July 26, 2002

4 years, 3 months, 28 days prior to Incident

Sakura picked up a watermelon and rolled it around in her hands, checking to see if it was ripe. She was of the school of thought that watermelon purchasing was something to be undertaken with the utmost concentration.

Let's see. Firm, heavy for its size. Yellow spot, deep green colour. Curly stem, bee stings. Hmm...

She held the fruit to her ear and knocked with her knuckles, making sure to moderate her strength. She'd accidentally pulverized a watermelon a few years ago, to the utter confusion of store clerks and fellow shoppers, and had needed to pay for the damaged product. Luckily they hadn't banned her or kicked her out, despite not understanding how a little girl could accidentally reduce a watermelon to an explosive pulp by tapping her knuckles.

The sound was hollow, as if she was knocking on a door.

Good. Sakura placed the watermelon in her shopping cart and had a panic attack when she saw Mello standing on the other end of it, in his customary black shirt and jeans.

He looked amused.

"How long have you been standing there?" she gasped, holding a hand over her racing heart. How had he snuck up on her? Her! She should have - should have sensed him or heard him or something!

"The entire time you were fondling that thing," he said, tilting his head towards her cart. Mello smirked. "Are you that focused in all of your relationships, or are watermelons just special? Should I leave you alone?"

Sakura could feel her face warming. "Shut up."

I have nothing to be embarrassed about, she thought resolutely.

It didn't help.

"Why are you here?" she asked, preparing to push the cart past him. "Please tell me Beatus isn't with you."

"Like I'd willingly go around with that psycho! And that reminds me…" Mello reached in his back pocket and took out something rectangular, wrapped in silver foil. He looked to the side as he thrusted the object at her. Sakura could see the tips of his ears turning a slight pink. "Here. Take it."

"What's this for?"

"For the chocolate yesterday."

"That's really not necessary - "

"Just take it already!" he barked. The pink had abated and now he just looked irritated, though he still refused to look at her. "I refuse to let a debt go unpaid."

If we're talking about repaying debts, you should give me thirty of those, she thought drily. Well, he really didn't need to, so it's the thought that counts.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. She'd actually been really craving something sweet, so this was like a godsend.

She unwrapped it, but paused before the chocolate reached her lips.

"You did buy this, right? You didn't just take it off a shelf in the store?"

He gave her an angry look. "What do you take me for? Of course I bought it! And it's not from the supermarket anyway, it's from a chocolatier."

Sakura shrugged and took a bite... and let out a sweet moan as the creamy confection melted deliciously on her tongue. She eagerly took another bite.

"Oh, this is so good," she breathed. This one bar was easily worth two boxes of the cheap chocolates she'd given him!

Mello felt his ears reddening again. What was she making such indecent noises for?! It was just chocolate!

"You didn't have to give me this, but I'm so glad you did." Pinky took another bite and sighed happily.

"Whatever," he scoffed. Mello looked everywhere but at her as he diligently ignored any and all heat gathering in his face.

He peered into her shopping cart in search of a distraction, and couldn't help but raise a brow.

"How many watermelons does a person need?"

"... Shut up. I like watermelon, so what?" She stuck her tongue out, inadvertently licking the bar of chocolate held in front of her.

Mello was irritated to find that his face was getting hot again.

Mello was a highly responsive person, Sakura noted. He was predisposed to emotional outbursts, and, despite being a generally fierce character, was incredibly prone to embarrassment.

She couldn't help but to find that a little cute. Is he what you call a 'tsundere'? she wondered.

She watched him snap angrily at a negligent babysitter in the magazine aisle and decided that, yes, he was exactly what you would call a tsundere. When Mello finally caught up to her, she couldn't help but be facetious. "The kid was getting in your way, was he?"

"Yes," he snapped. He refused to make further comment.

As Sakura was putting away the groceries, there was a knock on the door. She rolled the last watermelon into the fridge and made her way to the entrance.

"Yes?" she asked, peeking out.

Beatus was holding a crying Kaito under an arm. "I'm here to return this to you."

Her eyes went wide, and then she scowled furiously. "What the hell did you do, you bast - ?!"

Kaito launched himself at her. "'Nee-chan," he sobbed. "I was s-s-so scared!"

Sakura rocked her brother in her arms and pinned Beatus with a glare that said, 'Don't you dare move a muscle'.

He grinned and acquiesced.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here now, no one can hurt you," she cooed. "Tell onee-chan what happened."

"There were these bad men and - and they had knives a-nd they sai-said they - they said they were going to k-k-kill me!"

"Who said that, sweetheart? Who are the bad men?"

"The bad men under the bridge!" Kaito looked up at her with large, teary eyes. "They said that no one would care if I died. 'Nee-chan, that isn't true, is it? They were lying, weren't they?"

"Of course they were lying, Kaito-kun." Sakura smoothed the hair out of the child's face. "There are lots of people who would be sad if you disappeared, isn't that right Beatus?"

The dark teen shrugged. She glared at him over Kaito's shoulder, glad that the boy was facing her.

"See, even Beatus agrees," she lied.

Kaito sniffled. "But my first family didn't want me either."

From Beatus's intrigued expression, it was obvious that he hadn't realised that Kaito was adopted. He and Sakura shared some of the same facial features after all, their noses and cheekbones identical - not to mention their close relationship hadn't even allowed for the suggestion of such a thing.

"Well they're just stupid-heads. Tons of people love you. What about your friends and teachers? What about Miku-chan? Kaito-kun, you know that I love you to bits!"

He nodded into her shoulder. "Uhn." The boy then pulled back and wiped at his eyes as Sakura wiped his nose with a handkerchief. "But you know, Beetas-niisan was totally cool when he saved me!"

She glanced at the smug looking Beatus. "Oh, was he?"

"Yeah! He was all 'HAHAHAHA' and then he set people on fire and stabbed them and stuff!"

Sakura twitched. "I... see."

She would have to have a talk with Kaito later, about things that were and were not appropriate to admire. For now, she sent him to wash up for dinner.

"So." She stood in the center of the doorway and stared up at Beatus. "Bad men, huh?"

"I took care of most of them, but a few escaped. Usually, I don't bother to remember the names of worthless scum... but for you I made a teeny tiny exception." You should feel supremely honoured, his eyes seemed to say, while the superior smirk playing around his lips screamed of 'I know something you don't'. "Sugimoto Shou, Onishi Asahi, Noguchi Gyou, Ueno Araki. Do with this information what you will."

He turned to leave, but Sakura grabbed his shoulder. As Beatus twisted to look at her, she went on her tiptoes and lightly pressed her lips against his cheek.

"But don't expect that to ever happen again!" she warned, cheeks a faint rose. Sakura slammed the apartment door closed, nearly missing his gleeful grin.

Fuyuno Sakura - age 12, 2nd year junior high

Mello - age 12, education unknown

BB - age 15, education unknown

Fuyuno Kaito - age 9, 3rd year elementary

AN

In which Mello pays his debts, Beyond gets a surprise present for his services, and an awful lot of blushing occurs.

Kaito can't pronounce Beatus lol.

In all honesty, BB would totally have left Kaito to his fate if 1. Kaito wasn't Sakura's brother and 2. Beyond wasn't already pissed off from being unable to play with Sakura (he didn't know she went to the supermarket) and searching for something to vent his anger. Beyond is not a nice guy.

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