Afternoon all! I'm just about to go out, so I'll make this short.
Finally I've finished the next chapter. I've had some shocking writer's block lately, so I haven't been writing much.
I'll do my best to have the 5th chapter up asap!

Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugimi Ohba & Takeshi Obata, but the OC's are mine!


Chapter 4 – The Star

"Good morning members of the press. I am Chief Superintendent Hiroshi Ataru and I'd like to announce a very important fact about the search for the mysterious 'Aka Sora' group that killed thirteen innocent people recently. We have been contacted by Watari, the only person who can get into contact with the detective, L, to tell us that L will be participating in the search with us." he said confidently, looking out to see the many eager faces holding notepads, pens, and various cameras and microphones as well as recorders.

As soon as he stopped talking he was immediately hounded with questions, and the noise level almost tripled in the large room before the crowd eventually calmed down and were able to answer questions, one at a time. He gestured to one woman, who stood up and started talking immediately in a professional tone.

"Chief Superintendent, do you have any leads on finding the 'Aka Sora' at all?" the dark haired woman asked, her pen waiting to scribble down whatever he said on her small notepad.

"Yes, we have. They have managed to keep under the radar for a few days, but we are certain that they will pop up again, and that is when we shall catch them." he replied and pointed to another journalist who cleared his throat before voicing his question.

Back in the headquarters, small dexterous hands clenched into fists slightly hoping that he didn't say anything stupid as they watched the press conference on TV. More or less anything else stupid. Hiroshi was already being too specific and avoiding giving himself enough wiggle room. What would he say when in a few days if the Aka Sora struck and then struck again only a while after he had said that they would be caught the next time they appeared?

Taiyou should have let her read his speech. He had already been much too descriptive and used too many adjectives and wasn't broad enough. It was a very touchy issue, and she was quite sure that there would be some ridiculous front page headlines tomorrow.

"Why have the identities of those that were killed not been released?"

"Well, the families of the victims have been notified of course, and we believe that giving the Aka Sora's victims public recognition would just make them enjoy it all the more." the Chief replied and Tsuki smirked inwardly at him using her line. First smart thing that he had done during the conference, and it would probably be the only smart move.

Hiroshi pointed to another reporter and hoped that the next question wasn't too bad. He was lucky that Tsuki had scared the hell out of him so damn much that he vividly recalled the line she told him to say if they were asked about the victim's identities being released.

-

"I-I have my speech sorted." he said, trying to ignore the fact that the only woman in the room was moving her head a little to try and get a glimpse of what he wrote.

"Let me have a look at it. You have to step carefully with this and I won't have you jeopardising our investigation by saying the wrong thing." Tsuki stated coldly, staring straight at him with icy blue eyes through her mask.

"I'm sure the Chief Superintendent can handle a simple speech." Taiyou glared back at her, getting her attention after she felt his gaze on her. She spared no time and had no qualms about turning her piercing stare on her boss, and they had a small battle of wits through their eyes before Taiyou rolled his eyes at her temper and turned away.

She got up, and walked to lean over Hiroshi who leant back in his seat as Tsuki got closer. He could see her hand on a kunai in her leg holster out of the corner of his eye and he knew that pissing this woman off would be a bad move.

"Well, here's the thing. If you do end up saying the wrong thing, I guarantee you that I will not let you in this building again." she promised quietly, trying to not make it bleedingly obvious that she was kind of threatening him. "Just remember this: when someone asks you about why the victims identities haven't been released, tell them that it would only make the Aka Sora enjoy it more. It's the only plausible excuse for it."

The black-haired woman stood back up to her full height, which was probably only 5 feet and five inches tall. It was all the more intimidating that she could take down guys probably twice her size without breaking a sweat. He resisted the urge the shudder and swallowed before nodding and making some sort of sound of confirmation. She watched his reaction, looking for deception, but found none, so she walked back over to her own desk and sat down with one knee bent and pulled up to her chest.

-

"Do you think that the Aka Sora is some sort of terrorist group?" the reporter asked, his hand-held recorder at the ready.

"Well, we cannot be sure of that just yet. The only important thing is at the moment that they have committed terrible crimes, and must be caught as soon as possible." he stated with such resolution, that almost made Tsuki smirk under her mask. Maybe she could allow him back in the building after all.

He refused to answer any more questions and stepped down from the podium and the TV channel went from the conference room to the news room and Ame switched it off with the remote.

"What do you reckon Tsuki? Is he coming back in the building?" Kumo asked playfully and he saw the tiny nod of her head, and he had gotten his answer. He knew that she would be impressed by his conviction, but chances were that she would probably still intimidate the shit out of him just to get him back.

"So, while we're waiting for the results of Kotone's autopsy, we should take a look at those letters. We were all too worn out to do it last night." Ame offered, since his curiosity was just buzzing at finding something they could use.

He walked over and picked them up from Taiyou's desk, and everyone except Watari simultaneously got up and went over to have a look since they were at the desk straight in front of him. They didn't bother with the gas masks this time, just hoping that it would be okay and they all put on a pair of surgical gloves before Tsuki did the honours again and pulled each letter out of their evidence bags.

She opened the letter they had found at the empty house first, and it almost seemed like it was written in some sort of code. They all racked their brains to try and figure out what it meant, but Tsuki's deductive abilities kicked in, and she turned to the other one to open it. As she did that, Taiyou figured it out and slowly the others did as well.

There was a paper and pen on the desk, which Tsuki grabbed, and she glanced at both letters and started writing down what turned out to be a combination of both letters. Both of them were missing various letters out of the words.

We l d n , ou' e fig d t ut. T is m s ll e ve on us g fo y . Bu I p om s , he f n s on y ju be n in .

l o e, ou' e fig d i t. T is m s a e ve on f ing r ou. Bu p om s , t u i on y ju gi n g.

But, together, the letters made sense.

Well done, you've figured it out. This must all be very confusing for you. But I promise, the fun is only just beginning.

Tsuki studied the message for a few minutes, before her fists and jaw clenched angrily. She stepped back, her right hand twitching over her leg holster, and she tried to calm herself as much as possible. Taiyou knew that something was wrong, but didn't say anything, instead just tried to figure out what had got her angry.

With a flash that was almost too quick for the eye to see, three kunai went straight into wall across from her, forming a perfect horizontal line.

"They read our moves." She explained quietly, but she wasn't able to keep the fury from her voice no matter how much she tried. "They knew that we wouldn't have wasted any time once we found out about Kotone and gone to the scene straight away. They knew that we wouldn't have read the letters until we had both of them."

Her temper was rising by the moment, and with another flash she had slammed her clenched fist into the wall behind her, putting a nice big hole in it. A few minutes of dead silence past, four of the five men and one computer in the room knowing that if they spoke, they would also become nothing more than target practice or a punching bag just like the walls and the others just followed their lead.

The silence was broken by the buzzer, letting them know that someone was at the door. With a deep breath, Tsuki turned and walked down the hall, hoping that this would be the report for Kotone's autopsy.

Luckily enough, it was, because she did have a fleeting thought that she might end up killing anyone else and she took it from their hand before shutting the door and making her way back down the hall. She sat down in her usual position at her desk and studied the report. There was nothing unusual about the contents of her stomach, and the toxicology and blood work was negative for her being drugged or given any harmful substances.

Everything was completely negative for anything abnormal, except for the section written on her cause of death. Apparently, she had bled out from the stab wounds that had been created by some sort of odd weapon, maybe a special dagger or kunai. It said that one side had been serrated, but the other just a normal cutting edge and that usually this would suggest a dagger, but the size and shape of the entry wound was just like a kunai.

Something in this gave her a flash back to past events, and she spaced out for a moment before Taiyou asked her if she was finished reading the report. She nodded absently and got up. No one bothered her as she walked down the hall and out the door, and continued to the elevator on their floor. She went down to the basement level, where their morgue was.

The pathologist was a little confused when she asked to see Kotone's body, but obliged and lifted back the white material so Tsuki could look at the stab wounds. They looked familiar, but it wasn't like the weapon she had been thinking of couldn't have been mass produced.

She lifted her leg up and got out a kunai from the holster around her shin that had a slightly serrated edge on one side that had belonged to an ex-comrade and the pathologist confirmed that it was definitely that sort of weapon, but it wasn't anywhere near serrated enough to be the right weapon and also that it was barely sharp at all. Tsuki nodded and thanked him briefly for his help and went back upstairs.

Nothing was said to anyone else and she sat back down and started looking up random weapons on her computer. Maybe that could help them make connections between whether this was a few people using the same weapons or not. Kumo was going to ask her what it was, but he knew that if she had figured something out, she would have told them, so he didn't bother.

It was silent for at least the next hour and everyone did research on different things and tried to find anything that might help even a little bit. Suddenly, Watari spoke up out of nowhere. He had been as silent as the chair he had been sitting on all day, and no one had really bothered to be concerned about him since he just sat there, doing nothing the whole time.

"It is time for me to go." he said out loud, and began packing up the computer that L communicated with them through. "I will return later on today. Please notify me on this number if anything should happen." he lifted out a small business card with nothing but a cell number on it and placed it on the desk that the letters were still sitting on.

Everyone gave him a respectful nod, and he left.

It didn't take Watari too long to get back to new hotel that him and Ryuzaki were staying at, since they had moved a little closer to the Sora Ops building, and he greeted him before preparing some food for the young man who was looking up things on his computer, as per usual.

He was currently thinking over their options. It seemed like Hachirou Takumi didn't know anything and was most likely nothing more than bait for them, and unfortunately had a minor concussion, so he was a little too scattered to be questioned again. And he would probably wet himself if he saw Tsuki again.

Speaking of her, he was rather intrigued by her. She was normally so composed, but he had seen her snap and indirectly give Takumi a concussion, as well as throw three kunai at a wall and punch a large hole in another wall. It seemed that no matter how much she tried to act like she was unaffected by...well everything, she had a hell of a temper and anyone that got in her way when she was angry would undoubtedly get cut down without a second thought.

The pale-skinned woman was absolutely furious at the idea of someone being able to read their movements and it seemed that she was quite unnerved by the concept of their enemy being capable of doing so. Even though she was only the second in command, she had much more leeway with the other agents and even more so when he agreed with her, which he often did, so he was also quite surprised about their enemy seeing through them.

Now that he thought about it, she seemed to think quite a lot like himself in general. They were both the kind of people who usually considered every single option, detail and scenario and always liked to be 3 steps ahead of their opponent. And they definitely hated to lose.

Also, he couldn't help but be a little interested by what not just her past was, but Kumo, Hoshi, Ame and Taiyou as well. Kumo seemed to have known Tsuki the longest as she actually seemed to joke with him sometimes, and from the way Ame was treated, it seemed like he was the newest member to the Sora Ops. They had quite a tight bond though, something that could only be brought around by going through so much together.

The boys seemed quite defensive when it came to Tsuki, almost like she was a sister to them, and she would more than likely defend them as well. It was almost like they actually were a family, and the black-haired man almost sighed at the thought. All he had through his life was Watari. Granted that wasn't a bad thing, he definitely thought of the man like a father, but he had always wondered what familial and romantic bonds were like.

Just for plain curiosity, he had spent his free time over the years watching movies and TV shows, to pass the time, and he would like to think that through that he was able to get the vague gist of what love – platonic or otherwise – was like, but he was still young, and his mind did tend to wander.

He was snapped out of his reverie by Watari entering the room with a pot of coffee, two cups and saucers and some various different cakes. The older man poured the hot liquid into one cup and slid it over to Ryuzaki, who thanked him and took a sip before reaching for the sugar cubes and changing the ratio of sugar to coffee drastically.

It was mostly silent for a while, as he enjoyed his incessantly sweet coffee and a slice of cake, whilst continuing to go through the case files on his computer over and over again, looking for anything they might have missed and checking the internet for anything new.

At least three or four hours later, Watari got a call from the Sora Ops headquarters on the number he had left for them. He briefly glanced at Ryuzaki who had already picked up on the anxious demeanour and was waiting for some news that they had finally found a lead. Watari answered the phone, and his eyebrows raised as he got the news.

He hung up and looked over to Ryuzaki with a slightly grim expression. He hated to be the bearer of such bad news.

"Ryuzaki. The police station that Chief Superintendent Hiroshi works at has just blown up."

Tsuki was currently speeding over to the police station with Ame in the passenger side, Hoshi in the back seat, Kumo and Taiyou in her ear. They had to get there as soon as possible to get their own evidence, and look for any signs of letters or other messages that the Aka Sora – who had undoubtedly done this – might have left.

It was like they were being led on a wild goose chase and Tsuki absolutely despised it. There was only one other person who had even come close to being able to read her moves, and they were long dead.

Luckily, it was nearly dark, and Tsuki had told Kumo to put the power out in that block so they could search for evidence undetected. They parked as close as they could, and all three of them basically leapt out of the car and went in three different directions to start searching for clues.

This was the kind of thing they were best at. Running around under the cover of darkness, looking for evidence, anything or anyone suspicious, and getting out of there without being noticed, even if there was 100 people around. The crowd was definitely getting bigger around what was left of the smouldering police station, and people were trying to look for any survivors among the wreckage.

Usually, that's what the Sora Ops would do first, but since there was already people around, they couldn't go and reveal themselves by helping out. They had already split up, and were all sprinting around, trying to find anything they could go off. It was likely that most of the police cars that were already out would return soon, and they had to be gone by that time.

As per usual in this kind of situation, Hoshi looked around the surrounding buildings for any clues, Ame would search around the building but be more of a look out for Tsuki who normally searched the scene itself.

Kumo informed them over their headsets that two police cars were getting closer to their location and would be there very soon. They heard Watari walk in the office at that point but he said nothing and just set up the computer. They sped up their search, still staying undetected and silent as the shadows they hid in. Hoshi's voice suddenly came over the head set, and told them what they wanted to hear.

"I found a letter! It was stuck to the next building's back door." he exclaimed quietly with immense relief in his voice.

"That's great. Go back to the car everyone." Tsuki replied and looked around for anyone before going back in the direction of the car but stopped when she heard something odd over the speaker.

It sounded like signs of a struggle. Kumo seemed to notice as well and he quickly started questioning what was going on with worry in his tone. Taiyou, Watari and L stayed quiet, but the grim look on Taiyou's face suggested that he already knew what was happening.

"Ame, Hoshi. What's going on?" she asked, eyebrows slightly furrowed in confusion under her mask.

"I'm fine, I think it might be Hoshi." Ame's melodic voice resonated through her, and she tensed with wide eyes before sprinting towards where Hoshi said he was last and Ame started doing the same.

They could all hear faint sounds of clashing metal, groans and grunts of pain and heavy breathing. Ame growled a little after recognising a wince from Hoshi and they both put their foot down and were both running as fast as they could. It was only another hundred metres or so for Tsuki, and she didn't need the headsets to hear the much louder groan of pain, and the thud that came after.

Icy blue eyes narrowed and she drew a kunai, ready for action. She looked around in the darkness for anything or anyone and slowly picked up on the scent of blood from near by. Since it was pitch black aside from the still burning flames coming from the police station, she had to rely on her sense of smell to track down the source.

It got stronger, and the metallic scent filled her nostrils until she nearly tripped over the source itself. A body was on the ground and she quickly bent down and put her gloved hands on the body to find a pulse. When she got a hold of an arm, she placed two fingers on the wrist and felt the faintest of pulses.

Her hands trailed up their torso, and her eyebrows furrowed again slightly, and she spaced out even as Ame came up behind her, finally getting there. She got to their head and placed one, small, long-fingered hand on where she knew the face would be, but only came in contact with something hard and solid.

A mask.

Without thinking, she snatched up her flash light from her utility belt and turned it on to find Hoshi's near dead body lying in front of her. Her eyes went wide, and so did Ame's. Kumo, Taiyou, Watari and L were left confused back at headquarters, wondering what the fuck was going on.

A huge deep breath was taken in by Hoshi, who opened his eyes slowly and smirked a little seeing Tsuki and Ame kneeling over him. Again, without thinking, Tsuki lifted a hand up and pulled her mask and her cloth mask underneath off as a sign of deep respect for him. He understood it, and just barely cracked a smile before his features faded into a somewhat distressed expression.

"Ar-Ara-Aras-" he tried to choke out, but one of his lungs had been punctured, so it was almost impossible for him to control his air well enough to speak.

"Don't talk. Just rest, Hoshi." Tsuki scolded lightly, and smiled a little before her and Ame watched him fade away into passing.

"SHIT!" Ame cursed loudly, and his clenched fist smashed into the brick wall next to him.

There was a moment of complete silence, as if even the explosion and the people weren't around. As if nothing existed in that moment aside them. It took Tsuki a moment to make sure that she was composed, but after a minute, she spoke.

"I'll bring the car around." she said quietly in a unwavering voice that held or showed nothing, but the emptiness pushed through a little.

Ame said nothing, and neither did anyone else on the other end, picking up on what happened since none of them had heard Hoshi speak since the sounds of a struggle began. Tsuki rose back up to her full height, turned off her flash light and put it back on her belt before placing a hand on Ame's shoulder in a simple gesture of comfort.

He looked at her, but couldn't think of anything to say, so she dropped her hand and walked past him, and went back to the car. She put the keys in the ignition and started it up, then slowly made her way to where Ame would be with Hoshi and watched as the youngest member of the Sora Ops carried one of the oldest members towards her.

Still, no one said anything, even as Ame laid Hoshi down on the back seat and walked around to open the front passenger door, get in and sit down. The depressive demeanour would not go away, and Tsuki silently drove back to headquarters, barely even taking notice of other cars on the road.

They went through the back-entrance that went straight into the morgue so that they wouldn't be seen by other employees and the pathologist nearly dropped his clipboard after seeing one of their best agents bodies being held in the arms of their newest.

Hoshi was placed down on the gurney and neither Ame or Tsuki wanted to put up with any more, so they left, heading back upstairs and away from the corpse of their comrade. No one really bothered taking much notice of them when they came out of the elevator and towards the big doors leading to their office because they were all so busy, and that was exactly what they needed right now.

When they went through the doors, Kumo stood up and walked over to them. He patted Ame on the back a few times, and briefly wrapped an arm around Tsuki's shoulders and rested his head on top of hers before pulling back and making his way back to his seat.

Tsuki was very appreciative of Kumo's comforting her, but she couldn't handle that much emotional output from everyone around her at once. Even though she was quite frankly socially inept, she did know that this would definitely be a troublesome and painful thing for everyone to handle, so she would have to lay off for a bit.

"Taiyou." she said simply and looked over at him, her eyes telling him what she wanted. He nodded once, got up and went to his office. After rummaging through his file drawer for a few minutes, he pulled out the correct one and walked back out and handed it to Tsuki.

She gave him a quick thankful nod, but gave a sidewards glance towards the computer sitting in front of Watari with the large letter 'L' on the screen. He knew that she was referring to how they couldn't really let Watari and L know about what was in the file without his permission, and he returned her gaze that told her that he had already given L access to those files, which wasn't a lie. He had just forgotten to let L know about it.

With a deep breath, she opened the cover of the folder containing every single bit of information about the man called...Ethan West. He was from a big city in America, and his mother was Japanese where as his father was American. Ethan came over to Japan with his mother when he was about 7 after his father died, and his mother soon followed after getting in a car accident.

"Ethan West." Tsuki said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Kumo looked up from his computer, and Ame turned around in his seat.

After she spoke, they both averted their eyes to look in front of them and gazes turned inward as they remembered the first day they met Ethan West, or the man they knew as Hoshi.

The Sora Ops had a rule that whenever any member was killed, the other members had the option to find out who they were, where they came from etc. To learn about the comrade that they had lost. Tsuki had only experienced this once before, and it was terrible.

It was quiet for almost the next two hours, and barely anyone moved from their seats or did much at all, just being so shocked and taken off guard about Hoshi's death. As always, Tsuki was able to keep her eyes cold and unrevealing, and her voice unwavering as they waited.

None of them were really sure of what they were waiting for, but Tsuki had a feeling that it wasn't exactly the autopsy. Kumo and Ame both kept glancing at L's computer screen which she was able to see clearly from her vantage point at the back of the room, as if waiting for them to say something and magically solve the case.

But L had barely said a word all day, and they weren't able to examine the letter yet, since their could be fingerprints on it from whoever had killed Hoshi, so they had nothing to do until either the forensics or the autopsy was finished.

Ame was clearly the most affected by it all, not having experienced losing a comrade before. He had always gotten along well with Hoshi and their different styles clicked perfectly on missions. Kumo was able to keep himself in check, although not as well as Tsuki. They were all used to seeing death and what not, but when it was their own comrade that had fought beside them countless times, it couldn't do anything aside turn inwards.

"Everyone." the silence was broken by the fuzzy voice coming from the computer speakers signaling L's voice.

They all turned to face the computer, to see the words that would change the course of this case.

'I would like to meet with you...'

There we go!
I hope it doesn't seem to forced or rushed, but I did my best, I promise :D
And I'm sorry that Hoshi AND the Chief had to die, but I needed something big to trigger L into wanting to meet with them.
So, the next chapter will be all about L meeting the Sora Ops team!

Til next time! :D