Hello everyone. Sorry for the delay in this chapter, I was at Anime Boston this past weekend and I'm still trying to catch up with myself. Hope you enjoy!! Not a lot happens in this chapter but it does move a few things along. As I get closer to the inevitable it does get harder to write, but I hope the story still entertains.

Hugs to all of you!!!

Chapter 18

L was furious. 12 good men were dead, 12 precious lives lost because he had requested the FBI to send them to Japan to double check the Task Force and their families. Kira had information that could only have come to him thru the task force somehow and he had to find out how. Then once Kira found it he was taunting L with it, as when he proved he could kill at all hours of the day, not just around a student's schedule by killing one inmate per hour. That information had been given at a meeting with the Task Force and nowhere else. Yet somehow Kira got to one of the FBI agents and got the names and pictures of the rest, and now they were dead. 12 lives lost because he had asked for them. The guilt and pain he felt over those deaths were so strong he could practically taste it. Now that the Task Force learned what had happened, they began to question whether they could trust him now. Their names and faces were out there for all to see, but not his. And now they wanted him to show his faith by meeting them, to prove that he was not Kira himself. He had no choice, he knew it. Kira had forced him into a corner as he had forced Kira with the FBI agents. This was something he had never done, he'd never worked with a police force this way and he certainly never met them. But then he had never gone public as he had the other day either. He hated being forced into something like this, but he needed to gain the trust of the police and this was the only way. He felt he owed those 12 men something, and if giving up his anonymity would help him find their murderer he would do so.

He'd set it up so that they would all meet at midnight, though arriving separately so as not to cause a stir, here at his hotel. If Kira managed to find out what he was doing, he knew that Kira would also make another move, to try to get in somehow, to get to him. But even if he knew L's face he didn't know his name, and at the same time even if L knew who he was, he couldn't arrest him without hard evidence. He sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair, trying to get his anger under control. They'd be here soon and he'd have to deal with them. He had to admit they were special, everyone else had turned and ran, but these men had staked their lives on finding Kira, and after this meeting, so had he. He walked to the window and stared out at the lights of the city. He only needed one mistake, one clue and he'd have Kira, he knew it.

As it had been almost 2 months since she'd last heard from him, she was quite thrilled to see that "unknown" flash across her cell phone screen. But being careful she never answered her phone any differently, just in case.

"Dr. Thompson." She heard a deep sigh from the other side.

"I am certainly glad about that." That familiar monotone met her ears.

"Well were you expecting anyone else?" she asked getting up and closing the office door.

"The way this case is working, I can not expect anything."

"I had a feeling this was going to be monstrous," she said sitting back down, "Those FBI agents.."

"My fault. Kira got them and it was totally my fault for not realizing his power. One of those agents was the fiancé of Naomi Misora."

"Oh, the agent that helped you catch B? Kira killed her fiancé? That's horrible…"

"And then he killed her. And B as well, in prison." She could care less about B, good riddance; he would no longer be a threat to L ever. But Naomi, she was a brilliant agent without whom L would not have been able to catch B in the first place.

"L I'm so sorry. Do you know what happened?"

"Apparently after Raye was killed she began to investigate herself, and she must have gotten too close to Kira. I wish she had confided in me before she'd done anything." She could hear the sadness in his voice, sadness tinged with anger.

"L, you can't blame yourself for these deaths. I don't' know the full circumstances, but these agents had to know how dangerous Kira is. It can't be considered your fault that a psychopath took them out."

"We keep pushing each other, Kira and I, and I am not sure where we will end up. I have done so many things I have never done before, that I wonder how much further he's going to force me to go."

"You'll do whatever you have to do to catch him, you know that. You just have to remember that in all this pushing you keep yourself safe most of all. I know you'll get him eventually." She heard him chuckle quietly.

"Well just to keep you happy I shall try to stay safe. You can be quite loud when you are angry." She was glad to hear his humor return.

"Good, just remember that the next time you decide to stick your neck out there again. You still owe me a chess victory you know, you keep finding excuses to keep from ending the games I'm winning."

"Your memory is faulty, Dr. Thompson. I cannot help it if important factors interrupt my game playing." Christine snorted at him.

"Important factors, headaches, chasing a snack, being horny….you call those important factors?"

"Well the last one you have only yourself to blame if I find myself experiencing situations I never have before. "

"Fine. Blame me. But you're not getting out of it next time, buster." She was pleased to hear him laugh.

"Watari is approaching, I assume something is up with the Task Force. Another time, Doctor." He said simply and disconnected. She smiled at the phone before she closed it. Apparently she had helped him regain his equilibrium and that made her happy. She was very sorry about Naomi, the FBI agents. Kira needed to die himself, there was no other justice that would be strong enough for what he had done, and he simply needed to die.

From the moment that L read Light Yagami's profile, he knew Light was Kira. He more than knew it, he felt it. And the Light Yagami he had met at the University, that he'd played tennis with, and had verbally sparred with was everything Kira needed to be. The fact that he was the son of the head of the Task Force and almost as brilliant as L himself cemented it for him. But he had no hard proof. He had already told the task force what he thought and they all pretty much turned against him. Light was the perfect young man they had all known for a long time. Couldn't possibly be the evil Kira. But L could see that he was, he could see the calculating behind those innocent looking amber eyes, and what was worse, he knew Light was aware he knew. So now it was a matter of cat and mouse. Each one watching the other to see where they could pounce for the kill. L knew he had to be especially careful, because Kira now knew his face but he did not know his name. No one knew L's name and that would keep him safe. But as he still wasn't sure how Light was killing people he could not let his guard down for a moment.

It was almost comical, the idea of Kira sitting in on his own investigation. And yet, here he was working right along side of L. The other problem was that L truly found a kindred spirit in Light as well. If things were different, he could see he and Light working together in the future, he was supposedly studying to join the police force. Their minds were so alike, their brilliance bouncing off one another, that he was saddened to think he was working on putting this person to death. He hoped in one way, that the 5% that said he was wrong, was right. He had never had a friend that was his equal in so many ways. Christine was a special case that was true, but the only male he had ever had any kind of relationship with was Watari, and he found he looked forward to being with Light in spite of the situation. He shook his head, this was a direction he could not afford to look into. He had to stay focused, Light was Kira.

Christine looked up as Mello came into her office, followed as usual by Matt and Near.

"Dr. Thompson there's another Kira!!!"

"Another Kira? How can that be??"

"Apparently there is someone else out there who has the same power as the original Kira and wishes to meet him. He sent a tape to a TV station in Japan and told them to play it at a certain time and they did and this guy on TV died just as the tape said he would. And then everyone who tried to stop the broadcast died." Near added. Christine just sat there dumbfounded. What would L do with two of these creatures?

"L has sent out a tape telling the new Kira to get in touch with the police and stay away from the first Kira. What do you think L's gonna do with two Kiras?" Mello asked. Christine took a deep breath.

"I don't know Mello, but if anyone can deal with it he can." She looked from face to face, could see the fear and worry etched on each one.

"I'm not going to insult your intelligence and your fears for L's safety and the world at this point by saying it's all going to be alright, but I do have faith in L's abilities and until proven otherwise, I will wait and see what happens. There's no point in panicking right now guys, we just have to play it day by day and wait to hear from L. What you should be worrying about is the class you're missing." She smiled at them and they, one by one, returned it before leaving her office. She forced herself not to think about it any longer, what she told the boys would have to work for her as well. But the back of her mind was filled with worry.