A/N: Well, I'm done for the night. I'll see you all tomorrow!

Once again, thank you for all the support and I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

(Mello P.O.V)

I was officially losing my mind with the dominoes. I'd only made one straight line and that had been weeks ago! Now I can barely get half a circle done! And even if I did get the circle done, I'd have to do a triangle afterwards! The only thing good about any of this was L and Light weren't here to make fun of me. They'd gone out that night for 'alone time' and that left us with Nan, Sofu, and Granny. Not that their company wasn't appreciated, but I seriously did not want to lose my temper in front of them.

Nan and Sofu had gone to bed, as well as Matt and Near, but I'd stayed up to try again with the dominoes. Granny stayed up as well but her husband – Light's grandfather who we nicknamed pops – had fallen asleep in his chair. He actually seemed to sleep a lot more than we did, but I never called him on it. He was a sweet man… when he was awake.

The dominoes fell over again and I face-planted onto the carpet. I was SO done with this!

Granny chuckled a bit. "Having trouble finding balance?"

My eye twitched. "More than you know."

"It's very difficult to master the art of balance. If you use too much force, the weight will fall more easily. But if you are too gentle, you become too dependent and nervous. You must find balance in both the strengths and weaknesses."

I combed my air away from my eyes. "But I don't know how to do that! And every time I think I've got it, it becomes a mess in the end! More times than not it's not even me that's causing them to fall!"

"No, young one. It is always you who is to blame for its shoddy placement. If you cannot find what it is you are doing wrong, you cannot learn."

What she had said sounded so familiar to me I had to sit up just to rethink it. What I was doing wrong? What could I be doing wrong? I was placing them, like I'd been instructed to. Was there something I wasn't looking at?

She chuckled again. "Stop thinking so much, blondie. You're losing sight at what's truly important here. Take a deep breath and calm your nerves."

I did as asked and awaited instruction again.

"While you sit there, tell me what you hear but keep your eyes shut."

I did as told, shutting my eyes and listening. I could hear… crickets… from outside. Pop snoring slightly. Small creaks in the house almost unnoticeable. I could hear my own heartbeat too. It had started out fast but had slowed down greatly.

I rattled off these things to her. "Good. Now what do you feel?"

I took another breath. "Cold… like a slight breeze is hitting me."

"What else?"

I took another breath. "My hair lightly touching my face. The cold floor. My shirt on my skin…"

"Good, my child. Now open your eyes and look at the dominoes, but don't react to them."

I did as told. I breathed in and out to stop my emotions from flowing.

"The rest is up to you now. What would you like to do?"

I tried not to think about it. Instead, I allowed my arm to move forward on its own and stack the domino back up. Then the second… then the third… and I soon lost count.

I remember getting up… moving around… placing the tiles… the dominoes… and before I knew it, I'd made a circle with all the dominoes.

Granny smiled at me. "You have not achieved perfect balance yet, blondie. But you have come close to mastering meditation."

I flinched when she said that and the dominoes fell the moment I'd done so. But… how…? It didn't make sense…

"Part of meditation," she began once more, "is achieving peace with yourself. You have so much built up anger and sadness in you, that you take it out on others. And when others are not around, you take it out on yourself. You're movements are harsh, signifying your mistrust towards others. Someone has hurt you in your past, and you cannot find it in your heart to forgive him."

My breathing had become erratic and I stepped back from the woman. "How… how could you possibly know…?"

"Because I am able to read your past in your eyes."

My… my eyes? What did she mean…?

She welled up with tears now, myself following suit. "Someone in your past took away your innocence, and you feel it is unfair that others have theirs. You have been broken and bruised, but you will not allow yourself to heal. You feel your pain makes you strong, and you are unsure how to show weakness."

I backed away from her some more. Memories of what that man had done to me… chaining me, hitting me… violating me in ways no child should have ever gone through. The way my parents had looked at me afterwards. The disgust. The utter lack of interest. Like they had been looking at all the memories I had to suffer through. Like they imagined the man forcing his way into my being.

How much I hated myself after all that.

I fell to my knees and covered my ears. My tears flowing down my cheeks like streams.

"Please stop. I don't want to hear anymore." I begged. "I don't want to remember…"

"Mello, it's not that you don't want to remember. It's that you don't want to forget." She paused allowing me to look up at her. "It is so easy to hate and be resentful of everything, but it takes real strength to forgive."

I shook my head angrily. "I can't forgive him! Not for what he did to me!" I began to shake with rage. "You don't understand… he humiliated me! He took me from my home, he chained me and beat me! He completely violated me! I was treated worse than any animal ever could be treated! And you want me to FORGIVE him!?"

I thanked all the gods there were that pops was still asleep and no one else had heard me rant. I admit, I had been a little too loud for how late it really was.

Granny got up from her seat and walked towards me. She then knelt down in front of me and caressed my cheek.

"I'm not asking you to forgive him. I'm asking you to forgive yourself. Some part of you believes you were wronged by his actions, and that because you were helpless it was all your fault. You can't hang on to the anger forever, young one. What has been done is done. Accept what has happened and move on. Only after you let go of the pain, the anger, the guilt, and the memories can you achieve perfect balance."

I was shaking now, not from anger, but from fear. I didn't want to forget. I didn't want to let him win.

I looked down at the dominoes. "So, why did Ryuzaki give me the tiles then? He said they'd help with finding balance."

Granny pulled me into a hug. "You'll find out in due time. Once you've mastered meditation, you'll learn what they are for."

I hadn't liked the way she said that. Like there was something that she wasn't telling me. Something important. But I decided not to question her. She said I'd find out in time.

I guess I just had to wait and see.