A/N: Hm… I'm not sure what to say in this note… this chapter might be a bit more difficult because I have little direction in it. Well… I have some but I'm not too sure how it's going to flow. Whatever. Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing!! That's what's keeping this story going as of now. So, thank you all!

Disclaimer: Like always, I do not own Death Note or any of the characters. Please do not sue!

Chapter 10: Sleeping in the Rain

The city was not as I had always remembered it from the very few times I had been there. I believe that the night setting was part of what made me think of this.

I had always remembered the city to be bustling in one way or another, and the stores always seemed open and welcoming.

However, now things were quite the opposite. There was hardly anyone walking around –and the people that I did see I tried to ignore, for they were quite shady looking. As for the buildings, they were dark and closed up now. I could still see inside some of them, and at that point they appeared to just be frozen in their spot.

I was not sure how to take the sights around me… how to even imagine what life had to be like living in such an environment.

And at the same time, I was completely shocked by how dark and desolate the city was now.

"Most of the time," Mello began, brining my focus back to him, "I'd spend the day getting money, and night with you. I'm used to just sleeping a few hours now, since after that I always had to leave."

I gave him a small, confused look. Why was he telling me this?

He must have picked up on my confusion, for then he elaborated. "We don't have anywhere to go here, in the city. It just wasn't needed before now."

My confusion stayed, but I understood what he was saying. I watched the way his blue eyes flicked here and there, though I wasn't too sure of what he was looking for.

"So what is your plan?" I finally questioned.

"Well obviously any normal place is out of the question, considering the time."

"Perhaps it would have been better to stay a while longer at Wammy's." I said, thinking aloud.

He instantly glared at me, "You're the one that wanted to come with me, Near, now we're just going to have to deal." He stated.

I watched him for a moment longer before I let my gaze drift to the ground.

Of course he was a bit irritated with me now, I knew he still didn't like this idea of me coming with him to the city. But that was the only option I'd favored at the moment.

However, as I looked around at out surroundings and I realized what I'd really gotten myself into, it was hard for me to think I had been thinking logically about it at all.

What had I been thinking? I was in no way built for living out here, like this. No… Mello was more capable than I.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons why he had declined letting me go too, in the first place –he'd known this is what it was going to be like.

As my eyes were drawn back to him, I wondered what else he had known about, but I didn't dare ask… for I didn't want him to get even more irritated at me again.

"I understand." I finally replied back to him.

I heard the way he sighed… like he was mentally scolding himself for letting the irritation show.

But how could he not? That kind of thing was just in his nature… and how little he displayed clearly showed his heightened level of self control.

I didn't say anything more to him… even though I really did want him to tell me more. I was desperate to know what thoughts were going through his mind. What could he be thinking about? A multitude of things… I was sure.

Finally, after another long few minutes of silence, Mello finally pulled me down one of the dark alley ways. I felt my defenses go up immediately… more than a bit frightened by the fact that I wasn't sure where we were headed now, and that I couldn't see what was in front of me very well.

I stopped in place, trying to wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the alley, and soon let my eyes trail up to the heavens for a reason that I wasn't too sure about.

Thick clouds were rolling across the sky, blocking out every star, as well as the moon. It was cold out already, and the lack of lighting did nothing to assist in resolving that problem. I could only hope the ominous clouds above didn't mean snow would be falling soon.

All of a sudden I felt Mello's hand take mine once again, which surprised me into looking back down. His blue eyes were shining through the darkness as he watched me.

"Come on." He told me before pulling me along, further into the darkness of the empty alley.

"Where are we going?" I asked, hoping the fear of this place didn't show through in my words.

"To where we're going to sleep tonight." He told me, as though it was the simplest thing and that I should have known it.

"Here?" I asked, as monotone as I could.

"I already told you, Near, there's nowhere else we can go. I've been sleeping with you back at Wammy's for the few hours I could before dawn. Therefore, finding a place here was useless." He explained as we finally reached the back of the alleyway.

"I see…" I said simply, having registered that beforehand, but not so much what that would mean.

Mello slid down the side brick wall and let his head rest back against it. I simply sat in front of him awkwardly, unsure of what I was supposed to do now. I was positive that sleeping in such a place, with strangers lurking everywhere, would be a near impossibility.

Mello gave a small chuckle before he took my hand and directed me closer to him till he was able to pull me wholly into his lap.

I tensed instantly as he shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it, as best as possible, around both of us. "Mello?" I asked, looking at him in obvious confusion.

"This'll be fine for now… it's not that bad." He said, surprisingly positive for once.

I watched him as his arms wrapped securely around me. If Mello could be positive about this situation, perhaps I could fool myself into believing it as well. After all, I had already done it once before.

This was nice… I guess… at least this way I would be able to wake up with Mello here… that would be a first. And being away from Wammy's meant I wouldn't have to deal with Matt, or anyone else's questions or suspicions.

But then the realistic side of the argument began to show itself, and I couldn't begin to fight it off. The reality of this was, was that we were not in a safe position here… anything could happen. Also, this was no way to live. There was just no way that we'd be able to do it for a long period of time.

But I sighed anyway and let my head rest against him –listening to his heartbeat as my eyes closed. I would have to try and somehow push away the reality of this situation and live on false hopes… despite how much I did not like the thought of it.

Living on false hopes meant ignorance, and blindness to the rest of the world around you, and I did not like that.

All of a sudden, there was the low sound of rumbling from the skies above us, and the noise instantly made my eyes open.

Mello cursed under his breath and I felt the way his head moved up to watch the sky in the same manor that I had just earlier. I wondered what he was thinking now… was he planning something? Or cursing at how unfortunate it would be? It was hard to tell, and I knew that even if I looked up to his blue eyes I wouldn't be able to find the answer in them.

We remained silent for a while longer, the only thing breaking it was the low rumbles of thunder off somewhere in the distance… but I could tell by the growing volume of them that the storm was getting closer to the city.

My fingers clenched the material of Mello's shirt… knowing what was bound to happen and needing to feel him there for an unknown reason.

And then, as if on cue, I began to feel small raindrops hitting my face, which I instantly flinched at in surprise.

"Wonderful…" Mello said sarcastically, with an exasperated exhale, so I knew he must have felt it as well.

My eyes closed once more as the raindrops became more frequent. I tried not to think about it… about how we had no way to escape this rain. And also about how much I despised being outside in such weather as this.

The rain began to pour now, and every couple of minutes a clap of thunder rang overhead. My eyes remained sealed closed but I pushed myself closer to Mello, and tried to curl up into as best of a ball as I could. I didn't like this one bit.

I felt Mello pull me closer, and wrap his jacket even closer around us… even though we both knew it was only going to do so much.

His face leaned down once again into my hair that I knew was now completely wet from the rain, as drops fell from the strands onto me. I tried to hold back the shiver that wanted to escape as a result of the cold air mixed with the equally cold rain.

"Sorry." Mello's voice said through the rain. His close proximity to me helped me be able to hear him. "We'll look for a better place to stay tomorrow."

Finally, my eyes opened and I looked up to him, and I knew there was question in my eyes, but I wasn't too sure what I was trying to ask.

He gave me a small smile back and kissed me once before leaning back against the wall and holding me close. "Hopefully it doesn't get much worse." He said as his eyes closed.

I said nothing in response, just continued to watch him through the rain, and watch the way his hair hung limply in his face while rain soaked through it and dripped onto his skin and shirt.

With his eyes closed, he looked just as serene as he always did when asleep… but now it just seemed different because of the situation. It was as though I was seeing him not for who he was, or how he appeared to me, or even anyone else. But instead I was seeing him for all the things he was doing.

How much had he already given up, and done in order to ensure that we had just 'one more night'? That in itself showed me how incredibly true he was to everything that we'd created now.

"Just try and sleep for now." He told me as I felt his hands roaming my back, till his fingers found my spine and were able to being tracing it in a relaxing manor.

I did as told, resting my head once again against him and closing my eyes and shrugging the jacket up more on me and trying to rest as my mind focused on both the chilling rain that fell upon us, as well as his fingers on my back.

For some reason, it made this seem not so bad… as though… I could deal with any of this, so long as he was here with me.

A/N: Alright, so that actually turned out to be longer than I thought it was going to be. I've had the idea for that chapter in my mind for a while now… and I really don't think it came out exactly the way I wanted it to… but that's alright… because I guess that just means I have to work even harder on the next chapter. Let me know your thoughts!

Please review!
-Forbiddensoul562