First of all, I would like to apologise that this update came so late in the day. If you remember from about two chapters ago, my internet is playing up and still is. It's being temperamental and on some days decides not to work. Anyway, other than that, I would also like to thank Cupcake and Fairwaters for reviewing this week. And I don't mind essays in the reviews, it makes life interesting... :)

Just as a warning, updates may be slower than normal from now on. My 'all clear summer' keeps seeming to get busy. One day I'm helping babysit my cousin, then the next I'm seeing a horse etc. etc. and then it's suddenly Saturday again and my laptop has been gathering dust all week. I'm not saying that this means I am abandoning this, I try my hardest not to abandon my stories even if they are not updated in an age, but as a warning, this may happen. I have half of the next chapter written up, technically the second half to this chapter, but once again, my week seems to be filling up, leaving me with little time to write.

Other than that, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think!

There was something wrong with B. L had been watching the other boy for most of the week, whenever he could really, and there was most definitely something off about him than usual. He was tense, on edge, snapping at anyone who tried to keep in contact with him, even Mitsu. His sister, who had long since been turfed out of what had once been a shared room, was distraught at this new development and begged every night for him to do something about it. He and B were as close as brothers, if he would talk to anyone other than her, it would be L.

Things had changed over the past four years. They had grown, changed with the times, each forging their own paths. B had a knack for biology, specifically human biology and spent long hours in the labs learning about forensics and medicines. It was often said that if he didn't become a doctor he would be a forensic investigator, or perhaps an undertaker although L suspected that that was a boring side challenge to B. Mitsu hadn't really settled onto anything as of yet, working at the local theatre and music groups, concentrating on the arts mostly. The only academic subjects that she had a knack for seemed to be languages, keeping pace with her brother in that respect, although it helped having a brother who was now fluent in ten languages and a friend who was fluent in another three.

As for himself, he was already working towards detective work. Already he was helping out on several tough cases although Mr Wammy always presented the tips anonymously to the police worldwide and never stated exactly what the source of those tips and facts were. Personally, L would rather be in the country to work on the different cases in the off chance that he could pick up on a clue that the police may have missed, perhaps taking B and Mitsu with him (out of any of the Wammy's children, Mitsu was the only one currently studying sociology and one of only five studying psychology- why those were unpopular choices he wasn't sure since with the direction they were all pushed in it seemed a bizarre choice). They were sometimes invaluable in pointing out some pieces he may have missed- after all he wasn't an expert in every subject no matter what his tutors may think. What he lacked however, B and Mitsu made up for and as a team unit, they were the perfect trio, a fact that was often commented on.

But now B seemed adamant to push all others away. He would have asked A if he knew of anything different, but he, too, was acting strangely. The pair of them were not themselves, B stressed and A depressed. B had noted, only a few days before he too started acting odd that he was certain that A may be self-harming and would benefit seeing a specialist and L had mentioned it to Roger, who had merely stated that he would look into it. The orphanage was rather loose in terms of sorting out things like that and L thought that it was stupid. Anyone could see that the amount of pressure the kids were put under was immense and that they should really keep a counsellor at least on site, but no, they had none and would spend the next few days trying to find a suitable psychiatrist.

L glanced over the canteen towards where B was sitting, moodily picking at his own meal. It was a Sunday, and so dinner was a traditional British roast, one of B's favourite meals, but tonight he couldn't seem less interested. Mitsu was sending her own not-so-subtle glances over her shoulder, but she had rehearsals that night for her next show that he had tickets for over the next weekend. Clearly unhappy with the situation, Mitsu picked up her now empty plate and rose from her seat.

"Talk to him will you?" she asked pleadingly. L nodded, swallowing his own mouthful of food and glancing back over towards B, who seemed to have given up on his meal entirely and had risen to empty off his own plate. L tracked him as he made his way over to the counter, stacking the plate with the other dirty dishes and leaving the canteen altogether.

"I will," he said, knowing where B was going. In times of trouble the trio would often retreat to 'their spot', namely either the base or branches of the horse chestnut tree at the end of the grounds of the orphanage. In autumn they spent hours picking through the branches or roots, looking for the best conkers to collect up for the other children. Tonight, B had merely settled for the base, facing away from the orphanage and into the trees of the surrounding wood. L took a moment to take this all in before settling down next to him.

"Hey," he murmured, looking sideways at B. he didn't react, continuing to stare off into the distance.

"Hey," he muttered back.

"Mitsu's worried about you." Silence. "B, if there's something bothering you…"

"The numbers are going down," B suddenly said. L blinked, wondering what that meant.

"What?" he asked, taken aback. B frowned, glaring down at the grass beneath their feet.

"A's numbers, the ones above his head, they keep going down," he stated. It took L a moment to remember what that meant. B had only ever once described his 'quirk', the fact that he could see everyone's names floating above their heads and, underneath that, a string of numbers that kept flickering down.

"I thought that they were always going down," L said, wondering why this was such an issue. B scowled back at him.

"No, I mean they're falling quicker than they were. Yesterday there were six numbers, today there were four!" He looked down, troubled. "At dinner there were only three. I just don't know why." He growled and punched the grass, shaking his head. "I wish I knew what they meant!" L shook his head, nonplussed.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you there," he said quietly. B sighed, raising his head to look up at the stars.

"I feel so helpless. A won't talk to me about anything, not even about that guy he keeps talking to at the gates," he said, red eyes sorrowful. L frowned, alarm bells ringing in his head. The only people who ever came up to the gates were members of staff, many of which who lived on site, and delivery men bringing supplies to the orphanage. He couldn't imagine A talking to either groups of people and B only stated that there was one of them.

"What guy at the gates?" he asked sharply. "B you know nobody else is supposed to come on site."

"That's the thing, he doesn't. He just waits at the gates for A to come see him then walks away," B said shaking his head. "He's always too far away for me to get a good look at him or his name."

"You should tell Roger. If he's been at the gates, they'll have it on the security cameras." B considered that a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, we should."

"B…" L paused as they both stood up, staring uncertainly at his friend. "Why haven't you told anyone this before?" B paused a moment and shook his head.

"I wanted to talk to A first, but he just kept pushing me away. And when I pushed back at him yesterday, he gave me this." B gestured to a bruise which had formed along one cheekbone, under the eye. L had noticed it earlier, but as they day went on, it had only gotten darker, signalling that it was fresh.

"He hit you?" B nodded.

"I was lucky he didn't get my eye but it also helped. His arms are bandaged right up to the elbows and there were spots of blood on them. He's definitely using that razor kit Roger got him for more than shaving," B said quietly, turning away to move back towards the house. L followed him quietly, mulling over this new information. It wasn't like A to strike out at anybody, let alone B who he got on well with. In fact, A was the only other person that didn't treat B like he was diseased in the orphanage, instead helping him to settle in over the years. This was more than just merely the depression getting to him- L had to find out who this stranger was, who knew to stay at a distance and away from the students, but close enough to attract one's attention. A and B's room looked out over the front driveway, the only student room to do so, and so it was obvious that this man wanted to speak either to A or B but what for, he couldn't even begin to guess. And why A might be complying with him…? L shook his head, not wanting to even think about what the pair were up to.

It took them a few minutes to reach Roger's office and they were then forced to wait another fifteen minutes for the man to return. They had both temporarily forgotten than he was on duty that night in the canteen and that he was most likely keeping an eye on the younger children, the ones most likely to play with their food than actually eat it. He seemed surprised to find the pair of them waiting outside his office but invited them inside anyway.

"And what can I do for the pair of you?" he asked over the top of his glasses. Roger wasn't exactly condescending but L was fairly certain that he wasn't particularly comfortable in working with children far more intelligent than he.

"We wanted to talk about A," L said, not wanting to wait around any further. They didn't know what the numbers that B saw meant but there seemed to be a scary finality to the fact that there were only three numbers left.

"If this is about the depression, we have already referred him to a therapist," Roger stated. "Is there something else that concerns you?" His tone seemed to suggest that the subject was over but B was having none of it.

"I've seen him talking to someone outside the gates. They come every night and A is always more depressed after the discussions than before. When I asked him who the man was, he got violent." B was staring at Roger straight in the eye but for the first time Roger sat up straight, eyes serious and tense, sensing just as L had that there was something off about all of this.

"He's been talking to someone on the perimeter you said?" he asked. B nodded and Roger frowned, picking up one of the notepads off the side of his desk and flipping through it. "The security cameras haven't picked up any strangers from the gates… B where exactly have they been meeting?"

"On the side of the wrought iron fence outside our room. You can see them from our bedroom window."

"That's the main gate…" Roger murmured, flipping through the book further, then slammed it shut. "There's nothing in here," he muttered in frustration, then turned to them. "You two are to keep an eye on A while I report this to Mr Wammy. Unfortunately he won't be back until late, but until then, he doesn't leave this building without supervision. I will be going out to check on the security cameras, make sure that they haven't been moved." The boys both nodded and left the office. B looked unnerved by the seriousness of Roger's face but L supposed that he was still on edge about the numbers.

"I'll meet you tomorrow then," B said uncertainly.

"You don't want any help with A?" L asked in surprise, but B shook his head.

"I'll be fine," he said, a trademark grin in his face but L could tell, under that, that he was nervous. He quietly promised himself to check up on the pair later that night with Quillish Wammy arrived, already thinking up reasons for his presence. Returning the fake smile he nodded.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow," he said, turning with him to return to their respective rooms. He settled down, on the bed, dragging his laptop towards him, intending to hack into the system. He wasn't the best hacker in the orphanage, detective work was more up his street, but he still had skill enough to get into the system without being detected. Looking through the cameras for the front gate, he noted that nothing especially untoward had happened. The previous three nights worth of recordings showed no stranger like B had stated, but it was the only place that had been specified. A appeared all three nights but no stranger which was odd. If B had noticed him (and there were certainly no blind spots in the gates, he had checked all the angles) then he had to be there, but there was nothing, not even a dog or cat that A was talking to. Something was not right.

L wasted an hour looking through the footage. He would have continued on, trying to think of reasons for the holes in B's story, when the screaming began.

Mitsu was probably the epitome of not happy right now. She had been gone for all of half an hour and in that time her brother had managed to not only greet, meet and help to escape the one person she wanted him as far away as possible from right now, but he had also managed to completely exhaust himself. If it wasn't clear that any form of shouting or threats would sink in, in the half delirious state he had pushed himself into, she would have already given him a piece of her mind. Instead she had merely walked in, taken one look at her brother sitting at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the outside world and shook her head.

"You know, one day this curiosity of yours is going to get you killed," she muttered as she half carried him back to the elevator. Lael let out a breathy laugh, knowing as well as she did that this much exertion so soon after recovering from a coma was not in the greatest interests of his own health. He had been doing so much better lately, taking things slower than normal, eating healthy foods (mainly because she had pointed out that eating crap at the rate he had been before was not only cause enough for a non-Kira-induced heart attack, but it would also slow down his recovery time, sweet tooth or not) and exercising at the rate recommended by Doctor Yamada (whom they would never see again if they could help it). This setback was most certainly not welcome and Raito would not be returning if she could help it.

"Too late," Lael murmured as the elevator arrived and Mitsu would have scowled if it hadn't made her heart hurt just that little but more. It wasn't enough that Kira had practically stolen her brother from her- he had to break him first as well.

"That is just a little too early for a joke, Lael," she stated, not caring that if anyone other than her would bother going back in the video records, they would have L's real name. Besides, Matt had set up the new system to be completely safe and if some upper middle class genius thought he could get back in, he had another think coming. Not even if Soichiro tried to access the system at home would he be able to see anything worthwhile. In fact, Matt had set up a little 'surprise' just in case he did.

"Isn't that slightly inappropriate?" she had asked. Mello had raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you to talk about 'appropriate'?" Matt had just grinned.

"Come on, he'll probably like it anyway. Bet you a tenner that he'll keep it on his laptop in some secret file for those dark lonely nights." A part of her wished that she had taken him up on that bet. It would have been pretty funny but she knew better than to take on bets that would have her lose money. Living on the streets tended to make you tight about stuff like that.

Lael fell asleep the moment she set him down on the sofa but she didn't mind. It would take just that little bit longer for him to recover, not that it truly mattered with all the issues with this case anyway. She sighed and set to tidying away the room, sweeping cake crumbs off of the side, smiling at the thought that he had clearly been sneaking in something sweet while she was out. Some would have thought that it was a game that they played- a childish game where the winner was the one that got their own way- but in all honesty she didn't mind. It meant that he was still her brother, he wasn't some kind of case-solving machine, existing only to solve the world's toughest cases for the world's governments.

There was a quiet beep behind her, warning that either Soichiro or Matsuda had entered the building. Glancing towards the screen monitor, she was surprised to see that it was the pair of them, but then narrowed her eyes, glancing back towards where Lael slept. This would be the perfect opportunity to gather intel on how Raito had found his way into the building other than Lael's curiosity (why her brother had decided that confronting him was a mystery, but she had a pretty good idea as to why). Jumping into the seat beside the sofa, her back to the doors. No need for her to make the effort to welcome them in when they were practically here every day, although she wasn't too sure about their decision to come alone.

"Hello Mitsu," Matsuda greeted the moment they entered, exuberant as always. Mitsu raised an eyebrow, smiled but shushed him, gesturing to where Lael was sleeping on the sofa. "Oh, sorry," he whispered, eyes suddenly sad.

"It's alright," she said. "I'm mad at him not you." Unlike some of the other task force members, Matsuda seemed to have a sixth sense as to the feelings in a room- most of the time he had the sense not to speak out about it, although she was sure his exuberant nature gave it away half of the time. That he was able to gage not only her own emotions, but Lael's as well, was impressive, especially when she was sure that many of the others were oblivious. Raito was tricky to pin down since he seemed in two minds most of the time to the point that she sometimes suspected that he had MPD.

"What happened?" Soichiro Yagami asked quietly, at the proper respectable level for someone sleeping in the room. It annoyed Mitsu at times that he seemed to inadvertently exude the feeling that you were inadequate if you did anything less than proper- it irked her to no end. It seemed to her that the longer she spent in his presence, as genuinely nice as he seemed, the more she could understand how Raito may have gotten the unrealistic view that there were straight black and white lines between good and bad.

"Your son decided to pay a visit." She didn't believe in hanging about on anything this important.

"What? Why was he here?" Matsuda, quietly, exploded. Mitsu might have laughed at his manic whispering if he hadn't voiced exactly what she had been thinking.

"I don't know. All I know is that he arrived the moment that I left with Matt and Mello," she said, noting the strange twitch that Soichiro's face went through, knowing how conflicted he had been about their presence considering their not so subtle criminal movements. "I came back to find my brother smuggling him out of the back entrance."

"We have a back entrance?" Matsuda asked, distracted.

"Matsuda, focus!" Soichiro admonished. "How did he know how to come here?"

"You tell me," she snapped. "He's your son." Matsuda suddenly looked nervous, glancing between her and his boss.

"Raito's been suspicious recently, asking to come with us and trying to follow, but we've been throwing him off," Matsuda said, glancing over to Mr Yagami who nodded.

"I even aborted a visit to go home instead when he insisted on coming. Raito isn't stupid you know," he stated.

"I know that," Mitsu said. "But something happened. He's been onto you ever since I saw him at the hospital."

"Maybe he thought to look here? If he got the name Ryuzaki from the hospital then he would have thought immediately of L and decided to look into whether he was still alive," Matsuda suggested timidly. "I mean, we worked here for months before the incident." She frowned, although she appreciated that he had tried to downplay the fact that she had almost lost her brother that day.

"You do have a point," she conceded, thinking furiously. She wasn't as good as her brother at connecting the dots, she was well aware of that and hence her skills lay elsewhere. Her brother looked at the bigger picture, she looked at things on a smaller scale, taking one person at a time rather than scanning through hundreds. Why is nothing ever simple anymore? She thought, thinking back to the times when it was just them and B, playing out in the back gardens of the orphanage. For a mad moment she wished B was there, until that ground her thoughts to a stop. Maybe… That could work. "Maybe this isn't as bad as I thought," she murmured, glancing back towards her brother, thinking back to the box and what she had found there. What she had hidden, even from him.

"What do you mean?" Matsuda asked. "How is this not bad?" She blinked at that, wondering when Matsuda had joined their corner for good. Even Soichiro looked startled at that and Matsuda flushed once more. "I mean, wasn't the whole point of us pretending not to know anything about this to protect L in case Raito is Kira?"

"It was," Mitsu said gently, smiling, "But there's no point in pretending if he already knows we're here. Raito plans quickly, he's almost as good at the big stuff as my brother. He thinks big and knows it. But what happens when you force him to think small? To think about reality properly and not his dream world?"

"I don't understand," Mr Yagami said quietly. She sighed, knowing that this would be hard for Mr Yagami to hear but it had to be said, and repeated for Lael.

"Raito is like L in a lot of ways. He thinks about whole chunks of people- countries, governments, even the whole world- and that usually allows him to move up in the world. The smaller stuff, like homework and school stuff is pathetic compared to that and so he spends as little time as possible living on what I like to call planet Earth, instead living in the high and mighty world of Raito Yagami, extraordinary person, youngest ever member of the NPA and the newest L even without being Kira. If he is Kira, he is also thinking about an unrealistic 'perfect' world in which he is essentially God." She paused a moment to let this sink in, watching Soichiro carefully who seemed to be trying his hardest to keep a straight face, but she could tell that he was insulted for his son. "Don't be upset Mr Yagami, all geniuses know that they're better than the rest of us. However, unlike L, Raito has discarded the one thing he deems both most important to him but also the most in his way." She paused, knowing that this wouldn't be pleasant. "His family." At that, Soichiro's face really did crumple into anger.

"That isn't true! Raito has loved us all, you only have to look at what he's done for Sayu to know that!" he shouted, disregarding the fact that Lael was still asleep. It didn't matter, he had been too exhausted to be woken by it now, but Matsuda looked alarmed and made flapping motions with his arms, as if that would make Mr Yagami quieten. Mitsu personally did nothing. She knew that this was just paternal denial that he wanted to believe only the best of Raito, but she knew too that deep down, he knew that, Kira or not, there was something deeply wrong with Raito, something missing that even her brother had. He just didn't want to admit to it yet.

"And yet at the first possible moment he moved out of your house. He doesn't visit unless he had to or he thinks that he'll get something out of it," she said in return, quiet and level, no nonsense. She had been taught that to get mad back at someone was counterproductive, which she agreed with. Soichiro didn't need anger at this point. He needed someone to give him the facts to mull over, discard and then come to his own conclusions. He had admitted in the past that he couldn't bear to watch his son be locked up and accused, he knew that it would break not only himself but his family if Raito were Kira. She trusted him to know when to pull out- in that, he was sensible enough. "Don't get me wrong, I'm certain he loves you all. His desire to bring criminals to justice, even without being Kira, shows how he wishes to protect you. But he doesn't truly understand his own feelings because they're small and insignificant in a great big world, so he's discarded them and, therefore, you in order to move on and up in the world. Big scale." She paused again, thinking carefully. "If you would like, I could give him a psychological exam, or get a professional to do so if you would prefer?"

"You want to send my son to a shrink?" Soichiro practically snapped, still reeling from her cold lines. She sighed.

"I've told you that there is no such thing as a normal genius. They all have quirks. Where we used to live, kids got sent to a psychiatrist all the time. After A-" She stopped then, suddenly aware that she had wandered off into memory lane and had almost gone back to thinking about that awful day when she had arrived to find her brother holding a shaking and sobbing B, the water in the bath dyed red with blood. Matsuda looked just as shocked as she felt, although Mr Yagami just looked confused.

"Who is A?" he asked. "What on earth has he got to do with my son?"

"Nothing," she said numbly, wondering if this would really work. But he was practically already involved and it might solve some curiosities that had been eating away at them all since then. "It doesn't matter." Silence fell then as she sorted through her own thoughts, shoving A aside. It was traffic but it had been years and there were more important things to think about. She had to keep Lael safe and this gamble might pay off or it might get them all killed. Luckily, Lael was also an all or nothing kind of person and she was thankful of that. "I think it would be better if you left now," she said quietly. "My brother needs his rest." The pair nodded and headed for the door. Matsuda paused though at the exit.

"Mitsu…" he said quietly. She turned and suddenly found herself enveloped in his arms. "Whatever happened to him, I'm sorry," he murmured in her ear and then, giving one last smile, turned and ran off to catch up with Mr Yagami. Surprised and in shock at what had just happened, she could only stand there, wondering why everything in her life was so messed up that the NPA officer had been able to see through the carefully erected walls.

So, as I said before, this is only one half of the original plan for this chapter. I got to this part and went 'oh, wow, this will be a mammoth of a chapter with a never ending conclusion' and would also have come as a late, well later, update so I thought that it would be better to split it into two, maybe even three depending on where the story goes next.

As for Mitsu, as an own character, I like to flesh her out and here was a good chance. Savour it, it may not happen again for a while, but I hope that any good feelings you had brewing about her have not been dampened at all by so much of this being in her viewpoint. Before anything breaks out about how as L's twin she ought to be better at secrets, yes she is, but I also want to show that in some ways she is also more human than L as she is more on our level. But next chapter we are back to L and the ever-present sub-plot of the flashback. Kinda.

And no, I am not intentionally setting up Mitsu/Matsuda although they keep having these little fluffy moments inside and outside of my head in this story.

Please let me know what you think and I shall be back next week with part 2!