[Edit: 19/11/2012] Can't leave this story alone. Not happy with it at all.
[Edit: 28/09/2011] Re-titled and re-worded and basically fucked everything /sob (used to be 'Il respiro del Demonio')

So this was kind of a... dark fic project that concentrated on the (non-existent) tension between Dino and Tsuna's brotherly relationship. I guess I haven't seen that many dark fics with this pairing(?) so I decided to make one myself. I originally had this uploaded to my livejournal.

"N–nng...h...!"

A hitched intake of breath, clenched fists; blood, trickling down tense skin.

"Don–G-ga-a-agh...!"

Another choked gasp; strangled screams.

"HaaA...Agh...!"

Tears after tears after tears.

A violent storm of emotions fought vehemently inside of him; feelings of horror, feelings of betrayal, feelings of outrage, feelings of desperation, emotions that raged on, but emotions that failed to distract him from the sensations that coursed through him.

"Haa...! Ha–Agh...! S...top...! U-ugh–AH! S...stop...!"

He was a mess. Hair dampened with sweat, cheeks flushed, stained with tears. Only a small button nose and parted lips among other things. Frantic. Erratic. Unnatural breaths. And lips. Lips once so sweet now dripped from the tongue with bitterness. Pain. Anguish. Utter mortification.

Pained mewls and grunts mixed with strained sobs; his protests all fell on deaf ears.

"S-st–...U-uggh–A-aah!"

Long, creamy fingers clawed desperately at an exposed back, failing to tear the body away from him. Pained screams emitted from him as he withstood the pain that entered and exited him. They were in dragged motions, and they would not end. They would not stop. He would not relent.

"H-haa...! A-aah!"

But what horrified him most, what tore the sobs out of him most, was the pleasure, the gentle kisses and reaffirming words. That his mind did not want this but his body reacted differently...

He could kill himself from the shame.

"S-stop...! H-haa– D-Dino...!–...NNnng...h-hck–!"

The moon, positioned alpine in the night sky, cast bright light through tall glass doors, illuminating both a balcony and tiles of a wide room. Rich, red curtains danced to the cold night breeze, and the howling of the wind as well as the violent rustling of branches dominated the night.

Within range of the moon's incandescence, the king-sized bed stood exposed to the wind, draped with long, soft fabric that hung from the canopy of the davenport.

Italy was having a storm tonight.

"U-Ugh–! H-haa...A-Aaghh!"

So none could hear the crying voice.

He had always acknowledged it as brotherly affection. Dino was a passionate person when it came to his family, so Tsuna never saw any reason to read his gestures as anything but genuine kindness.

Wrapping his arms around him affectionately and supporting him as he always had in the past; it was evident that even after so many years together, their relationship hadn't withered in the slightest. Such was the reason why Tsuna found he could trust his pseudo brother.

It was as more time came to pass when something was brought to the Vongola's attention.

Norms such as the loving gestures and cheerful gazes changed slightly, and as one event led to another, Tsuna no longer knew how to react when he noticed the darker glint in his brother's eyes. Had it always been there, he no longer knew. That thought alone frightened him.

He wasn't oblivious. He noticed when the touches lingered, and he knew what the heated gazes hinted. He just could not find any trace of mutual affection in his body, no matter how hard he tried, because Dino at least deserved that.

Dino had always been his admirable brother, and this opinion he had of him was admittedly impossible to change.

He planned to give him his answer.

But things hadn't gone as planned.

He should have seen it coming, really. He would even say it was his fault.

He hadn't paid attention.

For months there had been an outbreak of crimes. A mafia family in Italy had begun dealing drugs to any willing to pay, and knowledge of the occurrences were sent to the Vongola. The drug was known as 'il respiro del Demonio', The Devil's Breath. And though the true extent of the drug was unknown, it was capable of weakening the body to a near-comatose state.

The number of seemingly-planned cases of robberies among the stores in their district shot up with victims finding difficulty remembering the events that occurred. Cases of sexual assault rose as a given.

The Vongola Family had no connection to whichever families distributed this drug either and that lead to even more complications when tracing the source. When they finally found hideouts scattered around the outskirts of Italy, they confiscated their supplies on top of punishing the offenders. The chaos simmered down almost immediately.

Reborn had taken the job of holding further investigations on the origin of drug, and Verde, despite himself, lead his own team to identify the properties of the drug.

Tsuna would be sent reports from both men and samples of different versions were supplied through Gokudera's connections.

But all four of them exhausted themselves.

It had been a long few weeks.

Tsuna found himself playing with a sample of the drug in-between the tip of his fingers as he sat lazily behind his desk. It really was during these moments as a boss that he felt grateful for having a right-hand man like Gokudera by his side.

A sigh of relief left his lips before he even noticed it coming, and he laid his head back.

"Here you go, Tenth."

Gokudera smiled warmly at his boss as he placed a glass of water on the desk. Tsuna looked at his friend with a tired face and gladly took the drink. He noticed another white tablet on the tray as well and blinked at it. Gokudera took notice of his stare and cracked a smile with a distant look, remembering something another event.

"The kid knew you had a migraine so he thought it would help with the pain. Fidgeted and everything, the brat."

"Lambo, huh?" Tsuna couldn't help but chuckle. He would have to thank him later. The two of them had lost a lot of play time together, so he was probably going to have to make it up to him.

Gokudera's smile lingered longer as he watched his boss' face, but he could no longer hide his worry as the idea of the rest of the night worried him.

His smile faltering did not go unnoticed by the other, and he didn't need to say anything to know that his boss knew. There was a short pause before Gokudera spoke tersely.

"Dino-san says he'll be staying over again."

Tsuna widened his smile after the statement before chuckling. "Does Romario know? We wouldn't want him worrying over his boss like last time."

The response upset Gokudera, Tsuna could tell. The man seemed to grit his teeth for a moment before trying to relax his face, but it was already too late. "A-aa, he called earlier apologizing for the inconvenience... B-but that's beside the point, and you know it."

There it was. Tsuna's eyes softened at the immediate change of tone in Gokudera's voice, and he relaxed himself.

Gokudera looked even more horrified at this and slammed his hands onto the table. He did not say anything. Not once did they direct their gaze away from each other. Tired green eyes stared into equally-tired brown ones. After a moment, something inside of Gokudera crumbled slightly, and his eyes, mirroring his emotions, drooped with sadness.

"Tenth..."

Tsuna couldn't help but feel flattered by Gokudera's concern. He was undeserving of such a caring friend.

"Gokudera," he whispered with a small smile, and Gokudera shut his eyes tiredly.

"Have faith in my strength."

Tsuna chuckled bitterly to himself.

That's what I said, and yet...

His legs gave in under him and he fell to his knees.

Shit.

He'd been drugged.

Breathing out, he tried recollecting his thoughts to figure out when this could have happened.

Aside from the tablet and water, he hadn't eaten a thing since breakfast. Had the bread been bad? Had his... coffee? Why did it take this long to take effe- no, better yet, why hadn't his super-intuition-

Tsuna widened his eyes as the dizziness was becoming too much for him to handle.

He was intoxicated.

He had returned to his chambers a little over half an hour ago, Gokudera having escorted him down the halls, and he had begun changing out of his formal attire. It wasn't after a minute of fumbling with the zipper of his slacks as well as his tie that he noticed his disorientation.

Could be a... memory lapse...?

The effects could have... kicked in earlier without him noticing. Perhaps he was drugged before, and his hyper intuition was clouded as a result, but still–

Shit.

Tsuna hadn't noticed it before. He held his stomach with a wince and looked to his bed.

Someone's... here...

Thinking fast, he realized the best thing to do was to stay calm. He needed Gokudera. He needed his right-hand manwhose room was located quite a long distance away from his room– he mentally cursed.

Tsuna grimaced at his poor coordination but managed to crawl to the table he placed his phone on and texted the man. Fumbling with the buttons, he noted how his message looked less than decent, only having the word 'help' readable, but it would do. Gokudera knew he rarely used his phone, even during the most important times, so the man would come running once he heard the ringtone set under his name go off.

And that was what reassured him.

For the next second.

Tsuna's heart dropped as soon as the familiar ringtone sounded. From the direction of his canopy bed. A loud laugh made him go pale.

"Ha ha ha! It's a good thing I took his phone off him, don't you think, little bro?"

A hand parted the curtains of his bed slightly and he immediately recognized the mess of blond hair that followed suit. He didn't have time to react before another pain left him clutching his stomach for dear life, and it wasn't until he came to did he notice how close Dino was to him. They were now merely centimetres away, the older crouching down and looking at him with a smile.

It was then when he confirmed it. He had been suffering from memory lapse.

"The effects last up to 72 hours. Clouded judgement and perception of situations, weak starts… You've already been under its influence since Monday, so you should have about three more left. The last three hours are when the drugs are at its strongest, though. Dangerous, isn't it? Oh, but I made sure it wouldn't do you any real harm!"

He didn't know how to respond to that, but he knew it wasn't just the nausea that was making him feel sick.

"I heard you and the others have been researching Devil's Breath, but I can assure you that this is a normal sedative." Dino laughed at himself "Not that it helps the situation much."

"Dino, please..."

"The drug is close to Rohypnol, but it's a modified version."

His vision blurred almost immediately, and Tsuna gagged from the sudden sensation. He tried holding on for a little longer, but his body was already completely drained, feeling worse than any following morning of one of Reborn's training sessions.

Tsuna furrowed his brows. Reborn.

"Rohypnol lasts for 8-12 hours. But that would have meant slipping in the powder sometime this afternoon, but that would've been impossible with Gokudera hanging around you 24/7. Other than that, the symptoms are pretty much the same, but this way you're not drowsy when that noisy man comes in to wake you in the morning. Ah, but you look pained. Did you take something else for your headache, maybe? Oh no, that might make you a bit queasy, Tsuna!"

Tsuna blacked out for a second but forced his eyes open when he was caught by the man in front of him. It was getting more and more difficult to stay awake and this had him narrowing his eyes into tired squints.

Dino brought his mouth to his little brother's right ear before smiling and lowering to place a chaste kiss on the base of his neck. He mumbled against the soft skin.

"Within the next three hours, I'll only prepare you, strip you. I won't touch you any more until you wake up."

Tsuna stifled a whimper when he was suddenly bitten. His breathing became uneasy when he felt the wound being lapped at.

"Once you wake up, we can fully enjoy ourselves."

He didn't know how to answer as a result of his intoxication, but even if he had been able to, he would have been at a loss for words. There was a low chuckle, and then he was pulled back to be observed. A hand reached out to stroke his left cheek.

"If you're sleepy then sleep. No need to stay awake on my account."

Tsuna didn't know what to do. He looked into his brother's eyes, hoping for some sort of reassurance. But it was when he saw that dark expression again did he realize that he had made a mistake.

Dino...

Tsuna's eyes held a look of sadness in them. This only received another bitter chuckle in response.

I don't want this...

"Sorry, Tsuna."

And his world was consumed by darkness.