A/N: Late chapter, sorry for that, but I've been tired lately so I needed a bit of rest. :)

Hope you enjoy!

(Near P.O.V)

"Momma? Daddy? Where are you!?" I screamed, begging for someone to answer. Of course… no one did.

I was all alone.

I sniffled slightly and wiped away a tear. I had to buck up now and find my way home to my grandmother's. I'm sure my parents didn't mean to forget me. Things just… took a turn for the worse. I'm sure if I just started walking I'd find them soon enough.

But the night was dark and the air was chilled. I didn't know if I'd make it back in one piece. What if something happened to me? What if I…

No… I'd make it back. I knew I would.

I sucked in a breath, holding it for as long as I could, then started my march. It wasn't long before the darkness enveloped me and I realized the painful truth.

I was alone… all alone.

No one in my family had wanted me. They left me on purpose and that's why I was walking in the dark searching for something… anything to help me.

No one wanted me… no one loved me… no one cared even the slightest for me…

…why did no one care about me?

…why am I alone?

…why…

"Near!"

I opened my eyes to look up at bright blue eyes. I'd been lost in my thoughts again and Mello had gotten me out of my reverie. It had been a while since I'd been lost in my thoughts like that, but I suppose this was for a good reason.

He took my hand. "Come on, quit daydreaming. We've got to help Nan with the food for the guests."

I hopped off my seat and followed Mello right away away. Although he was still not as comfortable with me as others, he had learned to cope with me a bit. He treated me like a younger brother and made sure I was safe. Albeit he was impatient and nerved around me, he was still kind and just a bit caring. He was older than me so it wasn't difficult to see why he treated me like a kid.

Matt and Mello were taller, older, and – as they put it – had more experience than me. So because of these three main facts I was never in charge of anything, despite me being smarter than both of them put together. It may have sounded like I was full of myself, but I knew it was the truth. Matt was always distracted with something or another, and Mello was too full of pride to admit when he was wrong about something. Not to mention the two were always weird around each other, like one couldn't live without the other. I didn't have that issue because I was competent enough to see when having any type of relationship was a bad thing.

Especially when it came to parental figures.

Mello dragged me to the kitchen and soon let go of my hand. Nan, right away, got us to help her with leftover work.

Since Mello had more experience in the kitchen he helped with the baking and cooking, while Matt was tasked with cleaning up anything that was left over. My job was to help Nan at the store while the two finished up the work at home. Albeit Light kept a close watch on the two to make sure everything would go swimmingly.

Who could blame him since the last time we were all in a kitchen together we wound up having to clean up after a gigantic food fight. I doubt any of us wanted to relive that.

I was seven years old and not very tall, meaning that when I walked behind Nan I was taking three steps to her one. It must have looked comical for everyone to see the little ball of white trying to keep up with this grown woman. Nan didn't seem to care though. She was a very patient woman, after all.

Right as we'd gotten everything off of her list, she looked to me with a smile. "Near, is there anything you want? You deserve a treat for being so patient and cooperative with me today."

I looked at her for a moment before shrugging. "No, no thank you. I'm alright."

I felt a hand through my hair and I immediately looked up again. She was kneeling down to look me in the eye more easily.

"Is something wrong? Are you sick?"

I shook my head. "I'm alright, really. Just tired."

I was sort of lying about nothing being wrong, but I was also very tired. The medication for my headache was really taking a toll on me.

But it wasn't just my headaches that were troubling me.

Ever since we'd arrived in Japan I'd been afraid of losing Light to his family. The man was so nerved up about everything being perfect and making sure we were behaved that it was sending me into a dizzy spell. Light had always told us that he loved us, but I wondered how long that love would last in the face of people who thought we were 'wrong' and 'disgraceful'. From the way it sounded, it seemed like these people that Light was related to could be part of my own family. Lord knows they didn't think I was good enough for their family.

Nan sighed before grinning a bit. "If you're sure…"

I nodded, forcing out a smile to make her feel less worried.

We finished up at the store and were back home before we knew it.

With some chores being done, and the day being early, Matt and Mello decided to go out and explore a bit, letting me tag along with them. It had been a while since we were last in Japan and Matt wanted to hit up a few shops to see if he could find anything of value to him. Games were pointless since they'd probably be in Japanese instead of English – and knowing Matt he was too lazy to fully learn a new language – but there might have been something else for him to take a look at.

Along the way, Mello got me to talk about what I'd been fearing lately.

"Look, Near," he began, "forget about what I said before, okay? Light won't leave us, it's not in his nature."

"You're just saying that to make me stop worrying." I stated. "But we both know it's going to happen. Light gave up his entire life to be with us… he'll go back when he realizes just how much he gave up."

"Come on, Near." He growled out. "Have a little more faith than that!"

I hadn't been looking at him because I knew he could read me, but now I was hiding my face because I knew I was going to start tearing up.

"Mello, it's not easy to have faith in something like this when you've been abandoned by your own parents. Who's to say Light won't do the same? You don't understand how this makes me feel because you yourself were never abandoned. You ran away from home, you ran away from your parents. You were given the option to leave and never look back. I was forced to be on my own… and it traumatized me."

It was a long bout of silence and contemplation on my part before I heard the blonde sigh at this.

"You're right, Near. I was given the option to run off. So was Matt, and so was Ryuzaki. And I know the deed traumatized you severely. But are you totally forgetting all the times that Light was there for us… for you… when he was needed? Even knowing how bad we can be at the Wammy house, he still stuck around and loved us like his own. Yes, we risk losing him this week, but not if we allow others to know that he belongs to us, and us to him. Don't just sit back and watch him leave, snowball! Take action and make him remember where he belongs and who he belongs to."

Matt stopped our little party and looked at me. "I agree with Mel. We can't just let them take Light from us. We gotta make a plan here."

"But L will get mad if we don't behave like he demanded from us." I reminded. "So we can't really do anything."

"Well, we'll just have to behave then." Mello suggested.

Both Matt and I looked at him incredulously before folding our arms. We knew Mello wouldn't last two days playing by someone else's rules.

He narrowed his eyes. "Oh shut up, I can pretend can't I? And it's not like it's for the entire day and night. As soon as we're set free of all the fake smiles and laughter, I'll let it all out on a pillow or something."

Matt rolled his eyes. "I'd pay to see you behaved for more than an hour."

"What are you wagering?" Mello challenged.

Matt grinned cheekily. "Twenty bucks, a new portable game station, and I demand you sing me a lullaby before I go to sleep for the next month. If you throw a tantrum, make a scene, or embarrass anyone, I demand all this from you."

"Forty bucks." I offered. "I'll throw in a few coins to the mix. If you last two days, one of you guys gets an extra twenty."

"Sixty." Mello pooled in. "And when I win, Matt, I want a king sized chocolate bar, and you must carry me and tuck me into bed for the next month."

Mello held out his hands in a criss-cross to us. "Deal?"

We criss-crossed our own hands. "Deal."

And the bet was made.

This lightened my worries for now, but I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was going to go horribly wrong…

…and that scared me more than losing Light at the moment.