Disclaimer: I do not own Death note, not mine, never will be.
"Talking"
'thinking'
Flash Back
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They arrived at the cafeteria at the same time as Mello and Matt who Sakura immediately smiled at and greeted.
"Hey Matt, hey Mello" she said smiling in her shy, warm, and innocent way
"Hey Sakura, Hey Near" Matt replied
"Hello Sakura" Mello said glaring at Near who just stared back unemotionally
Sakura seemed to not notice this as she began to converse with Matt over some video games that she'd never heard of. They then went to the dinner line in the order of Matt, Sakura, Near, then Mello who continued to try to glare holes into the back of Near's head. That nights dinner was Pizza ordered from a local parlor. Sakura got cheese pizza, grape juice, and a fruit cup for desert. Near just got cheese Pizza and milk, Mello got pepperoni, chocolate milk, and a large slice of chocolate cake, and Matt got Cheese Pizza, mountain dew and no desert.
They all sat down at one table Matt and Sakura still chatting with Matt doing most of the talking about various video games. Matt sat across from Sakura and next to Mello who ended up across from Near who was next to Sakura. Dinner went rather uneventful until a certain loud, black haired girl showed up.
"Sakura!!" she squealed and slid in next to Sakura at the table and gave her a long hug that made her eep in surprise yet again.
"Helen," Near said emotionlessly, "You've scared her again"
"Oh, right" Helen said letting go of the terrified girl who had just realized it was Helen and began to calm down "sorry" Helen said smiling
Mello had stopped in mid chew with his mouth full of Chocolate Cake and had one eyebrow raised at the strange girl. Helen suddenly started laughing and pointing at the odd looking blond, soon Matt was laughing with her and pounding on the table while Sakura giggled her hand over her mouth.
After everyone finished laughing at Mello Helen introduced herself, she was 15, the same age as Near and Sakura, had never known her parents and could crack any code. She generally wore a pair of tight flared jeans with a plain black tank top, T-shirt, or hoodie, today it was the tank top.
After they all finished eating and were all happily conversing (mostly Matt and Helen debating on which version of Halo is better) Sakura suddenly remembered something "Umm I'm sorry I've got to get back to mine and Near's room, I left a mess out on my bed and I really need to clean it up so I can sleep tonight."
They all nodded and bid her farewell, Near, remembering the incident with the older boy earlier decided to go with her. They dumped their trays and set them in a pile to be cleaned. When they got back to the room Near sat on his bed and watched as Sakura arranged her hair things, some jewelry, a cute little porcelain cat, a spool of black ribbon, a spool of red ribbon, and a spool of white ribbon, and a few other odd objects on an empty shelf in the corner that she hadn't noticed earlier.
Finally all that was left on the bed was her bear, and a small black book with five white letters on it, D-I-A-R-Y. She picked up the little black book and a picture fell out that she scrambled to pick up but it landed right in front of Near face up. It was a picture of a very little girl with waist length light brown hair wearing a light purple sun dress with tiny almost white but still light purple flowers on the top half and a straw hat with a matching light purple ribbon and a little boy with stark white hair wearing overalls and a light blue shirt, they were both holding hands and smiling brightly at the camera the wind blowing their hair gently and neither wearing shoes. Sakura quickly retrieved it and clutched it gently to her chest.
"Where did you get that picture, Sakura?" He asked his voice dangerously low but Sakura didn't really notice, or at least tried to act like she didn't
"I got it from my first foster parents, who I lived with for five years, they took a picture of me and my best friend from next door," she said smiling fondly at the picture "his name was Nate, Nate Rivers, at first I thought you might be him but then you told me that your name was Near so I guess your not him, but oh well I don't think I'll ever be able to find him again, I haven't been able to yet." Her voice saddened at the end
"The last time I saw him" she continued "he was going on vacation with his parents to" she Paused "I can't remember where, I have it written down in my diary but I can't remember now but anyway, before he left it was raining really hard and it was dark and I was so sad and afraid and I was crying alone in our secret hiding place and he came and found me crying and told me that he'd be back and I made him promise. On the way he and his parents were in an accident and Nate was the only one who lived, and as you know he wasn't able to keep his promise."
"He was going to a campground named Camp Kar (a/n:I made that up I doubt it exists)" Near said and stood up "check." he commanded standing next to her as she looked through the pages. Her eyes widened in surprise when he was right.
"N-Nate?" she asked shakily looking Near in the eyes.
He nodded and her eyes widened even more and she dropped the little book and almost fainted, Near had to catch her to keep her from becoming well acquainted with the hard wood floor.
"B-But" she stammered "everyone calls you Near!"
"An alius, no one is to know my real name unless I'm absolutely sure I can trust them" He explained "but you already knew, and I'm pretty sure that when I knew you every one called you Hannah."
"That was my first second name from foster parents" she said tears in her eyes "but a year after I met you I told you that Hannah wasn't my real name, I told you my name was Sakura but I told you not to call me that because I would get in trouble with my 'Father'"
Near's eyes narrowed "that bastard, I remember him" he said spitting it out like venom causing Sakura to jump he then looked over at her half expecting to see her as she was all those years ago timid, shy, smiling, terrified, hiding her tears, and bruised from that man. He remembered how Sakura used to cry to him about how her Foster Father would hit her and her foster mom and that she wanted to run away but if she did she knew that he'd find her and beat her even worse, she would cry herself to sleep on those days and he'd have his mom carry her home. They both knew better than to tell, Near knew that if he told his parents that they'd confront him and then god only knows what He'd do to Sakura and the same for Sakura if she told anyone.
"I remember on the day I left I was afraid that you tried to run away and that he'd kill you" Near said to Sakura who was now situated on his lap, it felt so natural like they'd never been separated "and I remembered that you were afraid of storms so I went to find you, I looked in the tree house first because it was our secret hiding place so I thought you might hide there. When I found you I was so relieved, I didn't want to leave. I felt so horrible knowing that I'd left you alone when my parents died, I had nightmares about what he'd do to you and it would all be my fault because I wasn't there to help you anymore." Near had started to cry which was rare "and I left you alone for a whole year with that man!"
Suddenly he felt Sakura's soft warm hand on his cheek and clasped her hand holding it there and looked up to see her kneeling and facing him "I'm sorry" he said still crying
"I never blamed you." she said smiling at him through her tears. The flow of his tears increased as he hugged her tight
"I promise that I will never let anyone hurt you ever again" he said into her hair
"I know" she said gripping the front of his white pajama shirt and crying into his chest
They probably would have stayed there for hours, if it weren't for a certain blond Chocolate freak named Mello bursting in rather loudly causing Sakura to flinch and grip Near's shirt even tighter stifling an eep.
"Hey N-Holy Crap!" Mello yelled shocked to see the two so close on the floor and even more to see that they both seemed to have been crying
"What is it Mell-oh hi, Near, Sakura" Matt said nodding at each, Near had already wiped the wetness off of his face but was still holding onto Sakura who's face was beet red and buried in his Pajama top which was wet from her crying into it.
"You guys know how when I first came here I kept talking about finding my friend Hannah?" Near asked
"Yeah" they both said in unison
"Well meet Hannah" He said as he gestured to Sakura
"Wait! How'd you find out she was Hannah?!" Mello asked
"Yeah, how did you find out?" Matt asked curious
"Sakura kept a diary with a photograph of her at her first foster home with her neighbor friend" Near explained "Hannah was a false name that I failed to remember her telling me was fake and telling me her real name."
"That makes sense" Matt said remembering his first conversation with Sakura when He'd asked her name.
"Hey Mello, Matt!! Slow down next time!" came Helen's exhausted voice "Why are we at Ne–" she stopped mid-sentence seeing Sakura still clinging to Near as Near whispered something to her and she soon began to relax and finally let go. Near then stood and pulled her with him. Helen then realized that Sakura was an inch and a half shorter than Near.
"Hey Near's taller than you Sakura!" she exclaimed like it was a huge discovery that the whole world needed to know.
"Is that a bad thing?" Sakura asked innocently
"No it's normal I just thought I'd point it out" Helen said in a normal tone of voice
"You are so weird!" Matt said laughing a little
she smirked and snatched the red Gameboy he had just produced from his pocket and ran as fast as she could Matt charging after her leaving a confused Mello behind to give strange looks to Near and Sakura who was clinging to Near before heading off in the same direction of the other two.
"Well we'd better try to sleep," Near said walking out of the door
Sakura looked at him confused "Change" he explained
"Oh, right" she said as she pulled open the drawer under her bed
Near Closed the door and waited when Sakura opened the door again she was wearing a shade of soft black pajamas with soft white lace on the cuffs and collar of the shirt and the bottom of the pants, they had little white snow flakes all over them, they let on that she had a nice body but not too much.
"Aren't Pajama's so much more comfortable than other clothes?" Near asked
"Yeah, they are" she said softly yawning as she walked towards her bed forgetting to take her braid out "I don't think I'll get out of them tomorrow."
She then picked up her Bear and snuggled under the covers.
"Good night, Near" she said as he turned out the lights and climbed into his own bed.
"Good night Sakura" He replied
"See you in the morning, Na- Near" she said quietly as she dozed off
"I promise" near said as he too fell to sleep.
How'd you like it? Please read and review, The next chapter will be up as soon as I can write it, Hope you enjoyed the newest installment of "Close To You"