***Author's Note***

So this next chapter came along pretty easy, but it really is more of an intermission
mostly because I NEED all of you to understand more of how Scott and the older
Near think and behave. It really is important. I promise. I really like Scott, even though
he can be mean. I hope you guys like him as much as I do… Because I be loven' me some
antagonist. You know? If Nina is Light, Scott is a bad ass L. And I apologize for the
steadily increasing amount of wordy dirties in the chapters but it wouldn't be the same
without them. Ya know? Don't think I have any NEW fans. But super duper thank yous
to my loyal fans that leave reviews~!

Oh and I rigged my Fanfiction to send all my reviews and messages and fan list and all
that happy jazz to my phone. I don't have internet on the stupid thing either… Cool huh?
So just know that when you review I get it right then! Send me love! Please~?

Okay! Enjoy Scott's side.

~Gebrelle

***End Note**

Scott rubbed his forehead. Again. Where did all these headaches keep coming from? Why was he asking himself this? Of course it was the damn Kira case… It was occupying his thoughts at all times. He hadn't even had time to think about anything other than the murders. Hadn't really been allowed to.

In the Wammy house, you had always best do what you were told. Not that he had always followed the rules… He and Matt never really had. He had always followed the older boy around like a puppy, doing everything he had. Be it play soccer with the other boys or play a few rounds of Super Mario and Pokemon on their game boys, he had always done everything Matt had. Well… Everything but smoke… And he could never see what Matt saw in Mello… He had felt so privileged when Matt shared his real name with him… But all too soon he learned that Mello had known his name for years… It had hurt and he distanced himself from the boy he had once considered a brother even if they were all orphans…

Near turned his large dark eyes to him, making him want to glare, but instead he kept up a carefully unreadable face, Near's Mirrored right back at him. Exactly as they had been trained. No one knew what all went on in the orphanage except the 'Teachers' and the children. Through various methods they had all been taught to withstand torture, and had the ability to do so to others without batting an eye. Most never had to do so but L had proven that in some cases you must when he interrogated Misa Amane…

The white haired boy gave him a look that if Scott didn't know better he would have called smug. And maybe he should, the boy knew he was reporting his school activities to Rodger and Near had CLEARLY been talking to someone. Now if only he would contribute what was in his head to what was in Scott's and just make it easier on both of them, but as it was, talking to Near in their apartment was like pulling teeth. He'd make sure to report that too. Not like Rodger really cared. And it wasn't like Scott really cared either. It had originally been a plan to torture his 'classmate' but it had backfired when Ruevy had put them together. And even then it wouldn't have been so bad… But Kira had to come around days after they had gotten settled in.

Rodger obviously didn't like him. Though… He didn't like any children and Scott had always thought he was a joke. He was way too old to be running the orphanage anymore and needed to just pass it to a younger individual. Preferably C. Or even K for that matter… She was a little crazy sometimes, but she could handle it… She had been stronger than many of the other 'children'. Hell. A had killed himself and B just as good as did…

Ah… B… Now there was an old memory… He had been two when Beyond had found him… All he remembered was blood all over the place and that his parents were dead… And being surrounded by water on all sides for days… Then a dark figure had found him and taken him from the boat, half starved and delirious. When he finally woke up there was a man there that told him the facts of how he had been found as if a child his age should understand. And he had. Suprisingly well. Beyond had recognized right away that there was a spark of something in the child and had tried to work with him, keeping him a secret from the orphanage for an entire year. A year in which he never spoke a word. And B hadn't forced him to, knowing that Scott understood so well that if he wished to speak he would.

He had silently helped him on some of his cases, and when Beyond had finally decided the Wammy house would take him in, he took him to Watari directly. And in the beginning he had been rejected instantly, passed off as being autistic since he never smiled, never laughed, and never spoke. Most autistic children were brilliant when it came to numbers and such, but without certain thought patterns, they were useless to the orphanage.

It took another year of working with him before Beyond was able to prove that he was in fact just the kind of child they could use.

Watari never fully accepted him since he was brought in by someone other than the ones that were instructed to find them. And when he considered successors, Scott never even crossed his mind, making him rather bitter towards everyone but B (and Matt because the other red haired boy didn't care about who brought him in at all).

The only time he had ever met L was not really a meeting in the definition of the word. All the children had gathered around a laptop that Watari held in his lap. Most of the children had crowded around, asking questions that L answered. L had a voice changer and only displayed an old English L on the screen, where as he had a camera to see the children asking the questions. When a bold one asked who he thought his successor would be, L had told them without looking at their scores or knowing them, that it would be either Mello or Near… And when asked why, he responded that those two had not asked any questions, leaving the others to do so for them and had only observed the other children from the other side of the room. Little did he know that there was a child sitting behind Watari, able to see the front of the children's faces, even the ones in the back without being truly seen himself by the others in the room, and defiantly not by the scrambled voice on the other end of the camera…

He realized after a moment that he was smiling softly to himself, and he let the expression leave as the dark eyes stayed on him.
"What are you thinking?" he asked his white haired roommate, wondering why he was staring.

The boy looked down at his hands where he had little finger puppets on a few of them, "I was wondering what L would do…" he half whispered, and when he looked closely he saw that Near had one for himself and Kira. The same ones he had used twice now… Then he noticed that he had a rather unhappy looking one with narrow blue eyes and a shock of red hair, making him want to roll his eyes. Near was such a visual and kinesthetic learner. All Scott had to do was close his eyes and think to learn, able to basically experiment in his head using probabilities and reason.

"L would want you to stop thinking like L and try thinking like N. You are N aren't you?" Scott spat, hating that Near couldn't even think like himself.

The black eyes shot up and he freely glared at him. Good. Near could use some more emotion.

"You heard me. You're not L. You will never be L. A wasn't L. B wasn't L. M wasn't L. I'm sure as hell not L. T's not L. None of us are L. It was hard for you to ignore C-Kira a few years back wasn't it? You know why? Because you don't feel the same way as L. You don't know what L would do. And he sure as hell wouldn't have ignored the presence of a DeathNote in Japan. Sure he only took on interesting cases, but he had a sense of justice and would have understood that just because it was in the hand of a dumb ass, doesn't mean it couldn't have easily changed hands to someone with the mind more like Light Yagami. You should count yourself lucky he didn't do just that and killed himself instead…"

Near calmly set down his toys, a fire in his eyes that said he was pissed.

"You can't know what L would do either. You didn't even like him. You didn't like anyone. And I don't care if you don't like me. But L was the most brilliant detective that has probably ever existed on earth. It can't really hurt for me to think like someone that was smarter than the two of us put together…"

Scott chuckled, leaning back in his seat, "See? I knew you could talk," he purred, aggravating him intentionally and Near knew it, earning him another hateful glare.

He turned his chair, going back to the background check on Nina that he had barely started and he heard the rustle of material as his roommate silently left the room. He thought he had completely left the study when he felt a few things hit him in the back of the head. He turned and looked, seeing a flash of a white sleeve as Near left the room completely. When he looked at what had hit him, he was surprised to find all three of the other boy's finger puppets. It was as much of an acceptance to his challenge as it was surrender. He was going to start thinking on his own huh? This would be interesting…

Scott knew from looking at his card tower mazes that Near never half did anything, so he knew the great detective N would be a different person here in a few days and he was eager to see the changes unfold, curious as to who Near really was…