Hello, and thank you for reading the newest chapter to my fan-fiction. As some of you may have noticed, I changed the image identifying this story. I felt the old one represented the Kira case too much with the young Near and the Kira dolls surrounding him. With that in mind, I'd like to take some time to respond to those who have reviewed (and I thank all those who have followed and/or put my story in their favorites.

Cooljoe64: Thanks ^^.

Chester-Grey: Thank you, I really wanted to make my story sound interesting.

Rinnu500: I'm glad I could please you enough to make you virtually die ;)... But I hope you've been revived so you can read this new installment :).

Madi Lynn Thomas: It's awesome that I could make your day. Thank you for making mine by giving me such a great review!

lie2me1moretime: Thank you for being interested in my story new reviewer ^^.

uniquename200's NEW ACCOUNT: I'm glad I could get such praise from an author I also like :).

And with that, I just want to say two more things: 1) I have a poll up on my profile to help me decide which anime I should write a fan-fic for next, if you're interested in helping me decide, and 2) I don't own Death Note, so you can't sue me for that...

NEAR'S HQ

"What are your theories on this, Near?" Rester stood off to the side, giving Near enough space to build his town out of dice.

"I believe it is very possible that our suspect is in Japan. Considering that this person directly confronted Sakura TV like this, I would say that it wasn't altogether wrong. However, no evidence was left behind to be able to trace it to any individual. Also, after watching the tapes that recorded the whole incident at the station, I believe that we may not find any evidence regardless of whether we combed the entire place or not." The soft clicks from stacking the dice echoed throughout the room for a while.

"How can we be absolutely sure of that? Wouldn't it be better if we just locked the station down and conducted a thorough investigation?" Gevanni asked.

"No, we won't be able to find anything. The tapes we watched showed a dark figure only in the meeting room. However," he stacked another die and the click was a little louder, "no other footage showed anyone other than the workers entering or leaving. In fact, one of the last bits of footage we have makes me believe that something much more happened besides walking."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean to say, even though the last bit we see of him is in a corner of the camera's field of view, you can almost see as he is moved by something else, and then disappears." The only sound was of Near's dice as the other agents thought over his late statement.

"So… the shinigami is helping him in some way?" Lidner asked of the white-haired man.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am thinking. And if he is willing to go to this extent in helping him, we can also assume that Herupa has forged some sort of bond with the shinigami."

"Wait, if there's a chance that it's that old shinigami Ryuk, wouldn't you be able to see him Near?"

He smirked. "Yes, one would think that. However, I can't be certain since I burned both Death Notes. It could be that I became unable to see Ryuk after burning it, but retained my memories as it was never given back to the god of death, and he never took them away." He found this theory to be the most plausible.

"I see. But, other than where he is located, who would be our most likely suspects?" Rester inquired.

He was nearing the completion of the construction of the smaller buildings, and then he moved onto the skyscrapers, allowing the agents time to think separately before putting forth his own thoughts. "From an early age, children are learning the differences between right and wrong. Not doing something you were told not to do versus doing something regardless of being informed otherwise. This would also apply to revenge. Young ones are shown and informed that revenge will not always work out, though it does work at times. From this, they obtain the concept that they are free to decide whether they should avenge their own pain or let it slide, like others around them might want. In the end, the majority will decide to let it go or wait for an opportunity that is not too extreme. The small percentage left can spend their entire lives plotting something to counter those they feel are hurting them. Humans lay blame with those they feel are most responsible. This, of course, means that they will not see themselves as the source of the problem. It's only natural that they would want to execute their plans to their fullest extent when you think of it in this way.

"Jaakuna Herupa is a part of this minority. Whoever he is, it is more than 97% likely that he has experienced a traumatic event. If this factor does exist, we can assume that he was forced to commit an act unwillingly, explaining the reason behind letting others kill the people they hate, and dying three months later in return." The skyscraper's height was on the same level as Near's eyes, though he was sitting on the floor in his usual fashion while constructing it.

"So, we should search for any records similar to that?" Lidner poised her fingers over the keyboard in anticipation of the order.

"Yes… though I have a feeling we still might not be able to find anything." He had momentarily stopped stacking and was now curling a strand of hair around his finger repeatedly. "Gevanni," he said toward the man, "I want you to start researching how individuals are able to access and request Jaakuna Herupa's services."

He nodded, strapping a second loaded gun to his waist and concealing it. Gevanni then turned and left the Head Quarters.

AMORA SAI

Sai walked down the streets like she usually would. She was on her way to the same magazine store she had visited when she listened in to the conversation between those two girls. She was going to purchase another gothic magazine like the one she had been reading. It all seemed quite intriguing, though she would never wear any of it. She found herself feeling relieved now that she went outside more. Of course, people still didn't strike up conversations with her, but she was just fine with that. She was only out for the fresh air and whatnot.

Not only that, but she was still dealing with her stalker. Ever since Satsujin had shown up a few days ago, she knew that she wasn't being investigated. She hadn't confronted him yet, mostly due to the fact that she thought he could come into play later on. It might even work to her advantage if she waited to deal with him until she really was being lawfully tailed.

Sai had decided a lot of her future plan upon receiving her second notebook. She did not do anything what-so-ever to this notebook. She simply hid it on Satsujin, so that it was always handy. Not only would this prevent other humans from touching it, but any human that did touch it would not be able to really prove anything by a shinigami with two Death Notes. Satsujin didn't mind doing this, and he was always at her side, so she wasn't as worried about him as she was about Ryuk.

He never acted as though he was in love with her, but he didn't act like she was any lesser than him due to her human status. He would often strike up conversations, asking about her thoughts on different things. He even occasionally helped with her planning. Unlike Ryuk, he didn't laugh at anything, he just stood quietly and observed what he could and left only when Sai asked something of him.

He's so much more helpful. I wonder if I ever could have planned this far ahead without him. Sai had to admit that she was growing more tolerant of his presence, but she still didn't completely trust him yet.

Sai returned home after purchasing the newest issue. Unlike before, she was aware of the stalker's presence, but didn't let it get to her. Once she got inside, she checked to make sure she locked all of the doors and windows.

She started up the stairs to her room when Chizu's head peaked out over the rails. "Hey Sai, welcome back!" She smiled.

"Yeah, I was just out buying something." Sai was usually vague when talking to Chizu, so the girl was used to it by now.

"Alright," she pouted, "well, I have to study for this major test we've got coming up, so I can't do anything else with you today… But I'll be able to do anything once I'm finished with the school year." She smiled again, and ran back into her room.

"Knock yourself out, kid." she muttered under her breath. As long as studying was keeping Chizu preoccupied through the night, Sai was happy.

She walked into her room, locking the door after her. She then went to her desk and pulled out a box she had concealed from common people who happened to walk into her room. She placed it on the bed and pulled out the contents.

Ryuk was the first to break the silence. "So? What's your decision for who the police tail? And what's with the stuff in the box?"

Satsujin stood quietly next to Ryuk, but she could tell that he was annoyed by the other shinigami. He was especially annoyed that Ryuk was also attached to Sai, though he didn't voice his concerns.

"I've decided to make it look like an entire organization. I'll start making adjustments to all of the deaths that my users cause from now on in accordance to this. Depending on the death, I will write that a certain… item… or something else like that will be dropped nearby to make it appear as if the death was done by human hands. For the users who are too scared to write down a cause of death, I'll make sure there are some sort of fingerprints or other form of identification that are close to the body. Of course, this means that the police will chase down whoever it belongs to, but will soon have to release them due to lack of evidence.

"This sort of thing isn't surprising if the organization is made up of high-class criminals who are all working under the one possessing the Death Note, especially if that one person held their lives over their heads. With that, I can make the incision in the force even larger. The only question then would be how many people were planning on siding with Near?" She shook her head.

"As for the last question," Sai held up many special tools that she got, though there was a record of her buying them, "I am making a fake I.D."

Both shinigami looked confused, which was a rare emotion for Satsujin. He was the one who spoke up this time. "What would be the point of that?" his low and dry voice asked.

She smiled. "What would be the point of that?" She started working on her new fake I.D., which would show her as being twenty-one. "I've found that I have a very strong stomach for alcohol."

Ryuk just stared at the girl, but Satsujin was remembering a time in Sai's past when she had accidentally drank her parents' liquor without realizing what it was. She had only begun to feel tipsy after the fifth cup or so.

"Of course, I'm only around nineteen, so I can't legally drink yet. With this, I can go out and drink a bit, without getting entirely drunk." She smiled even wider.

Then, Ryuk and Satsujin smiled with her. "I get it. You want to give off the image of being uncaring and unkind, while also illegally drinking alcohol. Any investigator would see something like that as normal and reckless teenage behavior."

"Exactly. Light did his best to appear like the perfect model student. As a result, he looked too perfect for L's liking. Then L started getting closer to him, and he started to slip up a bit." She was nearly done. She had already started making it last night, so the picture was already on and Sai just had to make a few adjustments to make it believable. If she wanted to, she could make it a real I.D., but that was really advanced, and she was just another college student with a high score in all of her classes right now… not a genius.

It only took her a couple more minutes to finish. Once she was done, she hid it in her wallet along with her real I.D., which was in a separate sleeve. Now she could start going out to clubs every night. Although it pained her and made her feel a little more vulnerable, she would have to leave her stun-gun home on these little excursions, so as not to stand out. But it would be worth it.

She packed all of the materials back up and hid the box again. It wouldn't be particularly bad if a professional searching through her room found it, which would only serve to make her look less like a suspect. Worst case scenario: she ended up doing a little time for underage drinking and forgery. But that was something she could live with. She wouldn't even have to worry about it since Satsujin had promised to take Herupa's duties on himself should something happen to her. She was glad for that since she didn't really want to rely on Ryuk all that much.

At any rate, Sai had nothing left to do since she had completed all of her assignments for the university and Herupa was currently only working at night. Since she was technically free for the next few hours, she decided to go outside and walk around for a bit.

As she was heading downstairs, Chizu's door opened and she stepped out.

"I thought you were studying?" Sai asked in a neutral tone.

"I am, but I wanted to get a drink since my throat is dry." Sai surveyed the girl, who seemed to go nervous under her gaze. Even Chizu wasn't completely immune to Sai and her cold air.

"I'm going somewhere again. If I'm not back in time, go ahead and make yourself some dinner." She turned and went down the stairs again.

"Ooh, where are you going? Out to buy another book?" She was overly curious, even when Sai barely answered her questions anyways.

"Mind your own business." And Sai started walking toward the front door.

Once outside, she was immediately aware of the feeling of being watched by someone. She didn't particularly want him following her around when she was just walking.

Soon, she barely registered the other presence, and was off thinking in her own world. I wonder what it would be like to be an animal. Not having to worry about silly things like social rankings and racism, or other things like that. All that would exist is the next meal and surviving in the place I was born to. Animals…

Her thoughts wandered in this direction for a while. She spent hours walking around in general peace. She even started putting her hands in her pocket and singing famous songs to herself. Considering only her stalker was in the proximity, she felt just fine doing it outside of her house. She was even more thankful when she didn't hear the gods of death chattering or doing anything to interrupt her silent time.

It was starting to get darker, which only made Sai feel even more comfortable. She gazed up at the few visible stars in the sky and felt content for the moment. She was still walking as she did this, so she came upon her childhood park without realizing it.

It was old, with rust lining all of the metal and the swings creaking as the wind blew them into motion a couple of times. The structures looked stable, so Sai decided to sit on a swing. The same swing she had sat on many times as a kid.

This park had been one of the only places that Sai was allowed to stay with Gurren and Tetsu without being completely supervised by an adult. There were many neighborhood watch patrols around the park, so they were safe.

Sai closed her eyes and remembered for a while.

"I'm the queen of the swings! Just look how high up I can go!"

"Yeah right, Gurren. You're cheating. I didn't even get a chance to swing yet."

"You can cheat in swinging, Tetsu. You're supposed to be the smart one!"

"Hey!"

"Neither of you are going to be anything! I'm the ultimate queen!"

"LIAR!"

"LIAR-LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE!"

"Yeah, what proof do you have?"

"… Well… I'M THE OLDEST OF COURSE! AGE BEATS EVERYTHING!"

"No fair!"

"I wish I was older, and then you would have to call me king and bow down before me."

Faint laughter from her memory faded into the night as she opened her eyes again. There were some things that you just couldn't get back, not even if you brought something similar into your life. A brief image of Chizu flashed into her head. But there was mostly just exhaustion. Exhaustion of the world, and especially exhaustion from past memories.

Through all of her weariness, she felt someone walking up to her. Damn! If it's the stalker, then I'll have to act. Unless he's just approaching me to talk a bit, thinking that I'm clueless about his presence. If that's the case, I can still use him later on.

She waited patiently for a looming figure to come up behind her, but she was surprised when a little blonde head sat down on the swing next to her.

"Chizu? Were you following me?"

"Sort of. But not for long; I finished my homework up a while ago and came to a nearby library. See?" She pulled a bag up for Sai to see. It had a couple of large books in it. "That's when I saw you walking towards this park. I decided to come when I finished picking up all the materials I needed." Chizu began to gaze at the sky.

Sai did the same. "You never told me what happened in your family… I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"Oh, I guess it's no biggie. I just didn't want you to think of me like I was some pitiable girl, like a lot of other people do. Not like they help or anything." Anger flashed in her eyes. "The usual: My parents were more worried about themselves than they were about me. They practically screamed at me if I so much as breathed wrong in public. My dad especially hated me, but he always had that lusty look in his eyes. My mom wasn't as bad, there were times when she would at least act like she was an actual mother… but that didn't happen often. She and my dad wanted nothing more to get rid of me, but they didn't want to tarnish their reputation by putting me into adoption, so they came up with a way to please what they both wanted. You saw that plan in action out in the woods." Her eyes looked mature at the moment.

There was silence for a while, but it wasn't one of awkwardness; instead, it held understanding. "What were these family circumstances that kept you away for four years?"

"Oh, my mom was pissed that you had uncovered what her husband was going to do, so she sent me off to different relatives. But I kept on acting up until they all sent me back to my mom. From there, I came to find you." The rusty swing Chizu sat on began to creak more and more as she moved herself forward and backward for a while. "Can I ask what your story is?"

Sai gave the best answer she could: "I lost a couple of young relatives, and no one looked at me the same. That's pretty much it." Chizu could tell by the look in her eyes that there was much more to her story than that, but she knew not to pry. If Sai had grown up this way, with coldness radiating off her constantly, and bright eyes that shamed darkness, she had to have a reason to not want to voice it.

"Do you think we should start heading back?" Sai nodded and got up. Chizu followed suit and they were soon walking side-by-side on the walkway. Sai had her hands in her pocket again, and the blonde girl copied her actions. In no time, they were back to the house. Her parents' cars were in the driveway, which meant that both were in the house. In their defense, they hadn't been outwardly hostile towards to the newest addition, but they didn't completely conceal it, either.

"Go around back, Chizu." Sai gave in her most commanding voice. Chizu herself was used to this sort of thing, and was glad that Sai acted protective where her parents were concerned. She left Sai's side and went around the house to the door that was located under where Sai's room was.

Sai continued on to the front door when she thought Chizu was a good distance away. It wasn't that she thought the girl might get hurt, it was that she didn't want her to have to put up with the same thing that Sai did.

She reached for the door, but paused when her hand was on the handle. "Satsujin, Ryuk. Go upstairs to my room and check for anything, alright?"

"Yeah, got it." Ryuk said, though he was uncharacteristically silent the entire time. That, or Sai just hadn't been paying any attention to him. Satsujin followed after him.

She sighed and opened the door… immediately being confronted with the smell of alcohol. Well, shit… It was best to stay out of their way when they were drunk, but Sai strode through the living room nonetheless. Empty bottle littered the tabletops.

"Where the hell've you been?" Her father addressed her while in his drunken state. Her mother was lying across the couch, oblivious to the world.

"I was out doing a few things." Her tone was icy, to say the least. Mr. Amora caught onto this and glared.

"You got a problem with me, bitch?" His words were so slurred she wasn't even sure if the last word was a curse or not.

She looked as though she was contemplating this. "Nah. So I'll just be going up to my room right now." She would love to kick his ass into his face, but she was so close to being free of them that it would just be stupid.

Even so, it didn't seem like the man would be having any of her attitude. "You wait right there." He got up and drunkenly staggered over to her. Sai stood her ground. She refused to show this man any emotion, even anger.

With that, it was no surprise that she kept up her careless façade… as he grabbed the front of her shirt and shoved her into the nearest wall. "You lose that tone when you speak to me." His threat was quiet in her ear.

She hated how close he was. "Why don't you learn to not pick a fight while you're drunk?" Her voice was low and menacing. The man seemed to blink twice at this, but then his face was a mask of rage and he raised his fist. It connected with her face and she fell to the floor. Blood started to gush out of her nose.

Her fists clenched and she was on the verge of using her self-defense skills on him, but she knew she shouldn't waste any more time on him. Instead of paying attention to the satisfied smirk on his face, she decided to go to her room. Picking herself up off the floor, she used one hand to hold her bloody nose while the other helped her keep balance as started the walk to the bathroom. There she dampened a cloth and held it to her face to soak up the blood until it stopped. Once that was done, she inspected the damage. Nothing was broken, so she felt fine and went to her bedroom.

"What happened to you, beauty queen?" Ryuk began talking the second she walked in the room.

"Nothing." She went to her desk and pulled up the request log.

"I have a question about all this." Ryuk spoke up from the corner of the room where he had been standing. "If Near is an intelligent human, then he should already have figured out that Jaakuna Herupa was probably a kid who has experienced a traumatic event? Knowing that, wouldn't you become a suspect with your past, Sai?" He looked at her with a small amount of amusement in his eyes.

She shook her head. "No, I won't."

"What about your parents, even they will make you seem more suspicious and get you caught." he argued on.

"No, he won't find something like that. You see, Ryuk, my past… it doesn't exist, and my parents, the people here, aren't my real ones."

As usual, thanks for reading ^^!