Wow... It's almost Christmas... I can't wait! Anyhow, I would really like reviews to keep me going... It's really hard to find time to write over the holidays, so the more reviews, the quicker I add the chapters. OH! I almost forgot. Please check out my coauthor, Author of Scifi. You'll love her stuff! Enjoy!

The dinner table was awkwardly quiet that evening. The conversation, when Karen was home, was almost always about Karen's time at college. Karen went to Texas Tech University, so she only came home for the summer and for Christmas. She spent Thanksgiving with her aunt and uncle in Kentucky.

"So... how's your photography project going, Karen?" Karen's mother asked.

"Um... I haven't really had a chance to work on it yet. I have been doing dishes and laundry a lot lately."

Karen had actually forgotten about the photography project. She had been helping out so much that she had barely enough time to enjoy the beautiful scenery... and now there was the whole new Deathnote thing. She had that to do now. I guess I have my Christmas break cut out for me. Luckily I am not as busy as I am at school.

"Well, you should really get that done soon. Christmas is coming fast. You want to be done by then, don't you? Didn't you want to go and spend some time with your friends in Milwaukee after that?"

"Yeah. I don't get to see them like... ever."

"Well, you have 8 days left until Christmas. Better get started."

The rest of the conversation was Karen trying to get her father to get on Facebook. He was giving the 'I don't have any time' excuse.

Karen went up to her room and turned on her iMac (you are so biased... *growls*). Where is that Shinigami? She pulled up iTunes and put on one of her hard rock playlists. The first song was Monster by Skillet. She minimized iTunes and pulled up Safari. Gmail was her homepage. 5 new emails. The first one was a Twitter notification that someone was following her. Second, a forward from one of her friends. The third was a poll from her local Christian radio station. Fourth; another Twitter notification. Fifth, an email from one of her friends. The subject read, 'E.T.A?' She opened the email.

Hey-a Karen,

When are you planning on getting here? Amanda and her boyfriend are getting here right after Christmas, Betty arrives the day after. When are you planning on being here?

Love,

Ash

Karen hit the 'Reply' button.

Hi Ash,

Yeah... I'll be there the day after. I can leave then.

Love,

Karen

Since there were no emails remaining in Karen's inbox, she went to her Twitter. There were a ton of tweets talking about Japan's mass-murderer, Kira's, killing suddenly stop. That was the trending topic on the web these days. There was nothing new there, so Karen went to her Facebook, and played FarmVille for two hours, until Ryuk came.

"Where have you been?"

"I went exploring after eating."

"Ah, where did you go?"

"Into the woods."

"Hmmmm.... Well, stay here tonight. You can explore tomorrow. Right now, I want to test the Deathnote." She opened her drawer and pulled it out. "I'll try it out on that recently captured serial killer. He deserves to die."

Just like Light. She tests it on a criminal. Great minds think alike. Ryuk thought to himself.

Karen wrote the serial killer's name in the Deathnote. Kent Smith was his name. She turned on her live web TV to her local news channel, and very soon saw a report that he'd died of a sudden heart attack in his jail cell.

"Holy... It really works!"

"I hate to say I told you do."

"Oh, shut up."

-_-_-

Matsuda's demeanor was that of an excited puppy. Giddy, unable to sit steal, beaming with smiles. Aizawa's was that of... a statue, frankly, while Ide's was one of slight annoyance but intrigue. Also in the inner circle was an American with a Japanese heritage called Robert Tensho, and an Indian named Samir Kavadi, a brilliant young man who, upon moving to the United States at the age of five, had become a Grandmaster at chess at the age of seven... an amazing accomplishment. Later he decided to get into investigating and had been trying to do an undercover investigation of Kira... he hadn't gotten anywhere, but his gall and his intelligence earned him a quick spot in the SPK.

Everyone except Near was lounging in a chair, their reflections shown in the numerous TV monitors in the room. Near was, of course, sitting on the floor in easy reaching distance of his precious dice. He had already built a one foot high structure which included elaborate towers complete with staircases and windows.

"What's this about, Near?" asked Aizawa, arms crossed. He had acquired a special respect for Near after the final Kira incident.

"My insufficiencies, first and foremost."

"What do you mean, 'insufficiences'?" asked Samir, only a slight Indian accent coloring his voice, his deep brown eager eyes shining with a youthful excitement, containing a kind of eagerness that was similar to that of Matsuda's puppiness, but contained.

"I mean that last time a Kira emerged, I could only catch him after L had a huge head start on the investigating and after Mello helped me. I am not L yet... I am merely N. With time, I might earn that L title, but I do not have said time. That being said, I need help."

"But where is this help going to come from?" asked Aizawa.

"A Wammy boy."

"But I thought you said they weren't ready!" Matsuda interrupted.

"The new ones. This one is of the first generation, and he's extremely intelligent, if... eccentric." The way he said 'eccentric' made the men in the room shift in their seats.

"He is supposedly killed by Kira, but I doubt he was, for reasons I will explain later. For now, all of you..." he pointed to a large stack of files on the desk. "Each of you, take one packet, and read about him. After you're all done, I'll answer some questions and then we'll get started trying to figure out how to catch him.