xxxReadySteadyGoxxx: lol what a coincidence! Btw thank you!! P you should check out my other DN story, I Can't Love You But That Doesn't Mean I Don't.

mediate89: lol she is kind of a brat… P what is it you don't like though??

OoOlady heatherOoO: ty!!

NOW ON WITH THE STORY!

Somehow during the night, Hitomi and Near both ended up in the middle of the bed instead of the sides, with Hitomi lying sideways, facing Near but with her head under his chin, and his arm wrapped around her waist. Like two people passionately in love, though Near and Hitomi were far from being passionately in love.

Near and Hitomi both woke up at the same time, staying awake in their position for at least a few seconds before fully realizing.

"Ah!" They both screamed, pushing each other away from each other, Near going to the far right and Hitomi to the far left. They pushed each other with such force that both ended up on the floor.

"Ow," Hitomi grumbled, rubbing her head. "Why the HELL were you hugging me?!'

"Excuse me, but why the hell were you cuddling me?!" Near shouted back

"You're a pedophile!" Hitomi stuck her tongue out at him.

"We're the same age, dumbass." Near rolled his eyes.

"Oh…" Hitomi blushed out of embarrassment. "Well you're a molester then!"

"And you're a whore for cuddling a molester!" Near snapped.

"So you admit it?" The brunette smirked, arms folded across her chest. "You're a molester."

"I am not!" Near stamped his foot.

"Aww, is the little baby mad?" Hitomi teased in the voice most people use when they talk to babies or dogs.

"I hate you." Near glared at her.

"I-I hate you more!" She stammered.

He smirked to himself. She's so lying.

He is so lying… right? She thought heading to one of the many bathrooms.

"Are you done yet?" Near was faced a white bathroom door.

No response.

"Are you done yet?" Near repeated.

No response.

He opened the door, only to be meted by a high pitched scream.

"GET THE HELL OUT!" Hitomi screamed, covering herself with a towel.

"You should've said you were in here." Near covered his eyes with his hand, speaking in a harsh tone.

"I WAS LISTENING TO MUSIC!" She responded, pointing to the earphones in her ears, connected to an IPod. "Now go!"

Near turned on his heel, heading out the door. He put his hand on his head, rolling his eyes.

That girl gives me SERIOUS migraines.

Near was seated on the usual floor, playing with his race cars, twirling his white hair, opposite from Hitomi who was continuing her never ending terrorist list against Light. A big fancy script 'L' appeared on the many monitors and a voice spoke.

"N," the voice said. "Kira has just reported that he is going to kill a few well known criminals on Sakura TV tonight at seven. And he also said that he is going to want to meet you soon."

"I'm sorry, but that is not possible now." Near said. "From what we know, he can kill without a name. Which criminals is he killing?"

"The ones involved in the Black Dahlia murder."

"That happened in the 1940's in AMERICA!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"Have a girlfriend, do we?" 'L' said.

"It doesn't matter." Near growled. "What do you mean the 'Black Dahlia' murder?"

"One occurred a few days ago in southern Japan, similar to the 1940's one. Body drained of blood, cut in half, and discarded in an open field so it's easy to find."

"For all we know, Kira might have killed that person too!" Hitomi exclaimed. "Because Kira is a sick, vile person who should be shot and go to hell."

"This is none of your business!" Near glared at Hitomi, who scowled back.

"It's as much my business as it is yours!" Hitomi growled. "We're wearing on this case together. The Task Force, not the Near Force."

"Hitomi!" Aizawa said, grabbing the girl from behind and putting his hand on her mouth.

"Mmmmph!" Hitomi struggled to get free, but gave up quickly, glaring at everybody in the room.

"You were saying?" Near turned back to the screen.

"Kira also said in the tape he wants to meet you."

"I know. You said that already. But that is out of the question." Near replied.

"Okay. That's all we have for today." 'L' said, and the 'L' on the screen disappeared.

"Any new evidence?" Near asked the task force members, who in return, shook their heads.

"Oh." Near continued to play with his race cars.

"I guess we leave earlier than usual," Near murmured. "It's only nine thirty."

"It was a slow day," Hitomi bit her lip as she and Near went to the penthouse above the headquarters.

Near unlocked the door hesitantly as they both went inside. Near sat down on the rugged floor, coloring something inside a coloring book and twirling his hair. He didn't know where Hitomi had run off to, and he didn't really care. That girl was annoying and he wanted her dead.

But at the same time, he didn't want her dead. He just sort of… wanted her. He couldn't explain it, but those moments when she isn't a total annoying airhead are the moments where he finds her sort of… pretty. Maybe not supermodel pretty like Misa Amane… but sort of the small-town girl pretty. The kind of girl who lives in a town that nobody knows about since it's in the middle of the woods with a lake and a farm or two. Small-town girl pretty.

He just sat there, coloring. What a fantastic evening. But he was so absorbed in it; he didn't notice somebody kneel down in front of him.

"Near?" the voice said. It was Hitomi.

"Yes." He said, not really sounding like a question.

"Whaddya want to eat?" Hitomi asked.

Near looked up at her. She was wearing white Soffee TM short shorts with a red shirt. Over that was a red Scottish style plaid zip-up sweatshirt. Her brown hair was in a messy bun with her bangs (which were started to grow out in front of her eyes) clipped a little to the side.

"Pasta." Near said nonchalantly. He had no idea why she wasn't being a pain in the ass, or saying how he was never gonna get laid because his d-i-c-k was so small (which it wasn't!).

"Okay!" Hitomi smiled lightly, getting up.

She stood in front of cupboard, hands on her hips as she looked for the pasta package. When she finally found it, she couldn't reach it. Near smirked to himself as she pulled a chair in front of the cupboard, stepping on it, and got the pasta (and just about knocking down everything next to the pasta).

Hitomi started to boil water, staring at it for about twenty minutes before finally calling out "It's not boiling."

"There's a myth that says if you stare at water it won't boil." Near said.

"Like when you sneeze people are talking about you?" Hitomi tilted her head to once side.

"Yeah, kinda." Near nodded.

Hitomi went back to cooking (erm, attempting to cook!). She dumped the pasta clumps in the boiled water, stirring it and adding various ingredients. She bit her lip as she stirred it, flipping through a cookbook that she got from God knows where. Hitomi looked into the pot like she was looking into a well. She scrunched up her nose. "Ew."

"What happened?" Near sighed.

"It's all clumpy," Hitomi stuck her tongue out.

"Try un-clumping it with that wooden spoon your using." Near offered.

"Okay," Hitomi said before bashing down on the clumps. "Hey, it worked!"

Near remained silent as she continued cooking. A few minutes later, Hitomi set two plates down on the table. "It's ready!"

Near stood up, walking to the table. He sat down across from Hitomi, and began to slurp his pasta like Hitomi. He grabbed a bottle of 'sauce' Hitomi set on the table, dumping the contents all over his pasta. No sooner had he put it in his mouth had he spit it out and started gulping milk.

"What happened?!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"That's not marinara sauce! That's bloody hot sauce!" Near panted.

"Well, sorry if I can't read Spanish!" Hitomi snapped. "Here. You can have some of mine."

"Are there anymore plates?" Near asked.

"No," Hitomi replied. "I kinda sorta maybe broke 'em when I was getting these two plates. Come on, let's just share a plate."

Near unwillingly moved so he was seated next to her. Near and Hitomi both ate the same way, getting one piece of pasta in their mouth and slurping it in. Near looked the other way at the clock, Hitomi looked the way opposite of him at a plant. They both began slurping their pasta, but the pasta was they both had in their mouths was a long string of pasta. They slurped it down, still not looking at each other as the pasta brought them together. The string was down to it's last inches, their lips a few inches away from one another's, eyes still unaware. They looked at each other at the same moment and noticed that if Near puckered his lips, they'd be kissing. The only thing between them was an inch long string of pasta, one end in Hitomi's mouth, the other in Near's.

Hitomi blushed bright red, Near blushing a pale pink. But neither of them let go of the pasta. The two blushing fourteen year olds both bit into the pasta, so it broke and they weren't connected by an inch of pasta.

"God, that was so cheesy!" Hitomi blushed. "Like the scene from Lady and the Tramp!"

Near looked down at hit hands. "Y-yeah. I guess so."

They both sat in an awkward silence before Near spoke up. "It's getting late."

"Yeah, we should get to sleep." Hitomi bit the corner of her bottom lip.

They both went to the master bedroom, changed into their pyjamas. Near crawled onto the right side of the bed, and Hitomi on the left.

"Near?" Hitomi said once the lights were off.

"Yes?" He responded.

"Sweet dreams." Hitomi blushed two feet away from him, but he couldn't see it. Not in the dark. "And one more thing," her voice shaked.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" Near asked. He could hear her breathing unsteady.

"No." She responded, and then said in a whisper: "I'm afraid of what's in it."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked her.

"Well, when my mother was still alive, she had to work really late. And my baby sitter didn't show up some days, but I didn't tell my mom. Well one day," Her voice started to grow into a whisper. "I was in my room, and it was dark. My closet was right across the room from bed, and I was deathly afraid of the boogeyman, because of one Halloween when I was three when people decided to scare me with it... My mother usually stayed with me in my room until I fell asleep. But not that night because she was working late. I was around five, and I decided 'There's nothing in there' and I went to the closet to close it. I wanted to show my self that there was nothing there…

"But there was. There was somebody in the closet. And when I reached for the string to turn on the light of the closet, h-he came out from behind my clothes that were on the hangers. He was wearing a terrible mask that looked like a rotting face and a long black cloak. He grabbed me by my neck and lifted me… and then he took out a knife and cut me in random places. Then he told me how my father REALLY died and what he did to these people at a… a college and showed me a video of him torturing them… and he t-tortured me… and when I tried to r-run he said… 'Are you scared yet?' And then he said that there's always something hiding in the dark." By now Hitomi was actually crying as Near 'processed the data'.

Without thinking, Near crawled over to where Hitomi was, and flat out laid down on top of her. "I'm the only thing in the dark."

From how close he was to her, he could see a blush across her tear stained face.

"If anything comes out of the darkness, it's screwed." Near said. "I'll kill it."

Hitomi smiled, and then wrapped her arms around Near. "Thank you!"