Disclaimer: I, Asiera Heartnet, solemnly swear that I do not own Death Note, in any way, shape, or form.

Important, Please Read!

AN: Warning! This chapter contains a heavy amount of violence near the end and a great quantity of dark qualities. Underage readers are advised to heed the rating of M for Mature!

Now that that's taken care of, I'd like to give special thanks to all my reviewers. I love all my readers, but those that review hold unequivocal value in my eyes, for they are what keep me writing this wonderful story.

Please enjoy this 21 page chapter.

DEatHNOtE:Erased

Chapter X

Exhumed

Gevanni winced as he nearly tripped over a hazardously placed piece of Near's model train set's complex track system. The damage he would have sustained from such a fall would be minimal—even to his pride—however, the carnage that his foot would wreak on the delicate plastic model would be much more severe, and the last thing he wanted to deal with this early in the morning was Near's anger over such destruction to his toys. The only time the members of the SPK had seen the boy lose his calm demeanor and get really upset was when, in an attempt to set up the computer equipment, they had shoved Near's ever growing pile of toys out of the way with their feet. It was not an experience that any of them would like to repeat.

Still somewhat groggy from the all-nighter he'd pulled, Gevanni weaved his way through the seemingly chaotic layout of Near's childlike playthings, the dim lighting of the room making it that much more difficult. Once he had reached the center of the mass of toys, he prepared to clear his dry throat to get the young boy's attention, but the pale hand that was quickly outstretched for the document he was carrying proved that such a gesture was not necessary.

"It wasn't easy," began Gevanni, passing Near the print out, "but I was able to pin down the whereabouts of our recent hacker to a five block radius."

"And Lidner?" asked the white-haired boy as his quick eyes darted over the paper's contents.

"No luck, Sir," admitted the young SPK member. "We tried multiple times to contact her, but she is either unable, or refusing to answer her phone."

"Interesting..." Near murmured. He sighed, obviously at least a little disappointed. "At any rate, we need to figure out who this yet unknown player in our game is. Tell Commander Rester to start preparing a team to sweep the area, and please have a list prepared of all the buildings—shops, houses, businesses, abandoned buildings warehouses, and anything else of interest—and bring them to me as well as a detailed map of the area."

"Yes, Sir," nodded Gevanni, trying to keep all the disappointment that he would be forced to endure more grueling hours of work without reprieve out of his voice.

As the young man turned to leave, Near spoke again. "Oh, and Gevanni, Please get Ratt to work on locating Lidner. I want her to run point on this operation."

"Right," affirmed Gevanni, as he began picking his way over the extensive maze of toys. It was probably his imagination, but he was beginning to think that Near put out this many toys in such precarious places for the specific purpose of tripping up his subordinates.

...DEatHNOtE...

Lady was laying on her back on a frayed dusty couch, staring at the ancient ceiling fan above her as it made it's slow, extremely squeaky, endless rotations. After Takimura's highly successful kidnapping, her and Matt had holed up in the back of some dusty specialty shop, demonstrating that Mello's vast connections extended even across oceans. As she and L had expected, the blond's plans did not stop at the Director's abduction. Proof of that was that she and Matt were still stationed in Japan, even after they had handed off the Director to one of Mello's agents.

One might have thought that she would have immediately relayed this update to the messy black-haired sleuth, but instead, she had refrained from calling him at all. As Lady figured it, the Director's fate already weighed heavily on L, and there was no sense adding to that strain. She knew very well that L was willing to do whatever it took to defeat Kira, and she was aware that L knew that short of revealing to Mello that he was still alive—an impossible outcome at this point—there was nothing L could do to alter his second successor's brash plans. The next step in Mello's scheme was bound to be even more immoral and the last thing L needed was more endangered lives on his conscious.

That being said, her decision was made much more simple by the fact that, with the "help" of the Shinigami King, she had already seen what Mello's next step would be. She didn't know if L had a soft spot for children and there was really no point in finding out.

Lady had come to this conclusion weeks ago and consequently, had nothing to entertain herself with as she and Matt waited out the long hours that hopefully would soon lead to another call from Mello. The lack of anything interesting to do caused her bored mind to wonder back to another small but undeniably altered piece of history: the special calling card she'd left for Light. That strange act had sprung from a sudden idea brought upon by an odd set of circumstances which took place on the boat ride to America with L several months ago.

...DEatHNOtE...

The salty smell that accompanied the wind sweeping across the open sea slightly lessened the normally overwhelming fumes of the polish Lady was rubbing over the already shining contours of her gun. A weary grown from the floor below caught her attention, causing her hand to still on the metal's smooth flawless surface. Leaning forward from her previously relaxed position atop one of the larger shipping crates, Lady could make out the shape of the detective laying curled up on the pile of blankets she'd collected from the maid's supply room. L had definitely not been lying when he'd said he got sea sick.

"You still doing alright?" questioned Lady as her hands once again began to deftly move the polishing cloth.

Instead of directly answering her question, L muttered, "This is why we rarely ever traveled by boat..."

By "we" he of course meant himself and Watari, but since the night they'd first met, the detective had not mentioned Quillsh Wammy once to her.

Lady sighed and, in a very cat-like manner, jumped down from the wooden crate, landing a few feet from the very pale detective.

L wanted something.

It was easy for him to hide his discomforts as he did throughout most of his life. The only times he let them show was when he desired that someone do something about them. Her guess was that he had also acted this way around Watari often and, though it was strange, she had become a sort of a replacement caretaker. Seeing as how she had failed to save L's previous guardian, it was somewhat of a fair trade.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked, deciding that it was better to get whatever mini-task L had for her out of the way sooner rather than later. Besides, she really had nothing better to do, and the current cover of darkness would definitely assist in her efforts, though she did hope that this would not be another trip to the ship's kitchens. The last five times he'd desired something it was sweets.

The detective languidly sat up so that he could more easily look at her, drawing his knees up as he become upright. Once this action had been completed, L pointed to his lips. "The combination of my stomach sickness and the dry sea air have succeeded in making them very chapped."

Lady just blinked her long eyelashes in confusion. "...and?"

"Well naturally I was inquiring as to if you possessed any chap-stick."

Lady almost laughed, she could have thought of at least ten easier ways L could have asked, but of course, the detective would remain as cryptic as ever. "I do, but I don't think you'll want it."

L cocked his head to the side. "Lady assumes that I will not want to use it if she has already contaminated it?"

"'Contaminated' is not the word I would have chosen..." muttered Lady, crossing her arms.

L smiled slightly at her annoyance. "I assure you that though I would rather have the unused product, anything you have would be appreciated."

She smirked at his choice of the word "anything." If he hadn't referred to her lips as if they were a mild biohazard, she probably would have gone to the ship's small store to pick some up, but such a venture would have involved the loss of money and all the effort that went into applying her flesh mask properly. So instead, the still leather clad woman began rummaging through one of her rather large bags. After she found the small sought after item, she tossed it in the detective's lap.

"You said you'd use anything; it's moisturizing lipstick," she sang happily as L scrutinized the container of lipstick held between his thumb and forefinger. "And for the record, it's never been used, so no need to worry about 'contamination'."

Lady couldn't help but grin. The whole thing was so random, that it was absolutely perfect. Well, L had said he wanted to pressure Kira, and what better way was there to do it than making him doubt that his archival was infact truly dead? Lady certainly couldn't think of any.

...DEatHNOtE...

For the first time in Light Yagami's life, the expression on his handsome features perfectly mirrored Matsuda's, as the two men stared in shock at all the glowing monitors around them, each screen lit up with an identical finely choreographed "L". To one of them, the surrounding scenery offered a sense of deep comfort, albeit laced with confusion. To the other, the surrounding four walls and their adornments looked like something out of one of his nightmares.

The silence induced by the strong emotions flooding through both the men was suddenly interrupted by the sound of several rapidly approaching footsteps followed by the lab door bursting open, revealing the bewildered faces of the rest of the Task Force led by Mr. Yagami.

"What's going on?" questioned Light's father hurriedly. "All the systems and lights just came back on. Did you two find something?"

Light remained unresponsive, his brown almost red-tinged eyes locked with the nearest shining monitor.

Matsuda assumed that Light was in some sort of shock after what had just happened. He still believed that the younger Yagami was torn up about losing the detective and that this sudden mass thrust of his image onto Light's senses was hard on the young man. So to the surprise of the other members of the Task Force, it was Matsuda who briefed them over what had just happened.

"And after we entered the sequence into that computer," explained Matsuda, nearing the end of his tale and pointing at the machine he'd just mentioned, "everything just came back to life. There was also this voice that said, 'welcome back, Master L.' Kinda creepy, huh?"

Before Ide could point out that "creepy" was probably not the best word choice for the situation, he was cut off by Light whose gaze was still locked on the shape of the giant L they had all grown so familiar with. The way his voice almost shook when he spoke caused everyone in the room to instantly become on edge.

"The DNA...the DNA, it was his...it was L's DNA code we put into the computer."

Aizawa shook his head. "It couldn't be, Light," he said kindly. He assumed, like Matsuda, that L's death had affected Light greatly. They were both right of course, but they were completely mistaken about the way in which it had done so. "The analysis from the forensics lab back at the police station states that the decay of the genetic code was so minor that the sample could at most be a few months old."

Light jerked his head away from the screen and focused his suddenly emotional eyes on the man who had just spoken. "A few months? A few months! L's been dead for five years, Aizawa!"

Such an outburst from the usually ice cool Light Yagami was so unexpected that most the people present in the room jumped.

"I-I know," shuddered Aizawa. "That's why it can't be him. Whoever the DNA sample came from was still alive two months ago."

"Yeah," ventured Matsuda, "and besides, why would L wear pink lipstick?"

IDIOTS! screamed Light in his head, barely refraining from actually saying it. "Why else would the systems open? Who else's DNA could possibly do that?"

"Son, calm down," said Mr. Yagami worriedly, closing the distance between him and his obviously distressed child. Light shook off the comforting hand that was placed on his shoulder.

"Maybe someone hacked into the system and changed the acceptance code," offered Mogi. "Perhaps the same person who left that calling card."

Somehow Light refrained from shouting again. "That's a wonderful suggestion, Mogi," Light challenged, his voice almost dripping with sarcasm, "except we've been trying to break these damn codes for years—I've been trying to break them for years—and got absolutely nowhere. No to mention we've had the building under surveillance. No one's been here but us!" His ability to keep his voice at a stable volume wavered at the end.

"Light," said Soichiro, in what he hoped was a soothing enough tone to get his son to pull himself together, "isn't it still possible that someone could have manged it?"

Light wished he could believe his father's words, but this all seemed too perfect, too real. He had to know for sure. "I-I want his grave exhumed."

"What?" yelled everyone in unison, their astonishment clear by the looks on their faces.

"I said I want L's grave exhumed!"

...DEatHNOtE...

Lady turned on the special blue phone which L had hopefully hack-proofed (though the more appropriate term was Matt-proofed), long enough to see that she had missed a total of seven calls, all of them originating from the number a certain detective-in-hiding was using for the moment. Deftly she turned that phone off, dropping it into her duffel bag and removed a second, sleeker, silver phone, turning it on. A similar situation was observed here, but this time the amount of missed calls was double and the origin was completely different.

Sighing Lady turned that one off too and tossed it in with the first before switching on a third black one. Thankfully, the screen on this one revealed that she had no missed calls. At least he has some sense, she thought in a somewhat annoyed manner, before turning that one off as well and placing it in with the others.

"You sure you got enough phones there?" asked Matt laughing.

She didn't even glance up at the red-head as she answered. "Quite. But when you're in a career such as mine, it's a necessary precaution. My contacts and associates must have no knowledge of eachother and once I finish a job, should be unable to contact me again."

Matt smirked at her brusque matter of fact manner. She really was a professional, but of what he wasn't entirely sure. The safest bet was mercenary. For a second he found himself wondering how a pretty girl like herself had gotten mixed up in such things, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

Something else was bothering him about her latest statement though. "It's a wonder you still have that one then," observed Matt, gesturing to the fourth phone she'd produced out of her supply bag. It was the same red one he'd uploaded the security codes for the highly guarded office building and downloaded the number from five years ago. It was now the phone he and Mello were using to keep in contact with their masked agent.

If she's such an experienced professional who's supposed to disappear right after a job's completion, why did she leave that way for me to contact her open? Especially considering how I had access to that device for such a long time...

"A wonder indeed," she said, her green eyes almost flashing as she placed it in one of her hip pockets after switching it on.

Matt nodded, deciding not to press her further—it would most likely get him nowhere—and let her return to her thoughts.

Just as before, she was on radio silence with L and would continue to be until this next kidnapping was over with. She had to admit that it was worrisome that someone like L had called her seven times, but she chalked it up to him being nervous about her absence of contact for so long and perhaps an apprehension that she'd been found out. L was one of the most capable people she'd met and he definitely was the smartest. He had been able to persevere though some of the toughest situations imaginable. He could handle himself for one more night without her help, she was sure of it.

As to the silver phone belonging to her youngest employer yet, there was no need to distract herself with anything else until her current mission was completed; even if it meant having an earful later.

Lady looked down at her watch and then glanced up and down the dark empty sidewalk that lined one of Japan's surface streets near Kokugakuin University. "She's late."

Matt just leaned back in the tattered cloth seat of second van they'd driven since they'd got to Japan. "I wouldn't worry about it. She's in college, student's schedules are never really dependable. She probably has some test she's cramming for at the library or maybe she's out with some friends. Regardless, this is the path she always takes on the way home, so we'll get her."

"I hope you're right about that. Mello won't be happy if you're wrong. Not to mention that I'm sick of commercial vans."

Matt laughed, "I couldn't agree more."

It had been about twelve hours since they'd gotten the call from Mello stating that, as Lady and L had guessed, the Director was dead. Apparently he had hung himself, though she entertained no illusions as to who had killed him; it was Kira, and she was almost sure that Mello shared in this belief with her.

After their short briefing, Mello had ordered Matt to start "phase two" which, as the techy had explained, was to kidnap Sayu Yagami. Lady couldn't have been more right to hide this information from L.

...DEatHNOtE...

This is not good, thought L worriedly as he looked out the window down onto the city street. From his and Lady's apartment near the top of the building, he could just see the three black SUVs parked outside of a storage warehouse not two blocks from his current location.

L had known the instant that Gevanni had discovered him in the SPK's system two days ago and, though he had tried to keep Near's team from getting any information on him, he had had a sickening feeling that things were about to go very wrong. The cars, belonging to the SPK S.W.A.T. team that L had just witnessed were proof that he, as always, was right.

For the past two days L had been trying to get in contact with Lady, but the only thing he had been able to reach was her automated voice mailbox which consisted of an electronically altered voice that said only, "leave a message," which of course had been no help at all.

It was impossible for L to leave a message being in the predicament he was. If Lady had been discovered—which he prayed was not the case—leaving any sort of transmission could lead to Mello discovering that he was not indeed dead, as there was no way the blond would fail to recognize his voice. Even after L had set up a rudimentary voice scrambler, he could do no more than tell Lady to call him immediately and that it was of the utmost importance; it was impossible to leave any concrete information for similar reasons. Besides, he was unsure if Lady was even able to receive his messages.

This situation was infinitely problematic. L was dead to the world and therefore had no contacts other than Lady to help him. He wasn't used to doing the "field work" portion of the investigation, and he certainly hadn't been intending to start now, however, it didn't look like he was being offered a choice in the matter.

Currently, all the equipment and the room had been wiped clean of any trace that he and Lady had been here or of what they had been doing. All the important information had been saved on a jump drive that was stashed in his jean pocket. But this was just the start of what he'd need to do. He needed to move all the equipment into Lady's car and erase all the footage from the apartment's many security cameras. Unfortunately, L could not do any of that safely. Now that SPK S.W.A.T. teams were sweeping the region it, was unrealistic to think that transporting that kind of equipment would not instantly get him immediately noticed.

Yet he couldn't stay here. This apartment building was no doubt on the list for being searched, and once they figured out that the name Lady had used to rent this room was an alias, it would move to the top of their list of priorities.

L had to assume that he could not rely on Lady to get him out of this mess. If he did, he'd most likely be found. L took a deep breath, steeling his resolve. He was going to have to sneak down to the security room, disable the security cameras, get into Lady's car, and get as far away from this area of town as possible, all without being caught.

"Watari always answered his phone," L mumbled heatedly as he pocketed the keys to Lady's prised mustang and headed towards the door.

...DEatHNOtE...

"I see her," said Lady in a stern quiet voice that was much closer to Matt's ear than he had originally thought, her proximity and the suddenness of her words causing him to jump slightly.

Looking around in the dimly lit van, Matt located Lady's hand, his blue-eyes following the path made by her outstretched finger. Sure enough, walking down the sidewalk was Sayu Yagami, tote bag over her shoulder brimming with thick heavy books. It looked like he had been right about the test cramming.

"I'm going in," she said spartanly.

"Yeah," agreed Matt, starting the van's engine. "In and ou...oh shit."

From out of the shadows of a nearby building emerged the baggily dressed forms of three grown men, all of them well muscled.

"Dammit," swore Matt in annoyance as the three burly guys walked towards Sayu, blocking her path with their combined bulk..

"We can't let her get hurt," said Lady in a monotone. "If we lose her, we lose our leverage over Mr. Yagami." She reached for the door handle.

Matt grabbed her other arm. "There can't be any witnesses."

"There won't be," returned Lady coldly enough for Matt to understand what she meant.

He still didn't let go. "If you fire your weapon, it'll attract way too much attention. Those magnums pack serious fire power.

Lady pulled her arm free. "Don't you think I know that?" She questioned in a miffed tone. "No one will hear a thing. Just be ready to drive when I get back with the girl."

Matt nodded somewhat apprehensively, lowering his hand back to the gear shift.

...DEatHNOtE...

Sayu froze when she saw the three guys appear. She was scared, but she remembered all the serious talks her father had given her and her brother when they were young teens, before Light had grown so distant. Getting scared was exactly what they wanted her to do. She took a deep breath and kept walking. She looked straight ahead of her, keeping her head up, and refraining from meeting any of the men's eyes, her own scanning the street for any sign of possible help or an escape route.

That's when she saw the tall blond dressed in black exiting the van parked about fifty yards up the street.

The small sparkle of hope that sprang up inside of Sayu was quickly dampened as the three guys walked purposely towards her, completely barring her path and her vision of the woman.

"Hey, pretty lady," spoke the middle one, his hot onion tinged breath scorching her face. "What are you doing out here at this time of night? You know, it's dangerous to walk the streets all alone in the dark."

The other two guffawed heartily at the comment, fully understanding the irony behind it.

"I appreciate the warning," said Sayu, trying but failing to keep her voice from trembling. "But I think I'll be fine, thanks." She tried to push past them but one of them grabbed her arm.

"Why don't you stay with us, we'll protect you from all those scary thugs roaming around here," he crooned, seemingly oblivious to her struggles and protests.

"At least let us carry your books," mock begged the third, roughly yanking the bag from her arm.

Sayu was trying to remain calm but it was an extremely hard task to accomplish, what with all the horror stories of girls getting mugged, raped, murdered or all three that she knew all too well were a sick reality. As she felt more of the thugs' hands on her, she screamed and in a last ditch effort, slammed her heel down on the closest one's foot.

She had intended to utilize a self defense move her father had taught her where the attacked woman drives the full force of her heel down on the center of her attacker's foot, the full pressure of the blow being focused on the tiny point of the high heel being enough to shatter several bones in the assaulter's foot. However, things didn't turn out that way. Her aim was off and all she ended up doing was breaking the heel of her shoe off on the brute's steel toed boot.

The man grunted lightly in pain and then laughed shoving her with the full force of his hands backwards. Already off balance by the loss of a heel, Sayu tumbled to the ground, hitting her head hard on the pavement. The throbbing pain of the impact should have been tremendous, but it felt dull, almost distant. Her vision was blurred around the edges and by the trickle of blood that was dripping down her face as stars flashed before her eyes.

Sayu tried desperately to stay conscious, pushing herself up with shaking hands. She knew that if she allowed herself to slip into this forced sleep that she was doomed. But as she looked up into the laughing grinning faces of her attackers, she feared that she already was.

...DEatHNOtE...

The sick men were too absorbed in the thrill of their actions on the defenseless girl to hear the click of Lady's fast approaching footsteps. Sayu was on the ground by the time Lady had closed the distance between herself and the man that had shoved Sayu there.

"Hey ass-hole," she spat in a venomous voice that quite properly reminded the man of death. He tried to turn his head to see where the icy words had been uttered from, but it was suddenly gripped from behind by two strong gloved hands. Then, in an instant and with a wet cracking sound, his head was turned permanently around for him.

He was dead before he got to see who it was who was killing him.

"Leave the girl alone," she said smirking, her words punctuated by the sound of the first thug falling dead to the ground, his eyes looking blankly up to the starry heavens, his chest and still heart against the ground.

The two other men looked in horror from the chilling corpse of their companion to the masked woman before them.

A few beats passed, then the man on the left drew a six inch knife that shimmered in the light provided by the flickering street light. "You Bitch!" he yelled, charging forwards.

With cat-like reflexes Lady brought up her left magnum, extending the barrel sideways to block the heavy blow. The two weapons collided with crash, Lady's defensive move barely managing to stop the blade before it reached her fingers which gripped tightly to the gun's handle.

The man never got the chance to swing a second time.

Like lightning, Lady unholstered her other gun, pressing a dime-sized button on the weapon's side just below the safety as she brought it into play. Her action caused a razor sharp five inch blade one inch in width, to extend from the gun's grip. Then she angled her hand just left of being straight with her wrist and thrust her whole arm upwards, commanding the blade to rip a jagged diagonal gash of red in the man's throat and the underside of his now dislocated jaw.

With a sick gurgling sound, the man fell to the ground, his panicked heart pumping blood out of his severed carotid artery, shooting the red gore over four feet vertically into the air, spraying the street and three people still living around him with the last terror filled seconds of his life. He spasmed twice, then lay still, his clawing hands falling before they reached his torn throat.

Lady holstered her left, currently unbladed magnum revolver and flicked some of the extensive amount of blood off the dagger on her right fire arm. Slowly she turned to face the final criminal who was wiping at some of the blood now staining his face, his hands shaking, his eyes wide with disbelief.

The last of the three men alive had never once been called extremely intelligent in the entire thirty-two years of his life, but he knew enough to understand that the approaching blood splattered she-devil had killed his two friends and was going to kill him if he didn't do something now. He made the wisest decision anyone in his position could have made at that point, he began to retreat.

The horrified sputtering man began to back away from the masked woman bearing death by a bladed gun. His attempt at escape was short lived however, he only made it a few meters before he tripped over one of the books that had been spilled from Sayu's discarded book bag. The exact culprit a thick, hard-backed book titled Justice and Morality who's cover was illustrated with a now red stained set of golden scales. Sayu had found it at the library and had been intending to show it to her older brother. Now it served as an ironic deliverer of fate.

The final thug tumbled and fell, sprawled on his back on the blood soaked pavement. Sniveling and begging for mercy, he scrambled backwards on his hands frantically trying to escape his quite inevitable death.

He didn't get far.

In a flash Lady closed the distance between them, pinning him by means of a blood flecked leather boot to the ground. Then she knelt down on one knee, still keeping her right leg perfectly in place, her heel digging into the soft flesh of his gut, causing him to wriggle like an impaled worm.

"P-p-please!" he sputtered, begging for his miserable life. "I-I'm s-s-so s-sorry. I-I w-won't d-d-do i-it again!"

"Look at me," ordered Lady in a cold voice.

"I-I p-p-promise," begged the man, looking anywhere but at the masked woman.

"I said, Look At Me!" Lady yelled, her voice causing the man to jump.

Trembling and with eyes filled with tears, the man focused his gaze on the ferocious being above him.

In a slow deliberate motion, Lady removed her mask.

Whatever it was that the man saw in that face caused his eyes to widen and his cries for mercy to intensify. They had little to no effect on the woman kneeling over him, his pleas bouncing off her like rain on a steel roof.

Lady's green eyes almost glowed like a cat's as they bored into his own. The hysterical man felt as if those eyes were ripping through his soul, seeing straight down to his deepest darkest secrets. He felt completely exposed, as if there was nowhere to hide.

Lady smirked as she looked away. "There is no remorse in you, only fear and hatred. You are not sorry."

"N-n-no, I-I am."

Lady grabbed the man's head in her gloved hands and positioned it above the concrete curb between the sidewalk and the grassy park that had been on their left.

The crying man struggled but to no avail as she lifted his head up. "Please, please! I can change! I can change!"

"No, you can't, because today I judge you guilty," she hissed, and with her last word, slammed the man's head down on the concrete slab, shattering his scull with the force of her blow.

The man's fingers which had just found the hilt of his pocket knife in his left pocket become limp.

Sayu stared hazily at the tall blond kneeled over one of the men who had attacked her. Everything had happened so quickly...she wasn't at all sure what had transpired. All she knew was one moment she was staring up at the lust filled faces of the three thugs and the next... She only remembered flashes of the long blond haired woman fighting off the thee men. In Sayu's mind, Lady had saved her life, and her mind wasn't functioning well enough to connect the blood soaked ground with an unnecessarily violent rescue.

After replacing her crimson specked mask on her face, Lady made her way over to the young girl who had just managed to push herself into a somewhat upright position, supported by her shaking arms. The sight of that poor girl whom she was about to put through so much caused a moderate tinge of remorse to jolt through her chest. This girl had done nothing to deserve what had just happened or what was about to, yet she had to bear the suffering anyway. Was there really anything such as justice in this world?

Lady moved over to Sayu and knelt before her. "Are you alright?" she asked in a kind voice that she rarely got to use these days.

"I hit my head pretty bad," she muttered lifting her delicate fingers to gently touch the source of the blood tricking down her pale features. "I'm really dizzy, and my ankle's twisted," she continued pointing the the foot that no longer possessed a heeled shoe, "but other than that, I think I'm okay."

Lady was surprised by such an informative and potentially helpful answer. Mr. Yagami had trained his children well, at least one of them at any rate.

"Did you black out at all?" asked Lady.

Sayu began to shake her head but then stopped. "No, I don't think so. Everything's kinda hazy, but I'm pretty sure I stayed conscious."

"That's good. You're going to be fine. Let's get you to a hospital, miss..."

"Yagami," finished Sayu. "Sayu Yagami. My dad's a police chief. I need to call him."

"Okay," agreed Lady soothingly, we'll call him as soon as we get going." Lady gently helped the injured girl to her feet.

"S-shouldn't we call an ambulance?" asked Sayu uncertainly, as she gingerly got to her feet.

"No, that would take too long," explained Lady smiling. "If we drive there in my car we don't have to wait for the paramedics, we can go straight there."

"Alright," affirmed Sayu, not really in any position to argue. Besides, this woman just saved my life, why would she go to all that trouble if she wanted to hurt me?

Way too trusting, thought Lady somewhat sadly. At least, after this, she won't be making that mistake again...

By the time Lady had guided Sayu to the car and helped her in the back seat, the girl had regained most if not all of her balance. Lady got in the back with her and instructed Matt to drive to the nearest hospital."

The red-head gave her a funny look which she ignored. Quickly she pulled out a handkerchief enclosed in a plastic bag from the side door pocket and removed the vial of heavy sedative, dousing the item with it. She was reminded momentarily of what Mello's men had tired to do to her in the club. It was doubtful that Sayu would be so lucky.

"I'd like to call my father now," stated Sayu.

Lady nodded. "Sure thing Yagami-san. While I do that, why don't you use this to stop the bleeding?" inquired Lady holding up the drugged item.

"Okay," said Sayu, reaching for the proffered cloth. "His number is 95-"

In a fast fluid motion Lady pressed the cloth to the girl's face, holding it place.

Sayu Yagami was out before she even had time to get scared.

"Call Mello," said Lady, as she gently laid Sayu down in the back seat and re-bagged the drugged cloth, her hard matter of fact tone back in place. "Tell him we have the subject."

"You still want me to go to the hospital?" joked the red-head. "I thought that all that blood was their's, but if you're hurt, we might have time to get a few stitches."

Not really in the mood for Matt's happy-go-lucky nature, Lady glared. "What do you think?" she deadpanned as she bound and gagged the unconscious girl.

"Sorry, guess that wasn't the time."

"Just know that if she's suffering from cranial hemorrhaging right now and dies because of it, it'll be your fault for holding me back."

Matt really didn't know how to respond to that one.

"Drive, and not to a hospital," said Lady, her tone ever so much lighter than usual.

Matt smirked, getting that that was supposed to be a joke and relieved that she had diffused the tension so quickly. "Right," he said putting the van in gear.

...DEatHNOtE...

Light, Mr. Yagami, and Matsuda stood over L's now open grave. The nearly blank headstone who's only adornments were the name, "Ryuzaki" and the date of his death, "November 5 2004" lay several feet away next to the pile of damp earth that had once been covering the coffin.

Five years ago on the day of L's funeral Light, had found the lack of any sentimental phrase, a last name, or even a birth date to be highly appropriate. To be buried under an alias only remembered by the day that he died—it was a final insult to the "great" detective's memory and had sent Light into hysterics after he was alone with the cold body of L laying beneath his feet.

Light had screamed his victory to the heavens and whatever manner of deity resided among them and left long animalistic claw marks on the grave's covering layer of earth as he imagined worms and maggots further disgracing his lithe form. The thought that all this had been done in vain, that it was another man's corpse that he had claimed everlasting victory over, that L could still be alive, slouched in the shadows somewhere, made Kira feel sick to his very core.

Light felt an unimaginable apprehension as the coffin was removed from what should have been an eternal tomb, dragging memories and feelings that should have been equally sealed to the surface with it—memories and emotions that Light had not felt since he'd lost all memories of the Death Note and even more powerful ones from the day he had murdered Ryuzaki.

Light clenched and unclenched his fists, his nails digging mercilessly into his flesh with each contraction of his fingers, as the two grave yard workers pried the sarcophagus open.

Once the top was removed and the occupant reviled, Kira screamed in agony, writhing like dying asp, and Light Yagami fell to his knees before the open casket, the sound of the long absent Shinigami's laughter echoing in his ears. The man inside was not L, not even close; even in its rotten maggot ridden condition he could tell that. Clutched under the corps' crossed hands was a hand written note, and even though the paper was soaked and stained with the body's decomposing juices, the message was still readable.

"I am Justice, and Justice Will Never Die!"

-Asiera