Hi there! I'm just writing to give a special thanks to Blank-name26, Kaytak1999, CherryBlossomSuki and ILikeFoxes828 for their reviews, and also to all of those following this story! Arigatogozaimasu!

First day of the trip

11:20 in the morning

It was time for their assassination attempt. Ame's group was now visiting one of the numerous shrines of the city. It wasn't as popular, though, so there weren't many tourists or potential witnesses. Exchanging a nod with Rio, she gave the signal for the operation to start.

::

"Why don't we go to the open-theater? That way, Korosensei will be distracted by the actors and won't notice the sniper, right?" proposed Fuwa.

"Wrong," instantly replied Ame, deep in thoughts. "Let's not forget that Korosensei more than likely knows about the assassinations that will take place. He's not stupid; he knows this trip is the perfect opportunity for us. Let's also assume that he knows about the sniper, for good measure: what then? Knowing him, he'll probably join the play or something, and then the sniper won't be able to get him. Hell, there'll be too many people anyway."

"Oh, right…"

"But then taking him by surprise is impossible!" protested Okajima, scratching his head. "We all know that as soon as he got his attention on you, you can't surprise him anymore."

"But we've got an advantage knowing that," pointed out the black-haired teen.

"What do you mean?" wondered Hayami.

"Well… I don't know if you guys noticed, but I manage to take him by surprise because I use his expectations to my advantage," she pointed out. "It's not always the case, but he can be rather predictable when you actually think about it." Seeing they weren't really following her, she tried to find another way to explain. "Let's assume that he knows about the sniper. That means he'll be on the lookout and the sniper can't surprise him, no matter how good he is. However, that doesn't mean we're not allowed to do anything, right?"

::

Ame easily spotted the sniper in the tree much, much farther. She was the one who chose that spot, after all. She was also fairly convinced that Korosensei had spotted him too, and was paying more attention to the guy than to what was going on around him.

Then, the operation began.

Let's go!

The sniper fired… at Rio. Korosensei instantly appeared between her and the bullet, effectively stopping it, but he lost two tentacles in the process. Using the opportunity, Rio instantly stabbed through two other tentacles. Startled, he didn't see Mimura, Sugaya, and Okajima firing at him, and barely escaped their bullets. However, all that commotion allowed the sniper to recharge his gun and fire again. Stuck between fires, he failed to notice Hayami, who was hidden above him, and Chiba, who was hidden behind a pillar. The two were now taking their own shot at him and managed to get three tentacles. Fuwa instantly dropped from the ceiling, wielding her knife but, having apparently enough, Korosensei's tentacles shot around and grabbed everyone, thus stopping the attacks.

"Enough!" he was panting, obviously taken by surprise. "Everyone—"

"Wow, that thing must be worth a lot uh?" then exclaimed loudly Ame, holding a precious urn. She then dropped it with a grin. "Oops?"

"NO!"

Korosensei released the students to grab it and managed to stop it from hitting the ground just in time. Nervous bands of sweat running down his face, he was panting even more harshly. Too flustered, he didn't see the rest of the students who had run to take cover.

Ame simply grinned before activating the bomb in the urn and jumping behind a pillar. A small detonation followed, and anti-sensei's bullets started flying all around. Using the distraction, the sniper fired a third time. Then, silence ensued. After a few seconds, Ame finally dared to look… and groaned when realizing he was still alive.

"Damn it!"

"What a carefully planned assassination…" chuckled their teacher, a little darkly. He was holding to the pieces of the now destroyed urn. "But destroying antic treasures to reach your goals will not be tolerated!"

"Chill, Korosensei," laughed nervously the black-haired girl, coming out of hiding. "It wasn't a real one anyway."

"… Eh!?"

"Sugaya made it," added Okajima, exchanging a fist bump with said boy. "Though you didn't notice it was a fake since you were so distracted by everything else."

"I can't believe this didn't work!" added Rio, running a hand through her hair. "And I acted as bait too! What a waste…"

"Well, I guess that part was a little reckless," chuckled Fuwa, rubbing the back of her head.

"We may have not managed, but we still made progress," then pointed out Hayami, coming down.

Chiba, next to her, simply nodded.

"It was fun to plan, though," pointed out Mimura.

At that, the rest of the students nodded in agreement. They may not have succeeded, but planning the assassination had been really fun, and extremely instructive too.

"… Niryufufufu! Well done, students!" praised their teacher. "Unfortunately, I believe it is time for me to meet with the next team. See you tonight!"

And he was gone, just like that. The eight students exchanged unsure glances, before slowly leaving the shrine and heading for a more populated area. As they walked, though, Ame's phone buzzed a little.

My target's near and he's on the move.

Now was the time to take her leave, then. Careful not to show what she was doing, she slowly let the group go ahead until the growing crowd naturally separated them. As soon as they disappeared, she went into the nearest alley and climbed on the roof. Once there, she started running.

Let's get this mission started!

End of the first day, at the inn

Back to present time

When Ame and the others finally returned to the inn, they were greeted by very worried classmates, who huddled around them as soon as they stepped inside.

"Gah! Ame! What happened to you?" gasped Rio, staring at the blood on the girl's face in horror.

"An asshole took me by surprise. Don't worry about it—"

"Don't worry about it? Of course I will! Come on, let's get you cleaned up!"

"Rio—"

But the blonde was having none of it and started dragging her towards the baths. The rest of the girls instantly went after them to bath together, hoping they'd get the full story from her. They knew Group Four and Ame had run into some trouble, but Karasuma had refused to tell them anything more, and so they were extremely curious and somewhat worried about what kind of mess they had gotten into. Before they could leave, though, Ame managed to stop and turned to the octopus.

"Korosensei!" She threw an envelope at him. Her teacher caught it, curious. "Give that to him, okay? Make sure he opens it only once he's alone!"

"Him…?"

"Oh, don't play dumb. I know you're going to—Rio! Stop pulling, damn it!"

This time, all of the girls left the room for good. The rest of their classmates stared for a few seconds, confused, before Korosensei chuckled and carefully tucked away the envelope.

Such a perceptive girl… Truly an interesting student!

"And you've beaten them all by yourself?"

"Yeah—ouch! Rio, stop—ow! Leave it be already!"

"We need to clean it before bandaging it!" protested the blonde, still working on the deep cut on the teen's face. "Who knows where that knife had gone before? Can you imagine all the germs there were on that thing?"

The door of the room slid open, letting enter Okuda, Yada, and Hara.

"We- we brought back bandages!" announced the bespectacled girl.

"And snacks!" added Hara, beaming.

"Also, Korosensei gave us this when we walked by," mused Yada, placing a small bottle before Ame. "Said it was painkillers to apply on the bandage before putting it on."

"Ugh, it's not like I'm dying either…" muttered the teen. "I can take care—ouch! Knock it off already!"

But Rio completely ignored her complaints and kept on cleaning the cut. Once she was finally done, she put some of the painkillers on the bandage, as instructed, before placing it over the cut.

"There! All done!" grinned the blue-eyed girl.

Ame lowered her head at that. "… thanks."

"Well, what are friends for?" retorted the blonde, patting her head.

"Ame-chan, I'm sorry," then apologized Kayano. "You were hurt because of us—"

"Nope. Not hearing any of this," Ame instantly cut her off. "I let my guard down and I paid the price. There's nothing more to it, so don't go blaming yourself or some bullshit like that, okay?"

"… okay."

"Still, you're really strong, aren't you, Ame-chan?" then mused Kurahashi. "You can surprise Korosensei, and you're good at planning, and you know how to fight…"

"I seem strong only because I play to my strengths," shrugged the girl, stretching her arms. "Without a weapon, I wouldn't have been able to take these guys on. I'm better at avoiding attacks than dealing them, to be frank."

"But where did you learn all that?" wondered Okano.

"Ooh, I know! You watched a lot of anime, haven't you?" grinned Fuwa.

"Nan, I just have… very dedicated mentors." That's putting it mildly. "Oh, shoot!"

She had completely forgotten about her mission. Rising to her feet, she apologized to the girls, before grabbing her phone and heading out. Stepping outside, she took a second to enjoy the fresher air of the night before dialing Hana's number.

She instantly picked up.

"Ame! We didn't get anything so we were worried something happened!"

"Sorry about that, Hana," cringed the teen. "But I'm okay."

"Then how'd the mission go?"

"I didn't… accomplish the mission."

"What? How come?"

"Some of my classmates ran into trouble. They got kidnapped and I had to go and take care of everything," resumed the teen, biting her lower lip. "But I lost the target in the process. I'm sorry."

"… No. No, don't be, it's fine. Are your friends okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine now. I took care of the thugs and everyone's safe."

"What about you? Were you hurt?"

"I let my guard down and one of them managed to get my face, but it's just a small cut. It'll be healed in no time," assured the girl.

"Okay. Don't worry about the mission, you did what was right. We'll simply work out something else. Enjoy the rest of your trip, okay? Also, Devit sent you the money earlier. You should have it in your account now."

"Wait, I didn't accomplish the mission—"

"Take it as an early birthday gift from me, then. And frankly, with all the extra work you've been doing for us, you deserve it."

"… Thank you, Hana. Oh, and I also recruited someone. A sniper."

"Really? Been a while since we last got a member… I'll wait for his call, then. Anyway, have fun and stay safe, okay?"

"Will do. I'll drop by when I come back."

"See you then."

Feeling better, Ame hung up. She already knew Hana wouldn't be mad or even disappointed, but she was still glad it went so smoothly. That mission had been rather important, after all. However, the Zodiac was rather loose when it came to those. As long as the clients got what they wanted, then the rest didn't matter. So, it wasn't unusual for a mission to turn out as Ame's did.

Guess I'll just have to make it up to them next time, then.

Out in the city, in a small restaurant

"And finally… one of my students asked me to give you this."

Red Eye, the sniper who had been following the groups all day, took the envelope the octopus was handing to him with some suspicion. He now knew for certain that the weird creature wasn't going to kill him, but what could one of his students possibly want from him?

"Also, that student asked me to tell you not to open it until you were certain you were alone," added the monster, getting up. "Well, it was nice meeting you. I do hope our paths cross again!"

On which he vanished. Red Eye stared at the now empty spot before him for a few seconds, still taken aback by the octopus's speed. Then, with a sigh, he looked back at the white envelope in his hands. Curiosity getting the better of him, he first checked around to make sure he was alone, before opening it.

Inside was only a small, black business card. On the front was the letter Z, stylized and white. On the other side was a phone number.

What does this mean?

There was something else in the envelope. It was a small note.

If you're interested in a new life, we're ready to welcome you and your skills.

Think about this offer carefully.

If you refuse, burn this paper.

If you're interested, call the number.

We know you'll make the right choice.

- Z

He frowned, even more confused. That was from a student? Was that kid, whoever it was… trying to recruit him or something? No, that was stupid. Surely just a prank or something like that. Shaking his head, he put the card in his pocket and kept on eating.

Ame was heading back to the girls' room but, as she passed the boys', she noticed they were all still awake. She couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about, considering it was getting rather late. So, without a noise, she slipped in between the half-opened doors and casually went to sit just behind Takebayashi and Kimura. None of the boys noticed her, completely engrossed by whatever they were doing and a paper that was going around.

"—Well, I just want to know who likes who," remarked Mimura.

"I can't pick just one!" cried Okajima in the background.

"Other than you, Okajima," sweatdropped Sugaya.

"Hey, who do you like, Nagisa?" then wondered Maehara.

"Uh? I- I—"

"What about you, Maehara?" then retorted Sugino, saving his friend from the embarrassment. "Anyone?"

"Who, me?" He chuckled, shaking his head. "My lips are sealed."

"That pisses me off! And when I think of how popular guys like you are, it pisses me off even more!" protested Mimura.

"Oh, looks like fun in here," remarked Karma, coming in. "What are you guys doing?"

"Karma!"

"Great timing!"

"Is there a girl you like?" asked bluntly Maehara.

At first surprised, the red-haired boy then looked down at the paper that was handed over to him. Ame leaned on her palm, smirking a little and wondering when the hell those guys would finally notice her. They were obviously too engrossed in their little conversation right now, but she was getting some pretty good blackmail material.

"Hmm… Maybe Okuda-san?" finally answered Karma.

"No way…"

"Oh, that's a pretty interesting choice!" mused the eternal flirt. "Why?"

"'Cause I bet she could make some sketchy drugs and chloroform—really kick my mischief-making up a notch, you know?" replied the red-haired devil, grinning evilly.

"That's one match no one needs to be making," sweatdropped Sugino.

"Wait, but aren't you pretty chummy with Naoki-san?" then mused Sugaya. "Can you imagine, her and Karma working on pranks together?"

At that, all the boys shuddered, while Karma's smirk only widened at the rather interesting idea. It was true that having Ame as a partner in crime could be fun… Said girl was starting to wonder if she should take pity on them and inform them of her presence.

"Well, she ranked fifth in the list," then remarked Okajima, taking a look at the said list. "She was rather cold at the beginning of the year but she's super badass and she's actually pretty nice—"

"Okay, okay," Isogai intervened and grabbed the paper. "You guys, these ratings are just between us, okay? I mean, most of us don't want this getting out. So, do not let the girls or any of the teachers find out—"

"I'll take this, thank you very much~!"

All of the boys froze in place. Then, Isogai blinked a few times, gaping at his now empty hand. The paper on which the ratings had been written had vanished from his hands!

"What—"

"So, I'm really fifth? Funny, didn't think you guys thought so highly of me."

"NA- NAOKI-SAN!?" exclaimed all of the boys, paling dramatically at the sight of the black-haired girl now standing in the middle of their group. "NO WAY!"

"When the hell did you get here!?" squeaked Okajima in horror.

"Uh?" A small grin stretched her lips. "I got here just before Karma. I was sitting with you all along. So, I'm super badass and pretty nice?"

"Ugh! No way!"

"How did we not see her?"

"Guys, she got the list!"

Instantly, the chaos that had taken over quieted down as all of the boys snapped their attention back to the paper now in Ame's hands. The black-haired girl, feeling up for some fun, mimicked a thoughtful expression.

"You know, I am curious as to what the girls would say about these ratings—"

"Gah! No!"

"Get her!"

"Don't let her leave the room!"

Most of the boys tried grabbing her, but she easily escaped their grasps and managed to reach the door in the confusion.

"See ya!" And she started running.

"Quick! Before she makes it to the girls' room!"

"Come back here, Naoki!"

They stumbled out of the room but, by the time they started chasing her, she was already a fair bit ahead. She was using the slippery floor to her advantage, letting herself slide down the hallway at high speed.

"Let's cut her off!" ordered Isogai. "Everyone split!"

"Yes!"

A group went left, another ran outside, and the last one kept on running after her. Too caught up in escaping them, Ame didn't really pay attention and kept on running/sliding. As the door of the girls' room appeared in sight, though, so did the second group, who had cut through the other hallway.

"There she is!"

"She's trapped!"

They'd get to the room before her. Bracing herself, she then dropped to the floor. Due to the speed, she kept on sliding, though, right between their legs. As she finally managed to reach the door, she practically threw the door open and burst in, scaring the crap out of the other girls.

"Ame! What's that commotion all about?" wondered Rio, getting up.

"It's the boys, they—"

"Gotcha!"

"Whoa!"

The third group that had gone outside had climbed on the girls' balcony and managed to get into the room. Maehara jumped on her, making her fall to the floor, and was soon imitated by Okajima, Kimura, Sugino, and Sugaya. The teen groaned at the sudden weights that were now suffocating her, and she could do nothing as Isogai plucked the list from her hands.

"We got it!" he claimed, victorious.

"Ow…"

"Got what? What's going on?" demanded Hara, crossing her arms over her chest.

At that, all the boys stiffened. They had completely forgotten the other girls were there and the confusion their presence might bring.

"Err…"

Karma suddenly grabbed the paper and, pulling a lighter from nowhere, put it on fire. In a matter of seconds, all that was left from the list were ashes.

He then offered a mysterious grin to the girls. "Nothing."

"The guys made a list!" exclaimed Ame. She was a bit of a sore loser. "They wrote down what—oof!"

She was cut off as a pillow was suddenly slammed into her face. As the boys holding her down finally rose back to their feet, she glared up at Karma, who simply replied with a not-so-innocent smile.

"What is it, A-me-chan~?"

"Ooh, you're so paying for that."

She kicked his feet from under him. He fell on the floor with a groan, and she instantly grabbed his pillow before slamming it in his face.

"Take that!"

"Ugh!"

"Yosh! Pillow fight!" yelled Rio, throwing her own pillow in Maehara's face.

"Oh, you're on!" exclaimed the flirt.

And, before any of the students could truly understand what was happening, a real pillow fight began. Easily enough, it turned into a girls-VS-boys affair. None were holding back, everything was permitted, and all were using whatever skills they possessed to their advantage. Soon enough, though, their screams and laughter drew the attention of the teachers.

Karasuma opened the door, frowning. "What's all that ruckus for?"

Instantly, everyone stopped moving, all pillows and bodies freezing in place. Not only were they supposed to be sleeping, but also boys weren't allowed in the girls' room either. They had been caught red-handed. However, still caught up in the moment, Ame didn't notice the newcomer and threw her pillow at Karma. He took a step back to avoid it… and the projectile flew straight at the government agent, aimed directly at his face. He however caught it just in time though, now, the black-haired girl did notice him.

A heavy silence ensued.

Ame let out a nervous chuckle. "Err… Pillow fight?"

Karasuma stared at her for a moment, then glanced around the room. It was an utter mess, and all of the students were panting and grinning and obviously having fun. He sighed internally. He had already imposed on their vacation too much, he could cut them some slack.

"Don't make too much noise," he simply said, before turning around to leave. He stopped in his tracks, though. "Oh, and Naoki?"

"Y- yeah?"

Without warning, he spun around and threw back the pillow at her. She got it right in the face, the strength of the blow making her fall back on the mattress. When she straightened up, though, the man was already gone and the door was closed.

"Wait… He didn't say we had to stop!" suddenly exclaimed Okajima, hitting Okano with two pillows at once.

"Gah! This is war!"

And chaos ensued once again.

As all of the students started fighting once more, Ame couldn't stop herself any longer and started laughing. She knew that the trip would be interesting, but she hadn't expected it to be so much fun! Thanks to that school trip, she had learned a lot on her classmates—her friends. It had taken a while but, finally… finally, Ame truly felt like she was part of the class.

So she kept on laughing. She was happy, so why bother hiding it?

.

.

The next morning, when Korosensei went to the boys' room to wake them up, he almost had a heart attack. None of the male students were in their room! Panicking a little, he quickly went to check on the girls, only to find Irina and Karasuma standing in the doorway.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, quickly joining them. "The boys have gone… missing…"

He trailed off as understanding dawned on him. In the girls' room were scattered all of the students. They were sleeping around or over each other, obviously tired but with small smiles on their faces.

"Could you let them sleep a little longer?" The three of them snapped their eyes to the girl who had just appeared behind them. "We all went to sleep pretty late last night."

It was Ame. She was smiling softly, with a cup of coffee in her hands.

"Stop sneaking up on us like that!" scolded Irina, poking her forehead. The teen winced when rubbing the sore spot. "We're pros, brat! We might react on reflex one day and hurt you by accident!"

"Sorry, sorry…"

"Were you awake for long, Naoki-san?" wondered Korosensei.

He easily noticed the bags under the girl's eyes. She always had them, but they seemed more pronounced that day, though it probably was because she hadn't covered them with makeup yet.

"An hour or two," she shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee. "I don't sleep much. Say, you want some coffee? There's still some left, and I can make more."

"… Very well," accepted Karasuma. "We'll wake them up after."

"I guess we can let them enjoy their vacation a while longer," shrugged the blonde, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Niryufufufu! I'll take you up on that offer as well, Naoki-san," simply chuckled Korosensei.

.

.

The phone rang once. Twice.

At the third ring, someone picked up.

"Sniper?"

"… Yeah. One of yours gave me this card? Said to call if I was interested. You got a job for me?"

"More or less. I'll send you a location and a time to meet in Kyoto tomorrow. Think you can make it?"

"Can't you even tell me what I'm getting into?"

"We are going to give you an offer in person. If you're not interested once you've received the details, then you can walk. No consequences or conditions on your part. We're really only asking for your time. We can even pay for your ride here."

"… Tche. It's fine. Just send me the location already."

"See you then, Red Eye."

.

.

"I'm home!"

"AME-NEE!"

"Gah!"

The teen fell as six kids suddenly jumped on her. She groaned a little when hitting the floor, before chuckling and ruffling their hair. After a few seconds of hugging, the children finally released her and she got back on her feet.

"You brought us souvenirs?" instantly asked Kiba, before frowning. "Wait, what happened to your cheek?"

"Uh? Oh, I tripped and cut myself."

"Ah! You're such a klutz, Ame-nee!" he barked in laughter.

She lifted an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You're saying this to the girl with your souvenir?"

"And I'm shutting up," relented the boy. "Though can we please have them?"

"Please, please, please!" exclaimed Ash.

"What, no 'welcome back' for me?" then mused the teen, lifting an eyebrow.

"WELCOME BACK!" they instantly chorused.

Though they were all eyeing her bag with excitement because they knew Ame always brought back souvenirs. So, deciding not to tease them any longer, she gestured for them to settle in the living room. They instantly started running, making her roll her eyes a little.

"Welcome back, Ame-chan," then greeted her grandmother, in the doorway. She was holding little Leo, who was already asleep. "Did you have fun on your trip?"

The black-haired girl brightened up at that. "It was great! We visited a lot of places and we met people from there and we had so much fun! I wish—"

"Ame-nee!" called Kiba, impatient. "Come on!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she yelled back, before snorting. "Impatient brats…"

"You know they missed you," laughed softly her caretaker.

"And I missed them too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd rather hand out those souvenirs before they throttle me to get them themselves."

Her grandmother swatted her arm, though she was too used to Ame's rather dark sense of humor to really take offense to it. That simply made the girl laugh, before she quickly went to join the kids. As soon as she entered, they all sat on the couch straight and quiet, knowing it'd be faster if they didn't start running around and screaming over each other.

"Okay, okay…" Ame pulled out a souvenir at random. "That one's… for Amaya! There you go, sweetheart."

The blue-haired girl smiled softly at the notebook. It was really beautiful, with flowers and golden paint. It was probably handmade, too.

"Thank you, Ame-nee."

"Of course. Next is Jackie!"

"Yeah!"

He already knew what she had gotten him. Each time she brought back souvenirs, she bought a stuffed animal for him. He had started a collection, and she was only too happy to help him expand it. He hugged tightly the stuffed panda, too happy to formulate any words.

"Okay, who's next?" asked impatiently Kiba, almost bouncing in his seat.

"Hmm…" She picked another souvenir, before grinning a little. "Not you! There you go, Ash!"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, come on!" whined the twelve-year-old boy.

Ignoring him, she handed over a small box to the younger girl. Ash gingerly took it, and her eyes started sparkling once she understood what was inside.

"Those are little bags of spices from all over, really. I know you wanted some of them for your recipes—"

"THANK YOU!"

"Ugh!"

Ame almost fell again when the little girl propelled herself into her arms like some sort of rocket. Putting her down, she laughed when the child almost instantly vanished into the kitchen to go and try out the spices. Shaking her head, she reported her attention on the two last kids before her. The brown-haired girl was as calm as ever, while the boy was obviously doing his best not to blow up.

Okay, enough teasing.

"All right, so that one's for Kiba, and that one's for Rin."

She gave them simultaneously. Kiba instantly whooped, jumping on the couch.

"A new ball! Neat!" he grinned, holding the basketball.

"Kiba, get down from there!" While the boy obeyed, Ame turned to Rin, who was now staring at the book she had just received. "Is it okay? I didn't know if you already had it, so—"

"It's perfect." The ever-so-serious girl offered her a small smile. "Thanks, Ame-nee."

"Sure thing. Anyway, all of you get lost and enjoy your souvenirs—"

She didn't have to say it twice, they were all gone in a flash. Thoroughly amused, she then turned to her grandmother, who had been watching everything with a soft smile on her lips. In her arms, Leo was still sleeping soundly. Smiling too, Ame quickly joined them, before pulling out a little box from her pocket.

"I got something for you too, Obaa-san," she announced, handing it over.

Her caretaker handed over the baby to her, and Ame gave her the box before carefully holding the boy. The older woman then opened her gift… and almost dropped it in surprise.

"Oh, Ame, you shouldn't—"

"Please, Obaa-san. I wanted to."

Nodding slowly, her grandmother pulled out the silver chain from the box. It was extremely simple, with a small jade hanging from it, on which was carved the kanji for 'love'.

"Thank you, Ame."

"No, thank you, Obaa-san. Now, I'll go and put Leo in his room. You take some time to relax, okay? Why don't you go out tonight, go watch a movie or something? Isn't there one you wanted to see?" she suggested. "I'll take care of the kids."

"If you're certain… I know they wanted to pass some time with you," agreed the woman, before kissing her cheek. "I won't come back too late."

At that, Ame rolled her eyes. "I know. Have fun!"

Obaa-san then left to get ready. Smiling once more, Ame then headed upstairs, careful not to jostle the sleeping child in her arms. She easily reached the room he was sharing with her grandmother, and gently put him in his bed. After making sure he wouldn't wake up, she placed a small, round music box next to him. She opened it, letting the soft music fill the room, before leaving. The smile never left her face. In the end, she really did miss them, even if they had only been apart for less than two days.

.

.

"Well, well, well! What a surprise! So, you got in?"

"Y- you!?"

The day following her return was free, and so Ame went to Headquarters to give a full report on the mission she more or less abandoned. It was kind of boring and they were usually rather loose on procedures, but they still needed to keep some kind of order in the group. When she got there, though, it was only to find none other than the sniper, Red Eye, lazing on the couch and staring at the shiny new ring now occupying his middle finger.

"You're rather young to be part of a yakuza group," he grunted, sitting up.

"And you're getting older by the day, what's your point?" she retorted, going to grab a soda in the small refrigerator.

That made him snort. He was still a little in a daze because of everything that had just happened so, in the end, knowing she was the one who recruited him didn't really surprise him.

"Been in it for long?" he mused as she came to sit next to him.

She handed him a beer, which he hesitantly took. "A few years. Five? Nan, I think it's more like seven… Anyway, I didn't think you'd be so easily convinced. I mean, I gave you that card on a whim. Didn't think you'd actually accept."

"Well, working as a solo assassin can only get me this far," he remarked, leaning back into the couch. "With that mission gone haywire back in Kyoto—"

"Not your fault. We've been trying to kill Korosensei for months," she huffed.

"Well, I found myself looking back on my life and my expectations. I realized that… dying alone, wasn't exactly something I wished for, even though I always knew it was part of the job."

"Ah!" Her laugh startled him. "Don't go giving up on life so easily. What, one failure can get you this down? Look, Korosensei is an actual monster. You stood no chance against him, and nothing could have changed that."

They stayed silent for a moment before he glanced back at her.

"Why recruit me? You didn't even know what I looked like until now," he pointed out.

"What? Of course I knew."

"Uh?"

"Dude, we're info brokers. You really think I wouldn't have made my research on the assassin the government would engage for this mission?" Snorting, she finished her soda. "You've got great skills and I thought the group could benefit from your experience just like you can benefit from us. As I said, it really was on a whim. Well, that and I wanted someone new to join. You know, to stir things up a bit. It's been a while since we got a new member."

"… I see."

Shaking her head, she rose back to her feet, an hand in her pocket as she turned to him.

"Look, I know it might be a little weird for you for a while, what with having been solo for the past decade or something," she remarked. "But don't stress on it too much. Everyone's pretty independent anyway and you can still take your usual jobs. Being a member of the Zodiac doesn't mean you have to stop being an assassin."

"I… didn't know that," he admitted, surprised.

"Trust Hana to be thorough in her explications," sighed Ame, though she was smiling. "Anyway, you've got your phone already?" The man held up said phone for her to see. The Zodiac gave phones to its members because it allowed them to communicated without being tracked down or listened to. "Cool, so you already got more or less everyone's numbers. Call me if you need anything, okay? I kind of am the one who got you in this mess in the first place, after all."

"Mess?" he mused.

She spread her arms theatrically. "A wonderful, immoral mess. Welcome aboard, Red Eye."

She then extended her hand to him. The blond stared at it for a second. Then, he chuckled. Rising to his feet to truly face her, he grabbed it and firmly shook it.

"I believe I was given the name… Sasori."

"Nice. I've got to go now, give a report and all, but I'll see you around, okay?" With a wave, she started heading for the main office. "Oh, I'm Kitsune, by the way! You'll find my number under that name."

She was gone before he could reply. Staring down at his phone, he put it back in his pocket, before bringing his ring under the light. It glinted eerily, the stylized Z almost hypnotizing under the glow.

Welcome aboard, uh? Chuckling again, he fell back on the couch and took another gulp of his beer. Guess things are bound to become interesting.