•••Chapter 2•••

•••Valentina's POV•••

"What? You can't take the Kira case!"

"Why not?" he asked, completely oblivious.

"Because it's dangerous! You'll get yourself killed!" I hissed, trying to keep my voice down.

"I'll be fine," he replied nonchalantly.

"What if you die?" I asked, leaning forward.

"What are you talking about?" Near asked, poking his little sheep head between us.

"L's been given the Kira case," Mello said casually, joining in the conversation.

"Can I-" Near began.

"No," Mello answered immediately.

"L, you can't take this case. It's too dangerous." I looked up, to see L was already lost in thought.

All hope was lost.

L was sat with his head rested in his knees, his eyes filled with thought. He was already forming a plan.

"L?" I muttered.

He glanced up, then looked back down to signal he was listening.

"Okay, I know I've lost already, you're going to do it. At least, if you're going to take this case, can I help?" I asked.

After a few seconds he shook his head slowly.

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous," he said simply.

"And?"

"You're too important."

"To who? The guy at the corner shop who always give me extra change just 'cause he likes me a little bit more than he likes you?" I questioned, letting out a short, dry laugh.

"No, to me. And Mello, Matt and Mear, of course."

"Yeah, I'm really important to Near," I cheered sarcastically.

"You are. And besides, I didn't say you couldn't help, you can help, just not directly."

I stared at him suspiciously. "What do you mean by 'not directly'?"

"By not actually being there, but helping behind-the-scenes style."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I already suspect Kira may be working with the police."

"With the police?" Matt asked, sitting up quickly.

L smiled slightly. "No, not like that. I mean that he probably works for the police secretly, or lives in the same household as someone who does."

"Makes you think that?" I asked.

"How else would Kira access information like criminals names, the case files, things like that without being noticed?"

"Could be really good at computer stuff," Matt suggested.

"Did you just call yourself Kira?" Near asked Matt.

"No!" Matt defended.

"No, even you know, Matt, there must have been some kind of trace somewhere. Something like this just doesn't go unnoticed," L muttered, biting his thumb.

"Yes, but you have to take into account the massive amount of-" I didn't understand the words that followed, nor did I ever intend to.

Instead, I was just let to sit there and watch the four boys shoot words around so fast I could barely decipher them. As normal.

"Class in thirty seconds exactly," I said to myself. "What do we have?" I asked myself in an 'L' voice. "I have art, but I think you have psychology," I replied in my normal voice. "Cool, V, I think I have the same class as you," I interrupted in a 'Mello' voice. "Oh, V, you're so amazing, please steal my cake," I said in my 'L' voice. "If you insist," I said in my normal voice.

I proceeded to take L's cake. Well, it was my cake in the first place. I managed to take the last bite just as the bell went. "Mello, you're in my art class," I told him, pulling a strand of his light blonde hair.

"Wonderful," he replied sarcastically. He and Matt stood up and began to walk towards the art rooms. As far as I knew, Matt had French, which was based near the art rooms.

"You know you love me, M," I smiled, shoving him.

"I'm also qualified to be called 'M', and no, I'm afraid to say I don't quite love you as much as I love my PSP," Matt interrupted.

"What PSP?" Near asked, walking straight past us and smirking slightly.

Matt's face drained of all colour. His hands flew to check his pockets. Moments later, he pulled out his DS, but his PSP was nowhere in sight. "What did you do to it?" Matt asked Near furiously.

"Took it away for testing," Near answered simply.

Matt's eye twitched. "Now I don't wanna hit a kid, but if you don't tell me where my..." his voice faded away quickly as he got further away from Mello and I.

"Do you know where it is?" I asked Mello sceptically.

He let out a laugh. "I don't work alongside that marshmallow."

"Sheep," I disagreed.

"Marshmallow," he insisted.

"Sheep," I repeated.

Mello made a mocking sheep sound.

"Stop making fun of Near!" I defended.

"And calling him a sheep isn't making fun of him?" he asked, a smile clear in his voice.

"No, calling Near a sheep is simply describing him," I explained.

"Is Near aware that he's a sheep?" he asked, holding the door of the art classroom open for me.

"Does he own a mirror?" I contradicted, stepping through the door.

"Probably." Mello sat in his seat, dropping his backpack to the floor.

"Then Near is perfectly aware of his sheep-like state."

A snapping sound rang through the air. Mello's hand quickly reached up to his mouth, then back down to his lap.

"Subtle," I complimented.

"Thanks." He pulled the plain piece of paper that was already on the desk towards him.

I pulled out a pencil and did the same.

According to the 'objective' on the giant whiteboard, today's assignment was to create a piece of artwork using a stimulus in pairs or threes.

I looked at the stimulus on our desk. It looked like a diamond, but was probably only glass. I frowned. "That's not very interesting."

Mello crushed it with his fist. "There. Now we have something to work with."

"So you have an idea?" I asked hopefully.

"Nope."

•••

One hour and a few sheets of paper later, our masterpiece was nearly complete. I had drawn a broken diamond in the middle, while Mello had stuck the pieces of broken glass all around it.

It didn't actually look that bad.

Who was I kidding? It looked terrible.

"That's pathetic," Mello commented, studying the piece of paper.

"At least it doesn't look like his," I said, referring to Light Yagami's poor attempt at creativity. He might have been a genius at everything else, but when it came to art he failed completely.

Mello looked over and chuckled. "What is that?"

"I don't know... and I don't really want to."

Mello turned his attention back to our work, while my eyes remained on Light, who was digging through his backpack for something.

A few moments later, he pulled a little black notebook out and rested it on the table. He opened it to a few pages in and began to write in it.

I nearly laughed. Light Yagami, well-known for his intelligence and womanising, kept a diary?

Surely, if he valued his reputation in any way, he would have waited until he was alone to whip out his diary and write down his feelings?

Without warning, Light's head shot up and around. His glaring eyes met mine. I held my hands up in surrender and shrugged. "Not one to judge. Just curious, that's all. Didn't know you kept a diary."

Unexpectedly, he began to smile. A proper smile - his eyes creased around the edges and his shoulders went up slightly. "Oh, good. It's just a little embarrassing. What was your name again?"

"Valentina Blake," I answered.

"Nice to meet you, Valentina, I'm Light." He gave me one last smile before turning back to his work and writing something else in his notebook.

Mello chuckled. "Freak. How obviously fake was that smile?"

I shook my head and smiled. "Do you like anybody at all apart from me, Matt and L?"

"No, not really," he shrugged.

Suddenly, I had this weird sensation. I felt the overwhelming need to go to the toilets, even though I didn't need to actually use them. "I kinda need to go to the toilet," I complained.

"Don't you dare," Mello warned. "This thing looks like crap and I need you to help me fix it."

"But I really need to go..."

"Too bad, you're staying here even if I have to physically restrain you," he growled.

"But-" I began.

"Besides, you went only an hour-and-a-half ago."

"I don't need the toilet though," I replied.

"But you want to go to the toilets anyway?"

Mello asked sceptically.

I nodded.

"Tough. You're staying here."

"I think, if she needs to go, then let her go," Light interrupted, sounding quite forceful.

"Nobody asked for your opinion, Light-bulb, go back to your 'arts and crafts'," Mello scolded.

The feeling began to disappear.

What was that feeling? It was strange, almost as if somebody was controlling me. But that wasn't possible, so I was just being stupid. I was probably coming down with something.

I looked back down at our work, silently wondering where L was. If one thing was for sure, it was that he wasn't in psychology.