The Death of Mr. Bunny

It was early morning; the skyline had barely begun to grow lighter behind the tops of the trees outside in the courtyard.  The delicate fingers of light had just started to sneak past the long curtains lining large glass windows, filtering into darkened rooms and supplying a warm touch to the freezing hardwood floors below.  It was far too early for anyone to be up yet, and so silence usually ruled in this place that at any other time of the day would be bustling with the sounds of children laughing and running down the hallways.  Yet now, complete peace and quiet filled the empty hallways in the early morning hours at Wammy’s House, and usually this still time went unnoticed by the inhabitants of the orphanage; yet not by all.  

A small sound echoed in a long vacant hallway; hardly noticeable to anyone that may have stirred out of his or her dreaming reverie just long enough to hear it.  It was a gentle shuffling noise, very much like that of quiet sleepy steps slowly approaching a large empty looking room.  Small feet snug in pristine white socks quietly padded ever closer to a preset destination, stopping only once they had reached the large door.

Actually, this strange sound really was not so terribly strange after all for it could be heard every morning at exactly the same time.  It had become a regular occurrence, so precise that one could set their watches to if they had awakened and taken the time to listen for it.

A small boy in white pajamas pushed open the seemingly massive doors to that large room, barely inching inside past the entry to stand alone in what little soft morning sunlight managed to filter its way through the large arched windows lining the wall.  He let out a sigh, his head tilted forward as he hugged two objects in his arms.  A board of some sort pressed tightly to his small chest while a limp velvet bunny dangled from his grasp, small pink padded feet dragging on the ground behind him.  He glanced down at the bunny, pulling it up closer to his face and snuggling it against his nose until he was sure it was no longer touching the ground.  

The bunny still carried that distinctive sweet scent of tea leaves and strawberries, a scent he could never forget even if he had tried.  He cherished that sent, cherished the memories triggered by that scent, just as he cherished this time in the early morning.

He slowly inched further into the room and settled against the wall nearest the door, crumpling to the ground as though the short distance he had walked had been far too much for him to handle. He tapped the board he carried on the ground sending small white puzzle pieces scattering across the floor in front of him, and then he just leaned back, discarding the puzzle while he tucked one leg under himself and pulled the stuffed rabbit closer.

It was his tradition, as long as he could remember he had woken up long before anyone else, sharing the new morning with no one but Mr. Bunny. They would sit together for a while, strangely warm despite the chilled floor beneath them, watching the sun rise above the tree line outside until the sounds of waking children would finally reach his ears. Then he’d quietly set aside Mr. Bunny and start putting together his puzzle, the illusion to cover his true intentions.  No one knew of this simple tradition or how much he cared about Mr. Bunny; he never showed anyone that side and he wasn’t about to start now. When a child would finally find him, they would think he too had just woken and was playing alone with his puzzle as he always did.

They snuggled in the quiet room blissfully unawares while watching the skyline outside shift from the chilled shades of violet to a warmer hue of golden yellow and sky blue. They never did notice that something else was now moving about in the orphanage that they called home.  They could not foresee the doom that was literally going to stumble upon them so early in the morning.

IOIOIOIOIOI

Some distance down the hallway two more figures were stealthily slinking from shadow to shadow towards the direction of the stairs leading up to the bedrooms on the next floor.  A pair of small bare feet attached to a little blonde dressed all in black carefully crept down the hall, pausing only for a second at an especially loud creak in the wood below.  

Yet another pair of feet clad in red striped socks stayed close, hot on the heels of the blonde. The little redhead glanced behind him wearily, not noticing he had stepped on the black hem of the other boys pant leg when they both paused and listened.  

The blonde moved again, only to stumble when his pants wouldn’t come with him.  The black baggy material slipping off his hips partway before he snatched at it.  The commotion brought the redhead out of his weary trance on the hall behind them and forced him to jolt forward to catch up, only to fall over his friend who was trying to pull his sagging pajama bottoms back up.

“For cripes sake, Matt, watch where you plant your big foot will you?” The blonde hissed as he hiked his pants back up.

“Shut up, Mello!  I’m not the one with the baggy butt pants on... Why’d you stop?!” Matt had started to hiss right back, yet the intended threat merely shifted into a worried question.

“Shut it, I think,” Mello paused, craning his neck and glancing slowly down the hall, ears straining to hear the slightest noise.  “I think I heard something.”

“You’re going to get us in big trouble again.” Matt was starting to allow his panic to show through with the shallow pants escaping his cold blue tinted lips.  He darted his gaze from one end of the hall to the other, once he was sure there was no threat of impending doom waiting to pounce on him he began to feel the biting cold all around.  “I’m freezing Mello… Let’s just go...”

“For crying out loud Matt, suck it up!” Mello began to creep down the hall again.

“Suck it up?  SUCK IT UP?!” his voice had begun to rise, cracking a little just before a swift hand clamped down on his cold lips, slammed his head back against the wall with a dull thump.

“SHUT.UP.” The words were whispered, low and threatening.  Mello’s glare could have dropped a charging bear dead in its tracks, but it had little hold over the gamer at this moment.

Matt snatched at his friend’s wrist, pulling himself free of the other’s grasp and returning an almost equally threatening glare, “It’s your fault! You just had to have me hack the computers so you could try and change Near’s numbers, then you had me help you break into L’s room so you could look for ‘clues’ to his current case, then you just had to mouth off in art class with your ‘I’ll teach you to paint with all the colors of the wind’ line and start that nasty fight where...”  

“I did not start that fight,” Mello paused, jumping over the first two incidents and going for the last, “… I just finished it. By the way, how is Teddy-boy, hmmm?” He couldn’t fight the wicked little smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“He had to have that paint brush surgically removed...” Matt snorted, “And my point being, Mello, you got us in so much trouble that Roger is going to throw the book at us if he even so much as catches a whiff of us being up to something.”

“Hence the reason you need to keep it zipped! We won’t get caught.”  Mello’s harsh words faded off into a playful chuckle.

“You are such a tard!  We shouldn’t even BE here! You’re going to get our hides tanned just because you wanted to break into the kitchen! That’s right, Roger’s going to skin us and use our heads as mantle pieces,” Matt ground out behind clenched teeth as his mind raced over horrible thoughts involving Roger killing the bad seeds of Wammy’s.

“Mello wants chocolate... Mello gets chocolate...” Mello chuckled as he patted Matt on the shoulder and then slunk back to his stealth ‘escape’ down hallway.

“Whatever...”Matt instinctively followed, “I just think we should have laid low for a while, or at least gone out with a bang. Hack the entire system and make the fire sprinklers go off during class... or... or steal some cigarettes or something...”

Matt couldn’t see Mello’s face as they continued to sneak down the hall, but he could almost feel that wicked smirk being shot at him.

Click... creak...click... clomp clunk clomp

The boys froze like deer in the middle of a highway, daring not to even breathe at the sound of footsteps coming closer.  It was only a brief moment of panic, soon forgotten as Mello grabbed Matt’s long striped sleeve tugging him further down the hall.  Neither said a word until they were safely on the other side of the nearest large door, ears pressed flat against it after it had even clicked shut.

The steps paused down the hall; obviously the owner of those shoes had paused to ponder at the faint clicking sound of a door.  The steps drew closer for a moment and then paused short of the door.  A long silence filled the air, then after what seemed like an agonizing eternity the steps continued away from the large room they had ducked into. Neither boy spoke until they were quite sure the person was gone, however.

“Who...” Matt whispered, barely aloud.  The small noise would have just sounded like a sigh of relief to someone who didn’t know him.

“Roger...” Mello breathed back.

“Why?” The same low whisper from the gamer.

Mello pulled his ear from the door, a mischievous grin running across his face.  “He does a round about this time of the morning ‘cause he’s trying to find out who’s been nicking the chocolate.  He of course suspects me, but he can’t come right out and accuse without proof... which he will never find.”

Matt’s eyes flashed with rage for a moment behind those glossy yellow goggles he always wore, he snatched Mello by the collar of his black shirt and shook him. “YOU WITHHELD INFORMATION!!! YOU SPAZ-MONKEY!!”

“Would you have come with me if I had told you?” Mello grinned, completely unfazed by the harsh treatment.

“NO!!!” Matt howled, releasing his grip but still trying to bore a hole through Mello’s forehead with the intensity of his death glare.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you!!” Mello chuckled as he patted Matt on the cheek like he was teasing a puppy.

“I can’t believe you!” Matt slapped his hand away, “We could get caught! And you think this is FUN don’t you?! You... You...”

“Dear friend, best buddy, supreme ruler of all that is wonderful, greatest mind in the world?” Mello continued finishing Matt’s sentence with glorified titles, grinning like a Cheshire cat as he flung himself on his friend’s shoulders and playfully allowed himself to become a dead weight.

Matt struggled for a moment, trying to shake his deranged friend off, still angry with him for nearly getting them caught. “Get off, you jerk!  This is neither the time nor the place for horsing around and you know it!” Matt paused, long enough to blink, “And you are not the greatest mind in the world.”

Matt then went strangely still after just a second of trying to slap Mello off, yet Mello didn’t notice this as he continued to tease the gamer, “Ok, ok... Second greatest mind in the world only just a smidget below...”

“Near...” Matt choked.

Mello felt a cold shock shoot from his lower back up his spine and settle into his neck making his hair nearly stand on end “EXCUSE ME!!! WHAT THE CRAP DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?” He pushed Matt forward and kicked him square in the seat of his pants, sending the poor gamer sprawling face first across the floor.

Matt scrambled, sitting up and looking back at Mello then away, that’s when the blonde noticed the panic behind the goggles.  He started to open his mouth, to ask what was wrong but was quickly cut off by a small voice behind him.

“That’s right... but more correctly you’re third since L is the greatest.” Near was huddled against the wall near the door, still hugging the white bunny.

An aching unearthly cold gripped Mello as he turned, his mind running over everything he had just said and done.  The unguarded carefree happy Mello had just been seen and heard by the one person that should NEVER see.  The cold knot in his gut suddenly transformed into boiling rage as he shot daggers in his glare at the small child all in white, “What’re you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same,” Near stated coldly, bereft of any sort of emotion.

“I swear, Near, if you tell Roger you saw us here… If you breath a word to him about anything you’ve heard,  I’ll turn you every which way but loose.” Mello took a threatening step closer to the strangely calm child clutching the bunny.

“You can’t...” Near glanced up at the threatening form, catching Mello by his gaze and pinning him in place, “Roger will know if you tried to beat me up, and I believe you already have a few strikes against you this week. So, the intelligent conclusion for both parties would be that you can’t do anything to me... and should just leave quietly,” Near reasoned back, as he twirled a lock of his pale hair around his finger, unfazed by the blonde’s threat.  

Mello only growled in answer.

“Don’t tell, Near, please,” Matt whimpered, “I can’t live without my games!! Roger said he’d take them away if I so much as looked cross eyed at him after he caught me hacking the system!“

Mello shot the gamer a disgusted look for a moment before focusing the intensity of his glare back upon Near, obviously there was something afoot he just had to find out what.  “What do you want?”

“I won’t tell,” Near said simply, still unaware that he was hugging his precious bunny close, “As long as you actually treat me with some civility and stop trying to get in my way.” The faintest little smile formed at the corner of his lips as he sunk his head down to hide that faint expression behind Mr. Bunny’s ears.

Near didn’t really mean any of it; he knew Mello didn’t like to get pinned by anything and this little ultimatum was just a game so he could see the blonde squirm in irritation.  He had given into the temptation to tease the angry little chocoholic, forgetting to think it through completely.  Something was telling him he should have stopped with telling Mello to leave, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong in this picture.  However that missing puzzle piece didn’t take long to fall into place.

Near then caught his mistake, his nose being ticked by the patch of fluff between Mr. Bunny’s ears reminded him.  He was letting someone see his affection towards Mr. Bunny, such a blaring mistake on his part.

While he was often seen with toys, he never really showed any sort of affection towards them.  They were just toys after all. Mr. Bunny on the other hand... well he was real.  He was special in every sense of that word.  Nobody needed to know of his little friendship with the bunny, especially not his rival.  It was a liability, one he could not afford to make public.  Near’s first instinct told him to put Mr. Bunny to the side and hope Mello hadn’t noticed any thing unusual.

“I knew there would be strings, and I say NO!” Mello turned to Matt who was pleading with him to stop silently, “I’m not going to have you holding anything over my head, Near.” He shot his gaze back at Near who was sitting with one hand resting on his leg and the other twirling locks of pale hair into ringlets, a very commonly seen pose for the child.  An eyebrow rose at this, even though he didn’t have eyebrows after Matt shaved them off one night.

“No?” Near remained as cold as ice, “Then I suppose I should let Roger know you two stopped by?”

“Feel free,” Mello sneered.

“WHAT!?!” Matt choked, “Oh man... I’ll hide them, that’s it! I’ll hide my game cards and the DS under the mattress...NO that’s the first place they’ll look... The sock drawer... the bathroom... the vent... the lamp...”

“Tell him. Can’t prove anything.  So we went for a walk, I mean you’re up and about so it’s not unusual.  So what?”  Mello spoke drowning out Matt’s crazed plans for saving his games from the grasp of the higher ups.

“Yes, but I am not suspected of snitching chocolate. Which in all likelihood has gone missing yet again this morning,” Near countered.

“And I’d like to see them find proof on me...” Mello spread his arms out, and bowed slightly.  “Go ahead, I don’t care.  You have nothing on me,” He turned to Matt who was giving him a kicked puppy look, “Let’s go, Matt.”

Matt scrambled and jumped to his feet after Mello who was already triumphantly sauntering for the door. The young gamer tripped over his own feet slamming into Mello a second time this morning sending them both sprawling across the floor.

“For Pete’s sake, Matt, are you drunk or something?”  Mello howled somewhere under the mass of tangled limbs.

“NO!” Matt scrambled back to his feet, glaring at his friend sitting on the ground. “Well, I mean… no, but I had to take some migraine pills before I went to bed and they make me a little... woozy.” Matt teetered a little, the lightheaded feeling from standing up so fast causing him to sway.

“Oh for the love of... COME ON!” Mello snatched at Matt, grabbing him firmly by both shoulders and pushing him towards the door. “This isn’t over, Near!” He barked at the other child as he and the dizzy little gamer slipped out into the hall.

“I was unaware we had something going...” Near sighed, his eyelids lowering to a lazy glare at the now empty doorway.

Silence finally reigned again in the large room that was now fairly brightly lit with golden sunlight.  Near finally tore his gaze from the door, once again secure in the fact that he was alone and needn’t worry about Mello coming back anytime soon.  His dark eyes fell on the bunny lying near his foot, his hand dropping to run his fingers over the soft ears.  Something didn’t feel right this time, call it needless dread, perhaps worry, or maybe even the after effects of dealing with the obnoxious blonde so early.  Whatever this was he felt uneasy now, a recurring thought entering his usually busy mind screaming for attention above all other things, Mr. Bunny needed to go back to the safety of his bed.

“Let’s go Mr. Bunny...” Near picked up the rabbit holding it close, burying his nose in its soft fur as though this would be the last time he ever held the white rabbit he cared so much for.  

Lost in the scent of strawberries and tealeaves he didn’t notice anything was amiss in the room as he shuffled blindly to the door, that’s when the unspeakable happened.

‘CRACKLE-MOOSH’

Near froze for a moment, trying to find any sort of answer to what he had just stepped on.  Anything, anything, anything but what he feared it was.  He slowly leaned over; dark eyes widened behind Mr. Bunny’s ears as he carefully removed his foot from the thing he had stepped on.  A bar of chocolate lay in the middle of the floor, the foil torn and crinkled, brown oozing from it.  Near lifted his foot further, turning it inward so he could peer at the bottom of his sock.  Oh the chocolate all over his pristine white sock, like blood on a crime scene, completely damning evidence.  

Near let out a weak groan that sounded more like a mournful yet short whimper over his sock more than anything.  He hugged Mr. Bunny tighter under his chin; his nose still buried in the fluff between the rabbits ears.  His eyes traveled from his dirty sock, to the chocolate dead on the floor; then he caught the movement in the open doorway.

Mello was standing slack jawed in the doorway, a look of horror and anger swirling in his eyes.  The anger quickly won out, taking over his being, radiating throughout him like electricity causing him to twitch with pent up fury. Yet despite this intensity, he didn’t make any sort of move, not even a sound dared to slip from him.

Near just stared at him blankly, confused at the sudden change of events, but soon he dared to break the silent stare down, “I didn’t mea...”

The sound had broken the stalemate.  Before Near could even finish his sentence or even register what was happening he felt a hard force against his chest, the feeling almost like what he had imagined a ram felt like after butting heads together with another.  He could almost even swear he was airborne for a second there, but his consciousness suddenly snapped out of focus when his backside connected with the hard wood flooring.  He must have hit his tail-bone just at the wrong angle because all the air in his lungs just expelled violently and he was left sitting there weakly gasping for air that didn’t seem to want to come back.

Near coughed, gasped, and slowly starting to breath normally again.  His usually placid face seemed pained, but he never cried.  Usually children cry in fear thinking they’re about to die when something like that happens and they feel like they will never breath again. But not Near, logic told him he was fine so he dealt with it.  As the air came back into his lungs his expression calmed again, almost as though nothing had happened at all.  But his eyelids shot open, dark eyes searching frantically. Something was gone.   He had almost expected Mello to tackle him and beat the living snot out of him while he was down and out like that, but the blows never came.  No, it was something much, much worse than being beaten up.

Mello glared down at the smaller boy with a smug mixture of anger and victory, almost like a cat with a cornered little mouse.  In his left hand dangled Mr. Bunny.

“You’re being more stupid than I ever could have imagined, Mello,” Near stated coolly, yet there seemed to be an edge to his words that normally wouldn’t be there.

“Stupid? Me? You’re the one that stepped on MY chocolate,” Mello hissed back at him.

Near stood up dusting himself off. “You mean the chocolate you snuck out of the kitchen… Give me back my animal,” he snapped as he started to reach for the stuffed rabbit dangling by the scruff around its neck only to have a palm forcefully planted in the middle of his forehead and shoving him back a few steps.

“I think not.” Mello held up the rabbit just out of reach, it’s limp legs swaying from the movement.

Near glared at him, but didn’t say anything.  

“You destroyed something precious to me...” Mello’s expression shifted, nearly as blank as Near’s; he gently shook the little stuffed rabbit causing white ears and legs to sway back and forth tauntingly.

“I didn’t mean to step on it,” Near stated. “You should have been more careful not to drop it if it was so ‘precious’.”

“What’s done is done, but still...” Mello sighed as the faintest little smirk began to tug at the corner of his mouth, “as they say, an eye for an eye.”

It was the most horrible sound Near had ever heard, that hideous tearing.  Ripping fabric, threads being strained to their limit only to give up and snap against the unforgiving force.  White fluff began spilling out of the now gapping hole in Mr. Bunny’s neck, floating like snow to the ground near Mello’s feet.  The sound didn’t stop with just that, no, it continued until Mr. Bunny was decapitated completely and one ear was nearly torn from its seams.  The rabbit’s head fell to the floor at Near’s feet with a soft ‘fwhup’ noise, followed closely by his body.

People say that one’s life flashes before their eyes when one is about to die, in the case of imaginary friends and stuffed animals it’s most likely fairly the same experience except the life is flashed before the owner’s eyes.  

The life of Mr. Bunny, the day Near had received his best friend, flashed through his mind. The vision merely fragments of one of his earliest memories but still a strong and cherished moment.  He could feel the cold of that horrible night when he was so little, so scared.  He didn’t like Wammy’s House at first, he couldn’t sleep, and he wanted his parents for he was not yet able to understand that they were gone for good.  He wasn’t sure of the details now but he had tried to run away that night, perhaps to find what was missing from his life somehow, but he was too short to even reach the door handle.  He recalled that terrible feeling of despair, but then he remembered warm arms wrapping around him, and Mr. Bunny dangling in front of his face until he reached out and pulled the bunny close.  He was lost in that scent of tealeaves and strawberries, and the warmth of gentle arms holding him close just like he held Mr. Bunny. That soft low voice telling him everything was okay as he was rocked gently.  The last thing he remembered before he drifted off to sleep was glancing up at that small but kind smile nearly hidden below shaggy midnight hair.  

Near stared at his broken friend, blankly, almost the same way he would look if he was studying for class, or building one of his card towers, completely expressionless.  His eyes finally lifted from the remains to meet Mello’s triumphant stare.  “...And that was supposed to be equivalent retribution?”

Mello was taken aback for a moment but quickly regained himself and sneered at his rival, “Of course. Next time be careful where you walk or I’ll destroy everything you hold dear.”

“It’s just a stupid stuffed animal, Mello, you think you’ve gotten the best of me? You think you’ve proven yourself just because you ripped the head of some silly old toy? You’ve proven what a dolt you really are with that one.”  Near’s voice was unwavering, emotionless.

That one really took Mello aback; inwardly he started to wonder if he’d misread the signs.  Near HAD been snuggling that rabbit, he HAD been startled and tried to hide it from him, and he HAD tried hard to get it back from him before he tore it in two.  Near had to be bluffing now, “Yeah right, I know you love that moth ridden old thing, you tried to hide it from me earlier.  You didn’t want me to see you had it. If it was nothing to you, then you wouldn’t have bothered,” Mello snorted, trying to prove his logic. “Boohoo, it must have been your ‘best friend’, well now it’s dead, so go ahead and cry me a river, you little snot.”

“Dead? It’s not a real creature, and I don’t care about it.  I’ve torn up better things than that silly old stuffed animal, Mello. You’re such a fool.” Near reached up twirling a finger in his hair, his expression sill cold and uncaring.

If Mello could have turned any more red someone would have to slap a sticker on him that said ‘ripe produce’ and stuck him in with the apples. “OH SHUT UP! You make me sick you little...” he stumbled, grasping for any sort of insult to fling at the other child “ARGH! Whatever!”

“MELLOOOOOO... Roger’s gonna catch us PLEEEEASE!! Let’s go!!! Forget the choco... oh...”  Matt stopped in the doorway as Mello blurted out the last of his ‘snappy’ comeback.  

Matt watched for a moment, taking in the scene before him.  Mello and Near were just glaring at each other, A torn rabbit and a smooshed chocolate bar at their feet.  That was bad... that was real bad... It wasn’t long though before Mello spun around on his heel and stomped toward Matt in the doorway.  

Mello had been defeated yet again.  Just when he thought he had finally gotten the best of that stupid little Near. He must have mistaken that little robot for having feelings like a normal human being, feelings he could use against the kid. ‘BUT NOOOOO!!!’ his inner thoughts screamed in answer as he brushed past Matt.

Matt watched Mello stomp away down the hallway, then he glanced back in at Near who was still staring blankly in his direction, twirling his pale lock of hair around his finger just as he always did, completely unfazed.  

“Right-O, then” Matt sighed and started to follow Mello’s path, obviously this little skirmish wasn’t as bad as it had looked.  A good thing, it could have been much worse.  But then a strange sound stopped the gamer dead in his tracks, forcing him to turn back and stare at the open doorway.

Surely that sort of sound wouldn’t be coming from Near, that kid was like a doll, a very freaky little doll all in white.  He never showed any sort of emotion, hardly even made a sound.  So surely that faint noise wasn’t coming from him.

Matt inched wearily back to the door then peeked around the corner of the frame, instantly wishing he hadn’t.  It was one of the most heart breaking things he’d ever seen.  Even though he didn’t normally care a wit about Near one way or the other, he just couldn’t ignore this.  

Near had dropped to his knees and gathered up Mr. Bunny, hugging him close and rocking back and forth.  Tears that had wanted to be set free the second he heard that horrible sound now spilled down his cheeks and stained the little white rabbit’s remains.  “I’m sorry... I didn’t mean it... I’m sorry...”

The pale child continued to chant to the stuffed animal, the words becoming unintelligible as he choked out the muffled sounds behind the rabbits limp ears. He couldn’t stop it, even after he felt an unsure hand rest on his shoulder, the tears continued. He no longer cared if someone saw his weakness, he’d done the unspeakable, he’d betrayed something he loved and called it worthless.

“Near...” Matt didn’t know what to do but it was seriously freaking him out to see someone like Near in a state like this.

He received no answer from Near, it was as though that torn rabbit was the only thing in the world that mattered to the child at that moment.  All other distractions were invisible to him.

“Near?” Matt called gently again as he kneeled down, instinctively pulling the smaller boy into a tight embrace.  

It was an action his mother always took whenever he had cried when he was little. Despite whatever hurt, it seemed to soothe the pain and soon he could forget everything in the warmth of another who cared about him.  Honestly Matt really didn’t know Near well, perhaps the other child was even the type of person that hated any sort of contact, but this just seemed to be all that Matt could think of to do for him.    Maybe it would be enough to bring some sort of peace, as much comfort he could offer, but all he could do was hope it would be accepted.

Near surprisingly settled into the warm embrace, burying his face against the striped shoulder, listening to the faint gentle voice telling him it was okay.  It was funny how Mr. Bunny’s death was so much like his beginning.  The similarity so close that it caused the tears that he had thought would finally slow to overflow with all new intensity.  

Matt tensed when the crying became more furious after a few moments, he hadn’t thought it through; he should have thought it through.  Near never liked being around anyone it seemed, he refused to play with the others when they asked.  And of all people, why should Near find comfort from someone like him? He was MELLO’S best friend, Near probably thought he’d run straight to Mello and tell him everything.  This was just the sort of thing that Mello would gloat over too.  

“It’s ok, Near.  Mello’s gone back to his room, he won’t know...” Matt hoped Near would understand, perhaps pick up that he had no intention of telling Mello about this uncharacteristic display of weakness.

Near hiccupped, clinging tighter to the loose material of Matt’s shirt, yet another startling reaction.  “Eru,” such a faint sound muffled by fabric, Matt could hardly hear what the other child had said.

Matt’s mind tried to decipher that word, figure out what it was that Near had really said.  But he didn’t get the chance, Near sniffled shifting until he could look down at the torn rabbit squished against him.  “I promised him....” A few more tears spilled down crimson tinted cheeks, “I promised him... I’d take care of him...” Near whispered.  “And Mr. Bunny was my friend...”

Matt looked down, unable to see the expression on Near’s face hidden beneath the layers of soft ivory hair. However, he didn’t need to see the other child’s expression for the evidence of grief was still falling helplessly onto the rabbit’s face.  

Near shifted again, hiding his face against black and white stripes of Matt’s shirt once more as he tried to control the tears that still insisted on revealing the hurt and weakness he was feeling.  He soon gave up and just gave in, trying to find some sort of solace in the warmth of an unexpected companion.

Matt inspected the rabbit, torn nearly perfectly along the seams of the neck, one ear torn from the splitting seam along the top of the head.  Really, despite how it looked, that would actually be a fairly easy fix, his mother could have sown that rabbit back up to look better than when it had been bought. A faint smile tried to tug at the corner of his lips; even he could fix it, he’d certainly watched her work enough.  Maybe it wouldn’t be as good as his own mother could have done but perhaps good enough to stop Near’s pain. It was just a silly old rabbit after all, one that already bore the battle scars of being well loved, a few stitches would only give the dusty thing more character.

“It’s not so bad...” Matt smiled as he absently ran his fingers through Near’s pale curls, the movement and sound finally reaching through to the smaller child and capturing his attention,  “I think I can fix it… him,” he quickly corrected, referring to the bunny as a real creature.

Near tilted his head back, finally locking eyes with his unexpected comforter.  The tears had ceased finally but the red trim around his eyes seemed all the more noticeable because of his pale features.  A faint, fleeting glimmer of hope mixed with confusion flashed behind his dark eyes, then without warning his head lowered, hiding the brief glimpse under mussed white bangs once again.

“I can,” Matt tilted his head, trying to catch those eyes again.  “My Mum was a seamstress for a some designer I think... a long time ago…” His expression suddenly tensed with the realization that he couldn’t recall every fact around his mother, “I can’t remember really well now who it was though. But I do remember how she worked.  I think I can fix Mr. Bunny.”

Near stared down at Mr. Bunny, gently touching his index finger to the rip near the base of the ear.  He was clearly thinking over the offer, but remained silent.

“If you let me borrow him for a little bit…” Matt felt the flinch and sudden tension under his hand still resting above Near’s shoulder blade, yet he still continued. “I can fix him up as good as new,” Matt half lied, it would never be as good as new, but still, it would be enough. As long as Near would let go of the bunny for a little bit, he could be free to fix it.

Near pulled out of the now weakened embrace, standing up and taking a few steps away from the gamer.  His eyes still fixed on the rabbit as he continued to run the rabbit’s soft ears between his fingers as he had always done.

Matt sighed, sure he wasn’t going to have an easy time getting that torn rabbit away from him, even in its destroyed state it was valuable to him.  Of course he didn’t blame the other child, if someone had asked Matt to relinquish his Gameboy he’d probably have decked them for suggesting such a stupid thing.  

“I...” Near’s voice caught for a moment,  “But I promised...”

“And I promise I’ll take care of him.  I’ll fix him up and bring him right back to you.”  Matt smiled as he also stood up and straightened out his shirt.

Without warning Near turned back to face Matt yet never looked up to meet his gaze.  He held out the rabbit until Matt gathered the pieces and held onto them tightly. Matt eyed the rabbit head in his hands, black button eyes staring back at him.  Such an old styled design for a stuffed animal, and really it was quite sturdy.  The fabric was worn from being toted around for years but still strong, strong enough to resist being torn by Mello.  He held it up closer and peered inside the opening of the neck, stuffing was missing that will have to be replaced.  

Then the scent hit his nose, sweet and slightly bitter all at once.  “Strawberries and tea?” Matt pondered unaware that his next whispered words were actually heard. “It’s familiar… why is it familiar?”

“L...” Near whispered.

Matt’s heart nearly stopped, his entire body froze with just one quietly uttered letter. “L!? As in THE L?! Don’t tell me this is...”

“L’s bunny...” Near nodded.

“I promised him I’d take care of Mr. Bunny,” He continued.  The same words whispered sadly again, yet this time they were fully understood by the gamer holding the broken relic.

Matt’s vision blurred as his consciousness passed into total darkness, knees buckled and he hit the floor just seconds afterwards. Near inched closer, peering down at him somewhat bewildered by the sudden collapse.  “You aren’t dead, are you?”

To be continued…