Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

To: xBlackCherryBlossomx

Thanks for making that SakuraxCross-Over group on deviantart!! ^^ finally, a place for me and Gigicerisier to display our love for the Death Note guys and Sakura x-over pairings!!

Oh, and if your reading this Gigi, Hi!!! *waves* :D

To: My loyal readers

Thank you so much for sticking with my story, even though I went on my mini vacation thingy *cries* I luv you all!!!

*HandsEveryoneCookies*

Now, without further adue…ENJOY!!

"So, did you hear?" A girl sitting behind Sakura in class said.

Her ears perked.

"About what?" said another, sitting next to the speaker

"He's beat his own top score on that awesome game!"

"No way! That game is extremely difficult!"

"Yeah, I know, right? But I hear it's the most fun you'll EVER have playing it!!"

Now, Sakura was a good girl, and good girls didn't eavesdrop on other peoples conversations, but this was different. Or at least that's what she told herself

'Most fun I'll EVER have? Even more fun than jump rope and hide and seek and getting to lick the spoon after mama bakes sweets?! No way!' Sakura thought to herself

"I heard he's been playing a lot recently out by the basketball court! Want to go see him?"

"Kyaaa!! He's such a hottie! I'm definitely going!"

Unbeknownst to Sakura, she had unconsciously been leaning her chair back to better her hearing. It became blatantly obvious to her, though, when her chair clattered to the floor. She bonked her head on the table behind her and, in a futile attempt to save herself from the harsh, cold floor that would inevitably meet her skull, she reached out atop the desk to grab hold, only to have her hand slip, successfully sliding off the top of the tables contents which consisted of a few sheets of paper and a pen

All in all, it made for a very LOUD and UNGRACEFUL fall, and earned her the stares of her fellow classmates and a few snickers here and there

Anime tears formed as she held her precious head, a lump beginning to form

"Ouch-ouch-ouch, it hu~rts!" Sakura whined

"Was that freak-o listening in on our conversation?" One of the girls said

"What a weird girl…" The other said, giving her a look of disgust

Sakura tended to her quickly developing anime bump but soon felt a menacing aura behind her

It was the teacher

"Sakura! If you're done fooling around, I'd like you to solve the problem up on the board" She said sternly

Sakura beamed

'Now's my chance to show how smart I am! Mom DID say I was pretty smart for my age." Sakura thought to herself enthusiastically

The teacher handed Sakura the chalk, which Sakura gladly accepted, and she walked up to the board with determination

She sweat dropped when she saw the equation

'Why are there letters in this equation?! And what are those strange symbols?! What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!' Sakura thought panicking

She guessed and wrote a forty-two beside the equals sign

She looked back, laughing nervously

"Ehehehe, tada…?" She said

"Very well done. However, next time I won't be so lenient as to give you such an easy problem." The teacher said sternly

'You think that was easy? Wait, I'm right?! No way!' Sakura thought to herself

'Shannaro! I rule! Luck is on my side!' Inner Sakura thought

After that, Sakura spent the rest of the morning quietly; after all, she didn't want to get lunch detention. She was rather curious as to this super fun thing the girls were talking about earlier

Meanwhile, with L…

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" an enraged BB demanded to know as he stared at L's back, just about ready to pounce on him

He had wondered where the little miscreant had gone off to, and low and behold he was in Sakura's room. And he was currently holding her panties

'Strawberry panties, so cute…' BB thought with a faint blush

He shook his head

'Now's not the time to be thinking of such things!' He thought to himself

"Isn't it obvious? I'm helping her with her laundry." L lied, still not turning around to face him

He was, in truth, simply looking through her things as a means of research. She wore many red garments, which led him to conclude that she was very fond of the color red. After looking through her things, he was absolutely positive she did not belong in Wammy's House; she simply cared far too much over trivial things. Cuddly stuffed toys, frilly dresses and books on seemingly unrelated material such as cooking, sewing, and a book titled History: For Dummy's. Normally, one would have something in excess depending on their specialty. An excess amount of puzzles, an excess amount of movies, of sugar, treats, or books on a specific subject; there had to be something that would signal a hobby or, dare he say it, an obsession. What was her forte? Computer science? Or was it mathematics? Alas, he had found none, or perhaps that was her plot all along? Perhaps she knew he'd think of searching her room while she was not there, and decided to make her room as regular as she could possibly make it. But what would she have to gain in keeping her specialty a secret? No, he couldn't just throw away that possibility; he'd have to keep it in mind.

Going back to the root of the problem, he had to ask himself-why was he so interested in learning more about her? He wouldn't beat around the bush, not in his mind at least; how would lying to himself benefit him? The lies had to be reserved for outsiders, not in the safety of his mind. He wanted to get closer to her, but before that, he had to make absolutely sure she was safe. This was why he wanted to learn more, or rather, everything about her. He wanted to make her precious to him, or was she already? It would not matter, he reassured himself, if she meant him harm, he'd cut all ties with her.

All this thinking did not help him L in his current situation. He understood what he must look like to BB, especially after that one particular incident. He found it rather irritating that BB seemed to always interrupt his research, and it was research, BB had just happened to walk in when he'd gotten to the drawer of Sakura's undergarments. Was it L's fault it happened to take a bit longer to inspect her underwear? Was it his fault the undergarments just happened to be the most crucial in understanding ones personality? Especially when money was at her disposal to choose whichever she'd like; would she get the cheaper ones? The nicer looking ones? The comfortable ones? Would she sacrifice comfort for appearance? Or the other way around? What of her priorities? So far, he'd found she preferred comfort, but it didn't stop her from getting childish designs on them (stars, strawberry's, polka dots and what-not); he'd even found a par of pumpkin panties (short puffy bloomers)! Did they even make those anymore? Alas, decency also played a very big role.

"Are you listening to me?!" BB raged on

So, could he be blamed for all this? The answer was simple; no, for he was justice, and as justice, he would place upon BB a befitting punishment for interrupting his research on the girl yet again.

"I hear you quite well, and as I've said before, I am merely aiding our dorm mate with the strenuous activity that is laundry." L said, stretching the hem of Sakura's panties; partly to test it, and partly to further irritate BB

"Such an obvious lie; you expect me to believe that?!" BB exclaimed, blushing bright red at L's actions.

L smiled eerily, biting the skin of his thumb

"And if I were lying, what would you do about it? What could you do about it?" Came L's provoking reply

"I thought you'd never ask…" BB said with a menacing smile

The bell ringing signaled the beginning of lunch and Sakura was quick to her feet as she dashed to her friend Mitsuki to ask about the earlier conversation.

After getting the directions to the "basketball" court ('Whatever that is' she thought) she grabbed her lunch box, dashed outside, took a couple turns and finally…

…got lost.

Not only did Sakura not know where she was, but there was no one around to ask, further proving the point that this was indeed NOT the basketball court, seeing how the basketball court would have to have been filled with raging fans (I mean, this WAS the best game EVER, right?)

In place of the hoards of fans, there were many trees and rose bushes, the faint scent calming her. And in place of screaming fans, she could only hear the chirping of the birds, the swaying of the trees and-

BIP BOP

Ah yes, the 'bip bop' of the creatures…

'Wait, what?' Sakura thought, slightly taken aback

The sound of shoes folding grass unto soft dirt filled the air as Sakura made her way to the source of the noise. It didn't take long until she reached a certain red-haired creature with goggled eyes, gloved hands, a pair of boots, a striped shirt and comfortable looking pants.

"R-robot!!" Sakura exclaimed, pointing her finger at the boy

Said boy refused to let her interrupt his concentration, and remained outwardly unfazed

'Will she leave?' He thought, hoping she'd run away from this 'robot'

"So cool!"

No such luck.

Sakura crouched down in front of the 'robot' grinning from ear to ear, until she noticed the tiny machinery he had in his hands. It was the bip-bopping thingy! And he was currently pressing the buttons on it, rather rapidly.

"Wow, is that your communications device you use to, um, communicate with other robots?" Sakura asked

'What kind of weirdo have I encountered?' Matt asked himself, never taking his gaze off his game.

"Hmm, can't you talk? How long have you been here? Are you lost?" Sakura asked

She took his silence as her answer

She smiled

"Don't worry! I'm lost too! It's nothing to be embarrassed about! It happens to me all the time! We just have to retrace our steps!" Sakura said

"Now, the way I came from was past some trees and some bushes…" Sakura thought as she turned around

She sweat dropped as a nervous laugh escaped her in hopes of covering up her stupidity

"But…there are trees and bushes everywhere…" She thought aloud

'Almost at the new level…' Matt thought, trying to block out the girl

He saw the girl move towards him out of the corner of his eye, and soon the scent of cherry blossoms engulfed him as she sat beside him. He hadn't taken a look at her face yet, but he had registered colors of pink, red, and green out of the corner of his eye and he was tempted to look up; something out of the ordinary for him, especially as he played his game. Then again, everything in this picture was out of the ordinary. He'd thought for sure he'd fooled all his fans into going to the basketball court today; no one was supposed to have known where he was. He truly disliked being disturbed while playing his game. He felt like he was in a new world when he played his games, it was something he could put all his mind into and something he could always improve on; a better score, a better time, a new level unlocked. Video games had saved him from the boredom that was reality; he didn't know what he'd do with all his free time without them. With his video games, he felt like he was doing something progressive with his time as he watched his score go higher, as he saved princess Peach from Bowser, as he got to see what the next floor level of Icy Tower looked like. It was like he was in a new world, but the annoying screams of raging fans with comments like 'Go! Go! Go!' or 'You're almost there!' would make it more difficult to enter his own little world. Seriously, all he wanted was to play his video games, he didn't mean to attract so much attention. Why couldn't they just mind their own business? They were getting in the way of him and his video games!

"Oh my gosh! That looks like so much fun! Can I try it?" Sakura exclaimed. She'd been watching his lightning fast finger movements for a while now and the figure on the tiny screen seemed to respond to it. She'd now realized it was not a communications device; it was some sort of game!

Matt was beyond furious at this remark. How dare she ask to play his game?! Did she understand what would happen if she lost one of his lives? Ruined his time?! Sent him back to the first level?! This matter was far too serious to be ignored; so much so that he actually paused his game and looked up at her with a serious look, which she should be extremely honored for seeing how he actually exited his game world to enlighten this brat of the severity of her comment

He'd finally been given the chance to fully take her in, and he was quite shocked at what he saw; so much so that his serious, slightly angry look shifted to a more analytical and 'what the heck are you?' look. He now found her scent befitting, but was now left with a couple questions. Where was she from? How old was she? Who was she?

Now, Matt normally did not take any interest in people outside of his gaming world, but this was a special case, and instead of angry remarks because of her earlier comment, the ones that escaped him were, dare he say it, mindless and not thought through. It left his lips before he'd even registered what he was saying, and soon his dry, rough voice-having been unused for so long-reached the two children's ears

"Cherry Blossoms."

Sakura registered the crack in his voice, signifying that he hadn't stopped to drink any water or use his voice for a long time now. He must've really been into the game to have been playing so long non-stop.

She flashed him a smile

"Yup! That's my name! It's Sakura! My mom named me that because my hair is pink and my eyes are green, get it? What's your name?" Sakura asked

He hadn't muttered that expecting a reply; it was his mistake. He didn't want to enter into a conversation, but he felt it his duty to say something, so with great effort, he dared use his voice once again

"Matt." Was his curt reply, his fingers itching to feel the warmth of the gameboy, having been heated by his own hands along with the battery. He wasn't sure what to do in the real world, it was so boring and he needed his escape.

His eyes wandered to the branches of the tree above him as he tried to figure out how to kill the monsters in front of him once he'd unpause the game. He'd have to jump to dodge their bites, and he'd be able to jump on top of them to kill them. Using the momentum of the jump to get higher, he'd surely be able to make it atop the brick floor above him! And then-

SHIVER

His head snapped at the girl as he felt his gloved hand being held in the girl's (Sakura, was it?) own two. The foreign, cool touch felt through the cloth of his gloves had sent shivers down his spine; it felt good in the heat of the weather. It was then that he became more aware of the sweatiness of his palms. He began to worry slightly if she'd be appalled by it (Not that he cared; he wanted her to leave!)

"You've been playing for too long, you should go eat something, aren't you hungry? Thirsty? You know you need to have at least three meals and eight cups of water a day. I brought my lunch with me, we can share if you'd like, though I don't really know what robots eat…" Sakura trailed off, staring at her friends' hand. It was overheated, like how the microwave or the TV felt when you'd been using it for too long.

Feeling uncomfortable at the attention dealt to his hand, he made no hesitation in removing it from her grasp

He gave her an indignant look and snappily replied

"Well? Where's the food?"

A dark haired girl with a side ponytail squeezed through the crowds of hoarding fans. Once up front, her deep brown eyes searched left and right for a certain someone. Where was this person?

Her search was cut short when-

"Hey, Mitsuki, what are you doing here? You're not looking for Matt are you?" Asked an arrogant voice

Mitsuki glared

"Shizuki…a pleasure as always, have you seen Sakura? She said she was coming here but seeing how she's new here, I know it'd be hard to get around this school. I got worried and wanted to make sure she got here…" Mitsuki said

"Che, you're such a liar! I know you came here to see Matt, but you're out of luck; he's not here. And of course I haven't seen that forehead girl, I hope she got lost, that'd teach her not to try and steal our hottest guys from us. Seriously, does she really think they'll accept her just like that? Tell her to stop bothering them!" Shizuki replied, irritated to hear that Sakura was targeting yet another of the orphanages top schools

"It was a simple yes or no question; you didn't have to go on your little rant. You talk too much." Mitsuki said before running off, hearing Shizuki's caterwaul fading

'If not in the basketball court, then where?' were Mitsuki's thoughts

"So go~od!" Came a blissful voice

"No way! Robots eat human food?" Sakura thought aloud with a smile, happy she could help

Matt then continued to stuff his face with the meal, stopping every now and then to guzzle down the sweet, caramel colored liquid; apple juice.

He shoved a rice ball into his mouth, already having an excess amount of food in his mouth. Biting off more than he could chew, he accidentally let food slip down his throat without properly swallowing it. A cough, followed by his gloved hand banging on his chest; he was choking. This caused concern in the pink haired girl and she grabbed the juice and offered it to him, worry evident in her eyes. He took no time to study this, as he snatched the cup from the girl and greedily swallowed the liquid. Immediately afterwards, he continued his attack on the food, shrugging off the fact that he had just choked

'It's like he'd never eaten a day in his life…' Sakura thought, a sweatdrop at the back of her head

'Shannaro! How dare he snatch my juicy cup from me like that?! I'll kick you!' Came Inner Sakura's voice as she air punched the empty space of her imaginary world

Sakura nibbled on her own rice ball as she stared in awe at the robot boy's comical eating style. Her eyes then wandered to the boys' game machine lying beside him in the grass

"You know, I heard that there was going to be this amazing game in the 'basketball court' today. They say it's the most fun you'll ever have! I was going to go there today, but with this whole getting lost incident, I didn't get the chance. But, if you know the way, we can both go together! How's about it?" Sakura asked cheerfully

Matt eyes fell upon the girl as he wiped the excess food off his mouth with his sleeve, his gaze calculating and mistrusting

'Who does she expect to fool with that? She has to know that I'm the one they were talking about. I bet she expects me to think that she gave me food out of the kindness of her heart, so that I'd let her play my game. Something like-OMG! No way! That's me! You didn't even know it was me and you were still this nice?! You're so cool! An angel! An angel!-Che, I'll show her. I hate girls who try to feign the whole 'I'm so sweet and forgiving' act.'

He smirked

"Ah, seriously?! Thanks Sakura! I'll go to the basketball court right now and borrow that game so that we both can play it together!" Matt said with fake excitement

'Now what'll you do? You know it's me and that I'm lying to you, but you can't say anything about it because it'd blow your goody-goody act.'

"Really?! Alright! Let's go together!" Sakura said

'Ah. So she's going to keep going with this, huh?'

"No, no. You stay here; I'll go get the game, bring it back here, and then we'll play together."

"Why can't I come with you?"

"Because you gave me some of your lunch, so I have to repay you. You must be tired from running around all day, so you just sit here and rest, okay?" Matt said

"No, you don't have to repay me, you seemed really hungry!"

'Oh, touché. You got me there with another of your goody goody lines.'

"Please? I'd feel awfully bad if I couldn't repay you in some way…"

'Now she'll be forced to say yes, if she wants to keep the whole goody-goody act going' Matt thought

"Oh, yeah! I've felt that way before too! Okay! I'll wait right here until you return!" Sakura said, grinning earnestly.

Matt got up, dusted himself off and began to walk away, his back to the girl as he said

"Good. I promise I'll be back, so just stay put."

"Alright! I'll wait right here, it's promise!" Sakura said, a gentle smile on her face

Matt looked back with a lazy expression, his Nintendo in his hand. He smirked triumphantly.

'Ditching fan girl mission: complete.' He thought as he began to walk away. He resisted the urge to laugh as he imagined her angry face behind him. Surely she was enraged that her plot had gone down the drain.

Everyone knew that Mello didn't give any justice to his name. He was anything but mellow.

Today, however, he seemed a little more than "not mellow"

'Dammit!! Today's not going well at all!!!' Mello thought as he leaned against the wall beside a door, and a certain someone else

FLASHBACK

Mello was walking

Or at least, that's what he mentally told himself

His body screamed otherwise

PANT PANT

PITTER PATTER

"Where are you running to Mello?" Asked a boy who seemed to know him. Mello was bad at remembering names, or rather, he was very good at forgetting them

Nonetheless, he had realized that it was very easy to carry on a conversation with someone without actually knowing their name, after all, there weren't very many opportunities to call a person by their name in an everyday conversation

"I'M NOT RUNNING!" Mello bit back as he skidded to a halt to catch his breath

The poor, nameless boy took a step back, smiling nervously

"okay, okay, you weren't running."

"Che, you got that right! Now, have you seen a pink haired girl around here?" Mello said, fighting back the urge to blush at the thought of what he was plotting

What Mello HAD been planning, ever since he was staring at the clock in his classroom, eagerly awaiting for the lunch bell to ring so that he'd be able to ask his pink haired girlfrie-err-acquaintance to accompany him on a sooo-not-a-lunch-date

"Sakura? She should be in class. She said she was going to 'strengthen her bonds of love and friendship' with her classmates or whatever."

Mello coughed

"Yes, well, she owes me a chocolate bar so I have to go and claim it."

"I didn't ask."

"Yeah? Well I'M telling you!"

"Whatever you say"

And with that, both boys parted ways

Mello couldn't help the smile that crept its way onto his face. It was a feeling of great anticipation. He just knew everything was going to go great. Something like

"Nyaaa, nyaaa, Mello, dear, open you mouth and say 'aaah' so that you can eat my homemade chocolates that I spent AAAALL night to make JUST for you!!"

Mello raced into the building, down the hall, a flight of stairs, a couple twists and more running-err-walking

"Che, I don't know if your second rate cooking skills are gonna be great enough for the awesome me, but I'll give you a break. Be thankful I'm allowing you to hand feed me your unworthy chocolates." Mello would reply, snugly of course and really cool-like

"Kyaaan!! I'm so happy you'll eat them! Please marry me when I grow up Mello! You're so dcool and so much more fashionable than that big-headed Near!!"

Mello would chuckle

"Say 'aaaah' my Mello dear!"

Mello turned the corner and finally reached her classroom door with closed eyes, still daydreaming

"Aaaaaah~!" Mello said, letting his fantasies mix with reality

"If you open your mouth that wide, flies will get in." A certain white haired boy said, sitting on the floor in his usual stance on one side of the frame of the door, twirling a strand of his hair of course

Mello snapped his eyes open and immediately shut his mouth. His expression turned into that of a glare

"Damn you, you big-headed Near!!!" Mello said, pointing an accusing finger at him

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Said the blonde

"Me? Oh, I found an interesting new puzzle to solve, that's all."

"Puzzle? Dammit, you're talking about Sakura, aren't you?! I hate how you always treat everything like it's a game or something! Sakura's not your new toy!"

"Sakura? Who said anything about Sakura? But seeing how you have her name on your mind, I'm guessing she's the reason for your visit to this particular classroom? Nonetheless, you are correct, she IS the reason for MY visit."

Mello blushed

"I'm not here for Sakura! I'm here for my chocolate! She ate it so now she needs to buy me a new one!" He replied indignantly

"I'm not persecuting you, you're free to wait with me, she's not in class right now but she's bound to come back." Near stated calmly

"As if I'd want to wait next to you!"

END FLASHBACK

So here Mello was, waiting by her classroom door

Next to Near

"I'm only doing this for the chocolate!" Mello exclaimed

"I wonder when my puzzle will arrive?" Near thought aloud

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

Yes, this was going to be a long day for Mello

"I heard Mello and Near were waiting for Sakura!"

"Now way! Seriously?!" Came the gossip of a couple girls

They were loud

Almost as though they wanted her to hear them

Didn't they know a tragedy could occur? Didn't they know she had snapped and gone completely out of her mind after she had seen Sakura and L sleeping together in the infirmary?

'Sakura, Sakura, always Sakura.'

A deep sadness pained her hear, but an even deeper hatred controlled her. It couldn't be helped. The raging envy wouldn't allow her to let this go. To let Sakura go. Not unpunished, at least. She HAD to be punished. She'd go insane if she didn't.

'Why. Why. WHY. WHY?!! Why is it ALWAYS her?!'

It seemed Watari simply couldn't sit down to take a sip of tea these days. That record was broken today as he sat down on his giant chair in his office, a cup of jasmine tea in his hands. The sun seemed to bless him specifically, as it seemed to shine specifically in his direction through the window. It was quiet, quiet enough to hear the birds chirping, the trees swaying, the leaves rustling and an ever-nearing stomping

"Stomping?" Watari thought aloud after he stopped sipping his tea

SLAM

"GIVE ME THOSE PANTIES!"

Watari jumped, startled and spilled his tea on himself

His very hot tea

"Going so far for these panties, aren't you a pervert?" L replied, running around in circles around Watari's desk, panties in hand and BB at toe

"I'm not a pervert! You're a pervert!"

"A pervert shall remain such as long as he is a pervert, so regardless of what you and I say, the fact will remain, that you are a pervert."

"I'M NOT A PERVER! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" BB said, grabbing a pen to stab L

Watari glanced out the window at the darkening clouds that signaled the upcoming rain, wondering why L was waving around panties and why BB wanted them as well. Why he was cursed with such a life. Why he had ever thought he could bear living in a house with tiny geniuses, but above all, why he hadn't committed suicide

Anime tears were pouring down his face by this time

The school bell rang to signal the end of lunch and all the children scampered to class, some slightly wet as it had begun to drizzle outside

Mello was pissed. Near was playing with his action figures.

"Where is she?!" He asked no one in particular

Near answered anyway

"The teacher said she was here today, maybe she skipped the afternoon classes?"

Mello got more pissed

"Dammit! I hate it when you don't give the people you're talking to eye-contact! You make it look like you think your action figures are more interesting!" Mello exclaimed

"I don't try to make it "look" like anything. It is what it seems to be. Looking at your face won't change the fact that you're scowling."

PUNCH

THUMP

Near was sprawled on the floor after being dealt a blow to the face. He stared at the ceiling with his unchanging face and pondered

"It changes EVERYTHING!" Mello exclaimed as the children inside the classroom began to murmur and look towards the source of the ruckus just outside their classroom door.

Near sat up and grabbed his action figure again, inspecting it for damage

Mello glared at him

"Always remaining calm like that, I knew I wouldn't be able to stand being next to you!"

Near looked up

"Don't get me wrong, I'm utterly pissed that you have assaulted me, but I can understand that patience has never been your greatest attribute. However, I do not believe that releasing your rage upon me would change the fact that Sakura did not come back to the classroom during or after lunch which, for whatever reason, did not suit your interests." He deadpanned

"For whatever reason? It's to get my chocolate bar back!"

"That possibility doesn't quite fit, for one, Watari supplies the children with all their needs, so asking someone for a supply that you have plenty of is illogical. Perhaps you wanted to spend quality time with Sakura? Yes, yes, that seems to be a much better fit."

Mello's lower-eye-lid twitched as he launched himself at Near. He fought back this time, and soon the were both rolling around on the floor

The children cheered, of course, as they usually did when something of interest occurred

It wouldn't be long until they'd be pulled apart by the teacher and sent to Watari's office

It was the end of the day. The children had been sent to their dorms and the moon now shun brightly in the skies

Why, oh why was it, then, that Watari himself couldn't take a break and go to his OWN bedroom for a book, or a cup of tea?

The answer came in four, and they stood in front of his desk, in his office, all beat up a bruised.

They were none other than L, B, M, and N.

Watari sighed partly in exhaustion, and partly in exasperation

"Mello, Near, you're ALWAYS being pulled into my office for fighting. Can't the two of you just get along?"

"Everything's fine with me." Near stated

"Well, everything's NOT fine with me! I hate Near! I'll never get along with him!"

Watari sighed

"What about you two?" He said as he turned his attention to L and BB

L was staring intently at Mello and Near, which obviously made Mello uncomfortable, but Near's expression remained the same as he played with his toys. If he felt uncomfortable, he didn't show it.

Not a word came from them, aside from a "Che." From BB as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away smugly

Surprisingly, Near was the one to break the silence

"Has Sakura arrived back today? She didn't come back to class after lunch today." He said nonchalantly, still staring at his action figures as he flew them around in the air

This peaked BB's interest as his eyes widened and he snapped his head to look at Near

"What?! Sakura's a goody-goody! She wouldn't skip class!" BB exclaimed

"That's what I think too!" Mello stated

"Unless she saw a squirrel pass by." L added

Everyone stiffened

"Well, it is a likely chance." Near added

"Regardless, I'll make an announcement through the PA system to see what turns up. Let's pray she's not outside chasing squirrels, it's raining pretty hard tonight, after all." Watari stated as he looked out the window just in time to see a bright flash of lightning

Mello and BB were searching the school grounds, Near was nowhere to be found, and L, well, L had escaped Watari's sight as well

Now where was our owl eyed friend, you may ask?

Staring at the door of bedroom of our dear Matt. After asking around, he'd found out that just before Sakura had left the classroom, she'd fallen out of her chair and made quite a spectacle. Apparently, the conversation of a couple girls had piqued her interest. What were they talking about, you may ask? Why, of our dear Matt of course!

L bit his thumb and smiled, staring owlishly at the door in front of him, as though waiting for it to magically open on its own

And low and behold, it did just that

A certain red-headed boy with goggles and gloves open the door, apparently about to take a midnight stroll of some kind, but once setting his sights on the ghostly child smiling oddly at the door, well, let's just say, he was taken a tad bit off guard

"GAAAAAH!!" He yelled as he fell back on his bottom with an "Oof!"

"Hello Matt, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

Matt closed his gaping mouth and recomposed himself

"It's about that pink-haired girl, isn't it? I heard over the PA system."

"Did you now? Please, do go on…"

L was sitting in his usual position-knees to the chest, thumb in mouth-as he listened to Matt finish up his story. L had invited himself in.

"-so I was finally able to get rid of her that way. And that was the last time I saw her, I swear!" Matt defended

"I was actually about to go check the garden to see if she was still there, but now that I think about it, you'd have to be pretty stupid to be out there in this rain, huh?"

L felt the need to smile at this

"Yes, pretty stupid."

And with that, L got up and bid farewell, not before a word of "thank you", of course

Where was he headed, you may ask?

The garden, of course.

'c-c-c-c-c-c-COOOOOOLD!!! I'm sooo cooold! It's soo cooold!!' were about the only thoughts Sakura managed to register in her mind

It was raining, there were scary lightning bolts tearing through the sky, and she was hungry. Did she mention the mud? The cold, damp, icky feeling mud? The wind only served to chill the water that came down on her in torrents. AND, she was a little bit afraid of the dark. Just a little bit.

'What if there are monsters out there and they come and eat me?! Mr.-Robot-Matt-Boy, please come back quickly!!' Sakura thought, with anime tears streaming down her face

"WAAAAAAAH!!" She cried childishly

It didn't take long for L to find Sakura, she was the loudest thing in the garden. He didn't make his presence known, though, preferring to stand behind a tree to observe her.

'Yeah, pretty stupid.' L thought. As far as he could tell, Sakura must've believed what Matt had told her and waited all this time, and was now in the process of having an emotional breakdown. He had to wonder, though, just how far she'd go to keep her promise. He'd always been rather suspicious of her goody-goody attitude. This would be a marvelous opportunity to put it to the test. A person with selfish intentions, be it as a fan girl trying to impress Matt, or a member of Wammy's trying to undermine the other students by easing them into a false sense of security, wouldn't go so far as to damage their personal health and well-being when nothing was to be gained from it. After all, what would be the point of waiting for someone common sense told you wouldn't arrive? He'd see if she'd truly wait until Matt himself came to get her

Until then, all there was to do was wait.

'Of course, I'm not waiting out her, it's utterly cold!'

And with that thought, he scurried off to return to the building. Of course, this meant he couldn't tell the others he'd found her location

His test had begun,

Recorded time: 8:00 pm

L's guess of how long she'd stay waiting: 9:13, maybe 9:30 if the rain lightened up

The rain didn't let up.

Matt was panicking. It was getting close to midnight, and the twerp still hadn't shown up. He was sitting in his chair, in his dorm

Not playing his video games

He twiddled his fingers nervously as he looked at the clock once more

"Fifteen minutes till midnight." He muttered to himself

He took a glance at the windows

It was completely covered with a thick layer of flowing water. The sound of the water pecking, almost stabbing at the window, as though the rain was hell-bent on piercing through the glass to get him

Was it at all possible that any human being would even consider going out, much less wait in the rain?

However small the possibility, it was still in fact possible that she was out there Why then, would he not go out to check, to rid him of his fears?

'It's cold and I don't feel like getting wet over such a small possibility.'

An excuse

'She's not there.

Denial

'I won't go!'

Cowardice

Matt sighed. If he did go out and check, and she was still outside, he'd surely be in trouble. What would he say? What COULD he say? Watari had announced her disappearance a while ago, he should've reported where he'd last seen her, but now it was too late

'I told that other boy! He's just as guilty as I am!'

For some reason, it always felt better to know you weren't the only one. Not the only one who flunked a test, not the only one that skipped class, not the only one who forgot about a pop quiz

There was always that one excuse

'He did it too!'

It didn't seem fair to Matt that he might get scolded for something he wasn't really responsible for

He hadn't forced her to stay there-not saying she really is there, just hypothetically

…

…

"AAARGH!!!" Mello thought, as he shuffled his hair with his gloved hands

With that, he stood up and bolted to the door

He was panting, running down the hall

It wasn't like she was actually there; it was just a chance, a small chance

"You've been playing for too long, you should go eat something, aren't you hungry?"

You'd have to be pretty stupid to stay out there in that rain

"You know, I heard that there was going to be this amazing game in the 'basketball court' today…We can both go together!"

He was outside now, the garden looked so much more different at night, creepy almost

He noticed the ground was made slippery by the water, and his feet sunk through the slop that was once solid

'Where? Where?!' He thought, almost in desperation, searching behind every tree

If he'd been thinking clearly, he might've remembered where he'd left her earlier that day

You couldn't find something that wasn't there, Matt knew that, and he also knew there was a large possibility of her not being in the garden anymore. He also knew that it was in his best interest if she was in fact, not there. He'd get scolded if anyone found out.

Then, why was he so desperate to find her?

'I…I want to see her! And if she's not here, then I don't know where else to look! She'd be…gone. Maybe a runaway? No, she can't run away, she just can't!'

Matt thought

With that, he rounded another tree and found a small form, knees to their chest, face buried in their knees in a futile attempt at preserving warmth

This 'thing' had pink hair

Matt walked over to stand in front of her

'Why?'

The pink haired girl looked up

'Why wait? Why did she wait her, alone in the cold, wet, muddy darkness for so long?'

"Alright! I'll wait right here…"

Her face turned to one of concern

"Why are you crying?" Sakura asked

"... it's promise!"

SNIFFLE, SNIFFLE

"What're you talking about? I'm not crying! It's the rain! The rain!" Matt said as he wiped his runny nose with his sleeve

Sakura stood and gave him a broad smile

"That's good, now lets go inside, you'll catch a cold!" She said as she grabbed his gloved hand

He withdrew his hand from hers immediately, reflexively

Her hand was ice cold, stabbing to the touch

"Ah, sorry! Sorry! My hand's cold, right?" Sakura apologized

Matt was silent for a while

Then he grabbed her hand with his and pulled her towards where he knew the building door was

"Silly girl, robots don't get cold…"

Sakura smiled

They were in his dorm, towels in hand, drying off their hair first

The fact that this was the first time he'd let someone in his room made him uncomfortable

The owl-eyed boy didn't count, he forced himself in

The fact that this person was a girl made it even more uncomfortable

The fact that Sakura was blushing cutely didn't help matters either

He was standing a couple steps across from her and she was sitting down

On his bed

He gulped

He sat beside her. On the bed.

Sakura turned to look at him. Was it just him, or were her eyes slightly glazed over?

Matt avoided eye contact and decided to remove as much wet clothes as decency would allow him to.

He headed for the boots, then took off the gloves and the goggles

A gasp of surprise stopped him from removing his shirt

"I'm not thinking about anything weird! I'm just cold!" Matt said as he turned to Sakura, his face flushed a deep red

Sakura was pointing an accusing finger at him with a shocked look

"You're not a robot! You're a real boy!" She stated, as though she'd just discovered the theory of relativity

Had he heard that phrase from somewhere before?

"I'm not a puppet, I'm a real boy!"

Yeah, that was Pinocchio's phrase

He shook his head to remove his off track thoughts and replied to Sakura

"Yeah, I'm not a robot. I'm a real boy." He confirmed, immediately regretting stating that last phrase. He felt sick to his stomach for portraying that creepy wooden puppet thing

"Oh I see, you're a real boy!" Sakura stated with half-lidded eyes

Was it just him or was she inching closer?

"A real…"

Yes, she was definitely inching closer. And she had a lustful look in her eyes too!

'Could this be a…kiss?!' Matt blushed and began to stutter incoherently

"…boy." Sakura thought as she closed her eyes

Matt sweated as he suddenly thought Sakura's lips were the most interesting thing in the world

'First…'

Matt sacrificed his vision as he closed his eyes, the way he'd seen people do in movies

He leaned in, and puckered up

'..kiss'

Then she head-butted him

With her forehead

On his lip

"OUUUCH!!" Matt screamed as he tended to his newly busted lip. He glared at the perpetrator.

"Eh?"

Sakura was lying on his bed, blush still in place, with a newly acquired bruise on her forehead

'What the hell is going on?!'

Matt thought angrily

It was then that a thought struck him

'What if…'

He reached out to feel her forehead

It was hot, much hotter than was normal

He resisted the urge to face palm himself. Of course she'd get sick if she'd been stuck I the rain all day! At this point, she could get pneumonia! Matt had no time to spare. He'd seen it in a movie. First you had to warm up the chilled body, and the fastest way to do that was with…

GULP

Body heat

'No, Matt! This is for the great good!' He thought as he raised a fist of determination

With that thought in mind, he proceeded to removing her clothes, with many panic attacks in-between of course

With their bodies stripped down, he changed the sheets (they were soaked since they'd gotten on it with wet clothes) flipped the bed (Sakura's poor unconscious form sat in a chair, with blankets wrapped around her for decency)

After all was god and done, Matt carried the girls to the bed, got under the covers and hugged her form

'If I thought I might be in trouble before, I'm definitely screwed now…' Matt thought

Inwardly, however, he kind of enjoyed hugging her. It brought him back into the real world, made the real world so much more interesting and, in stark contrast to her actual body temperature, she actually felt very warm to Matt. He faintly wondered why as he silently slipped to sleep

Little did Matt know, he had forgotten to save his game that day and would have to start all over again the next day

Mello and BB's abilities of interrogation weren't as great as L's. Mello was, surprisingly, actually a very shy boy. He was also extremely anti-social, as was BB. Of course,

L was also antisocial, but he was also interested in direct attacks that lead him straight to the point, which is why he had decided to creep the girls in Sakura's class out until they told L what he needed to know.

Mello would rather avoid socialization, not as extremely as Near, but he was no happy-go-lucky child who talked to every person he passed by, either.

BB's problem was that he was a tad bit too extreme with dealing with people when there was something he wanted. It often involved death threats, pointy things and a scolding from Watari.

This was why they would rather do a manual search than ask around. But when a manual search of the entire building came up with null, they decided to ask around, with extreme effort and control.

Eventually, they ended up in front of Matt's room. It was morning by now, and the merry chirping of the birds and dawn rays of orange sunshine sharply contrasted the near futures darkness

They opened the door slowly, and like Pandora's Box, all hell was let loose

A/N: Yes, Yes, well, you can only imagine BB and Mello's reactions ^^

did this one twice as long, and although I hate cliff-hangers, I decided to stop here, since it's 5:00 am and I promised Kezabee from deviantart that I'd update YESTERDAY. TT sorry

anyways, I love you all and have been reading your reviews and it makes me so happy to know everyone likes this story so much ^^