Hey everyone! I just came from a family vacation trip to a farm. I saw lots of fruits and trees and stuff. Plus, the air was so fresh and we had a wonderful view of a volcano. :D

Oh by the way, many people were asking about volumes 8-12. You guys just have to wait and see where the missing manga went, actually. You'll find out soon... ^_^

Anyway, I'm back with another chapter of Opposing Destiny! Yay! =P

Chapter Four

Conversation

Matt sat up on his bed, rubbing his eyes. Another boring day ahead.

"Damn it, Mello..." he muttered, "You're killing me slowly, minute by minute. My curiosity's itching to be fed. You could have dropped at least one hint or something."

Sunlight streamed through the window, slightly concealed by the dark brown curtains. The bed was messy, pillows and blankets draped all over the place, and an abandoned PS3 lay still on the floor. Matt himself looked quite untidy, with his hair bedridden and shaggy- somewhat like L's.

But then again, L was partly the reason why Matt was on the verge of tearing his hair out of his head. His best friend, Mello, and his close acquaintance, Near, both left Wammy's House at the young ages of fourteen and twelve, respectively. Roger instantly reported the incident to Wammy, who, of course, had immediate connections with the great L.

The day before, Matt had eavesdropped on Roger's door. The old man, and current caretaker of the Wammy's House, had been receiving an important call from Wammy himself. Most of the conversation seemed to be about Mello and Near's escape. According to the side of the call in which Matt was listening to, L did not care at all whether two boys from the orphanage left or not. He seemed to think that they were to be allowed their freedom... but what was unknown was why.

The redhead so vividly remembered the conversation yesterday. "What? L believes that the boys are to be left to their own intentions?" Roger had said, horrified, behind the door where a microphone had been installed. Matt had gasped softly when he heard that part, his mind racing for reasons as to why L would be so careless about Mello and Near's safety.

The redhead couldn't stop thinking about what had just occurred. He soon came to the conclusion that L could actually be in trouble with the Kira case and might possibly want his successors to help him. But how would Mello and Near know about that if they weren't in contact with him?

Matt opened the door and went outside. A few kids were running down to eat breakfast. The thirteen-year old gamer followed slowly, his incessant thoughts filling his head. He realized that maybe they found out some valuable information involving L and decided to go to Japan to tell L, who could have no idea that it has something to do with him, so he's simply guessing the reason why they escaped, not knowing that his guess is true...

He started making his way downstairs, head still full of concern, resentment, and information.

He didn't know that he came so close to the truth.

Watari sighed, crossing out another section of the Kanto region on his printed-out, more accurate version of the satellite-view map of Japan. Next, he would have to go check out an area near a public high school. Hopefully, he'd come closer to the end of the search as soon as possible. L was now becoming more and more restless, and ever since the news of his top two successors' escapes, he had been a whole lot edgier around him.

L was actually standing behind him at that very moment, watching his every move. "Watari-"

"Yes, Ryuzaki, I know. It's quite frustrating."

"How about the search team you assigned? Have they found anything?" L asked curiously, "There's bound to be at least something."

Watari frowned. "Apparently not, Ryuzaki. There's only nine of them, since you let me choose only the most trustworthy acquaintances we had. We've only been on this for a month. Please wait."

"I am tired of waiting, to put it simply," L deadpanned flatly, his dark eyes staring deep into Watari's. "I have a theory that Near and Mello have found the following volumes, and that they escaped to warn me about something they had just read. They wouldn't leave the orphanage for apparently no reason at all, especially since Roger reported normal behavior from both of them before the escape."

"So you're saying that you want to take immediate action, like they're doing."

"Yes," L sighed, exasperated.

Watari chuckled. "You were never fond of sitting and doing nothing..."

L nodded, pouting. "You are right; I never was."

"Yes. That's also another reason why you mostly don't sleep at all," the older man said reproachfully, "You should rest for a while, Ryuzaki. You're obviously more tired than usual. When was the last time you slept?"

"That is none of your concern. I believe the Kira case won't be solved by a sleeping man abandoning his most important duty of justice," L replied coldly.

Watari scowled, realising that the detective was in a bad mood. "That is not what I meant."

L frowned. The twenty-four year old detective shrugged and turned, making his way out the door. "I know, and I'm sorry. I guess I do need rest. I will be in my room, sleeping. Please continue searching for the Death Note. Notify me of any further information about Near and Mello. Goodnight, Watari."

Quillsh Wammy hoped that L really was planning to sleep, and wasn't lying about going to rest.

Light Yagami shut down his computer and stood up from his chair, stretching. Everyone else had gone for the night and L had left earlier to talk to Watari about some important things.

Light yawned as he stood in silence for a few minutes, taking in the darkness surrounding him. He ran a hand through his very messy, brown hair.

Suddenly, the side door opened, revealing L. He was slouching with his thumb in his mouth, his white shirt was slightly crumpled due to having been worn for so long, and he was so worn out that he didn't even see Light as he entered the room.

"Hey Ryuzaki," Light called out.

L turned, mildly surprised. "Light. Why are you awake at such a late hour in the night?"

Light scoffed. "Oh, look who's talking."

"I rarely sleep. Everybody knows that."

"Yeah, were you planning to sleep tonight?"

L paused. "Yes, yes I was."

"Liar," said Light viciously, "You look like you're about to do more work."

There was an awkward silence as L chose not to reply. Light frowned.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Light? Did I say something?" L interrupted his thoughts curiously.

Light sighed. "No, it's nothing. I was just wondering what was wrong with you."

L said blankly, "Nothing is wrong with me."

"Is that supposed to be a bad joke?" laughed Light.

The older man narrowed his eyes at his companion, obviously displeased as to where the conversation was going. He simply walked off, continuing towards the stairs.

"Wait, Ryuzaki!"

L turned, slightly irritated. "What is it now?"

Light grinned sheepishly, running a hand through his messy, brown hair once again. "Sorry, I guess."

"There is nothing to apologize about. If you believe that there is something wrong with me, then I do not wish to stop you from thinking so. I have no significant reason to do that, and I do not intend to prove myself to anyone except those who dare insult me. By the way, what you said earlier was barely an insult compared to what I've gone through before. Don't think too highly of yourself when it comes to getting to my nerves because you haven't even-"

"Whoa, loosen up, won't you? Don't be so tense and uptight," Light said lightly, "We're not arguing, you know. If you're pissed, just say so."

L glared sharply at the eighteen year-old man standing lazily before him. "Alright then... I'm pissed. Now good night." And he walked up the stairs.

"Good night, Ryuzaki. Make sure you sleep!"

"Yes, I will."

Light rolled his eyes, fixing the case report file papers on the desk and putting them in his bag. He worked silently for five, quiet minutes and then yawned as he finished. He went up the stairs and crossed the hall straight to his room.

As soon as he entered his room, he fell back on the bed without changing, letting sleep take him over.

Mello groaned, realizing that the pack of chocolate he had bought just the other day had already been finished.

"If only you would stop eating one piece every four minutes, then maybe your chocolates would last a week or so," Near commented thoughtfully, noticing the cause of Mello's newfound despair.

"HEY!" the blond fourteen-year old retorted angrily, "It's not as if you're doing anything helpful!"

Near looked at the older boy blankly, his dark eyes revealing no emotion whatsoever. "I am looking for L's current location. I am also trying to find evidence against Kira."

"Oh, come on! It's been a month. Kira's surely impossible to deem guilty; we don't have access to informative evidence regarding him," Mello said, getting up from his lazy position on the couch and standing next to Near in front of the cheap computer they had purchased. "As for L, well, he's doing a good job staying hidden. That's supposed to be good news, right?"

"Don't forget that Light Yagami, or Kira, is currently standing next to L himself, and that if we don't find L soon, he might get killed."

Mello felt like punching himself. "Damn it, you're right."

The younger boy did not reply, keeping his eyes focused on the news involving another death. Then, he looked up at Mello. "I've already figured out that L isn't in any hotel or condominium. I looked into every check-in list and none of the aliases L had used in his whole career were registered. A few months ago, there were some familiar fake names, but I have reason to believe that L is currently staying in a private building. Besides, pictures in the manga clearly show how the building looks like, but it is never revealed what the exact location and address is."

"A private building? If that's the case, then tracking him would be a piece of cake!"

Near nodded. "I have eleven buildings under suspicion of housing L. However, if we do find him, then we can't approach him just yet. We have to make sure that we'll go to him during a time wherein he isn't in a pressuring situation."

"How the hell should we know that?" Mello answered, glaring at Near.

"We'll come to him on a time where the killings have competely stopped, or at least delayed," the albino said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Mello realized this and scowled at the twelve year-old, tossing aside the empty box of chocolate he had been fiddling with for the past few minutes.

"Right," the fourteen year-old said, "But what do you think is L doing right now?"

Near twirled a strand of his hair thoughtfully. "Hmm... I believe L is struggling to find evidence against Light Yagami, but I think that it's impossible in his current position. What we can do, though, is look for the Death Note buried in the woods, as said in the manga, so we can give it to L."

"Then, maybe we can finally apprehend Kira," Mello added, nodding, "As for the Yotsuba case, we can take it on instead of the task force so things will be faster. We'll be able to end up with Higuchi's Death Note, which was previously Misa Amane's, and arrest them both as well."

"Rem is a problem, though," Near said, frowning. "She'll kill anyone who tries to hurt Amane."

"Damn, I forgot about that!" Mello exclaimed.

The younger boy sighed. "The only way to stop Amane and Yagami is to give them back their memories and prove evidence against them without getting hurt by any Shinigami. We'll have to make sacrifices if we want to help L solve this case-"

"This is complicated," the blond boy interrupted impatiently.

An awkward silence filled the room as Near continued thinking of what plans to make as Mello stared quietly out the window. They both didn't admit it to each other, but they knew that their rivalry and hate was slowly decreasing as the Kira case went by.

"I have a question, Mello," said Near softly, "Why didn't you tell Matt our reason for leaving yet?"

Mello scowled. "I don't know how to explain to him. Also, it's better if he doesn't know. He might just go after us and endanger himself."

"I see..."

And they continued working in silence.

Aaaand it ends there. Heh, I loved writing tense L, douchey Light, robotic Near, and edgy Mello. TROLOLOL.

FYI, this chapter was originally so much longer but I divided it into two chapters so as not to make the story seem rushed. Oh well. I guess you'll all see more from me in a few days, when I'm done editing the next chapters. -_-

Read and review! Please and thank you! :D