Light failed – miserably. In less pleasant terms, he fucked up big time. He was losing his touch apparently. Whoever had abducted his sister got one over on him. He lost the Death Note, but thankfully Sayu was saved. However, there was still another in his possession because criminals were still dying in Japan. Where did he get all of them? It did not matter. The most important thing was that Light had finally encountered someone more crafty and deceitful than him, and they had won.

Masako smiled mirthlessly feeling giddy and lightheaded from the boundless malevolent glee that filled her from his dismal failure. 'Whose plans failed miserably this time you bastard?' she thought to herself. She was on her way to a bakery for a celebratory piece of cake and coffee. She would be celebrating to honor the memory of L as well since he could not be here to enjoy this. If only she could meet the person responsible for this.

...

"Excuse me," a deep male voice called to her from behind when she was on her way back to Near from her little private party for one.

Masako turned to see a blonde man who had left her as a boy five years ago. She had spent barely a month with him because he had promptly deserted them when Roger refused to immediately name him as L's sole successor. He despised Near and had refused to cooperate with him in any way. He had wanted to be the only king on L's throne.

"Mello?" she asked, looking into his blue eyes. There was hardness coupled with an alarming maliciousness in his eyes that had not been there before.

"Yes, it's me. You're even more beautiful Masako. Motherhood suits you well," he complimented, eyeing her larger breasts before his gaze meandered down to her fuller hips. "It looks very good on you."

"Stop it, Mello. You're being a pervert," she chided him, drawing her sweater around her tighter. She felt chilled but not from the wind. "I'm like your big sister."

"You're not my big sister. You never were. I'm glad about that," he said, reaching out to caress her cheek.

"Stop!" she snapped, pulling away from the intimate touch.

"Koko," he murmured, using the nickname only he called her. "I always had a crush on you. Seeing you again makes me believe I'm in love with you."

"Love?" she scoffed, backing away as he stepped toward her. "What do you know about love? I don't think you even love yourself."

"You look so happy," he remarked, choosing to ignore her comment. "Who has put such a joyful smile on your face?" He brought his hand to her face, stroking her cheek again. He smirked with satisfaction when she did not flinch or even break eye contact with him. Her unbreakable spirit had always been one of her most attractive qualities. "Would it be the person who finally beat Light Yagami?"

Masako gaped momentarily, her pulse racing and her heart beating faster at the revelation. She should have known it was Mello; he is the only person on Light's level of mercilessness. Now she actually wanted to give him a hug and a kiss but was afraid of the liberties he would take after that. Her eyes met his as she pulled herself together and made the startled expression disappear from her face.

"It's only a momentary victory. He will be back to get you. He's an extremely sore loser," she stated coldly, staring at him with an expression of jaded disinterest.

"Don't you think I at least deserve a kiss? I know how much you hate him. I thought you would be proud of me for once," he said, the sound of disappointment creeping into his voice.

"Mello," she sighed, reaching out to touch his face. She chewed on her lower lip nervously when his hand covered hers, pressing her palm to his cheek. "I was always proud of you. You just did not stick around long enough to know that."

He closed his eyes to savor the feeling of her hand against his skin. He had wanted more of her attention but she was so fixated on Near. Opening his eyes, he felt the anger consume him from thoughts of his white headed nemesis.

"I'll be better than Near someday. You'll see. The best, the brightest, the absolute victor. I want you to be there with me," he murmured, seizing her and pressing his lips to hers.

Masako did not react because she was too stunned. She glared at him when he backed away from her a few steps. Her hand sprung up, slapping him across the face. Her eyes skimmed over his slender body clad in leather. The only visible muscles were the long, lean muscles in his arms bared by the leather vest he was wearing. She shuddered violently at the disturbing leer on his face as he held his hand over his injured cheek.

"No. You can't take me in a physical altercation. Don't even try, Koko," he warned her, grabbing her wrists.

"Let me go," she growled, trying to wrench herself free. He slowly, menacingly drew her toward him. She cried out when he squeezed her wrists sending a jolt of pain up her arms.

"Don't fight me. It will hurt less if you don't fight," he told her, loosening his grip when she allowed him to pull her without resistance.

"No, Mello, please," she implored him, avoiding his intense gaze and lascivious grin.

"Please what?" He wanted her to beg but there was a certain thing he wanted her to beg for. Being free from his grasp was not it.

"Please stop," she begged.

"No," he answered bluntly, sliding his thin but strong arms around her. "You knew how I felt about you. I'm sure you could see it when I would stare at you. I almost stayed just for you. But I couldn't. I have to prove that I'm better than Near. I have to be the best."

"There's too much hate inside of you to ever top him, Mello. You'll always be second best no matter what you do because in the end you're a coward. The thing you're most afraid of is yourself," she ground out through her teeth.

Mello pushed her back to distance himself from her. They scowled at each other in silence for what seemed to be an inordinately long length of time. With unexpected swiftness and strength, he backhanded her so powerfully it knocked her to the ground.

Masako lay on the cold sidewalk watching stars swirl in her vision. Until this moment she thought that only happened to cartoon characters. She had never been hit that hard before by anyone. Pressing her palms against the concrete, she forced herself to a sitting position despite the pain in her jaw. She waited until he came closer to her then kicked up with her high heeled shoe to kick him in the abdomen. When he bent over to hold his aching belly, she kicked him across the face. Her heel dug into his cheek, splitting open the flesh. Standing to her feet a bit unsteadily, she stared at him as he pressed his fingers to his cheek.

Mello stared at the wet crimson fluid on his fingers. It was apparent he was wondering how in the hell she did that. She had always been feisty but never a fighter of physical battles. He was not the only one who had changed apparently. Licking the blood from his fingers, he watched her cringe with atrocious delight.

"I always did like that about you. You're so damn spirited and obstinate. You should have stayed down, Koko." Before she knew what hit her, literally, he swung upward to catch her under the jaw with a punishing uppercut from a closed fist this time to knock her unconscious. "Good night, my love. We'll have a special family reunion when you wake up."

~\..'../~

Masako awoke to being petted. A gentle hand was making long strokes from her scalp all the way to the ends of her hair on her shoulders. The fingers skimmed across her shoulders with a butterfly like pressure tickling her slightly. She kept her breathing measured and low, pretending to still be asleep. Her cheek lay against warm soft skin covering taut muscles. Under the guise of moving in her sleep, she wiggled around a bit allowing her hand to move across whatever and whoever she was laying on. Her fingers glided across the skin and over smooth, supple fabric that was like a second skin on the firm body. Leather? Oh, god no! Keeping as calm as possible under the circumstances, she moaned to cover the gasp that had accidentally escaped her when she realized her head was lying on Mello's abdomen. Kicking around a bit she heard a clanking, metallic sound. It was then she made another disturbing discovery: she was completely naked, wearing shackles and chains on her wrists and ankles.

This time she could not remain unresponsive. Sitting up in the bed, Masako screamed. She quickly stopped because of the pain that stabbed her head and jaw. Little asshole! It hurt dreadfully where he had struck her. Grabbing at the sheet that fell around her waist, she tried to cover her bare breasts.

"Don't!" Mello exclaimed, grabbing her hands. His tongue licked out across his lips while his eyes took in the sight of her breasts.

'Could he not have done this while I was asleep? What did he do to me while I was asleep? How long have I been unconscious?' she pondered silently avoiding his eyes as he stared at her body. She did not feel sore anywhere especially certain parts of her anatomy so she presumed that she had not been violated sexually.

"Don't!" She hurled the one word command back at him, jerking away from his hand when he reached out to touch her. She scooted backwards until her back contacted the headboard of the bed. Her eyes slowly lifted to his to see an amused smirk brimming with satisfaction on his face.

Masako pulled the sheet up to her chin while her mind swirled with fearful thoughts. She closed her eyes to concentrate on pushing the thoughts out of her mind. It was important to think so she could get out of here. Where was here? She had no idea where she was in addition to being naked and shackled. What could she possibly do?

"Where am I?" she questioned, already knowing it was useless but she had to keep him occupied so he would not touch her. She clutched the sheet as he edged toward her. Her eyes followed the movements of his hands carefully.

"You already know trying to escape is pointless don't you? It doesn't matter where you are because you are with me. You've been asleep for about two days. I was beginning to fear I had hit you a little too hard. Sometimes I don't know my own strength," he stated with unrestrained egotism. "I'm so glad I have you in my life once again. I've missed you terribly. I want you."

"You're full of shit," she growled, staring at him with fierce anger. "This has nothing to do with sex. Your biggest triumph is hurting Near as much as possible you sadistic little fucker."

"Oh! My sweet Masako, what a filthy mouth you have," he drawled with excitement showing on his face and in his tight leather pants. "What should I do to my little girl who has such a dirty mouth?"

"Little girl, my ass. I'm older than you by three years you little – " Her words were cut off by a hard slap delivered to her face with a shocking ferocity. She gaped at him, momentarily stunned and highly offended that he had struck her again. Enough.

Masako threw back the sheet and lunged at him. She straddled his thighs while wrapping the chain between her wrists around his neck. Pulling her wrists apart as hard as possible, she smiled when he made a sound that was a combination of choking and gagging. Her eyes looked into his bulging blue ones as he clawed at her naked belly to make her let go. She was unable to scream when he wrapped his arms around her body pulling her against him. She was strangling him while he was keeping her from breathing by compressing her ribs around her lungs. So this was how it ends: she and Mello killing each other while Light is left to murder indiscriminately. Her mind shifted to thoughts of Hideki and Near which caused her to let go. She had too many reasons to live to die this way. When she lowered her wrists to loosen up the chains for him to breath, he released her so she could do the same.

"Stop, Mello," she begged, not caring that his face was crammed between her breasts. She was too busy trying to refill her starving lungs with oxygen.

Mello held her as he panted for air himself. That was incredibly stimulating in several ways including sexually. Sometimes change was a good thing, and he liked the changes in her. She was no longer the frail, helpless woman so devastated by grief that she could barely function. His tongue darted out to lick the brownish pink nipple brushing across his lips while she noisily drew in deep breaths.

"Stop it!" she squealed, wiggling on top of him which only served to arouse him more as her body moved over the uncomfortable bulge in his pants.

"You stop it!" he yelled back, pushing her off of him and down onto the bed.

They lay side by side on their backs, gasping for air. Both of them were contemplating what to do at this time. Mello was considering tempting her to have sex with him. Masako was making plans as to where to hit him first if he touched her again. Their minds continued to run through random thoughts on divergent paths. However, they did have a few intersecting roads on a few ideas. They both had a common enemy in Light Yagami so there had to be some way for them to work together.

"Can I fuck you?" Mello dared to inquire with ridiculous boldness.

"No, you little asshole," she growled, elbowing him ferociously in the ribs. "Want to help me take down Light Yagami?"

"Yeah. At least that's something we can agree on," he replied.

"Will you take off these shackles and chains?"

"No."

"I'll try to choke you again if you don't."

Mello dug for the key in his pocket. Sitting up beside her, he removed the shackles from her wrists. He tenderly massaged the bruised and torn flesh.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, kissing her wrists.

Masako closed her eyes willing her body not to feel the sensations it was feeling. She felt him slide his hands down her leg to her ankles to take off the metal binds.

"Take me back to, Near," she ordered, opening her eyes to look at him. Her eyes met his and saw the stubborn hate there at the mention of his name. "Will you let me talk to him at least?"

"No. But I will let him know that you are all right. For now, at least temporarily, you are mine," he informed her, pressing his hand against her cheek. "If you stay with me without trying to get away, I promise not to hurt Near. Or you."

Masako held his intense gaze for a long moment before sighing loudly in resignation. What could she do? At this time all he had to do was chain her back up to hold her captive and abuse her at his leisure. This would also leave him free to go after Near which he would do at the first opportune time. With her gone, Near would be distracted and unfocused making him an easy target for Mello because he was already dealing with Light/Kira. As long as she stayed with the vindictive blonde, she could keep an eye on him and keep him busy concocting a scheme to take revenge on the continuous problem of Light Yagami. Near at least would be safe. Glancing at the horny blonde sliding his hand up her leg with a sly gentleness, she knew her own safety would be another matter entirely.

"Make the call to Near to let him know I'm safe. I want to be there to hear it," she told him, stopping his hand before he touched something he should not. "Be careful with those hands. You really should not play with fire or you might get burned."