Shortly after his arrival, the peculiar meeting resumed with a short speech from the [i]baby[/i] of all things. '[color=bc8dbf]...Seriously?[/color]' Hide thought, eyebrow rising. He looked around at the others, looking to see if they had any semblance of a surprised reaction. What he saw disappointed him, but a lot of things disappointed Hide so it didn't bother him as much as it could have. Still, pretty much nobody was going to question the concept of a talking baby? Really?

Well, he knew who he'd have to have a nice chat with later...

That aside, there was another interesting soupcon of information revealed through that statement. Specifically, Hideaki made note of the three words "Vongola", "Famiglia",  and "Mafia". All were foreign-sounding and definitely nothing he'd heard before, but by using the context clues in the words of the two speakers, he managed to deduce that "Vongola Famiglia" was a noun that described both an organization and Luca, who was the heir to such, and that "Mafia" was likely a greater category that "Vongola Famiglia" fell under. He'd have to thank Sasada-sensei when he got the chance. That trick actually [i]does[/i] come in handy. 

Either way, this was turning out to be very interesting indeed, but equally vexing at the same time.

Suddenly, a presence pushed down on Hide, as if Earth decided to take a page from Jupiter and double up on gravity. Then came the words straight from the mouth of the elder fox herself. That meant this was what you'd call killing intent then, huh? 

Hideaki gauged the situation with his mind's eye. Only later would it occur to the young man that, worryingly, he hadn't hesitated or panicked one bit in the seemingly-dire situation. Her wonderfully exposited plan was to take out everyone without an affiliation with this group. He was no professional assassin, but Hide figured that to reveal the plan before you had the enemy at your mercy meant likely one of three things: A) this wasn't actually an assassination, B) she was an idiot, or C) they were screwed from the very beginning anyway. The bluenet was inclined to believe it was the first, given the whole 'we sent a signal to a select few people' act from earlier, but he wasn't as optimistic as to place his bet on the best case scenario.

So the question was: who was she going to gun for first? 

Immediately Hideaki struck out Luca, Yuki, Cat Mask, and Strange Foreigner Who Eats Large Quantities of Food from the list of eligible candidates, leaving only him, Asuka, and Green Hair With a Stupid Look On His Face. It would be too convenient if he was the target, and rarely was anything ever convenient for him, so he struck himself off the list. Now between Green and Asuka, which one was the most vuln-

...

...It was gonna be Asuka, wasn't it?

And of course, the bared fangs and blatant threat revealed the assassin's intentions all too readily. How (in)convenient. Perhaps the world had it out for Hide after all. Thus, not waiting for the inevitable pounce, Hide burst forward with all the speed he could muster in order to get to Asuka faster than Not!Tamamo. His blood ran hot. Even if he was capitalizing on initiative and his natural speed, could he outpace the assassin and get his... friend? acquaintance? rival? out of trouble? That remained to be seen. "[color=bc8dbf]Oi! Boy with the pathetic look and the green hair![/color]" he barked mid-sprint, "[color=bc8dbf]If you're not with them, get out while you can![/color]" 

"[color=bc8dbf]And you, stupid fox! Brace yourself![/color]"

When he reached Asuka, whether before Shiso or otherwise, he leaped into the air and aimed a drop-kick at her midsection, angled to send her flying out of Shiso's strike. After all, if he was going to save her, there was no way he was going to be [i]nice[/i] about it. Poor Asuka's midsection, trapped between a fox and a snake. Conveniently, the drop kick would allow him to fall under Shiso's roundhouse, thus avoiding the strike himself. Granted, he would be lying prone on the ground regardless of whether he succeeded or not, but little details like that weren't important. At the same time he thrust his hand out - not to sweep the assassin off her feet, but to grab the closest fluffy tail in order to, if he succeeded, yank as forcefully as he could.

Because goddammit, if Hide was gonna get killed by an assassin, he was going to go out having touched the fucking fluffy tail.