This chapter was written right after I asked about the Wammy boys ages. So I ended up with Matt being 14, Mello being 13, and Near being 11. Mello acts like an arse in this entire chapter, but it was just my first impression of him. I will make him better later. L isn't in this one, and I know it's probably bugging you guys, but I promise he will be entering the picture soon.

Death: Today I think I will have Near do the disclaimer.

Near: I think that is for the best.

Death: You talk just like L does.

Near: I know *Panda smile*

Death: You are so cute!

Near: *Rolls his eyes* Deathcomessoon does not own Death Note, nor does she own the Characters. If she did Mello, L, and Matt would not have died, but she doesn't and they did so...

Death: Way to make things awkward.

Near: That tends to happen.

Death: Still awkward...

Search For The Sun

Chapter 7

Day 16

Dakota was sitting in the back seat of the car with her legs crossed and her head leaning back against the expensive leather seat.

She was slightly uncomfortable with wearing skinny jeans for such a long car ride.

She was watching as the buildings of the new country whipped by quickly.

She had never even left the state back in America, and now she was going to be living in England.

She was pleased that this country was where she was staying.

Dakota was very intelligent, but always had trouble learning different languages. She had only been able to learn Spanish and French.

It had taken forever for her to learn the pronunciation of the words in the French language, but she had done it eventually. She could now speak fluently in french, but she still stumbled over certain words in Spanish. She knew enough to have a conversation, but she probably wouldn't be able to travel to Mexico.

Aden was laying with his head resting on her thigh, he had fallen asleep a little over thirty minutes before.

Dakota didn't mind seeing as they had been riding in the car for over an hour, and she was growing tired herself.

She leaned her head against the cool glass of the window noting that the longer they drove the less buildings she saw..

Soon where the buildings had been there was large grassy fields spotted with cows and sheep.

Dakota's eyelids were growing heavy, but widened considerably when she heard the sound of screeching tires.

She turned her head just in time to see a car heading straight for them.

She shoved Aden roughly to the other side of the car, and jumped to join him.

He had woken just as the other car crashed into them. The car flipped into the air landing on it's roof.

Dakota cried out as she shielded Aden's face with her arms, seeing as he had been facing towards the point of impact, and allowed the glass and debris to slash through the thin sleeves of her black shirt.

She felt a sharp pain in her middle of her lower back as the car stopped moving entirely.

She reached back to feel a piece of hot metal stuck deeply in her flesh.

Dakota wrapped her fingers around it and gave it a small tug, giving a loud yelp at the sharp pain.

She cursed quietly under her breath when it didn't come out, and tried again, this time tugging roughly almost desperately.

She succeeded this time, but pulling it out seemed to be a mistake as the blood began to rapidly pour from the deep gash and stain the dark material of her jeans.

Aden gently pulled her into his arms as he saw the crimson dripping onto the leather interior of the car.

Silent tears were running down her face, going for the most part, unnoticed by both parties.

The salt from the tears burned slightly as they dripped onto her wounds.

Aden raised his sneaker and kicked the tinted glass window of the car.

It took him a couple tries before the glass shattered.

He lifted her through the newly made hole and set her down on the concrete of the street before crawling through himself.

He had managed to get only small cuts due to Dakota's quick reaction to the accident.

Dakota's eyes were closing, as he called out for help.

She reached for his hand, holding it tightly, as her heart tried it's hardest to continue beating.

Her small hand felt like ice against his warm skin.

"Dakota stay awake!" He shouted shaking her shoulders roughly.

"Why?" She whispered, her small body shaking with blood loss.

"We're here," He said, his voice not longer frantic.

What? She thought looking around, where?.

Dakota found her eyes were closed and opened them.

She looked herself over for injuries, but couldn't find any.

"What happened?" She asked, looking to his calm face.

"You fell asleep and started to scream again," He told her worry evident in his shining gold eyes.

"I was sleeping?" She questioned confused.

Her dream had been so vivid this time she actually had thought she was dying.

"Yeah. What it that nightmare again?" He asked, patting her head softly like he would a dog.

"No, it was different this time. We were in a car accident and I had been injured badly. I was laying on the pavement next to you, and then I closed my eyes," Dakota mumbled, resting her right hand over her heart.

She almost smiled when she felt it's steady beat.

The dream, no, nightmare had really gotten to her.

The car pulled up to a large Gothic style gate where it stopped and waited for it to open.

The exterior of the building matched the style of the gate that surrounded the grounds.

It was beautifully built and had probably six stories to it.

Most of the windows had midnight black or maroon curtains blocking the view inside the building.

Dakota's hand tightened around Aden's, as the car rolled to a stop.

The second Dakota stepped out of the vehicle, it was as though she had stepped into a fog.

A sharp pain ripped through her head.

Her vision blurred as her legs shook under her weight.

She suddenly was falling toward the ground.

"Dakota!" Aden yelled as he caught her.

She looked up at him, but she stayed silent.

She was too busy trying figure out which one of the five Aden's was the real one.

She knew they weren't really there, but she couldn't help reaching up to touch his face.

Her hand went right through him.

She furrowed her blond brows and and tried again, this time her fingertips actually making contact with his face.

He lifted the petite girl into his arms, and carried her toward Mr. Roger.

He had one arm wrapped around her back and the other under her knees.

"Where is her room?" Aden asked shifting her weight in his arms.

"Follow me," Mr. Roger said, walking into the building.

Aden silently followed him, making sure not to lose him in the empty halls.

It was hard to keep up with him, while carrying Dakota, but he managed.

She curled up against his chest unsuccessfully trying to ignore the spinning room.

She closed her eyes, and tried to figure out what made her so sick.

She felt Aden lower her to a soft surface, but didn't open her eyes.

He sat by her side and slipped his hand into hers.

"Yo Roger. Is that chick okay?" A male voice asked from the doorway.

"I'm fine," She mumbled opening her eyes and sitting up. "I'm just dizzy."

Aden was sitting by her side, his eyes narrowed dangerously at a boy who was standing by the door.

The boy's green eyes were hidden by a pair of bright orange goggles.

He ran a gloved hand through his reddish brown locks.

His outfit consisted of a tan vest over a black and white striped shirt, plain jeans, and a pair of black combat boots.

"Yo, I'm Matt or M," He said walking to the side of the bed. He looked around the room. "I guess it's true. L did decorate this room for you."

"I'm D. This is A," Dakota pointed to Aden, who was still glaring at the boy, "What did you mean by L decorated this room?"

Matt got a look on his face like he just let a big secret slip.

His green eyes widened almost noticeably under his goggles and he got an embarrassed smile on his face.

"Well, I should go! Nice to meet you D!" He called practically running from the room.

"Well that was different," Aden laughed standing up.

"I will have a maid deliver your things to your room later," Mr. Roger shut the door behind him as he left.

Dakota took this chance to look around the room, on the wall above her bed the was a large D in old English font.

The thick comforter on her bed was midnight black while her pillow cases were white.

There were two wood doors, one she knew led to the hall, the other she assumed led to a bathroom.

There a desk in the corner that looked exactly like the one that had been in her art room at home.

Everything about it was the same, down to every last drop of paint.

She walked over to it and looked through the drawers suspiciously, all of her art supplies was in it.

All of the drawings she had pulled off her walls, were in the drawers.

"Wow those are good," Aden said looking over her shoulder.

"I drew them," Dakota said lifting one up. She pointed to the lower right corner where she always signed her initials. "See."

"This L person must really like you if he brought this here for you," He said looking through more of the drawings. He found a picture of Dakota and her Mother, and pulled it out. "Who is this?"

"That was my Mother," She said, gently taking the picture from him and putting it in her nightstand.

She didn't want to look at it, not yet at least.

"She was beautiful," He said sitting in the chair by the desk.

"Yes, she was," Dakota said smiling fondly.

She laid back on her bed and stared at her ceiling, her head still slightly spinning.

Aden laid beside her on the medium sized bed.

They were both staring at the ceiling silently, when someone knocked on the door.

Aden got up to answer it.

"Yes?" He questioned, holding the door open.

Standing there was a boy, twirling a piece of his paper white hair around his finger.

He was wearing a pair of pure white pajamas. His dark gray eyes immediately went to Dakota.

"I should go find my room." Aden told her, leaving her with the strange boy.

"So you are D," The young boy stated with an emotionless voice.

"Yes, I am. And you are?" She sat up in her bed and crossed her legs.

The boy walked into the room and sat in her desk chair, pulling his legs to his chest.

"I'm am Near," He pulled a brightly colored robot from his pocket and started to play with it, "I decided to meet the girl L seemed so interested in."

"Who is this L everyone keeps going on about?" She questioned, reaching into her pants pocket and pulling out a green jolly rancher.

She stuck it in her mouth, and savored the sour taste.

"If you were supposed to know, you would have been told," He continued to play with his robot. "Do you like puzzles?"

"Yes, I do," She replied, almost laughing at his serious tone.

He looked up at her with carefully blank eyes.

"Do you wish to play with me?" Near inquired, slight curiosity present in his usually emotionless voice.

"If you want me to," She standing and walking to the white haired boy's side.

Near gave her a almost nonexistent smile before grasping her hand and leading her from the room and down the empty hall.

He kept his grip on her hand, and was holding his robot tightly in the other.

He stopped in front of a door, and released her hand.

She followed him inside, and found she was in his bedroom.

Everything was plain and white, except for the dozens of robots sitting on shelves everywhere, which were all differently colored.

She moved to sit by him on the floor where had a pure white puzzle with a L in the top left corner.

Near lifted the puzzle above his head and dumped it onto the floor scattering the piece.

He looked up at Dakota as though saying, 'Are you going to help me or not,' and began to assemble the pieces.

"How old are you Near?" Dakota started in the lower left corner, and worked her way up.

She found it a little confusing, since all the pieces were white.

"Eleven. And you?" Near almost chuckled as he watched her struggle with a piece.

"14," She answered, finding the place for the piece she was holding.

"Why are you here?" Near inquired, twirling a lock of colorless hair around his finger.

"I don't understand what you mean," She said, looking up at him with her wide green eyes.

"Wammy's is a place for exceptional children. You must have some talent otherwise you would not be here," He lifted a small finger puppet that resembled himself.

"I'm considered a genius by normal standards," She told him, taking another green jolly rancher out of her pocket and offering it to him.

"Hn," He took it and put it in his mouth.

They had soon had finished the puzzle and started one that was very similar to it, except it was black with a white L.

After they were done with that one Near dumped it back on the floor and, with her help, reassembled it.

He didn't say much, but would observe her from the corner of his eye.

He noted that she seemed to stare off in space with a strange look on her face.

She would soon wake up from her 'trance' and help him with puzzle.

"I'm going to the kitchen, do you wish to join me?" He questioned, standing.

"Yes I would," She said brushing imaginary dust off her pants.

They walked down the basically empty halls, only a few younger children ran down the halls occasionally stopping to stare at the new girl.

"How many children live here?" Dakota asked, looking at the painting that adorned the walls.

Most were extremely expensive looking, being signed with fancy lettering at the bottom.

"20 counting you and A," He walked through the doorway that led to the kitchen.

Matt was sitting on a bar stool at the counter next to a boy with shoulder length blond hair.

The new boy was reading what looked like a article from the news paper.

He had an expensive looking chocolate bar in his right hand.

"Yo, D!" Matt called, motioning her to them.

She walked to Matt's side with Near following her close behind.

"Hello Matt," She said, looking at the blond boy as he glared at Near.

If looks could kill, Immediately came to her mind.

She had an urge to push the 11 year old behind her, and protect him from the vicious glare the boy was giving him.

Near didn't seem to mind, he just twirled a lock of hair around his finger.

"This is Mello," Matt informed clasping a gloved hand to the blond's shoulder.

"It's nice to meet you Mello," She said smiling widely at the blond boy.

He turned his glare to her, and angrily bit off a piece of chocolate.

"Whatever," He turned away from her to glare at Near again.

This time she did step in front of him.

"Stop," She requested her face that had before been smiling was now completely serious.

"Stay out of this!" He growled, standing up.

"I haven't ever even talk to you before, and you treat me like a bitter enemy. And you can't glare at someone like that and just expect me to stand for it. I don't care if it doesn't bother him. You are older than him, so act like it!" She spat, her eyes narrowing at the chocolate loving boy.

Mello stood there not saying anything for a while, his dark blue eyes staring in disbelief at Dakota.

She kept her intense gaze on him, still standing protectively in front of Near.

Not many would have said that to him, and this girl had been smiling at him only a moment before.

He turned and walked from the room, muttering low curses under his breath.

He slammed the kitchen door behind him.

"Sorry about that D," Matt apologized.

"You shouldn't be," She sat in one of the bar stools, "He shouldn't have been glaring at Near."

"Him and Near have been enemies for a while, I don't think you can change that," He told her, sitting on her right side.

While Near sat on her left.

"He is not my enemy," Near said stacking sugar cubes that were sitting nearby. "He just seems to think he is. I just ignore him most of the time."

"I don't like how harsh he was towards you," Dakota declared.

"He's always been like that," Matt informed her.

She furrowed her brow and reached for a orange that was sitting in a nearby fruit bowl.

She started to peel it's skin off with her nails.

She offered a slice to Matt who took it and thanked her.

"Do you want a slice Near?" She asked holding one toward him.

"No," He pulled a toy robot from out of his pocket and set it on the counter.

She shrugged and continued to eat her orange.

"D!" She heard Aden's voice yell.

"In the kitchen!" She called back. Aden burst through the door panting. "What's wrong?"

"Come on!" He shouted grasping her wrist and pulling her from the room.

Matt and Near followed behind them quietly.

"What's going on?" She asked, struggling to keep up.

"That," He said stopping in front of her door.

Her eye narrowed as she saw what he was talking about.

Someone had wrote 'Whore' and 'Bitch' in big black letters on her door.

Then below that was a -M written in permanent marker.

"I wonder who did that?" A voice commented. Dakota turned to see Mello leaning against the wall smirking. "I personally think it fits you."

Nobody saw her clench her fist until it was too late.

Her small fist crashed into his nose with amazing force.

She gave a large grin when she heard a satisfying crunching noise.

She had never been so angry before.

Mello fell to the ground his hand covering his bloody nose.

He looked at Dakota shocked, he hadn't thought she could punch that hard.

He whimpered as his hand brushed his nose.

Dakota suddenly felt guilty about her action and knelled beside the younger boy.

Mello scooted back quickly when she reached for his face.

Using her index finger, she tilted his chin upward and wiped some of the blood off his nose with her other hand.

She looked up at Aden with her guilt written all over her face.

He personally thought she was to compassionate.

The boy, Mello, deserved to be hit and deserved to be in pain for writing that about her.

"Will you get me a washcloth?" She stood, pulling Mello up with her.

He nodded and hurried the other direction.

She opened her, now ruined, door and led Mello to the door she was she was her bathroom.

Once inside she found it was pretty big.

She closed the lid on the toilet on pushed down on Mello's shoulders to get him to sit.

Near and Matt had followed them in.

Simply watching as she tilted his face skyward to slow the blood.

"I'm sorry. I acted like a child, I am such a hypocrite," She mumbled the last part to herself, pressing a wad of tissues to his nose.

He winched and closed his eyes.

"I sort of deserved it," Mello argued, "I shouldn't have wrote that kind of shit on your door."

"I still shouldn't have hit you. I let my emotions control me too often," She sat on the counter, keeping his chin tilted.

"I got the nurse here with me," Aden panted walking in the bathroom.

A older lady was following him, her brown curls bouncing with each step.

"Move over darling," She commanded Dakota who scooted back further onto the counter. "I'm Miss Bailey. It's a pleasure to meet you, deary. Now let's take a look at that nose of yours Mello."

Ms. Bailey shooed everyone from the bathroom, so she would have space to work.

Dakota was pacing back and forth past the end of her bed, where the others were watching her.

Matt suddenly stood and grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Stop," He requested, pulling her to sit on the bed.

"I didn't mean to hit him so hard," She confessed bringing her knees to her chest.

Surprisingly Near is the one that answered her.

"I think you did mean to hit him, because his actions hurt your emotions. You were already angry with him and weren't thinking straight, so when he mocked you, you lost the control you had over your anger," Near guessed looking up from his spot on the floor.

She gaped, he had known exactingly what she had been thinking.

She sighed and reached up to run a hand through her hair.

Matt's hand shot out and gripped her wrist.

He lifted her hand in the air showing her it still had blood all over it.

"Thanks," She smiled, putting her hands in her lap.

Mello walked out of bathroom a piece of cloth covering his nose.

"All I can recommend is keeping ice on it and taking some painkillers," Ms. Bailey said to Mello handing him a bottle of ibuprofen. He took and sat in Dakota's desk chair. "Boy I will never know how you get yourself hurt so easily. How did you fall down a flight of stairs anyhow?"

"My boots are a size too big, and I tripped going down the stairs," He told her eyes flickering to Dakota's.

"What am I going to do with you?" Ms. Bailey groaned, exiting Dakota's room.

"Thank you Mello," Dakota sheepishly moved to stand beside him. "For not telling I mean."

"Sure sure. You didn't mention the door. So I guess I owe you one," He broke off a piece of his chocolate and ate it.

"We should go get some ice for that nose of yours," He grimaced at the thought of more pain.

She rested a hand on his shoulder and lead him from her room, the others simply followed them.