Whoa... I feel like a little writing machine! Back-to-back updates! Woohoo! C: And now to answer a few questions from reviewers, since I've been neglecting it a bit... XD

at WolfishMoon: Definitely! :D

at GodsOfDeathLikeApples: No, but when you mentioned it I looked it up and... wow. 8O He's amazing! :D

Watashi ga shoyū shite imasen Death Note. Yo no soy dueño Death Note. I do not own Death Note. (Japanese, Spanish, English! :D)


Sacrifices

When I set foot back at our newest hotel room, I was met with annoyed glares. I closed the door firmly behind me and tossed a stack of papers onto the bed.

"Any and all written information on the Kira case. Found it in our officer's room. I made the copies at Wal-Mart." As it turns out, they did have Wally World in the Kanto region of Japan; that alone brought a smile to my face.

"Uh huh," Rue licked a jam-coated digit. The schizophrenic sat hunched over in his ever-popular "L pose" on the single bed in the tiny room, eating jam as though his life depended on it. The kid stood near the counter, twirling the knife as I'd seen Rue do many a times.

I nodded at Kyona, eying Rue at the same time. "You teach her that?"

"Uh huh."

"Don't tell me you're both pissed."

Rue raised an eyebrow, while Kyona's glare melted into a puzzled look.

"What does-"

"Nevermind," I interrupted swiftly. I gave them a hurried recap of what had happened, only for Rue's smirk and Kyona's eyes to widen. "In other words, Kitamura mentioned something in Matsuda's report of a 'belt,' also hinting that it wasn't in any of the other's field reports. When you're an officer of the law, BA, CIA, or even Secret Service, you have to write a field report, and I've learned the not all things can be overlooked."

"So you're gonna do a stakeout with Matsuda..?" asked Kyona, rolling the name off of her tongue. I nodded. "How can I help?"

Ooh. I hadn't gotten that far in my plan. "Well... I need to be able to see, so I think you can set up the cameras, and-"

"We're bugging the house?" questioned Rue in an amused tone.

"Not exactly. We're bugging the street Matsuda lives on," I corrected. "I would be the house bug."

"Watch out for flyswatters."

That man has a weird sense of humor. Then again, at least he has one. There were some people I know who couldn't take a joke to save their life.

"So we sit back and watch as you get to have all the fun?" pouted Kyona.

I smirked at that one. "No. It means that you get to save my butt, should the occasion arise."

"One question," Rue interjected, "where might you get said cameras?"

Well, crap. I'd forgotten that this wasn't the old days. You know what? Referring to them as "the old days" just makes me feel old and really off of my game. Let's just call it yesterday, seeing as how people tend to refer to the past as "yesterday." But yesterday was gone, and today was staring me straight in the face. When all I knew was past and future, it sure made our current predicament look dark.

I sighed, but my pride wouldn't let me do any more than that. "Around."

"Uh huh."

This guy was itching for a fight. "Now, any other questions?"

"In other words, you're just going to wing it and hope you don't screw up."

I was honestly ready to shove Rue's head through a wall. "No... We're planning it out right now, in case you didn't notice."

"Uh huh," he smirked as he stuck his hand back in the jar of jam. "So you're going to stalk a young male police officer to see if you can figure out what's up with his 'belt.'"

My eyes narrowed. Is he suggesting..?

Oh. No. He. Didn't.

"I will not hesitate to throw you from the balcony," I growled, pointing.

He shrugged. "Just saying."

Poor kid was standing off to my left, eying us in confusion.

"You'll understand when you're older," I said with another glare at Rue. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Ugh, men. "And no, and yes."

"So you agree."

"To a degree."

"Which part? All of it?"

"Never knew you were such a hentai..." I shot back.

"A what?"

"Urgh... nevermind..." I resisted the urge to head the nearest object, or kick it. I swear, someone's head was going to get bashed through the wall before the day was over.


The plan was finally "finished" around nine o'clock, which was very beneficial to me seeing as how I had to get up around two thirty in the morning.

I am not a morning person, especially after getting roughly four hours of sleep. But, in the words of Rue, "Suck it up."

Jerk.

And that was how I ended up walking to the other side of town (because I'm too stupid to get a hotel room closer) to the Matsuda household. Sadly enough, there wasn't even a hint of clouds in the sky. As I walked, Trey downloaded the much-needed blueprints Rue was sending us through Kyona's laptop. How he had gotten them, I didn't want to know. But the blueprints of the house would be useful; I didn't want to waste time trying to find my way around the house.

As I drew closer, stifling a yawn, I noticed a single light on in a certain room. (That was the bedroom, right? I'm honestly not very good at reading blueprints.)

Now why would our "suspect" be up four in the morning..? I pondered as the light in the bedroom flickered. He couldn't be getting ready this early, could he..?

A sudden breeze buffeted the trench coat (the same one I'd used during the failed attempt at "sneaking" into the asylum) and I drew the gray fabric around me. The temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees, though I knew it was just wind chill. I could feel the diamond lighter pressed up under my rib cage along with my fake ID card.

For this particular operation, I was hoping that the dark gray of the coat would help me blend in with the gray-ish color of the neighborhood houses, or in the middle of a rainstorm. Plus, it wouldn't look too out of place. I was also wearing a black skort, my experimental belt, the diamond bracelet from the (failed) kidnapping, and a silver, sleeveless turtleneck.

The sleeveless-ness probably wasn't the best of ideas, but my shoulder was giving me hell, and even though the bleeding had stopped, Rue insisted that I keep the bandage on. (Who the hell does he think he is, anyways? Last time I looked, he enjoyed harming people, not healing them.) But you know me: I took it off the minute I was out of sight, but... now the coat was rubbing it raw. I'd be lucky to make it another ten minutes before I was covered in blood.

Ugh... I never win...

But back to reality (excuse my horrid narrations)...

I walked calmly up to the driveway to his house, then turned and walked along the fence, alongside the house, and into his backyard. Luckily, his windows had the same old-timy locks, so it took me a few seconds to unlock the window and pry it open silently.

Now for the hard part.

I took off my black, three inch heels (they're excellent for stabbing unexpected muggers) and chucked them into the neighbor's yard. The trench coat followed them swiftly. At least he wouldn't be able to find them if I had to make a quick escape. I quickly yanked a pair of black socks from my pocket and slipped them over my feet, then slid through the windowsill to land near silently on three limbs on the tiles dining room floor.

Though my heart was pounding, I forced my breaths to slow, so faint that they were deathly silent. Slithering along the floor like a cat stalking prey, I kept a steady pace from the dining room, through the living room, down the hallway, only hesitating outside of the bedroom door. The flickering light was illuminating the shadowed hallway, just enough for me to see. Under the door, no shadows moved. If it was ever the time to move, it was now.

I took a deep breath, held it, then flicked my diamond necklace into my hand and stuck it through the tiny crack in the door. I ran the room over twice, but only to freeze when a slip of my hand sent the jewelry tumbling to the auburn colored carpet.

I jerked my hand out of the doorway and remained crouched, paralyzed, unable to see Matsuda's reaction.

Did he see me? Did he hear me? It was all I could do to keep my breath from escaping.

After a minute of so of agonizing wait, I finally had to breathe. Released from the pressure, I tentatively stuck my hand back in the doorway long enough to snatch the bracelet back up and shove it in my pocket.

Good. I don't think I was seen...

Trey... you know what to do. That was all I had to say, then the loctopus had leaped from the base of my neck, over my shoulder, and landed on the carpet.

On it, sergeant! The mechanism immediately scudded under the door.

I closed my eyes, allowing myself to float back into my subconscious. I could see all around my Trey maneuvered around the messy floor. As a loctopus, it looked as though there were mountains in the floor. (Hmm... I wonder whose bedroom is messier, Kitamura's or Matsuda's...)

Focus your cameras on Matsuda, I ordered.

In a nanosecond, I was-

What the-?

Whoa! Since when have you been able to do that? I gaped as the loctopus scrambled around atop the desk.

The jumping? Um... since you reprogrammed me..? he tried with a sheepish smile.

I felt myself begin to gnaw my thumbnail, though I was still in Trey's mind. Is he awake?

Trey focused on the man's face. The young police officer was asleep, sitting in his chair, head on his crossed arms which rested on the desk.

Poke him.

The loctopus's huge jump landed him smack-dab on the man's forehead. I breathed a sigh of relief. (As opposed to cracking up, which I probably would have done had the situation not gotten me so worked up.)

Thanks, Trey. Coming in.

I hopped up from my crouch, pushed open the door and slid in.

The flickering light I had seen was a candle, sitting on the desk next to a running laptop. Next to it was-

A leather belt with a metal buckle.

Bingo!

I grinned. Mission accomplished! I refrained from dancing over to the desk, and forced myself to sneak. It wouldn't be professional of me to count my chickens before they hatched.

When I reached the desk side, I picked the belt up by my forefinger and thumb, eying it.

What does it do? Is it a weapon? Can it snap into a sword?

Four o'clock, warned Trey as he leaped onto my right shoulder and crawled back to the base of my neck.

It's not as though I can just run off with it! He's young, but he's not stupid! I argued. Besides, what if he uses it daily for contacting Watari, or something else he'll pick up on instantly if we swap it with a fake?

He's the youngest; what's the possibility of him being able to contact Watari personally?

I see you're point, but that 15% is enough for me to say no.

I gnawed my nail as I considered my options. Steal and risk exposing myself even more, or leave it alone and wait until I had more time? It's not as if I wanted to wake up this early again, and this had almost walked into my hands.

Screw it. I'll just stay here and disassemble it pronto.

Crouching, I held the belt at eye level, then lay the belt on the floor. I emptied my pockets of everything, ran my hands through the pile of stuff and pulled out the screwdriver I used to lock and release the collar.

Perfect.

(Or not.) It took me almost thirty minutes examine and take the main plating of the buckle off. Confused? Well, as it turned out, there was a hidden button in the buckle, and I could only guess what it would do. So I took it apart. No biggie, right?

Wrong.

I am not a specialist a wiring- I can hold my own, but that's irrelevant- but there was no way I would be able to figure out what they all did in the little time I had, nor did I have to guts to press the button to find out.

Oh, well. Plan B, anyone..?

Trey, hack Kyona's laptop and leave her a file. Download everything, then put a virus in it and make it play the hour-long version of I Know a Song That Gets on Everybody's Nerves, but up an octave. Oh, and make sure it's nice and loud; I'd like to get a reply back ASAP.

Seven minutes later on the dot, Trey sent me the newly saved document.

'Sparkle here! Looks like the wires of a pager. Too simple for anything more, but the transmission wires are complicated...'

A pager, huh? With a pager, comes a signal... I can tap a signal. And with that tap, I can learn where the signal is going!

I grinned. Tell her that she's my favorite apprentice, will ya?

Gag me. But he did it anyways.

I stared down at the belt in my hands. I didn't doubt Kyona's interpretation in the least: the kid knew her stuff.

So... you're a pager... A pager to what, exactly? An alarm, or does it work just like a real pager? If it did, then why would you have more wires for transmission..? Is it so that you leave a false signal to those who try to trace it? If so, I'm holding you in my hands. It wouldn't be all that hard to...

And then it came to me, and I finally found use for that diamond lighter I'd been carrying around in my pocket for the past day.


The current situation of the spastic woman was highly amusing to Beyond. Stuck alone in the house of a strange man while she tried to find out about his "belt."

And here I was thinking that she wasn't interested in that sort of thing, he thought with another smirk as he downed a mouthful of jam. For the time being, he was experimenting, testing. He wanted to know what made them tick. KC couldn't live without her sugar and hated to sit. She was paranoid and hated stillness in general, and showing her true emotions. Autumn was still a kid, and therefore could be used as such. Her breaking point was loyalty; she would follow those she trusted anywhere, no matter the situation.

Though he had been up since two in the morning, he wasn't even drowsy as he sat on the bed. Posing as L (and practicing posing as L) had gotten him used to the idea of insomnia. He could easily go on two hours of sleep a night. Autumn herself was exhausted, but cheerful.

"I wonder what it could be..." she whispered excitedly as she ran over the pictures of the belt taken by Trey. "It looks like a pager, but the wires... it all comes back to the wires! There're too many for a normal pager, as though it had a more complicated function... And this! This looks like a memory chip!"

BB listened to the girl as she continued to voice her thoughts aloud. Her train of thought in general was seriously impressive for one her age. He would have loved to hang her above a turbine and watched to see how she would try to escape, if she could. To watch the luscious red blood splatter everywhere, just like strawberry jam-

Focus. Focus on what's important, B. He shook himself. You can kill again once KC has L and Kira neck to neck. After all, once she corners them, you can swoop in and kill them both in one sweep. Two birds, one extra bloody stone. All you have to do is sit back, give hints and let the women do the work. Then you can take over and have your revenge.

"GPS!"

The sudden shriek jolted the man from his thoughts. He winced at the pitch, and glanced over at the girl, who had shot to her feet, wide eyed.

"It's a Global Positioning System!" she repeated in a shocked whispered. "Then if it's got GPS, then that means..."

He watched as her amber eyed flew wide open, more than they normally were.

"Rue-san, Ishi-chan's..!" she began to pound the keyboard furiously in a new Word document. After a few minutes, she stopped and hit save. Then turned and said in a perfectly calm tone, "GPS, pager; Rue-san. It's an SOS machine, but a lot more complex. It's for emergencies, and probably connects to something that will pop up immediately to L."

As noted before, this duo's pretty good.

"Hmm... then that would mean that if Ishi-san were to push the button, she might have L or the entire police force, or even the rest of the FBI, come busted down the doors to Matsuda-san's house..." he murmured thoughtfully, as though he too were merely thinking out loud.

She nodded. "That's what I told her."

Hmm... interesting...

The duo sat in silence for the next two hours, waiting, until the door exploded inwards and a soaked KC stumbled in, clutching her injured shoulder and gasping for breath.

Well that was a lovely entrance, he thought with another smirk as he noticed the blood that covered the woman when she allowed the trench coat to slip from her shoulders onto the floor.

The part of her wild black hair that wasn't plastered to her head was spiking out at ever angle, her pupils were dilated, teeth gritted in pain. She was limping slightly, and there were multiple scratches and punctures that ran the length of her right arm. And was that..?

Beyond Birthday leaned closer, squinting slightly.

Yes, it was: shards of glass were sticking out of some of the wounds. Now that he looked closer, he could see various scratches over other part of her, too, though most were on her arm. He thought he could see that hint of a piece of glass sticking out of her leg.

But what sold the deal was the huge grin on her face, and what she held up in her bloody right hand.

"Hey, gang, we've found L."


I need to get into the hang of writing from Beyond's point of view, so I'm practicing. *duhn duhn DUHN!* ;)

(Lots of thanks to Mangafreak666 for correcting my mistake. Thank you!)