Chapter seven: The little raven.

Mello tenses as he sees this. "Near! Fight against Brend!" He says trying to reach Near.

Brend growls and continues to advance ready to attack Mello.

Mello gets ready to defend himself.

Brend suddenly freezes and lets out a low growl. "No. Not this time. You're not going to stop me this time."

"Brend stop this and let Near have control again." Mello demands.

"Why should I listen to either of you!" Brend snarls. "Near is just a weakling and you are a pure idiot. You don't have me. You can't make me do anything!"

Mello blinks as he swears he sees a flash of Near and he stands tall only to move towards Brend.

Brend raises the knife. "Yes! Yes. Walk to your death!"

Mello keeps his eyes locked with Brend as he continues to move towards him. "Near…." He says gently. "Come on. Come back."

Brend laughs at Mello. "Ha! You don't have anything!"

Mello suddenly leans forward.

Brend swings the knife at Mello as Mello does this.

Mello hugs Brend and only winces when the attempted stab ends up slicing part of his arm.

Brend stops in pure surprise at what Mello is doing.

Mello keeps Brend held close in a hug.

The knife shakes a little for a few moments.

Mello closes his eyes as he refuses to let go of Brend.

Suddenly the knife clatters to the floor.

Mello doesn't focus on that as he let's himself think about all the good times he's had with Near.

What makes his thoughts stop in their tracks is when he feels the other hugging him back.

He blinks open his eyes when this happens.

"Thank you Mello."

Mello pulls away enough to look to the others face.

The other has his eyes closed but opens them and Mello can just see the gaze of Brend dying down in place of Near's gaze with Near's stormy grey eyes.

Meaning that while Mello was hugging the other his eyes changed back to stormy grey.

Mello can't help but smile at this. "You're welcome Near."

Near looks worried when he notices the wound.

"Brend gave it to me." Mello says. "Don't worry about it. Do you remember?"

Near looks back into Mello's eyes. "Any second now." He says. "I fought to try to win control then when you put Brend into shock I managed to push him down. So soon I will remember since I didn't let myself turn back without fighting." He says as if to remind Mello.

Mello nods remembering Near telling him about how if he fights for control he doesn't remember right away.

Near is about to move to go get the medical kit when he stops.

"There it is." Mello whispers as he can tell that Near is getting the memories of what happened.

Near blinks then looks even more worried. "Mello you need to be careful." He says in warning. "Brend is going to try to kill you. He hates you now."

Mello smiles in an assuring way. "I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to give up on you. Don't you worry about me I can defend myself. Don't think that because Brend hates me means that I'm going to stop. Not when we've come so far."

Near smiles in appreciation. "Thank you Mello."

Mello nods then grabs the clothes from the bed handing them to Near. "You should change out of those clothes especially if someone comes in. I'm glad we clean our own clothes."

Near blushes and slightly glances away at the thought of changing in front of Mello.

Mello chuckles upon seeing this then he goes over to the knife picking it up then heads to the bathroom to clean it of blood.

Near watches him go then puts the clothes on the bed only to begin stripping of his bloody clothes.

Mello turns on the sink and begins washing the knife being careful to not hurt himself on it's bade. He lets himself think as he does this and as the blade of the knife is becoming clean he suddenly stops just letting the blade be under the running water. He gasps then quickly finishes cleaning the knife only to dry it and race out of the bathroom. "Near!"

Near turns almost with his clean shirt on still blushing. He finishes putting it on then turns to Mello. "What is it?"

"I think I've just figured out how to get rid of Brend!" Mello says putting the knife on the desk.

Near perks with interest. "How?"

…..

L is looking over all information they have on the killer. He frowns. "There is something we are missing….." He brings a thumb to his lips resting it on his bottom lip. "But what?" He then bites the almost non-existent nail there.

…..

Mello smiles. "Just leave it to me. Can't have Brend knowing how we are going to do this."

Near nods. "I trust you."

Mello blinks making his expression change to worry when he sees Near is looking pretty tired. He gently gets Near to sit on the bed. "You should get some rest." He says putting the dirty clothes in the hamper.

"But your wound." Near protests.

Mello decides to ease Near's worry so he grabs the medical kit from under the sink and brings it to Near. "You have enough stress. Can't have you worrying about me." He says.

Near smiles in appreciation and takes the medical kit.

As Near moves a little back further onto the bed is when Mello plops down to sit down on the bed.

Near opens the medical kit and grabs what he will need only to see Mello take off his shirt. He blushes.

Mello smiles at Near gently. "It'll be easier this way."

Near nods and silently begins working on cleaning the wound first to make sure that it won't get infected.

Mello sits there letting Near do this. He watches for the first bit then when Near begins putting on the white gauze bandage wrapping it around his arm he looks away to straight ahead. He goes through the way of getting ready to get rid of Brend.

Near finishes and puts everything away. "There. That should be good."

Mello looks to it and nods satisfied. "No one will even know." He picks up his shirt from the ground and puts it on. "Get some rest now." He says to Near once he has his own shirt back on. "I will begin working on my idea of how to get rid of Brend." He tells the other.

Near puts the medical kit on the night stand and nods in agreement only to yawn before he can respond verbally.

"Have a good rest." Mello tells Near. "I'll come get you when it's all done."

"Thank you Mello." Near says as he lays down on his bed.

"Anytime Near." Mello responds then he leaves the room turning off the light on his way out. He pauses at the door and looks back to see Near already asleep making him smile at how peaceful Near looks. He leaves closing the door behind himself. He walks back to his room not noticing the being in the shadows watching him as he walks away to his room.

The next day…

Both Mello and Near don't show up to class.

Rodger goes to find out why just in case they are sick or something. He knocks on Near's door then when there isn't an answer he opens it only to notice that he seems to have just woken Near up.

Near tiredly looks to Rodger slightly raising his head.

"Are you ok?" Rodger asks.

"I'm just tired." Near lays his head down. "I am completely fine otherwise."

Rodger nods. "Right. Late night-"

Near cuts him off as to let Rodger know that right now he is too tired to deal with others. "Studying? Yes."

"Well try to budget your time well." Rodger says leaving as he closes the door behind himself. "He's number one around here. He knows what he's doing." He whispers to himself then goes to Mello's room. He knocks but this time get's an answer.

"What is it?"

Rodger opens the door. "I came to figure out why you are skipping class." He says finding Mello sitting at his desk working on something with some books open around him.

Mello even had to put one book on the night stand to have enough room to do what he is doing.

"What are you doing?" Rodger asks.

"I'm working on some studying." Mello says. "It's just review in class so I thought I'd get some of my own studying done instead."

"It isn't good to skip class." Rodger says.

Mello turns and looks to Rodger as if thinking 'really!?'. "Rodger. I am working on keeping my grades up. I know what I am doing."

Rodger looks hesitant but leaves just like how he did with Near. "Alright. You'd better prove that to me." He says as he leaves.

Mello turns back to his work. "I cannot fail."

For the rest of the day Mello worked on the solution to the Brend problem then when the moon is shining in the sky he finally finishes it.

Mello looks at his work satisfied. "Perfect." He says with a nod. He grabs the finished product then sneaks to Near's room since he hardly noticed Rodger check that he is in his room a little earlier. He opens the door. "Near I-" He stops when he finds the room empty of life and the window open with the breeze blowing the curtains up and inward. "Fuck." He growls to himself cursing Brend right now. He heads back to his room since he can't let Brend find out about the way that should destroy that murderer once and for all.

…..

Brend stalks through the streets. "That damn blonde." He hisses to himself only to smirk wickedly. "I'll show you that you should fear me. For I am the little raven the bringer of death and no one is going to stop me!" He then chuckles before dashing off on his way.

A raven flies up into the dark starry sky as it becomes spooked as Brend runs right on past.

That morning…..

Watari rushes over to L. "L! A cop who was chasing a criminal found another murder scene. The killer left another message."

L turns to Watari in interest. "What was the message?"

"I am the little raven." Watari tells L.