AN:

IT IS FINISHED.

*dies*

No, that doesn't mean that I'm going to post all of it at once. Sorry. I'll update once a week, for the most part. Or maybe twice. I don't really know... it depends on how many reviews I get. (*hint*hint*)

But... wow. Now I'm going to have to find something else to write... maybe a wonderful fic for Sarah that I promised to write last October for a [super-super-super-late] b-day present? ^.^'

Oh, and about this chapter: TIME SKIP!!

May 16, 2011
3:02 AM

Oh no.

Oh no.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no.

Light was in the basement.

ALIVE.

Light was on the floor with a completely crazed grin on his face. And cackling like a maniac.

And Light was holding a piece of paper in his hand.

A piece of paper with a name--HIS name--scrawled near the top.

Oddly, as Light sat there on the floor at his feet, the aforementioned "he" didn't feel sad. Or angry.

He was perfectly calm, and with a steady arm he raised his hand.

Light's grin didn't disappear. "You know that you're going to die anyway. I've written your name down: it's too late to save yourself."

He shrugged, like it was no big deal. "If that's the case," he said as he aimed the gun, "I'm taking you with me."

Only then did Light's smile begin to falter, but it was beyond time for him to die for good.

With perfect precision, he pulled the trigger, and the bullet hit it's mark in the center of--

Matsuda woke up screaming.

May 17, 2011
6:32 PM

Two months after the return of Kira, the newest owner of a Death Note was still out there, waiting to be caught.

This Kira was different then Light, Misa, Higuchi, and Mikami had all been in so many ways that Near and L couldn't even begin to count them all. While perhaps not a brilliant mind, he was able to remain completely anonymous, not leaving a single clue to his identity anywhere. Even one and a half months after beginning to kill, he was painstakingly good at hiding where he was. Had the investigators not used Jaymes Fosse to determine he was in Japan, it would have been nearly impossible to determine what part of the world he came from.

And actually, Jaymes Fosse wasn't the only person L had them publicly announce on the media. They managed to narrow it down to the Kanto region of Japan, and by giving some of the criminals aliases they were also able to determine that this Kira didn't have the shinigami eyes.

And that was right about where L felt the investigation began to get stuck.

Whoever Kira was, his main priority wasn't as oriented on making the world safe as it was protecting himself first. Light had been determined to get rid of L, and that meant he had to drop clues to his identity to lure his nemesis out of the shadows. It wouldn't have said much for L's credibility as a detective if he hadn't been able to catch him in the act.

Misa had been aiming to meet Light. She had practically guarenteed her capture after sending in the tapes to Sakura TV.

At Yotsuba, they had been much, much more careful in keeping themselves hidden, which is why it took several months to catch Higuchi. When he thought about it carefully, L was still rather amazed that it had taken two geniuses so long to find them out.

And now, with two geniuses working together again, it was still taking months and months to get anywhere in the case.

Aizawa walked in the door with a stack of papers. He acknowledged L and Near at the desk with a grunt as he set it down on a coffee table. "Finding anything today?" he asked halfheartedly.

Near shook his head.

Aizawa sighed. "I hope you guys don't mind, but I might leave early tonight."

"That's fine," L said as he took a bite from a piece of cake. "I think everyone else went home already... except for Matsuda-san, whom I believe is still at work in one of the other rooms."

Aizawa rolled his eyes. "He just doesn't know when to give up."

"He's determined," L corrected. "He wants to catch Kira. Badly. It's a perfectly normal reaction for someone with his personality." He took another large bite out of his cake. "In fact," L lied, "I would probably do the same thing in his position."

Aizawa seemed to consider that for a moment before sighing. "It's not that I don't understand his motives, it's just that I can't quite wrap my head around it."

Near twirled his hair around with his finger. "Let Mr. Matsuda do as he wishes--as long as he doesn't attempt anything rash, let him be."

Matsuda, sitting at a desk a few rooms away from L and Near, was feeling really depressed.

As much as he didn't want to acknowledge it, it had been precisely 474 days after the Yellow Box Warehouse--he'd counted it all out on a calender. It had been more than a year. A lot more than a year, actually.

And he was STILL having nightmares!

Matsuda just couldn't get over it.

Rather out of habit, he began tapping on the edge of the desk as he thought the situation over... One of his best friends had betrayed him, dammit! One of his best friends had been the very serial killer that Matsuda had dedicated his life to catching! So maybe it was kind of understandable that he hadn't gotten over the incident, but... still.

The whole thing was painful. And annoying.

It was also really, really embarrassing to wake your neighbors in the night with your screams.

Matsuda's fingers suddenly began to strum the desk harder as an idea struck him.

Okay, I need closure. There are three ways I can think of to get fast closure: therapy, with the help of a friend, or by proving to yourself that your fears aren't real.

Therapy wasn't an option, as Matsuda was both underpaid and under oath about the Kira case. He could have the help of a friend... Like Yamamoto!--but he wasn't exactly willing to talk to anyone about the subject, and chances were that Yamamoto would freak out about it anyway.

So that left him option three.

But... how could he find closure all on his own?

7:09 PM

He gulped as he stood in front of the apartment building. Light's former apartment building.

Okay, so Matsuda shouldn't have really gone there. He was going to be in some serious trouble if L or Near found out, but good grief, this was the closest thing to closure he could think of!

He would ring the doorbell once. Someone other than Light or Misa would answer, and it would prove neither of them was alive. He would never come here again; if nobody was home, so be it. He'd just have to find closure some other way.

Alright. He was in front of the door now. Breathe in. Breathe out.

He rang the bell.

Five seconds passed, and nothing happened. Matsuda almost walked away.

Suddenly, the door opened, and something hit him on the side of the head. Hard.

"OUCH!" Matsuda automatically began cowering, but no more blows came.

"Goddamn salesman! Go away!!" The door slammed shut again.

What the hell...?

Matsuda was left sitting there with a painful bruise on his head. Well, that definitely wasn't Misa, at least. And it couldn't have been Light, either; he died right in front of me. But... he had to admit... even though that guy couldn't have been Light, they look really similar... at least, from the blur I saw of him--

Well. So much for closure.

With a sigh, the detective picked himself up off the ground and began to shuffle away.

Until, that is, he heard the crunch of an apple and a disturbingly familiar voice to go along with it.

"Mmmm... if only he'd let me eat these inside... 'Ryuk, stop smacking your apples, you're too distracting!!' Bastard. I'm definitely writing his name down when he gets boring."

Matsuda, with his feet frozen to the ground, gulped. Oh my GOD.

Slowly he edged around the corner towards the familiar voice. Not that he didn't know whose voice it was, but... he had to be absolutely sure.

He took a peek. His eyes grew wide. "Oh hell," he mouthed to himself.

Ryuk the shinigami was sitting there, with his back turned to Matsuda, devouring a large crate of apples.

But that meant... The owner of the notebook was nearby??

In the building??

Without waiting for Ryuk to notice him, Matsuda took off running.

AN: HOLY CRAP. Matsui saves the day again!

And yes, I thought about it and have determined that it's physically possible for Matsuda to see Ryuk. Except for Yamamoto and L, everyone on the investigation team has touched one of the notebooks Ryuk is/was attached to, and therefore they should definitely be able to see and hear him. It's in the rulebook. Honestly.

Somewhere along the line I got more than 100 favorites and alerts! Thanks you guys!! Woohoo!! :D

Now, hit the wonderful green button (that apparently nobody notices is green...) and say something!