Rule# 4 "Choose the target carefully!"

He looked at his feet, at the wall, at the bugs crawling around, at his hands, anywhere but her. It didn't matter though, he didn't need to look to know what he would see.

"Mi Cielo." The call was soft, un-accusing, but he flinched anyway. There was a sigh, long and weary, and a hand gently grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. He struggled, not hard but enough to make it clear that he didn't want to look at her. In the end she won, forcing his eyes to meet hers. "It's not your fault."

He did pull away this time, turning around so he couldn't see her. It didn't help though; he could still see the livid red mark on her face. A mark he was to blame for, because if it wasn't for him it wouldn't be there.

'Caught!'

He was caught and the man he'd been trying to steal from looked ready to kill. His face was red, and he seemed so much bigger now, standing over him, than he had before.

"You're gonna regret trying to steal from me, Loth rat," the man hissed, raising a fist.

He squeezed his eyes shut, already drawing breath to scream, and his breath was forced out of him as he was knocked to the side, much more gently than he'd been expecting. His eyes snapped open at the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

In front of him a girl wearing a yellow hat was staggering to her feet while as a stunned looking man blinked at her.

"Come on!" The girl grabbed his wrist and pulled him to his feet, not giving either the man or him time to process what had happened. As he followed after her two things registered: one, he hadn't been hit, and two, she had.

"Mi Cielo." Arms wrapped around him, turning him around and pulling him into a hug. He buried his face in her jacket. "I'm not mad. These things happen, that's why we have to be careful."

He shook his head, denying he wasn't to blame and felt her sigh as she rubbed his back.

"How 'bout this then, new rule: always choose the target carefully, got it?"

He nodded and mumbled into her jacket, "Got it."

"Ok, now how 'bout I show you how to choose a better target?"

Author's Notes: