Disclaimer: I don't own KHR and it's a good thing because I cannot do it justice. And it would be shonnen-ai (or yaoi) if I did.

Title: Marks of Possession

He had no idea when it started. Before he knew it he was already extremely pissed and wanted nothing more than to see scarlet marks on white. Maybe the reason why it took him this long to notice how unnaturally intense this feeling was, was because it felt natural.Hibari Kyouya had always resented the tendency of people to flock and "herd" with others. He also resented careless and undisciplined behavior. He was of the opinion that it was these human tendencies that contributed greatly to the deterioration of Namimori. Therefore, he reasoned, it was only natural for him to want to bite to death the seemingly carefree Italian who had entered his domain.

Dino Cavallone was the very epitome of everything Hibari despised. He personified the very meaning of "herding" as he was next to useless without his family and subordinates. He reveled in the company of the Cavallone famiglia and was rarely seen without at least one of them in his company. He was also much too carefree (in Hibari's opinion) and tended to drift in and out of Namimori. He smiled too much and laughed too much. And also he took liberties with how he addressed other people.

During their training for the fight against the Varia, Dino had made the mistake of calling Hibari by his first name. "I'll have you become stronger, Kyouya" he had said. Somehow hearing his name coming from this man's mouth heightened his desire to inflict injury upon him. "No." Hibari had replied vehemently back which startled the Italian. This gave him the opening he needed to strike the other across the face. "Hey, ow!!!" protested Dino. He noticed that the older man had avoided getting hit with the full force of his attack. He mentally reprimanded himself. He was disappointed. Even then he had already wanted to see scarlet marks on white.

--x--X--x--

There were very good reasons as to why Dino Cavallone was chosen to be Kyouya's home tutor. These reasons included his excellent fighting abilities (absolutely necessary if he was even to survive against the skylark in training), his natural calmness and patience (qualities which also made him an exemplary boss) and his light-hearted demeanor (also necessary in order to keep one's sanity around the severe cloud guardian). But the greatest reason and also the most important one was that he knew Kyouya more than anyone else.

Ever since he had set eyes upon Kyouya he was unable to turn away. After his first visit to Tsuna, he had taken the liberty of inspecting his school, whereupon he caught his first glimpse of the skylark. His eyes followed the young man as if by its own volition, uncontrolled by Dino's will. He noticed his porcelain skin, his ebony hair as it was swept back by the wind, his dark eyes as they narrowed before an attack. He noticed his slightest movements and changes in expressions. He knew right then and there that he was caught… and there was no turning back (Not that he ever thought of escaping, really).

That is why he knew, even before Kyouya himself noticed, what it was that triggered his anger to greater heights. It wasn't just the way Dino called him by his given name (though that also added to it) but more than that it was the tattoo embedded on Dino's left arm.

Dino had a theory as to why this was so – a theory which he guessed and hoped (against all hope) was right.

--x--X--x--

Blue and vermillion on white. That was what he saw instead. It wasn't the scarlet marks he wanted but blue and vermillion instead that is marked on white skin. The tattoos on Dino's arm served to fuel Hibari's anger all the more..

The tattoos were in the form of the Cavallone name and the bucking horse which was Dino's moniker. At first Hibari mistook his anger as that of one which he had against herding. After all, having a group's name on one's person is an open declaration of one's herding tendencies. But he soon realized that this was not the case. He grew angry at the sight of those tattoos because they mocked him. Those tattoos mocked him for they had a hold on something which he didn't but wanted.

Those tattoos symbolized the Cavallone and the family to which Dino was bound to. The name "Cavallone" was imprinted upon his skin as if a permanent reminder to all where his loyalties lay. It wasn't even just the Cavallone name but even the bucking horse image that irked him. "Bucking Horse" Dino was a name that was given to him by the mafia community – a community that will forever have a firm hold on the Italian.

In comparison to the mafia world, Hibari had no hold on Dino. Apart from their fragile and passing (for it would be over come that battle with the Varia) relationship as teacher and student, he had no claim to the man.

Sometimes, his anger is aggravated all the more by Dino calling his name. Dino had persisted in calling him by his first name. By being called by his first name, he felt that Dino was trying to lay claim to him. A claim that was one-sided and futile for he would always belong to the mafia and the Cavallone.

He knew that he was acting irrationally, which was very unlike him. He also knew that there was no logical explanation for his unusual anger towards the man. No explanation that is except that he was and has always been in ---!!!

"No" he rebukes himself mentally. "I will not go down that line of thinking! NO!" Whatever the reason was didn't matter. All he had to do was go with his instincts and his instincts told him to brand the bucking horse with scars of scarlet on white.

--x--X--x--

Dino's theory was more of a wish really. A very selfish and impossible wish but a wish nonetheless. Wishes were made to be big and unreasonable. If you could not even dream big, you might as well not dream at all, he though as he smiled to himself.

They were in the middle of training and had moved quite a distance from the town center of Namimori onto a clearing surrounded by bamboos. Hibari was being more aggressive today than normal and was intentionally targeting his left arm - the one that held the tattoos. Hibari's attacks were relentless and Dino found himself giving up more ground and pulling back into the bamboo forest.

It might look like Dino was at a disadvantage but in reality it was a calculated move to slowly retreat into the forest. In there Kyouya's movement would be limited by the many obstructions caused by the bamboos. Of course, under normal circumstances, so would Dino's movement. However, the Italian had spent many hours training in similar conditions under the tutelage of Reborn.

As soon as they were in the forest, Dino maneuvered his whip around the bamboos to catch Kyouya's left hand along with his tonfa. He moved in quickly, not forgetting to keep the whip taunt so as not to let Kyouya loose. He grabbed Kyouya's free hand and lowered his face so as to speak directly into his ear.

"Ne, Kyouya, tell me something. You really like me don't you?" Dino knew he was pushing it.

"What the hell are you talking about, herbivore!" Hibari could feel a vein on his temple starting to pop. He was firmly convinced that the Italian had finally lost it. He started to struggle against Dino's hold but to no avail.

"The reason you want to scar me up so badly is so that you would have a mark on me, right Kyouya?"

"Just die! You are out of your mind and its time that I bite you to death!" he snarled.

Dino just ignored him and continued. He withdrew his face a little so that he was now face to face and mere inches away from his student. "But you know, there are better ways to leave a mark. Like this."

Dino quickly presses his lips on a startled Kyouya, effectively stealing a kiss and without missing a beat swoops down to plant a more permanent one on his neck. Kyouya upon feeling the sharp pain on his neck recovers from his initial shock and swings his weapon in front of him effectively hitting the other man. Dino landed on the ground, his hand on his cheek, feeling blood starting to trickle.

"Kyouya! That hurt!" Dino protested.

"You---!!!" started the younger man. Kyouya had started to turn a definite shade of red. However, he could not seem to find the words to continue and simply stalks off, leaving the other man behind.

Dino, who was fully expecting to be bitten to death after that attempt, took it as a good sign that Kyouya simply walked off. He couldn't stop himself from grinning ear to ear despite the injury. He also couldn't stop from thinking foolishly, "Maybe my wish isn't as impossible as I thought."

--x--X--x--

After that incident, back at Namimori, the president of the discipline committee was noted to be actually wearing his school jacket (with the collar carefully ironed to stand). His pet, Hibird was also noted to perch a little bit too close to his neck as if in an attempt to conceal something.

Had it been anyone other than Hibari Kyouya, the students of Namimori might have actually thought that he was hiding a hickey. Oh for the innocent minds of the students of Namimori, ignorance is bliss.

Writer's Note:

Right now I'm sweating buckets in worry. Really. This is my first D18 and it's a lot harder than 8059. I think this turned out to be a lot more serious than I intended.

I hope you like it even a little bit.

My next project would be a sort of oneshot but not part of this series. Its going to be an 8059. I'm just not sure how long it would take because it's a genre I'm not altogether familiar with.

Also I just read an 8018 story which is making me crush (in a very good way. Crush as in crushing on someone) big time on that pairing. I need to get that out of my system to write a half-way decent 8059.

I don't think I can ever write an 8018 because its not my original idea of a pair. Maybe…

As for the next chapter of this series I'm toying with an idea for a D80. Haha. Joking. It's a story with Yamamoto and Dino but not as a pair.

So please review and put me out of my misery. Like it or hate it, tell me. Thank you!