Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note

Sorrow was speechless.

L faced the Shinigami outside Anna's bedroom door. "Again, I could hardly be blamed for her rashness." He said, "I guess you should be thanking me I saved her."

The Shinigami hovered, speechless. Finally, he said, "Am I supposed to blame this on her?"

L scratched the back of his head, and then pocketed his hand again. "Actually, I believe she was going to blame it on you."

"Oh." Sorrow walked through the wall into her room, L walked away, unwilling to listen to the conversation.

Anna sat on her bed , her left arm in a sling, and stared at the Shinigam. Sorrow stood before her, "Remind me why you had to almost get yourself killed on the night I went to fly?" Sorrow asked, "At least try to make our job easier."

The assassin glared at him, "That's exactly right. You Shinigami were supposed to keep me safe and I've been almost dead three times. Three times!"

"We don't keep you from harm." Sorrow answered with a shrug, "We keep you from Death, that's our job."

Anna rolled her eyes and sighed, "Don't give any of us a hard time. I'm not injured that badly." She looked to her snapped arm, "Shouldn't be that bad, I'll compromise."

Sorrow opened his mouth to speak.

"No." Anna said.

"I didn't say anything yet." Sorrow narrowed his eyes.

"Sorry." Anna smiled, "I'm just telling you beforehand that I'm not staying here, I'm going to Japan, you can come, or you can stay here, its your choice." She playfully tugged at her hair, "I know Ryuk's coming."

The Shinigami hissed, leaning closer to her, "I'm only trying to help you." Sorrow said, "But I must say, pup, I'm running out of patience."

Anna's eyes turned cold and hard, "I'm not your pup." She told him, "I've never known you; it is impossible for you to turn up and expect to rule my life because you say you're my father."

"I became a Shinigami for you." Sorrow croaked angrily, "I became this monster that lives off human sufferings, for you."

"And the Shinigami's interference has made my life a living hell!" Anna snapped, "I was tortured, experimented on, used, brutally shot again and again, put a trial, faced executioners, kissed a guy who I wanted to kill, played with the mafia, got shot again, nearly drowned, nearly blown to pieced with a bomb, and nearly drowned again."

"I tried." Sorrow said earnestly, "It's not my fault your mother and I were taken on that bitter wintry day, and she was shot dead. I was ill, and I tried to do the best I could before they shot me too! The only redemption I gave myself was the fact that you had escaped while we were taken, that luckily, you were away."

Anna shook her head, "I am still going to Japan." She said, "you do your job, protect me, and I'll do mine."

"Which is?"

"That's none of your business." She whispered with a glare, "Now leave me alone."

L, walking by a slightly annoyed Shinigami, paid little attention to Sorrow's mutterings and walked towards Anna's bedroom. Judging by situations, he was 78 sure that they had some sort of conflict, and was curious as to what it was. However, after knocking on the door and receiving a hasty "Come in.", he found Emma, holding down Anna's feet while she did sit-ups.

"Hey." Anna greeted, her good arm behind her head and her injured one resting on her stomach in the sling.

L eyed them both. Emma smiled back nervously.

"Sit-ups." He observed, "Will you excuse us?" he eyed Emma.

Anna rolled her eyes as Emma got to her feet and left them. "Come on, I had to work out after such a long time of being spoiled, and we all know what it would look like if one of your butlers was here instead."

L smiled and knelt down to hold her ankles as she continued. "Are you still coming to Japan?" he asked, "No offense, but I do think Sorrow may be right. You could stay here if you wanted."

Anna sighed and shook her head, "Cause that worked so well last time you stayed in Japan while I came here. I'm going."

"I figured." L shrugged, "But the trial is going to happen before you're healed."

Anna nodded, "I'm willing to make a compromise."

"What?"

"I'm going to Japan, but I won't partake in the trial, or do any sort of investigations until I'm at least somewhat healed." she paused to take a break, "That won't be much of a problem, it's going to take a long time to pass the trial, especially if Light really has lost his memories."

"I know you have a good regenerating system but even you can't heal that fast." L's eyes narrowed in a frown.

Anna grinned, "I've been drugged and experimented on more that you can believe. There are at lot of chemicals running through me."

"The fact that it doesn't seem to bother you kind of scares me." L admitted.

Anna laughed, "It can't do much when your lifespan is put on hold."

L grinned, "I didn't know you would ever take a break willingly."

Anna shrugged and proceeded to her one hand push ups, her injured arm behind her back. "Well, I'm not taking a break willingly, but I really can't do much with a broken arm. I hate being disabled."

"I have a gym." L told her, "If you're interested."

Anna shook her head, "See, I always figured that it would be better if I worked at my own pace." She explained, "Besides, the machines from my past haven't been exactly friendly. It's not a problem really; I just don't find them useful enough for me anymore." She sighed, staring at her broken arm, "This sucks…I can't do back flips with one arm…"

L grinned, "Take it easy." He said as a gentle knock came on the door.

"Master Ryuuzaki, I believe you have a meeting with your grandfather?" Daniel said, holding the door open.

"Yes." L stood, "I will leave in a moment."

Daniel gave a slight bow and closed the door behind him. Anna rose to her feet, "You're going to see Watari?"

"Yes," L replied, and then as Anna opened her mouth to speak again, he shook his head. "No, you can't."

The assassin frowned, "I didn't say anything."

"You can't come with me anyway." L smiled, "Sorrow won't allow it."

"Sorrow is getting to be a pain." Anna seethed, "I can always threaten him…"

"I don't think that would be a good idea." L replied, as she walked him to the door, giving him a tight hug. Awkwardly as always, the detective returned the embrace. "I also feel the need to insist that while it's okay here. We need to be strictly professional when we do go to Japan if we are to be taken seriously, at least until the case is over. What with Kira caught and death by cardiac arrest still going on, we'll be doubted enough as it is."

"Of course, I understand." Anna reassured him, and hugged him again, "I'll be making up for my missed opportunities now then."

L grinned and shook his head as he left, "Whatever you say."

With him gone, Anna thought about her day and decided that it was best that he go to the gym after all; maybe find Matt for some company, or for permission to interrogate her attackers. She might see Mello too. Anna felt a bit of unease as she thought of the blonde boy. Last time they had seen each other, he was trying to get her killed. Still, living in the same house and trying to avoid each other is ridiculous beyond words. She would have to try and talk to him.

Without a second thought she made her way down to the gym that Matt had showed her yesterday. No surprise, Mello was there. Anna grinned as she thought of L. He was the one who suggested she should come; he knew Mello was going to be here, that devious detective. "Hey Mello." She said, drawing a flinch from the blonde boy as he turned to look at her.

What she saw surprised her, for there was a scar plastered over the left side of Mello's face. "What happened to your eye?" she questioned, quickly walking up to him as she examined it closely.

"It's nothing." Mello said, "Excuse me, I was just leaving."

Anna grabbed his arm, "Let's face it, you can't avoid me forever, not when you're one of L's successors and I'm, well, his girlfriend, especially not when we're living here in the same house. What happened to your face?"

"Just leave me alone." Mello replied coldly, trying to free his arm.

"No." was Anna's steely answer.

Mello tried again to jerk his arm free, but found that the girl, though shorter than him, had a harder grip than he had imagined. "Why the persistence?" he asked hopelessly.

"Maybe because this whole thing is getting ridiculous like I said!" Anna exclaimed, "I was acting on orders, and you were acting on instinct to kill me, it's not your fault, so stop avoiding me already!"

"Fine." Mello replied and tried again to free his hand.

Anna didn't let go, "What happened to your face?"

Mello's voice was uncomfortable, "It was burned when I had to blow down our hiding place. It turns out that some of Kira's followers and the police have followed us there after…the incident at the bridge. I escaped, as did everyone else, but I was caught in the explosion." He was quiet as he spoke, "I'm sorry for my actions, it was just an assumption. As Near says, "investigations are based upon assumptions, when you're wrong, you just have to say "sorry". I'm saying sorry now."

Taking in a deep breath, Anna nodded firmly, "Of course, it was partly my own fault. I don't blame you, Mello; I would've done the same thing." She took another breath, "Now, that wasn't so hard was it?"

Mello nodded and grinned, "Just, heal your arm and get taller before you try to threaten me again."

Ignoring the comment, Anna walked with him out of the gym, "What do you plan on doing today?" she asked, "The Shinigami wouldn't let me out of the house, but I'd wager you know some secret tunnels or something in this maze of a house."

"I might." Mello replied slyly. "But I'd hate to get punched again just because I aided your escape while L was away."

"He doesn't have anything against it. It's only the Shinigami that wants to keep me in." Anna explained, "Please, Mello? You know I would find a way out eventually anyway, isn't it better that you come along in case something does happen?"

"Great, a Shinigami, that's even better." Mello looked around, searching for the rotting image of Sorrow.

"Oh come on, Mello. It's the least you can do after trapping me on that bridge."

"I thought you forgave me!" Mello exclaimed, "This is so unfair!"

"Life is never fair, friend." Anna smiled smugly.

Mello thought for a moment, then sighed, "There's no arguing with you is there?"

"I tend to get what I want." Anna replied.

The blond boy laughed and shook his head, "I guess I can keep you entertained until he gets back. Come on."

Smiling, Anna followed him up the stairs, all the way to the top floor. Then Mello walked to the end of a hall, a dead end, or so it seemed like until he opened a cleverly hidden panel and punched in some codes, revealing a doorway that led up. To the roof, she guessed. Mello did know secret ways that L built into his house. For defensive purposes, she thought.

As she guessed, light from the other side quickly transformed to a wide space on the roof. The sky was a cloudless blue around her, a sunny day; she had forgotten when she last enjoyed the weather like this. Then, Mello's quick wave from the edge drew her attention, and she walked silently over, peering over the rail like Mello. "Do you know who they are?" Mello asked, pointing to the people the curiously began to surround the building.

"Uh. No." Anna replied

"Any idea why they're surrounding us?" Mello asked again.

"No. But they could be trying to kill me, like the last ones." Anna guessed.

Heaving a sigh, Mello took a step back and crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Alice-no sorry, Anna, be honest, how many people did you piss off enough that they would try to kill you?"

"Thirty nine." Anna answered with a nervous laugh, "Excluding Kira."

"We caught a group last night, now here's another one…that's thirty seven more groups of people that are probably planning to kill you at this very moment. Excluding Kira." Mello counted, "If they have seven or eight people in each group, that's almost three hundred people that's coming after you. Damn, I'm going to kill James, how many people did he tell?"

"A lot." Anna simply replied. "Ugh why can't people just leave me alone?"

Mello looked at her sarcastically, "I'm taking a ramdom uneducated guess here but...revenge...maybe? Slight chance?"

"Oh shut up." Anna rolled her eyes, "but come on. Thirty seven groups! I even regretted what i did! This just goes to show that you should never leave a single member connected to the targe alive. Ever."

Mello shrugged, "You'd have to kill an awful lot of people."

Realizing that they were plainly chatting while a mob of people wanted her dead downstairs, Anna observed the men once again. "Shouldn't we do something about, you know, them?" Anna pointed down the roof to the men oblivious to what was going on above them. There they were, like ants when looked upon from such a height, scurrying around the corners and waving to each other silently in a crazy frenzy. "They don't seem to be very skilled." Anna observed, and then winced as two of them crashed into each other while trying to turn corners. "Or organized, I think we can take them."

Mello nodded, "We probably can, but you should stay here, heck L really would kill me if you broke another arm or leg. So, do us both a favor, stay here." Walking across to the wall, some more fiddling with codes and Mello had two guns in his hands, one of which he pocketed. Then without another moment, the blond boy had swung himself off the roof.

The assassin sighed, "You're so obvious Mello." She muttered under her breathe as she watched him land and roll, startling a man as he was checking around the corner. He was, as she predicted, quickly knocked unconscious as Mello got to his feet. Turning, she walked around and grabbed two more guns from the box that Mello had purposely left unlocked, tucked one in her pocket, and swung easily over the rail with her good hand. The fall was exhilarating, Anna smiled as she felt a rush of adrenaline power through her, then her foot met solid ground, and she fell into a forward shoulder roll. "Like I would ever listen to you, Mello," Anna sighed.

With a gun in her hands, it wasn't hard for Anna to sneak behind three men. She shot one of them in both knees, and then rolled to the side a second before the other two fired their weapons. Apparently, this was the reaction that most people made when one of their comrades were shot. It was almost a routine thing to do, and very easy to predict.

As she rolled, she fired two more bullets, both of which found their mark, crushing her opponent's knees and rending them immobile. The third man turned and ran, but bumped into Mello, who jabbed the butt of his gun in the man's temple in one fluid motion. "I thought I told you to stay put." Mello said, and shot someone who just came around the far corner in the knee without taking his eyes off her.

Anna stood up and dusted the dirt out of her clothes. "Yeah right, good try Mello, but no luck, maybe next time."

"I never doubted you for a second." Mello laughed.

"What's with all the noise?" Matt stuck his head out of the third floor window, and saw the four unconscious men lying on the ground. Anna waved; the gun still in her hand. The bronze haired boy laughed, "WooHoo! Save some for me!"

And so, within the next five minutes, Anna, Mello and Matt have captured the fifteen men that surrounded the building without breaking a sweat. Mello crossed his arms as he surveyed their catch, immobilized with ropes and lying in a horizontal line in front of the door where they dragged them. Half of them were unconscious, and the other half, due to Anna's exceptional gunmanship, were clutching their knees and screaming too much to be of any real threat. He was unharmed, as were they, though that might not be the case if Matt keeps attempting to light that cigarette in celebration of their victory.

"Hey Matt," Mello finally ordered, "Stop it, I'll take you to a bar later."

That resolved, the three simply guarded them and watched them groan in pain, re-knocking out those that regained consciousness after a while. Near had come out the door once, the white haired boy looked at the fifteen men, blinked exactly twice, turned around, and walked back into the house without comment. Sorrow and Ryuk had stumbled upon them too, Sorrow gawking for a total of three minutes and twenty seconds before turning around and floating wistfully away and Ryuk simply laughing to hard to do much else. Eventually, the three decided to simply enter the house, sit in the living room and watch the men from a more comfortable environment, re-directing any oblivious cook or butler that strayed close to the front in their daily chores.

Even L didn't know what to say when he found his surprise present lying in the front of his door. After pausing for a moment to think silently to himself, the detective decidedly walked around them, up the stairs and opened the door for himself before any dedicated butler decided to do so and just as quickly, slipped it shut behind him. He didn't pause to talk to Mello, Matt, or Anna as he strode past them rather quickly to the phone.

"Watari, yes I'm fine. But I need clean up, quickly, if you please." L said into the phone, then nodded, "Thank you." and hung up.

That done, he perched on the couch opposite Mello, Matt, and Anna, "Okay what happened?" he asked, then raised a hand before they answered, "Scratch that, is anyone hurt?" he paused again, "Scratch that." He waited for a while, contemplating what question would be best to ask and how he should phrase it. After a few minutes of asking himself whether the people sitting opposite him are sane, L gave up. "James?" he asked, and Mello nodded. L thought some more, "So there are probably thirty seven more people that'll be attacking my precious house. It's not a very safe place anymore, so we'll be going to Japan tomorrow, any questions?"

When no hands came up, L nodded and stood, "Tell Emma I want cake." He told Matt, then turned to Anna, "I want to see you in your room young lady, yes, you're in trouble."

Author's Note: Sorry this took awhile. I was having blocks. I must stop procrastinating! Technically I took a detour cause I accidently snapped Anna's arm in the last chapt...but it couldn' t be helped. It was a last moment thing, the whole incident with James. Not very well planned at all and i apologize.

I put a lot of sarcasm at the end of this chapter. It seems short. But the paragraphs are actually quite long on word... but oh well. ENjoy!

And review. Please.

Hotori