A/N: Come on guys, throw me a bone here and just leave a comment. You're killing me! I don't have to make my puppy dog eyes do I? =^=

On another note I have a special scene halfway through the Chapter that replaces the 'pointless box' scene from the last time. This one has character development and depth, and touches at the main themes of ... well everything. I like it. :) I hope you do too.

Enjoy!

- DW

Chapter Twenty-One - Discovery

Treasures,
Lost long ago.
Forgot relics,
Buried in the earth.
Secrets,
Left to rot.
Lost,
Until discovered.

With L's connections I am able to send off several FBI agents to investigate plausible secret areas in Naomi's past.

"Calm yourself Andrews, I meant no disrespect when I asked you to investigate the following areas," I try to sooth the irritated agent, but he seems rather upset. He's been put under my direct command (much to my satisfaction) and is currently leading a team to investigate areas of Naomi's childhood while other teams under his command have gone to investigate other areas of interest. At the moment I'm just flipping through files on her life and digging around to see if I can find any spot that may be overlooked in her childhood to adolescent years.

"We're looking for a murder victim! I don't see why we have to look around places like this," his voice is husky with irritation. I don't blame him, none of the agents currently under my command have been told of my reasons. Also, since this is currently a separate case and Naomi was previously an FBI agent, the FBI had jumped at the chance to participate, which is why I'm not currently using the Japanese Police Force.

"My reasons will become clear after I find her body."

"You mean we find her body."

"You may be the one to actually see it, but remember that it is I who is directing you."

I hear the agent mumble something incomprehensible on the other end, but it is pretty obvious that he still doesn't like the idea. On the other hand, he seems more at ease and will still follow my orders.

I'm using the phone that D had rigged up for me to change my voice. The annoyed FBI agent had been given the contact information for this particular phone, so he can speak with me over this phone and send me any files I might need over my laptop. I guess when I initiated being Red I didn't expect to use the voice switch for much more than speak with L, but it seems that it has other purposes now.

It's now close to the end of July. I haven't been to school since my brilliant discovery (okay, maybe I'm stroking my own ego, but I deserve it!), so K and D take notes from the different lectures or bribe other people to take them, then send them off to me. I don't need much besides that, and I really only need to attend the major exams. So I am perfectly free to spend all my time in a hotel room.

"Is that all, Andrews?" I ask, giving an exasperated sigh. Soothing nerves is rather annoying.

"I'll update you soon."

"Good," I press the 'end call' button and flip the phone shut, relaxing back into the chair.

One thing that annoys me constantly about working on a case like this while in a hotel room is that I have to hide the files labeled 'Top Secret' from the cleaning staff. Oh, and another thing, I need to pack up and move every few days. This hotel jumping is really starting to get on my nerves.

I shift so that I'm lying on my stomach with my legs and arms handing over either side of the armchair. I grab my other phone from my pocket and quickly text K.

Hey, how's it going so far?

gud, u?

Alright, though they're being hella annoying.

tht sux

The jumping is getting on my nerves too.

hs pandaface said anthg abt it?

No.

tht sux gtg tlk 2 u l8r

I feel a twinge of annoyance at K's hack-job texting. I never understood that part. It's rather annoying and hard to read.

I pause as a shadow falls over me, and I look up to see L leaning over me, reading the conversation on the phone.

"I doubt I will understand the butchered style of communication that is 'texting'," he smirks.

"You and me both," I agree, "Hey Panda-Face, it's getting rather annoying to keep jumping hotels like this."

L nods, "Actually, I thought of that early on in the investigation. I believe the facility should be ready in a few days."

I blink in surprise, "Facility?"

He nods once again, "Come see." I get off the chair, shoving my phones into my pockets and followed him to his 'spot' where he has his laptop set up. I lean over his shoulder as he pulls open a file with the blue print.

"Whoa," I say in sheer awe.

"Twenty-three floors above ground, and two below, two hidden helicopters on the roof, cameras installed on every floor."

"When did you come up with this?"

"Shortly after our first in-person meeting."

"That's so cool."

"You will have a whole floor to yourself, and there are only cameras in the general living areas. If Kaen and Donju wish to join us, they will be accommodated accordingly. And if our investigation team grows, we will be able to house sixty people."

"Great! When can we move in?"

"Thursday."

Just as he said, we were able to move all of our stuff to the new investigation building.

I look up in excitement at the building above me. Thanks to its height I cannot see the helicopters on the roof. The rest of the building is designed to look like a private hotel, so not to arise suspicion.

"Brilliant," I whisper to myself, grinning before I head up the steps.

The security measures in place make my head spin, but I recognize them as necessary. With his mad memorization and navigation skills (seriously, I doubt he would get lost in this place, unlike me) L leads me up to my very own floor.

The walls are a light grey color, and the carpet is a fluffy black – perfect for my tastes. The curtains, much to my amusement, are a bright shade of red. I have lots of space, my own kitchen, bedroom, everything. I even have a little room set up with a few computers that I can work as Red from.

"Thanks a lot!" I say, and raise my hand for a high-five in a moment of giddiness. L just stares at my hand. "Come on, you can't leave me hanging like that," I pout and let my hand drop.

As soon as I've unpacked (including the mountain of files) I head downstairs to the main investigation room, where everyone is currently gathered.

"This place is so cool!" K exclaims as soon as I come into sight.

"I guess it is," I chuckle and join them. The Task Force has settled down on some couches off to the side of the room, so it's just us four at the moment. L heads off to the computers on the far side of the room.

"I wonder how he managed to pay for this," Light says, glancing off in Ryuzaki's direction.

"He's filthy rich from the amount of money he cashes in from different cases," I shrug.

"Yeah, no doubt about that, his food bills alone must account for something," D comments, making the rest of us laugh.

"Anyway, are you guys going to stay here?" I ask. K and D shake their heads.

"Yeah, I think I will, but I won't be moving in," Light says, "I'll stay a few days at a time."

"I guess it's still just me and Panda-Face then," I say, "Not including Watari and the Task Force of course."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Light blinks. Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that I've been staying with L for the meanwhile.

"Erm …" I gave a small guilty smile, "I've been staying with Ryuzaki since the Second Kira incident."

"And were you planning to tell me that?" Light says, looking rather annoyed now. I just shrug as K and D laugh.

"Hey, Makoto," Kakushin said as her and her friend walked down the street together after leaving a Task Force meeting.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked, sensing that what she was about to say was important.

"Kurai seems happier this way, don't you think?"

Makoto, surprised, stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"

Kakushin paused and looked back at him. "It's like … before her father died she always seemed … a little out of it, if you know what I mean. She wasn't always there. It was like she was off in her own little world."

Makoto gave a short laugh, "I know what you mean. I don't think she even remembered our names before this whole thing started."

"I felt bad for her, you know? I thought she was depressed or lonely or something, but I think I get it now."

"Get what?"

"It's not that she was lonely, she was just really, really bored."

Both of them shivered.

"Bored?"

They started walking again.

"Yeah, now it's like she's so full of energy. She likes working on this case because it gives her something to do, something to work for."

"I thought it was something about Justice."

"Ah, well … that's part of it I suppose."

"You know what I think?"

"What?"

"She's lying to herself. I guess she knows it at a subconscious level, but her whole 'killing people before their time' thing is only a surface level motivation. Like you said, she was bored. And what I found odd when I overheard you was that she'd actually tested it, but she claimed that it wasn't real."

"You're right, that was a bit weird."

"I think it was because she wanted it to be real. And of course it was, but the thought of going after a mass murderer was just really appealing to her. I honestly don't even think we needed to contact L, but again, it was because she just wanted to."

"That sounds like Vile," Kakushin shivered, before looking over her shoulder. "What do you think, Kuru?"

"You're right," the bear Shinigami chuckled, "I think the reason Vile likes her so much is because they're so alike."

"Now that's a scary thought," Makoto laughed nervously, "I'm glad she didn't decide to become another Kira then."

"Maybe that's what Kira was after."

"What?"

Kakushin explained, "Light had his whole life ahead of him, and it was looking good for someone like him. Maybe he was bored too, and his Justice thing is only his outer excuse to kill boredom."

"Yeah, but there's another thing."

"What?"

"Maybe all three of them are like that."

"You mean Panda-Face too?"

"Absolutely, all three of them are in this only because they were bored. I mean, Ryuzaki's almost like a modern version of Sherlock Holmes, right? He solves cases because he likes to. Kira, motivated by disgust for lower-thinking humans decided to essentially take over the world. Kurai was motivated by the deaths of her parents. It doesn't change the face that they're only doing this because they see it as a game."

"That's terrible, but makes a lot of sense," Kakushin grimaced.

Above them Kuru was glad that the Shinigami were incredibly lazy, or the human race could have been wiped out by then.

I sit in my dark room with the computer in front of me. I moved it to the floor with D's help (I just don't want to use a chair, I get all fidgety) and hooked my laptop up to it so that they share files between themselves. I'm sitting off in the corner of the room so that the light of the screen shines on the pages that I'm reading.

The FBI had it specially delivered because they are paranoid about hackers. I got two professional level hackers in the nearby vicinity and top-notch security. Why did they have to print it off? I won't understand them. I don't need to understand them. They're just my tools for the moment.

My computer blips and a window opens with Mr. Andrew's face on it. I don't even bother to move from my spot. The microphone with the voice modifier will have automatically turned itself on.

"Yes?"

"Red, we've found nothing," he says. I glance over at the screen. The agent looks exhausted; there are bags under his eyes, thick stubble covering half his face and he looks overall pale to the point that it could be sickly. They've been working hard, which I appreciate.

"Thank you. I'll send you more orders within the next few days. In the meantime, you and your subordinates get some rest. You look like the walking dead," I give a dry chuckle as he nods and the window closes. I go back to my reading.

Wow, Naomi did a lot of missions, didn't she? She worked on cases, infiltration missions, spying, brute force, and logic. She was indeed a good agent and deserving of the title 'Misora Massacre'.

I glance back at the computer again. When was the last time I left this room? At least twelve hours. With a groan I get to my feet and stumble over to the computer. The clock reads 3:42 PM … I guess I lost track of time.

I grab the five folders that I was looking at and head out into the living area. I put them down on the table, and then stretch out my back. The vertebrae give a couple pops before I flop down onto the couch.

I need something to pick me up. Mogi and Matsuda are constantly in the building, and Matsuda is usually down in the room we use the most …

I look over at the camera. "Hey, Matsu, can you get me some coffee?" I shout at it, and I just know he hears me. They have microphones too, except in some of the rooms on this floor.

"You're a real slave driver, aren't you?" Vile chuckles. Where did he even learn that term? I chose to ignore him.

I pick up the next file in my pile and start flipping through it. It's a rather large file too, with its own folder and everything. It's kind of heavy. I just skim through it, not really interested in most of the boring stuff. That's when something catches my eye.

FAILED

What the … she had failed the mission? And here I was thinking that she was perfect or something, especially with how L speaks of her. I start looking over the report that Naomi was supposed to write up for this.

There's a knock at my door. "Come in!" I call out. Matsuda enters the room.

"Hey, got you some coffee!" he exclaims brightly, and I motion with my foot at a place on the table where he can put it. I'm too engrossed in the reading at the moment. He blinks before putting it down on the table and shuffling out. I can apologize to him later.

Naomi was told to shoot a child.

That's horrible. It had blown the entire case and cost the FBI much because she couldn't put a bullet through the kid's skull. He wasn't innocent, but she couldn't bring herself to kill a kid.

She'd been put on leave and probably would have ended up thrown out of the agency.

This … is something I can use. It's a traumatic experience. People like to kill themselves somewhere symbolic to them. I quickly fish the cell-phone from my pocket and dial the agent's number.

"Red?"

"Andrews, I've found something interesting. It seems nearly three years ago Naomi was on a case and was told to shoot a child. It obviously caused her some trauma, because she was unable to do it and failed the mission. She was put on leave after that. People like to commit suicide in places that are symbolic," I say quickly, putting the folder back down and bring the coffee cup to my mouth. I take a sip. Not bad actually …

"So you want us to investigate all areas linked to that case?"

"Yes, and be thorough," I command. I quickly tell him some of the details on the case, smiling all the while.

"Understood, I'll contact you when we have completed this."

"Great," I say and hang up without saying goodbye. I've become accustomed to just appearing and disappearing when contacting people, not wasting time on pleasantries.

After giving the orders, I put down this file and pick up the next. This one is rather thin, and doesn't have the FBI stamp on it … this is a separate file, next on the timeline. Frowning, I open up the file. The title on the page demands attention with big, bold letters.

LABB MURDER CASES

There's not much information on this case. The names of the victims are changed for privacy. The description of the crime scenes paint a gruesome picture, and it even depicts how the killer was caught. Also in the file is something on a private detective hired by the family of the third victim.

When I read the name, I go pale and nearly crumple the page in my hand.

Rue Ryuzaki.

I quickly read his tiny bio. They have no idea of his real name or where he came from, but he's tied to the name 'Beyond Birthday'. This man was the actual killer. I lift my cup to my mouth and take a sip.

And then I read the description of his appearance before he lit himself on fire.

I spit out all coffee that I was about to drink. I think there was a rainbow in the spray.

Panicked, I take the file in hand and run out of the room. I don't bother to close the door on my way out. It takes me longer than I would have liked to get down there, as I was on one of the higher floors. The Task Force is assembled and working silently on the case, that is, until I come running down. They stare at me as I rush forward, opening the file to the wanted page.

"Explain to me why the description of the LABB Cases murderer," I slap the file down in front of L, "– describes you!"