Chapter 3: Assault

After a year and six months of outstanding work with the Mafia, Mello was seen by the shady men as a valuable member of their team and could use them to get what he wanted. And what he wanted most was the Death Note.

He had found out that it was in the hands of the Japanese task force and he was willing to do whatever was necessary to take it; even if that meant bringing innocent people into it.

"You're joking right?" Julia asked him. They were in the Mafia headquarters sitting on the comfortable blue couch. Julia was sitting next to Mello and had an incredulous look on her face. "You're going to resort to kidnapping now? Possession of drugs was bad enough but these are people's lives at stake, Mello." She hated all the so called "work" he was doing with these people now. She knew his goal was to surpass Near by catching Kira, but it just seemed like he was doing more bad than good.

One of the Mafia members scoffed. Julia had never learned his name and didn't really care to. She hated all of them except the blonde beside her. "Quit being so high and mighty."

"Jules, you knew what was at risk when we joined," Mello explained, biting into his chocolate. "You shouldn't have come if you couldn't handle it."

Julia wanted to remind him that he had practically begged her to come with him after she refused but she held her tongue. There was no point in arguing with him. He would just get upset and ignore her for the rest of the day.

Julia crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted. "Whatever. Just count me out of this one."

"Jules…"

She got up from her seat, upset that Mello would embarrass her like that in front of those low-lives, and marched up to the room she and Mello were sharing at headquarters. Since there wasn't much room and Julia didn't feel comfortable being on her own with all the strange men, Mello had offered to stay with her. It wasn't always the best arrangement, however, especially in times like these when she was upset with him.

"Looks like you're not gettin' lucky tonight, Mello," one of the men teased him as she left. "Someone's in the dog house."

Julia ignored that comment, but she was boiling inside. This wasn't the first time comments of that sort had been made. The worst part was that Mello wouldn't stand up for her. He already had enough of an inferiority complex because of Near, so he wanted to seem like the best to these men. Apparently, that meant occasionally bragging to them about a nonexistent sex life. Oh, how she hated being here.

Julia glared at the wall across from her as that insufferable Andrew Miller continuously hit on her. For some reason, it was just the two of them in the room and he wouldn't leave her alone.

"C'mon," he coaxed. He placed a hand on her knee and she pushed it away quickly.

"Don't be such a prude," he said with a smirk. "I bet you'd do anything for Mello."

"Yeah, well, you're not Mello, huh?" she replied curtly. "Now back off!"

He took a strand of her long black hair and ran his fingers through it. "I don't want to. C'mon, there's no one around," he said, leaning over her. She put her hands on his chest to push him away but he was too strong.

"If you don't get off me, I'll scream," Julia warned him. "I'm sure Mello won't like the fact that you're trying to force yourself on me." She hated this damn place. Every single guy in there was a sleaze bag, and Andrew Miller was easily the most disgusting. Of course he would be the one to make a move on her.

Andrew shrugged as she continued, with no luck, to try to push him away. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Except I do know," a voice told him. Andrew Miller quickly turned around to see that Mello was standing behind him with his arms crossed. He was glaring daggers at the man and Julia sighed in relief. He had come to save her after all. "Get off her." Mello added.

"Right…" he grumbled. He hesitantly moved away from her. However as she stood up to make her way over to Mello, Andrew took the opportunity and smacked her behind. She squeaked at the contact and glared back at him.

"What the hell? Keep your damn hands to yourself!" she yelled.

Andrew just laughed at her. She didn't look back at him as she walked past Mello, her head held high but her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Mello caught up with her and led the way down to the basement. Why? Julia wasn't sure, but she didn't want to leave his sight just yet.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Mello asked. "I know you could have taken him."

"I couldn't. He likes it."

Mello scoffed. "Sadistic bastard."

Julia shrugged. "Besides maybe I just wanted you to come and save me. So where are we going?" she asked. She didn't want to give him time to respond to her comment, and thankfully he didn't.

Mello smirked. "I've got my first hostage."

Julia's eyes widened. "What? Who?"

"Takimura," Mello said. "The director of the NPA." Julia sighed to herself as they continued.

While walking to the basement, the pair was joined by Rod Ross, the leader of the Mafia. He seemed frighteningly excited about this hostage thing and Julia felt sick. These were messed up people. Why did Mello insist on working with them?

Julia's heart quickened its pace when she saw the Japanese man tied down to the chair. He looked hurt, like the others had beaten answers out of him, and Julia wanted to back out now. Mello had a sickening smile on his face as he whipped out a bar of chocolate and proceeded in taking a huge bite of it. The snap of the chocolate echoed against the empty walls. Apparently Ross wasn't the only one thrilled by the situation, and Julia felt even more nauseous than before.

"Has he decided to say anything yet?" Ross asked.

Rashual Bid, the big black guy on the team, answered him. "He told us the Japanese police are gonna wimp out on Kira. Looks like right now, the only ones who are officially working for L are Soichiro Yagami, Kanzo Mogi, and Touta Matsuda. Isn't that right?"

"Yeah," the director told them. He was bent over in his chair staring down at the ground. "There was also Ukita, but he was killed by Kira." Julia felt awful for him, and she was disgusted by the fact that she was actually associated with the people who did this to him. She was seriously considering walking out, but then she glanced at Mello and changed her mind. Damn the influence he had over her.

Rashual scoffed. "Right. And as top cop, somehow you didn't know that this notebook even existed. Or that you had it."

The guy next to him, whose name was unknown to Julia, started laughing. "Japanese cops must be a joke."

Mello walked up to the hostage and looked down on him. "Of all the investigators on the task force, deputy director Yagami would be the highest ranking, right?"

"Y-yeah," the director replied.

Mello looked triumphant. "My theory is that there are two notebooks out there. One of them is in Kira's possession. The other's with the NPA. We're gonna take both of them."

Rashual and the other guy were confused by this statement, wondering why he needed both. Julia just rolled her eyes, knowing what this was about.

"Don't worry," Ross assured them. "As long as we do what Mello says, there'll be no mistakes. It's been a year and a half since he and the girl joined us and in that entire time they haven't been wrong about anything." It was true; she and Mello did make a good team even if they weren't doing the things they should be doing. If Mello hadn't asked her to help though, she wouldn't have.

"Yeah, but that's what's so weird," the guy said. "If he was able to bring us the head of a Mafia boss that even Kira himself couldn't kill, why the hell would he even need a notebook to begin with?"

"It's not just the notebook I'm after," Mello said. He crumpled the wrapping from his chocolate bar tightly in his hand. "I wanna eliminate my competition. I will be the best. I don't care what it takes; I'll beat Near by any means necessary." And in the end, with Mello, it always came down to that.

Later that night, most of the Mafia members, including Mello and Julia, were sitting in their hangout room. Ross had brought in his usual prostitute and was all over her, nauseatingly displaying his desires to the entire room. Julia tried not to look but they were making it annoyingly obvious of what they wanted to do. Ross was even shirtless.

Mello was sitting near them, lounging on the couch and enjoying his chocolate bar like it was no big deal. Julia was a seat away from him and unfortunately for her, Andrew Miller was on her other side, sitting right next to her.

He ran his hand along her shoulder softly. Julia pursed her lips in annoyance before turning to look at him.

"You better stop it," she threatened.

Andrew sighed. "The sooner you admit you want me, the better it will be for the both of us." Julia clenched her teeth but didn't respond.

"You don't move your hand in five seconds I'm gonna punch you in the face," she spat.

Neither of them noticed, but Mello was watching the scene diligently. He didn't like how he kept pursuing Julia like that when she obviously wasn't interested. More than pursuing, really; it was closer to a series of assaults. He wasn't sure why he felt so protective of her but something needed to done about that guy.

Rashual suddenly burst into the room looking surprised and out of breath. "Boss!"

"Shut up," Ross yelled at him. "Can't you see that I'm busy?" Julia wasn't sure anyone could miss it, provided they weren't blind.

"I'm sorry," Rashual apologized, "but Andy and I were talking for a minute and it looks like Takimura hung himself with his tie somehow."

Julia's jaw dropped. "He killed himself?"

Ross became angry. He menacingly leaned forward. "What's wrong with you? Just great! What are we supposed to do with a dead hostage?"

"No, this will do just fine," Mello said.

"So what are we gonna do, Mello?" Ross asked.

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna kidnap Soichiro Yagami's daughter, Sayu Yagami."

"Yeah, bye," Julia heard Mello saying as she climbed the stairs to their bedroom. She had been sitting downstairs until Andrew Miller came in, and that was her cue to go to bed. She had to dodge him at the stairs before he trapped her against the wall. She was actually starting to be more than aggravated. He was a strong guy and his new hobby of coming onto her was not okay.

"Who was that?" Julia asked, though she already knew the answer. He didn't talk on the phone much, and it was most always Halle Lidner when he did. She was his inside source into Near's investigation, and so was a valuable resource to him. Julia hated the fact that she always felt jealous of this, but she couldn't control the feeling. The fact that Mello had another woman helping him, and possibly playing a more important role than Julia, was aggravating.

"Lidner," Mello replied, glancing up at her. He was sitting on the chair in front of the telephone, leaning back into it comfortably. His expression didn't change as he observed her, but he knew by the look on her face that the phone call bothered her. He'd been aware of her feelings for him for a while, not that he'd ever let on to the fact that he knew. It wasn't hard to figure out though. He grabbed the chocolate on the table in front of him and bit it loudly before continuing. "Just checking up on the competition."

"And have you thought out this plan?" Julia wondered, knowing he very well hadn't. "You're sure kidnapping Sayu Yagami is going to get you what you need to defeat Near?"

"With the notebook I will have what I need to beat Near and bring down Kira." He sounded confident and bitter, and Julia knew there was no point in arguing with him. He was driven by emotions, and talking him out of things was always difficult.

"Well, I don't want any part of it," Julia said, heading to her bed and sitting down. "That girl doesn't deserve any of the horrors that you and those sleaze bags are going to thrust on her. The worst part is that she's just a pawn. It doesn't really matter what happens to her as long as you get the notebook, right?"

"Jules, you always say that."

"What?" Julia asked, crossing her arms.

"That you don't want any part of it."

"Well I don't," Julia shrugged. "It's awful."

"So…you're not going to help me?" Mello asked, eyeing her curiously. Julia sighed as she looked up at him. His eyes were set on hers, and she mentally cursed to herself. She knew she would be right there, standing by as this poor girl was kidnapped, and all because Mello wanted her to. She couldn't say no to him; it was her one true weakness.

"Goodnight," Julia finally said, choosing to end the conversation. Mello smirked as he chomped another bite of chocolate. He knew she would help him out if he asked her to. Knowing her feelings for him didn't really help this, and he found he could easily get her to stay if he wanted. Her presence wasn't really needed, but he did find that he liked having her around for whatever reason. He snapped off another piece of chocolate with his teeth as his mind wandered off to thoughts of his goal.

"You awake?" Julia asked quietly through the silence. It was well into the hours of the morning and Julia was lying comfortably on her small bed. Mello was across the room, claiming the couch for himself.

"Yeah, why?" Mello asked.

"Just wondering," she replied.

"Well that's a stupid reason."

Julia sighed. "Hey Mello, do you think Takimura's death was Kira's doing? I've been thinking that all day and it would make sense. He wouldn't want the notebook to fall into the wrong hands."

"Actually, I was thinking the same thing," Mello replied thoughtfully. "Which is why I thought my next hostage should be Sayu Yagami. It seems to me that Kira might actually be involved with the task force. If that's the case, we should kidnap someone close to them so they won't be able to kill them so easily and take the notebook. Then I'll finally be able to beat Near."

Julia sat up in her bed to get a better look at him. He was sitting up and staring out the window, still in his day clothes. He seemed completely lost in thought about something.

The brunette got up from her bed and made her way across the room where she sat next to the blonde. He looked at her curiously, wondering what she was doing.

"You're never gonna let this thing with Near go, are you?" Julia asked. She knew he hated him for always beating him in everything. They were total opposites, from what Julia knew of him, but that's not really a reason to hate someone with a passion.

Mello sighed. "You just don't understand." He clenched his fist tightly as he remembered his time back at the damned orphanage. "No matter how hard I try, I can never beat him. I always come in second place. Do you have any idea how shitty that feels?"

Julia thought on what he said. Yes, it did feel awful, not that Mello knew she could relate. Ever since she realized her feelings for him, she wanted nothing more than for him to acknowledge them and care for her back. But she knew that would never happen. She would be doomed to fall second place to beating Kira and therefore defeating Near, which was Mello's top priority. And even though she was well aware of that fact, it didn't diminish her feelings.

Julia placed a hand on his arm. "You and Near are completely different people, so it seems unfair to compare the two of you. And as far as I'm concerned, Near comes second place to you."

Mello stared at her for a few moments before looking down at her hand that was still on his arm. She followed his gaze and realized what he was staring at. When she looked back up to meet his eyes, he was staring back with an intensity that shocked Julia. It felt like he was gazing into her soul and she was drawn by that look. Before she realized what she was doing, she leaned forward and placed her lips on his. Once the contact was made she thought for sure he would push her away. Mello surprised her however when he reciprocated the soft kiss. It wasn't pushy or rough. It was perfect. The way she always envisioned her first kiss with him to be.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you from Miller sooner," Mello said, once he pulled away. "I don't like how that guy treats you."

Julia scoffed. "Join the club. He's such a sleaze."

Julia looked up and saw that Mello was looking at her again.

"Do you ever miss it? When it was just the two of us, I mean," Julia asked. "When we didn't have to worry about these stupid Mafia people and having hostages? I know it's important for you to have the notebook and everything, which is important for me as well, but I wish we could just go back to when it was simple and we could be friends again."

"Jules, we're still friends," Mello said, unsure of where she was going with this reminiscent moment.

"Right…" Julia trailed off vaguely.

Mello didn't say anything in response to that. He then turned back to the window, which he and Julia gazed out of silently until the both of them finally fell asleep.