The Difference Between Nyao and Near
No one knew just how the cat had gotten into the orphanage. All they knew was that it was black, fuzzy and was referred to only as, "Cat," "The Cat," or "MELLO, GET THE DAMN CAT OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!!" But one day it wandered into forbidden territory... Near's playroom... while Near was doing puzzles. L and Mello went to look for it.
"Caaaaaat!" Mello looked into the bedroom.
"Caaaaaat-san!" L checked a closet.
From a distance, very faintly, Mello's ears picked up something that sounded a lot like, "Nyao."
Mello looked out from under the bed. "L-sempai... you heard that?"
"Yes, where did that come from though?" L set down a pair pink bunny slippers that he strongly suspected were Watari's.
"Errrrr... Down the hall." They walked down the hallway, following the steady mewing. Eventually, the geniuses came across Near's playroom. The place was a motely but pretty mess, finished puzzles strewn all over the floor. In the center of them sat Near and the cat with several puzzle boxes stacked.
"Okay," Near muttered. "Try this one."
The cat shifted some pieces around, pawing the ones that needed to be turned over for it. Within five minutes, the puzzle had been solved. Near sat in shock. "That damn thing took me a month."
A slow grin came across L's face. "Mello-san... do you still own your video camera?"
A similar expression came across Mello's face. "Yep." Mello silently ran down the hallway, stopping only to overturn a vase of fake flowers. He found his camera and returned to L, who had his thumb in his mouth. "What'd I miss?"
"Near-san is getting either ecstatic or crazed."
"Epic."
Near dumped out this last puzzle. "Fine! This is the last one I have!" He dumped it and, as L had seen the cat solved it just as easily. It began to play with Near's tresses. Near's mouth twitched upwards. L made a mental bet with himself as to how long he would last. 5 seconds.
4...
3...
2...
1...
"You are so cute!" Near grabbed the black creature and hugged it to his chest.
"Mello-san... Are you getting all this?"
"You bet." Into the camera mic, he whispered, "We are now observing the Nearus Amatefelis; The rarest breed of Near. He... WUVS HIS WITTLE KITTY VERY MUCH!!!"
"MELLO!!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?"
L and Mello approached the dinner table with several dozen puzzle pieces in embarassing places and mussed hair. Near insisted on keeping the cat in his lap and continiously petted it. No one commented. At all.
The End