It wasn't even 4 days after the morning Emily had discovered her nightgown on backwards (something alerting her of a visitor who had dressed her…and obviously didn't care to put her nightgown on properly), when Emily noticed a distinct difference in the atmosphere between her and Mello…

Emily yawned again as she pushed a curl out of her eyes, one hand still typing up the latest report from the seemingly never-ending request pile. It was one o'clock in the morning and yet, here she was, still typing, forgetting about her need to sleep as she continued to type, her attention captivated by the words being composed on the bright portable computer's screen. She fought back another yawn as she smiled proudly, albeit the smile also being sleepy, at her now finished report before saving it and then emailing it to Mello.

Her shoulders slumped a bit now, as did her smile as she remembered why she wasn't just walking the two steps separating their rooms to give the report to him- he was too busy to see her, holing himself up in the surveillance room for days at a time, the only people helping him maintain contact with the world being Matt and a few of the mafia members. Emily sighed and squared her shoulders, rubbing out the sleep out of her eyes-as well as some tears- as she glanced at the list of other report topics, wondering how many of these were really important, and how many were just created for the sole purpose to keep her out of Mello's hair. Emily sighed, a bit annoyed with Mello, knowing him to probably do something of the sort, but the root of her annoyance was deeper than that.

She knew that he was ignoring her-willingly or unintentionally, it mattered not- either way, she was being ignored, point blank period.

Emily sighed again, feeling now how pointless it was to be angry at Mello- he had his mission, she had hers. She should know by now that he didn't care about anything else- just his mission. He didn't give a crap about her feelings, she had known that from the first day at Wammy's. And he probably never would care about her enough to know or to even sense her feelings in the first place. Emily gasped in silent realization as she became aware of something she felt she knew all along, but chose to ignore- Mello could never love her, never could he understand her or care for her. It was useless to start loving him with that in mind…and yet….

Here she sat, on her own free will, thinking about him, caring about him, worried and protective of him. She sighed to herself, letting her past annoyance take root again in her heart, letting the feelings of hopelessness and helplessness turn the annoyance into determination- to either hate Mello, or to forsake him by ignoring him, as he was to her.

She knew that she could never hate Mello, despite him being an easy person to abhor, but only because of her attraction to him, something she now likened to one of those bug zappers that blows up anything that comes close to it. It was because of that attraction did she decide to disregard Mello in any way possible, even though her own heart would take more pain than his would.

With that, she turned her focus back onto the laptop's screen, devoted to the sole purpose of losing herself in something that helped her forget Mello- her research.

It was the next morning when Mello slowly opened his eyes, finding himself still in the surveillance room, the laptop that sat in front of him screen's showing his email account and an open email that was Emily's latest research report. He scowled at himself, feeling as if he had lost precious time by falling asleep before he stood and stretched, deciding to print out the report instead of sitting down again to finish reading it, having no desire to possibly falling asleep again. The last page was just about done printing when the door opened and someone stepped in, a tray of food for him in her hands.

Emily stared at him blankly as if she was staring through him, not exactly at him, face not portraying any emotion as she walked past him and set the tray down on the table. Mello took the moments of silence to notice that her blue eyes had dark bags under them and that she hadn't bothered to change into actual clothes- she had slipped a zip up hoodie over her nightgown- and her raven hair was in a high ponytail. These were trivial details, true, but after being too busy to come into contact with her, he welcomed her appearance gladly.

"Did you get the other reports done?"

Mello felt ready to bang his head on the wall now as he realized that casual conversations usually didn't start out questions like that, especially when the conversations were with Emily, but she nodded quietly. The feeling passed as Emily remained silent while she walked to one of the monitors and devoted herself to taking notes on the pad of paper that had been her pocket as she observed the camera feed that was being transmitted from the hacked security cameras in the Japanese Police's current U.S. police branch. She said nothing as she scribbled down certain behaviors and reactions of the Kira investigation group, completely ignoring the question and its asker, her eyes trained on every face except for Mello's.

Mello shrugged to himself as he asked, "Did Matt inform you of where you'll be going when it's time to leave the hideout?" This was met with a silent shake of the head as the girl continued writing down the psychological clues of who was Kira in the group in question. Mello shrugged again before launching into a detailed description of his plan for the deserting of the hideout, not noticing the slight tremor in Emily's hands as he explained to her that she would be sent ahead to Japan, along with Amy while he and Matt would stay in a different part of L.A. for the time being.

"What do you think?" He asked when he was finished, wondering why she wasn't replying as Emily continued with her task, now noticing her hands trembling, as well as the deliberate silence.

Anger and annoyance built up inside Mello as the seconds ticked by in silence, knowing that this treatment was a far cry from simply not hearing his words. He stomped up behind her, tapping her shoulder and discovering that the term "cold shoulder" had a lot of truth to it as he felt almost as if a freezing wind was emanating from her when she turned to finally look at him, her cold blue eyes becoming frozen as she hissed, "What do you want?" The piercing glare escaping her eyes shocked him, never seeing this look in her eyes before. It was odd how her eyes could now both scorch and cold and piercing, as well as warm at times. Especially because her eyes' color was closer to ice than fire.

"What's wrong with you? You never act like this…" Mello replied, now matching her glare with his. Emily continued to glare, as she muttered, "What do you think? You're always focused on one thing- winning! You don't even consider someone's feelings! You're being selfish again! I hate that about you! You ignore things that could possibly make you happy! AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!" She yelled shrilly, glaring and scowling at him, knowing that her angry defense was weakening, that the pain this morning had already caused her was soon about to show.

Mello's eyebrows were raised despite his scowl as he yelled back, " WHAT DON'T I KNOW? EXPLAIN! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

They both glared at each other, Emily not replying, knowing that if she broke the silence, she'd have to surrender, Mello knowing that if he spoke, he'd be surrendering as well. She finally looked away,turning away before turning back to him, her face portraying an emotion other than anger- sadness, hurt and confusion.

"You wouldn't understand. I don't care anymore…I'll try not to anyways…But you wouldn't understand…you don't have time for it…you're too busy for it, if you're too busy to even saw hi to me when we pass in the hall…you…just don't care."

Tears now splashed on the cold floor as she mumbled, "I knew it…all along, I knew…why couldn't I have seen…?" She turned away, ready to run, feeling like it was a mistake that she was even here, in the same room as him, looking back at him as he grabbed her hands and pulled her close to his chest, close enough for her to feel the heat emitting from him and to smell his scent, a mix between his cologne, chocolate and just him.

She looked up at him numbly, biting her lip as he asked, "You know why I've been ignoring you, don't you? Yes, I have been busy, but I haven't been too busy for you…you could've just walked in and talked to me if you wanted to…" Emily's eyes widened for a fraction of a moment before they returned to normal, that action in itself prodding Mello to continue.

"And the only reason why I'd want you in Japan is because I know you'd be safe there, and you'd help a lot with the case…and I'd join you later…" This time her eyes had widened and stayed wide, surprised before becoming skeptical.

"That's what every guy who wants a girl gone says to get her to leave…" She whispered sullenly, wondering why Mello pulled her closer still. Her answer came when Mello leaned down and kissed her roughly, and yet passionately, letting go of one of her hands as he stroked back some of her hair, smirking into the kiss as she wrapped an arm around his neck. Emily had a feeling that Mello had meant the kiss to be comforting and soft, not to hurt her, to help her heart back together, but things had changed when their lips met. Mello's mouth was abruptly hard and rough against hers, his hands trapping her face to his as his lips moved hers in urgent and unfamiliar patterns. It was so different from their first kiss, something she had hated before. This was so different and so much stronger.

Emily couldn't control her hands as they reached for Mello, for his face, for his blond locks as she felt the desire to twine her fingers in his hair. The two pulled away for only a few seconds, their breathing being the only sound in the otherwise silent surveillance room and in those short moments, her breathing being wild, ragged gasps, his being fierce, almost snarling and yet panting. They kissed again, Emily wrapping both arms around Mello's neck and digging her nails into his back, smiling proudly as she heard the almost inaudible moan escape his throat as Mello's arms snaked around her waist, gripping it and massaging it softly as he did.

Sighing, Emily pulled away, watching Mello smirk as he leaned his forehead on hers as they both struggled to get their breath back. "Would a guy who's trying to get rid of a girl do that?" He asked, grinning cheekily as he leaned in and kissed her again, but this time too rough and too quick. It scared her immensely and couldn't help it as negative, frightened thoughts flooded her head, distracting her from this moment.

Her hand slowly traced his jaw before dropping to her side and becoming a fist. "N-!" she mumbled to herself as she pulled back her arm and hit Mello square in the jaw, knocking him back. They stared at each other, Mello rubbing his jaw, surprised that it actually hurt, Emily horrorstruck and humiliated as she whispered, "A guy trying to get rid of a girl would probably kiss her like that to reassure her…but with you…I don't know." She turned and ran to the door, yanking it open and surprising Matt, who had been about to turn the doorknob. She ran past him, tears staining her face as she hid it from him.

Mello was still rubbing his jaw, chuckling in disbelief as Matt entered, muttering, "You made her cry again, man…And she punched you? Man, what did you do?"

"I kissed her."

"Nice one, Mello…" Matt muttered back, wondering why Emily really was crying.