Disclaimer: I do not own Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn or any of its characters.

Warnings: Rating is for violence, sexual content, and mature themes that are not recommended for the younger audience. This story, as you might have guess have themes of yaoi or boy-love, deal with it accordingly, please.

Author's Note: I want to apologize, I know that this update is long due, but school is really getting hectic and I still have a few midterms to get through, so bear with me! I shall all reply to PM's and Reviews when I have more time, so I'm getting there. I just think you guys at least deserve this update. Again, I'm sorry!

Anyways. Dear reader, this chapter leads up to the reason why I wrote this fiction. Gah, it's just so full of emotions, and it reminds me why Dino Cavallone is my favourite character from the series and why Kyouya... sorry, I'll stop rambling now. As usual, thank you for being here, I know it's been a while, but I shall try my very best for all of you!

Chapter 9: Dino Cavallone

Better Ending

He didn't actually go to sleep, so he couldn't say that he just woke up. Dino rolled to his side, staring at his alarm clock as it blared at him obnoxiously. It had been like this the past few days, only getting a wink of sleep, but last night had been the worst one yet. He literally had to fall out of bed just to get himself going. He felt exhausted, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Then again, when it came to Kyouya, it had always been like this. He looked over thoughtfully at the neatly folded clothes of the aforementioned skylark, resting by his desk. The blonde had asked the caretakers to bring it to him, so he could bring it personally to the prefect. Seeing Kyouya had been his motivation to shower and look decent.

Wasting no time, he walked towards the room the other man occupied whenever he was around. The blonde stopped by the door, knocking shortly before inviting himself in. Just as he thought, Kyouya was already awake, sitting on a chair, turned so that he was looking out the window. For a moment, the blonde's voice caught on his throat. The way he was sitting was just as how Alaude was on his portrait, but nothing could ever capture the beauty in his skylark. Though the two Cloud Guardians look almost identical, Hibari Kyouya was far more breathtaking, especially wearing his shirt.

"Kyouya." He called to the prefect. The man with raven hair didn't even turn, but continued to stare out the window with that far-off look. Something was wrong with him. Though his face still wore the same bored expression, Dino could tell that something was bothering the other. He hadn't seen the skylark with a thoughtful look like that in a long time. He walked into the room, and still the other didn't turn. Setting the clothes on the bed, he called, "I brought your clothes… won't you come down for breakfast?"

Receiving no response, he sighed, walking out the room. There was no point in trying to talk to Kyouya when he looked just about ready to pounce. He knew just as well that when the skylark needed time to think for himself, he really did need that time, and Dino was more than willing to give that to him. Even if he was dying to speak with the other about what happened the night before, perhaps apologize even if he really had done nothing wrong. He still felt guilty, especially now that Kyouya won't even spare him a glance. The younger man didn't appear from breakfast either, which only further confirmed that the don had done something wrong that crossed the skylark. If only he knew what it was… for someone who claimed he understood Kyouya better than anyone else, he was doing a pretty lame job proving that now.

The only other time the said dark-haired man appeared was when he was about to leave. Their luggage was being stuffed into the car. Since it was really none of Dino's business to ask why Kyouya was going to Namimori, he decided to just stand beside the man, watching silently. In the past few years, Kyouya had always come and gone. It was part of his job to travel around the world, and he was never really in just one place for a very long time. It suited the skylark, Dino thought… and by now he should get used to the fact that the other's visits had always been so short. At least, he should be used to it. He didn't understand why something about this didn't feel… right.

When all was set, Kyouya finally turned to look at him. Meeting those blue eyes, Dino felt like he couldn't breathe. Kyouya's expression wouldn't look any different to any other person, but to the blonde, it sucked up the air around him. His chest was in pain, looking at them, conveying so little yet so much. He felt like he was going to breakdown seeing those steel blue irises. It felt too much… and he didn't understand what Kyouya was trying to say, because he clearly was, wordlessly. He remained petrified where he was, willing himself not to breakdown in front of everyone. The expression on the skylark softened, and he leaned towards Dino. With a hand to the back of his head, the other pulled, and pressed his lips against the blonde's.

Dino was too surprise to react, and when he felt the other's tongue probing his mouth, he let out a moan. The kiss was slow, as if the both of them were trying to make it last as long as it would. At the same time though, they were passionate. Their raw emotions were poured in to every push and pull of the tongue, every gentle bites, and every nip of the lips. He didn't question why Kyouya was kissing him, or why the other was looking at him the way he did not too long ago. Dino surrendered himself to every flick of the skylark's appendage in his mouth, every dance their tongues performed. His very fiber of being was calling for the skylark. He needed this… he had wanted this for so long… so why did it feel so wrong? When the need for oxygen became too much, they pulled away from each other.

The prefect once more gave him that pained look that made Dino feel like the world was going to end, before muttering quietly, "Goodbye, Dino."

It took a moment for the blonde to process what the other said, still in the process of trying to understand the kiss and that look on Kyouya's face. He wasn't able to say anything, just standing frozen amidst all the gaping mouths and surprised faces. When the car drove off, and the prefect didn't once meet his gaze, did Dino came into terms of the other's message.

The kiss… Kyouya intended it to be their last.

Suddenly he was back in the Reception Room in Nami-Middle. He was sitting on the couch, evening his breathing. Dino wrapped his arm around the teen sitting on his lap, planting a kiss on his messy ebony hair. The said young man pushed away from him, standing up and muttering obscenities to himself as Dino tried to calm him down. That was when the skylark looked at him with eyes cold and unyielding. That was the day his heart was broken—it was never the same since. That was the same day when Dino decided that he would not let destiny and fate rule him anymore than it already had. That was also the day Dino vowed that he would die alone. The feelings from that day were the same feeling that over came him right where he stood, ten years later.

Dino grasped the shirt on top of his left chest, trying to alleviate the sudden pain that shot through him. Romario was quick to help him, but what he was feeling was becoming too excruciating. His hearing was completely blocked off and he dropped to his knees, eyes blurring. He couldn't breathe, but if Kyouya really did meant what Dino thought he did, then he didn't care if he died right there.

He might as well have.

"Boss…? Oh, boss! Thank god!" Romario exclaimed as the blonde man blinked, trying to get the image he was seeing in focus. His faithful subordinate was standing beside him, and he was on his bed. He was on his room. Dino looked at his own hands, feeling a bit odd to be waking up. It felt like… it felt like he wasn't himself, and that somebody just stuck his soul into this body. But he was he, and everything was the same.

"What happened?" He asked, his throat sore from speaking. The older man, realizing this, handed him a glass of water. When he had drank and felt infinitely better, the other replied,

"You collapsed from exhaustion. We already called on the doctor… you've been asleep." Romario looked a bit worried still. Dino remembered what happened, and noticed the fact that the older man had completely avoided the topic of Kyouya leaving before all hell broke lose. How considerate. He didn't feel like himself though… everything just felt sort of… empty. When the don tried to get up, his subordinate was quick to hold him down, "The doctor said you should continue to rest. Don't worry about a thing boss. The family is doing all right. You have quite the reliable right hand man, after all."

Dino did have a reliable right hand. He also continued to rest… for about a couple of heartbeats. He stayed in bed by his lonesome, haunted by his thoughts and scorned feelings, and taunted by the journal. He had already gone through this once before, but being rejected the second time hurt just as much as the first time. He had dedicated all his feelings to one person—the one person who could never return it… and the blonde supposed this was what he got for doing that. But really, how could he force himself to stop loving someone? How could he even think about forcing himself to love someone else aside from that person? It was impossible. It had always been Kyouya for him, and if he had to carry that to his grave alone, then so be it. He rolled his hands into fists, thinking that. The blonde then got up, and grabbed the journal.

He headed straight for the basement, not bothering to turn the lights on. That spelled disaster, but strangely, in his determination, he didn't trip over himself. Dino walked straight to the portraits, pulling out the last one in the pile. Through the darkness, he stared hard at Alaude's painting. He didn't know what he was doing anymore. Perhaps he was just desperate to escape this reality, maybe he just wanted someone else aside from him to have a better fate, someone who had the same story but a better ending, because that what he wanted. Dino wanted a better ending: one with closure, and not heartbreak. He wanted one that would be found in a sappy romantic comedy, because as much as he loved Kyouya, he hated their story.

Sitting on the floor in front of the First Vongola Cloud Guardian's portrait, he flipped to the last pages of the journal. He saw more empty pages than filled ones, and the last entry had something to do with the Vongola Alliance with the Cavallones… but before he could go about reading, the room began to spin. Dino tried to steady himself with his hands on the ground, but his vision was failing him. He fell into his side, falling out of consciousness once more—in the end, he should have listened to Romario and his doctor.

"Are you planning on dying here, Cavallino Rampante?" A familiar voice called to him. At that point, he knew he must have been hallucinating because there was no way that Kyouya would be back. He left, and he was never coming back. Call him melodramatic, but he knew Kyouya. That was the way he was. He flinched when he felt a gentle touch on his face, something wasn't…

Dino tried to force himself to say the skylark's name. He wanted to, but he couldn't fight his falling eyelids any longer.

Allodola made fun of me when he saw me writing in here. Can you believe him? I tell him that this was the only way I could keep my thoughts together—admitting that I'm rather scattered brain, and he makes fun of me. Leave it to that one to always find something to taunt me with. Ah, but after all it took to finally woo him to my bed, I'm not complaining. I realized that trying to get him in bed also meant that I was allowing him to enter the most private aspects of my life. I didn't mind. I must admit though, that I know that the two of us would face much more complications than trying to adjust to each other's presence. It truly is frowned upon to even think that two men could ever be in such a relationship. In fact, I didn't even think that allodola would even accept it. I thought he was going to castrate me after the first time. Luckily though, I am still in one piece… and it all somewhat worked out. We agreed that given his line of work and mine, that we would keep our business to ourselves. After all, why would it be anyone else's? It is our lives that we were living.

I finally brought up the issue though that he hadn't left the mansion ever since he got here. It felt like a long time ago since. Many things had changed, and I worried about him and his job in the Intelligence Bureau but he didn't seem the least worried about it. But what he said next pertaining the topic, caught me out of guard. The Vongola. It had been weeks since we had last made a move in our little game of mob wars—I shouldn't say that, allodola would bite me to the afterlife. Heh. If this were a game of chess, I would say that we had been on the attack, and they had sent their rook, and we currently have no move to respond with. That's an oversimplification, I realized, but what could I do?

In any case, the family was getting agitated about my lack of action… and perhaps this was why allodola had said what he said. Since then, I had given it a lot of thought—and I decided that I will bring it up with the others at tomorrow's meeting. I won't risk dying though, so perhaps, I should bring allodola with me. After all, it was with his inception that I will be proposing the possible alliance of the Cavallones with the Vongola.

God help us all.