Kindness

Halle threw back the blanket, got up from the couch, and made for the bathroom. She heard Mello grunting as she walked past the bedroom door. She gently reached the bed as she saw the blonde lying curled up in bed by the dim light coming from the living room. Mello was wrapped up tightly in the covers, trembling slightly.

"What's the matter?" Said Halle.

Mello slowly turned around and spent a few seconds recognizing Halle with his one eye which was not covered by gauze and bandages. He snorted. Halle could even hear the sound of Mello's teeth chattering through the covers. She turned on the bedside lamp and squatted down. The sudden change of light forced Mello to squint as he buried his face under the covers.

"You're shivering." Halle said softly.

Mello lifted his heavy eyelids to look at her and closed his eyes again. The boy who pointed his gun at her with menacing words last night was lying in bed as the color drained from his face. His blond hair tarnished as if it had lost its life. Halle subconsciously reached out her hand, but pulled it back when she was about to approach Mello's hair. Mello shivering looks, for some reason, reminded her of the stray dog sheltering from the rain under the eaves of her house she saw when she was a child.

Halle rummaged through her medicine-box and failed to find any anti-inflammatory drugs. She sighed, looking at bandages in the box. Halle had helped Mello change the gauze and apply the ointment a few hours ago as he grimaced in pain. However, Mello's current symptoms suggested that the wounds had not been properly treated and seemed already being infected.

"How about drinking water? It's too late now. I'll get some medicine in the morning."

"I don't need it." Mello said in a hoarser voice than in which had been a few hours ago.

"You don't need what?" Halle raised her eyebrows. "Water or medicine? You're having a fever. I suppose your wounds get infected... "

"What's it to you?" Mello interrupted her and could not help but tremble again.

I don't want you to die in my bed. Halle was tempted to snap back angrily at Mello. She remembered that it was him that had come to her. Her reason made her resist the impulse of expressing her discontent. She was not in a position to argue with a man nearly ten years her junior(Halle guessed) who was delirious from the pain of his injuries.

"What're you up to?" Murmured Mello. Halle brought another blanket from the closet and covered him with it.

"I know you're shivering with chills, but overheating is harmful. Just hang on a little longer. I've got the heater up high."

Halle lay on the couch, placing her arm on her face. It was as if two voices were constantly fighting in her head, making it impossible for her to sleep. Mello was needed medical help, but the wounded with such a large area of burns is easy to attract the attention of doctors no matter in which hospital. It might be resolved if she asked old workmates of CIA for help. On second thought, Halle might as well send Mello to the hospital. Even if he should be arrested, he could also get treatment, at least he wouldn't die at her flat. It was actually a scheme to use Mello to achieve her own goal. Mello would be useless to her, if he should fail to survive. No one was condemned by morality because of leaving a murderer to rot out of the house, anyway.

There was another rustling sound from the bedroom. Halle backed to the bedroom.

"Still feel cold?"

"Mmmm…" Mello mumbled with a wince.

Halle took a deep breath as the silence made her realize that thin pajamas were inadequate on a cold winter night even though she stood in the room equipped with heater. She walked to the other side of the bed and got under the covers. Then she carefully wrapped her arms around Mello's waist.

"What are you doing?" Mello got freaked by Halle's movement, instinctively trying to break free of Halle.

"Keep still. It's not good for the wounds." Halle whispered, her head gently sank against the part of Mello's neck that had not been burned and her chest softly against Mello's back. "My mom held me like this, when I was sick and shivering as a child. You will feel warm soon."

Whether it was exhaustion or a desire for warmth that got the better of Mello, he gradually accepted Halle's hug. She clearly heard their heartbeats, as he trembled in her arms. She repeated in her mind that she did that not out of a foolish kindness. She could not be the farmer in the fable about the farmer and the snake, despite she wondered if helping a wanted man would really contribute to catching Kira.

Before she knew it, Mello stopped shaking and was breathing evenly and asleep. Halle was conscious of how hot his body was through the shirt. She released Mello and sat up. It was a pity that she would never smoke, or she should light a cigarette now. She glanced at the man lying next to her. The long night was just beginning.