Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish I was Akira...I'm not...so KHR is not mine -.-

Anrya woke with a start. "Ugh," she groaned as she sat up in her bed. Reaching for her glasses, Anrya put them on and stretched out her limbs. Ow. Anrya felt her bruised side. That blast from Zero hurts like a mother… Then, she froze. Wait, I'm in my bed, in my room, all safe and sound… Most fictional characters by this point would've thought that the past nightmarish events were all a dream. Not Anrya. She had a good sense of reality. Frowning, Anrya quickly got out of bed and went to her bathroom. Looking at the bathroom mirror, Anrya scanned her appearance. Messy hair, slightly dirtied shirt, bruised side…yep, that fight with Zero happened alright. Exiting the bathroom, Anrya was back in her room again. I need to shower. Picking out the clothes she wanted to wear, Anrya went to take a shower.

-Fifteen minutes later-

"Ah~" Anrya sighed, feeling refreshed. Putting on her clothes then drying her hair, Anrya was soon on her way downstairs. Walking down from the second floor (which was the girls' floor), Anrya stopped in her steps. She pondered for a moment if she should check on the others, but thought better of it and proceeded downstairs into the kitchen. What the— she thought. In front of her, Anrya was met with an unexpected sight of Zero drinking tea and eating toast in her kitchen.

Turning his head, Zero met Anrya's eyes and smiled. "Good morning Anrya-chan~ Had a good night sleep~?"

"I'm not even going answer that," Anrya said.

Zero chuckled. "Want some toast~?" Held in his hand was a piece of toast that was stabbed through by a silver fork.

"Um, no thanks…I'll stick with cereal." Anrya went and got a spoon, a bowl, some milk, and cereal. Uncertainly, Anrya walked over to the table Zero was sitting in and sat there as well. For a good five minutes, Anrya ate her cereal in awkward silence. Then, unable to bare the silence any longer, Anrya started a conversation. "So Zero, what's going on right now?"

"Hmm~?" Zero mumbled with the toast in his mouth. "What specifically~?"

Tch, you know what I'm talking about Zero Anrya thought. "About the final stage where we fought you. You know, the one we…failed. What I want to know is what you're going to do with us. You told us in the beginning that you were going to …eliminate us if we failed, and we did." Anrya gulped. "So, what's gonna happen?"

Zero nonchalantly leaned back on his chair which was now balancing on two legs. "Ah about that~" Zero finished eating his toast and continued. "We'll speak about that when all of your guardians are here~"

Feeling a sense of foreboding and dread, Anrya continued to finish her breakfast. Glancing at the kitchen clock, which said that it was 8:48am, Anrya grimaced. It's gonna be a long day…

Stirring out of sleep, Esa opened her eyes to the sun's rays coming through the window. Blinded for a moment, Esa shielded her eyes with her hand. When her eyes finally adjusted, she turned her head to the side to take a look around…and froze. Inches away from her own face was Rai's sleeping face. What the heck? Esa thought, recoiling, Rai's like basically on top of me! Ok, maybe that wasn't true. Yes, there were side bars that separated Esa's bed from Rai's, but still, Rai was too close for Esa's comfort. Moving her body away from the edge, Esa sat up and looked around for her glasses. Then finding them, she put them on.

"Oh, it seems like you're awake," said a voice from behind.

From a now-forming habit of hearing Zero's voice pop out of nowhere, Esa whirled around in her bed to see the person behind her. Unexpectedly, it wasn't Zero. "Who are you—" Esa started to say, but then recalled this person from somewhere in her memory. A flying projectile (which was a water bottle) that hit my face, two people at the top of the stairs, Ace mentioned their names… "Uh…you're Gray right? Or…Gris?"

"Gray," the person confirmed. "Gris is my twin brother."

"Ok," Esa mumbled. Then glancing at Rai, Esa questioned, "Why am I in the same room as Rai?"

The girl, Gray, raised an eyebrow. "Got a complaint?"

Esa noted Gray's frosty tone and remembered that she was like that when they first met. "Um well, I'm a girl and Rai's a guy so shouldn't we be in separate rooms?"

"Are you naked?" Gray asked to Esa's unpleasant shock.

"No."

"Are you diseased?"

"Uh…no."

"Then there should be no problem in you being in the same room as Rai."

"But, we're like, in bed and stuff," Esa mumbled.

"So?"

"It's awkward sleeping next to a guy," Esa said with a slight cough.

"You're not sleeping now are you?"

Esa shook her head.

"Then suck it up and deal with it," Gray said, rolling her eyes. "In school you're in the same room as a guy, in a restaurant you're in a same room as a guy, heck, a day ago you were in the same room with this guy. So I don't see what your problem is."

You don't understand Esa thought.

Gray seemed to follow Esa's thought. "Well, you're not the only one here."

Esa looked around to her other side. While to the left of her there was Rai, to the right there was Jasmine, Crystal, Selina, Ryo… Where's Anrya and Darke? Esa turned back to Gray and gave her a questioning look.

"Darke woke up earlier and said he would be going out to…he didn't mention…" Gray trailed off.

"And you didn't question or stop him?" Esa asked Gray with a look.

"Not my problem," Gray answered with a shrug.

"And what about Anrya?"

"She was brought to her room."

"Wait! Then why couldn't you have brought me to my room?"

Gray gave Esa a stare. "I didn't know which one was your room since none of you chose a room, and plus no way am I going through different floors to check up on all eight of you."

"Well, you could've at least put some space between us…and if you hate going through different floors, why is Anrya in her room? Wouldn't it be easier to keep her here?"

Gray rolled her eyes. "Just be thankful that I watched over you while you were knocked out."

Beside her, Jasmine stirred and woke up. "You guys are already arguing?"

"Ugh," Crystal muttered as she too, woke up. "You guys are so loud; I'm trying to sleep here…"

"Oh look, little miss sunshine woke up," Gray said sarcastically. "Good morning princess~"

Crystal glared at Gray through narrowed, sleepy eyes.

Gray just ignored Crystal and clapped her hands. "Since everyone is starting to wake up…I'll wake the others…"

"Five more minutes…" Crystal mumbled going back to sleep.

"Too late," Gray said. She pulled out an air horn…

"Oh shit," Esa said, covering her ears.

…and pulled the trigger. BLAAAAAAAAARE!

"Agh," Esa said, wincing.

"What the hell!" Crystal growled.

"Oh my God, what the heck…my ears," Jasmine said in annoyance.

Selina awoke with a groan.

"AAAHHH!" Rai woke up to the sound of the air horn.

Ryo silently woke up and covered his ears.

Gray smiled in sadistic satisfaction and said, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen~"

Most of the people in the room gave her a death glare. "Love you too guys," Gray said. "Anyways, since we're all awake, let's all pretty ourselves up. We're currently on the ground floor, but you guys need to pick your rooms, take a shower and dress up. Your bags were placed on your proper floor and all you need to do is pick it up and choose a frickin' room…are we clear? And oh yeah, after that, come to the kitchen for some breakfast and a little social time with Zero-san, ok?"

Yesterday's battle came to everyone's minds in a rush. Everyone went silent for a moment and then grimly began to walk upstairs. Gray smirked and shook her head. At that moment, Darke silently entered the room. "Hmph, it looks like mister dark and silent came. Do you know what to do?" Darke just ignored Gray which she took as a yes. All the boys and girls, excluding Anrya, went to their designated floors to pick up their stuff and choose a room.

On the second floor (which was the girls' floor), there were six rooms in total—three rooms on the right hand side of the long hallway, and three rooms on the left. Each room had its own bathroom. Anrya's room was the room closest to the staircase on the right hand side. Each girl chose their rooms quickly. Jasmine chose the room next to Anrya's room (right-hand side middle), Esa chose the room next to Jasmine's (right-hand side end), Selina chose the room across from Anrya's (left-hand side near the staircase), and Crystal chose the room besides Selina's (left-hand side middle), which left the last end room empty. In their rooms, all the girls unpacked their things and cleaned themselves up.

The three boys' rooms were on the third floor. Just as the girls, there were six rooms in total. "Wow! I almost forgot how grand this place was!" Rai exclaimed. Then turning to Darke and Ryo he asked, "Darke-kun, what do you think about this place?"

Darke plainly ignored Rai and walked past him, hands in his pocket. Darke went all the way to the end of the hallway and chose the room on the left. Ryo went into the room next to Darke (left-hand side middle) and closed the door.

Rai stood there in silence. His room was the one near the staircase on the right. Rai sighed as he went into his room and closed the door.

Where are those people! Anrya thought as she uncomfortably sat with Zero. Glancing at the clock for the millionth time, she saw that it was a little past ten. It's been almost two hours since I came here for breakfast… Anrya thought.

Zero, still sitting across from her said, "Hmm~ It's been an hour since those guardians of yours went up to their rooms…"

Anrya just muttered, "Yeah," and went silent again.

"Well, more quality time for you and me, Anrya-chan~" Zero said with a wink.

Go away, go away, go away… Anrya just thought, willing Zero to just exit her home…but of course that didn't happen.

"Have some cake Anrya-chan~" Zero purred. He passed a plate, a fork, and a knife to Anrya and brought out some cake. He cut a big slice for himself and a medium slice for Anrya. Putting the cake in the fridge, Zero went back to his seat and started to enjoy his cake.

Might as well… Anrya thought, picking up the fork and knife. A while later, the two people finished eating their cakes.

From outside the kitchen, the shuffling of feet could be heard.

"Ah~" Zero said, "It seem as though our little guardians are coming down the stairs…they'll be here any moment~"

As Zero had said, the four girls and three boys soon entered the kitchen. Just like how Anrya had reacted when she first entered the kitchen, most of the guardians seemed flabbergasted to see Zero leaning back on his chair with a silver fork in his mouth. Anrya on the other hand, was sitting quietly in her seat with her left hand on the fork and right hand on the knife. Tightening her grip on the fork and knife, Anrya envisioned herself skewering the entering people. Relax Anrya she thought to herself bad thoughts lead to bad actions…It wasn't their fault that they woke up late and got you stuck with Zero for almost two hours…

"Good morning everyone~" Zero said with a smile.

"Hi," everyone sort of muttered.

Anrya waved her hand and motioned them to take a seat. Everyone chose a seat though Ryo and Darke were the only ones brave enough to sit next to Zero. Taking the silver fork out of his mouth and twirling it in his hands, Zero said, "Let's begin shall we~?"

Everyone sat still in their seats to hear what their 'elimination' will be like. Will it be death? Will it be torture? Will it be another fight? Will it be punishment? With anticipation and dread in the air, everyone waited to see what Zero's next words would be.

"As you can see…" Zero started, "You all passed~"

"Eh?" Esa said in confusion. At the same time Anrya said, "What?"

"Someone slap me," Rai said, still not believing Zero's words.

"I'll do just that," Esa said, getting into slapping position. She then proceeded to slap Rai multiple times.

"YOWCH!" Rai yelped.

"That's enough Esa, Rai just asked for a slap…not physical abuse," Anrya said.

"Well, he kinda deserved it if you ask me" Esa said with a shrugged.

"Why, because he's in the same room as you?" Gray came walking into the room along with her twin brother Gris. Ace entered as well.

In hearing Gray's sarcastic voice, Esa rolled her eyes. "Whatever…"

"Did you say something?" Gray sharply said.

"Yo guys, shut up, I wanna hear about how we passed that test," Jasmine said.

"Me too," Anrya added. Everyone turned to Zero and waited.

"Hmmm~? Why don't we have your little guardians eat first~?" Zero said.

Anrya opened her mouth to protest, but closed it. It was already past ten o' clock and the others hadn't eaten. Sighing, Anrya got up to prepare some breakfast. "Anyone want toast?"

Everyone had finished breakfast by now (10:45am), and now they were all gathered in the living room area.

"So Zero, you gonna say something?" Anrya impatiently asked.

"Hmhmhm~ I'll begin then," Zero began. "First of all, let's thank all those people who helped make this test: Me, Ace, Ren, and…some other people who helped build this~!" Zero clapped and so did Ace. No one else clapped…just death glared.

Gray whistled. "Feeling the love~"

"Who's Ren?" Crystal asked.

"Well Crystal-chan, he's not here right now, but someday I'll introduce him to you~" Zero said. "Anyways, I'll begin…"

*FLASHBACK*

Zero shot out a beam of concentrated cloud flames out of the palm of his hand at the direction of the three escapees. "Hmhmhm~" The sound of impact could be heard as the three: Anrya, Jasmine, and Ryo, were flung at the invisible wall behind them.

"Oof!" Anrya gasped from a distance.

Zero smiled. "My, my, what a shame~ You still have forty five seconds left…but I doubt you'll stay conscious for that long~" Zero glanced at the timer he strapped to his wrist: thirty five seconds left. "Hm~" To make sure he had efficiently finished his job, Zero quickly went around, checking that each person was still unconscious. After checking most of the guardians, Zero came back to Anrya, Jasmine, and Ryo to check on them. Nearing them, Zero checked each pulse. Anrya was down, Jasmine was down, Ryo was down…wait! Zero frowned as he observed Ryo. He was unconscious but…an illusion! Zero 'tched' as he figured out Ryo's simple trick. Zero searched around to find Ryo. It wasn't long till he found him. Ryo was limping away as best as he could…probably to escape or kill some time. Zero prepared to shoot another beam from his palm, when the timer on his wrist beeped to signal the end of the ten minutes… "How lucky~"

*END OF FLASHBACK*

"That's how we passed?" Jasmine asked.

"Wow…" Anrya said, speechless.

Everyone turned to Ryo with amazement.

"You guys got so lucky," Gray commented with a snicker.

"Yes, it seems so," Gris said, speaking for the first time. "From observing their skill level and experience, they only had an approximate 3% chance to pass."

"Wow," Anrya said again.

Ace opened his mouth to talk. "Zero, I think now is a good time to discuss those things with them."

"Ah yes~" Zero said, clapping his hand. Turning to the others he said, "Let's discuss what your family name will be, so that you can be an official family."

Everyone looked around at each other, clueless. After an awkward moment of silence, Ace cleared his throat and said, "How about the 'New Family'? In Italian it would be 'Nuovo Famiglia'."

"Um…not quite loving that name…" Anrya said with a cringe.

"Why does it have to be in Italian?" Rai questioned.

"Because most mafia families originated in Italy," Anrya answered.

"Isn't there the Japanese mafia too?" Rai asked again.

"Well…" Anrya trailed off. "Let's just stick to the Italian mafia."

"I don't know Italian though…" Crystal commented.

Selina took out her iPhone. "Google Translate Crystal, Google Translate…"

"Good idea." Crystal took out her iPod and connected to the Wi-Fi in the mansion. Jasmine and Esa followed.

"Hey, how about the 'Awesome Family'?" Rai suggested.

"Can you translate that to Italian?" Jasmine asked.

"No," Rai answered. "But I'm sure someone else can."

"No," Anrya said firmly. "Though the word 'awesome' is awesome, it's not fitting for our family…not that anyone here isn't awesome…"

"Awww…how come you get to decide~" Rai whined.

"I'm your boss," Anrya said. "But since just saying that is a bit snobby, let's do this: Those not in favor of the family name 'Awesome Family' raise your hand."

Zero, Ace, Gray, Gris, Anrya, Jasmine, Esa, Selina, Ryo, and Darke lifted their hands.

"See," Anrya said. "Well, Zero and Ace aren't part of the family, but it would still be the majority."

"How about the 'Crystal Family'?" Crystal asked.

Every head turned to her direction.

"We are so not going to name this family after you," Jasmine said.

"What do you think about the 'Dispari Famiglia'?" Anrya suggested, "It means 'Odd Family'. It's quite fitting…"

Some people shrugged and nodded in approval.

"How about 'Pericoloso Famiglia'?" Selina asked typing things into Google Translate. "It means 'Dangerous Family'."

Gray bursted out laughing, Anrya cringed, and Zero chuckled.

"Dangerous?" Gray said laughing, "You guys are hardly dangerous. You're all just like kittens or butterflies."

"Kittens have claws," Esa pointed out. "As for butterflies, you can touch them and them rub your eyes and become blind…"

Gray gave Esa a droll stare.

"What? It's true~" Esa innocently said.

"Not to lower your self-esteem, but you wouldn't even be able to lay a finger on me," Gray snorted.

Anrya leaned over on the couch and poked Gray. "Touch." Grinning at Gray, Anrya said, "Sorry Gray, I couldn't resist~"

Gray narrowed her eyes on Anrya. "If it wasn't for the fact that you're my boss, you're somewhat respectable, and that I was seventeen years old and mature, I might've slapped you for being annoying."

Anrya apologetically shrugged, but a grin remained on her face.

"Ok we're getting off topic guys," Ace intervened, "Let's go back to the family name."

"How about we do a ballot?" Anrya suggested. "From the suggested family names, we'll vote on which one we want…anymore family name suggestions?" Everyone shook their heads. "Ok then, let me go get some pens, paper slips, and a hat…" Anrya disappeared for a while and then came back with the said items. Handing a pen and paper to each family member, Anrya waited for them to fill it out. She herself filled it out too. After everyone was done, Anrya collected the papers and pens, and put the papers into the hat. Shaking the hat a bit, Anrya pulled each slip of folded papers one by one. Anrya read the papers out loud.

"The first one: Crystal. 'Crystal Famiglia'…but since you're probably gonna say no, I'll stick with 'Pericoloso Famiglia'.

The second one: Me. 'Dispari Famiglia'

The third one: Esa. My first choice is 'Pericoloso' but 'Dispari' sounds good too.

The fourth one: Selina. I don't really mind, but the best ones are 'Dispari' and 'Pericoloso'

The fifth one: Jasmine. 'Pericoloso' We're all scary in our own ways.

The sixth one: Rai. The 'Awesome Family'!"

Anrya turned her head to Rai and said, "That wasn't exactly a valid choice but I'll go with it…"

"The seventh one: Gray. Since there's no kick-ass names, I'll stick with 'Pericoloso' or 'Dispari'.

The eighth one: Ryo. -Blank-

The ninth one: Darke. I don't have time for childish games.

The tenth one: Gris. From the given selection, I would say that the name 'Dispari' is the most fitting for our family.

And that's it…" Anrya finished. "From the votes, I would say that 'Pericoloso Famiglia' won. It came up first the most…"

"I can't believe I have to live with that ridiculous family name," Gray muttered.

"Then we'll just have to live up to that name," Anrya genuinely, but seriously said.

"Hmhmhm~ I guess it's decided then," Zero said. Getting up from his seat, Zero sighed and said, "Well then, let's just relax for the rest of the day, and tomorrow we'll go over more of the formal procedures~"

Zero motioned for Ace and walked out of the living room. Following him, Ace left as well. From outside the living room, the sound of the front door opening and closing resounded. After they had left the mansion, everyone stood up and dispersed to their rooms.

"This is awesome!" Crystal shouted as she walked into the lounge area for the girls' floor.

"Yeah," Anrya said, smiling. "If you remembered from my tour, there's also some other rooms for studying, conferences, guests…"

"I like it here." Esa sighed and plopped down onto a cushioned chair.

"Everything on the right side of the stairs are our private quarters," Anrya informed, "and everything on the left side is more open to everyone…"

"Do the guys have the same thing?" Selina asked curiously.

"Mm-hm~" Anrya replied. Looking around and picking up the TV remote, Anrya passed it to Crystal and said, "For now, let's just relax. I have a feeling that tomorrow's gonna be a long day…"

"Oh yay," Crystal sarcastically muttered. Then she clicked the remote and turned on the TV.

Review pweeese o3o