Authors Note:

Hey there peoples. I know I'm supposed to be working hard on Tramps but writers block on that has still gotten me by the horns there. And I also announced, if anyone actually checked my profile page that is, that due to personal circumstances I wasn't gonna upload any more chappies or fictions for a while, but I decided to get this chappy up simply because it was clogging up my cell phone. Lol. I decided a long time ago that I quite liked the idea of Mello/Halle and I support my theory of there being a little hint to a relationship (possibly one-sided) due to the scene in the anime and manga when there was no script… simply mood and atmosphere before Takada's kidnap. If you remember, there was a scene where someone was watching Halle and Takada and my theory is that it was Mello. Think about it, Near, Rester and Gevanni would all know where she was and what she was doing and why. Not to mention there would be several monitoring devices on her so Near knew what they we're doing. Light didn't watch Takada because he would look suspicious and he certainly wouldn't do it from afar. Therefore my theory suggests that Mello was watching Halle.

But anyway… Yes I wrote this. It is rated M for mature readers… due to instant Lemon. Yes it is a het pairing, I wrote a Matt/Mello yaoi because many readers wanted to see it in Tramps but Tramps is purely friendship, however only two have reviewed Thorns beneath the Roses. But anyway, yeah. Read and enjoy or read and hate… but always please read and review.

Disclaimer:

I own nothing. I have never made any serious claims to the ownership of Death Note and anyone saying otherwise is… a big meanie and a liar face.

Through The Fire And The Flames.

Chapter One: Hunt.

Halle ran. Her shoe's, neither heeled nor flat just sensible, clicked against the pavement in a steady rhythm. Her hand was inside her jacket, fingering the textured grip of her standard issued weapon, ready to pull it the moment she found herself needing it. It was dark now. Nights drew in swiftly in the early days of winter, and the air chilled considerably, making people less inclined to leave the warmth of their homes, the chill a shock to their system after the scalding heat of the summer days deterring all but those without good reason from the streets.

Good reasons… or bad intentions.

Her topaz eyes… an unusual colour, and likened to those of a hunting leopard, narrowed against the stinging wind that blasted her in the face. Her target, a man, darted around sharp corners and dodged around clusters of stationary cars. But Halle couldn't allow him to elude her. He could be a link in this case… The Kira Case.

The man had just attacked and mugged a teenaged girl in the middle of the street outside the SPK headquarters. Even though the streets were empty because of the seasonal darkness it was an incredibly bold move, and with the eyes of judgment constantly watching, no criminals would dare attempt it under usual circumstances. Coincidence or not, it was either a stupidly bold move or he was under Kira's influence, a treat to tempt her commander out into the open.

Near. Boy genius and detective. He was their last hope in this case. Their last chance in bringing Kira down now that his predecessor was dead and that his 'brother' detective had caved into the alluring tug of the criminal underworld. And as such, Near was to be protected at all costs.

This was why she was tearing after an armed man now; she knew he was armed because he'd stabbed his victim in the shoulder as he snatched her purse. A purse. Hardly a reason for someone to carry such a weapon, and hardly worth the risk of inducing Kira's wrath.

She took the next corner in time to see the man pause in front of a wall and toss his head over his shoulder at her. He was trapped. Cornered, and now the danger level had upped in this hunt.

Halle drew herself up fully and faced the man. Her eyes narrowed and she tightened her grasp on her gun hidden in her jacket.

"Drop the knife!" She instructed. Her voice calm and cold.

The man made no obedient movement, he just turned slowly. In one hand he held the ruined purse and in the other… A 6 inch gutting knife. Halle felt her stomach clench hard. That knife was a specialist's tool, deadly and precise and designed to slice through flesh like butter.

"I said, drop the knife!" She barked the order this time and drew her gun in response to the nervous jiggling of his knife hand. That should at least un-nerve him enough so that he wouldn't do anything stupid. No matter what knife he had, a gun was faster and more accurate; he couldn't throw it now without her dodging and firing.

But then, why was he moving? Running at her. The purse swinging towards her, like some kind of medieval mace. He had to be under Kira's control, no sane man would charge someone holding a gun. Halle acted on impulse and brought her arms up to defend her face. But as she deflected the purse, she felt his shoulder strike her sternum and she toppled, landing on her back, gun spinning from her fingers and the man landing hard on top of her.

Halle struggled. She kicked and squirmed and bucked. Tried all that she could to throw this man off of her but her elbows were trapped close to her sides and he was too heavy, she couldn't gain any kind of leverage. The man's stale breath bathed her face in a warm flush as he tried to maneuver himself to sit up and still have her pinned beneath him, pinned long enough for him to arc his arm back and slam the knife into her.

She was going to die. Here and now. In this alley. She slammed her eyes shut as the knife arm began to fly, her blood roared in her ears… She wasn't afraid to die, she just really rather not witness her own death.

The next thing she heard was a startled yelp and the weight from the man sitting on her was suddenly gone. Peeking through her long lashes she spotted her attacker, well the back of him anyway. He scrambled to his feet and turned to face down a slimmer, younger man. Golden blonde strands fell around his face in a haphazard way almost to his shoulders and he held the knife in a gloved hand.

She blinked hard and scrambled to her feet. She knew the second man, and knew him well…

"That wasn't very sporting now was it 'friend'?" The blonde drawled, a slight hint of an English accent slipping into the fluently spoken Japanese, the same accent undertone that Near shared only with one other, his fellow Wammy House orphan. Mello. The blonde gazed at the knife in his hand. "Heavy piece of weaponry this, where did you get it?"

Halle could see the tremble in her attackers hand, the itch to hold something deadly in his grasp… He made a wild lunge for the knife. Mello sidestepped it easily and snickered. "Too old… Too slow."

The man roared and circled his lunge around, charging again… And, again Mello slipped away, this time he casually threw a boot at the back of one of the man's knees, stomping hard and sending him stumbling to the ground.

"Come on… I thought you would be more exciting than this." His light mocking tone deepened and hardened into one that oozed contempt. "Or is attacking defenseless women the only way that you can fight properly?"

Halle threw a glower at the blonde's back as he put himself between her and the man. She knew very little about Mello's history, only that he hated weakness. Perhaps that was why he hated Near. The pale boy didn't scream dominance and for someone as feisty and dominant as Mello, always losing out to such an inferior specimen, it was clear that it rubbed him the wrong way. But here, on the street, in a fight, he knew he was smarter and better equipped for this situation than his rival.

The man flew at Mello again. This time Mello dropped the knife and met the lunge, hand to hand. He looked scrawny and brittle but Halle knew that his frame was more wiry and lithe than it appeared. Close laying muscles contracted and tensed as he held off the bigger man's advances, Mello was used to being the underdog and he took any path available to take control. Fair or not.

The attacker 'oofed' as Mello drove his knee into his gut, dropping the man like a sack of shit… right to where the knife had fallen.

Halle saw the man grab it and lunge back to his feet, arm swinging wildly toward Mello's collar. She tried to scream a warning, but her throat had closed involuntarily in horror…

The blonde expertly caught the wrist and, in a movement so fast and exact, locked the elbow between his own and his ribs, the knife dangled harmlessly from slackened fingers. To Halle's horror, the slackened fingers were due to the attackers own fear, Mello had pulled his gun and had the muzzle pressed to the man's cheek, directly beneath his eye. The childish stance had left Mello's frame, and the wicked glint in his sharp blue eyes had chilled to glacial chips. He now looked every inch the hardened ex-mafia second that he was.

"Do not fuck with me! Do you understand me?" He snarled, the words slurring under a bestial growl. "Do not attempt to best me because you can't!"

A whimper snaked from the man's throat as Mello pressed the weapon harder into his flesh, denting the skin and forcing the man to retreat a little. If Halle could see the tensing of Mello's trigger finger from where she stood, then of course then the man could too. And she was every bit as terrified as the man was. She had heard Mello was a cold-blooded killer, she even believed it when his mob group killed off almost all of the SPK. But the day that he had shown up, half dead and scared on her doorstep, the weeks she spent helping him to recover showed her what he really was. A frightened and selfish child playing dress up in the shoes of a man that he could never fill. Not on his own.

Halle froze as his finger continued to tighten on the trigger until she found her voice again. "Mello! Don't…"

Her voice died as the gun clicked.

"Bang." Mello murmured, lips drawn from his teeth in a feral grin. Drinking in his captives fear and sneering at his lack of worthiness. The gun was empty. Not even a blank cartridge.

Halle stared as Mello raised his gun arm and whipped the weapon against the man's temple with a sickening crunch. His eyes rolled upwards and he slumped against the blonde's mid-riff.

Releasing the man so he crumpled Mello turned to face Halle and stepped over the prone form toward her. Without a word, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her after him.

Mello didn't release her wrist until they were safely inside her rented apartment. "You're welcome." He said as he pushed the door closed behind them.

Her eyes narrowed at him. "I didn't need your help."

A snort. "Course you didn't. And he wasn't going to fillet you right there if I hadn't have stepped in."

"I'm not defenseless. And I'm not some damsel you need to protect."

Halle started to brush past him but Mello spun her around so fast that her hands instinctively went to his shoulders for balance.

A smirk tugged one corner of his mouth, making him look almost predatory, like a cat cornering a mouse. "I know this. But you are useful to me. I'm simply defending my assets."

His hips jutted forward, pinning hers and rubbing as a boast of his strength. She suppressed a shudder, how many times had they replayed this scene?

"Can you still feel it Hal?" He breathed, moving his lips to nuzzle the sensitive skin beneath her ear. "The thrill of it. I know you still feel it, your heart is jumping around like a rabbit caught in a snare."

Halle narrowed her eyes and slid her hands from clutching at his shoulders to pressing her palms against his chest, holding him at bay.

His heart was racing just as quickly as hers; she could feel it tripping beneath her fingertips. "You're suicidal. We could've been killed."

He grasped her chin in his hand roughly and tilted her face to his, leaning so close that his lips brushed hers as he spoke. "Could have," He agreed huskily. "But we weren't." he sealed his mouth over hers, prying her jaw apart and delving his tongue into the warm and wet cavern hidden behind a shield of teeth and lips. She moved back, more testing his reaction than seriously resisting him. His reaction was swift and expected. He pushed her back, trapping her over the back of the couch, hands sliding up and along her arms, pulling her hands from his chest and trapping them at her hips. Halle started to struggle in earnest, arching and wriggling, trying to slip away. Her chin lifted and the kiss was broken instantly.

Mello bit off a groan. Her movements creating a delicious friction against his crotch. Mello's fingers ghosted the curve of her hips while his other hand wrapped itself in her flaxen locks, twisting until her lips yielded, parting in a soft cry. His lips went back to hers, tongue delving and flicking against hers, invading and overwhelming, claiming the orifice as his own.

Halle grasped desperately at his bared shoulders once more, conflict in her actions as she both held him away, indignant at his brash behavior, and yet, she clung to him, begging him to tease and inflame her senses. His hips had worked their way between her thighs, and now lay flat against hers, angled so she was painfully aware of every last heated inch twitching within its tight confinement.

A gasp. Hers. Mello's teeth nipped a little too hard along her bottom lip as his mouth began traveling over her cheek to her jaw, his nose nudging in encouragement before he moved along her throat, greedily nuzzling at the pulse point there and then trailing back up to nuzzle beneath her earlobe as his hands slipped beneath her shirt, gliding his fingers up along hers sides. She shivered and whimpered; her hands moving beneath his arms for support as her body betrayed her and her legs fell wider in welcome.

One of Mello's hands abandoned her side and drifted lower, hooking the unused belt loops of her dress pants and tightened. The still thinking part of her brain screamed in protest and she struggled with renewed vigor, until his lips returned to her ear. "I won't force you Hal. You like to pretend that I will, but you know that I won't."

Halle froze at the tone of his voice. It was commanding and strong, but it was lacking his usual sneer. She tilted her face toward him, watching his half slitted eyes carefully. They were still cold. Still taunting. But there was something lurking behind all of that. Something haunted and almost lost.

Her hands moved to the blonde mans face, tracing along the outer edge of his scar, ignoring the odd plasticky and cold texture and instead, focused on tracing the sharp and delicate jaw-line laying beneath the ruined skin. Fingertips moving lower, brushing over the bobbing Adam's apple until her fingers found the zipper at the base of his throat. The metallic whirr slicing through the lust heavy air, followed swiftly by his startled gasp as her mouth found and claimed his collar. Kissing and licking as her hands fisted the vest from his body, his shoulders dipping one at a time, helping her to push the garment off.

He growled. The sound rumbled from his chest and sent vibrating waves to her lips, her mouth tormenting him now. Mello rumbled again, his curled fingers flexing on her waistband as he drove his hips hard against her, eliciting a sharp whimper from her.

He was so hard… so ready. And the waiting, the teasing and friction were driving him crazy.

Her sounds. The whimpers, gasps and the choked cries sent icy fingers tracing the length of his spine. He shivered. Beneath him, Halle was also burning for more. His mouth came back to hers, hard and wet and demanding. Commanding lips and delving tongue acting as mere distractions from the movements of his wandering hands… Until the sharp sound of material shredding penetrated her fogged mind.

Mello grinned. Her shirt hung open, torn from his impatient fingers; buttons were obviously far too advanced and tedious for him to bother with at the moment.

Halle pressed him away with flattened palms and aimed a dark scowl into his smirking face.

Mello ignored it, his fingers dancing over the generous swell of her breasts, hooking the material that still covered them and pulling until they were fully exposed to him.

Halle arched away and let out an indignant cry mingled with the undertones of delight as he ran his thumb over one nipple while his head bowed to the other, mouth working against the swell of pale skin. Her fingers twisted deep into yellow-gold strands, holding his mouth firm to her flesh. He snickered against the warm flesh, mouthing a wet trail up until settling over the hardened nub. And there he stayed, nipping and licking with gentle teeth and rough tongue until she squirmed and her breathing hitched. Mello moved his mouth back over hers in a bruisingly hard kiss, his hands catching and tugging at her dress pants, easing them down over the dip of her hips along with her underwear before pausing. "Tell me that you don't want this Hal. Tell me and I'll stop."

Halle opened her mouth to protest but the only sound that escaped was a soft moan of lust.

Mello chuckled and lowered himself to his knees, skimming her pants down and trailing soft kisses over the newly exposed flesh of her hips. Dropping a stinging path over the curve between her hip and ribs, occasionally grazing sharp teeth over the inside of her thigh. Her scent assaulting his nostrils and dragging a long low groan from his throat.

Keeping his nose level with the neatly trimmed thatch of light hair as his hand smoothed up her calf, coaxing her to lift her foot and step out of her clothes.

And she obeyed. Without hesitation.

The movement caused her legs to part and expose her most intimate part of anatomy to him, only briefly, but long enough for Mello's nimble tongue to sweep upwards, along the cleft…

Halle's hips jolted forward and her muscles, both inside and out clenched. "Oh, God! Mello!" Her hands shot to his hair, twisting in deeply and holding his head still,

Mello's lips twitched and curved, his tongue still working her and his hand still held her calf, preventing her from setting it back down and forcing his mouth from the increasingly wet juncture between her thighs that enthralled him.

Halle shuddered, her mind screaming at her in disgust, screaming at her for allowing this man, barely out of his teens, to taste her. For allowing him to even touch her in such a way. He was too young. Too wild. A boy playing a mans game… and he was winning. His fingers of his free hand joined his mouth's assault now and her chin dropped to her chest, watching Mello's head move as his tongue and teeth scraped and teased and his fingers flexed inside her. And worst of all, he was a criminal…

Finally, she had to pull him back up to his feet for the sake of saving dignity.

Mello grinned, a lazy and easy grin, swiping his tongue over his lips. "Done?" His tone was sultry and tainted with a hint of regret.

Halle's fingers closed around the laces at his crotch and tugged him forwards, the cords slipping free. "Not done."

His chuckle died in his throat with a soft hiss as the cords slipped away and her hands pushed the leather lower, cool air sliding over his heated and hardened flesh. "More?" He panted as her fingers skimmed along his length, from thrumming hilt to reddened tip, stroking him once, twice, and then stopping.

They stood there a moment, neither moving nor making a sound. Then Mello's patience snapped. His hand batted hers away from his erection and he flung his tight leathers to his ankles, grasping himself and pressing close.

Halle arched onto her toes. An animalistic sound dripped from her lips and she angled her hips towards him, his head pressing tight against her. Just one little movement… Just one.

"Yes." She moaned. "Yes, more."

His mouth came down, his hands on her hips, holding her down as he pushed inside, burying himself to the hilt in one smooth movement.

Halle was lost then. She let out a mixed cry of pleasure and triumph and submission. As much as she fought him, denied him, she always succumbed and she always regretted.

She wrapped one leg around his hip and pressed her face into the crook of his shoulder, her ragged pants and moans encouraging him, driving him into a frenzy. She could feel his desperation with each stroke.

Within minutes Mello jerked and shuddered, nails digging into her hips before he slumped against her.

Disappointment flared in her stomach, but when he shifted again that flare dampened. He was still hard. She chanced a glance at his eyes.

Mello's gaze had sharpened now, almost predatory, clear from the clouded mist of frustration that this case had injected into his mind, inherited from both the case and the man whom he had loved so dearly who had fallen victim to his work.

His hips shifted again, more controlled and languid this time, lips slightly parted and tip of his tongue caught between his teeth. Hal's lids slid to half-mast as his movements fell into a calmer and smoother rhythm, and she darted her head to claim his lips again but Mello ducked it.

Her brow puckered and she tried again…

… again he dodged her. A soft cry of frustration, mingled with lust burst from her lips as Mello's hands secured her hips more firmly and he drove himself deeper, changing his angle and speed. His head cocked slightly and his lids slipping over his eyes until only a sliver of blue, almost neon against the pink flush of his cheeks, showed.

Hal gave up in her quest to reclaim his mouth and instead, she simply writhed beneath him. Her most secret of sanctuaries exposed and vulnerable to him once again, lain in offering to this reckless young man, hell bent on his own ruin and destruction.

His mouth hung partly open as he held his hips to hers and simply rolled them, grinding himself inside her as he moaned and growled something that sounded suspiciously like her name over and over before returning to full strokes again. Hal tossed her head back and whimpered helplessly, unable to do much except for clinging to him and riding out his thrusts until she felt something inside her crumple.

She cried out, burying her face into the side of his throat, teeth clamping scarred flesh between them as her hips rolled and bucked against him.

Mello followed swiftly, spilling more than just empty promises into her, her calves held around his hips as he balanced her precariously on her rear, teetering on the back cushions of the couch.

Leaning over her, panting, mouth claiming hers in kisses that gave the impression of her being his final tether to reality, Mello's weight on top of hers toppled them. Crashing down together, Mello still trapped and leaking and Halle still demanding more from him, her hips nudging, lips moving, hands clawing…

… Halle Lidner bolted upright, twisted sheets falling away from her naked form. She wiped the back of her hand over her lips as her stomach clenched painfully and a wave of nausea washed over her, chasing away any lingering eroticisms. A memory, resurfacing and taunting her.

She carefully extracted herself from the twisted and tangled bedding and slipped softly from the mattress, snatching up her silken kimono from the foot of the bed as she did so. These last few weeks, her sleep had been disrupted. Ever since Near had declared his plans to draw this case to a conclusion.

Something about it, she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was exactly that bothered her so about this plan, all she knew was that it did bother her.

Maybe it was something in the way that Near so casually tossed out that chilling declaration.

'To test the notebook, first one must have his name written in it…'

Rester had immediately launched into an argument; he had come to dote on the young and pale detective, whether due to genuine care and fondness of the teen's well-being, or whether due to his years of extensive training to protect without question, remained a riddle to all but the man himself. But he argued against his charge's decision regardless. And all that had accomplished was Near dismissing the man from the room until he'd retained his temper and calmly stating that anyone else who felt unable or unwilling to remain professional should follow suit.

Neither Lidner nor Gevanni made any effort to follow the senior man as he stomped form the room. In the time that Rester had been dismissed, Lidner had remained silent, keeping her eyes drawn down and away form her colleague, hiding the conflict clouding her golden eyes. Instead she watched Near, his back to her as he painted a tiny figure, a finger puppet, with amazingly skilled digits. A finesse that both Wammy boys appeared to have mastered, although Mello used his slender and talented fingers in far less innocent activities.

Halle shivered at that thought. Her kimono doing littler to prevent the midwinter chill from seeping through the jambs and seams of the apartment's French doors, permeating the carpets and furniture, spreading icy tendrils throughout the otherwise warm building.

As she passed into the living room her eyes caught the couch and her ears heated a little at the now fresh memory.

Every time, every Goddamned time he came into her little sanctuary, that reckless kid managed to strip away her carefully constructed walls and seduce her. Render her morals and prejudices inconsequential and play her body until she squirmed and begged and whimpered like a hormone riddled teenager.

She snatched up her cell and thoughtlessly entered a number that she had long since memorized. She knew that she shouldn't be doing this, letting herself grow attached to someone again. Getting involved.

This case, Kira, it had already taken someone very dear away from her and the way she was headed, she was lining herself up for it to happen again.

The cell buzzed, and she closed her eyes, imaging the receptive cell twittering away some generic and tinny tune, waiting for him to pick up. Her heart thrumming in pace with the ringing until the receiving cell clicked off and a voice took its place.

"Hello?" Exhaustion tinged the male voice but relief flooded her, she had to talk had to use his voice to ground herself again. "What is it?"

She took a deep breath, "You seemed pretty angry with Near when I last saw you. I thought, maybe you'd like to off-load a little steam."

A sigh and something was half mumbled.

Halle's churning stomach eased off a little, but it was still there, the unease simply lying dormant for now. Perhaps Rester could help her see exactly what Near was planning, and maybe, just maybe there would be a little path somewhere to stop Kira without losing anyone else to this misguided self-proclaimed God…

Note.2

Aha, there was a reason for the bold italics... was a memory/past event. Um yeah should have mentioned sooner perhaps that there was gonna be like instant smut...

Anyways R and R?