FINALLY. Finished with Chapter 2. I'm sosososososoooooo sorry it took so long to get done. But I'll be continuing it now, I promise. Updates in general might come slow. More family issues than ever and it's driving me bonkers.

Anyway, I figure I should reply to my fifteen commenters (which is more than I've ever gotten on a first chapter, I thank you all dearly :) )

Spar: I suppose I'll get over it after a while :P Anywho, FUMMINS!
Uzura-chan: Then sorry I took so long on it O.O Thanks for the review, though :)
Liah Cauthon: Muchos gracias
InkedButterfly: Who wouldn't have? XD
ActionFry: Glad it was amusing :) I will definitely try to update this faster now.
HeeHeeHee01: Well, definitely more L in this chappy. And anyone who doesn't like Matsuda is just odd. He's so awesomely goofy. He's just too easy to pick on XD The gun scene was fun, though.
15thBurningFiddle: O.O I do hope you haven't spontaneously combusted too bad while waiting. Sorry it took so long, but thanks for the review :D
Michiyo-Bunnie: I had plans to continue it from the beginning. This is part 2 of the three part series, so there's plenty more to look forward to. Had to do one more after this, since Alpha and Mello won't be meeting up again in this particular story. They will in part 3, just not in Psyched Out.
Tanya: Thank you :) And it's three lip piercings, one nose piercing, one eyebrow, and two or three in each ear.
Twitch-Lawliet: Thanks! And yeah, but every good story needs its comic relief, ya know? And Death Note had Ryuk and Matsuda :D I love Matsuda, though, wouldn't pick on him so much if I didn't.
Three Books in the Fire: Indeed he does XD My theory is that he brought it on himself by having that afro :P I mean, seriously, everyone knows he's just the Afro Samurai in disguise :D
Reading Again: Thanks, and will be sure to continue.
ellan54: Will continue. Aaah, I just can't help but pick on Matsuda XD I surely don't think I'm too overly cruel to him.
Takun123: Thanks, glad you enjoyed Mellow Out. That's been one of my favorites to write so far. This one'll probably get there when I really start to get into it, I imagine.
icanwalkonwater: Ah, muchos gracias. I do love writing more humorous Death Note fics - even ones I intend to be serious end up turning out funny just because my sense of humor sorta seeps through. Ah, but everyone has to pick on Matsuda - it would mean he was just completely unloved if we didn't :D And why not post up some of your stuff? I'd be sure to read it :) And you actually did spell guiltily right, haha XP

And introducing this splendiferous installment of Psyched Out, of the three-part series that I currently have no collective name for but will come up with one in time.

Enjoyed this chapter. Why? Because I brought back a character from Mellow Out that I adored coming up with. He was really only barely introduced in Mellow Out, but he'll play a vital role in this story. In fact, I even added him to the OC's section on my profile. What's his name? You guessed it -- or you didn't, but you'll know now -- it is my original Shinigami, Akino!

Yes, I spaz a bit. Akino's my first original Shinigami. I'm rather fond of him.

Anyway, all the regular stuff now.

Disclaimerbobber: I own nothing of Death Note. I don't own Akino, either. People don't own Shinigami, as Shinigami can kill us whenever they please. However, Akino will not be happy if you steal him from this story. He is quite content there. Alpha might be happy if you take him away, but Akino's a bit busy looking for Kira to try to figure out who his Shinigami is. Now, anywho. I only own my original characters and ideas. Anything you recognize probably belongs to someone else.

Warnings for this Chap: Profanity, character death (not as bad as it sounds, believe me!), llamas, and a good healthy dose of sarcasm to get you through the day and/or night.

Mini-sum: Alpha looked at the Shinigami miserably for a moment. Was this what she had to look forward to until she had a means to get to Britain again and dig up the Death Note? That definitely was not a pleasant thought.

And onto the story!

L had been facing a computer, his back to the door. Even so, the voice was uncanny. Even if the voice hadn't been recognizable, the intonation in which it spoke that one work would have been. She always had that easily amused sound to her voice, the sort of lilt that marked a troublemaker – which was just what she was, it always had been. Her calling him 'llama' had been the first bit of trouble she had caused. The investigation team could known nothing about his past, but now they would know two things.

They would know that he was familiar with this slight nuisance and that it had a strange tendency to refer to him as a llama.

As was to be expected (in fact, everyone in the room probably would have grown confused if anything else but this had happened), Matsuda was the first to break the rather awkward silence.

"L… llama?" he repeated, his voice somewhere between uncertain and amused. Of course Matsuda would be amused, L thought, rolling his eyes. If L allowed her on the investigation team, the idiot might just have a new best friend.

"Oh, yeah," Alpha said, maneuvering herself out of the company of the group and taking a seat on the sofa in the room. "Bet you lot had no idea you were working under a Camelid. Although looking at that hair, it might just be an alpaca rather than a llama." She laughed. "L-paca. Anyway," she added, moving over on the couch so she was closer to where L was seated, to speak directly to him, "I was informed that an 'L' wished to speak with me. Any ideas on who that could be?"

L looked over finally from both his cake and his laptop computer. Glared rather than looked, however. He didn't reply before standing up and walking over to the investigation team. "As I said earlier. You have all been working nonstop. Take the night off and return tomorrow at noon." They all reflexively glanced at Alpha at this. She smiled and waved at the group in response.

"But Ryuzaki," Yagami said quietly, "if she is Kira, shouldn't you be –"

"If she is Kira, Yagami-san, then it doesn't matter whether I am alone here or not," said L. "We will most likely all be dead by tomorrow regardless. However, I strongly doubt that she is."

"Why?" Aizawa asked. "She knows all of our names, so she's obviously been spying on us. Why else would she spy on us if she's not at least connected to Kira?"

"Maybe she wants to help catch him," Matsuda suggested, shrugging.

L didn't often agree with Matsuda, so it amazed him that he was the only one thinking along the same lines as him. Of course the thought would have been foolish for L himself to have if he didn't know who Alpha was already. Matsuda didn't.

Nevertheless, L nodded shortly. "All of you, go home. Come back tomorrow at noon and be prepared to work on the Kira case."

They did indeed all leave, all of them looking somewhat perplexed at the idea that L had just agreed with Matsuda. Matsuda himself even looked slightly confused, though L was fairly sure that Matsuda always looked at least slightly confused at any given moment.

L turned to face Alpha now, who was staring up at the ceiling when Ukita left through the door last and shut it behind him. L reached back and locked it, then took a seat in the chair across the sofa Alpha was seated at. She looked at him now.

She looked older, as though she had aged a year or two more than she should have since she left the orphanage. She did still look like Alpha, as Alpha was completely unmistakable. There were a number of questions he had been planning to ask her, but there were a few, slightly more important ones that needed to be asked now.

"Why are you here?"

She looked at L as though he was mad for a moment, and then laughed a little. "This case, obviously," she said. "I'm sorry to say it. I know you're a thousand times smarter than I'll ever be, but if you were to work this case without help that actually would be a help to you at all, then you'd be killed. It might be a while, but you would be. The world needs you to solve all their problems, but you're going to need me to help you solve this case. Granted I'm only number three, but you've had number two put in maximum security prison after the maniac lit himself on fire."

"What makes you think I couldn't solve the case on my own?"

"You've let people see your face," she said. "L doesn't let people see his face if he's not desperate to solve a case. In fact, you never have let any police you've worked with in the past see you. Face it," she added with a slight sigh, leaning forward and propping her elbows on her knees, "I know what you're like."

"How did you know about Beyond Birthday?"

"I've been following your cases for a lot longer than you might have thought."

There was a bit more silence in which L contemplated this. If she had been following his cases that closely without him even realizing that someone might have been spying on him, then perhaps she would be a big help with the Kira case. She was more intelligent than she gave herself credit for – or than she often chose to show, hence why L was sure she and Matsuda would get along as soon as he got over his fear that she might kill everyone – and would definitely be an asset to the case.

There was more, though, questions that had been burning in his mind since the day he had arrived at Wammy's after one case to find Mello wearing her rosary and telling him a story of how Beyond Birthday had stood outside the door to her room with a knife for quite a long time, how he had scared her into leaving. L knew she had talked to him, and he himself had come to fear the worst, that she had merely left to put a bullet through her own skull and meet the same fate that A had. He had kept telling himself that Alpha would be the last person to do that, but the thought remained.

"Why did you leave?" he asked finally after a long silence.

Alpha smiled wryly. "Knew that one was coming. Can't tell you."

Without that notebook, Alpha had no proof of anything. That notebook with those two little words written on its front cover – and even with it, she had nothing if the Shinigami attached to it was still with Beyond. What would a notebook prove? Nothing, unless the Shinigami was there for L to see when he touched the notebook. She would have told him. If she had stayed a day longer at Wammy's, she would have been able to tell him and things would have turned out differently. She wouldn't have had to sneak around to follow L's cases. She could have just talked Watari into letting her help out with the Kira case. B would have been out of her mind, far away in a straight jacket in a padded room until Akino got bored with being confined and killed him so he could go elsewhere.

But she had been a coward, and for that she was paying now. She wanted to tell L. She truly did, but he was the type of person that wouldn't have believed it without solid proof, which she had none of.

"It had to do with B."

Alpha nodded in agreement. "That it did."

"Have you spoken with Mello since you left?" Alpha shook her head no, now averting her eyes entirely.

"I feel worse than anything for leaving him behind. I know contacting him would mean going through Roger to do so, and I'm not entirely sure I even want him to know I'm alive and well. I'd be surprised if much of anyone there cares if I'm still alive or not."

"Maybe not Roger," said L. "You have to know that Mello does. The first question he always asks me every time I go back there is whether or not I've found out anything about you."

"I know Mello would. Probably Matt as well. But who else is there? I didn't have enough friends to count on one hand." With a frustrated sigh, she sat back against the back of the couch, crossed her arms, and glared at the ceiling. "I don't mind being alone. I just hate being alone with the knowledge that no one really gives a damn about whether or not I ever make my prescence known again."

"You can't say 'no one,'" said L. "There was Mello and Matt, of course. There was also Watari and myself. While Mello might be the only person who constantly questions me about whether or not I've heard anything from you, I can assure you that no one was at all happy the day after you left once the word got around that you were gone."

Alpha gave a somewhat hollow laugh. "Stick to being a detective. Therapy isn't your strong point. I've got Marcus Antonius in here for that," she said, patting the shoulder strap messenger bag set on the sofa next to her. "Ant, rather." She sat up a bit straighter. "I'm glad I managed to find you, though," she said. "I missed having a llama to bother all the time. I considered going to Peru to pick up a new one, but it wouldn't have been quite the same." She smiled brightly at the annoyed look she received at this. "You'll want to save some of that for the investigation team tomorrow. I'll probably fall asleep soon," she added, looking at the watch on her wrist. "I've lost quite a bit of sleep stalking you, I'll have you know. I highly doubt you sleep, I thought you'd started wearing eyeliner when I saw those eye bags a minute ago. You should really do something about that."

"I don't sleep much when I work cases."

Alpha nodded and stood up. "Then I'll be taking the bed, as I do value sleep. You can have the couch. Or that chair. If you sleep at all, that is."

––

Well, I do believe I have made my way onto the investigation team. I'm a bit too tired now to give full details. I've just stolen the bedroom in Llama's hotel suite and I'd like to get a bit of sleep tonight. Stalking secretive detectives really takes it out of a person.

Goodnight, Ant. I'll tell ya a bit more tomorrow, buddy.

January 21, 2004

––

Alpha, who had been lying flat on her stomach with the notebook propped up on a pillow, closed her notebook and dropped it on top of her bag, which lay on the bed next to her. She then tossed the bag carelessly over the side as she told over onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. It had taken her a while to get here. Lots of lies, even more snooping and stalking. It didn't make her a bad person. She had done plenty already to prove that she was a bad person. This was just further evidence of her immorality.

Oh, I'm going to hell when I die, she thought, then laughed quietly before closing her eyes and drifting off into a somewhat uneasy sleep.

Alpha awoke rather late the next morning. Just waking up, even with her eyes closed, there was a nagging feeling within her mind that this would probably be a horrible day. The first horrible thing was that she was comfortable, but the sunlight creeping in through the window and showing itself in orange and red coloration on the backs of her eyelids meant she would soon have to rise and begin work on the Kira case. The second thing didn't come until she opened her eyes.

Oh, it was going to be a bad day, she knew that. Particularly for her. Particularly because a rather familiar face was hovering over her on that particular morning. And when she attempted to punch it, her hand when straight through its face. She refrained from screaming at the disturbance; that would have been too feminine of a reaction for her taste. Despite the fact she was a girl, the last thing she could bear to think of herself as was girly. Anyone else probably would have screamed.

Looking at the half fleshy, half skeletal face, she merely gaped. Not for long, though.

After all, it was a familiar face.

"You!" she hissed at it. "It" remained hovering over top of her with his wings spread, sitting cross-legged in the air, looking rather bored.

"Obviously," said Akino. He looked around. "Japan, huh? That kinda figures, I got used to English after that B kid."

Alpha blinked a few times. What in God's name (though she doubted this disturbance had anything whatsoever to do with God) was this damned Shinigami doing here? It – unless…

"B's dead," said Alpha quietly.

"Whoa, talk about being slow on the uptake," said Akino with a laugh. "Nice. Got any apples?" He added, looking around again as though expecting a bowl of them to magically appear somewhere in the room.

"As soon as you start being a shit?" said Alpha coldly, sitting up on the side of the bed. "Maybe."

"Great, this'll be just as bad as confinement. B, by the way – heart attack. Damndest thing, I doubt he was even twenty yet. I thought for sure you'd done it."

"M – me?" said Alpha, alarmed. "How could I have done it?"

Akino shifted around so his face was hanging upside down in front of hers. "Death Note? Ring any bells? It's why I'm here. You were the last in possession of it, which means I have to follow you around now that B's dead."

"If it was a heart attack, it was probably Kira," Alpha said thoughtfully, more to herself than the Shinigami. Still, he raised an eyebrow – his only flesh-covered eyebrow, actually – and reverted to standing on the floor in front of her now, arms crossed and wings folded behind him.

"Who?"

"Local killer. L's pegged him as being in Japan. He's killing criminals by somehow giving them heart attacks."

At this, Akino seemed to brighten from his boredom significantly – even though his grin did have a slightly malicious quality to it, Alpha noted. She supposed all Shinigami had to look like that. It was probably in the job description.

Akino gave a short, amused laugh. "Ah, that's awesome," he said. "Looks like this will be a bit more interesting than confinement."

"Why?"

"Think about it for a while. It should come to you."

Alpha glared. "Why not just tell me?"

"Your slowness entertains me."

"You're a son of a bitch, you know that?"

"I'm not a son of anyone, thank you."

Alpha glared at the Shinigami at this, who looked around the room boredly again, mumbling something about apples. She did decide to think about it, however. Considering how she had not just a Shinigami following her, but a stubborn Shinigami, she wouldn't be able to ask many questions, but she could count on being bothered herself. The answer came to her quickly enough, however.

"The Death Note," she said, snapping Akino out of his apple-hunting state, "could be used to kill in any way."

"Right."

"Right," said Alpha. "And thinking about it, I imagine there are more Shinigami than just you. So, another Shinigami recently dropped another Death Note, which the person who is now Kira had the misfortune of picking up."

"Exactly. And you have no way to prove it except for an invisible phantom following you around." He laughed when Alpha glared. "This is awesome, I could see why a Shinigami would want to get into this. Wonder who it could've been," he added thoughtfully, crossing his arms and looking up at the ceiling. "Most of those sons of bitches – figuratively speaking, of course – are too lazy to get up off their asses and do anything besides gamble and sleep. What makes it all the worse is that Shinigami don't get tired and therefore don't need sleep. They're just a bunch of idiots. I'm not saying all of them are bad. The King obviously gets his fair share of work done, even if he doesn't move much. Then there's Nu, she ranks just below the King. Or did last time I was there, it's been a little while. Jastin's probably still up pretty high, maybe higher than before. Don't know. Then Dalil, last I knew I was ranked right after her."

"That's… all nice, but more importantly," said Alpha, "is there any way for you to find out who Kira is?"

Akino shrugged. "Depends on what's in it for me."

"Apples?"

"All right, fair deal. If I see another Shinigami following someone around, I'll let you know as long as I've been getting apples. You cut off my supply, I cut off your information. And where's my Death Note, by the way?" Alpha pointed to a belt around the middle of his trench coat, where a notebook was locked securely in place. He looked down for a moment in reflex, then slowly glared back up. Alpha smiled. "Stop that. You know what I'm talking about."

"Oh, you mean my Death Note?" said Alpha. "Still in Britain. Buried."

Akino gaped at her for a moment. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

Alpha laughed. "Not at all. And I have no way of getting there, and who's to say it hasn't been moved since then? Looks like we're pretty well stuck, eh?"

"Dammit…" Akino grumbled. "Thought I might actually be able to go back for a while…"

Alpha remained quiet upon hearing footsteps near the doorway. L opened the door into the room a moment later. She looked at him from the edge of her bed. "Knock much?"

"It's eleven thirty," he said. "You need to be ready for work in a half an hour if you plan to help the investigation team."

And with that, he left. Always right to business. Alpha looked up at Akino, who was glaring at the doorframe in an utterly vicious manner. "Hey," she said, "if you even think about it, I'll kick your ass so hard you'll lose half the years you've built up killing people."

Akino looked at her now. "How the hell do you know so much about Shinigami?"

"The internet does wonders," she said, standing and stretching. "What've you got against L?"

"I was stuck in solitary confinement with Beyond Birthday for way longer than anyone could ever stand – human or Shinigami, doesn't matter which – because of that bastard."

"B's fault, not L's."

Akino looked at the doorframe again, muttered something along the lines of "too many damned letters," and flew over to take a seat on the dresser in the room in a huffy manner. Alpha looked at the Shinigami miserably for a moment. Was this what she had to look forward to until she had a means to get to Britain again and dig up the Death Note? That definitely was not a pleasant thought.

See? Told you the character death wasn't that bad. It was already preset in the LABB Murder Cases novel.

Anyways. Comments? Questions? Advice? Flames? Feel free to post them in comments! And as far as flames, as I've said before, feel free to set aflame anything you wish. I'm a pyromaniac and flames amuse me.