Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray Man

A little boy was lying peacefully in an alley. He had finally found a place to lie down, and was about to fall asleep, when he was rudely shaken out of his daze. His eyes snapped open as he was yanked up by his arm, coming face to face with a strange looking man covered in tattoos. "Well, well, well, look what we have here. It's a little street rat." he said, smirking down at the boy
Another man with curly, black hair walked up to them. "Yeah, a little boy who's trespassing on our territory. I think we should teach him a lesson."
the man holding the boy looked at the curly haired guy. "Your right." he said, pulling out a knife
The little boy's eyes widened as he watched the scene play out in front of him. "W-wait, please! Don't hurt me! I d-didn't know this was your place, I'll leave and I won't come back!" he said, desperately trying to escape
"It's too late. you've already trespassed. You must be punished." The man smiled manically, and brought the knife up to the child's face. Laughing the entire time, he carefully cut a pattern onto the boy's face. the child screamed. What had he done to deserve this?
When the man was finished, he dropped the boy on his head, and turn to the rest of the people in the alley way. "Do whatever you like to him." he said
The child screamed even more as they proceeded to cut and hit him. He didn't struggle though, that always makes the pain worse. As he was beaten, the man pulled out a cloth and started cleaning the blood off of his knife. After a while, he held up his hand. "That's enough." he said
he walked over to the boy, and picked him up by his hair, earning a whimper in return. "Have you learned your lesson, boy?" he asked
The child could only nod.
The man smiled sadistically. "I don't believe you!" he sang
he then took out a lighter, and held it up to the boy's left arm. This will teach you not to mess with the Millennium Earl and his gang the Noah!"
The child's screams echoed throughout the alley, and just when he thought they were going to finish him off, another voice echoed through the alley. "You're despicable, hurting a little child like that. Why don't you leave the kid alone and go pick on someone your own size."
As the world faded to black, the small child caught a glimpse of a man with a strange mask covering half of his face and vivid red hair...

Allen gasped and sat up in his bed. He looked at his window, and saw it was still dark. He brought his hand up to his head to wipe off the sweat. Ever since that fateful day in the alley, he'd been getting nightmares. They always left him feeling nauseous, so he was unable to eat any breakfast. He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so he got up and turned on the shower. Feeling the hot water pound on his back soothed his nausea, and calmed him down.
Allen stayed in the shower until the water turned cold. By the time he had gotten out, the sun had started to rise. Quickly, he got dressed and ate breakfast. It was still really early, but he liked getting to school before everyone else. If he got into a class room before anyone was in the halls, it would delay the all the teasing until the period was over. At least, most of the time it did. Sometimes, there would be the one day where one of his bullies had to serve detention before school, and was waiting by his locker. Luckily, it didn't happen often.
Allen walked into school almost an hour before it would even start. He walked to his first class, and sat down. As he started to relax, he realized how tired he really was. He hadn't gotten much sleep as he had been out most of the night working to pay off some of Cross's debts. The nightmare hadn't helped either. His eyelids started feeling heavier and heavier, and soon he was fast asleep at his desk.

Lenalee had gotten to school just a few minutes after Allen. Similar to him, she had had a nightmare. When she walked into their class and saw Allen fast asleep, she couldn't help but chuckle. She walked over to him, and sat down in the seat next to his. She looked at him, and couldn't help but see how tired he was, even when he was sleeping. She knew he had to work to pay off Cross's debts, but she didn't know how late he often had to stay out. Looking at him, she decided to let him be, and got out a book. Just as she was about to start reading, she heard Allen mumble something. He started squirming around in his sleep, and emotions kept flashing across his face. "M... Mana? No, please don't leave me! Mana? Mana, please! Please wake up!"
Lenalee just listened to Allen mumble these things. Who was Mana? Lenalee started to get worried when his mumbles turned into words. His calling just kept getting louder and louder. She stood up, and walked over to him. "Allen? Allen, wake up. It's just a dream. Come on, wake up!" she said
Her voice seemed to calm him down a bit, but he started mumbling again soon after. Lenalee watched as tears leaked from his closed eyes, and his body started shaking. She didn't know what to do. Wake him up, that's what she needed to do. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she started shaking him, trying to get him to wake up. His calling was getting louder, and people were going to start entering the school soon. She had to wake him up. The shaking wasn't working though. She held up her hand, and was about to slap him when he called out again, even louder. "No! Mana please, I need you! Don't die, please! NO!"
With that, Allen was shaken back to the real world. He looked up, and saw Lenalee looking down at him with a worried look on her face. "Allen? Are you okay?" she asked
"Yeah, I'm fine." he replied
Lenalee just smiled sadly, and shook her head. "Then why are you crying?" she asked
Allen looked confused at first, and then realization dawned on his face. He brought his hand up to his face, and wiped away the tears. Why was he crying? He was so confused. "Lenalee, what happened?" he asked
"You had a nightmare. Do you really not remember?"
"I... I remember coming to school and falling asleep. Then..." in a flash he remembered his dream. A cry escaped his lips, and the tears started falling again. Lenalee, not knowing what else to do, put her arms around him, and let him cry into her shoulder.
When he was finally finished, she leaned back to look at him. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked
Allen shook his head. "I don't think I'm ready to." he answered
he looked at her for a second, then laughed. "Sorry, I got your shirt wet." he said
Lenalee looked down, and finally noticed that it was wet. "Oh! It's fine." she said
Allen flashed a smile at her, and she couldn't help but smile back. He could be so charming when he wanted to be. And even when he didn't want to be sometimes.
"You know Lenalee, I've only known you for a day, but I can't help but feel like I've known you forever. It's a nice feeling."
Lenalee smiled, she felt exactly the same way. "Don't worry, I have the same feeling. You know Allen, if you ever want to talk, just know I'm here, okay?"
Allen nodded enthusiastically, and his stomach grumbled. "You know, I haven't eaten breakfast yet. Wanna walk down to the cafeteria with me to get something to eat?"
"Sure." Lenalee replied
As they walked down to the cafeteria, they talked about random things. All the while though, Lenalee was deep in thought. What had happened to Allen that made him so afraid of people? She remembered that when she had hugged him, he had stiffened up almost instinctively, like she was going to hurt him or something. Also, when he had cried earlier, it almost seemed as if that was the first time he had ever done it. It was obvious that he held his emotions in. Could it be he was afraid to let them out? All Lenalee knew was that she would be there for him, no matter what.
Her mind wandered back to what her brother had said before.
"He needs someone to be there for him Lenalee, he needs a friend. Do you think you can do that?"
Yes, she could, and she would. She would stay by his side through everything. Isn't that what friends did? It was just like he had said earlier. She had only known him for one day, yet she felt like she had known him forever. She felt like she could tell him anything. There was just something about him...

I know not much has happened yet, but I'll get to the action soon. I have this whole idea in my head. The next chapter will probably build it up, and then the real action will start in chapter five. That's what I'm thinking. Anyway, thank you Manu259 for reviewing, and thank you to all those who have followed, favorite or even read my story. I hope you review though, I'd like to know what you think. The more reviews I get, the more inclined I'll be to get the next chapter up quickly.