Not all scars show,

Not all wounds heal,

Sometimes you can't always see

The pain someone feels

-Anonymous

It had taken Death a long time to finally fall asleep the night before her official "mafia debut" as she called it, due to the recurring nightmares of Mello picking out her outfits. It was because of those nightmares did Amy not have to use a bucket of ice water to wake her-the mere mention of Mello's name made Death bolt up in bed with fright.

"Well, now that you're up…Mello has a job for you! Lucky Emmy!" Amy declared with a smile as Death groaned, "I'm not lucky, Amy- I'm screwed! What's the job?"

"I'll tell you…after we play dress up!" Amy declared, whisking a garment bag from behind her back, causing Death to scream and fall back on the futon, knowing that Mello had had a part of picking out this set of apparel.

"Mello told me very specifically to get you this-he said that you wore something kinda similar once." Amy told Death, unzipping the garment bag, causing Death's mouth to drop before she howled, "No! No! No! NO! You can't force me into that hooker outfit! NEVER!"

Downstairs….

Mello and Matt both stared up at the ceiling, Matt staring confused and Mello staring, smirking in triumph. He started to chuckle as Death's screams of objection increased. "I think she likes the outfit, don't you, Matt?" He started to laugh harder at Death's protests as Matt raised an eyebrow before he turned back to his game, muttering, "Mello is a SADIST…" as they heard Death's shriek of, "He took all of my clothes! Just so I couldn't change into something else! That's so low!"

15 minutes later…

Death stood at the bottom of the stairs, humiliated and trying to avoid Mello's gaze as he scanned her, making sure that there was no mistake in her appearance. Death knew by how hard he was staring at her that either he was getting aroused or he wanted to make sure that she had made no mistake. Part of her hoped that it was the first, but the stronger other part of her favoring the second option would not allow such a thought.

What's wrong with me? She wondered, trying to think of a good enough reason to why she was thinking this way.

Sure, I can blame it on hormones but…he's fascinating…He's like Beyond…2nd best and wants to be 1st, always superior, perfectionist, never makes mistakes, impulsive, smart, motivated… But unlike Beyond, Mello is…short tempered, does everything for a reason and he doesn't seem to have a heart. He's different from all those boys who I hanged around, and those guys who always watched me at the bar. Hmmm…

Death's train of thought crashed when Mello began to get impatient as he snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, bringing her focus directly to him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Mello asked, annoyed as Death's cheeks colored as she realized that she may have started remotely liking him. She composed herself enough to shoot back, "I'm dressed as a hooker and you're looking at me like a pedophile would a child. What do you think is wrong?" Mello chuckled cynically in reply, "The outfit suits you- I chose well." Death looked at her red and black striped camisole paired with a tiny black miniskirt and red stilettos. "Honestly, I'm glad that I could use my own accessories." Mello nodded before looking at Death's cut off gloves that went up to her elbows and matched her shirt as well as her rosary and broken heart necklace with its matching studded bracelet and belt. He sighed as he turned away, leading her down the hallway to where his guest-Rod Ross, the mafia leader whom Mello had "borrowed" a few men for his own gang- was waiting in Mello's personal sitting room.

"You know the drill. No mistakes- you mess up, you're outta here."

"No big deal-I may make a mistake on purpose now." Death said teasingly before she went quiet at Mello's glare.

"Follow my lead." Mello demanded, only to have his companion cut in front of him before smirking softly. "I don't think so, Mello. I'll try to make this seem as realistic as possible. Although I'd hate to be your actual girlfriend."

Mello growled at her again but she ignored him as she walked to the door and hesitated, looking back at Mello.

"One question, Mello."

"WHAT?" He snarled at her quietly, wishing just to get to business right then, annoyed with Death's time wasting.

"Does this skirt make my butt look fat?"

Mello's eyes widened as he was taken aback. His gaze traveled to her butt and his face would've reddened if it hadn't been for his restraint on his emotions around her, although he usually failed, his feelings always being on a rampage when she was around, lust being the chief one when she was nearby. "It looks fine. Almost sexy."

"Uhm…O.k.…That works."

She tried to smile as she walked into the room, not knowing how much of a distraction she'd be for her faux boyfriend.

Later…

Mello pulled Death into his room, slamming the door closed before glaring at her. She looked back at him, her face half-afraid, and half-calm. A contradiction, just like her- one part of her was a girl named Emily but another part was named Death. (That does not mean she's a person with multiple personalities- quite the opposite.) Mello cursed as he backed her into a wall, his face inches from her as he snarled, "You-made-a-mistake!" Emphasizing on the word mistake harshly as his grip on her arms tightened to where she winced and then cried out in pain.

"I didn't! What did I do wrong?" She gasped back, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, her face registering full fear now instead of partial.

"You were suppose to follow my lead- you didn't. And because of that, we almost lost the chance for having a whole mafia on our side." He hissed, pushing her harder against the wall, watching her shrink back, knowing that she wished that she could disappear into the wall itself as she winced again.

"That's not true, Mello! I followed your lead perfectly- what did I do wrong?" She whispered urgently, old memories and déjà vu making this moment absolute hell for her, remembering times when her foster parents had done the same thing as Mello was doing now, had the same feelings and expressions as Mello did now, had said the same things as Mello was saying. She was scared out of her mind of what would happen-and yet strangely excited- as their noses touched and she smelled the chocolate lingering on his breath as he sneered, "You ignored everything he said-you didn't pay attention to him at all. And then the lap situation…"

Death paled when he brought up the "lap situation". This had occurred when Mello decided that he wanted Death on his lap in the middle of the meeting between the gangs and she had refused, flatly turned him down in front of Ross. She had been dragged into the kitchen and somewhat humiliated in front of Amy and Matt as Mello harshly reprimanded her, not letting her say a word in her defense, nearly slapping her if it hadn't been for Matt pointing out the fact that Ross would know something was up if Emily came back with a bruise.

"Also, I won't be back sassed by someone like you." He finished before Death had finished processing and reliving the experience.

Death coughed, shocked and offended, protesting, "You made the comment of 'Wow! You're really sick-I thought idiots were healthy, though.' I'm sorry that I made the comment of 'That's why you're so healthy!' Excuse me! And if you hadn't made the comment of 'Germs avoid me and say 'I better not waste my time', I wouldn't had said, 'That's what all the girls say, too.' You're at fault for that-not me."

Death nearly screamed as Mello crushed her against the wall as his fingers were leaving welts on her scarred arms. "Just shut up- I'm your new boss-you listen and obey ME. Nobody else. When I say it's your fault, it's your fault. Understand?"

It was Death who growled now. "NO, I don't understand! You know that it's not true when you say it's my fault-it's yours! You think that you don't make mistakes but you do! Everyone does. You're no exception!"

"SHUT UP NOW, EMILY!" Mello shouted at her, glaring at her as she yelled back, "I WON'T! MAKE ME!"

And he did by the only way he could think of at that moment- he kissed her hard, until her lips hurt and were bruised.

"Damn!" That's all Mello said as he dived in for another kiss, punishing Death the only way he could- physical contact that remotely showed affection or at least attraction.

Death squirmed and tried to free her hands from his grasp, pushing her tiny hands on his chest in an attempt to push him away when he finally let her hands go. Her attempts were futile and now she was scarred.

Of what he'd do…No, of what he COULD do to her.

And how she'd respond.

She felt his tongue trying to force its way into her mouth, but she kept it shut until an involuntarily gasp resulting from Mello moving his hand between her legs forced her lips apart. Knowing that it was the only way to free herself, she kneed him in the groin.

Gasping, he parted from her and backed away enough for her to break for her room, where she locked the door and cried herself to sleep.

She now had no thoughts of a possible infatuation for Mello as she mourned over the loss of her first kiss.

She hated him.

She hated him, but she was trapped.

Just like a songbird in a gilded cage- to sing only for him for the rest of her life.

I wonder what Mello's thinking...^_^

Just some random tidbit...I've assigned random songs to my two main characters of this story.

Mello- Right Round by Flo Rida and Let it rock by Kevin Rudolph and Lil Wayne.

Death- What hurts the most by Cascada and Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis