Diclaimer: I don't own the characters or the series. Amano Akira does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

A/N: Originally written for Dino's birthday. It tries to poke me into writing a sequel, but for now, I've resisted.

Contents: Female!Kyouya. Non-explicit sexual themes and consequences thereof.

At War Against the World

Part One

Heaviness of Hearts

I

Hibari Kyou, Dino mused to himself, had never been the most feminine of women, neither in manner nor appearance. In fact, when he had first met her in Namimori all those years ago, he had been convinced she was a boy all the way until a rip on her shirt from his whip had revealed the strap of a plain though practical bra. Between the aggressive behaviour, boyish language, and a boys' uniform to top it off, there really had been very little in the way of clues. Her body was slender from all her battles, almost entirely without curves – hardly even deserving of the little training bra back then, not that Dino would have ever dared to say that to her face – and it wasn't like she ever actually cared what others thought of her. Even now, years later, when sometimes one could actually spy the curve of breasts or hips under her clothes if you knew where and how to look, there were people who went through entire meetings and business transactions with the Head of Foundation without ever realizing that they were not talking with a man.

Kyou certainly seemed comfortable with this misconception, not that Dino could particularly blame her. Though attitudes were changing, in both the mafia world and the traditional Japanese values a woman was not often seen in positions of power. If someone mistook her for a man, they were more likely to give actual weight and consideration to her opinions, and while she hated to even acknowledge the fact that someone might not place her opinion at a status of utmost importance, Dino did suspect she at least subconsciously fed the illusion. She spoke in a manner cruder than most would have expected of a woman, refused to cover her body in obviously female attire no matter what the occasion, and never, ever corrected anyone who made the mistake of thinking she was male. It was not quite deceit, nor a disguise, but the fact certainly remained that when people thought of women in mafia Hibari Kyou was far from the first to spring into mind.

Then why, he thought to himself, just about managing to keep from licking his lips in anticipation as Kyou walked towards him, why was it that this slender body with just a hint of softness around the edges and the crass mouth could turn him on so much more than the curviest little Italian heiresses in their attempts to seduce him?

Perhaps Kyou was different from said heiresses, but she certainly managed to lead his blood to rush into his groin as she approached him very purposefully, her intent clear in her eyes. Not that there ever was more than one reason why she would show up in his bedroom late at night. Nobody ever spoke about it – nobody ever dared – but each and every man who would ever be assigned to guard his door knew to let Kyou in without a question, just as they knew what went on behind said door once it was closed and locked. When they fought, it happened outside, when they discussed business, they had their offices to use. When Kyou showed up in his bedroom instead, though, he knew that while there might be ripped clothes and bruises in sight, they had little to do with their weapons.

Kyou's hands grasped on the front of his shirt to yank him down, solving the problem of their height difference in her usual direct way as she forced her lips on his, not that there was much forcing to do when he was all too eager to comply. Her body felt heated against his even through their clothes as she pressed close to him, allowing his hands to wander about her body as long as he didn't think even for a moment that he was setting the pace of their little encounter.

Already breathless as she finally let him draw away from the kiss, Dino wondered if he could ever get enough of Kyou.

He had slept with other women before, of course. There was always the daughter of a don who was willing to speak to her father in his favour if only he showed her a good time this once, and old widows who were quite more wicked than they appeared on the surface, and simply situations where he perhaps had nothing material to gain but concluded that the peace between his family and another was well worth a night in someone's bed. There was very little he would not do if it could benefit his family, and sex didn't come even close to that list.

There were people, as he well knew, who considered that sex was something special all by itself, something that should only be shared with someone dear to your heart and not just your body. It was a beautiful dream, Dino would admit that, but dreams were something a don could rarely afford. For him, sex was a resource just as any other, a way of exchange, and he had always been good at trading resources for the best of his family.

He never got anything out of sleeping with Kyou, not in the materialistic sense. He knew she would have treated him no differently if they had never fallen in bed together in the first place, knew that she would never treat him any differently for the fact that they had. She offered no favours, no reprieve from her usual attacks, nothing but the sight of her flushed face and scratch marks along his back once they were done. For Kyou, this was all about satisfying her needs, the one instinct she had that could not be fulfilled by bruising skin and breaking bones and drawing blood, and Dino was means to an end just as he was one when she wanted to train her body. She never simply laid back and let him pleasure her, never simply passively received what he wanted to give. She took what she needed and wanted from him and accepted neither excuses nor weakness, neither overt gentleness nor closeness, and every time she was gone before morning and Dino was left wondering just why he had ever thought this would be a good idea, again.

Whenever she came back he remembered, though, he remembered how hot her skin was against him and how demanding her mouth as she kissed him, and for once he could remember that sometimes pleasure could be the very purpose of sex and not just a little side bonus to what was basically a business transaction. It was always a very painful pleasure, the kind that left him exhausted well into the following day, exhausted and distracted by the thoughts of Kyou's burning eyes in the darkness and her fingers gripping onto his arms and the warmth that surrounded him as she knelt over him just before running her nails in deep scratches down his chest. Despite the pain, he was always left yearning more, he never wanted more from any of the other women but always from Kyou, between all the little heiresses and vultures she was the one that took the most from him and gave him the least yet she was the only one he always wanted to see in his bed again and again and again.

He still vividly remembered the first time they had had sex – fucked, slept together, made love, such terms tended to all become blurred in Dino's mind when it came to Kyou. It had been while he had been training her, she rarely tolerated his presence back then after all, a young woman far too old for middle school except nobody dared to tell her that. That particular battle had ended in his defeat, as far as they ever ended, any moment spent in Kyou's presence more a battle than anything. She had knelt over him, both of them sweaty and exhausted and aching, and before he had managed to realize what was happening she had been kissing him, hard and demanding.

It had become something of a bad habit since then, the regularly irregular times when sparring was not the only exercise they offered to each other, and though the Kyou in his arms now was a touch taller and just a bit curvier than the one who had first straddled with a soft hiss and nails clawing at his chest she never failed to bring him the same breathless pleasure. It was probably due to the fact that, unwise or not, over the years he had come to realize she had grasped his very heart in her pale hands from the moment they had first met. That, he thought almost wryly, or the fact that she always worked him to the last inch of his strength, whether it was in battle or bed. Either worked, really.

She lay in his arms afterwards, one of the rare times she allowed him to actually hold her close, either too tired or too lazy to disappear into the night just yet. His hands rested on her hips, her head on his chest, the moment almost gentle if not for the nails drawing a senseless pattern on his side, a mock gesture of gentleness yet just sharp enough to sting.

"My family have been talking lately," he said, finally breaking the silence. "They think I should get married."

"Is that so," was the answer, rather dispassionate. Kyou almost sounded like she was about to fall asleep, none of this really interested her and could Dino just please get on with whatever he had to say so they could get back to silence. So very typical.

"I'm not getting any younger," he continued, almost stumbling over the words no matter how often he had rehearsed them in his mind, "and the family needs a proper heir."

"Indeed." She sat up now, an absolutely delicious sight with her hair as messed up as ever, the slightest of flushes lingering on her skin. "You are the boss of a major family. A strong, legitimate heir of proper heritage is pretty much a must."

"Exactly," Dino said, feeling relieved that she apparently understood what he was talking about. Then, however, she moved again, and he frowned. "...Kyou? Why are you getting dressed in the middle of the night?"

"I remembered something I need to attend to." Kyou gave him an almost cold gaze as she very quickly covered her bare body. "I'm sure your family will help you find a suitable wife even if I'm not kicking you along."

By the time Dino realized just what the matter was, she was already gone, leaving him sitting alone on his bed with his mouth half-opened to speak. Sighing, he fell back onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Ah, well. He'd just have to clarify his intentions the next time she came over. Obviously he wasn't going to marry anyone else but her, and he was going to tell her as much.

As soon as she came back.

"He's getting married?"

"Yes." Kyou wiped sweat from her forehead, then stretched her aching arms. There were few people in the world who could still give her a good work-out one on one, and only two with whom she met regularly. Cavallone was over in Italy – and good riddance – while the other stood next to her right now, as exhausted from their spar as she was. "Apparently even his family has finally realized that he's not a teenager anymore."

"Figures." Suzuki Adelheid frowned, examining a deep scratch on her thigh with an almost detached lack of interest. It was a strange little companionship, the one they had formed, yet following the newly forged peace between Shimon and Vongola it had been almost inevitable. Though about as different in appearance as two Japanese could be – Kyou androgynous to the point of occasionally passing for a male, Adelheid flaunting her gender for all it was worth – in the inside, they were surprisingly similar. Aside from Adelheid's never-ending loyalty to her little boss, something Kyou would never quite understand, they were both exactly as prideful, violent and strict, knowing all too well the difficulties of being a woman in what was still essentially a man's world. They did not meet for sleepovers and girly chatter – that was for Sawada's wife and her little friends – but it was rather satisfying to occasionally follow a good sparring session by bitching at someone who actually had a chance of understanding her way of thinking. "Any clue as to whom?"

"Nothing aside from a mention of needing a 'proper' heir." Kyou scowled. She knew full well that what she and Cavallone had could not exactly be called a relationship, not when neither expected any kind of commitment or loyalty from the other, but there was still something of a regularity to their interactions. The least she deserved was a proper warning, not some not-so-subtle hints at her unsuitability to stand by his side even if he welcomed her into his bed. "And he waited until after sex to tell me even that much."

"Men," Adelheid snorted. "As long as they get to stick it in, anything goes."

"Unless they are herbivores." And loathe though she was to admit it, Cavallone Dino was most certainly not an herbivore. He did have some of the tendencies, but if there was any threat to his family, he had a rather impressive set of teeth to bare. He would do anything for his family, cut down any threat to it, and his personal pleasure would always come second to that, however hard that might have been to believe given his amiable little mask. Kyou had seen behind that mask often enough to know.

She'd slept with him simply to provide an alibi. She'd had her clothes stained with blood that was neither his nor hers as his hands grasped on her in the heat of the moment while they moved against each other. She'd heard the calm tone of his voice as he ordered relatively innocent people killed. There was a lot he could tolerate for the sake of his personal affections, but when it came to a contest between that and the good of his family, the family always came first. And a scandalous little affair with the Vongola Cloud would have dragged the family name through mud and kicked it down a hill.

She supposed it was only for the better that he had chosen to break things off with her even though no formal engagement had been announced yet. It made her own decisions so much easier.

"I take it you didn't tell him." Adelheid's words were a statement, not a question.

"What use would it be anyway?" Kyou rolled her eyes. "He was very clear on what my role in his life is. He can find out when everyone else does."

"And when is that?" Adelheid's eyes were sharp on her. "In your funeral?"

Kyou didn't answer the question, but then she doubted Adelheid had ever expected her to do so.

"...Kyou-san?"

As there was no answer to his call, Tetsu walked further into the house. Not that he had expected an answer at this hour, really; it was drawing close to midnight, so Kyou-san would most likely be already fast asleep. He'd only asked for her in case this was one of the rare nights when she stayed up late working on something, in which case she was always irritated if he didn't announce his entrance. However, if she was asleep, she didn't really care what he did in the house as long as he didn't disturb her sleep. Not that he was planning to stay long, anyway. He just needed to get some papers from her study that had to be at the office early the following morning.

His steps were the only sound he could spy in the otherwise entirely silent house. Good. Nothing would be startling his boss from her sleep, then. Few things were more irate than Kyou-san who had not had enough sleep, and Tetsu would just as well not deal with her wrath the following day just because a particular loud bird had taken residence in her garden.

He was especially careful as he passed her bedroom, not wanting to be directly at the receiving end of her wrath. Now, just to get to the study and then back out...

"Tetsu?"

The sudden question almost startled him, except years of working with Kyou-san had trained him not to be easily startled. Turning around, he found himself looking through the half-open door of the living room. That was strange. If Kyou-san was awake at this hour, it was always in her study. "...Kyou-san?"

"Was there something you needed?" Kyou-san was sitting in the living room, unlikely or not, apparently perfectly calmly sipping at some tea despite the late hour. The only indication that this was not her usual time to be taking a break was the light yukata she wore, the only thing currently covering her pale body. The collar was slightly skewed, almost falling off one shoulder. Tetsu made sure not to look anywhere near it.

"I just forgot to get a report that'll be needed tomorrow, Kyou-san," he replied. "Is something the matter?"

"...Not exactly." Kyou-san was quiet for a moment, taking another sip of her tea, before adding, "I can't sleep."

Tetsu frowned. He'd known Kyou-san ever since he'd entered middle school, at which point she had already reigned over Namimori with an iron fist and a scarred pair of tonfas. In all that time, he had never encountered a situation in which she found herself unable to sleep. He'd seen her very calmly wake up from a nap mere minutes before heading into a bloodied battle. For her not to be able to sleep was about as unnatural as if the sun had suddenly announced it couldn't climb up to the sky in the morning.

"Don't look like that," Kyou-san said, giving him an almost disinterested look as she noted his undoubtedly worried expression. "No, nothing is wrong. I'm just having trouble settling down."

"Ah." Tetsu nodded somewhat hesitantly. "...Is there anything I can do?"

Kyou-san was quiet long enough that he almost thought she simply considered his question too stupid to merit an answer. However, just as he was about to head towards the study to get the papers and leave her alone, she spoke up. "...Sit down."

Bewildered though he was by the order, Tetsu knew better than to question his boss. Stepping into the living room, he closed the door behind himself, taking a seat. He still did his very best not to look at Kyou-san anywhere below her neck. She had shifted now, the yukata ending up in an even more precarious position, yet she seemed not to even notice.

Just as he was beginning to wonder if she had immediately forgotten about his presence, concentrating on her tea instead, Kyou-san turned her eyes to him. "There's something I need you to do for me."

"Kyou-san?" Tetsu frowned. Something unusual was up, that much was clear. Never mind the sudden sleeplessness, anything pertaining to Foundation could surely have waited until the morning. If there was something Kyou-san found absolutely necessary to discuss right now, it had to be a rather special case.

"Again, don't look like that." Kyou-san very nearly scowled. "No, I will not be dead by morning, so stop looking so worried."

"I never -" Tetsu started, frowning, only to be cut off.

"Quiet." And as though to give him a demonstration, Kyou-san herself fell silent again. Obviously, this hardly helped Tetsu's frustration in wanting to know what was the matter. However, he knew better than to prompt her to finally tell him. That would only backfire on him; he wouldn't have wondered if she had simply decided to send him off on his way without ever telling him just what was preoccupying her so.

"I have... a certain condition." As the words finally came, they made Tetsu pale despite himself. There was a strangely serious tone to Kyou-san's voice, one that he was not accustomed to hearing. "It will not affect my working for a while yet, but it will grow more serious as time passes." Her eyes were sharp on him as she added, "You are to help me to keep anyone from finding out."

"...Kyou-san." He nodded, understanding the reprimand. "What do I have to do?"

"First off, find me a doctor. One who is discreet enough not to cause suspicion, and smart enough not to cause trouble. I'll give you my specifications later. They should be one I can reach at any time, no matter what. I am not going to jeopardize my health any further simply because you choose someone who decides to bail on me."

"Understood, Kyou-san." He nodded seriously. "What else?"

"...As this gets further, I'll be unable to handle my usual affairs." Kyou-san's expression still didn't waver from the almost frightening calmness it had taken on. "Once I reach that point, you're going to be my contact with the rest of the world. This includes everyone – Cavallone, Vongola, Foundation, any allies. I'll make sure to prepare others for the change, but you will be the one to bear most of the responsibility once we get to that."

"...I understand." Except he didn't. He wasn't sure if Kyou-san was being vague on purpose but he did most certainly not understand, he had no idea just what was going on aside from some vague hints, surely he needed to know exactly what they were going to face if he was to help his boss with this problem.

Kyou-san would tell him eventually, though, he was sure. She would have to, or he wouldn't be of much help to her, after all. She would tell him what he needed to know, when he needed to know it, and until then, he would just have to be patient.

Be patient, and try not to be too fearful lest she bite him to death.

"Hibari! Hibari!"

Kyou looked up as Hibird circled towards her, fluttering its tiny wings as it finally landed on her finger. "Hello there, little one," she murmured. "About the time you show up. You almost missed dinner."

"Food?" Hibird asked, apparently quite insistent that it was not too late. As though she'd ever let it get hungry.

"Already set out for you." She nodded towards the table, where she'd set out Hibird's usual little bowl of seeds and another of water. Of course, the bird did have its usual bowls near its perch, but it still preferred to eat when she did. When it didn't just downright steal her food, that was.

Watching as the bird fluttered from her hand over to its dinner, she then turned towards her own portion. She didn't exactly feel hungry right now, battling nausea as she was, but she knew better than not to eat anything at all. Just go slowly enough, she told herself. Slowly and carefully, that's it. You'll feel better if you eat at least something than if you skip it entirely.

For a moment, it seemed to be working. She managed to keep herself from getting too nauseous as she carefully took a bit of food at time, bringing it to her mouth and carefully chewing before swallowing. Whenever she felt like gagging, she quickly drank some water to get the taste of the food out of her mouth.

Damn it. At this rate she'd starve to death before anything else happened.

Not that it was actually much of a concern, she thought. She'd already had to cut back on her usual exercise, much to her displeasure; it was all right for her not to eat quite as much as before. Though still, it was annoying that she couldn't even finish a meal without –

Without tasting blood. Now, that wasn't exactly usual.

"Tetsu!" she called out, bringing a hand to her mouth, then above it. Taking off her fingers, she saw them stained red. Definitely blood. Again.

Her right-hand man opened the door to the room almost immediately. "What is it, Kyou-san?" His eyes widened as he saw her bloodied face. "Kyou-san?"

"Just get me something to wipe this with," she snapped. "No need to look that concerned. It's not like I'll bleed to death from my nose."

"Ah, of course. Right away, Kyou-san!" He rushed off, the concern still evident on his face. The idiot. As though something like this could actually hurt her.

The taste again getting on her lips, she set aside her chopsticks, leaning forward. No sense in getting herself even more sick by leading the blood to run back into her throat. One hand cupped to catch the blood – she didn't want her yukata stained; that was what battle clothes were for – she pinched her nose with the other, hoping it would stop the bleeding. Damn it, anyway.

Tetsu was thankfully back soon, rushing to her side with a small towel. She grasped it with her bloodied hand, bringing it up to her nose. How very irritating.

"Are you feeling all right, Kyou-san?" Tetsu asked, still sounding worried. The spazz.

"I'm quite all right, yes," she replied with a clipped tone. Honestly. If she hadn't needed both her hands right now she would have smacked him over the head. She'd told him there was no need to worry, hadn't she?

"Hibari! Hibari?" Hibird fluttered closer, looking at her questioningly. "Blood. Hibari hurt?"

"Oh, don't you start with it, too." She sighed, shaking her head. "No, I'm not hurt. It's just a nosebleed. It's not like it's the first time, anyway." Annoying though it was, the perfect reminder of her weakening condition that it happened to be.

"Blood," Hibird insisted. "Blood bad."

"It's nothing." The smell of blood certainly wasn't helping with her nausea, she decided. Ugh. Perhaps she should have just skipped dinner after all. Pushing herself up to her feet, she adamantly refused Tetsu's help as she rushed towards the bathroom. If she had gone through all the trouble already not to get any blood on her yukata, she was damn well not going to get any vomit on it, either.

Barely remembering to take the blood-stained towel out of the way as she crouched in front of the toilet, finally allowing the nausea to get the better of her will, she was vaguely aware of Tetsu's hands gathering the hanging strands of hair about her face, pulling them out of the way. Fussing again. She'd told him it was nothing. Too bad she was too busy throwing up to remind him of it right now.

Annoying though the fussing was, she didn't have the energy to complain as Tetsu helped her wipe her face afterwards, getting her a glass of water to get rid of the taste. The nosebleed still hadn't stopped, she noted.

"You should be more careful," Tetsu murmured, remarkably daring considering how she usually treated him when he spouted such nonsense. "You shouldn't keep pushing yourself like this, Kyou-san..."

"I wasn't pushing myself," she spat, trying to concentrate on stopping the bleeding. "I was eating my dinner. I can't exactly take any easier than that, now can I?" She wanted to hit something, anything. Tetsu, as it happened, was the closest thing within reach.

Tetsu didn't seem to mind even as she struck him, his expression never wavering even as he got blood on his clothes from her hand. Somehow, it just worked to irritate her even more. She should have managed to get a reaction out of him, damn it. Frustrated, she kept pounding him, certainly leaving him with bruises but otherwise making no actual damage. Her body was just too exhausted, it seemed, too exhausted and nauseous and bloody well weak.

There was blood on her yukata, she noted, despite her best efforts to the opposite, bright red stains on the fine silk that would turn darker and then brown if left on their own. It wasn't even proper blood splatter, like she might have gotten from a battle. This was just proof of how weak her body was. How weak she was.

She hated this. She hated herself and her body and her weakness. She hadn't even gotten to finish her dinner, damn it.

"Hibari? Hibari sad?" Hibird's weight settled on top of her head.

She didn't even have the energy to disagree.

"Any word yet?"

"I'm afraid not, Boss." Romario shook his head. "None of our usual channels seem to reach her. We even tried contacting her through the Foundation, but the only response was that she doesn't want to respond."

Dino sighed, sinking deeper into his seat. He hadn't exactly expected anything else, but it was still quite disappointing. "What'd I do wrong, Romario?"

"That's rather hard for me to know, Boss," his right-hand man replied calmly. "After all, I was hardly present for all of her last, ah, visit." Romario's expression was rather admirably calm, not betraying anything of what he might have been thinking. Good. Dino didn't want to see him laughing at him of all things, and disappointment would have been even worse.

"I've been trying to think, you know," he murmured. "Going through everything I said and did and everything... I mean, I technically know what caused her to leave. I know what got her mad. But usually when she's mad, she always shows up sooner or later... to beat me up if nothing else." This time, there was nothing. No messages, no visits, not anything. It was like Kyou had decided to simply vanish from his life for some reason, except that didn't make any sense. Kyou did disappear at times, but never quite this completely. And if the word back from Foundation indeed was that she was intentionally avoiding him...

"Perhaps she is merely more angry at you than before," Romario suggested. "You said she apparently misunderstood your words about marriage, didn't you? Perhaps she just decided it was a worse offence than your earlier slights."

"But why?" Dino asked. "I mean, she knows I've slept with other women; it's not like we've ever been exclusive to each other or anything. She knows I'll be expected to marry sooner or later, being a don and all. The thought of my getting married to someone else shouldn't make her react quite so extremely."

"Maybe there's more to this than one can see from the surface." His right-hand man adjusted his glasses. "Certainly, if she thought you are planning to marry another, it would presumably signal the end of your relationship."

"As though she would care," Dino murmured somewhat bitterly. "She'd just find someone else insane enough to take her into his bed and only show up to beat me every now and then. That and bitch about whoever I marry being too weak or something." That was certainly the expected response. This... silence... was nothing like he might have expected.

"Maybe you're not quite right about that," Romario actually dared to say. "She might prefer to see herself at your arm."

Dino laughed with a bitter tone. "As if," he said. "Believe me, Romario, that woman never wants to be tied down." Unfortunately. He would have quite liked to tie her to himself, at least, and not necessarily in the kinky way. "Even if I was fortunate enough and that were the case, she would have made it quite clear. Kyou doesn't run from a fight, and seeing me going to another would certainly be a fight in her opinion if she cared at all." He shook his head. "If she wanted to marry me, this kind of disappearance would basically be just giving in to an unknown rival. Kyou wouldn't do anything like that no matter what."

"Well, that appears to be exactly what she has done," Romario pointed out mercilessly. "I wouldn't purpote to understand the way she thinks, but at least it appears clear to me that there is some reason for her behaviour. Whimsical or not, she isn't exactly the type to do something major like this without a good reason."

"It isn't major, though, not really," Dino replied dejectedly. "The business contacts and alliance between us and Foundation are still open. Her avoidance is strictly personal, which means it's for a personal reason, and for the life of mine I can't figure out what that reason could be. There's no reason I can think of that would make her act like this, no matter how she might have interpreted my words."

"In that case, I don't think there is any way you can find to fix the situation, either." Indeed, Romario was merciless and cruel. Even more so for the fact that, as Dino well knew, he was merely telling the truth. "Especially since you cannot seem to contact her so you could manage to clear everything up. It might be for the best for you to stop obsessing over the issue."

"But I love her, Romario." The fool that he was, whining and pining after a woman who obviously wanted nothing to do with him. "I mean... I could handle rejection."

"No you couldn't."

"Fine. No I couldn't, but at least then I'd have something to react to. This just... no. I can't take this, Roma. I can't take her being angry at me when she doesn't have the whole picture. If I had proposed to her then and there and she had bashed my head in for being such an idiotic herbivore, well, I'd have been unhappy but I could have handled that. That would have been... normal, for Kyou anyway. I wouldn't have liked it but at least I'd have tried. But this... she's angry at me, I know as much, but she doesn't have the whole picture. She doesn't know everything I wanted to say or do. It's just unfair that she'd be angry at me under these conditions."

"Life is quite unfair at times, as I've come to understand," Romario replied. "You know Hibari, Boss. She never was the most reasonable of people, and certainly not the easiest to deal with, but she also rarely carries a grudge for too long; she rather prefers to confront her enemies directly. I'm sure that sooner or later she'll decide to show up to make you pay with blood and bruises, and then you can take the chance to explain yourself to her."

"...That almost sounds comforting, even with the blood and bruises." Dino somehow managed a small smile. "Fine... I'll try and be a good boy and wait. You'll still try to contact her, though, won't you?" Just in case she would give in and let him try to explain himself before he acquired any broken bones at her hands.

"Of course, Boss." Romario nodded. Good, reliable Romario.

If only all pieces of his life had been as easy to understand.