A/N: Um…hello. This is my first fanfic ever…so please bear with me if my writing is a little poor. This fic is dedicated to all MelloxNear fans, and my wonderful beta Forbiddensoul562 who has been so helpful with EVERYTHING! This fic would have been utter shit without her help! Please review! If you like what you read, leave comments and it'll help me write more and update it sooner!

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, I'm not making any money off of this. Please do not sue me!

Chapter 1: The Secret Admirer

It was February and all of the children at Wammy's house were inside, sheltering themselves away from the bitter cold of the snowstorm within the warmth of the Victorian style mansion.

Most of the children were in the common room playing games with one another, but Mello was in his room, studying. He was tired of being number 2 and was determined to beat Near on the upcoming Algebra 2 exam. He was looking through his backpack, but somehow the said book, which would assist him, had gone missing.

"Damn it! Why the fuck does this have to happen now? If I want to beat Near I have to ace this test! Damn it!" He continued tearing through his backpack looking for the book, when he heard a soft knock at the door.

He immediately stopped his search and got up to answer it, irritated that someone had interrupted his study time.

The blonde flung the door open and was about to tell whoever it was to fuck off, when he saw that there was no one there…only a small, red heart-shaped chocolate box. When he looked closer he saw that his name was printed on it…in large pink lettering.

He put his hand to his forehead and sighed. 'Every Valentines Day it's always the same…another girly box of valentines chocolates…probably from Linda.' He thought, irritated.

He opened the box up and found a note lying on top of the chocolates.

'Oh Jesus…I wonder what mushy things she wrote…'

He opened it up and was immediately surprised to find that the letter wasn't from Linda after all.

Mello,

Now, we don't talk much, and sometimes I wonder if you even know that I exist. Anyway, something has happened that I can neither explain nor understand myself. This feeling has left me wondering for a while whether, on this day, you would like to be my valentine? Even if you rejected me, I think this feeling would stay. Remembering our current circumstances and seeing how far apart our worlds are… I would not be surprised if this never happened… or if you did not want to. I think there's also a high possibility that you hate me…Very sad if that's the case. Either way, I do care very much for you, regardless of what your feelings are. Really I do, however, hope that you would enjoy the chocolates I have provided.

Ступай по темнеющему снегу,
который несомненно приведет тебя к бедам и
волнениям. Рассуждай логически, так, чтобы
никто не мог тебя оспорить; и еще раз,
никаких эмоций. Но это только при условии
того, что ты хочешь получить подсказку,
которая и приведет тебя к ответу.

Let's see if you can figure out the puzzle.

'What the fuck… who is this person? Wait a minute…Matt. This is just the kind of trick he'd pull on me just to get me pissed off…like he did when he left all of those mysterious love notes around. I thought that the girls of Wammy's were writing them…until I asked one of them why they were writing so many notes.Thatwas embarrassing. When I told Matt about it he burst out laughing and fessed up that it was him all along…that bastard. Not to mention, he's the only one who knows of my origin besides Rodger…' Mello reminisced.

With that thought, Mello left his room, with the letter in hand, and walked down the hall to Matt's room. He impatiently knocked on Matt's door; when there was no answer, he knocked again.

'What the hell? Why isn't he answering?'

When Mello listened closer he could hear the faint sound effects of gunshots from one of Matt's video games.

'Of course…he's plugged into one of his games and can't hear me.'

Mello then turned the knob, only to discover that it was locked. 'That bastard! Why the fuck is his door locked?'

"Matt! Open the fucking door! I want to talk to you!"

That's when Mello heard a faint "Oh shit," and the sounds of the game being stopped. The door swung open and Matt stood in the doorway, happy to see Mello. "Hey, Mello! How's it g-"

"Is this your idea of a joke, Matt?" Mello waved the letter in his face. "The chocolate is great, but, seriously, the joke is over."

Matt gave him a confused look, "What the hell are you talking about? I never got you any chocolate. What joke?"

Mello, suddenly enraged by his friend's feigning that he didn't know anything, lunged at Matt and pushed him up against the closest bedroom wall. He was instantly nose-to-nose with Matt, leaving him no personal space whatsoever.

He was determined to get Matt to spill any information, and he also knew that this method of interrogation made him uncomfortable in such a way that always worked in giving Mello what he wanted.

Matt's face immediately went from a smile to a frightened, uncomfortable grimace. He tried to get away but Mello's grip was too strong.

"Damn it! I swear I'm telling the truth, now get off of me you git!" Matt said, struggling against the blonde

Mello looked at the redhead's face and saw a genuine expression of confusion. He then looked into the gamer's green eyes and saw the fear that was swirling around within them.

'He's…not hiding anything?'

Mello suddenly broke the uncomfortable clasp between them. "Oh, er...sorry, Matt. Look at this." Mello handed the letter to his friend and watched for any reactions the gamer might have to the text.

At first, Matt raised an eyebrow as he was reading the letter, but then after a few minutes of staring at it, he burst out laughing. "You've got an admirer, Mello, and I think I know who it might be…" Matt was grinning ear to ear and his eyes taunted Mello with the secret he held.

Mello looked like he was about to blow a fuse. "What? Who is it? Tell me now, Matt!"

Mello once again pinned Matt against the wall, but it didn't appear to have the same effect as it had a few minutes ago.

Matt looked at Mello in response, a smug grin plastered upon his face. "Sorry, Mels, that's not going to work this time. I'm surprised you haven't already figured it out for yourself."

Mello pushed Matt against the wall harder, frustrated that the redhead wouldn't share the information with him.

"What? Oh come on, Matt!"

Matt remained unaffected by the grasp, "Try to figure it out on your own. If you honestly can't get anything out of it by tonight, I'll give you a hint."

Mello scowled and released Matt from the wall. "Fair enough…"

And with that, Mello stormed out and slammed the door.

He was walking while studying the letter again… feeling even more irritated about the whole thing than he thought this needed to be. 'This whole thing would be less stressful if Matt would just tell me who the fuck it is!' Mello thought to himself.

All of a sudden, he was ripped from his thoughts when he ran into someone. Once he'd recovered from it, he looked up and, to his horror, saw that it was Linda.

'Fuck. This is just what I need right now…' He thought, annoyed.

"Oh! Hi, Mello! Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going..." The girl said in her normally happy tone.

Mello groaned. "Just get out of the way, Linda. I'm busy."

Linda saw that Mello was holding a letter and made to snatch it from him. "Oh! What's that you've got there, Mello? Is it a love letter?" She asked, teasingly.

Mello immediately backed up and vented his angered feelings about the whole situation on Linda.

"Mind your own business, bitch!" He nearly shouted to her.

Linda immediately backed up, glowering at Mello. "There's no need to be so rude about it, Mello. I was just curious." She said with a glare.

Mello ignored her, walking away. 'Whatever… I truly don't give a fuck what that girl thinks of me.'

He continued his walk back to his room, his face still hot from the encounter with Linda. When he reached his bedroom door he kicked it open and slammed it shut in one fluid motion.

His Algebra 2 exam forgotten, he laid down on his bed, all the while holding the letter in front of his face.

After what seemed like hours of staring, he sighed.

'Fuck. I've tried everything on this letter…everything except…' Mello started to look at the letter again. 'Oh I see…it's all a big puzzle. If I take the first letters of the sentences I get the letters N, A, T, E, R, I, V, E, and R which spells out…'

"Nateriver …what the hell?" He thought aloud.

Mello knew that he had found a major clue in the letter, but the clue just confused him even more and the thought that Matt knew infuriated him even more.

'Dammit! How the fuck does he figure it all out in such a short amount of time? I spent an entire evening on this and still don't know who the fuck it is…'

Mello took the letter and left his messy room, storming down the hall till he reached Matt's room; once there he didn't even bother knocking before walking right in.

"Nateriver? Matt, who the fuck is Nateriver?" Mello asked, saying it all as one word.

Matt paused the game he was playing and looked up at Mello with a smirk. "You mean Nate River?"

Mello stopped cold. "I-it's a guy?" His eyes were wide with surprise as he spoke.

Matt chuckled. "Yes, and knowing you, you like that even more."

'What? How could he know? I've never told him!' Mello blushed, his face twisting in anger, as it was the only reaction he could think to make. "Shut the fuck up!"

"Your words deny it, but your blush says otherwise."

"I said shut the fuck up!" Mello shouted angrily to his friend.

The gamer smirked back, "Relax, Mels. Just think it over, tell me if you figure it out." Matt advised him before turning back to his game again.

Mello, irritated beyond belief, stormed out of Matt's bedroom. His face was beet-red as he stomped back down the hall. He hated this puzzle and not being able to figure it all out as quickly as it seemed Matt had.

When he reached his room he slammed the door; he could feel the whole wall shake when he did so.

'So it's a guy…and his name is Nate River. Well, that's kind of a relief because I've never really liked women, but who is he? I've never heard of anyone by that name before…'

Mello took another glance at the letter and realized he completely neglected to analyze the Russian section at the bottom of the paper. Wasting no time, he began to read the Russian in sections, trying to find a meaning of it all and, in the back of his mind, thanking the fact that he had retained all the Russian he had known from before he was brought to Wammy's.

'Ok…first stanza: "If you want a hint, think into the grey, ominous abyss that you know…"'

Before he could even begin to analyze it, a quiet, almost silent knock sounded from the door.

He irritably got up and answered it, throwing open the door just to let out a bit more of his annoyance. When he opened the door, however, he was surprised to see nothing there but an Algebra 2 book just sitting there in front of his door. When he gave it a glance he knew immediately that this book wasn't his.

His was in messy shape, just like his room. This book, however, looked like it had never even been touched. He picked up the book, opened it and glanced at the inside cover, where the name of the owner was printed. To his surprise, he saw Near's name printed in that space.

'Great… just fucking great. Now I have to return this to Near…' Mello's blood started to boil at the thought of having to seek his rival out.

Then, suddenly, a strange thought crossed his head. "Maybe Near knows who Nate River is…While I'm at it I guess I could ask him."

As Mello stepped out of his room with the book, he quickly glanced back at the clock on the wall in his room. The clock read 9:09.

'Dammit! It's already after hours…I'll have to be extra careful to not get caught.'

And with that thought, he made his way down to Near's room. He wasn't even sure what made him want to return the book to the boy when he could use it to study for that damn test, but for some reason his conscience wouldn't let him do that.

After walking down the hall and turning the corner, Mello finally saw the closed door to Near's bedroom.

He walked up and quietly knocked.

"Come in." He heard Near say, and Mello entered the younger genius's room, noting on how clean and pristine it was in comparison to his disorderly room. He spotted the pale boy sitting at his desk, leaning over some homework.

"Good evening, Mello. Is there something you want?" Near asked, leaning back in the chair a bit.

"Yeah. I found this at my door." Mello held the Algebra 2 book out to Near, who crossed over the room to him and took it into his hands.

Near smiled, "Thank you, Mello." He said, "I was wondering where I had misplaced this. I have something for you as well."

The younger genius walked over to his desk and opened one of the drawers; he pulled out another Algebra 2 book that had clearly seen better days; then handed it to the awaiting blonde. "I believe this is yours?" He said, offering it to the blonde carefully.

Mello's eyes widened. He opened the book and, sure enough, his name was written there.

"Is there anything else you needed, Mello?" Near questioned, bringing Mello out of his thoughts and back to the Earth.

He instantly remembered the letter.

"Near…I have a question to ask you." He shut his eyes and clenched his fists, angry with himself that he had to go to Near for help. This was certainly a blow to his pride, and felt almost like a failure on his part. To him… it seemed like Mello should be smart enough to figure this out on his own, like he shouldn't need Near's help. And yet here he was…

Near answered in his usual monotone voice, "Yes?"

"Do you know of any Nate River staying at Wammy's?"

"Yes." Near looked up, his grey eyes boring straight into Mello's blue eyes and into, what felt like, his very being. This upset Mello a bit… to be so easily read by his enemy.

Even though Mello had suspected that the albino might know something about this, he couldn't fight the surprise at seeing him admit such information so easily.

"Nate River is a student here at Wammy's." Near went on vaguely.

Mello rolled his eyes. 'Way to state the obvious, Near…' The blonde thought to himself before he calmly replied back.

"I already figured that much, Near. How come I've never seen him before?"

The albino was silent for a moment before replying. "You've seen him before, I'm sure of it, perhaps it is that you've just never noticed him before."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that maybe you should look a little harder. Now, if you don't mind, I have studying to do, I'll see you in class tomorrow, Mello."

Mello took the hint and walked out the door, book in hand. "Yeah, whatever, Near."

"Good night, Mello." And with that the albino closed the door.

As Mello was walking back, he kept looking over the Russian. Something was calling his attention to the first phrase, but he was unsure of what exactly it was.

'Hmmm…"think into the grey, ominous abyss you know"…'

A/N: So, what do you think? I hope it's not too terrible! Please leave reviews and constructive criticism. No flames! Remember, this is my first fic, so… be kind. Also… please keep in mind that more of the Russian part of the note will be revealed later on as well.

Please review!
I-Am-Justice