Hello one and all!

Welcome to my latest project.. in all honesty, I don't even know where this came from. In general, I'm not a fan of Death Note characters being paired with original characters.. to be honest, I rarely read them (though I'm sure I should start- I'm going to need the practice).

And why I chose MELLO, of all people, I have no clue. I'm a MelloXMatt fan- they're just made for each other. While I also like MelloXHalle, the pairings stop there. No clue why I put him in here. Seriously, a line near the bottom of this just randomly popped into my head, and ever since then, I couldn't get it out of my head.

But, in any case, I really hope that you like this! This is my first attempt at incorporating an original character for the world to see on display. Reviews and constructive critiscm is GREATLY appreciated. And dear God, I hope that I didn't create a Mary Sue.. if so, PLEASE let me know!

..And though it may sound unimportant to some, I just realized that this is my first non-yaoi pairing that I've considered writing out... Ha, oh wow.

Anyways, thank you so much for reading! I love all of my readers and reviewers very dearly, so thank you, and I hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Death Note. In any way, shape, or form. Well... I do own merchandise, but that's a completely different story. All I own in the plotline, Candence, and Kitty, both of whom aren't even real. So there.

"Like A Punch in the Face"

Chapter One: "Starting Jab"

I guess it all started in the fall of my thirteenth year, when I collided head-on with Matt.

And yes, I'm being extremely serious about that. I literally ran into him. Hard. I'm surprised his nose (or mine, for that matter) didn't shatter at the impact.

But to be perfectly (and painfully) honest, I was completely unaware of (or, in other words, oblivious to) my surroundings. As if that was anything new. All I could really register was the dark colors of random portraits blurring into the pristine white of the walls as I sped down the hallway, running for my dear life. I was running away from my crazed roommate, actually (or, rather, I should say running like hell), who was trying her best to catch me and dress me up in some of her… costumes.

Trust me: you would have done the same damn thing if you were me. Especially when you consider the fact those little 'costumes' of hers were little more than stripper clothes. Nurse's outfits, leather, the whole shebang. Kitty is a weird one, I tell you.

In any case, psychotic slut of a roommate or no psychotic slut of a roommate, there I was, running down the hallways of Wammy's house, as though the hounds of Hell were at my heels (though, in a way, you could say that they were). My frizzy black hair whipped behind me, flowing sharply in the air; my Adidas hit the red carpeted floor with soft thuds as I tore through the halls. Actually, come to think of it, I'm pretty lucky that I didn't plow down any of the smaller kids in my wake.

And if I did… oops. Sorry kids, I didn't mean to.

I was nearing a corner when I conveniently (note the heavy sarcasm on that word) decided to glance over my shoulder, making sure that Kitty wasn't following me with the nurse's outfit. I swear, that girl has irresolvable issues. With my head turned, I rounded the corner, my feet picking up speed, when—

WHAM!

I then found myself sprawled out upon the red carpet, spread-eagle style. My head hurt, throbbing as though I had just run straight into a brick wall.

But that's Matt for you.

Not that I have anything against the gamer- no, of course not. Actually, I think that he's pretty cool. Though many people have often stuck him with the demeaning labels of 'geek' or 'nerd', I've always thought of him to be rather nice. I've always liked him (but not in that way, mind you- purely friendly terms only). He seems very approachable, calm and friendly.

Not that I had ever approached him outright. Every time I had tried to say hi or start a conversation, ('Hi! How are you?' 'Great weather today, isn't it?' 'I wanted to strangle our biology teacher today- how about you?'), he'd always be distracted by his ever-growing horde of video games.

I swear, the only bad thing about him is his apparent addiction to those things. Once the kid has one in his hands, it takes nothing short of the Rapture (or, apparently a power outage, as we found out one night, which, to Matt, would be the sinner's equivalent of the Rapture) to stop him.

Considering all of this, I shouldn't even be the slightest bit surprised by the fact that we had collided with each other, each sending the other flying in the opposite direction.

So there I lay, my head throbbing in pain as I looked up at the smooth, white ceiling high above me, for a moment wondering if it had always been that unnaturally clean. I ran my long fingers over my face, my digits barely registering the indentations of goggles by the corner of my eyes. Damn, I must have hit him harder than I thought.

After a few moments of strange stillness, I decided to pick myself up and off of the floor, sitting up and holding my sore head with one hand. The pain made me slightly dizzy- I found my eyes rolling back in my head a bit as the pupils dilated, adjusting to the painful light.

Wow, that was weird.

I took a quick look around me, surveying the surrounding area. Kitty hadn't caught up to me yet (thank the merciful Lord), Matt was sitting up again, and no one else seemed to be in the general vicinity.

Which meant that I had nothing to worry about. Matt and I could apologize quickly, he'd go off on his own way, and I could continue to run from the fifteen year-old sexual deviant whom I called my roommate. I was clear.

Again, I thanked the dear Lord. Hopefully I wouldn't make as much of an ass out of myself as I already had.

No such luck.

As I began to stand up, I noticed footsteps approaching rapidly from behind me, thudding deliberately against the soft carpet. It wasn't Kitty... of that, I was sure. Kitty always wore shoes with extremely high heels (in typical hooker fashion), so they were much too delicate to make such a rough noise upon the floor. The footsteps drew closer, louder and louder as they seemed to pick up speed. I craned my head, trying my best to see who was approaching.

"Matt? Why the hell are you on the ground?"

Mello.

Mello had one eyebrow raised as he looked upon the scene, a scowl forming on his full lips as he glanced from me to Matt; back and forth, back and forth. His eyes were narrowing just slightly. They were vaguely angular, giving them a dark look, sort of an edge. His pupils were ice-blue, fiery and electric as they regarded me and his best friend sitting upon the floor. His cropped, golden hair had a sort of shine to it, gleaming in the bright lighting of the white hallway. He wore all black, as usual, long sleeved shirt and black pants contrasting with his smooth, ivory skin.

And as I sat there, registering all of these things about the blond, I realized something. My dark eyes widened slightly as I gaped. Since when did I create eloquent, detailed descriptions of random students in my head? And of Mello, no less? The next thing I knew, I'd be skipping off, composing poetry about the color of Near's hair.

I attempted to shake it off as Mello approached me, his blue eyes scrutinizing me as he drew closer. For some reason, I found myself frozen in my spot, unable to do anything but stare up at him (like the pathetic excuse for a life form that I am), watching him as he came to stand over me. He gave me a somewhat questioning look, his eyes narrowing as he cocked his head ever so slightly to the side.

"Why are you on the floor with Matt?" he asked me, staring me down with cold eyes. His voice was unnervingly harsh, bitter and accusatory, demanding an answer. But, then again, what was I expecting? This was Mello that I was talking about. This was the student of Wammy's House with an inferiority complex the size of Neptune (we should be lucky that it's not a tangible thing- if it was, then the Earth would be violently thrust off of its axis of gravitation and hurdle through the galaxy, crashing into the Sun and killing all possible life forms in the blink of an eye. That's just science talking, people). It seemed that Mello had always felt the need to intimidate others. His struggle with Near was quite obvious to all of the lesser students, so it wasn't as if this was behavior without a solid cause. Maybe by being intimidating and harsh, he could gain power over those who were lesser than him. Then, maybe, he could feel a bit better about being second best, knowing that he controlled basically everyone else.

But that's just my own brand of boarding school psychology, folks. I'm no expert.

I found myself quite literally frozen in place, staring up at him, as if in fear. My eyes widened a bit more, giving me the classic deer-in-the-headlights look. I'm sure I was gaping like a catfish recently exposed to air, jaw slacking and mouth hanging open stupidly.

What lovely imagery, don't you think?

Anyways, it was…strange, to say the very least. Of course, the thought of being threatened by Mello was a terrifying one. The boy was scary, no denying it. The fact that he could also maim you without blinking an eye wasn't an exactly comforting proposition in the very least (even though that his intense violence was probably rubbish… it had been months since I had last physically seen him attack someone. With a baseball bat… that incident had required some nasty stitches- I pity the kid that dared to cross the acrimonious blond's path).

But… there was something else that kept me frozen in place, gaping up at him in what must have looked like fear. It was strange and so much more different then I had ever really felt before. It was bizarre, the way I noticed the gleaming of his icy eyes that looked so pristine and dimensional up close, colors mixing together to make a pale blue. It was outlandish, the way that I almost shivered at the prospect of him approaching me. It was freaking weird, the way my breath nearly caught in my throat when he talked to me, no matter the bitter tone in his demanding voice.

…What the hell was wrong with me?!

I made myself, no, I forced myself to literally shake it off, shuddering and shaking my head quickly from side to side so I could snap out of my… distraction (it seemed more like a trance… but me, entranced by Mello? No way in Hell!). Deliberately gulping down a large breath, I looked back up at him, forcing my jaw to shut, teeth gritting almost to the point of pain. I tried to say something in response, make a snide comment, or perhaps even beg for forgiveness (which may have been the smarter option), but I couldn't say anything. The words had dissipated on my now useless tongue.

Damn it, woman, say SOMETHING!

Regarding me for just a second longer, the black-clad blond rolled his frigid eyes, letting out a scoff under his breath. Muttering something incoherent (though I'm sure I could make out the word 'idiot' in there somewhere), he shoved past me, making his way to his redheaded companion, who had by now picked himself off of the floor. I followed Mello's every movement, staring straight (oh, God, don't tell me I was gawking) forward as I saw Matt readjust his orange-tinted goggles. His precious gaming system was back in hand (Game Boy, Nintendo DS, PSP, I really didn't know what the hell it was. Nor did I really care) and he was smirking. I wasn't too sure about other residents of Wammy's House, but it was as if Matt always smiled when someone was belittled by his rather scary best friend. That's support for you.

"Get a grip, Mell," the redhead said, smoothing out the front of his black and white striped shirt. "No need for the Spanish Inquisition. Besides, you're Russian, or Slovak, or something right?" Matt grinned, wide and impish, as if he enjoyed pestering Mello (then again, he was the one person with the most protection under the blond, save L. Why not savor it for all it was worth?). "We just ran into each other."

The blond cast Matt a questioning look, narrowing his eyes as if to say 'and I thought you couldn't be more oblivious'. "You ran into each other?" he repeated, his voice heavy with derision. He crossed his arms over his thin chest (since when had I noticed it was thin?), impatiently awaiting an answer. "You were actually that stupid?"

Matt shrugged, still wearing the same grin upon his pale face. "Yup," he answered simply as he turned on his …gaming thing. "Proof to the fact that you should look both ways before crossing the road."

Had I the ability to laugh, I would have. Something just like that, a little lame yet oddly humorous, I would have said. But, considering my annoying state of temporary paralysis, all I could do was watch on.

Okay, this was just getting weird. Why could I not move? My behavior was alarming to me. I'd never been quite so… puppet-like. There was something wrong with me, there had to be.

Mello let out yet another scoff as he uncrossed his arms, letting one rest authoritatively on his hip. "Must your jokes be so juvenile, Matt?" The gamer only seemed to shrug as he restarted his video game, as if to say, 'Yes. They must. Now leave me alone; I'm starting a new level'. The blond rolled his eyes once more, the frozen blue color of his pupils glittering in the light that caught them overhead. "Whatever then. Let's go. I've got to study for that Physics exam- I'm going to beat Near at that. Just watch me."

He turned to leave, huffing out a sigh. Matt had already started down the hall, walking in the opposite direction of me- the path that he had come down. Mello began to follow. But before he left, he looked behind me, catching my eye. Still seated upon the floor like an idiot, all I could do was stare back at him. His gaze was piercing; his icy stare penetrated my own dark eyes. He shook his head, narrowing his eyes as though he were both confused and frustrated by my strange behavior.

Without a word, he walked off, his deliberate footsteps echoing throughout the white hallway. And I was left there, alone and gaping, seated upon the carpet as I stared after him.

I didn't register Kitty walking up behind me, stiletto heels making brushing lightly on the floor. I didn't notice her holding out the skimpy nurse outfit, smirking and winking while she said something along the lines of, "God, Cadence, it's about time I found you! So, you ready to go to the ER, nurse?" I didn't even perceive when she bent down, waving a mocha-toned hand in my face, trying to get my attention.

For some reason, something that I couldn't even begin to fathom, my heart was racing, palpitating erratically in my chest. My palms began to grow sweaty; my eyes were wide, and my breathing became a struggle… all because Mello had looked at me.

I wasn't quite aware of it at the time, but something struck me, right then and there as I sat dumbly on the floor.

Falling in love with Mello was like a punch in the face: it was quick and unexpected, catching you completely off-guard. It made you try and cover it up, try to defend yourself from the oncoming attack as best you could. But the pain somehow began to fade, leaving behind a sort of tingly sensation as you struggled to come to your senses.

Oh dear God, what was I setting myself up for?

A/N: While I'm sure I could have written it better, I find it very surprising how I've grown fond of this story. And to think I don't usually like Mello X OC stories.. I'm a hypocrite, I know XD.

But as for the character (Cadence, if you couldn't tell from Kitty's statement... I love Kitty 8D I'm going to have fun with her...), I sincerely hope that she has at least SOME originality that showed through. I know that I didn't give her quite an introduction.. that will be coming. Please be patient.

Again, feedback of any kind is SO GREATLY appreciated. Please refrain from flaming if you can, unless it is really just that horrible. Which I certainly hope it isn't.. oh well. Really, I want to hear your thoughts!

Thank you so much for reading!