This fic is set in the same universe as my previous fic Seasons of War and Grace and will probably make very little sense if you haven't read that fic to its completion. I just can't let this universe go, apparently... orz.

Amano Akira owns Reborn. I own the OCs.

Hibari had realised a few things about children since becoming a father. One of those things was that, being young, small and new to the world, they tended to succumb to any injury or disease with ridiculous ease. Another thing he had learned was that when you had more than one child and one of those children became ill, the other children would inevitably catch whatever illness the first child had caught. He'd come to his first realisation when Hideyoshi was very young, and he could still remember sitting up into the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning, caring for his sick infant son and fulfilling his need to constantly be nursed and held. Now that Hideyoshi was older, illness was less of a problem for him; he typically slept through the night if he was medicated and the only real problems were his habit of complaining about said illness, and his habit of having no sense of personal space. Unfortunately, Lucia and Aurelia weren't even one year old, and that meant that Hibari was once again stuck at square one.

Lucia was lying in her crib, a wash cloth wet with lukewarm water on her forehead. She was making the most pitiful whimpering sound Hibari had ever heard, and he'd heard plenty of idiotic herbivores cry pathetically after feeling his strength. She occasionally stopped whimpering just long enough to look up at him with blurry, pleading eyes. Hibari frowned and clenched his teeth. Feeling powerless was something he particularly resented, and being unable to help his own child was even worse.

"So this is where you've been hiding, Kyouya."

Hibari had to admit that he was just slightly relieved to hear Diana's voice. He glanced over his shoulder to greet her, and was immediately knocked off-balance by Hideyoshi taking what resembled a flying leap directly into his legs and clinging to him.

Diana had Aurelia resting on her left shoulder, sound asleep; their youngest daughter had been showing signs of becoming ill, but she was yet to succumb to the fever as badly as her sister had. Hideyoshi had been the first one to be sick, having caught the illness from one of the many children who came and went from their home; there was so many Cavallone Family members who had their own brats to take care of that it was pointless to try and trace the origin of the disease. To Hideyoshi's great irritation, they had tried to keep him separated from his sisters, but after Lucia had become ill and Aurelia had showed signs of the same sickness, they had realised it had been a fruitless effort. At least Hideyoshi was recovering well and Aurelia looked as if she might avoid the worst of the symptoms, but Lucia was left to suffer through it. As Diana approached him, he turned back to Lucia. She was coughing a little now, and seemed to be on the verge of crying. Diana sighed and went to put Aurelia in her crib; she stirred a little but didn't wake. That was a relief at the very least, Hibari decided; she hadn't recovered much at all, but she certainly hadn't become worse. If the affectionate squeezing on his right leg was anything to judge by, Hideyoshi was feeling a lot better than he had for the past few days. Lucia was the only one left to be worried about.

Hibari's eldest daughter was still staring up at him with a look that was positively pained, and Diana leaned over her husband's shoulder and sighed at the sight.

"You know she's never going to rest if you're here, Kyouya."

"She wasn't resting anyway," Hibari said, managing to keep most of the defensiveness out of his voice. Lucia made an incoherent noise at the sight of her mother, and Diana took the wash cloth from her forehead and absentmindedly handed it to Hideyoshi, who wrinkled his nose.

"Mama, that's gross."

"Just put it in the bowl on the table over there," Diana said patiently, gesturing vaguely at the desk next to Aurelia's crib, "and go and wash your hands."

Hideyoshi looked like he wanted to argue the point a little more, but a look from Diana quickly changed his mind and he did as he was told without another word.

"I blame you for that disagreeable part of his personality," Diana sighed, turning to Hibari with just a hint of a smirk on her lips.

"I don't see how that's any direct fault of mine," Hibari replied, and Diana grinned.

"Thank you for proving my point, Kyouya."

Hibari chose to ignore that particular attempt at teasing. Diana's smile faded and she glanced back at their daughter. She'd calmed down a little, but she still looked unwell.

"Has she made any improvement?"

"Her temperature's dropped a little," Hibari replied, gently holding the back of his hand to Lucia's forehead, "but she's still hot."

"We should leave her alone to rest," Diana said softly. "I'll tell my men to stand guard and they'll tell me if she needs us."

"I suppose," Hibari replied lightly. Lucia was trying to rest, but her own coughing was continually waking her up, and standing directly over her and talking probably wasn't helping much at all. The noise didn't seem to be bothering Aurelia, though; although her breathing sounded a little congested, she was sound asleep with her hands balled into fists on either side of her head.

Soft footfalls from the hallway outside alerted Hibari to Hideyoshi's return; his sleeves were still rolled up to his elbows and he was holding an armful of tissues that looked like it had once been the contents of about half of a box. Hibari raised his eyebrows at his son, and Hideyoshi grinned awkwardly.

"I thought I had to sneeze, but I didn't. So I brought them here for Lucia."

Diana sighed, took the tissues from her son and placed them on the saem desk as the bowl and the washcloth. Hideyoshi had good intentions, but those good intentions were often rather misguided and naive, as were a lot of the good intentions held by children. A second later, Diana's cell phone began ringing. Aurelia made a displeased sound as her mother walked past her crib, but thankfully she didn't wake. Diana took the phone from the pocket of her coat and looked at the display; a frown formed on her face for a fleeting moment, but she quickly covered it with a smile.

"It's Tsuna."

Hideyoshi frowned a little, but kept his silence as his mother walked to the other side of the room to take the call. His Uncle Tsuna calling his Mama directly usually meant he was looking for his Papa, and that usually meant that his Papa had to leave. Although his Uncle was kind and had looked after him very well while he'd been living in Japan, he never looked forward to his calls.

"Hey, Papa," Hideyoshi sighed. "Will you miss us?"

"If I didn't miss all of you, would I be here?" Hibari questioned lightly, and Hideyoshi frowned.

"I guess not."

"Then you have nothing to worry about," Hibari said, smiling a small smile and ruffling his son's hair. Hideyoshi glared up at his father through his messy fringe, and Hibari's smile vanished. Hideyoshi swallowed against the lump that had rose in his throat at the sight of his father's frown; he knew that his Papa wasn't to be trifled with when he was this serious.

"Be good for your mother."

"I'm good all the time while you're away," Hideyoshi frowned, folding his arms over his chest moodily, as if he was insulted by the very suggestion that he'd ever misbehave.

"Then I'm sure you won't mind helping with your sisters," Hibari replied, and Hideyoshi's frown became more pronounced. "And don't worry, I'm quite sure that they won't infect you with any sort of incurable disease as long as you're careful. Very careful. And very well-behaved."

Hideyoshi paled at that thought, but he was saved from any further teasing at the hands of his Papa by his Mama's return.

Hibari crossed the room and met Diana halfway between the door and the back of the room, and Hideyoshi averted his eyes and focused on Lucia, who had now fallen into a fitful sleep. Aurelia was still dozing peacefully in her cot, snoring softly and kicking the blanket covering her lower half to the very end of the mattress. His parents didn't like him listening in on Mafia business, and he'd long given up his attempts to be sneaky and hear what they were discussing. He may have known about the world his parents were involved in in the sense that it was bad, but he didn't care about that as much as he cared about their safety. Their habit of continually leaving him in the dark was frustrating, but the only time he'd raised an objection his parents had simply told him that knowledge was danger. He'd stopped asking after that.

"England," Diana murmured against the shell of Hibari's ear, "two nights. You leave tomorrow morning at 6a.m. Buona fortuna, Kyouya."

Hibari nodded, and Diana glanced over his shoulder at their son. Hideyoshi was staring back rather solemnly, his hands behind his back and eyes wide. Shooting a sideways glance as Hibari, Diana gestured to Hideyoshi and ran over to her, clinging to her waist.

"Don't worry, Hideyoshi. Papa's just worried."

"Worried?" Hideyoshi questioned, and Diana grinned.

"Worried about you sisters," Diana said, aiming a smirk at her husband. "And what will happen if he doesn't apologise for what he did to scare you before he leaves. Look after the babies, Kyouya. I'll train Hideyoshi today."

Diana shot a grin at her husband as she shut the door behind her, and Hibari rolled his eyes. Aurelia, who had failed to be disturbed by anything up to this point, stirred at the sound of the door shutting and began to whimper. Sighing, Hibari walked over to his younger daughter's crib and picked her up, gently bouncing her up and down in his arms to try and calm her.

Annoying Diana only led to bad things.

The mission had gone well enough, but the entire ordeal had been a trial in Hibari's patience and his nerves. The idea had been simple, in theory; collect money and box weapons on the behalf of the Vongola, return to the Vongola's Italian territory to deliver the loot and then return to his wife and children while the Vongola dealt with whatever fallout the deal caused. The deal wasn't really under the table, but it was made without the knowledge of certain Families who had also been very interested in this particular group of Box Weapons, and it was undoubtedly going to upset someone in the world of Cosa Nostra that the Vongola had used their influence and monetary strength to claim the Boxes. For the greater good of the Mafia World, Sawada had said when he'd phoned Hibari at the airport before his flight took off. Hibari had involved himself because of the Boxes involved, but it would have been a lot quicker and easier had he been given permission to kill anyone who got in his way.

Instead, he'd been forced to flee like a coward and was only saved from the idiotic herbivores pursuing him thanks to his own quick wits and a particular stroke of luck. And now he was being driven back to Cavallone territory by one of his wife's drivers, relieved of the Vongola's expensive, troublesome burden. Although Sawada's herbivores always complained about his absence from Japan - especially Gokudera Hayato, and he made a habit of vocalising his displeasure every time they spoke - but Hibari sometimes got the distinct impression that Sawada was thankful to have him spend the majority of his time in Italy. He did miss Japan, but he had realised some time ago that there were now things in his life that deserved his devotion and attention more than Namimori. Besides, Sawada was no longer so pathetic that he would let the town suffer any ill.

The drive back to the Cavallone Estate always seemed to take longer after they'd spent apart, but Hibari was relieved that he'd soon be back with his family in his home away from home. It was irritating to have to wait, especially considering the late hour and how exhausted he was, but he impatiently let the time tick by until he felt the car rise to meet the familiar steep incline of the path that led to Cavallone's home. The windows on the car were heavily tinted, but he could see the tiny, bright dots of the lights that marked the entrance of the mansion to guests, and he could hear the heavy, metallic clang of the security gates shut behind the car as the distant specks of light grew with every passing second, signalling their approach.

Hibari got out of the car before it had stopped moving. It wasn't that he was anymore desperate to see Cavallone or any of his family than any other time that they were separated, but he was tired and his children had been ill. Worrying about them was not weakness, but he'd never tell Cavallone of his concern; she'd never let him hear the end of how it was apparently "adorable" for him to show emotion towards his own children.

He looked back over his shoulder at the car he'd arrived in; sure enough, the driver didn't seem to care much about his abrupt exit from the vehicle and was in the process of driving it around to the garage at the side of the Estate. Its tail lights blinked vaguely in the distance befire disappearing entirely as the engine was shut off, and Hibari caught sight of one of Diana's cars sitting outside of the garage. He frowned a little, but didn't pay it much attention, and a few seconds later he'd retrieved his keys and opened the front door, shutting it securely behind him.

Although it was close to midnight, the Cavallone household never seemed to be anything but active, regardless of the time of day. Diana's men were still wandering around; some of them were still working, others were simply retreating to the spare rooms to sleeping, having spent too much time working to be alert enough to safety drive home, and some were simply patrolling, watching him uncertainly and looking unsure whether to treat him with respect or contempt. A small number of maids were still wandering around the halls, carrying armfuls of laundry. The mix of dark business suits and white dress shirts stained with red looked almost comical next to the piles of nappies, the tiny dresses and the shirts emblazoned with expensive brand names and Hideyoshi's favourite fictional characters. However, Hibari didn't bother stopping to talk to anyone, even when one of the more familiar maids squeaked and dropped the basket of wet clothing she was carrying. It wasn't his fault that she was terrified of him, Hibari thought; if she wasn't so clumsy when she fed his children he would have no reason to be irritated by her.

As he climbed the stairs that led to the upper floors and the more private areas of the house, the noise of the ground floor died away and the house was almost completely silent, aside from the footfalls of the occasional guard or maid. Hibari liked it better up in the more private area of the house; it was much less crowded, as only the most trusted of Cavallone's men and assistants were allowed free passage to and from the top floor. Most of the rooms were dedicated to hosting esteemed guests and Diana's most trusted men, but their private family quarters were also on this floor, behind sets of security doors that were heavily guarded by some of the most powerful members of the Cavallone Family. And if any assassin was skilled enough to get this far, there were more guards on the other side... not to mention the threat of Cavallone and himself to keep anyone who thought they could harm their children on their toes. Hibari smirked as he walked though the armoured doors, ushered through with a nod from the two men standing guard. The security had been slightly more lax when he'd first come to the Cavallone Mansion, but it had been tightened ever since the end of the war with the Annaloro.

Hideyoshi's room was the first occupied room past the security doors, and Hibari slipped through the door without so much as an acknowledging gesture from the men standing guard outside. His son was a ridiculously light sleeper and always awoke when he came to visit him after missions, regardless of how late or early it was. This time was no exception, and Hideyoshi sat bolt upright in bed the moment the door clicked shut behind his father.

"Who...?" Hideyoshi called uncertainly into the darkness, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and reaching for the lamp on the table beside his bed. The moment he saw his father, however, his entire face lit up and the traces of confusion and tiredness faded from his face.

"Papa!"

"Keep you voice down," Hibari said, and Hideyoshi immediately shut his mouth and nodded so fast that he looked dizzy when he stopped. "If your mother realises that you're awake she'll be annoyed with both of us."

"Okay," Hideyoshi replied in an exaggerated whisper. "I'm glad you're home, Papa."

"Good," Hibari said with a smirk. "I take it that you're feeling better."

Hideyoshi nodded again, almost bouncing off the mattress with happiness at his father's return.

"And I was good like you said. Ask Mama!"

"I will," Hibari said, and Hideyoshi's face fell a little.

"You could take my word for it, Papa. I've been good."

Hibari stared at his son until his cheeks were coloured a vibrant red, and Hideyoshi averted his gaze from Hibari's at that point and stared at his hands, clenched tight in his lap.

"Okay, I was mostly good."

"Oh?"

Hideyoshi wrinkled his nose and picked at a loose thread unravelling from the corner of his bed sheet.

"Lucia was sick and Mama told me to look after her while she was feeding Aurelia, so I sat on the chair near the window with Lucia in my lap."

Hideyoshi stopped playing with the corner of his sheets to hold his arms in front of him, in his lap; a rough reenactment of how Lucia had been lying when he'd apparently done something to upset his mother.

"And then she was sick." Hideyoshi's expression was positively dark as he recalled the moment, and Hibari smirked.

"You got in trouble for that?"

"I... said a bad word when it happened," Hideyoshi said, pouting furiously. "But I wouldn't have said it if I remembered that Mama spoke Japanese. She always speaks Italian to me! And it was my favourite shirt, and Lucia did it on purpose-"

"Hideyoshi," Hibari said evenly, and his son blinked up at him. "Remember when your mother made me apologise to you before I left?"

"Mama's the only person who can make you apologise," Hideyoshi noted, and Hibari decided that teaching his son a valuable life lesson was a better option than punishing him for that little faux pas. Besides, he was in Cavallone territory and despite being from a more powerful allied Family, Diana's word was effectively law in her own territory. He also didn't have the added bonus of having over five thousand men with mixed feelings about his wife at his beck and call, and "sleeping on the couch" sounded good in theory but was uncomfortable in practice. And that was ignoring what Cavallone could potentially do to him without any help whatsoever. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he admired Diana's strength; after all, she wouldn't have kept his attention for as long as she had if she was weak.

"I would apologise to your mother for upsetting her. The sooner the better."

"Mama never stays mad at me for long," Hideyoshi huffed, and Hibari smirked.

"Your mother is a good person, but she's not the sort of person you'd want to annoy. So I would suggest apologising to her tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Hideyoshi pouted; he still looked annoyed at the prospect of saying sorry when he still held the opinion that his mother was wrong.

"I I speak the truth when I say that annoying your mother is more trouble than it's worth," Hibari replied, almost shuddering at the thought of his own mother. He fully intended to tell her that he was married to a foreigner and had three children with said foreigner. One day. When she wasn't busy writing him letters that implied rather venomously that he didn't visit her enough - did she ever stop to wonder why? - or sending him large envelopes full of omiais that Tetsu forwarded to the Cavallone Estate out of guilt.

Just as Hibari finished wandering off into thought, Hideyoshi opened his mouth in a yawn that he wasn't quite successful in stifling. Hibari noticed and turned to leave.

"Bed."

"I know, I know," Hideyoshi grumbled, pulling his sheets up so far that the only part of him left exposed was the top of his head.

"I'm here now," Hibari stated, "so there will be no need for you to help your mother with your sisters anymore. And it's Saturday, so that means no school and no training. I assume that you don't want to be tired for your day of freedom, Hideyoshi."

Hideyoshi shook his head no, and Hibari nodded.

"Goodnight, Hideyoshi."

"Goodnight, Papa," Hideyoshi said, kicking his sheets away from his face and giving his father a broad grin as he left the room. People always said that his son resembled him, Hibari mused, but it was his honest opinion that he resembled Diana much more when he was happy.

He headed for Lucia and Aurelia's room, but figured that it was best not to disturb either of them if they were asleep; he couldn't hear any cries of discontent as he neared the door, which effectively confirmed his suspicions that both his infant daughters were asleep. He would see them in the morning, when they were well-rested. He didn't particularly want to deprive them of rest, especially if they were still unwell.

Hibari turned to the Cavallone men guarding the door, having ignored them up until this point.

"Has there been any disturbances tonight?"

"No, both of the Young Mistresses are sleeping soundly and were checked ten minutes ago," the man on the right replied, and Hibari nodded and walked towards the main bedroom without another word. The man standing to the right of the door turned toward the man on the left, who simply shrugged.

The master bedroom was right at the end of the hall, and six dark-suited men lined the hall at all times of the day and night. They were too accustomed to Hibari's presence to really bother with talking to him, and Hibari was rather thankful for that. He opened the bedroom door with little ceremony, shut and locked it behind him and discarded his jacket the moment he stepped into the room.

Diana was still awake. She had a pile of paper in her lap and reading glasses on, pushed high up onto the bridge of her nose. She looked a little surprised when Kyouya walked in without so much as a hello, but her smile was genuine as she placed the papers in her lap beside the bed and removed her glasses.

"Hello, Kyouya."

"You're still awake?" Hibari questioned, kicking off his shoes and socks with ease and starting on the buttons on his shirt.

"It's been a busy few days," Diana murmured. "I'm trying to catch up on the work I've been ignoring to care for the babies."

"I'm sure that's the only reason why you've been neglecting it, Cavallone."

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were implying I was avoiding it because it's the boring part of my otherwise exciting life," Diana grinned.

"Or the harmless part of your otherwise dangerous life."

"That too," Diana said, laughing weakly as Kyouya shed his shirt; she noticed the large, protective plaster on her husband's upper arm immediately and frowned. "Another close call, huh?"

"Not really," Hibari sniffed. "A bullet grazed me. It should be closed over by now. I was merely careless; it was nothing to do with the skill of the enemy."

"It only takes a second to make the mistake that kills you, Kyouya," Diana murmured; she obviously wasn't pleased with her husband, but she kissed him as he slid onto the other side of the bed nonetheless. "You didn't tell Hideyoshi, did you?"

Hibari gave Diana a suspicious sidelong glance, and she responded with a smirk. "My men aren't just there to decorate the space around the doors to our children's rooms, Kyouya. They keep a record of everyone who exits and enters the rooms on this floor."

"Of course not," Hibari replied, finally answering the question. "He worries too much for his own good."

"With good reason, apparently," Diana pointed out. She glanced at the scar that crossed her husband's eye, but resisted the urge to run her fingers along the jagged scar that Gianni Annaloro had left on her left shoulder.

"There's no point in worrying about it, Cavallone. It was close, but I managed to survive," Hibari replied, tone so serious that Diana knew he was teasing. "You're as bad as our son."

"I know," Diana replied, a small smile playing at her lips. "The last seven years have made me soft."

"I tolerate it," Hibari replied, and Diana quirked a brow at him.

"And you're just as bad as ever, Kyouya. I tolerate you as much as you tolerate me. How romantic."

"Then I suppose the feeling is mutual?" Hibari smirked.

Diana smiled tiredly and tugged the blankets up from the end of the bed. "If you want to look at it that way."

It was strange, but it hadn't occurred to Kyouya that Diana looked exhausted until now. He supposed that it stood to reason; she had never really liked the ideas of handing their children off to the maids unless it was absolutely necessary because, as she had told him the first time he'd questioned her after Hideyoshi was born, children are the responsibility of their parents. She'd probably been caring for Lucia and Aurelia mostly by herself with occasional assistance from their son... who, being seven years of age, probably couldn't offer much in the way of help. He had to admire her stubborn nature, at the very least; he'd known her for long enough to be well aware of the fact that she was stronger than she seemed. That was the assumption he'd made the first time they'd met, in the Student Council Room at Namimori Middle School, and it had taken him a long time to admit that he had been wrong about her.

"Diana," Hibari started, once again feeling very much like an idiotic school-aged brat suffering from the effects of a crush. At least this time he knew what the awkward feeling in the pit of his stomach meant.

"Kyouya?" Diana questioned with a small smile, and Hibari realised that he'd developed the bad habit of using his wife's given name whenever he was saying or doing something particularly meaningful. Cursing himself for overlooking this irritating fact, he cleared his throat and tried again.

"Cavallone."

Diana's grin became more impish at the familiar sound of her last name, and Hibari fought the urge to frown.

He'd never been good at vocalising anything much, least of all the deeper feelings he may have felt for certain people. To him, actions would always speak much louder than any words, and perhaps that's why Diana didn't look entirely surprised when he pinned her against the mattress and kissed her.

And this wasn't weakness either, Hibari told himself as he deepened the kiss and supported the back of Diana's head with an open palm. It had taken him a long time to realise that too, but he was grateful that he had. Diana apparently was too, because a second later her arms were around his shoulders and neck, pulling him closer and demanding more as Hibari slid his other hand along the tattoos on the side of her body.

Unfortunately, life had a habit of interrupting at the most inconvenient of times, and this particular occasion was no exception. One of Diana's eyes opened as her cell phone began vibrating against the hardwood floor, just over the side of the bed and out of her reach. She attempted to reach over the side of the bed in a way she hoped was stealthy, but stretched a little too far would have slid off the bed were it not for Hibari's body weight on her lower half. The Cloud Guardian looked questioningly at his wife, and Diana replied with a sheepish grin, grabbed her phone and regained her position on the bed with a somewhat clumsy effort.

"Yes?" Diana said as she answered the phone, and Hibari was rather pleased to note that she sounded slightly short of breath. Three seconds and one movement of his hand later, Diana was frowning and taking his hand from beneath her shirt. Hibari quirked a brow at her and placed his hands back in his lap; it was hardly his fault if her herbivores insisted on constantly ringing her at all hours of the night, interrupting whatever they were doing in the process. They worried about her entirely too much and he was rather surprised that it didn't irritate her. She was probably accustomed to it by now.

"The babies are crying," Diana sighed. "I'll go and calm them down."

"I'll go."

"Are you worried about them, Kyouya?" Diana grinned, but Hibari chose to ignore her in favour of redressing in his shirt and pants. She knew the answer to her own question, of course, but Cavallone never seemed to stop taking pleasure from teasing him. She'd always been rather skilled at irritating him with things like that, and that habit had only grown to be a bigger annoyance after the births of their children.

"You're annoying," Hibari replied after he had finished refastening his shirt, and Diana smirked.

"Really Kyouya, saying you care would be easier."

"Talk is cheap," Hibari replied evenly, feigning ignorance when Diana gave him a knowing look. "Get some rest, Cavallone. No doubt that your crowding herbivores would find a way to blame your exhaustion on me and be generally irritating about it."

"Oh, no doubt," Diana said with a grin as Kyouya left the room. "Have fun."

Hibari shut the bedroom door behind himself wordlessly and tried to ignore the stifled laughter of the men standing guard as he walked past them. They'd probably forgotten what it was like to feel outnumbered to a truly humiliating degree the moment they joined the Cavallone.

Cavallone's men hadn't been wrong when they'd said that the babies were crying; in fact, it would have been more accurate to say they were screaming. They'd worked out the fact that noise equated to attention far earlier than their brother had, and Hibari couldn't say he was particularly thrilled about that development. Both guards at the door gladly stepped aside to let him through, and Hibari couldn't help but wince at the high-pitched screech that greeted him as he opened the nursery door. That undoubtedly came from Lucia; one of his first thoughts concerning his eldest daughter, barely a minute after she was born, had been that she already the loudest person he'd had the displeasure of knowing. However, any potentially negative thoughts he could have had were gone the moment he started cradling her - as opposed to staring at her blankly as she lay in his lap - and she'd calmed at his touch.

Aurelia wasn't too upset, by the looks of things; as Hibari approached her crib, it looked as if she'd already calmed down, aside from the occasional whimper caused by particularly loud cries from her sister. Hibari sighed and offered his younger daughter her pacifier, and she accepted it immediately, clear brown eyes staring up at her father contentedly. Unfortunately, Lucia wasn't calmed as easily as her younger sister, and her being sick would only make things worse. After carefully picking Lucia up and resting her against his shoulder, Hibari could certainly tell that his daughter was still feverish. She wasn't quite as hot as before, but apparently it still warranted her disdain.

"You're already causing so much trouble," Hibari murmured, holding Lucia against his chest with one arm as he headed for the chair beside the large window set into the wall of the room. It was a cool night and he'd been given no indication that it was time for his daughter to be given medicine or food, so he figured that his best course of action was to try and make her as comfortable as possible. "Waking your sister, exhausting your mother, annoying your brother... although you're too young for any of it to be intentional, I suppose. If you were a little older I'd be suspicious."

Lucia hiccuped as Hibari lay her down on his lap, and then proceeded to give her father a rather dirty look as he reclined the chair. Hibari raised an eyebrow at that; it was like Hideyoshi's infancy all over again. What exactly had he done to offend his children and cause them to give him such angry looks?

As it turned out, Hibari was rather lucky that night; Lucia seemed almost relieved to put an end to her own crying, but she was still sick, sore and miserable, and was apparently rather opposed to the idea of simply falling asleep without a fuss. She reached for one of the tiny, shining buttons on her father's dress shirt, grabbed a fistful of shirt instead and made a rather admirable attempt to stick it in her mouth. Hibari winced and quickly retrieved the part of his shirt that Lucia had in her grasp. Lucia made an angry noise and reached for the shirt again, and this cycle continued until Hibari realised he'd left Lucia's pacifier in her crib. He gave up at this point, and his infant daughter looked almost triumphant. Hibari was able to smile at that; she was young, but she was already showing a ridiculous amount of contempt for those who wanted to defy her, albeit in an extremely infantile way. When his children had first been born, it had been difficult for him to believe that any person he'd had a part in creating could be so small, so vulnerable. He'd been strong for as long as he could remember, so he had no real way of knowing when they would begin to grow to their full potential. He supposed, as he looked down on his daughter and his now damp shirt with slight disgust, that all of his children still had years to prove their strength. When would they start getting close to Diana and himself in terms of strength? Early teens? Late teens? Much earlier than that? Hibari wasn't sure, but he knew that Hideyoshi was getting stronger at an admirable pace, despite the fact that he was yet to find something that suited his style in terms of weaponry.

It didn't really matter when it happened, but it was something worth anticipating. If genetics were anything to go by, it seemed that his children would be powerful. And clumsy, if they were supremely unlucky.

Lucia seemed a little calmer now, Hibari noted, so he rested her against his shoulder again and eased himself out of the chair. The moment she was back in her crib she was whimpering again, and Hibari sighed. Aurelia was still sound asleep in her own crib, sucking on her pacifier so hard that Hibari was almost concerned that she'd inhale it. He retrieved Lucia's pacifier from the other end of her cot and held it in front of her, but she didn't seem interested in it. In fact, she seemed to be staring right by it and directly at him.

Hibari sighed and went to the armchair he'd previously been sitting in and dragged it across the carpet, not caring about the noise his was making until he heard his son's loud, annoyed groan from through the opposite wall. At that point, he decided that the best course of action was to actually carry the chair; if Aurelia woke up and became frightened from the noise she's start crying, which would inevitably make Lucia cry, which may or may not wake Hideyoshi, which would make Cavallone annoyed at all of them... and then he would be back to square one.

Positioning the chair by Lucia's crib, he stared through the protective wooden bars at his daughter with his hands clenched in his lap.

"Go to sleep," Hibari said. Lucia glared back at him, and Hibari managed to control himself just before he told his daughter he would bite her to death if she didn't fall asleep. Cavallone would probably be irritated if he started mentally scarring their daughters at this age.

It was times like this that Hibari was really quite sure that his children would live up to his expectations, but he hadn't quite expected them to show their stubbornness in such troublesome ways.

Hibari sighed and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand; Lucia still didn't look particularly tired. In fact, she'd just started trying to stick her right foot in her own mouth, so it seemed that she had plenty to keep herself entertained.

He would stay until Lucia was asleep and no longer, he told himself as he stifled a yawn. That was fair.

Diana woke up at a quarter to six in the morning out of habit; Lucia and Aurelia usually needed feeding by six, and Hideyoshi would inevitably wake up early and full of energy on the weekends so he could make the most of his days of freedom from lessons and training. Kyouya hadn't returned to bed the night before, but she didn't think much of it. He'd always had a habit of sleeping in genuinely bizarre places, even since she'd first met him, and that combined with his penchant for being able to sleep practically anywhere usually meant she found him in strange places and had to shake him awake and bring him back to bed. This time - unlike most times - she had a hunch of where he could be, and if she was right she would certainly never let him forget it.

Diana was met by Hideyoshi as she headed for the nursery. Her son was already wide awake, dressed and ready to start breakfast with his parents and sisters, but he knew that he'd have to wait for his sisters to wake up before grabbing much more than a snack, and that was something that got on his nerves a bit. Babies slept all the time, so it was pretty stupid that he had to wait for them to wake up before they were served their proper breakfast. He was grateful for the routine on weekdays when he woke up later in the day, but on the weekends he felt as if his free time was being stolen away from him.

One of the first things Diana noticed as she approached Lucia and Aurelia's room was that the men she'd left there the night before to guard the door were laughing. When she caught their eyes, however, their moods quickly became serious and they hastily stepped aside to allow her entry. Hideyoshi looked a bit annoyed at their amusement, but became curious when he saw that his Mama was also smiling. As soon as he was inside his sisters' nursery, it became clear why everyone was so amused.

His Papa had fallen asleep against Lucia's crib. He was leaning against the side of the crib, and Lucia - who was awake, Hideyoshi was pleased to note - was sitting up and trying to grab at her father's face with tiny, determined hands. Aurelia was awake too, and when Diana walked over to take her from her crib, she squealed loudly out of happiness. Her Papa stirred for a moment but did not wake until a moment later, when Lucia decided that her sister had stumbled upon a very good idea and squealed too, in close proximity to her father's ears.

"Good morning, Kyouya," Diana beamed. Hibari rubbed his eyes, rubbed his forehead and blinked sleepily up at his wife, who was now holding one of their daughters against each hip. The fact that he'd fallen asleep while waiting for his infant daughter to sleep seemed to dawn on him slowly, like a dark cloud of humiliation, and he probably would have covered his face in his palm if he wasn't sure it would have made his wife even more elated.

"You know," Diana said, her tone deceptively serious, "you probably shouldn't encourage her like that. She might develop separation anxiety and then she'll never leave your side."

"She doesn't leave my side as it is," Hibari replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Hideyoshi had practically shoved his entire fist into his mouth to keep his laughter from escaping.

"Or is it the other way around?" Diana questioned with a smile, and Hideyoshi made a rather amused, undignified snorting sound from around his own fist.

"Cavallone..." Hibari said with a frown, but Diana offloaded Lucia into his arms before he could finish, effectively silencing him.

"Never mind. Come on, it's time for breakfast."

Hideyoshi removed his hand from his mouth and cheered. A second later he was running for the door, although Diana noticed that he gave Kyouya a rather wide berth as he ran.

"Kyouya," Diana said as her husband shifted his hold on Lucia until he was comfortable.

"Hmm?"

Diana smirked. "You're adorable."

Her husband stared at her blankly for a second, and the hairs on the back of Diana's neck almost stood on end as he maintained that look all the way to the door of the nursery. It was only after they were halfway down the hall and away from Diana's snickering men that he spoke.

"Diana."

"Yes?"

"I care for you."

"Good to hear. Thank you."

"I care for our children."

"I should hope so. That's almost a given."

"However," Hibari said, his expression darkening as he spoke, "I am not adorable. And I am never procreating again."

"You've been proving a lot of my points lately," Diana replied with a deceptively innocent smile, and her husband scowled in response.

Perhaps the most difficult thing about Hibari's life wasn't the constant separations from his family or the lack of sleep they caused him when they were together.

The most difficult thing was clearly the fact that Cavallone would never, ever let him forget this moment for the rest of his life.

But when Diana looked at him and smiled, and Hideyoshi ran back and between them and grabbed both his parents' free hands in his own, Hibari realised he didn't really mind. And he didn't want to think of it as weakness.

He would learn to live with all of the negative aspects for the sake of the positive ones.

That would be fine.

End.