Caged chapter 25

(:O!)

The past week was boring. In Near's opinion anyway. Sure, it was awesome working with L again for the first time in a couple of years, but he felt a little lonely. Everyone had a friend. Ryuzaki had Alison. Matt had Mello. Light had Misa. And the task force didn't give a crap.

Hell, even Alison was socializing with Matt and Mello. She tried hanging out with Near too, but Near didn't feel like having a female friend that was seven years older than him. And Near didn't have anything against Matt. Mello just annoyed the hell out of Near. So he avoided Matt too.

Near really only did three things in HQ. He worked alongside L. He played with his toys. He slept. The first two more that the last. After meeting Light, Misa and Alison, the question had been asked: Does Near eat his dolls? Misa laughed a little too hard at the question, while Light and Alison looked neutral as always.

Near walked down the stairs that night, his white socks making a slight padding noise as he stepped. He heard the slight murmur of talking down stairs, about Kira and the frustrations with Yotsuba. He heard an unfamiliar voice. He walked a little faster, there was a small noise of his toy robot hitting against the glass. No damage was done.

"-Cameras by Wednesday. I'll have to get them first." The unfamiliar voice said. It was a female, it was strong yet masculine. He was just about down stairs to see a girl in a black leather jacket, and black leather pants.

It could be a female Mello. Near thought. Oh wait...never mind female... he smirked at the unheard abuse he had just given Mello.

"Very well. Thank you for your time, Weddy." Ryuzaki's voice said. Ah, Weddy. Of course. The woman Ryuzaki had hired for bugging places. He must have called her in to bug the Yotsuba groups homes. Near heard heals clicking against the ground, slowly fading. The door opened, then closed again. "Hello Near." Ryuzaki said, not taking his eyes off of the computer screen.

How does he always know where I am? Near thought.

Near walked down stairs to see Light, of course, Misa...of course and Alison, the only one that wasn't obviously down stairs. Her time down stairs had increased since she started dating Ryuzaki. Near sighed.

"Isn't it a little late for you to be up?" Misa asked, smiling as usual.

"What time is it?" Near asked her back, taking a strand of hair to his finger, and twirling it around.

Alison looked at her wrist watch. "It's 11:35pm." She answered simply.

"It's never too late on the Kira case." Near smirked.

"Near, it is rather late. You've been working on the case all day, you deserve a break. Rest for a few hours and get a good start in the morning." Ryuzaki told Near. This was usual for him back at Wammy's house. He cared about his younger friends. Actually, despite his hard shell, the legendary detective L was a caring person.

"I'm not tired." Near said. He didn't want to argue with Ryuzaki. It could turn into a fight you'd normally witness between a five year old child and a parent. He wanted to avoid sounding like a five year old.

Then, to Near's disappointment, he yawned, and naturally put his hand to his eye, rubbing it tiredly.

"You look kinda tired." Alison smiled. That's adorable. She thought, looking at the childish figure. His left hand was rubbing his eye, whilst his right hand was holding a toy robot. He looked about five, he didn't need to argue. "I'll walk upstairs with you," Alison said, grabbing her PSP. "Matt challenged me to a game of Mario Kart anyway."

Near sighed. "Can you at least print me off some files?" he asked innocently.

"Matt and Mello used all the paper printing off sex jokes and pictures of girls. Matsuda's bringing more paper tomorrow." Light finally spoke.

Sex jokes and girls. So like them. Near thought. "Fine." He said, turning around, his robot once again hitting he glass. Still, no harm was done. He began walking back upstairs and heard Alison chase after him.

She was a slight ding, it was Alison's PSP loading up. It was a dark, shiny grey. The colour was slightly lighter that Alison's eyes. There was a coconut scent around her. She was wearing her favourite perfume.

There was silence as the two walked upstairs, it was slightly awkward. Then Alison spoke.

"So what's up with you?"

"Hm?" Near replied, a little confused by her question.

"You seem kinda sad. I can't imagine that you're normally a sad person. Is something wrong?" Alison asked, sympathy in her voice.

"Well..." Near said, digging around inside his head, looking for the answer that would satisfy Alison. But that wasn't all. He was looking for the answer that would satisfy himself too. "I..." he started. "I miss Trail."

And there it was. The right answer.

Alison looked at him.

"I've always kinda been alone...but not like this." Near sighed.

Alison stopped in front of him, bent down to his level and hugged him. "You're never alone. You have Ryuzaki. You have me, if you want to hang out." She whispered. She smiled lightly. She pulled away from the hug.

"Really?" Near asked, his voice sounding rather childish.

"Of course! And think of it this way." Alison started. "When Trail gets here, you've been apart for so long, you'll have even more to talk about!" Alison laughed.

"Thank you, Alison." Near smiled.

"Come on, let's keep going up." Alison said, patting his back lightly. The two walked up stairs, once again in silence, but this time it wasn't so awkward. It was more or less a comfortable contemplation.

"So what was Trail like?" Alison asked, once again fed up with silence.

"She was..." Near thought for a minute. "My best friend." He smiled. "She's nice, very friendly. She's good at cheering anyone up."

"How nice." Alison smiled. They reached Near, Matt and Mello's shared bedroom then. "Matthew, get out your PSP I challenge you to a duel!" Alison said, bursting through the door comically.

"Don't call me Matthew." Matt said. He already had his PSP in his hand.

"Why?" Alison asked innocently.

"One, it's Matt, and only Matt, and two, it's not even my real name." Matt said, pressing some buttons.

"Then what is it?"

"I'm telling Ryuzaki you asked me for my real name." Matt smiled triumphantly.

"If I beat you at this game, will you pretend it never happened?" Alison asked.

"We both know you won't win."

"Touché." Alison sat next to Matt, as Near walked over to a small box of toys. He put his robot in and took some lego out. He continued to start making very creative sculptures.

Mello was being unusually quiet. He had brought his laptop upstairs with him. There were some Kira files, but he had his head phones in his ears, and was listening to some music in which everyone else in the room could hear quietly.

The other sounds in the room were the quiet yells of Mario and Princess Peach. Near was sitting in his usual position playing silently with his toys. He looked very content.

After five minutes of intense gaming...

It was all over...

The winner was decided.

"DAMN IT!"

Mello, Near and Matt looked up to Alison, who had stood up in annoyance. Alison sat down innocently, as if nothing had happened.

And for the past month, it had seemed like nothing had happened. With Kira. Despite the intense hours on computers, cursing about the Yotsuba group, feeling clueless, life was as normal as it gets...in their position.

Despite being suspected as Kira, Alison was having a good time. And Misa was, too. And as Light got closer to Misa, Alison felt he was having a good time too.

Actually, Alison Tera Fondz didn't mind being suspected as Kira now. She had made new friends, learned new things, had a good time. It was all good. And she had met and kissed the greatest detective in the world- L.

Every thing felt pretty good now.

For now.

A/N: DONE!

THE END! ;D

Caged is OVER! Zomg I know I'm pretty bad at wrapping up stories, I always have been

But...I'm uploading the prologue of "Leave a Trail" today too! WOO!

-Acceptance Speech time-

Mello: Acceptance for what

NP: I dunnooo...

So, I want to thank everyone who has fav'd this story, added it to the alert, added me to the alert, or reviewed. You're all awesome and I hope everyone who read/reads this like the story. 25 chapters was okay for me. ^_^

THANK YOU, AND GOODNIGHT!

Mello: It's only 9pm, CAST PARTY!

NP: F**** YAY!