A/N: haha, and i bet you all thought i wasn't going to continue this :X but you were wrong, cuz i diiiid. i kind of, uh, vilified Near in this particular chapter, but only because i love him! he will be continuously popping up in chapters later on, which makes me happy, because Near is awesome. oh, and of course, there will be more Mello too!

thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far! i hope you all enjoy, and i'll see you next chapter :D

--

Hundreds of people came out of the woodwork to pay their respects to Light. Most were family and friends; people bound to the eldest Yagami child through blood, or acquaintances he knew through work or school. Some Sayu recognized - most she did not. There was a seemingly endless sea of faces, a chapel full of weepy women and men wearing solemn expressions. Sayu couldn't wait for it to be over with so that she could leave.

There was only one person on her mind right now. Sayu knew it was probably heartless of her to not put the proper effort into mourning the loss of her brother, but she just simply couldn't. The dead were dead, and nothing Sayu could do would ever change that. Furthermore, Sayu knew that Light was Kira, and that his radical God-complex had resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. And maybe it was callous, but his departure to the otherworld was something of a relief - in a twisted, painful sort of way - and Sayu knew she wasn't the only person in the church who thought so. (Although the majority of the populace remained largely unaware.)

Something was grievously wrong here, and it wasn't the fact that Light was dead, dead, his body cold and lifeless and ready to put to rest six feet beneath the earth. Mello was gone - had been gone for almost a week now - and she knew there was a correlation between these two variables, although she did not want to make the connection herself.

Matt had been infuriatingly tight-lipped about the whole matter thus far, repeatedly claiming ignorance even though Sayu knew better. The redhead was currently sitting on the chapel steps out front, smoking a cigarette. He did not want to sit through the service, and frankly, given his relationship to L and Mello, Sayu supposed she couldn't blame him.

(It had been awkward earlier, when introductions had been made. Sachiko had demanded to know whether the fiery-haired, chain-smoking young man was Sayu's reason for being absent so often lately, and Sayu, having no other explanation to give, said 'yes.' Matt had thereafter been referred to as 'Sayu's delinquent boyfriend' throughout the remainder of the wake.)

It was only afterwards, when the preacher had finished his sermon and people were pouring out the front doors and into the parking lot that she spotted him: a familiar face, although they had never met before. The young prodigy looked exactly the way Mello had described him, the way he appeared in Sayu's mind's eye.

Near.

If Matt wasn't going to give her the answers she wanted, perhaps he would. Sayu weaved in and out throughout the dispersing crowd, passing Matt on her way down the steps and onto the pavement below. Matt seemed to realize who she was making a beeline for, and she saw him toss his cigarette away and surge to his feet in an attempt to catch her.

"Sayu, wait!"

No, Matt, Sayu thought firmly, picking up her pace. She dodged around a middle-aged couple in front of her and reached out to seize the silver-haired detective in front of her. He was surprisingly boneless in her grasp, and she forcibly hauled him around to face her with miraculous ease--

--And then suddenly there was a group of people in dark suits converging upon them - two men, and a woman that Sayu recognized from TV.

Near stared back at Sayu impassively as the three drew nearer, almost as though to form a protective bubble around him. Sayu flinched slightly as they got close, but refused to let go of the younger man's shoulder.

"You're Near, aren't you?" she asked, refusing to look at anyone but the fair-haired detective in front of her.

For a second, Sayu thought he might not answer. But then, he affirmed, in a voice barely above a whisper, "...that is correct."

"I want to talk to you." She didn't wait for him to respond, instead pressing eagerly on: "Where's Mello?"
The two men flanking Near were pushed aside as Matt breached the formation. "What the fuck is going on here?" he demanded angrily, gaze darting anxiously back and forth, taking in both Sayu and Near's expressions.

"I want Near to give me the answers you won't," Sayu said, glaring over the younger man's shoulder at the redhead. Her hand still remained clasped on his pale shoulder.

"You didn't tell her?" came Near's impossibly quiet voice again, his dark eyes flicking over to where Matt now stood frozen.

"Mello told me not to," Matt said, crossing his arms. "Although while we're on the subject, I'm kind of sparse on the details, myself." His look was vaguely accusatory, and Sayu grew afraid.

"What happened to Mello, Near? Where is he?"

"He has been apprehended for the murder of Soichiro Yagami," Near responded immediately, and Sayu released her hold on him, stepping back in alarm. "The Taskforce brought him after the incident at the Yellow Box Warehouse."

"Did he--?" Matt began, eyes wide, and Near nodded.

So he was the one who did it. He killed Light.

"They... they brought him in?" Sayu asked, unable to suppress the involuntary shudder that the realization evoked. "But... his actions were done in self-defense... Surely there will be a trial?"

She glanced from Near to Matt. The albino's expression was unreadable, and Matt looked just as expectant and as concerned as she did. There was a lengthy period of silence, and after a while Sayu thought perhaps Near might not answer her.

"Near, please." She gathered his hands up in her own, trying to peer desperately into his face. The younger boy immediately glanced away, his half-lidded stare fixated on the asphalt beneath them instead.

"No, I don't think so," he said finally. "You see, many... complications... arose out of the Kira case. The Japanese Police have decided it is better to keep everything under the radar and--"

"So they're just going to let him rot away in prison?" Sayu demanded, her voice shrill. Her hands, usually darker than Near's, began to turn white. "Near, you're supposed to be L now, aren't you? Can't you do something?"

The detective slowly retracted his hands, gesturing above Sayu's head instead. The blonde-haired woman that Sayu knew from TV leaned forward, and Near was given an scarlet-painted action figure. He immediately clutched it against his chest, his dark eyes looking at everything but the brunette's fanatical face.

"You're lucky he isn't being executed," Near said after a moment. "Mello is a former Yakuza boss and a murderer, Sayu. You, more than anyone else, should be aware of what he's capable of."

"You bastard," Sayu swore, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. She took a step forward but so did everyone else, and Matt suddenly leapt between the two standing in the middle, arms thrown out wide in order to protect Sayu from Near's bodyguards.

"Back off, you fucks!" He hollered.

"After all he's done--" Sayu sputtered from behind Matt, trying to push his lanky form out of the way. "After everything he sacrificed--"

"I am not undermining his contributions to the Kira investigation," Near responded coolly. "But the fact still remains--"

"Oh, you're so full of shit!" Sayu yelled. Several heads turned, but the brunette was beyond caring at this point. "You know what you can do with your justice, Near? You can take it and shove it up your ass!"

Years of sharing quarters with Mello had left the albino indifferent to such displays of hostility. He seemed completely unmoved by Sayu's rage. "I'm sorry for your loss, Sayu," he said very quietly, and the brunette couldn't tell if the condolences were genuine or not. "I have to go now."

Immediately he was ushered away from the seething woman and her redheaded companion. Sayu watched as the door to a black Mercedes idling nearby was opened, and the tiny albino creature pulled himself inside.

Mello was right, Sayu thought fiercely, her breath coming out in panicky little bursts, suddenly dangerously on the verge of tears. He is a freak.

--

"You know, its your fault he's in jail, Nate River," Ryuk said, cackling as he materialized in the backseat beside the fair haired detective. The door immediately swung shut behind them.

"I would be inclined to say that I disagree," the albino responded evenly, pointedly ignoring the reaper's gaze and staring out the window instead.

"Oh?"
"I wrote that Light Yagami would die from a gunshot wound to the head," Near explained. "I never specifically stated who would be responsible for the killing blow. It could have just as easily been Matsuda who ended up pulling the trigger."

"So you figure you're blameless then, huh?"

The sleuth did not immediately respond, fiddling with the strap of his seat belt instead.
"You forget that Mello was already wanted for the murder of Chief Yagami. I was in no way involved with that particular incident." The young prodigy's hand reached up, nimble fingers seizing a strand of silvery hair and coiling it tight around his index finger. "Mello was fully aware of the consequences when he acted out the way that he did. The law would have caught up with him sooner or later."

"I believe you humans have a particular saying that sums up the present situation here quite nicely," Ryuk said, his soulless black orbs glittering in dark mischief. "Are you familiar with the phrase 'powder keg?'" His eerie smile, already impossibly large, grew even more enormous. "You lit the fuse, Nate."

Near's expression remained unreadable as he stared at the scenery beyond the dark tint of his window, although the hands holding his red Power Ranger in his lap twitched slightly.

"It's a shame you decided only to use the Death Note so sparingly," Ryuk continued pleasantly, completely unperturbed by his companion's stony-faced silence. "You'd make an excellent mass murderer yourself."

For a moment, it looked as though the petite sleuth didn't hear. Then, with a voice that sounded both tired and reluctant, he inquired: "What makes you say that, Ryuk-san?" His voice was barely audible over the already quiet purr of the engine.

"You can justify your actions with whatever you do. Light was like that." Ryuk sighed fondly, appearing suddenly wistful - as much as a Death God could, anyway. "You're a text-book example of a... what's the word? ... oh yeah, a sociopath."

As the ethereal being threw back his head with a heart-felt guffaw, Near frowned but said nothing.