Author's Note: Many thanks to anyone who read chapter one, especially Riley Crest whose review gave me the courage to post chapter two! I will warn my readers that this chapter is a little filler-y, with less mention of B. I basically wanted to show an event from the weeks mentioned at the end of chapter one that would prompt Mello to further examine himself in relation to his predecessor. That event is a nothing fight. Another warning I must send out: language. This chapter contains some pretty strong language. I'm hoping that my T rating will cover it, but if anyone is offended I will gladly up the rating. With that said, please sit back and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the characters used in this story.

Why do people do things? It's a pretty straightforward question with a labyrinthine answer. Most of the time people do not have the slightest idea of what drives them, even if they think they do. There are an unfortunate few, however, that do possess a perfect understanding of their motives. For them life becomes a matter of pushing down their perceived clarity and attempting to face trials like a rational human being. Rationality will always be below them, but a small scrap of it must be worn like a mask, because when given the choice between what makes sense and what has meaning, society will always side with sense.

I flung open the door to the tiny study chamber and stomped inside, clutching my textbook in a white-knuckle grip.

Matt sighed theatrically as I entered and rocked back on his chair.

"Well, look who decided to show up…"

"Piss off, Matt."

"Aww… Someone's cranky 'cause they didn't get enough sleep!" he laughed in a mock taunt. "How late were you up, anyway? When I passed out, you were still going strong."

"I dunno, three-thirty, four?"

"That's nuts, man."

"What do you mean? I've seen you pull all-nighters more times than I can count."

"Yeah, but I can pull it off. Sleep deprivation is like a state of being for me. You… Not so much. You go anywhere beneath eight hours and they may as well start sounding the air raid sirens."

"Whatever," I growled, throwing my textbook onto the table and looking around the room. "Bleach Face isn't here yet?"

"You mean Near? No, he hasn't arrived."

"Figured as much."

I plopped myself into a chair on the opposite side of the table and began to tap my pencil rapidly against its hard surface, making the room sound like it was swarmed with tachycardiac hummingbirds.

"Why the hell would they put Near and I in a group together, anyway?" I asked angrily. "It's probably just to piss me off."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it. It has nothing to do with our ranks. The world is just out to piss Mello off. They're holding meetings at the UN right now discussing the best ways to annoy you."

The door drifted open at just that moment, revealing Near's tiny, washed-out form. He stood in the doorway looking at the two of us with wide, unfeeling eyes.

Matt waved his arm enthusiastically at him.

"Hey Near! Glad you made it! We were just about to start looking at chapter two."

The white-haired boy's only response was a slight nod in Matt's direction.

Matt began to pull out the chair next to him for Near, but the boy opted instead to park himself on the floor by the head of the table, tucking his one leg up in that usual way of his. I instantly began to seethe.

"Wouldn't you rather sit here?" Matt asked kindly, tapping a finger on the chair back. "It's hard to see you down there."

"No thank you," Near said, flipping open his textbook disinterestedly. "I find this to be a more favorable location."

"Well… okay. I guess if--"

"Sit at the damn table," I snarled, cutting Matt off and turning my gaze to meet Near's. His eyes stared back at me, but not in any kind of confrontational way. They just stared, like the eyes of a reptile.

"No thank you," he repeated. "This spot is fine."

"I'm not asking if it's suitable. I'm telling you to sit at the table like a normal person. We're not going to spend this whole time struggling to look at you from over the table edge."

"You may join me on the floor then. There is plenty of room."

At this point, Matt was looking from me to Near with an expression somewhere between panic and fascination. Like someone watching two speeding cars barreling toward each other, sure that there would be a crash, yet unwilling to turn away and miss the spectacle.

"I'm not sitting on the floor."

"And I would prefer not to sit at the table."

"Guys, it's not a big deal. What does it matter where we sit, as long as we get this project done?"

"Why don't you decide then, Matt?" I snapped.

Suddenly the crash was going to be a three car pile up and Matt was not happy about it. He abhorred responsibility with a passion.

"Yes," Near said. "A neutral third party seems like a proper solution."

"This is stupid. It's a non-issue! We can all just stay where we are."

"No. We can't," I said inarguably.

"Fine!" Matt exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "We'll sit on the floor then."

"What?!" I practically shrieked, my voice cracking with the sheer outrage of it all.

"You asked for my input and I gave it," Matt said, looking a little upset as he got up out of his chair to join Near on the floor.

"You were supposed to side with me, dumbshit! What possible reason could you have for sitting on the floor?"

"The decision has been made, Mello," Near stated with what sounded almost like condescension. "Please sit so we can begin."

I would not give that cold-hearted robot the satisfaction… if he could even feel satisfaction. I got out of my chair and stood defiantly behind Matt, who was now bunched up in an indian-style posture. With great force I slammed my textbook to the ground between them.

"Let's start then," I said caustically.

"Mello… What are you doing?" Matt asked with apparent annoyance.

"I'm not doing anything."

"Why are you standing?"

"It's a more favorable position."

Matt slapped his hands down onto his knees and started to get up.

"Well, I'm done!" he announced. "I am D-O-N-E with this. Come find me when you stop acting like a six-year-old."

With that, he grabbed his textbook and exited the room.

Near still sat on the ground at my feet, twirling his hair around his index finger and looking completely unphased.

"I take it we will be postponing our session to another time?"

"Fuck you."

I stormed out through the same door as Matt and began the painful trek back to our room.

Matt's tiny betrayal was not my first lesson in losing to Near, but it was the first time I realized that what we had went deeper than a rivalry between two people. It was an age-old rivalry between two concepts. If I could understand Matt's motives as well as I understand my own, I might say that he had acted simply out of a desire to get responsibility off his shoulders as quickly as possible. In the absence of such understanding, I must only assume that even silly, sarcastic Matt would choose cold reason over a warm friendship forged from our very own tears and victories. I had meaning, but Near made sense. When I thought back on things that night, it became very apparent that B had been a part of the same conceptual battle. B had always been firmly seated on the side of the abstract, while L loomed above him, balanced on a firm tower of concrete. B had striven to topple that tower, not only, I believe, to say 'I won', but to show the world that passion had as much value as logic. That he, his emotions, and his thoughts, meant just as much as L's, if not more. His quest had been noble, and it was one that I would continue. Beating Near was now more than bragging rights. It was a crusade to open everyone's eyes to the value of feeling, the value of myself.

Author's Note: And so ends chapter two. I hope Mello wasn't too foul-mouthed for his own good. Just like chapter one, I may rewrite this at some point to address a couple issues that bug me, but for now I push on towards chapter three. The update time may be a little longer because that is the chapter where Mello learns of B's death and I want to be careful with it. Thank you once again for reading! Please leave a review if you feel so inclined.