A/N: This, the next chapter and the epilogue. I'm all, in the words of TK-nee-chan, "Death Noted Out." And am forcing it a bit at this point. I nearly wrote "Tally" on multiple occasions, to prove my point.
"Karin, I want you to go with Matt and Mello, do as they say," the feline hybrid said, twirling a lock of silver and black anxiously. "That is your punishment for not answering when I called and leaving headquarters with intentions of defection. Tell Artemis the same."
"Yes, Eve-sama," Karin muttered, and then all that Kat heard was the dial tone.
"Who was that?" Kai asked her inquisitively.
Kat gave a tired smile, "One of my…coworkers."
"Lackeys would be more appropriate," Beyond said blankly, hands on the wheel. He couldn't trust Kat at the wheel with her reckless driving, so he had volunteered to drive to L's estate in Tokyo.
"You know that is a false accusation, Beyond," Kat said blandly then turned back to Kai as he examined the flashing signs of the Shibuya prefecture flash by, asking what so-and-so sign said every once in a while.
Of course, Kat was completely anxious about actually talking to L.
Sure, he had orchestrated the whole "Gas them" fiasco in China and planned everything down to the last second based on previous missions, but that wasn't a physical meeting. He hadn't been there to analyze them, or confront her about the horrid fight they had left their relationship on. Or at least, the one K had left it on.
And the kids, oh the kids. She was about ready to rip her hair out.
She had read in many articles and parenting books about what fighting parents could do to children's minds. And she felt completely awful.
Which was why she was twirling her hair so fiercely that it caught on her claw and cut straight through.
"You all right?" Kai asked her for the umpteenth time, looking at her with concerned amber eyes.
"Yes, perfectly fine," she lied, folding her hands in her lap stiffly.
I shouldn't be thinking about this, she thought, biting her lip when she saw the tale tell signs of the house. The one she had been in for Amane Misa's incarceration.
Kat watched them pass the gates, all the little security gates from the safety of her tinted window, dread starting to tear and claw at her stomach.
Then they pulled into the drive way.
She almost sighed in relief when she saw he wasn't waiting outside, but then quickly reprimanded herself for it.
He would never be outside! They never set one foot outside unless they were at Wammy's with the whole Kira situation.
"K, pull yourself together," Suture told her. "They're your family. They should forgive you for whatever you di—whatever happened, right?"
Kat caught onto the slip up. "I wouldn't know. We've never had such an …extravagant fight before."
"Well, you better make up your mind, cause we need to get out sooner or later," Kai told her, sliding out of the car after Suture and Beyond.
Kat sighed, running a hand through her hair before opening the door and hopping out reluctantly.
The house seemed larger than usual.
Or maybe that was there eyes playing tricks on her.
She licked her lips before striding to the front door, entering the pass code and making sure the door opened only as much as was necessary for the next person to walk through.
And she froze when her eyes met with gun metal gray ones.
He was standing their, slouching, black hair falling into his eyes, hands stuffed into jeans and blankly looking at her.
She stared straight back, unconsciously noting how they both seemed just as disheveled as the other. Wrinkly old clothes and all.
"Who's that?" Kai asked in English, breaking the tense silence.
"My husband," Kat said, smiling at him. "And also the one who helped orchestrate your escape, and L."
Kai blanched, running his eyes over L again. "B-but, this guy doesn't look like L! He looks like one of those video game hermits!"
Kat choked down a laugh.
No, that's Matt, Kew quipped, chuckling.
"And what is L supposed to look like?" Lawliet asked, but he got no answer seeing as three kittens hurled into the room in a mess of fur, colliding with Kat's feet.
Kai jumped a bit as all three tabby kittens shifted into children.
"Damn that hurt!"
"Who was standing in the way?"
"Um, Ryuuhei? Selena?" Toshio said, looking up at the tall figure of his mother, his eyes flickering between her, his father and all the other people cluttering their foyer.
Kat smiled brightly at the kids as they suddenly jumped from their places on the floor and nearly bowled her over as Toshio and Selena hugged her.
"Momma!"
"Mom!"
"You're back!" They said together, beaming up at her.
Kat ruffled their hair and and pecked them on the forehead, "You say that like I wouldn't come back," she murmured.
"'Cause we assumed you weren't coming back," Ryuuhei muttered, having scrambled away from his mother and standing next to his father instead. "The way you blew up at Dad."
Kat swallowed painfully, "You heard that?"
"We inherited improved senses from you, remember? Or did you forget in that small time frame, mother?" he sneered.
Lawliet bopped him on the head, the thumb of his other hand still on his lips, "That's no way to speak to your mother, Ryuuhei. Go to your room."
Ryuuhei looked at Lawliet alarmed before his eyes turned a bit red and he stomped off.
"Brat," Kai muttered, bringing all the attention to him.
"No, he gets it from me," Kat muttered, holding her own and battling with whether or not to follow her son. She met Lawliet's eyes again, and they came to an understanding. They'd talk later.
-
After all of the introductions and explanations, Kat sneaked into Ryuuhei and Toshio's room, the latter of the two was off talking with Kai.
Her eyes scanned the room (noting with slight humor the messy state) and landed on the bed, where a lump was under the covers.
"Hmm, I wonder where Ryuuhei is," she murmured, acting as if she was searching all over and even under the desk.
She sat on the bed and leaned down to him, putting her hand on his shoulder, "Ryuu? Sweetie?"
He shrugged away from her touch, unaware of the dagger he plunged into her heart. "Go away."
"No," she said, snaking her arms around him and pulling him onto her lap, making sure his arms were in her grasp so he couldn't wriggle away. Or thrash away, judging by how he kept squirming and slamming into her to get away. "I need to talk to you."
"Why?! Just so that you can leave again?!" he said, going limp.
"I'm not leaving you again," she said, feeling a prickle in her eyes and head.
"How the heck would I know that?! You lie all the time to everyone else!"
Kat swallowed. "I lie for our safety, Ryuuhei. I promise I won't leave."
"Promises can be broken!"
Kat broke down, hot tears splashing on Ryuuhei's shirt. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't leave again! I promise! I won't fight with Lawliet! I won't cause you pain anymore! I promise, baby, I promise!"
Ryuuhei stiffened, his eyes were "leaking," his shoulders shaking with sobs.
He twisted around in his mother's grasp and clung to her wrinkled and stiff shirt, sobbing.
-
Mello lurched in his seat, biting his lip so hard blood gushed into his mouth.
Fire! There was fire in his chest! Or was it just pulling itself apart?
I never got to tell Matt what a great best friend he was…
Mello clawed at his chest, eyes bulging in the front seat of the truck.
I never beat Near…
Artemis and Karin were dead.
I never got to show Ryuu and Toshio how to shoot a gun.
Shot to death because of him while Matt manned down the monitors and technological things back at the apartment.
I didn't get Selena that chocolate…
And the last thing Mello thought of as his heart gave one last frantic beat:
…
I hope this will help, Nee-chan, L…
And then Mihael Keehl, Mello, died on January 26th 2013, his head falling onto the steering wheel.
-
Kat rubbed at her eyes as she walked out of her sleeping son's room. He had cried and forgiven her the conked out.
She gave a shuddery breath, Now I just need to sleep.
Ugh, so much drama. What is this? Some cheesy soap opera? K thought.
With our luck, it probably is, Kew responded.
Kitten is sleepy. Can Kat-chan please find the bed so that Kitten can sleep? She whined softly.
We're all sleepy, Kitten, Kat responded, stumbling into her room and shrugging off her shirt and her shoes, plopping onto the bed, a headache building in her temples and spreading. Tonight will be hell, won't it?
She was barely awake when the door to her bedroom opened, and someone's footsteps paused right at the foot of the bed.
"Karin, Mello and Artemis are dead," it—no, Lawliet, said after a few moments.
And that was all it took.
Kat jackknifed up, looking at him with wild eyes.
"What?!" she shrieked. "Mello?! Karin and Artemis!?"
Lawliet nodded morosely, "Karin and Artemis served as a distraction and were killed by Takada's bodyguard. Matt was watching the whole thing on TV and notified me. Mello missed a check in call, however, Lidner contacted Near informing him of Mello's death."
Lawliet's eyes softened when he saw the tears openly falling from Kat's eyes.
"Oh my, Mello…and I sent Karin and Artemis…oh my word! What the fuck?! Everything is falling apart!" she muttered pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around her knees. Her ears flat against her head.
L tugged her to him, sitting down on the bed and setting his chin on top of her head.
They just stayed their, silently for the rest of the night in each other's arms, all past fights forgotten as the lives of three people they knew (one of which like a son or brother) on their conscience.
-
"Kat?" Near asked, immediately noting the tear stains on the older woman's face.
Kat gave a meek smile, "Yes? You called Near?"
"I suppose you know that two of your subordinates and Mello are dead then," he said blankly, curling his white hair.
He could be Kai's brother or cousin or something… Kew mused blandly. "Yes, I am aware of that. He informed me of it a few hours ago."
A pause.
A very pregnant pause in which Kat took the time to let her overanalyzing mind jump ahead of her.
Already, she had theories of what had gone wrong now filtering through her mind, very vivid outcomes bursting to the front of it in Technicolor, the astounding numbers blooming and disappearing. New numbers and probabilities coming and going like a the images of a Tachistoscope.
"What's wrong?" she whispered.
"Is L in the room with you?"
"No, he's talking with Beyond, Suture. We put the triplets to sleep already and Kai is in one of the guest bedrooms. Why?"
A shorter pause this time. "Yagami Light would like Agent K and her husband to attend the meeting we have arranged for the Yellow Box at Daikoku Warf on January 28th."
K closed her eyes.
No.
No.
No.
Yagami Light wanted to see her? How did he know that she had a husband? She had cleaned up her tracks fairly well, but then again she had told Aizawa to give any information Yagami Light desired away. Anything that Aizawa had found could have ended up in Yagami Light's hands.
Save for her name.
But what would it matter if he found her name? It would not work in, any event—he would have to know her husband's surname, of which he failed to do so in previous meetings with them.
And if she met up with him it would inevitably mean showing him that L was not dead, that he had made a grave mistake in taking on the worlds smartest minds all at once and having the nerve to call himself God.
To her knowledge, God did not cause suffering: he hated it.
God did not punish people: he let things happen according to their decisions.
And finally, God was not some megalomaniac person running amok, murdering people at the drop of a hat according to his own personal agenda.
A cruel smile alighted K's featured.
He was making a mistake.
A big mistake.
Had he not learned by now not to play with fire?
And if he had gone ahead and researched the missions she had done previously (which she had absolutely no doubt that he did) then he should have at least been a tad bit weary of her.
Like any sane person was when they discovered her less than spotless records, the tarnished edges and tainted center.
So he was fairly arrogant to "ask" for her and Lawliet to be present.
How was he sure that she wouldn't pull out an M16 and gleefully fill his chest with bullets? How sure was he that she wouldn't find the nearest fire arm, make sure the magazine was loaded and end his life? Knives? Or even her bare claws?
She took a moment to calm herself, taking a deep breath, remembering that her charge was watching the emotions flit across her face openly.
"I suppose you are bringing this up because you have a fool proof plan up your sleeve and have no doubt that the war shall end there, seeing as you are revealing yourself to that scum," she said shakily, running a hand through her hair.
Damn, I need chocolate or something.
"That is correct. A fool proof plan. However, Yagami has decided that you and L are to be the wild cards."
"What about Matt? He'll want to see to it that Light's killed as well—" K smirked, stopping midsentence. "On second thought, I have a nice way of riling up those idiots."
"Nothing that will be too detrimental to the plan, I hope," Near said, playing with a robot.
Kat gave an impish grin, "No. It will not be far too detrimental. I will just ensure that Matt will be there to see Mello avenged. Should I bring my guns?"
"One should suffice."
"You are positively and utterly vapid, have I told you that lately Near? Perhaps you should attempt at some fun once in a while in stead of holing yourself up so much."
"This coming from the nearly thirty year old woman who's definition of 'fun' is flashing her gun out and destroying the poor degenerate who was set to her hit list."
Kat rolled her eyes, "It's completely hair raising, I'll bring you with me next time. Now, is that all?"
"It will be at 3 o' clock, and…" Near paused in his hair twirling, "My condolences."
Kat shook her head, "Same to you Near, same to you."
-
Light Yagami started as a screen lighted up in front of him, a red "K" appearing in the middle of the black screen.
The Task Force members gasped as they heard the voice, "Hello, Yagami Light."
"Agent K, I assumed?" Light asked, regaining his composure rather quickly.
"The one and only," the feminine voice said loftily. "Were you expecting someone else, Light?"
"No, this is just unexpected, I finished my conversation with Near only a few hours ago," the man said, a red glint to his eye.
"Yes, yes. My little…brother seems to be fairly good at talking with people…"
Light's eyes visibly widened. "B-brother?"
"Brother, sister it's all rather the same in an Orphanage, is it not Yagami Light? We are all raised together as family. I would have assume someone as astute as you would have concluded that of his own accord," she crooned the last part mockingly.
"Yes, Wammy's, correct?"
"Ah, Yagami Light, you should know better than to ask questions you know the answers of. In any case, I merely contacted you to inform you that I will be bringing one other with my husband."
"And who might that be?"
"One of my other brother's…a successor of mine, a son…He'd like to meet the person whom he and my other successor Mello have been battling against."
"Mello?"
"Yes, dear creature," she was cooing nearly of her words scathingly. "Mello. You should know him, correct? You did employ the Task Force to kill him more than once, and actually succeeded in manipulating that other creature, Takada, into killing him. You could say we have a personal vendetta against you, Kira. A deep rooted grudge. An obvious vexation."
Light grew incensed. "I'm not Kira! Mello was a dangerous character threatening the lives of many civilians and was in the Mafia!"
"You did not have a problem with my relations to the Yakuza all those years ago. But wait, you were a suspect back then as well? Therefore you were not allowed with such delicate information. Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing you, Kira. And I am sure my successor will look forward to it as well. This war shall end yet, Kira-chan."