"Hey, Kyouya…" Dino had started conversations in such a way several times over the course of the day. He just couldn't seem to shut up. "Do you have a home?"
"Do I look like a beggar, Cavallone?" There was no sharpness to Hibari's tone, not anymore. He had stopped pretending to be annoyed with Dino's pointless words hours ago.
Dino laughed it off, and wasted no time restating himself. "No, no, I don't mean do you have a place to live. I mean…" He was serious again. Usually his superfluous speech came with a fitting tone, but every now and then, he actually acted like he had something important to say. And though Hibari had long ago decided that no humans had much of importance to say, Dino was usually an exception. As such, Hibari offered the courtesy of a questioning glance in his general direction. "What I mean is, do you have a home? Like, a place where you feel safe…or something."
This seemed to be an exception to the exception, though. "Hn. That question is completely ridiculous. I don't need to be somewhere in particular to feel safe. I don't need to feel safe to begin with. I'm not some herbivore who has to hide away in his burrow when things get violent."
Another almost apologetic laugh. "Right, right, of course…" he said, almost sounding discouraged in his attempt to make Hibari understand what he wanted to know. He glanced around a bit, and his gaze was drawn to the small yellow bird perched comfortably on the boy's shoulder. A grin spread across his face as an idea finally struck him. "What about a nest? Even the most predatory birds have nests they fly back to. Somewhere high up, where only they can live. That's their home. Do you have a nest?"
This time, no immediate answer. That could be a good sign. It could mean Hibari was actually taking it seriously, turning it over in his mind and deciding what his answer should be. Or it meant he had grown tired of the subject and would now proceed to ignore Dino for the next half hour or so before allowing him to speak again.
The silence remained as the pair meandered throughout the Namimori school, Hibari always seeming to know exactly where he was going (and never getting there) and Dino following along casually. It was summer, and had been for over two weeks now, so of course the school was completely deserted except for the two of them. At other schools, one might expect a delinquent or two to be busy vandalizing the school over the break, but Namimori was an exception to a lot of rules. Not because it had particularly good students or strict teachers, but simply because it had one particularly strict student. And Hibari Kyouya would protect this school with his life, if he had to. No one who had ever so much as heard of Namimori would be stupid enough to vandalize this school's property, because inevitably when one heard of Namimori, horror stories of its protector Hibari Kyouya would soon follow.
Dino had been planning to come here to get in some sparring with Hibari ('some sparring' being a full day's worth of almost non-stop fighting, in Hibari's eyes), but unforeseen circumstances with the Cavallone famiglia had put a wrench in those plans. Though he had still been able to make it, he was in no condition to fight. At least, not Hibari. He might have made it in a normal fight, but sparring with Hibari was a challenge all its own. And though he had tried to push through, mostly due to the deadly look that had entered the boy's eyes when he had seen the bandages wrapped around various parts of Dino's body, Hibari had stopped the spar just ten minutes in and said, "This is pointless. You aren't teaching me anything or making me stronger. You're just trying to stay alive." Though Dino had tried to protest—he felt bad for leaving the battle-hungry boy unsated—Hibari had put away his tonfa and gone back through the door into the school, leaving Dino to either follow quickly or be locked on the roof. Naturally, he chose the first option.
He had expected to be unceremoniously kicked out of the school once it had been decided that the training session wouldn't be happening, but as he had continued to follow Hibari, he found it quite difficult not to notice that they were going nowhere near the front door. He had let it be for a while, but eventually he hadn't been able to stop himself from speaking up. "Does this mean I get to stay?"
Hibari had glanced over his shoulder at the man behind him and said, "Until you get on my nerves, I suppose it can't hurt." He turned forward again before he could see the grin spread gaily over Dino's face, but he knew it was there anyway. Such small allowances tended to make the man ridiculously cheerful and unduly proud of himself. He also has a habit of brightening up at mundane things that had no reason to make him feel anything in particular, such as when Hibari had made eye-contact with Kusakabe (who had been following the pair as usual, along with Romario) and given a silent nod that told the loyal committee member to go home. The only reason he had come along to begin with was so that he could keep Romario company—a decision he had made on his own. But still, Dino's smile only grew when he saw this gesture, and he quickly motioned for Romario to leave as well. Hibari's questioning glare didn't faze Dino in the slightest, and they were soon left alone. Hibari made no comment on that fact, and Dino saw fit to simply look ecstatically happy.
Since then, they had been meandering around the school with no true aim, conversing whenever Dino said something worth responding to. When asked why he was doing this, Hibari had said this was what he always did on breaks and weekends, as well as after school. Dino said that it sounded like a pretty lonely patrol, but had gotten no response. He wasn't sure if this meant he was even partially right, or entirely wrong, but his money was on the latter.
It was strange, watching Hibari during their moments of silence. During a fight, he was fierce and sadistic and brutal, but now, in his moment of peace...And he was letting Dino in on it. This peace that was purely Hibari's…He was sharing it. Hibari Kyouya, the last person on Earth to ever share anything, was letting Dino into this small portion of his life that was not the same as what everyone else saw. But then, maybe it wasn't so small a portion. The boy had always been passionate about his school for some reason or another, and maybe this passion was even stronger than anyone had previously assumed. Maybe it wasn't just his school, maybe it wasn't just his pride and joy…Maybe…
When Hibari stopped momentarily at one of the windows, the smile across Dino's lips was much less a cheerful grin and more a sign of being truly content. He couldn't help but smile like that, because Hibari was wearing a very similar smile, albeit much smaller. Quietly, Dino joined Hibari at the windowsill and followed his gaze to the very roof they usually fought on. That look said it all. Namimori wasn't just a school to Hibari. This was the skylark's nest. This was Hibari's home.
"You don't have to answer that question, Kyouya. I get it."
"Hn…You asked a question?"