Fandom: Hunter x Hunter

Summary: The heartbeat doesn't lie, Leorio-kun. Senritsu visits Leorio with a confession held in a box of coins.

Title: Special Delivery

Author: Hana Rui

Genre: shounen-ai, sap

Pairing: Leorio x Kurapika [LeoPika]

Leorio looked incredulously at the package held fixedly under his nose. Cradled between two tiny hands appended to outstretched arms of stubby length, it looked ridiculously too fine and too strange to belong to this world.

If he hadn't known any better, he would've easily taken the lady hunter for a conniving elf bearing gifts to lure him to the Underworld.

"He told me to give you this," Senritsu stated, shoving the box closer to his face.

He shifted his weight from one bent leg to the other then asked as he finally took the furoshiki-wrapped box in his own hands, "W-What is it?" He made a show of shaking it close to his ears and was doubly flustered at the dull clattering sound that came from inside. Bombs…?

It was a fairly stupid thought, but knowing that guy…

"It is a gift," the low-set woman replied, a knowing smile playing on her lips. "He will be very upset if you don't take it."

"Huh?" He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. It wasn't really like the younger guy to give him anything. Much less a gift this heavy and so intricately wrapped it was to give to a god. And the kid would be upset if he did not take it? What was this guy playing on anyway? "Where is he?" he asked, almost demanded as he rose to his feet.

Senritsu slowly shook her head. "He doesn't wanna give you any more trouble," she said, "But wishes to send his regards to you on your humble profession."

He looked down at the grinning emissary as though she was a talking mound of earth. His lips moved with some compulsive protest, but shut almost as quickly when prudence came kicking in.

"Of course, the gift is enough to let you know that he will be more than willing to help you in anyway he can," she found it necessary to add, seeing perhaps the doubtful look on his face. "And he has even commissioned Gon and Killua, as well, to chip in a few gils once in a while."

The doubtful look deepened as the truth got dawned on him. "Is this…? Are these…?" He shook the box again to confirm. Coins…?

Senritsu nodded while giggling softly. "He's always really been stingy, that lad. Would always rather settle for the cheapest, stalest food just to have something to put in there at the end of the day."

"He did that?" Leorio couldn't believe his ears, but a small smile of amusement was beginning to form on his lips. Was this the same Kurapika who had always been the first to go out of his way to sample the rarest delicacies in all the rarest locations? If he hadn't known any better, he would've thought the younger guy was aiming to be a Gourmet Hunter all along.

However, what he found more intriguing than that was how the gift had arrived at such a conveniently appropriate time.

For weeks, Leorio had been wondering about how he could improve his slowly dwindling funds to keep supporting his sworn cause.

As it was, it did not take him long to realize that having the Hunter License had brought more pain than gain for him. It was just that wherever he went and showed off the cursed thing for a much needed discount, he was hounded almost immediately by psychos wanting to grab it from him the moment he let down his guard. Some had been aggressive, too, and he had more than once found himself in a situation where he thought he was gonna die, but thankfully managed to pull through by some divine miracle.

How then could he become a doctor and save lives if he had freaks willing to kill in cold blood tirelessly stalking him to the very ends of his sanity?

He thought it over a thousand times and took almost half a year to finally decide it was the best thing to do. He sold his license off and used the money he got from it to heal people for free just as he had always dreamt of doing.

But the money was slowly draining, what with the multitude of people showing up on his doorstep everyday, needing this and that medicine, this and that operation, this and that referrals that he, too, would readily pay for. So it was little wonder his financial support could only hold out for so long.

He could always just turn to his nen to take care of some petty cases, but would not always take that risk for fear of attracting unnecessary attention to himself and his patients. He would never do anything to put their lives on the chopping board. He feared for them more than for himself.

And it did not help much that his friends were always engaged in one adventurous mission after the other, thus making them too busy and too distant to come and save his ass if worse would come to worst.

How, though, did the kid know of his predicament?

"I've always really wondered why." Senritsu's delight was obviously augmented as she went on, cutting through his thoughts. "Now, seeing you hold the box with that smile on your face… it really does explain a lot, doesn't it?"

"Huh?" Putting back the doubtful frown did not do well in wiping off the crimson warmth that crept up on his face.

Thankfully, Senritsu was demure enough not to tease him about it any longer than she had already done. "I think I'll get going." She was just about to turn around and leave when the younger man finally rediscovered his voice and called out, almost croaking.

"Wait!"

"Yes, Leorio-kun?" If it were possible to be patronizing and teasing at the same time, the musical hunter sure was doing it quite convincingly.

"Um…Well…" On the other hand, struggling for the right words to say was not an activity the hunter-cum-medical-man fairly enjoyed. He sighed and rubbed his nape, only to manage a faltering smile in the end.

"I think I know what you want to say," Senritsu mercifully said to save him the trouble. "I'll give him the message."

Man could only open his mouth and look dumbly at the woman.

In response to the unspoken question, Senritsu pressed her palm gently to her chest and stated in that soft voice of hers that seemed to rival the calmest wind, "The heartbeat doesn't lie, Leorio-kun." She smiled one last time, bowed her head slightly in respect and went on her way.

It took Leorio a few moments to gather back his senses, pay a smile to the back of the retreating courier—who always seemed to know more about himself than he did—before fiddling with the package.

And it was while he was slowly unwrapping the box that a tiny piece of paper sailed out and landed gracefully on the doorstep of his humble clinic.

Bending over to pick the note from the ground, he grinned at the sight of that familiar cursive handwriting sprawled proudly on the glossy surface:

Work hard, Doctor!

He picked the paper up and next saw the treat that took his heart soaring right through the very peak of bliss.

For written in tiny letters, at the bottom of the parchment above the loveliest name in the world, were the words close enough to the ones he had long been dying to hear.

always watching over you,

Kurapika

He held the box close to his chest and uttered his response to the passing night breeze, knowing in his heart that his precious blond friend was just around the corner.

Hiding.

Pining.

Watching over his shoulders like an angel. Like a god.

Loving him from a distance. For now.

"Thank you."

He thought he heard the gentle sound of chains jingling from afar and caught a flash of blond hair disappearing behind the proudest sakura tree in his garden.

He smiled, knowing full well there was absolutely nothing that could scare him now.

-end-

Note: Written for 100themes livejournal: Theme #001 Savings Box

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