Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.

Near was puzzled by the introduction of Misa Amane.

What made her stand out amongst humans?

It couldn't be her fame, otherwise there would have been more of a fuss about her continued absence from the spotlight, explained or no. It couldn't be her beauty. She was pretty, yes, but certainly not the prettiest model he had ever seen. While she was kind to them once she learned they were orphans, she was, quite frankly, annoying to be around.

She was an idiot.

He couldn't see anyone falling in love with her. Much less a god of death.

He'd never had much of an issue understanding others' patterns of thought. He could accurately predict a wide range of people's behaviors. Granted, he mostly applied his ability to criminals. Criminals motives were normally straight forward. Revenge, greed, lust, hate, thrill, admiration for another criminal, that became obvious when one came face to face with them.

Miss Amane was a copycat, her motive was her admiration for Kira.

But that didn't cover the inconsistencies in her behavior. It didn't make sense for her to admire him so but act in a way she knew he'd dislike.

Granted, he'd never looked at a case where the suspect was such an imbecile. Those were typically easy to solve and thus below his notice. If Miss Amane had been the first Kira, the case would easily have been solved. Her first kill would have been her parent's murderer, and maybe, if she was smart enough, she would have stopped there and not been discovered.

Likely, given her sympathy, she would have killed others in similar situations to her own, people she sympathized with from reports in gossip magazines. It would have been lesser criminals that the public loved to focus on. L would have quickly found out the first murder, and thus her identity, and had her arrested. She seemed too stupid to hide the Death Note properly…

She still could have forgotten it, but Kira would have been stopped if it was just her and having the killings stop would be evidence enough for her conviction.

Without her, however, Light as Kira would not have gotten as far as he did. It was only because of the appearance of a second Kira that he had been able to join the task force. He assumed it was because of Miss Amane that he had ended up in this situation as well. Without her they would have been stuck in their stalemate. Kira unable to find out L's true name and L unable to get enough evidence to detain Kira.

Though a stalemate was still a victory for Kira outside their battle of wits. He could still continue killing. He just couldn't kill the person he wanted to most.

He had faith that L would have figured out something…he just didn't know what.

Nor could he be certain that Kira wouldn't have his own countermeasures.

Near shifted. It was getting harder to separate himself from the situation the longer they sat in the room. It was harder to look at the people here as he would pieces on a board game or a puzzle when he was acutely aware of all their reactions to what was happening. When he was constantly reminded of their sentience.

The task force was made of good, honest men. He could see why L had gotten attached to them despite being accustomed to working alone.

He was also beginning to understand his fascination with Light Yagami. Just after the last episode he had observed to two in their private conversation. He wondered if anyone would ever capture his interest like that.

It was unlikely. Even at Wammy's house he was often alone.

"He can't see my Shinigami unless he touches my death note."

That meant there was a possibility the second Kira's Shinigami was watching them. Rem, he could already tell, was protective of Miss Amane. The white haired child fiddled with a strand of his hair. It was a given that there were gods of death watching this room. Would any of them get attached to its occupants? If that airhead could enamor a Shinigami…could one of them? How often did it happen?

It was pointless to dwell on such matters. It was beyond their control.

As the detectives pondered the meaning of the journal entry sent, he let his gaze wander back to the great detective and the mass murderer. Friends…he looked away. Facing the screen completely he could see Matt and Mello in his peripheral vision. He could admit that he needed other people in his life, but he couldn't say he had friends.

Between him and Mello, he thought he was the more like L.

But even L called himself a monster. They could yearn for friendship, but they didn't know love.

Where were his friends and relations? He no longer had a father to look over him during his life. He'd lost the mother that had blessed him with smiles and caresses. He barely remembered his life before Wammy's house, to the point where he could not distinguish memory from imagination. He had yet to meet a being that resembled him in appearance or intellect.

If he was a monster, he thought himself akin to Frankenstein's monster.

Perhaps the only way to end this loneliness was to find someone of his own kind. Someone who understood what it was like to be a monster, someone he could be himself with and have it be considered normal.

Only a monster could understand a monster.

Except he didn't believe in a creator in which to exact vengeance on. He could not demand that the world give him a companion. He could only hope that there was one out there and that circumstances brought them together.

A part of him was hesitant to hope. If there was anybody who should understand him, he was sitting on the opposite end of the couch.

Though it would be the monster's luck, if Frankenstein had made him a match, that she would have despised him as Mello despised him.

Matt noticed Near going off into his own head early on in the episode. He knew he was thinking about something pretty hard because he'd stopped twirling a strand of hair with his finger, but he hadn't moved his hand down to his side. He didn't want to interrupt him if he was coming up with something, but his gaze had drifted from the screen and the task force was almost done making plans.

"You there, man?"He asked, leaning as close as he thought the younger boy would feel comfortable.

"Hm?"Near refocused, then nodded,"Yes."

"Okay."He moved back, and Mello sent him a look silently asking why he even bothered.

He rolled his eyes. Just because he had created a rivalry with the white haired kid didn't mean he had anything against him. The only reason he wasn't closer to Near was because Mello would take it badly. The last thing the first rank needed was more unnecessary anger from the blond. He did his best to run interference and not get too involved in their arguments…

He wasn't sure if the younger boy knew he considered him a friend. Maybe not his best friend, that was Mello, but if he didn't like him at least a little he wouldn't choose to play video games in the same room as him. He was just a tough guy to talk to.

He was distracted by Kira getting home.

"Ah, it's because I was hanging out with my girlfriend."

"Oooh."He smirked at Light,"L's your secret girlfriend?"

The college student rolled his eyes ,"It was the easiest excuse."

"I'm sure it was."Mello commented.

They stopped at the warning look L gave them, but Watari chuckled so it wasn't like they'd get in any real trouble. He knew his friend was enjoying seeing more of L's emotions, it made him feel better about being more emotional himself. Especially now that it was out in the open that Light was gay. If L thought they hadn't caught the faint look of excitement when that was announced, he was severely underestimating their powers of observation.

He'd tried to hide his jealousy behind a cough, but he'd caught that too.

He wasn't sure what to think about the second part of Light's revelations. He didn't think that was shocking enough to almost kill the Chief. It was still a shock to find out his teenage son had slept with his boss' boss, but the age of consent in Japan was fourteen so long as it didn't involve an adult, but even then it was sixteen or seventeen.

Though, with the way he reacted to the porn, he might think any age too young for his son.

It was a good cover, if it was a cover.

Matt narrowed his eyes at the screen,"How do you have that many friends?"

From what they'd seen, he was either at school or killing people with the Death Note. That didn't leave much time for socialization

"I'm a popular guy."Light shrugged,"It's not that hard to get people to like you."

Tell that to the socially inept geniuses sitting on either side of him. Maybe, if Light didn't kill himself and he wasn't killed by anyone else, he could come back to Wammy's and teach a course in basic social interactions. They could buy the book and title it How to Win Friends and Influence People.

That was a class he would enjoy.

"You did that on purpose."Matsuda accused as Light asked if any of his friends would be his girlfriend.

Matt snorted when Kira thought it would be impossible for the second Kira to pick him out from the crowd and she did it in seconds. He hadn't really thought about it much, but it was kind of ironic that his name was spelled with the character for Moon.

The moon's light was just a reflection of the sun's light, but things always looked different at night. The night had a way of distorting reality, making everything more menacing. Moonlight wasn't enough to keep the darkness at bay. Light hadn't been enough to stop Kira from emerging.

Not that he could say anything about names. His real one didn't even sound like a name.

Matt was the first thing he came up with when he began hacking, and he'd stuck with it since.

He was just going to ignore how stalkerish Misa sounded in the next scene. It was obvious she was obsessed with him, with and without her memories. He didn't think there was any danger in it. She was pretty useless on her own.

If she was on her own. Her Shinigami could be in the room and none of them would be the wiser. Misa had unwittingly gotten one to kill for her before, who was to say she couldn't do so again?

No. The chances of one Shinigami dying for a human had to be astronomical. That two would die for the same human…

Wow, was he actually trying to apply statistics to the supernatural? He'd already spent too much time with the detectives.

Her actions spoke of even greater stupidity. In her impatience, she gave away that it was Aoyama that she had found him. She didn't even lie to say that they'd already met and increase fear in the police ranks. L was able to accurately deduce that they hadn't met yet, and send another message warning the second Kira not to approach the first or they would die.

Honestly, he hadn't thought about ever becoming Kira, but he knew he'd definitely do a better job than the model.

The police's announcement ended with Misa deciding to introduce herself to Kira.

Cause that was definitely the smart thing to do.

Ugh, now he understood why the others were fine with leaving her out for so long.

Mello hadn't thought this situation could get more unbelievable, and then Misa Amane had come in. If L thought he was too emotional, he had to wonder what he thought about the idiot who only seemed to feel, not think. He watched as the two met on his doorstep, and then he invited her inside. Kira passed her off as the girlfriend he had mentioned earlier. He brought her up to his room and then sat down facing her.

He rolled his eyes. Of course she thought everything was alright because she hadn't been caught yet. She didn't even think about all the evidence she had given L.

"If you want, I could be your eyes. So…"

"Yeah? So what?"

"Would you please make me your girlfriend?"

Well at least that was one question answered. He'd wondered why I'm a gay had ever dated that air head. He had guessed it was only to control her, but he hadn't expected it to be her idea.

He hoped that scene revealed his darker thoughts on the matter. Then maybe Misa could actually think and realize that her and Light wouldn't work out.

Mello resisted the urge to hit himself. He had better things to worry about in his life than her coming to her senses.

Kira went on about how it was impossible for them to date. Somehow, she had a counterargument for each of his points. She had disguised herself before going to Aoyama. She had a friend make the tapes so it wouldn't trace back to her. It was more thought than he'd given her credit for. Then Kira asked about the friend who had made the tapes.

"If you want me to kill her, just say so and I'll kill her!"

Fucking insane.

Then she did something that was even more fucking insane. She handed over her Death Note and said he could kill her if she became a burden.

He hated to agree with Kira, but he didn't understand either why she would do this.

The second Kira sank to the ground as she relayed her sob story. Her parents were killed in a robbery while she was in the house with them. The trial dragged on, people started to think he was falsely accused. Then Kira killed him before proper justice could be carried out. That made Kira her everything.

He crossed his arms. His parents had also been killed in front of them, but he didn't hero worship the police officer that had shot him. It had inspired him to become a detective, and when he got into Wammy's house that inspiration pushed him to reach for L's position…ugh. Matt sometimes called his drive an obsession. His friend had never meant anything bad by saying he was obsessed with becoming L.

If this was what obsession led to…he'd have to work on controlling his emotions.

Actually work on it and not just think about working on it.

Fuck, he didn't want to end up like Misa or BB. He didn't want his feelings to blind him. He didn't want to end up the bad guy, to end up as someone's weapon.

He hated that he kept seeing himself in the bad guys.

"Switch with me."He told Matt.

His friend's eyebrows shot up,"I don't…"Something on his face must have told his friend to take him seriously, because he stood up. He quickly took the middle spot as his friend sat down at his side. He noticed the officers tense a little, even Light was sending them a somewhat worried look.

Were his emotions that obvious? Did they think he would snap too?

He hated Near…

No, he got angry at Near because he was jealous. The ro-the kid did perfectly on every assessment but he literally never saw him give any effort. He'd spend all his free time on whatever puzzle had caught his interest that day. He never had to spend hours in review, he never struggled to understand a theory or pick up on a new language.

But none of that was his fault.

Near had never returned an insult. He may argue with him, but he was just pointing out the other side of an argument or a point he thought he hadn't considered. He didn't do it to make him look bad or to make himself look better. He did it because that's what should be done. Someone should always look for the flaws in a plan, the more something was debated the stronger it became.

If Matt said what Near said, he would take it as a suggestion, not an insult. Hell, if any of the detectives said what Near said, he wouldn't take it as badly.

L hadn't chosen between them yet, but he knew at this rate it'd be Near.

And he…he didn't have faith in his reaction to that. How far would he go to try and prove he deserved the position?

Too far.

"Yes, Mello?"Near asked, and there was suspicion in his eyes.

Even he didn't think he could mature. He was expecting an insult or some other derogation. If he kept letting himself be blinded by his own perceived inferiority…if he kept pushing his fellow genius away every time he offered to work together…then he'd never deserve the title of L.

L was working with his only Kira suspect. He should be able to work with Near.

It wasn't as fucking easy as Near and Light made it seem. He tried to clear his mind of all its normal negative thoughts about the white haired boy, but his instinctive response was to scowl at him. He forced his expression to soften,"When we get home, want to work together on the next assignment?"

It didn't come out as he wanted it to. He heard Matt hit his forehead behind him.

Fuck him. He was trying!

Near's eyebrows raised,"You want to work with me?"

"Yeah, what about it?"He growled.

"Nothing."Was that a smile?"That sounds nice."

He couldn't guarantee this would work. Maybe he'd still hate him.

But he was willing to actually find a fucking reason to hate him.