Last time on No Matter What...
"Are you okay dear?" A black gloved hand landed on his shoulder. He looked down to see his fiancé, Naomi Misora, looking up worriedly at him.
He smiled reassuringly back at her. "I'm fine honey! So, where do we head next?"
"Well..."
And the couple started weaving its way through the crowds of the Narita Airport once more, him now ready for the mission he faced, and her worrying about the safety of her fiancé.
It turns out she was right to worry.
4 DAYS LATER
Sunny yawned and stretched her arms out. It had been 4 days since the FBI had arrived in Japan. Many of them had started to trail their target families as soon as they'd been able to get out of the airport while others chose to settle down, think their mission through, and then start trailing their target families. Raye Penber just so happened to be the latter.
Sunny didn't know Raye Penber personally; however, she did know his fiancé. Naomi Misora was a legend in the FBI; she was the person who had solved the Beyond Birthday case alongside L (and her!). Of course, since L always sent her to spy on the police forces they'd work with when solving cases, Sunny had had the pleasure of meeting the legend herself.
Naomi Misora was a strong, independent woman who was passionate about her work; not to mention, she was extremely good at it too. Therefore, it came to Sunny as a surprise when she'd heard through the grapevine that Naomi Misora was quitting her career at the FBI in order to marry a fellow FBI agent, Raye Penber. Naomi had seemed like that last person to do that kind of thing, and yet...
She shook her head. It wasn't her place to be thinking this; what Naomi did with her life was her decision. Besides, Sunny knew that Naomi had a level head on her shoulders; she would be fine...
Right?
THE NEXT MORNING...
As Chief Yagami prepared himself for another day of trying to catch Kira, his phone rang. Considering it to be a call from his superiors, he picked it up, yawning as he did so.
"Hello? Yes, it's me," he mumbled tiredly. "Another 6 people in prison? Heart attacks?" He leaned back. "It's Kira then." He relaxed and thought about how nice it would be to go home and just sleep.
However, what the person on the phone said next erased all thoughts of sleep from his mind. "What? Three of the people did something unprecedented right before they died?" From the back of the room, a man in a black hat and trench coat started typing something on his laptop. He raised his eyes and listened for more.
"W-what do you mean? Didn't they just die of heart attacks?" A little bit of panic had crept into the Chief's voice now, and what he heard next boggled his mind completely.
"No, three of them died normally, but one of them, right before he died, cut his finger and drew a strange picture on the wall..."
The Chief looked down at the picture in his hand. It seemed to be a bloody pentagram inside of a circle. As he moved to the next piece of evidence, the voice on the other line said, "Another left a note. It's not a will... truth be told, I haven't faintest clue as to what it's supposed to be."
As the Chief inspected the note, he became confused too. The note said,
"Looks like whatever I
Do, I'll be executed. Or, like
You must suspect, I
Know I'll be killed by Kira."
"Odd," the chief murmured. He was so intrigued by the note that he almost missed what the third criminal did.
"The third one escaped from prison only to die in a public bathroom."
"Anything else?"
"No, that's all."
"Alright then. Thank you for the evidence and information. We'll analyze the evidence now and get back to you as soon as possible."
"Thank you."
As the Chief put down the phone, he didn't notice the man in the trench coat send an email of the evidence to another person...
BACK AT THE CONDO...
Sunny was startled awake as the computer beeped with Watari's email. L was already by the computer, so she silently padded her way across the cold wood floor and sat down next to him, pulling her knees underneath her as she did so.
"What is it, Watari?" L asked in an alert whisper, not giving away the fact that only moments ago, he'd been sleeping alongside Sunny.
Watari's voice came through the computer. "A little while ago, some heart attack victims different from what we've seen before were discovered."
"Different from what we've seen before?" L repeated.
Sunny tilted her head. "How so, Watari?"
Watari answered with, "I'm sending pictures of the drawing and note left at the scenes of the deaths."
"Thank you," L said the same time Sunny said, "Please do."
Instantly, 3 pictures popped up. One was a photograph of a pentagram in a circle. It seemed as if it was made with blood. Another was an image of a dead body in a public restroom. Still another was a photocopy of a strange note left behind at the crime scene.
L scrutinized the evidence, then turned to Sunny and asked, "What do you make of this, Sunny?"
Sunny chewed her bottom lip and released it slowly. "Well... really, all I can figure out is how apt the pentagram and what little it reveals about Kira."
"How so?"
"Well, traditionally, the pentagram is most commonly known as being the sign of the devil. If Kira is a person, perhaps a student, who exhibits what he claims is god-like behavior, then through this image, we can see that he subconsciously thinks that criminals are evil. Which doesn't really give us much to work with," she admitted apologetically.
"And the note?" he prompts.
She shot him a withering look. "Ryuu, even you could figure out that the note means he's scared of what Kira might do to him."
"So you think that then..." he murmured, unconsciously biting his thumb.
"Yes." Sunny started to absentmindedly draw figures on the cold wood floor. "What do you think, Ryuu?"
L took his thumb out of his mouth. "Well, I agree with you in that it seems as if the person who wrote the note was terribly scared that Kira may kill him, however..." he turned to her, and she could almost see the gears shifting in his mind, could almost hear them change as he rearranged the evidence in his mind. "What if it wasn't just something the criminal did on his own?"
Sunny furrowed her brows in confusion. "Wha-" and then she stopped. And L could hear the click of the last piece of the puzzle as it settled into her mind.
She looked at him with a grave look on her face. "You think Kira did this."
"Yes."
"Why?"
L turned to the computer and scrolled through the rest of evidence. "Well, it's simple really. Kira can control the time of death. Isn't it possible he can also control someone's actions right before they die?"
Sunny blinked. "Well, why now then?"
L started to bite his thumb again. "Perhaps he's trying to test his limits; he's trying to see how far he can or cannot go."
Sunny turned over the foreign concept in her mind, toying with it, getting to know it. "I suppose what you're saying makes sense," she began slowly, "Couple it with the fact that all 3 people died of heart attacks after performing some kind of absurd task..."
"So you believe me?" he asked.
Sunny looked up from her nonexistent scribbles on the floor and into L's eyes. "Yes, Ryuu, I believe you. But the real question is, will the police?"
"That doesn't matter." L said confidently, turning back to the computer.
Sunny gazed at him in amazement. "Ryuu, of course it matters! I mean, you're working with them to catch Kira. I should think it matters whether or not they'll believe you."
L kept looking at the computer. "What I meant to say, is that while it does matter whether or not the police will believe me, they're not my priority. You are, Sunny. If I can't make you believe me, I'll have no support when I'm going into the situation. Besides, while I can convince the police what I'm saying and thinking is what we should go on," he tilted his head to the side to make eye contact with her, "I can't convince you. Even if I tried, it would be extremely hard to do." With that, he turned back to the computer.
As Sunny stared at him (again), she tried to fight the blush rising up to her face. And failed. Miserably.
She sighed under her breath. L never complimented her that much, but whenever he did, she turned into a fluttering, flustering mess. She knew why of course. In fact, she had known for a long time that she was in love with her best friend. Her smart (no way, really?!), eccentric, sweet-loving best friend...
...who was now talking with the police on his findings. Sunny snapped out of her daze and shook her head, trying to get herself into the discussion.
"About these most recent victims... Please don't announce to the press anything other than the fact they died of heart attacks."
From the camera, Sunny could see all the people in the room. However, her focus was on the Chief with his dark, stormy, and focused expression.
L paused before moving on. "It is possible that Kira is using these criminals as participants in some sort of tests. If that's the case, then we'd just be going out of our way to tell him the results."
The room looked tired in the beginning; however, at L's announcement, Sunny thought she could detect shock, disgust, and disbelief etched onto their faces.
"U-understood. We'll do as you say, L." 'Poor Chief. He's about to reach his limit. Hopefully, he won't break.'
L turned the mic and camera off while Sunny sighed and got more comfortable. It was time to sift through the new evidence.
5 MINUTES LATER
"Hey Ryuu?"
"Yes?"
"What you said earlier, about Kira testing those 3 criminals... what about the 3 that did nothing before they died of heart attacks? Is there a possibility that they were a part of the test too?"
L turned to her. "Yes, it is extremely possible. In fact, I was just thinking that they were the failures of the particular test that Kira wanted to run." He turned to the computer and read the note again.
Sunny propped her head on her right hand and started to scribble again. "Why would he toy around with the prisoners though?"
L bit his thumb. "Perhaps... it's because he's trying to test his ability to kill. I would bet that those 3 people who died doing nothing strange beforehand were the ones with which he'd overstepped his boundaries."
Sunny was quiet for a moment, and then murmured worriedly, "Ryuu, do you think Kira suspects that he's being followed by the FBI?"
"You're assuming that he is one of the people that I have being followed," he stated monotonously.
Sunny lifted her chin in defiance. "Yes, yes I am."
"That's a dangerous assumption, Sunny. Don't go making theories you don't have any real evidence to back up with."
Sunny huffed. "Humor me, Ryuu, and answer my question."
At this L looked away from his computer once more, sighing as he did so. "To tell you the truth Sunny, I honestly don't know what to think. This case is definitely different from the cases we've taken on before."
Sunny's eyes widened. For L to admit this...
She scooted closer to him and put her arms around his hunched over frame. She hugged him with all her might, and said, "It's going to be fine Ryuu. We'll have Kira in custody before this time next year!"
L let out a sigh of indulgence and hugged her back. "I hope so Sunny, I hope so."
LATER THAT DAY
Sunny got up and stretched out her sore limbs. She looked down at her partner and friend. Even though he was still in the same position he had been for over 5 hours now, and even though his dark eyes still darted back and forth across the screen, she knew him well enough to know when he was hungry, even when he didn't know it himself.
"I'm going to go see what I can find for an impromptu lunch. Anything you'd like to eat?"
"Strawberry shortcake and tea, please." He didn't even glance at her as he said this.
She smiled amusedly. "With lots of sugar?"
A nonchalant "Hm," was all she received as an answer.
She laughed. "Alright then. I'll be back in about ten minutes or so."
"Ok." His eyes never once left the screen. They darted back and forth, left and right, picking up more and more information with each swoop.
He couldn't pinpoint exactly when she'd left the room; he just sort of knew when she was gone.
After scanning the screen for a few more minutes, he leaned back on his feet and chewed his thumb and tried to analyze the vast amount of information he'd been presented with.
'If Kira was using these criminals for some sort of test, perhaps it's in order to start something...'
He bit into his thumb with a vengeance. 'However, the FBI might notice someone acting suspiciously. But, if he had some purpose other than tests... Are this note and this picture some kind of message? Not the picture, Sunny already told me what that means... but the note?"
And suddenly, it clicked. 'This is...'
His eyes scanned the screen again, this time, only brushing over the top letters of the note, which formed the message, "L, do you know..."
'Do I know what? What is Kira trying to tell me? More importantly, what is he going to do next?'
1 DAY LATER (I used to have such funny time skips... *sighs*)
Sunny's eyes flicked over the sheets she was reading in boredom. While the others kept on investigating the Kira case, she was left with the case of Osoreda Kiichiro. Those imbeciles! Sunny sighed in frustration as she remembered how she got the case...
As Sunny walked into the room, she grabbed a glass of water from the cooler. She walked over to her desk, sat down, and was preparing to work on the Kira case when a sheaf of papers was thrown onto her desk carelessly.
'What...' Sunny looked up from her bag at the smiling- no, politely smirking would be more like it- face of one her co-workers. Sunny clucked her tongue silently. This was not going to end well.
"Good morning. Is there any reason why you should be at my desk instead of yours?" Sunny asked cordially.
The man's smirk turned into a pout. "Hey now! Don't be so mean, I only came to ask you somethin'!" His Cheshire-like grin returned. "Well, since you're probably wonderin' what it is, I'll tell ya! Ya see, this case came in today, and the person who brought it in said that one of us needed to write a report about it or somethin'. It was left up for grabs, and since nobody wanted to take it, well, we thought maybe you could do it for us now," he drawled out lazily.
Sunny glared at him. "Did it not occur to you that I may have work that I'd need to finish as well?" she spoke frigidly.
He pouted again. "Aw, come on now! It's only a little bit of work! Ya won't mind, would ya? I mean, you always leave after everyone else anyways?" Sunny started to fume. However, before she could say anything, the man's friends arrived. One of them clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Oi, you joinin' us for lunch or what?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm comin'!" He turned to her and gave her another smirk. "Well then, see ya later miss, and thanks again for takin' on the case." And he hightailed it off before Sunny was even able to form a word...
Sunny ground her teeth in irritation. 'Those bastards!' They were taking advantage of her skills! And how she hated people taking advantage of her...
'Well, it doesn't really matter. In a few days, more likely than not, Ryuu will ask for the police to become more involved in the work. He'll ask for those who aren't scared of this threat and are ready to face Kira. These idiots would turn tail from THAT!' Sunny smiled at that thought. Yes, it would be enough to get her going through until the end of the day.
She sighed again. "Best get started..." She took out her black notebook and flipped to an empty page before she outlined what she had to do that day. She would work on the Kira case in the morning. Then, after lunch, she'd finish the case of Osoreda Kiichiro. And after that, she'd continue the Kira case until it was time to go.
She frowned. Even though the Osoreda case seemed easy, it would still get in the way of what she was really meant to do. Should she skip lunch then? No, Watari would certainly notice, and then he would tell L...
She huffed. There was no way around it; she'd have to stay and do overtime, or in her case, extra overtime.
As she pulled out her Kira evidence, she thought, 'This is going to be a looong day.'
TIMESKIPTOLUNCHYUMYUM! (I've decided I will make my time skips serious or funny depending on the mood...)
As people around her started shuffling out of the building for lunch break, Sunny finished up the last of her notes on the Kira case, for now at least. She penned down the last of her theories and closed her notebook shut. She leaned back into her chair and nearly groaned aloud at the thought of the work ahead of her.
'Well,' she thought determinedly, 'If Ryuu can do that much work, then so can I!'
Speaking of which, she should really call L to tell him that she'd be working overtime today and that she'd be coming home later than usual.
She took out her phone, went into contacts, and pressed the button that had one of Ryuu's many aliases on it. She waited for him to pick up, all the while listening as it connected to his side.
"Sunny? Why are you calling me now?" he whispered. There was a slight tinge of worry to his voice.
Sunny smiled. "Ah, sorry, am I bothering you?"
"No."
"That's good to hear. Ryuu, I won't be returning until late tonight. Can you manage without me?" Sunny and L had both decided that he could be called Ryuu in public. After all, Ryuu could be a nickname for just about any Japanese name out there. Chances are, people would never suspect it to be the nickname of the world's greatest detective.
"Yes."
Her tone turned anxious. "You know what to do in case in you get hungry right? The tea leaves are in a different place now. I moved them to the first shelf instead of the top shelf..."
"Sunny, I'm fine. Go eat lunch."
Sunny sighed softly. "Sorry. I'm just slightly worried, that's all."
"There's no need to be. Now go," he commanded in a monotone.
Sunny chuckled quietly. "Alright. I will, I will. Bye Ryuu. Take care okay?"
"Okay." And with that, he hung up.
As Sunny was putting her cellphone away, she heard a timid but kind and curious voice say, "Was that your boyfriend, Kobayashi-san?"
"Eh?" Sunny turned around and casually swung her bag over her shoulder. Matsuda stood in front of her, fidgeting nervously.
"Ah! S-sorry, I shouldn't have asked that..." He turned his face away in embarrassment.
Sunny's face heated up as she realized what he had just asked. "N-no! Ryuu's just a f-friend! We, um, we know each other from school!" 'Smooth move, Sunny. You could've just gone along with it, but no, you had to stutter and stumble and make an utter fool of yourself.'
"I-it's fine Kobayashi-san! I shouldn't have asked..."
An awkward silence hung in the air, until Sunny saved the situation by asking, "D-do you want to have lunch?"
"Ah? Sure!"
TIMESKIP- brought to you by SpongeBob's singing! (The Krusty Krab Pizza is the pizza for you and me!)
Sunny plopped down into her chair. She growled under her breath when the Osoreda case files caught her eye, and then sighed in defeat. 'Might as well start now and get it over with...'
It was the not the most interesting case on the planet. Osoreda Kiichiro turned out to be a junkie in desperate need of some money to buy more drugs with. In fact, before his death, he had tried to rob a bank, failed, and escaped. On the day of his death, he hijacked a bus headed for an amusement park. However, apparently, he saw a "phantom", got extremely frightened, and ran off the bus, only to be hit by an oncoming car. Simple enough, yet...
As Sunny flipped through the witness accounts, one name stuck out to her. She read the transcript of the witness account. The witness was a high school senior. She had been going on a date with a guy from her class when the hijacker arrived on the bus. When the hijacker had arrived on the bus, her boyfriend had slipped her a note saying, "Don't worry. Stay calm, act natural. I'll get the gun from him. When I do, duck." She was going to do just that when the person behind them had told them not to go through with it. He proceeded to say that the plan was foolish, and that many more people could get hurt if they tried to act upon it. He then asked to help them.
Though she had been all for it, her boyfriend had said otherwise. He'd accused the man of being an accomplice of the hijacker. "Sometimes," he'd said, "the accomplice comes onto the bus first and acts as a regular passenger, only to ambush the other passengers later with the hijacker."
Sunny raised her eyebrows at this. She had heard many cases of bus jackings like this, but she had never heard of someone not involved with the police or crime knowing of cases like this. 'Too bad he's not a police officer...'
The man had tried to proclaim his innocence when the boyfriend had demanded proof. Having no other option, the man had given them his ID card. He had been from the FBI.
Sunny stopped. The FBI? She hurriedly read through the rest of the account, hoping against hope that the twisting feeling in her gut was not true.
When the boyfriend had seen the card, he'd accepted the man's help, and they'd started to talk via notes before the hijacker had shot a gun and screamed for people on the bus to "stop sniveling". When that happened, the note had accidentally fallen to the floor.
The boyfriend had slowly bent down to get the note when the hijacker had noticed him. Before he could take the note back, the hijacker had reached down and grabbed the note, only to find date plans. After this, he'd allegedly seen the "phantom", gotten scared, stopped the bus, and ran out of the street into the path of the oncoming car.
At this point in the interview, the girl had started to cry. It was to be expected of course. She'd dealt with something extremely traumatic. To get her to stop crying, the interviewer had praised her boyfriend's courage. He'd said, "Well, what a great guy you had by your side! He was extremely calm and brave, wasn't he?"
The girl had calmed down enough to agree, "Yes, he was."
To calm her down further, the interviewer had asked, "Can we know the name of this splendid fellow?"
Sunny's eyes widened in shock as she stared down at the paper. 'I-it can't be...'
There on the paper transcript, typed up in clear cut, pristine black ink was the name "Light Yagami."
A.N. Hello readers! It's been quite a while since I saw you last, hasn't it? I made a longer chapter, though I know it won't do much. (Bows in shame and embarrassment) I'm sorry! I'm a really bad updater. Exams are coming up, but that really should be no excuse for my behavior...
In a lighter mood, this is not the last chapter before the big hiatus. I will post one more chapter for sure before I go. Expect it to be up before or on April 15. After that, the only time I will actually have to work on the story will be on the weekends, so I might continue to post chapters throughout the hiatus. However, don't count on it; I do need sleep after all... dang it L, what's your secret?!
I will be back for sure before the school year finishes; that much you guys can count on.
Now, I really must thank Codename Jellybean for this. I had mistakenly asked her to please beta it by Thursday morning when I really meant Wednesday. It's thanks to her that this chapter got posted today and not tomorrow. Thanks CJ! To the rest of you: look. Her. UP!
Thanks to those who reviewed and commented on this fic; it was extremely nice to hear all your thoughts on this story.
Wow, this is one of my longest author notes yet, quite fitting for my longest chapter yet. Well, as nice as it was to be able to talk to you guys, I kinda have to go now...
Please remember to review! It helps me become a better writer, and it improves the quality of this fic.
Bye for now!
xXRafa-chanXx
P.S. How many of you thought Sunny was Kira when she pulled out her ol' black notebook? Be honest now...
P.P.S. It seemed pretty obvious from the beginning, but SunnylovesLYAYAYAYAYAY! L doesn't know though... or does he? (JK no he doesn't).
P.P.P.S Geez, I'm quite talkative today, aren't I? But I just wanted to ask you guys... how many of you like the fluff moments more than the actual plot? This might influence the fic, so please be honest. I personally like writing and reading fluff... but the plot's important, so I won't divert from that.