Shadow: Welcome back! –sparkle sparkle sparkle-
Chouko: O.o What up with the glitter?
Haruko: Apparently…she finally finished that violin drawing thing…
Matt: Okay…and why are you here?
Haruko: I'm special.
Heartless: -sweatdrops- Now that I think about it, our author is a real idiot.
Haruko: -sigh- I knew that from the beginning she made the first chapter of me. But…she's our idiot…
"Are you okay Rhythm?" Matt asked after L went back to Japan. It was almost night time and the two of us were hiding from Mello, who just found out that his precious chocolate landed in a plant. Well, I was, but I dragged Matt with me.
"Hm? I'm fine. Why?"
"I don't know. But you just seem a bit off… is it because of that Kira's head thing?"
"No! I told you guys I'm over that!" I argued. He held his hands up in defense. I sighed. "I don't know… I didn't really want L to leave…"
"Why?"
"Because…something…" I lowered my head. Matt nodded, knowing I didn't want to talk about it. He glanced at the DS in his hands hesitantly. He sighed.
"Here…" he mumbled and push his game into my hands. I blinked. "Try to get your mind off of what's bugging you…" I stared at him. He groaned and turned away. "Just play already! I don't want you to be sad…"
"…thank you…" I mumbled and continued Matt's game to defeat one of Pokemon's gym leaders.
"Wai-wait! Change the pokemon! Shuppet's going to die!" Matt yelped as he tried getting back his DS. Currently, I was battling a trainer who had a Weavile
"He's not going to die! He only lost one fifth of his health!" I yelled as I dodged his pleas.
"Shuppet's weak against dark pokemon! Change it!" he hissed.
"ABOUT TIME I FOUND YOU!" someone screamed. We both turned around to see Mello.
"Uh oh…" I mumbled. "Look, you don't have to kill me. You were the one who made fun of me, so I had to throw the chocolate."
"And make it land on a plant?!"
"How was I supposed to know?" I asked. Then I heard a cry from the game. I sweatdropped. "Oops…Shuppet died…."
"No!!!!" Matt cried.
"Will you stop ignoring me?!" Mello hissed.
"Huh? You said something?" I asked Mello as Matt now revived Shuppet. He switched Shuppet with Lucario and cackled.
"Weavile's going to dieee…Weavile's going to dieee…." He chanted as he was pressing buttons. I sweatdropped and turned to Mello.
"Look. Sorry about the chocolate…" I mumbled and took out some Yan-Yan from my pocket. "Want some? I got the strawberry and chocolate one."
Mello crossed his arms. But then his ears perked when I held out a stick with the chocolate cream already there. He glared at it before taking it. "…thanks…" he mumbled and bit the stick in half.
I nodded and turned to Matt. "Hey Matt. Do you want one?" he nodded his head.
"Both please…" he mumbled.
"Wait…how do I do that?" I wondered. He sighed, paused his game, and took the stick.
"You just stick it on both things. Haven't you ever tried that?" he said as he took out the stick and put it in my mouth. "Like that." He said and did the same thing for himself.
"It messes up the creams…" I mumbled after I finished eating. "But it does taste good…"
"You messed up the chocolate one!" Mello yelled as he looked at the cream in disappointment. He punched Matt in the face. "Idiot!"
The red head rubbed his cheek as he was now lying on the floor. I held out a hand. "You okay?" Matt stared at my hand, then at my mouth, where a yan-yan stick was still in between.
He leaned forward and took a bite out at the end of the stick. Mello and I freaked out after he swallowed. "Now I am!" he gave a little smirk.
"Ma-matt!! You…you!!! Anata wa geemu katachi hentai baka!!!!!" I yelled before running away.
"Ah. She made fun of you in Japanese…" Heartless mumbled before trailing after me.
Matt chuckled. "Matt!!! Why did you do that?!" Mello yelled. He looked at his best friend. "…wait…you can't be flirting with her! She's a girl!!"
Matt ignored Mello and couldn't help but grin. "So…She thinks that I'm a game addicted perverted idiot? That sure is a mouthful." He laughed.
I slammed the door shut and jumped to my bed. Gah…why must humans have emotions? Heartless entered by coming through the wall. "Someone's having boy troubles." She laughed. I threw a pillow at her.
"Please shut up." I mumbled. "Besides, I can't like him… I have other things to worry about. L's going to die in four days."
"Thank you Captain Obvious." Heartless said mockingly. "Your point?"
"I know I can't stop his death…" I squeezed my pillow. "But I want to try to uncover Kira's true identity, and make those Task Force people believe that Light is Kira…"
"Ah. You sure got a good heart kid; sometimes I think it's hard to believe that something evil like me is protecting an innocent kid like you."
"You're not that evil Heartless, you're just annoying." I gave a small smile, but soon it disappeared. "I have to leave and avenge L soon…but how…?"
"Don't worry Chouko. I'm somewhat sure your plan will work." Heartless said and patted me on the back. I sweatdropped.
"That 'somewhat' didn't really help…"
"It wasn't supposed to." I gave a small chuckle.
(December 31st, my birthday)
"Happy birthday Rhythm!!!" Linda cheered as she busted my door open. I groaned as I lazily poked my head out of my blanket.
"Linda… it's only 10 o' clock….on a Saturday…let me sleep…." I yawned. She pouted and took away my blanket. "Hey!!!"
"Birthday time. Now!!!!" she hissed. I sat up in fear. Linda was scary when she's angry. She smiled and grabbed my arm. "Let's go!"
I sweatdropped as I was being pulled away from my precious bed.
"I don't wanna celebrate my birthday…." I whined. I was lying on the floor and Linda was trying to drag me to the living room, where the party would be set up.
"Stand up! You're heavy!!" she grumbled as she kept tugging my arm. Kids who were walking by were watching us confusingly and giggling like idiots. Linda sighed as she let go of my arm to rest. "You know… you're lucky that I'm not carrying a pencil right now…"
"Whatever." I mumbled as I stood up. I held out my arms so it'd look like someone was about to put handcuffs on me. "Take me to my hell hole."
Linda grabbed my hand and led me to the living room. People were already there and balloons and other party stuff were set up. "Come on Rhythm! Who on earth would hate their birthday?"
"Apparently, me." I sighed. I looked out the window, seeing snow falling. "The day just keeps getting worse…doesn't it…?"
"Hm? What do you mean?" Mello wondered as he was drinking chocolate milk.
"Mello's not yelling either. Amazing." I sighed and sat on the couch.
"Hey. Cheer up. L might come here once he finally ends the Kira case with that plan of his." Matt said as he put a lollipop in my mouth.
"Do you always have to shove things in my mouth?" I grumbled, but brightened when I realized it was strawberry flavored. "Besides… I don't think L's going to come…"
"Why not if I may ask?" Near sat in his usual position on the couch next to Matt.
"Well…you should know L. He's a detective and there might be more cases for him to solve." I said as I gazed into the kitchen where I could see Roger and some of the kids bake a cake. I'm surprised that Roger's actually accepting their help.
Near looked at me suspiciously. "Not to copy L and all, but…there's a 55 percent chance you're lying."
"Wha-what?"
"The stutter makes it 75."
"Stop trying to be like L Near!" Mello said as he threw his foil at him. Near simply moved away before he got hit.
"Anyway, I'm telling the truth. L really might not come."
"Maybe tomorrow?" Matt suggested.
"Not really…" I said.
'But if the message is quick, Wammy's should be informed about L's death tomorrow or the next day…' I thought.
"How can you say not really?! It's like you're saying L's never coming back!" Mello hissed. I cringed.
"Just when I thought you wouldn't yell…"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" He raised his fist.
"Hey. Hey! Don't hurt the birthday girl!"
"Speaking of which…" a kid that was helping Roger poked her head out from the kitchen. "Rhythm. How old are you turning?"
"Ah…" I trailed off and looked at my fingers. "Wait…so I was born on…"
"You forgot your age?!!" Mello yelled. My face lit up.
"No I didn't!" I turned to the kid with a smile. "I'm 14 now!"
"Okay. Thanks." she went back into the kitchen. "She says she's 14!"
"I cannot believe you forgot your age." Linda mumbled.
"Hey. Even the smart kids can be stupid, can't they?"
"But to something like their age? You're almost as stupid as albino boy over there." Mello pointed to Near.
"Well, if she's as stupid as me, wouldn't that mean she's smarter than you Mello?" Near asked the blond boy.
Mello growled and began his annoying dialogue of him finally going to surpass Near.
"Well, if you are going to beat me like you said you would, why aren't you now?" Near said as he twirled his hair.
"Rhythm! We finally finished your cake!" Roger carefully set down the baked sweet on the table in front of us. I sighed in relief. The whole time, we were listening to Mello's ranting.
"Thank you." I said as I looked at it.
The cake was chocolate flavored with white frosting on top and blue frosting on the side. It was bordered with light blue frosting with the star tip. The frosting decoration on top was unique: Rachel, the kid who decorated the cake, said she made a spiral on the top and when she was at the center, she just made lines down to the edge to give the cake an elegant look. Also, there were a few blue or white chocolate dyed decors shaped like music notes placed around the cake so it could 'fit my name' as Heartless quotes. The words 'Happy 14th Birthday Rhythm' were printed on there with blue icing.
"This is amazing Rachel!" Linda admired the teen chef. "The decorations are so awesome!"
"Thank you. Oh and since I heard Rhythm likes strawberries, I put some of them inside the cake." Rachel winked. I grinned.
"Woohoo! Strawberries!!!!!" I cheered. Everyone giggled.
"Blow out the candles Rhythm." Linda said. I did as I was told as everyone in harmony sang the birthday song. As the candles were out, I smiled. "Let's eat!"
"Man than was tiresome." I sighed as I tried to get the cake stains off of my jacket. Mello thought it would be funny to see Near with cake all over his face and threw his cake at him, only to hit Rachel, who hit accidentally Linda and return, and so began a cake fight.
After the fight ended, Near was the only one who wasn't caked. How? Well, who knows?
"Damn it! The damn icing won't come off my hair!!" Linda grumbled. All the girls were in the restroom, fighting over the sinks so they could get the food off them.
"Near's so lucky he didn't get hit by food. I wonder how he does it." I sighed. I threw away the paper towel and walked toward the door. "It's too crowded in here. I'm going to clean up in my room. See ya Linda."
As I was walking through the hallway, I lifted up my dark blue hair in disgust. "Damn cake. I smell like chocolate now…"
"And what's so bad about chocolate?" Crack.
I turned around to see Mello and Matt, having cake on them as much as me, walking toward me. Mello was chewing on chocolate while Matt was wiping off frosting off his goggles.
"And even when you're covered in food, you're still eating?" I said, amused.
"Chocolate's that much of a drug to me." he shrugged.
"Hmm…drugs huh…? I wonder what cigarettes taste like…" Matt wondered as he put on his goggles once he finished cleaning them.
"Smoking is bad." I said. "They'll give you cancer and then you go dead." Matt and Mello looked at me, then each other, and then back at me. They laughed. "What?"
"You sound like a little kid!" Mello chuckled.
"More like a baby." Matt added and the two continued laughing. I pouted and turned away.
"Screw you. You people are jerks! I'm leaving." I mumbled and went in my room.
After an hour of cleaning off the food off of me and my clothes, I walked outside only to be blind folded. "Hey! What the fuck? Let me go!!" I struggled. Someone sighed.
"I guess we gotta tie her up too huh?" Suddenly, rope was around my wrists and a cloth was covering my mouth.
"Mmfmm!!"
"Mello! You didn't have to cover her mouth!"
"Sorry! I got in the mood to! It's not my fault Matt!!"
'Matt? Mello?'
"Mmfmmfmm?!? Mmmfmmm!!!(What are you doing?!? Stop it!!!)"
"Shut up crossdresser! We're doing something nice for you!" Mello hissed.
'You call kidnapping me is nice?! Let me go!!' I yelled as I was being taken away.
One of the boys gently set me down on something soft and took the cloth off my mouth. I breathed for air. "What the hell?! Where did you idiots take me?!"
"Stop struggling damn it. I'm trying to take off the ropes." Mello grumbled.
"I swear…I bet when we're all older, you'd be in some gang or something. You probably would be stealing chocolate and other things from little children."
"Don't make fun of me." he said as he took the ropes out. "We…got you a present."
"If you did, why did you make it look like a kidnapping?"
"We wanted it to be fun." They said. I sweatdropped.
"Now just shut up and like your gift. Okay?" Mello said as he finally took off the blindfold.
I was blinded by the sudden bright light. When my eyes were finally adjusted, I realized that we were in their room. I sweatdropped. "Why did it take that long to get to a room that's next door?"
"I have no idea. I guess it was your struggling?" Matt suggested. "Anyway, here's you're gift!"
A medium box was shoved into my hands. I opened the lid and saw a stuffed wolf. It had silver fur white a few dark blue tints. It's eyes looked like a little puppy's. A music note charm hung around its neck. The chain was silver and the charm was dark blue.
"Ah! It's so cute!!" I squealed. I hugged it to death. "Thank you for giving me Okami-chan!!"
They both laughed. "You already named it? Man you're such a kid!!" Matt hollered. I blushed and turned away.
"I'm not a kid…" I sulked. Mello smiled and put an arm around me.
"Okay, you're not a kid. You're a... teenager. Okay?" he said. I looked at his face.
"…no offense…but you look creepy when you smile…" I stated.
3…2…1…ding!
"WHAT'S THAT YOU LITTLE BRAT?!?!!?" Mello yelled as he tackled me. I was now lying on the floor on my stomach. Mello was sitting on top of my back while giving me a headlock. "IF I LOOK SCARY WITH A DAMN SMILE, I GUESS THAT MEANS I LOOK PRETTY WHEN I'M ANGRY!!!!"
I stopped struggling to settle for laughing. Matt joined me. Mello stopped trying to kill me for a moment. "WHAT THE HELL IS SO DAMN FUNNY?!?"
"You- you said would look pretty if you were angry!" I laughed. Finally getting it, Mello attempted to kill me again.
"Stupid bratty kid…!! STOP SAYING THAT I'M LIKE A GIRL!!!" he shouted.
"I never said you were!!" I still giggled. I made a choking sound when Mello tightened his grip around my neck.
"BUT YOU FUCKIN IMPLIED IT!! I DON'T GIVE A DAMN IF IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE DUMBASS!!!"
Ah, what a violent birthday, huh?
Shadow: -sighs- That was a lot.
Chouko: -hits Shadow on the head- Yeah…thanks for letting Mello try to kill me…
Shadow: Tch. At least you're still alive. Besides, you're going to leave Wammy's in the next chapter.
Heartless: Already?
Shadow: Yea- Oh yeah! Before I forget, for the reader's of my story that will miss L, I figured out a way to make him be back in the story!
Mello: Are you serious?! How?!
Chouko: …If you're going to make him come back like a zombie thing, I am NOT going to want to see him. Limbs easily falling apart, saying brains all the time. That's going to be annoying.
Shadow: -sweatdrops- It's not going to be like that. You'll find out in the next chapter or two. So I'ma leave it at there. See ya!