Chapter Three – Tokens of Friendship

It had now been three days since Ryuzaki had brought Layla to Whammy's and slowly she had been adapting to life there. Mostly, the children and tutors were kind to her, a few of them speaking small words of comfort to her in Estonian that they had learned from Ryuzaki. However, she unsettled them all. The day after she had arrived at the orphanage, during dinner time several of the students had seen her at quietly conversing to something that none of the others could see.

Ryuzaki had admonished them quietly as they stared blankly at her. However, he hated to admit he also found it a slight bit unsettling as well. Most children with imaginary friends would talk to their invisible companions out of earshot with everyone else.

It made him wonder if perhaps she was actually suffering from schizophrenia like Whammy had originally told him in her case file.

When it became apparent that she was distracting the other children, Mello nudged her with his elbow.

Ryuzaki sighed and settled back into his seat, "Come on kids, continue your meals."

Later on that night after he had asked Watari to explain the rules of Whammy's House and help her get situated he assembled all the other children to the library.

The children all piled around his feet, their faces looking up eagerly at him. He benignly smiled at them and glanced at Mello who stood with his chocolate away from all the other students while Near sat playing with a puzzle a few feet away.

He chewed his thumbnail for a moment and spoke, "I understand that Linda may seem a little unsettling to you all at the moment."

"Her name is Layla." Mello interrupted, taking off a large chunk of his chocolate with a large snap.

Ryuzaki blinked, as it was quite unlike Mello to question or correct him.

"Well, to the rest of us she'll be known as Linda. As I'm sure you've noticed she's...off." He murmured, trying to find the right words. "I'm not sure if she'll stay here, she might be too ill to stay. here much longer. But, while she's here I'd like you all to be kind to her. Life in Estonia has not been particularly...easy. That is all."

Mello looked up startled as the other children started to depart from the room, all of them murmuring about the Estonian girl.

Ryuzaki sighed and crawled up onto the sofa, tapping his thumb carefully against his lips.

"There's nothing wrong with her." Mello murmured, walking over to his mentor.

Ryuzaki ruffled Mello's hair. "To be truthful, I am only about 9% certain her case of mental illness is so severe, however, I am going to start working on a new case, so I'll be leaving tonight Mello. I'd like you to continue to teach Linda english."

Mello nodded, a little sadly. He hated when L would leave. He loved L, more than anyone else in the orphanage did.

Gently, he felt Ryuzaki pull him upwards into his arms, although he was already ten years old he couldn't help but feel comforted by the feel of those arms around him.

Ryuzaki couldn't help it, he'd always had such a soft spot for Mello. He'd never been incredibly well fit for dealing with small children but Mello had always been so affectionate towards him. He loved all the kids in the orphanage, especially Mello and Near, but Near had always been so much...like him. Mello was everything Ryuzaki wished he could be. The boy felt everything with such incredible passion.

Slowly, he paced around the room, humming a lullaby and stroking Mello's soft straw colored hair. Soon enough, Mello fell asleep, his breath warm on Ryuzaki's neck.

He crept back up the stairway to where the children's bedrooms were kept and slowly pushed Mello's door open. He paused for a moment, smiling mildly at Mello's chocolate wrappings all over his desk.

Using one hand to hold Mello firmly against him, he pulled down the comforter and sheets, then placed Mello carefully on the bed. He pulled the sheets up to the boy's chin and then after glancing over his shoulder placed a kiss squarely on Mello's head.

"What did you think of her Watari?" Ryuzaki asked quietly as he finished the last bite of strawberry shortcake.

Watari sighed, "She's quite eccentric, but I don't think she's dangerous. The voice doesn't seem to tell her to harm anyone or hurt herself. She only told me that it keeps her company while she paints. I do agree that her paintings are quite astounding. I think she could stay. I believe that the voices will fade away in time. I think that perhaps this Sidoh was a coping mechanism to deal with her overtly religious lifestyle."

Ryuzaki tapped the fork against his lips, "Perhaps it isn't a good idea to have Mello be her caretaker...he's quite devout."

Watari nodded and began picking up the remains of Ryuzaki's leftover cake, "I think that Mello needs to feel responsible for another person. Linda is not near his intelligence, and I think having someone who he can tutor is beneficial to his development."

Ryuzaki nodded, "Very well, we'll see how it turns out then."

It had been almost a month since Layla had arrived and today she and Mello were attempting to study in the library.

It was a beautiful day outside, and Layla stared wistfully through the window. The snow fell beautifully on the branches of the tree and all around the fountain. It would make a beautiful painting.

"Layla! Listen!" Mello snarled, slamming his hand on the table, all the while still reading his book

Layla jumped, and winced. She liked Mello but found that he was impatient, and ill tempered and soon she learned that many of the children were afraid of him. He was a harsh teacher, often screaming at her in English, the tone in his voice enough to make her cry.

She found that today would probably turn out this way.

"Come on," Mello said impatiently glancing at her from behind the pile of books on his desk. "Sound it out."

Layla's brow furrowed as she glanced at the book. She studied the picture for a moment, which showed a little girl running from a dog.

"See...Jan...roon," she stammered.

Mello scoffed, and she winced, knowing that she had said it wrong. She wanted to make him happy with her. Proud even, like she had made Ryuzaki with her artwork. She tried again.

"See...Jan...Ja-Jane...Ron."

Mello slammed his book down angrily, "Stupid, don't you understand how simple this is? Why did L. bring you here? You're worth nothing! You can't even read a child's book!"

"Not two, not two!" She yelled back, her tongue stumbling over the word true.

Mello laughed meanly, "You can't even say true!"

She fought the tears that began to spill from her eyes, "No, no! You bad one! Sidoh say so!"

Her teacher's eyes widened briefly, then he smirked. "Sidoh, that imaginary thing who you talk to at night when you think we're all asleep? I've heard you. You're crazy."

Now the tears spilled hotly over her cheeks, "No! Not crazy."

"Yes, crazy and stupid." Mello said, as he packed up his books. He didn't fully understand why, but he wanted to be cruel to her, make her run from him. "You know, I bet that's why your parents gave you up so easily."

Mello found the hurt on her face surprisingly unsatisfying. He then watched blankly as she ran from him, then started down the hallway towards his room.

She's stupid, he thought to himself. She can't even speak proper english! What kind of word is roon anyway? I hope she does go back to Estonia so we can all get some peace at night without her muttering to that Sidoh thing.

However, now he felt guilty, L would have been ashamed of that.

Muttering to himself, he made his way back to his own room where he found Matt lounging at his desk.

"Matt, what are you doing here?" he snapped, making his way over to the desk and opening the drawer that contained at least fifteen chocolate bars. He snatched one of the bars and hastily ripped open the foil. Then, he bit a tiny corner of the chocolate, smiling at the rush of sweetness on his tongue.

Matt did not look up from the gameboy, "I always come in here when you're out tutoring Linda."

Mello scowled, "You have some nerve Matt. How do you know I won't come in here?"

Matt shrugged, "You just don't, Aw man, my Charmander fainted."

Mello rolled his eyes at red-haired boy and flopped lazily on his bed, licking the chocolate bar slowly, savoring the taste. Then, he sat up and stared at Matt, "What do you think of Layla?"

Matt turned off the gameboy and looked at his friend, "You mean Linda? Well, she seems nice enough, kinda weird though. One night when I was heading to the bathroom, I saw her wandering the hallways talking in another language."

The blond boy sighed, his sharp blue eyes looking troubled. "I was mean to her today."

Matt shrugged, "You're always mean, Mello."

"Yeah, but I told her she was crazy, and that was why her parents gave her away to this place."

Matt folded his arms over his chest and pulled down his goggles over his eyes like he always did when he was thinking, "Ouch Mello. That's pretty harsh."

Mello sighed, "I made her cry. L would have been mad."

His friend stared up at him, looking as if Mello was missing a crucial part of his brain. "So just go apologize. Tell her you're sorry."

Mello faltered, looking quite sheepish. "Y-you think...she'll forgive me?"

Matt chuckled, "Mello you're like her only friend."

After a moment Matt glanced out the window, where he could see Layla marching outside a bag tied to a stick behind her. He fought the urge to laugh at the almost cartoonish image.

"Hey Mello, she's outside. Looks like she's running away. You'd better go stop her." he muttered.

Mello's face contorted in fear and he rushed out of his room, leaving Matt behind. Matt sniggered and slowly opened Mello's chocolate drawer. He snatched one of the bars and turned on his gameboy again.

Mello rushed outside, not acknowledging the cold snow on his bare feet. "Layla! Wait!"

Layla who was a few feet ahead of him stopped and turned, looking mildly surprised. "Yes Mello?"

Mello bobbed back and forth on his feet, "Uh, where are you going?"

Layla, like Matt looked at Mello as if he was missing a part of his brain, "Home."

"Estonia?" Mello asked curiously, "How are you gonna get there?"

Layla shrugged and glanced down at the snow covered ground, "I walk home."

Mello shook his head at the dark haired painter, "Layla, Estonia is really far, and you have to go across the sea. You can't swim there. This is your home now."

At those words she stomped her foot angrily. With a rage Mello had never seen from her, she tossed down the sack and stick containing her belongings in the snow. "This not my home! No church, no mama, no brother. Nothing here! Hate it. Try to learn english but not no good at it. Only good at painting."

Mello looked sheepishly at her and picked up the sack containing her belongings. "You're good at stuff Layla. You're doing well with english too. I'm...sorry, I just lose my temper sometimes."

Layla snorted, "That's why you always alone Mello. You let nobody be friendly."

Mello raised his hands up in a gesture of peace. "Take it easy, here. We're friends now." He reached into his pajama pocket and pulled out a small crucifix he had received from his mother as an extra to the one he always wore.

He handed it to her and she stared at it for a moment, fingering the crystal cross. "Thank you Mello."

Then, her eyes brightened and she took her things from Mello. Opening the cloth, she pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper, revealing a lifelike sketch of Mello. He stared at it and fingered the sketching. "It's beautiful Layla. Thank you."

"We friends now." She said, "You be nicer. Wanna go inside? You got no shoes."

Mello's laughter rang out all across the courtyard and the two of them slowly made their way inside.