'Ello mates! Ha ha Don't you love Australia? I love their accents, no really I do. XD I'm not Australian though, I'm American. XD OKAY My thanks you so muches go to--*dramatic pause* Azura Soul Reaver, xXGoody Not-So-Great MeXx and XxCrimsonXXAngelxX. Also I want to thank CRdragonPyro for favoriting My Love's Murderer!! :D I'm not sure if you're reading this fic yet but I greatly appreciate you reading my very first one and liking it. :D -hug-
Katsuko's arms cramped while she typed endlessly at her laptop back in her temporary apartment back in Japan. Her eyes began to water as well as she continued to scroll down the Internets findings of the lists of serial killers from the past ten years. So far, she had been able to eliminate at least four out of the fifteen she had found, since they had all been caught and executed.
"Hey, you're still working on that?" Akasuki asked when she had stepped out of the bathroom, her brown hair dripping shower water onto the back of her black, cotton shirt.
"I'm a detective, I work twenty four hours, seven days a week," Katsuko said, still not taking her eyes off the screen.
"Well, you can also cross off these guys here," Akasuki said when she had sat down next to her room mate, her green eyes now glowing red, "this guy will be dying in the next two weeks, this guy will be dying in about a day or so, he died about a minute ago and this guy has...five, four, three, two, one...dead," Akasuki said and turned the T.V. on to see the news broadcast.
"It's said that one of the prisoners has just died from a heart attack! We have paramedics going in now--"
Akasuki switched off the T.V. and turned to Katsuko.
"These are really a pain in the ass sometimes but they sure come in handy," the brunette said and Katsuko smiled before crossing off the four men Akasuki had just pointed out.
"Well then, thank you," Katsuko said and Akasuki relaxed her hands behind her head.
"It's sad too."
"What is? Having the Eyes?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because," Akasuki said and sat upright, "I can see your lifespan too, and even though it's not taking place for a while, I don't want you to die before I do. I can see all of my friend's life spans, and it kills me to think of their passing away. These eyes can be both a blessing and a curse, constantly seeing numbers above a person's head, just telling me when they'll die. I can't do anything about it, I know I can't, and it just hurts sometimes."
Katsuko bowed her head and then focused on her friend again.
"I guess I can't say much since I don't know what seeing what every body's death day is. I don't know what I would do if I knew all my friends death days and yet not know my own."
"Well mine doesn't matter because I live forever anyway," Akasuki said and Katsuko moved her head from left to right, her lower lip slightly pushed out, thoughtful.
"True, true," she said, "as long as you keep killing off people in your Death Note."
"I have decided though that I won't kill anyone for a while though," Akasuki confessed and Katsuko cocked her eyebrow.
"You're part shinigami, you're allowed to," she said and Akasuki shrugged.
"I just don't want to right now, it would just be uncomfortable at the moment."
Katsuko gestured her head in understanding and then Akasuki stood up.
"Well, I'm going to bed, Katsu-chan. Do you need anymore help?" she asked and the ginger shook her head.
"No, I'm good for now."
"Alright, holler if you need me though," Akasuki put forth and Katsuko gave her a wink with a look of appreciation.
"Will do, now you get some sleep, okay?"
"Gotcha, g'night Katsu," Akasuki stretched and headed to her room, leaving Katsuko alone in the darkened living room.
Another unsuccessful ten minutes passed of figuring out who this killer was, and then Katsuko clicked a certain link that said The World's Greatest Criminal.
"Beyond Birthday...okay then...weird name..." Katsuko murmured to herself as she read through the article. "Beyond Birthday, the second child taken in at the English orphanage Wammy's House, also known as BB, is known today as the world's greatest criminal. His intelligence ranks up with the world's greatest detective L's...ha ha yeah right...blah blah blah..."
Katsuko was beginning to think she was wasting her time and was about to close out up until her computer monitor started flashing "New Message". Sighing, Katsuko clicked on the blinking box that contained a white envelope with little bird wings on the side and the e-mail opened.
Don't even try to hide from me. I will only find you.
Katsuko's body froze when she read the message over and over again, then set her laptop next to her before standing up. She double locked her front door, locked all the windows, closed the curtains and switched the kitchen light off. Shaking from head to toe, Katsuko paged the Matt and Mello's room and after the third ring, Matt picked up.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked, his voice groggy with sleep.
"He e-mailed me, the killer. He knows where I am or so it seems," Katsu said and she heard a rustle.
"Unlock your door and let Matsuda, Mello and me in. We know Akasuki is there with you, but we're staying over there too," Matt said and he hung up the phone.
Katsu woke Akasuki up and informed her what was going on and it took an all of four seconds for the brunette to be fully awake.
"Katsu, let us in!" Matt knocked three times and Katsu let her three friends in.
"What did he say exactly?" Matsuda asked and Katsuko lead the four of them over to the laptop.
"Here's the e-mail," she said and they all leaned over to read it.
"Call Near," Mello instructed and shoved his black cell phone into Katsuko's hand.
The ginger obeyed and dialed Near's phone number. He answered on the fifth ring and Katsuko almost didn't recognize him since his voice had gotten deeper.
"Hey Katsuko, long time no talk," Near greeted and Katsuko got straight to the point.
"Hi Near, I have some news."
"What's wrong?" Near's voice was consumed in worry and Katsu continued.
"That crazy serial killer, it's Beyond Birthday, isn't it?"
"How did you--?"
"Listen, according to this article I am reading he's obsessed with strawberry jam, which was splattered all over a threatening message he had sent me a few days ago. He knows where I am, what I look like and only God knows what else. Near, do you have any other information on him?"
There was a brief silence as everyone in the apartment held their breath, their eyes on Katsuko.
"It says here that he tries to surpass L, which I am assuming he hasn't heard about L's death. Beyond Birthday, as some have it, is obsessed with L and even masquerades as him, despite the fact not many know L's true identity," Near said and Katsuko felt her heart stop.
Masquerades as L...so that would mean...Beyond Birthday was the one in the ally! That explains how he knows who I am...now how the hell are we going to catch him...he most likely won't come out in public...I wonder...
"Near, how do you propose we catch him?" Katsuko asked.
"I suggest we track him down. Trace the email back to where it came from and the letter. I don't doubt he's that far away," Near said.
"Alright, I will, bye."
"Be careful Katsu and watch your back," were Near's last words to her for the night and Katsuko hung up the phone.
"Alright team," Katsu said and turned to her friends, "who's up for some Serial Killer hunting?"
The Next Day...
"You tracked down the e-mail already?" Matt asked, impressed as he rubbed his sleep deprived eyes.
Katsuko scribbled down information and then shut her laptop.
"Yes, it came from Angel's Camp California," she replied and Matt rubbed his head.
"So what are we going to do exactly if he's all the way in the States?" he asked and Katsuko put her thumb to her lower lip.
"He's not there now."
"How do you know?"
"This email was set up to be sent at a certain time today, meaning that BB had set his computer system in a way to send his emails at a certain time, trying to confuse me. I hacked into the system and was able to figure this out, and I found other emails in his Outbox that were similar if not exactly like the one he sent to me. Apparently, he never expected someone to be able to hack into his computer, which was incredibly difficult, and most people would be too scared to even think this through. This is just BB's way of trying to throw me off and scaring me into making myself obvious," Katsu said and cracked her knuckles.
"So he doesn't know where you are?" Akasuki asked through a yawn and Katsu's eyebrows furrowed.
"That I cannot be sure of. The possibility of him knowing where I am, if I had to put a number on it, is about..." Katsu paused and twirled a strand of scarlet hair around her index finger, "I'd say about fifty five percent."
"You sound more and more like L every day," Matt told her and Katsu gave him the same look someone that had just won twenty billion dollars just by kicking a soda can into the nearest sewer.
"REALLY!?" her face lit up brighter than the sun and Matt mentally prepared himself to be tackled by her.
"Don't hurt me," he muttered to her and Katsu beamed like a little girl with a small, fluffy puppy.
"You shouldn't have told her that," Akasuki said and Matt sweat dropped.
"I regret it already."
"Well at least she didn't look as if someone had shot her like she used to," Mello said from behind them and they both jumped.
Katsuko remained oblivious to their conversation and happiness seemed to ooze out of her.
"Morning all," Mello said welcomed himself on the couch next to Katsuko.
"Good morning Mello. I found out where the email came from," she said and Mello looked impressed.
"As expected from our female version of L," he said and Katsuko practically burst with joy.
Matt, Akasuki and Mello all sweat dropped as Katsu went into her rant about always wanting to be as smart as L and then the three of them escaped to the kitchen.
"I have never seen Katsu more excited over something than right now," Mello remarked and poured himself some milk.
"L was and always will be her idol, Mello," Akasuki reminded him and dumped some cereal into a bowl.
"True, and to be honest, I'm just happy she's out of her depression," Matt put in and bit into a piece of buttered toast.
"I need some waffles," Mello unintentionally announced and opened the freezer.
"What is it with you and waffles now?" Matt asked, "what happened to chocolate?"
Mello ignored his questions and shoved two chocolate chip waffles into the toaster. A minute passed and they popped back up, allowing Mello to put them onto a clean plate then add chocolate syrup.
"What the fuck Mello, that's just weird," Akasuki said through a mouthful of corn flakes.
"This is Mello you're talking about Akasuki-san," Matt remarked.
"You were saying about my chocolate?" Mello said, oblivious (or appearing to be) to their brief conversation and Matt looked from the plate to his boyfriend.
"And you wonder why I never eat any," the copper haired teen said and Mello smirked seductively.
"Are you sure?" he asked, a drip of chocolate still lingering on his bottom lip.
Matt hesitated and Akasuki watched them over her cereal, too curious to say anything. It was like a live soap opera for her, and she was thoroughly enjoying the scene.
"Are you positive, Matty?" Mello whispered and set the plate down.
Akasuki took another spoonful of cereal and chewed quietly, fascinated. Mello was directly in front of Matt, his hands on his shoulders, and lips inches from Matt's. Akasuki watched, her green eyes wide, and Mello's mouth was just centimeters from Matt's slightly parted lips. She felt her own heart speed up and she paused from eating her breakfast for a moment.
"Hey, I found exactly where his headquarters is located and--what the hell are you three doing?" Katsuko walked into the kitchen, red notebook in her hand and she looked from Mello and Matt standing at the sink, lips millimeters apart and Akasuki realized she was on her feet.
"Uh..." was all Mello could force out and Matt's face turned beat red.
There was a pause and Katsuko shook her head before directing her attention back to the notebook in her hand.
"Anyway, I found exactly where he is," Katsuko said and Matsuda appeared behind her.
"Morning all, and I just heard good news," he said and Katsuko flashed him a smile.
"Hey Matsuda, as I was saying, I was able to hack into his system again and I managed to find his address in one of his files. He has a record of them and by the looks of it, he tracks down his victims then camps out in their city and that's when he kills them. It's said here in my notes that he leaves the name of his next victim carved in his last victims chest," Katsuko said and pulled out a piece of paper that made Matsuda go green in the face.
"Katsuko--!" Akasuki gasped when she saw the gory, bloody picture of a young girl torn to shreds with the name "Hirota, Katsuko" carved into her chest in Roman letters.
"I don't know when he'll strike, but as long as he doesn't know where I am exactly then I'm safe, for now. This will not end until I find him first or die trying, bit chances are, if he kills me, then he'll be after one of you next, so keep your guards up, okay?" Katsu instructed as Mello and Matt studied the gruesome picture as well.
"Alright, but, we'll be doing all we can to protect you, okay?" Mello said quietly when he handed his friend the bloody photo back.
Katsuko didn't respond as she tucked the picture back into her notebook, praying to whatever god would hear her that this would not happen to her, or worse, any of her friends.
Two Days Later...
"What exactly are you up to now Kat?" Matt asked as he sat down next to Katsu on the couch.
"Making ear pieces to communicate, why?"
"You're going to electrocute yourself," he teased and Katsu rolled her eyes.
"Not if you don't distract me, ow, damn," she muttered and sucked her burnt index finger, "something tells me that was the wrong wire."
"Here," Matt took the ear piece from her and winded the two red wires together as Katsu watched and got some ice for her finger.
"You're good at this Matty," she complimented and he shrugged.
"That's what you get when you've got a gamer for a friend. Here you go," Matt said and handed the red head the silver ear piece.
"Thanks," Katsu said gratefully and picked up the hand sized, cardboard box sitting on the coffee table in front of her.
"No problem, and now I ask what are you planning to do?" Matt relaxed his elbow in the back of the couch.
"My plan is to go BB hunting. He's bound to show up in public sometime, and I'm going to get Akasuki to go out with me and see if she can find him. When we do spot him, then she'll be able to tell if he's just merely a hallucination or if he's BB, like we think he is. If this guy really turns out to be him, which I'm almost one hundred percent sure he is, then we all go after him," Katsu explained and Matt looked satisfied.
"Alrighty boss," he joked and she rolled her eyes.
"Well, Akasuki and I will be back by the end of the day with an update," Katsuko said as Akasuki walked into the room.
"See ya later Matty!" the brunette waved and the two girls exited.
Downtown Tokyo...
Katsuko adjusted the black sunglasses over her eyes and blew the chin length, black, wig hair out of her mouth. Two unsuccessful hours had passed with no sign of L/BB and so far, she and Akasuki had been to every store in the mall for as long as they could stand.
"Hey, are you ready to go?" Akasuki asked, her hair up into a high ponytail on top of her head.
"Yeah, let's go," Katsu said and left the book store before stepping out onto the bright, sunny, crowded sidewalk.
The two women walked in silence, their eyes searching for the spiky, ebony hair as the rhythm of Katsuko's red Stilettos echoed in their golden brown eyes were sharp behind the sun glasses and her companions glowed red behind her own lenses, searching.
"Let's go down this way. This is where I first saw him," Katsu whispered and Akasuki nodded unnoticeable.
They turned down the alley, the hair on the back of Katsu's neck rising and her mind flashed back to the icy touch of the knife tip on her bony wrist. The haunting red eyes that would never leave her nightmares...the threats and menacing, twisted smile on that pale, psychotic face...Katsuko shivered.
"Katsu," Akasuki whispered after a moment and Katsuko snapped back to her reality to see Akasuki had stopped walking.
Katsu stopped as well when she saw the wisp of black hair and white, long sleeved shirt.
"That's him," she whispered to the brunette.
"Well, he's not a spirit," Akasuki told her, the green sunglasses pulled down to the middle of her freckled nose, "it's Beyond Birthday."
Katsuko turned on her heels and placed the silver ear piece in her ear before paging Matt.
"Hey, do you two have anything?" Matt's voice asked and Akasuki briskly followed her friend out of the alley.
"We got him," Katsuko replied into the tiny microphone.
Matt smirked triumphantly on the other end.
That Night...
"Near, we have him. It's Beyond," Mello said as Katsuko paced around the small living room.
"I'm not surprised. We're tracking him now," Near said and Katsu stopped pacing.
"I have an idea," she said and Mello put his cell phone on speaker.
"Near, how are we going about this arrest? Can we really do it in public or should we lure him into something?" Katsu asked and Near started to twist his white hair around his index finger.
"I would say to lure him somewhere to prevent an outbreak of panic," Near replied after a moment and Katsu inhaled deeply.
"Then we'll do this," she started, and the room fell silent as she explained her plan.
The Next Afternoon...
Katsuko double checked to make sure her scarlet waves were over both her ears to hide the silver ear piece wedged within her right ear. The train station was packed and extremely stuffy leaving Katsuko feeling very claustrophobic. She double checked her surroundings and finally the train jerked to a stop in front of the crowd of people. Katsu spied around her, searching for the ebony hair, then boarded the train.
"Katsu," Near's voice whispered and the red head pushed the ear piece farther into her ear to hear him better.
"I'm on the train. If we have any luck then I'll see him wandering around here soon," Katsuko said quietly and slipped into an empty compartment for some privacy.
The train chugged off, making Katsu jerk forward just marginally. She brushed aside a strand of fiery hair and pushed her sunglasses back up the bridge of her nose and steadied herself. Her eyes were sharp and she kept a hawk's eye out for anyone with raven hair. Her heart pulsed in such a rapid rhythm Katsu felt herself get a little punch-drunk.
"Is everything alright Kat?" Near asked and the ginger set herself vertcally.
"I'm still looking for him," she aforementioned tacitly and popped the collar of her brown trench coat for more certainty she would not be heard.
"Alright, I used the same codes you did when you hacked into BB's computer and managed to get to files he had. He has cameras hidden at certain points in the area, mostly places he knows you visit and I can see the train station. He's not there but I'm keeping a bird's eye view on what he has under surveillance."
"Stalker," Katsu growled and Near began to twist a strand of his white hair around his finger.
"He is a serial killer Kat," the teen reminded her and she chewed her lower lip.
"Still, that's creepy how he set up friggin cameras around the area. I feel violated."
"It could have been worse. BB could have invaded your computer system and spy on you some how that way," Near said and Katsuko sweat dropped.
"Okay, you are no help in terms of comfort," she scolded and raked her eyes over the crowd of people outside the window in the shopping complex.
"Katsuko--!"
The golden brown were now strained and cuspate as she watched the white shirt and black haired man weave through the ocean of bodies.
"I found BB--!"
"In the complex--!"
Katsuko yanked on the chord above her head making the train squeal to an immediate stop. Katsuko practically ripped the door off of it's hinges and dashed out the opening into the crowd. She fumbled for her pistol hidden away in a strap buckled around her thigh under her plaid mini skirt.
"STOP!" she yelled to BB, making several citizens turn to look at her curiously and she finally managed to un-stick her gun from the leather strap.
Her earpiece was now all static and she crammed it farther into her ear, trying to get the signal to Near.
"Near, I've got him!" Katsuko gasped as she kept her hot footed pace up through the crowd.
Damn...I am almost there...just a few more steps...and...
"Katsuko?" the static had stop and Katsuko hurriedly answered.
"Near--I am almost--"
"This isn't Near," he said and Katsuko didn't stop running.
"Matty?"
"He's next to me," he said and Katsu felt her brain literally twist because the voice surely was not Mello's.
"What--? What the hell--?"
Oh shit...OH SHIT!!!
"BEYOND?! LET HIM GO!"
BB cackled on the other end and Katsuko's mind spun.
Beyond Birthday was just here in my sight...how the hell did he get to Matt? How can he be talking to me now? Oh God...if he figured out where our headquarters were then he has Near too...!
"How many do you have there?" Katsuko demanded and immediately started to her headquarters.
"It's not how many are here, it's who I actually have that you should be worried about, Katsuko Hirota," Beyond said smoothly and Katsu's blood boiled.
Crapshitdamnshitfuckhelldamncrap!
"Have it your way Beyond," Katsu hissed into her ear piece, "I'll play your game. What do you want?"
"i want you to bring me the Death Note that was left in your possession and I want your name in it, written in your blood."
"What makes you think I'll do that so easily?"
"Because if you don't," there was the sound of a gun cocking, "I'll make every one of the people in this room die the most painful death I can think of. You've got a half hour to complete this, and you will bring the Death Note to me with your name inside of it."
The connection was cut and Katsu felt her hands trembling.
Matty, she thought, her eyes burning, Near...
With only her friends safety cemented into her mind, Katsu stiffly as if programed by someone, turned around and headed to Light's empty house.
Okay, so I posted with only 3 reviews. I am actually very disappointed about this. I accept anynomous reviews you know, really I like it when you tell me your opinion. Not getting another chapter until I get 5 reviews.