The sky outside was grey and threatening, giving warning of mother natures impending wrath. Still outside of the gifted children orphanage known as Whammy's house a few children played. Among these children was a young blond who went by the name of Mello.

"Hey you lizard lump get back here and play!" he yelled

"No way Mello it's going to storm soon and we don't want to play outside during a storm."

The blond sneered and kicked the soccer ball in the others boys direction. Frightened, the boy blocked it with his arms.

"You guys are pathetic who'd want to play with you anyway?" the 12 year old said as he passed by.

The children stepped back, knowing the blond boy could lash out with out a moments notice.

Mello smirked, glad he held this kind of power, and went inside to grab one of his favorite chocolate bars from a stash under his bed. He sat there for a moment thinking and crunching on the sweet candy. He didn't want to play by himself, and being inside during a time as cool as a storm was out of the question. It was just a matter of what to do and with whom.

Getting up, he marched down the halls barefoot and clad in black, his dark eyes searching for a target, any target. Yet to no avail did he find one, they all eluded him or locked themselves away in the bedrooms.

Grumbling and more then a tad annoyed he stormed into the play area where the children relaxed after completing their assignments. This room too was empty; as he turned to leave he heard a familiar clicking, like the sounds of a puzzle falling into place, over and over until it stopped. Momentarily there was silence, and then the rush of small cardboard pieces falling on hardwood floor was heard.

Mello grinned and stalked towards the sound, 'Finally' he thought, and peered over the brown chesterfield seated off by one of the walls. Sure enough he spotted the grey clad boy, with platinum hair doing that stupid white puzzle of his, and twirling a few locks of his hair around his index finger.

"Hey Near" he said to the boy who he was slowly starting to hate. It seemed no matter what he did he could never beat the younger boy, and it made him angry, and upset. But at that moment he was just happy to find someone to possibly play with. Near would be perfect, the boy was so emotionless he wouldn't be scared to play out in a thunder storm.

"Yes?" Near replied never looking up from his puzzle.

"Want to come outside and play with me?" Mello asked, taking another bite of the already half eaten chocolate bar.

"No" The smaller boy replied without hesitating.

"Why not?" Mello exclaimed angrily.

"Because it's going to storm soon" Near replied, as if it weren't obvious.

"That's the point!" Mello said, "Unless you're scared."

The other boy looked up at him for a moment. "There is a very small chance I am actually scared and more logically I just see no reason to go out and play in a dangerous situation."

Mello rolled his eyes; leaning on the back of the chesterfield more comfortably he pulled a Cheshire Cat grin. "Ah, but lighting generally strikes the highest point, and there is plenty around here much taller then us" he pointed out. "Besides it wouldn't be for long, give me a real good reason not to and I'll leave you alone." Mello was almost to the point of physically dragging the boy outside.

Near looked at him again and shrugged "You want to go out and play that badly? Tell me what we are going to play," he said. Near wasn't very social and tended to always be off on his own, but there were times the young genius wanted to play like any normal 10 year old would. He had no actual good reason not to, although he wouldn't admit that to the other boy.

Mello grinned and whooped in childish joy. "I don't know yet I'll decide when we get out there, come on!" he said pulling the boy up and over the couch in a rush "I don't want to miss it"

Mello hadn't always disliked the boy, hell he had liked him a lot at first because Near showed no fear of him, something that both intrigued and irritated the blond, candy addicted boy.

Near allowed him self to be dragged by the wrist through the halls of Whammy's house and out the front door, down the steps, along the front lawn and around the side "Where exactly are we going?" He asked, leering at the other boy.

"Don't know exactly," Mello said acting rashly and picking the direction they went on a whim. He spotted some forest lining not to far away and led them in that direction, it'd be an awesome place to play and watch the storm, while still being relatively safe. Not that he really cared for the safety of this adventure.

Once there he released Near's wrist and grinned at him "Here" he said and took a large bite out of his chocolate bar, the first rumble of thunder was heard and Mello's grin grew wider.

"Fine we are here, now what are we going to play?" Near asked disinterestedly, he examined their surroundings twirling a lock of hair around his index finger once again. It was a good enough place, not somewhere he'd go on his own, but well enough for whatever Mello had in mind.

"What do normal children our ages do?" Mello asked sitting down on the ground.

"I don't know really, I read somewhere that they play role-playing games. Ones where they are heroes or part of a family, where one child is the father, another is the mother and so on" he shrugged sitting beside the other and continued twirling his hair.

"Sounds kind of fun" Mello said gazing up at the sky. The thunder grew louder as the clouds grew darker. A flash of lightning flooded the area with light and the rain started to fall, softly at first, both boys' knew it wouldn't last long.

"Yeah" Near agreed.

"How about we play one of those house games, we can be two brothers alone in the world with no one to rely on but each other" Mello said "I could be the older one who wants to take care of and protect his younger brother."

Near looked at the boy beside him for a long moment unsure what to make from this but shrugged it off, he wasn't supposed to be analyzing the other right now, but playing with him, both desperately trying to act like normal boys, which they never would be because of their gifted minds.

"Okay" he said shifting to sit a little closer to the blonde "for a while we can be brothers and have a family" he said. As smart as all the children at Whammy's house were, they were still orphans, and all orphans had a desire to have a family.

Together they sat and watched the storm progress, neither boy saying much to the other and just enjoyed the moment for what it was. For all too soon they would dispel the fantasy and go back about their lives, as two intelligent youths competing to one day become the Heir to the L name and everything that came with it.

Near closed his eye's and lent his head on the others shoulder and basked in the warmth of a nearby body, momentarily giving into human urges and just being the child that he was.

Mello was stunned by the act and almost shoved the boy away, but he remembered that they were playing a game; he was supposed to "take care" of the other boy. He wrapped an arm awkwardly around the other and looked up at the sky. He had only wanted to play out in the rain, and instead he found something more. He knew without a doubt he would always remember this and it made him hate the other boy just a bit more, but for a whole different reason.

The storm was loud and violent, lighting struck in several places not too far off in the distance, and yet neither boy made any indication of moving. It was beautifully dangerous, and Mello grinned. He always did like thunderstorms.