Captured Hearts

Chapter Three: The Observant

Hibari allowed Mukuro to lead him into a hall, where he saw the tamer guy from earlier. "Dino," Mukuro called, "can you show Kyoya around? I need to go feed the merpeople."

"Sure," Dino replied, taking the leash.

"Hibari Natsu Kyoya II, be good for Dino," Mukuro ordered. The vampire nodded, and followed the blonde man up to a set of bars that he recognized to be the observation point from which Dino had watched him earlier.

"The centaurs are feeding right now," Dino informed the vampire. "They're all pretty tame- 'cept Byakuran. He's the white one, in the back."

Hibari glanced back there, and arched a brow when he noticed something odd. "Why does the white one have wings?"

"Haha, I knew you'd ask. Byakuran there is a halfbreed. Part centaur, part pegasus."

"Hn," Hibari grunted.

"Hey! Takeshi, come over here!" Dino called, "I want to introduce you to someone!"

A dark, dark brown centaur in the back rose, and the human half of the body stretched upwards, before he trotted up to the cage. "Yeah, Dino?"

"Hibarin, this here is Yamamoto Takeshi. Takeshi, this is Hibarin- a vampire."

"Hahaha~, nice to meet you," said the centaur, extending a hand. Hibari hesitantly met him, and shook his hand, and he earned himself a wide smile from the dark-haired horseman. "It's nice to feel a friendly touch," Takeshi said, "it's kind of difficult to interact with my fellows." As if on cue, a light silver centaur galloped past the observing area, screaming something along the lines of 'extreme jogging' as he went. Takeshi laughed nervously. "See what I mean?"

"That one just there is Ryohei," Dino told Hibari. "And... the spotted one there by Byakuran is named Kikyo. They kind of stick together."

"Hey, Hibari, have you been out to the fields yet?" Takeshi asked. "We should meet up and talk animal-to-animal sometime."

"It's going to be a while before the vampires can enter the fields, Takeshi," Dino told him. The centaur sighed, and shrugged.

"I guess it can't be helped. One more question."

"Hn?"

"Why is it that you vampires always wear so many clothes?" Takeshi asked.

"Uhh...," Hibari trailed off, no longer comfortable looking at the centaur's bare chest now that the subject of clothing had been brought up.

"Vampires get really cold, Takeshi, and they're really proud, too," Dino told him. "They aren't quite as carefree as your kind."

"Oh, really?" Yamamoto said. "Huh. I just think it's more comfortable this way."

Dino glanced at his wrist. "You only have ten more minutes to graze, you better get back to that," he said, tapping his watch. "I've got to take Kyoya to see the werewolves, anyway."

"Okay," Takeshi said, before turning away. "Bye, Hibarin!"

"Bye," Hibari said more quietly.

Dino left the area, and gave Hibari a gentle tug on the collar to get him to come along. Hibari hesitantly followed; he wasn't exactly intrested in seeing werewolves. "Hey, Hibarin," Dino started as they walked along through the halls, "I heard werewolves are really close to your species- but it's clear that you guys don't get along. Why is that?"

"Werewolves are the real 'rabid beasts' here," Hibari said "They have zero elegance and can't control themselves at all. Not to mention, they're just plain rude sometimes."

"Haha, I suppose they are, sometimes," Dino said. "As a tamer, I like to get the different perspectives of you guys. It makes me see more about what you're like."

"Hn," the vampire grunted. A little later, they came up to an enclosure not unlike the one that the vampires were being kept in. Inside, there was a blonde-haired creature that resembled a human for everything except for the wolf-like ears and tail he sported. He had bangs covering his eyes, and a grin on his face that was completely suiting for his kind. The other in the cage had silver hair, emerald eyes, and just an all-over delinquent appearance.

"Ah? Dino? What're you here for?" the silverette snarled, folding his arms. He then saw, Hibari. "Che! Just showing around another of those snobby vampires, huh? How lame."

"Snobby?" Hibari repeated, twitching at the word.

"Don't take it to heart, Hibarin," Dino chuckled. "Hayato's particularly mean, aren't you?"

"I told you, the only freaking reason I'm here is because Boss is here, no other reason."

"Boss?" Hibari questioned, looking at Dino.

"'Boss' is one of the scientists here- Tsunayoshi Sawada. See, werewolves are fiercely loyal, and Hayato used to be Tsuna's pet."

"Don't call me that, we were equals until all of this happened," Hayato spat.

"Ushishishishi~," giggled the other werewolf, "lookit his face~ I just love how sensitive vampires are to the word 'pet.'"

"It's because they're so damn snobby," Hayato snickered.

"I hear that if you know a vampire's full name, you can completely control them. Right, Dino?" the blonde werewolf asked.

"Well, yes, but you two aren't getting any vampire names for a while, all right? By the way, Hibarin, that's Belphegor. He used to be a servant to royalty, so naturally, he calls himself a-"

"A prince," Belphegor cut off. "Because I am one."

"Che! Dino, can't I have that move now?" Hayato pleaded. "Move me to where the boss is- I don't want to be around that thing."

"Sorry, guys, you know how it is."

"I'm not mating with that commoner," Belphegor said, before moving to the opposite end of the cage and sitting down. "This body belongs to royalty!"

"Disgusting sorry excuse for a werewolf," Gokudera muttered.

"Okay, Hibarin, before they start fighting, let's move on...," Dino said awkwardly, before heading away from the area. Hibari followed, and it wasn't long before they came up to a tank. "Ah, this is my personal favorite- these are the merpeople."

"Merpeople?" the vampire repeated.

"Yeah. I think that's Bluebell way back there," Dino said, pointing to a girl with long-blue hair, and a tail that looked worthy of some prehistoric creature. "The other two are probably feeding, here, let's go up here." Dino led the vampire up some stairs, where they saw Mukuro tossing fish into the tank.

"C'mon, Fran, you've got to eat!" he shouted, before throwing a fish right into a boy's face. The teal-haired merman grunted and grabbed the fish, before tossing it behind him.

"For the last time, I hate fish!" he complained. "Feed me something else- anything else!"

"Don't be greedy," said another, a more muscular merman with long, silver hair.

"All right, Hibarin, the young guy back there is Fran, and the guy with the really long hair is Squalo."

Fran swam up to the edge of the tank and stared at Hibari. "You got any food? Something better than these dumb fish, perhaps?"

Hibari shook his head, and the other groaned, before diving back underwater. Hibari got a glance of a seafoam green dolphin tail as he submerged. "Voi! Since Fran's not eating, I'll gladly take his portion!" Squalo shouted, smirking.

Mukuro sighed, and placed the bucket of fish on the ground. "Sometimes, these guys are really hard to deal with," he muttered. "How's the tour going, Dino?"

"Good. All I have to do is introduce the scientists, and we'll be done," Dino replied.

"Nice," Mukuro said, before suddenly realizing something. "Damn! I have to go get the centaurs back to the fields so that the werewolves can hunt- later!"

"Bye!" Dino called as the hunter rushed out of the area. "Haha," he laughed. "Mukuro's trying so hard to work with all of you guys."

"Indeed," Hibari said. The two headed back down to the bottom of the tank, in which they got to witness Fran pressing his face up against the glass JUST to annoy them.

"Ignore him," Dino murmured. Hibari nodded, and the two continued on for a while before they finally found the main science department. They entered together, and Hibari saw several screens from security cameras around the room. "Hey, guys," Dino greeted. "Just thought I'd bring in the new vampire to meet you."

A brown-haired boy walked over to the two, but became cautious when he saw Hibari. "Ahh, Dino... I really just wanted to ask... how's Hayato doing?"

"Good," Dino answered, "Bel and he will get along sometime, I'm sure."

"Okay...," Tsuna sighed. "And this is the new vampire?"

"Yeah. Hibarin's his name," Dino said, grinning.

"My brother caught him, too?" asked a girl who very closely resembled Mukuro. "Well, hopefully now Basil will have a friend."

"That's Chrome," Dino told Hibari, "and in the back, working the computers are Shoichi, and Spanner."

"Dino!"

"Oh, and this guy's name is Reborn," Dino sighed as a very well dressed man walked out.

"I told you not to bring any animals in here!" Reborn said. "Take him back to his cage immediately, or I'll have you fired!"

"Reborn's a little strict," Dino told Hibari, who nodded. The tamer lead Hibari back out, and said, "Sorry, that introduction was pretty cut short."

"That's okay," Hibari replied, "I'm kind of tired, anyways."

"Right," Dino said, "Let's head back."

And so, introductions to the others held captive were made.

-End Chapter

And this is where I'm going to ask people to start telling me the pairings they want to see. I've introduced all of the characters, so feel free to request pairings (although I'd prefer to keep anything involving the girls to a minimum.) Also, please start requesting whether you want this to become a BasilHibari story Oor an 1869 story- even though both will have their moments.
And there can be pairings across species, of course, otherwise it would be pretty limited. :)

Every review counts!