A/N: I got this idea after speaking with WhiteLadyDragon. Basically I wondered what would happen if she were to somehow discover the Wammy kids, or in this case one of them. She helped me a whole lot with the ideas and plotting so this work is entirely dedicated to her. I hope you enjoy it!

Regret

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of its respective characters. Erin Blogger belongs to WhiteLadyDragon. However I do own the writing as seen here.

When Erin awakes, she can't help but notice how unbearably hot it has become in her room.

Its the kind of heat that makes the sheets stick to her skin and her hair becomes plastered to her forehead with a kind of feverish intensity that both frustrates and overwhelms her.

She supposes too, the heat has made her irrational, more so than usual anyway and her mind instantly goes to Ryuzaki. Even though the two of them have reached a sort of mutual understanding she can't help but blame him when things go wrong, he's the whole reason she's here in the first place.

So her irrational, muddled, mind makes her instantly blame the famous detective for the heat in her room and she marches off in search of his quarters to blame him. Erin supposes its not just her own discomfort but simply the want to make his life as difficult as he has made her own.

She doesn't even have to wander the hallways for long before she hears the slight monotone of his voice.

"Mello, you mustn't be so cruel, you'll scare her away."

Peeking around the corner, she sees Ryuzaki sitting in one of the computer chairs that litter the main room, his knees drawn up to his chest and a cup of steaming tea in front of him.

On the computer screen is a young boy, barely in his teens and Erin is slightly surprised when he laughs mildly.

He has blond hair, and for a moment she thinks he looks remarkably like a girl with his bobbed hair cut and narrow face. But his eyes are strangely panda-like, the same way L's are and she wonders however briefly, if somehow they are related.

But it doesn't change the question that burns in her head, what on earth is Ryuzaki doing, up chatting with a teen boy at two in the morning?

"She won't be scared away..." The boy says, although he looks doubtful now.

"Be kind, Mello." Ryuzaki says, placing his thumbnail in his mouth, "She is your friend after all."

Erin fights back a snort, here he is, giving advice on friendship when he had told her not that long ago that Ryuzaki himself, had no friends.

The boy whom Ryuzaki calls Mello sighs and runs a hand through his blond hair, "Its hard. She's very...vexing."

Vexing, what a strange word for such a young boy to use.

Ryuzaki smiles against his thumbnail and shakes his head. "You shouldn't be cruel to her. Or else, she might go off and find another boy."

There is something in Ryuzaki's tone that surprises her, and she realizes after a moment that he is teasing the child. And she'd always thought he wouldn't know humor if it slapped him in the face wearing a shirt that said "I'm funny."

Mello looks annoyed now, and rolls his panda eyes. "No she won't."

"Because you've scared them off." Ryuzaki retorts, taking a sip of his tea.

Mello shrugs, "So what...it doesn't matter." Then, a feverish intensity takes hold of his tone. "Are you any closer, to catching Kira?"

Erin blinks, how in the world does this boy know about the Kira case?

Ryuzaki gives a noncommittal shrug, "I believe I am on the correct path."

"Of course you are!" the boy says dutifully, then he looks sheepish, almost afraid. "You're coming back," he said softly, glancing down, "a-aren't you?"

Ryuzaki now looks a little sad, and he pinches the bridge of his nose between his long spidery fingers.

"Mello...I will try. I must catch Kira first however."

"Then promise me you'll catch him."

"Mello..."

"Promise!" the boy demands, his shoulders shaking sharply.

Although Erin does not understand the connection the two share, she is suddenly overtaken by emotion, it is obvious in this child's tone that he cares for Ryuzaki, and in a strange sort of way, Ryuzaki must care for him too.

He breathes out slowly, "Very well, Mello. I promise."

All of a sudden, it seems as if Mello is relaxing, his shoulders slumping calmly. "Then, I'll see you soon?" His voice betrays a faint glimmer of hope.

"I hope so." Ryuzaki replies.

Then, Mello stiffens and Erin realizes she's stepped out of her hiding place, and Mello can see her.

His blue, panda eyes harden into stone and he speaks with a hint of envy. "How come she can see you, and we can't?"

Then, Ryuzaki turns off the monitor so fast that Erin wonders if it was ever on in the first place.

"What are you doing here?" he demands, whirling around on the chair.

Erin jumps, then falters, unable to bring herself to blame him for the uncomfortable heat. Not after she has witnessed such a private side of him.

"I-I couldn't sleep." she states lamely.

Ryuzaki's eyes soften, minutely and he places a finger in his mouth. "I see."

"Who was that kid?" she asks.

"A fri- no... a student."

"A student? I never imagined you as the professor type, though you do have that ole monotone. What would you teach? How to make a cup of tea with way too much sugar?" she teases, trying to lighten the heavy air of regret that hangs around her head.

He doesn't say anything, but after he stares at his feet for several moments he speaks.

"Mello is worried."

She thinks for a moment he's going to reveal something important to her, about why this boy knows about Kira. But, like all moments with Ryuzaki she is sorely disappointed.

"Mello is worried because he has fallen in love."

She blanches a little, at that word love. What would Ryuzaki know about it?

"He is convinced that if he does not act upon his feelings soon, they will somehow go away. I keep trying to explain it to him, how there is not even the slightest percent that her feelings for him will suddenly go away."

Then he stands and walks past her, placing a single, spidery hand on her shoulder.

"Go back to bed." he says softly, shuffling away.

But, before he disappears into the darkness of the corridor she turns and calls after his lanky figure.

"How do you know that her feelings won't fade?"

"Some things, rarely, though they may be. Some things can be 100 percent." He gives her the smallest smile then shuffles away in the darkness.