Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, its characters, its plot, and so on. All of those things were created by and belong to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.
***First story, so... Hurrah! .... and all that....
***Juno is an original character.
Ch. 1: Begin
"L..... H-He's dead?"
Juno stood up, elevating her already-high position in the roof. She lowered her gaze, letting her bangs cover her face. She felt a streak of water on her cheek. Lifting a pale hand, she wiped at it until there was no evidence of the tear at all. She had loved and admired L like a daughter would to her father. Now, he was dead. No, he was murdered by Kira.
She heard a shout.
"I'm almost 15. It's about time I go on my own!"
Mello?
Promptly, a young blonde boy streaked out of the building.
Juno launched herself off of the roof, landing squarely Mello's back.
"Gah!" He threw her off and faced her. "I know you were eavesdropping from the roof. You already know about....L. I'm leaving."
"Joining the mafia won't get you anywhere except wanted and killed." Juno said as calmly as she could manage.
"I refuse to join Near. We just don't get along."
"Fine, then." Her voice involuntarily turned emotionless. Juno straightened herself up. "Besides, I also plan on catching Kira."
"You're only twelve!"
"At least I'm doing this legally."
"The Society is the loosest definition of 'legal', Juno." Mello glared as he got into a sleek black car that suddenly pulled up. "Matt! Come on!"
She felt a pair of arms from behind pull her into a quick hug before following Mello. "See ya Juno!"
She halfheartedly waved to her friend.
The car drove off.
She smiled victoriously at the picture of Mello she had managed to steal from his pocket when on his back. It was doubtful he would have noticed yet. This picture assured that she could easily be able to contact him.
Would L be proud? Probably not. The Society was less than lawful. According to them, modern laws were based upon moralistic judgments with which the less intelligent could take advantage of. The organization was not more than a subversive. Juno couldn't care less of their morals, but they thought she was valuable and she saw them as an excellent back up plan. Over the past two years, she'd managed to gain the Society leader's trust. Even though she was residing at Wammy's, she managed to earn herself some power and respect. Would taking advantage of the Society be right? L definitely wouldn't approve of her measures.
At the thought of the now deceased L, her mood saddened and darkened.
She turned inside to find and speak to Near who she almost crashed into in the hallway adjacent to the one across from Roger's office.
"Juno."
"Near."
"You plan on going after Kira using the Society then?" Near inquired.
"Yes. You plan on taking L's place, right?"
"Actually, there is already a person calling himself L."
"Do you know who it is?"
"No." replied Near.
The two stared emotionlessly at each other for a few seconds. Juno looked away. Then, Near spoke.
"Roger advised callaborating on the Kira case."
"It would be logical if we were to join forces, but you already know I'd decline." Juno replied. "It would be impossible to ignore inferiority complex."
"I see." Near responded.
With no reason to stay, she turned to leave.
"I will be attending the funeral services for L." she said as she left.
"Understood."
Once a considerable distance away from the office, Juno sprinted to her room. She had anticipated something like this happening and had packed a change of her clothes and several hundred dollars in cash. She grabbed her laptop, needing to check the files. L most likely knew that she was hacking into Watari's computer. He probably already deleted the Kira case data from her computer, or maybe sent a virus. Mello was too respectful of L to attempt hacking, and Near's hacking skills were relatively undeveloped.
After hurriedly typing in the fifty-six character password, she scanned the files, realizing that they were still there and intact. Did L want her to have the information? Why did he leave it with her?
She wondered if she should send a copy to Near. 'No' she thought, 'I want to solve this first.' Besides, what information had he shared with her?
As she left Wammy's for possibly the last time, she wondered why she suddenly felt competitive about solving the dangerous case. What was she trying to prove?
Well, she needed to avenge L, she told herself.
#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^#^
Only ten minutes after her request, a solid white limousine pulled up in the front driveway of the orphanage. She got in quickly, clutching her computer and its precious files.
"Shouldn't we check on Juno?" Roger asked Near anxiously. "She should be very upset by L's death."
"You didn't realize yet, Roger?" Near responded, as he placed the last puzzle piece in place, "She has left the orphanage."
Roger looked at Near in surprise. "Sh-she's twelve! Why? It would be easier to stay at the orphanage."
"The top ranked, Mello, Juno, and I, all see life very differently. To me it is a puzzle. Mello views it as a challenge. Juno sees life almost as a game. She both hides and denies it, but it is in her personality." Near explained, "If she were to stay at the orphanage, she would feel left out." He looked up. "Ranked closely to Mello at third, she is still quick-witted and intelligent. Surviving in the real world would be easy for her. She, Mello, and I all have plans to defeat Kira."
Juno tapped impatiently on the VCR remote. She had spent the last five hours reviewing Kira tapes. At least her view from the Eiffel Tower's top was extravagant. Now that she was out of the orphanage, her habit of climbing buildings was unbridled by Roger's threats of punishment.
From the information saved, she knew that a man named Light Yagami in Japan was the only specific person ever suspected to be Kira. There was also obviously a second Kira with greater killing powers than the first. They used a supernatural note book in which the user could write a name down, picturing the person's face, and the person would die. Time and cause could be specified, according to the set of rules that were written in the book. The killings were still happening, and the Japanese task force claims to have one. So, Kira is either an excessively powerful figure in the taskforce, or ......... there are two notebooks.
This Yagami person managed to prove himself innocent against L's suspicions, but there was only one rule written the notebook that let those conclusions to be drawn. Could that rule be fake? After all, it was written in the back of the book, along with another, one that said something about destroying the book.
No. In the pictures the mysterious writing medium appeared the same throughout.
'Even so,' she thought, 'I should check it.'
She had to get a hold of a note book first. That would prove difficult because the only one whose existence was known belonged to a Japanese task force, the leader if which was the suspect. Borrowing the murderous book lawfully was impossible.
Suddenly, a small smile spread itself across her face.
She pressed the call button on the speaker labeled "F"
"Francois, " she called the society leader who was in a car somewhere on the ground far below. "I need to go to England. I have a funeral to attend."
She dug a certain picture out of her pocket.
Mello took an intimidating bite out of his chocolate. As his mafia members watched and listened eagerly, he chewed, swallowed, smirked, and spoke.
"My theory is that there are two notebooks: one with the Japanese taskforce and one with Kira himself. We will take both of them."
Mello's expression didn't change as he leered at the surprised mafia members.
"But first," he continued, "I'd like to return to England. I need to say good bye to a deceased friend."
His smirk was gone by the end of the sentence, and his face was suddenly hidden by bangs.
Juno walked slowly down the nostalgically familiar street that led to the cemetery and funeral service. In one hand was a white carnation and the other held the photograph. Twirling the flower, her pace quickened when she saw the small crowd gathered there. There were two lone figures standing aloof of the crowd, yet they seemed to be the most bereft.
"Juno." Near saw her first. He wasn't wearing black, just his normal clothes. He held a grayscale Rubik's cube. Mello was standing a little away from him, his head was down and he wasn't showing the usual disgust that he had towards Near.
"Near." Juno acknowledged. "Mello."
Mello looked up, his eyes narrowing when he saw the photo in her hand. The sound of chocolate crushing filled the air.
He then held out a gloved hand.
Juno shook her head. "Not yet."
Looking amused, he opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Roger.
"Ah, children, you are all here." Roger half bowed. "I would like to meet you after the services, Mello and Juno."
"You won't be able to drain any information out of us, if that's what you want, Roger." Mello said with slight distaste.
Roger shook his head. "No. This is concerning L's will."
The funeral services seemed to pass twice as slow after that, especially for two little orphans.
Juno sat Indian style on one of the giant plushy couches in the Plaza Hotel. Mello was on a cushion next to her, his feet on the coffee table, and a chocolate bar in his hand. They had been sitting there for nearly fifteen minutes and didn't exchange a word, or even a glance.
However, both looked up when three men walked into the room. One of them, Juno recognized as Roger, looking very solemn.
One of the others, a tall one, spoke as they approached. "We will be sharing the information elsewhere. Follow inconspicuously."
Juno and Mello did as told, but not without a pair of intrigued expressions.
They were lead to a sleek black limousine.
Suddenly remembering, Juno took the photograph out of her pocket along with a match. A swift motion later, the piece of paper was on fire. She dropped it onto the cold December ground only when the flames started to lick at her fingers.
"No copies."
Mello nodded, glancing at the men.
The group boarded the limo silently.
A/N: There is actually a plot to this….Well, sort of. That also means a bunch of filler chapters..... And a few time skips.....