Disclaimer; I don't own Death Note, If I did B would be in the manga/anime, and Matt would have a bigger part. That doesn't happen so clearly I don't own it.

Main Characters; Beyond Birthday/Rue, L/Ryuuzaki, Light, Misa, Mello, Near, and Matt.

Summary; Beyond Birthday was never killed by Kira; the public didn't know of his existence. L kept the killer hidden because he would be useful in future cases. The Kira case just to happens to be that case.

Pairings; LxLight, MelloxMatt, and possibly LxB

The fire that ate away at my skin was vicious and unforgiving; not that I had expected the pain to be any less. After five minutes of raw hot angry heat eating away at my skin, it ended, the pain slid away. Instead the feel of cold iron wrapping itself around my wrists was present; my trick had been found out by Naomi Misora. She informed me that I was under arrest for murdering the other three victims, that, of course was true. She pulled me to my feet and made me walk- limp- did it matter?- over to the door. Apparently something- someone was there to block her way. I couldn't tell, I was keeping my eyes shut from the pain that was focusing itself in select areas on my body.

"Who are you?" I heard her ask whomever was there.

"I am Watari, L sent me to collect the criminal." Watari? Wasn't that L's handyman?

"L? Why wouldn't he want to send this murderer to jail?" Wasn't that obvious, Misora?

"L believes this man will prove to be a useful asset in future cases, so he wishes to keep his identity secret, therefore he will be sent to one of L's houses, Misora-san." Ah, wasn't Watari to the point.

"I understand." I honestly hadn't been expecting Misora to go calmly along with this, but, I figure the pain from the burns is effecting me somehow. I feel myself being cradled gently in old arms; careful of my burns. I find the sensation of being in pain and being above the ground strange- yet delightful at the same time. Once I was placed in the backseat of a car (I assume) the sensation of pain became unbearable. So forgoing any sense of self I ever had, I allowed a blissful unconsciousness to overtake me.

-

The rest of the year is spent in pain, sleep, and waking at least once a day to consume food. Sleep is riddled with nightmares that I can not escape; such as the reoccurring one I found myself lost in a daily basis. The day I learned what the numbers underneath the names that floated above peoples heads meant.

The numbers above father's head had dropped down to just a two digit number, and I found my eyes drawn to it every second of the day. The number dropped every hour or two (who was keeping time?), and I found myself curious so I had asked to accompany the older man to his work; just to see what would happen when the numbers reached zero.

It was when few people were there, that the number reached a single digit, and I kept my gaze on father the whole time. A man came into the one floored office-building holding a gun, demanding money. The women squealed and went under their desks, the men simply froze like deer, and father calmly pushed me under the desk; into the one spot where you could only see me if you were looking for me. Father acted all calm as he stood up and began speak, "Don't do this, you'll regret it."

"Shut up! Quiet or I'll shoot! Give me the money, old man!"

"Stop now, son, and you won't have to go to jail." I admired my father as he acted calm in the face of danger.

"I said shut up, old man!" The robber shot the gun at that second, and as the bullet went towards father; I saw that the number and name were gone.

Father was dead.

-

Around the middle of 2003, I begin rehabilitation with Watari- did the old man know how to do everything? All my senses except touch are perfectly fine; my nerve endings where the burns had melted my skin were extremely sensitive. Even the faint touch of clothing caused irritation of the burns. After I was able to successfully move on my own, Watari had to leave to assist L in his endeavors in the newest case, the 'Kira' case. After learning it was criminals being killed, I was thankful that L had decided not to throw me in jail.

Now this may have been a sudden change on my part, but I stopped trying to be like L. I no longer wore the plain white shirt and faded jeans, hell, I had even managed to untangle my hair so that it wasn't as messy as L's. The rings around my eyes were no longer present, and I found myself half-lidded more than bulgy-eyed.

The day before New Year's Eve, as I was pulling on my black T-shirt that had a white graffiti-style skull on it, and dark jeans; there was a knock on the door. Not waiting for an answer, Watari entered the room holding a suitcase. I raised an eyebrow slightly, glad that my face and neck had no visible burn marks.

"L requires you to be in Japan, Beyond Birthday." Ah, so I had to go from England to Japan, now? Not that that mattered, what piqued my small curiosity was the 'L requires' part. Don't get me wrong- just because I no longer dressed and acted like the man, did not mean I was no longer interested in the detective's actions.

Finding no means for argument I pack the clothing that I actually enjoy, a metal slinkie, and I grab a jar of strawberry jam for the ride there. Watari then takes me to one of L's private helicopters, and in the middle of the night we land in Japan.

-

When I enter the hotel room L is in; he looks just like I remember him looking, and he is even in that familiar sitting position in front of a table of sweets. L looks up, and I can tell that he is slightly shocked by the fact I was no longer obviously obsessed with the man. After getting over the initial unexpected fact, he nods towards the seats around the coffee table. I head toward the the couch, and lay down upon it.

"L," is all I say in greeting as my gaze trails over to him eventually. I can tell this is going to be an interesting, if not awkward, conversation. After all the last time we had spoken was, what? 15 years ago (perhaps longer) at Whammy's? At the very least I know we are a year apart in age.

"I suspect you already know I've taken the Kira case, Beyond," I nod, so he continues, "I have deducted that your assistance will speed the case up by 20 percent at least."

I can feel L's gaze trailing to the burns that started on my collarbone, down to the ones that were visible on the inside of my arms. It was so obvious as to that he had never seen someone with this amount of fire damage in person. To think, he hadn't even seen the burns that were hidden by clothing. I think I'd laugh at his expression if it was surprised when, or rather, if he saw the rest of the burns (there is no way I'm willingly showing him). As his gaze lasts on the burns on my arm, his expression turns- just slightly- sorrowful before returning to stoic.

When I don't answer he begins to explain things that are occurring in the case. Such as how the FBI was no longer co-operating with him; how Kira was definitely in the Kanto region; how the investigation team kept getting smaller; how the team probably would be shrunk completely when the news was given out during the day about the dead FBI agents; how Kira could control a person's actions before death of heart attack. The works, basically.

When he finishes explaining all that had happened so far in the case I decide to speak, "At least I'll have something to do." I mean, really, living alone with just Watari for company, and puzzles and old, already solved cases to work with is rather boring. So all things considering, I wouldn't be bored.

L nodded in silent agreement; so he understood my boredom.

-

On New Year's Eve, the five members left of the task force were going to come to the hotel room and meet with L. I didn't pay much attention as they came around 9 p.m. and had a discussion with L. I listened from the 'living room' with little interest, and only caught snippets of the conversation as I was lost in some unimportant thought.

"If I were Kira you'd be dead." Ah, there was L's small sense of humor. "Let's value our lives."

"But did anyone ever mention names?"

"...unknown or who name was reported erroneously, remains alive."

"Please turn off cellphones..."

"Just do as he says."

"Call me Ryuuzaki instead of 'L', please." L was now sitting in the armchair at the end of the coffee table; he proceeded to adding the customary amount of sugar to his tea.

I felt five gazes on me, and on the burns (what was so fascinating, or disgusting about such scars?) as the police members followed L. I was annoyed at how they seemed to stare more at my burns than anything else, and almost missed it when Yagami Soichiro started to speak.

"L- Ryuuzaki, who is this?" The old man sounded shocked, that wasn't good, it might do bad things to his heart.

"Yeah! It never sounded like there was another person with you!" This time it was the hyper one... A quick glance at his face supplied me with his name, Matsuda.

"That's because I had him come here yesterday to help with the case; his intelligence is on par with mine." L explained in his usual monotone.

Figuring I should introduce myself at this time, I sat up to face them better. When I looked at them I had the sudden urge to grin- since when did I have such human urges?- and I did. It must have unnerved them, how I grinned, because the five policemen almost took a step back. Forcing the grin to turn into a small smirk I introduced myself with a mocking tone, "Rue. Please, call me Rue."

a/n; Not exactly the longest it could be (1740 words), but it is good, right? I hope I got B's personality somewhat as it was in Another Note. But hey, after a near-death experience, I'd assume people change. Since I had a near-death experience myself, and I changed so... why wouldn't B? :)

On a lighter note, this is my 'first official fanfiction' or something like that. So I'd like some constructive criticism please, no flames, constructive criticism. If I get more than three reviews for the first chapter, I'll probably jump for joy, or something. But I'm thirteen so I have school and such that is just starting, so around September don't expect quick updates. There is the factor of homework thrown in there. T.T

I hope you enjoyed reading this!

Ja! R & R please and thank you!