Author's Note: I'm very sorry that it took me two weeks to get this chapter up. Normally it will take about a week per chapter, but the last two weeks have been a little hectic and so it took me longer than normal. Next week I plan on getting two chapters up to make up for the week I didn't post one.

Anyway, I love to hear from my readers so if you guys have any suggestions on where you want this story to go please tell me. You can either send it to me in a PM or just put it in a review. I can't promise that I will use your suggestion, but if I like it and it fits in with what I already have planned, I will be sure to include it. And thank you to everyone reading this; this story has already gotten over 100 visitors! Please enjoy and make sure to send me your suggestions!


Chapter 3- Waiting

Mello stood under the house's awning to avoid the frigid rain. Despite the fact that it was still January, the temperature had climbed just high enough for it to rain. The rotting awning allowed the water to drip through; it pooled around Mello's feet.

Mello checked the clock on his cell phone again. Matt was late. He looked down the small dirt road in vain.

They had decided it would be best to go into hiding since the police would pursue them after kidnapping probably the most famous person in the world. So that morning in the hotel, they had each packed a duffle bag with the few belongings they had with them. Matt had thrown his in the trunk of his car and Mello had taken his to the warehouse and put it in the cab of the moving van.

Rather than risk trying to leave the country, they would meet in Biei, Hokkaido, a small farming town. They had decided an obscure location would be best, and with a population density of only 16.7 persons per km², Biei was perfect. An added bonus was that it was far away from Tokyo, which is where the police would be looking for them first. In fact, they had estimated that it would take about a day to drive there. Traveling by plane or train would have been faster of course, but this is one of the things the police would be looking for, and the purchase of tickets could easily be traced.

They decided to meet at the house Mello was currently standing in front of. It was old and slightly run down and had been up for sale for over a year according to the real-estate website. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a field. The website claimed that the field would bloom lavender in June. Mello found it hard to believe that the frozen wasteland surrounding him was capable of producing plant life. The only indications of life were a few slivers of dead grass poking through the melting snow.

When Mello had first arrived, he had picked the lock on the front door and had checked out the interior. The internal cavities of the house were not in as bad of shape as the exterior would suggest. It was extremely dusty but was otherwise in decent condition. The house came fully furnished, which gave Mello the impression that the old owner must have died. They hadn't really discussed it, but since the house was in living condition, Mello figured this is where they would end up living. It would be an added risk to buy the house, but otherwise they wouldn't be able to get the electricity and heating turned on. They could live without electricity if they had to, but since it was still winter, it would be difficult living in northern Japan without heating.

They had figured Mello would arrive first, but even so, it wasn't supposed to take Matt this much longer; Mello had been standing on that porch for now six hours. He could have waited inside, but with the way the house was angled, he wouldn't be able to see down the road in the direction Matt would be coming from.

Mello looked at the clock on his cell phone for what must have been the hundredth time. "Idiot. What could be taking him so long?" Mello muttered to no one in particular in an attempt to convince himself that he was more angry than worried. Despite his best efforts, Mello was becoming less angry and more worried with each passing second.

What if he doesn't come? How long am I going to wait here before I go find a TV and check the news to see if he is dead? Mello frantically shook his head to clear his thoughts. No, I can't think like that. He'll get here eventually. He can't die.

Mello had texted Matt as soon as he had arrived at the house, but Matt had never responded. As he stood there worrying, he checked his phone for any new texts. Nothing. He punched Matt's number in and waited for it to ring. Instead, it went straight to voicemail. "Hey, this is Matt's phone. Sorry I can't answer right now. Leave a message and-." Mello hung up. It was physically painful for him to hear Matt's voice believing he might be dead. He knew that he should find out if Matt was dead, but Mello was too afraid to check the news; what if it confirmed his fear that Matt was dead.

Mello remembered when Matt had told him about his dream. He normally didn't put much stock in things like premonitions, but Matt dying was too big of a risk to not make some changes to their plan. Mello had considered that he might end up dead as a result of the kidnapping but not Matt; Matt wasn't supposed to die.

• • •

So when they had sat in the hotel room at three in the morning, Mello had tried to think of a plan that would allow Matt to live if not himself as well. Because any changes made to their original plan could cause something unexpected to occur, Mello kept the alterations as minimal as possible.

Since the Japanese police seem to have made it their policy to shoot on sight, he had decided that it would have to be top priority for Matt not to get caught. Breaking him out of jail wouldn't be an option if he were dead.

Mello had planned a series of escape routes for Matt that were designed to shake the police off his tail. They would lead south, away from Biei, but would eventually loop back around and head to Biei. It would lead Matt two hours out of the way, but Mello was fairly certain it would keep him away from the police.

Mello's plan of action was only modified slightly. On Matt's insistence, Mello had promised to make sure that Takada didn't have anything with her that she was hiding under the blanket. But the only way to do this was to not allow her the blanket which made Mello rather uncomfortable. It wasn't that Mello hadn't enjoyed seeing her naked body, after all, Takada was an attractive woman, but the fact that he enjoyed it made Mello feel like a pervert.

Regardless of this, Mello was glad that he hadn't given Takada the blanket; she did, in fact, have a cell phone, a small slip of paper, and a piece of a pencil she was trying to hide. Mello had figured out what the paper was as soon as he saw it and that she had planned to kill him. He confiscated the three items and exited the van, locking Takada in.

He drove to the abandoned church in Nagano, checking the TV only once. It had confirmed that Matt was still alive. When he arrived, he pulled into the church and went around to the back. He unlocked the back doors and stepped in. He tossed the cell phone to her and told her to call whoever she had planned to, saying that she had killed him. After he threatened her, she did.

She called Light Yagami and after hanging up said that that was all she had planned to do. Mello, however, didn't buy it and threatened to kill her if she didn't hurry up and finish whatever she had planned. So she texted someone she referred to in the text only as T. In return, he sent her a list of names. Mello had understood immediately. This was bad, if Takada was the one actually performing Kira's duties for T/X-Kira then it was possible that he didn't even have the real notebook anymore. Yet this was the important message that she was supposed to receive. Mello had known that he wouldn't be able to get anything else out of Takada so he took her cell phone back.

Mello removed his motorcycle from the back of the moving van and locked the back doors. He went around to the front and grabbed the duffle bag; he threw it to the ground next to his motorcycle. He leaned against the wall and stared out the gaping hole that had once housed a door. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. X-Kira was supposed to be the one in charge of the killings; everything was decided around this fact. The only thing Mello had known for certain at this point was that he would have to kill Takada. He didn't want to be responsible for another death, but there was simply no way around it; he couldn't leave someone alive who knew his face and, based on Matt's dream, his name.

Mello glanced at the van. He needed to get out of there as soon as possible which translated to killing Takada as soon as possible. He pushed off the wall with his back and stood up to his full height and started back towards the van.

He stopped suddenly. Was that the smell of smoke? He ran to the van, unlocked the back doors, and opened them slowly. Takada had set fire to the interior of the van somehow and was calmly sitting in the corner. So X-Kira does have his notebook then. Mello had shrugged and walked back to his motorcycle and threw the duffle bag over his shoulder. One less thing for me to do, he had thought as he climbed on the motorcycle and started the engine. He had turned on the GPS on his cell phone and pulled out of the church.

• • •

But these events seemed like a lifetime ago to Mello as he paced the length of the porch. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to check the time again. The sun should have set by now although the dense clouds made it hard to tell; the sky looked only a little darker than when Mello had first arrived.

Mello stared down the road, willing Matt's car to appear. If Matt's dead because of me, after everything he had done for me, if Matt is dead because of my plan, I will never forgive myself. When I needed him after I blew up the Mafia hideout, he came without question. I didn't even say goodbye to him when I left Wammy's but he still came and took care of me when I couldn't go to a hospital. All I've ever done is cause him trouble.

Mello turned around and paced back in the opposite direction. He stopped abruptly about a foot from the edge of the porch. Was that the sound of a car approaching? Mello whipped around. He saw headlights making their way down the road in the direction of the house. It was difficult to tell with the headlights blinding him, but it looked like Matt's car. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking. Mello watched the car intently as it made its way closer and closer to the house.

The car stopped in front of the old house. The headlights were extinguished and the engine quieted. Matt stepped out of the car.

Thank you, God. Mello breathed a sigh of relief, truly relaxing for the first time in days.