Heli: Uh sorry about this. This drabble came to mind after skimming the part where the boys are hospitalized and Tsuna gets put in Hibari's room. Rhage woke me up at an ungodly hour (3 a.m. -_-) just so he could talk at me then nag me enough that I couldn't fall back to sleep. So here's a take on how we think Hibari isn't the ice king he's so commonly portrayed as. Enjoy.

Rhage: Also, Al Dente is my One Shot Series. It means "To the Tooth" in Italian but I'm using Heli's dad's translation of "To Taste." I don't promise to have lots of one shots. I'll post them as I come across little scenes that I think would be awesome or that don't make the cut for the longer stories that I do. Eventually, I may even do requests but don't get your hopes up! Oh so ya know for this first one shot: OOC Hibari.

A soft moan jerked him from sleep and Hibari pushed himself up on his elbows to glare at the girl across the room. She'd been brought in that morning in a wheelchair, her body no more than a skeleton draped in pale skin. After the nurse left, he'd laid down his rules and she had stared at him with eyes too large and solemn for her face. That's when he'd dismissed her with a turn of his head in favor of his book. The only tell that she was in the room was the soft rattle of her breath.

Another moan had him throwing back his blankets to stalk across the cold tile to her bed. In the moonlight, Hibari would see every angle and jut of bone, her own covers having been kicked down to hang from the end of the bed. Her whole body trembled with chills and when he grabbed her shoulder to shake her roughly, Hibari found her thin gown was soaking wet. A soft cry tore from the girl when she jerked awake, staring up at him in confusion. Her panting breaths rattled oddly while he scowled down at her.

"Be quiet."

"I'm sorry." her voice was only a thread of sound in the darkness. Hibari walked away. Weakling.

The nurse left after delivering breakfast and as he took the first bite, Hibari's eyes slid over to the girl. She was propped against a mound of pillows ignoring the food on the tray in her lap. Her thin fingers trailed across the rim of the pale pink cup half full of orange juice. Slowly, she lifted it to her lips to take a sip. She paused and he looked away, back to his own meal.

The sudden clatter of plastic dishes on tile had him looking up in time to see her stumble into the bathroom before the door slammed behind her. His eyes went to the mess on the floor. What a waste. Hibari considered a few sharp words were in order but he decided to let it go. Unlike his previous roommates, she was following his rules pretty well. There were no attempts at conversation, no noisy visitors, no demands that the television be on. Nothing but a few sounds of pain in her sleep and that rattling noise. He could deal with it. The bathroom door opened slowly and he glanced up. She looked like death warmed over. Pathetic.

Later that evening while Hibari read, he (yet again, unfortunately) found his focus wandering to the girl. After her attempt at breakfast had gone wrong, she'd refused all other meals and had sat against her pillows to stare at the wall. She hadn't moved for hours and if it weren't for the rattle of each breath, he would have sworn her dead. Jerking his attention back to the pages in his hands, Hibari grumbled mentally to himself. A little while later, a cough had him looking over again (he really needed to stop) to see one hand cupped over her mouth while the other clutched her chest. His eyes hadn't even returned to his book when another cough, harder than the last, had her leaning forward then it was like a flood as she coughed and gasped and struggled out of her bed. In the red light of dusk, he saw something dark on the hand that hung at her side as she reached for the bathroom door.

Irritated with himself, Hibari sat back against his pillows and glared at her. What the hell was wrong with her? She didn't eat. She didn't talk. She just sat and stared at the wall and that blood...what was wrong with her? Damn it, why did he want to know!? And why had no one come to visit her? Even he had visitors. Hibari continued glaring but she didn't see (or didn't care) so intent on the wall was she.

"What are you looking at?" he finally snapped then cursed at himself when she moved slightly, those large dark eyes settling on him like a weight.

"Nothing." she replied softly.

"Why hasn't anyone come to see you?" Might as well get it all out of the way now. Hibari thought grudgingly. She stared at him, the corners of her eyes scrunching slightly as though she were contemplating his worth.

"Why?" she asked eventually and he glared then rolled over onto his side.

"Forget it." he snapped then closed his eyes.

Dinner was brought later that night and the nurse turned on the television before she left. The noise was mildly annoying and Hibari reached for the remote to shut it off when he noticed she wasn't staring at the wall. Her head was cocked, her dark hair spilling into her lap as she watched, curiously, the ridiculous game show that was on. Why was she staring like she'd never seen it before?

"It's a TV." he said clearly like she were dumb.

"I know." she was transfixed by the screen.

"Then why are you staring at it?" Her eyes fell away to her hands clasped in her lap.

"I've never seen that program before." she mumbled.

"It's been on for years," he stated, "Have you been living under a rock?"

"No..."

"Too poor to afford it?" Hibari sneered, "Why hasn't anyone visited you yet?" he added and the way she stilled during his barrage only seemed to fuel the anger he suddenly felt, "Answer me!" he demanded.

"Because there is no one." her eyes were hollow when she looked at him, "My parents left me at the park when I was five. I've been in foster for ten years and my last guardian died four years ago. I have no friends and no you like the rats I share a shack with to come? I'm sure they would happily take the offer." There was no heat to her words and no emotion on her face. He stared at her.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Advanced stage lung cancer." Hibari felt the anger drain away suddenly. Even he didn't cross some lines.

"You're dying." With that, she lay down with her back to him.

He woke with a jerk at the sudden noise in the dark and sat up quickly. The moonlight streaming through his window lit up the room enough for him to see her hunched over in her bed, her shoulders shaking as each cough ripped itself from her frail body. Each breath she fought to draw was a sob of pain. Hibari found himself moving before he realized it and at the sound, her head came up. He froze on the cold tile as the pale moonlight glistened off the blood dripping from her lips. Her eyes held his and in them he found no fear, only resignation. The air whooshed from his lungs when he stared into the eyes of her impending death.

"Why aren't you in the intensive care wing?" Hibari asked over the soft drone of the television. He saw her head turn from the corner of his eyes.

"Because they're expensive and private rooms, "she rattled, "I don't want to die alone." His head whipped to the side so he could glare at her.

"Don't bother asking me to hold your hand," he snapped, "Because I won't."

"I didn't ask you to." She was so calm. He went back to his book and tried to ignore her.

"Are you scared?" his voice was gruff and slowly those death-dark eyes moved back to his face.

"No. There's no point to be since I can't fight it. It's inevitable." Her head tilted slightly, "Are you scared of death?" He didn't reply. A crooked smile pulled at her lips.

"You can tell me anything, ya know. It all goes to the grave." Hibari saw that the smile nor the off handed joke reached her eyes.

"I have never seen death." he looked away from her to his hands, "I have seen the living, blood, pain, and the dead but never death. It, as a concept, does not scare me." Hibari fell silent.

"Don't think about it too hard, "she said when his brow creased, "Just enjoy what and who you have now. All that life to the fullest bullshit." He glanced at her but she was looking at the wall