Mello was fuming as he stormed down the street. He kept replaying that…that incident over and over in his mind. Light walking out of L's room. The way both Matt and Near had obviously been hiding it from him. L kicking him in the chest to keep him away from Light. To keep him away from Kira.

He needed to get away from them. From all of them.

He moved further away from town and deeper into the city, ignoring the way many people were glancing at him wearily from the corner of their eyes and how some even dove out of his way as he raged past. He should just leave. It wasn't like he was doing any good here, anyway. Everything had changed from his first life. They weren't getting anywhere doing things L's way. He wasn't too much younger than he had been before when he left the orphanage. Though…though just thinking of going back to the mafia made him feel sick to his stomach. And he doubted Matt would be waiting to pick up the pieces this time if everything went south. Not to mention Near…

Nope. He wasn't going to think about that situation. Not after what happened this morning. After the…after he had attempted to get Mello out of the room just so he could keep Light a secret…

Mello growled low in his throat and barely noticed the young girl walking by him squeak and quickly hurry away from him. Head ducked and shoulders up.

He wandered around the streets for hours, contemplating on his next move. There were many things he could do. He could just leave right at this moment and become involved in some of the…shady sides of Tokyo. He could find a way back to Wammy House and just write all of this Kira business off and let L deal with it. He could go back to the hotel room and act like nothing had ever happened. He could go back and make his disapproval known.

Why did none of those options sound appealing?

He could just kill Light. That would probably solve most of his problems.

Or cause even more. With his luck, L would decide to charge him and have him locked up before Mello even managed to step away from the body.

"So, what's the plan? If he was able to know you were following him before-"

"He won't see me this time."

"You were careful before and you still-"

"He won't see me."

"I still think that-"

"I will not be fooled again. Yagami will-"

Mello's head snapped to the side and he froze as he saw the two people standing a few feet away from him, talking in low tones. They both fell silent at Mello's movements and they watched him carefully as his head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed. He recognized these people. Both of them. Though he had never met them.

"Raye Penber and Naomi Misora," Mello muttered. He didn't miss the way Penber's hand went to his waist and his hand curled around something. Naomi shifted her weight, obviously ready to protect herself if needed. "I'm L's successor, M."

The two exchanged a surprised glance but they carefully kept an eye on Mello. "L's successor? Where is he?" Naomi asked lowly.

"With Yagami," Mello growled.

Penber's eyes flew open. "But Yagami is-"

"I know," Mello cut him off, his hands curling into fists at his sides. He glanced around the busy street and took a deep breath. "We can go somewhere to talk. Somewhere where we won't be overheard."

Naomi's head tilted. "The last time I went off with someone who claimed to be working with L, I ended up killing myself."

Mello flinched. It had always been a bit of a mystery of what happened to Naomi Misora. It was known that she was distraught after Penber's death and she travelled to Japan. But there had been no contact with anyone after her plane landed. That one sentence was enough for Mello to understand what happened. Naomi must have attempted to find L to hand over whatever information she had about Kira, or to offer her assistance, but she found Yagami instead. And he had used the Death Note against her.

Interesting. Especially since Light had not mentioned any of that information when he told them the story from his point of view.

Yagami was lying to them.

Mello wasn't surprised.

"I woke up with all of my memories and contacted L from an unknown location," Mello said bluntly and lowly, making sure no one around them was listening to their conversation. "When I said I was L's successor, I should say I am one of three. Myself, the other two, and L travelled to Japan to keep an eye on Yagami. We had hoped to get the…to stop him from becoming Kira. Unfortunately, we realized I wasn't the only person with my memories. At this point in time, L believes that Yagami is not Kira. Someone else is…"

"The pages. He made me write on pages. You're saying someone else has them now," Penber said bluntly. Mello felt his eyes bug out of his head. That…that was not what he expected. He had always thought Yagami had decided to kill Penber at the same time as the other FBI agents, that the envelope they saw Penber carrying had been proof that Yagami was Kira.

Not pages of the Death Note.

If Yagami had given Penber pages from the Death Note…who had actually killed those FBI agents? Had Yagami tricked Penber into killing his own team? Had he tricked Penber into killing himself? And…and if that was true, then Yagami would have known that Penber would have his memories.

Which was yet another thing he didn't tell them.

"We should really take this conversation to another place," Mello muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can explain everything."

Penber and Naomi exchanged another glance and then turned hard eyes onto Mello. He tried to appear innocent and unthreatening but he was almost certain he didn't pull it off. Matt was always better at that type of thing. Despite the way Naomi's eyes narrowed, Penber slowly nodded his head. "Fine. You will come with us." Mello raised his eyebrows at the command but didn't say anything as Penber turned and began to make his way down the street. Mello glanced at Naomi, expecting her to follow her fiancé, but the woman just stared at him. Mello rolled his eyes and followed after Penber with Naomi walking behind him. He didn't blame her – it was actually pretty intelligent.

L had always liked Naomi Misora.

Mello was beginning to understand why.

The three of them walked in silence to the hotel Penber and Naomi were staying at and up to their room. Mello glanced around the small room and sat down in the armchair as Penber and Naomi sat across from him on the couch. "Explain," Penber said bluntly.

Mello felt rising resentment over the fact that the older man seemed to think he had the right to order Mello around, but he pushed it down. If he wanted L to understand what he was saying about Yagami, about the fact that he shouldn't be trusted, he was going to need their help. "Well, those pages you were talking about…" Mello recounted the most important information but he left out a few of the finer details. He explained about the Death Note. About L's death at Yagammi's hands. He told about himself and Near taking up the investigation (leaving out his less than stellar former associates) and his own death. He then told them about what he had learned about the warehouse and how he woke up after what felt like centuries in darkness.

And then he explained what they knew about the current Kira and how Yagami was involved in the investigation.

"L approved this?" Naomi demanded, her brows furrowed and her eyes hard. "Why would he do such a thing?"

Mello felt a thrill of satisfaction at the words. Finally, someone that agreed with him! "L and Yagamig have grown to be…very close. I'm the only one that seems to think that he's still a threat."

"But he did not inform you that he had me write in this Death Note. Or that he met Naomi," Penber's eyes softened significantly as he glanced at the woman in question. She returned the fond look instinctively. "That shows that Yagami is not to be trusted."

"Which is what I need to prove to L," Mello pronounced, his eyes darting from Penber to Naomi. Penber might have been the person taking control of the conversation but Mello hadn't missed the way Naomi took in all the information and motioned to Penber before their next move. Penber might believe he was in charge but the real powerhouse here was Naomi. "I would like your help in that regard."

Naomi's head tilted to the side and Mello had the distinct impression that her eyes were taking in every single minute detail. Penber was already nodding when Naomi slowly nodded her own head. "Yes. Yes, we will help you."

Finally, Mello had someone on his side.