Dino crossed his feet on his desk and stared out the window. "Hmm."
"Boss?" Romario looked in the door. "Anything you need?"
Dino waved a hand "No, no, just thinking."
Romario smiled behind his mustache. "Ah." He came in and sorted briefly through Dino’s papers, gathering the finished letters and notes to go out. "Tsuna-kun or Hibari?" he asked casually.
Dino laughed, rueful. "You know me too well."
"You don’t puzzle over our own family," Romario murmured. "You act."
Dino’s mouth quirked wryly. "Just like Hibari, hm?" He stretched, sighing. "He really would do well among us. It’s too bad he doesn’t know anything about our history, I think he’d actually approve."
Romario made sympathetic sounds.
"Of course, damned if I can get him to listen," Dino added, rather disgruntled. "Ignores me all the time in favor of his…" He stopped, eyes widening. "Books." For a moment he just sat, staring at nothing. Slowly he began to smile.
"Romario."
"Sir?"
"I think I’m going to want some memoirs. And some blank books."
Kyouya looked up, with a certain jaundiced expectation, as the door of his lounge was flung cheerily open and Cavallone breezed in. No one else intruded on him here. "Back again?"
Cavallone smiled in a way that made Kyouya shift, warily; that was Cavallone’s "I have a plan" smile, and Kyouya was somewhat annoyed to realize he recognized it at once.
"Well, you know, I was cleaning out the library and found some things I thought you might like." He waved a few slim books in one hand. "Seeing how much you seem to enjoy history."
Kyouya glanced down at the book currently open in his hands. "You take the baby’s ‘home tutor’ nonsense a little too seriously."
"You’ll like this. I promise. Just take a look." Cavallone laid the books down on the couch beside him, flashed another smile, and took himself back out.
Kyouya sniffed. The least the man could have done was offer him a decent fight, while he was here.
He picked up the book on top and paged through it, brow lifting. It seemed to be a personal journal. Cavallone had brought it, it had to be about the mafia. But it was in Japanese and the sentences he scanned sounded… familiar.
He turned back to the beginning, frowning, and read more slowly. An idea here, a sentence there, slipped through his mind easy and familiar as koi in their own pool.
"…as true men always have, we must look after our own honor and never leave it to an outsider…"
"…only law is the law of blood, we will never forget…"
"…our true strength has nothing to do with the foolish softness of rules made in cities far away…"
After an hour or two, Kyouya reached for the second book.
Two days later, Kyouya flung open the door to Cavallone’s ex-hospital office without bothering to knock and strolled over to drop the books on a table. "You know, you could have just said from the start that the mafia has proper traditions."
"How was I supposed to get you to hold still long enough?" Cavallone asked, dryly.
Kyouya didn’t bother answering that. "It’s a suitable kind of thing," he pronounced.
Cavallone downright grinned and Kyouya gave him a narrow look; he didn’t see any reason for Cavallone to look so pleased.
"Good."
Kyouya flicked his fingers at the covers. "I still say herding together is weak."
Cavallone’s grin quirked. "You’re the Cloud. No one will ask you to."
"All right, then." Kyouya crossed his arms. "So?"
Cavallone raised his brows. "So… what?"
"Are we going to fight or not?"
Cavallone leaned back and laughed.
End
Kyouya flicked his fingers at the covers. “I still say herding together is weak.”
Cavallone’s grin quirked. “You’re the Cloud. No one will ask you to.”
Oh, Dino. ♥
*grins* I really do love Dino quite a lot. He’s one of the only sane ones around.
*laughing helplessly* Dino is a devious one, that’s for sure. And Hibari is kind of easy to maneuver, once you know what his buttons are.
He really is, and Dino is quite good at it. *grinning* Of course it’s not like Hibari really /hides/ his buttons, he just gnaws on people who come near them.
XD Oh dear god that was freaking awesome.
*hearts* Thank you! I had fun with this one. ^_^
You are welcome. 😀
Hahaha, yes! Another fic from you~!
Hihi, I really think Dino is among the few who knows how to push Hibari’s buttons, other than Reborn, and in the future, Tsuna. And yeah, wonder how to get Hibari still, don’t you think?
If Hibari was to answer that, what would he say? XDD
You make Hibari sounds like a scholar 😀 Not bad, wanna see more of Scholar!Hibari :p And I do love reading (history) books… even it’s not canon, but I like the fact I share something similar with Hibari 😀
Glad you liked it!
*wicked grin* I think Dino likes a challenge, for all he acts so put-upon over Hibari.
*laughs* He certainly turns into a researcher in the future! And I do find myself wondering what that book (or books) are that he’s always reading–when he’s not napping of course.
INGENIOUS DINO-SAN (:
*giggling* Isn’t he? <3
This is just. Wao. Seriously xD I totally forgot Hibari liked to read books (I vaguely remember him reading when he was hospitalised xD)
Dino isn’t the head of a mafia family for nothing >DDD And I really liked the “quotes” from the book :DDD
Great job!! I really enjoyed this ♥
*sparkles* Thank you!
*grins* I did have fun coming up with the ‘quotes’. Did some web browsing to get a feel for that whole culture and came out figuring it was something Kyouya would actually really kind of like.
Dino, your ‘love letters’: translating journals for Hibari, so. Hilarious. Even though Dino is one of the few sane ones, he is also quite insane, isn’t he? I mean, voluntarily seeing how much he can push Hibari’s buttons… that’s not really sane.
Amazing as always.
Thank you!
He really is more than a little nuts. Kind of like Yamamoto, who seems like a sane one, except that he’s totally not. Come to think of it, he thinks Hibari is fun to play with too; maybe there’s a trend here.
The one reason why I think that Dino’s flame might be a Rain attribute is due to that, actually.
I recently stumbled upon the KHR fandom, and have just spent the better part of an hour going through your Dino + Hibari fics. The characterization you have for them is spot-on — the same blend of humor and something more serious that one finds in the series itself — and the writing, as always, is lovely. <3
Especially liked this ficlet and its take on Hibari coming to accept a place in the mafia. All those times he’s pictured reading in the series…I’ve always liked to think that those were actually works of literature (as opposed to, say, notes or a diary), and that he is perhaps rather bookish at heart. 🙂
(*will likely spam some of the other stories at a later date*)
Thank you! *grins* It’s a fun series isn’t it? Every now and then Amano does something to tick me off, but for the most part KHR rocks my socks. And while I love all the boys, Hibari has a special place in my heart, the feral little thing. Such wonderful contradictions!
LOL. Hahahah Kyouya! Always the one track mind :))
*grins* He totally is!