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Target 2: Murphy's law

Kotsu has finally gotten used to Reborn's existence. He's been around for about a week and Kotsu's worked to the bone. Constantly tired. Constantly bossed around, asked to do impossible feats of strength or solve problems meant for high schoolers. He was literally burned out… Kotsu wakes up shaking his head to wake himself up properly. "I wonder what he'll make me do today…" he gets up and changes to his school uniform. He slowly makes his way down the stairs, coming into the livingroom which connects to the kitchen via an archway. His mother is in the kitchen cleaning a couple of dishes and Ren is sitting in his seat eating his own breakfast. He smiles at his little brother with a smile Kotsu swears he's seen more than ANY other expression from the blonde. "Morning lil' bro!"

"Morning…" Kotsu lazily flops down in the chair next to him cementing the immense difference in energy between them. Kotsu had always been a little lazy, laidback and nonchalant going wherever the wind took him. But Ren! Ren had always been the forward type. Energetic, happy, outgoing, and a REAL dance-freak. Ever since he could remember Ren has always been breakdancing. At the start it was quite normal to watch. Just some funky movements. Kotsu really wanted to give it a try back then, just to be as cool as his big brother. But then it started to quickly evolve into more advanced moves, where he'd start getting on the ground spinning and whatnot. No restraint at all. Kotsu officially gave up on doing breakdancing at that point. WAY too advanced for a little guy like him! And as of late it hasn't slowed down at all! He's STILL trying to reach new heights in his dance moves. Kotsu honestly has no idea how Ren is managing to get in as much practice as he does, while also staying on top of school, AND a social life with friends, though Kotsu's only ever really seen him actively seeking out Reishiro…

Reborn walks in taking off his nightcap making his fedora pop out from underneath. He even SLEEPS with that fedora?! "Chaos," he says sitting down and their mom pours a cup of coffee for him.

"Morning Reborn…" She says gushing over his morning voice.

Reborn quickly gulps down the coffee and thanks her. "So… Kotsu. Today's the day of your school's annual scavenger hunt. Did you sign yourself up?" He asks and Kotsu just slowly shakes his head.

"No… I-I'm not very good at it. Why do you ask?" Kotsu says starting to get nervous and Ren just laughs.

"I did! It's always fun. Goes all around Namimori!"

Reborn tips his hat. "Well I signed you up Kotsu. And you're on Ren's team," He says and Kotsu's jaw drops.

"W-why!? That's not fair! I don't wanna!"

At that his mother points at him from the kitchen with a spoon. "Kotsu. The man's giving you a chance to do something OTHER than all that studying he's putting you through,"

Kotsu is about to complain before feeling an almost shining aura coming from his brother and as he looks over the older brother's eyes are sparkling with the strength of a thousand suns. "Finally! I get to DO something with you! This'll be AWESOME!" He says happily and Kotsu almost can't bring himself to complain due to the boy's outburst.

"Y-yeah…"

"I may have tweaked your route and added an extra element of surprise," Reborn says but before Kotsu can say anything Ren's already dragged him up and out of the door.

"Let's GOOO!" He yells happily tugging along with their bag of outdoor gym-clothes. "Bye mom!" they both declare as they run down the street.

Reborn smirks. "Let's see how unlucky you are today, Murphy," He says smirking.

-NII-

The entire school has gathered out front. At least the ones who've 'willingly' participated in the scavenger hunt. It seems that the only members of team Niruo are Ren, Kotsu and someone else who looks very familiar. "Reborn! What're you doing here!?" Kotsu yells but the hitman hits him over the head wearing a disguise which somehow has made him shorter, so he looks like a middle schooler.

"Who's Reborn? I'm Ribonu," He says folding crossing his arms.

Ren holds out a hand. "Ribonu eh? Nice to meet you. Let's do our best!" He says and Reborn shakes on it.

"As you say," Each team is handed out a map and compass. Reborn takes the map quickly looking over it. As he goes back to his team he swaps it for another in his pocket. "here we are," He says handing it over to Ren who quickly points into the distance.

"This way we go! Let's make it quick and run!" He says jumping a little to stretch and Kotsu already looks exhausted simply at the thought. Reborn just goes along and begins running after Ren with Kotsu scrambling to keep up.

"This is… too much… energy… right off the bat…" He pants.

-NII-

They've reached the town! Namimori shopping district! It's relatively quiet for what it's worth. The group has slowed down to find the exact location of the first marker. They walk past an alley and right as they do a man walks out wearing a light brown coat covering his body and a hat covering his face, bumping into them all. "My apologies. Didn't see you guys…" He says before quickly walking off. Naturally only Kotsu finds this strange as Ren and Reborn are already discussing the location of the marker.

"A-Am I REALLY the only one who found that suspicious?" Kotsu asks pointing after the man who's already gotten quite far away.

Ren laughs it off. "Calm down lil' bro. It was JUST an accident!" However right as he says that Kotsu notes a brick which was somehow balanced on the edge of the building they're standing at falls due to wind and jumps forward to push Ren out of the way. They both narrowly dodge the brick as it crashes against the pavement. "Close one… thanks lil' bro… you really saved me there," He says with another smile and Kotsu gets off. That was TOO perfect to be a mere coincidence. However Ren brushes it off and points. "I think it should be over there!" He says and Reborn nods following him to the spot. Kotsu quickly gets behind the two.

"Who was THAT!?" Reborn just shrugs.

"No idea,"

"Yes you do! Don't lie!" He whispers somehow still conveying the yell.

Reborn bonks him on the head. "I'm not going to tell you. Now shut it and let's go," Ren spots the marker hidden in an alley and quickly runs to grab it along with Kotsu, however right as Kotsu picks up the marker they hear a snarl coming from a cardboard box next to it. They both gulp before running away as a dog starts chasing after them.

"Ribanu! Run!" Ren yells in frantic panic and Reborn just smirks a little, running with them from the dog.

-NII-

Meanwhile, the man in the coat takes off his hat revealing short brown hair and a very sharp-looking face. He walks into an alley and falls flat on his face.

"Dammit…" He says to himself getting back up and he takes a phone out of the coat and dials a number.

"It's done."

"Who is this? How did you get my number?" He hangs up and looks at the number.

"Dammit, I dialed wrong again," He dials another number making sure to dial up right this time.

"It's done," He says hanging up just as quickly as he called whoever it was. "Wonder if Reborn-san set up the traps properly…

-NII-

Ren, Reborn and Kotsu make it to the woods. The exact and only place where Kotsu did NOT want to go on a scavenger hunt with someone like Reborn. Ren looks at the map. "Looks like there're special instructions for this marker. 'Be weary of the tribals living in these forests. They have set traps for you to fall into. Be careful!'" he reads before smiling and taking the first step into the forest. "Well then! No need to back down then!" Kotsu scrambles after them.

"R-Reborn… what kind of traps did you set…?" He asks and Reborn just points to the ground.

"Stuff like that," He says right as Kotsu's foot is trapped in a snare and he's pulling into a tree. Sadly for him a bird has JUST built a nest in the tree and starts pecking at him before he suddenly falls due to Ren having cut the rope. He tries catching Kotsu but fails and Kotsu crashes into the ground.

"Oooowww…" Kotsu says as he gets up and Ren blinks a little.

"S-sorry lil' bro… I thought I had you…" He says once more a bit ashamed. "Y-you didn't get hurt did you?"

"N-no I'm fine…" The little group starts walking through the forest, somehow hitting a trap almost every step. Even Reborn is a bit surprised by their unluckiness.

"You really think we'll ever make it to the marker with all these traps?" Ren asks his hands folded behind his head.

Before Kotsu can even answer the question Reborn points to the side. "Watch out," he says nonchalantly as a giant log comes flying from the side, attached to a rope. Ren reacts quickly jumping landing on it and getting down on the other side, while Kotsu ducks under the log. They both quickly stand up looking back to see the log come back swinging. Everything goes in slowmotion for a moment as neither of them have time to react. However right then Kotsu sees Reborn firing a pistol which appears to be Leon at him. The bullet splits in two hitting Kotsu with a red aura which penetrates his forehead and he falls back. 'W-what…? I'm dying… right now…? That's ridiculous… I didn't even get to do anything with my life. I didn't even get to push him out of the way of the trap. I wish I could've stopped that trap from hitting him at least…' he says landing and Reborn smirks as the log gets ever closer to Ren who tries dodging however right before the log hits Kotsu leaps back up off the ground with gusto crashing his head straight into it as hit clothes bursts off, while a giant purple flame shoots from his forehead.

"RE… BOOOOOORNNN! I WILL STOP THESE TRAPS WITH MY DYING WILL!" He yells sounding more energetic than he ever has before and Ren just looks stunned as the log is literally ripped in two despite being incredibly thick. "FIRST TRAP STOPPED! LET'S… GOOOOOO!" Kotsu yells off the top of his lungs before he starts sprinting into the distance. "MORE! THERE'RE MORE!" He yells stepping on another snare however before it even pulls him up he grabs the rope biting it to pieces. Ren and Reborn both quickly run after him, easily being able to see where he's been by the havoc on the path.

"W-what's gotten into him all of the sudden…?" Reborn smirks.

"The dying will. Any good mafia boss will need to master it. This is the first step," Ren looks to the disguised hitman.

"Mafia boss. I heard about that… it's like a game right? Kotsu and his home tutor plays it. So you two huh?" He says as they find Kotsu standing in an opening with a beartrap around his foot frantically jumping around trying to get it off, the spikes having bent instead of penetrated his skin. Reborn looks quite strangely. He never placed a beartrap… then why was it there.

"GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF!" He stops as he sees another trap activate. "NEVERMIND!" He yells jumping at the log stopping it with his bare hands.

Ren is simply amazed. "That looks… really realistic," He says and Reborn looks back seeing the man who bumped into them all before come running with a real bear chasing after him.

"Reborn-san! Please help me!" He yells and Reborn grits his teeth slightly.

"Dammit. Why'd HE have to come HERE?" he says as it roars clearly upset at Kotsu's yelling and the man. The three quickly run away as Kotsu is still trying to force the beartrap off his foot. He stops hearing the bear roar and see Ren, Reborn and the man coming towards him. "MORE TRAPS!" He says running towards it without a single shred of fear. He jumps up and kicks it with his trapped foot making it fall off and he holds the bear down. "THE BEAR GOT TRAPPED THIS TIME!" He declares before he falls off the large creature and Ren catches him for real this time.

"Woah… that was… really crazy lil' bro…"

The man lets out a heavy sigh. "Thanks for saving me there…" He says before the beartrap Kotsu finally got off lands right on his head, knocking him down and it lands on his back.

"You're welcome. But next time… don't come so close to where we actually are. You're so unlucky it's not even funny," The man slowly looks up.

"S-sorry Reborn-san… I tried… but you know… if I don't want to go somewhere I'll likely end up there you know…?" He says slowly getting up. Kotsu slowly opens his eyes shaking his head before noting his clothing state.

"W-wha! What the heck!? Ren! What happened!?" He yells frantically grabbing his head as Ren puts him down making the boy shiver from the cold dirt. He remembers… getting shot? And then… waking up without his clothes… there was definitely something missing in his mind.

They both looks curiously at the man who has joined them. "W-who's this man…?" The man holds out a hand which is gloved.

"Name's Murphy. I'm a hitman like Reborn here," He says and Reborn snaps his fingers making his disguise disappear.

"Mister Reborn! YOU were Ribonu!?" Ren says genuinely surprised and both Murphy and Kotsu fall cartoonishly thinking there's no possible way he didn't see through that disguise.

"Murphy's in a hitman like me. He's known as the accident hitman due to his contagious unluckiness," Ren tilts his head.

"Contagious unluckiness?" they both ask at the same time and Murphy laughs a little.

"I've always been unlucky and I found out that people I touch become unlucky for a little while as well," He explains and Kotsu then recognizes the coat. He was the guy who bumped into them in the town! So that's when he made them unlucky!

"H-how long does that last…?"

"I thought it'd be over by the time we made it here, but looks like it lasted a bit longer,"

Kotsu gets a little angry. "But why! We could've died in here!"

Reborn steps up to answer. "I was testing you. If you'd failed then you weren't cut out for being a mafia boss. Especially not of the Vongola," He says holding up the markers they were supposed to find. "Let's go,"

"I don't really get what's going on but looks like we got all our markers!" Ren says laughing and Kotsu laughs along nervously as they begin to make their way back, Ren lending Kotsu his shirt. He luckily has a t-shirt underneath. Reborn looks to the young boy in his undies. 'So… he really DOES have a flame… a cloud flame… you are a strange boss Tsuna… but I respect that I suppose,'

They made it home too late however… and lost. Ren's first loss in his entire middle school career…