didn't dare touch Kurapika's.

"I'm an old man! I need to get use to it!" he said proudly and drank a little more. Kurapika sighed and then headed for the cupboard himself. Seeing canned juice there, he grabbed two and settled back on his chair.

"How long have you been back here?" he asked quietly. It was really something that greatly interests him. How Leorio's life had been ever since their parting.

"Four or five years?" Leorio slumped his back on his couch with his head thrown and eyes on the ceiling. "Right after I passed my medical examination I did some travelling… I even visited Gon's house—did you meet his aunt? She's really beautiful!"

Kurapika rolled his eyes exasperatedly as the doctor grinned foolishly at him.

"Then I came by some cities where I studied for a few months again—just certain cases to widen my experience… after that I went back here and bought this apartment. It was a hard start… at some point it became difficult especially if my patients were seriously ill… it was really good thing Mayu came to my life."

There was a clatter of a can hitting the floor loudly. Leorio sat up straight to find Kurapika crouching down his fallen can with its contents spilled on the floor.

"I'm sorry," Kurapika said softly as he leaned down, "that was careless of me…"

Leorio stood up and took a rug from the bathroom's doorway and gestured Kurapika to move away. The blonde boy watched as Leorio knelt down before him and wiped the floor with his hands.

"It's okay, sit down," he said, "must've slipped suddenly… are you sleepy?"

Kurapika avoided eye contact with the doctor as he stood up.

"Y-yeah… I maybe tired because of the long journey…"

Leorio blinked and then looked thoughtful.

"Oh yeah… and here I was telling you my boring life… what the…you should have told me you were too tired! You didn't have to be that polite to me… Well, I'll fix the bed."

Kurapika jumped at that and shot his friend a surprised look. There was it again, the familiar chill on his spine. If there was only one person who ever made him experience that, it was Leorio.

"There—finish!" the doctor announced minutes later as he showed the newly fixed bed to his friend. Kurapika blinked at it and then looked slowly to the floor where a bed sheet was spread together with a pillow and a blanket. "You take the bed and I'll sleep on the floor."

"Is this really okay?" Kurapika asked as he set his bag down the bed and looked at Leorio with round eyes.

"You better not be stubborn like usual," Leorio gave the blonde boy a nasty look, "I'm the one to decide here. Told you you've gotta bear with me."

Kurapika's eyebrows creased a little but it instantly disappeared when he looked down the bed. He touched it and then felt suddenly relaxed.

"Sure you don't mind?" he asked again when Leorio headed for the bathroom. The man grunted as he shut the door close and moments later the shower was on. Kurapika looked at the bathroom door and then gave a small smile.

The moon was already up the sky when Kurapika found his eyes opening in the middle of the dark. Shooting up from the bed, he sat up and clutched on his chest. He felt terribly uncomfortable. He felt heavy. He tried to remember what occurred before he woke up and suddenly remembered a weak sound of chains moving continuously. Then those awful spider marks… Kurapika's green eyes change to bloody red in that instant. He held his breath for a moment and then clutched on the cover of the bed.

That was when he realized whose bed it was and his eyes immediately settled back to its original emerald. Blinking to himself, Kurapika touched the soft bed with his hand and then closed his eyes slowly to relax. Then with a slow heave of breath, he sighed and opened his eyes once more.

Leorio's here.

His mind raced at the thought and his eyes sought for the figure on the floor. To what comfort it was all about, Kurapika didn't care. All he knew was the moment he realized he was with Leorio everything seemed to go back to normal. It must've been something psychological as he saw a man's silhouette slouched on the bed sheet on the floor with the man's back on him.

Leorio's breathing was not normal. Kurapika realized the doctor was awake but decided against asking the reason. He then wondered if Leorio was awoken by his own movements. Did he disturb him?

Sighing again, the blonde boy slowly set his back on the bed and stared long at the ceiling, thinking. He didn't know how many minutes or hours he had been staring at the ceiling, but he knew that before he succumbed to sleep, his companion was still wide awake.

*.*.*

When Kurapika woke up first thing in the morning, he touched his eyes as if it was hurting and then tried to recall where he was. Sitting up, it took seconds to remember where he was and to look around looking for a familiar face. The ray of the sun was already burning on the window toward the floor where Leorio had been sleeping, but the floor this time was empty and there was no sign of the doctor anywhere.

Kurapika blinked and then lowered his feet on the floor. He wandered about the room, looking for something that might point to his friend's location when commotion outside got his attention.

Kurapika has just opened the room's door to see what was happening when he saw Mayu running in a hurry toward the clinic with a basin of water. Seeing this, the blonde boy abruptly followed out and entered the clinic. That was when he saw Leorio full of blood. Kurapika's eyes widened in fear.

But then the doctor was ordering the nurse wildly around with two couple crying near the door and Kurapika instantly grasped the situation. Leorio ran toward the emergency room and shut it close. Mayu followed him at once and the door shut after them.

Kurapika stared at the door and then at the crying couple. His eyes then averted to the floor where drops of blood could be seen. His eyes lingered there, but it didn't stay as he quietly moved about the room, comfort the couple to sit down and then cleaned the mess.

An exhausted doctor came out of the emergency room hours later. Unaware of the keen green eyes watching him, Leorio assured the couple their son will be just fine after the operation. It seemed like the boy fell on the stairs that morning and hit his head pretty badly. The couple thanked Leorio so many times which the doctor dismissed and told them their son needed them. He waved at Mayu to handle the rest, then came out of the room and leaned his back on the wall next to the door.

"Damn…" he muttered as he shut his eyes close and let his back slide down the floor till he was on a sitting position. It took moments of Leorio to realize that someone was standing in front of him. Opening his eyes, he found Kurapika staring at him quietly.

"It's you," the doctor chuckled then wiped his face with his hand. A towel was offered to him by Kurapika and he took it without question. "Man… just when I was so glad I had got no patients yesterday… I guess wishing to have no patients for the entire week is too much pushing of luck, huh?"

He looked up smiling to Kurapika who closed his eyes and nodded. Leorio wiped his face and then the back of his neck before giving another curse for his numb leg.

"Leorio," Kurapika said after awhile of watching the man curse himself so many times, "the boy's gonna be okay, right?"

"Yeah," Leorio glanced toward the clinic to the couple comforting each other, "despite the appearance of this clinic, I've got the necessary high-tech equipments to do major operations any time. I've also got a supply of common and rare medicines that comes twice a month and delivery of newsletter about the latest on the medical world… in short, I'm not just a small time doctor…"

He glanced up at Kurapika with his usual arrogant and confident attitude as he finished his line with a smirk—

"I'm a licensed hunter."

Kurapika closed his eyes with a satisfied smile before leaning down and grabbing Leorio under the arm and try to pull him up.

"Hai, hai… doctor professional licensed hunter Leorio-san," the blonde boy said without pausing for breath when he pulled the doctor to his feet and drove him toward their room, "why don't you fix yourself now and stop looking like you swam in a pool of blood?"

"Huh…? Oh right, forgot about that."

"And I suppose you're hungry?"

"Hm… now that you mention that, yeah—"

"Then is it safe to leave the boy under your nurse's care?"

"Of course! I told you he's gonna be fine!"

"That's good. Then let's eat lunch at the local restaurant again."

"Hn… huh? Is it lunch already!?"

"Hai, hai."

Leorio yawned widely as he and Kurapika walked on the street. Kurapika gave him a side glance and saw that the man has forgotten to comb his hair. He looked like a man who just jumped out of bed. Leorio was oblivious to the boy's observation as he yawned yet again and blinked many times.

"Did you get a good night sleep?" the doctor asked as he scratched his unruly hair and blinked his sleepy eyes. Kurapika chose not to comment on the man's outer appearance as he said quite coolly

"Shouldn't I be the one asking?"

"Whut?" Leorio turned a look at him, "asking me what?"

Kurapika chuckled for Leorio seemed really out of it. Instead of answering, the golden haired boy walked up behind the tall man and gently gave him a push.

"Never mind, let's just hurry to the restaurant. I'm hungry."

He guided the sleepy man around the corner to where he knew the restaurant would be. It was not hard for him to memorize everything about the town in a short notice- one trip was enough. Leorio was absentminded for the rest of the walk and the blonde boy didn't take it against him. He knew Leorio was tired after the morning's event and decided it was up to him to look after the doctor while he was out of it.

That was when he realized something was off. With a flash on his eyes he asked himself, why was he doing it?

Leorio sat down sleepily on the chair while Kurapika took the seat opposite him. A mighty yawn came out of his mouth but this time Kurapika was less tolerable.

"Hey... we're in the restaurant. Stop yawning, it's disrespectful!"

"I ca~can't help it..." Leorio stuffed a palm on his mouth and blinked tearfully.

"Sheesh..." Kurapika murmured and looked down the menu. He ordered for Leorio as well and while they were eating he was the one prompting the man to eat and not sleep on the table.

Then the question hit him again. Why was he doing it? No... more like... why was he the 'one' doing it?

Kurapika fell into a silent stupor as the question kept nagging on his mind that caused him unease. He paused thoughtfully for a moment, his hands on his tea... when his eyes fell on Leorio.

The doctor has his head lying on his arms on the table and sound asleep. Kurapika blinked at the sleeping man who seemed to have forgotten his companion. It was not exactly what Kurapika had on mind. When he asked him to eat on the restaurant he pictured them talking about interesting things... but then this heck of a guy was now sleeping like a baby without a care in the world.

Kurapika couldn't help but to suppress a smile and sip on his tea quietly. He laid the glass back on the table, then leaning his chin on his right hand, he watched Leorio with a small smile.

Really... pushing yourself too much...

Kurapika's eyes flickered in contentment. It was a bright afternoon and everything was so peaceful in that small town... maybe he didn't have to part ways with Leorio in the future after all... maybe he can work his way to stay like that forever... peaceful beside him.

As the atmosphere of contentment fell on Kurapika's shoulder, he was suddenly aware of a leg kicking out of nowhere and hitting the sleeping doctor around the stomach.

Leorio was thrown away on the floor while Kurapika tried to grasp what just happened. He glanced at the owner of the leg and saw two men standing tall next to their table with angry expression. Kurapika was just about to get up in the spur of the moment with his own anger boiling inside him when Leorio jumped up from the ground as if nothing happened- took one of the men by the collar and instantly pulled him into a headbutt.

"ORA!" Leorio yelled with eyes contorted wildly. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?"

Kurapika stared at him with mouth open and a sweat drop on the side of his face.

Wasn't it just awhile ago when it was peaceful?

Leorio has that wild look on his eyes and he was burning.

Peaceful... huh?

Is there a riot!?

*To Be Continued*

Thanks for Reading!