Note from the author: Hide's name is pronounced 'HEE-deh' not Hide, like Hide + Seek the popular children's game that is similar to Tag.
~8~
"Sawada Hideyoshi, I am here to kill you!" a grade schooler suddenly declared to Hide in the middle of the neighborhood street.
"Pfft!" he spat out his soda and wiped the liquid off his face while wincing at the pain that comes with having soda coming out of your nose, "What!?"
"Or that's what I'm supposed to say to you," the boy continued and held up a note as proof, "Some nii-chan told me to say that and give this to you. He said that I'd get some candy if I did it!" it took Hide a few seconds to notice that the kid was expecting candy from him.
"I don't have any candy for you!" he yelled.
"Scram it, kid!" Hanabi growled as she snatched the note from the little boy.
"Hey nee-chan, I'm not leaving until I get my end of this deal!" the boy argued.
"What a weird note," she commented while ignoring the boy, "It says 'Look up'."
"Huh?" Hide blinked and fell to the ground as something heavy suddenly fell on him from above.
"Geez, I told you to look up," a voice said lazily from above; right afterwards, a colorful canvas covered them and Hide squirmed to get out from underneath the owner of the voice.
The canvas was quickly removed as well as the weight. Hide looked up and saw a guy that was at least a year older than him. He had messy blonde hair that was covered with a black and grey beanie and he had bright blue eyes. He wore a red hoodie with dark blue jeans and had a parachute bag on his back. No matter how you looked at him, he was obviously foreign.
"What the hell was that for, bastard!?" Hanabi yelled, she was the one who had pulled him off of Hide and was holding him by the collar.
"Girls shouldn't say such dirty things," he said calmly while smiling peacefully.
Hanabi's eye brow twitched and she started to get her cards out while saying threateningly in a low tone, "What'd you just say, buddy?"
"Hey nii-chan, you said I'd get candy!" said the boy.
"Oh yeah," the guy nodded towards the boy and dug through his pockets before he took out a note, "If you give this to that same guy, I'll double your amount."
"Okay!" the boy snatched the note and gave it to Hide, "Here you go, now give me candy!"
"W-What?" Hide took the note, it read: Look up again.
Hide looked up automatically and got a foot to his face.
"It's about time you got here," the guy smirked.
This time a girl with matching blonde hair and blue eyes fell from the sky. She wore a brown hoodie with matching brown shorts. She was wearing sandals as well, which Hide supposed was better than getting boots to the face...
"Looks like I stepped on something…" she said in an uncaring tone.
"Get off the Twelfth you insane girl!" Hanabi roared and tossed the girl over to where the other guy stood. She leaned down to Hide and started shaking his shoulders violently and worriedly, "Twelfth, are you alright!? Speak to me!"
"Hey nii-chan, can I have my candy?" asked the grade-schooler from earlier.
"What? Oh right," the guy nodded and took off his parachute bag and started digging through it until he got out a bag of candy, "Here you go kid, now go brush your teeth afterwards."
"Fine," the boy agreed before snatching the bag and running off.
"Ah, kids are so innocent…" the blue-eyed boy said dreamily.
"You realize that he's probably not gonna do that right?" interrupted the girl.
"Yeah, but it's a nice thought," he shrugged.
"Excuse me," said a squeaky voice, they turned to the source who had been calmly watching from on top of the wall that divided the houses from the road, "But may I ask why you both just collapsed onto my student?"
The guy and the girl looked at each other and nodded.
"Well," the guy began, "to tell the truth, we kinda are here to kill that guy."
"We are assassins from America," said the girl, "we've gotten a hit on that weakling over there," she pointed to the still unconscious Hide.
Reborn jumped off the wall, said, "Move Hanabi," and started slapping Hide violently, "Wake up Stupid-Hide."
"Quit it! I'm awake already!" the boy yelled.
"Did you hear what these two just said?" the infant asked while pointing up towards the American assassins.
"Um, no," the response was even more slapping, "QUIT IT!"
The male-American kneeled down to Hide and gave him a peaceful smile while saying cheerfully, "We're here to kill you."
Don't say that so peacefully! was Hide's immediate first thought.
"Why do you want to kill me?" he screamed.
"Cause we were paid to, stupid," said the blue-eyed girl.
"Don't call the Twelfth stupid, bitch!" Hanabi roared, "Even if he's a little slow sometimes!"
"That's not helping, Gokudera-san," Hide mumbled.
"Who the hell are you, anyways?" the silver-haired girl asked.
"We are the Assassination team from America, the A-Siblings!" said the blue-eyed boy enthusiastically, "I'm Adam Grandhart, and this is my twin sister, Anna."
"Yo."
"We're different from other assassins though," he continued, "we actually listen to our victims before we kill them. You know, last words, last wishes, we'll even ask you how you want to die!"
"I would prefer not to die!" Hide yelled.
"That's not a choice," said Anna, she was now holding two tazers in her hands and said, "Your choices are being electrocuted to death, being sliced to death, or being beaten to death."
They're all extremely painful! Hide screamed in his head.
"Hold on," Reborn interrupted, "It would be troublesome if you outright killed my student, is there some way we can just make this disappear?"
"Well…" male assassin began thoughtfully, "You could pay us more money than the person who sent out the hit."
"How much is it?"
"Five million dollars," said Anna.
"Dollars?" Hide questioned, "What's that in yen?"
"T-Twelfth…" Hanabi said shakily, she leaned down to Hide and whispered the amount.
"FIVE-HUNDRED MILLION!?" he yelled.
"We'll give you five yen," said Reborn.
"Don't bargain for such a low amount!" Hide yelled.
"How much is five yen Anna?" Adam asked his sister.
"About a nickel."
"That's not even enough for a plane ride home!"
"Don't worry Twelfth, I'll take care of this!" said Hanabi.
"Wait, Gokudera-san don't start exploding things in public!" Hide pleaded.
"Huh?" she gave him a confused look and said, "What are you talking about Twelfth? I was going to bribe them!"
"Really?" he blinked as Hanabi took out her wallet, she opened it and then walked over to the twins with full confidence.
"Hey you," she began, "How about five hundred yen?"
She's also going really low!
"How much is that Anna?"
"Not even five dollars."
"Then no thanks."
"Wait, you said your name was Grandhart, right?" Reborn asked, "I've heard of you guys, you're one of the most infamous assassination teams in North America. I didn't know you guys expanded into Asia."
"We're broadening our horizons," Anna said flatly.
"Oh yeah, I've been wondering about this for a while," said Adam, "But are you the Reborn? My sister and I are huge fans of your work."
"Thank you."
They're complimenting each other now!! the young boss gaped in horror.
"What are you doing here in this tiny country though, Mr. Reborn?" Adam asked.
"I am here to teach my student."
"Who's that?"
"The person you're about to kill."
"Eh? Really?" Adam looked from Hide to Reborn, "This puny guy?"
"He's going to be next Boss of the Vongola, thank you very much!" said Hanabi with a hint of pride.
"The Vongola?" Anna asked, she put down her tazers and said to her brother, "Brother, I don't think that killing a next generation Vongola is such a good idea. The Vongola can be very dangerous enemies…"
"Hmm, you do have a point," said Adam thoughtfully while rubbing his chin, "And we're right in front of the Great Reborn as well…but the person who hired us is no one to mess around with either."
"Who hired you?" Reborn asked.
Adam grinned and held a finger up to his mouth, "That would be breaking the Client-Confidentiality Contract."
"Good point," the infant nodded in approval and asked, "What if Hide grants you both protection under the Vongola?"
"Really?" Anna blinked.
"I know of the situation that is going on between you guys," said Reborn, "So it should be no problem if you decide to join the Vongola ranks."
The twins thought about this and talked it over with each other for a few minutes in English before finally reaching an agreement.
"We'll take you up on that offer," said Adam with a hand held out.
"But we still have a contract to abide by," said Anna, "We won't kill you though, but we just won't tell you who sent out the hit."
"Sounds fair enough," said Reborn and shook hands with them.
What just happened!? Hide gawked.
He flinched when Anna turned her gaze to him and said, "Don't worry, we won't allow anymore hits to come after you, Boss."
"Isn't that great Twelfth, now you won't have to be assassinated anymore!" Hanabi exclaimed happily.
"That's not really what I wanted though…" Hide said miserably.
~8~
I just want a normal life!! he screamed in his head.
The next morning, Hide came down stairs half-awake and sat down in his chair to get ready to eat.
"Good morning, Boss," said Adam cheerfully.
"Morning," he yawned and did a double-take on that, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"
"You're taking care of us now, remember Boss?" said Anna from next to her brother.
"Who said that?" Hide asked tiredly.
They both sat next to each other at the dining table while Hide's mother cheerfully gave them pancakes.
"Mom, what are you doing?" the son asked wearily.
"They're our guests, Hide-kun," his mother said cheerfully.
"Thanks for the food, Mama," they said in unison, causing Hide's mother to squeal in ecstasy.
"Waah~! So cute! I've always wanted twins!"
"They're not even your children!" Hide pointed out.
"Oh yeah, we'll also be attending the same school as you Boss," said Adam, "Just a small little detail we wanted to get out of the way."
"How is that small!?"
And for some reason, Hide acquired another two more members for his family…Wait, what?