The wind blows across the land stirring up dust as it does so.

A single cloaked figure is walking with a scythe on the figures back being held in place by a special strap, that goes diagonally from over one shoulder down to around the end of the ribs, that can be placed over the dark grey almost black cloak. The figure stops as the figure arrives on the top of a cliff like hill.

Up ahead is a town.

One the figure has been searching for.

A smirk comes to the figures lips as almost soft thunder roars somewhere off in the distance.

...…...

Near walks into his room.

It's after classes the day after the big exam to determine the placement of each orphan.

He knows that everyone is going to be racing to check the scores however he has never really had a care for it since he already knows the outcome. He'll be in first place and he intends to keep it because he see's it as the only way the one he loves will even notice him. He picks up a stuffed rabbit given to him by the adoptive parents that raised him after watching his own mother leave him in an ally at the edge of town as a toddler before running off with a gunshot following not long after.

Sadly his adopted parents died and he was left alone with no place to go but Whammy's house orphanage.

However there is a secret that he hasn't told anyone…. He wasn't alone on that rainy night…. On that night his mother left him behind…..

A cloaked figure climbs over the gate and strolls into the building only to turn seeing where a huge group is. The figure pulls out the scythe from its holder ready to attack as the figure moves closer to the group.

…..

A scream goes through the orphanage catching the attention of not only the adults within the area to hear the scream, which is all, but Near as well.

Near and the adults rush to see what the scream was about.

Meanwhile with the group of orphans…..

They cower as some get ready to fight the figure.

Linda is the one who screamed as she saw the figure before getting attacked.

Mello charges and jumps to attack.

The cloaked figure skillfully spins the scythe and slashes at Mello sending him slightly flying back only to hit the ground with a bad gash on his leg.

Hesitantly another orphan charges to attack not jumping but as the orphan tries to punch the figure they get a slash on their arm.

The orphan calls out in pain jolting backwards.

The figure skillfully spins the scythe around and slashes the orphan at the orphans shoulder making him tumble to the floor whimpering in pain.

The adults arrive and pause at seeing what is going. They get ready to move in to protect the children when something make everyone pause.

Near walks up with one side facing the direction the adults are in with his other side facing the direction the orphans are in while he is walking towards the figure. He looks as calm as ever with his hands in his pants pockets.

The figure turns and swings the scythe at Near making it stop right by Near's throat as Near stops walking.

Even with the scythe almost touching his throat Near doesn't even flinch as he remains as calm as ever.

Everyone is confused as to why Near isn't being attacked right now when the figure was ready to attack anyone else in the room.

There is a pause as the two just stand there then the scythe shakes just a little before the figure seems to have gathered composer making the shaking stop.

"It's been a while hasn't it?" The figure speaks though it is obvious that the figure is using a voice scrambler.

The scythe is moved away from Near as the figure stands there holding the scythe at the figures side.

Everyone is even more confused at this.

"It's been years since I have seen you. Little brother." The figure says.

This shocks everyone and they continue to watch to see if there will be a confirmation from Near.

Near very slightly smirks or smiles as it's a little hard to tell. "Hello brother."

The confirmation shocks everyone even more.

It makes them wonder if Near is secretly hiding some wild side to him and they wonder just how much they don't know about Near if Near were to remove the mental mask he always puts on.

"What are you doing?" Near questions his brother.

There is a paused moment before the other speaks.

"You know why."

Near continues to watch his brother.

Some adults hesitantly begin to move forward but the figure turns to them only to point the scythe at them in warning making them stop.

He turns back to Near. "Why….."

There's a few moments of silence between the two before Near's brother speaks again.

"Yes I understand that. But I believe you should still consider my offer."

This confuses everyone because the two didn't say a word to each other yet his brother is responding like they were talking.

"You know why I'm here." Near responds.

Near's brother watches Near silently for a moment. "Are you telling me that we should just continue the way we were? Is it really the best way?" He asks slightly glancing to the Whammys.

"You know why we decided to do it this way. Obviously it's not permanent but right now it is the best way." Near responds.

Near's brother turns back to Near then lowers the scythe. "True." He says. "Of course when the right time comes… Then I'll be happy to see you again." He puts his scythe away then turns dashing out of the orphanage leaving it's grounds in no time.

Near turns away and begins heading away almost as if nothing had happened.

"Wait." Rodger says making Near pause and turn to him. "What was that about?"

"It's too long of a story." Near says.

"How did you talk to him without speaking?" Linda asks.

Near shakes his head as if to say that he won't say then he leaves heading off to somewhere else in the orphanage.

Leaving the still in shock orphans and adults behind.

The nurse is soon helping those that got hurt and is glad that while there was some bad injuries there was no deaths.

Rodger has tried to talk to Near about his brother but Near refuses to give anything to anyone.

Mello exits his room as he has a limp since it hurts to put any pressure on his wounded leg. He pauses when he comes to Near's room door and looks to it for a few moments. He glances around before gripping the doorknob opening it going inside.

Near is sitting at his desk and he doesn't even turn as Mello enters.

Mello shuts the door behind himself before moving towards Near. He stop behind Near. "You know what I want." He says plain and simple.

Near doesn't even pause in his writing. "Mello should know that he isn't going to just get anything."

Mello clenches his jaw in anger and frustration. "Damn it Near why!? What's so damn important about hiding any and all information!?"

Near finishes what he is writing then lifts his hand holding the pencil to be by his cheek. "I have no reason to speak of such information that you seek."

Mello grabs the back of Near's chair and spins him around to face him.

Near lowers his hands to his lap and looks into Mello's eyes.

Mello's hands now are gripping the arm rests as he leans in right close to Near staring him back in the eyes. "Near. What is really going on? What's the real reason you are at Whammy's?"

"I am an orphan Mello. I may have my brother but we only have each other." Near explains.

"So then why didn't you both go to the same orphanage?" Mello questions.

Near just stares at Mello not saying anything.

After a few minutes Mello growls at the lack of response.

"Speak damn it!" He snaps a little.

"Mello is acting like Linda. Poking his nose into everything." Near tells him.

Mello's eyes narrow. "You don't think I have a right to know about anything!? Your brother fucking cut open my leg! Isn't that enough to mean that I get information!?"

"Mello should just be glad that it wasn't worse." Near says as he starts to twirl his hair.

Mello snarls. "Worse?!" He leans a little closer. "Worse!? I'm going to be limping for quite a while unable to do any real physical activity! And yet here you are talking about that it could have been worse!? I came here for answers! Not for remarks like that!"

Near almost sighs. "As I said before I have no reason to speak of information."

Mello clenches his teeth hard then pauses before he smirks a little. "Oh but I believe that you do."

"Oh?" Near asks. "What makes you say that."

Mellos eyes fall to half open as he remains smirking. "You know to think I was actually starting to like you."

Near listens still twirling his hair.

"I was beginning to think that maybe just maybe it wasn't all just me. But that you felt it too." Mello continues. He pushes himself up no longer leaning closer to Near. "I guess I was wrong. I guess you see me as nothing more than just some ant like the others." He turns around so his back is facing Near. "I thought that we had something secretly going on."

"What is Mello trying to say?" Near asks getting to his feet.

Mello smirks a little more. "What does it sound like to you?"

Near pauses then suddenly Mello blinks in surprise as there is two hands gently laying on his back as the other moves closer to put his forehead against Mello's back. "I thought Mello hated me."

Mello, who had slightly turned to look to Near by mostly moving his head, watches Near. "I'm not so sure anymore." He says. "But it sure sounds like you hate me and everyone else. Always keeping everything to yourself."

"I don't have Mello." Near responds.

Mello frowns and looks away back to the room door. "I can't trust what you say. Not after what you showed me." He gets ready to begin walking out of the room.

"Mello." A quite voice speaks making Mello pause as he wonders if that was seriously Near. It sounded so meek and helpless.

Mello blinks as this settles in and he looks back over to Near who has his head down. "Near….."

No response.

"Near look at me."

Nothing.

Mello frowns and turns around making Near's hand fall to hang at his sides. He reaches over grabbing Near's chin and forcing his head up to look to him.

Near blinks and seems to be pushing away some emotion as if he is scare of showing Mello the emotion whatever it is. "Mello hated me. That's what I always thought with how much you appear to show it." He tells Mello and Mello blinks as he sees a small spark of sadness. "Different….. That's what I thought… Mello was unlike the others…. He is special… But soon it became apparent that Mello hated me. In truth all I wanted was for Mello to hold me and say nice things…. But I believed it would all just be in fantasy."

Mello blinks as he listens to this.

"I thought Mello hated me. So I didn't believe I should tell him anything. I didn't want to be hurt." Near tells him as he looks away.

Mello suddenly lets go of Near's chin. "Near…." He moves a step forward wrapping his arms around Near pulling him close. "I thought I hated you… I thought I hated you so much especially when I couldn't get you out of my mind and I always got this strange feeling I couldn't explain." He tells Near. "But lately I've begun to realize that I didn't hate you and became confused at what I was feeling towards you. The day before your brother showed up I began to find that it was like. That I liked you. A lot. I wanted to hold you and just be with you. I didn't want to fight anymore."

Near raises his hands to put them on Mello's chests by his shoulders as he slightly tilts his head up to look to Mello. "Mello….. Can I really trust Mello?"

Mello brings one hand up to cup Near's cheek only to tilt his head up enough and he swoops down sealing his lips over Nears for a few seconds as his eyes close before pulling away opening his eyes half way. "Does that answer your question?"

Near snuggles closer to Mello. "Yes."

"Will you tell me then?" Mello asks. "I won't tell anyone and Rodger or anyone else who might want to tear us apart will never know about us."

Near closes his eyes and smiles softly. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to be like this with Mello." He admits then opens his eyes to half way. "I will trust Mello and I will tell him what he needs to know."

Mello smiles at that.

"My brother is only older by a few seconds and his name is Silver." Near begins. "He makes scythes and is very skillful at using them as you saw. He came here because I told him about how the others seem to quite dislike me as I have no friends here and that the others made their dislike obvious."

Mello opens his mouth to ask how Near talked to his brother when Near brings up a hand putting a finger against Mello's lips as if to shush him.

"We are twins that are almost completely identical except for our eye color, color of clothes and his voice sounds as if it's me speaking but with a hint of something else in his voice like it's something darker. His eyes are chocolate brown that turn red when under darkness, he likes to wear tinted blue version of my clothes and I already explained his voice. He also prefers to run his fingers through his hair instead of twirling it like me though he doesn't use it too often as he prefers to use it to mean something depending on the situation. For me twirling my hair is a habit. The way we can communicate is by the fact that we have twin telepathy where we can talk to each other through our minds. It's rare for twins to have this ability but we have it. He wanted to destroy what was making my life not so happy. So he came here." Near explains as he lowers his hand. "You saw the rest."

Mello stares at Near for a few seconds.

"He isn't a bad person. He just wants me to be happy." Near tells Mello. "We are separated because our hometown was burned down and we barely managed to not get bombed when we escaped. He wanders around and I stay here as we try to figure out who wanted everyone from our hometown dead while trying to keep each other safe by separating. We of course do plan to be back together when the time is right when our lives can allow it. Which is most likely going to be after we make sure that those that want us dead won't be able to harm us. He cares a lot about me just as I care a lot about him and we were the only ones that escaped alive."

Mello closes his eyes. "I may not like him because he cut open my leg but after hearing this I can see why he did what he did." He admits.

Near lays the side of his head against Mello's chest as he closes his eyes enjoying his time with Mello.

Mello keeps his promise and the two keep their relationship a secret from the other orphans as well as adults.

Near smiles and is happy when he and Mello are together in secret while keeping up his mental mask in public.

Sure they may sometimes argue but that's normal for anyone to do and is seen as a good thing for a relationship of love or friendship.

Mello helped Near and his brother Silver in their search for who burned down the two's home town.

They do eventually find out who tried to kill Near and Silver along with killing everyone in their hometown as it burned.

It's a criminal organization that was taken down about a year or so after the slaughter on Near and Silver's hometown.

So Near got to return to be with his brother as Mello tags along not wanting to end it with someone he loves so much.

Mello and Silver didn't like each other at first but soon warmed up to each other as they share one thing in common. They both care for Near deeply.

The end.

AN:

Short story is what this is meant to be.

Hope I did ok.

Reviews are awesome and flamers will be used to make cupcakes!

Mello.