Present Day: Dino

"Dino! We have to go," Romario called out, waiting at the edge of the stairs for the leader of their duo. Although he was older, Romario recognized Dino to be stronger.

The blond-haired mess thumped his way down the stairs, a bag thrown over his shoulder. He grinned wide before a yawn overtook him. The blond stopped on the bottom step, foot positioned to step off, and covered his mouth as he yawned loudly.

"Boss!"

Dino chuckled lightly and stepped down, adjusting the bag as he walked past the older man on his way out of the hotel room. Romario shook his head, muttering about needing to train him a bit more on being quieter, and closed the door before following his boss to their car. Dino was the first to break the silence, pulling out his keys as he spoke.

"You know, we haven't had a good hunt in a while," he mused.

Romario nodded, checking his watch. If they didn't hurry, they would be late.

"Because the creatures keep getting killed by the beast, Boss," Romario nonchalantly dismissed his boss's concern.

The younger let out a sigh, unlocking the trunk of their car and throwing in his bag. His subordinate's disinterest in his boredom irked him a bit, especially since it seemed more serious than usual. Now that Dino took a moment to think about it, Romario had grown more worrisome since the attacks on the supernatural creatures began.

"Boss, hurry up."

Romario's irritated voice snapped Dino from his thoughts. The blonde's head snapped up, a bit of confusion on his face before he gave Romario a sheepish grin as an apology. The older man shook his head, getting into the car without another word. A frown overtook Dino's features the instant the door had shut, his façade not needing to be up when his subordinate wasn't in sight. With a small shake of his head, Dino shut the trunk with a bit more force than needed before getting into the car and starting their drive.

The sunlight streamed in through the window, lighting the room where five men were standing and one was kneeling.

"Lil bro, just let me and Romario patrol this area for the night! I'm itching for a hunt."

Dino was begging the teenager, determined to not stop at anything in order to get his hands on a good hunt; he was knelt in front of the smaller boy, face set in a serious expression. As a hunter, it was his job to kill the supernatural, to stop the creatures from causing harm unto the naïve humans, but Dino tended to take it ever so slightly too seriously. The brunette teen, the one Dino was begging for control over the area from, was half scared out of his wits from the way the blond was acting. Tsuna gave a shaky nod.

"O-okay, Dino," he replied, ignoring his right-hand man's objections.

Dino grinned, the angry words the silver-headed teen was spouting at him gone unnoticed, and jumped up, pulling the brunette into a tight hug and nuzzling the fluff of hair that came level with his face. The smaller squeaked I surprise, gaining an eye-roll from the raven-haired Italian in the corner.

Dino quickly let go of his adopted brother and ran for the door. He shouted out a "Thanks, Tsuna!" before grabbing a knife from the wall of weapons near the door. Romario sighed as the blonde disappeared out the door, and he slowly meandered after Dino. The room clouded over with a blanket of silence once the two were gone, a sole question hanging in the air. Yamamoto was the first to speak up, closing the door as he did so.

"Should we have told him?"

It silence in the air thickened, almost becoming suffocating. Tsuna looked to the ravenette in the corner, believing Reborn's opinion to be worth more than his own. The man shook his head as he twisted one of his sideburns between his fingers. A thoughtful look crossed his face before he shook his head, stepping away from the wall.

"He needs to discover it for himself. After all, they were the closest."

Romario struggled to keep up as the blonde darted out of the house. He opened his mouth to call out to Dino, only to be cut off when said man stopped at the edge of the wooded area that surrounded the area. The greying man nearly bumped into the younger with the abruptness with which he had stopped. Romario was quiet as he spoke.

"Dino, are you okay?" He stepped up, choosing to stand beside the other and look out at the forest as well.

Dino held up a hand to silence his subordinate, his eyes glued to the darkened forest. Romario went silent, frowning lightly as he listened to the scurrying of animals and the rustling of leaves. The wind swirled around them, causing the trees to sway in the twilight air. All was calm, or so it seemed.

A grin replaced Dino's serious look as a twig snapping sounded like a cannon to his right. In an instant, the blond was gone. His steps were silent as he chased after the creature; his knife was held low. The scent of blood infected the air as Dino grew closer to his prey, his grin only growing as he realized what the creature was. It had been a long time since the blond had killed a Vampire.

A shout, a female voice filled with fear, was heard off to the hunter's left. His grin faltered as he stopped, changing his course for the sound's location. He saw a lit clearing further ahead, the outline of a person and a wolf easily seen through the trees. He slid to a halt as he ran into the clearing; Dino's eyes grew a fraction wider as he took in the scene of carnage in front of him.

A deep black wolf hung over the corpse of a Vampire; the wolf's mouth dripped with blood, leading Dino to the conclusion that it was the cause of the dismembered state of the blue-haired Vampire. Body parts were strewn everywhere, trails of blood leading from the hollowed torso and head. The Vampire had a smirk on its lips; even in death, he seemed to have believed himself better than the wolf.

The other Vampire, she simply stared in horror at the same scene. She had a similar hairstyle to the disemboweled one, the only difference the eye patch that covered one eye. She had been muttering a single word before she noticed Dino's presence: Mukuro.

She turned and saw the hunter, tears streaming down her face. When she realized the man was a hunter, she picked up the trident on the blood-soaked ground and ran for Dino. The blonde sighed, stopping the Vampire's last act easily. He dodged the attack, darting around her and slicing her head off with precision. Her body froze for a split second, the head slipping off and landing on the ground with a dull thud. Her body followed suit, landing beside where the head had rolled. At the sound, the wolf's, the beast's, head snapped up, its eyes gluing to the hunter's back.

A deep growl pierced the chilled air, sending a shiver down Dino's spine. He felt as if he knew the wolf, but Dino knew it was unlikely. He knew he was done-for as the sound of the wolf walking closer could be heard.

Dino slowly turned around, locking eyes with the beast; the blonde's blood ran cold in an instant. He knew those eyes. Dino stepped closer to the beast, opening his mouth to call out to it. He was cut off as a sharp howl sliced through the silence. A familiar voice spoke quickly after.

"You're pathetic."

With those words, the beast turned and darted away, leaving Dino to ponder on if it was who he believed it to be. His heart was pounding, his chest tight in a way it hadn't been for years. A moment later, an out of breath Romario stepped into the clearing, taking deep breaths as he finally stopped to take a break from running. Once he regained his breath, he looked up at the blond, a bit worried at the look on his face.

"Boss?" he asked, straightening up as he made his way over to the younger man.

Dino blinked, his subordinate's voice knocking him out of his trance. He placed a hand over his heart, feeling its beat slowly regain its usual pace. He glanced down at his blood-stained blade and frowned, knowing his allies had kept this from him.

"Let's go back to Tsuna's base, Romario."