The Difference Between Free and Priceless

Summary: Feeling a little too stuffy for comfort when Kurapika, Gon and Killua visit Leorio at his apartment, Leorio purchases a fan and gets a very strange free gift. Pointless and some ooc-ness one shot/ more

Disclaimer: Togashi is the great man who owns all these characters.

It had never been an easy task for Leorio to resist his urge to bargain. Even if the price was perfectly reasonable and going any any lower would be equivalent to day light robbery.

Well, not exactly daylight since it was almost six in the evening. Leorio's stomach growled in response to the time of the day. He needed to end this quickly and get some food to placate his bear of a stomach.

"I'll give you twenty one Jenny (the currency) for it-- you can get rid of this fan and i can go off to have dinner. How does that sound?"

"That's way too little, young man! Twenty five Jenny is the lowest i can go. " the old lady placed a hand on the object of interest firmly, fearful that Leorio would make away with the second hand table top fan without any warning.

Leorio gave a loud sigh.. He jiggled the coins in his right pocket and grudgingly took out the money. Prissy Kurapika was definitely going to bug him endlessly if he returned empty handed.

With four boys occupying the small apartment Leorio had rented during his studies at the university, the heat was honestly unbearable when all four of them happened to be in the same room at the same time.

Which was highly probable because the apartment only had a single room and a toilet.

Gon and Killua probably wouldn't mind the heat that much, but they were the main contributors towards the rise in temperature with all their over-activeness in the form of pointless games, namely eating tournaments, tower stacking competitions (using Leorio's medicine books) and more.

The latest one had been particularly troublesome for Leorio because it involved getting as many neighbours as possible to knock at their door in alarm. Kurapika had won that challenge when he demonstrated his battle cry should he ever see Kuroro on the streets.

Rather than risk dying from a heat stroke or Kurapika's wrath, Leorio decided to purchase an 'efficient cooling device' as Kurapika had requested.

Leorio rarely had visitors to his humble abode and he had been extremely delighted when not just one, but all three of his buddies from the hunter exam popped up unexpectedly at his doorstep one hot afternoon, asking to stay for a week or so. After that day, afternoons were no longer just hot, but to the point of boiling since all the lazy bums did was to stay indoors and watch television.

Still, as a polite host is obliged to, Leorio deemed it his responsibility that his guests were comfortable and enjoyed their stay. This sense of responsibility subsequently brought our hero to the only electronic store in town with the shop keeper who was immune to his excellent bargaining skills.

Or not.

Leorio's distressed face must have invoked a sense of pity in the shop keeper because the very next second after he had sighed and fished out the money, Leorio blinked and found himself awkwardly cradling a large glass bowl containing water and some pebbles. In his right arm, he held the table fan with the wire neatly wound around the stem. Leorio glanced in shock at the old lady who was already keeping the twenty five Jenny in a cash register.

"Just a freebie, now shoo and stop gaping at me" she waved a hand dismissively.

Upon closer scrutiny while leaving the shop, Leorio spied a single, tiny reddish creature, no bigger than his thumb nail, in the glass bowl. It was nibbling at a pebble.

Watching Leorio's hunched profile as he made his way out, the old lady shook her head in disapproval. "Young people these days... Can't they wait a few more years before starting a family and have kids? Why, he barely had enough money to feed himself, much less his wife and kids," She poked with her bony finger, a middle aged man with his eyes glued to the television to get his attention. "And wearing that strange tuxedo outfit when he's too broke to buy a brand new fan, in such weather too! He must be out of his mind! You listening, Shinji?"

Shinji nodded mutely in reply.

Leorio felt an urge to scream. He did not just pay four Jenny more than his intended price for a glass bowl, a few coloured pebbles and a silly fighting fish. That package should have cost two Jenny more at the most. Still, the stares and whispers Leorio was already getting behind his back strongly discouraged him from drawing more attention to himself.

The fish was too small to be eaten but it might entertain the young ones at his house. His house, where Kurapika, Gon, and Killua were waiting. Where dinner was waiting.

With that, Leorio skipped home whistling a random tune. The trail of water he had joyously left behind shimmered a brilliant orange in the flaming reflection from the setting sun.

To be continued...?

A/N: Have you ever wondered why on earth Togashi drew Leorio with that fighting fish/guppy for volume 19? I'm pretty sure the chimera ants pack a lot more meanness than a fish..

Next chapter (if i get down to writing it) the boys name the fish and Leorio takes a bath while something more exciting happens outside the bathroom.

Anyway if you've noticed, i'm kinda experimenting with a few writing styles but i never stray far from heavy narration. So please tell me what you think! =)