A/N: Okay, this first chapter is exactly why the story is AU-ish. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, then read the damn chapter and you'll figure it out!

This story was orginally going to be called "Bastard" but the titles of stories have to be rated G for everyone, so I changed it to "Dangerous Game". Because it was originally going be called "Bastard", each chapter will have the word "bastard" in it, as shown below.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely zip, zilch, nada with the exception of Vesni. Now enjoy the damn story!

Part 1 Lucky Bastard

"I hear a voice say 'Don't be so blind.' It's telling me all these things that you would probably hide." -Always by Saliva

The back of the transport truck bounced uncomfortably as it sped up to merge onto the highway. Vesni sat by the door in the back with a gun pointed at a dark-haired Japanese woman, naked except for a white blanket that was given to her before she stripped.

"I honestly do not see why Mello needs you, but if this is his plan, I'll go with it." Vesni frowned at the woman who looked up at her with surprise written on her face.

"You trust Mello?" she asked, disbelief in her voice.

"Fuck no!" Vesni shook her head, her fluffy, bright red pony tail nearly smacking her in the face. "I work with him only because he and I both have a score to settle with your 'God' who calls himself Kira. Working with him doesn't mean that I trust him."

"I see, and what has Kira done to you?" the woman asked, glaring back at Vesni.

The red-head returned the venomous glare the woman was giving her. "No need for you to know, Lady Takada."

Kiyomi Takada huffed and ignored the eighteen-year-old girl who was holding her at gunpoint. Vesni was glad for the silence. She hated Takada, hated all the attention she got, hated how she was so vain and smug about the praise she received from the Kira worshipers of the world, hated how lightly she treated using a Death Note to kill someone. Vesni thought Mello should not have given Takada a blanket when he asked her to strip to get rid of the tracking device that she might have had on her clothes.

It was Kira who killed her parents two years prior to Takada's kidnapping. They were killed in a car accident that only Vesni had survived. She had awoken in the hospital with no memory of anything, not the accident, not her childhood, not her parents, not even her real name. The only thing she could remember about her name was that it started with a V. With that knowledge, she traveled around calling herself Vesni. She knew that it was not what she used to be called, but she figured she would start there until she could regain all her memories.

She concluded that it was Kira who had murdered her parents because both of them had been well experienced American conartists. They had avoided Kira for years, and, thinking that they would never be found by the new "God," they decided to take a vacation to Japan, and that is where they were discovered by Kira. She only knew this now because of what the police had told her after she was released from the hospital. Not knowing what she would do or where she would go if she went back to America, she got a dead-end job in Japan and spent almost a year and a half wandering aimlessly until she bumped into Mello. Even at first appearance, she knew she could not trust him, but she had agreed to work with him only because he was after Kira. Her parents were criminals so she found no guilt in becoming one with Mello.

When the blond twenty-year-old had taken Takada away from the NHN building, Vesni had waited in the back of the transport truck until the two had arrived. Once Takada had been stripped of her clothes, Mello had locked both the NHN anchorwoman and Vesni in the back of the truck; the main reason was so Vesni could keep an eye on the woman so she could not try anything that would help her to escape in any way. Vesni did not particularly like the job Mello had given her, but thought it was best to do it because she did not want any of them to die before they caught Kira.

Suddenly, Vesni felt the truck slowing down and veering off in another direction. Must be getting off the highway, she thought. She was right. The truck stopped for a short period of time, as if at a stop light, then turned a corner, then another and almost immediately came to a stop under some shaded area. Takada took the opportunity of the truck being off to try and work the plan she had been calculating in her head on the drive there. Vesni noticed it almost right away and cocked a bullet into place and then point the pistol she was holding at Takada's head.

"Hey! What's that?" She stood up and walked over to the Japanese woman and pulled the blanket back to reveal a piece of lined paper and a pencil. Vensi yanked it out of the anchorwoman's hands and shook it in front of her face. "Trying to kill us, huh? Well, I got news for you. That's not going to happen anytime soon." She stuffed both the pencil and the piece of the Death Note in a pocket of her black cargo pants. "And you couldn't have killed me with that anyway, considering 'Vesni' is not even my real name." Takada looked up at the red-head with and odd expression. "I don't even know my real name." Vesni turned around and banged on the door of the truck. "Mello, open the fucking door and get me out of here!" There was a loud click and the door to the back of the truck opened to reveal the scarred face of the blonde known as Mello.

Shoving the gun into another pocket of her cargo pants, Vesni jumped down from the back of the truck and shoved the piece of Death Note in Mello's face. "What's this?" he asked, somewhat annoyed.

"Are you happy now? I just saved your life." The twenty-year-old took the paper from the red-head and stared at it after shutting and locking the truck door. "She was about to write your name down on that. I caught her just as she was pulling it out to write."

Mello turned and walked into the building that he had parked the truck in. "Good work, Vesni." He waved a hand, indicating for her to follow him. "Come with me."

The red-head glared at his back. No thank you? No "I trust you now"? Was it any wonder why she did not like him? Huffing angrily, she gave in and followed behind the blonde. He led her into a small, dimly lit room with a desk and a few papers scattered about. It was rather dusty and cobwebs littered the walls. The place had obviously not been used in years.

Shutting the old, rotted, wooden door after her, Vesni crossed her arms angrily and glared at Mello who had poured himself over the papers that were scattered across the desk. "So now what are you going to do with her?" she asked, a bit peeved.

"Pump answers out of her, use her as bait, get a ransom, then kill her," he answered quickly without looking up from the papers.

"That's it?" Vesni leaned against a spider web-covered wall, took out her gun and began checking the rounds. Mello nodded and said nothing. "Who's going to kill her?" she asked. She had never killed anyone before but did not care if she started now. Her parents that she could not remember had murdered before and got away with it, so when was it her turn? She pulled out the magazine, checked it, and then shoved it back into the handle of the pistol with a loud click.

Mello looked up from the papers he had been studying. "Doesn't matter; as long as she dies, I don't care." The red-head took the safety off her gun and held it up for Mello to look at.

"I'll do it," she said with no emotion. The scarred blonde stared at her for a moment, and then nodded.

"Very well, but let me talk to her first." Putting the safety back on the pistol, Vesni nodded once and placed the gun back in her pocket. The smell in the room seemed to change all of a sudden from dusty to smoky. She sniffed the air then turned back to the wooden door. She studied the cracks between the frame and the door and noticed a small, red glow and a bit of smoke come from underneath it. Curious, Vesni opened the door and peeked out at the truck that they had left alone.

"Holy shit!" Mello glanced up at her back when he heard her exclamation. "Mello, we have to leave here now!" She turned back around, grabbed the blonde's arm, and pulled him to his feet, dragging him out of the tiny room.

"Vesni, let go of me!" Mello retched his arm free of her grasp and followed her out of the room. "What's going on?"

The red-head in question grabbed his unkempt hair and forced his face in the direction of the transport truck. The whole thing was ablaze; the fire spreading quickly and was only feet away from the gas tank. The eighteen-year-old released Mello's hair and began running out of the building. "That's what's going on, now run!"

The smoke began to spread and sting Vesni's eyes. She could just make out the exit of the busted building. If only she could get out in time before the fire reached the gas tank of the truck and explode. Her eyes stung, her throat stung, the smoke filled in every gap of the building, impairing her breathing; but she was not about to give up. Not just yet.

Suddenly, there was a deafening bang and the whole building exploded. Vesni was thrown forward but did not feel the heat of the fire on her back, instead she felt the heat of a body and two strong arms wrap themselves around her waist. The young red-head covered her face to protect it from the impact of her colliding with the ground. Her hands were scraped up, as were her forearms, but other than that, she was fine. Shards of stone and wood from the building flew past her but did not touch her. The body that had grabbed her protected her from the fire as well as the debris that could harm her.

Vesni waited a few minutes for the dust and debris to die down before she opened her eyes. Removing her arms from in front of her face, she moved out from underneath the body that had protected her and stood up, looking at the now burning building.

"Fuck, how the hell did that happen?" She sighed; just a moment ago, everything was fine and dandy. There was no sign of a fire or even of a fire beginning to happen. How did the truck suddenly catch fire and explode? A quiet grunting noise came from near Vesni's feet and she looked down to see a burned and bleeding Mello attempting to stand. It had been he who had protected her from the blast. The explosion had burned through his leather vest to his back, leaving a smoldering mess of blistered skin and burned flesh, complete with bits of debris that had embedded themselves into the wound. Why Mello risked that to protect Vesni was beyond her.

"Must have been Kira," he said through gritted teeth.

Vesni stared at him. "Why and how would Kira explode a transport truck?" she asked, obviously confused.

"He used Takada," he answered, cringing from pain and falling down on his hands and knees. "She must have called him...and...discovering that she was captured...must have had her burn herself and everything around her...so we couldn't get anything out of her." Mello gripped his burned arm with his free hand. "Damn! The bastard got us!"

Vesni watched him as he sprawled out on the ground in pain. "Well don't just stand there, you useless bitch! Do something!" Mello screamed at her. She looked at him for a minute, studying his wounds, before pulling off her white tank top and ripped it up, wrapping his bleeding back and arm with it. She grabbed his good arm and slung it over her shoulder; standing up, she helped him to his feet and they began to stagger off down the dirt road.

Mello looked at Vesni, at her black bra that was all that covered her after she had wrapped his injuries. "I didn't know you looked so good without a shirt on, Vesni," he said with a weak voice. The loss of blood had left his body weak and frail.

She glared at him. "You better watch it buddy, or I'll drop you here and leave you to die." She was completely serious and Mello knew it. Not wanting to die, he decided on a change of subject.

"So, where are we going?" he asked.

"To a cottage I rented out before we set out to kidnap Takada." She shifted Mello's weight on her shoulder and continued. "I thought it would be best if we had a safe house to go to if the cops came to that little busted-out building you parked the truck in."

Mello sighed. "Good thinking, Vesni."

The red-head rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Mello. I'm surprised that you didn't think of that." He just grunted and closed his eyes. She was not at all surprised when she felt him go limp and her load was increased. The man had lost too much blood to stay conscious. Letting out a large sigh, she shifted Mello's weight once again and trudged down the dirt road towards their new home for the next few weeks.

--

Vesni turned the handle of the faucet in the cottage kitchen and let the water run until it was piping hot. Taking out a big, plastic bowl from a high cabinet, she dumped in some liquid hand soap and then filled it with the hot water. She grabbed a small wash towel, dumped it in the water, and walked up the stairs, hot water bowl in hand, to the second story of the cottage that consisted of only one bedroom and a bathroom. It was time to clean Mello's wounds again. The man had been unconscious for three days and he showed no sign of waking any time soon.

Vesni had no idea why she still stayed and took care of the scarred blonde. She hated him, that much was clear, but yet she still had stolen equipment from a nearby hospital just to save him. Maybe she did it because he was the only thing that gave her a sense of stability in her life. His purpose fueled her purpose. That fact alone made her want to kill him.

Opening the door to the bedroom, she walked up to the bed where he lay and set the bowl down on the nightstand next to the bed. Removing the sheets, she slowly and carefully rolled him over on his stomach and began to cut the gauze off his bare skin with a four-inch-long knife that she kept strapped to the back of her belt at all times. Once removed, she threw the gauze in a trash can that she had pulled next to her and rung out the wash towel over the bowl. Taking the damp cloth, Vesni gently moved it over Mello's ugly and puss-covered back. The wound sizzled slightly when it touched the hot water but almost immediately stopped as she softly rubbed the large, ugly scab. When the towel was dirtied with the puss and blood that covered his back, she dipped it back in the bowl, rinsed it out, and then began to clean the wound again. She repeated this process several times before she finished his back and moved on to his arm.

When Vesni was rinsing out the hand towel before she started on his arm, Mello's eyes fluttered open slowly and stared at her. She did not notice he was awake until he spoke to her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Vesni jumped in surprise and dropped the towel she had been ringing out in the hot water. "Aaah!" she cried out; partly because the twenty-year-old had startled her and partly because the hot water had splashed onto her bare skin. "Mello, you're awake!"

He sighed. "Yes, I'm awake. Now I ask again, what are you doing?" His voice was hard and stern. It was obvious he wanted an answer out of her right away.

"I'm cleaning your wound, what does it look like I'm doing?" Vesni was not troubled by his tone for one second. She was used to people talking to her that way and nothing this gimp could dish out was going to change that.

His eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Vesni crossed her arms and returned his glare. "What? Would you rather me leave you here by yourself and have you die? You're one lucky bastard to have survived the Death Note and the explosion. It's a good thing I was there otherwise you would definitely be dead right now."

Mello grunted in surrender and tried to lift himself off his stomach so that he could sit up properly but the red-head shoved his head back into the pillow and held him down. Having just woken up from a three-day coma, he was in no condition to resist her forcing him back onto the bed.

"What the hell, woman!" he yelled into the pillow.

"I'm not done with you yet," she began. "Once I finish cleaning the puss and blood off your arm, I'll put some ointment on and wrap you up in some fresh gauze. Then you may sit up."

The blonde growled his disagreement but gave up and let her finish before he sat up. As soon as she tied off the gauze, he quickly picked himself up, swung his legs out of the bed and let his bare feet rest on the hard, wooden floor. He placed his hands on his knees and glared at Vesni. His scar made him look angrier than he really was.

"Why did you help me?" he asked with malice in his voice.

The red-head returned Mello's glare. "I don't know. I just did. You got a problem with living or something? If you wanted to die, you should have just told me to leave you alone and I would have."

"How long have I been unconscious?" Seeing that his previous inquiry would be getting him nowhere, he decided to go down a different path.

Vesni gathered all the equipment she had not used and placed them back in the duffle bag she had used to smuggle the first-aid equipment out of the hospital. "Almost three days, no more than that." She closed the zipper and tossed the bag next to the bed.

"Damn!" Mello cried out, making Vesni jump. "Near probably caught Kira by now. Fuck, fuck, fuck!" The room was silent for a few minutes as Vesni let the new information sink in then was startled again when the scarred blonde suddenly yelled in anger. "Damn you Near, you won again!" He buried his face in his hands and it was quiet once again in the small room.

Vesni had no idea what Mello meant by Near winning again, but she decided not to press the matter. Quietly, she stood up and turned to leave the room, leaving Mello alone to think about everything that had just been said. She did not tell him everything. She purposely left out the fact that Near had called the blonde's phone just the other day to give Mello the news. He had known the twenty-year-old was not dead and got a first-hand story as to why when Vesni answered the phone. Near had told her everything that had happened at the Yellow Box Warehouse and the red-head could not bring herself to tell Mello that it was Light Yagami who was Kira; the very man who had killed L and taken over for the great detective right after, fooling everyone for several years.

Frankly, Vesni would have loved to see Mello flip his lid over the information, but after seeing the man completely break down from finding out that Near had beaten him to the punch once again, she could not get the words out of her mouth. Something about seeing the scarred blonde so pathetic and sad created a brick wall in her mouth, restricting the words from leaving.

At the door, Vesni stopped and looked back at Mello and sighed. The state of him was an odd sight indeed. She felt like she had to say something, but did not know what. Deciding to leave it be, she quietly slipped out of the room and shut the door.

A,N: Yeah, that's right, they hate eachothers' guts. I just thought I'd try and get that across as best I could. If I failed at that, please let me know. Hell, if I failed at anything in this story, let me know anyway.

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Thank You!!