AN: The random question was for a reason - or at least part of it was XD. So far, Raito's been dominant, and since the majority seem to think it should stay that way, he will be the one in charge. ^-^ This story's coming really fast, something about summer just makes me want to write.

Once again, stop by the forum challenge in the first chapter; it's hard at first, but it's really fun, and so far everyone's stories have been great :D

Warnings: Violence, Language, Guns,


Deaux

::

I'm getting buried in a lie that's mocking reality

-幻影の鎖(Genei no Kusari); ScReW

::

"He can't remember anything Kitamura..."

"No, he made the conscious choice to follow that road. He was in his right mind, was he not?"

"The doctors say he's got amnesia - can we really punish someone for something they don't know they did? Do you realize what a frenzy the media's going to cause?"

Slowly, groggily, he sat up, blinking and looking around the room. Where was he? Why was his head bandaged? Four men stood at the foot of his bed, arguing in hushed tones. A tall man with an afro was the first to notice that he was awake.

"Ryuzaki...you're up..."

Ryuzaki. So that was his name.

::

Eru.

Ryuzaki leaned on the side of the police headquarters, biting his thumb and wracking his brain. He'd dismissed the man on the street, telling himself that maybe he was mistaken. Maybe the man hadn't been looking at him; maybe there had been someone standing behind him. Maybe he hadn't said anything to Ryuzaki, hell the man could have been having a conversation on a blue-tooth. Or maybe - this was the only one that would allow Ryuzaki to clear his mind temporarily - it had all been his imagination, a weird dream of some kind. He rarely slept - but there were occasions when his body would wear itself out, and his mind would go fuzzy. He dreamed occasionally, but it was usually of strange occurrences that made little to no sense. (There was the one where a ginger cat called 'Misamisa' had jumped on his head and scratched his face up before flouncing off, only to be kicked in the face by its owner. That was one he would rather not talk about, only because when he woke up, he found that he'd been crying hysterically and hugging his pillow.)

Yet, the hallucinogenic dream idea made little sense either.

He tried to force himself to think of what 'Eru' could mean, even sinking so far as to look it up on Google. He found the European Rugby Union, a Korean singer, and a fictional character by J. R. R. Tolkien. What did that mean? As much as he liked Tolkien's work, he doubted it would have any effect on him subconsciously.

Ryuzaki got up and stretched, well there was no point in worrying about it there - he'd have to get home soon enough. He shuffled down the sidewalk, only pausing to nod a farewell to Aizawa. The man, as always, looked deeply troubled.

It seemed like just another sleepy day. People were standing around on the sidewalk, talking and laughing. Cars drove by slowly, blasting loud music through open windows. The world had a sluggish feel to it, even the animals were silent. That stood out to Ryuzaki - usually the chattering of birds drove him insane... And animals were usually only quiet before a storm or disaster of some sort. He walked a bit more cautiously, large black eyes scanning his surroundings. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. All in all, it looked just like any other boring day.

It wasn't.

Two red cars came speeding around the corner, brakes screeching on the pavement. The driver of the first one paused, surveying the scene. He met Ryuzaki's eyes behind orange goggles, and smiled, dropping a cigarette butt onto the street. It only lasted for a second - the moment the butt hit the ground, the passengers in the car behind him pulled out a bunch of guns and started firing off randomly, hitting everything in sight. The glass of a streetlamp shattered, raining down onto the sidewalk. People started running and screaming, trying to avoid death. The goggles man pulled something out of his pocket, taking the lid off with his teeth and throwing it onto the street. A smoke bomb.

"Ryuzaki!"

Ryuzaki looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice. Next to him, someone screamed as a bullet went through their leg. He turned around to see the person, but was pulled away before he could offer any assitance.

"Over here!" It was Aizawa. He used a button on his keys to flash his headlights, dragging Ryuzaki towards his car. He threw the door open, ordering the young man to get into the backseat. Ryuzaki did as he was told without questioning for once, slamming the door shut. "C'mon, c'mon," Aizawa twisted the key, gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles went white. The engine sputtered to life after a few seconds, and Aizawa blindly pulled out of his parking spot. The back of the car smashed into another one, but he didn't stop to check for any damage, just speeding off down the street.

"Have you located the target?" A voice came from the stolen police radio inserted into one of the shooters' cars. The goggled man sighed, shaking his head until he remembered that his boss couldn't see him.

"Nah, he got into some old dude's car and drove off."

"...I see. You know what to do, Matt."

Matt laughed, flipping a switch on the radio. "Mells, you're up!"

There was no reply, only static. "Hey, stop eating and get out there!"

"Fuck you man," came the garbled reply.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Mello!" The only sound Matt heard was the revving of an engine before the transmission cut out.

Ryuzaki somehow managed to sit in his usual position, staring at the back of Aizawa's head as the older man continued to speed down the street. What was going on? Since when were there drive by shootings right outside of a police station? And who was the goggled man with the smoke bomb? Ryuzaki couldn't remember ever hearing about criminals that were simultaneously dumb enough to commit a crime literally on the police's doorstep, but smart enough to bring those kinds of things along with them. His stomach sank - somehow, this made him think of 'Eru', of the man. But how?

"Dammit!" Aizawa's voice brought Ryuzaki out of his daze. Something behind them gave off a loud bang, and something hit the rear window, cracking the glass. There were three more shots, each one hitting some part of the car.

They were being followed, apparently on motorcycle. The driver sped up, so that he was momentarily by the passenger window. Ryuzaki turned around just to get a good glimpse of him before Aizawa sped up even more. He was skinny, dressed almost completely in leather, and strands of blond hair peeked out from underneath his helmet. He held both a pistol and a chocolate wrapper in his hand. Ryuzaki frowned for a moment, staring at him the same way he'd stared at the other man. There was something about them...something he couldn't quite place his finger on.

Aizawa slammed his foot on the gas, swerving to just barely avoid running into a truck. The motorcycle driver swerved too, letting himself lag behind.

"Think he gave up?" Aizawa asked. Three more shots answered his question.

There was an even louder boom as the motorcycle man aimed the gun lower, firing at the back tires four times. The right tire burst, and the car went spinning out of control, swerving off the road and into a grassy ditch. Aizawa swore loudly as they slid down into it, the car shaking as it rode over the bumpy ground. Finally, the car came to a stop, smoking.

Ryuzaki coughed, pain spreading through his body slowly. Had this really just happened? He looked down at himself, only to make sure that he was still in one piece. There was a warm sensation in the back of his head, something he foggily recognized as blood. Shards of glass from the now broken windows littered the car's once spotless interior.

"My...leg..." Aizawa's voice was pained, speaking was taking great effort. Blood dripped down his face; the airbags hadn't helped too much, only stopping him from shattering his skull. He didn't turn around, he just sat still, staring ahead. "Reach into my pocket...my cell phone's in there. I want you to..." he stopped to swallow. His injuries weren't fatal, but they seemed pretty severe. "I want you to take it, and call the police...get away from here. They should come and help you."

"Aiza-"

"Just do it now..." He clenched his teeth in the pain, taking deep breaths. "I'll be okay."

Ryuzaki nodded, reaching forwards and sliding the cell phone from the officer's pocket. Aizawa winced when the younger man touched his leg, squeezing his eyes shut. He opened the door slowly, glad that only his head was injured. He looked back at Aizawa, who still had his eyes closed, and frowned.

"Goodbye Aizawa-san."

Aizawa smiled weakly. "Good luck L."

His accent almost made "L" sound like "Eru"

::

Mello took the helmet off of his head, running a hand through his hair. He stood by his motorcycle, staring down at the now wrecked car. He wondered, would shit be so easy for Kira if he had to actually go out and do things on his own? The blond unwrapped another piece of chocolate, biting it as if he were biting Kira's head off. Selfish bastard. Ah well. It wasn't about Kira - what he really cared about was L.

He walked over to the ditch, letting himself slide down the grassy sides, his boots leaving marks in the dirt. He reached the bottom hard, a cloud of dust rose around his feet. Mello shoved the chocolate back into his pocket, approaching the totaled car slowly, almost like it would drive away. Wouldn't that be something? He wasn't even sure if L was even in there anymore, he could only make out one person through the ruined rear window. Okay, maybe firing so many shots was a little unnecessary, but it was too late for that now. Slowly, Mello reached through the shattered passenger's window, unlocking the door. There was no L in sight.

With an annoyed sigh, he took out his phone, unsurprised to see that he was being called.

"Were you able to recover him?" Recover? Since when was L a missing piece of property?

"No, he escaped somehow."

"Escaped? How would he escape? You allowed him to get away?"

"Hell if I know!" Mello snorted. "You want his ass so badly why don't you come get it yourself?"

If it weren't for the fact that both Matt and Mello were two of his best, there was no doubt that Kira would've killed them. But, when it came to things like intellect and skill, they were irreplaceable.

"Hn. You may report back now...is there anyone else in the car?"

Mello walked around the car, so that he was standing by the driver's seat. There was a man sitting there, trying to untangle his seat belt. He froze when he saw Mello there.

"Yeah."

"Oh. Kill him." Click!

The man looked at Mello, sweat and blood running down his face. There was a certain resolve in his eyes, as if he was prepared to be killed. Mello reached for the gun in his pocket, but froze midway, looking the man in the eyes. The accident had left him with a large scar, running down from the side of his face to his chin, angry and red. Mello touched his own scar, a cruel reminder of how the world could be. Somehow, he felt as though he understood the man.

"I think I've fired enough shots today," the blond said. The driver looked at him in confusion.

With that, Mello started his slow walk back up the side of the ditch, to mount his motorcycle once again. Aizawa could only stare after him as he retreated into the setting sun.


Questions of the Chapter :):

1: If Matt and Mello had been on Kira's side, would he have beaten Near?

2: Do you think Raito should do more things himself instead of using pawns?

3: Who's your favorite Kira Task Force member? (I like Matsuda and Aizawa lol)