Chapter 28

Dino was depressed in knowing that Hibari had chosen his little brother and that his little brother had chosen the prefect in return. He had originally intended to prevent it through his power as Don Cavallone. That backfired badly and now Dino was sulking over how he was playing the bad person and how Tsuna would hate him.

"Why couldn't Tsuna fall for a better person? The Kyoko girl in his class would have been a better choice than Kyoya. I know how bad he can get and poor Tsuna deserves none of it. What if Kyoya rapes him? What am I going to do?" Dino stressed out mentally and relapsed into a zombie. His right hand man, Romario, suggested that his boss take some time off the schedule to relax.

Being the competent right hand man he was, Romario took charge and drove his boss to a nearby bar. "I will return in an hour to fetch you, boss," he said. Dino said nothing as he walked to the bar absent mindedly. Romario sighed. He hoped his boss would not get into trouble. He drove off and called for the man assigned to keep an eye on the bar his boss was at. One can never be too sure in the mafia. It was an unspoken rule. Already, the man felt uneasy for leaving his boss all alone but he knew the blonde man needed it.

At the bar, Dino called for sake and downed the first bottle efficiently without much difficulty. His face had become flushed as his mind wandered back to the events that happened in the day.

"You lied to us! Italian! Be gone! Never come back to japan again!" the bosses of various Yakuza families spat.

Dino tried to protest but fell silent when guns were pointed at him. Romario had to pull his boss who was close to breaking down and crying on the spot. The vicious insults from the angry mob bosses could be heard even from a distance. Once in the car, Dino finally broke down and cried. Romario could do nothing for his boss except to allow his boss to cry out.

Now, alone in an unknown bar and drinking sake by himself, Dino wondered if he had made the right choice. He chuckled bitterly at first. That soon escalated into an insane laughter to which several bar patrons turned to look at him. Dino could not be bothered at the many pairs of eyes on him. Some were curious while most of them were annoyed. Whispers going on behind his back did not make any difference to him at this point. He continued to laugh until he felt a tug at his arm.

Whoever it was, Dino could not be bothered to resist the person. If he was going to get hit for causing a ruckus then that was just it. He deserved it after all. "There will be no scums on Earth lower than me…" he thought and smiled.

To his surprise, the person dragged him out of the bar. Dino turned to look at the person dragging him by his arm and saw pink long hair. "So now it is a woman," Dino bitterly thought to himself. The world seemed to stand against him. Dino felt bitter about himself. "If only I wasn't Don Cavallone…" he whispered. The woman who was dragging him stopped abruptly. She turned around and Dino recognized her. She threw him a helmet.

"Put it on," she told him. Dino complied.

He got on the pillion seat of her scooter and they set off to an unknown destination.

Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX

When Romario had gotten a call from a hyperventilating subordinate, his heart nearly stopped. Dino was said to have been kidnapped by an unknown woman in her twenties. Dino had not even put up a fight and the subordinates had lost track of them.

Romario cursed his luck. He knew it was never a good idea to leave Dino. It had not even been twenty minutes since he left his boss alone. Turning the car around, Romario went back to the bar to fetch the subordinates left behind. He only hoped his boss would be able to defend himself against a mere woman kidnapper. The tracking system in his boss's cell phone would provide more than enough means of tracing him down.

Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX

Dino ended up waiting on a bench in the park. It was late and there was no one in sight. Dino sighed. His heart felt empty and suddenly he did not want to go on living. He felt sorry at the thought of leaving behind his precious family but could not stop despairing.

Something cold rested and weighed itself on Dino's bowed head. He looked up to see a can of cold coffee in front of him. Accepting the drink and mumbling his thanks, he opened the can coffee numbly and drank, not noticing the taste or the woman sitting beside him.

"You know, I really like this place. I often come here alone on Friday nights. It gets really lonely in that house."

Dino looked at here. "You have Reborn."

The woman laughed hollowly. "It seems that way doesn't it? Did you know that man has his heart with a dead woman? Despite my best efforts to be there and give him everything, I would never be able to hold a candle to that woman."

"Are you referring to Luce? I think he will see you as a woman one day and grow to love you. Don't give up yet, poison scorpion."

Bianchi laughed. They drank their coffee in silence for a while. Then Dino broke the silence. "I guess we are somewhat alike."

Bianchi laughed without humor. "How so, Don Cavallone?"

Dino sipped the cold caffeine. "We are both trying hard for the people we love but somehow it does not seem to turn out well."

Bianchi sighed. She knew what he said was true but she did not want to admit it.

"I wonder sometimes if what I am doing is worth the cause. He doesn't even look my way. When he does, it is to use me. I know it is cruel that I am being used like a tool but I just can't help it. I really hate myself. If only I had not fallen in love with such a cold and heartless man."

Dino thought about Tsuna's situation with Hibari. "And I wished that I was a better and more influential boss and brother to be able to avoid a painful future for my precious brother. Now that he has chosen that cold hearted and blood thirsty prefect, there is nothing I could do. I wish I had not slacked off during Reborn's training."

Bianchi giggled. "You are right. We are the same indeed. I wonder if I would have done things differently if I had known the future."

That left the both of them thinking. Dino came to a conclusion. "I don't think it would matter. I would have done just the same." Bianchi agreed with unspoken words.

Dino finished off the last of his coffee and Bianchi glanced at him. "Thank you for bringing me here. I need to get going. Romario and the rest will be worried about me."

Bianchi smiled. "You are a good boss." Those words seemed to have touched Dino's heart and he smiled genuinely for the first time after the incident.

"You are a good woman," he said before waving. "You should find a good man who would return your love." As he turned to leave, Bianchi caught a glimpse of Dino's face under the moonlight and was enchanted by it. A faint blush adorned her face. The heart she thought had perished so long ago returned to life.

Doki-doki…

The cover of night revealed a new flame beneath the ashes. Love is once more rekindled through the power of night and darkness.

~The End~

Author's Last Note: Thank you for reading till the end. I hope this is satisfying enough an ending. Please let me know if this story would be worth reading once more all over from the starting. I'll leave the rest to your imagination

Destiny Aitsuji, signing off.