A/N: This is my favourite work. I personally wouldn't mind making a series based on this oneshot but I don't know if anyone would be interested. Let me know what you guys think :D
"Boss, don't tell them that!"
Dino Cavallone laughed, brushing aside Romario's concern as he finished telling one of many anecdotes concerning his famiglia. His audience – Haru, Kyoko and Tsuna – were spellbound.
"Wow, Dino-san, you're amazing!" Kyoko took a bite out of her sundae.
"Yeah!" Haru agreed. "Your stories are perfect to get our minds of the heat!"
"But who would have thought we'd be sitting here in a gelato shop, instead of enjoying the beach," Tsuna sighed. He felt awkward in his attire, even if Dino was also only wearing swimming trunks.
"Sorry, Tsuna," Dino scratched the back of his neck. "I didn't think we'd get hit by a heat wave."
As Tsuna assured his 'Aniki' that it was fine, Haru was suddenly struck by a thought.
"Hey, Dino-san, why do you have so many tattoos?"
The blonde blinked at the sudden question, before realising that his skin was completely on display for the first time to his conservative Japanese friends.
"They represent important things in my life," he explained with a smile.
"Really?" Kyoko tilted her head slightly. "How so?"
He began pointing to various designs that covered his torso as he explained.
"This one I got the day I was made the head of my family. This one was on the day I made my first friend. This one I got the day I met Reborn for the first time."
"Uh, Dino-san, that one looks more like a scar."
"…I believe that was Reborn's intention."
Tsuna nodded his head in sympathy as Dino continued, sometimes interrupting his explanations to fill them in on more tales about his past.
"This one was when Romario agreed to be my guardian. This one – the purple tonfa – I got to remind me of my first student. This one matches my nickname…"
The table's occupants were so engrossed that they failed to notice the waitress who brought them their bill.
"Oh, thank you," Dino smiled brightly at the girl, causing her to blush and scurry away when he took the black book from her. He flipped it open to insert some cash, causing the Vongola boss to notice something.
"Hey, Dino-san?"
"Yeah, Tsuna?"
"What's that heart tattoo on your wrist for?"
The Italian's expression abruptly darkened. "It's a reminder… of why I don't drink."
As the others questioned him and Romario sympathetically took the check away, Dino's mind fell down grey memory lanes until he found the person to whom he had dedicated that ink mark.
Her hair was a shimmering blue. Blue like the ocean she loved, like the rain which was her flame, like the sky she had always claimed him to be. He always remembered her hair. It was something he had seen so often – she was always running around, and it floated after her like a banner.
The first coat of arms he had ever used was the same shade of cobalt as those strands which connected the wind to her head…
People often told him he had a dazzling smile. He had learnt it from her. Her lips would always lift when she saw him, regardless of the time or place. She would beam at him even when she was surrounded by the carcasses of the assassins who tried to take his head.
She was smiling, too, the night she died.
"C'mon, explain it to us!"
"Yeah! Why would you have a heart to remind you not to become intoxicated?"
"Better yet, why is it blue?"
The so-called Bronco grinned at his companions' eagerness, but the light in his eyes had died. It had been a while since he had spoken of his fiancé – sorry, ex-fiancé. You can't be engaged to a dead person.
"I once had a female Rain guardian," he began. "We had known each other for years and were the best friends. One day, it was snowing…"
The soft whiteness had encompassed everything. Driving in such weather would be hazardous, so they had decided to stay the night in a town they were passing through.
(Name) had been walking beside him. The snow had settled on her long coat, colouring her cheeks pink and making her look like the bride she was soon to be. She hated the cold though, and cuddled up to him on the busy streets.
"Dinoooooo~!" she whined cutely, tugging on his jacket (and heart strings) with an adorable pout on her face. "Let's go back to the inn. There's a fireplace there!"
He hugged her as he dragged her along. "In a week we're gonna be married, (Name)! We need to celebrate before your mother can give us any work!"
He didn't tell her that he only went for a walk to spend some time alone with her. Romario and the others were always around them (and were in fact waiting for them at their lodgings). He needed time to romance her, to indulge in her smile… plus, she was more affectionate when she was cold.
"Never before have I regretted being so selfish," Dino recalled bitterly. "I should have listened to her. If I had, I would never have walked into that bar…"
(Name) never drank. She hated the stuff because her sister had been an alcoholic and her addiction had ruined their family.
Dino, at that time, never had such reserves. He thoroughly enjoyed his wine as his lover curled up on his lap to try and get warmer.
"Is this how you celebrate?" she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Drink with me, my love!" His arms wrapped around her as he signalled for another drink. "Let us toast to our future together!"
He was so naïve back then.
"You know I don't drink," she kissed him softly.
How he wished he had savoured the warmth of her lips just a bit more.
He offered her the glass placed in front of him. "If you love me, you'll take at least one sip."
He still regretted those words.
She sighed and sniffed the alcohol experimentally.
Had she been a seasoned drinker like him, she would have known then that something was wrong.
She glanced at him and sighed. "Don't you ever doubt my feelings, Bronco."
He never had and never will. He should have told her he loved her too.
She gulped down the wine in one go, desperate to avoid its taste. When she started coughing afterwards, he thought it was because she had drunk it too fast.
"It's not like it was vodka, you sissy," he laughed as he patted her back.
"Dino," she gasped, her runny eyes capturing his. "Run."
He blinked. "What?"
"That… was poison."
His heart stopped.
It never started again.
"You have to leave. Now!"
She, his ever protective guardian, shoved him hard so that he crashed through the window.
She smiled at him through the broken pane. He struggled to get to his feet while curses were yelled inside the pub.
Three gunshots rang out and (Name) fell in a rain of red.
"My men were there a moment later," the Mafioso played with the knife in his hand. "They had also nearly been poisoned, but were smart enough to figure it out and come to my rescue."
"Were they—" Haru tentatively began.
"They were too late," he interrupted, his tone clinical. "(Name) had died instantly."
Silence followed his words.
"The funny thing is," Dino's words were filled with remorse, "those guys weren't even that good. Even the Bovino famiglia used to mock them. Yet (Name)… (Name) was amazing! She was the most successful female hitman of that time. To think that she was murdered so pathetically is a joke. A really tragic joke…"
He could feel tears prick his eyes. Even after four years, it still hurt to remember why she was dead.
"What happened to the guys that killed her?" Kyoko's voice was soft.
"We destroyed them all. There's nothing left of their famiglia either," it was Romario who had answered, his words short. "The heat wave's over. Let's go hit the surf."
He led away the reluctant trio, ignoring their protests in order to give his beloved boss a moment alone.
He shouldn't have bothered, Dino thought. I'm always alone.
It's just me and this inked skin that screams of memories.
It's just me with all these stupid words and regrets I can never express.
It's just my blue heart – the only thing of hers that I can still kiss and wipe away my tears with.
This blue heart which reminded him over and over again, like a sick joke, that he would never see her smile again.