Guardian Badass

Chapter Three

Naome was walking through the streets with Matt. She wasn't really looking for anywhere to shop really. She just wanted to look around the city.

"It's around noon. You wanna go grab some lunch?" Matt asked.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Sure."

"Anywhere you wanna go?"

"Not really. I'll go anywhere."

"Awesome." She slowed down a bit so he could go ahead of her and she'd follow him. He shoved his hands in the white, furry vest he wore over his red and black striped shirt. He still wore his goggles on his head and blue jeans. The bottom of he pant legs were tucked inside a pair of black boots. To Naome his style was quite unique, but she kinda liked it.

Then she looked at her own purple tank top, black jeans, black boots, and a chain on her jeans. I really need a new look. She thought to herself. One more colorful.

"What does your tattoo mean?" Matt questioned looking at her left arm.

"Huh?"

"The "Tears Don't Fall" thing. What's it mean?"

"Oh, nothing specific really. It's just something my mother said all the time before she-"

Naome cut off her own words as a few tears prickled her eyes. Naome never knew her mother. She died right after Naome was born. Her dad used to describe her all the time to her when she was little though. She inherited her straight hair, though her mother's was brown. She had green eyes. Naome got her black hair and blue eyes from her dad. Her dad died later when Naome was four, forcing her to live with her grandmother. That's where she met Mello. The two became best friends until Mello's parents were murdered and he was sent to the Wammy House.

"I'm sorry. Did I say something?" Matt asked looking kind of bad as the tears spilled down her face.

"Oh no. I-it's just a few memories, that's all." She tried to force a smile but ended up with more tears. The upset girl buried here face in her hands and stopped walking. Her knees felt weak and she started to fall. Matt caught her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and grasping one of here arms.

"Hey, it's okay." He tried comforting her in his soothing voice. "Let's just go back okay? We'll eat lunch there and you can calm down."

Unable to speak, she nodded her head slowly and Matt started to lead her back to his car. Suddenly a gun shot went off not too far away from them. Matt cried out and a hot liquid shot over Naome's skin and clothes. She lifted her face to see Matt on the ground, grasping his bleeding arm.

"Matt!" She cried and knelt beside him, looking over his arm. She looked down the street where the gun shot came from, but there was nobody there who looked suspecious or had a gun. The shocked girl looked back to Matt and helped him stand up.

"We have to go back to your place. I can clean the wound and take out the bullet at least." She explained. He nodded as she ripped a piece of her shirt off, showing part of her stomach. She wrapped in around his arm to help stop the bleeding. The two walked quickly back to their car. The people in their way tried their best to move.

"Y-you can drive.. right?" Matt questioned.

"Yeah." Naome replied as she helped Matt in the passenger seat.

"Put pressure on that." She told him. He nodded and pressed on the purple cloth covering his wound. She quickly climbed in and started toward home. she pulled up to the apartment building and hastily helped Matt up to their apartment.

"What happened?" Mello inquired as the two entered the small home. Naome quickly grabbed a few towels and wet them in water. Matt sat on the couch.

"Someone shot him." Naome answered to his question. She knelt on the floor by Matt as she removed the bit of her shirt from his arm. The blood had pretty much stopped but the wound was pretty bad. Matt carefully took off his shirt so she could see the wound easily and she felt herself blush slightly. Mello had gone back to his bedroom as Naome looked up to Matt.

"This may hurt a little." She said and he just nodded.

She laid a wet towel over the damage. He gasped and winced, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Sorry." He apologized quietly.

He shook his head. "It's fine."

"Do you have like, small tongs?" She inquired.

"What?"

"You know like.. it's.. I can't explain it. You use them for like food to grab like maybe doughnuts."

"Oh. Yeah I think there's some over there."

He pointed to a kitchen where she found them in a drawer. She came back to the wounded young adult.

"Here." She rolled up a small towel and handed it to him.

"What's this for?"

"This is really gonna hurt. Use that to bite on or just to squeeze it or something."

"Yeah right. I can-"

His words were cut off when she used to tongs to try to retrieve he bullet from the torn flesh. He cried out, but instead of grasping the rolled up towel he gripped her free hand tightly, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I told you." She said as she pulled the bullet out of his arm. "There."

The helping, younger girl threw the bullet in a bowl of water and cleaned his arm with a new wet towel. Finally she wrapped his upper arm in a tan bandage. Releasing her hand, Matt touched the area and looked back down the Naome.

"Thanks." He said as she sat on the couh beside him.

"It's no problem." She smiled slightly as he moved somewhat closer to her, resting his arm on the back of the couch. He paused for a second, then continue to lean in, closing his eyes slowly like he was to kiss her. She moved closer to him. When they'd reached just a centimeter away Matt raised his hand to rest it on her cheek.

Suddenly Mello's door reopened and the two moved away quickly. Naome felt her face turn slightly red as Mello sat next to her. Lizzie sat beside him.

"Hey guys." Lizzie greeted with a smile.

"Hey." Matt replied looking kind of flustered.

"What's up?" Mello asked as he laid an arm around Lizzie's shoulders.

"Nothing Now." Matt said and slumped against his hand.

Mello gave him a confused look. "What?"

"Nothing. Never mind."

The blonde boy shrugged and looked at Naome.

"You doing anything interesting?"

"Not really. Cleaning a bloody bullet wound." She replied and Lizzie looked over to her.

"Who got shot?"

"I did." Matt answered showing her the bandaged upper arm.

"Oh. Did it hurt?"

"No! I just got shot and didn't even notice until we got home!" He said sarcastically.

"Okay then."

Naome turned to look back at the floor when her face returned to normal. She didn't know Matt liked her like that, if he really did. He didn't really act like it until now. She bit her lip in confusion. Then again, what if he wasn't really going to kiss her? What if he was just, grabbing something? But, he laid a hand on her cheek. That had to mean something, right?

Matt abruptly pulled his black and red shirt on, pulling Naome out of her thoughts. She sighed quietly now that the thought had probably left his head. She caught his eye for a few seconds and they froze like that, staring into each other's eyes dumbfoundly. The black haired girl felt a strong flip in her stomach when Mello started talking to Matt, making him look away. Once again, he'd ruin their moment.

"You know what we should do?" Lizzie asked.

"What?" Mello responded.

"We should watch a movie." She wrapped her arms around one of Mello's.

"What movie?"

"A scary one."

"Sound good to me. What about you guys?"

"I'm down with that." Naome agreed.

"Sure." Matt answered.

"Awesome. We'll go get the movie!" Lizzie exclaimed as she stood up, pulling Mello with her. They left on Mello's bike, leaving Matt and Naome alone again. She sat on the couch awkwardly as they waited in silence. Matt suddenly moved, shocking Naome. But what he'd done shocked her even more.