Replies, as usual:

Jillian Jiggs: Yep, definitely :D

erina destiny: Thank you very much :)

ani-sand: Thank you, and I plan to. Been thinking about the jealousy concept myself a bit.

Sparanda: Thank you, was one of my favorite scenes as well XD And already replied in a PM with everything else (and I'll reply to the reply you sent me when I finish with this chapter, as my AIM is still being retarded).

nekosoulreaper: Well, he's not always dumb, he has smart moments occasionally XP

Marisol Akyri: Ah, can't really agree there, Matsuda's one of my favorite characters. He's like the comic relief when things get too overly tense in the investigation. But the L as an ambulence worker bit was just great :)

Madeline Cullen: Thanks :) And they do/will have friendly moments occasionally.

Pretty awesome, another 7 comments on that chapter :)

I'm about beat right now. We had a tornado warning at my school today durring fifth period. I knew it wouldn't amount to anything interesting, but it was still a tad bit freaky, as the last in-school one I went through, the tornado blew the doors open on the school in the hallway my class was on. I was traumatized for life with that one, even if it wasn't big enough to do anything more than blow open the doors on the fifth grade hallway.

I'm better now, just a little tired.

Disclaimer: Same as always. No owns. Yeah.

Warnings: Same as always, bit of swearing.

Quick-sum: Confusion for L, new manager for Misa. Can't be bothered to type more. Read on.


L had actually allowed Light to leave the investigation room unaccompanied on the condition that he would be surveilled the entire night, following the untimely demise of Taro Matsui. L wasn't in mourning, as the death of an alias was nothing to mourn over anyway. He merely had more important matters to worry about than whether or not to unchain Light from his wrist. He had finished transferring all of the information on the Kira case (or as much as he needed to work) onto his laptop and had chosen to take a slightly more comfortable seat on the couch to work out what was going on. It had proved to be a hard task to balance the laptop on his knees, but he had managed well enough for a few minutes before –

"Hi!"

The sudden voice caused him to jump slightly – just enough to nearly drop his laptop. He caught it before it could fall and closed it, then set it on the coffee table. It wasn't really like any more information he didn't know could be found on the case at that moment. The person sitting next to him now, looking at least somewhat cheerful, might already know who Kira was. If she had seen a Shinigami in the investigation room standing behind someone, she would know…

"I didn't mean to scare you," said Katherine, laughing.

"It's fine. Did you see anything?"

She raised her eyebrows, but then seemed to comprehend. "No. No Shinigami, but," she said, seeing that L was starting to look disappointed, "there's every chance that the Shinigami could have been told to wait. If Light told Rem to on contract of Misa's safety, then Rem might have told Kira that someone on L's side can see Shinigami. Light found out I could see Ryuk and knew I had the Shinigami King's notebook when I conned him into believing I was on his side while he was still Kira, so he knew and could have instructed Rem to keep herself hidden."

"I suppose so. You're sure Light-kun sent Rem?"

"Positive," she said. "It was logical. Light kills the holder of the note while he's holding the note and it becomes his again. Now, who would he want for a Shinigami more if he's in direct contact with the main person hunting him: a loud one who'll give him up as Kira if he doesn't get his apples on time, or one who's willing to do anything to keep Misa alive, even if it means become subservient to a murderer? He definitely sent Rem. Then, there's Ryuk. Misa will end up with him, so if she's forgotten your real name after seeing it, she'll do the eyes deal again. Rem would protest it, Ryuk'd just go, 'eh, what the hell, just as long as I get my apples.' You're not quite as familiar with their personalities. As an overview, Rem's loyal to Misa. Ryuk's loyal to his apple supplier until they stop getting him apples, and he's not that loyal to start with."

L was chewing on his thumbnail now. "So everyone on the team is protected by the King's Note." Katherine nodded. "What would happen if that Shinigami – Rem – tried to kill one of us to save Misa?"

She thought for a moment. "In normal circumstances, the Shinigami would die for helping a human. But I'm not sure, because the Shinigami wouldn't be able to kill someone protected by the King's Note, Rem told me that herself. I'm not sure about that so much. But we're far enough along in the case for now, aren't we?" L looked at her with his head tilted a little, his brow furrowing. She laughed. "I just mean you should take a break, you're overworking yourself a bit much for something you already know everything about."

"Except who Kira is."

"Which will be easy enough to figure out with the information we have already." She moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, causing him to give her another confused look. "Just calm down a little."

"If I don't work tonight," said L, "then the investigation team will wonder why I stayed up all night doing nothing."

"Tell them you were looking at porn or something."

"What?"

"What?"

"I'm not telling them that."

"Good, they probably wouldn't believe you anyway. Misa might, she still refers to you as 'the pervert' half the time. What's she going to do for a manager now, anyway?" asked Katherine, rolling her eyes up to look at L, who was no longer paying any attention to her unauthorized invasion of his personal bubble of space. She decided then to loop her arms around his neck, and she was quite happy to find he didn't protest this either.

"As Aiber is busy posing as Erald Coil to investigate L for Yotsuba, who contacted him thinking that's who he was, he isn't available. I don't believe Yagami-san is particularly fit for the job. Mogi-san isn't either, but it seems there isn't another option."

"Is too." L looked down at her questioningly. "I know people – well, a person – who could do it."

"I can't bring in your spies right now. I don't doubt they're not Kira. I know they're not, in fact, but the task force doesn't –"

"Then just use Don, have a bug placed on him when he leaves headquarters. They would be forced to move in – meaning him and Pat, and I'm sure there's an extra floor available in this building – but it would work out."

"Wedy?"

"Er…" Katherine stopped. "Well, see… Pat might be willing to… umm…" She sighed. "Can I just talk to him about it and see if he'll work for her? Pat wouldn't be allowed near Misa, obviously."

"And why is that?"

"You know how Misa is with Light? That's about how Pat is in regards to Misa. It's really scary."

It took a while, but Katherine managed to talk L into letting her talk to Pat and Don about coming to live in the building and working on the Kira case in close proximities with the rest of the team, on the condition that they would have to reenact the argument tomorrow so the team wouldn't suspect they were making arrangements behind everyone else's backs. Respectively, it took L twice that time to talk Katherine into not falling asleep on his shoulder due to the awkward situations that might ensue from it if the investigation team came in to work before she woke up. Katherine's response, which probably made L wonder if he had even won the debate or not, was more or less "Fine, then I won't fall asleep."

After a few minutes of silence, in which L had managed to balance his laptop again, she spoke again.

"I'm not invading your bubble, am I?"

L looked at Katherine blankly at this question. His… bubble? He really hadn't been aware that he even had a bubble to begin with, so she probably wasn't invading it. On top of that, he wasn't particularly sure of what this bubble was. It would probably be easiest to find out about it by asking her what it actually was rather than just remain confused about it, even if it was risking being laughed at by the (obviously half asleep) redhead.

"… Bubble?"

Katherine blinked a few times. "Your bubble," she said plainly. "Your personal space."

"Oh. Then yes, you are."

It had seemed simple enough in his mind before he said it, but he could tell by the look he received in return and the way she pulled suddenly away from him that she had taken it wrongly. "K – Katherine?" She looked at him from her side of the sofa, eyebrows raised. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said, "just removing myself from your bubble."

"I didn't mind – why?"

Katherine looked at him blankly now. Do to his lack of experience with other human beings, he probably could be excused. She still didn't get his reasoning on this one, though. Personal space was just that – personal, not to be shared with anyone, meaning that she obviously had no reason to be invading his, so what in the world was he talking about?

"But your 'bubble' is the barrier that no other people are allowed to enter," she said reasonably.

"I assumed so," he said, "and you were 'invading' mine, as you put it, but only because I didn't mind you doing so. You would have been told in the first place if I did mind it."

Though still mildly confused, she guessed this qualified as an invitation back over to him, which she wasn't going to debate. His shoulder seemed to make a good enough pillow, so she had no reason so complain. She again got herself comfortable by wrapping her arms around his neck and laying her head on his shoulder. This time, his arm came around her shoulders, slowly as though he was nervous to touch her. She smiled at this.

"Don't worry, you're always welcome to invade my bubble," she said cheerfully. His arm lay on her shoulders at this. She lifted her head a little to look at him, and so he would turn his head. "You're adorable," she said. After another few seconds of him looking confused, she gently kissed his lips for a moment. She then decided to continue, "But you were even more adorable in your ambulance worker costume, why'd you have to go take it off?"

L looked at her blankly for a moment, shook his head, and went back to his computer. Katherine smiled. She hadn't lost her touch at all – even half asleep, she could still confuse the detective to no end.


"Is this it…? It's not very…" Matsuda trailed off, looking at his obituary. Or, at least, Taro Matsui's obituary. Katherine read it over his shoulder.

"I believe 'detailed' is a good word. Leave me alone with Misa again and you might get a new and improved one."

"I said sorry!"

"Misa is something that sorry can't fix. Anyway," she added, "who should be her manager now? I hardly think anyone left here is very suited for the job, and you've already got Aiber and Wedy off doing other things," she said to L.

He spun around in his chair, thinking. Though he was still reluctant to agree to hire her spies when they were still "suspects" in the eyes of the investigation team, she was right that Mogi was hardly fit for such a job. Yagami definitely wasn't. If the investigation knew that he would have them bugged, then they would be likely to agree….

"Is there any chance," L said slowly, "that your spies are still at our disposal?"

"Does this mean they're cleared of–"

"Decidedly not," L said. "If the arrangement in mind were to work, it would be required that the one to take the spot of Amane-san's manager wear a bug when working as her manager."

"Ah. Well, you don't want Pat doing it. Come to think, you don't want him within ten feet of Misa. Trust me. Don can speak Japanese well enough for the job, just make sure he doesn't have any tequila at any point in time, we don't want to have to bail him out of jail in a cocktail dress." There were scattered sniggers around the room at this. "That's something I hope to never have to do ever again. The only demand they would make is that they be allowed to help with the investigation."

"Then they would have to be under surveillance," L replied. "As there is suspicion, allowing them to work on the case without living here under surveillance would be impossible."

"I agree fully," Katherine said, "and I'll have to discuss with them about it. I can bribe Pat here just by mentioning Misa. But," she added, very seriously, "do not mention a word that Wedy comes in and out of here on a regular basis, and she will be to warn us when she is going to arrive."

There were mumbles of agreement at this – there was no doubt that everyone still remembered the first time Katherine and Wedy had been in the same room as them. That was the type of meeting that people generally held in their memories for a long time, though reluctantly. Even so, she could bribe Pat there with Misa, but a single mention of Wedy would probably send him to an airport to leave whatever country she happened to be in. He had long since gotten over his depression about her and had come to the conclusion that she was merely a coldhearted bitch that he never wanted to be within a thousand feet of ever again. Don didn't care one way or the other. When the whole ordeal had occurred, he had called Pat a pansy and told him to get over it, until Pat's little trip to the hospital with alcohol poisoning that could have "killed him if he had arrived a minute later" according to the doctor. That was Don, though – less than zero tact and less than zero tolerance for emotion. Considering how Pat tended to get melodramatic when he got even slightly tipsy, she wasn't sure how or why the two of them were such good friends.

After working out the arrangements with the rest of the team (and getting L to agree to let them have the address to the place), she got out her phone as she headed to the stairs to hers and Misa's flat. She dialed the number as she reached the first step, and Don picked up after a few rings.

"Oi," he said, not bothering with any formal greeting, "I just saw the death of Taro Matsui in the papers, what's goin' on?"

"Matsuda's alive, that was just a decoy death. He went and got himself mixed up in a bit of a sticky situation and had to fake his own death."

Don laughed. "Tell 'im to join the club."

Katherine laughed. "Yeah."

"No, really, we're starting a club," said Don. "Pat's legally dead in Ireland, Scotland, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and New Jersey."

"Yes, and – wait, New Jersey?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. You think you know a person…"

"I'm only legally dead in Scotland so far. Still not sure what happened there, but I think there was tequila involved and –"

"No need to elaborate further. How's your Japanese doing?"

"Quite good, considering I'm reading their newspapers. Why?"

"We find ourselves in need of a new manager for Misa."

"Misa?"

"Misa?" she heard a voice in the background yelp accordingly. "What?"

"Tell Pat to go take a bath in some ice water, might help him chill out."

"She says go take a bath in some ice water," she heard Don tell him.

"Fuck you!" she heard him yell.

"Anyway," she said casually, "we were hoping you would be willing to help out. We obviously can't have Pat doing it, considering how…"

"He's kind of obsessive over her?"

"Basically, yes. The only stipulation is that you would have to wear a bug at all times when acting as her manager."

"Could we work in the Kira case?"

"You'd have to move into the building. Which I can assure you is more luxurious than you're current quarters, wherever it may be, the flats are like single-floor mansions. Each floor is only one flat."

"Bloody hell."

"My point exactly."

"Let me talk to Pat about it. Oi, Pat!" she heard him yell away from the speaker in his phone. "Want to move out o' this dump?"

"Fuck yea!" came a reply. "Where to?"

"Apartment complex apparently owned by L."

"Are we working on the Kira case?"

"Are we?" Don asked Katherine.

"If you don't mind your rooms having surveillance in them."

"If we don't mind our rooms having surveillance in them."

"Not at all," Pat said, "and isn't Misa staying there?" he added, somewhat hopefully.

"Yes," Katherine said, "but I've already warned Ryuzaki of his Misa-worship tendencies, so he will probably only be seeing her through camera."

Don repeated the message to Pat, no doubt feeling like a messenger but not complaining yet.

"Okay," Pat said immediately in response.

"Is that all of the circumstances?"

"Er… let's see… yeah, basically seems so. Oh," she added in an undertone so no mics could pick up her voice. "Refrain from punching any suspects."

"Such as Kira himself?" Don said.

"Yes. He hits back. He and Ryuzaki 'ave already gotten into a fight or two. I imagine you'll both get along with everyone fairly well once Yagami-san gets over having to work with more criminals – two people Ryuzaki employed were a con artist and a burglar."

"Yagami seems all right for an old bloke. Not sure as Pat'll get on well with Aizawa from what I've seen of 'im–"

"He's gone now," Katherine said. "Left and went back to the police force at the threat of job loss."

"That stupid shi–"

"Because he has a family to support and couldn't afford to lose his job and his pay. He's not that bad, he just has this suspicion he won't give up that I'm Kira. It's only a slight annoyance. Nothing to worry about if he ever does come back. We just have to make sure Pat doesn't go all over-protective big-brother-type-figure on him if he does come back and accuse me of being Kira again. You might not get on so well with the burglar I mentioned."

"Why, who is it?"

"Don't repeat the name after I say it, and don't tell Pat," she said, lowering her voice a bit more. "Wedy."

"Oh," he said, then quietly, "we'll just have to make sure he doesn't find out, then."

"Well, just as long as she alerts us when she's coming to headquarters, it should all be okay," said Katherine. "I believe L's planning on working that out."

Katherine got off the phone after giving the address to headquarters, as she was at the door for her apartment and didn't want to have Misa talking at her at the same time as both Don and Pat. She did inform Misa of the situation, who didn't seem overly opposed to it. That was good enough, even if it wasn't as though Misa had any say in it. She knew as well as anyone else that L (who she knew only as Ryuzaki, not as the world's greatest detective) was in charge of appointing her managers.


Honestly, I couldn't bring myself to let Mogi be Misa's manager. He never did anything to deserve that.

And Misa doesn't deserve to have a potential stalker as her manager, so that sort of puts Pat out of the job.

I wanted to get my other two OCs involved more in the story line as I was fond enough of them to create life stories for them (see the OCs section of my profile for more details, explains how they met and everything), and what better way than to have one of them acting as Misa's manager to save Mogi the torture?

On another note, Mogi kind of reminds me of the Frankenstein monster. Not sure why, but I think it's the hair and the abnormally tall height.

Now, for the inevitable lets-make-the-readers-wonder-what's-going-on sequence.

Will Don be able to put up with being the midgit blond's manager?

Will Pat attempt to break into Misa's room to get her autograph?

Will Yagami-san be able to deal with two more criminals on the investigation team?

Will Don get near a bottle of tequila? (I honestly haven't decided myself yet, but it could be amusing, no?)

Will Mogi-san ever be able to get out a full sentence without being interrupted?

Will Pat find out about Wedy in the near or distant future?

Will Matsuda join the Legally Dead Club (which will be known as LDC) now that his alias is legally dead in Japan?

All this and much, much more within the next umpteen chapters of The King's Note! Be excited.