Archive of Our Own

HxH: Hippocratic Hypocrites

Title: Hippocratic Hypocrites
Author: katharos_8
Word count: 2445
Characters: Leorio and Kurapica
Summary: Stuck in a warzone, Leorio makes a decision.
Notes: written for the trail_hunter with thanks to readerofasaph for organising it!

It was late morning, in the midst of one of those strange lulls when the sound of rattling gunfire and distant explosions fell silent, that Leorio stuck his head out of the door for a breath of sunlight and found a body dumped on the cracked doorstep.

"Oh shit," he muttered, and dropped to his knees to check for a pulse. His searching fingers found one but it was weak and thready, and when he searched the body with other senses he found a system almost overwhelmed by disease, failing on the edge of death. "Oh shit," he said again, and hauled the guy up over his shoulder and dragged him inside.

Once the guy was safely deposited on a bedroll Leorio sank down beside him, laid his hands on him, and sent his Nen into the fragile network of flesh. Immediately he felt the load as a weight across his shoulders and he almost; staggered; gritted his teeth and set himself as he fought to keep life within the cells. He could feel sweat stand out on his forehead, his breath coming in short fast pants. Damn, at least two secondary infections at least one settled in the lungs. And that infection he hadn't been able to diagnose no matter what he tried in all the patient's he had seen, a massive dark spot he couldn't hope to Manipulate, and all he could do was pour power at it in an attempt to hold it back-

He felt something snap. Something low down in the centre of himself. He staggered, felt himself begin to list as strength drained out of him in spite of his struggles. And the man beneath his hands seemed to let out a long sigh. Life fled under his fingers, through the fading strength of his Nen. Leorio reached after it desperately, despair already calling it futile as blackness began to swim at the corner of his eyes.

"Leorio!" a voice shouted and he managed to turn his head towards the door.

"Kura-" he croaked, and then the world began to swim, last of his strength flooding out of him. Dimly he saw Kurapica lunge for him, bagful of tins and half-rotten fruit spilling across the floor, and then the world went black.

___

There was a strong arm around his shoulders, propping his head up. Leorio mumbled a protest, trying to roll over and dive back down into the clutching darkness. All his limbs managed to do was twitch, and the hand at the back of his head wasn't budging.

A metal spoon clanked painfully against his teeth until he forced his mouth open mouth open and swallowed. And choked.

"Ack!" Leorio spluttered, peeling his eyes open to glare up at the grim face looking down at him. "Sweet!"

"In case you have failed to notice," Kurapica said in clipped tones, "there is a distinct lack of precisely calibrated, flavoured, energy restoring drinks and bars in this city."

Another spoonful of gloopy liquid was presented, and Leorio eyed it warily. "Didn't think there was that much sugar either," he muttered.

"I was saving it for imbecilic Hunters who drive themselves into Nen exhaustion," Kurapica said grimly, and Leorio meekly opened his mouth to take his medicine.

After a few more mouthfuls he felt strong enough to heave himself up into sitting position, ignoring Kurapica's dark looks- hey, who was the doctor here, anyway? He wasn't able to claim possession of the spoon, however, Leorio eyed Kurapica darkly down the meta length of its handle. Bastard was enjoying this, he was sure.

As Kurapica shifted to fetch the next spoonful, the second bedroll became visible behind his shoulder.

Leorio's insides flinched. He forced himself to look, to take in the empty, neatly folded blankets, and then to look about the whole room. Not that there was much to see. A small room with structural supports good enough that it had managed to survive repeated poundings. The store of scavenged food. His Nen-reinforced briefcase of used up medical supplies and jumbled notes. Nothing else. No one else.

Buck up, Leorio, he told himself hardly. You already knew that . Still. He stared intently at one battered wall for a long moment.

Kurapica was watching him when he finally, reluctantly, looked back to him, and the expression on his face had gentled.

"I took his body out to the Fires," he said, in answer to the question Leorio hadn't asked. The Fires. One of the best ideas he'd ever had, and that Kurapica had ever scared a bunch of exhausted, demoralised, living-ghosts into doing. Probably saved more lives through slowing the spread of disease than a squad of Hunters could have.

"Damn," Leorio muttered. He rubbed one hand over his eyes - still shaking, dammit, come on pull yourself together Leorio. Are you a Doctor-Hunter or not?" "Any idea who he was?"

Someone must have cared about the guy enough to follow the rumours and dump him on their front doorstep.

"I looked," Kurapica told him. "He didn't have any form of identification on him." He touched the pocket in the flow of his over-tunic briefly. "I've written down his details."

And that there was all there would ever be to identify him, now he'd gone to the fire. "Damn." Leorio tilted his head back, rested against the wall. Stared up at the ceiling. Remembered he feeling of life slipping out of the body beneath his hands, as cells failed and the invaders won and his Nen stretched and broke before them.

Kurapica sat back on his heels and studied him. "Can you manage to eat something now?"

Leorio managed to summon up a grin. "Hell yeah. You managed to bring back a buffalo? Cause I could eat it."

"Tinned sausages," Kurapica answered, rising.

"Oh yum," Leorio muttered, watching as he crossed to the other side of the room. "Find anything else?" he asked suddenly.

The line of Kurapica's back stiffened for a moment, then relaxed. "No," he said.

"Oh," Leorio mutterd. He flung - okay, flopped, his arm across his eyes. "Been a great day for both of us them.

There was quiet for a moment, just the clink of Kurapica's chains against the metal of the tin, the hiss of their precious gas stove.

"I did find a lead for Morshtuq," Kurapica said suddenly.

"Good," Leorio uncovered his eyes. "Soon as you find him I'll melt his lungs into his gut."

Kurapica levelled a disapproving look at him which Leorio met, unrepentant. "And did you make any progress before you almost killed yourself today."

Leorio shrugged, avoiding looking at the pile of papers by his briefcase. "A bit. Not soon enough." If he'd known exactly what was infecting the guy this morning he'd have had a much better chance at dealing with it with a lot less Nen, for a start.

The international Aid organisations had pulled their workers out three months ago. They still made food and medicine drops, but those would be a lot more effective if they knew what disease it was that was doing almost a good a job of killing of the population as the soldiers and rebels. And if bastards like Morshtuq weren't there to swoop in and grab it all to sell on the black market.

"My teacher said I was an idiot for trying to master the entire human body." Leorio said suddenly.

"I know," Kurapica murmured.

"No, listen." Leorio insisted. Kurapica obligingly turned away from the stove to listen. "She said that it's taken her decades just to master the brain to the extent that she could heal it of almost anything and you know?" He flung his hand out sharply, dismissively. "That's fine. That's just fine for her, in a hospital, with a hundred other doctors to treat all the other parts of the body and get paid for doing it. That's fine. But where am I going to find another Doctor out here? Huh? If I can't do it all..."

Kurapica was silent, listening.

"But you know what the real kicker is?" Leorio asked bitterly. "She was right. I can do everything a little, but nothing a lot. And most of the time that's fine. Hell, I don't need Nen for most doctoring, anyway. But the times like this morning... I'm just not strong enough," he said flatly. "And that's that. And so, Kurapica." Leorio straightened up and fixed Kurapica with a level look. "I want you to put a pledge blade in my heart."

Kurapica froze in the middle of a supportive nod. "What?!"

"A pledge blade." Leorio tapped his chest above his heart. "Right here."

"Are you insane? Why -"

"Oh that's rich coming from you," Leorio snorted.

Kurapica's eyes narrowed. "And what's that supposed to -"

"The amount of pointy things you've got stuck in your heart by now?"

"Leorio, this isn't something to enter into lightly!"

"You think I don't know that?" Leorio snapped. "After being around you all this time? Look, I have thought about it. I've thought about it before. I'm not going to give up a skill I might need to heal someone, so I've got to give up something else."

Kurapica was obviously doing his best to consider this objectively. Leorio thought uncharitably things about people who went around sticking blades in their own hearts but wouldn't do the same thing for friends, even when they asked nicely. "What do you have in mind for your condition?"

"It's got to be something big," Leorio said firmly. "I don't want to run out of strength ever again. And I was remembering my med-school oaths... I think pledging only to use my Nen for healing should do it."

The stare he received for that lasted long enough that he began to fidget uncomfortably. "Do you have any idea," Kurapica said slowly, "how vulnerable -"

"Yes. I do. But hell, Kurapica," Leorio said softly. "If I can't heal I might as well not do anything."

Kurapica was silent for a long moment. When he met Leorio's eyes again he was smiling, very slightly. "I guess that's always been your will. Ever since I met you."

Leorio smiled back at him. "Yep."

Kurapica drew in a deep breath and nodded once. He held out his hand, palm up – Leorio was sure it was his imagination that the world seemed to still as one of the metal rings suddenly manifested a chain. And a knife.

The chains and their accessories had always seemed very Kurapica somehow. Simultaneously elegant and painfully blunt. Leorio eyed the knife warily. All very fine to talk about making a pledge but there was something very unnerving, and very real, about that knife. Hell if that would stop him though.

Kurapica met his eyes as he rested the tip of the blade against his chest, and did him the honour of not asking him if he was sure. Leorio took a deep breath and folded his hands around the hilt as well.

In one quick, sudden movement they drove the blade in together.

Leorio stared down at where the hands joined and for a moment began to panic. There was a very real blade there. Sticking into his chest. He could feel it like cold, the front edge of pain. He forced himself to look up, to meet Kurapica's eyes, which were blue bleeding into red and worry. "Swear," he rasped. "Swear I will only use Nen to heal. If I use it to harm, I'll die."

"The intent to harm," Kurapica added swiftly. "Which does not include the intent to defend."

"Yeah," Leorio croaked. "What he said."

"Witnessed," Kurapica whispered, and the blade dissolved beneath their hands.

There was a strange tightness in his chest but it faded as he drew in long, deep breaths. It was odd. It felt like something had been bound across his Nen, like a new shirt that was too tight and yet, at the same time -

He caught hold of one of Kurapica's hands in his and focused. And in one bright, easy wash of power slaughtered the flu bugs beginning to set up camp in Kurapica's system.

Leorio let out a long, glad breath and released Kurapica's hand. "Oh yeah," he breathed. He felt a grin splitting his face. "That's more like it."

Kurapica was smiling at him and Leorio grinned back, vibrating with glee. Hah! Not the only one who can do crazy stuff, are you? Wait -
"Kurapica-" he began, alarmed, but before he could say anymore Kurapica turned the new pledge blade he held in his hand and plunged it into his own heart. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Idiot!" He made to yank the blade out, remembered just in time what a spectacularly bad idea that would be, and had to settle for make violent, grabbing motions at thin air and glaring.

The idiot was smiling in that way he got when he was doing something he considered noble and right, the one that said 'I know what I am doing is sane and obvious even if the rest of the universe disagrees.'

"I swear that I will protect Leorio for as long as he only uses his Nen to heal. My Nen will be his sword. My life is the surety of my pledge." The knife faded under Kurapica's hand and he drew in a deep breath, looking remarkably satisfied with himself. Leorio wanted to throttle him.

"I'm not helpless without Nen you know," he snapped.

"Against the kind of opponents we run into?"

Leorio cursed and scrubbed his hand through his hair. "You didn't have to do that."

"With what you have just done," Kurapica said peaceably. "What other response was demanded?"

"Hey, I wasn't demanding anything!" Leorio protested, and Kurapica frowned at him, and Leorio got that he'd just interrupted some dramatic and honourable moment. Then a thought occurred to him and he grinned. "You realise you've just stuck yourself with me for a good long while, don't you?"

Kurapica smiled. "I will somehow find the strength to bear it."

Leorio frowned. "Hey do you smell something burning?"

Kurapica's eyes widened. "No - the sausages!" He lunged for the stove and Leorio collapsed back down onto the bedroll and laughed until he coughed. Which called one of the most feared and respected Black List Hunters in the world back over from his burnt sausages to scold and fuss.

He was going to find whoever it was who'd brought the guy he'd failed to save, Leorio thought, and give them the news. And then he'd be a Doctor. As hard as he could be.

And the next time Kurapica tried to sneak off to get himself killed... Leorio grinned smugly. He had a finishing argument even Kurapica couldn't beat.