A/N: AND FINALLY, HERE IT IS! THE LONG-AWAITED, MUCH ANTICIPATED SEQUEL TO SEPARATION! Aren't you all just thrilled? Not with me, of course, since my lazy ass took so long to start this but... Well, you get the picture, right? Please enjoy! And review please! Don't forget them reviews!

Summary: Sequel to Separation. Good Idea: Taking a break from caring for three astoundingly intelligent and incredibly bothersome boys. Bad Idea: Inflicting them upon an innocent, unprepared summer camp in the process. Mello/Near!

Disclaimer: I don't own Deathnote.

Chapter 1: Camp Sunshine

It was unbelievable. It was unfathomable. It was unbearable.

It was just plain unpleasant, was what it was.

"You have got to be kidding me." Mello stated. Near couldn't help but empathise with this expression. Matt wasn't too ecstatic about the situation either.

"Boys, you're looking at it all wrong. It's not a punishment, I assure you, this will be nothing like the Behavioral Correction Camp. This is a regular, recreational facility that-"

"We get it. You're sending us to summer camp." Matt sighed.

"Look, if you want a break why don't you just hire a few more nurses and take a vacation?" Mello asked incredulously.

"It is not a break from the orphanage that I require, but a respite from your antics." Roger replied, giving up the whole 'this is actually a fun present for you' facade. "Now, I have looked the other way... far, far the other way, from you and Near. If you don't want me to take action against your... well, you know, then you will allow me this time with the three of you gone."

"So why must Matt be sent away as well?" Near spoke up.

"Because to be honest I don't trust that Behavioral Camp anymore, and after that stunt with the younger children, the lighting system, and the refrigerator I want him gone for at least two weeks." Roger said. Matt scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Yeah, ok, maybe that wasn't the best idea ever..." The redhead shifted self-consciously.

"Indeed." Roger agreed flatly. "Now, I would suggest you three go and pack whatever clothing and other items you may wish to take with you. The bus will be arriving first thing tomorrow morning to take you to Camp Sunshine."

"Camp Sunshine?" Mello's stare of horror was, for once, echoed on the faces of the two other boys. Roger looked vaguely worried.

"What? I thought it was a nice name..." He blinked confusedly. Mello pressed a hand tightly to his forehead and, with a deep sigh of exasperation, walked out of the room.

The bus was a nightmare. At least for Brat Camp there had been one, maybe two other people on the whole bus and they had been going to different places. Not so for summer camp. The bus was packed with smelly, sticky, loud children. There were shouts and screams and unpleasant aromas, there was boisterous laughter and objects soaring through the air. And it was hot. The air conditioning was no match for the oppressive July warmth when it allied itself with the body heat of thirty-something hyperactive kids.

Near was curled in on himself tightly, trying to touch as little of the surrounding area as possible. Mello was seated next to the window, glaring at anyone and anything that came too close to himself or Near. Matt was across the aisle next to an acne-pocked loudmouth called "MY NAME IS JORDIE!" or so he had hollered into Matt's ear in an overcompensating effort to be heard over the rest of the noise in the vehicle. The gamer was also having some pretty bad flashbacks to his kindergarten bus days, before his parents had accidentally driven off an icy roadside cliff one dark night.

The bus' driver looked utterly defeated. Tired, worn, and probably wearing ear plugs.

MY NAME IS JORDIE kept trying to convince Matt to let him play with the redhead's PSP. Matt was about two inches and another flashback away from fixing MY NAME IS JORDIE's overbite with his fist.

It was not a good trip. No, no it was not.

All three of the orphans were extremely grateful when the bus reached it's destination and they were able to disembark. The first one off the bus was, surprisingly, Near. Neither Matt nor Mello could recall the small albino having ever moved quite that quickly before. The blonde was a close second, with Matt bringing up the rear, and then they all had to dive aside to avoid the stampede of the other children.

"This does not look promising." Near commented drily, twirling a white curl. A large white banner was strung between two posts, it was covered in vivid, multi-colored letters spelling out 'WELCOME CAMPERS!!' as well as several smiley faces, handprints, and a couple of hearts. Mello shuddered. Beyond the... er... vibrant welcoming sign were several cookie cutter cabins numbered 1-9. They also had little smiley faces, handprints, and hearts all over their signs. The horde of boisterous children had not settled down upon leaving the bus, but rather their lack of self-control had escalated, and Matt was reasonably confident that they'd be breaking the sound barrier in a few minutes if someone didn't run interference.

"Ten bucks says Mello has five kids crying before curfew." Matt challenged. Near considered this.

"Done."

"I should probably be offended..." Mello grinned, "but I'm just not."

"HELLO CAMPERS!!" An overly cheerful voice bellowed. A bubbly woman far past the age that 'bubbly' should be used to describe her without alchohol involved somewhere stepped onto a podium to one side of the welcome banner. "I'm your Head Counselor, Ms. Shelley!! Are you all ready to have some F-U-N!?" She beamed.

"YEEEEESSSS!!" Screamed the majority of the children. Matt, Mello, and Near were, of course, not included in the returned scream. Somehow, possibly through a radar system developed by disturbed over-aged camp counselors, Ms. Shelley noticed this.

"Ohhhh, I see we have some grumpy-gus' with us today! Come on boys, why so glummmm?" Her huge smile didn't fade in the slightest. It seemed that over time, her face had simply stuck that way.

"...That's it. I'm leaving." Mello stated. He turned back to the bus, meaning to re-enter it using whatever means necessary, but as though sensing his intention the bus abruptly closed it's doors and sped off. "...Damnit."

"Uh oh, sorry son, but language like that isn't allowed here at Camp Sunshine. If you don't want to earn any naughty points, you'd better clean up that mouth of yours!" Ms. Shelley wagged a finger at him. Mello's left eye twitched once. Matt immediately took several steps back. Near sighed and looked up at the sky, as though beseeching someone to just strike him with a lightning bolt and end it already. "Now kiddies, over to your rights you'll find a table with all our camp counselors seated at it. Please start a line in front of each of them and they'll tell you which cabin you're in!! Hurry up, we want to have time for some games before the sun goes doooown!"

There was another mini-stampede, consisting of much pushing, pulling, and screeching as the children all fought their way into lines... if they could be called such. Safe in their places at the back of the mess, the three orphans examined their new surroundings with an impending sense of doom.

"So, when we get back I am going to kill Roger in a painful and humiliating way." Mello announced. "Any objections?" Near and Matt remained silent.

TBC...

A/N: So, there you have it. The first 'intro' chapter. Uh... yeah. Please drop a review in the little box!

...Ms. Shelley scares me... D8