The Web of Our Life
Author: Jusrecht

Pairing/Characters: Dino/Hibari

Disclaimer: KHR belongs to Amano Akira. The sentence in bold and italic before each section are prompts from LJ community 31days.

Notes: Birthday fic written for a friend. This is an AU with one MAJOR difference from canon, as readers will find out in the first ficlet. Enjoy ^^

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(Eyes I dare not meet in dreams)

The first time Dino saw him, he was walking away from a street littered with unconscious bodies, bruises and wasted blood ruining slack-jawed faces. Romario was suddenly close on his heels, ready to offer his assistance if needed.

"I understand the importance of this mission," Dino said quietly, feeling rather intimidated by the sight before his eyes, "but I also want to come out alive in the end."

Reborn gave him a smile that chilled him to the bones. "Let's just say that I will be very disappointed if my student cannot survive any situation as mediocre as this."

Dino winced. And your disappointment obviously matters more than my continued existence, he wanted to say, but the glint in his tutor's large, deceptively innocent eyes promised him pain – lots and lots of it. Surely any other alternative would be less excruciating.

The next day, he made a visit to Nami High and asked Hibari Kyouya to be his Cloud Guardian.

---

(Awkward as a wound on my bones)

Sawada Tsunayoshi, the only son of the ninth generation boss of Sawada-gumi, the largest yakuza family in Japan, was a fourteen-year-old boy in whom Dino found a kindred spirit. It was rather reassuring to know that he wasn't the only 'heir' with issues and objections to his inheritance – or the only living soul scared shitless of Reborn and his infernal methods.

Tsuna was kind and awkwardly polite as they sat facing each other in the tea room of his Japanese-style house. His smile was shy, a tad uncomfortable when he approached subjects that boasted knowledge possible only through his family's connection.

"I heard that you have recruited the ruler of Namimori, Dino-san."

It took him a moment to realise that Tsuna was referring to his most troublesome guardian. "Is that what he is? The ruler of Namimori?" Dino asked, laughing. The title sounded much too pretentious, even for Kyouya.

"That's what we call him," Tsuna admitted with a sheepish grin. "Namimori used to belong to a branch family, but since Hibari appeared and it became obvious that we couldn't do anything about him, changes have had to be made. My father has tried to reason with him many, many times, but he's a stubborn man."

"Exceedingly," Dino agreed in a dry voice, earning himself a sympathetic look from Tsuna.

"But he decides to be one of your guardians, Dino-san. It must count as something."

He only smiled, wondering to himself if that was even true. Sure, Hibari had won the Cloud Ring battle, but so far there had been no agreement of any sort between them. He lived by his own rule, walked his own path, chose his own destiny. No one, not even the most powerful mafia family in the world could take that right away from him.

Dino sighed. Maybe it was just their luck that he wasn't about to let Hibari go either.

---

(Lay awake in lust and rust in the rain)

"I'm going to kill you," Hibari said, and Dino knew he was serious because there was no casual mentioning of biting someone to death. This was a whole new level he had never set his feet upon before.

Hibari moved, fluid like water, faster than the rain. Survival instinct told Dino to dodge and ready his whip. Hibari did not relent. His tonfa blazed angry purple, rage flaring to life as his movement sped up to mere shadows and blurs. Dino gasped, air driven out of his lungs when the deadly intent found its mark below his chest, and lost his footing on the slippery ground.

"I'm going to kill you," Hibari repeated, more slowly, as if he was trying to make sense of the words himself. Dino winced when a handful of his hair was grasped and yanked forward. He blinked, focusing on the livid face that was looking down at him with so much loathing it could have destroyed the entire Vongola Famiglia – if not for the pale ghost of frustration outlining it.

Sensible men, he thought, would have grabbed their last chance to reason with the Cloud Guardian before the final blow struck. Instead, he found himself staring at a droplet of water on the tip of Hibari's nose, and the wet look of his lips. He smiled at the irony – those little details had been the reason why he was in this mess right now.

"You don't fucking smile," the hiss was close to his ear and Hibari's eyes were almost black with fury, "when I'm about to kill you."

Dino managed a wan smile, brief, just to catch him off guard, and then pushed Hibari's weight off his body and rushed to grab his fallen whip. He scarcely had enough time to regain his balance when the next torrent of attack came raining down on him.

"Wait, Kyou–"

An angry snarl cut him short. Dino clamped his mouth shut and concentrated on blocking and evading – just keeping himself alive. It had not been long before an opening offered itself to him, small, barely there, but he quickly seized it, slipping behind Hibari and hitting the back of his neck with the handle of his whip.

The result was instantaneous. Hibari went limp, his tonfa clattering on the wet stony pavement. Dino reached out for the falling body, purely on reflex, and only managed to bring himself down in the process.

Great.

The rain was now battering down his face with something close to vengeance. Dino sighed deeply, the first he had allowed himself since his tactless mistake. The weight of Kyouya's body in his arm actually felt nice and he would have no trouble with enjoying the moment while it lasted, if not for a pair of small, polished black shoes which suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision.

"Well, that was quite effective," Reborn said, mouth set in a smile that practically could mean anything, "even if a bit unconventional."

Dino stared at him, long and hard, and then said flatly, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Reborn's eyes twinkled under his fedora, sheltered by a green umbrella. "Oh, so the kiss wasn't a strategy to keep him in the family?"

---

(A heart will always go one step too far)

Six months was a long time, right?

It wasn't as if he had been counting the days, or spending the nights awake worrying. But March had been six months away and he hadn't heard any news, whisper or rumour, of Hibari ever since. Strongest guardian or not, Dino decided that he had the right to worry.

He reached for his cell phone and dialled a well-memorised number. Just before punching the last 'eight', he hesitated, slowly reminded to the risk he would be exposing his guardian to, should the call get through and someone was watching the line. Being the difficult person that he was, Hibari had refused his offer for a more secure connection – or anything else that could bind him closer to Vongola, for that matter.

Dino let the phone fall back onto scattered piles of paper crowding his desk. Sometimes when it rang and the caller turned out to be Tsuna, his disappointment would be so immense that he immediately would feel guilty. It certainly wasn't Tsuna's fault that he wasn't Hibari. It wasn't anybody's fault. He was just being irrational.

But more days passed, and then weeks, and he waited and waited, tapping the tip of his fountain pen on papers he was supposed to sign, leaving smears of ink between letters that assembled his name. Waiting was painful, come more than other, but when it came to Hibari, that was all he could do.

Unfair, and maybe it was foolish too, but his stubborn heart refused to let go.

---

(When darkness falls under your hair, there I'll be)

It was past midnight when Dino looked up to the sound of his door opening. Hibari walked in, his hair a chaotic mess, tie askew, and what visible of his white shirt marked and stained with stark red. He was on his feet at once, pen slipping from the grip of his fingers, reports and documents forgotten.

"Kyouya? What–"

"You got me the wrong information, bastard." Hibari's voice was raspy as he heavily slumped into a couch, none of his usual grace present. Dino knelt in front of him, heart sinking into his stomach when he noticed the grimace of pain the other man tried to hide.

"The wrong..." He paused, head spinning as realisation came crashing down. "Shit, Kyouya, you–"

"Stop talking," Hibari hissed, eyes closed, his breathing shaky. His fingers were digging into the arm of the couch and Dino found himself biting his lips.

"I'll get you to the hospital now."

"No," the reply was sharp and quick. "I don't need a damn hospital, just... shut up."

"This is my fault. At least allow me to... God, if anything happens to you, I–"

"Don't flatter yourself, Vongola," Hibari scoffed at him, a ghost of a smirk on his lips, now sickly white. "You can't do anything like this to me."

Dino stared, mouth tightening into a stubborn line. And then he rose to his feet, intent on grabbing the cell phone he had left on his desk when Hibari suddenly yanked him back. His reflex was the only reason why he didn't fall on his guardian – who was not supposed to be able to exert that much strength. His right hand held on to the back of the couch as he glared down at the younger man.

"I said I don't need a damn hospital." The warning had teeth to it, a threat more than anything else. Dino was about to snarl a protest when Hibari quickly rendered it useless by pressing their lips together. There was one brief moment of stunned inaction, and then he tasted blood on his tongue and promptly pulled away.

"Damn it, Kyouya," he growled. "You... God, yes, I'm weak and insignificant and I don't mean anything to you but... look at how badly wounded you are! You can fight me later and maybe bite me to death–"

There was a half-smile on Hibari's lips, the kind that only wanted to mock the world and its cousins. It took Dino a few breathless seconds to notice that his Cloud Guardian actually had passed out.

He wanted to laugh, but time pressed and flattened the urge. Shouting for the men guarding his door, he scooped Hibari up in his arms, ignoring his protesting muscles under the unusual weight, or the blood seeping to his white jacket. Two minutes later, they were already on their way to the hospital.

There had been longer, lonelier nights, but none was as agonising as the silence as he sat at Hibari's bedside, waiting for him to open his eyes.

End

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Notes: ...this pairing is so damn depressing.

Anyway, thank you for reading and please review?