Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

A/N: Yay for making this a multichapter story. I guess we'll just have to see where this goes. So, now you get to see how they met… I might try to do a chapter on what happened after this chapter but once again, we'll see. I'm actually having a lot of fun with this kind of scenario… it's kind of like this romance can play out in a controlled environment – all in the mafia compound. So, there won't be a lot of different settings…

Enjoy!


Kept Pet

By: Ginny


The mafia was trying to lay low.

This made Mello itching… As an ambitious child, always trying to beat Near, Mello was unused to just sitting around doing absolutely nothing. And so this resulted in the group just sitting around, mostly shooting the breeze. Mello was trying to goad Rod into at least planning future endeavors, even if they would have to be put off for quite some time. Unfortunately, Rod was in no mood for business and had invited the whores for pleasure.

Mello had no patience for females. Even the girls at Wammy's had no focus, no ambition. If they weren't fawning over Matt or the very idea of L, they were giggling together. Studying and improving themselves were the farthest things from their mind. At one point there had been a girl named Mal who lived there and she actually studied… but that was because she was a normal person who had no choice but to study because she was falling behind. And quite frankly, the girls that Rod brought were some of the stupidest humans alive. Mello honestly couldn't stand it.

Especially the noise.

When it was just the men, they were wary enough to talk amongst themselves quietly, allowing Mello at least some peace. When the whores were invited, the volume rose tremendously because their high-pitched voices could cut through solid steel.

Take, for example, Paula. That girl simply attached herself to her man and kept blabbering on and on and on. God, everything she said was about the stupidest things ever, such as how her favorite designer had just come out with a pair of heels that were to die for and could Jerry pretty, pretty please buy them for her?

In fact, Paula kept talking so loudly that Mello couldn't keep a steady train of thought.

Taking a giant bite out of his candy bar, he was just about to turn to Jerry and tell him to shut his fucking whore up when a raspy voice cut through the room, "Oh my God, that's the third cookie you've eaten, Daisy. If you're not careful, you'll get even fatter."

All at once, the room fell silent – even Rod stopped his conversation. The catfighting amongst the whores was a thing of nightmares and not a single man dared interfere. They would rather face the barrel of a loaded gun held by a pissed off Mello rather than the claws of those harpies. There was no telling when a girl would suddenly turn around and claw your eyes out.

Mello glanced at the fiery red-head that had spoken. Karen, he remembered, had sparkling green eyes highlighted with purple eye-shadow and her clothing left very little room to imagine what her petite, slender body looked like. All in all, she was a pretty high-class hooker – definitely a lot better than most of the girls who were in the room. And it was no wonder she had been claimed by the man directly under Mello in rank – Danny. Maybe if she kept her mouth shut, Mello would be willing to do her.

When the whole room turned their eyes to focus on the subject of Karen's exclamation, Mello also twisted to look at her. He quickly saw that perhaps Karen was a little right – Daisy had a little more cushion for pushin' than was typically socially acceptable. Granted, it was focused on her hips, buttocks and chest but it still made her seem wide.

Daisy had paused, mid-reach for the plate of cookies on the table. Once she realized that everyone had chosen to focus on her, she tilted her head to get a better look at Karen. Her eyebrows flashed down and then back up discretely and an angry flush spread out on her cheeks – even her brown eyes seemed to glimmer a sparkling red.

Finally she schooled her expression into something nonchalant and shrugged her shoulders. She reached that final foot and snatched up another chocolate chip cookie. "I think I'll be fine," she said, evenly.

The other girl responded with a shrug of her own, shifting in Danny's lap where she had been situated that entire time.

Mello glanced between the two girls – this was probably a power struggle, he decided. Sure, there were struggles for dominance in the mafia men ranks – people constantly trying to get as close to the top as possible. Even Mello had had to climb that ladder and work his way up to his position of second-in-command. The whores were no different. They didn't sell drugs or firearms, but by being claimed by men of a certain position, the women would gain a certain respect and prestige.

For the most part, the whores that frequented the mafia hideout were stereotypical in appearance and behavior: crude, and vulgar and tanned unevenly and sleazy and dyed-job blonde and claw-like nails and far too much make up. Daisy and Karen were something special. Both were naturally pretty. But where Karen was a fiery, curly redhead, Daisy had long, dark, straight brown hair. Where Karen had bright green eyes, Daisy had dark, beady irises. Where Karen was slim and toned, Daisy was soft and curvy. Both had naturally olive-tone skin. Both wore clothes that were far too revealing, both wore far too much make up and both had fake nails that could slit a man's jugular.

Even though Daisy was claimed by a pretty low ranking member, she had the looks and class to move up – possibly threatening Karen's place. Karen was trying to push her down a peg, Mello decided.

How fucking pathetic… he thought, leaning back on the couch. Eventually the focus turned from the squabbling girls and the room erupted back into conversation.

As Mello cocked his head to Rod, trying to draw his attention away from his whore and back on some potential plans, Mello happened to spot Daisy just in time to see her munching happily on her chocolate chip cookie, winking at her man.


The next day was almost as annoying for Mello. The whole group was back in the common room, spread out and paired off and still talking up a storm. Some idiot had added alcohol to the mix this time though.

"You want some?" Calvin asked, holding a beer bottle out to Mello.

"No, you idiot," Mello snapped. "Alcohol dulls the senses."

From her position leaning against Calvin, Daisy frowned, "That's typically the point." Then she tipped her head back and downed the rest of her bottle in a few gulps.

Mello opened his mouth – probably to snap at her something along the lines of "shut the fuck up, you stupid whore" – when two people who had been previously absent came busting into room, still attached at the mouth and certainly not letting go anytime soon. Karen and Danny stumbled towards the couch and in their make-out frenzy, Karen hit the couch with her behind, upsetting everyone sitting on the piece of furniture and startling herself out of her ecstasy.

"Oops," she giggled.

Danny placed a small peck on her nose and squeezed her ass, saying, "Get me something to drink, would you?" Then Danny came to sit on the couch next to Mello, hopping over the back of it recklessly (almost totally copying Mello's signature swagger in the process). Mello scrunched his nose in disgust and took a final bite of his chocolate bar, savoring the click of the solid chocolate breaking between his teeth.

It wasn't until the exclamation of "Oh my God!" rang out that the whole room turned to the voice. Some of the men – Mello included – had reached for their guns just in case. It was an unnecessary precaution it seemed because Karen had simply had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction.

Her strapless corset had ripped clean up the side and since there was nothing to hold it up, the piece of clothing had fallen to the floor. In a show of modesty a whore really shouldn't possess, Karen crossed an arm over her chest to shield her tits from view. Instantly a few girls sprang up to help shield the vulnerable girl. They were not in time, however to avoid the coming tragedy – Karen bent over the pick up her discarded corset only for her jean mini-skirt to let out a rrreeeeeee sound as it ripped clean up the back seam. Letting out another curse, Karen used her other hand to hold her skirt in place as she sprinted out of the room, followed by a few of her friends.

Daisy, Mello noticed, was not part of that group.

In fact, he instantly turned to see her reaction as Karen quickly departed and was not disappointed by the wild glint in her eye and the smirk on her mouth.

And when she caught Mello looking at her, her smirk only grew.

"Hey Daisy," Danny spoke up, totally nonchalant. "Would you get me a beer? Karen seems a little busy."

"Of course, Danny," Daisy bent over suggestively to give him a great view of her cleavage as she delivered the bottle. "Whatever you want."


Karen returned pretty quickly, redressed in a nice black dress – her face a little red. Her gaggle of girls flanked her as she came to sit down next to Danny. She took note of the beer bottle in his hand and her face flushed even more. Perhaps that was why she sat down a lot harder than she meant to.

And perhaps that was why her dress ripped, too.

The sound wasn't particularly loud, audible to only those who were sitting close enough to her. At first, her face just brightened considerably and then is scrunched up in fury. For the most part though, she was pretty silent and no one noticed. It was her jumping up and wildly pointing as Daisy that turned everyone's attention back on her.

"You bitch!" she let out an animalistic snarl. "You fucked with my clothes!"

"Or you've just gotten even fatter," Daisy echoed, taking another swig of beer.

Another infernal snarl sprung from Karen's mouth as she stomped away in her hooker heels. Her gaggle of girls followed her loyally; each shooting Daisy dirty looks before they disappeared around the corner. To her credit, Daisy maintained a look of absolute innocence.

Mello sighed, Why did they let girls into this compound?

Girls just managed to complicate things. Really, it was like letting girls into the tree fort – eventually they would take over, redecorate and kick the boys out. At Whammy's there was a tree fort. Once upon a time he and Matt had been the kings of that fort until they let Linda in… that bitch set up her own little workshop and Mello never saw the inside of that tree fort again. And all because Matt had a sweet spot for the painter.

Mello almost wanted to punctuate that mental diss with a snap from his chocolate bar… only to realize that he was, in fact, missing his chocolate bar… apparently he had forgotten to restock. Jumping up, he hoped to slink away to go grab one from his room before Karen came back and decided to throw an even bigger hissy fit.

Just barely halfway to his room, muffled voices stopped his progress.

"I can't stand that fuckin' bitch!" Mello recognized the raspy voice as Karen's. "Where the hell does she get off messin' with my clothes?"

Another voice spoke up, "She's just a jealous fuckin' whore."

"Psh, and we all know why," Karen said. Mello lost interest and moved forward again – his desire for chocolate overwhelming him now. "I'm the top whore and Danny has a thing for redheads, so he's not going anywhere. The only way she can get any higher is if she took up with that creep, Mello."

At his name, Mello stopped again.

"And we all know that he's gay," another girl said.

Mello clutched his fists, receiving the satisfying crunch as his leather gloves rubbed together. He had had to deal with these kinds of assumptions enough at Wammy's because of how close he was to Matt and his current clothing choices didn't exactly scream "straight". But God fuck it, he still hated it when people just assumed things that weren't true – especially when they assumed he wasn't as manly as he truly was.

"And into all that freaky S and M stuff," some other chick put in.

Mello grit his teeth – he knew that his temper was volatile and dangerous and in this kind of mood he might honestly kill these girls. But that would anger the men these girls belonged to and then Mello would have to kill them too which would anger Rod and that would be unfortunate because that would destroy any chance for Mello to defeat Kira and beat Near. So he took a deep breath and decided to take a lesson out of Daisy's book.

All his desire for his chocolate gone, he stomped back to the common room and spotted his prize. Within two seconds he had swooped down and snatched her up – his nails digging into her upper arm.

Daisy let out a sound of protest as she was hauled up from the couch and down the hall but it wasn't until he had (almost quite literally) thrown her into his bedroom that she asked, "What the hell?"

"Shut up," he snapped.

Stepping back, his eyes trailed her up and down, taking in her outfit and the way it fit her. She was wearing a slinky, tight red sequin dress with black stockings, probably a garter belt and black heeled boots. Unfortunately, the black jean jacket she was wearing obstructed her figure from Mello's view. Frowning, he stepped forward and yanked her around so he could forcibly remove the jacket from her body.

Daisy didn't resist – not that he had expected her to. She was a whore and was very used to men being rough. She also knew that she was there to be used and abused by the men. Mello was one of those men – a special one of those men because he was second in command.

With the jacket off, Mello flipped her around to see her curves more clearly. Yes, she was a little wide, but up close Mello realized she had a rather abundant rack which gave the illusion of a wider body shape. Decent, Mello decided.

"Turn around," he commanded.

She did so, spinning on her heel. Her ass wasn't too bad either.

"Face me again."

Mello advanced on Daisy, grasping her chin to tilt her head every which way, his blue eyes taking in every flaw and detail of her face. He liked the bright red lips and even the dark eyeliner – but that hideously red blush on her cheeks did nothing for her light olive skin. It definitely needed to go.

"Get rid of that shit on your cheeks," he snapped, releasing her chin. Almost on instinct, her hands came up to cover her cheeks, a little insulted.

Mello took a step back and nodded, definitely, "You'll do."

Daisy pulled a face and dropped her hands from her cheeks, snarking, "Glad to know I'll be sufficient enough for you."

"I never said you were sufficient," he glared, "just that you'll serve my purpose."

"And what purpose is that?" she questioned, crossing her arms.

Mello crossed his arms to mimic her, "You want to trump Karen, don't you?" Daisy's eyes sparkled with confirmation. "Then just follow my lead and you'll be top whore."

Taking her wrist roughly, he nearly dragged her back towards the common room. They were just out of the bedroom door when Daisy pulled back, resisting. "My jacket-"

"Leave it," Mello snapped, yanking her hard to get her to follow him again. "You'll be moving your stuff in later anyways."

"Does Calvin know you're claiming me?"

"Calvin has no say in it – just like you, so it doesn't matter."

When they reached the common room, everyone turned to look at them. Karen in particular stared wide-eyed at Mello's hand on her wrist. She had apparently, however, managed to find a piece of clothing that hadn't been fucked with. Mello made eye-contact with her and tilted his head back ever so slightly, literally snubbing his nose at her. Karen flushed an angry purple and looked away.

Mello flopped down in his old seat but this time he dragged his new whore onto his lap. Daisy wiggled just a little bit before settling down and leaning against him, cautiously. Calvin glanced between the two, and then at the way Mello's arms was wrapped possessively around her waist. He opened his mouth. He obviously had some objections to this new arrangement. Mello simply shot him a dark glower and the older man snapped his jaw closed.

Then the blond noted that the whole room was still focused on him and the girl.

"What are you looking at?" he snapped.

And suddenly everyone turned to someone near them and forced some semblance of conversation, lest they incite Mello's wrath. Rod gave the blond a predatory grin, and Mello knew that the boss was just glad that Mello would finally be getting laid and perhaps have his temperament cooled.

I bet he's also hoping for a hot fucking day in hell, too, Mello snarked.

Giving a groan, Mello reached out to the table and grabbed a beer bottle. Forcing it open with his teeth, he took a single, long gulp. Then he shoved the bottle in front of Daisy's face, "Feel free to dull your senses." She stared at him in confusion but took the bottle anyways. Giving him a little salute, she sipped gingerly.


Around five o'clock, the group broke up before dinner. When the common room was essentially empty, Mello roughly pushed Daisy off his lap and onto the floor. She gave a small uph! and glared up at him, but made no other action of rebellion – she knew her place.

"Go get your stuff," he commanded, standing. Then he stalked off down the hallway.

A few minutes later, Daisy arrived in his room, her arms filled with her possessions. Gracelessly, she dropped it all onto the floor and then left again – only to return moments later with another pile.

Then, she looked around. His room was… dark. It was an eerie combination of a warehouse, a pimp's penthouse and an old church. All four walls were an ugly off-white that probably wasn't exactly meant to be that color and there were exposed pipes along the walls. The bed was huge and round and covered with black pillows and cheetah print sheets. The dresser, armoire, bedside table, mirror and huge, intimidating bookcase were all in a dark wood and all bare – except for the bookcase which was stuffed with books. There was a large leather chair stationed against a wall and a cross nailed right above it. And that wasn't the only cross present in the room. Nailed over the bed and over the door, there was a crucifix each. A single door on one wall led to what was probably a bathroom.

Mello noted that she was observing her new surroundings instead of focusing on putting her stuff away. Using the tip of his shoe, he sorted through the pile on the floor: flashy clothes, a pair of high heels, lingerie, a box that Mello supposed held jewelry, a hair straightener, a small bag of make-up, another bag of toiletries and a box of strawberry-flavored condoms.

"Put your toiletries in the bathroom," Mello said. "I cleared a drawer for you in the dresser. Fold your clothes and put them away. Shoes go by the door."

Daisy snapped out of her observations and got to work. It wasn't until she had carefully folded her clothing into the drawers (figuring Mello was a terrible and unapologetic neat-freak) that she was able to get a better look at the bookcase – stacked completely with careworn books. She heard the bang of the bathroom door closing. Glancing at the closed door, she snuck over to the bookcase.

Fingering the books up and down, she quickly realized that they weren't in English… or any Romantic or Germanic language. There were symbols instead.

The toilet flushed and the sound of water running from a faucet was heard. Daisy glanced back at the door and pulled a book from the shelf – opening it and inspecting it. She probably shouldn't be messing with Mello's things, but they were out in the open and she honestly wanted to know more about this man who had decided that she would serve his purposes. Besides, he was still in the bathroom, she had a few moments. Almost to contradict her, the door banged open and Daisy tensed, waiting to be scolded.

When Mello made no comment, Daisy replaced the book on the shelf.

"You like to read?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered softly.

"These are all in a foreign language."

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"Russian."

"You can speak Russian?"

"Yes."

"Are you Russian?"

"Are you always this annoying?"

Daisy glanced back at him and her breath caught in her chest. Mello was leaning against the doorway of the bathroom, one hand on his hip. He had removed his vest, revealing what his toned arms had foreshadowed – a lithe form and slender muscles. A beautiful rosary swung from his neck. Dusty pink nipples stood out against his pale skin and if he had any hair on his chest, it was so blond that from that distance, Daisy couldn't see it. She did see the way he narrowed his eyes when he noticed how her eyes had assessed his bare chest. That didn't seem to matter to her though, as a blazing heat shot from her head, straight down to her stomach where it pooled for a moment. The muscles between her legs clenched involuntarily.

Taking a deep breath, embarrassed that she had been affected like that, Daisy turned back to the bookcase and removed a book that looked careworn and beloved. The cover art was of a man leaning out of a cathedral that Daisy recognized as Notre Dame. Unfortunately, the title was in the foreign language that Daisy couldn't understand.

"Is this The Hunchback of Notre Dame?"

"Yes."

"It's my favorite book," she informed him quietly, as she replaced it on the shelf.

"I don't care," he snapped.

Ouch, what an asshole. At least Calvin pretended to indulge her. Sure, she was a bit of a rambler… well, a terrible rambler. She hated silence. Even forced conversation was better than an awkward silence. But she figured Mello was one to prefer silence… he probably didn't talk during sex, either. Well, if he intended to claim her, he had better be prepared to deal with her ramblings. Then she remembered who exactly she was dealing with… maybe it would be better if she just learned how to keep her mouth shut.

She heard him push himself off the wall and she involuntarily tensed. It was only when his footfalls lead to the armoire that she relaxed. Daisy listened as he opened it and removed something, before slamming the door.

Pressing herself closer to the bookcase, she turned around, placing her hands behind her back. With practiced moves, she pushed her chest out to increase her already abundant cleavage and gave Mello a small, sexy smile.

"So why did you finally decide to shack up?" When his eyes only narrowed in response, Daisy shot her eyebrows up and glanced to the floor, feigning submission. "Not that I'm complaining," she explained. "This is a nice promotion… and I've always thought you were interesting…" Shooting him a shy smile that was as real as her acrylic nails, she added, "and sexy." He apparently didn't like her saying that – or he could tell she was just trying to get on his good side. So she shrugged. "But this is kind of sudden."

"Vengeance," he snarled, throwing the shirt he had retrieved from the armoire onto his bed.

Daisy crossed the room and sat on the bed, gingerly. She still wasn't sure what he considered an invasion of his space. When he didn't do anything except stare at her in response, she crossed her legs. She didn't miss the way his eyes glanced at the way this new pose showed off her plump upper thighs.

"Against Calvin or Danny?" she asked, figuring he was targeting one or the other and using her indirectly. Taking her from Calvin was a way of emasculating him. Claiming her would also piss Karen off tremendously and therefore annoy Danny when she would later bitch about it. Complaining was Karen's typical pillow talk.

"Karen," Mello damn near snarled. A shiver slid down Daisy's spine.

Don't piss this dude off, she decided.

With little need to pretend, because she was honestly curious, she asked, "What did she do?"

Mello slid on a pair of leather gloves Daisy hadn't seen him remove. "She insulted me," he clenched his fist, watching the way the leather moved and cringed across his knuckles.

Definitely don't piss this dude off.

"Yeah," Daisy shot him a smile she hoped seemed sympathetic, "she does that a lot… to just about everybody. I think she's hoping Danny will knock you out of power. She's pretty creative," she rambled. "But mostly she just claims that you're gay."

"I'm not gay!" Mello yelled, twisting to face her wildly.

She realized pretty quickly that she had made a mistake. But after a year of dealing with these kinds of situations, she knew how to make a man feel like he was a man – and a very strong and powerful man at that. Calvin himself had some inferiority issues himself and had loved when Daisy made him feel like he was on top of the world. Maybe she could do some good for Mello, too, she pondered.

Gracefully standing, she made her way over to Mello.

"Well yeah," she said, tilting her head in the same way she would towards a wild animal, and smiling. "I saw the way you looked me up and down when you were… um," she shot him a flirty smile, "inspecting the merchandise," she finished.

Once she reached him, she placed her hands on his shoulders. He still didn't pull away, just looked straight at her – she was his height when she wore these five inch heels. Tearing her eyes away from his angelic face, she watched her hands as they slid down his chest – brushing his nipples, which caused goose bumps to rise to the surface, and then hooking into his waistband. Slowly, she brought her head up and placed her lips gently against his.

Mello let her move her mouth against his. Mello let her fingers dance against the bare skin above his pants. Mello let her press her ample chest against his bare one, the sequins sharply moving against his skin. But he didn't respond, so Daisy pulled back and looked up at him in confusion.

"Don't misunderstand me," Mello snapped. "I'm not gay, but that doesn't mean that I need you to be a distraction. You're a trophy on my mantle – a kept pet. Enjoy it while it lasts, you whore."

Then he whirled around, roughly grabbed his black wife beater off the bed and left.

Daisy took a deep breath when he finally left her sight and then she slid to the floor. This might have been a promotion, and Mello might be much more handsome than Calvin, but she already missed her former position. At least Calvin was nice to her… treated her with respect. This was almost as bad as when she had first been introduced to this life…

"Six more months," she whispered, pressing her forehead into the top of her knees. "Six more months," she repeated, nearly breathing the words like they were her dying declamation.