Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or Persona 4.

"In the world of gods of death there are a few copies of what humans may call a user guidebook for using the Death Note in the human world. However, the guidebook is not allowed to be delivered to humans."

Chapter 35: Malice

Light and Teddie finished hearing the stories of how Near and Mello first met L. Mello had been just some punk on the street when he was found by a young man who called himself Rue Ryuzaki. At the time, a unknown individual named BB, later known to be Beyond Birthday, was committing a series of murders. He kept leaving crossword puzzles for the police as clues, created and delivered by Mello. Naomi Misora, at the time an FBI agent, was trying to find the detective known as L to solve these murders. She encountered the man calling himself Ryuzaki, who as it turned out was really BB. BB was an almost exact duplicate of L, who wanted to give L a mystery even he couldn't solve and become the world's greatest criminal. Naomi was able to see through the deception, however, and stopped BB from committing suicide. When L saw Mello, he also saw his potential, and had him sent to Wammy House.

Near's story was a little interesting. He was the sole survivor of a village in Thailand that had been ravaged by a man-made plague with ten times the infection rate of the Ebola virus. Whisked off to L's secret headquarters by one of his associates, they soon ran into a young girl whose father had been forced to help make the virus by a group of bioterrorists, and was later killed so he couldn't make an antidote. The bioterrorists quickly learned they were too late, and the girl had something that could lead others to the antidote. When L got news of this, he, Near, and the girl sought out her father's research partner. Near was able to solve the puzzle the girl's father had left, and it turned out there was a reason he had survived. He was able to produce a compound normally only found in unborn fetuses, which happened to be the cure. After L used it to stop the terrorists, Near was dropped off at Wammy House to allow his mind to be put to be good use.

"So what about the girl," Teddie asked. Near played with his hair. "Funny thing. After it was all over, she and L fell in love." Teddie and Light looked at each other. It was kind of hard for either of them to picture L being romantic. "Yeah," Near said, "She wasn't the most normal of girls. Anyway, Gevanni's done his part. Are you sure this plan will work?" Light nodded. "As long as Mello is able to do his part. And don't worry about Kisuke's associates knowing your real name." Teddie closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were bright yellow. Mello's shadow appeared behind him and possessed him. "I've managed to get the hang of that," Teddie said as his eyes returned to their natural blue color, "Your shadow will keep you safe until you get hit by anything that could kill you. It's the only way for you to survive." Mello nodded. "Guess I'll have to be careful until that happens."

At III, Kisuke got a text message form Kiyomi. 'Seems Mikami's confirmed it. Good. Now I just have to wait.' He didn't have to wait long. "L, I think it's time we meet face to face. There's something important I must tell you about the Kira investigation." "I see," Kisuke said, "I'll not ask what it is, just yet, but I will express my concern regarding this development. After all, don't you suspect me of being Kira?" "That's true," Near said, "And this will be my one and only chance of proving it." Kisuke closed his eyes. 'He's right. We both no doubt have a final plan in place. After this, it'll all be over. Either he wins, and Kira is branded as a criminal, or I win, and Kira becomes justice and reigns as the god of a new world.'

"Very well then," Kisuke said, "How shall we do this?" "First," Near said, "I'd like everyone currently tasked with the Kira investigation to be there. My team, as I said, consists of four members including myself. We will be accompanied by Mr. Mogi, but not Ms. Amane. She will be released and will not be told where we are going. Once you have confirmed her release, you can make your way to our meeting place." Kisuke nodded. "Okay, other than myself and the Inaba team there are four other detectives currently assigned the Kira case within III. That of course includes Mogi. As for the Inaba team, I must ask that they be left out of this in the event of the worst-case scenario." 'Mikami's eyes are useless against the Personae, but he does know the names of Light and his friends. If they die, it will only prove I am Kira.'

"Let's compromise on that," Near said, "We only have the men from Inaba join us, minus Teddie. Since the notebook cannot kill non-humans, things would be too easy if he showed up." "Very well," Kisuke said, "What about our meeting place?" A picture of a warehouse showed up on the monitor. "This is Daikoku wharf. The warehouse you see has been abandoned for some time, and is known as the Yellow Box. I recently had it purchased for our purposes. As for our meeting time, we'll meet in three days on the twenty-eight of January, at one pm. Oh, and be sure to have someone other than L bring the notebook. We can have Mr. Aizawa confirm it's the real thing. Don't worry, we won't make any attempt to steal it." Kisuke smiled. "Alright. That sounds good." He leaned back in his chair. 'It's a little early to say I've won, because we aren't at the finish line yet. But I can at least say I've gotten a considerable head start. Near had obviously been following Mikami, but I expected that.'

Kiyomi thought about her recent meeting with Kisuke as she was driven off to NHN. She and Mikami had one last task, to kill Near. As the car she was in pulled up to the front, someone in a red sports car drove up to the entrance and fired off a smoke grenade. As Lidner led Kiyomi into the building, another person on a motorcycle wearing a tinted helmet pulled up. "Hang on," he said, "It's not safe anywhere around here, not even in the building. I'll take her to safety." Lidner realized it was Mello. "It's alright Ms. Takada, you'll be safe with him." Kiyomi nodded. As they drove off, Lidner called to have two teams follow Mello, and the rest to track the assailant. Once Mello saw the black cars following him, he turned down a narrow alley and handcuffed Kiyomi. Confused, she said, "What are you doing?"

Hearing what had just happened on the news, Kisuke was for once worried about Kiyomi. 'This can't be Near's doing. It's not his style. Besides, he promised us we'd meet in three days. I doubt he'd do anything to jeopardize that. This has got to be Mello's work.' Just then Near came in over the monitor. "I take it you've just seen the news. I'm certain that Mello's behind this, but you probably already knew that." "I did suspect as much," Kisuke said, "I hope this won't ruin our plans all of a sudden. I hear Ms. Takada's entire escort team as well as the police are searching for the assailants." Light suddenly got a text message. "It's from the police unit. Takada's guards found one of the assailants, and opened fire on him without provocation after he had surrendered." Kisuke winced. 'Jeez, it's getting to the point where they're not even waiting for Kira anymore.'

As Mello drove down the alley, Kiyomi realized who he was. 'This is the man Kisuke warned me about. His real name... I think it was Mihael Keehl, also known as Mello.' Mello drove into a parked truck and had got off. As Kiyomi got off as well, she saw Mello take off his helmet. Pointing a gun at her, he said, "Take off everything you have and put it in that box. You can use this to cover up." He held up a blanket in his other hand. Scared for her life, Kiyomi started to undress. When she was down to her bra and panties, she said, "Can I... Can I have the blanket before I remove the rest?" Mello thought for a second. "Sure." He tossed it too her. As Kiyomi removed her bra, she secretly took out a piece of the Death Note and held it in her hand. Once all her clothes were in the box, Mello sealed it up with duct tape and took it out.

He drove for a bit, then stopped to drop off the box on another truck. As he continued driving, he dropped Kiyomi's cell phone on the other seat. 'She probably snuck out a piece of the notebook and is controlling my actions. I really hope Teddie was right about this.' As soon as he parked inside a crumbling old church, he felt the tell-tale chill that indicated his shadow had protected him. After opening the door to the truck, he made the usual sounds and faked a heart attack, positioning himself in such a way that Kiyomi would think he had died. He carefully turned his head away from the window looking into the truck's storage vessel just in case. When Kiyomi heard the sounds, she took the wrench from the bag on Mello's bike and shattered the window, reaching into the cabin to grab her phone.

Kisuke got the call on his cell. 'Kisuke...,' came Kiyomi's voice, 'Please... Come save me...' 'She sounds scared,' Kisuke thought, 'Not that I blame her.' "Calm down Ms. Takada, and remember what I said. I told you that you could be in real danger as the spokesperson for Kira. Do you remember what I told you to do if something should happen?" Kiyomi seemed to choke on her words. 'Yes... I... I did it... I made survival my first priority... I did everything he said and didn't struggle... And... I did it...' 'Then Mello's dead,' Kisuke thought, 'One less obstacle.' "Ms. Takada. Remember what I told you to do afterward. Right now I need to know where you are right now so I can come and get you."

Kiyomi sniffled. 'I'm not sure exactly, but I saw a street sign that said we were heading for Nagano. I think I'm in a building somewhere. Please... Come find me...' "Stay calm Ms. Takada," Kisuke said, "We're on our way." He hung up. "Aizawa, Ide, you're with me. Matsuda, I need you to try and track that truck." Matsuda nodded, and the rest of them rushed off. Once at the car, Aizawa and Ide got in the front, with Kisuke in the back "I got the location by tracing the call," Kisuke said, "Head to Karuizawa by the freeway." Aizawa nodded. As he and Ide were focused on the road. Kisuke secretly got out his trick watch and began to write.

Mikami got the call from Kiyomi. 'T, I need you to send me as many names and photos of criminals as possible. I'll send you my e-mail address.' "Got it," Mikami said. He hung up the phone. 'If Kiyomi is calling me like this, it means she's managed to kill her kidnappers, but is in a position where she can't move. If that's the case...' After he finished sending the names and photos, he picked up his briefcase. Turning to his secretary, he said, "I'll be going to the scene of the crime for this case." He got in his car and drove off, followed carefully by Gevanni. 'The direction he's going in,' Gevanni thought, 'It's outside of his normal route, and nowhere near where the recent crime scene is. This may be the deviation Light told me to watch out for.'

Lidner drove up to the church were Mello told her to pick him up. She was shocked to find the place was on fire. "Hey!," Mello called out to her, leaning against a wall, "Over here!" Lidner breathed a sigh of relief. "I swear you have more lives than a cat." Mello chuckled. "Good I thing I took the time to open that door before the flames started. Let's get out of here before Kisuke shows up. I don't want him to realize I'm still alive." As they drove off, Kisuke and the others drove up. "What the hell?!," Aizawa said in shock. Kisuke fought back a grin. 'Just as I wrote it. Kiyomi Takada, suicide. January twenty-sixth, twenty-thirteen, two-thirty-two pm. Burns to death after setting fire to everything around her, including everything she wrote on. No offense Kiyomi, but you became a liability.'

Next chapter: 1/28

"It is perfectly okay for gods of death to read the guidebook for him/herself and teach humans about its contents, no matter what the content may be."

Two chapters left. Read and review.