Chapter 1

Valentine's Day. A holiday for people to either be caught up in love or wish they had it.

For Mello, he was just in it for the candy. He lifted his trademark milk chocolate bar to bite off the corner, and elbowed Matt in the process.

"Hey!" Matt swore under his breath, trying to win back first place on his stupid Mario kart. Mello just rolled his eyes, and then bumped him again, this time on purpose.

"Quit it!" Matt yelled.

"Quiet!" hissed Linda on Mello's left. "She's coming!"

Currently, most of the residents at Wammy's were all crammed into the common room or crowding the stairs, leaning over the banister in their attempt to see the newcomer. Every time there were the same questions; will they be smarter than Near? What happened to them? What are they like?

As if on cue, the new girl stepped through the door. The first impression was shy and timid. Chocolate-colored hair that reached the small of her back framed her pale face, and her eyes, which were red from crying, were a brilliantly violent green. She wore a simple green t-shirt that made her eyes pop even more, with jean shorts that were a simple faded blue. But the most prominent and eye-catching thing about her appearance were her arms and legs, the only things that marred her admittedly pretty appearance.

Mello had seen kids come to Wammy's traumatized and injured, some even in wheel chairs. But she was different. All along her arms and legs were bruises of every shade, scrapes ranging from paper cuts to bandaged and stitched up because they were so large and deep. Mello noticed her slight limp on her right foot, and her two small fingers on her left hand were bandaged together like they had been sprained or broken.

But the curious thing was that she didn't hide it. Wearing shorts during February in England was odd, and he wouldn't even be surprised if she had deliberately worn that outfit, as if to say that I've been through some bad crap, so don't mess with me.

As if she had been reading Mello's mind, she put on a confident smile that battled with her red eyes but overall made her appearance more appealing.

Matt must have seen him staring, because he muttered under his breath, "Happy valentine's day, Mello."

Hi guys. Sorry it's short, but I wanted to get the Valentine's Day part of the story up on Valentine's Day. Yay for defying procrastination!

I'm sorry guys, but no matter how hard I look on eBay I can't find the rights to death note. ^-^