next one up guys! Thanks so much for the reviews, they really do inspire me. This one's approaching the length of my first chapter, they usually end up really long because once i start typing its endless. hope you enjoy!

Chap 4

The first thing I felt were the pillows. There were as soft as bird's wings, before I opened my eyes I absently felt myself moving my hand across them to enjoy their softness. Then I remembered everything. I resisted the urge to open my eyes immediately, and tried to take note of my surroundings using whatever other senses I could.

I could feel that I was wearing the same shirt that I had worn to the directors office. It's silky material was unmistakable. I felt skin when I shifted my legs a little so I was probably wearing my skirt again. I decided it was ok to open my eyes.

I was in a bed. A really SOFT bed. I wondered for a brief frightening moment if I had revealed any information about the real reason I knew L's name. that would explain why he was so nice as to put me in the softest bed I'd ever slept in. And I'd slept in some really soft beds. The thought went away when I ran the scene through in my head and confirmed to myself that I hadn't said anything until the moment I passed out.

Maybe he just gave up…

The knock on the door made me jump. I called for the person to enter. Of course, it was L who entered the room. I looked at him warily, I was the victim, but I could still have some pride.

"I suppose you're feeling better Miss Amara?"

"Infinitesimally", I replied, a little snappy, "to what do I owe the honor of seeing your sleep-deprived face this lovely morning?"

"I think I'll have to tell you this before we say anything farther, for reasons you will soon learn, the last three days never happened. I'm in a bit of a predicament and I don't have time to refusing potential allies when they are right here. I will be very straightforward, I would like to use your skills."

I wanted to scream, maybe even to blink…but that wasn't possible. I needed to keep my façade just as badly as L needed to keep his. I saw right through him at the time though. He only stopped my interrogation because he knew he wouldn't get anything out of me and would keep making himself look like a fool as he tried.

"Fine. It's why I came here anyway. How soon is our commencement? I need to be at the university", I pretended he had just talked about something as ordinary as the weather and ran my fingers though my tangled hair.

"Today evening, Miss Amara. I will have to notify you that I will be tracking a Kira suspect after the speech. Would you like to keep an eye on him in case you notice anything strange?"

I thought about it, "sure, L. Are you going to tell Light your identity?"

He paused, "yes, that was my plan indeed. It goes without showing that I want you to take over for me and catch him if I die within the next few days. How did you come to the same conclusion about Light?"

"He seemed to match my Kira requirements perfectly when I met him. That, and he's smart too. It's very predictable, L", I said matter-of-factly.

"I see. Please call me Ryuzaki while we are here. It is my new alias", he put his thumb part-way into his mouth, to think.

"And as you already know, I go by May. I'm not used to being called Miss Amara", I examined my nails.

"That will be fine by me, May. You may stay in the task force headquarters after the commencement to look through some files with me."

The commencement went just as it had in the anime. As requested by Ryuzaki, I trailed them both closely so I could give him my analysis later. I decided to humor him by telling him about Light's angry face from where I was watching when L had told him there were, in fact, four cards and not three.

That evening found me sprawled on Ryuzaki's couch with my laptop. The rest of the task force was a little intrigued by me. They were probably wondering about how they had to go through a million processes of elimination before they were chosen, specially, to work with L. I had gained permission way to easily compared to them.

I spent some time compiling a 3-axis graph with variables "age", "severe-ness of crime", and "distance from Japan". I told them it was to see if Kira had a pattern. In the end there was just a bunch of dots on a 3D graph. No line. No trend. People did crime, they died. That was it. But it was worth it to just use my laptop again. I had been away from it for a while and my fingers had started yearning to make my virtual creations again.

Soon Aizawa, Ukita and Mogi started to leave. Matsuda and Mr. Yagami were still flipping through files to organize them. I settled back into my sofa with a book from my bag, not wanting to sleep.

"May will you come take a look at these?" L gestures at me. I stood up and made my way over curiously to his laptop.

"These are online profiles of the families of police officers who were given the classified information that seems to be leaking to Kira. Tell me which people seems worth investigating." At this point both Matsuda's and chief Yagami's eyes were glued on me. I took about fifteen minutes sorting though them. I searched by ages, which made it a lot easier, and came up with two police families. The one's I had known of from the anime, of course.

"Chief Kitamura's two sons, and of course, Light and Sayu Yagami from Chief Yagami's house", I told him. He nodded approvingly, "and how did you arrive at these solutions?"

"Kira has to be between fifteen and thirty. That's typically the age someone can have a god complex like this. Any younger and the person wouldn't kill very many people out of fear, and anyone older would kill for business or personal gain", I gave him the same explanation I had heard him say in the movie. The two police officers gaped at me, having heard the same thing earlier from Ryuzaki.

"Thank you very much May", he returned to his work without another word. I decided to be a little curious here.

"You're working on a different case Ryuzaki?"

"Yes, it's very minor so it won't affect the Kira case. I was requested to capture a dangerous gang of nine people that call themselves 13EX. I would have refused but I have my suspicions to believe that these people have been bribing one of the people in my organization and now know my identity. If I want to finish the Kira case, I must first make sure they are eliminated so they don't have the chance to sell the information on my identity to Kira", worry was creeping into his voice.

"May I see? I'll help if I can", I was worried too now. This never happened in the anime. Or maybe it did. It had been mentioned that L was working on a few other cases simultaneously with the Kira case in the beginning. Chief Yagami and Matsuda came over to the laptop as well, having finished their work. I moved aside a little to acknowledge their presence. Ryuzaki thought for a moment, and then turned his laptop toward me and started a briefing.

"Their last movements were here, in Britain. Near Winchester. They were seen selling the drug acid, but they escaped before they were caught. At this time, the only people from my organization who were assigned there were K and F. They both claim to have no contact with the gang members, but it is known that this is the time they may have discovered my identity. I was sent an anonymous email from them A few days ago", he opened up a window and showed us the email:

You are L. We are 13EX.

"After I showed this to Watari he told me about their past activities. I decided to take it on as a case officially when I was given a request to catch them. They are not in Europe anymore. Their whereabouts are currently unknown."

I thought about it for a moment…Winchester…the name rung a bell…oh yes! Wammy's.

"Ryuzaki, is there anyone at Wammy's house who knows your identity?" I asked hopefully. He didn't even seem fazed that I knew about Wammy's house.

"No, I don't think so, but there might be, I'll have to ask Watari", he clicked a button that connected him to Watari's phone.

"Watari, do you know of anyone at Wammy's house who might know of my name?...yes, that's what we are thinking…no? alright then, thank you….pardon?"

He almost dropped the phone. I stared on nervously. Ryuzaki had gone pale.

"Roger…he knew? You told him? I understand…come to this room immediately."

I jumped to ask him what had been going on, "What happened?"

"It seems Roger may have put two and two together to find out who I was. Watari had let some things slip about my registration there", there was a beep from the tab of his email and he flipped back to it quickly. There was a single new email, written in English black letters. The sender's name was F.

"L, I heard all about it. They will be there at 9:45."

"No way…" I muttered, this never happened in the anime! Maybe it was because of me being here. Did I alter something? At that moment Watari came into the room and scanned the email.

"Ryuzaki, I can take care of their disposal. I would advise you to be in a place I do not know of for the next five hours while I do so. I must not know where you are in case I fail", Watari said loyally. L leapt of his seat.

"Chief Yagami, Matsuda, please return to your homes. Watari, I leave the gang members to you. I will go into hiding and attempt to contact you tomorrow. Mayra, you said you're staying in this hotel, so you may return to your room", L seemed normal to any other person, but I got the feeling he was worried. He had never been outside by himself. he probably knew how the world worked better than anyone but when it came to public interaction I had my doubts.

"No, I'll some with you Ryuzaki. They are looking for one person, not two. There's no way I'm missing this much action", I smirked. Watari looked at me disapprovingly, but I could see the hint of relief in L's face.

"Alright then, everybody start."

He then turned to me, "May, where would be a good place with lots of people to go to at this time?"

"A restaurant of course. It's a Saturday night they'll be lots of people in every restaurant. Matsuda can come with us too if he want. His profile says he's a good shot with a gun and he can be of use in case they look for us." The answer came easily to me. That's where I spent a lot of my Saturday nights with friends anyways. Matsuda agreed. He already looked the part in his office wear.

Watari left the room, taking a pistol out of his belt. L put his laptop, cell phone and a wallet into a while bag and put it over his shoulder. I took my purse and retrieved the cell phones Watari had taken away earlier. Then we made our way out.

I had gotten the wrong impression about L from the anime. It seemed he could, in fact, walk upright just a little more slouched that the average person, it just seemed to take him constant effort. Other than that, he walked fast. He had slipped on a pair of white sneakers without any socks before we'd left. I could barely keep up in my delicate platform heels but I made sure I didn't lag behind. We checked out of the hotel after climbing down two flights of stairs. I swore I saw him look worriedly at my heels once. After that I was the one walking fast. I'd run for the bus many times before in stilettos. This wasn't too hard.

When we exited the hotel, the sky was already dark.

I took out my iPhone and check urban spoon for the nearest western restaurant. When I found one I showed it to L and Matsuda and they agreed. It wasn't too fancy but the type of restaurant you would expect any group of teenagers to be going to.

The night sky was amazing in Japan. Stars flickered wherever I looked. I didn't have enough time to sight-see but I found it beautiful. Suddenly I saw Matsuda try to approach me so I walked slower and let L lead the way.

"Mayra, are you a member of this organization Ryuzaki's part of?" Matsuda asked.

"No I can assure you that I'm not. I'm just a network hacker who wanted to find Kira and here I am", I gave him a little smile. He was taller than I had though. Around 5 foot 7. The anime had made him out to be a lot shorter.

"Well, welcome to the task force. I just thought it would be nice to say that officially", he smiled back. He seemed nice enough. I wouldn't have expected him to be nice to me so soon.

Dinner was nice. L ordered from the dessert menu all the way through and I glanced at him every now and then to find him deep in though. Matsuda and I ordered normal food and we were mostly engaged in small talk. L added opinions here and there, but didn't talk much. I could tell he was observing the others in the restaurant and how carefree they all seemed. I remembered the ending of the third movie and suddenly I felt a pang of sadness for the unfairness of the world. No one deserved to live a life where they didn't value themselves.

"Are you alright Mayra?" Matsuda asked, noticing my quietness. I nodded and gave him a small smile. We ate as slowly as we could but we finished with much of the night to go. We shared the bill and then left.

The sky was completely dark now. It was probably not safe to be out at this time.

"Ryuzaki, lets check into a hotel. We can wait out the night there", I suggested. He nodded, "I know one around here. Its not very expensive so we won't be suspected of anything there."

I tried to stay inconspicuous as we walked. There were people peering out of buildings and alleys as night life sprung to existence. The bright neon lights of bars, combined with the shine of the moon.

We were caught completely by surprise when a young man dressed in a hooded coat pointed at L and yelled, "You!"

Matsuda immediately took out his gun, pointing it. I stepped out of the way, closer to L, "Ryuzaki, who is he?"

"I believe we have another two additions to our little travel group. Mello, Roger, show yourselves. Matsuda, keep your gun up", he pointed at the man who stepped out from the shadows following the first one.

"I know you are probably suspicious of us right now but please, let us explain. We came here to find you", the older man said.

"Then follow us. I'll check you into the hotel along with us.", L continued walking ahead. I followed and Matsuda kept his gun pointed at the two as he walked.

I kept my astonishment at bay. Mello! And Roger! But why were they here? We suspected Roger of giving important information to the members of 13EX, maybe he was tortured into revealing it? Was he on our side? Why was Mello with him?

I was relieved when we arrived. The night air had been cold and my skirt hadn't done much for warmth. L told Matsuda to check us in and he hurried to comply. We booked two rooms with two beds in each, right across from each other. Our rooms were on the lowest floor so escape was easy in case anything happened.

We all entered one of the rooms and L motioned for us to sit at the two beds. Mello looked exactly as the anime had described. Girlish with short brown hair that had hints of red in it. He kept giving me curious looks and when I caught him, I smirked back.

"Well, we certainly have a dilemma here. Care to explain, Roger?" L sat onto the bed in his normal crouch. Roger seemed to be fidgeting and Mello averted his gaze from mine and Ryuzaki's.

"I had to tell them. It was my responsibility Ryuzaki. They had a few of the kids tied up with them when they came into my office. Right when I had been lecturing Mello. It was my duty as the one running Wammy's House. I couldn't just let them be taken. These kids would be valuable assets for them to use. Their leader came up and put a knife at Mello's neck. When I didn't respond quick enough he dug it in and I though he was dead. Mello's an insufferable brat but I was his caretaker and I had to make sure he came out safe." At this Mello snarled quietly but didn't interrupt.

"I gave them all the information I knew. Luckily they were bent on finding you and left as soon as they'd gotten all they could from me. We took Mello to a hospital. I told my secretary to take the other kids into hiding until further notice. I tried to reach you as soon as possible and so I came here. Mello wouldn't leave me alone when he discovered there was a chance I would meet 13EX. He says he wants revenge. There were only nine of them."

Ryuzaki was pondering this, thumb in mouth. "I believe you then. Watari and his associates are taking care of the gang right now. We are going to go back to headquarters tomorrow after making sure everything is all right. For now, we'll stay in this hotel. I have work to do and so I will not be needing a bed. Goodnight everyone."

Roger went to his own room and Matsuda slipped under the covers of his bed, but Mello stayed. He was giving me strange looks. I remembered his tough guy attitude in the anime and hoped I hadn't done anything to attract attention.

"You're M aren't you?" He asked me.

"No I'm not but Ryuzaki has informed me that if I get on his good side I will be", I replied, swinging my legs back and forth across the side of the bed. Mello didn't seem satisfied with my answer.

"If you're not M then who are you? I've never seen you before", he tilted his head to one side.

"I'm just a hacker. I'm here because I want to catch Kira." I replied carelessly.

"Mello, this is Mayra Amara. She is working with me on the Kira case." Ryuzaki said absentmindedly, eyes still glued to laptop.

"Wait, you're May! Matt told me about you once. He chatted online with you about something once. I think he worked with you. His codename was "technogoggles612". Do you know him?" Mello seemed suddenly interested. He pulled out a bar of chocolate and snapped it of in his mouth.

"Yeah I remember. We were both hacking the same system at the same time and I spend a few minutes chatting with him", I realized, surprised, that I had actually known Matt before all of this.

"Please go to sleep, both of you. I wish to work in peace", Ryuzaki finally said. I looked awkwardly at my bed, and then at my skirt. Luckily, Mello came to my rescue.

"Do you mind sleeping in a loose shirt, May? Roger told me to pack a lot, and I've got one to lend you", Mello offered, snapping another piece of chocolate of the bar.

"thank you very much Mello, I'd like that", in a sudden moment, I felt all the newcome excitement in my life and felt like purring with satisfaction. I smiled at him. This time it reached my eyes.

I finished changing in the bathroom, and slipped under the covers, my happy feeling still with me. I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Unfortunately it didn't last long, I woke up seeing darkness all around me and long, cold fingers wrapped around my mouth.

I'll have the next chapter up sometime before next monday i think.