A/N: Yeah, another odd introduction to some of my OCs for a bigger fic that I'm not entirely sure I will finish-sorry to disappoint you, Bree. I just keep getting cute ideas for Neon and Hyde's friends, and this one was to cute not to do! Anyway, thanks again to Chibi for proofreading as well as all of you readers, hope everybody likes it!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tegami Bachi or Amberground or anything else that belongs in the main manga, however Parker, his family, Rossa, their dingos, etc, etc, basically anything you don't recognize as being from the main series is probably mine. XD

He walked along with his head down, the brim of his blue and silver newsboy hat obscuring his face as well as straight, chocolate-colored hair that hung down to his chin. The ever-present stars on the Amberground sky twinkled overhead, smeared against a deep blue sky like that glitter Melina liked so much haphazardly thrown across a sheet of glue-covered paper, something he could very much imagine her doing. It was nearing seven-thirty pm and the streets of Central Yuusari were starting to clear out; people were either heading home or holing up in bars or other such places. That was how life was in Central—if you had a family, you went home, if you didn't or decided to go out this late with friends, it was pretty typical to head out to one of the few bars scattered around the city. He had been one of those who hit the bars because he had no home to go to, but that had been years ago—now he had a home to return to and plenty of little mouths to feed there. Slung over his shoulder was a bag of day-old bread that they hadn't been able to sell that day at Sinner's and what few day-old pastries they didn't sell at Starfall Bakery down the street. Yep, plenty of little mouths to feed at home, in spite of the fact he wasn't a father to any of them…biologically, anyway.

They were off the streets, though, out of trouble that could ruin their lives. He had almost ruined his that way until Largo Lloyd had caught him stealing bread a number of years ago. Instead of yelling and beating him up over it, Lloyd had paid for the bread, and then asked him why he had stolen it while ignoring the snarling wolf-like dog between them. No one had ever asked Parker why he stole the things he stole before, so Lloyd was the first to know about the children he and the other notorious stealing children of Central Yuusari stole to feed. The poorhouses and orphanages treated them badly, you were as likely to get actually edible food as you were likely to get beaten up for the food, edible or not, so they had decided that scraping out a life on the streets was better. They had tried to get jobs, but who wanted to hire uneducated kids who lived out on the street? Most believed that they were born with nothing, and nothing was all they would ever be. Largo Lloyd was the first Parker Manalee had ever encountered that disagreed with that belief. Lloyd told him it was a bit of a surprise that that was the big secret behind the biggest troublemakers in Central was that they were trying to take care of other kids, but he could understand the situation now. He was the very first, and it was something Parker wouldn't regret. He said he would talk to the Hive's Director, see if maybe if there was something he could do for a little money at the Hive to be able to pay for the food rather than steal it.

When Lloyd told him that the Director wanted to speak to him about a possible job, that was the probably one of the best days of Parker's life. The proudest day of his life was when he had been officially hired as a message runner within the Hive and was able to go into Sinner's and slap the rin on the counter to buy two loaves of bread with every passerby's eyes on him. Eventually he had gathered up enough courage and confidence to apply for a position as a Letter Bee and passed the test. Many still didn't trust him and thought of him as "that no-good little thief who would stab them all in the backs when they weren't looking," but Parker wasn't too bothered by it since that description no longer applied to him in the slightest. His time as a thief had been over from the moment the Director had told him "Parker Manalee, you have been hired." Now the only things that his past had left him with was a bad reputation that led to most of Central Yuusari's population distrusting him and a very prominent fear of physical conflict with other humans that prevented him from being incredibly outspoken.

With his hiring at the Hive all because he explained his situation to someone willing to listen and help, he urged the other notorious thieves to explain themselves and try to find jobs with some of the more sympathetic residents of Central. It was a plan that worked surprisingly well, and soon they were keeping everyone fed and eventually even saved up enough to rent a little house in town to get everyone off the cold streets. Still, not too many people knew about the other children, leaving many residents completely baffled as to how a group of Central Yuusari's most notorious stealers could go from thieving to holding up jobs and doing them incredibly well. Having a few working paying jobs still wasn't enough to keep everyone well-fed. The workers would hit up restaurants and fresh food shops on the way home, asking to buy unsold food that would most likely be thrown out otherwise at a discounted price. Many gave in and sold it to them. Better to make a little money off otherwise unsellable food than nothing off of it and have the kids go back to stealing, it was fairly sound logic to follow.

Children greeted Parker and his dingo as he opened the door to their shared home. Mina grabbed hold of his leg and clung like glue, the dark-haired child squealing "Parker! Parker!" happily, while he noticed the absence of Cali must have meant that Lisei was home and already had her. Melina gave him a hug, double-teaming him with Jack, who was quickly pulled away by his cousin Aster. Vayne and Rena showered the long-tailed and golden-furred wolf-like dog that accompanied Parker everywhere with hugs, head scratches, and belly rubs with coos of "Good Shiba, good girl. You brought Parker home, good girl." and the like intermingled.

"Hey, come on, guys, let him get his coat and shoes off, at least!" An exasperated sigh came from just down the hall where Parker found Cecille standing with Kit clinging to her hand like a silent, red-haired shadow.

"I need some help washing pans, how about some of you come help me?" That would be Rainier, probably stuck helping Alyss or Lisei with dinner again. Rena and Melina quickly breaking away with cries of "I'll help, I'll help!" as they darted into the kitchen. Parker knew there would be no way to detach Mina from his leg, there never was, although Cecille certainly tried, tempting her with games and a coloring book, both offers failed and Mina remained affixed to Parker's leg while Vayne darted down the hall with Shiba on his heels. Cecille and Kit watched in amusement as Parker put down the bag of bread and pastries to go about shedding layers of clothes, first his hat, then his worn gloves and the fraying scarf that Alyss had made for him last Christmas, followed by his jacket, which was chased after by his boots, which he had to remove by leaning against the wall to keep from falling over on Mina. By the time that he got his boots off, Cecille and Kit had been joined by Alyss, the tiny woman stifling laughs with her palm, shoulder-length curls bouncing and trembling with her body, as was her simple butter-yellow dress.

"What's so funny, Alyss?" Parker knew what she found so funny, but louding her out was about the only way to get her to stop. Even at twenty, the little woman was still the terror she had been at seven, when Parker had originally met her. All that curly, caramel-colored hair, emotion-projecting blue eyes, small body, and simply overall image of innocence hid the devilish young woman beneath—a young woman who could rob you blind as easily as she could tell you hello and wasn't afraid to hit anyone who harassed her.

"You taking off your shoes with Mina attached." She was still giggling, but most of it had subsided.

"I do that every day, haven't you noticed? Me 'n Shiba both get mobbed with kids every time we walk through the door. Mina likes clinging, Melina and Jack double-team me for hugs, Rena and Vayne attack Shiba with hugs and belly rubs…sometimes there are more, but those are the ones I count on." He shrugged, tugging at his tie to loosen it. Cecille muttered something to Kit and the pair flitted off like butterflies, sometimes Parker wondered how they didn't lift off of the floor and into the air to fly off into the night. Alyss shook her head and pointed to the kitchen, allowing him to pick up the bread bag and hobble down the hall with Mina attached to his leg, producing more giggles from Alyss as they passed her.

"They always have liked you the best." She commented, causing Parker to grin at her.

"Who got a job first and whose name is the house under?" He asked her smugly. Alyss stuck out her tongue at him.

"You got a job first, and the house is under yours and Lisei's names, smarty. Besides, you're also the one with the 'puppy.'" Alyss replies, bright blue eyes shimmering with mischief as they enter the kitchen, which Parker is glad is only separated from the main family room by a half-wall bar and a doorway considering how much it takes to prepare family meals. Rainier and Melina are each bent over a water-filled section of the sink and scrubbing furiously away at pots and pans that a cooking Lisei left in her wake. Violin music drifted into the kitchen from the living room as Hoji played straight-backed, standing in the living room with his eyes closed and Fuu standing on a chair behind him and braiding his long, inky black ponytail without a care in the world while Lennalee sat on the floor a few feet away, eyes closed and head bobbing in a fashion quite similar to his little almost-clone of a sister. Chi and Seth sat on the other side of the counter with Fen, debating and peeling potatoes in a fashion that made you wonder if they were really as old as they were while Cali was seated on the kitchen floor not too far from Lisei's madwoman work on the stove, watching everyone in the kitchen. Aster and Jack sat at the table together, chopping up vegetables with surprising expertise for their ages, but as previously stated, dinner was an all-important affair that took cooperative effort of almost the entire family in some way of another.

"I thought so." He murmured to Alyss softly before turning his attention to Lisei. "Hey, Lisei, I brought home a pretty good stash today, Sinner's was having a slow day. Mr. Gobeni wanted me to give everyone his greetings, by the way." He said loud enough for everyone to hear, many nod and smile. Mr. Gobeni was a pretty nice guy in spite of looking like one of those guys who could eat a kid for breakfast, and had been one of the first to accept that they were finally done with stealing for good, allowing them to buy what he couldn't sell that day cheaply.

"He's such a big softie, especially where kids are concerned. The world is so much better for it." Rainier commented, prompting a harsh laugh from Lisei, the blonde shaking her head sharply a moment before she went back to her work.

"That's one person; one person isn't going to change the world." She huffed, Parker fought the urge to correct her—there were plenty of nice people that they knew in the world—but it would be useless since Lisei was incredibly pessimistic. It was just how she was, though no one held it against her since they had all come from a life that had been full of pessimism and uncertainties to a life much better now, they understood where Lisei was coming from, but they had adjusted to feeling a little more comfortable with it. Lisei just hadn't adjusted yet. Nobody objected, and eventually the conversation fell back into more normal things, such as "How did your day go?" and "Any interesting encounters today?" This pattern would proceed through the end of dinner preparations and throughout dinner.

It was when Lisei called him while he was halfway through washing dishes that Parker knew something was going on. He was jolted out of a rather pleasant conversation about music with Hoji by the shout of "PARKER! Some girl who says she's from your job is here to see you! ...What the heck have you done now?" It nearly cased Chi to drop the plate that she was holding, and the pan Parker had been holding clattered into the sink in his surprise before he turned to Hoji and sighed.

"Sorry, the queen calls." He muttered, causing the younger boy to smirk before going back the dishes, where Alyss took his place. He made it about halfway down the hall when he called out "Now what is it that you're screaming about, Lisei?"

Lisei pointed at the girl in the doorway, holding a letter in her hand and wearing a Letter Bee uniform, behind her stood a large white and gray cat while Shiba was pressed up against his legs, eyeing both of them warily. Parker recognized her as one of the newly admitted Bees; the girl had hair like a candle flame, a nearly luminescent red-tinged orange that fell straight to her shoulders and fearful jade eyes like Alyss'. "Ah, are you Parker Manalee?" He nodded to her and motioned for her to go on. "I'm Rossa Tuluse, one of the new recruits who have just been accepted, and the Director told me that I was supposed to be going on a delivery with you tomorrow, and asked me to give you this today. I know it's a bit late, but it wasn't exactly easy to find your house, and for a moment, I even wondered if I got the wrong house." Those jade eyes flickered to Lisei and then back to him.

"Ah, so now they're trying to get me to make friends?" He chuckled at the thought and took the letter from the girl. "Hey, lighten up; I'm not going to bite you." She jumped at that, cheeks pinkening and glancing down at her boots.

"Sorry, I just…I heard rumors… Lots of people say that—"

"That I'm a big, bad, scary thief? Hardly, even when I did steal, I was never scary. I got beat up a lot because I got caught a lot, and even then, I never fought back. Most of 'em just like spreading the lies their parents told them to keep them away from the 'bad kid' because they don't understand and never will." He laughs, leaning against the wall while Lisei shakes her head and walks away, only for children to replace her. Mina skitters down the hall shrieking "Parker! Parker!" once more and reattaches herself to his leg as Cecille comes chasing after her around the corner, trying to explain that Parker has company, but Mina clung tight, much to Rossa's amusement. Finally the younger girl gave up, shooting a glance at the Bee girl standing in the doorway and smiling before walking off.

"Do they have anything to do with it? The only one who even looks like they could be related to you is the little one clinging to your leg." Rossa asked after a quiet moment of thought, nearly causing Parker's jaw to fall off.

"I…ah… No one in the house here is of blood relation to me. Mina just has a bit of an attachment to me, kinda like Cali and Lisei—ah, Lisei is the one who answered the door and yelled at me, and Cali's about the same age as Mina and as clingy on Lisei as Mina is to me. But yeah…it was all to keep the little ones fed, no one would give us jobs until Largo Lloyd stepped in and talked to the Director about it. Most people don't even know about the kids, and I doubt that they'd get it even if they did know. You're pretty smart, that's good. You gotta have a fairly level head to stay in this line of work for any amount of time, I think I'll enjoy working with you tomorrow, Rossa." Parker couldn't wipe the slowly growing smile off his face. Here was somebody who seemed to understand even faster than Lloyd, only having to see a few of the children to realize that the house was a rough collection of kids from the streets of Central.

"That sounds like it was rough, but you have a job now, that's good! Now you don't have to even try to be bad! That aside, you actually really seem like a nice person, so that eases my worries a little. I haven't ever done anything without my big brother before, but I guess it would be good to get used to going on deliveries without him… You had the right idea, though, I think, just went about executing it the wrong way—family should always come first, blood relations or not. I understand because I know my big brother would do whatever it took to take care of me if he had to. I think I am going to enjoy working with you tomorrow as well, Parker." Then Rossa gives him this big smile that surprisingly doesn't look cheesy, but very much genuine. It's the first smile like that someone outside of his family has given him, and he knew from that point in time that he had a friend. She had made an effort to talk to him in spite of the rumors conspiring against him—in spite of a reputation that would have had anyone questioning his ability to do his work well. Among everyone else he worked with who thought he was just a punk who was only working for kicks and would go back to stealing soon enough, here was this girl who made an effort to meet him first and seemed to find he was okay. It seemed that, like Lloyd and very few others, Rossa Tuluse understood perfectly, only after seeing a few of his family members. "Well, I told my brother that I would not be out very long—just long enough to find you and deliver this letter. I hope we have a bit of time to talk while on our delivery together tomorrow, but until then, good night. See you tomorrow, Parker." Rossa spoke up after a moment of silence, Parker nodded.

"Yeah, I have little ones to help put to bed and we should both sleep up for our delivery tomorrow. I hope we have some more time to talk then, but for now, have a good night and see you in the morning, Rossa." With that, Rossa and her dingo turned and left the way they came, and Parker shut the door as soon as he saw that she made it to the end of the street. Something told him that he had made a friend in this girl, the one who had shown him such easy acceptance, but he would find out tomorrow. As he turned around, he found himself facing practically the entire house watching him and seemingly expecting something.

"Sooooooo, potential girlfriend?" Alyss teased him, earning her a "look" from Lisei, but Parker answered her anyway.

"Potential. I don't really know her yet, but considering… Potential for now, Alyss." He replied with a slight grin, which she copied conspiratorially.

"How about the letter? What's in it?" Rainier asked him, this earned him one of Lisei's glares, which he ignored. Parker laughed and began pulling the envelope open.

"Nosey, nosey family. However, I've learned to deal with the disregard for privacy here…" He paused as he pulled out the letter from Lloyd and took one look at it before he exploded into laughter. It took him a few moments before he could stop long enough to read the short letter Largo Lloyd had sent to him with Rossa Tuluse. "She's not from Central, so she doesn't know you. She's the only shot at a real friend you've got Parker-you'd better not screw this up."

Final A/N: Well, there you have it, that's the end-well, for now. Hope you all enjoyed the fic, and please review if you did, I love hearing feedback/comments. :)