A/N: WOOHOO! I'M OFFICIALLY JOINING THE DEATH NOTE FANFICTION-Y... Thingy... Errrrr. Ok then. ANYWAY! This is my first Death Note fic! Aside from that all I have done is Ranger's Apprentice fics... Speaking of that, WOLFIWILL SO HELP ME IF YOU EVEN TRY TO READ THIS BEFORE YOU HAVE COMPLETED DEATH NOTE I WILL PERSONALLY GOUGE YOUR EYES OUT WITH A SPORK AND MASH THEM WITH A HAMMER UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT! Once you finished Death Note you can read it. NOT BEFORE. Which brings me to another note: There are SPOILERS! Also... This is my first attempt at romance... Wolfiwill, when you DO get around to reading this: Shut up! I can write romance if I try... Maybe... Probably not... Ok, I think I have rambled on for FAR too long, soooooo, ima let you read the story now. OH YEAH! This story follows a different plot to the anime. There is no Kira, or Imagay Light-bulb, so L IS STILL L!

Disclaimer: L get off your lazy arse and do the disclaimer! *L throws banana cream pie at my head* Whoa! Jeeze! Fine, I the wonderful author who is THE REAL L *scowls at said detective* does not own Death Note. So there.

Warnings: SPOILERS! GARG! And a teeny bit of swearing, some violence, all the good stuff :P... Aaaaaand depending on whether I have the guts to write a kiss scene or not there might possibly be that too...? Wolfiwill, stop laughing! Ehhhh, just read already. *hides in sad corner TAMAKI STYLE!*

Wammy's Bush Whacking Whacker!

Matt

I was sitting under the orange tree again, watching Mello kick everybody's asses at soccer (like he always does) and playing Pokémon on a sunny afternoon. Nothing much had been going on in Wammy's lately. No new arrivals or events. Just the same old stuff. Go to class, eat, go to the dorms, eat, mess around, sleep, wake up, eat and the whole thing repeats. The only difference with Mello in that schedule was that Mello was constantly eating chocolate. As usual. So really, it still applied to him. Sighing, I paused Pokémon to loot the kitchen for snacks. And some chocolate was needed for Mello. Hey, I like living, ok?

I came back out shortly after to find Mello and his team (basically Mello, cos he hogs the ball) had won. He ran over to me seeing the chocolate in my hands.

"Matt! You came just in time! I just finished my last bar!" He looked rather relieved considering that it was only chocolate. Then again, this is Mello we're talking about. He will do anything for chocolate. An arm, a leg, you name it. If he doesn't have his chocolate, he'll gladly sacrifice a limb. But that isn't his style. He'd be more likely to threaten you to get more for him. It mightn't sound like much, but Mello's death threats are freaking scary. I'm talking piss yourself scary. Anyway, after snatching the chocolate off me, he ran with the rest of the kids to the front gate. It seemed a new student was arriving.

I decided to go see what everybody was so excited about, only to find Watari get out of his car and help somebody else out too. I couldn't quite see them though...

Thrive/Fern

I pulled my earplugs out of my ears after some serious drum and bass music, as we pulled into the driveway at Wammy's. My midnight blue eyes twinkled as I beheld my new home. Stretching my limbs, I put my IPod away as Watari opened my door. Smiling, I climbed out, only to be surrounded by children of all ages. The one up the front was a girl dressed all in leather. She had a leather vest, leather pants, combat boots, blue eyes and a blonde bob. I walked calmly around to the boot of the car and grabbed my bags. Watari had informed me earlier that I needed an alias if I was to live here, and, deciding on my tastes for music, and personality, I chose Thrive.

My real name is Fern Valley. Weird, I know. You can thank my Dad for that. He named me, as my Mum died in childbirth. I lived with my Dad in Australia until I was about 13 and a half. Then he died. It was New Years Eve, he went out with some friends, and on the way back, some stupid drunks killed him. I had been depressed for a year after. When that year ended, I had accepted that he was gone, and Watari had whisked me away from the craphouse orphanage I was staying at to here.

I pulled my bags into the entrance of Wammy's House as the other children ran around the backyard (I assumed) out of my sight. Soon there was the same group of children standing in front of me. I raised my eyebrow and grinned. "Uh, hi?"

Mello

He ignored us. He just walked right past the group and into Wammy's. Growling, I ran past the backyard and around the house until I reached the backdoor. I ran in, the other students following me as I went through the house, stopping at the front door. That same boy stood there. He was rather... Strange looking. He was tall, skinny, but slightly muscled on the arms. He was wearing camo cargo pants that went to his ankles and a loose T-shirt that said 'Pendulum' in big white letters on a black background. He was wearing big black and silver sneakers. He had midnight blue eyes, the kind that seem too dark to be natural, and dark blue/neon blue hair with black at the tips. His hair was spiked up so that it was messy and floppy.

I didn't realise how wrong I was until he spoke. "Uh, hi?"

It turns out that he was really a she. "Who are you?" I said, trying not to be too aggressive, but failing horribly. She seemed unfazed as she coolly answered.

"My name's Thrive, I guess. Can't tell you guys and girls," she said, looking at me with a smile "My real name, can I?" Feeling more pissed off than a bear that had been woken up from hibernation, I growled.

"I'm a boy you moron! Are you even a girl or what?" I said, hearing Matt chuckle behind me. The other kids backed off a few steps – I'm sure they did. She looked slightly hurt, muttering a quick sorry before turning to Watari.

"Sorry, that's Mello, he's always like that. And over there is Matt." He pointed to Matt and then everybody else, saying their names. She nodded and looked at me apologetically before talking to Watari once more.

"Soooo, where is this fantabulous room I get?" She asked with a grin. Watari gestured Matt and I over.

"Mello, Matt, could you two be so kind as to escort Thrive to her room (room 31) and show her the house?" He asked. Matt nodded, and I growled before agreeing reluctantly. We walked past the dining room and up some stairs until we came to a corridor. We showed her the room which she was allowed to herself.

"Thanks! I'll bugger off and put me stuff away. When is this so-called 'tour' of the house then?" She asked. I noticed she had a fairly strong Australian accent. My eyes narrowed at her cheerful tone as I shoved Matt forward. He looked at me with a confused face as he got the message.

"I guess I'll give you a tour after dinner then. Rodger will come see you at some point to verify your alias. See you then." He said to her. She said 'thanks' again and left to her room. I sighed once she left. Dragging a grinning Matt by the back of his shirt, we went to our room.

"She fucking thought I was a girl!" I complained to him when we got inside. He snickered.

"Well, to be fair, I could see you thought she was a boy until she spoke. You looked so confused!" He laughed at the end, until I punched his arm. Hard. Though in hindsight, he did have a point. As it turned out, she was put in the room next to ours. Sighing again, I took a bite out of my chocolate bar, relishing in the creamy taste.

Thrive/Fern

I walked into the room to see... Barely anything. A bed, a wardrobe, a desk with a wheelie chair, (I LOVE wheelie chairs!) and a dressing table. It had pale pink walls, which I immediately gagged at. I HATE the colour pink. Despise it. It also had a decent size window overlooking the backyard. The backyard looked amazing! It had a pool, a tennis court, a playground and the rest was grass. I couldn't wait to get down there. I also couldn't wait to see if I could re-paint the walls. Bleck. I wanted them black, maybe silver. My favourite colours are black, blue and silver. Yeah, yeah, tomboyish I know. I'm a tomboy and PROUD! Same with being Aussie. Smiling to myself, I set to unpacking my belongings, the most precious of which being my computer, which had been delivered in advance (because it was so heavy) and was sitting on the desk.

I set up my computer under the desk, the mouse and keyboard on top. The monitor was a 16 inch flat screen, and I loved it. It had such good quality. My dad had given me my computer. Built it, actually. I loved it. On the side, in permanent marker, was a magnificently drawn dragon in silver on the black case. It was my favourite possession, alongside my subwoofer which sat under my desk as well. Drum and bass just wasn't drum and bass without a subwoofer.

I unpacked my clothes as the rest of my belongings were arriving by plane, later. Not straight to the orphanage, but, to the... Airport... Ok, never mind. Anyway, I unpacked my clothes which basically consisted of various shades of camo cargo pants and various loose T-shirts that had some dark colour to them. I also unpacked my case full of contact lenses. Yep, deep blue was not my natural eye colour. It was sort of a security thing by now, since my dad died, I have been using various coloured contact lenses to 'hide' the sadness in my eyes. I have accepted his death, but I still wear the lenses and dye my hair blue. I mean, hey, they are both brown naturally. Brown. How utterly boring.

Once I was all unpacked, including my various costumes (I liked to dress up as random stuff. Dragons, werewolves, you name it) I pulled out my blue contacts and washed them off before returning them to the case full of colours. I picked out two of my favourites for freaking people out. Two full contacts that covered my whole eye, but made it so I could still see. They made my entire eye look black. I had the same version but in white as well (that one was for my zombie costume). Grinning evilly, I slipped on a pair of tattered cargo pants and a tattered T-shirt full of holes that complemented my eyes. I used my costume makeup kit (you won't see me using makeup for anything other than costumes) to give some 'dirt' smudges on my arms and face, before putting on my old shoes, the ones that needed replacing years ago (and they were replaced. With my shiny black and silver ones).

In my new scare-the-living-shit-out-of-people costume, I walked outside my room and over to the door of the room next to me. Holding my arms out, I knocked on the door, hunching over feebly to add to the effect of the costume. Mello answered. "H-Help... Me..." I groaned.

"HOLY FREAKING HELL! WHAT THE FRICK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" He screamed. He slammed the door in my face as I cracked up laughing, hearing the muted screams of profanity from inside. I saw a man walking down the corridor to stop at my door.

"Over here," I said, to direct him to me. He jumped and let out a little yelp. Oops. Guess I forgot about the costume. "Ahh, sorry... I just scared Mello is all..." I grinned sheepishly, probably still looking like some kind of homicidal maniac from a cheap sci-fi TV show. He walked over to me, looking a tad bit pale.

"Ahh, yes, I heard the swearing. Speaking of swearing..." He walked over to Mello and Matt's door and knocked on it. Mello swung the door open, in an attack mode sort of stance. I chuckled as he relaxed. "Mello. Please refrain from screaming profanities down the hall. We talked about this, remember?" Mello glared at me, before nodding his head and shutting the door. I guess he was still pretty shaken.

Rodger turned to me. "And now, miss. What have you chosen to be your name here and how do you spell it?" He asked me.

"Ahh, right. My alias is Thrive. T-H-R-I-V-E is how you spell it. Is that all?"

"Yes, for now, do you remember where the dining room is from when you came up?" I nodded. "Good. Well, we'll see you down there at seven." I uttered a 'thanks' and turned back to my room, removing my costume and putting my normal clothes back on again. I changed the contacts to some green ones and walked back to Matt and Mello's room, knocking on the door.

Matt

"You answer it." Mello called to me.

"Can't be bothered," I replied. He shot me a glare, so I got up and opened it. It was Thrive. She had green eyes now. I take it she was using (and possibly still is) contact lenses. I cracked a grin. "Hey Thrive! Man, you really scared the shit out of Mello!" I gestured to the sulking Mello in the room behind me as Thrive grinned. I heard Mello stomp up behind me.

Turning around, I saw his glare. It said 'don't-push-your-luck-if-you-want-to-live-to-see-18'. Scary. "Why the fuck did you do that?" He said, venomously at Thrive. She was unfazed again.

"Just making a good first impression after I accidentally mistook your gender. No worries 'bout it though. People think I'm a boy all the time. I'm sure it feels the same the other way 'round right?" She said to Mello. He was about to say something, but she interrupted him. "WAIT! Back in a tic!" She called running into her room, then coming back out with a packet of gummy bears. Grinning, she held it out to Mello and I. I took one, and Mello glared at her, biting his chocolate instead. "Not a gummy bear person? Well alrighty then. I love them, personally." She popped a couple into her mouth, chewing them with a smile. Mello growled and went back to the room.

"Don't worry about him. He's just sulking. Also, just curious, do have ADHD?" I asked. She was quite hyperactive so far.

"Neat! How'd ya guess?"

"Oh, nothing, you were only jumping around and scaring the living shit out of people and turning your head every time you hear a new noise."

"Touché," she replied, grinning. "Soooo, I take it Mello's a chocolate addict? I can't have chocolate. Because right now, I can tell you, this" she gestured to herself, "is not hyperactivity. You haven't even SEEN hyperactivity 'till you see me with chocolate. Scary." I noticed she spoke really fast, so her words brought out her accent more.

"Yeah, Mello loves chocolate. He lives on the stuff. I live on video games!" I said, gesturing to the Gameboy in my hands, currently bleeping away as I beat the final boss. Easy.

"Oooooh, is that the old Kirby game? I love that game!" She said.

"Yeah, it is! You play games?" I asked.

"Hell yeah, I love them! You got an X-box? Can I play Halo?" She didn't even wait for me to answer before she asked if she could play. Wondering if she was any good, I invited her in, much to the dismay of Mello.

"Matt! Why the hell is she coming in?"

"I'm going to see if she is ok at Halo or not, seeing as you suck at it."

"What? I just prefer whacking them rather than shooting them!"

"Yeah, and that's what makes you lose." I countered. He grumbled and went back to eating chocolate.

I walked over to my side of the room, the floor littered in cords and various game cases, save for two beanbags and a large TV. Thrive followed, sitting down in the blue beanbag. Mello scowled at her. I chuckled, sitting down in the red beanbag after setting up the game.

We played Halo until dinner. It turns out she was really good at it. I was happy with this fact, as Mello sucked at Halo. We all went down to dinner, Mello glaring at Thrive the whole time. I chuckled as she told me of her random adventures in Australia. She was a hyperactive tomboy to sum her up. But she was more fun to hang around with then just a tomboy. I learned that she could sneak around really well, and loved drum and bass music more than any other kind. That and trance music. She was obsessed with dragons and reptiles and amphibians. Very strange for a girl, but nice nonetheless.

We got to dinner in time, sitting down at a table. Each table was big enough for 6. I sat next to Mello and Thrive sat on the end. Three boys called Forge, Tech and Gadget. Forge was skilled at inventing. He created a range of inventions from a successful mini cannon to an unsuccessful D-day device (It exploded). Tech was skilled in all thing computers. He built computers, he fixed computers, he made robots, and pretty much anything else to do with technology. Gadget was skilful in fixing things. If you had a broken toy or ornament, he would fix it. He always carried a roll of tape with him, and a sealed bottle of superglue. They were all really cool at what they did considering they were only 10 years old.

Dinner was Lamb chops and mashed potato. Thrive ate faster than even Mello. And that was saying something. "Hungry much?" I asked her, a grin on my face. Ok, I think a grin is just about always on my face. Mello was staring at her, shocked at how fast she was eating.

"Yes! I haven't eaten for yonks!"

"Er... Yonks?" Mello asked.

"You know, yonks! A long time!" She replied back to Mello, who resumed eating his dinner, faster than before. I chuckled at how jealous he was being of this new girl. I think it was because she was hanging out with us all day. And also he was still probably pissed from the, er, 'costume incident'.

Mello

Dinner passed quickly. Soon it was dessert. Chocolate pudding. Yum. I savoured it, unlike Thrive, who downed it all at once, practically. I heard Matt drop his spoon. He was staring open mouthed at Thrive who had just finished the pudding. I saw her look down at the empty bowl before getting a look of horror on her face. "Oh... Shit..." She said. I looked at them with a questioning face, and Matt told me what happened to her if she ate chocolate.

It didn't take it long for the chocolate to take effect. She began giggling madly, struggling to sit up. I think my face had written across the forehead 'What-the-fuck?' because she just kept on laughing, her green eyes twinkling as she went. "Oh crap! HEEHEEEEE! I think the chocolate HAH HA is working!" She struggled out, halfway through laughing at the same time.

No shit Sherlock.

She jumped out of her chair, running to the other side of the room, over to Near. I seethed with anger. She was talking to Near. Matt and I looked at each other before running after her. We found her talking to Near as I had expected. She had drawn quite a bit of attention, being the new person, breaking into mad laughter at the table and then running over to the other side of the room to talk to Near.

When we got there, we finally heard what she was saying to Near, and I heard a pent-up laugh escape my throat.

"Maaaaaaan-you're-some-freaky-albino-dude-huh? Sorta-like-a-sheepy-sheep!" She said, so fast I could only just understand her. She began cracking up laughing again. "Sheepy sheep! Haha! Sheepy!" Matt and I were staring at her, Near was staring at her. Pretty much everyone else was staring at her. Rodger was by the door, shaking his head which was supported by his hand. Near looked shocked. It was the first emotion that could be seen on his face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was half open. I grinned evilly. Matt poked my side, reminding me of what was happening, and gestured to Thrive.

We walked around to Thrive and stood behind her. We each took an arm and dragged her from behind. She tried to run forward. And succeeded. Did I mention she was freakishly strong when she was hyper? Well, she sure as hell was. She wound up dragging us by our arms out of the room and out the back door. "LET'S GO SWIMMING!" she screamed, running for the pool. Matt and I looked at each other, faces pale with horror. I think the whole orphanage heard her, because soon they all started piling out to see what was happening.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE LIKE MORONS! COME HELP US!" I shouted at them, struggling with Matt to hold Thrive back from getting to the pool – and taking us with her. They soon obliged and ran over to help. Only a few actually did anything though. And by a few, I mean our trusty friends Forge, Tech and Gadget. Gadget grabbed her waist from behind, while Forge and Tech grabbed the bottom of her legs, and pulled backwards. She toppled over, falling on who else, but me. Everybody else had fallen to the side, and Thrive was pinning me down. She stood up quickly, stepping on my stomach in the process. I let out a pained 'oof!' noise and sat up, clutching my belly. I just ate, too.

She ran for the pool again. Growling, I ran after her, screaming "GET BACK HERE YOU CRAZY BITCH!" she just laughed, running faster. I jumped and tackled her to the ground. "GADGET! TAPE!" The little boy ran over soon after, tape in hand. He bound her legs, and then her arms, while I pinned her down. When she was bound, she looked sort of sad. It was pathetic. "Thanks Gadget. She is NEVER getting any of my chocolate. EVER."

Thrive/Fern

N'awwwwww, why did they have to bind my limbs? I just wanted a swim...

I didn't realise that I had voiced this out loud, because Mello soon screamed "Because you were running around like a fucking maniac!" Oh yeah. That. Matt and Mello each grabbed my arms and legs, and dragged me back inside and up the stairs. They dumped me on my bed, leaving me to 'sleep'. As it so happened though, I managed to get my arms free. I unbound my legs, and decided that if I wanted to live and not be slowly dismembered I should stay in my room. I sat on my bed, reading one of my many mangas, eating gummy bears.

I can't think or concentrate without my music. After all, that is why I have my trusty subwoofer! I grinned as I blasted Pendulum on full, tapping my feet to the beat. That's where my alias came from. I absolutely 'thrive' in drum and bass music. I can't live without it. I lose myself in it. It is just the most amazing sound to ever exist. Mello didn't think so.

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

He tried knocking on my door, but I ignored him.

CRACK!

Oh wow, I was not expecting him to... KICK THE DOOR OPEN? "Mello? What the bloody hell?" I yelled. He stormed into my room, grabbed the cord for my speakers, yanked them out, walked over to me, picked me up by the waist (what? I'm skinny and light, so shoot me) and sat me on my bed, before stealing my speakers and leaving the room. "HEY!" I shouted, running after him. I ran into his room, only to find Matt inspecting them.

"Nice, these are great quality! Where'd you get them?" He asked.

"A shop in Sydney somewhere." I replied.

I yawned. Looks like I crashed. "Hey Matt, where are the showers? I have crashed it seems, I need one before bed." He pointed me down the hall and gave me my speakers back. I grabbed them from him and glared at Mello, who was sitting on his bed, eating chocolate again. I shuddered at the sight of it.

I went back to my room, turned off the music, plugged the speakers back in, grabbed my PJ's and headed to the showers. They (thankfully) had a girl's bathroom and a boy's bathroom. I went into the girl's bathroom and showered quickly. It is amazing how quickly you can shower with hair that is super short. I finished in about 10 minutes, dried and got dressed. I walked back down the hall to my room in my pyjamas. Black, long pants and a thin, long sleeved loose black shirt. I met Matt along the way, he was heading for the showers.

"Hi, thanks for letting me play Halo and everything, looks like we didn't get to do the tour though," I said. He smiled at me, inspecting my floppy PJ's. I yawned.

"Jeeze, you really have crashed hey? And yeah, I'll give you a tour in the morning then. If you don't wake up by 7am I'm coming in and waking you." I nodded. "Well, goodnight then." He said.

"Night," I said. I wandered to my room, my hair still wet, and flopped onto bed. My belongings were said to arrive tomorrow. So, that meant my dragon ornaments, my reptile enclosure (which would sit empty because I had to leave my gorgeous pet bearded dragon Aphid in Australia) and various other things. Hopefully, the metallic blue paint I ordered for my walls would arrive then, too. Yep, as soon as I saw the walls, I went on the web and ordered a paint of the stuff, so I could get rid of the pink.

I flopped onto my bed, and fell asleep straight away, clutching my crocodile stuffed toy.

I was glad to be here.

A/N: Bloody hell! (Yes, I'm an Aussie too. AUSSIES! WOOOO!) What a work! Over 7 pages! That's more then I have ever written in ANY story! For a single chapter, anyway. Also, SOOOO SORRY FOR THOSE RANGER'S APPRENTICE PEOPLE, BUT I NEED TO GET OFF MY LAZY BUTT AND CONTINUE Lost In Reality I KNOW! SORRY! BEAR WITH ME! And yeah, like Lost In Reality, Thrive has a few (lol, more than just a few) snippets of my personality in her. Like the ADHD and the gummy bears and the subwoofer and the hate for pink and the music (GO PENDULUM! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!) and yeah... Ima go then... I have crashed, lol. I'm not going to hound you to review, but if you could, I would appreciate it! Whoooo *collapses on the ground* too much typing...

Frogata, over and out!