Chapter five:

Mello is the first to awaken between the two as he is facing Near allowing the sunbeams to fall onto his eyes. He blinks and sits up when he sees Near sleeping next to him.

Then as his mind comes from the blur of sleep he remembers last night that makes him smile.

He reaches over and gently strokes Near's soft hair. He begins to realize something.

Ever since the results were posted his hatred towards Near is disappearing at a quick rate.

He instead feels that Near is no longer an enemy. "Must be because now there are two other people now in the first and second places." He mummers to himself as he pauses in mid-stroke of Near's hair. "Hm. Interesting."

Near shifts with a very soft groan.

Mello blinks as if brought back to reality. He moves his hand away from Near's head. "I can be there for you…. My dear prince." He finds the words slipping past his lips but he finds he doesn't care that he is now saying such things to Near. He is about to get up, in order to do so he will need to carefully climb over Near, that's when Near blinks awake. "Morning."

Near's eyes flicker to Mello then he sits up. "I fell asleep?"

"Yeah. You seemed pretty tired." Mello says with Near turning to look to him.

"I guess I have been a little sleepy lately." Near responds.

"Sleepless nights?" Mello watches Near's face.

"Kind of." Near admits. "Ever since what happened started to bug me even more than usual I haven't been sleeping well."

"You shouldn't keep it inside. The hard to sleep nights will continue." Mello says in warning.

Near closes his eyes with a small sigh before speaking. "I know." He then opens his eyes half way. "And I owe you an explanation."

Mello blinks.

"I told you I'd talk to you today." Near reminds him.

Mello nods. "Yes. So sometime today we are having a talk."

Near nods. "I know."

"Don't stress about it." Mello slightly puts an arm around Near. "It'll all be ok."

Near turns to Mello. "I don't think there will be a better time than now."

"Ok." Mello says ready to listen. "Let's talk."

"Thank you. Mello." Near says with sincere gratitude.

Mello gives a gentle look to the other then ruffles his hair. "Don't worry about it." He removes his hand from Near's hair.

"Well Mello….. You see…. I wasn't taken or kidnapped." Near begins. "I left on my own."

Mello opens his mouth to ask why but shuts it to see if Near will tell him first.

"I left because I didn't feel like I was right to take over my parents position. I felt as if I didn't really belong there. So I left the first chance I got." Near continues now glancing downwards. "But there was guilt that hung over me. I felt extremely selfish over what I did. I'm a failure to not only my parents but the people as well." He sighs softly after speaking. "I shouldn't even be known as a prince. I don't deserve it."

Mello wraps his arms around Near pulling him close to him. "Well I believe that you should be able to find the path that is right for you."

Near's eyes flicker up to Mello meeting his eyes.

"Just because someone expects something from you doesn't mean it's going to happen. We were put on this Earth for a reason and all we have to do is find it then pursue it. No one can force you to be someone you're not." Mello explains.

Near smiles softly and leans into Mello's embrace. "Thank you." He says a little softly as he softly closes his eyes.

….

"It appears this will be harder than it looks." A voice says.

"But we can't give up." Another voice responds. "Our mission is to retrieve him and that's that. So we still have to continue to try no matter what."

"I know but I really hope that he doesn't see it as us betraying him….."

A hand is put on a shoulder. "We aren't betraying him. We're helping him. He knows why he's here instead of the castle but we don't. He can't blame us for betrayal when we cannot say for certain why he's here. We only know so much that we can make a guess but that doesn't mean it's what happened."

The other nods. "Ok."

…..

Mello and Near have gotten up.

Near left to his room to shower while Mello showers in his own room.

The two missed breakfast so they head straight for class instead since class will be starting soon.

Mello gets into a seat closer to Near and he slightly glances to Near every now and then though no one thinks twice about it as Mello always cast glances to Near before.

The two new kids come in.

There is a light brown haired brunette that has his hair going down to a few inches below his ears. He has sea-blue eyes, a navy blue pull over hoodie, slightly baggy jeans and black runners.

Next to him is a raven haired male with messy black hair, red eyes, baggy long sleeved black shirt, baggy jeans and bare feet.

Mello looks to Near after analyzing the two new comers only to see Near tense as well as avoid looking at the two new comers. He turns with a glare to the newcomers only to smirk as he notices there are no seats close to Near so the two have to sit further away from Near than they obviously would have liked.

The teacher enters and begins today's lesson.

Mello takes notes while still glancing to keep a close eye on not only Near but also the two newcomers.

During the time the teacher pauses for a few seconds in her speech to draw something or click a button to the next slide on the projector Mello hears the two newcomers call each other A and BB.

From the very small hard to hear parts he thinks he hears them talking about something of some kind of talk about how boring this class is as well as what importance it could have.

The one called A seems to be also telling BB to still pay attention though he never does say the part about the lesson so in a way it's a little vague.

The class bell rings before Mello knows it.

Mello gathers his stuff and looks to Near.

Near is trying to get out of the classroom as fast as he can without looking suspicious.

Mello follows Near as the two new comers who are obviously the ones that beat him and Near in rank can't follow behind Near as they move to do so. He moves a little closer to Near after just barely resisting to smirk at the two newcomers. "Let's go to the common room." He says quietly to Near as he has a feeling that the two have tried to get into all of Near's classes or are going to follow him to each class.

Near nods in agreement.

So the two head into a crowd and slip off to the common room.

They are alone there.

Mello sits leaning against a column while Near sits by the colomn.

"Thank you Mello." Near says.

"What do they want from you?" Mello asks.

But Near doesn't answer as a few others enter the room including the two newcomers who were looking for someone only to spot them in the room.

The two new comers move towards Mello and Near.

Near tenses and Mello has a slight glare.

They approach Near.

"You should really come with us." The brunette says. "You will come with us. You should know why."

This has caused everyone in the room to look to them as well as murmuring.

Near stands to try to back away.

"This is enough of your games." The raven reaches for Near.

Mello is on his feet in seconds and steps between Near and the new comers glaring at the new comers. "Leave him alone." He snaps at them.

"Stay out of this. It doesn't concern you." The brunette says.

"It is when you were going to forcefully take him away." Mello retorts.

The raven snarls. "Get out of our way blondie."

Mello hears more mummers and has a feeling that they shouldn't stay here much longer so since the two are after Near it will not be a good idea for Rodger to get involved thus possibly causing problems. He turns to Near. "Come on Near let's go." He grabs Near's wrist then leads him out of the room with Near following.

The two new comers don't seem to follow as they seem to understand they have made enough of a scene at the moment.

Mello knew that rumors of what happened or well at least that Mello stood up for Near would spread like wild fire in no time. He takes Near to his room shutting the door once they are inside. He lets Near go as he closes the door then turns to Near. "Why are they after you?" He asks.

"They were my friends back at the castle. The raven is Beyond Birthday and the brunette is Always After. They are inseparable lovers." Near explains. "I believe that my mother and father sent them to retrieve me as well as find me."

"Well the way they were acting I would have thought they were some bad guys here to take you for some kind of evil plan." Mello admits.

"I can see why you would think that." Near tells him. "In truth as the date got closer which added more pressure for me to be the perfect heir I began seeing them less and less. We still managed to hang out but it was less time than before. It almost felt as if in a way we were drifting apart because I was becoming so busy with everything else." He sighs. "I now am not sure who's side they are on. They seem to just want to follow orders but are we still even friends? I'm just not sure."

"Well I think that if they still saw you as a friend they should have at least tried to talk to you about why you left. They should talk to you and not try to drag you back." Mello says.

"It would have been nice if they did that." Near agrees.

"Well me and you are going to stay close together." Mello says heading over to his desk to grab a chocolate bar. "Those two are obviously going to try to drag you away the first chance they get."

Near nods softly. "Ok."

Sure enough everyone knew that the two new comers went after Near but Mello stood against them as he helped Near.

And with this fast spread of the news it reached Rodger's ears in no time.

"It's almost like this orphanage is being turned upside down." Rodger sighs as he tries to figure out what's going on. "It seems that Mello really has dropped his rivalry with Near possibly because two new students beat him and Near in rank." He glances away to the window. "But why do I have a feeling that there is more than there appears to be?"

…

Mello and Near had spent the rest of the day together including in the library and even stacking a domino tower in the play room.

All the while ignoring the looks from the other orphans.

Night time rolls around and Mello is heading to his room after dropping Near to his room.

He enters his room closing the door behind himself. He changes into pyjamas then settles into his bed. He finds himself giving a small shiver as he finds the bed feeling cold without someone to be there beside him. He closes his eyes and slightly curls up after rolling to face the wall as he tries to get some sleep but he just can't get to sleep.

A little later the door creaks open once more.