AUTHOR NOTES: This is my multi-chaptered fiction that I plan to work on in between chapters of Love.Hack. This story was inspired by the first paragraph of this, and a conversation about blood types I had with Smokes. I haven't quite settled for an age yet, but I'm considering it being after Mello leaves, simply for the age factor. I know Near's condition doesn't make much sense now, but it will. I promise.
WARNINGS:There's lots of blood in this story. Lots of blood and lots of shonen-ai. You have been warned.
DISCLAIMER: As I've had to say sixmillionandtwelve times, I do not, nor will I ever, own Death Note.

He shouldn't have lived. He should have died on the spot. There was so much blood, too much blood, really. It stained everything from the boy's white clothing and hair to the hardwood floor the boy was found laying on with a crimson color. He shouldn't have lived.

These were the thoughts that crossed Matt's mind as he sat inside the hospital waiting room. His arm was sore, and his brain was tired. He felt physically, mentally and emotionally drained. It was a struggle just to stay awake. However, the gamer could not allow himself to sleep. He had to know if the other boy was okay. There had been so much blood, more than enough to kill somebody. And it wasn't as though Near had been the strongest of people in the first place. Perhaps that was what scared Matt the most. Near was already weak to begin with. He had quite the list of medical problems, and if Matt recalled, hemophilia was quite possibly on that list. With all that blood, he shouldn't have lived.

But what if he hadn't lived? Matt didn't want to think the worst, but with Near, it was quite possible that he didn't live. As he traced the edges of his bandage with his index finger, Matt thought about when he discovered Near's body.

Matt had just returned early from the orphanage's outing to town. He hadn't seen Near in a few hours (Near never did care much for going out. Matt had only gone to buy a new video-game). Normally, the tiny boy could be seen, a bunch of white cloth, hunched over a puzzle in the orphanage's playroom. And if he wasn't there, he was in the library or in Matt's room. Very rarely, with the exception of sleeping, was Near found in his own room. So it came as a surprise to Matt that Near was in none of his usual spots. What came to more of a shock was the condition he found the other boy in.

Pushing the bedroom door open slightly, peering inside, he mumbled Near's name. His emerald eyes did a quick glance around the room, coming to rest on the bloodiest scene he had ever seen. In the middle of the floor laid Near. The first thing that registered in Matt's mind was the amount of blood. It seemed to still be pouring from the other boy's body. The white pajamas were completely drenched in various shades of red, wet and clinging to Near's body. Blood matted the boy's hair as well, as it pooled around him. The scene felt like a nightmare, and for a moment, Matt wondered just when he would wake up.

The gamer ran over to where the other boy laid, falling to his knees. He shuddered slightly when he felt the blood soaking through the knees of his jeans. It was a warm, sticky feeling. He did his best to ignore it. He noticed that Near's pajama top had been unbuttoned and was open still, although his skin was blood-covered as well. Matt wanted to examine the injuries, but he knew he should see about getting help first. Instinctively, he darted towards the phone. Frantically, his fingers dialed the keys. His mind blurred as he spoke the the operator on the other end. His voice cracked as he choked back tears and yelled at the operator to send people faster. He threw the phone down and made his way back upstairs, stopping in a bathroom to grab towels. There had to be a way to stop the bleeding.

When the bedroom door was pushed back open, Near was exactly as Matt had left him. Matt tried to cover as many of the wounds as he could. The blood flow had stopped significantly, although he wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Nervously, he brought his hand up to Near's neck, placing two fingers on the boy's neck. There was a pulse, a very light pulse that Matt had to push to feel. He wasn't sure if he was feeling Near's pulse or his own racing heart.

Matt pressed his fingers to his neck, feeling his own heart beat against his fingers. It wasn't racing anymore, but that was probably due to his own loss of blood. He stared down at his legs. Although he had changed jeans, he could still the blood on his legs. His own pant legs had been soaked in Near's blood. He quickly had to look away. He wondered how Near was doing right now. He had to be at the very least stable. If he weren't, they would have told him by now. Wouldn't they? He wished they would tell him something.

"Excuse me," he said, walking towards the nurse's station, "I need to see my b--friend."

The nurse looked down at a clipboard, reading across the names, "Ah, that's right. You're here for the boy with the unusual name."

Matt had to bite back a crude remark, instead focusing on the matter at hand. "Yes," he stated through gritted teeth, "Can I go see him?"

The nurse paged one of the doctors. She twirled the chair, the back of it now facing Matt. He didn't listen to much of the conversation. Instead, he tapped his fingers nervously on the desk top. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, absentmindedly waiting for the nurse to tell him the news.

Finally, the chair was turned back to facing Matt, and the nurse looked up at him. She made a clicking noise with her tongue, one that made Matt feel like reaching over the desk and punching her, if he only punched girls. So he opted for giving her the iciest stare he could manage under the given circumstances.

"Well," began the nurse, tapping her nails against the clipboard, "It appears that he's still unconscious. The transfusion was a success, which he has you to thank for, but the head trauma seems to still have him out of it. That and the blood loss. Right now, we have him on a respirator. He's in an unresponsive state right now. These next twenty four hours are critical to his well-being. We're hoping he pulls through this--"
"And if he doesn't?"

"Let's not go there just yet," the nurse continued, "When you go in there, be careful. As you learned, he's got stab-wounds in various locations. A few of them go through parts of the bone. He took a pretty strong beating."

Matt wondered what Roger was telling the police that had came with the ambulances. Finding one of your orphans near-death wasn't something that would be easily ignored by the police. Briefly Matt wondered just who had done this to Near, but those thoughts could wait. Right now he had to see Near.

Listening to the nurse long enough to get the room number, Matt made his way towards the door. He grabbed the handle, staring at the number for a moment. He could feel himself shaking a bit. His nerves were acting up. With a deep breathe, he pushed open the door and went inside.

This concludes chapter one. Chapter two will be up ASAP. The nurse's dialog seems awkward to me for some reason. Not sure why. It just does. As for the transfusion thing, it was an emergency one. Matt's blood type is O, and Near's is B. Therefore, they are compatible blood types. Thank you, Google. XD If anything in this chapter doesn't make sense, please tell me.