Oh. Em. Gee. I finally updated after how many years! Yay! xD And there is only one reason for this: writer's block! Hahaha! x) Wee, anyway, hope you enjoy chapter 3~!

It was like hell here. That hitman brat actually told me to stay in Shoku's house. No, not told; more like ordered. Can you believe it? I mean, sure, a roof above my head would be nice for a change, but this was the house of my assassination target! I felt so weak and pitied; especially since I failed. Again. And here I am, stuck inside Shoku's house, as if Reborn doesn't want me to forget that I failed my mission. Grrr... Curse that little runt. If this was his intention all along, I would have rather been caught by the police. At least then, I could escape from them.

"U-U-Um, Rin-san...?" a shaky voice called out my name as I heard the door open, making me snap out of my grumbles.

I was currently sitting on the carpet in Shoku's room, which came to be my sleeping place. It was right next to the door, which was quite a good distance away from Shoku's bed. And moreover, Reborn's swing was right in between. I then turned towards the voice with a scowl, seeing Shoku in his school uniform, (which consisted of a white long sleeved polo with a blue tie and a dark blue sleeveless V-neck sweater on top, a pair of black pants, and a pair of black shoes) looking all terrified as he stood by the door. I smirked, before asking, "What?"

"W-Well, breakfast's ready." he replied.

It made me perk up. For the one week that I've stayed here, there's at least one thing that I've learned: Nana's cooking is the best. You would think that any decent meal would be the best for me, since I've been a tramp all my life, but no, Nana's cooking is just simply the best. Ever since I first tasted her dishes, I've been eager to rush over for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That was one of the pros in staying in Shoku's house.

"Well, what are you standing there for? Get this leash moving!" I barked, startling the brown haired.

And yes, I said leash. A two-meter-long dog leash. Well, they needed something to restrain me since I'm playing prisoner in their house, but of all things, that hitman brat just had to pick a collar and a leash. He even told me that the reason he picked that was because of my strange physique. And I knew he was referring to my dog-like movements and abilities.

Ripping the leash was no option in escaping; Reborn specially made it for me with the skin of his green lizard. I used to try different ways to destroy that leash. I tried cutting it with a simple kitchen knife, burning it with matchsticks, pulling it as I choked myself, and even nibbling it with my teeth. I wanted to try my death claws on it too, but unfortunately, Reborn confiscated all of my weapons and tools. Anyway, as you all know, all of them didn't work. So, technically, I couldn't escape all by myself.

I watched Shoku as he fished a key out of his pocket, his hands trembling as he tried to stick it inside the padlock that connected my leash and the door handle. They couldn't just tie my leash in the handle, obviously, since I could easily untie it and escape. As Shoku unlocked the padlock, I patiently waited on the floor, watching him take the leash on his hands as he pocketed the padlock. I could have escaped; run towards the window and jump out, figuring that Shoku had frail hands and would easily let go of the leash. But I didn't. Why? Well, that's because I actually attempted to do that already days ago. And, as the failure that I am, I failed.

I didn't expect Shoku to have such a fast reaction and strong arms, and I choked myself in my first attempt to escape with Plan A. The second and third attempt was with the old man and Poison Scorpion respectively, and I utterly failed, which resulted to me giving up on Plan A. I haven't tested out Plan B yet, but it was an obvious fail, so I never tried it.

"Alright, food!" I suddenly shouted, quickly getting up to my feet as I scrambled out of the room. Shoku gave a yelp of surprise as I ran past him, and then gave another one as he got pulled by my running, with me holding on to the collar, so that I didn't choke.

I bounded my way down the stairs, and as I landed on the ground, I turned towards the dining table, where Nana, the scorpion lady, the annoying cow, tail head, star boy, and of course, the hitman brat were sitting on their seats, staring at me. I was about to yell, "Food!" once again, but then, got interrupted as Shoku fell down on me, making us tumble on the ground.

"Yaah!"

We crashed on the floor, and even though my sight was a little dizzy, I could see Nana, the scorpion lady, and the star boy come for us. I guess I shouldn't have run that fast; I totally didn't figure that Shoku would skid and crash into me. I groaned as I sat up, and fortunately, my ears and tail didn't reveal themselves. Nana might ignore them, but if she wondered, well, there's no such thing as being too careful, right?

"Tsuna-nii! Rin-nee!" the de la Stella boy cried, helping Shoku and I untangle ourselves. Fuuta de la Stella... He was a very famous kid in the mafia world. With his ranking book (I saw that book with my own eyes, and it was huge! Almost like half his height. I wonder how that book fits in his jacket pocket...), he's got very valuable information. I was shocked to see such a famous person living inside this house; just what kind of person is Shoku?

"Rin-chan, I told you, no running in the house!" Shoku's mother scolded, making me grin sheepishly. Nana helped her son up, who still had a firm grip on my leash, making me grumble. Nana once asked why I was on a leash, and I really thought that she could force Reborn onto releasing poor ol' me. But the hitman brat reasoned that we were playing, 'I'm your pet dog', and she totally bought it! Even though Nana is a good cook, she's just as carefree and dense as that so-called baseball idiot.

"Sigh, you should listen to Mama, Rin-chan." Poison Scorpion sighed as she helped me up, taking the leash from Shoku's grip. Another famous person in this house: Poison Scorpion Bianchi. An infamous hitwoman that was said to have associated with the world's best hitman. That is to say, that brat. She's obviously in love with Reborn, but I can sense that she doesn't favor Shoku, for who-knows-what the reason.

As soon as we were okay, we sat by the dining table, ready to eat breakfast. Well, at least, they sat on chairs; I sat on the floor. Reborn said it was supposed to be part of my pet dog-act, which greatly annoyed me. I couldn't protest, however, since I was at their mercy. I stared at the plate and bowl on the floor, on which my breakfast (which was the same as everyone else's) was consisted of a cup of rice, a piece of toast, and bacon and eggs. I stared at my plate for a while, my eyebrow twitching mildly.

No, I did not hate the food; how could I bring myself to hate food? What I was annoyed at was the vandalism on the plate. A word, my supposed name, was sloppily written in romaji on the edge of the plate. The word spelled RINNY, but the R was mirrored, and the second N was upside-down. It was written with a permanent marker, so it still hadn't faded (Nana must be frustrated about this). I glanced at the culprit who did this, seeing him laughing obnoxiously as he always does.

"Wahahaha! Dame-Tsuna and Rinny fell down the stairs! How stupid!" the afro cattle laughed, making my veins pop. Reborn introduced him to me as a useless piece of matter that was occupying precious space, and I totally agreed with him. He was part of some mafia family,-the Bovino Famiglia, was it?-as the hitman brat had said, and he said that their boss was overjoyed to hear that Lambo was invited to the Vongola family. Well, sure, I'd understand his feelings about that stupid cattle.

"Stop!" the Human Bomb exclaimed, trying to stop the idiot cow from making fun of me and Shoku. Now, this one... I-pin, right? She's a tricky one. The first time I saw her, my first thought was that she was a big, round ball. I actually pounced on her at that time. And then my second thought, after realizing she was not a ball, was that she was a he. Well, everything was sorted out after Reborn explained things to me. She was an assassin from Hong Kong, and she explodes when she's embarrassed. I freaked out at first, of course, but I eventually took a liking to her because of her round shape.

You know, when we're eating like this, Bianchi is always the one holding my leash. Actually, Plan B was supposed to start when Poison Scorpion is occupied with her food in meal times. I figured that since the leash is just sloppily placed around her wrist, when I'd suddenly dart towards the front door to escape, it'd catch her off guard and the leash would just slip past her hand. But, as you all know, I already predicted all other possible things that would thwart Plan B. And that's a lot.

Like, what if the scorpion lady actually reacted fast enough and quickly caught my leash? And also, what if I did escape Poison Scorpion's grasp, but then the hitman brat comes and stops me? And then again, what if I did escape Bianchi and Reborn, but then that old geezer suddenly appears from the front door? I noticed that he usually comes here in the morning to walk to school with Shoku, and sometimes even with that naive baseball freak.

"Rin-chan, is something wrong?" Nana suddenly asked, making me turn to her. "You haven't touched your food."

"Oh, it's nothing, Nana," I quickly replied, taking a hold of my chopsticks. "It's just this," I said as I tapped the sticks on the vandalized part of the plate.

The said mother just giggled, making me sigh. I then commenced eating, grabbing the bowl of rice and placing the plate of breakfast food on my crossed legs. Reborn once told me to stop calling Nana by her first name, because it sounded so rude and informal, especially since I was still a kid. He told me I could at least call her 'Mama' just like the others did, but there was no way I was going to do that. I liked Nana, of course, but it was just weird to start calling the mother of someone you were supposed to kill, 'Mama'.

Well, Bianchi said she tried to kill Shoku the first time they met, and she calls her Mama, but I'm not love demented like her! At least I don't call her with rude nicknames and the likes! I call her by her real name, so that's enough respect, right?

"Rinu," a baby voice suddenly called out to me, making me furrow my brow as I gulped down the bacon. I then turned to the brat, a slight scowl on my face.

He always called me 'Rinu', saying that it was his nickname for me. He fused my name with the word 'Inu', which meant 'dog', and it's seriously annoying. He also called Shoku by his school nickname, which he said was 'Dame-Tsuna'. Blech, I'd rather be called by my real name rather than their stupid nicknames like 'Rinny' and 'Rinu'; they annoy me so much. Hey, I know I call other people names too, and you'd think it'd be alright to also call me names, but it isn't funny when you're the one being teased!

"What?" I demanded as I grumbled.

"Why aren't you dressed up for school?"

I paused, and we stared at each other for a while. School? What the hell? I looked down at my current outfit, a plain brown shirt and a pair of white shorts (They were Bianchi's, so they were pretty loose), and then glanced at Shoku, who was already done with his breakfast.

"What do you mean... school?" I asked as I turned to Reborn again, a clueless look on my face.

"What are you, an idiot? You're not really that oblivious of the world to not know what a school is, are you?"

"Wha... I'm not a moron, you brat! Of course, I know what a school is!"

"Then why are you asking?"

"I didn't mean it like that! I meant, why do I have to go to school?"

"Oh. Well, you're still a kid and you haven't gone to a school before, haven't you?"

"...Your point?"

"I'm saying, you can go to school, so that Tsuna can learn how to train you. At the same time, it can be good for you, too. I already have your uniform ready up in Bianchi's room."

What the... Train me? What the hell does he think I am, a stray dog? I'm human, unlike him! And how the hell did he get my measurements for the uniform? I got so annoyed at his answer that I audibly growled at him, and that was one of the things I was not allowed to do in the house, as stated by the brat himself. The punishment would always be carried out Reborn-style.

"No growling!" the brat exclaimed, throwing a spoon right at my forehead. I yelped in pain, my head thrown back from the force.

"What the hell, brat!" I shouted, standing up after putting my plate and bowl on the ground with the thrown spoon on my hand. The red mark on the middle of my forehead swelled. "Don't just throw stuff at me like that!" I accusingly pointed the spoon at him.

I was about to throw the spoon right back at him, when suddenly, someone pulled my leash and I was nearly choked to death. I sat on my bum, clutching the collar on my neck tightly. I turned towards the person that held my leash with a scowl on my face, growling and snarling at Poison Scorpion.

"You do not call Reborn a 'brat', Rin-chan." the scorpion lady said in a threatening voice, making me quiet down. I mean, I wasn't scared of her or anything, but Reborn's punishments were more bearable than Bianchi's. I wouldn't want to be poisoned by her cooking, for pete's sake!

I grumbled on my seat (which was the floor), as I heard Nana scold us, "No fighting while eating!" I eventually calmed down, but I still hated that brat for throwing a freakin' spoon at me. Suddenly, something hit my forehead again, and this time, I fell on my back. It seemed that Reborn threw something at me again, and I saw a fork fall on my side. My veins popped.

"I said no growling, Rinu." I heard the hitman brat say.

"You braaat!"

~Later; Tsuna's POV~

"Now, take good care of Rin-chan, alright, Tsuna?" Bianchi told me as she handed the assassin's leash over to me, while I took it with my trembling hands. Why, Reborn? Why did she have to come with us? She might kill me during school, damnit!

Rin started living in my house as punishment from Reborn, and I've never been so alert and scared in my entire life. I mean, can you imagine? She was an assassin that was supposed to kill me, and we're living under the same roof! We sleep in the same room even! Gah! I've had hard times sleeping at night just thinking that she would jump at me from her sleeping place. This was like a living nightmare!

"Oh, come on, brat," Rin started to complain, the said brat sitting on her head. "Why do I have to?"

"It's part of your punishment, Rinu," Reborn calmly replied. "So, don't complain."

Rin just grumbled and puffed her cheeks up as she crossed her arms in response, making me have an appalled look on my face. She was an assassin as far as I knew, but she acted like a child most of the time; it almost made her cute, if it weren't for the fact that she tried to kill me. She wore the Namimori Middle school uniform, which was a white long sleeved blouse with a dark blue sleeveless V-neck sweater on top, a black skirt, and black shoes with black long socks. There was supposed to be a red ribbon around her neck, under the collar, but she had her ribbon untied and loosely placed under the collar of her blouse.

Her pale, golden blond hair was tied up in a single ponytail, and she had brown eyes under her bangs. She was quite shorter than me, considering that she was a year or two younger than me. I wondered how Reborn got her to be in the same class as me. Nah, better not ask any questions to him. She held her satchel with her head, placing the shoulder strap on her forehead, over the plaster where she got hit by Reborn, as the satchel clung behind her. She kind of looked better this way, compared to her assassin clothes when we first met her.

Rin also had a choker around her neck, a kind of smaller collar than the one she was wearing with the leash. Amazingly, I once asked her about it, but she never actually told me anything about it. The conversation strangely branched out to why she called me 'Shoku' all the time, and it seemed it came from the word 'Kasshoku', which meant 'brown'.

"Hey, tenth," I heard Gokudera call out to me from behind. "Is it really okay for that dog girl to come with us to school?"

I turned around to look at him, and I saw him with the usual school uniform. I had a terrified crying face as I looked at him, my hands tightly clenched around Rin's leash. Reborn told me to never hold it loosely, since Rin might escape and kill me. The threat was terrifying enough to make me remember to always hold on to Rin's leash tightly.

"R-Reborn told me she has to come along," I replied. "for my training, he says."

"Tch. Well, if Reborn says so, then I won't complain."

"Just shut up, old man. Just hearing your voice makes me want to punch you." Rin suddenly scoffed, making Gokudera snap.

"No, you shut up, you mutt! I can bomb you right now if I wanted to!"

"Then do it, geezer! And don't call me a mutt!"

The two continued bickering as we started to walk our way towards school, with Reborn still settled on Rin's head. I just silently watched at the two as I had a firm grip on Rin's leash, keeping a small distance away from the assassin.

Sigh, this is going to be a long walk to school., I thought, almost shrieking as I saw Gokudera threaten Rin with his dynamites. A really, really long walk.

And, voila! Chapie 3! I shall apologize for the very, very, very long wait, but please... Please review! It's motivation! :3