Disclaimer: I do not in any way own KHR, but if I did it would be Hibari and Tsuna all the way.

Pairing: This is mainly Giotto and Tsuna.

Summary: Tsuna is left to fend for himself when his mother becomes sick and he is left with his abusive father. Known as Dame-Tsuna and no friends can anyone save him from his father?

Last Time…

Iemitsu rampaged through his son's room in pure rage, who the hell was he to think that he could get away with running and hiding from him. His patience was really starting to run thin with his bastard of a son; it seemed that his son was going to need another round of punishment. But alas that would have to wait until after he figured out how to get rid of cut-throat bastards trying to take over his corporation. Either way right now is not the time to lose it; he quickly went back to his room he still had a lot of packing to do not to mention he was in a desperate need of a bath.

Tsuna had better enjoy the little bit of freedom he has while he's gone, because when he returns there will be hell to pay for sure.

Chapter Six: Realizations

Cute.

Adorable.

Sweet.

Loveable.

Captivating.

He just about dropped the bag of food when he saw the site before, he didn't know why he felt this way but he just did. Perhaps it was the way plump limps parted with each breath the other took or the faint blush that decorated his milky pale cheeks. It was a site to behold indeed, the only thing that would've made it better is if he could ignore the bandages wrapped around his arms. He frowned at the site of those white bindings, it was almost as if they were mocking him tempting him to peek under there. Giotto knew that at times Tsuna could be a klutz at times, most of the time tripping on nothing but air that still didn't explain all the bandages though.

Giotto kept contemplating on the endless possibilities that could have caused all of those injuries. Could it be he was being bullied again? Was someone hurting him on purpose? But why? Tsuna was always-though timid- a good person in his eyes, true he wasn't the brightest when it came to academics or physical activities but he was the gentlest person he'd ever known. What if it was worse than the bullying, could it be he was being abused by someone at home? That's when a realization hit him for as long as he's known Tsuna he's never even met the boy's family until today that is, he's never even been to the boy's house. Maybe that pervy doctor was right, what kind of friend was he if he didn't know the basic facts about him?!

The blond wanted nothing more than to sulk in a corner for being such a terrible person, but then he remembered the food in his hands was probably getting colder the longer he just stood there gawking at the sleeping brunet.

'I better wake him up before the food becomes too cold to eat…aah..but he looks cute like that…' Giotto then had an idea, he chuckled darkly before taking out his cellphone and taking a few pictures of the slumbering boy. As he took the pictures he unconsciously counted the amount of bandages on his body, it really made him wonder who could do such a thing. Once he was satisfied with the amount of pictures, he set the food on the chair next to Tsuna before turning to wake him up.

Giotto shook him gently "Tsuna…come on, wake up I brought some food..."

Tsuna grumbled in protest at the rude awakening, but when it became obvious that the other wasn't going to give up soon he gave in and awoke much to his displeasure. The smell of food didn't help his case either, he had forgotten to eat that morning because he didn't want to chance that his dad would wake up after he just unshackled himself from the chains he put on him. Yet another rule he's broken, he was sure he was definitely going to receive a punishment worse than the last if his father ever found out.

"Tsuna~ come on sleepyhead," Giotto cooed at the boy, softly poking the boy's cheek. It was funny watching Tsuna's face contort from annoyance into an adorable pout. It was just, well cute. So very damn cute!

But alas it didn't last long when Tsuna after much protest woke up, he stretched his tired arms before pawing at his eyes like a kitten does when they wake from a nice nap. Needless to say, Giotto just about died from the undeniably cuteness that Tsuna was portraying right now, so before the brunet noticed he took a few extra pictures before finally putting his phone away.

"Mmm…" Tsuna whined that he was woken so abruptly in the middle of a good nap, after all it's not like he had a lot of them to enjoy not with work, taking care of the house and mother and worst of all his father's impossible demands.

"Did you have a good nap?" Giotto asked as he took the food out of the bags, preparing it while Tsuna was still rubbing the last bit of sleep from his eyes.

"Eh?..."Tsuna turned still not completely aware of the person that had woken him up, the minute he realized who it was though he jumped back in surprise unfortunately in his surprise he ended up on the floor staring at a completely confused Giotto. Pain shot up his whole backside the second he landed on the floor, Tsuna had to force himself not to scream so Giotto wouldn't be more suspicious than he already was.

"Hiie! G-Giotto what are y-y-ou doing here?!" Tsuna couldn't help but stare at the older teen, confusion and hurt clearly etched on his face.

"Huh? What do you mean," Giotto asked completely dumbfounded at the younger male's reaction, "I came with you remember?"

Then it dawned on Tsuna that Giotto had indeed come with him to the hospital and he completely forgot, the poor boy had never felt more 'no-good' at that moment than ever before. How could he have forgotten that he'd brought Giotto with him, well more like Giotto dragged him to his destination but that wasn't the point!

"O-Oh yeah…sorry I'm just used to coming alone…" Tsuna shyly turned his head away from the blond so he wouldn't see his embarrassment, unfortunately for him Giotto still managed to catch a glimpse of the blush that decorated Tsuna's face. If Tsuna kept making so many adorable faces, Giotto swore he was going to be admitted to the hospital after all the internal bleeding he's causing himself because of all the nosebleeds he's tried to keep himself from having.

Still the fact that Tsuna had completely forgotten Giotto had come with him to begin with hurt the blonde's feelings, if anything he wanted nothing more than to sulk in a corner of the room right now but Tsuna's well-being took priority. The kid almost looked as if he was going to pass out any second, Giotto took those pale bandaged hands and helped Tsuna off the floor inwardly smirking at the blush painted on the other's pale cheeks. He helped the boy back into his chair before settling back into his own chair, it was obvious that Tsuna wasn't used to being treated so nice the way he would shift in his chair and would constantly play with the hem of his shirt was proof of that.

"I'm sorry."

"Eh? What are you talking about?" Giotto was completely dumbfounded at the brunet's sudden statement, true he was a little hurt but it was nothing to apologize for.

Tsuna however didn't respond, he just kept staring down at his hands as they fiddled with the bottom of his shirt. He definitely just made the situation much more awkward than it already was, he wasn't even sure why he apologized. He supposed it was out of habit, he can't even remember the last time he didn't apologize to someone regardless of whether it was his fault or not, it was just what he was accustomed to. Now what was he to do, he could tell that Giotto wanted answers to questions that went beyond what he'd just asked but he didn't want to involve him in his life too much in fear that he'd get hurt and it would be his fault. If that happened a simple apology wouldn't be able to make up for it so easily and he definitely wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something did happen.

The brunet was happy that Giotto cared about his well-being but he also knew the dangers of letting someone get to close to him, he'd already witnessed it once when he made a friend at work. It didn't take long when his father found out about the friendship, what he did next made him realize just how dangerous his father really was.

Flashback…

"Oh Tenth are you almost done yet?"

Tsuna turned and pouted at his silver-haired friend for still calling him by that nickname, it was their own inside joke between the two of them. It started when Tsuna first started working at the café and Gokudera was assigned to train him for the day, however thanks to his clumsy nature he ended almost accidently killing the teen several times, like ten times throughout their whole shift. Even worse was the fact it was simple things like mopping the floors of simply trying to taking out the trash. The brunet had never seen anyone- aside from his dad- so mad at him, after that day Gokudera avoided him like the plague and would always say hurtful things to him course it didn't bother him much as he was already used to it. That all changed one day after work he was walking back home when he caught a glance of Gokudera walking across the street the only problem was that the light was clearly red and he was carelessly walking to his death as a car swiftly drove past him towards the other. With no time to think he ran as fast as he could to Gokudera trying not to trip as he pushed the other to the other side of the street.

After that day Gokudera became a lot friendlier to him, or rather more like an obedient dog that never left his side. He was grateful to have made a new friend but sometimes the silver-haired teen tended to overreact when someone would bad-mouth him and then it would end up with him trying to fix the problem in the end. The more they got to know each other though the more they realized they had a lot in common, like the fact that both of them were underage so they shouldn't even be working in the café to begin with so they kept it secret. Not only that but Gokudera was from an estranged family so he left home and was living on his own which was why he was working to begin with, in a way he could relate to him the only difference was that Tsuna was still living with his.

After work they would walk part of the way home together before they each went their own way, but one day that all changed. Tsuna should've know better than to think his dad would ever let him have a little happiness let alone a friend. He still doesn't even know how Iemitsu found out about their friendship, considering Gokudera had never been or even seen his house showed how much his father liked to control what he did. What Iemitsu did next only confirmed what he didn't want to acknowledge.

It should've been another day as usual, he and Gokudera met up as always that afternoon, went to work and as usual walked the partway back to their homes or at least that's what should've occurred.

They were walking home after a very uneventful day at work and were talking adamantly about their plans for the weekend. Tsuna was excited, he made plans with Gokudera or rather he was being forced to go to the movies by the other teen was more like it. It wasn't that he didn't want to hang out with Gokudera it was more that with his dad's unreasonable demands he didn't know when he could ever find the time to actually do so, so whenever Gokudera asked him to hang out he'd either change the subject or say that his dad wouldn't let him. Eventually though Gokudera got fed up with Tsuna's excuses and threatened to go talk to his dad and give him a piece of his mind, so Tsuna finally relented and agreed to at least go to the movies that weekend. The last thing he wanted was a confrontation between his new friend and the man was already making his life hell, luckily his dad was going out of town on a business trip and it was a late movie too so that gave him plenty of time to finish his chores, work his shift at his other job and still make it home before his father came back the next day.

At least it was supposed to go that that way, one minute they were talking like no tomorrow the next thing they knew they were being dragged into a black utility van, tied up and blindfolded. It seemed like an eternity before the van finally stopped and they were dragged out, where they were he had no clue. The two were roughly thrown on the ground, helpless to anything that might be in store for them. Their blindfolds were eventually yanked off and for a moment they were blinded by the bright lights in the dark.

The first thing they did was separate them from each other, Tsuna was dragged away into the dark and dropped at one of his captor's feet while Gokudera was led to the center of the light. Tsuna was forced on his knees by his captor who he assumed was the leader and was forced to watch as the rest of them started attacking his friend mercilessly. He begged them to stop but the leader slapped him across the face to shut him up and forced his head to watch as Gokudera was beaten over and over again while he watched helplessly.

The leader bent down until they were face to face and whispered in his ear something so chilling he swore his heart stopped as the man's words echoed in head.

"Your father sends his regards."

It was then he realized there was no escaping from his father's grasp.

END FLASHBACK…

Tsuna shuddered at that memory because of that incident he quit the job at that café and never saw Gokudera after that, it saddened him of course but he'd rather see the other live than drag him into his own problems. He didn't want someone else's life on his conscious, besides he didn't have anything he could offer Giotto for all the kindness he's shown him. It was better if he just ended his restored friendship with the blond before history repeats itself and Giotto ended up in the hospital because he was simply standing next to him. That was the last thing he wanted and Tsuna wasn't going to let it happen again.

"Tsuna?..."

The brunet looked up at the confused look on Giotto's face, he could tell that the blond had many questions running through his head most likely about his well-being. Right now however, Tsuna wasn't ready to answer any questions that Giotto might ask, he didn't want to be a burden to anyone else.

"I'm sorry."

Without saying anything else Tsuna left the uneaten burger, he got up and ran. Giotto could only watch as the boy ran, a trail of tears behind him. Giotto didn't know why but he felt he shouldn't follow so he stayed seated. Giotto wanted to run after the boy but he didn't and couldn't understand why, the only thing he could hear was the sound of Tsuna's mom's heartbeat in the room.

Finally finished a chapter…

I'm sorry it's been too long since I've managed to write anything.

I've no excuse so please review if I should continue the story.

Sorry if its a little short I'll try to make it longer next time.