The first time Dino saw Kyouya, he wanted nothing more than protect him.
He realized that this was not the usual reaction one has when faced with a child surrounded by fallen men.
But Dino spent his formidable years with Squalo.
Kyouya could fight – and would only get better with age – but there was so much he didn't understand.
He was prickly like a cat and Dino grew attached faster than he intended to – he had planned on keeping his distance, he was there to learn not to play house.
Play house.
With a family not a Famiglia.
Away from his –
No.
Kyouya called it pack.
Reborn called it weakness.
Called him weak.
Weak.
Reborn called it weakness and exploited it.
Don't be arrogant, Clumsy-Dino. He said. With how you are now, you can't dream to protect that hellion.
In a rare moment of courage Dino snapped. Don't you dare bring Kyouya into this!
Reborn cocked his gun. And why not? You were sent here to train free from distractions, but you got attached, Cavallone. You brought him into this. His death will be on your hands.
Dino didn't respond and Reborn never outright repeated the words.
But he needed to be strong for the Family, for his family.
If he thought of Kyouya, than no one needed to know.
….
Dino wouldn't lie and say he understood Kyouya from the beginning, but he would say that he had been willing to try.
The students of Namimori schools feared him and the adults in the town regarded him as a convenient nuisance, as the lesser of two evils.
On one hand, he was a violent delinquent and, on the other hand, he still a violent delinquent but he funneled his aggression towards the wrongdoers of the city. Amongst a certain age, fond memories of the spitfire that was Kyouya's mother kept them from accepting that he was replacing her.
Well, he was a violent delinquent that later commanded a group of violent delinquents. Dino says group but means gang. A gang of moderately upstanding violent delinquents that protected the city from violent delinquents that were not them.
Namimori gave him a headache – he loved it.
But Kyouya.
As a child, Kyouya did, in fact, bare extreme amounts of violence in his small body.
Violence and rage.
It took Dino a while – and hours training with Kyouya's mother – to wrap his head around the fact that violence and rage did not have to go hand in hand.
It was then, that he set out to help the small angry boy.
Kyouya was angry so, Dino did things that made him calm if not happy.
They would sit on the deck in silence and drink tea – sometimes Dino wondered if Kyouya was an old man in a child's body but then he would quickly be proven incorrect.
It wasn't hard to discover that Kyouya preferred peace and quiet.
But it took a while to truly understand why he was so angry.
Kyouya was completely alone. The Kusakabe boy was a minion not a friend and while his mother possibly cared for him – Dino thought she was just like his old man not matter how different they seemed – neither of them ever actually talked to him.
Or, you know, actually pay attention to his needs.
Dino's response was to firmly insert himself into Kyouya's life.
There were things about Kyouya that no one seemed to realize that some of the things he said ran much, much deeper than just the whim of a child.
The big one was that Kyouya had rules, codes of conduct for him and those around him. Rules for how the city, rules for his class, for his mother, for Dino himself. It was Kyouya's way of understanding the world.
People had to act a certain way or he got confused and frustrated that they were acting wrong, improper. And since Kyouya was raised by his mother, when he was confused and frustrated, he lashed out violently, always.
He classmates must follow the rules and regulations of the institution. With his mother, the Kusakabes, and Dino himself, Kyouya was more lenient and usually only freaked out when they did something – at least what he perceived as – out of character.
This was cemented in Dino's mind the first time he returned from training with Reborn. Something about Dino being bruised and bloody – even if it had only been a few scrapes. He was exhausted and forced to fend off an irate ten year old Kyouya before he could collapse onto his futon.
That was also the time that Kyouya had ever used his new classification system on him.
Herbivore.
Kyouya thought he was an herbivore – weak, kind, gentle – and couldn't wrap his mind around seeing him obviously fresh from a fight even if it was just training.
He knew Dino was training under mornings with his mother, but Dino knew that what he was taught was mostly for self-defense and basic body strengthening exercises.
Herbivore.
Herbivores didn't need to fight, that what carnivores were for.
Dino would never point out the obvious flaw in the sentiment.
Kyouya referred to himself and his mother as carnivores.
Carnivores fought to protect those weaker – herbivores.
Kyouya wanted to protect him and that made Dino want to wrap him up and hide him as far from the underworld as possible.
With that revelation, Dino made it his mission to keep Reborn as far away from him as possible.
Dino knew he wasn't successful when Kyouya started sitting further apart from him and looking at him from the corner of his eye when he thought Dino wasn't looking.
Dino knew for certain Reborn had said something to him.
Kouya's mother never mentioned Reborn entering the house.
Which meant that Kyouya hadn't told her – Kyouya didn't talk much but there were few things he didnt actually tell his mother.
Which meant that whatever Reborn said, Kyouya saw as reasonable .
Because he knew how Kyouya felt about the hitman and would normally feel no such obligation as to cover for him – especially since he broke one of the rules.
With how Kyouya was in the week up towards Dino's gradation plus his general dislike for what he considered frivolities, Dino feared that Kyouya wouldn't accept his button.
Dino had gotten the idea when he heard a group of girls giggling about how nice it would be if they were given a button. In the vaguest sense, a boy would give his top button to someone he cared about – it was generally implied that it was for a girl.
Dino had found the idea perfect.
The day, Dino followed his classmates out of the auditorium and found Kyouya scowling by the gates.
He didn't even have to press and Kyouya accepted the button.
Accepted it and then proceeded to attempt to beat the living hell out of him.
When they were done, he watched Kyouya walk the opposite way from the Hibari house.
Dino didn't know what he expected.
And he didn't see him again for a little over four years.
….
When Vongola's current don asked Dino to bring the rings to Namimori, he had jumped on the opportunity.
He had been to Namimori several months prior to meet Tsuna . Tsuna who was wonderful but absolutely nothing like Kyouya – which was probably a good thing and why was he looking for similarities anyway?
Part of the reason that he had decided to go was to see Kyouya but Reborn was there.
Reborn was there and Kyouya made him weak.
Reborn was there and even though he was no longer his tutor, Dino couldn't disobey.
Dino was sitting at the kitchen table with Tsuna when Reborn jumped onto the table and met Dino's eyes with an outstretched hand.
"Reborn…"
He had expected it, it was Reborn and Reborn spared no cruelty even to his students.
On one hand he had prayed he could keep Kyouya from their world and on the other he hoped desperately that Tsuna would accept him into his family – his inner Kyouya called them a pack.
"That hellion is a powerful Cloud."
Dino stood abruptly his chair skidding on the tile.
"I told you not to call him that!"
Tsuna looked startled on the other side of the table and was shooting looks between them.
"His loyalty would be a great asset to Vongola." Reborn continued ignoring Dino's outburst.
"He's not a weapon to be bought," Dino practically growled.
Reborn looked at him in a way that promised pain.
Dino never disobeyed Reborn as a rule but when Kyouya was brought into the equation all bets were off.
"A don can't afford a weakness of this strength."
Tsuna's eyes widened and Dino saw red.
He slammed a hand onto the table directly in front of Reborn – who didn't even flinch.
Reborn met him with a cool stare.
"Kyouya is not a weakness. You trained me to protect my family, Reborn. Kyouya has always been my family."
Instead of attacking like Dino expected, the hitman set the ring down in front of him and smiled?
"Even family has to know when to let go."
Several minutes after Reborn exited and Dino slumped in his chair staring at the ring, Tsuna spoke up.
"How do you know Hibari-san?" he asked tentatively.
"Ah –" Dino sat back in his chair – "His my fratellino."
Tsuna tilted his head.
"My little brother," he explained.
"When I was in junior high, I was sent to Namimori to train. I lived with the Hibaris until I graduated secondary. I take it you've met him?" Dino asked knowing the answer.
Tsuna hummed an affirmative and looked like he wanted to say something else.
Dino laughed, "He's always been like that. Well, no. He used to be a ball of rage."
"He's not angry now?"
He looked at the ring pensively.
"…I suppose he might be."
Tsuna looked confused but just watched as Dino slipped the ring into his pocket and left, the front door closing gently behind him.
Reborn knew he would.
Hell, Dino knew he would.
He had worked so hard to keep Kyouya from the mafia.
But he abandoned him and they had been pack.
Dino doubted Kyouya had changed any in their years apart.
So, he knew that Kyouya had no one he considered pack and Kyouya needed pack, he had always needed pack.
Kyouya had never called him pack but Dino knew that's how he viewed their relationship.
Dino broke the biggest rule of pack and he knew Tsuna would accept him even if he feared him.
When he went up onto the roof, Dino expected anything but what actually happened to occur.
He was prepared to fight – he had brought his whip after all – but he wasn't expecting Kyouya to come at him screaming at the top of his lungs.
He was startled.
He also hadn't expected to win so easily.
When Dino stood before him, Kyouya was crying his face set in stone.
It was his eyes that betrayed him.
That led to Dino stepping closer.
The betrayal and hopelessness in his brother's eyes.
Dino wrapped his arms around him dropping his whip and pulling him against his chest like he had done so few times before. Kyouya went rigid but didn't try to move away.
They stood there on the roof in the middle of the day.
He could feel Reborn watching.
He didn't care.
Fuck Reborn.
Wait –
Dino would practically feel Kyouya's inner conflict as his arms slowly rose to return the embrace.
It was an awkward hug.
But that was alright.
They weren't alright.
But maybe they would be.