A/N: Sorry this took so long!! I've been so busy! I hope it was worth the wait.

Darkroom

Chapter 11

Matt placed his head against the window of the subway car as it rocked back and forth noisily, speeding through pitch dark tunnels at what seemed like a reckless speed. The rickety, almost dangerous feeling trains freaked him out a bit at first when he first came to this city, but now he was like the rest of the masses. Another mindless drone with a vacant stare, oblivious to the scary mechanical noises and vibrations emanating from all parts of the subway car that would cause most to pause with concern. He could almost feel the stare of one of the drones across from him, an Asian man in a dark green hooded sweatshirt pulled up over long, black stringy hair, messy, unkempt facial hair and a cold gaze that made Matt more than a little uncomfortable. Matt wasn't entirely unfamiliar with being stared at by a weirdo occasionally, but something about this person's ice cold examination made him highly uncomfortable.

Matt closed his eyes while silently musing over his paranoia. He only had a few more stops to go and he would be so much closer to home. So much closer to shutting his eyes and once again trying to sleep after another fruitless day, no closer to finding Near and no closer to having him back safely in his arms.

The time went quickly since Matt had drifted slightly asleep for a little while. Two more stops had passed and Matt raised one eyelid to see the man still there, although not staring so blatantly anymore. Matt rose to his feet as the train reached his stop, walking outwards into the crowd of people on the platform once the doors opened before trudging up the staircase to the street-level.

The air was pretty cold for late October, yet it was still. Still enough to hear footfalls behind him over his own. At first they went ignored. Afterall, hearing footsteps other than your own in New York City was nothing to get worked up over. It's almost expected actually. Something about the way they increased in speed had Matt on alert though. They weren't quite fast enough to be coming from a late-night jogger, yet they were way too quick for someone going for a stroll. They started to get closer. Matt clenched his fists in anticipation. They were much closer now, and the sound didn't change direction as would be expected if he were going to be passed by.

Matt had just began to wander back to the man on the train, when he felt cloth brush his neck. With his senses already on high-alert, Matt had little difficulty ducking out of the way before the invasive arm put him in a chokehold. He shoved hard against an unfamiliar torso and then side stepped a few feet before fully turning around and facing his attacker. As he feared, the face was familiar from just moments ago.

"What the fuck do you want from me? Money?!" Matt shouted.

There was no reply, just an empty stare. Matt looked down at the man's hands, noticing something glint in the streetlights. Matt's eyes widened when he saw the business end of the syringe that he was clutching. This wasn't a mugging, Matt realized. Nobody stabs you with a needle and injects you with something unless their intent is to kidnap you. Matt tightened his jaw as the realization washed over him. This had to be Near's kidnapper. This person was holding Near somewhere and now he was coming after him.

"Where's Near?" Matt asked.

The man's eyes opened wide with surprise, apparently not expecting Matt to reach this conclusion this quickly. He considered fighting Matt, but new it would be difficult and Matt wouldn't be that easy to take down. Behind Matt's eyes burned a fire that would cause most people to back down, in spite of his boyish features and slim body. The attacker started to back away before starting to run back in the opposite direction down the street.

"Where the fuck is he you bastard! What did you do to him!" Matt screamed as he took off after him.

Matt ran as fast as he could but this man wasn't easy to catch. It certainly didn't help that he was knocking over garbage cans and trying to create other obstacles for Matt as he scrambled down the street. The chase lasted for 3 whole blocks, the whole time Matt was running so fast he could hear the wind whistling past his ears. His stride was so long at this speed that he knew he was over-stretching the muscles in his legs and that he would pay for it later, however he didn't care. He pushed himself harder as his chest burned. He was starting to catch up. Harder!! He was just an arms length away now. Matt stretched out his arm hoping to grab the hood of his sweatshirt and pulling him back, hoping to knock him off his feet.

Matt felt his fingertips brush the cloth of the sweatshirt when suddenly he was looking at the ground as it loomed dangerously close. He hadn't been watching where he was going and his foot found a single, deep crack in the sidewalk that sent him soaring. Matt flew for what felt like 15 feet. He barely had enough time to protect his face with this arm before he hit the ground, skidding on his elbow and knee before barrel-rolling on the concrete a few times, finally coming to a stop.

His first instinct was to get up, get up and keep running at all costs. He pushed himself up off the ground, blood staining the sidewalk as it dripped from his knee. He spotted the man escape down a subway station from the corner of his eye. Gritting his teeth he took off again, ignoring the pain.

He clambered down the stairs and jumped over the turnstile, quickly reaching the platform where he saw several people sitting down on the benches waiting for the train to arrive. Several of them looked up as Matt skidded to a halt, frantically looking around for the elusive kidnapper. He was wild eyed, and breathing heavily, with a bloody hole torn in one of his jeans' legs and another one on his elbow.

"Anyone see a guy come running through here? Asian, green sweatshirt? Cmon...Anybody?!" Matt shouted. The few that did pay attention to him nervously broke eye contact and stared back at whatever magazine the were reading, afraid of the confrontation.

"Fuck!!!" Matt screamed before kicking over a garbage can, the loud clattering sound echoing through the subway tunnel. Several people jumped at the sudden sound. One nearby woman actually cowered in her seat. Realizing he was creating somewhat of a scene for himself, he decided to leave the subway tunnel and call the police before calling Roger.

"Roger, I saw him. I fucking saw the bastard. He tried to take me too. He had a needle, a fucking needle! He was going to drug me!" Matt ranted into the phone.

Matt started to feel lightheaded as the adrenaline wore off. The pain from his injuries started to throb causing bile to rise up in the back of his throat. His legs couldn't hold him anymore and he fell gently onto the sidewalk. He took several deep breaths, trying to prevent himself from passing out on the street. He started to notice the warm slick feeling running down his leg causing him to look at his bloodied knee, an action that pushed him over the edge. He started to sway as his vision got blurry. As consciousness slipped away from him he thought he noticed sirens and flashing lights.

Matt woke up hearing the chatter of EMT's. He gasped, sitting up in the back of the ambulance. They hadn't yet strapped him down or even shut the door. The only thing they had managed to do yet was cut Matt's pants off to tend to his badly skinned knee and the sleeve of his striped shirt to tend to his elbow. At least he was still wearing his shoes he noticed, as his eyes followed the trail of blood going down his leg and soaking into his sock.

He saw a policeman talking to Roger through the open door in the back of the ambulance.

"Hey.... Hey!!" Matt shouted as he carefully slid off of the stretcher, noticing how sore he was. His bandaged knee throbbed as he put his weight down.

"Sir don't get up..."

Matt ignored the EMT as he gingerly exited the back of the ambulance in his underwear. The cold air felt good against his legs.

"Roger! I saw him. I saw the bastard."

"Matt you should rest, you look like hell." Roger replied.

"There's no time. Officer, take me to the precinct so we can do a sketch or something while it's still fresh in my mind."

They brought Matt to the police station in his underwear where they had their artist create a sketch of the subject from Matt's description. Satisfied that the sketch looked very much like the person he saw, he accepted a ride back home. On the way, he had Roger arrange for the private security firm to spend the night since another attempt for the kidnapper to grab him while he was alone seemed possible.

Matt was pleased to see a familiar face when he got back to the apartment. Deitrich was standing in front of the doorway like a sentinel, arms crossed and with shoulders as wide as the doorframe.

"Hey. Come on in." Matt said as he limped from the elevator down the short hallway to the apartment.

Matt opened the door and let Deitrich inside to make sure the apartment was clear of any wrongdoers. Once confident the place was safe, Matt was led inside where he plopped down on the couch, leaning his head back and resting one of his palms against his forehead, slightly shielding his eyes from the lights overhead.

"You look like hell. Had a rough night?" Deitrich asked.

"Yeah you can say that, although this was mostly self-inflicted". Matt said, pointing downwards to his right leg, which was bare save for the red soaked bandage covering his knee.

"You should re-dress that wound. That bandage is soaked all the way through."

"I'm too tired. I'll do it tomorrow." Matt replied.

"Allow me to do it then. You don't want to get an infection."

"Are you sure?"

"I was a medic for a short while in the corps. I've seen worse than this."

Deitrich disappeared to the bathroom where he retrieved some gauze pads that he found in the medicine cabinet. When he returned he knelt down next to Matt and started to carefully remove the bandage. Matt shut his eyes tightly as the bandage stuck to his skin, crusted with dried blood and other material not necessary to mention.

"Aaaghh!!! That fucking hurts! Stop.. Just stop..."

"We've got to change this bandage unless you want an infection. You think it hurts now?" Deitrich replied before starting to pull again.

"Ok, ok stop..." Matt said, trying to get up from the couch and away from Dietrich.

Dietrich pushed Matt back down onto the couch with palm of his hand on Matt's chest. His hand was huge and powerful and Matt felt like he was nailed to the couch. He knew he wasn't going anywhere until this was done. This was more than just a scrape. A good chunk of flesh was gouged from his knee from the hard fall, nearly to the bone leaving raw nerves exposed. Matt whined though his nose as the pulling began again. Needing something to grip before he screamed, he clasped two hands around one of Deitrich's biceps. The man's arm was huge and solid as a rock.

"Go ahead. Squeeze as hard as you want." Dietrich said displaying a sly smirk.

Matt squeezed the man's arm as hard as he could. He almost wanted to see if he could hurt him, even just a little. As expected though, Dietrich didn't so much as bat an eye as Matt throttled his arm with all of this strength.

"Fucking Christ! Hurry it up! This is killing me!" Matt exclaimed through gritted teeth.

"Didn't you tell me that you were shot once?"

"Yes but I was unconscious for a long time! I didn't have to feel.... Owww!"

The last of the bandage finally pulled free. Matt breathed heavily as he relaxed his grip on the man's arm.

"See, that wasn't so bad." Dietrich said as he rubbed his palm on Matt's bare thigh.

Matt felt his face suddenly get flushed. He wasn't expecting the warm feeling of the hand on his thigh. His body started to react in a way that he had no control over as he sat on the couch in his boxers. This was getting far to weird for him.

"Umm.. I'm going to go to bed now." Matt said, nervously trying to get up. His injury wasn't allowing him to spring for the couch like he wanted to before his reaction became obvious. He paused for a second before latching onto Deitrich's arm again while he was pulled up to a standing position almost effortlessly. Matt turned towards the bed started to limp towards it.

"Don't you want me to redress the wound and re-bandage it?"

"No that's ok. It's better for the air to get to it."

"Are you sure?" Dietrich replied. Matt couldn't see the amused smirk on his face.

"Yes I'm sure. Thanks though."

Matt approached the bed and pulled the covers back before carefully trying to climb into it, trying not to scrape his raw knee against the mattress while keeping his back turned to the man still standing behind him. A certain part of his body was standing at full attention now, very much against his will. He hadn't 'gotten any' since Near's been gone and his libido was hyperactive despite all the worry that still bubbled at the forefront of Matt's mind.

"You want me to help you into bed?"

"No!! No... I'm fine." Matt said before sliding in between the sheets, finally safe from view.

The last thing he needed was Dietrich's big strong hands wrapping around his thin frame and picking him up like a toy. As he laid there on his side, facing the window he considered taking care of his problem the next time he was alone, even though he felt horrible even considering it given the current situation. He longed for Near's body pressed against his own again, burying his face in his soft snowy hair, smelling fresh and clean while he wraps his arm around Near's torso, sliding his palm up and down his silken skin, listening to the faint whimper that he would make as he slipped into dreamland.

"I swear to god if he's hurt I'll kill the motherfucker." Matt whispered to himself.

Matt started to wonder again who this person could be. He searched his memory of the man's face, trying to see if he could remember any clues. Matt was blessed with a photographic memory, something that neither Near nor Mello even had. However as good as his memory was it still needed time to sort out all the details and make the completed picture. It required concentration, which isn't something he had while at the police station doing the sketch.

He remembered a tattoo on his neck. It was small, and Matt probably only caught a fleeting glimpse of it in that darkened street, but it was now clearly visible to him. On the side of the his neck were the characters 怒り. Matt had studied a good amount of Japanese while he lived there. He spoke fairly well, at least enough to get by or have a casual conversation with a stranger, but his mastery of the Japanese writing system wasn't particularly great. Still however, without knowing what the tattoo means, he could say with certainty that it's most definitely Japanese, indicated by the second hiragana character.

He had a feeling this would link to Japan one way or the other, and the only person there that knew who Near was, and would likely hold a grudge is Mikami himself, who Matt unfortunately found out is already dead by his own hand. There had to be someone else involved. Matt was sure of it. Someone who was close to Mikami. While there were many Kira supporters that likely would love to get a hold of Near, there's little chance of any of them finding out who he is. Unless Mikami told them.

He glanced at the clock.

4:02 AM

Matt threw the covers off and jumped out of bed, forgetting how badly injured his knee was, and nearly falling onto the floor below. Deitrich was still awake, even though he had darkened the room to make it easier for Matt to sleep.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I think I just had a revelation."

Matt called the prison again, and got in contact with the same English speaking person he had talked to before.

"I need to know, did Mikami spend any time with a cell-mate?"

"No he was in solitary confinement."

"Is there anyone he had regular contact with?" Matt asked.

"Well that would be his warden, that's the only person that saw him regularly."

"Where is this warden now?"

Matt could hear flipping of pages in the background as the representative on the phone checked their records.

"It appears he resigned approximately 2 weeks after prisoner Mikami committed suicide."

"Who is he? I need all of his information faxed to me immediately. I'll contact Interpol if necessary."

The person on the other end was reluctant but agreed to send as much info as he had on him. Matt thumbed through the pages that appeared on the fax, staring at a grainy identification photo that cast no shadow of a doubt. This man was definitely the culprit, as far as Matt could tell.

Matt wasted no time phoning Roger and waking him to tell him what he had found. Roger contacted Immigration and Customs and confirmed that a man bearing the name Daisuke Tanashita(棚下大輔) had indeed entered the US via JFK airport 2 months prior. His whereabouts since that time are unknown.

"It's getting so close Roger, I can feel it! This bastard has no idea how screwed he is. The police are going to find him in no time at all."

"Matt I hate to tell you this but have you considered how this person might react if he knows there's a good chance he's about to get caught? Near's safety may be very much at risk at this point."

"Shit. Do always have to give me something extra to worry about Roger?"

A/N:
Psst... was it good? FYI I'm working on another one... a crossover fic. It involves DN and another popular series. I wont divulge any more details than that. Please review this chapter if you didn't think it was too bad. Kthxbai.