Chapter 1: Sunrise

The halls were filled with bustling students, running around to try and find their classes on their first day of school. The usual chatter filtered slowly through the doors of the classroom. Rows of desks facing the front of the room were steadily becoming full. At the front of the room, a larger desk sat facing the students. A man sat behind it, pretending to read while matching faces to last-year's Yearbook. There were never many transfers or new students, seeing as nobody ever found Whale Island as a very kid-friendly place. But this part of the island had recently had a flow of students, resulting in the building of schools a few years ago.

The man was in his mid-twenties, wearing a dark blue suit and a pair of small sunglasses on his nose. Dark brown hair sat on his head and the beginnings of a beard were on his chin, framing blue eyes.

As the bell rang and the last stragglers made it to the room, the man stood up and produced a marker from his pocket. He quickly wrote his name on the white board, capping the black marker and turning to the class with a grin, "Konichiwa." The class blinked, immediately silent. A boy at the back of the room raised his hand slightly, "Oi, Ojii-san, it's still morning."

A small vein began to pulse in the teacher's forehead as he stole a quick glance at the yearbook, "Well…Killua-kun, you should show some respect in class or show it in detention. I'm only in my twenties." He gestured to the board, ignoring the gasps that echoed through the kids, "I'm Hanashi Leorio. No you may not call me by my given name." Leorio added, causing all the raised hands to drop back to their owner's sides.

"Now, this is math class, and as such, we'll learn math. As in Algebra, not 1 plus 1 equals 3, but one plus one equals two, got it? Oh, one more thing, who likes homework?" Multiple groans and boo's were given as responses. Leorio grinned wider, pretending to wipe sweat off his face, "Good, neither do I. So as long as we don't mess around in class, we won't have any. That sound good?"

The 45 minute period flew by quickly, filled with those dumb yet amusing first-day-get-to-know-each-other activities. By the end of class, Leorio had a pretty good idea on the different types of students he would have to handle this year. He jotted some notes down next to the names in his attendance book as the next period students flooded in to replace first period. As he stood up to give the same speech again, he peeked again to the yearbook.

First period would certainly be interesting.

XXX

It was time for lunch.

When the bell rang, indicating the end of that class, Leorio practically dived into his lunch bag. But, with the practiced composure of a teacher, he managed to grab his coat and bag and to file out behind the students, quickly heading for the door. And then he dived into his food.

Plopping down onto the picnic table right outside the school, he munched away on a turkey sandwich and some chips. As he did this, the teacher tried to remember all the names in his classes and match faces to them. A few were easier than others.

Okay, first period…The names and faces were each matched slowly. Leorio snorted softly, Killua came first to his mind, then to the green-loving Gon. After going through the rest of that class, he realized he was one short. Counting off the faces and names, Leorio tried to remember the next name. Finding he couldn't, his shoulders sagged, "Let's see…Gon, Killua….Shizuku, Hisoka…" – a shudder – "Sakura…" He named off the rest, still ending up short of one.

Interrupting Leorio's daydreaming, a harsh laugh reached through to his senses.

Jumping to his feet, the math teacher jogged towards the bitter sound, finding its source around the corner.

Three guys were laughing and circled around a huddled figure. Leorio caught a glimpse of blond hair before clearing his throat, gaining their attention. Three heads swiveled around to glare at him, then turn wary. The shortest one, one with narrow eyes and hands in his pockets, nodded towards the path. The other two nodded, the guy with a high ponytail quickly retreating and the brow-less man following suit.

As soon as all three were gone, Leorio kneeled down beside the trembling blond, "You okay?" Cold sapphire eyes met his, "Yes, thank you."

"Kurapika…" The name finally came to him, leaving his lips before he could fully register it. Kurapika frowned slightly, "Hanashi-sensei, I don't think I ever gave you permission to address me by given name." Leorio blinked, formal much? He helped the blond to his feet, "Uh, sorry, I couldn't remember your surname?"

"Of course you couldn't." Kurapika brushed off some dirt on his sleeve, obviously not believing a word of it. After a few moments, his frown deepened, "Mm…Hanashi-sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you let go of my arm?"

"Oh, sorry." Leorio made no move to let go. Impatience began to edge onto the blond's face, "Sensei? Is something wrong? You've cut off circulation to my arm." The teacher released the said arm quickly, taking a step back, "Oh, sorry!"

"So you've said." Kurapika muttered, turning away, "Goodbye."

"Yeah, see ya later." Leorio did his two-finger salute, marching back to his bag.

XXX

It was early in the morning, the sun hadn't even risen yet. Leorio pulled on some sweats and grabbed his keys, going out into the cool September air. He walked along the sidewalks, eventually finding himself at the park. There was nobody there and all was quiet. Unlike the big cities such as York Shin, Whale Island slept. It seemed that even the animals respected that unspoken rule.

So, as Leorio enjoyed the morning air, the fact that he happened to stumble upon a certain somebody was so strange that he had to pinch his cheek. Just to make sure he wasn't still asleep, you know?

For the second time, Leorio kneeled down beside the sleeping body.

Kurapika was curled around himself, wrapped in a thin blanket and using his red bag as a pillow. He had on the same clothes as yesterday – faded jeans, a black button-up shirt and a light gray sweater. Why would he be sleeping in the park? On the cold and dirty grass?

While Leorio was contemplating on the consequences of waking his student, Kurapika stirred, raising his head to stare at him, "…Hanashi…-sensei?" A wry smile graced his soft-looking lips, "Eheh…I'm not still dreaming, am I?" Leorio shook his head, blurting out, "Why are you sleeping in the park?"

"Why are you watching me sleep?"

Leorio could almost hear the silent word creeper added at the end of the question. He rubbed the back of his neck, "Touché." An awkward silence hung in the air, so thick you could probably cut it with a knife.

Kurapika looked up at the sky as the first thin rays of light crept to the surface. For the first time since meeting him, Leorio saw the blond smile. Not a wry smile like had just received, but a real, natural smile. The teacher looked up at the sky as well, watching the clouds take on an orange or pink color.

"You like sunrises?" He asked curiously, having a sudden want to know more about his student. That earned a dreamy nod, "Mmm…And sunsets."

"So that's why you slept in the park? To see the sun?" It made sense, to a certain extent. But Leorio's teacher mode was starting to kick in, "That's still no excuse. Do your parents know? Imagine how worried they must be when they find your room empty!"

Cold sapphire eyes spun to glare at him, icy and unforgiving, "No, my parents don't know. They don't know anything. They're dead." Kurapika jumped to his feet, grabbing his bag and turning heel, angrily walking away.

That left Leorio to kneel, alone, on the cold ground, wondering why he had to ruin everything when he had almost gotten past the walls that surround the blond boy. The same boy who appeared out of nowhere and left without a glance back.

With only a few hours left until the school day began, the teacher hurried home in a daze, changing into his work-clothes and sipping coffee. Spinning helplessly in his favorite chair, Leorio finally decided to do some research. Logging into the school page, he scrolled through the student list and clicked the special button that only teachers had access to. Scrolling down yet another list, he found Kurapika's name.

"Kurapika Yuukio…" He tested the name, somehow it felt…wrong. He clicked on the name, waiting as the document loaded. Surprisingly, there was only about a page about the blond in the records given to the school.

He was a foster child, apparently, living with the Yuukio family. They had no information on him before being adopted, which was only about one year ago. It gave a few other things, physical traits, blood type, and age. It also gave his birthday. April first? That didn't sound right either. At the bottom of the page was his guardians' names and address.

Bookmarking the page, Leorio got up and left for work.

TBC…

(Word Count: 1535)

Yuuki: Hello~ Anyways, before I forget to mention this, Hanashi isn't really Leorio's last name, obviously, and neither is Yuukio for Kurapika~ But I don't think they were ever formally given by Togashi-san so…I made some up as I was typing nyan ^-^'

Killua: You always rush things

Yuuki: well, it was originally gonna be a one shot…and I started writing when I got the idea for this so…I already have like…the last chapter done… . I just have to fill in everything until that point…ugh don't pressure me! *whacks Karuto with fly swatter*

Karuto: wahhhh you don't even know how to spell my naaaame!

Yuuki: …though I COULD go to my bookshelf and find it in the manga just to check…pffsh I'm too tired to get up (it's 11:58 at night)

Leorio: review please *waves white flag for no reason*

Chapter Two: When Kurapika is absent on the second day of school, Leorio's decision is set – he'll go to the address listed on the school page. But when he gets there, he gets quite the surprise…