WOW! 57 reviews! Hot damn! I must be doing something right! I love you all sooooo much! Thank you thank you! I like this chapter. I've been wanting to write it foreverrrrr. It didn't come out how I thought it would but it did came out pretty good… I think so at lest….

Thank you to my beta and to you my wonderful reviewers. I like to thank Ruina Magnacarta for actually writing a review in English and Spanish! (Since I can't set a hold of her any other way…) however, I'm not Spanish, I'm actually Brazilian. It is easy to confuse the two because both do sound the same and you kinda write it the same… well not really but if you don't know the difference it is easy to confuse. But thank you any way! That was very sweet!

Warnings: language. I'm personally not too big on swearing but oh well… oh, and Kira believers beware.

REVIEW!!!!

Red

"There is a thin line between love and hate."

Raito didn't know how long it had been since they had left the hall and the house with L's 'sell' in it, but one thing for sure, it was a long time ago. A really long time ago. How did he know that? He didn't. But if the pain in his legs was anything to go by, then he was right. And he was pretty sure he'd seen that skyscraper before… twice.

This was getting tiring. All they seemed to do was walk. He had asked Logic and Reason if it would be a good idea to check in the buildings, but they'd refused. They said, "There is no reason to do so. Not many of them like the buildings, and if they were in there, we would know. Emotions are not discrete Yagami-kun." So they left it at that.

Now the task force was taking a break. Most of them weren't as young as they liked to think. It was not like Raito was complaining though. He was pretty tired himself.

This was their fifth break and still no sign of any other emotions whatsoever. The team was tired and showed it. Raito knew this because he was there sitting next to his father and Matsuda. Well, sitting next to his father since Matsuda was actually lying next to him, staring up at the white sky. Mini-L was lying down too, his head on the young cop's stomach.

Aizawa and Mogi were leaning up against a nearby building. Happiness was trying to glare Logic and Reason down (both who were ignoring him completely). Love was standing in the middle of the marble street, head tilted upwards, eyes closed, and with a small smile on his face. Raito imagined what he was thinking.

The teen licked his lips. He was having trouble sorting out his crush. Had he ever felt like this before? … Well, there was that one girl in high school. She was supposed to be one of the quiet types, the ones that always had a book at hand. She had thick black hair and pale white skin. But what Raito really liked about her was her green eyes. She was pretty. Not beautiful, but pretty.

This was when he first began high school. He only had one class with her. He spent half of the term harvesting his feelings until he got courage to ask her out. You maybe think 'Yagami Raito? Afraid of asking someone out? Bullshit' but the truth was, she was the first girl he'd ever walked up to and asked on a date. That was because all of the other times it was the girls the asked him out. It was the first time he asked a girl out ... and also the last. The date was a nightmare. Not only did he pay for everything but he found out that the girl he crushed on for so long wasn't quiet and sweet. She was loud, obnoxious and had a tongue that could talk faster than he could think (and that was fast). On top of it all, he also found out that the only reason she always had a book at hand was because she put magazines in it to read during class. In short, he had put the girl so high up on his imaginary pedestal that it came as no surprise (now) that she fell so far down when he actually met her.

He only started asking girls out after getting into university after that fiasco.

With L it was completely different though. He couldn't put him on a pedestal, because, quite frankly, at first glance he would have thought him a to be homeless person. Not exactly dating material … With L, the only way for one to actually like him is to actually meet him (even though he is one of those people who only get stranger the more you know them…). L was completely different from that girl in high school, because he had something under the surface. In fact, he had a lot under the surface. Even now, when the teen was literally sitting in the man's mind, he was still imagining what was going on in the man's head.

If that wasn't deep, he didn't know what was…

Maybe that's why he didn't mind that L was a man. He was so desperate for something deeper--someone that could hold his attention without bending over and showing him more than he was supposed to see. (…Though he wouldn't have minded if L did the same…) Not that women couldn't be interesting and fascinating with depth and intelligence. He just hadn't had the pleasure to meet a woman like that yet.

The teen sighed. He needed more than just Misa-type women. He needed real women-women.

…

… Or L. Or maybe he needed L.

Raito blushed. Ok, maybe he didn't need, need L. I mean, he needed L but not need-need him… okay, now he was confusing himself. Did he need L as in… you know, need, or need as in lo-

"Did anyone hear that?" Raito's inner-monologue was cut short as Matsuda sat up, looking around. For a minute the teen was afraid that he was thinking so loudly that the others could actually hear him. That is, until he remembered that was a stupid idea.

"Hear what, Matsuda." Aizawa growled unhappily from against his wall. He had an arm thrown over his eyes and all his body weight was being supported by said wall.

"That. Don't you hear it? It's a thump, thump, thumping sound. Look, look! I hear it again. Listen." Matsuda went quiet, cupping a hand over his ear. Mini-L sat up and mimicked him.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Until…

…Thump…

…Thump…

…Thump…

"I hear it!" Raito exclaimed. Without thinking, the teen got up and followed the sound. He walked a few meters then turned a few corners, trying to find where the sound was the loudest.

Soon the brunet found himself in front of a building (one that looked exactly like the one next to it, and the one next to that.) this was where the noise was coming from. He was going to open the large glass door when Logic and Reason beat him to it. Pushing him aside and opening it themselves.

They all walked in.

Raito didn't remember the last building they were in. (something about it moving around must have distracted him). But he was sure this was not what they looked like normally. In short, the place was trashed. Any and all furniture was broken in half or turned upside down or simply ripped to shreds. Any items there were had all been smashed with pieces spread all over the room. There was a stress dummy in one corner and a punching bag hanging from the ceiling, bolted into the glass. It looked heavy and was dark brown in color, around 2 meters long. It hung in the middle of the far corner.

But what Raito was really looking at was the man in the red shirt that was stomping about the room, muttering angrily to himself. The man stopped, than did a roundhouse kick, slamming his heal into the punching bag. The man got up. Caught his breath…Then started to repeatedly slam his foot into the bag. It made thump, thump, thump sounds.

"Looks like we found Anger…" Love said softly beside him. His voice seemed to crack a bit. This alone worried Raito.

"DAMN IT ALL! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" Anger yelled, turning in a huff. That is when he caught sight of the group standing at the door and Raito was able to see him fully.

Just like the rest, his shirt was also of a different color, the color of freshly spilled blood that made his skin look ten times the deathly pale shade it already was. His hair was much wilder than the detective's. It stuck out in every which way and was almost standing up in perfect spikes off his head. It was like the man had taken a shower then stuck his finger in an open outlet to dry himself off. But his eyes, his eyes were what really got Raito's attention.

They were red, a red that was more than blood but less than scarlet. And they were filled with… Raito wanted to say passion, but that wasn't it. It was like looking into fire. They burnt with fury. It really freaked him out. However, if he had to choose between Anger's eyes and the eyes of Logic and Reason, Raito would choose Anger's in an instant. The man's eyes may have been creepy but the twins where downright freaky. At least Anger's eyes burned with something. The twins had nothing, nothing but gray… Nothing.

Raito guessed that it was just the color which was really bothering him. He didn't like red eyes; they seemed to send extra shivers down his spine that had nothing to do with the intensity Anger was expressing through them.

They were eyes that belong to monster.

Not that Raito believed in such things as monsters…

The red-eyed man scanned over the group but surprisingly he zeroed in on Love. "What are you doing here?" He snarled.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just-" Anger cut him off. "I don't care for your excuses! Get out!" The personality growled out.

"Hey! What did he ever do to you?" Matsuda jumped in, shielding Love with his body. One glare sent Matsuda's knees knocking but the man stubbornly kept his stand.

"Its all right Matsuda-kun, you-" Love began saying, putting a hand on Matsuda's shoulder, trying to move him out of the way. He was cut off once more.

"It is none of you business how I talk to him. You have no reason to be butting in Matsuda." Anger hissed.

"Please don't fight. There is no reason to be so-" Love seemed to be getting exasperated. That's when Raito decided to step in.

"Hey, you don't have to be so ill-mannered. You don't even know what is going on." Raito said.

"Oh, oh this is rich. Little Kira is trying to teach me how to treat people, is he now? Well that's a laugh!" Anger scoffed, turning around to go give a powerful kick to the punching bag. Raito winced at the loud thud that came from the bag. He had been on the receiving end of those kicks and he knew how powerful and painful they could be. He felt very sorry for that poor defenseless inanimate object.

However, he felt rather offended by the man's comment. "How many damn times do I have to tell you I'm not Kira!? Your constant accusations are beginning to get annoying!" Raito growled out.

However, he soon regretted his comment. For as soon as his harmless words came out of his mouth Anger's shoulders tensed and squared.

"Oh dear." Murmured Love.

"Wrong thing to say…"--Happiness.

"Eep." Child-ness squeaked.

"Idiot." Logic and Reason chorused.

Anger turned, his mouth twisted into a creepy smile and a slight mad glitter in his eyes. "Oh, little Raito wants to talk to me about annoyances? Do you Kira-kun? Well, let's talk annoyance." Anger slowly walked forward as he talked, causing Raito to walk back until he hit the wall behind him. Anger was almost pinning him to the wall, face inches away from him.

The red-eyed man leaned back. "Where should I start? Hmmm." Anger had a thoughtful look on his face. Then his expression changed, lips turning down. "Let's start with the fact that no one believes me!" He twisted around to yell that to the task force.

He stomped over to the stunned man. "This whole case is like having a giant pink elephant in the room, and not only do I have to prove it's there, but that it's pink and that it's an elephant! But of course, dear little Raito-kun isn't Kira, how could he be? Dear, sweet, Raito? Have even a single evil bone his little, innocent, perfect body? Bullshit! It's not like I know what the hell I'm talking about, right. Because solving 2,999 of the hardest cases on earth hardly means I know what I'm doing during an investigation, right?" Anger shouted at the wide-eyed men's faces. "RIGHT!"

Anger turned again. "Of course not! 'Ryuzaki is a pervert', 'Ryuzaki is a pedophile', 'Ryuzaki just loves being chained to mass murderers; it's his favorite pass-time!' He just loooooves social company! He loves spending every minute of every day constantly in the presence of people! It's not like he's putting himself in danger! Noooo. It's not like he spends his free time thinking 'there is so much that can go wrong with this… will he kill me while I sleep? Will he find something to blackmail me with? Am I really going to die at 24!?' But nooooo. Ryuzaki loves being chained to Kira, right! It's poor innocent Raito we have to worry about. He has to spend every minute of every day with that, with that, FREAK!" Anger was breathing heavily now. The Task force just continued to stare wide eyed at him, frozen in place.

Anger stomped over to the other side of the room. He picked something off the floor and threw it with great force against a wall. It must have been glass, because it broke into a million pieces. He faced the team and Raito again, eyes ablaze.

Anger shoved a hand through his spiked hair. "But of course, why should you believe me? I'm just a stranger that walked into your life and accused someone you 'knew' since birth to be a world-wide killer. It's a strange, untrusting man's word against the Chief of Police's son. How can I compete with that? It doesn't mater how many cases I've solved, or the titles I have. I'm just a faceless name accusing a teenage boy of homicide. A boy you've known for 17 years. When you only known me, what? Seven months give or take. I can't compete with that." The man spat; the silence was so thick it was suffocating.

Anger rubbed his forehead, seeming more tired now than angry. He walked towards his punching bag and started kicking the stuffing out of it, occasionally throwing a punch in. The men turned to each other, not knowing what to say. The other personalities didn't move.

"You know what else is infuriating?" Anger's voice came out from between hits to the bag. "That I have spent my whole life climbing-" punch, "to where I am. Six months just to start my career as a detective. Just to get the local police to-" hard kick, "even listen to me; to give me my first case. Two-" kick, kick, kick, "fucking years for me to be respected world-wide and create a big enough name for myself-" slam with a heel, "to actually have cases coming in from around the world." Punch. "And spending the rest of my miserable life defending my name to the point where people can actually begin to call me--" slam slam slam, "the fucking greatest detective in the world." Anger stopped fighting the bag, which was now swinging dangerously around, the ceiling actually cracked under the pressure.

"And all Kira had to do was kill a few criminals to be called God!" Anger threw back his had and laughed, sounding maniacal, desperate. He then stopped abruptly and started scrubbing his hair violently, making even bigger of a mess of it.

He stopped and looked up. "Oh, but I don't blame humanity. People are desperate for guidance. For hope. They want a God, they need a God. They want salvation. They know the planet is fucked up. I don't blame humanity. I blame Kira." He was looking directly at Raito.

"He thinks he sees the big picture. He thinks he can save the world. But his views are naive and his means despicable." Anger hissed out.

Up until now, Raito had been quiet. Quite frankly he had been too afraid to talk. He never imagined L to have strong feelings over the case. He never imagined L to have feelings. Who knew? But now, for some reason, what he said hit a nerve. And that little faint voice in his head didn't seem faint at all. In fact, it was screaming.

Maybe that's why he decided to argue back

"It's not naive! What is wrong with trying to make the world a better place!? His means might be unorthodox but so are yours! You can't deny crime rates have been falling all over the world. I should know, I've been making and reading though damn charts for weeks!" Raito yelled back.

"Don't you think that if that actually worked I would have been killing them off myself!?" Anger screeched back, making Raito take a step back, stunned.

"Raito, I spend my whole life putting away the worst scum on earth. Don't you think that the idea of killing them all off didn't run through my head at least once? Don't you think that having to sit and hear a mother cry over the complete slaughter of her family and listen to how she herself had been raped by the perpetrator; do you think I didn't feel like putting a bullet through the bastard's head myself!? Don't you think I have never had the thought that the world would be better off without this filth polluting it!?" Anger yelled, eyes redder than before. His face began to turn the same color as his eyes.

Raito swallowed, ignoring the voice in his head just for a minute. Saliva wasn't there, since his mouth was so dry. "So, why don't you?"

Anger smiled acidly. "It wouldn't work." He turned around to go pick something else up from the floor.

"How do you know? You've never tried! You can't ignore the-"

"BECAUSE IT DOSEN'T WORK!" Anger cut him off, throwing whatever was in his hand and watching it crash. "Do you really want to rid the world of crime Raito?" Anger asked. Raito nodded hesitantly, doing his best to hold his tongue.

"Tough luck kid. It's not going to happen." Anger said, going to kick his punching bag again.

"What do you mean? Of course with that nega-"

"And you complain when I accuse you of being Kira?" Raito snapped his mouth shut. "There is evil in everyone Raito. That's what you, Kira and millions of people wish to ignore. Killing off convicted felons wouldn't do a thing. There's evil in me, you, your father and even Matsuda. Its a part of humanity. Evil isn't a disease. It can't be cured or eliminated."

Raito didn't have an answer to that. He wanted, oh how he wanted to tell him, no, there is no evil in me. But as that little (not so) faint voice continued to rabidly rant in his head, he knew he couldn't. He couldn't say it. Even though he wanted to.

"Do you really want to save the world? Stop cutting off the top and go to the root of the problem. Go to why people commit crime. Give people education. Give people opportunity. Give people hope. They don't need a maniac trying to scare them straight, to try to scare them into 'good', to trying to take over the world. Humanity doesn't respond well to dictatorship Raito, they never did. You can see that throughout history how these sort of things end."

"I wouldn't call it a dictato-"

"Oh? So what do you call all the power concentrated on a single person then? That is why this whole thing is so naive. There are just so many things that can go wrong. Dictatorship doesn't work. Power was never meant to be concentrated all on one person. People don't handle power well. It is just too easy to be corrupted."

"You're L! You basically used to be the most powerful man on earth!"

Anger smiled his acid smile. "Used to? I guess I can't compete with supernatural killings now can I?" Anger shook his head. "I think you got the wrong impression of me, Raito-kun. I have all power and no power at all. I can move police from around the world yet I am but a mere tool to them. I do my best to give all the evidence to condemn those who should be condemned but my 'power' won't go much further. I'm no judge, I'm no politician or governor; I'm just one very intelligent man doing his best to put criminals in jail and keep innocents out of them."

"But what about the prison break-outs!? And the criminals that continue to control their mobs on the outside from inside? How can you say that the death penalty can't terminate all those problems? More than half of the criminals which are realesed just commit the crime again!"

"It's like trying to break a brick wall with a rubber bat when it comes to arguing with you, isn't it Raito? It all bounces right off." Anger said irritably, rolling his eyes.

"Does it really mater, you speak as if when a person dies their ideals die with them. You act like no one else thinks the same way. Like no one else will think the same way. Do you think Kira's ideals will die off with him? No, the damage has been done. Now the moment Kira disappears we will only have a new cult, much like the skinheads."

"…No."

"Face it Raito. Kira has missed too many variables. He is working with the belief that the world is perfect. No, better yet, that he can make the world perfect. He doesn't think of things like what will happen if he really achieves his goals, what will happen after he dies? Because he will die one day. What will happen if his power is stolen and used against him? He acts like I'm the only threat to him. What? Is there no one else who will be capable of continuing if I fail? There are six billion people on this planet Raito. I'm hardly the only genies. Will humanity actually accept him as a leader after a few years? It only takes one person's doubt to infect a million. People are so different, Raito. That's why there is no such thing as unity, equality. Communism. We have such different opinions on the same subject… you could never controlled the whole world. Someone, anyone, will stand against your ideals because we all have a different opinion of what is correct."

Raito's shoulders sagged. This was too much. It was like he was sitting in a thunderstorm. L's words were clashing with his own ideals, and the voice in his head had become so violent it was giving him a migraine. "But-but the Justice system is so flawed…" he managed feebly. He felt like his head was going to burst.

"That's just because humanity is flawed. However, it's constantly changing, just like us. We've come a long way since cavemen ages ago, Raito. What keeps my hopes up is the fact that we keep trying to make it better, to make ourselves better.

Raito rubbed at his temples. Fuck, his head hurt. Why did what L says make so much sense and yet sound completely ludicrous? He was wrong. He knew L was wrong, but… but, it made so much sense…

"And you ask me why you are being accused? Raito, this whole discussion should be proof enough! But it's not just your beliefs, no, it's the way you act, the way you are, everything. Everything points so clearly to Kira! Why is it that only I can see it!? You are Kira, Raito, admit it!"

Oh this was just too much! He couldn't take it anymore! L's words made so much sense yet Raito knew he was wrong. Why wouldn't everybody just shut up!? "WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?" Raito didn't know where this came from. He was just as stunned as the rest of the team when the words rolled out of his mouth. He couldn't take it. It was like he was fighting himself and L at the same time. For the second time that day, Anger tensed, but this time he tensed so much it looked like his body would snap.

With no warning at all, Raito found him self pinned up against the wall, feet dangling inches from the floor as Anger held him from the front of his shirt. The man's face was twisted once more, eyes flaming again.

"That's the whole, damn, fucking problem! I don't hate you! I CAN'T HATE YOU! I can't! No mater what you do, what you say! I can't bring myself to hate you!" Anger shouted at him, shaking him as he did. "I can't hate you because, because- ARGHH!!!" Anger threw Raito the side, running and throwing such a powerful kick at the punching bag that the ceiling couldn't support it and cracked, breaking. The bag fell to the floor.

The red-eyed man stomped past the team, pushing them out of the way as he tried to get to the door. "Get out of my way!" Then he was gone.

No one moved. The only sound was the sound of falling glass pieces making their way to the ground. Raito just stared blankly up at the ceiling, lying on his back where he fell.

No one no noticed Love slipping out silently behind Anger.

Slowly, Happiness walked over to Raito, going to help him up. Soon Matsuda and Soichiro went over to help. Even after Raito was on his feet no one said a thing. Boy did he feel dizzy. All they did was look at each other, seemingly at a loss.

"You know." Reason said slowly. "We do need everyone, and that includes Anger. This might be the last time we see him, if we don't follow him." The minute the words were out of the personality's mouth it was like a switch had been turned on. Everyone sprung into action.

Soon the men were out the door and onto the street, Happiness in the lead. "He can't have gone far! If we hurry we might find him!" The yellow-eyed man yelled, rushing down the street.

The men followed, and just as they were about to round the corner Child-ness' voice asked, "Where's Love?"

No time to even register what the boy said. The group rounded the corner to find the two missing personalities. Love was on his back, arms up in a feeble attempt to defend his face. Anger straddled his chest, knees squeezing the other's sides, keeping him in place, as he brought down his fists to punch at the scarred man's face.

Without thinking Raito did the first thing that came to mind. He charged forward and kicked Anger straight in the chest.

The man flow off Love and was quickly grabbed by Aizawa and Mogi as he struggled to get free. "Let go! LET GO!" Anger screamed as thrashed about.

Raito positioned himself protectively over Love, dimly noticing Matsuda do the same. "Please do as he asks." Came a soft plead from behind him. Raito turned, astonished, to Love. The man was leaning himself up on one of his elbows, mouth and nose bleeding from the punching he received to his face.

"NO! Are you insane? He is obviously dangerous and-" Aizawa began to say but Love would have none of it.

"Please." He asked again. Aizawa and Mogi shared a worried Look, but hesitantly did as asked. Anger wrenched himself from their grip, but his eye were only for Love.

Both locked eyes, staring each other down. Finally, Love looked away, turning his attention to the floor.

"I hate you." Anger said with such hate, Raito felt a shiver run down his spine.

"I know." Came the soft, simple reply.

Anger shook him head, turning his back to Love. "Fuck this shit." He walked off, but this time no one tried to stop him.

Raito and Matsuda helped Love sit up. He looked thankfully at them before using the sleeve of his already ratty pink shirt to wipe off the blood from his face. He winced slightly as he brushed over his split lip, staining his sleeves with blood.

Raito suddenly had the urge to lick at the wound. He mentally hit himself at the inappropriate thought at such a wrong time.

"Is Anger evil?" Matsuda asked quietly, as he brushed off the dirt on Love's shirt.

"No, just confused and implosive." Love said gently, patting Matsuda's hand, even as dark bruises began to appear around his eyes and cheeks.

"Evil can't be separated individually. It's in every emotion. There is crime of passion, crime of logic, crimes that come from prior paranoia, but the most hideous crimes come from pleasure--from people who do it for fun." Logic (maybe?) said. Everyone turned to Happiness.

The man blinked when suddenly put under the spotlight. "Hey! It's not like I'll be going off on a killing spree any time soon! I'm quite happy with putting crimes in jail, not becoming one!" Happiness huffed and crossed his arms over his chest indignantly.

Raito smiled softly at that, but it soon disappeared as the memory of his argument resurfaced. The atmosphere became heavy again.

Until Matsuda's voice came. "… what are we going to do now?"