A/N: These short stories are based on an anime that my brother watched. I'm watching it right now for the first time. I really liked the music which I listen to while writing these. Music puts you in the mood. Anyway, the basis of the boys being kid assassins is like the anime Gunslinger Girl. I decided to be uncreative with the name so you'll know where it came from. I'll try not to get too graphic but to be safe I'll just say don't expect all cake and ice cream.

Marcos listened to the sound of his own footsteps as the heels of his shoes clicked against the tile floor. The paper cup that held his coffee warmed his cool hand. The long corridor that he was walking through wasn't insulated like the rest of the campus. No one ventured down here often enough to bother fixing it.

The room he was looking for was the second to last door on his left. The door was locked and he pulled out the key he was given from out of his pocket. An annoying creaking sound was heard as he opened the door and stepped in.

The only furniture in the small room was a small bed. It occupier was a small boy with long wavy brown hair that was shoulder length. Blue eyes stared back at him with uncertainty.

Marcos checked the folder he had brought with him. It was a profile description and introduction to the boy who would soon be his. It didn't give much information other than the boy's name and how he came to be here.

The boy had been abandoned to live on the streets after his mother died. He had been found hiding behind a dumpster half dead. When they took him to the hospital he attacked several nurses and tried to escape. He was deemed mentally unstable and hostile. They wanted to send the boy to a psych ward but the Agency decided to take him in.

Their goal was to train this boy like the others that they had found.

The Agency was an organization that worked alongside the government. They used children who were rejected by society and trained them to become killing machines.

This boy was going to be the newest addition. It wasn't easy to condition them, and to keep them from acting against orders. That's where the Agency used brainwashing and other conditioning techniques to create the perfect soldier. They also fed the children drugs so they wouldn't feel any pain because the fear of pain and hurting oneself could affect the mission.

Marcos sat down on the end of the bed and watched as the boy shifted from him.

They had given the boy drugs so he would be too tired to fight. It almost seemed like the boy was cowering.

Marcos took a deep breath, "Are you afraid of me?"

The boy didn't say anything so he continued. "There's no reason to be scared of me. I'm your new big brother."

The boy frowned, not understanding what he was being told.

Marcos had been adamant that they didn't overdo it with the drugs so he could talk to the boy, and so the boy would understand what he was saying.

"From here on, your name shall be Tanner."

~I'm a Tanner~

Tanner gripped his Barrett M98B and looked through the scope. Through his eyepiece he could see the target he was aiming for. He fired off several times before adjusting his sniper rifle to aim at his next target.

Marcos listened as the shots rang through his ears as he watched from behind the boy. He watched his progress with his binoculars and clicked his tongue.

"Stop."

Tanner stopped shooting and looked up at his big brother. His face showed no emotion and Marcos couldn't tell if the boy was confused, nervous or upset.

Marcos shoved the pair binoculars in the boy's hands and pointed to the targets.

"Are you even taking the time to actually focus your scope on your target? You aim for the chest, neck or head. Hitting them in the arm or shoulder won't stop them."

"Yes sir." The words were cold and formal.

Marcos sighed and watched as the boy set the binoculars down and tried again.

Glancing down to the other shooting yard, Marcos watched as Emmanuel sat in a chair watching his charge.

The blonde he was paired with was tall and slender. He was one of the older boys and had been in the Agency for over two years. Emmanuel had a weird way of 'spoiling' the blonde by giving him a new pistol for his birthday (The day they were named). Right now the blonde was firing off a pair of Ballester-Molinas. It was fascinating and scary at how good the boy was with a gun.

After watching for a few minutes, he looked back to Tanner who was reloading his rifle.

It would be good to let him see a veteran at work.

"That's it for today."

Tanner looked up. There was a hint of surprise before his expression went back to neutral. "Yes sir."

Marcos waited as Tanner packed up his things in its case. When he saw that the boy was ready he handed the boy his binoculars again and pointed at the target he wanted him to look at.

"I want you to take a look at the boy with the Ballester-Molinas."

Tanner put the binoculars up to his face and looked at the boy who was now in a practice yard. The blonde weaved through the rundown structure, firing at targets without injuring hostages. When the blonde finished and was returning to his handler Tanner put the seeing piece down.

"When you're finished training, you'll be able to do that and more." Marcos promised.

Tanner wasn't listening, but was still watching the blonde.

Marcos noticed that he was talking to himself and smiled.

"Would you like to meet him?"

Tanner nodded, but still wasn't paying any attention to Marcos.

Marcos led them down to the other practice field where Emmanuel was still sitting.

"I see that you're working hard as usual." Marcos said in a way of a greeting.

Emmanuel waved him over.

"There's nothing I can really teach him, he is better off self studying." Emmanuel said as the blonde reloaded his pistols a few yards away.

"I wish I can say the same for Tanner. He has promise at being a good sniper, but right now his shots can't kill."

"Well, it only matters when it comes to the real thing. If he can't shoot to kill and kill a target then you may have to do more conditioning."

Marcos sighed as he watched Tanner approach the blonde.

Tanner waited until the blonde had emptied his clip perfectly into the neck, chest and head of the target fifty yards in front of him.

The blonde also seemed to notice his presence and turned to face his new audience.

"There a problem?" asked the blonde.

"You're really good." Tanner stated.

"Yeah well I've been doing this for a while now." The blonde looked him over and noticed what the boy was carrying, "Sniper rifle?"

Tanner nodded.

"Which one?"

Tanner frowned, trying to think of the name of his gun, "Barrett."

The blonde nodded, "That's a good one." He slipped his own guns in the holsters that were under his arms. He offered the boy a hand, "Names Larabee."

"Tanner."

"You new around here Tanner?"

Tanner nodded.

"Well I'll make sure to tell the others." smiled Larabee, "We like to throw parties for new members."

Tanner frowned, not sure how he should react. He tried to pull off a smile and the result made Larabee laugh before checking himself. Larabee looked to see if their handlers were watching or not.

The two adults were too engaged in their conversation to notice what had happened.

"It may take a while, but you don't have to act like a robot around the rest of us. For the old men we 'put on a show' as Standish calls it, but you can relax around us. Come and find my room tomorrow night at six."

Tanner nodded, "Yes sir."

Larabee shook his head, "The others call me Chris."

"Chris." Tanner repeated, trying out the name.

Chris Larabee smiled before turning back to the handlers who were now done talking. As quick as Chris's smile came, it vanished and he was Larabee again.

"Tanner, let's go." called Marco.

"Yes sir."

Tanner ran to meet up with his big brother and the two left the practice yard.

Looking over his shoulder he saw Larabee standing with his handler.

Tanner ran down the cold corridor looking for Larabee's room. He had just left a meeting with Marcos a few minutes ago and the talk had went past the time he was supposed to arrive to the party. His heart was pounding as he turned down the last hall and saw a door that was slightly ajar with light shining out into the otherwise dark hall. Taking a deep breath he opened the door and was bombarded with welcomes.

Tanner didn't know how to react and his eyes grew big. He couldn't stop turning around, trying to listen to everyone who was talking to him all at once.

Covering his ears he closed his eyes, trying to calm down and keep from panicking.

"Everyone cool it." came a familiar voice.

Tanner opened his eyes and saw Chris walk up to him. "Sorry about that. They're just happy to have a reason to throw a party. I didn't think you were coming because you were so late."

"I had to meet with Marcos before this, sorry."

"There's no need to apologize." said a tall boy with sandy colored hair.

"Yeah, we would've waited for you anyway. The party is for you." said a black haired boy with a big grin.

Tanner wasn't sure how they could all smile so easily. Apparently when he smiled it was funny. He wondered if he had did it wrong.

"How about we do introductions first?" Chris suggested.

Everyone nodded and Chris turned to Tanner to explain, "So the Agency of course gave us a name. Mine is Larabee and yours is Tanner, however, we gave each other names too. We treat them like first names so our last name is used professionally by the Agency and personally around each other. I was given the name Chris."

Tanner nodded. "So when you hear the first name, that's what we call each other and last name is what the Agency calls us. Try to remember both and when to use both. If you can't remember all the names then just use our last names to play it safe. That's what he does." Chris said, gesturing to a short boy about Tanner's height with short brown hair that was curly.

"Josiah Sanchez." said the tall boy with sandy hair. He shook Tanner's hand.

"Buck Wilmington." said the black haired boy with the huge grin.

"Nathan Jackson." said the african american boy who was as tall as Chris.

"Ezra Standish." said the short boy with curly brown hair.

"So now Tanner, we're going to come up with a first name for you. Something we can all call you. Feel free to disagree with any names or offer suggestions."

Buck rose his hand first, "I like the name Flynn."

"Course you do." Ezra snorted, "You tried naming me that."

"I still don't understand why you liked Chris's name better." Buck muttered.

"What about Abe?" asked Josiah.

"No William." Nathan offered.

Tanner waited patiently for them to come up with a name for him. He was interested in the name Chris would come up for him.

"What about Royal?" suggested Buck, "Royal Tanner!"

"No one finds your jokes all that amusing." Ezra frowned.

"And you're a person with no imagination." Buck bit back.

"What about-"

"Jonah." Josiah interrupted Chris.

"I was going to say Vin." Chris said with an arched eyebrow.

"Vin?" Buck said with a scrunched nose, "Where do you come up with these names? First Ezra now Vin."

"I like it." Vin said quickly.

The boys all turned to look at him in surprise. "Vin Tanner, I like it."

Buck shrugged, "Ok then, Vin Tanner it is."

"Welcome to our little family Vin." smiled Josiah.

"It's always great to have another comrade." Ezra nodded.

"Well now that the naming ceremony is over, can we eat?" asked Buck, "We shouldn't let Nathan's hard work go to waste."

Everyone agreed and soon they were all laughing and chatting amongst each other.

Tanner sat next to Chris and only ate. He wasn't ready to start talking quite yet and only listened.

He looked up when Chris nudged him. The blonde pulled the ends of his mouth upwards in a form of a smile. There was a flash and then Tanner realised what was happening.

Ezra handed them the photo for them to look at.

Tanner looked at it.

It was a picture of him and Chris. Chris giving a small smile as he made the younger boy smile.

Tanner allowed the corners of his mouth to turn upwards and soon it turned into a full smile.