Author's Note: I have the most terrible news of my existence! D: I think... I think... I think my iPod is broken! NOO! ...Now, some of you are breathing sighs of relief because I really had you guys freaked out there for a second, and the rest of you are like me and pitching a fit. Those of you who are pitching a fit know just how important music is to the life of a creative genius. Ha-ha yeah I'm kidding; but not about how much I need music to survive. Buuut enough about that. I still have a functioning iTunes and YouTube still works so yeah.

Okay! On to the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, or anything remotely associated with it - Well, this is getting more than a little repetitive eh? I wonder if there's something I can do to spice it up...? Not that you guys read the disclaimer anyway, but still. Heck, I'd be surprised if you all still read my long and pointless author's notes ha-ha.

I waited for a couple of days of Mello and Caitlin being all but glued to each other, and then decided that I wanted to up the ante in the little wager I had with myself about Mello and Matt and my not so little secret. I was going to put more on the table. I was going to tease the player. The number one way to make somebody want something, is to make sure that they can't have it. That's why I waited until I knew both Matt and Mello would be in their room before I crept over.

I knocked softly on their door later in the evening; once, twice. I opened the door a crack and peaked my head in. Mello looked like he was gathering his books together to go down to the library. All this time I thought Mello went down there to have easy access to any books he might need, but I instantly revised that theory when I saw Matt sitting on the floor playing video games. Quiet, but frequent pinging noises were emanating from his handheld device. It would be enough to drive any person crazy, let alone a person who was trying to study.

I wouldn't be bothered with that now though, I wasn't here for Mello... well, I wasn't here mostly for Mello. Showing up was all part of the tease certainly, but I had a legitimate reason to be there. "Matt," I called quietly and he looked up from his game. The pinging stopped and from the corner of my peripheral vision I saw Mello's head turn a fraction of an inch in my direction; it was almost imperceptible, but it was there. "Matt," I said again, "will you help me with something? That thing we talked about before?" I felt Mello stiffen with curiosity. Whether or not he wanted to be with me, he was most definitely still taking at least a hair of an interest in my life.

"Yeah sure," Matt answered casually after a second, and hauled himself up off the floor.

I waited until Matt was close and then I turned and let him follow me out of the room. I felt Mello burning holes in my back the whole way back to my room.

I dug the discs Matt had given me for Christmas out from my dresser drawer.

"What's this all about?" Matt asked, attempting to get some background information on my request before he helped me hack the school. Not that it would make much of a difference I assumed, but he might as well know what was going on.

"I overheard a phone conversation Roger had with someone yesterday. It sounded like it was about me." Maybe that was being a little egotistical, but I had to be sure.

"Yeah? So what?"

"I don't know for sure, but it's something Roger doesn't want me to know, and at the very least I want to know why he doesn't want me to know... you know?"

"I know."

Matt took the discs from my hand and went over to the computer on my desk. He wasted no time booting it up and clicking on windows and dialogue boxes at every turn. "Okay, come here and watch a master."

"Yes sir Mr. Kenobi," I teased. He was the one who had brought up 'masters' after all; he didn't specify what kind.

I skipped lightly over to him and watched over his shoulder. He took the top disc from the stack and slid it in to the CD tray on the side. Nothing happened for a second and then the machine whirred and buzzed and a dialogue box popped up on the screen.

"Alright, here's the thing. Because this computer is linked to the mainframe at the school it won't be hard at all to hack Roger's main office computer. You know," Matt started off on a side rant, "for a guy who works at a school with geniuses he sure isn't too worried about his computer security. Kids like me try and hack his account just for fun around here, just because we can. You think he'd up his security or some..."

"Matt!" I snapped sharply.

"Oh, oh, yeah right. Okay, I designed this computer software right. It's something of a virus. It'll automatically link your computer to the mainframe that you're using. Most computers won't do that on their own, most computers need administrative consent, if you will, before the mainframe will allow the computer access. This program I created is designed to bypass all the administrative security. Basically it's like," he seemed to consider the best analogy for a moment, "it's like, a backdoor, one that someone forgot to lock. You could try and struggle your way in via the locked front door, but why not just go around to the back."

"Okay, sure. I get it."

"The other's I'll show you some other time." Then Matt paused, he seemed to realise that there may not be 'another time' if I was leaving in a week. He shook off the thought though and continued, "Alright, we're in. What am I looking for?"

"I don't know. My file? Something about me? It's got to be something recent. They were just talking about it the other day."

Matt scrolled and clicked and typed and no more than five minutes later he came up with a result. There were pages of writing in front of him and what looked to be a scan of a newspaper article. Matt sped read through the whole thing and then said, "Listen up. 'New evidence has arisen in the case of the mysterious fire that left two children orphaned back in November of last year,'" he quoted. I wanted to ask 'What new evidence?' but I had a feeling Matt was getting to that. "'The fire is believed to have been set purposely by serial arsonist who was captured and then released from prison in early November. However, as he was awaiting his hearing he died one night from a mysterious heart attack. Rumours are speculating that this was the work of the person who has come to be known as 'Kira', however, local police refuse to comment on the issue.'" I was speechless. "It just goes on from there," Matt said, "but that's the gist of it."

I was most definitely speechless. I tried to make words and sounds but my mouth only opened and closed in vain until I managed, "But, they told us the fire was accidental."

"I guess they got new information since then," Matt answered, a hint of sympathy in his voice.

"Why didn't they tell us?"

Matt just shrugged. "Could be they just didn't want to drag this out. I mean one, this guy might've not been guilty, and why work you or Near up over this anyway? it isn't as though either of you could do anything about it now."

"That's not the point, they should have told us," I felt so unbelievably betrayed and deceived. There was something more there too. A growing hatred was growing like a fire inside of me. Some man had killed my parents; some man had killed my parents for kicks. This man had torn my family apart; this man had caused me no end of trouble and discomfort. It was because of this man I had lost my family, lost all but everything I owned; I'd had to move, start a new school, I was put under so much pressure and he was ultimately why I lost my eyesight. By the time I had thought everything through I was furious. I had suffered so much because of him, who was going to make sure he suffered?

"I agree, but whatcha gonna do?" Matt said, totally unaware of my sudden mood shift. Besides," he continued, "it looks like this guy is dead now anyway." Matt tapped a few more keys on the computer and another screen popped up and I stared down at it. It was another article, one focusing on Kira.

I read through the article over Matt's shoulder. It went on and on about how Kira had killed many criminals, and about how the victims of those criminals were all praising Kira as their god. They had all been in the same position I was in now, they were all angry at the criminals who had come in and disrupted their lives, they were all so angry that the people who were accused of the crimes again were not being severely punished. And then Kira had stepped in, Kira had punished the criminals and become the victims' saviour; Kira was their hero because of what he had done.

I found myself wondering if I felt that same way too. Was I happy because Kira had killed the man suspected of killing my parents? Did I look up to Kira as my saviour? The arsonist had been punished; how did I feel about that?

"Earth to Jewel," Matt's voice suddenly broke though.

"Huh?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes, way to zone out there."

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry."

Matt gave me a scrutinizing glance, like he was trying to figure out if I had hit my head without him noticing. "'Kay, well if that's everything you wanted."

"Uh, yeah Matt, thanks. A lot."

"Sure thing," he stood up from my desk. "You going to be okay?" he asked me.

"Sure Matt," I threw my most convincing smile at him. I wasn't really sure if he bought it or not, but he said goodnight and left anyway. I shuffled over to my bed and sat on the edge.

I didn't sleep that night.

Thoughts raced over and over in my head; all the same thoughts, all in the same order. My parents had died; they couldn't have been saved. My parents had been murdered; it hadn't been an accident. The criminal who killed my parents was dead; he had been killed by Kira. Kira was killing many criminals; Kira was viewed to be a saviour. My parents had died; they couldn't have been saved. My parents had been murdered; it hadn't been an accident. The criminal who killed my parents was dead; he had been killed by Kira. Kira was killing many criminals; Kira was viewed to be a saviour. There was something wrong with my thought process, I could tell. There was something that I was missing, something that I couldn't get past and I didn't know what it was or why I couldn't see it.

When a house is as silent as a grave, even the slightest of noises sounds like a bomb going off. I was jarred out of my circular thoughts at four AM when a soft knock, a soft knock that sounded like a hand grenade, came from my door.

"Hello," Linda peaked her head in.

"Oh, hey," I tried not to sound disappointed. "What's up?"

"The two of us I suppose," she joked. I faked a small smile. "What are you doing awake at this hour?" she asked me.

"Just couldn't sleep," I shrugged casually. She nodded and then something occurred to me, "What are you doing awake at this hour?" I asked her back.

"I was just on my way to the washroom," she answered, "I saw the light under your window and thought that I ought to investigate," she smiled at me again.

That made sense. A person who climbed the stairs to the second floor could make a choice, they could go left, or they could go right. To the left was the girls' wing and to the right was the boys'. The two wings were really just one long hallway, divided by the stairs and nothing else. Her story made sense.

"So man, you're going to be moving in with me tomorrow eh?" she pointed out. I thought about it and realised that since it was four in the morning, and that was technically the start of a new day, that she was in fact correct.

"Yeah I guess I am."

"You haven't packed at all. Do you want a hand?" she asked hesitantly, as though I might take her up on her offer this second and make her pack with me in the middle of the night.

"Sure," I started, "but in the morning how about?" I chuckled lightly.

She smiled sweetly at me, "Sure, see you tomorrow; or rather, in a couple hours I guess," she laughed and left my room.

I decided that if I was going to be packing tomorrow I might as well get some sleep. I'd worry about the Kira thing some other time. 'No reason to lose sleep over it,' I told myself and chuckled wryly at the irony. I was about to get up to turn the light off when there was another knock at my door.

I opened it before the last knock hit the wood and almost came face to fist with a, well a fist. Mello's hand was extended mid air where the middle of my door had once been and where my face now was.

"What do you want?" I asked. I'm sure I sounded more surprised than he was. His hand was still hovering in the air and the look on Mello's face told me that he may or may not suspect me of having psychic powers.

"You should really get some sleep," he muttered, shaking of the surprise at having the door open before he had even finished knocking.

'You're one to talk,' I thought to myself, but responded dryly with, "Yeah I was just about to."

"What are you doing up so late?" I may have just wanted to hear it, but I could've sworn there was a hint of concern in his voice.

"Well isn't that interesting," I said with mock interest, "there's something that Mello doesn't know."

"Jeeze, I was just asking," he turned around to leave.

"Mello," I shouted frantically and yet quietly because it was still the middle of the night.

When he turned back towards me his expression was rife with disinterest. Maybe Matt hadn't told Mello that I was leaving after all. Maybe Matt had stuck to his promise, and was no longer the co-conspirator I had labelled him as. I thought back to how it had probably been sort of mean of me to lie to Matt in the first place. "Well, what do you want?" he asked when I didn't say anything else.

"Nothing," I said bitterly and closed the door behind him.

Linda and I had everything packed by five. It hadn't been a challenge. I didn't have a whole lot to pack up and I was only moving down the hall after all. I supposed that when I left to work with L I would have to take a little more care and consideration as to what and how I would pack, but as it was I only had two suitcases and two boxes total.

Linda had told me that she was already for me and so we had decided that I would just move in now and not have to worry about it the next day.

"Alright, let's get moving," Linda cheered happily. She seemed to be genuinely pleased that I would be her roommate. She and I each took one suitcase and one box and I closed the door that was no longer mine.

"Jewel!" I heard a frantic shout from down the hallway.

Author's Note: Hey :D LOL. Okay, so the general consensus seems to be that I upload the first chapter of my next Fic; The Sequel, one. Now, I think I'm going to do it :) If you don't want to read it until I finish this one that's perfectly cool. And nobody worry, I'm not going to try and write both Fic's at the same time. I'm going to upload the first chapter and then just leave it until I finish writing this one. Sound cool everyone? Okay good ;P But there is one thing. I wrote the first chapter right, well it's something like 5,000 words! My usual is around 3,000. That's almost double! So, here's the situation:

I was debating THREE possibilities...

1. I could upload the chapter as is, 5000 words and all.
Advantage: It's the whole chapter as I intended it to be read.
Disadvantage: It'd be a long read.

2. I could upload the chapter in two broken up parts.
Advantage: It's a much shorter and less drawn out read.
Disadvantage: I've more or less decided where I would break the one chapter into two, and it turns out that the first bit is not the least bit exciting, and the second part has all the action. And I said I would only update one chapter; this would be uploading two.

3. I could make a few adjustments just for this one upload. I could cut some of the beginning 'lead-in' and make it shorter.
Advantage: The reader gets the exciting chapter that I promised, and I could always upload the 'lead-in' when I decided to officially start working on the sequel.
Disadvantage: ?

Hmm... you know what? Writing it out like that made my options a bit more clear to me. I think I'm going to go with number three. Yeah? Yeah, I think I'll go with that one.

Ha-ha, thanks guys for all of you who took the time to read all that. But you can all still voice your opinion if you want :) Freedom of speech and all that :P