This story, I should say meme, is not from any particular time in the lives of the two characters involved. It it is merely fragments, some related to others, some not. Some of the fragments are told from Dino's POV, some from Hibari's and some from neither. This story is a birthday present for my good friend, Ella, and it's based on the 1 Sentence Meme found at 1sentenceorder. I hope that, if you read it, you enjoy it. And if you don't enjoy it, I hope that you tell me why.

I do not own Dino, Hibari or any of the characters in KHR. They are the sole property of Akira Amano and I'm just borrowing them for a few hours.

If you'd like some content warnings: A bit of violence.

AM

Flashes of Black and Gold

#01 – Walking

The cobbled streets of Italy burn under the soles of his black oxfords. As he rounds the corner and looks up, he observes a white brick mansion and the two, ornate gates that keep the world away. He thinks 'home.'

#02 - Waltz

The skylark sits at the a round table by himself, a glass of rich red tipping slowly between his fingers and looks out across the dancefloor. He sees politics. Weaklings, flirting through the masses to barter mafia deals; alliances. He sees a flash of gold, hands carefully placed on a slender waist clad in emerald green. He didn't know that the bucking horse knew how to waltz.

#03 - Wishes

Dino sometimes finds himself wishing that Kyouya were his age. It would be so much easier to reason with him if he were allowed to drink.

#04 - Wonder

Panting and bruised, he lies on the flat white stone of Namimori High School's roof with the metal bar bared at his neck. Staring up in amazement he meets the cold blue of the skylark's eyes and finally the thought crosses his mind: 'I lost.'

#05 – Worry

It's midnight and Dino is pacing the lounge of the Cavallone mansion. The wooden oak panelled walls seem to swim around him. He doffs his suit jacket and pulls off his tie, running his hands through his hair and repeatedly glances at the grandfather clock on the wall. Damn Hibari Kyouya and his damn lateness.

#06 - Whimsy

He meets the suitor. She's dolled up in every shade of makeup, and he swears that that is actual powder in her hair. As she chatters excitedly and takes enthusiastic bites from her strawberry cake, he replaces her eyes with blue and paints her hair black in his mind.

#07 - Waste/Wasteland

It's Hibari that is on his back this time, with no sign of the bucking horse anywhere. Around him are the litany of bodies, some corpses, some not. The cut along his cheek is running a small trickle of scarlet into his mouth. With his hair flattened over his eyes and obscuring his vision, he breathes in the scents of dust and destruction.

#08 - Whiskey and rum

The first time he sits in the office of the bucking horse, he interrupts a meeting. Dino and two important looking men at a desk and three crystalline bottles of spirit, equally shared in small measures: one for each man. None for him, however: he doesn't drink.

#09 - War

'Being part of the mafia is being part of an army,' the bucking horse says to his men one day. 'You are a soldier, and you fight for your family, your name.' He thinks of the fleeting skylark and reconsiders. 'But most of all, you fight for your pride.'

#10 – Weddings

The wedding of Sawada Tsunayoshi is a beautiful affair, filled with lilies and prosecco. Dino notices him leaning against the doorway of the hall at the reception, elusive and dark. They meet eyes, and the skylark immediately turns and flees.

#11 - Birthday

Hibari remembers his twenty-third birthday on his seventeenth birthday. Inside his home, with Kusakabe banished to the long gardens. He receives no cards (cards have been deemed weak.) As he pads through the sliding doors from room to room, a ghost in his own home, he notices a strange shape on his table. He pulls away the cloth obscuring it and his eyes narrow. An empty gold birdcage, its bars decorated with filigree and tiny, black, studded chains. He smashes it and, as the metal splinters, he notices an inscription, only visible because the plated roof had been broken. Predictable, Kyouya.

#12 - Blessing

The skylark disposes of the enemy effectively and quickly as Dino relaxes, slumped against the wall with a bullet embedded in his shoulder. Hibari turns around and the murderous intent is, for a moment, concentrated on him. He inhales sharply before the Cloud drifts away. 'Thank God he's on our side,' Dino thinks.

#13 - Bias

In hindsight, Tsuna should've known that if it came down to protecting the famiglia or protecting the school, his cloud guardian would choose Namimori every time.

#14 – Burning

Dino's hand is over Hibari's mouth and his arms are gripping his lithe frame in a tight hold. They are pressed into a small niche while the gunshots ring around them in the night. The skylark has stopped struggling and is scraping his teeth in a mock-bite into the palm of Dino's hand. When the bullets stop, the thumping is replaced by the percussive rhythm of his heart. He looks down into the eyes of the Vongola Cloud Guardian, blazing, and sees something that wasn't there before.

#15 – Breathing and also sort of #47 – Valiant

Dino rescues Kyouya for the first time after a drug raid in Turin. He pulls the skylark from the Po river alone, his men otherwise occupied, and doesn't stumble. He forgets about his uncoordinated affliction and wipes the hair from Hibari's face, blowing into his mouth and nose and pressing hard against his breast bone until he is breathless and sure that he can hear the sound of air leaving the boy's body steadily once more.

#16 – Breaking and #17 - Belief

He can feel the individual bones of his fingers cracking under the assault of the interrogator. They dance knives around his throat - teasing, testing. They don't understand that he will never betray his little brother. Never betray the Vongola. And through it, he knows that somewhere, the aloof cloud is waiting with wings and teeth bared, ready to bite.

#18 – Balloon

Dino sits on a bench in the streets of Salerno in jeans and a light shirt, normal for a day. He watches as a young boy, almost as blonde as he is, chases a white balloon down the streets. It dances away from him, the wind keeping it within a height that's just out of his reach. Instinctively, Dino reaches out in front of him, his hand grasping and he clenches his fingers into a fist, his mouth dry.

#19 – Balcony

He notices the skylark leaning against the rail of the balcony in the Vongola mansion at Tsuna's twentieth birthday party. Perhaps it's the Sangria acting but he places his hands on either side of the dark-haired boy and lets him turn around, his eyes filled with rage, blood-lust and perhaps, yes perhaps, a tiny shade of confusion. He grabs him by the shoulders, and takes exactly what he wants.

#20 – Bane

Dino Cavallone, he muses as the former clatters through his home in an attempt to get his shoes off, is the bane of his entire life and existence. And yet, as the bucking horse stumbles and lands face first on the floor in front of him, he can't help the humane amusement that tingles at the end of his fingertips.

#21 - Quiet

The silence falls when the corpse of one of Dino's most trusted advisors, Aldo, is discovered. He gives instructions to the rest of his men in curt whispers and then excuses himself to his study. When Hibari drifts in (not to offer condolences, he adds) he sees the bucking horse with his head in his hands, standing by the window and silhouetted by the light. He looks both older and younger than the cloud guardian has ever known, and he strolls up and grabs him by the collar.
'You are weak.' He utters, and shoves Dino against the wall. Something seems to snap in the Cavallone boss and he pushes the skylark off him and punches him in the face. Breathing heavily, he unclenches his fist. 'Thank you, Kyouya.'

#22 – Quirks

Dino has rituals. They started with the pressure of being young and in charge, and grew into superstitious habit. For example, every time he leaves the house for a business matter, he cleans the bottom banister knob with the sleeve of his suit jacket. It started when he spilt paint on it and literally had to scratch it off for days to make sure his papan didn't notice. The maid, Maria, is so confused by this behaviour (she's a very good maid) that she cleans the banister twice every day.

#23 – Question

He feels his arms being slung across a set of narrow shoulders. A tight grasp around his waist and his broken, tortured fingers scream in pain. Slipping in and our of consciousness, the bucking horse glances at his saviour. Clear, blue eyes look straight ahead, not noticing him. His eyes widen, questioning, before he passes out.

#24 - Quarrel

'Is this a game to you, Kyouya?' He slaps his fist on the desk, fury bubbling deeply in his bones.

'I am bored of people like you.' The skylark bites back, the bruises on his wrists and neck painting dark smudges against his alabaster skin. Dino grits his teeth and walks to him, and twists his arm behind his back before pulling at the suit shirt to reveal a little more flesh. He spins Hibari around and glares into his eyes, finding them dark, wide and expectant.

#25 – Quitting (well, sort of)

The boss of the Cavallone family does not smoke. No, his addictions are to far more sensitive things – the press of a needle and the brightly coloured ink that weaves its way through his skin.

#26 - Jump

At the inheritance ceremony, when he pulls Hibari up from the rubble, clothes bloodied and coughing up dust, his hands shake with unfounded worry. When the skylark slaps him away and turns from him, his heart leaps in relief. Same old Kyouya.

#27 – Jester

'Our boss has a wonderful sense of humour,' Romario thinks as he watches Dino point the Browning 9mm into the forehead of Sasagawa Ryohei's captor. 'Just not when it comes down to the Vongola.'

#28 – Jousting

Sometimes Dino looks at the next generation and feels older than his twenty-six years. He sees them vying for power, trying to be noticed by the family heads. Pushing and back-stabbing, lying to their friends. It breaks his heart.

#29 – Jewel

Hibari sits with his back to the fence atop Namimori school. He inspects the violet ring that adorns his finger and seriously contemplates tossing it away. He stops himself: no one is allowed to litter inside Namimori, not even him.

#30 - Just

The tonfa glint in the half-light. His suit jacket has been torn off, exposing a light grey waistcoat and long, white sleeves with thin garters at his upper arms. His face is bloodied and he's breathing erratically. Broken rib. He looks at the body of the enemy, kneeling injured on the floor. He doesn't give it a second thought before he pulls a hand-gun from his pocket and finishes the job. 'Ah,' he thinks as his knees buckle and he collapses, 'he got the sentence he deserved.'

#31 - Smirk

For the skylark's own twenty-first birthday, Dino drives him out to Lake Lugano in a jet black Ferrari California. He doesn't crash, much to the surprise of his passenger. And when Dino slides out into the Autostrada and the car roars into its proper capability, he glances over to the Cloud Guardian and sees his hair flailing in the wind and a small, almost imperceptible smile on his face.

#32 – Sorrow

Dino is given his memories of the future as he sits at his breakfast table in his small, homely kitchen, wearing flannel pyjamas and comfortable house slippers. He's sipping at coffee when the assault of images begins and he drops the cup, mind racing. It smashes on the table and he doesn't acknowledge it. Instead, he stares straight ahead and lets his eyes well at the sudden intrusion of death, pain and love that he will never have.

#33 – Stupidity

Idiot, idiot, idiot, the tenth Cavallone boss curses himself as he throws open the warehouse doors, his men already dispatched around the building. He notices Dokuro first, hands bound and tied to a chair in the corner. Drugged, he thinks. Signalling his men to have her untied, he dashes up the slippery metal stairs and into what he assumes is a storage rooms. Hibari kneels, breath coming out in short bursts and gun in hand. In front of him is the underboss of the Nicastra family, dead as a doornail. He hears the broken whisper before he sees the skylark's lips move. 'You're late, Cavallone.'

#34 - Serenade

Dino is a good singer and Hibari knows this. After a few too many martinis at a surveillance party, he feels the blonde's arm swing around his shoulder and his lips at his ear singing lightly in his perfect Italian.

#35 – Sarcasm

Dino once spots Tsuna sparring with Sasagawa Ryohei on one of his visits to Japan. He marvels at the lightness of their strikes, the excellent techniques. He watches them until he sees Hibari stroll casually through the middle of their fight. They both withdraw immediately and Tsuna calls out, panting, 'Hibari-san, please be careful! It could be dangerous.'

The dark-haired boy turns around and calls back in a flat voice, 'I'm so scared.'

Dino's eyes widen with Tsuna's and Ryohei's. Was that meant to be sarcasm?

#36 – Sordid and #39 - Share

Hibari watches the woman cozying up to Dino at the Cavallone dinner. She is wearing too much make-up: it has caked around her sanguine lips and into the creases of her eyes. She slides her hand up the side of his leg, just under his suit jacket and the bucking horse looks distinctly uncomfortable. It's only later that the skylark catches her kissing the head of the Maimone family in order to steal his wallet. And after midnight he backs Dino into a wall in a long, abandoned corridor and fists his hand in the lapel of his suit jacket. He bares his teeth and the bucking horse's eyes widen.

#37 - Soliloquy

Hibari walks into the office of Dino Cavallone with the sole purpose of delivering to him a memo from the Vongola Tenth containing information about the newly development box weapons. He finds him not at his desk but asleep on the velvet cushions of the window seat, one hand across his stomach and the other resting on a book, open on his chest, abandoned for sleep. Macbeth, he reads, his English improving. He observes the tranquil rest that Dino is wrapped in for approximately fourteen seconds before he hits him awake.

#38 - Sojourn

Coming home from Namimori in his last year of school, he walks into his home to the immediate understanding that something is different. He enters the living room to find the bucking horse with his legs folded under the kotatsu. 'Surprise, Kyouya!' The stupid blonde is grinning and playing with his stupid turtle. Hibari bites him to death. Well, almost.

#40 – Solitary

Hibari Kyouya is the lone cloud. Dino understands this better than anyone. So when the aforementioned stumbles into the Cavallone complex, clutching a broken arm, bleeding out and limping, he is surprised for a moment before he throws out his arms to catch the skylark as he collapses forward.

#41 - Nowhere

There are stretches of time where Hibari disappears and doesn't tell anyone where he's going. He usually catches a train or two. On occasion, it's been a plane. He goes to places which he doesn't know and where he doesn't know anyone but never for very long: he can't leave Namimori entirely unattended.

#42 – Neutral

Hibari observes the expression on Dino's face at the meeting which may determine the start of another mafia war. He looks placid, calm and strong, not the clumsy man that had originally tripped into his life. As the meeting closes and the matter is resolved, Dino stands and commands the respect of the room. His eyes gaze over Kyouya's and his expression seems to say 'do not get in my way.' The skylark's breath catches.

#43 – Nuance

He stares at Kyouya, sleeping in the hospital bed. Two broken ribs, three fingers, fracture in one arm, other's a clean break. Severe bloodloss from wounds in the shoulder, lower thigh. Cuts and abrasions in the knees and one thin scratch down the side of his face – won't scar, they say. And when Dino looks at him, knowing that he would be killed for even being in the hospital room, he traces the line of his eyebrows and notices the subtle relaxation in them – a mere fragment of his youth and boy-hood.

#44 - Near

He steals Gokudera's motorbike and speeds away with it without a helmet on, pounding the tyres against the pavement to gain speed until he reaches the necessary location. It's an old-style house and once he's through the sliding door, he finds the silence eerie. He presses himself against a wall and hears a gunshot – it misses him. He dodges into the living room and sees the bucking horse, unconscious and tied to a chair, head tipped forward with his golden hair matted with dirt and blood. He pulls his box out and opens it. 'I will bite you to death.' He utters to the assailant.

#45 – Natural

Hibari Kyouya looks utterly perfect in a suit. It's as though he was born into them, all clean lines and lean, long limbs. It's a shame therefore, Dino thinks, that he hates to wear them.

#46 – Horizon

Dino sometimes meets the sunset from his balcony in the morning. He enjoys the change from the cold of night to the gradual warmth of morning. He looks out over the city as the bustling begins and the people stir from the sleep. It reminds him of family, of every individual life and he renews his vows to his father. 'I will keep our family safe.'

#48 - Virtuous

Hibari considers himself to be a pinnacle of morality: no drinking, no smoking, no scoundrels. And so Dino is quite happy to spike his punch at the annual Christmas party and watch as he unwinds before putting a cigarette into his pliant mouth and lighting it, knowing that he was the first to corrupt the honest skylark.

#49 - Victory

He relives the first battle on the rooftops of Namimori High School. The crack of a whip on a wrist and the battering force of a tonfa against his torso until he has the young boy who was once Hibari Kyouya pressed against the chain fencing, wrists pressed to his sides. He smiles. 'Maybe next time Kyouya.'

#50 – Defeat

There is a dinner party, mainly information gathering. A full-lipped lady in cream harasses him all evening, edging closer and closer into his personal space. He discovers her trying to pinch his wallet, has a stiff drink, gets back to work. And after midnight, he is backed into a wall in a long, abandoned corridor and there are two long-fingered, pale hand wrapping their fists into the lapels of his suit jacket. The pointed face bares his teeth and Dino's eyes widen as he places his hands on the hips of the younger man. He's most definitely lost, he knows this, and yet he thinks that somehow defeat isn't so bad.