Summary: "Kyoya, stop saying 'bite' in front of her! You're giving her the wrong ideas!" There are times when even Dino is unsure of his own sanity. When he finds her collapsed in his garden, he just had to let her in. And now, look what he's got on his hands: a non-existent being, someone who is only supposed to live in legends. Dino x Vampiric!OC.
Rating: T (For kissy bits in the future.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Humor, Romance (I really need to practice these genres, and although angst may be a minor element in some moments, I really am aiming at a nice romance fic. I really suck at writing romance with little or no sad stuff, so I do need to practice. And what better way than to write humorous romance?)
A/N: Guys, you know what's annoying? I can't get on Gmail from where I am right now (Beijing! OAO). So basically, I usually write all my chapters on a Google document. But I can't access any of it! And I've written in advance for all my stories already, which makes it all the more annoying...I'm not about to go typing all 20000 words or so of chapters up in word documents (Because that would be a bit counter productive, and besides, I wouldn't be able to remember anything that's coming up), so I decided to start a new story.
Behold, a Dino x OC! With a little bit of Brotherly!Hibari thrown in. This plot...just kind of hit me in the face with a big signpost spelling 'Write me! WRITE ME!' so I had to kind of...write it. Please forgive me, if you think it cliche or disgusting or just another stupid addition to this fandom.
There will be a plot to this...I hope. I kind of want to make this a multichapter story, and I do have a plot, but I'm notorious for not uploading on time; so I guess we'll see from the responses! :3
Read, enjoy, and scream at me via the review button if you hate (or like) anything I'm writing. All in all, have a good time!
THIS IS AU, SO THE CHARACTERS WILL HAVE DIFFERENT AGES AND BACKGROUNDS! Reasons will be revealed as I write.
She grew up in the depths of the forest, verdant surroundings, with birds chirping in the trees. It was a cold, different relationship with nature; a silent 'live and let live' pact. She didn't appreciate or bother nature, and in turn, nature let her and her kind live in its silent depths. Perhaps the forest, the trees knew that they were housing monsters. For many years, she was categorized as a 'Lost Child', someone whose parents abandoned her for reasons unknown. There were small pockets of societies in the forests, deep among the trees and unable to be found by humans, but she had long since lost interest in joining them, because she knew that although they were one and the same, she preferred to be 'different'. She wanted to be unique, and that stayed as a selfish wish inside her tiny heart all these years, festering and growing until finally, she let it burst free.
She wanted to go out into the 'real world', a world occupied by what her kind knew as 'weaklings' or 'Grounded Ones', if they wanted to be polite. She, however, knew they were called humans, and she refused to refer to them any other way. She wouldn't give up her powers for the world, but in her eyes, humans are equals.
She wanted to get along with them.
So when the humans finally decide to take over the forest, shearing the trees down as if they were snapping mere toothpicks in half, she didn't do anything. Her kin tried to fight, to no avail, because as soon as they tried to run out into the sunlight, they were hit with a bad bout of paralysis and merely stood in place as the humans gunned them down. Then, her eyes had widened at the power that the humans held in their hands. Guns, weapons, black metal glinting in the sunlight. The rattle of the gunfire terrified and awed her at the same time, and she found herself irrevocably drawn to the scene.
And then the smell of blood, the sight of the bodies of her own kind littering the ground, drove her back into hiding.
That night, she stayed in the safe shadows of the forest, watching the men at work. Men in black suits swarm in the newly carved clearing, laying weird material on the floor and stomping all over it with peculiar machinery. They took the dead trees and used wood to build a mansion. They worked incredibly fast, and within a week, there was already a clear-cut structure for the house. It amazed her, the speed and determination at which they worked. They were like ants in their single-minded determination.
And finally, when the mansion was completed, they put down the last finishing touches to the new structure.
So now, there was a red, brick wall separating her from the world she desperately wanted to learn about. And she dared not cross it until night has fallen, cloaking both worlds in comforting darkness.
For a long while, she was content with dancing along the wall and observing the inhabitants of the mansion. Or was it because she's scared? The sight of fellow vampires lying in pools of their own blood was still fresh in her mind. But it couldn't be. She wasn't one to be easily touched by emotions. She loved the feeling of sitting on the fence, between two worlds. On one side, it was the familiarity of the forest that calmed her down. On the other side, it was an acute spike of curiosity for the human world that kept her thirsting for knowledge.
There was someone just a couple of years older than she was in that mansion: a little blonde boy, who goes by the name of Dino. Or at least, that's what everyone else in the mansion calls him. Master Dino.
He's incredibly clumsy, so much so that it hurt to watch him move about sometimes. He would knock into rare artifacts like they were nothing but plastic toys, watch them tumble to the ground with a gaping mouth. On occasion, he would move to catch it, but it would just worsen the situation, as his feet seem to catch on anything and everything. A fallen artifact would mean one thing broken. A fallen artifact and Dino's helpful nature meant pages of bills for his father to pay.
Dino was obviously well loved by the household. Well, at least by everyone except his father. She watched curiously as Dino was sent out of the room every single time the man walked into one. Dino was not allowed into the man's office at all times, even though other men in black suits, obviously of lower rank or power, walked in with ease.
Dino didn't seem to mind this in the least. He gave everyone else in the household pleasant smiles, and that sparked her interest. She wondered if it was wishful thinking that one day, Dino would give her a pleasant smile as well. But she still didn't dare get closer. She was content with watching from afar.
A few years later, Dino's father died. She watched, perched precariously on the edge of the faded red wall, toes curling over the edge as if she was about to leap into the garden, as the blonde curled up underneath his blankets in bed at night. She cartwheeled to the rhythm of his sobs.
The next day, unfamiliar faces showed up at the mansion. They trooped in, carrying elaborate cases and bunch of flowers that even she could not name. Her eyes widened as they greeted the boy as if he was family. Dino's smiles were strained. For someone accustomed to seeing his carefree smiles day to day, she knew that he was forcing himself to look happy, and the sight twisted her stomach into inexplicable knots. She didn't want him to suffer. She wanted him to smile. But there was nothing she could do, except make faces at him through the window at night, carefully blanketed in shadows but all the while, hoping that he would see and acknowledge her efforts.
And then a man with a fedora and distinctive sideburns walked confidently into the mansion. She watched curiously as he walked straight up to Dino, expecting him to shake his hand and smile or mutter something into his ear, as all the other men have done. Instead, the man gave him a slap, watching coldly as Dino stumbled into the wall. Dino's men swarmed around him, but with one hand held up, the newly named Cavallone Decimo put their movements on standby.
"Idiot Dino, grow some guts. Your father is dead, but you must continue running the Family. I'm here to help you with that." The man tilted his fedora and tapped the brim of the hat. Dino merely nodded.
"Make me stronger." Dino silently requested, and the man nodded, introducing himself as 'Reborn, the greatest hitman in the world'. What is a hitman? She wonders to herself, watching the exchange through confused eyes.
She was hardly surprised when Dino leaves, shoulders sagging with a new weight. Reborn stares after Dino for a while, before he turns to the window and glanced out into the rapidly darkening dusk. Looking straight at where she was hidden. She ducked, heart pounding, hoping that he wouldn't come after her. And when she finally gained enough courage to peek out again, she saw that 'Reborn' was still looking straight at her.
He smiled and tipped his hat at her in greeting, and she thought that maybe, just maybe...
This was an invitation into their world.
"Make me stronger." That became her own personal mantra, although she didn't really know what it meant. She was the silent observer to all of Dino's daily activities, from running laps around the grounds to firing one of those deadly weapons at cardboard cutouts of men. Dino changed. His aura became more serious, dotted with maturity and aged with the feeling of someone who has seen and heard too much. His smiles were nonetheless fewer, but when it came to genuine emotion behind the parting of his lips, she could no longer tell. He became better at lying, deceiving, and for a moment she was scared that she had lost the boy she had wanted to get to know better. She cursed her own uselessness, cursed her own fear and hesitation. Maybe if I'd climbed over the wall and talked to him, maybe if I'd helped him more...
Perhaps the Dino now would be different. But even she could not turn back time, so she could only watch helplessly from the sidelines, no longer content with her given role of 'observer'. The guns kept her at bay, but curiosity and pain threatened to overwhelm her at times. She wanted to talk to Dino and she wanted him to smile back at her.
And that was how she grew up next to Dino Cavallone, grew accustomed to the ways of the humans, all the while keeping her distance. She learnt their language, observed their interactions and worked them into her own movements. She was clumsier when it came to performing such actions, but she carefully filed the information away into her mind, for hope that one day she would be able to use them.
And that day would come, years later, when Dino turns 22.
Update: Chapter 1 is written and ready to be posted! Please review this chapter before I post, because I really would love to hear from all of you :)