When We Were Babies (Kurapika x Leorio parents)

26 A Change in Perception

Kurapika padded through the empty hallways of the mansion, his satchel slung over his shoulder holding his pills, food and water. He held his wallet in one hand, walking silently over to Leorio's room. He peered in, seeing the brunette was fast asleep on his stomach, his back rising and falling gently under the silk sheets.

'Good.'

A pang of guilt simmered in his stomach. He had to go now.

The cool early morning air greeted him as he trudged to the taxi, dew getting on his pant legs and shoes as he went through the grass.

"Where to, miss?" The taxi driver asked, sounding way too peppy in the early hours. The sun hadn't even come up yet. "York New City, please." He instructed, not caring anymore if someone thought he was...never mind. At this point he didn't know if he actually was one now. "I'm sorry, but York New is still pretty closed off."

"Then drop me off at the nearest metro station instead."

After a silent car ride, he paid the taxi driver and headed to the metro station, clutching his satchel as he found a deserted train cart to sit on. Yesterday he had booked a last minute doctor's appointment. In all honesty, he was surprised they had accepted his request. The office was near the center of the city, a small place that specialized in different abnormalities in people, helping them to cope with whatever it was they had. Kurapika had been there only once, and that was to get his prescribed pills. He didn't remember much of what the inside looked like, after all, he was searching for the Spiders and his brethren's eyes.

He sighed, watching the sky turn lighter shades of blue as the sun came up. Country side rolled past, slowly turning to suburbs, then into the concrete jungle that had been home to him for the past two years. By then, the sun was high in the sky, and Kurapika had eaten his meat bun he packed. The metro opened its doors and the blonde blended into the swarming crowd, trying to look inconspicuous. He wore his robes and red jeweled earrings, along with his hand chains clinking as he walked. The streets were the same as always with the exception of heavy police presence.

In the distance he spotted the Khan skyscrapers and Heaven's Arena going well beyond into the clouds. A foggy memory of him falling from a skyscraper came to him as he walked, remembering nothing but how much better the fear of falling was than the terror from what had happened behind those closed doors at the hands of those demonic people. He winced and shuddered at the memory, his heartbeat echoing loudly in his chest.

In time, his feet had led him to the doctor's office, and he numbly filled out the paper work, his mind replaying his fall off the skyscraper over and over the darkened city, and Leorio's frightened cry echoing in his ears.

"...lo?"

The feeling of his arms snapping and the unbearable pain in between his legs...

"Sir? Sir? Kurapika?"

The blonde snapped his head up to meet the eyes of a tall female doctor he had some memory of seeing before, but he forgot her name. "Oh-! I apologize, I am he." He stood up and bowed slightly. The doctor chuckled warmly, making the blonde's cheeks turn a slight shade of pink in slight embarrassment. "No need to be so formal my dear, follow me." Without a another word, she spun around on her heel and walked, leaving Kurapika to follow close behind. The office wasn't the same as other doctor's offices were, with warm woodsy colors calming his apprehensive mind. The doctor motioned for him to sit on the table. "So, Kurapika, what seems to be bothering you today?"

Her voice was so calm and kind. "I'm wondering if I am going through a second puberty."

The doctor tilted her head to the side. "What gives you the impression that you are?" She watched as the blonde let his robes fall down his shoulders, revealing fiery red scratch marks along his pectorals. The doctor walked up to him to inspect his chest, noticing how her patient wouldn't meet her eye anymore, as if he was embarrassed. "Oh, my dear, you've nearly torn off your own skin."