"Akari!"

I looked back to see Riko, a classmate of mine, running towards my direction. I stopped walking and gave him a look of annoyance. "What is it?"

"Umm... Are you heading home now?"

It took all my willpower not to roll my eyes in front of him. Riko had a silly crush on me ever since third grade, when I gave him my half eaten chocolate ice cream in a cone because I found him crying on the street after the kids from a higher grade bullied him. Ever since then, he started bugging me every single day, taking the extra mile to follow me to high school. We're now both in our senior year. "It's after classes, so obviously I am."

His face went red, as the answer I gave him sounded so rude. I was itching to get home and start watching the new anime I'd been engrossed in. Though I would be such a liar to say that I couldn't care less even though I felt a twinge of regret for being hostile, I wouldn't admit that. "Yeah... I-I know. But, umm... Do you want to go to the CD store in town? I've heard they have a ton of new movies and they're on sale today. 25% off! Isn't that awesome?"

Exasperated, I sighed. "Sorry, but I'm not interested. Go ask someone else," and I turned my back on him to start walking.

"But, Akari!"

I didn't mind him and kept walking. My new anime was waiting for me.

Riko was good looking, I'd give him that, with his black hair and blue eyes that made him look like the epitome of Rin Okumura, but I just wasn't interested. I wasn't into real people. I was only devoted to anime or manga characters since I knew they would not hurt me or disappoint or any horrible thing that a living person might do to their kin. I didn't have any friends at all, as I was completely afraid deep in my heart to make any commitments with anybody, though I would never admit that to anyone. Sometimes I even have trouble admitting that to myself but it gets really lonely most of the time.

I kept walking along Third Street of our lovely little town with my headphones on, listening to Remember, an opening song of Naruto, when suddenly a purplish thick tube about a meter long came flying down to me from the sky. My heart skipped a beat as I recalled a distant memory from one of the animes I'd watched before. Something like that thing flew in that anime all the time.

During the three seconds I was given to wonder about that, I wasn't even able to put a finger to what anime it was or why I was even comparing it with that.

The mouth of the tube was only inches away from the top of my head, my eyes widened in shock, and a second after, I realized I was eaten by the flying tube without wings.

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded with multiple blinding colors that were changing from time to time. The feeling was like being inside of a spinning kaleidoscope. My body felt so light and it was making me so dizzy I couldn't even focus to just one color.

I closed my eyes, hoping that it was all just a dream and I was only hit by a car or something. But I knew I wasn't.

After what seemed like forever, though probably it was just not even ten seconds, the world stopped spinning and I felt myself sitting on a solid ground. Carefully I let my hands feel my surroundings first. The ground felt wet and it felt like I was touching small leaves. After slowly opening my eyes, my breath was taken away.

I was sitting alone on luscious green grass of a very huge garden filled with all kinds of flowers you could name-roses, tulips, daisies. It even had a huge fountain with a clam-which was weird because really, a clam?-at the center of it, spewing clear water which made me so thirsty. The sky was showcasing a very beautiful sunset.

I looked around me but the garden seemed to be empty aside from a very big structure behind me, which eerily seemed like a really old castle, and there was nobody else aside from myself. Instantly, I got nervous. I was in the middle of a very unknown place and I didn't know how I would be going home.

Slowly I stood up with shaking knees and forced myself to contemplate what had just happened. I whipped my body around to feel the place and I had a frightening feeling that I was already in a different country.

A sleek black car which looked really expensive slowly rolled to a stop on the driveway a good hundred meters away from where I was standing. The driver's side door opened and a middle aged man in a black suit stepped out. A second after he got out, the door of the shotgun seat opened as well and a tall man with silver hair that barely touched his shoulders stepped out as well.

He looked like someone I completely knew from the bottom of my heart...

I held my breath and my heart started hammering against the inside of my ribcage.

The driver walked to the door of the back seat, presumably to open it for the surely important person sitting there. But before I could catch a glimpse of that important person, somebody from my right spoke and my bones froze from the shock.

"Huh? Who are you, miss?"

Slowly I turned around to face the owner of that voice and I almost fainted. Standing there behind me was another tall man in a black suit like the other two men and had a very athletic physique with cropped black hair and a surprised yet puzzled look in his chocolate brown eyes.

Takeshi Yamamoto...

All of a sudden I forgot the language I'd known since I learned how to speak. I didn't even hear his footsteps or anything.

Yamamoto looked at me as if I was another new game that he needed to get good with. He looked that interested. "You're a Japanese? A Japanese student?"

"No-I-I mean, yes, but..."

"Perhaps you're a tourist?" Yamamoto guessed and laughed in the usual way he did in the anime. "Did you get lost?"

"I... I..." The lump in my throat seemed to have gotten bigger than it was just a minute ago.

Is this really happening? Am I really speaking with Takeshi Yamamoto? An anime character? I must have gone crazy!

"It's fine," Yamamoto smiled kindly. "But you have to leave fast, miss. This is quite a dangerous place for a young girl like you."

"Yakyū baka!"

"Oh?" Yamamoto looked at the owner of the voice from behind me, and I was completely sure his attention was taken by that man who came out from the shotgun ride of the black car. "You're finally here, Gokudera! Where's Tsuna?"

That was my cue. I ran as fast as I could without looking back. I even heard Yamamoto calling out, "Hey, wait!" but I ignored him and continued running.

This is a joke. I'm just dreaming.

Taking my chances, I looked back over my shoulder to where Yamamoto was and I was frightened with the look in his eyes. He was not the usual easy-going and clueless Yamamoto in the anime anymore. It was those look in his eyes that he got whenever he was facing an enemy. Only later did I know that he was wondering what kind of presence I had. It was neither hostile nor friendly. It was something else.

I ran and ran thinking if I closed my eyes hard and opened them, I would be back to my lovely room. That hope was shattered when I bumped into a wall after running with no particular destination for probably a hundred meters.

Obaa-chan will surely scold me when she sees this bump on my head.

"Ouch..." I cried and slowly opened my eyes. I was looking down and was still stepping on green grass so I knew I was still in that huge garden. I was expecting to see the solid wall I surely bumped into but what I saw were a pair of legs. It was of a man's, I was sure of it, wearing the same black suit as everyone I'd seen so far had. I had to gulp the lump that formed once again in my throat before gathering enough courage to look up.

My eyes were met by his blue ones which were glaring down at me. I barely reached his shoulders and even in that situation, which I thought was just a dream at first, I was completely intimidated by the man towering over me.

"Who are you?" Kyoya Hibari asked in that deep voice of his. He looked exactly like he was ten years into the future from the anime. Well, Yamamoto and Gokudera were the same anyway. Hibari was wearing a purple button down under his black coat, Yamamoto was wearing a dark blue one and Gokudera had been wearing a red one.

"So-Sorry, I..."

"Hey, Hibari!" a booming voice called from behind Hibari. "You haven't agreed to drink with me after this meeting yet!"

Despite the tallness of Hibari, I tried to see who it was and confirming my hunch, it was indeed Ryohei Sasagawa, running towards where we were. He was also wearing a suit and under his black coat he was wearing a dark yellow button down. Of course both of his hands were covered in bandages, though as I had always been, I was wondering if he really had wounds all the time.

"Huh? Who is this girl, Hibari? Your younger sister?" Ryohei wondered cluelessly when he reached us. "You never told us you have one!"

Hibari glared at Ryohei. "This girl is not my sister," then he turned his glaring eyes back at me. "And I will never drink with you."

I had to gulp because I thought he was going to say, "I'll bite you to death."

"What? You're always so uptight to the extreme!" Ryohei argued. His voice was really loud.

"There you are!"

All three of us looked behind me and we saw Yamamoto and Gokudera wearing the usual frown on his face. He looked so regal with those green eyes and silver hair and, yes, he was really handsome. He'd been one of my anime crushes when I was a thirteen year old girl.

Wait. They are anime characters! Why am I even talking to them?

"Oh," Hibari smiled maliciously. "The little runts have finally arrived."

"Who is this girl? Is she the spy that those bastards sent to eliminate the Tenth?" Gokudera asked and his voice was laced with accusation. I thought I should be used to it but I still got offended. I hadn't done anything wrong. And I would never do anything to harm the boss!

Oh, wait. Okay, the tenth boss of Vongola from the anime is my ultimate anime crush. But how can I harm an anime character?

"Huh? She's not the spy, Gokudera," Yamamoto said, looking back and forth between me and Gokudera who maintained his glare at me. "She's just a tourist who got lost. Right, miss?"

Tourist? Yamamoto really thinks that I'm a tourist. This dream is so real.

"Did she think that the castle is an extreme tourist spot?" Ryohei wondered cluelessly.

"Stupid muscle head," Gokudera hissed at Ryohei.

"Who are you calling stupid, Tako he-do?!" Ryohei argued.

Hibari turned his back on us, I was completely sure he was getting annoyed, but stopped in his tracks when we heard a distinct laugh.

"Kufufufu."

I know that laugh!

Out of the indigo colored mist, Mukuro Rokudo suddenly emerged holding an unconscious man by the collar of his shirt and his trident on his other hand. He was wearing a white shirt with a black tie and over it was a long black coat, paired with black jeans and a black pair of boots. "You are all wrong."

Hibari suddenly tensed. I knew all too well that he was getting ready to charge any moment at Mukuro.

"Who is that cheeky looking man?" Ryohei asked.

"The spy that you are all looking for," Mukuro was smiling maliciously, but unlike Hibari, there was something darker about his smile.

"The spy?" Yamamoto asked.

"Why did you bite my prey?" Hibari asked in annoyance.

"Kufufu. Finders keepers, Kyoya Hibari," Mukuro sounded like he was really provoking Hibari.

Suddenly, I was forgotten. I should have just taken that chance to run away and find some other way to go back home but for some reason, I had the urge to listen to what they were talking about. I knew it didn't concern me but even if I tried to run, I was surrounded by these guardians. I would be easily caught, considering I am not really a fast runner.

"You bastard!" Gokudera hissed. "How dare you make Judaime worry so much?! What did you do to Chrome Dokuro?!"

Mukuro just smiled and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, his right eye who had always been red suspiciously turned brighter than it had been when he showed himself. "You fools don't have to understand."

"What?!" Gokudera touched the Vongola ring on the middle finger of his right hand, like he was ready to light it up with his Storm Flame at any given moment. "What is your purpose for taking care of that spy? What business do you have with us?"

"Now, now. Calm down, Gokudera," Yamamoto stood in between the furious Gokudera and the awfully calm Mukuro, trying to force a convincing smile to stop the ruckus that was surely about to come. "He's also a guardian of Tsuna, so there's no helping it," then Yamamoto faced Mukuro and his face suddenly turned a lot more serious like he was a totally different person. "What are you planning, Mukuro?"

"It's simple, Takeshi Yamamoto," Mukuro showed his vicious smile to us once again. "Nobody shall kill Tsunayoshi Sawada not until I possess his body."

"Bastard!" Gokudera snarled and was about to charge at Mukuro but Ryohei held him back.

"Hold it there, Tako he-do! Sawada won't extremely like to see us fighting with a fellow guardian!" Ryohei said, holding Gokudera on both arms. It was so unlike him to be a referree but maybe people, I mean anime characters, do really change after some time.

But this is still a fantastic dream! To be able to interact with the characters from my favorite anime is the best!

"Let go of me, Shibafu!" Gokudera tried to resist but Ryohei's grip was strong.

"I don't care if you have a plan or not. I will bite you to death right here and now," Hibari interfered and all of a sudden, his tonfas appeared. It wasn't a magic trick as I saw that he was hiding his weapon inside the sleeves of his suit.

"Kufufufu. I have no intention of fighting you today, Kyoya Hibari," then Mukuro vanished into indigo mist just as Hibari pounced at him, making Hibari slash with his tonfa into the mist.

The spy that Mukuro killed was left lying lifeless on the ground. I pitied the man as his life was thrown away just like that but I couldn't sympathize him that greatly as he tried to kill the tenth boss of Vongola. That was just so wrong.

We were all shocked when Mukuro appeared again, still surrounded by his mist, a few good meters away from Gokudera's back, the opposite direction where he'd been at less than a minute ago. "Chrome is not the Elena of this generation."

"Who the hell are you talking about?!" Gokudera snapped.

"Elena?" Yamamoto wondered. "Sounds pretty familiar. Hmm..."

"I extremely don't know any Elena," Ryohei butted in.

"Hmp," that was Hibari.

"Kufufufu. You should all be keeping an eye on that girl, Akari Hoshino."

Everyone's eyes turned to me, suddenly remembering that I was still there. What the hell did I do?

"Umm... H-Hi?" I didn't really know what to say. I was too scared to act normally and I was still not believing what was happening. How did Mukuro even know my name?!

"Kufufufu," and Mukuro vanished into the mist again.

That was it. I needed to run for my life.

I was just about to make a run for it but a voice I hadn't been really familiar with, I mean it was in the anime but just barely, spoke from a few meters away which made me freeze on my spot.

"You're finally here, Akari Hoshino."

Slowly I looked back over my shoulder to see who it was and the world stopped spinning around me.

The guy, about my age, was wearing a black fedora hat with a yellow stripe, a black suit with a yellow button down inside, and was holding a pistol.

It was adult Reborn.