Our story starts with a small boy running. He didn't do it out of fear but for a promise, not that his pursuers knew this.

Tsuna ran and ran trying to get away from the bullies that plagued him that day. he dogged his way through the market losing the boys in the various crowds he still continued to run till he got to the park where he hid himself to catch his breath. The sound of people approaching he stilled hoping that they weren't kids that bullied him as he was running on empty.

"Well, well, well! if it isn't the whore! Have you sold yourself lately?" A shrill voice rang out in the empty park; her words trailed off into an obnoxious laugh that was quickly joined by what he assumed were her lackey's. The footsteps continued getting closer to his resting place.

"Oi! I'm talking to you slut! You think you're so great just 'cause the boys pay a little attention to you!" a female voice hissed. This caused the silent person, who Tsuna assumed was a female, to stop. They were now in his range of sight, there were five girls in total.

One was a pregnant teen; she looked 16 or 17 to him. She had long green hair that was bound by a white ribbon, her skin was slightly tanned and she wore a white sun dress with an orange design. The other girls still wore their school uniforms, though they were modified so that they could barely be called that. Their skirts too short, their shirts too tight with several buttons left undone.

One had mid-back length bleached hair. Another had shoulder length dirty blond hair. the third had black hair that came to rest at her hips, while the forth had also bleached her hair though the root were starting to show. All of their skin was so tanned it was almost orange.

"You filthy street rat! You can't even afford to go to school anymore, now that your parents have kicked you out!" the girl with mid-back length bleached hair; she appeared to be the leader, shouted as she slapped the green haired girl.

"I bet you had to beg that guy to fuck you! he probably hated you!" The black haired girl joined in "That's why he left you I bet!"

Tsuna stood up; these girls were making him angry. 'How dare they say things like that? Admittedly he didn't know what happed to her; this was his first time seeing this girl, but still these girls had no right to talk about something they, probably, didn't know about!' his thoughts made him fume. He slowly made his way over to them.

"why don't you do the world a favor and kill yourself and that trash growing inside you!" The leader shouted as she made the motions of someone about to punch another. This caused Tsuna to break into a run and head but the woman just in time and causing the punch to miss. The girls were shocked into silence for several moments and gave Tsuna some time to catch his breath.

"You stupid gaki! What is your problem?" The blond shrieked. Her friends gathered around her to help her up. He just gave them the most fearsome stare he could. One of the lackeys swiped out with her hand and managed to leave some fairly nasty scratches with her claws, which were actually sharp and manicured nails.

The girl he had head-butted was on her feet and glaring at him. she kicked him in the gut and laughed as he curled himself clutching his stomach. She went back to attack the green haired girl again not noticing Tsuna stand up. As she began to swing her hand forward he began to run and just as it was to make contact with the still girl Tsuna leapt forward and bit down on her hand. She let out a shriek of pain swinging her hand around trying to get the gaki to let go of her hand. As soon as he let go she began clutching her hand to her chest in an attempt to stop the gushing blood, but it did little to help. The group was quick to run away than.

The two left in the park were silent for several moments before they slowly began to stare at each other. Tsuna took in the girl's appearance now that he could see her face. She had beautiful bright blue eyes that were complemented by her dark green hair and tanned skin. She had a small orange flower tattooed under her right eye.

Tsuna was the first to speak his voice full of worry "Are you alright Onee-san?"

The green haired girl blinked at him a few times before she spoke "Hai." there was a pause before she continued "Are you?"

It was Tsuna's turn to blink in surprise "ah… Hai." there was a long silence between the two. "Are you really homeless?" Tsuna asked.

The girl let refused to look at him and began to nibble on her lip "H-Hai" she spoke quietly.

"What's your name?" Tsuna asked staring at her with his bright chocolaty eyes

"Luce." the girl replied staring at him

"Well, Luce would you like to live with me?" Tsuna asked almost immediately.

"Your what 10? I don't think your parents would let me live with you." Luce replied before leaving.

Tsuna watched her leave silently lost in thought, which he was broken out of by the toll of the bell signaling that it was now 8'o'clock. He was silent for a few moments as that information sunk in. "Heeeeiiiiiiii!" Tsuna screamed as he ran home "I'm late!"

Tsuna managed to make it home in just 15 minutes, an amazing feat as his home was on the other side of their fairly large town and had a major uphill climb. Though he collapsed on the front step to his home, this seemed to happen often as the bell was one that you pulled and it reached ground. With a shaky hand he managed to pull the bell.

The door was flung open and in its place stood a fairly angry looking woman. She had strait chocolate coloured hair that came to rest on her shoulders. She had a fair complexion and rosy cheeks, though that might have been from anger. Her expressive chocolate coloured eyes were alight with anger and worry. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her leg planted a shoulders width apart. She wore a lose white shirt and a pair of tight tan capris.

"Konnichiwa Okaa-chan (Hello Mother)" Tsuna rasped out, out of breath, "Tadaima (I'm Home)"

She stared down at her son for a while taking in his appearance. Tsuna was sprawled out on their large front step. His once pristine school uniform was covered in dirt and soaked with his sweat. His already messy chocolate hair was worse and had splotches of blood. His cheek was matted with blood as was the collar of his shirt and blazer. There was also some blood around his lips.

She suddenly had a sweet smile on her face as stared down at him causing Tsuna began to fidget in nervousness. "Tsuna, you are not only late but you look like you got into a fight. Why is that?" Her sweet sounding voice did little to alleviate the fear that was building in him; in fact it made it worse. H slowly began to inch away from her.

She seemed to notice this as she reached down and grab the back of his shirt. Before dragging him in to the house slamming the heavy oak door, at that moment Tsuna felt as though his survival was slipping away. As he was dragged one handed by his mother towards a door labeled 'Infirmary'. His mother dropped him onto one of the beds before making her way to the medical cabinet.

"I was protecting someone" Tsuna spoke softly causing his mother to pause momentarily in her search for the rubbing alcohol and gauze. "She doesn't have a home and I think she is about 3 months pregnant. I offered to let her live with us but she turned me down. Would it be alright if she were to live here?"

"Hai, if you can convince her to live here. I mean it's not like we don't have the space." His mother said as she cleaned and bandaged her son "Besides it's not good for the baby to be out there especially with how cold it is getting at night."