"It is no mistake," I said calmly.

"N-Not…Not a MISTAKE???"

"Of course not." I licked my fingers free of jam and scooped more from the jar.

"That's FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS in groceries!!" J continued.

"Yes. It is. Get over yourself." He was beginning to annoy me.

He slammed the bill down onto the table in front of me. "Now you listen here, B. I could use my power as CEO of Watari's inventions company for anything in the world. Anything at all. But you know what I use it for? Funding this God-forsaken orphanage for child freakin' prodigies!!!"

I didn't meet his eyes. I was focused on the shrinking amount of jam in the jar in front of me. "You went here too."

"Well, SURE I did, but that doesn't mean it means anything to me NOW! Look what good it's done me."

"Well, you have millions of dollars and a HECK of a lot of power. Little tidbit there."

"Shut UP, already!! Anyway, as I was saying, I use MY money to pay for YOUR living environment. And how do you thank me? With FIVE GRAND worth of groceries!!! You and your stupid jam!!!!"

"It's not all me. I counted once. Mello eats seventeen chocolate bars a day, sometimes more."

"That's not –"

"Oh, it's VERY important, J," I spat his name like a swear word. "Don't blame me for what isn't entirely my fault!!"

"I DON'T CARE!!!!" J roared.

"Your temper is almost as bad as Mello's, or even maybe mine, and that's saying something." I was going back to my more apathetic, distant game.

"That's IT!!! I QUIT as your supporter!!!"

"Hmm. Sucks for you. You just lost all your brownie points you built up with L. He's gonna be SO mad…no one to buy his sweets."

"I DON'T FREAKIN' CARE!!! And that's not all!! I'm going to SUE this joint for all it's worth, and then some more, so I actually get money out of this." He laughed insanely at his own joke, which wasn't even that funny. He stormed from the room.

J could get so annoying. He was really losing it.

And what if he does sue and we have to shut down? What would that mean for L? And…where would I go? I wondered.

There was no question. J had to go.

xXxXx

That night, I donned my trademark outfit for murders: A black, tight hat that hid all my hair (so none could be left behind,) black leather gloves, Crocs, jeans, and a smiley-face T-shirt.

I was not sure why I wore that T-shirt. Irony, maybe? Again, I was not quite positive.

I snuck out of the orphanage (we can come and go as we please. It's not like a prison.) and kept my head low.

I quietly stepped through the shadows along the narrow street surrounding the orphanage. Not before long, I heard the familiar footfalls of my target. The knife I'd stolen from the kitchen filled with excitement that I could almost feel, roughly like electricity. The time was almost here.

My luck was incredible. He led me directly to his apartment, completely unaware of my following him. He lacked a certain paranoia that was supposed to be drilled into the heads of Wammy's students. I smiled to myself. They taught that for exactly this reason.

I closed and locked the door behind me. That became his first warning that he had been followed.

"Who's there?" J called nervously.

"Like I'd answer," I said back.

"B?"

"No, it's the tooth fairy!! Yes, it's me!!" I came out of hiding and walked right up to him.

"W…what're you doing here?"

"Keeping my…our orphanage alive."

His confused face was quickly replaced by a terrified one as soon as I drew my knife.

"B! No…no! I won't sue!!! You don't have to do this!!"

"Funny."

"What?!"

"You're lying to me."

I went to work. I slashed a large "X" in his face, and once he was on the ground, screaming and flailing, but weakening from blood loss, I dragged the knife through his chest to carve a "J".

By the time I had finished, I had at least pierced, to some extent, his heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and stomach, so he'd been dead for a while.

Still on a bit of a high from the excitement of my latest murder, I pulled something from my other pocket and nailed it to the wall.

It was not a doll of any sort, if that is what you're wondering. It was a dollar bill. I found a pen on his desk and scrawled across it, "NO MORE."

I smiled at my work, dropped my knife next to J's corpse, and left the apartment.

xXxXx

By the time I got back to Wammy's, it was very late at night. I changed directly into my pajamas and slept deeply.

I awoke to a lot of worry around the orphanage. All they had heard was that a past Wammy's student had been found dead in his apartment, the homicide not hidden.

I was watching TV in the "lazy" room when I heard a page for me over the intercom.

I turned off the show and lazily went to Roger's office.

"Ahh, hello, B."

"Yeah. Waddya want?"

"Well, I'm sure by now you've heard about the murder of J, a past Wammy's student…"

"Yeah."

"We need you to help work on the case. Your investigative skills, especially in murder, are simply amazing. We need you to figure this one out for us."

"Okay. Sure. Where is his apartment?"

"Oh, I'm not done yet. You will have a partner for this case. She attended this orphanage too. She graduated five years ago at the age of eighteen, and while she did not mark high enough to succeed L, she is now a very accomplished and powerful detective."

"Mmm." I was bored.

"Anyway…S? Can you come here?"

From outside the office came a tall, beautiful girl with light brown hair that ended a bit past her shoulders. She was wearing a leather jacket, dark jeans, and boots. She had a bit of a smirk on her face as she extended her hand to shake. "Hello, I will be your partner on this case. My name is S. You?"

"B," I muttered.

"Oh, well, nice to meet you, B."

"Why don't you head to the scene?" Roger interjected. "B, I have excused you from all classes. You can come back whenever it is convenient."

"Excellent. Well, B, let's get going!" S said cheerfully.

She took me to her car and explained that his home was close by, so we wouldn't be driving for too long. I, of course, knew this from visiting his apartment to commit the murder I was now trying to solve, but I just nodded and stared out the window for the three and a half minutes it took to reach his residence.

As soon as we pulled up, I changed my expression from being bored and apathetic to intense and concerned.

"Oh, so you're that kind of detective who doesn't really start thinking about the investigation until he reaches the scene?" S asked.

"You could say that," I replied with a smirk.

We got out of the car and, after S flashed her detective badge, were allowed into the apartment.

It was exactly as it had been last night. The police hadn't moved a single thing. Probably preserving the scene for the detectives – us.

"Hmm…" S, instead of going straight to the body, walked to the stereo and hit the "play" button. "What were you listening to?" She whispered to herself. "Every Time We Touch" by Cascada filled the room. She stopped the music.

"What was that all about?" I asked, "What about inspecting the corpse first?"

S whirled. "D'you really think that a murderer would be stupid enough to leave enough clues to solve the case with the body? Of course not. They may, however, leave careless clues around the scene, such as the stereo. I've seen a case where a killer put in 'mood music' and left it – with his fingerprints all over it. I've checked the stereo first ever since. However, I do not think that that song has anything to do with the crime. I think we can just assume that J liked that song and happened to be listening to it recently. Now, I think we should inspect all the food in the house, then his bedroom, be sure to focus on the bed itself, then the front hall, then the body." She measured my level of confusion in my expression, and then said, "It's worked on almost every murder case I've worked on. I almost never have to look at the body at all." She smiled and ran to the kitchen.

"Well, that's not how I operate. I'm going to look at the corpse," I snapped before I could stop myself.

"Suit yourself. I don't think you'll find any big clues, though," S called. "Dammit, no shopping list or anything!"

I ignored her and went to the living room to look at J. He looked exactly the same as when I left the last night, except for now, the blood was dried. I knelt down, searching for anything that could point to who the murderer was…so I could remove it before S found it.

But, as usual, I had been very accurate in my murder. There was nothing that I found that could connect me to the homicide.

I was standing up when S ran in. "He must have been planning to shop soon. He had next to no food. But what he did have I have samples from." She held up a lot of Petri dishes. "Time to search the bedroom." She ran off again and I decided to humor her and follow.

By the time I reached her, she was thoroughly inspecting every crease in the bedding. I felt a tingle of worry run through me, which was quickly muted by the fact that I hadn't entered the bedroom.

"Ah HAH!" S exclaimed suddenly, coming up with a hair.

"It's the same color a J's and on his bed. It means nothing," I explained with false calmness, although I wasn't lying – it was the same color as J's. I was still a little worried.

"We can take it in anyway. We don't have anything to lose. If it's J's, that's fine, but what if it isn't? I think that'd be one small step away from case solved," S said with a smile.

If I kept insisting not to inspect it, I would look suspicious. "Yeah…you're right."

She stood up. "Well, that's good for the bedroom. We can take a second look later. For now, let's move on to the front hall! That's probably where the murderer entered." She ran off.

I just sat and waited for her to give up in there. But, instead, I heard…

"Oh, wow!! NO way! B, come in here!!! I found another hair!!! And this one's black!! Not even J's brown!!"

Oh. Crap. What happened? I touched the black spikes on my head. Had a hair escaped from my cap? Crap. Crap! CRAP! I ran to see.

"Really? Can I take a look?" I cried overemotionally, rounding the corner. She handed me the hair. I rolled it between my fingers. Yep. It was mine. Same thickness and everything. No! HOW?? Could S have known? Was she trying to set me up? Could I have…made a mistake? How? How?! HOW?!! NO!!!

CALM DOWN, I warned myself. I wasn't thinking clearly, but I was frantic. S had to be in on it somehow, but I couldn't prove it unless I caught her. Dammit!

"Err…B?" S asked gently.

"WHAT?" I screamed franticly.

"If you're done with the hair…" Her voice trailed off as she pulled out and evidence bag.

"Oh! Oh…sure," I said painfully, sacrificing my connection to the crime.

But wait! Could it be mistaken for a hair that had fallen out while I was investigating? But that would only work if I left NO other evidence behind. And by the way the way this…detective was searching, she would find something else. For sure.

I considered my options. The most obvious one was to kill her. I'd have to run from Wammy's House, but that was okay. It only got in my way at this point.

I looked for something, anything, to kill her with. I saw the perfect thing to use. Hanging above the dead man's couch was a sword. Sharp, by the looks of it. Especially for a decorative sword. A great weapon to kill with.

I was about to run and get it immediately, but I then figured that I might have a chance of not needing to kill S yet. And if I didn't have to kill her, I didn't want to. She…interested me somehow.

I checked the clock. Perfect.

"S?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't we take a break? Go home, get some sleep? You know, rejuvenate for the morning? Actually, you can get those analyzed and see what leads we have so far. You know, take like a week off and wait."

"Mmm…" She pondered my offer, "I guess that would be a good idea."

"It's four-thirty in the morning. I take it you're tired?"

"Exhausted," She admitted.

"Would you like me to walk you home?"

"To my hotel, fine."

"You're staying at a hotel?"

She turned slightly pink. "I don't live around here. I actually live in Paris. But I grew up here. J and I…we were a couple for a very long time. And when I heard about his murder, I wanted to be the one to arrest the person who killed my J."

I figured I should flatter her and get all the points I could get before she got the hairs analyzed. "You're very brave."

"Thank you."

"So…what are we waiting to get analyzed? Just the hairs?"

She turned a darker shade of pink. "Umm…I also have a couple clothing fibers, but basically, yeah."

Damn. Probably from my T-shirt and jeans.

"So where are you staying?" I asked, taking her by the shoulder and directing her from the apartment.

"The Holiday Inn three blocks down."

"Oh. Nice hotel. I hear they have a big pool?"

"Yeah, I saw it. Didn't go in yet, but it looks nice."

"Cool."

"Now you're sure you don't mind taking me? I mean, you're only fifteen, you're younger than me. You've got to be tired…"

"I'm used to tons of all-nighters." By now, we were passing her forgotten car.

We started talking about the case and evidence and other boring detective stuff until we reached the hotel.

"I'll call you when we get the results back."

"Excellent."

She just stood there, looking at me, for a moment, before suddenly leaning in and kissing me.

It wasn't long or passionate or anything like that, just really quick on the lips. I stepped back in surprise.

"Sorry," She said, blushing. "I…I'll call you when we get the samples back then."

My face hadn't softened. "Okay."

She blushed again and went into the building. I turned to go back to Wammy's.

Nice girl, I thought, Too bad I'm probably going to kill her.

xXxXx

Cut to not one, but three weeks later.

I got a phone call from S, telling me to meet her at the scene immediately.

I hurried down there and stepped into the now-familiar apartment. It was still exactly the same, except now, they had removed the body for the funeral. All that was left now was the chalk outline.

S was sitting, hugging her knees to her chest, next to it.

"It was you," She said without looking away from the body tracing.

"What?"

"Don't pretend. It was you! You killed him!! J!! The hair was yours! The fibers matched a shirt Roger found in your room!!! You had a fight with him that day, according to Mello, who was nearby!!! It all points to you!! You…murderer!!!" She screamed, tears falling from betrayed eyes.

"Do you enjoy Wammy's?" I asked calmly.

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

"He was going to not only cut off all funds, he was going to sue and get rid of all that we do have."

"So that means you can kill him?!"

"To me, yes, it does. I'd rather kill someone then lose my one haven!! I'd rather permanently delete J than L!!"

"There were other choices!!"

"Not for me."

She stood up shakily. "I wish I could shoot your damn head right now. But I'd be sinking to your level. Instead…you're under arrest, B."

"Says you!" I leapt around her and snatched the sword from the wall. I shoved it through her chest before she could make sense of what had just happened.

I watched the beautiful red fluid flow from the wound. Painstakingly, she pulled the sword from her body.

"You think…that's enough…to kill me?" She gasped, "It's the equivalent of a scratch…not even big enough to even be a nuisance." Suddenly, she collapsed. "No…it's worse…won't…be…beaten…by…him…yet…"

But she spoke too soon. She went limp and still, eyes frozen in mourning and frustration.

"Too bad, S," I spoke to the fresh corpse, "I'm getting rid of this world's filth, like yourself. No one will know. No one will know who 'Beyond Birthday' is; I'll only be B. Say hi to J for me, you…" I suddenly realized I was monologuing. "Goodbye."

I ran from the scene before the cops showed up.

xXxXx

I showed up at Wammy's for the last time, pulling out a suitcase from my room and throwing everything I needed into it. After taking a few seconds to close the overstuffed thing, I grabbed it and ran to Roger's office.

"I'm leaving."

I turned to run, ignoring his confused protests.

I reached the street in record time. I took one last glance at Wammy's House and sprinted away, loose on the streets.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

AN: I do not own anything I might have mentioned in this story. Don't sue; I just might set B on you. O_O

Dedicated to the real S and J. Also, H and K.

Thanks for reading!

REVIEW OR B WILL FIND YOU.