Wow, guys... this week was just cold. I mean, no reviews is one thing but NOTHING? That was... well, I thought that I would wait a day in the vain hope that something might happen. I know I went away for the week but I didn't realise that everyone else did...

Anyway, the show must go on as they say, so I brought you a new chapter anyway, if a day late. Hopefully, you might like this chapter more than the last, and I would like to know what the issue with the last chapter was (really not even one favourite/follow...?) our of curiosity's sake. Was it because it was a non-event or did I not portray B the way you wanted to? Or is everyone put off by the OC? I would really like to know to rectify the problem if there was some major faux pas that cannot be forgiven so I can rectify it for you if you want. Thanks.

So, here's the next chapter, that is a little more than a non-event, since something more than taking happens in it.

Raito had been getting more and more uneasy during the three weeks since his father had seemed to turn it around. Instead of being distant with his family and disappearing when they least expected it, now he seemed to be acting the perfect NPA Chief detective, always arriving on time and spending more time with the family than in the past nine months since the Kira case began. But he was still distant towards himself- only speaking to him when Raito asked a question and spending more time than usual with Matsuda, who Raito was certain was going out of his way to avoid him for some reason.

It had started about three weeks ago. Matsuda had left work early, citing some meeting with a girl (Raito hadn't been paying attention since it hardly mattered to him what Matsuda did) only to return the next day looking as if he hadn't slept for more than an hour or two. Aizawa had slipped a few jokes but Matsuda strangely hadn't paid much attention, instead fiddling with his stationary enough to annoy Raito into snapping that if he wasn't going to do anything he might as well go home and catch up on his sleep. Matsuda had jumped out of his skin and began a more Matsuda-like litany of apologies before getting on with his work. He returned the next day rested and much more like normal but he too was avoiding Raito as much as possible, and while Raito personally thought that the less intrusions he had from the man the better, it was definitely odd- especially when he couldn't think as to where this new attitude had come from.

And Raito hated not knowing things.

"Ryuk," he said one night as he watched the NPA members leave, the new cameras set up and attached so as to pick up sound now, "would you be willing to do me a favour?" The Shinigami looked up from the bowl of apples he was currently devouring to watch the NPA members leave as well.

"And what would that be?" he asked. Raito had been watching his father and Matsuda who were right on the edge of the cameras, conversing too quietly for the cameras to pick up (and since when had the pair gotten so good at covering their tracks? They were supposed to be loyal!). Raito was too busy being annoyed that he didn't realise that Ryuk had been waiting for this very request for the past couple of weeks and had been surprised at how slow the teen had been on picking up on the pair.

"I need you to follow Matsuda. Find out what he's been doing these last few weeks," he said. Ryuk cackled. He had gotten bored only two days after the wonderful meeting that the pair had had and so had followed Matsuda to the hospital and witnessed the conversation in which the man had been slapped in the face with reality. He was enjoying the confusion already that the reappearance of this character had, but he was more interested in how he had managed to survive as to what he might get up to.

"There's no need for that. I know exactly where he and your father have been heading," he rasped, eyeing the last apple, trying to decide whether Raito would let him eat it before asking his next question.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Ryuk found the angry tone in the human's voice funny- he still seemed to think that he could control him like he could the soft-hearted Rem. Unfortunately Ryuk had no such attachments to the teen as she had had to the silly Misa girl and would gladly write Raito's name in his notebook the moment this all got too boring. He had considered the possibility a few weeks ago to see the fallout of the disappearance of Kira but then decided that since Kira was practically gone for now, with only a few killings a week, there wouldn't be much change.

"You didn't ask." Raito gritted his teeth against the Shinigami's careless attitude, knowing that Ryuk played by his own rules and was almost as hard to pin down as L, except in a different way. He would gladly sit back and allow Raito to do what he wanted so long as he didn't ask for any favours from him. He had had a feeling that he had been walking on thin ice with the Shinigami's entertainment levels, and while this new twist was annoying, at least it would give him more time to persuade the Shinigami to spare his life.

"Well, I'm asking now. Where have they been going?" he snapped. Ryuk cackled again, that awful grin of his stretched so far across his face Raito wondered how it hadn't fallen in half.

"Tokyo Grand Hospital, room 102 on the third floor. You want any more information, you'll have to go there yourself." With that he swallowed the last apple in such a careless manner that Raito knew he wouldn't give up any more answers no matter how much he interrogated him. Raito wondered what on earth the pair had been doing at a hospital and visiting the same person. It seemed unlikely even in his own head.

What are they doing? It's not like them to decide to move against me unless there's someone that their meeting. A hospital is a good cover if they're pretending to be visiting a sick relative he mused. It was almost a scheme worthy of himself, not that he would expect anything less from his own father, but why he had chosen that hospital Raito couldn't figure out. Wasn't that where L's body was taken…?

And there it was again, that curl of feelings at the back of his mind that he pushed away every time they arose. L was dead and there was no bringing him back, no matter what he did. He had been an adversary and it was imperative that he be removed at the soonest possible moment and he was grateful to Rem for not only killing L, but Watari as well. The old man he didn't have any qualms about but L… there was something he didn't particularly want to analyse there for some reason, something that he just couldn't get out of his head that had almost overtaken him when L had died. At first he couldn't believe that this man, the most successful detective of all time, had been defeated before that ball of guilt and agony had ripped a scream from his lips before he knew it. He had gained enough control to turn it to his advantage as a reaction of fear inspired by the Shinigami, but he couldn't admit that it had initially been involuntary. Even his own father looked a little shocked at his reaction. But why? It was clear we were only tolerating each other…

Tolerating? Spat the resentful little voice at the back of his head. It was more than that. Raito scowled and shoved the little voice back into the cage that he usually imprisoned it, but it was as slippery as the Kira persona. Eventually he was going to have to get used to it but for now he resorted to the usual suppressing it. He had more important things to worry about.

Mitsu was tired of reading through all her brother's notes but there wasn't much she could do. Personally, she thought that he was pretty sick of reading through his own notes, but at least they were detailed. Any jury that had read this would probably come to the same conclusion that they had but they had no concrete evidence that it had been Raito. Most of it was circumstantial, and the points that he had acted suspiciously, there was no view of the notebook that they were apparently trying to find to show that he had killed all those criminals. Honestly how he hadn't been caught, Mitsu wasn't entirely sure- she was certain that absolutely no-one with the IQ and work ethic Raito apparently had would spend fifteen minutes on a single question, nor stretch and announce it so obviously. He would have done better merely continuing with his work in her opinion, but bless him he was new to the rules of espionage (it didn't help that she had been taught a few tricks by Weddy, poor woman).

Lael was recovering well and Doctor Yamada had stated that he was free to leave the hospital today as soon as he had passed the daily check-ups. She could have told him that her brother wouldn't give up on getting better if it meant leaving earlier. He liked his privacy and, while Mr Yagami had been as generous as one could be and she fully planned on paying him back in full, the room was still small and generally public. Taking the notes to him had been difficult as she couldn't leave them there, but she had been able to take a few keepsakes from their personal box.

Mitsu had come up with the idea when Lael was given his first case outside of the country. In order to have full access to the case, Mr Wammy had to take him out of the country, the first time that the pair had been separated for an extended period of time since nearly accidently leaving her to die in the snowstorm four years earlier. The pair had been distraught and it was hard to watch him go, but B had reassured him, as always, that he would take good care of his sister and they had taken the picture that very day, huddled together as Mr Wammy grinned at them over the camera. Lael took that picture with him everywhere, and clearly had been forced to put it away to avoid awkward questions during the Kira case. There were other keepsakes in the box too, ones which they had each collected over the years and swapped. She had her own little collection of things in her own box that was tucked into her suitcase but she wasn't about to let that slip to Mr Yagami and he was polite enough to have not asked, nor looked through the original box.

In all honesty, she had to admit that she actually liked the man. How he had managed to have such an abysmal son, she would never know, since he seemed to take the law very seriously and was ashamed when Lael had first accused Raito of being Kira. She wondered whether he was really taken in by his son's act or if he was trying to cover up his suspicions through his paternal feelings for his son- something that Mitsu could understand but never truly understand. Her memories of her own father were rather vague but she was certain that, like any father, he would have done anything for them. She was certain that they had loved their children equally and with all their hearts. Her only clear memory of them was sitting one day when they were about four and their teacher had been trying to insist on moving Lael up the school but her mother had protested, backed up by their father. She had been a strong believer on keeping them together no matter what- they had come into this world together and she insisted that they would not leave each other without the other.

Matsuda was an interesting addition and, once he had spent the next day or so mulling over what they had said, had come back to offer his services. Unlike Mr Yagami, he no longer offered any opinions towards whether he liked Raito or not, just simply helped them look through the mountains of notes (why Lael felt the need to make such detailed notes she would never understand- perhaps for the simpletons that judges often were when judging a high profile killer like Kira). He was interesting in that he was enthusiastic to help, even going so far as to help wade through the previous case notes and pin them up as cross-references, despite the fact that many were pretty gruesome (she had spotted Mr Yagami turn green and leave the room pretty quickly once or twice), but when he took the time to think before opening his mouth, she could see why Lael had valued him so much. Of course, thinking had to be involved at times.

He also got on well with both Matt and Mello, both of whom had decided that they couldn't take another day at the Wammy's House and had been looking into joining the LA mafia to pass the time when she found them. They had answered quickly enough- she didn't ask where they got the money from to pay for the flights- and Matt had even offered for the young detective to join in a co-op game with him and Mello. The two boys had grown considerably since the last time she had seen them, but they were still the same two rascals they had always been, just now playing with actual guns rather than fake ones (that they had been the ones to teach them was irrelevant).

"I'm off," she announced. Matt was sitting in a tumble of wires, still working on recovering the files that Wammy had deleted, with a game console in one hand, a cigarette sticking out of his mouth and a laptop set up in front of him. Mello was sprawled next to him, offering the odd piece of advice, munching on yet another bar of chocolate and scanning through more of Lael's notes. She made a mental note to buy some more chocolate for him while she was out. They at least took the time to acknowledge her leaving.

"Tell L to abbreviate his notes next time!" Mello shouted after her and she laughed, knowing he was bored by the inaction.

"It won't happen!" she called back as she got into the lift.

It was a short and familiar walk to the hospital but, knowing that Lael was still weak from being in a coma, she had ordered a taxi. He had been getting stronger these past three weeks, and was at least able to wander through the hospital further than the bathroom, but he was forced to sit and rest often. She knew it frustrated him, especially considering how well he had been at forcing his body to the limits during investigations, but the best thing for him right now was to take it easy- at least physically. He was still trying to find the memories that had disappeared on him and she knew he couldn't stand the empty void that his mind had seemingly become. He could still remember everything from before the Kira case perfectly, but anything after was just one blank mess.

Lael was waiting for her, already dressed to leave, in his room. Doctor Yamada went through the same spiel she was certain he gave practically every day since announcing that her brother was ready to leave which was annoying, but at least he was thorough. Mr Yagami had declined coming, stating that it would be suspicious if he or Matsuda were there and so she signed him out herself, thanking the doctor for all his help, already planning the best way to remove all trace of 'Ryuzaki Yagami' from their records. The walk from the room to the front doors was long with the number of times that they had to stop, but she could tell that it wasn't near often enough. Doctor Yamada had offered them a wheelchair but her brother had refused point blank. He had enough to deal with- he just wanted to be able to walk on his own two feet.

The taxi was waiting for them, right on time. Luckily, there wasn't as much traffic on the roads as had been the night she arrived and her brother practically collapsed into the back, too exhausted to care what the driver might think. She was about to get in herself when another car drew up behind the taxi and a boy with auburn hair and eyes climbed out of the back. Mitsu froze, wondering why he was here. There was no reason for him to come to the hospital, none of his family were sick and there were certainly no members of the Task Force waiting inside. There had been no new Kira victims either, no heart attack victims that she had seen recently in there. There was no point for him to be there unless…

She climbed into the back and ordered, "Take us home. Now." Lael blinked woozily at her, catching the tone of voice despite clearly being rather out of it.

"Is everything alright Mitsu?" She paused, wondering if she should tell him what she had found in the box before deciding against it. It would break her brother's heart and he didn't need any more pain at the moment.

"No, everything's fine. I just want to leave right now." He smiled at her, eyes slipping closed.

Raito stalked into the hospital, not caring about the odd looks he was getting. He needed to know what his father had been getting up to, because it was obvious now that he thought about it that something was going on. If he was to salvage this situation, he was going to have to move fast and the first thing he needed to know was who he had been visiting. Ryuk had kindly given him the location and even room number, so in theory they would still be here. He noticed vaguely, out of the corner of his eye, a girl about to get into the taxi in front of his car. She had been staring at him but he dismissed it as another admirer. She was unimportant at the moment.

He strode up to the front desk and looked over at the receptionist. She was young and looked bored but perked up at the sight of Raito.

"Hello, how may I help you?" she asked politely.

"I was wondering if you could tell me who was staying in room 102 please?" he asked, giving her a winning smile. She blushed but oddly didn't give him the answer he expected.

"Could I take your name please? You see, I'm only supposed to inform family," she explained, hands spread almost in embarrassment at not being able to explain the situation. Raito was annoyed, but knew that it would be necessary. There would be no point giving his alias though- he had stayed here once as a child to have his tonsils removed, meaning his name would be on record.

"It's Raito Yagami," he said. A part of him knew that he could technically pull out his NPA badge and claim it was important for a police case, but the less people who knew about his trip here, the better. Also, he had left it, stupidly, back at the apartment in his haste to get here. Next time, he would think before he panicked but it wasn't everyday Ryuk decided to withhold important information and he was already plotting on how to get the Shinigami back. Namely, refusing to buy apples for the next week so he would get the message to never do that again.

"Oh, that's fine!" the receptionist said brightly, typing away into the computer. After a few moments she smiled up at him, delighted. "Your cousin, Ryuzaki Yagami was in room 102, but he was discharged about five minutes ago. You must have just missed him!" Raito's brain reached a screeching halt. Everything seemed to stop the moment the word 'Ryuzaki' left her mouth. It had to be a coincidence… there was no way Rem had managed to outfox him on something. It would have meant Misa's life if L had lived! Thankfully, a small portion of his brain remained in gear to thank the girl and walk away. No point in staying in the hospital if he was no longer there.

L is still alive perhaps… For some reason his mind took him back to the glance of the girl getting into the taxi. Five minutes before… whoever was posing as his cousin must have left in that taxi! He needed to find out where it had dropped them off and fast. He needed to curb the damage as soon as possible, needed to either kill L or convince him that he was innocent of being Kira. You wouldn't kill him twice whispered that poisonous part of his brain that he refused to acknowledge and he almost growled in frustration. I would kill L again if it comes to that… no need to waste such a brilliant brain such as his…

His brain isn't the only thing you're attracted to, it whispered back, sniggering quietly at the faint flush it brought to his cheeks. It was true that perhaps some part of him had maybe admired L for more than his brains… Damnit, just because you've seen him naked does not mean that you're attracted to the man! That really did make him blush, remembering all the awkward (for him anyway- L didn't seem to have any shame) time being handcuffed to the man, especially when it came to taking showers. L had only removed the handcuff on his end and only once they had both removed their shirts, or were about to put them on. He also had no qualms about undressing for a shower in Raito's presence, the first few times Raito had quickly turned to the wall in order to avoid seeing anything but once or twice his mind had been curious… just enough to take the odd sneaky peek, then ones that lasted longer, eventually until he didn't mind L's abject shamelessness…

I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH L he screamed in his head as that poisonous part of his brain giggled quietly in the corner, much like Misa when she found something funny. He violently shoved that part of his mind back into the cage it belonged, willing to settle once and for all with it that he would kill L and nothing would hold him back from becoming the God of the new world that he was striving to create. And if a part of him disagreed with that, it wasn't important.

Oh, Raito, you're so fun to write in denial... Hopefully he's fun to read that way as well. Did you like the Matt/Mello cameos (unfortunately they don't stay in long for now, so that's all I can really call them)? Or what about Ryuk's nefarious cause? I always wondered why he stuck around when he got bored so easily- I can't imagine him being entertained by Light essentially pulling the strings and not doing anything, leaving it all to Misa or Takada or Mikami. Also, I thought that Light was getting too comfortable in thinking that Ryuk didn't have some other ulterior motive other than being bored- the guy dropped a Death Note just to see the carnage it would cause.

Hopefully, there is nothing offensive or horrific in this chapter that will leave the deafening silence of the past week and leave a review, if only to tell me how awful a person I am for giving such a rubbish fic.