Title: Romario in Dino-and-Hibari Land
Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn is Amano Akira's whereas Alice in Wonderland is Lewis Carol's
Credit: many thanks to SilentSnowDreamer for beta reading & Karijn Aska Shangel for her clarification regarding the Italian culture
Warning: lime sex scenes performed by various incarnations of Dino and Hibari (including gender-bending, yaoi, yuri, het, loli, shota) in the presence of Romario the voyeur
Author's Note: This fanfic uses British English (some spelling and punctuation differences, such as single quotations for normal speech)
'Signori' in the context below is equal to 'Mr and Mrs'.
Happy birthday, selene_umi!
I
The Hole
'What troubles you, nonno?'
'Nothing, Benedetto, dear,' answered Romario with a smile. It was no presumptuousness that the seven-year-old boy asked him such question; the middle-aged man had just massaged the bridge of his nose and let out a quiet, but long sigh into the golden zenith of dusk. Don Cavallone's right hand man was still rocking on his easy chair, facing a cluster of Forsythias at the backyard. His spectacles lay unfolded on the coffee table next to his chair. On his lap, a purple baby shower invitation card nestled.
This was not for the first time he received such invitation. Quite a number of his friends and relatives or their children had already begot children of their own, and these parents' ages were not too far different from Dino's.
In the old times, when his boss rushed to the Vongola's aid, it was 'for my dear little brother Tsuna's sake'. Gradually, this evolved into 'for my beloved Kyouya's sake'. Honestly, just how long did his boss intend to keep his relationship with the Vongola's Cloud Guardian? During the last six years, how many times had it been for Dino to whine for impulsive trips to Japan?
At first, Romario let them be. After all, the Bucking Horse, who had been burdened with so much responsibility as a mafia boss at such a young age, did deserve some entertainment. Yet, after the years rolled by, their relationship showed no symptom that Dino's devotion for Hibari would ever wane away. Worse still, Romario recalled, if Dino had not seen Hibari for three months or more, he'd become delusional. The senior man even had a tough time concocting a plausible excuse for his boss while the latter started addressing the desk 'Kyouya' in the other Mafiosi's presence.
Now this was serious. How could the head of a famiglia play around forever? He was twenty-eight this year; how could he forget his duty to procreate an heir for the sake of the Cavallone family? Nothing would come forth from two men. It was a high time for Dino to settle down with a proper consort. Why couldn't his boss consider marriage in the slightest?
Romario was aware that he should look back at himself before rebuking the younger man about matrimonial subject. Although Benedetto called him 'nonno' or 'grandfather', the sepia-haired child was no grandson of his, but of his late elder brother. The Cavallone boss' right hand man remained a bachelor to date. His devotion was not meant for romance, but solely for assisting the head of the famiglia.
Yes, this was a perfect excuse. Unlike his boss, he was a mere assistant. He valued more than a pawn, but he was no king. It was not the duty of a mere subordinate to secure the hereditary line of the Cavallone throne.
At the sound of Funiculì Funiculà, which was the tune of his door bell, Romario rose from his chair. Signori Gallo stood on the porch when Romario opened the door. He bade the couple to come in, and then searched from one room to another, calling, 'Benedetto, your parents are here to pick you up.'
The little boy did not answer. Neither was he to be seen in the living room, bedroom and kitchen. Hence, Romario tried the attic. Again, he found no luck in finding the boy there, but he saw a large hole on the wall. Romario scratched the back of his head, wondering why he had not noticed such a grave damage before; it had only been three months since the last time he went to the attic. Making a mental note to patch the hole after the guests left, Romario went downstairs.
Benedetto, who had been in the toilet earlier, was already at the door with his parents when Romario found him at last. After bidding the senior man goodbye, the Gallo family went on their way.
The house owner then returned to the attic. It was a good thing that he stored all his DIY equipments in that attic; there was no need for him to be encumbered with wooden planks, hammer, nails and other appliances.
Hmm, shall I cook pasta or polenta for dinner? considered the dark-haired man as he hummed lightly while he climbed the narrow, creaky stairs.
The light bulb on the attic had died down for years, but Romario did not bother to replace it. He rarely came to the attic and, throughout the duration of his short visits, sunrays provided him with sufficient lighting. Currently, however, the sun was setting, so the bespectacled man hurried his steps in hope he could finish the amendment before it became too dark.
Romario took a toolbox from one corner of the attic and brought it in front of the yawning wall, along with a piece of wood. Fortunately, the size of the plank corresponded well with that of the hole, so he did not need to cut it down. Even so, there were only two nails left in the toolbox – barely enough to secure the plank onto the wall, but still better than none.
One hand pinching one of these nails and the other holding a hammer, Romario crept closer towards the wall. As he bent lower, ready to strike, something thin swept his face and, in his surprise, he dropped the nail. It rolled on the wooden floor and into the hole he was supposed to cover.
Heart still thumping fast, the dark-haired man squinted for a better look. Phew, he exhaled in relief, that was just a spider. On his left, the eight-legged brown creature was still clutching to its thread, which dangled from the ceiling.
In order to resume his work, Romario had to retrieve the fallen nail first. The middle-aged man breathed rather laboriously while lying flat on his stomach. He did not suffer from rheumatics, thanks to the good exercises he maintained as Don Cavallone's right hand man, but age showed very little pity in times like this.
Really, that Dino ought to find himself a good wife. I can't afford to retire before ensuring he is blessed with a kid or two.
After taking a deep breath, Romario inserted his arm into the wall opening, his fingers probing for the lean metal. Peculiarly, he felt no solid thing at all … not even the edge of the wall. In fact, it felt that his hand entered an unfathomed tunnel rather than the supposedly shallow hole on a wall. Since the diameter of the hole couldn't have been more than an inch bigger than his arm, he could not poke his head in it to see what went on.
Romario withdrew his arm, and then illuminated the hole with a torchlight. For the first couple of seconds, he saw nothing but the yellowish beam over a dark space. Then, he noticed something else other than his torchlight flashing in the sombreness, in the deeper part of the hole.
But how deep can this hole be? It's just a crack on the wall, right?
Romario blinked.
Calm down, Romario! There can't possibly be anything lurking in there.
Gulping, the aged man inserted his hand into the wall opening again. Nothing happened.
See, that was just a hallucination or a trick of the light or something.
He pushed his arm deeper. Nothing happened still.
Then, when his elbow passed through the opening of the hole, Romario felt something – not exactly solid – pulling his hand with such a mighty force.
'Whoa! Wait! Let go!'
Nevertheless, darkness swallowed the aged man's voice and the invisible force dragged him into the depth of the unknown. Romario shut his eyes; he would collide into the wall any second now!
Any second now…
But why did no pain arise? Instead, he felt his body being sucked by some sort of gigantic intangible hoover. Curiosity compelled the bespectacled man to reopen his eyes.
Much to his amusement, he saw no wall, dusty broken furniture or any other part of his attic. He was drifting – or perhaps gliding – through what seemed to be an infinite space at an amazing speed.
'Slow down; I'm too old for a roller coaster ride!'
Exactly to whom or to what he was speaking, Romario had no clue. One thing was certain, though: the speed increased by the second. Faster … he was getting dizzy … faster … he had to close his eyes … faster…
The movement broke into a halt. Opening his eyes again, Romario found himself in an unfamiliar park. Plants from all over the world grew here, even the species which could were supposed to be able to grow at certain climate or topography. All the flowers were in bloom and all the fruits were ripe and they filled the air with their sweet scents. Beyond this magnificent park, pastel-coloured half-timbered cottages with thatched roofs stood aloft.
'I'm late! I'm late!' A soprano voice came from behind.
Romario turned to enquire the voice owner of their whereabouts.
II
Bunnies 'n' Kitties
Boss? No it can't be. Dino Cavallone is 100% male. He'd show different curvatures while wearing a casino bunny costume like this. The propriety as a gentleman obligated Romario to avert his eyes from the curvatures of the girl's body, especially her voluptuous cleavage and hips that protruded from the high-leg cut. He noticed, however, that the girl carried a pocket watch and recognised its glint to be the one he had seen earlier through the wall opening in his attic.
Romario opened his mouth, but before he voiced his query, he remembered that the bunny girl spoke in English instead of Italian. Hence, he addressed her in the same language. 'Aren't you, uh, supposed to … wear net stockings along with that costume?' What am I saying?
The girl – a female who mirrored the appearance of the twenty-eight-year-old Cavallone boss from head to toe – smiled amicably. 'I gave up wearing stockings since Kyouya ripped them too often.'
'Kyouya?' Romario's eyes flickered. What's this? Does Kyouya cheat on boss behind his back? Unforgivable! Sure enough this girl looks like Dino, but still…
The girl expounded with a chuckle, 'Kyouya is very impatient. I told him it'd be sexier if he removed my stockings slowly and sensuously, but he insisted on tearing them down and entered me without further ado.'
Is that something you should speak so freely to someone you've never met before? Romario went pink in the face. Who was this shameless slut?
'I'm in a hurry. Bye!' With that, she darted like wind and disappeared behind the bushes. How she could move that rapidly while wearing red stilettos to compliment her bareback costume Romario could not figure out. His curiosity for this mysterious figure, however, bade him to follow her.
As Romario stepped through the thickness of the verdant garden, the shade of red on his face deepened with every turn he made. At each corner, stood a plant trimmed to resemble sex toy. By the end of the botanical gallery, he had become a spectator to quite a considerable number of dildos, anal plugs, cock rings as well as other items he did not even recognise.
The exit of the labyrinthine bushes led to an open yard where the pastel coloured cottage he had seen earlier stood erect. In front of the cottage, was a long table ladened with jugs and cups of various shapes and sizes, each seemingly holding different types of coffee, from the lightest frappuccino to the bitterest dark coffee. By the end of the table, on a handsome dining chair, sat a man in puma costume of which pure black fabric accentuated the wearer's curvatures. His face and stature, Romario recognised, were none other than Hibari Kyouya's. The Cavallone boss' right hand man swallowed hard. His boss' inamorato was the most stoic man he'd encountered in his life. How could such a man clad himself in such a skin-tight outfit and with feline ears, no less?
'Kyouya…' The bunny girl who looked like Dino hopped onto the puma-costumed man and flung her arms around his neck.
The puma man looked away from the cup of coffee he had been nursing and turned to the newcomer. Showing neither disapproval nor encouragement, he purred calmly, 'You're late.'
The female Dino reached for Hibari's cheek, but before her hand touched his skin, he had caught it and said, 'A latecomer needs to be disciplined.'
With that, the puma rose from his seat and laid the rabbit onto the table. With a mixture of a growl and a purr, he ripped the bunny girl's clothes, unveiling the bosoms that jiggled at the rough movements he performed.
Despite the protest of 'Kyouya, you're too rough,' the blonde made no attempt to cover the lovely pink summits of her breasts. Soon, his mouth found its way on the valley of her twin mounds.
The foliages obstructed Romario's view from the detailed scene, yet he dared not move to take a closer look. Judging from the circling motion Hibari's head made and the erotic moans that slipped from Dino's mouth, however, it was not too hard to guess what happened.
'You've started without us!' A disapproving remark that sounded like the voice of a teenage girl reached Romario's ears.
From the cottage door, burst five more Dino and Hibari look-alikes, all wearing puma and bunny costumes and each seemed to be two to three years younger than the others. The nineteen-year-old Hibari let the twenty-six-year-old Dino walked in front of him so that he could – and did – fondle her bums. The seventeen-year-old Hibari carried the twenty-four-year-old Dino on his shoulder much like an abducted captive of war, except that the supposed captive showed no shred of reluctance. The fifteen-year-old Hibari pinned the twenty-two-year-old Dino onto the nearest wall and wrestled their tongues through endless kisses. The twelve-year-old Hibari intertwined his fingers with the nineteen-year-old Dino's and kept stealing glances at her. The nine-year-old Hibari yanked the sixteen-year-old Dino's golden hair, and then ran, proclaiming, 'Catch me if you can.'
How can this possibly happen? Romario wondered, Are they siblings?
The six pairs of Hibari and Dino had now sat themselves comfortably around the table. Well, technically, two Dinos were sitting on the table facing their respective partners. The older Hibari's face emerged from between Dino's legs whereas the younger Hibari licked clean the coffee stains from the younger Dino's lips and chin.
Yet, the eldest pair was in a world of their own, too busy to care about the surroundings. Dina – Romario decided to call the female version of Dino – was squatting up and down to join her lover by the crotch. Her moans each time the manhood entered her were drowned by the sound of crashing crockery.
A younger Dina grasped the tablecloth strong enough to make some of the coffee jugs and cups knock one another, courtesy to her partner's abrupt penetration. Coffee spilled onto the white tablecloth as the containers lay scattered. The pair next to them did not seem to care: Hibari breathed rather laboriously while closing his eyes whereas his partner slipped under the table and tended his lower region.
Well, at least the youngest pair doesn't engage themselves with sex, exhaled Romario. They're too young to – urgh! Romario shook his head in silence. What he had wrongly assumed to be an ordinary card game turned out to be a game of strip poker. Both Dina and Hibari wore one-piece costume; therefore, the game did not last for long.
Romario, however, doubted he could maintain his sanity if he stayed to watch the child sex. With hurried strides, Don Cavallone's right hand man turned back and headed to another direction.
III
Lilliputs in Action
Romario strode as fast as his old age allowed him to. This is a bad dream. It's got to be! Come on, wake up! Wake up! Romario slapped himself and then closed his eyes.
When he reopened his eyes, alas, he found himself in the same premise. Sighing, he continued to walk.
How am I going to get out from here?
So preoccupied was Romario's mind that he paid no attention to where his feet took him – not that it mattered much anyway, considering that he was lost in an entirely alienated place. However, when his forehead bumped onto a pole, he looked up and began to recognise a big parasol overhead.
Parasol?
Romario squinted. Now that he looked more closely, what he had assumed to be the underside of a beach parasol showed the realistic details of fungal gills. In fact, the pole that supported the cap looked more and more like a mushroom stem with an annulus ring.
A gigantic mushroom? What a peculiar thing to have in the midst of … of …
The middle-aged man looked at his surroundings. The humongous mushroom was not the only one present in the precinct. In front of him, behind, everywhere he looked, colossal mushrooms – some even bigger than the one that hosted him – speared the sky with their lofty stems and tartan caps. Romario blinked. He recognised the red, green and yellow lines of the Leask Clan, as well as the blue and green of the Forbes, along many others.
Huge tartan mushrooms! He shook his head. Polka dots were not unheard of, but tartan…? What sort of gene modification did the growers do to achieve that? And what's next? A talking weasel?
The answer came in the form of booming sounds that made the earth below shook. A pair of feet – each was at least as big as a limousine – followed. Still, they gave Romario no real reason to worry … that is, before five immensely vast fingers picked the nearby mushrooms.
What will become of me if the owner of those fingers found me? Will the giant eat me alive? Or crush me like some annoying bug? With these thoughts, Romario quickly and quietly climbed onto the mushroom cap, dug a hole on its gills and hid himself in the cavity.
The giant came closer, scooping several mushrooms within sight. Soon, it became Romario's mushroom's turn to be picked. The dark-haired man clung tightly as the giant flung the mushroom into a basket along with other mushrooms. As the minutes dragged by, more mushrooms tumbled into that basket; still, he dared not peep.
'There he is! The thief of our precious mushrooms!'
That's boss' voice and its volume sounds more like a human's rather than a giant's!
Romario adjusted his glasses and craned his neck. At first, he was relieved to see Dino Cavallone, though wearing cowboy outfit, running towards the giant. Then, realisation dawned to him that behind Dino ran other Dinos. Myriads of them!
Well, at least they are Dinos instead of Dinas, the senior man tried to find solace in the sound of his boss' baritone voice.
But come to think of it, what language did he use? Was it one of the Native American languages? How could I understand what boss was talking about if I can't even recognise the language? Is it because this is a dream? If so, wake up! Romario lifted his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Nothing happened. Or at least, he did not wake up in his bed.
The giant turned to face his mini adversaries. The brown cowboy hats swept through the meadow like wave upon the sea. For the first time, Romario glanced at the stupendous creature and felt a lump in his throat. Hibari Kyouya had always been menacing enough in his human size, but in this skyscraper-scale stature, how much more severe detriment could he cause?
'NOW!' The foremost Dino shouted the attack signal.
The flock of cowboy Dinos threw their lassos. They seemed to do very little or even no damage to the giant, but they refused to give up. At length, the gigantic Hibari knelt. The crowding lilliputian Dinos scattered to clear up the area where the giant's knee harboured, yet, it was still too late.
Hibari had already picked one of them and grasped the particular Dino in his hand. The other Dinos fell back in horror. They exchanged glances from one another, hesitating whether they should retreat and sacrifice one of their kinsmen, when Hibari's free hand approached the Dino in his other hand.
The giant's fingers covered the captured Dino at last. Romario turned his gaze away; he could not bear to witness the destruction of the blond man. Even though with such a large number to replace the youth, the Bucking Horse was still his irreplaceable boss.
And yet, the piteous holler of anguish never came. Instead, a giggle filled the air. 'Hahaha … that tickles.'
Romario looked up. Hibari did not use his fingers to crush Dino, but rather, to caress him.
The other Dinos' expression softened.
'Can we play with you?' asked one of them after a while.
Although Romario felt unease upon hearing the word 'play', the decision was not his to make; the giant Hibari nodded. Gradually, the human-sized Dinos climbed onto Hibari, who was still patting the Dino in his hand. In just ten minutes, the giant reclined on the ground, contently watching many Dinos perching on his head, played slide at the crook of his neck, bounced back at forth at his shoulder blades.
Then, what Romario had dreaded really did come true. Since Hibari wore Native American attire, other than the feathers on his head and a piece of loincloth, there was nothing to remove from his body. The little Dinos collaborated to undo the loincloth, heaved the fabric away from the giant's body, and then licked the skylark's penis like greedy children over gargantuan lollipop. More Dinos were swinging on Hibari's balls, massaging the sacks of flesh with their tiny hands.
Romario decide that the sooner he left, the better. Surreptitiously, he climbed down the basket of fungi. He jumped and nearly returned into the basket, however, upon hearing a very strange sound slipping from the giant's mouth. But here he was, cheeks flushing, eyes closing and brow knitting together, Hibari emitted a low, guttural noise. Apparently, some Dinos at the rear were holding a contest: whoever dove for the longest time inside Hibari's rectum won. One by one, they plunged themselves, from head to toe, into Hibari's arsehole and the giant's muscles tensed at each penetration.
If Hibari's cheeks were red, Romario's were even redder. The volume of the giant's moans might be small for a giant's standard, but it still sounded as though broadcasted from a loudspeaker to a human's ears. Boss, lamented Romario, how could you do such a shameless thing!
IV
Your Wish Is My Command, Your Majesty
For several minutes afterwards, the bespectacled man kept on running. The sky pelted Romario with droplets of rain as he ran. Before long, the ground turned into mud and the middle-aged man's feet wasted no time to slip.
Romario skidded onto the slope downhill. The mud was so slippery that he gained no control over his speed. Panic surged within him, for the land ahead broke into a precipice. When he nearly reached where the edge of the land joined the sky, and thought he would meet his end, he yelled, 'HELP!'
Before any part of Romario's body hit the ground, something snatched the back of his shirt from above. He looked up, only to find himself being carried upwards by the most peculiar bird he had ever seen: it had the tusked head of a boar, body of an ostrich, translucent wings of a fly, colour of a charcoal and size of a helicopter.
Romario gulped; what if this creature were carnivorous?
The more Romario struggled, the tighter the creature's clutch became. Don Cavallone's right hand man did not know whether it was an advantage to have his glasses blurred by the rain; even though he did not particularly suffer from acrophobia, how on earth could he withstand observing the edifices below while flying at such speed with no safety belt? As a matter of fact, Romario had started to feel sick – sick as in his vomit would come out any minute now.
Someone … anyone … help …
As though his prayer were answered, Romario felt the bird – or whatever flying creature it was – make two involuntary jerks, followed by something warm and putrid dripping onto the back of his shirt. Looking up, he saw a harpoon nestling on the creature's chest and another one on its left wing. He searched for the source of the harpoons and immediately located a cluster of beast hunters on the ground below, their faces painted blue and a variety of weapons slung over their muscular figures.
Blood oozing from her wounds, the beast still did not give up flying. She had just secured food for her younglings; there was no way she would stop or be stopped here. Her nest was less than a mile away, if she could just reach it … she had to advance … a hundred metres … ten … or even one metre, one precious metre…
Careening forward, she remembered her children who were waiting with empty stomach. If she perished now, who would feed them? Who would protect them from larger predators?
She must go on…
Yet, darkness eternally closed her eyes with its sooty shroud.
She was unaware of how many metres she could make after the blows. When soul had departed from the greyish black body, her shadow fell on the roof of an edifice below. The booming sound of the colliding flesh and shingles immediately followed – a deafening death toll befitting for an entity known as a mother amongst her species and a monster amongst the races of men.
Fortunately for Romario, the beast's grip loosened and he, even though sacrificing a portion of his shirt, managed to free himself just before his dead capturer crashed onto the roof of a chateau. While the carcass destroyed the shingles enough to make a hole and weaken the timber structure, Romario landed safely next to it. It seemed to him that descending to the roof timbers and then asking the chateau occupants for a ladder to climb down from the inside would be a better idea than crawling on the chateau exterior walls. Hence, he peeped through the hole.
At first, the dark-haired man saw a commodious room lined with marble floor and ladened with stately cabriole-legged furniture. Instead of the usual French Rococo style pastoral and romantic scenes, however, the furniture depicted the many ways of torture. The nearest mahogany commode to Romario was painted with a naked man engulfed in the torrent of vampire bats. Blood theme was the hallmark of the entire decoration. Not only the chamber was dominated by crimson colour, but it also reeked strongly of blood. Directly below him was a sunken floor filled with blood. Judging from the lavatorial amenities next to it, this pool of blood was meant for bathing, though how the bather would not become sticky and putrid after such a bath Romario did not know.
The middle-aged man gulped. Now that he looked more closely, the room was like a multifunctional studio apartment, with only a paravent to separate the bathing facility from the rest of the room. No four-poster bed was to be seen; in its place, an extravagant coffin lay at the centre of the room, reposed upon a pedestal.
'Bronco.' A voice − alto, comported with charisma though not encumbered with senescence – broke the stifling silence. The speaker, a twenty-two-year-old woman of rare, oriental beauty emerged from the coffin. Her satin nightdress was as red as freshly-drawn blood.
No matter how much Romario endeavoured it, he could not get rid of the chill that seized his bones. It was the same chill that visited him whenever he saw Hibari Kyouya in the past and it remained, if not heightened to a greater degree, today.
Out of nowhere, a man clad in pristine black butler's attire came into sight, kneeling by the coffin. His golden hair spilled gloriously on the Japanese lady's hand as he kissed it carefully so as not to graze her alabastrine skin with his razor-sharp fangs. Then, he spoke in Japanese, 'My, my. Dusk is still yet to come but I see that you have awaken, Your Majesty.'
'Thanks to nuisance on the roof,' Even though there was a conspicuous trace of irritation in the empress' answer, there was no slightest perturbation in her tranquil composure.
Heart thumping loudly, Romario quickly withdrew from the roof hole as Dino Cavallone, the twenty-nine-year-old butler, glanced at it and smiled. 'I shall have it taken care of tonight when the rest of your subjects are awake. In the mean time, what would you like to have for breakfast, ma'am?'
'Sencha Vanilla Tea and poached salmon.'
'Right away, ma'am.' With that, Dino vanished from view.
I have to get out of here before nightfall. Romario cast a terrified glance at the golden glow of the afternoon sky. Never mind asking them about the ladder. They probably haven't sensed my presence yet because the pool of blood masked my scent, but once those vampires are aware that there s a human nearby, I'll be damned. But how can I escape from this roof? Won't that vampire empress hear the sound of my movements?
When Dino returned with the food trolley, less than a minute later, Romario was still considering his escape options. Having come up with no solution, he decided to study the situation further. He watched Dino lifting a tall teapot, and then poured the steaming tepid fluid onto a cup with gold-gilded handle some thirty inches below. Not a drop was splashed. Passing through the strainer, the green tea soon assumed the convex shape of the porcelain cup and gradually stagnated.
Empress Hibari finished her salmon at an incredible speed. It was impossible for humans to imitate her performance in the same length of time whilst preserving the gracefulness of table manner. When Dino removed the tea strainer from the cup, she had already reached for the letters which her butler had arranged on a separate platinum tray engraved with the heraldic crest of the empire.
'Another dinner invitation,' she tossed the first letter aside with a hint of disgust. She glimpsed at her butler and, seeing that he was serving a tea cup on its saucer, she tackled him on the shin.
With bent knees, Dino leaned forward immediately, gripping the tea saucer tighter. He did not topple down, or let the crockery tumble from his hand, but a single spatter of tea soiled the empress' raiment.
The butler looked at his mistress with worry in his eyes. Nonetheless, before he uttered his apology, she had ordained him, 'Stay where you are and hold that tea or me while I finish reading these letters.'
Even from this distance, Romario could tell that Dino gulped. The butler's face was merely four inches away from his mistress' whereas his body technically loomed over the sitting empress.
Upon tearing the envelope of the last letter, Hibari pricked her finger with the letter opener. For the briefest moment, Dino's eyes glowed red and, although he promptly averted his gaze from the drops of her blood, Hibari did not miss her subordinate's flicker of longing.
'Do you wish to lick my finger?' She asked in a tone that was far too derisive, too playful compared to her previous order. A trickle of her blood dripped onto the floor.
The butler tried to direct his gaze somewhere else, anywhere else, from the accursedly luscious liquid. His first step into the bedchamber was an effort. He had tasted her blood for centuries; nevertheless, the familiarity did nothing significant to assuage his effort. The scent of blood penetrated his nose, his throat, his veins … everywhere within him. Its rapturous aroma pushed him to the verge of insanity. He'd trade his life as many times as needed in order to taste her blood again – such was the blood bond between a master and a servant in the vampire world.
His lips trembled even as he spoke, 'I wouldn't dare.'
'Since when has a servant been permitted to lie to his mistress?' Along with these words, Hibari glared at her subordinate. The cup and saucer in Dino's hand shattered, and the hot tea rained onto the floor in a violent burst. The air grew so frigid that Romario felt goose bumps on his nape. The next second, Dino flew backwards, as though some invisible force pulled him and sent him crashing against the armoire at one end of the room. Romario cringed as he saw his boss' back bumped at the escutcheons and other brass ornaments of the wardrobe. The blond, however, showed no indication of pain.
Must be his vampire power, Romario assured himself, while Hibari rose and approached her butler with a slow, almost indolent, gait.
'Clean me!' The empress extended her wounded finger in front of the butler's mouth.
As the blond butler obliged, the empress waved her other hand, and all the buttons on Dino's shirt as well as the zip on his trousers snapped open. She moved her fingers in the empty air and, one by one, the articles of clothing relinquished the butler's body at the orchestration of the vampire empress.
Trailing her fingers over his tattoos, Hibari drew herself closer, entrapping Dino's body between the armoire and her own. Then, she sank her fangs at the crook of his neck. Blood started to trickle from his tender flesh, but none was wasted; the empress drank it all.
Romario heard something akin to the empress' name, mingled with a moan of pain and pleasure, escape Dino's mouth. The bespectacled man did not fail to notice the skylark's hand slip onto the Bucking Horse's midsection.
When Dino lunged at her, however, she stepped aside. She swept her hand and sent an ormolu timepiece flying from the console table nearby. The timepiece smashed into smithereens against the marble floor, but neither vampire was concerned about this. Occupying the now empty table, Hibari spread her legs and beckoned to Dino, 'Your breakfast time.'
Dino glimpsed at the console table, which was supported by mere two legs, with increased anxiety. 'Ma'am, with all due respect, I don't think it is wise to let such a small table to sustain the two of us.'
'Now!'
The single word was enough to urge Dino to nestle his head between his mistress' thighs.
Her muscles contracted every now and then whenever he did that. She needed him as much he needed her, yet only one of them was willing to admit it. Minutes later, without a word, she stood up and pushed her servant onto a chaise longue nearby. The crimson nightdress made no din as it cascaded down her smooth, unblemished skin, and jumbled with Dino's clothes. Just as her garment lay atop his on the floor, she rode him on the chaise longue. And at that moment, the Bucking Horse became true to his name.
She has much smaller breasts than the female version of Dino, Romario noted, but the Dino underneath did not seem to mind. Every inch of Hibari's body was an enthralling spot to explore, even though none of them was new to Dino. So intense was the grinding of their eager bodies that the sturdy long chair creaked under their weight.
As her back arched, Hibari, or rather, her dignity as an empress, allowed no one to hear her moans of pleasure. She let, no, willed, Dino to cling to her – desperately – because deep inside, they both knew that his centuries of lifetime would not have been worth living without her and she, too, would have lived like an empty shell without him.
When it was over, they were no longer lying down; the empress sat on her butler's lap. She simply delegated her legs to cage him around the hips, the balls of her feet digging onto the small of his back as a sign of encouragement for the next round.
Phew, that Hibari Kyouya certainly has a way to lure my boss to sex, concluded Romario. And now I have to use the bathroom. He mentally groaned at the feeling of his hardened manhood. The sky bled into the deeper shade of cochineal as the sun dipped lower and lower into the horizon. But how can I escape this place? How?
The answer came almost a minute later. He had been spotted, not by a vampire, but by a fangless human. 'Hey, what'cha you doin' up there?'
Don Cavallone X's right hand man startled and, because of his surprise, he tripped over when he tried to rise. The roof underneath him had been stripped down of its robustness by the collision with the beast earlier and now it crumbled against his weight. Along with the broken shingles and lumber beams, Romario fell into the blood pool directly underneath.
NO! I'll be deader than dead. Those vampires will discover my existence. What am I to do?
Romario closed his eyes and held his breath, but he knew he could not maintain these for long. He'd need the air soon and had no choice but to surface from the pool.
God, I wished I had lived my life as a better man.
He emerged, forcing himself to be ready for his fate.
Heaven or hell – so be it!
And yet, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself not in the middle of a blood pool, but in clear water. The Rococo furniture and the blood-themed room were nowhere to be seen, neither were the vampires. He was completely alone in a new place.
V
When A Knight in Shining Armour Rescued a Damsel in Distress…
Romario found himself steeped waist-high on clear aqua marine water. No ceiling obstructed his view from the procession of cumulus clouds in the cerulean sky. Around him were stone buildings that were dominated by the neo-renaissance and national romantic style of the Swedish architecture, even though remnants of medieval archways were still ample to be found in the vicinity. Since the roads and the lower part of the edifices were immersed with flood, nearly every structure was covered with moss.
Romario was more assured that he was not in Venice, however, after he turned to the next block. Instead of a gondola, he perceived a Japanese wooden barrel boat, known as 'taraibune', tied to a pole.
Where am I? he wondered, It was almost sunset the last time I saw the sky; why has it become morning again? How come no blood drips from my clothes? Shouldn't they be soaked red from the vampire blood pool? Was I only dreaming about those vampires?
He waded across the water and noticed a signboard hanging from a lamp-mounted cast iron bracket.
The shop name is written in Sanskrit … or perhaps Devanagari? Romario found it even more challenging to believe his eyes. With a raised eyebrow, he continued his stroll.
Where is everybody? It's broad daylight; why don't I see a single person?
In alert, Romario tried to pull out his gun, but then, he remembered that today was Sunday. Being not on duty meant that he carried no gun. Sighing, he pressed on, wading and dispersing the reflection of the building in the water. His soaked clothes encumbered his old bones and his wetter-than-wet shoes slowed him down, but he had no luxury for comfort. He could not buy a set of clothing to change even if there were an open shop since he had left his wallet back in his bedroom at home. As he had not planned to leave home that day, he did not wear his designer's watch or bring his mobile phone either. He had nothing to trade for.
Then, he heard it – a woman's pleading.
'No! Stay away from me!'
Romario did not have enough knowledge to distinguish the language the woman used; it could be Finnish, Polish, Russian or even another language. Why the oral language did not correspond to its written form remained a mystery. Again, how he knew its meaning, he didn't know. Following the source of the voice, the bespectacled man headed southwards.
The voice came from a two-storey rundown building. Its exterior looked deplorable with washed away apricot wall paint and multitudes of cracks here and there. The place, in fact, looked like an abandoned house from the outside, had it not for the voice. Driftwoods and pieces of broken furniture greeted Romario as he entered through the unlocked door.
'Touch me not!' The female voice resounded again. From this distance, Romario could tell that it belonged to the mezzo-soprano range and its source was located on the upper landing of the house. Yet, worst of all, it sounded familiar … like Dina's voice.
Romario hurried his steps; the last thing he wanted to see was his boss – male or not – in trouble. Nevertheless, wading across water with soaking wet clothes proved to be more challenging than he wished it would be. Furthermore, since the house was not equipped with any sort of lighting, he had to probe his way in the dark, sometimes knocking on a stray object.
Minutes later, the vestibule, or the room Romario assumed to be one, opened to an inner courtyard. Here, in the sun, he could delineate the shape of the house clearly. A shell-shaped fountain with a water nymph sculpture occupied the centre of the yard, which, Romario now presumed to be a garden. On the opposite side of the garden was a Spanish-style colonnaded portico overhung with vines, behind which, a flight of stairs was located.
When Romario took the stairs, he heard the female voice cry, 'Do not come any closer!'
He halted his step. It was not until the next second that he realised that the forbiddance was not for him at all. A reply which certainly did not derive from his mouth filled his ears.
'Or what?'
Romario resumed his steps, putting haste into each stride of his leg, while the mezzo-soprano answered, 'I shall call for help!'
'This country is in the state of war. Everyone's in hiding. Who'd save your skin?'
Recognising this calm, jeering voice, Romario considered that if his suspicion were true, it would be better to wait for the right moment to rescue Dina. Stationing himself between an open door and a wall, he watched.
Unlike the lower landing, which was encased in stark darkness, this floor received plenty of sunlight from the windows and balcony. On the far edge of the room, the twenty-three-year-old Dina, in an early sixteenth-century green Bavarian gown, was retreating in attempt to elude a fully armoured pursuer. Her golden hair was dishevelled as much as her royal gown was wrinkled, but she seemed uninjured, much to Romario's relief.
'I will never give myself to you. NEVER!' With that, the lone young woman uncoiled the whip from her baldric.
Clank. Clank. The steel shoes tapped the wooden floor before an icy voice made itself heard. 'There is no one to defend you and your skill is too pitiful in the absence of your soldiers. Didn't you prove that earlier?'
That's not true. I'm here. Pull yourself together, boss! Romario encouraged Dina in his mind.
However, his high hope was betrayed: Dina's gallant endeavour ended up in making herself entangled with the whip.
Why? Why can't she become competent like usual even though I'm here? Is it because I'm not from this realm so my existence doesn't count?
The figure in armour, meanwhile, strode closer to Dina. The clanking noise became more prominent by the second, though not, Romario noted, as loud as the beating of his heart. The gauntlet now reached Dina's chin and tilted it.
Tears stared to well up in the blonde's eyes. 'Do not dishonour me, please. I need to marry King Timoteo of Scoiattolia.'
'Oh?' An unsympathetic response came out from the armoured capturer. 'May I ask why you need the marriage, Princess Dina Cavallone of Cavallonia?'
'Is it not obvious?' Consumed by a grave illness, my father cannot even leave his bed lately. Scoiattolia would wage war against Cavallonia without the union of their royalties.' Frustration laced the princess' voice.
A pang of guilt penetrated Romario's veins. In real life, didn't he always nag his boss about marriage for the sake of the Cavallone heir procreation? Didn't he rob Dino of happiness by doing so?
'If your only goal is to maintain peace for your kingdom, dear princess, I fail to see why that old sod should become your marriage partner, seeing that Scoiattolia is not the only kingdom that seeks expansion.' The armoured speaker paused to see the lady's paling face before continuing, 'Have you no care for Hibarion?'
'Hibarion is a third the size of Scoiattolia; how much threat can it pose?'
'Shouldn't you worry about yourself before judging my kingdom by its mere size?'
Something within her speaking adversary's tone alerted the princess and she was not unjustified to do so. The ruler of Hibarion leapt and the shadow of the armour enshrouded the frightened princess with its dark shade.
Dina sidestepped, trying to move as far as her feet allowed her, but she was still entangled with her whip and barely managed two steps before her recapture.
'I beg you. Return me to my father's hall and you shall be rewarded handsomely.'
'Why would I abduct you from the old King Jano's castle only to return you there? Besides, in case it slipped your mind, Cavallone, Hibarion has more gold and diamond mines than Cavallonia does.'
The moment the sentence ended, Dino's voluminous gown was torn to shreds, nonplussing the owner. Not until she saw the glinting pair of tonfas a moment later that she became aware of the wonder of her abductor's speed.
Dina gathered her arms across her chest, concealing as much bareness as she could. She could not run outside now, even if she was to be freed – not unless she decided to wander on the streets naked. Even with streaks of tears on her cheeks, her beauty still dimmed the glory of the sun.
Romario clenched his fists. He wanted – more than anything – to save his boss. And yet, opposing Hibari without a carefully devised plan would mean giving up his life and Dina would still be deflowered after Hibari killed Romario.
'You belong to me.' Romario heard a hiss-like sound slithered from the beaver of the helmet a second before the helmet itself was removed. All radiant with the sempiternal lustre of stars in her eyes and the unfathomable mystery of night in her hair, stood Hibari Kyouya.
'You … you are female!' gasped Princess Dina. 'I can't believe my eyes; the king of Hibarion is actually a queen and still sixteen at that!'
'Unlike your language, my native tongue does not segregate vocabulary based on gender. There is no distinction between "king" and "queen", "emperor" and "empress", "prince" and "princess", "duke" and "duchess", and so forth, though one can say "male leader" and "female leader". The nations with gender-segregated languages merely took the liberty of assuming that the current odakim – the ruler of Hibarion – was male, just as the preceding ones.'
Dina laughed and her formerly tensed shoulders relaxed, 'Why did you scare me like that? I thought you were going to force me…' She caught the armoured woman's eye. 'You won't, will you?'
Hibari's insensate lips curved upwards. 'Not if you willingly agree to become my consort.'
Three more seconds passed with Dina's eyes widening and her mouth hanging open, and then finally, with conspicuous red stains on her cheeks, she managed to speak, 'The union between two females cannot result in any progeny.'
Hibari held Dina at the small of her back. 'It matters not. The throne of Hibarion is non-hereditary and always given to the champion of the joust from one generation to another.'
'But…' The rest of the sentence never left Dina's mouth. The knight in shining armour had confined the princess in her grace. The golden-haired maiden had her hands ready to push her seducer away at any moment, but the resistance never came, thanks to the distraction on her lips.
Even though at first Dina seemed to be reluctant to be kissed by another female, she gradually seemed to be reluctant to stop the kiss. No lesson from her wise father, virtuous mother or royal tutors informed her that a mere kiss could make her soul delirious with bliss. As Hibari momentarily withdrew for air, the room swam back into focus, but Dina's limbs could no longer support her to stand. Sinking onto the floor, she was unaware that a small sigh – a mixture of contentment and longing for more – escaped from the throat.
'Give yourself to me in marriage. In return, I shall protect your country,' demanded the Hibarion ruler as she extended her hand to help the Cavallone heiress stand up.
Dina did not need further persuading.
As soon as the skylark saw the Bucking Horse's nod, she swooped to kiss her again, but this time, the kiss on the lips was only the beginning of a series. It never occurred to the golden-haired Princess of Cavallonia how easily her skin yielded to the touch of a stranger. But then, the younger girl was not just any stranger. At times, she was Minerva who brought fear to the enemy soldiers at battlefield. Now, she was Salome who made the audience tremble with the dance … of her tongue.
It was Hibari Kyouya that taught Dina Cavallone how delicious a torment could taste. The princess' body gave out a tremulous shudder as the cold steel of the queen's armour was pressed against her supple flesh. She closed her eyes as a tacit agreement for the foreign conqueror to hold her soul custody.
Then, modesty reminded the princess of shame and, once again, she recoiled.
The ruler of Hibarion cast a scrutinising, albeit impatient, look. When the captive still would not speak her mind, the shorter girl growled, 'Now what?'
Dina took a deep breath before letting her reply be heard, 'Tristram and Isoud decided not to prolong their relationship once the love potion wear out. Will you, too, discard me one day?'
The vexed expression in Hibari's face rapidly grew into ferociousness. 'If you expect any sort of oath of loyalty, I'll bite you to de−'
But before the raven-haired girl finished her sentence, the blonde placed a finger on the younger maiden's lips. Then, gently shaking her head, Dina expounded, 'No Kyouya, 'tis not my intention. Just … don't be gentle with me. Don't make me fall for you anymore than this.'
The skylark squinted and the blush on the Bucking Horse's face deepened at this inspection.
'I-I will still marry you, of course, but it's going to be a duty rather than … well, I barter my body for your protection over my country. I mean, you can die at war and even if you survive, you can grow tired of me. That is why I must not let my feelings for you take reign over me … I wouldn't be able to endure life without you otherwise.'
Hibari said nothing and her face remained too inscrutable to read, leaving Dina to wonder if she had spoken too much.
The princess needed not wait for long for the outcome of her words. A finger entered her in the most private part that others had never accessed. The alien stroke conjured up a seismic force inside her body and she gasped, 'Kyouy-ahh!'
'I do not recall ever permitting you to address me in such intimate way, Princess Dina.' Hibari made no attempt to conceal her smirk. Instead, she added her second finger inside Dina.
In sequence to her spastic movements, the blonde grasped the raven's cuirass. Something within Dina's pleading, quivering gaze told Hibari that the captive was enjoying her punishment too much. The soaking wet fingers that she pulled out soon afterwards bore proof to her suspicion.
Hibari brought these fingers into her mouth, savouring Dina's essence, never tearing her gaze off the flushed princess while the golden-haired beauty murmured something inaudible.
The younger woman bent to pick the princess' neglected whip and then, placing one hand at Dina's back and the other at Dina's popliteal space, she carried the princess in her arms.
'Kyouya?'
Instead of answering, the armoured queen brought her onto the balcony. No pedestrian passed the street below; still, the naked captive could not help disapproving with this action. 'No! Take me back inside!'
Dina's struggle made it more difficult for Hibari to carry her. Hence, the ruler of Hibarion decided that it was time to teach her consort-to-be that her words were meant to be obeyed. She conveyed the lesson not through words but by laying the blonde atop the balustrade railing.
Dina stopped wiggling. She had to. The balusters, consumed with age, bore several cracks. Her body hung down from waist above, the small of her back pressing against the frail railing. The cobblestone pavement some six metres below did not seem to be a comfortable spot to fall upon.
The breath of wind touched the blonde's exposed skin and her nipples rigidified. The raven, however, offered her no sympathy. A flame danced so playfully in the captress' eyes that the captive had to cover her face with both hands out of shyness. It was then that a pair of lips descended upon the princess' dainty neck.
The kiss was light, but repetitive; her collar bones were next in line. One of Hibari's hands was still holding her back, but the other one started to fondle her bosom, of which voluptuous flesh yielded like clay in the hand of a potter. Before long, Dina's hips followed the rhythm that Hibari's breast kneading had created for her.
Gone had the princess' chagrined demeanour; she had to feel those fingers again, even if this action required her to cling onto her partner. She, who should be furious at being toyed and humiliated to such degree, let her mouth be taken into another kiss which, Romario suspected, she would not have chosen otherwise had she been granted other choices. Yes, falling for an enemy was downright foolish, yet against Love's indiscriminating force, what could a single human do, royalty or not?
Hibari made Dina stand facing the cracked balustrade. Next, tying the princess's ankle with her whip, the shorter girl pulled the cord to lever the leg to a desirable height. The taller girl now only had one foot to support her on the ground, for her raven-haired seducer made her other foot rest on the railing.
'Kyouya, what are you – aah!'
Hibari's steel armour glinted iridescently in the sun as she knelt, her lips ghosting over the sensitive skin of Dina's inner thigh. To no avail, the blushing maiden tried to flinch, but her capturer's tongue delved into the apex of her splayed legs.
Looking at Dina's spasm, Hibari grinned. Compared to the princess' expression, all the gold and glory in the world bore little significance.
Romario, who was still watching the scene unfold, was well aware of the constraint of his pants. He had to get away from this place and find a secluded room, preferably a lavatory. He couldn't just relieve himself there and risk his life by making his presence known to Hibari in such situation.
VI
The Art Gallery
Five minutes later, Romario walked out from one of the deserted rooms in the house with a 'mission-accomplished' expression. However, his satisfied grin soon turned into a frown as he remembered that he had no clue how to return to his own home.
Romario climbed down the stairs, taking extra caution so as not to let the old staircases creak at his weight. In his absolute silence, he could hear Dina's distinct moans in the background as well as another sound ahead, which was oddly similar to a teenage Hibari Kyouya's voice but in micro volume, accompanied by the hasty steps of small animal. Since the stairs was lacking of sunlight, Romario had to squint to see what was in front.
At the bottom of the stairs, a grey mouse scurried. On its back sat something, no bigger than the size of a matchstick encumbered with a human perfume bottle tied onto its back. Then the tiny object spurred the furry rodent with its leg. 'Hurry up!'
Was that the Namimori Middle School Prefect riding a mouse?
Precipitously, Romario ran after the mouse towards the rear of the building. He could not follow the creature into the mouse hole, but the back door of the house was located right next to the hole and he took it.
Outside, the street was dry, as though he were in a different city. In fact, he probably was. The buildings were now pretty much sand-coloured and resembled the Arabian architecture illustrated in 1001 Nights storybooks, with many turrets and pointy archways. Laundry lines connected two opposite buildings every now and then. Even the air was far more humid and unbearably hot.
How can a single house lead to such a drastic topographical change?
Romario sighed. Nothing made sense ever since he came to this realm. Quickening his strides, the middle-aged man resumed his track before he lost sight of the mini Hibari.
The mouse ran down several alleyways, along the city sewage, and Romario was at its heel. On every turn, Hibari commanded where to go – left, right or straight. They passed some food vendors along the way and, the bespectacled man noticed, the mouse attempted to search for crumbs and leftovers, but the little Hibari on its back prevented it from stopping. When they came near a particular kebab seller, the aroma of the charcoal grilled meat made Romario stomach rumble; he had not had dinner yet when he had been sucked into the mysterious hole up on the attic. Yet, Don Cavallone X's right hand man pressed on.
It was not until a good ten minutes later that the mouse stopped running and climbed onto one of the plumbing pipes of a lofty house. Hibari hopped off the mouse and entered through a window. Even with the burden of the perfume bottle twice as tall as he was, the sixteen-year-old boy's movements were still full of agility.
Now is not the time to be impressed! Romario reminded himself as he struggled climbing the pipe and then onto the window.
Inside, Romario saw a dark, long corridor of which air sweltered with staleness. An oil lamp lay neglected on the stone floor, and, as he lifted it to get a better view of his whereabouts, he learnt through its flickering light that the walls on both sides of the corridor were adorned with gold framed paintings. The tiny Hibari leapt into the first painting on the left.
The painting depicted the interior of a middle class Georgian house. On the heart of the painting was a window, through which houses with stepped gables outside could be seen. A woman was sitting by that window, dozing off while attending her spinning wheel with a basket of wool nestling next to her foot. So enormous was the size of this woman that at first Romario was unaware that this giantess was none other than Dina Cavallone.
Hibari became barely visible in this painting. His microscopic size when compared to Dina who still seemed to be larger than humans made Romario think that Dina's actual size was probably at least as large as The Titanic. He was wondering how Dina and Hibari communicated, since it was unlikely someone so humongous could hear a miniscule voice, when he noticed a dot crawling on Dina's gown, apron, sleeve, shoulder, neck, jaw line and finally her cheek.
Holding the oil lamp heedfully, precluding it from scorching the painting, Romario shifted closer and accommodated his eyes to the diminution. He observed, with much difficulty, that Hibari was kissing the sleeping Dina's cheek.
No, this isn't happening! Romario covered his head with both palms. It had always been Dino who went 'Kyouya this and Kyouya that' instead of the other way round.
Still, he is too embarrassed to do it when boss is fully awake. Anyway, there's no way sex is going to work between them. Their relationship must be platonic.
But didn't he read somewhere that platonic love was like an active volcano that was bound to erupt in due course?
Hibari left for Dina's ear, and, standing on its lobe, he shouted, 'WAKE UP!'
The giantess stirred, but did not open her eyes. Once Hibari put his tonfas to use, however, the blonde woke up with a start. To the giantess, the effect of the tiny creature's blow was a little more painful than insect bite.
'Oh, Kyouya!'
'I've got the shrinking potion.'
'Well done!' She extended her hand and let the tiny Hibari placed what Romario had assumed to be a perfume bottle on her palm. 'How—'
He cut her across before she mentioned anything else. 'It's not important. Will you drink it or not?'
The expression on Dina's face hardened at once. When she mouthed her answer, her voice sounded as though emitted by a far smaller entity. 'Yes, I will.'
She stole a glance at Hibari and murmured, 'My life has become a song since you came along. I wish to be with you, but not only our sizes, but also our life spans are different. This is the only solution.'
She bent and immersed her hand amongst the wools in her basket. When it re-emerged, a bottle – identical to what Hibari had bought, but with green content instead of purple – was sandwiched between her two fingers. She handed the bottle to Hibari, who opened it without an iota of hesitation. She herself opened the bottle that Hibari had given her.
'To our future!' she raised the bottle and drained its content down her throat. He did likewise.
Romario blinked. While Dina seemed to diminish, the tiny dot of Hibari's figure enlarged. After one full minute had passed, their growth ceased at human size.
With shaky voice, Dina said, 'Kyouya, I'm scared. The world becomes so much larger. The ceiling becomes so much higher. Even my own furniture seemed too big for me.'
'For both of us,' he corrected her, 'I'm here with you.'
With that, he knelt and brought Dina along. Caught off guard, she now clung to him in order to maintain her footing. Their abdomen met in a not-so-gentle crush. Her back arched and her head tipped back. His face was a few inches away, towering hers. Her eyes fluttered and her cheeks blushed before he claimed her lips in a deep kiss. His hands were deft to undo Dina's clothing afterwards.
Great! Romario made a sarcastic mental comment as he strode past the painting. The first thing they do after resizing is sex. I should have guessed.
The next painting described a raging sea. The water splashed wildly at the emergence of an aquatic monster with the torso of a blond man, the legs and hindquarters of a white horse and the tail of a serpent. From the sky, another monster dove. His black, velvety wings spread, his beak breathed fire and his talons ready to tear the sea monster.
Romario mused, They can't fall in love in such situation, can they?
He was too early to judge. When the monster fight was over, and both creatures were coated with blood, the fire-breathing bird brought his spoil of war to the shore, whereupon he licked the sea monster's wounds while mounting him. The sea creature's hooves dug into the sand below him. His serpentine tail coiled around the bird's waist, as though binding their two bodies together. With every thrust the monstrous bird made, the horse emanated neigh-like groan and his head facing the creature above him – pleading, whether for mercy or for more, Romario could not decide.
Oh, for heaven's sake! Romario left them alone and went to inspect another painting.
This time, it was a sculptor's workshop. Romario could not identify the era from the subjects' attire, since both the artist and the model were stark naked. The unfinished sculpture lay neglected along with chisels of various sizes while a very sweaty Dino Cavallone held a twenty-year-old Hibari Kyouya's forearms, pushing the smaller man's body onto the table with his hips, their legs aligned vertically and his manhood buried inside his disciple's rear aperture.
But then, whose legs are those? Romario wondered as he noticed a pair of legs protruding from Hibari's sides. He took a closer look and found, after much eye-constraint, that another Dino lay underneath Hibari, enjoying the view of how his other self fucked the raven and how the younger man fucked him in return.
Romario shook his head at the wildest threesome scene he had ever seen and scanned through the rest of the paintings. He found Hibari in Valkyrie attire and Dino, wearing Viking hauberk and helmet, wooing her. In another, a fourteen-year-old Dino was sick in bed and seven-year-old Hibari placed a cloth that had been dipped in iced water on his forehead.
On and on Romario went. No matter what the situation was, Dino and Hibari were always together. The various versions of Dinos and Hibaris Romario had encountered earlier – from the bunny and puma costumed ones to the princess and knight – were among the many gold-framed paintings that bedecked the gallery.
Is there any painting in this room of which subject is exempted from the courtship of those two?
'"Is there any painting in this room of which subject is exempted from the courtship of those two?", you say?'A deep bass voice tore the silence in the air.
Romario's stomach gave him a jolt. The voice was familiar, and so was the face of its speaker. It was the rest of the speaker's body that wasn't.
Ku-kusakabe Tetsuya? What is he doing here with a blue caterpillar costume? Wait a minute … with no rim to border his skin and fabric, is that really his garment?
'To answer your curiosity about whether there is there any painting in this room of which subject is exempted from the courtship of those two…' Kusakabe paused to let a puff of smoke come out of his mouth '… no, there isn't. As for whether I wear a costume: no, this is my real body.'
Romario stood dumbfounded. Not only before him, on a divan, reclined a human-sized blue caterpillar with Kusakabe's face and 'Regent' hairstyle, but the creature also talked and emitted blue metallic smoke.
'Or should I say "my real body in this realm"?' Kusakabe exhaled more blue smoke, while one of his many legs tapped a long pipe onto an ashtray made of coconut shell. Even the ash in there, Romario noticed, was blue.
'What do you mean by your "real body in this realm"? And can you hear my thoughts?'
'The Kusakabe Tetsuya that you know in your world, who graduated from the same school as Hibari Kyouya, is just one of the myriads Kusakabe Tetsuyas in this parallel universe. Now, as a warden of this place, I am omniscient as long as I linger here, though not outside this control room. A warden, after all, is required to devise the plot for all those subjects.'
'You are the one who weave the plot for those, uh, relationships?' enquired Romario. No wonder they are anachronistic. Oops, I mustn't think about it; he'll know…
Too late. Kusakabe peered at the bespectacled man and said, 'Yes, the anachronism is a deliberation and I did create those settings, as was ordained by my superior.'
There was a shred of vexation in the caterpillar's timbre, and Romario could not help gulping before asking his next query, 'Your superior?'
'Why, Kyou-san, of course.'
'But that would mean that he approves all those … those sex scenarios between him and my boss.'
The blue caterpillar answered calmly, 'Naturally.'
Looking askance at the oversized caterpillar, Romario opened his mouth, but unable to speak anything.
'Look, the Kyou-san in your world may be too shy and too proud to even wish for this sort of thing, but bear in mind that he, too, is no more than one of the many Hibari Kyouyas in this parallel universe,' explicated Kusakabe.
'You've mentioned "parallel universe" twice; what is it?'
'It is not my place to enlighten you. A few years from now, a man from another famiglia will make you realise its significance through what he does to master the parallel universe by means of the trinisette policy.'
'Trinisette? Doesn't that involve the Arcobaleno and—'
The blue caterpillar cleared his throat. 'I spoke too much. This conversation never happened. Good day!'
Just like that, Kusakabe the caterpillar vanished from view, leaving a trail of blue metallic smoke flapping in the air of the musty gallery.
'Won't you at least tell me how to get home?' whined Romario.
It was no use. The gallery was empty, save for the hundreds of paintings that could not care less about his existence.
So, one Hibari Kyouya is willing to scheme love stories between him and Dino and that person is just one out of many? Romario laughed weakly. How boss from the real world would be delighted if his lover would answer his feelings just a little more openly!
Real world, eh?
Romario could no longer be sure which realm was real. Perhaps they all were, just as the parallel universe in the caterpillar's explanation. The matter remained imponderable nonetheless.
Boss, you've met Hibari Kyouya in a more than a hundred different ways; and yet, in each and every one of them, you two are always in love. Romario put the oil lamp back on the ground. Just return me home already. I won't complain if boss goes out with the Vongola Cloud Guardian.
With that thought occupying his mind, Romario felt his head start railing and his surrounding dissolved into a whirl of colours.
When the dizziness had gone completely, Romario reopened his eyes and found himself holding a nail and a piece of wood. He was back at the attic of his house. Nonetheless, no hole, no slightest crack whatsoever was present on the wall. Shrugging, Romario stored his utensils and went downstairs to prepare dinner.
People said that love was a disease. To Romario, however, Dino's love for Hibari was nothing less than an incurable disease. The middle-aged man sighed in defeat. His boss' happiness was what mattered most. I'll support their relationship even if it means I'd find the name 'Hibari Kyouya' next to 'Dino Cavallone' in the marriage registration form.
THE END