--
don't get mad if i'm laughing
blame the caffeine for all the 5 am phone calls
i haven't slept a single night in over a month
and not even once did you start to make sense to me
well maybe i'm a little bit slow, or just consistently inconsistent
she said, "unpredictability's my responsibility, baby."
--
Sayu was startled awake by the sounds of pebbles hitting her window. Bleary-eyed, the woman swung her legs over the edge of her bed and slid onto the floor. She knelt down to grab a baggy, over-sized sleeping shirt off of the floor and pulled it on as she crossed the room to open the window. A tiny rock sailed past her head, narrowly avoiding hitting her in the face as she leaned out to address her midnight visitor.
"Sorry." At least Mello found it in himself to look sheepish. "You weren't answering your phone."
"It's probably on vibrate or something..." Sayu mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What's up?"
Mello glanced around uneasily before answering. The mutilated side of his face was obscured in the shadows of the huge elm tree just off to Sayu's left, it's leaves swaying and rustling in the slight breeze. The night air was cool, and Mello was wearing his favorite, fur-adorned jacket. "Can I come up?"
"Up... here?" Sayu asked, a little confused.
"No, somewhere else." Mello rolled his eyes. "Yes. Up there. As in, your room. Is that okay?"
She regarded his heavy boots wearily. "My mom might hear you coming up the stairs..." she began worriedly, biting her lower lip.
Mello furrowed his thin eyebrows from beneath his bangs, clearly vexed by her lack of cooperation. "Do you not want me to come up or something?"
"N-no, it's not that!" Sayu insisted. She glanced behind her nervously, as though expecting her mother to come bursting into her bedroom at any moment. "It's just... she's an incredibly light-sleeper and..."
Mello snorted. "Don't worry, I can bypass security. Check this shit out." And Sayu watched on in horror Mello stood on top of a nearby patio table. He proceeded to use it as leverage to climb on top of the awning that extended over part of the backyard. The wooden cover was utilized as a kind of bridge for him, and he sauntered casually across it toward Sayu's window.
"Be quiet..." Sayu protested feebly, wincing with every heavy footfall.
But then Mello's hands were tangled in the dark tresses of her hair, pulling her lips against his in a surprisingly tender kiss. "Like Repunzel," he murmured, sucking on her lower lip and making Sayu shiver. "My princess in the highest tower. But mere physical distance couldn't keep us apart... couldn't keep me from you..."
Sayu blushed. "Stop it," she muttered, swatting him. "You're embarrassing me." She wriggled free from his grasp, stepping backwards as to make more room to accommodate him. She watched as Mello slid into her bedroom, catlike in his motions.
"Pretty slick, huh?" Mello said, dusting off the back of his pants absently.
"Come here," Sayu purred, settling back onto the bed and waving him over with a solitary index finger. Mello flashed her a wicked grin and obliged, closing the gap between them in three long strides. He climbed on top of her, his fingers intertwining with her own as he kissed her. Sayu's eyes fluttered close, but she could feel Mello's gaze upon her, roaming the landscape of her body wondrously as he leaned back, unbuckling the belt of his charcoal-colored jeans.
"Sayu," she heard his quiet whisper, could smell the dark chocolate on his breath as his hands gently slid her panties down over her willowy thighs. "You're so beautiful, you know that?"
She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks again. "Mello," she sighed. "What's gotten into you?" And she steered him against her.
--
"Listen, you can hold a gun to my head, and tell me to die for you," Matt told him some time later, after Mello had finally regained his consciousness. The redhead was seated on the futon behind him, staring down at the dirty, scuffed wood floor. "But you're my friend, and I would do it anyway." Mello took a deep breath, and Matt looked up, regarding him earnestly through yellow-hued lenses. "I understand that you think this is something we have to do. I just wish you'd reconsider, Mello. If not for me, then at least for Sayu..."
--
"Is that why you woke me up?" she teased him, fingertips ghosting over the subtle curve of his hips. Mello pushed back his bangs, slick with sweat, away from his forehead as he rolled off of her. "For a booty call?"
"No," he insisted, his voice a slight whine. Sayu smirked at him. "No, really. I..." he grimaced at himself. "I just missed you, you know?"
"We just saw each other on Sunday," Sayu reminded him. "And tomorrow's Tuesday, remember? Tuesday's our day."
"Tomorrow I'm going to be busy," Mello said abruptly, and Sayu's expression wavered. He could see that she was trying very hard not to look disappointed. "Sayu, I'm sorry but... something big is going down on Thursday, and I've got to be ready."
"Like what kind of thing?"
"You don't want to know," Mello said, very seriously. Sayu started to get up, her eyes flashing in alarm.
"Mello..."
"Sayu, lay down." His forearm settled against her chest, forcing her back against the mattress. "I want to talk to you, okay? You know I have an agenda here. Not... with us," he reassured her quickly, as Sayu's eyes widened even more. "But with the Kira case and all. And the things I do... they're risky and dangerous and very likely to get me killed. You understand that, right?"
Sayu nodded, frowning at him. She could tell he was going somewhere with this, and she didn't like it, one bit.
"It was a bad idea for us to get involved," Mello said, and Sayu made an involuntary movement, her hands suddenly clutching at her chest as though mortally wounded. "Sayu, I'm not breaking up with you, listen." He was deliberately not meeting her gaze, instead focusing at the logo on the front of her shirt, the gentle slopes of her breasts. Sayu's hands dropped to her sides, but her pulse continued to race. "I don't want to hurt you... but the stakes here are high... there are certain circumstances here that are even beyond my control. So what I'm saying is..."
"Don't." Mello blinked, mid-tirade, halted by the conviction in Sayu's vehement voice.
"Don't say anything else. I don't want to hear it. I don't want this last proclamation of love; I don't want this unveiling of secrets. I don't want to know. I just want you to come back to me." She stared at him, and although her gaze was hard, her words were feeble, wavering. "Mello... tell me you'll come back... please?"
"Sayu, you know I can't promise that." Mello's smile was brittle.
--
Dawn was approaching, and Mello and Matt were loading up the last of their equipment in the back of the Chevy SS. "Do you need me to run you through the plan one more time?" Mello asked, as he slammed the trunk shut with a resounding thud.
"No, I think I've got it." The hand which was lighting the cigarette clenched between his teeth slightly shook, and Matt grimaced. "Fuck, I'm kinda nervous."
Mello, for once in his life, looked deeply sympathetic. "Matt..."
"Save it for later, Mello." Matt said, giving up on his cigarette entirely and stubbing it out his boot instead. "If there is a later."
Mello's smile was grim as the redhead pulled out his keys, reaching for the driver-side door. "I just wanted to say, thanks for all your help."
--
"Don't watch the news on Thursday," Mello told her, as she clung to him fiercely in the darkest hours of the night.
"Of course," Sayu lied into his collar, knowing fully well that she will oblige no such request.
--
Amazingly, even after being dealt such a devastating blow, Sayu still managed to succumb to sleep.
When she finally woke up the next morning, Mello was gone.
--
On Thursday, just as Takada was being lead inside of the production studios, Lidner's earpiece beeped and came to life.
"A-Team," Lidner instructed suddenly, as Takada paused in the doorway. Several bodyguards came forward to surround the blonde. "Please escort Ms. Takada inside. It appears as though some rebels have been spotted the next street over. B-Team and I will see to it that they do not infiltrate the blockade." She gestured vaguely to the numerous police cars parked out in front of the building, obscuring any potential entrance.
"Of course!" One of the B-team members saluted Lidner enthusiastically, as the others began to hurriedly usher the dark-haired newscaster inside. Takada glanced over her shoulder back at Lidner, whose expression was one of utmost determination.
"Don't worry," Lidner assured over her shoulder, as she began to hurry away to the nearest unmarked police vehicle across the street. "You're in very capable hands. I'm going to take care of the immediate threat, okay?" Takada nodded, relieved, and at last allowed herself to be dragged inside. Lidner had to suppress the grim smile as she stepped out onto the sidewalk and toward her car. And then, abruptly--
Boom.
-- The entire building went up behind her, glass shards raining down upon Lidner from above. The blonde staggered and fell, propelled forward by the force of the explosion. She rolled on the hard cement, tearing the hem of her blouse and snapping the heel of her shoe as she went bouncing along.
She leapt her feet almost immediately thereafter, feigning the appropriate expression of astonishment and horror for the given situation. "Hey, Lidner," filtered in the sarcastic voice from her earpiece. "Are you alright? That was some spectacular fall." She could hear his snickering on the other line.
Asshole, she thought irritably, as ambulance sirens began to sound nearby.
--
From an abandoned parking structure just a block over, two lone figures sat leaning against a battered red muscle car.
"I can't believe she just ate shit like that," Matt said, his cigarette bobbing with the effort of his laughter. He offered the pair of binoculars over to Mello, who declined with a distracted wave of his hand. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
Matt shrugged, and set them down on the hood of the car instead. Beside him, Mello was looking exceedingly more uncomfortable with every passing moment.
"Do you think she's dead?" Mello asked, a little uncertainly.
"Who? Takada?" The blonde nodded. "Oh, don't worry, Mels. She is most definitely dead, especially after all that."
"Good." The blonde looked somewhat relieved, although still twitchy. Matt knew he was itching to call Sayu.
"So, Mello," Matt said conversationally, flicking away a fall of ashes from the front of his vest. "What's gonna happen now?"
Mello frowned, squinting at the smoldering carnage in the distance. "I don't know," he admitted truthfully after a moment. "We'll let Near figure it out." He opened the passenger side door and slid in, motioning Matt to do the same. "C'mon, Matt, let's go."
Matt tossed his half-finished cigarette away, and smirked.
--
To be concluded in Heterodox.