Chapter 12

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Second to None

Smoking Guns Kill

Naomi Misora POV

A few days had passed and Mello got his "assistants" to get me things to make my stay comfortable at his headquarters. Oddly enough the whole inside looked like an interior decorator had gone through. The walls were still rusty metal but there were tasteful paintings and oriental rugs and good quality furniture. The extra "guest room" they prepared for me was my favorite since it had a queen sized bed with plush midnight blue sheets and a fake mahogany stained easy install wooden floor. The walls had paintings like a copy of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh (or at least I hoped it was a copy) along with some pictures of the Northern Lights. There was also a fake window that had a screen that changed over time like it was looking out over a beautiful moor throughout the day. The ceiling had glow in the dark stars which at first I thought was tacky until I turned off the light at night and had a ceiling of glowing stars above me. The weirdest thing of all though was that Beyond designed the whole thing. Apparently he said the thing he missed most about the orphanage in England was the night sky where the stars were clearly visible. Living in big cities my whole life I had never truly seen a starry night sky in person so the room was even more special.

There were many things I hated about this place though mostly dealing with the people and their habits. I had to snatch more beer bottles than I could count away from Mello and Matt who were underage. Beyond didn't care apparently. Matt was on the verge of being a chain smoker but when I tried to take his cigarettes he pulled a gun on me and said "I won't hesitate believe me." Beyond scolded him but made no move to stop him from smoking. Beyond had a bad habit of eating jam from a jar like he did a while ago with his fingers. I shoved a spoon in his face constantly and he deliberately slurped his fingers louder. The men under Mello's command watched porn with Mello and Matt in the room causing Mello and Matt to go to their room to work off the tension. Thank God Beyond never paid attention and instead went out on surveillance more often. Takeout food was all anyone ate (besides Beyond's jam and Mello's chocolate) with the excuse that there were no ways to cook here and the refrigerator was for Mello's chocolate only. Plus eating in a restaurant was risky for them. I had opened the refrigerator to see what they meant by the chocolate comment and saw that it was crammed full of stacks of chocolate bars.

"How the Hell are you still skinny?!" I'd screeched at Mello.

"Horizontal exercise" was his reply and I'd gagged. They're much too young for that!

To my utter surprise though Beyond returned with health food dry goods one day when he came back from jam shopping and brought them to the private room where Mello, Matt, and I had been conferring. "I've gained two pounds" was his explanation as he opened a bag. I seriously envied these people's genes.

Matt snorted and replied "that isn't a bad thing for you. I've seen you with your shirt off and if I didn't know any better I would have thought you had an eating disorder. It isn't healthy to be able to count someone's ribs."

"You've obviously never had to eat prison food" Beyond muttered then turned to me "Misora I was wondering… could you teach me a few Capoeira moves?"

"Why?' I asked suspiciously narrowing my eyes.

"I have a feeling I may need them at some point on this case. As it is I don't know any traditional self-defense techniques except that one move you used on... shit."

"It was you that attacked me! You asshole!" I screeched.

"I'm sorry OK?! Jeez I thought you'd have been over that by now" he seemed annoyed that I was still angry about it snapping back at me with an irritated look on his face.

He can't be serious. "Over that you attacked me? Are you insane?! Never mind I already know the answer." I felt the beginnings of a migraine coming on. These people are nuts!

"Would you like me to shave my head as a penance?" he asked sardonically. I've noticed that he has a particular gift for snark.

"Don't you dare! We might need you L-clone skills later" Mello piped up from where he was sitting on a nearby couch. He looked slightly terrified at the prospect of Beyond following through. I couldn't believe that he actually wanted Beyond to pretend to be L.

"You mean you want him to pretend to be L again?!" I asked incredulously. Is he crazy? L would never let it happen again!

"It might come in handy sometime" Mello defended his face stoic as he fiercely bit the chocolate bar in his hand. I fought the urge to ask what the chocolate bar ever did to him. "I still say the two are related in some form because they supposedly look very similar."

"Actually they do" I said before I could stop myself. I pictured the man I thought was L then glanced at Beyond who was munching on a salted rice chip.

There was a long pause then "YOU'VE MET L?!" they all screeched at once. Matt even looked up from his game to ask.

I covered my ears from the volume "I think it was him. By the way he referred to himself as 'Ryuzaki'. Apparently he collected it as a trophy. Anyway I mistook him for you at first or at least how you looked pretending to be him Beyond. What I didn't realize was that you look a LOT like him except for your eyes without any help since I hadn't seen the unmasked you yet. The first time I saw you healed I thought you were still pretending. I even asked the guards if you had been sneaking in hair dye and such. Seriously you have the same skin tone, fluffy hair, skinny body type, almost the same height. Your eyes are different though. I agree with Mello I wouldn't be surprised if you two were somehow related."

"So how did you meet him anyway?" Matt asked not looking from his game as he lit a cigarette. Mello wrinkled his nose at that but said nothing.

"After Beyond's case I was outside when a man who looked a lot like Beyond tackled me. I kicked him and he… um… he fell down a flight of stairs." They were looking at me with identical 'are you serious?' expressions. "I thought he was sexually assaulting me!" I defended.

Beyond started laughing "kyahaha so you kicked the guy you now think is L down a flight of stairs because you thought he was sexually assaulting you when really he was just being enough of an idiot to tackle you. Kyahaha oh that's priceless."

"Dude where was a camera when you needed it right?" Matt added in.

I decided to change the subject.

The glow in the dark stars are actually in my room only I also have a sky blue ceiling with white painted clouds on it so when the lights go out it turns from a daytime sky to a nighttime sky. Yeah it's childish but it looks awesome. All my idea too.

Oh and the next chapter is really part 2 of this one since it got too long. Hence the abrupt ending.