Amber eyes gazed out past the sky scraper he was crouching on. A second figure with eyes that were steel gray walked up behind him.

"You're going to be late," commented the second figure.

"Not like it matters, with how shitty the teachers are," said the first.

"You know the rules."

"Yeah, yeah. I have to at least go to two classes before you'll ignore the fact I'm skipping out early."

Clouds parted to reveal two teenagers in hooded shirts, and jeans that were well fitted. They had running shoes on in different colors.

The smaller one wore primarily white with orange accents and trims. The hood came down in a triangular shape, and covered half his face and obscured his eyes completely. There was a flame pattern on the back with an eagle that combined with the flames made it look more like a phoenix rising, with six other colors bleeding into the orange-colored fire. He wore dark gray pants that went down to his ankles that fit snugly, and a belt with several pockets attached. The buckle was that of an eagle with wings wide open, revealing some rather impressive feathers and a nasty looking beak that was deceptively sharp. The talons were just as bad, though they were 'rounded' with something that could be removed in a pinch. He had a runner's build, and was fairly short, especially in comparison to his companion/training partner.

The other teen had deep violet with thick streaks of indigo on his hoodie, and like the first boy his hood came down in a triangular shape over his face. His shirt had a similar eagle theme, though his was primarily violet with indigo bleeding into the purple. He wore a similar belt to the first, thought it had a pair of tonfas slipped through two of the loops on either side of his body. He had a runner's build, but it was very clear he had far more compact muscles and was built to deliver some truly nasty blows with his primary weapons. On his shoulder was a red and gold band that read "Disciplinary Committee". A tiny canary flew to his shoulder and began chirping in a rather cheerful manner.

The smaller one sighed and used his enhanced sight before he moved away from the 'street view' and removed his hood. The hood itself obscured the eagle pattern neatly, and he was almost tempted to unzip the hoodie.

The smaller one had caramel color hair that looked almost like a lion's mane, and warm chocolate brown eyes that looked amber in the right light. He was tiny, and didn't seem like much.

The taller one had wind-swept hair as black as night, and eyes as cold as the metal they resembled. He had pale skin, purely Asian features and a rather...predatory...disposition. His left hand rested naturally on the tonfa at his side, as if he wasn't adverse to drawing it at a second's thought.

After a few moments the two 'vanished' from the public eye...only to reappear in completely different parts of the city.

Where the confident brunette was before was now a skittish teenager who acted like he would jump at his own shadow. He had the appearance of someone who had absolutely no confidence in himself and was very clumsy, often tripping on his own feet. His hoodie was wrapped around his waist, and very little of the unique characteristics could be seen. It also neatly hid his belt buckle though it didn't hurt that the front of his shirt was slightly loose at the front to create a sort of pocket that hid the eagle.

He briefly nodded in acknowledgment to his partner, and the other 'team' in the school. Everyone else in the place was either a civilian or were under his partner's control.

He hated high school.

It was an unspoken fact that the war between the Templar and the Assassins had gone on for as long as anyone could actually remember.

Just as it was an unspoken fact that both sides had general "safe areas" where one side had primary control over the town or city and where the other side was discreetly disposed of or driven off if found out.

One would think that the locations would be constantly in danger of being attacked by large groups...

Well, that was half-right. While groups of thirty or more were rather common when one side was exposed or pissed off the wrong number of people, for the most part there was an unspoken "truce" to leave the cities alone.

It was rather pointless to have large operations against each other if you had no idea who to target specifically...most of the 'controlled' cities were primarily filled with civilians after all, and secrecy was big between both groups. There was an unofficial understanding that they keep the "civilians" out of their fighting... if only to avoid the inevitable issue of governments, the military and various dictators from getting any 'big ideas' to use the highly trained killers, spies and infiltrators for their own benefit.

Sure, most of said groups were already under control by one side or another, but there were always outliers that could cause more headaches than they were worth. Never mind what immoral scientists would do with the knowledge they had.

No, for all intents and purposes it was easier to keep the civilians out of their fights. Anyone stupid enough to bring them in without a damn good reason usually ended up dead by the faction they belonged to.

For the most part, the two factions avoided said cities that were "known" to favor one far more heavily over the other, to the point that one faction basically had it under their control through the shadows.

Namimori was well known to be "Assassin" territory, to the point they had underground training facilities. And while everyone knew the Hibari "ran" the police, only a select handful was aware that the heir of that family also happened to be an almost fully trained Assassin in his own right, as was his permanent partner who was the ONLY person in the city who could reign in the worst of his "biting" habits.

Alas, even fewer were aware of his partner's "civilian" name to the point they could get him to intercede on their behalf.

However... there were times that a Templar was able to sneak in, find an Assassin or Assassin bloodline, and cause all sorts of trouble before they were put down. Usually in a rather permanent fashion.

Such was the case of Takeshi Yamamoto. When he was barely four, his mother was murdered in front of him by a Templar agent who somehow discovered her Assassin bloodline, despite the fact she was "retired" after giving birth to her son. She had married a professional Hit Man who gladly gave up that life to a more 'stable' setting after his son was born.

Tsuyoshi managed to capture the fool, but the damage was done. Takeshi's Assassin blood awakened when he had to defend himself from the Templar who tried to kidnap him, had his mother not come in the room in time to fight him off.

Tsuyoshi and Takeshi gained an eternal hatred of Templars that day. So much so that the now Sushi Chef didn't even argue when the Creed's district leader took Takeshi in for training a year later.

Within three years, another was brought in. He was a year older than Takeshi and had white hair and a fresh scar across his nose. He was also very loud.

"Extreme!"

Takeshi grinned as he observed his new permanent training partner.

Ryohei Sasegawa was originally a civilian, but whatever Assassin's blood he had in him woke up violent when a group of middle schoolers attempted to use his sister as a hostage.

Those boys were going to be in for a rather painful lesson from not only their parents, but the Hibari family. Targeting younger children, especially little girls (they were all teenagers) just to beat up someone who had been annoying you was a major no-no.

It was unlikely they would parole out of juvie any time before they hit eighteen for that stunt.

Takeshi was calm, and was rather "soothing" to be around. It was something he inherited from his father, apparently. Though he had yet to awaken that gift to the point he could do it deliberately.

Whereas Ryohei was energetic, all the time.

At least with the Creed he could put all that excess energy and fighting spirit to proper use. He would have been wasted as a civilian.

Besides, the two of them bonded over their respective sports and the conditioning needed to compete in them.

Takeshi yawned in class, which wasn't that unusual. He had spent all night training until one of the Master Assassins more or less kicked him out to sleep and get ready for school.

It wasn't like he needed the high school degree, but it was a requirement that all trainees under eighteen attend a public or private school.

It was considered "training" in how to maintain a civilian cover. Though some people "flunked" out of regular training and needed the education.

Takeshi had always been a more hands on learner.

Hearing the familiar stumble, he could only cringe at seeing Tsuna Sawada crash into the classroom late again.

While Takeshi didn't have anything against the guy, it was hard for him to watch the kid stumble around like a skittish kitten and not want to cringe at the thought of someone like him as an Assassin.

The guy wouldn't last a week before he accidentally offed himself, and he was easily frightened and bullied.

In short, he was not exactly someone who would handle the idea of a hidden war between Assassins and Templars...so Takeshi kept his distance. He wouldn't actively pick on him...Tsuna was bullied enough without his help...but he wouldn't help unless asked.

The only reason Takeshi didn't dismiss the boy outright as part of the scenery was because of his training.

Even the most timid mouse can bite and infect others with a deadly plague.

The day Ryohei learned about the Creed and the Templars, he had been a bit confused, and more than a bit leery of being around hardened killers.

Except... they had made sure the punks who almost hurt his sister were put away for what they did. They understood his Extreme ways and even encouraged his love of boxing. They even introduced him to his best friend Takeshi, who would smile and cheerfully debate which was better...boxing or baseball.

They cherished his gifts and even improved his ability to fight without telling him it was wrong. Sure, he was a bit...reluctant... about the whole killing thing, but sometimes you had to be a man and put a more permanent end to a threat against your family.

What really sold him was the fact that the Creed always had watchers on his sister and parents. They kept Kyoko and Hana safe from being taken and used against him ever again, because Ryohei was one of their own.

For the first time in his life, he belonged to something bigger than himself.

And he wouldn't trade it for anything.

"Tsu-kun! You won't believe what I got in the mail today!" said Nana happily.

Tsuna listened to his mother talk about the home tutor she called, while internally cringing.

He was already texting the Creed to investigate who had been in the area that morning... the note was too sloppy to be printed and he quickly swiped it from his mother to have it analyzed.

Within hours, he received a text that had him slipping out of the way to find Hibari.

His partner would need to know about this development.

The Prefect didn't even raise an eyebrow as Tsuna slipped into the room. He quietly locked the door without a word.

"We have a problem."

Hibari didn't ask, merely pulled out his phone to get the same report Tsuna had on his own. The cells were encrypted to the Nth degree and were locked so that only their bio-metrics could unlock or use most of the functions.

"So the Vongola are attempting to reclaim the heir they threw out. Did they ever determine...?"

"It was never confirmed," said Tsuna darkly. "Which means this could very well be a Templar trap."

Hibari had a cold look on his face.

"Back-up?"

"It would be appreciated," he admitted. "I'm not stupid enough to go against the Sun Arcobaleno, even if this is my home turf."

Hibari nodded in agreement.

When he had first been paired up with his partner, he had scoffed at the idea of having to watch the annoying herbivore who yelped at every little thing.

Except... Tsuna was anything but an herbivore. In the course of a week Hibari had reevaluated his initial assumption of his partner into something closer to that of a small falcon or possibly a panther.

Tsuna wasn't bulky. He wasn't a particularly good shot without the Eagle Eyes. He wasn't smart, or naturally inclined to fighting.

No, Tsuna was the sly, cunning Assassin who relied more on speed rather than pure physical strength. The kind of person who could walk right past the target and kill them with a lethal poison with them none the wiser until it was far too late.

The fact he had a fixation on heights and was actually the first to master the art of diving off large buildings and the Leap of Faith was something of an amusing quirk of his.

It was much more understandable when one took into account that he had Sky Flames. He had narrowly avoided having them sealed when his Assassin's blood warned him about the house that day, and had fled to the first "safe" adult he could find.

Ironically that turned out to be Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, who had recognized Tsuna for what he was immediately and hide the child until the threat had left Namimori.

The same couldn't be said of Nana. They still had no idea what the possible Templar sympathizers had done to the woman to seal her Assassin's blood and her gifts. Worse, they had tampered with her memories so that she had no recollection of what was wrong.

Tsuna might "live" in the house, but his home was the dorms that he shared with Hibari. More than once he had crashed in his partner's mansion rather than risk the house.

Coincidentally that always seemed to happen every time his "Father" decided to actually come home to visit. Tsuna avoided Iemitsu like the plague. Though at this point it was mostly instinctive, since he honestly had no idea what the man even looked like anymore.

Tsuna suddenly snickered.

"What's so funny?"

"Takeshi has no idea I'm an Assassin. You should see how much he cringes every time I do my klutz routine in class, or the fake yelps I let off whenever something new happens. He has no idea whether to avoid me or try and reach out...it's hilarious."

Hibari blinked, before he slowly started chuckling at the image.

Tsuna must be having so much fun messing with his fellow trainee. While they were 'aware' that there was another pair in the school it wasn't like Ryohei or Takeshi even knew what their civilian identities looked like.

The only reason Tsuna and Kyouya knew was because Ryohei had a bad habit of saying "extreme" too often and Takeshi always had the same fake laugh.

It was pretty easy to guess they were the other team, even if they didn't really 'mix' during school hours.