Title: Candy Kisses [Chapter Eight
Author:Endless-Kaoru
Rating:M
Disclaimer: If I owned Death Note, there would be a lot more Matt, Mello, and Takeda, a lot less Soichirou, and Misa wouldn't exist.

Warnings:bullying, cussing, and enough angst to drown in.
Summary: It didn't make sense, though, because they shouldn't have cared about her.

Candy Kisses

Chapter Eight

The men had all gone, and the girl had been left in the mirrored room, alone with her own mind; it was torture. Were they planning on leaving her here, bloodied and bruised and hurting so bad? For how long? For what reason? Did she do something wrong?

"Who did this to you, sweetie?" one of the men had asked, handing her a lollipop. It was green apple flavored. She accepted it, but only set it carefully on the floor in front of her.

"Were you told not to say anything?" the man had persisted when she didn't reply. He picked up the lollipop and offered it to her again, "Its okay. You can go ahead and eat it. Don't you like green apple?"

She didn't respond. And the man finally left with a sigh, letting the candy treat lay on the floor for her. Had she made him mad? She didn't mean to… She unwrapped the candy and ate it in hopes that he would forgive her.

And now she was alone. No one ever came to offer her another lollipop, even after the green apple one was long gone. She buried her face in her arms and whimpered. They were going to leave her here; she did something wrong, and they were going to leave her here.

It felt like forever when the door finally opened, but she'd already readied herself for isolation. Intrusion on that isolation only scared her, now.

It was a man… a tall, lanky man, wearing a hooded sweater and a hat and sunglasses. He looked nothing like the men from before. But he must be with them. She couldn't make this man upset, or he'd leave her, too.

A pale hand was extended toward her, and the man asked, "Would you like to come have some cake with me?"

She was scared… terrified. Her mind flitted through possibilities. What if he wasn't with the other men? If she went with him, would they be mad and come after her? But if he was with them, then they would be upset if she didn't go have cake with him…

Voice wavering, mind worn out, she asked softly, "…Are there strawberries on top?"

He smiled a bemused smile, and replied, "If you want strawberries on top, then that's what we'll get."

She hesitated further, "Who are you?"

The expression cleared, "I am L."

She'd heard that name. Father had hated him. Father had said that L was just some pompous bitch with nothing to do but stick his nose in other people's business. She told L this. He retracted his hand, and she panicked.

Her hand shot out and grabbed his pant leg, "I'm sorry! Don't leave!" And she was crying, afraid; afraid that he'd get mad, afraid that he'd leave, afraid that she'd be left alone in the dark again.

"…I won't leave." He finally said, and he patted her head.

And she'd never met the man before in her life, and she had no idea what he might want from her, but she fell in love with those words and believed them without a doubt.

Aurora watched as Matt and Eliza played some card game together. She'd opted out, because she didn't know how to play many card games -- L hadn't really had the time to play them with her, and while Watari had taught her a few games, they were all little kid's games. But even though she'd done so of her own will, she still felt a little left out. Like a third wheel or something. Like she was watching a couple of newlyweds that she didn't know.

Eliza was so devoted to Matt; it looked so obvious. And Mello, too. She was a little envious. Matt was so kind to everyone, and he was so gentle. It wasn't surprising that he had admirers. Mello and Eliza were both free-spirited, too, and they stood up for what they believed in. Eliza was pretty, and lively; she would look good in a wedding dress, standing arm-in-arm with Matt, Aurora decided.

She wondered if they would invite her.

Aurora was too scrawny, and she was too quiet, and too passive, and too meek. She knew that she didn't at all deserve to be friends with any of them, but she was thankful that she was. Because she wasn't sure what she'd do otherwise.

"I'm going to the bathroom." She told the card-playing pair; it was a lie, but she had to do something.

"Okay." Eliza barely glanced up, so enthralled with the game. Matt nodded.

Aurora slipped out of Matt's room and wandered about the halls aimlessly, passing by classrooms and teacher's offices and a menagerie of other rooms until she found herself in the common's room. The huge picture windows looked out over the fields, empty now but usually occupied by the boys playing soccer. The common's room was usually empty this early in the morning, and she liked to come here sometimes to be alone. But someone was here, today; a tiny boy seated by one of the picture windows, working diligently on a puzzle. She'd seen him around before; he was almost always alone. Matt had called him 'Near,' and said that he was Number One around here. Mello was jealous of him.

Before she'd even processed the thought, she was moving forward in silence, nearing the boy. Before she'd thought through it, she crouched beside him and asked, "Are you lonely?"

The boy looked up, dark, emotionless eyes studying her before he replied simply, "No."

"Why?" she stared back.

Near didn't respond to her question right away. His eyes looked so much like L's. It made her heart ache.

"Are you lonely, L-san?"

"No."

"Why?"

"…Why do you ask?"

"Because I am."

"Why do you want to know?" the pale boy finally asked her.

She smiled a little bit, looking away, "Because I am."

Near's eyebrows furrowed a little bit, in thought, but he didn't say anything. He seemed to have abandoned his puzzle for the moment.

They remained silent for a time, Near eventually asked, "Why?"

She couldn't answer that. She didn't know how. Instead, she responded with, "Can I play with you for a little while, Near?"

He silently slid the milky white puzzle within her reach, and she studied it for a few second before adding a piece to the area he was working on.

There was a chorus of snickering, and a girl picked at Aurora's t-shirt, "Look at this! What do you spend all your allowance on? Games and sodas?"

Another giggled, grabbing a fistful of hair, "Obviously not decent clothes or a haircut!"

There were more comments, and Aurora just stared down at the girls' bathroom floor in silence. Something metallic caught her eye, and she turned her head, but not quick enough. Several inches of hair fell to the floor, and the girls around her began to laugh harder. Aurora bit her lip.

"Look, there are more split ends!" a girl squealed excitedly. Snip! and more dark auburn hair fell to the white tiles.

"Eeeww, Jen, there's hair on your skirt!"

"Oh, gross!" the girl with the scissors handed them off and brushed the strands from her skirt, "You stupid little bitch, look what you did!"

"…I'm sorry." She replied quietly, and someone slapped her.

"Don't talk unless we tell you to, or else we'll tell Matt that you're sleeping with Near!"

Aurora looked up, panicked, "But I'm not--!"

She was slapped again, "What did I just say?! Are you stupid?!"

She trembled in silence. Matt would hate her, he would.

The girl that had slapped her grinned, "If you don't want us to say anything, then you should apologize."

"I--"

"On your knees. Kiss our feet and apologize."

Aurora knelt and did so, "I'm sorry."

"Say 'I'm sorry, my lady.'"

"I'm sorry, my lady."

The girls snickered. Someone kicked her.

"You might as well stay that way. You know it's the position you're in most the time anyway."

Aurora stayed on her knees.

"Say it. Say that you like it on your knees."

"I like it on my knees."

More laughter, "You like Matt, I bet. You're always following him around, like some kind of dog." A snicker, "I bet you wanna sleep with him, too, don't you?"

"…"

"Answer me!"

"I don't."

"Don't lie!" someone kicked her in the ribs, "You do too!"

"Yes, I do." Her side hurt, but she didn't show it. They would only aim for it if she did.

"You do what?"

"I want to sleep with Matt."

She was kicked in the stomach, and the girls laughed, "You stupid whore!"

Aurora lowered her head, sucking breath into her abused lungs.

There were voices in the hallway, and the girls exchanged glances before giggling again. Two of them grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up to her feet.

Another girl laughed, "You should dress like the person you really are!" and she sliced through Aurora's collar with the scissors. Her and another girl tore the shirt down the front, and then Aurora was shoved backward. She cried out when her head collided with the hard wall, and the girls only laughed, leaving her to slump on the floor.

Aurora just stared blankly ahead, silently grateful that they'd left, but also sad they hadn't stayed. These 'meetings' were the only thing that made sense anymore. Matt didn't make sense, Eliza didn't make sense, Mello didn't make sense; her own mind didn't even make sense anymore. But this did, because she knew how to deal with this. This wasn't anything new.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Aurora…?" Matt's voice was soft and hesitant, with an edge of worry. He was so kind and gentle; she really shouldn't worry him.

"Oh my… Aurora! Are you okay?!" Eliza knelt before her, pulling the tattered edges of the other girl's shirt together. That look of fear in her eyes didn't belong there; Eliza shouldn't be afraid.

"Here." Matt pulled off his shirt and handed it to Eliza, turning his back. It didn't make sense; Matt was always so shy about taking his shirt off.

Eliza was pulling the long-sleeved, striped shirt on over Aurora's head, and Aurora didn't put up any resistance. Both of them helped her to stand up, and Eliza draped the other girl's arms over Matt's and her own shoulders.

"Come on. Let's go to the nurse, now."

It didn't make sense, though, because they shouldn't have cared about her.