~{Y/N}'s POV~

"YOU'RE SO ANNOYING!!"

I groaned as I looked over at my nightstand and turned my alarm clock off. I already heard shouting just outside my room door at the orphanage. It's Mello, isn't it. Who pisses off Mello this early in the morning?!

Sighing, I opened my door to see Mello yelling at Near. Of course, Near didn't care, but Mello was still yelling at him anyways, since he's, well, he's Mello.

Both of them noticed me at the same time, and Mello faked a smile. "Mornin'!" He said, and I shot him a death glare.

"...Mello..." I said angrily, "You. Woke. Me. Up."

"Ah!" He said, clearly scared. "I'm so sorry!! Near and I just got into it a bit. But I have news for you!!"

I sighed. "This better be good, Mello."

"It is, it is!! Guess what; L has decided that either Near or I will be his successor!!"

My heart skipped a beat. Near and Mello are both extremely smart, so that shouldn't have struck me as a surprise, but it did. "Oh my god. Congrats, Near, Mello!! That's amazing!! But, who'd he pick?!"

"That's the issue," Near said, "L hasn't picked yet. So we're going to compete for the successor spot."

Of course, Mello vs Near. What's new?!

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Oh, where's Matt?" I asked.

"Tch," Mello said, "In front of the TV playing videogames. Where else?"

I rolled my eyes and made my way to the game room, where Matt was sitting on the floor, crouched down in front of the TV, playing a racing game that looked similar to 'Fast and Furious'.

"Matty!!" I squealed, running up to him and jumping up on him.

"Ah, {Y/N}, morning!" He said, laughing. "Wanna play with me? It's a good game..."

"Sorry, I'll pass." I said. "Mello and Near are competing again, so I've gotta keep Marshmello from killing Near. Have fun though." I said, and I left the room.

Okay, I'm hungry. I need food before I go all insane on everyone.

I went to the cafeteria and saw Mello in the corner, by himself, eating chocolate. Of course he is... I thought, as I got my breakfast.

I walked up to him with a smile on my face and sat down on the table in front of him. "Hey, Marshmello." I said and he sat down beside me.

"Hey, {Y/N}." He said.

"Have you calmed down yet?" I asked.

"Oh, shut up." He said, and I rolled my eyes. Of course not.

So the two of us are in silence. Mello finished his chocolate before me, but he waited patiently until I was finished to leave the cafeteria. Then we walked to where Matt was and played videogames with him, since we were so bored. School would be starting soon. But we had an extra hour to fool around.

~Time Skip~

I sat down in my class waiting for it to be over. I didn't have any friends besides Mello, Matt, Near and L, so I just keep to myself until we get a lunch break. We had literature, the subject I love and excel at, but today I just felt like I couldn't be bothered. I finished all of my work anyways.

As I glanced outside the window, I happened to overhear a conversation between the group of guys behind me. "Did you hear that Near and Mello will be taking over for L?" One of them said.

"Yeah, I did. I don't understand why it's even a debate. Near is clearly better than Mello. Mello's such a hothead and an asshole." Another agreed.

The more I heard, the more pissed off I got, until finally the teacher dismissed us for lunch. Without wasting any time, I whirled around and glared at the group of boys. "You guys have no clue who and what you're talking about!! You guys don't know Mello, okay?! Mello is a great guy, much better than the likes of you!!"

All of them stood up. There were about 5 of them in all. "Mello is a stuck-up asshole that has no friends!!"

"Oi, Baka, I'm his best friend!! You don't know anything about him, so why don't you try to make sure you know your facts before you judge." I said, and I stormed out of the class.

Fucking bastards, I thought, They think they know him. They don't know shit.

I walked straight to the cafeteria to ins Mello, but about halfway there, I bumped into someone. Near.

"{Y/N}," he said, "What's wrong?"

"I just-" I began, but then yelling from behind cut me off.

"OI, {Y/N}, SO YOU THINK YOU'RE A BADASS, HUH? TALKING TO US LIKE THAT AND THEN WALKING AWAY."

I turned around to see all 5 of the guys standing in the hallway, glaring at me. "SO WHAT?! YOU TALK AS IF YOU KNOW MELLO, BITCH, YOU DON'T KNOW LEFT FROM RIGHT!!"

The guy that was doing all the yelling grabbed me by the collar on my shirt. "WHAT DID YOU SAY, BITCH?!"

I stared straight into his eyes with defiance and yelled, "YOU DON'T KNOW LEFT FROM RIGHT, YOU DEAF LITTLE SHIT!!"

I saw the guy's fist pull back and make impact with my face. I barely felt a thing, however, because I was so pissed off that the adrenaline in me blocked out everything else.

"Wait, before we fight, how about we go outside where I can leave your dead bodies laying freely on the pavement?!" I said, creating a challenge.

All five of the guys smirked with confidence and without a word, we left and went outside to the back courtyard. A bunch of the other kids from Wammy's followed. It was a 5-1 fight. But I didn't give a shit. As soon as we stepped outside I attacked, using a kick move L had taught me that would knock someone off their feet. The other children formed a large circle around us, everyone screaming, "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!"

...and so, fight was what I did.

~Near's POV~

They took {Y/N} outside. What should I do...? I wondered, and I quickly decided. I can't fight well, but Mello or Matt can. I have to find them. And fast.

I ran through the halls of Wammy's, calling out for Mello and Matt, until finally I made my way to Mello's and my room. Both boys were sitting down and playing on their DS'.

"Oi, Matt, Mello, I need your help." I said, almost out of breath.

"What do you want, Near? We're busy." Mello droned.

"Those guys from {Y/N}'s class, they took her outside to fight. She needs your help." I said quickly.

Both boys stared at me in disbelief and then threw down their game systems. "Where are they?!" Matt asked.

"They went to the direction of the front courtyard. They were saying something about Mello, and how {Y/N} thinks she's a badass... I didn't really catch much of it. But it's 5 on 1. I don't think she can hold her own."

"Matt, let's go." Mello said, running out the door and towards the courtyard. Matt and I trailed behind, surprised at how worried Mello was.

~Mello's POV~

Shit, shit, shit!! What's {Y/N} thinking?! She's going to get herself killed. Oh, God, please let her be fine. Please. Just until we get there. Please don't let her be hurt.

Within the matter of seconds, we made it to the back courtyard. There were tons of people blocking the fight, and even Near couldn't make it through the crowd. Frustrated and overcome by worry, I decided to do the one thing that came to mind; yell. "OI, WHERE'S {Y/N}?!"

Everyone cheering suddenly stopped and turned around. As soon as they saw me, they let me through. I ran through the circle and saw {Y/N} on the ground, badly bruised and bleeding. Then I saw that there were 5 other people there, standing over her passed-out body. I felt my heart race and my hands ball into fists. "You... Guys..." I said, "How dare you?!"

I know I didn't even make sense; I was too pissed off to make sense. So I went up to all 5 of them and smiled. "You thought that you were only gonna fight her? No, you see, when you have actual friends, you have to fight every single one. Including me." I said, and punched the nearest one straight across the face. "Matt, you handle them. Near and I will take her inside. I'll come back out once she's safe." I ordered, and Matt nodded, coming from behind me and attacking the rest.

Near also came from behind me and helped me pick up {Y/N}. We took her inside and laid her down on the couch in our room. "Near, you stay with her and patch up the wounds. I'll go help Matt." I said, and I ran back to the yard.

Matt was holding his own; he was still putting up a decent fight. I joined in, knocking out the tallest guy. Then Matt and I went back-to-back, fighting the people without having to check our surroundings. After about 10 minutes, we had won the fight. I had one or two bruises, but Matt had a really huge cut on his arm.

"Oi, Mello, you're bleeding!!" He said, pointing towards my head. I touched where he had said was bleeding and looked at my hand. There was, indeed, some blood, but whatever. I didn't care.

Ah shit, I thought, I wonder if {Y/N} woke up yet...

"Okay, Matt, let's go to my room." I said, and we made our way back inside Wammy's.

As soon as I walked into the room, I saw Near patching up {Y/N}, but almost crying. Something's off...

"Near, what is it? What's wrong with her?" I asked, and I felt Matt look at me with caution from behind.

"She's broken a few bones, and she won't wake up. Something is extremely wrong but I don't know what."

"I'll go get Roger!" Matt said, running towards the head office.

Shit. Shit. Shit!!

"M-Mello?! Mello what should I do?!" Near asked, his voice quaking.

"Has she stopped bleeding?" I asked, and he nodded.

"I covered her cuts with bandages. I don't know else to do... Mello... I- I can't deal with this!!"

"Near, calm down. Matt is gonna get Roger and we'll take her to the hospital. She's a tough bitch. She's gonna be fine." I said.

That's right. She'll be fine. Don't worry. She's just passed out. She's not dead. Near covered her in bandages, so her blood loss is minimal. She probably has one or two broken bones, but that's fine. She won't die. She won't leave you, Mello. She promised you she'd stay with you forever. She won't break that promise.

"Mello, here. Let me patch you up too." Near said, grabbed the bandage. "Your head is b-bleeding."

Within seconds Near wrapped the bandage around my head and stopped the bleeding. Matt then came back with Roger and paramedics, who took {Y/N} to the hospital.

-3 Days Later-

~{Y/N}'s POV~

"Where... Am I?" I muttered, just having woken up from what seemed like a long an terrifying dream. I looked around and pieced together that I was in a hospital. Then my memory came back. I was fighting those guys from my literature class, and then Mello came... But... What the hell happened after that?

"Mello..." I said to myself. "I gotta find Mello." I began climbing out of my hospital bed, only to being interrupted by the sound of the curtains in front of me opening. It was Mello.

"{Y/N}! Thank God, oh, thank god." He said, and tears formed in my eyes.

"Mello... Mello!!" I sobbed, hiding my face in his shoulder.

"What the hell got into you?!" He asked. "Why would you fight 5 guys just like that?!"

"...they were talking bad about you." I explained.

Mello sighed. "Well, at least you're okay. You had me worried. Even Near was worried when we saw you knocked out."

Knocked out?! So that's why I can't remember anything...

"Yeah. So, what happened? Is everyone okay?!" I asked.

"Well, yeah. I have a badass scar on the top of my head, and Matt has one on his arm. Oh. And we all got a week of detention together for the fist fight."

Scars...

I looked down and saw that my left hand and my right foot were in casts, and I had cuts all over my body. Great. Just great. "Where are Matt and Near?? Can I see them?" I asked Mello.

"Sure... Let me go get them." He said, and quickly left and came back with both Matt and Near.

Near, with one swift movement, came up to me and hugged me, latching on with all his might. "Thank God." He muttered.

"N-Near, my arm and leg..." I said, and he let go, only to be replaced by Matty.

"Oi, Matty, let go...! LET GO!!" I yelled, and he listened.

Jeez, these boys are so...

"Thanks, you guys. I probably would've been dead if it weren't for you."

"You're welcome." Mello said, and motioned for the other two to leave. When they did, he sat beside me on the bed. "Thank you for defending my honour. I know you probably did it out of instinct, but still. Thanks."

I rested my head on his shoulder. "Mello... You're my best friend. I'd defend you to my last breath."

~Mello's POV~

"Mello... You're my best friend. I'd defend you to my last breath."

My heart skipped a beat. {Y/N}... I thought, this is what falling in love must feel like, huh? Oh well. She won't be into me anyways. Because of me she's suffering. Maybe not directly because of me, but that fight was caused because she defended me.

"Hey, {Y/N}?" I began, but didn't get a response. I looked down and saw that she had fallen asleep.

Sleep well, {Y/N}, I thought, and I kissed her lightly on the forehead. I love you.