"Homesickness"

(Yuki's Dream)

"Aw, come on guys. You always do this." Mika whined, looking back and forth at Yuki and Kai. Luna stomped out of the kitchen, her face had batter on it and her hair singed slightly at the ends. She didn't look all too happy.

"I'm ordering pizza tonight." She announced angrily, walking back into the kitchen and yelling profanities at the mess she probably made.

"Pizza." Yuki said in the most enthusiastic voice she could muster, which wasn't much.

"Yea." Kai did the same, while Mika just laughed at Luna.

"D-did you see her face?" She laughed harder, "I wonder what she did." She got curious and walked over to the kitchen. "Need help-" She stopped dead in her tracks.

"You might want to watch where you step." Yuki heard Luna say from in the kitchen, their voices were light. Yuki set the book on the coffee table and focused her hearing on them.

"My god! What did you do?!" Mika screamed, in the middle of her giggles.

"Don't make fun of my failure!" Luna yelled back, she then heard something crash onto the wall behind Mika.

"GAH!" Mika yelled, dodging what looked like a pan. "It's not my fault you can't cook to save your life!" She retorted.

"Here we go again." Kai mumbled, still flipping through the manga.

"I can too cook! I just can't bake. You try it!" Luna was probably shaking her fist at the girl. Yuki could picture every expression the older woman would make when she was angry.

"I'll order the pizza." Yuki stated, standing up from the couch. Kai was probably the only one that heard her, seeing as though Mika and Luna were having a screaming fit. Which was always amusing to hear. Yuki picked up the phone and dialed the Pizza Hut number, ordering a few pizzas and Luna's favorite soft drink. Pepsi.

Oh how she hated Pepsi...

It was about 20 minutes, and the two girls had cleaned up the kitchen together after their fight. Mika and Luna always fought, sometimes it was for fun and sometimes they did actually get pissed at each other. Yuki heard the doorbell ring, so she stood up.

"I'll get the cups for the drinks." Luna stated happily. Mika looked over at her and smirked widely.

"Better not burn that too." She said sarcastically, crossing her arms.

"Why you!" Yuki ignored them and opened the door, the delivery guy gave her a total amount.

"Right.." Yuki answered him. Mika ran by the door screaming, while Luna was chasing her with a pan.

"Get back here! I'LL KILL YOU!" Luna yelled psychotically going by the door, the delivery guy's eyes were focused on the commotion. He looked like he saw a puppy get murdered or something, with the way his eyes bugged out of his head. Mika had locked herself in the bathroom, which was followed by a series of large booms and crashes. No doubt, Luna was hitting the door with the pan.

"Here you go." Yuki said impassively, as if she didn't notice two crazy women running around her house threatening each others lives with kitchenware. She grabbed the boxes from the man and closed the door in his face.

"Pizza is here." Yuki said loudly, quieting down the rowdy girls. They flocked around the food like birds waiting for their feed. They both tried to grab the biggest slice. Which then started a glaring contest between one other.

Kai came walking into the room slowly, grabbing a plate to put his piece on.

"I want it!" Mika whined, with her empty plate in her hand.

"Well it's my house and I get it!" Luna said proudly, flipping her hair to the side of her face. Kai grabbed the piece they were currently fighting for and sat at the table. Mika seemed to take notice to this. Yuki rose an eyebrow and grabbed her glass of water. She then took a long refreshing drink of her ice cold beverage.

"I called that piece first you jerk!" Mika yelled at Kai who just stared at her indifferently.

"It didn't have your name on it." He mumbled, picking it up to take a bite.

"I'm going to tell Yuki you have a crush on her if you don't give it here." Mika threatened in Japanese, thinking no one else could understand her. Yuki's eyes widened to the size of saucers and she spit her drink out. It sprayed in front of her like a waterfall, and she started to cough uncontrollably. Luna patted her back.

"Aww, what's wrong Yuki? You didn't hear anything that you weren't supposed to hear did you?" Luna comforted, trying to tease her. She coughed a few times before responding.

"I don't know what you are talking about." She cleared her throat and grabbed her food.

"Wait...you can understand Japanese?" Mika asked, startled.

"No." Yuki deadpanned, pulling her pizza up and taking a bite out of it. She tried to look disinterested, but it was starting to get difficult.

"Yes." Luna corrected, smiling. Mika started to laugh really hard.

"She was joking." Kai finally said, referring to Mika's statement about him liking Yuki. That kind of made her relieved, she didn't need a human boy liking her that way.

"One would hope so.." Yuki sat down at the table, her plate had four or five slices on it.

That morning..

That dream from last night was still clear in her mind, making her aware of her homesickness. She'd never thought she would have gotten so close to two humans. Or that they would have accepted her for what she was, nonetheless.

It was probably still early in the morning, which would explain why she was still so tired. The alarm she'd set next to the bed had yet to go off and the sun wasn't even peeking through the curtains. Not that it would have been, considering the ungodly hour Near and Rester wanted her to get up.

Grumbling slightly, she shifted a bit and snuggled into the pillow next to her.

Yuki was silently grateful that they'd decided to sleep in a hotel. Luna would have just opted for sleeping in a car at a rest area, making her remember the sore muscles she'd often wake up with.

Someone moved a bit next to her, bringing their arms around her body. This made her eyes fly open and her body tense up greatly. Panic arose within the young girl, thinking of who the hell it could be. Her heart sped up with adrenaline and she had to suppress her reflexes. She'd have sliced the person in half if she wasn't careful. It'd happened before...

'Holy shit, who is that? What are they doing in my room!?' She squeaked inwardly, trying hard not to move as to wake the other presence.

Her thoughts moving a million miles an hour as she thought of a few ways to get out, maybe yell for Rester? He was next door, after all. From what she remembered that was.

Rester and Near were sharing a conjoined hotel room and she thought she'd locked it.

Did someone gain access to her room with a spare key? Yelling for help would be too risky, she didn't want to hurt another human...

Not after...

They moved again, bringing her closer. Yuki was on the verge of hyperventilating as she peeked up to get a good look at the person from underneath her curtain of hair. She couldn't see that well, it being still dark in the room and all.

She slowly inched her hands up in front of her chest and placed them forward, getting ready to push the person off of her bed. Maybe if she was careful-

Her alarm started to go off, the loud buzzing making her almost jump out of her skin!

There was one problem, though, that she'd noticed as the annoying sounds vibrated through the air like an annoying car alarm in the middle of the night.

It was in the other room.

Someone sighed in the other bed that was behind the figure that she was in bed with. Yuki's mind was clouded with fear as she thought of a way to get out of the room fast.

She knew she was in their room, but how did she get in here? She didn't know. To save her from the embarrassment of them waking up to her possibly being next to Rester or Near, she had to think quickly and leave!

"Near?" Rester's groggy voice sounded from a few feet away, followed by the bed creaking from him probably sitting up. She could hear him go to the other room to unplug the alarm and come back, sitting back on his bed. Rester sighed, mumbling something about Yuki probably not getting any sleep because she wasn't in bed.

'Shit.' Yuki cursed, almost saying it aloud. 'Too late...how do I explain-'

The small girl could literally feel the blood drain from her face as she felt his hands pat her body, probably wondering what the hell it was. Of all the times she sleep walks and hides in bed with someone that's not Luna, it had to be him. It just had to! It would have been easier to explain it if was Lider or Rester, because they are much older.

Lidner wasn't here...and Rester just happened to be the one that she didn't choose. Great. Just great...

Not to mention the fact that Near also had insomnia, and he just happened to be sleeping?!

'You've got to be kidding me...'

Near's body shot up in a sitting position and the only thing Yuki could think of was to cover herself with the blanket, effectively hiding herself from him.

Yuki could hear the light switch on. They were both, without a doubt, probably looking in her direction. The small bundle underneath the blankets. She shifted onto her side, facing toward them, and peeked part of her head out of the blankets.

She was met with the dumbfounded expression of the older man in the other bed and the blank expression of a familiar white haired individual.

"Uhhh...hello..." Yuki managed to, albeit unwillingly, say to them. Her normal monotone was replaced with a nervous, almost squeaky version of her voice.

She tried her hardest to keep a dull look in her eyes, but she could feel the blood starting to rush back into her face. Yuki was probably as red as a tomato.

"Care to expla-" Near started to say, but was cut off by Yuki.

"I don't know." She blurted nervously. "Uhh...W-when I have dreams...sometimes...I-I."

'Shit, I can't even form a coherent sentence!' She cursed inwardly, making the situation worse. She could feel her hands starting to shake and her stomach making an odd twisting feeling.

"I understand."

"Wait, you do?" It was her time to feel confused, although she still couldn't make eye contact with the boy.

Her answer was only met with a nod. She didn't want to be in here anymore. What a great way to start the day...

She pulled the blankets over her face and groaned. That's right, he'd installed cameras in their rooms when Luna was still with them. She'd climbed into her bed a few odd times, which would explain his knowing about it.

'Stupid...'

She'd had a dream about one of her memories. Around the time Mika and Kai first started to live at their house with them. She recalls it just like it was yesterday. They'd always have conversations in Japanese, thinking that Yuki couldn't understand them.

The memory made her smile softly, her eyes shifted toward the light outside of the vehicle she was being transported in. Despite it being winter outside, it was quite warm in the car.

Today was the day they would finally move into a new building for the SPK. Hopefully then, she could help a bit more than just sitting around and listening to conversations.

The car ride was rather dull, as she sat there staring out the window. Little was said on Near's part, which didn't surprise her. He never really talked, unless he had a lead and was speaking to his lackeys. Although, he seemed to be staring at her excessively and it was starting to make her nervous.

She let out a sigh as she watched the building zoom passed her vision trying to ignore the boy. Snowflakes raced by the window, seeing as they were in a moving vehicle.

Last night's dream made Yuki realize just how much she missed home. Sure, it was nice being here and all. But she had friends back where she belonged, too.

Even though she knew that the chances of her making it back were slim, she still thought about it. What may happen if she went back. She really liked being human, though. Even though she was much more limited, power wise. She still really liked it.

She felt much … freer. If possible. Even with limitations set upon her vectors, she still felt much more freedom than she did in her original body. It was a nice change.

The limousine came to a shaky halt. It made a sputtering noise before it finally died completely. Which was odd to her. She'd never really experience much car troubles when living with Luna. She kept good care of her machinery and didn't have many issues that bothered Yuki directly.

After much discussion, they'd decided to go to a nearby cafe to get some breakfast as the driver called for a new car. A tow truck was also on it's way, from what little she'd heard in the call that was made.

Picking at the eggs and toast placed before her, she thought about what it might be like to go back and spend just one more day with her friends.

Which brought another question to mind. Where had the Mika and Kai of this world gone? She knew that Yuki Emmett was childhood friends with the pair, but she couldn't quite remember what had happened and where they'd gone. Everything was just so fuzzy in her mind.

There wasn't much talking at the table, seeing as though Rester and Near were the only other two there. They weren't exactly chatter boxes. Not that Yuki minded. She was just used to some type of noise going on while she ate. Whether that be her sister rambling on about her day, or even the sound of the TV in the background.

Today it was just a silent meal at a cafe that barely got any customers. She was sure on a regular day they had more, but it was already so late in the morning. She figured that most people were at their jobs or school already.

Yuki looked up across the table and saw that Near was doing much the same to his plate as she was hers. Picking around at it. How does he even function correctly without eating enough to sustain himself?

"You know, you could make yourself sick if you don't eat." Yuki mumbled, grabbing her egg and eating it in one bite. As if she were to make a point by doing so.

He never really answered when she spoke to him most of the time, and if he did it wasn't even an answer to her question or related to her statement. This time, however, his only reaction was to shift his gaze up to her and stare at her for a moment.

She used to think his stare was creepy, but not so much anymore. It used to make her feel uneasy, because of the similarities between L and himself.

But now, however, she would only feel an odd flipping sensation in the pit of her stomach. Luna had explained to her many times the different reactions people had on each other. Friendship, family... but she hadn't been taught about this. It frustrated her.

Near looked back down at his plate, picked up his toast and took a small bite.

Well, at least Yuki knew he could hear her. She let out a frustrated sigh as she did the same, although her bite was more of a vicious chomp compared to his small dainty bite.

Even Rester was staring up at Yuki, now. Was it not normal to be hungry? Though, she knew she was just trying to keep her thoughts elsewhere. Otherwise it would only lead to her making a fool out of herself. Like the many other times things like this happened.

How irritating.

"Can I have a large coffee of the day?" A small voice could be heard from the check out counter. It sounded familiar, making Yuki turn her head in that direction.

There stood a small woman with wavy brown hair, a soft smile on her face as she paid the cashier.

Why did she look like...

"Mika?" Yuki blurted. It was obviously loud enough to make the woman's head turn. Her eyes lit up with recognition as she looked at Yuki's familiar pale face. A man stood just behind her, following slowly behind the woman as she ran toward Yuki's table.

"Yuki! Is that you!?" She sounded giddy as she made her approach.

"Yes."

"You're better? I told Ashley to call me with updates!"

"Updates?" Yuki was confused, why would Ashley need to update Mika. Wait...

"You went unresponsive for so many years, we'd thought you would be like that forever..." Her tone died down a little, her smile faded with her mood. "But I'm glad you're okay. How long has it been since you've gotten out of the hospital?"

"Almost a year now..." Yuki mumbled, standing up from the seat she was in. Rester and Near sat quietly, probably watching the whole thing. Surely Near knew about her friends. What little ones she did have stuck around and had a big impact on her life even in this world.

Near

"You know, you could make yourself sick if you don't eat." Yuki mumbled from across the table, grabbing her egg and eating it in one bite. This action made the boy blink a few times. He was silently wondering why she felt the need to be concerned about his well being in the first place. It was odd to him.

Though she'd said before that he was important to L, so in return making him important to her.

That didn't, however, explain why he constantly caught himself staring at her at random periods during the day. Such as, earlier in the car. Yuki had actually smiled, genuinely. Which left him to wonder what it was that made her make that expression.

Was she important to him as well?

Near found that he liked her smile, it looked good on her. He wondered if it was possible to get her to do it again.

He looked back down at his plate that he'd been previously picking at and picked up a piece of toast and took a small bite out of it. That should suffice, or at least get her off of his back about his eating.

Yuki let out a frustrated, almost nervous sounding sigh and took a monstrous bite out of her food. Bread crumbs still on her face as she stared up at Rester.

He imagined the older man was probably looking at her oddly, which would explain her face. It practically said 'What the hell are you looking at?'

She wasn't in a good mood this morning, he knew that. Near had figured it was because of what had happened this morning. He even had to admit, he was even a bit flustered about that incident.

"Mika?" Yuki's voice cut the boy out of his thoughts, making him shift his attention once more to the young girl. Her face seemingly lit up, a smile tugging at her features.

"Yuki! Is that you!?" A squeaky sounding voice responded from behind them.

That's right, the young girl had friends too. He'd remembered some of the information stored in one of L's computers that he found. There wasn't any important data, but a few mangas that he overlooked and some information about Yuki.

Some of it seemed to have been deleted, though. Seeing as though a few pages from his 'journal' had been erased.

"Almost a year now..." Yuki mumbled, standing up from the seat she was in. Near peered up at Yuki quietly, listening to the conversation progress. Although deep in thought, he could still listen at the same time. Another skill that he had.

If he remembered correctly, the only two people she kept in contact with besides Ashley (Now known as Luna) was two siblings that had been in the same school as her as a child. More than likely childhood friends. Mika and Kai. Mika was the brown haired woman that had cheerfully greeted her just now. All that remained was-

"Yuki..." A deeper voice breathed, to which he assumed belonged to Kai. A taller man walked up to her, his semi-long hair covered the expression that he was making.

"K-Kai?" She stuttered as he embraced her. Yuki's face was hidden from Near, making it hard to tell what she was saying. He'd mumbled something in response but he didn't know what it was.

"I'm fine...don't worry." She'd pulled her hand up to pat the man's back, although a bit awkwardly. Near could tell she wasn't used to this kind of interaction.

Normally the young boy wouldn't care about the happenings of others. At this point in time, however, he felt the strange need to push the two away from each other.

Yuki

Yuki stood there, with a dumbfounded expression on her face as Kai embraced her. He'd mumbled a few things into her hair about how he was worried about her.

He hadn't changed much from what she last remembered. Or, at least she thinks she remembered. Seeing as though those 'dreams' seemed to have embedded themselves into her memory.

The Kai of this world acted the same as he did in her world, she noticed. Protective, caring, and he even hugged her. Which made her feel a bit uneasy, with the two other people at her table probably watching the whole thing unfold.

He pulled her away from his chest and his gaze bore into hers. Yuki didn't know what to do. Pushing him away seemed like it would be too harsh. He had an odd look in his eye, though. She couldn't identify it.

She felt his hand gently grab her face, making her blink in confusion. What was he doing? Before she knew it, his face was starting to get closer and closer to hers. Yuki could practically feel his breath he was so close.

"What are you-" The young girl was cut off by Kai as he pressed his lips against hers. This odd action made the girl's eyes widen in shock.

Ah, right. She remembered what this was, now. She'd seen it happen in a few movies she watched back in her world. To which Luna explained 'romance'. Kai was kissing her, she'd realized.

Yuki didn't understand the concept of kissing. What was so great about it?

Yuki was slowly pulled back to reality when she heard a soft gasp from behind Kai, she confirmed it was Mika, and the sound of a chair being pushed away from the table next to her. She pulled her face away from his to look to her right, seeing Near walking away toward the exit.

Had she done something wrong?

"Wait...Kai." Yuki pushed him away gently with her small hands, peeking over at him. "I don't understand." The girl frowned, not liking the reaction that she'd just caused. Should she have not let him get that close to her?

She had no way of knowing what Kai was going to do, it startled her.

"Yuki, I-"

"Near, wait." She cut him off walking in the direction of the white haired boy. He didn't seem to turn around or even acknowledge that she'd addressed him. "Hey, listen to me."

She didn't even know why she was stopping him from walking away. What did it matter to her?

He still didn't answer.

"I'm trying to talk to you!" Yuki blurted loudly, grabbing his hand and stopping him from walking outside. Near was starting to frustrate her and he didn't even do anything! The small girl felt kind of bad for raising her voice, but it was to get his attention.

Was he mad? If so, why?

Near

He didn't even know why it'd upset him, their actions. Maybe it was because Yuki didn't pull away right away? He couldn't see her reaction, so she didn't know if it was a mutual kiss.

Stupid. This was all stupid, he'd thought on his way to the door. He ignored Yuki's calls for him, not wanting to face them right now.

"I'm trying to talk to you!" She yelled, grabbing his hand and keeping him from going any further.

Near stopped abruptly, feeling the girl bump into him from behind. He snapped his head back and stared down at her.

"Do you need something?" He asked, his voice coming out a little colder than he'd have liked. Yuki's grip loosened a bit on his hand as a hurt expression crossed her face for a split second.

"No, I...I..." She stuttered. The siblings walked over to the two, Mika looked red in the face, as if she was embarrassed. Kai's expression looked the same way Yuki's did just a second ago.

"Oh my god, Kai! She has a boyfriend already, what were you thinking!?" Mika seemed to overreact, her arms flailed everywhere further emphasizing her shock.

"I didn't know, I'm sorry." Kai coughed, looking at the white tiles beneath his feet. Near blinked. Boyfriend?

"W-wait, whuuuh?" Yuki snapped her head in Mika's direction, a stupid look adorn her face. In all the time he'd known the small girl, he never saw her make a show of so much emotion all in one moment like so.

It was like confusion, shock, and embarrassment all in one expression. It was kind of amusing. Near brought his free hand up to his hair and started to twirl it around. The uninvited feeling that he'd felt in the pit of his stomach was slowly receding.

"Can I have my hand back?" He asked casually, watching as her face went from a dark pink to a dark red color as she looked back at him.

"I-" She let go of his hand, pulling it close to her chest. Yuki's eyes seemed to have gotten a bit wider, betraying her normal bored expressions. She then started to fidget around uncontrollably, making Near smirk a bit.

"Yuki, are you okay?" Mika asked in a concerned tone, Kai looking the same way. Although he seemed a bit upset that she probably didn't return his obvious feelings for her.

"Ummm. Well, I-." Yuki looked over at the two, then back at Near. She was obviously flustered, and he'd seen this happen before to some of the girls that had a crush on Mello back at Wammy's house. He rose an eyebrow at her at the thought of Yuki feeling that way about him.

It didn't bother him like he'd expected.

'THUD!'

"Eh?!" Mika squeaked, looking down at her friend sprawled out on the ground. Near blinked confusedly, Kai doing the same. Though Kai looked like he'd at least tried to catch Yuki, but he wasn't fast enough.

"Smooth move, bro." He commented dryly, referring to the fact that he didn't even make an attempt to do anything. His dark brown eyes showed disappointment toward the white haired boy. Near had just stood there and watched her fall forward, hitting the ground face first.

"Yuki! Are you okay?" Mika yelled, kneeling down next to her and shaking her gently.

"Auuughh..." She groaned in response. Before she'd fallen, one could even imagine smoke was starting to rise from her head.

"I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that Mika's guess was wrong." Kai murmured, seeing Yuki still half passed out on the cold floor.

Before Near could answer the boy, Rester walked over to the scene and looked down at him.

"The limousine has arrived, we can leave now." He stated formally, looking down at Yuki.

"A limousine!?" Mika's high pitched voice entered his ears again, making Rester flinch and look down at her. Near opted to ignore the girl.

"I understand, can you please carry Yuki?" Near motioned his hand down at the young girl, who had yet to sit up.

"I'm fine." Yuki's voice had returned to normal, although her body remained plastered to the floor. Her head rolled to the side so that she could stare up at the group. "I can walk myself to the vehicle, thank you."

Near rose an eyebrow, feeling a bit doubtful about it. She'd just fainted on the ground and she says she's fine?

"Your nose is bleeding." Kai kneeled down, pulling a napkin from his pocket and helping her into a sitting position. "Here."

What is it with people and having random napkins in their pockets?

Wait, forget about it. She didn't wanna know.

Near watched as the boy dabbed her face gently with the white napkin. His concerned face said it all, he'd probably felt this way about her for awhile. He felt that feeling in his stomach start to rise again, making his mouth morph into a frown.

"Don't scare me like that...I don't want to lose you again." Kai let her grab the napkin for herself and she scooted away from him slightly, needing space.

"I'll be fine." She commented dully, getting into a more comfortable position on the ground. She then started to get up.

"You said that last time! Look what happened? You almost died, Yuki. You're just lucky the rope didn't snap your neck!" Kai was upset, probably about when she'd tried to leave this world. Near did admit, he didn't like the idea of her being gone. At all, actually. Even if it wasn't because she'd somehow died.

Kai stood up as well and grabbed the girl by her shoulders, forcing her to look at him.

"Yuki, I love you..." He whispered, almost pitifully. Yuki only stared at him with a confused look on her face.

"Love?" She asked, looking as if she were trying to remember something. "Isn't love what you feel for close friends and family?"

"No, Yuki. Not that kind of love."

"Then, what kind of love is it?" She really was oblivious, that girl. He could hear a slapping noise as Mika planted her hand right in the middle of her own face, shaking her head.

Kai's face was hidden by his long hair and his body shook. A small chuckle soon turned into loud laughter. Yuki just stared up at him, her face returning to it's original blank expression.

"You're so cute sometimes! Hahaha!" He wiped away a stray tear then looked down at her with a big smile on his face. "You really haven't changed a bit..."

Near shook his head and turned around, walking out the door. He knew that they'd follow him, but they needed to leave. He had things to do and information to absorb.

"I still don't get it..."