Hey! Thanks for reading this even though the summary was lame. Hehe, sorry! I really want to stress that thank you. This is my first time publishing anything. I'm nervous. Please keep reading and tell me about it! I would love your opinion and love you all! For those of you who have read the story this is between the Kokuyo Arc and the Varia Arc, for those of you who don't know it is between on arc and another. I dedicate this to my precious kohai/vice prez and first real fan. Love ya lots and thank for all the support.

Prologue

I stared at the young girl with interest and curiosity while a pair of cold, stubborn, and intellectual eyes glared back. She was fierce, that could spell trouble if not dealt with correctly; but nothing for me to worry about. I continued to stare unwaveringly and unaffected.

"So this is the challenge that Reborn wanted me to take on next," I thought to myself. "I will not fail, besides I love kids. This sounds like a fun task." With that thought in mind I smiled to the girl and said a greeting. For a split second I could see the confusion cross her face at my warm greeting, then just as quickly it vanished into that cool, confident glare once again.

"What do you want?" asked the girl, icicles hanging form every one of her words. The sunset was a perfect shade of orange and yellow to highlight the cold glint in her hazel eyes. It gently bathed her pale white skin in a deep tan tone. Her strong but short built was exposed when she crossed her arms in a sign of defiance. I had to laugh a little, she would be a handle. At six she was already so strong willed and independent, but totally worth it.

"Nothing. I was just taking a walk," I said in my friendliest tone while gesturing to the scenic view spread out before us. The sun hit the meadows before us with the last of its rays as the flowers reached for them with desperation. Just as a face of suspicion slyly appeared on her small face, I heard a noise in the background.

"No!" I thought to myself. "I shouldn't have been followed..." I was keeping calm on the outside doing casual three-sixty turns. "The most important thing is to keep the kid safe." I walked slowly to the girl trying not to scare her. She was eying me warily, but allowing me to come anyway. By now I had determined where the sound was coming from (some bushes near the trees surrounding the perimeter of the meadow) and placed myself in between the kid and the sound, just in case.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked the girl with calmness and gentleness trying to distract her from the increasing noise coming from the bushes. What started out as a simple investigation turned into me trying to protect both of us.

"I was trying to get away from people," said the girl in a pointed tone and emphasizing the word trying.

I smiled at the girl and continued to make my voice as soothing and gentle as I could, "I see, how about we try to find a different place to be alone."

"We aren't doing anything. I am going to leave and you are going to leave me alone," said the girl in her cold voice that I had come to accept as her usual tone.

I continued to smile at her, then put my arms on her small shoulders and started steering her toward the direction of her house. "Thank goodness Reborn had made me memorize a bit about her before this meeting," I thought. I was somewhat annoyed at how he was always right. As I steered her she protested stubbornly, "Now, now," I told her. I was trying uselessly to tune out her protests so that I could listen to the sounds of the bushes. I heard nothing. As I just started to relax, suddenly three men popped out of the bushes. They surrounded us; we had our backs to the forest which was outside the meadows.

"Ugh!" I mentally groaned as I thought to myself, "Well at least I managed to get our back to the forest, from here the kid should have just a shallow run into the forest to reach her house."

"Run on home!" I put as much confidence and composer as I could muster, as the men came closer. "Don't worry!" I smiled down at and assured the girl who had gone silent and wide-eyed. Unexpectedly she had set her jaw in defiance as she raised her fists to prepare herself. Despite the situation I had to laugh, this girl was tough.

"Don't take me lightly!" She snarled at me. I smiled at her with a motherly (or at least I hoped it was motherly) tenderness. I gently pushed the girl toward the forest as I jumped into action. I pulled out my twin shurikens and immediately throw one of them at the guy on the far right and charged for the space between the other two. The first shuriken hit its mark square in the head and knocked him to the ground. I use dull blades, so just knocked out not sliced up. I smacked the second guy in the eyes and simultaneously kicked the third guy where the sun don't shine, if you know what I mean. The third guy let out a high pitched squeak. Both guys dropped to the ground like bags of stones.

"Stop if you value this little girls life," said the first man that I thought I knocked out. I could have yelled in frustration.

"HOW COULD I HAVE MESSED UP LIKE THAT!" I yelled mentally. I took a deep breath and calmed down.

"What do you want?" I asked all the kindness of before drained out and replaced with the cruel tone and glare of the true hitman I was. The guy actually flinched! I would have laughed in other circumstances.

"Drop your weapon!" he said regaining his confidence. He had basically growled that command at me. He had me on the ropes and he knew it, but weapon? Singular? I had two.

"Wait! Where is my other shuriken?" I thought to myself, but I didn't let it show on my face. I gave him a glare that said that I did NOT like his attitude. Then I saw her, the girl had been glaring a hole in my head. When I finally met her eyes she discretely looked down at her hands. Her hands had an odd shape... Realization donned on me. I looked at her asking her the silent question, "Can you throw it to me?" I asked her with my eyes. She barely nodded.

"What is taking so long. Do it by the count of three," said the man with growing impatience. "One... Two... Th-" I feigned putting my shruiken down then suddenly throw it with all the strength I had. It went sailing straight toward his head way to high to hit the girl he was holding. As it went sailing toward his head, the guy let go of the girl and she thew the other shuriken to me. At a nod from me, ran she ran to safety in the woods. I caught it and ran full speed at the guy (currently kneeling down on the ground thanks to my last stunt) and brought the shuriken in my hand down on his head, hard! He crumpled to the ground in a heap. I clapped my hands to try to clean myself up a bit before going home, and had already called Reborn to clean up the other mess (the three unconscious guys); when the girl came out of the forest. I was surprised to see her. She slowly walked up to me and blushed as she said in a small shy voice, "Ummm...thanks ..." She had once again picked up one of my weapons and had handed it to me. She was oddly good at that.

My cool hitman appearance from before faded into a familiar smile as I shook my head and said, "Keep it. I couldn't have done it without you!" The girl's eyes got as big as saucers as she stared with admiration first at the weapon in her hands, than at me. "Be careful! Although this is not a sharp blade, it can really hurt people!" I warned. She nodded her head hard. I laughed and rubbed her head, which made her scowl. "Well see ya!" I cheerfully exclaimed as I left the confused girl standing there. Even though I left earlier I secretly followed the girl to make sure she safely got home. After that I walked to the airport to get on my plane when I saw a familiar face. I walked up to my brother Reborn, "Hey! What are you doing here?" I asked curiously.

"Seeing how everything played out. I pretty much expected an attack, and I wanted your opinion of your soon to be apprentice," He said with his usually insight that I have come to accept and not question.

"I like her. She has fire!" I stated happily. To this Reborn gave his usual smirk that said, "Everything according to plan."

Sorry about me talking so much in the beginning. If you read the entire thing, I present you with this pretend reward. CONGRATS TO THE EXTREME!