Author's note: thank you so much for the reviews! Ah, you guys rock ^_^
This is chapter 4/5, meaning that the story is coming to an end, and when it does I will actually have no unfinished stories left here (yay for me) ~~ which, I'll admit, feels a little sad, but kind of good too, in a way. It feels good to write this, though, because it's my favorite arc so far, and I'm not sure how I feel about the new one yet...!
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Part IV
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"Do you know the only reason why no one's beaten you to a pulp yet, Cavallone?"
Squalo was holding him up against the wall with one hand, and Dino clawed at his skinny arms, but he was only 11 and helpless. "It's because you're like a fucking puppy! Did you know that baby animals only look so cute to protect themselves, because it makes others want to protect them?" he hoisted Dino further up. It became difficult to breathe and Dino coughed. But he wasn't scared. Someone would come, someone always did.
"And you, nancy-boy, "roared Squalo, "you are like a fucking baby animal!"
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Hibari found him the next morning at the hospital where he was sitting vigil over Squalo's supine form, reminiscing about their turbulent and, often as not, rather unpleasant school days together.
Squalo had been one of those parentless, juvenile delinquents who all but overflowed the mafia world – kids with that special mean streak or ambitious look in their eyes that got taken off the street by famiglias who needed a new messenger boy or assassin or body guard. Sometimes they fulfilled other purposes as well, but Dino didn't like thinking about that. Some people thought of it as a cruel form of exploitation of children, which, of course, it was, even though the children in question were probably much better off with the mafia than they were on their own, but for Superbi Squalo it was the best thing that could have possibly happened. There was simply no other niche for him to fill in this universe than that of a hitman; a crazy, impulsive, aggressive, loud-mouthed hitman. Squalo didn't care about anyone or anything, he just wanted to fight.
Just like Kyouya, thought Dino.
He was completely lost in his own contemplations so he never heard him enter, but when he looked up, Kyouya was suddenly there, leaning against the wall behind him, twirling a tonfa around in lazy circles while he contemplated the rather poor sight of Squalo. "How pathetic," he drawled, without looking at Dino, "want me to finish the job?"
Dino, whose breath had hitched in a tiny gasp of surprise when he realized he wasn't as alone in the room as he'd thought, burst out in laughter. "I really don't think they let you euthanize people in here, Kyouya!"
Then his expression grew serious, and when his eyes met Hibari's he held the gaze. "Listen," he began, "thank you, for this. If it hadn't been for you, we never would've –" he glanced quickly down at his former school mate and tormentor. "Well, Squalo would most likely have been dead by now," he finished. "Thank you… that was nice of you, what you did."
He felt a little awkward, almost vulnerable, expressing gratitude towards Hibari like that, but he really, truly, earnestly meant it. Kyouya could think whatever he liked.
But Hibari just stared at him and the insult he'd expected didn't quite come. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then he shut it again and turned his chin sharply away. His pale cheeks looked suddenly a little rosy. "Dying is not permitted on school grounds," he grumbled, almost sulkily. "So you can stop wasting your breath on sentimental assumptions." He glared at Squalo again and said, "I still think that weakling bottom-feeder should be put to sleep," before he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room as if Dino had offended him deeply.
Dino followed him with his eyes and realized that he was grinning broadly. He didn't feel the least bit insulted, instead he was happy. Because he knew now that Hibari did have a conscience after all. A bit small perhaps, and certainly very shy – but it was there.
And who knew, maybe there was a heart in there somewhere, too!
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Never changing
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"Why are you getting so upset about that guy anyway, eh boss?"
It was already past noon when Reborn called to tell him about Mukuro, and Dino still hadn't managed to find Kyouya. He'd read the files on Rokudo Mukuro, and he knew Kyouya well enough by now to be genuinely worried. He knew that if the two of them found each other and decided to have a little 'play date' then Tsuna might very well find himself short of not just one but two guardians.
Once again he found himself wistfully thinking of what his life could have been like if he'd been put in charge of Yamamoto or Tsuna instead. But there was no time for his little fantasies. After asserting that Hibari was not at school, he became really worried – because Hibari was always at school. No exceptions.
Eventually Romario had called them a car to speed up the search. He didn't come along personally, however, because Dino decided he'd rather have him at the hospital looking after Squalo. It was vital that nobody found him there and discovered that he was still alive. Especially not the Varia or one of those creepy Cervello girls!
And so he continued his quest on wheels, together with a couple of his younger subordinates. They were cool, but the driver seemed to think Hibari Kyouya was an unnecessary thorn in the eye. "He's just a spoiled kid," he said, gesticulating with his entire arm as he talked, like the pure-bred Italian he was. "It's him that needs disciplining! You shouldn't let him get to you, eh boss!"
"I'm not!" Dino blurted out in response, a little louder than he'd planned to. Perhaps it had to do with how he'd been thinking so much about Kyouya, and only Kyouya, lately, but he felt a bit like he'd been caught with his hand down the cookie jar. "Who says I am?"
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, crossing first his legs and then his arms. It's just that, Kyouya is special. He stared out of the car window at the passing scenery, without really seeing anything. He's just so cool… But he didn't say that out loud.
"Yeah, that guy is hopeless," he said instead, and waved his hand dismissively. "He looks cool, but he's a total badass."
"Well he's confident, gotta give him that!" laughed the other man from the back seat.
"Yeah but he doesn't have to be so goddamn mean!" argued the driver. "That stuck up little Ice Prince… I'm telling you, eh boss, you shouldn't care."
"I don't!" repeated Dino defensively. "I'm just gonna… make him eat his words." And then he added with a somber face, "and keep him from messing all of this up and getting Tsuna and the others killed."
Turning his attention back to the window, he drew his breath in deeply and exhaled slowly through pursed lips. He really couldn't get Kyouya off his mind, could he.
I'm the boss of these people, he thought, as if a part of his brain was trying to mentally shake his shoulders and slap him on the cheek, straighten him up. This is my job, I've been through worse!
Miserably he rested his chin on his fist and tried to imagine his life the way it had been before this whole Inheritance deal had started. He found he was having a hard time picturing it. Would that life be enough for him now, he wondered.
A life where he didn't constantly have to deal with Hibari Kyouya's pretty, filthy little mouth every second of the day?
Yeah, that would be something…
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Black Cat
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Dino was starting to accept the fact that you don't find Hibari Kyouya. He finds you.
His search that day had ended in absolutely nothing, aside from a rather pleasant sightseeing tour of Namimori, and when he tried calling he got to, "hey, Kyo–", before the little brat hung up on him. And so in the end there was little left for him to do but return to the hotel – which, as it turned out, was just as well, because the world did not stop turning here or anywhere else just because there was a power struggle within the Vongola famiglia, and Dino Cavallone had his own people to worry about.
The desk in his hotel room was buried in paper when he arrived and once he managed to dig out his laptop from underneath it all he found that practically all of his e-mail accounts were overflowed as well… He was more than happy to help out his cute little brother, of course, but baby-sitting Hibari had proven to be an infinitely more challenging and time-consuming task than originally anticipated, and here was the undeniable truth of that right in front of him now.
So, after calling to make sure Romario was ok and Squalo's condition was stable, Dino sent his men out to guard the hallway, opened a bottle of imported red wine and started to work his way through the piles of paper.
Outside the sky went from forget-me-not blue to bright orange to dusky violet, but Dino, lost in concentration, took no notice.
He'd come across some interesting news paper clippings that he'd had Bono send him from Italy, from the time back when Xanxus had taken over the Varia, and sat with his ankle resting on his knee, sipping his expensive alcohol, reading with great interest. Something weird had definitely happened, he felt absolutely certain of that now.
He'd nearly forgotten about the Mist battle, when suddenly, a voice spoke from almost directly behind him.
"Hey."
Dino practically jumped in his chair. He spun around so quickly that the whole thing toppled over sideways, and sent him sprawling on the floor, right in front of a pair of shoetips that he recognized well enough.
He glanced up. "Jesus, Kyouya, have you heard of knocking?" Then, "how did you get in here?" But, on the inside, a small part of him was happy. Kyouya had come to him, again. That was the third time now.
"I'm special," drawled Hibari, a hint of amusement in his voice.
Dino felt something flip in his stomach when their eyes met, and silently cursed himself. Damn, this could be bad…
He was a little dizzy in the head from the wine, but managed to climb back up onto the chair again.
Meanwhile Hibari had picked up the newspaper article he'd been reading, about the Varia, and was studying it. His eyebrows lowered only a fraction, but he could just as well have kicked over the desk.
"Xanxus," he said. "I recognize that name. So he is the filthy, maggot behind all this mayhem."
Dino poured more wine into the glass that balanced precariously on the corner of the desk and nodded gravely. "Yes, and I'm pretty sure he's behind a lot more than just this thing with the Vongola rings, too." He took a small, thoughtful sip. "I just can't prove anything yet." In the next second his brain vaguely registered that he'd probably had enough to drink for the evening, because the next thing he blurted out was, "so, did Mukuro find you?"
Hibari's eyes focused on him in an instant, like a bird of prey. But before Dino could even flinch, the look shifted and Hibari cocked his head to the side, "what kind of useless question is that, Bronco?"
Dino felt his cheeks grow hot and he grinned in attempt to cover it up. But when he replied his eyes were dead serious, "because I know he went to see you. I was afraid you guys would start to fight," he looked away. "The mafia world is controlled by a pretty rigid set of rules, and it would be disastrous if you two took each other out now. I've been looking for you all day."
He wasn't exactly sure what sort of reaction he'd expected after such a confession – a blow to the head, maybe – but, to his great surprise, Hibari's lips actually tilted into one of his mysterious, little smirks and he hoisted himself up onto a small, uncluttered part of the desk.
"Wow," he drawled, and it sounded like 'wao'. "Looks like I'm a pretty popular guy."
Dino chuckled. It wasn't the comment so much as what it said about their relationship, which was most definitely evolving. It seemed he'd successfully eroded away some of the outer barricades the boy had constructed around himself – and who would have thought, after their first violent week together. Not that Hibari still wasn't a brat, because not much had changed on that front, but he certainly had a way of growing on you, and Dino realized now that he didn't really want to leave him.
Bloodthirsty, arrogant, anti-social, drop-dead beautiful Hibari Kyouya… Yes, he would miss him.
He didn't have time to analyze this particular observation, however, because just then Hibari picked up the slender wine glass and peered curiously at its contents. "Hm, is this wine?"
"Yeah, it's a Chilean brand; Gato Negro. It's not too bad. Hey wait, you aren't –"
He reached out as if he meant to take the glass away, but Kyouya didn't listen. When did he ever? With a curious look, he tipped the glass forward and dipped his tongue in the dark red liquid. "…old enough," finished Dino weakly.
He was suddenly unable to tear his eyes away.
In a different part of town, circa 1.3 km away, while Hibari Kyouya had his very first taste of alcohol, Tsuna and the others had begun casting nervous glances around the gym of Namimori middle school, trying to ignore the Varia and worrying suddenly if their Mist Guardian would show up at all. Only Reborn seemed calm.
"It tastes dark," said Hibari, without looking up. Then he dipped two fingers in the glass and licked them. Dino swallowed. His throat felt oddly dry. Did everyone look so sensual when they drank wine?
Carefully, Hibari lifted the glass and took a long sip. Gato Negro had passed Tasting Test 1 and 2, it seemed, and now it was apparently safe to try and actually drink it. The fading daylight from the window gave Hibari's pale skin a soft glow and Dino was mesmerized. He had a thoughtful look on his face, as if the taste in his mouth was something new and peculiar that needed to be properly categorized in his brain before he could let it go.
Then he swallowed, put the glass down and fainted on the spot as quickly and smoothly as if someone had shot him.
It happened so ridiculously quickly that Dino almost didn't register what was happening before his student hit the floor with a muted 'thud'.
Dino had seen people so strung out on acid that they thought sea monsters were crawling out of the walls, had seen junkies completely lost in their own little drug induced Nirvanas and drunkards who would kill each other over a penny without even realizing what they were doing… but never in his life had he seen someone pass out from one sip of wine!
His lips quirked and then he laughed.
So this was Kyouya's weak point then, apparently – wine and, unless Reborn had been lying about that whole Mukuro-ordeal, flowers.
"You'll be one hard to please date someday, Kyouya," he muttered. Then he crossed his arms and looked almost affectionately down at the boy. He had that serene angelic look on his face again now, like he did when he was asleep.
Dino realized he was smiling; he looked so cute!
Then suddenly Hibari's eyes opened and his lips curved into a smirk and, at the same time as Tsuna, 1.3 km away, realized, without knowing exactly how, that the skinny girl with the eye-patch was somehow not Rokudo Mukuro, he hooked one well-shaped foot behind Dino's left ankle and pulled hard.
Dino barely had the time to let out a tiny yelp of surprise before his old nemesis Gravity decided to side with pretty-boy on the floor and push him over. The glass fell out of his hand, spilling red wine on his arm and his face and the front of his T-shirt, while he tipped forward like a fallen statue, straight toward Kyouya who was laughing now; a low, murmuring laughter.
He landed hard on his own elbows, which he'd stuck out automatically so as not to hit Kyouya with his full weight. It hurt like fuck!
His face had come to an abrupt, painful stop exactly one inch above Kyouya's, raining sparkling ruby-red drops down on his lips and pale little chin.
But Kyouya was laughing. A smooth and deep and subtle little laugh that Dino had never seen or heard him make before – but laughter none the less. He hadn't known Hibari was capable of such human reactions.
In fact he had never seen the prickly little beauty like this at all; on his back with his hair like a black aura around his head, staring up at Dino through half closed eyes, his cheeks pink and flushed.
"Yo-hou are such a klutz…!" he almost giggled and Dino was amazed. All of this from less than half a glass of wine!
His elbows and shoulders and knees had started to burn, but for some reason it didn't really matter, because exactly one inch under him, a small pink tongue tip had ventured out and was picking up the droplets of wine that Dino had spilled on him. It looked like they were melting into his tongue.
"Stop staring," drawled Kyouya under him, "or I'll bite you to death, plant eater." His voice was barely more than a whisper.
Dino noticed suddenly how dark it had became around them. Night had fallen outside and aside from the lamp on his desk, casting a butter yellow glow on their hair and lips and cheek bones there was no light in the room.
And it was so quiet; the kind of quiet where you can only hear the sound of your own breath and heartbeats.
Then Dino gave a soft laugh. He was blushing terribly now, he realized, and found himself searching madly for some way to break the silence, make the tension go away before things became awkward or Kyouya became violent. "You really liked that stuff, didn't… you…" but his voice trailed off and disappeared, because just then Kyouya reached his hand up to grasp Dino's neck and for one crazy moment Dino almost thought he was going to kiss him.
But what he did was run his tongue up along Dino's cheek, right beside the corner of his mouth, lapping up a drying trail of Gato Negro, leaving a warm, wet trail of his own that turned cold instantly, and caused a very different type of heat to pool in Dino's stomach.
At 22, Dino's body didn't need a whole lot of encouragement.
He was stunned, like he couldn't feel his arms or legs at all, but on the inside he was acutely aware of a lot of things happening all at once. Like how fast his heart was beating, and how his insides were on fire and how it felt like someone had emptied a bucket of boiling hot water over him.
And Kyouya's skin, and his hair. The faint smell of boy skin and rainwater.
Almost before he realized what he was doing, it was suddenly he who was leaning closer, and then Dino did the thing he knew he had secretly wanted to do for a very, very long time… he kissed Kyouya.
Dino had never kissed a boy before. But he didn't think that it would have felt very familiar even if he had, because this was Kyouya – and there was nothing ordinary about Kyouya.
For one thing he didn't close his eyes, the way other people normally did. So Dino didn't close his either and they gazed, unblinkingly, unflinchingly, into each other's eyes as their lips melted together. It was strangely arousing to be watching each other like that, he thought; almost a little too intimate, as if they were doing something forbidden – which, arguably, they were, but Dino couldn't have cared less at that moment.
Because Kyouya's mouth felt warm and tasted dark and bitter-sweet and his lips were firm and perfect.
Their lips parted briefly. The inch between them returned and that miniscule expanse of space was laden with tension, neither of them blinked. Kyouya's expression didn't change.
But he didn't strike or insult him, and he didn't push him off and, as it turned out, at 22 Dino's mouth didn't need much encouragement either…
In the gym of Namimori middle school, Mammon had taken notice of how tightly the girl clung to her unusual weapon and thought he had already won.
As their lips met Dino felt a thrilling, almost electric jolt, a small, excruciating heat that exploded in the pit of his stomach. And by the time the mysterious girl who called herself Chrome was disappearing through a veil of thin, pink mist and the hellish sound of Rokudo Mukuro's laughter could be heard like some ominous echo, Dino had already decided to throw all caution out the window.
This was probably the only chance he'd ever get, and if he was going to hell then he might as well earn his ticket properly.
Their lips untangled, then met again. Harder now, less tentative. As if they really meant it this time. He nudged Hibari's lips open with the tip of his tongue, felt them part a little and then a little wider until their tongues met. His insides felt electric! Was it supposed to feel this good? This exciting?
1.3 km away, Marmon's carefully designed ice formations were being blown to bits by a smirking Mukuro, and everybody in the gym was beginning to realize what the outcome of the fight would be.
Kyouya was, as always, a frighteningly fast learner, and already he was finding the perfect balance between lips and tongue and teeth. He was obviously enjoying it, for he had made no indication of wanting to stop and the rhythm of his breathing had shifted, adjusting to the movements of their mouths, and when Dino shifted his position, stroked a hand down his side, memorizing the shape of it with the inside of his fingers, Kyouya arched under him like a cat and his hands came up to tangle in Dino's hair.
Somewhere in all this they had crossed a line, and Dino knew it. And he knew that Kyouya did too.
Their kissing was growing hotter, wilder – by the time either of them knew it their hands were roaming each other frantically. Every touch, every gasp, every slip of skin, every lick made explosions in his chest and the pit of his stomach and Dino thought he would go mad with it. He was so hard now it almost hurt.
As Rokudo Mukuro was making the air burn black and red, Dino unbuttoned the front of Kyouya's shirt. It parted under his fingertips, sliding apart to reveal that white, smooth expanse of skin that he had only seen twice before. It looked even more perfect now, he thought, exposed under him like this for his eyes only to see and for his hands only to touch.
He slid one hand into the shirt, down and around the waist, flattening his palm against the small of Kyouya's spine, where it curved slightly inwards. He was so warm! It was hard to imagine someone as cold as Kyouya having such a warm body.
But he was careful. He had this image of Kyouya as some wild, exotic animal, and was afraid that if he made a wrong move then he would either pull away or go for his throat.
What do you think you're doing? demanded a voice inside his head as their lips once again parted. This is bad and you know it, and anything about it that doesn't feel bad, is! But Dino ignored the voice – at this point he couldn't have cared less if the room around them was on fire. Nothing around them existed. He kissed the corner of Kyouya's mouth, his chin, his jaw line, pressed his mouth against the soft, smooth skin of his neck, tasting the skin, his hand slid further down. Hibari gasped.
Then suddenly without warning, just as Rokudo Mukuro snapped the two halves of the Vongola Mist ring together and assured Tsuna in his velvety voice that he was still quite set on destroying the entire mafia world, preferably disguised as the Vongola 10th, Kyouya grabbed Dino by the front of his T-shirt in a gesture universally reserved for phrases like what did you call me?
But what Kyouya said was simply, "air."
Dino stirred from a world slightly detached from reality, a world where he had his palm on Kyouya's naked skin, his lips on Kyouya's pretty neck and Kyouya's legs wrapped around his own. "Err, what?" He looked up, as if he'd been caught doing something illegal.
"I need air," Kyouya said calmly.
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They sat next to each other in the grassy field behind the hotel. Dino had advised Hibari to walk around a for bit and drink some water – just to try and be helpful – but Hibari had advised him back to shut his trap and go play on the motorway so Dino shut his trap and stopped trying to be helpful. The silence between them suited him perfectly anyway, because his blood was pumping hard through his body and the residues of unfulfilled lust still coursed through his system like poison.
But in its wake followed the dawning realization of what he had just done – and what he would have done, if Kyouya hadn't…
At least Hibari graciously allowed him to accompany him while he sat perfectly still on the ground with his eyes closed.
Dino felt something vibrate in his pocket and saw that he'd gotten a message on his cell phone. He glanced down at the display. The message was from Reborn – two sentences, short and concise. Rokudo Mukuro had won the Mist battle, which made Dino nod slowly to himself in a sort of private approval, and tomorrow… He looked up at Hibari.
"Hey Kyouya," the grin returned, "a little bird told me your fight is up tomorrow. How are you feeling?"
Hibari stretched like a panther and got smoothly up on his feet. He was grinning too, Dino noticed, but then he noticed something else, namely the extractible tonfa in his student's hands, and a feeling of dread sunk like a rock in his chest. Aw man, he can't possibly want to fight now…?
"Why don't you find out?"
Yes, apparently he did.
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The Cloud battle
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They all stopped by the hospital that morning, one after the other. He didn't want any of them to know what he was really doing there, and so he had little choice but to deal with them each in turn as they showed up, making sure that none came into the room where Squalo was. What surprised him the most was the underlying tone of genuine concern that he detected in their voices – not just for the sake of the final outcome of this sordid ordeal, but for Kyouya. Even Gokudera Hayato's normally hostile eyes had darted restlessly back and forth as they talked, searching for a trace of Hibari.
He felt a bottomless affection for them. Such sweet kids they were!
He tried to imagine Kyouya doing the same, but all that amounted to was a floating mental image of Hibari standing with his arms crossed, muttering something along the lines of "weaklings can return to the earth" – or something equally dramatic. Kyouya was not very sweet at all.
But no sooner had the image appeared in his mind than a venom-laced voice whispered to him cruelly, oh but he was very sweet last night, was he not? And the image of Kyouya's scowling visage changed into one with flushed, pink cheeks, his parted lips glistening sensually, letting out little sighs and moans of pleasure…
A knot twisted somewhere in the pit of his stomach and Dino averted his eyes in something that felt like embarrassment, or shame perhaps. Hibari had left shortly after their little sparring session behind the hotel the night before without saying goodbye and Dino hadn't heard from him since. He would have called – should've, probably – but every time he picked up the phone, he found he couldn't do it.
The truth was that he was ashamed of himself and his own lack of self control. How far would he have taken it if Kyouya hadn't suddenly decided he needed fresh air? There was probably a special place in Hell he thought, for people who got pretty minors drunk and… but Kyouya had wanted it, hadn't he? He liked it.
But wasn't that what all molesters said afterwards?
Suddenly, as he stood there feeling sorry for himself and wondering which level of the infamous Inferno he would end up in, he caught a glimpse of someone watching him out of the corner of his eye. A boy, around Kyouya's age perhaps, but taller, with sleek, blue-black hair and a smooth face, standing right there leaning against the door frame. Dino startled, but when he swiveled around, he saw that it wasn't a boy at all but a small, delicate looking girl who stood there, dressed in a green, heavily modified school uniform. He blinked.
"Uh… mi-mi dispiace," she said in a small voice, tugging nervously at her skirt, "are you… are you the one who is training the Cloud person?"
In retrospect, Dino reckoned it had taken him way, way too long to understand exactly who he was talking to, but once realization dawned on him, Chrome Dokuro seemed to sense it somehow and she quickly left the room before he could ask. He followed after her, but ran straight into Tsuna in the corridor.
It would be almost a full year before Dino met the actual, corporeal Rokudo Mukuro face to face.
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Dino never went to the Cloud battle. It was Kyouya's fault.
In the end, when he ran out of excuses for himself, he had left from the hospital and found Hibari up on the school roof where he had known he'd be. Hibari, who had been lying in his usual position on his back with his hands folded behind his head, glanced up when he heard him approach. Dino thought he saw a hint of pink on his cheeks, the shadow of an unformed sentence on his lips, as if he was surprised to see him. But he didn't greet him and Dino didn't say anything either.
But he was blushing vehemently, he knew, and prayed silently that neither Kyouya nor Romario would take any notice.
"Xanxus might try something tonight," he said finally; because he knew, of course, that it was Xanxus Hibari wanted. He felt awkward, didn't know what to do with his hands and put them in his pockets. Jesus, what am I? 15? "We don't know what, but be careful. I'll be there as fast as I can, so –"
"I'll bite you to death if you come, Bronco," said Kyouya calmly, interrupting him before he could even finish the sentence. He said it very plainly, like there was nothing else to be said about the matter, but his eyes were serious.
"Err, what?" taken completely off guard Dino's hands resurfaced of their own accord and the Italian in him started to gesticulate. "But, of course I'll be there, I'm your tutor!"
"You're the boss of these herbivores aren't you?" Hibari nodded towards where Romario stood. "I know you've spent a lot of time that you probably don't have crowding on me," he went on and it struck Dino that Hibari was a lot sharper than he let on. "If you really have the time to come watch me bite some dumb weakling to death, then clearly you have either been lying to me about how busy you are, or about your confidence in my skills."
Dino stared and opened his mouth to reply, but there was nothing to say to that so he closed it again. Then he smiled and his gaze grew soft. "Hmm, I see…" he crossed his arms, "well, in that case, I wish you good luck. Because I won't be there."
And then Hibari smiled too – in his own arrogant, mysterious little way.
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After the battle
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Hibari won. Of course. But that wasn't even half of it, Dino learned, when Reborn called him at the hospital… and for the second time that week he realized he had underestimated Xanxus.
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Dino found Kyouya alone by himself down on the 1st floor of the school building, in the nurse's office. He was pale and his breath came in hard, angry gasps as he wiped the blood off his torn slacks with a wet towel. He hadn't turned the lights on and the walls and corners were all blue shadows and silvery highlights. Hibari didn't seem to notice Dino until he stood almost directly in front of him. Giving an imperceptible startle, his expression turned instantly into a hateful scowl. "Get out!" he hissed through gritted teeth.
Dino was put in mind of a wounded animal – hurt, and very, very dangerous.
He reached out his hand, unsure even as he did of what it was exactly he wanted to touch, but Kyouya wouldn't let him. He lashed out at him, the swipe of his tonfa so quick and hard that some of the fur on Dino's collar was cut off clean and drizzled to the floor like dust.
"Kyouya –"
"I said get out, Bronco!"
Hibari lunged at him, but his leg failed and Dino caught him before he hit the floor – before he even realized he had been reaching out for him.
Hibari's lithe form was heavy and limp in his embrace and the tonfa fell clattering from unresisting hands. Kyouya had passed out. Very carefully, Dino lifted him up, enjoying the warm, comfortable weight in his arms and carried him over to the single bed.
For a brief moment he was torn, knowing full well that Kyouya could, and probably would, be furious at him for what he was about to do… but Dino was a good guy.
And good guys always do the right thing. So, with hands that were slightly unsteady at first, he began, very carefully to undo Hibari's belt.
Whatever had happened to that leg was causing him to lose a lot of blood, and there were dark blotches on his shirt as well where blood had seeped through. His pants were stiff with blood and Dino had to practically peel them off, one leg at the time, the shoes, the socks… all the while trying not to lose his focus, which was a lot more challenging than he had feared.
They were just legs. Nothing he hadn't seen a million times before, he told himself; and never mind that Hibari happened to have very long, well-shaped legs for a boy. The skin was as flawless and snowy white as the rest of his body, even here, as if he really was just a porcelain doll.
Swallowing hard, Dino shook his head, concentrate damnit, and started unbuttoning the shirt from the bottom up.
Come on pervert, this isn't rocket science…
When Hibari opened his eyes, Dino's blurry shape was standing over him, and cold, slick hands were massaging his left leg. "…What are you doing…?" he asked in a hoarse voice. He looked down himself, the flat pane of his own stomach and his own upraised thigh, covered in tendrils of dried blood and shiny salve. Dino absentmindedly clenched his jaw in preparation of the outburst that was bound to come, but to his great surprise, Kyouya smirked.
"Go away, Bronco," he said lazily. "It'll heal."
Dino remembered their encounter at the inn, when he'd tried to talk Hibari out of using that duct tape. "Eventually yes," he said, repeating what he'd said to him then, and smiled, "but it'll heal much faster if you let me take a look at it now."
They looked at each other in the dark. And then Hibari sat up, beautiful and almost naked, and there was something different in the air. Some new and uncharted level of understanding in the look that passed between them.
And then he grabbed a handful of hair and pulled Dino's face close, closer, until their lips met, hungry and demanding, and Dino was falling.
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Me again: I am officially unable to write short chapters, bear with me, but I really hope you enjoyed reading this one too! ...and if you review I'll hug you to death (inagoodway) ^_^