I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

a/n: I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. Here is chapter 2, I hope to update again as quickly as I can. Again, reviews are not compulsory, but I really love them, and they are what really encourage me to write, so thanks in advance for anyone who drops in a review. So without anymore talking from me, have fun reading!

"Doctor… do you think you can do it?" Romario looked at Dino's worried face. He himself, was concerned, too. Dino usually had a calm demeanour, however in the face of this patient, he seemed to sweat and panic a little.

"I…I will be okay. Bring me the tools, Romario." Dino slipped on a pair of gloves and picked up a knife. "Here goes nothing…"

"Dammit…why…why isn't it working?" Dino wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.

"Gotta try again…it has to work this time…" He took in a deep breath and swallowed, then followed through with the operation. "Romario, make sure his vitals are okay…"

"Yes, Doctor."

He tried the procedure again, with no avail. "No…at this rate, it's going to fail again…! I can't let this happen. I can't. I can't." Dino concentrated and pressed on with what he was doing.

"Don't die yet please…" He looked at the patient, alive by a thread. "I don't like this…his life in my hands…but it can't be helped. I'm…a medic, so…I gotta save him because no one else will help a man with injuries like him…they would…write him off as dead…" He panicked. The thought of death daunted him yet again.

Romario reassured him. "It's okay, Doctor. You can save him. I'm right here; tell me what you need."

At that moment, Dino had an idea. "Hang on a sec…if I do this…but there's a chance that…no, there's no time to waste…this is it. I need to help him fast…" He treated the patient, using a method which was unheard of. "Yes, almost there…!" A brimming hope filled Dino up, he was sure he would be able to succeed.

"Okay, Romario, there's one last step and I need that…" He looked over at Romario, who paused.

"Doctor…"

Dino's heart sank. Something wasn't right. "…that…tool over there we used before…Romario…? Please get it for me it quickly…" The flickering light of hope Dino had not too long ago felt like it was rapidly dying out inside him.

"Doctor…please reconsider…" Romario closed his eyes and looked down at the floor.

Dino turned over to look at the patient. Lifeless, it was too late. He was gone. Dino pretended he knew nothing. "…Romario…why aren't you obeying me…? Please bring me the tool…" Tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Please Doctor…it's too late…he's…"

"It's…it's not too late…it's never too late, right? You told me, I'd be able to save him…" Dino felt his heart sink deeper and deeper into the depths of regret and darkness.

"He is beyond us now, Doctor…it's not your fault, you did your part…"

Dino grew silent. He didn't want to believe anything. Not reality, not Romario, and most of all, not himself. He looked at his hands; bloodied, dirtied. To Dino, there was not a fragment of purity he could see on himself anywhere.

"Romario…don't kid me…you say I did my part, did you…? Well…the only part I did was murder him. You saw me didn't you…haha…I…I… killed him…aha…ha…" He picked up a knife from the table. "Murderers like me shouldn't deserve to live…because they will only keep repeating their mistakes…"

"Doctor!" Romario took hold of Dino and yanked the knife out of his hand, cutting himself in the process but not caring. "Get a hold of yourself, Dino! None of this is any of your fault!"

"…you weren't the one that did the operation. You were the one who was telling me lies that I would be able to save him! You know nothing! Let me go…!"

"Dino! No one else would even bother to turn to this patient and look at him. No one else would've come close to even saving him yet keep him alive for the time you did. You cared, you tried…if you want to save something, you must give something up."

"He gave up his life for nothing, then! Because of me, I couldn't save him and he paid the price with his life…"

"That's not what I mean. Future patients like him can now be saved because he…paid the price…"

"Future…I don't know about that…I don't even…know if I'm a doctor, more or less the future me being a doctor…I'm more like a heartless killer…"

"…" Romario was at a loss for words.

Dino clenched his fists and shut his eyes. He took a moment to cool his head and accept the situation before going on.

"Romario, I declare this operation a failed completion. Please end it." Dino took one last look at the patient. "May he rest in peace…"

"…understood."

The operation had been going for a few hours. There was no word of how it was going.

"Do you think he'll be able to make it?" A nurse outside the room asked to one of her friends.

"I don't know, he was in critical condition. At the last hospital I worked at people like that would usually just be written off as dead…" The other replied.

"Ahh…well, the Doctor is very amazing, but even I thought the patient was gone too far."

"But you never know, he has cured many people who would've died long ago without his help. I'm not really religious or anything, but he really does seem like a Saint sometimes."

"Yeah. I think the patient will come out fine, now that we talk about it. He has created many 'miracles'. It's like he's not human sometimes."

"Do you two ladies have the documents I requested for?" Romario broke their conversation.

"Ah, yes, I do, sir," She handed Romario a few papers, "this is all I could gather for this patient. There isn't much about him."

He flicked through the pages. "I see. Thank you."

"Um, sir, if I may ask, how is the patient doing?" The other nurse asked Romario before he had a chance to leave.

"He's stable."

The two nurses looked at each other, and a 'told you it'd be okay' was heard.

"I better deliver these documents to the Doctor…" Romario thought to himself. As he made his way up to Dino's office, whispers could be heard throughout the hospital about how Dino was able to save another patient from 'certain death' again.

"Here it is." He knocked on the door. Silence ensued. "Doctor?" He knocked again. Again, there was no response.

"Guess I'll have to resort to using this…" Romario placed his hands in the pockets on his pants and searched through it. "Ah, here it is." It was a spare key to Dino's office.

-click- Opening the door, it revealed the blonde haired man. Head on his desk, his arms serving as a cushion for his head. Romario chuckled. "That silly boy…"

He tapped Dino's shoulder. "Wake up!"

"Waaaahh~!" Dino jerked his head up. "Romario-! Why must you always wake me up when I'm having a good nap?"

"You can nap later. First, these are the patient's documents." Romario handed over the few sheets to Dino. Dino stared blankly at them.

"Huh? Where are the rest of the sheets?"

"That's all there is. The nurses said that this was all they were able to find."

"Hm, I see. Is that it? Can I nap after I analyse these?"

"Be my guest."

"-yawns- That was a good nap. I might get a cup of coffee or something." Dino stretched his arms out and exited his office, setting his destination for the kitchen.

"No! You mustn't get up yet! Please lie back down!" Dino turned his head to look around for where the scream came out of. After locating it, he ran over to see what the problem was.

"What is all this ruckus about?" He wrenched the door open to see that an ill patient was trying to get from their bed, while threatening the nurse.

"Doctor! He…he won't listen to me…" The nurse scrambled a little further away from the scene and let Dino take over.

"What are you doing?" Dino took hold of the young teen carefully and tried to place him back to where he should be lying down at. "You can't get up yet, you're going to hurt yourself."

The patient protested and struggled. "Get out of my way. If you don't, I'm going to have to beat you up in fight."

"You are in no position to be saying or doing that. Please at least sit down or I'm going to have to sedate you."

"Never." The patient struggled to get up again. "I'm going to kill you…" He stumbled. He was much too weak to be doing what he was doing.

Dino wasn't sure how to handle this patient. He was unwilling to listen to him by all costs. At this point, Dino decided that the best way to treat him was to try and be on the same wavelength as him.

"Save the killing for later. At this rate, the only one that's going to die is you."

"Hmph." The patient backed down and got back in his bed. "Whatever…" Very soon, he fell asleep.

"I'm sorry about that," Dino apologised to the nurse, "from now on, leave the handling of this patient to me."

"Y-yes, Doctor." She bowed and left the room.

"Geeze, so early in the morning and already so much trouble." Dino spotted the name tag of the patient in the room. "Hm, that's right. I was so fixed at calming him down I didn't even check who this was or if he had a record of this behaviour."

"Kyouya Hibari. Huh? Isn't this the patient I operated on yesterday? How could he have gotten up so quickly…"