Bonjour! I have news! In two days, I will be leaving on vacation for a week, meaning… I can't update for that time. I can't because there is NO INTERNET! It really should be illegal in this day and age. Anyways this will probably be my last update for about a week or so…Thanks again for truly remarkable reviews! Look forward to hearing from more of you!

Disclaimer: Unless it's drawn with mangled stick figures, I don't own -man.

"Good bye, Mr. Komui!" Allen said, reaching with an outstretched hand to open the wide doors.

"Be safe, Allen. Do call, even if it seems like it's not a big deal." Komui said, with a very concerned look spread across his features.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, Master left this morning, and he shouldn't be back for a few more days." The boy calmly informed the now smiling principal.

"That's very good news. Well, then I'll be seeing you here tomorrow morning, I suppose."

"You will be." With this, Allen took his leave. He pulled open the tall door, and noticed a bewildered Lenalee, standing in front of him.

"M-miss Lenalee?" He stuttered, staring at her with pure curiosity entering his voice.

She quickly composed herself, and greeted the boy facing her. "Oh, hello again Allen! Did you and Komui have nice talk?" The boy responded with a vigorous nodding of his white hair.

"That's good to hear. Well I have to go now!" The teen girl waved before Allen interrupted her attempted escape.

"Weren't you going to talk to your brother? Wasn't that why you were standing here?" He innocently asked her.

'Why would she be standing here in front his office if she didn't want to talk to Komui?'

The boy's slight suspicion was washed away when Lenalee looked as though she had remembered something. "Oh! That's right! I forgot. Thanks for reminding me, Allen!" With that she ran into the principal's office and not-so-carefully closed the door.

Not bothering his already-busy-mind, Allen shook his head and chuckled.

xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx

"Hey, Walker!" A rather muscular Jock caught the smaller boy's attention.

"May I help you?" Allen responded, allowing sincerity to cover his, once again, smiling mask.

It was now Study Hall. The white-haired teen silently thanked God for this turn of good luck, as, if it were any other normal class, he would've been late due to his talk with Komui.

"Stop acting like such a gentleman. We all know you do it just to get the ladies' attention. Well it ain't gonna work; why would anyone like you?" The athlete snarled, all the while his voice raising, causing some of the other students to look up from their studies.

"U-um, could you please stop shouting… Everyone else is studying." Allen quietly asked, not doing very well under the harsh accusation. "Also, I'm truly sorry if you don't like me, but I'm really not acting this way because I want attention…"

'Is my behavior really that distracting? I really just wanted to fit in, not pull extra attention to myself…'

"Whatever, kid." And with that condescending note, the teen walked off with pride, because apparently in his mind, he felt as though he had won the battle.

'What was that all about? Sigh… school here just keeps getting more fun.' Allen sarcastically thought to himself.

Realizing that the classes he had taken yesterday were about to occur, once again, the next day, he quickly set him mind on studying and at least attempting the complicated homework.

"Hmm, let's see, World History…" The focused teen mumbled to himself, settling papers out onto the desk he sat at.

He started reading the passage in the first chapter, as his homework had instructed.

'… What is this stuff? Why are all of the names in French? I thought this was world history, not French history.'

After a few minutes spent on trying to comprehend the vague information in the thick history book, he decided to come back to it later and pulled out his next assignment; French. The exact same language that had repeated itself in the history textbook.

Allen had learned that this romance language had actually come to him almost naturally. He quickly finished up the French assignment that consisted of the constant rewriting of three different phrases, and let out a heavy sigh.

Before he knew it, Study Hall was over. He still didn't have most of his homework completed, but he felt like he had accomplished something.

The at-one-point-calm boy scrabbled to place his textbooks into his bag, making an effort to arrive on time to his next and final class of the day.

He read the schedule, left to him by Komui, and concentrated on the title of his next class.

Gym

He was not excited for this. He clutched his bandaged, left arm, and began slightly messaging it with his right, as if preparing it for what was to come.

On top of his throbbing left arm, his medication's effect had started to ware off, he prayed that it would last just a small amount of time longer.

Following the flow of students, he made his way into the locker room.

'I really can't get changed out here… I can't risk any of them seeing my scars, let alone my left arm! I would never be able to enter this school again!'

With those self-conscious thoughts in mind, he headed toward the stalls that were connected to the locker room.

Allen slowly stripped himself and pulled up his gym shorts, leaving his T-shirt off, while he carefully examined his still-healing wounds, received from last night's brutal beatings.

His stomach now sported a large and nasty bruise, making the ever visible ribs, stand out even more. The multiple scars still threaded most of his torso, some were newer than others. The bandages were still in place over his left deformed arm when he pulled the T-shirt over his marred chest.

'Oh I forgot. Lenalee rubbed off my cover up, earlier.'

The boy now wished that he had brought the pale container with him, and strained to smooth out his bangs in an attempt for them to conceal most of the bruise.

Sighing in defeat at what he soon deemed to be hopeless, he shoved his white gloves on and stuffed the change of clothes into his arms. The teen then proceeded to walk out of the stall and pick a locker to pile his belongings in.

Once he had securely place his clothes into a golden locker, he had glanced up only to realize that half of the males in the room were staring at him. No, not him, but his bandaged, left arm. A couple also took note of the gloves he was wearing, when it was raining, they could understand, but now it was sunny, so why was he still wearing those gloves?

Allen self-consciously cleared his throat, and exited the room with haste, without as much as another glance at any of the other doubtful boys.

The field was the first thing that caught the young teen's attention. It held large masses of students all hopping around, either running, jumping, of other physical tasks. Allen audibly gulped as he mentally debated which one would cause the least amount of pain to his now, once again, sore and aching body.

'Why did the pain killers stop working right when I needed them?' he complained to his inner mind.

Caught in a trance while staring at the field, Allen hadn't noticed that Kanda, the Japanese teen from history, was casually leaned against the wall.

Only when a certain eye-patch, red head had shouted "Yu! I missed you so much!" running at the tall teen, with outstretched arms, did Allen notice that the glaring teen had been staring at him.

"Good afternoon Kanda, Lavi." The boy greeted, a smile firmly placed on his face.

"Lil' buddy!" The excited young adult shrieked, now grabbing Allen into a tight hug, that actually seemed more like he was strangling him.

Now Kanda looked up at Lave and glared. "I didn't know that you were so eager to be murdered, baka usagi. Do not call me that." If looks could kill, Lavi would've been murdered ten times over by now.

"Aww, come on Yu. You couldn't hurt a fl-"before the happy teen could finish his tactless statement, Kanda had punched him square in the face.

Like his personality, Lavi bounced right back up, as if absolutely nothing had happened, the goofy grin still glued to his face.

As for Allen, he was genuinely confused about this 'Yu' that Lavi was talking about.

"Um, excuse me, who is 'Yu?' He unknowingly asked.

Kanda just continued to glare, the stare becoming slightly fiercer. But, Lavi burst out laughing, all the while clutching his aching stomach and pointing at the scowling teen.

"Kanda's his last name! His first name is Yu!" He gasped out in between his now calming down laughing fit.

"Dammit usagi, I told you to shut up!"

"Language, Yu!"

The glare intensified further.

"Aw, you know you love me!" Was all he managed to get out before Kanda had started to chase him across the field.

Hoping to go by unnoticed, Allen sat down on an empty bench and began fiddling with his backpack's zippers.

'Hopefully no one will see me here, and I can get by without doing anything.' Was all he thought until he realized that a tall shadow was now looming over his face. He looked up and noticed, what he guessed to be, the gym teacher.

"Boy, why are you not exercising. Just 'cause I said we're not doing a particular sport today 'cause it's the first class, doesn't mean you can just sit here, messing with your bag!" The teacher pointed an accusing finger at him and started waving it about furiously.

"S-sorry sir." Allen mumbled.

The coach let out a exaggerated huff, and told the student to run a few laps at least.

'Well it's not as bad as it could've been. I mean, he could've made me push that heavy thing like the football players do or even to pull ups and push ups. I don't think I could survive that.' He optimistically told himself.

After a few rounds of sore jogging, Allen sat down once again, and took a sip from the revolting drinking fountain.

Before he knew it, gym was over and he barely did anything too straining for his now incredibly painful body.

Once he opened his locker and snatched his clothes off of the cold metal, he returned to a stall to begin changing out of his sweaty gym shorts and shirt.

He began to think how lucky he was that no one had asked why he bandaged his arm, he only received strange looks, but everyone was not brave enough to actually confront him about it.

The now changed teen then continued to walk out of the connected bathroom and entered the rest of the locker room in order to exit.

Allen looked around when he heard some of the other boys mumbling to one another about how 'weird' he was. He also heard a couple 'freak' comments.

With a lonely sigh, he opened the door and entered the hallway that he and Lenalee had talked in earlier that day.

The white-haired teen had felt so vulnerable with his bandages showing like that, he was now more comfortable with his long sleeve shirt back on.

Then loud footsteps could be heard, making their way towards him. He guessed that they belonged to about three people.

He was right. Because, as he turned around, three athletic looking guys had now surrounded him.

" Hey, freak," One of the more daring jocks spoke up. "What's up with your arm?" A harsh mocking tone had seeped into his deep voice. He then reached up with beefy hands, to take hold of Allen's left arm.

Out of quick reflex the cornered boy dodged the taller teen's attempts to grab him.

"Hey, come on, we're just curious." One of the other boys chuckled. "We're not gonna hurt you." He cooed, then mumbled a 'much' under his breath.

When they slowly started to close in, Allen panicked as his mind started replaying scenes with Cross through his eyes. He now started to tremble, the fear slowly cascading through his body.

Just then, when he was starting to close his eyes to shut out reality, Allen heard a familiar, high-pitched voice. "What are you guys doing?" The voice sternly questioned.

"Oh, nothing, sweetheart. We're just teaching the freak his place." The seeming, leader of the players, condescendingly replied.

Lenalee now stepped close and saw a shaking Allen, his arms tightly wrapped around his torso.

Her mind was brought back to when she had been eavesdropping on Allen's story when he had opened up to Komui. 'He…Kind of in a way… Beats me…' She could remember how broken Allen had sounded through the door. The girl couldn't just leave him there, knowing his past, she knew that this would definitely affect the boy.

"I suggest that you leave. Now. If you don't, then I will call my brother, and have you all suspended or kicked off of the team; whichever is worse." Lenalee said in a harsh tone that was almost saying try me.

"Pfft. Whatever. Come on guys, the freak's not even worth it." With that, the oppressing group of teens left. Leaving Allen, still quivering and hunched up.

"Allen! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" The teen girl hysterically asked, running over to him.

"M-miss Lenalee? Yes, I'm perfectly fine. But, when did you get here?" The mask now hid his feelings again.

'He certainly is not fine! He was shaking like a leaf a few seconds ago!' Lenalee silently accused the boy.

"Never mind that. Why were those guys surrounding you?"

"Oh, um… I think it was cause of gym class. See, I had gloves on and stuff, so I can only guess that they were curious." He told the now confused girl.

"So they were going to beat you up? That doesn't sound right. Plus, why were you wearing gloves? It's warm out!" The girl probed. She knew that she was pushing her luck, but he couldn't have possible guessed that she already knew why he was wearing the ridiculous long sleeved shirt and gloves.

"Um, I come from a warmer city, so even in the sun; it's still cold to me."

Choosing to just ignore the clearly artificial answer, Lenalee nodded and smiled. "Well, okay! See you later Allen!" She wanted to talk to him, to comfort him, but he wouldn't open up to anyone. Except for Komui, which was who she was heading to now.

xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx

"Brother?" Lenalee asked Komui, who was sitting at his over-cluttered desk, reading one of the hundreds of papers that were stacked on top.

"Hmm?" Was all he could get out around the coffee that he was yet again sipping.

"Um, it's about Allen…" This caught the sipping man's attention and he carefully placed the blue coffee mug on the only empty corner of the desk.

Seeing that the adult wouldn't say anything, the girl continued. "Well, it's just that… I was walking by your office at lunch time…and, well… I heard what I could only guess to be muffled sobbing. At first I thought it was you, but then I realized that you had begun talking; comforting the cries." Lenalee paused, waiting to hear if Komui was going to say anything. He just stared at her.

She continued. "I heard, Komui. I heard, and I know about Allen." At this piece of information, Komui eyes widened. "You listened? Lenalee I told you to let us talk alone! Well, I guess there's no helping it... Just, please, do not tell anybody else. As you apparently know, the boys had it rough; he most likely won't be able to handle anything else right now."

"Of course brother! I told you because I wanted to help Allen. Is there anything I can do?" She now begged her brother to tell her something that she could use to prevent the school's 'freak' from feeling anymore of an outcast.

The beret-wearing man just sighed and looked at his sister with sad-filled eyes. "Afraid not. If you want to help him, just make sure you say 'hello' every time you see him, and make sure the other kids don't pick on him, he makes quite a target with that appearance of his." Lenalee nodded her head in familiarity, and left.

xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx-xX-Xx

It was now after school, and the sun was still brightly shining.

Allen was walking leisurely to the library, as he could afford time since he did not have to be home right away because of his guardian's sudden absence.

After asking a biker for directions, the boy headed towards the town's local library, expecting to pick up a few books to help him catch up the classes that he's missed his entire life prior to now.

The library was a small one, with only one story. It had red brick walls and glass windows surrounding the entire perimeter of the building. Once done marveling at the simple beauty, the care-free boy stepped in through the automatic, glass doors and stopped to stare at the rows and rows of books. This was his first time in a library. He never had time to visit neat places like this in the past due to his master's outrageous requests.

Allen then walked up to the 'help' desk and asked where he could find some history and English books, as those were the subjects giving him the most trouble.

After being pointed to the direction in which the desired books lay, he grabbed them and checked them out, leaving the library after a few more minutes of inspecting a couple more knowledge-packed aisles.

It was now an hour later than when he was usually forced to be at his dilapidated house, he sighed at the familiar sight and stepped inside.

'Huh, that's strange. Did I leave the TV on? Oh, well, maybe Cross left it on, and I just forgot to turn it off this morning.' He pushed aside all doubt and in a dreamy state, he walked into the room over to turn off the TV.

He froze at the sight. His master hadn't left the TV on. It was turned on by the man that once again, sat on the couch, drinking out of an all-too-familiar glass bottle. The familiar smell of liquor and smoke filled his nostrils, as he drew in a shaky breath.

"M-master?" The trembles quickly spread through his aching body. He didn't know why he was back, but he didn't care. Because as he spoke the always-intoxicated man, turned his head to face the frightened boy in the walkway.

The man just grunted and gestured to the chair across from him. "Sit down." He mumbled the demand with a throaty voice.

Allen nervously complied, afraid to do or say anything against him, at this point he was just praying that nothing too painful would happen, after all, he was still healing from the previous night.

Once seated on the old and cracking chair, Allen looked up at his guardian who was leaned into the lumpy cushions. It remained silent as he took another greedy gulp from the bottle.

"Do you care to tell me why you're back so late?" the adult questioned. The question in itself seemed harmless, but Allen knew from experience that the tone was unsteady, and most likely the calm before a storm.

"W-well, I needed some help in s-school, so I walked over to the library to pick up a few textbooks to help me learn what I've missed the passes few years." He said this making sure to make eye contact, as this had affected the legal guardian before, but his voice was very quiet, hoping that that would help defend his cause.

"What you sayin', you waste? You sayin' that you're complain' 'bout working the past years? Mind you, we don't have any damned money, 'cause of you! If I didn't have to take care of your worthless ass, then I'd have actual money! Did you bring any like I asked?"

Allen, of course, knew that the reason for the debt was most certainly not his, but his master's fault.

'Taking care of me? Since when has he ever taken care of me?' The child bitterly thought.

"N-no master, I didn't know that you would be back so soon. I'll bring back some money tomorrow if you would just give me some time." The boy defended himself.

In his drunken state, the man didn't want to hear any excuses, even if they were true. Cross slammed the bottle down on the rotting table, and sat up, though a little off-balance.

"Come here." He demanded, though it was a little slurred.

Allen stood still, too scared to come any nearer to his master.

"I said come here." He repeated, this time his voice rose so that it now resounded throughout the entire household.

Now choosing that the punishment would be less severe if he followed Cross's will, the frightened teen shakily rose from his position on the chair, and slowly walked over to where the adult was seated.

"Y-yes, Master Cross?" He asked, now sitting on his knees in front of the intoxicated man.

Instead of answering, Cross had raised another fist, in order for it to be reacquainted with Allen's throbbing body.

The trembling boy bowed his head, and shut his eyes, attempting to send his mind into a happy place, a place where he was in a loving family, a place where he ate huge meals every day, and a place where Cross wasn't there, about to injure him once again.

He was woken from his dreamy vision, when a pain bolted throughout his stiff body. He squinted one eye open, to see that cross had instead of punching his face or stomach again, had attacked his shoulder. Allen guessed that based off of the amount of pain that was resonating from his arm, it had been dislocated.

He curled is chest closer to his knees and cradled his displaced limb.

Before Cross could injure him further, Allen, with his last bit of strength, broke a glass that had been lying next to his leg, over his Master's head, knocking the drunk adult out cold.

His consciousness fading, the boy's pain-clouded mind, had suddenly reminded him of the conversation that took place at lunch, earlier that same day. 'Next time this Cross, hurts you, call me immediately.'

The phone. The cellphone that Komui had given him was just inside his backpack that he had dropped at the front door.

With little strength boosted by the glimmer of hope, the wounded boy stumbled to his backpack and fiddled with the phone trying to send a call towards the principal.

Ring~Ring~Ring~

Ring~Ring~Ring~

Beeeep.

Heelloo! This is Komui! I'm ever so sorry that I am currently unable to reach the phone right now! If you're Lenalee then I'm SOOO SOOORRY! BROTHER LOVES YOU! If you're not, then I will try and get back to you as soon as possible. After I get coffee.

Beeeep

"K-komui? This is Allen Walker. U-um, w-well, Cross…He's back… and well, you said to-ah!- call you if a-anything happened…s-so." Allen held onto the phone but his arm was throbbing and felt like it had been ripped off, not just dislocated. He also had a couple scratches on his hands and face from when he slammed the bottle over Cross's head.

He then ran out of energy and closed the phone, sorry for leaving Komui there, without actually finishing his message.

The once again injured boy knew it was just a dislocated limb, he had received numerous dislocations and much worse at the hands of Cross, but that didn't help the pain that was quickly etching its way in and clouding his thoughts.

As his eyes slowly started to close, he could a quiet, but still audible, drip. The sound of liquid upon a surface. His drooping eyesight lazily made its progression to the source of the sound. His left arm. The still recovering glass wound he received yesterday, had opened up, due to his racing heart, and pumping blood.

'I…Wonder if Komui got my message yet…'

Through the pain and shock of his injuries, he slowly closed his eyes, entering, a yet again, dreamless sleep. The last thing he did before he completely slipped out of consciousness was wonder if the he would wake up the next time in warmth, or if he would wake up to the familiar coldness.

Meh. Sorry it took me longer than usual to update. I've been out and about ALL day. Plus, the lack of reviews the past day was a little discouraging. I know how many people have read my story, and out of that number, only about five or six people have reviewed Come on guys. I don't know if I should keep going or not… I want to! Okay, fine I will! As I mentioned, I'm leaving soon. I'll miss you all terribly! I can't wait to come back and check to see what you guys have said!

Love you all and thanks for bearing with my story!