Precursor || Death Note [ON HOLD]

Chapter Eleven: Flashback

Author's Note:
PREPARE FOR MORE CUTENESS. This chapter is another adorable flashback. I do have to warn you, though, that they're not all fun and games. When we get into an extremely crucial part of the plot you'll see what I mean...
But that's beside the point. Read, and enjoy the cute bits. If you wanna know why Mello wears leather outfits later in life, you find out here. :)
...Man, I have fun with this story...
Oh, and comment on whether you think I did well portraying the characters' younger selves. I need to know so I can change anything (if necessary). Thanks!
End Author's Note
***
CHAPTER ELEVEN: {Flashback}
"Bedtime!" Kay sang at the top of her lungs.
"Kay, you really can't sing," Matt noted, tugging off his shirt and trading it for a baggy orange pajama top.
"Hey!" Kay whacked his arm, none too softly. "Like you're better?!"
"True." Matt laughed, pulling his pajama bottoms out of his drawer and proceeding to change into them. "Ya know who can really sing? Near."
Kay raised her eyebrows and looked at the two year-old lying on her bed. "You've gotta be kidding me."
"Yup! I am," he replied, grinning.
"Hey!" shouted Mello from the bathroom. "Can someone help me? My hair got stuck to the drawer handle again."
Kay and Matt looked at each other, then simultaneously burst into laughter.
"You are the only boy who could have a problem like this, Mello," Matt said between breaths.
"Don't make fun of me, Matt! I'm gonna cut it off soon, I swear!" Mello shouted back to them.
Kay hurried into the bathroom to help. "Mello-kun, don't do that. You look really cute with it like that!" Her thin fingers began to untangle his hair.
"I don't wanna be cute! Cute is for girls!" he raged, wincing when Kay yanked on a lock of his hair.
"Well then, you're...good-looking," Kay decided. "And-and I bet that someday you'll look really handsome like that. Especially if you wear leather and stuff. Then you can look bad when you're really good!"
Mello stopped being angry and looked at Kay, eyes wide. "You really think so?"
"Yes," she assured. "You'll be really cool then. No, you're even cool now!" Kay finished untangling Mello's hair. "I got it untangled, but..." She visibly winced. "That's gonna be hard to brush. I'm sorry."
Indeed, Mello's blond hair was now a complete rat's nest, some of it even sticking straight up.
Mello peered in the mirror. He shrugged, picking up his toothbrush. "Whatever. It's okay."
"Thanks, Mello-kun!" Kay grinned at her friend.
"Don't call me Mello-kun," he grumbled.
"Mello...san?"
"No."
"Mello-chan?!"
"God, NO!" Mello shouted. Despite his incompetent knowledge of Japanese culture and language, he did know that -chan was used with girls.
"Are you two alright in there?" Matt called from the bedroom. "You better hurry up, cuz I have to pee."
"Just call me Mello, okay? Just Mello," he sputtered, embarrassed.
"Okay then...Mello," Kay said hesitantly.
Matt appeared in the doorway. "Can you pleeease hurry? I reeeallyyy have to pee," he whined, jumping up and down.
Kay laughed; already the five year-old was used to her new friends and their antics. Her blue-green eyes sparkled with amusement as she picked up her toothbrush.
"Okay, we'll hurry up."
The three children prepared for bedtime.
---
For Kay, preparing for bed was the easy part. Falling asleep was not.
She stared up into the pitch black, seeing nothing and hearing nothing. That same nothingness used to scare her-it still did, even-but she had somewhat managed to control it. She couldn't let herself be afraid around her new friends; they might think she was a scaredy-cat.
Being in a totally new place, though, made it harder, despite Kay having been there for almost a month already.
Kay was an insomniac, or as close as an ADHD five year-old could get to one. Rare as it was for her age, Kay usually couldn't sleep until she was about to fall sideways from exhaustion. She was the type who got energy and absolutely had to burn it, no questions asked.
The door to her, Mello, Matt, and Near's room slowly creaked open.
Kay sharply sucked in a breath. She buried her entire body, head included, in her blankets, shivering in fear. Even for a girl as young as her she had a wildly overactive imagination.
Fearful, Kay squinched her eyes tightly shut, wondering if it could possibly be a monster or bad guy or something of the sort.
The soft thump of footsteps could be heard, and someone-or something-entered the room.
Kay winced and curled into an even tighter ball. She looked to be a quivering lump of blankets.
The footsteps stopped, and a rustling noise could be heard. A squeaky came next; Kay realized it was the sound of Near's weight being removed from his crib.
Near, she thought, eyes filling with tears. It-It's taking Near!
More muffled footsteps sounded. They stopped and then there was silence.
And then a hand touched Kay's shoulder.
Kay stiffened and threw herself backwards and against the wall. She opened her mouth to scream...
...and stopped when she realized that it was L. Not a monster, not a bad person, just L. L holding a wide-awake little Near.
Visibly relaxing, Kay breathed an audible sigh of relief.
"It's just me," L said in a lower, quieter tone than usual. "I didn't realize you were still awake, too... Near and I are, for the most part, insomniacs. I take it you are too?"
"...What's an 'insomniac'?" Kay asked cautiously.
"Someone with trouble sleeping."
"Yeah. I guess I'm kinda like that."
"Then come on." L beckoned for Kay to get out of bed.
She followed curiously. "Where are we going, L?" she whispered.
"To my room," L answered softly. "I have no roommates, so when Near and I can't sleep I bring him to my room. Oftentimes we end up asleep on the floor."
"Oh...cool," Kay whispered back. "Can I come?"
"That's where we're going right now; of course you can come."
"Yay!" exclaimed Kay.
"Shh," cautioned L from a few paces ahead.
"Oh, yeah," Kay realized. People were asleep; it was nearly midnight.
"Yay," Kay said more quietly.
L stopped in front of a shadowy doorway. "We're here."
He stepped inside, and Kay followed curiously.
L shut the door behind her and flicked on the light switch.
The bright light momentarily blinded Kay, and she blinked hard, opening her eyes to see a fairly plain room; not a single personal item of L's decorated it.
"Whoa," she breathed, staring around in the wonder that only such a young child could feel. "It's so...empty."
"Is there a problem?" L asked, setting Near gently on the ground.
Kay walked over and plopped down next to Near. "No," she defended, "I just expected to see something."
"And what exactly is 'something'?"
"...I don't know," Kay admitted, placing Near in her lap and winding and unwinding his hair on her finger. "Just...something. Not...nothing."
L looked at Kay.
Maybe she was right. Five year-olds tended to see the world more clearly, and saw it as black-and-white. Theoretically what she said could greatly impact L.
Maybe there was something to learn from the incredibly innocent girl sitting on the floor and playing with Near.
Kay laughed at Near. She turned to L. "He's like a little brother... I've always wanted a baby brother or sister! Tee-hee... He can be my honor brother!"
"Honorary," corrected L.
"Whatever."
Kay tried to tickle Near, who just kept sitting there. He looked curiously at Kay, as if wondering what exactly she was doing.
"Not the happiest, then." Kay pouted and stuck out her lower lip.
"Actually, it's not a question of happiness," L cut in; Kay turned to look at him in confusion. "It's just about what emotions he chooses to show on his face."
"Oh."
Kay didn't quite seem to understand all of what he said, but maybe there was something that she could learn from L, too.
Kay chatted animatedly and laughed and played with Near's hair (and Near himself). She sat on the floor next to L and the white-haired two year-old, and slowly but surely she began to slouch, and her eyelids slowly began to droop.
At long last, when L was sure she was going to collapse from exhaustion, he insisted on helping her back to her bedroom.
Instead of following him, Kay fell sideways and onto L's bed, holding Near and miraculously not squashing him as she fell.
Soon she was out like a light.
Near stared up from the confines of Kay's arms. He looked up at a slightly bewildered L.
"What now...?" L wondered aloud.
Too lazy to sleep on the floor, L eventually flicked off the light, climbed over Kay, and lay on his bed next to her.
"Just you and me, eh?" he said to a tiny Near.
But Near, cozy in his honorary sister's arms, soon gave in to the gentle, lulling tug of sleep and dreamworlds.
L stared up at the ceiling.
Little did the nine year-old know that nights like that one would become frequent, but they did.
And L and Kay gradually started to become closer.