Chapter Two.

"..what is your name?"

The raven haired man glanced up to his older companion in a manner
that suggested 'is it all right?' and the elderly man nodded. "I am
Lawliet, known as L. You may call my partner Watari. He will help you
to the orphanage and then leave you with Mr. Rodger." Nate eyes fixed
onto the weathered face and then, glancing back to L, proceeded to
ask, "I see. Why are you called L instead of Lawliet?" L then shifted
again and said, "It's my alias. You too will have to choose one once
you get to Wammy's. Never give away your real name, especially with
this Kira on the loose. For now, please call me Ryuuzaki until we get
to Wammy's, just to be safe."

Nate followed the socially-awkward stranger out the door. There was a
limo waiting for them. Walking up to the door, he waited for it to be
opened for him. After realizing no one would, he opened it himself and
got seated. L piled in after and sat down in a crouched postion. 'He
is very odd..' the lamb kept his thoughts to himself. Figuring they
didn't care how he sat due to the way L crouched in the seat, he
lifted his knee and draped his arm across it. He remembered when his
parents had beaten him for sitting this way, remembering the
strangling ropes and the hot metal pressed against his stomach in
order to punish him. He cringed.

The car ride was awkward and silent and the whole time Nate thought
about what his nickname could be. He finally thought of one. The car
pulled into a charming building with many young and older children
playing about. They were playing. A sin as far as Nate was concerned.
The kids suddenly dropped what they were doing and leaped towards the
now parked car. The door was opened by "Watari" and the passengers
hopped out. They both scuffled through the crowd to the front door and
then Nate was left alone.

He rubbed his slender fingers on the intraquite brass door handle and
pushed it open. Inside, he noticed how bright the place was, boxes of
crayons littered the floor along with toys, snacks, treats, and in the
corner, a gameboy and chocolate. His eyes adjusted and he looked up a
long wooden staircase that lead into a hall. 'The dorms," he assumed.

He was then approached by a man about Watari's age. The lines crinkled
around his eyes when he smiled at Nate. The sheep nodded in reply.
"Welcome to Wammy's young boy," Rodger, he assumed, smiled, "Please,
step into my office."

The snowy boy turn to follow the man when something cought his eye. A
blonde girl, a bit older than his own age of eight, was glaring at him
from the door way, eating a chocolate bar. Beside her was a gingered
boy, who looked a year or so younger than her, who had draped his arm
lazily across her hips. But something was off. No, that wasn't a girl,
that was a boy. A boy.

Once inside the cremé coloured office, Nate took in how friendly it
looked. A few plastic plants guarded the doorway and on each side of
the fireplace behind the desk was a window, showing the rural winter
beyond it. Nate took a chair and looked at the fumbling old man. "I am
aware of your current... situation. Your parents will be buried
properly and, despite their criminal status, will be kept strictly..
legal guest only, ne? Have you thought of a name?" Nate nodded,
"Near." It wasn't clever on his part, he used the first two letters of
his first name and the last two of his last, NAte rivER. Naer, which
meant Near.

The old man nodded and scribbled it down on, from what Near could
tell, adoption forms. He then went into extensive details of every
inch of the building, and Near took perfect note: library, top story,
whole floor; kitchen, first level, second room to the right, dining
hall is next to it. And then he finally was handed a silver key. "This
is the key to your dorm room. We are aware of your family history, and
thought it would be more comfortable if you had your own room to
yourself." Near nodded at this new information. "Please follow Miss
Pauv to recieve your new wardrobe."

Near followed the pleasingly plump lady into another room and glanced
about at the new surroundings. Clothes. They were all clothes.
Millions of clothes and many different styles. What was he supposed to
do? "You can chose what ever you want hunnybee. It's all for your
choice," the young lady smiled, picking up on his hesitation. "All
for..me?" Nate asked. "Yesiree. All of it is in your size and you can
choose whatever you want, I'll have the rest of the style sent to your
room." Nate scanned the wide selecting when an outfit caught his eye.
He pointed and said, "That one." She nodded and flitted off to get the
clothing. "You can go and put this on, all the rest like it will be
sent to you room. Anything else babycakes?" The lamb shook his head no
and went to get dressed.

Near looked into the mirror and decided he liked what he saw. The
super white pajamas matched his hair colour and complement his sliver
eyes. They even covered up his arms and legs, so he could continue
his.. self-therape. He almost smiled as he spun around in the 360
mirror. He stepped out and found a note that read 'Hey Hun, couldn't
wait for you to change, busy busy busy bee, me. Anyway, just thought
to let you know to go up to your room hunnypie. Hope you like it. I
styled it myself ;-)' Near smiled inwardly as he took note of how kind
Miss Pauv was. He started up the winding back staircase.

His room was on the fourth floor, the one to the left at the end of
the hall. He place the cool, metal key into the lock and twisted it
till he heard a resounding clicking. Slowly turning the knob, the
lamb's eyes widened as he took in the window-lit room.

The room was completely snowy white. It resembled Near in many ways,
very orderly and bright. The floor was covered in a shag carpet,
perfectly white, the walls, the same colour, reflected the light from
the single large window on the right of the back wall. First walking
in, you could barely see the bed, as it was hidden by a door leading
into a crystal and porcelain bathroom. The bed, however, was lofted
with a bare desk underneath. In the corner, layed an untouched set of
building blocks.

Holding his breath out of discomfort, Near stuffed the children's toy
into the closet, only then could he relax. He was panicked, but still
held fast to his concealing mask. Wandering out of the room and back
down to Rodger's office, he began to feel erie, like someone was
watching him. He knew why he felt that way. The blonde boy from before
was still glued to his thoughts.

Taking a detour from Rodger's, Near scuffled his way into an empty
room. The storage room, he recalled, was also occupied by some
students for use as a club room. The first thing he noticed was the
numerous manga books and video games, and so he deducted that it was
of use for a gamer's hideaway. Then he recalled the boy next to the
blonde child, who had carelessly touched the blonde child. He was
holding a handheld game. And then he saw them, behind some boxes in
the dimly lit room.

The mysterious juveniles sat with their eyes glazed over, in front of a
large lit up screen where characters were being blown up left and
right. The goggles on the redhead with stripes were also illuminated.
The other boy was wearing a black shirt, mimicking those in France.
Near sat there and twirled his hair until one of them noticed his
presence. "What the hell are you doing in here? Club members only."
The blonde stated emotionally, his pubescent voice squeaking when he
strained the word only.

"I merely came to investigate what type of pawns Wammy's had." Near
replied with his monotonous voice. His eyes drifted towards the
blonde's face, amused at the blatantly pissed expression. "Yeah well
this room is off limits sheep. Beat it." Again, his voice cracked at
the word 'this'. "Very well then." The white boy stated calmly and
turned to leave, which only irritated the boy even more. Why wasn't he
reacting? Near could almost hear his readable thoughts and smirked
inwardly.

"Wait. What's your name?" The blonde child looked defeated, as though
he played a one-sided game. "Near'" who stopped at the door
just in time to hear him reply, "I'm Mello."