Chapter Twenty-Five - Nightmare

The Moon watched the earth,
When its inhabitants slept.
Grin of a Cheshire cat,
Only seen by the insomniac.

It guards the people, while the sun rests.
Constantly chasing after its love.
Revolving around her,
Always behind.

People of the earth,
Grateful for the moon's light.
Or else the darkness of the night,
Would be more like a nightmare.

"Andrews, there's one last thing that I need you to do for me."

"What is it?"

"Investigate and interrogate any people who were on the trains the day that Penbar died. Ask them if they saw someone with him, or if there was anyone in the doorway when he died. And if you find a ticket belonging to someone named 'Light Yagami', don't approach him, just let me know."

"Sure … that's going to take a while."

"Which is exactly why I need your help."

I open my eyes slightly to see the hallway moving backwards …

Hold on, backwards?

I blink again, trying to get the sleepiness out of my eyes. It doesn't really work, I still want to lose consciousness, but at least I can see properly now. I look around slightly, and realized that this is my hallway …

Am I being brought to my room?

I look sideways to see fluffy black hair, and I give a small chuckle, "Hey Panda-Face, what time is it?"

The detective looks sideways at me, face impassive, "5:01 AM."

"Huh …"

"I'm surprised that you were able to stay awake so long. Sixty nine hours is a very long time."

"Says the chronic insomniac."

I managed to get a small smile out of him as we approached my door, "I can go from here, thanks," I say, stifling a yawn. He lets me down, but I still need to hold onto his arm for support.

"Will you be alright?" he asks.

"Yeah, just fine," I nod sleepily, and then look back up at him. His head is tilted to the side and he's staring at me like I'm an interesting new toy. "Hey, random question," I say. His silence acts as the go-ahead. "Why did you become a detective?" I ask with my eyes on him. The question seems to catch him off-guard, so he blinks a few times before answering.

"I was bored."

"Bored?" I raise my eyebrows. "That doesn't seem like a very good reason. No heroic cause? No fighting an impossible battle for world peace?"

The detective shrugs and puts his hands in his pockets. "Cases interest me; give me something to think about."

"Interest you?" That's something that Vile would say.

"Yes, though, the most interesting thing that I've encountered would have to be you."

"Me?" I chuckle dryly, "Why would that be?"

"I can never figure you out. As soon as I think that I know who you really are, you do something to throw my theory off. You're an enigma; a puzzle that I cannot solve."

"I guess I should feel honored," I give a small smile.

"Do you really wish to work on the Kira Case?"

"I think we've already addressed that. You're not taking me off this case. I'm sticking around until it's solved. Why do you ask?"

"It's just … I think I would be sad if you were to die … I find that you are … my first friend," he says awkwardly, as though he had trouble admitting it. I smile at him as he looks down at his toes.

"That would make two of us," he looks up at my smiling face and I lean forward and wrap my arms around his middle in a hug. He's a little startled, but he soon relaxes and even returns the hug. "I'm not going anywhere just yet, you don't have to worry about me," I mumble into the fabric of his shirt.

I pull back, smiling at him. He returns the smile, probably the first authentic one in a long time. I then give a loud yawn, and I can see the amusement shining from those liquid black eyes. "I guess I need to sleep. Goodnight Panda-Face," I say, and head into my room.

I make my way quickly into the parking lot, hoping to catch him in time.

I had been looking into the disappearance of Naomi Misora and Raye Penbar's murder when I remembered something that Ryuzaki said about a bus-jacking in December. There is a possibility that Penbar was on that bus.

So I'm looking into it.

I have a few photographs that I managed to snag of Naomi and Raye to show him. I have two things that I want to know. Firstly, was Raye on that bus? Secondly, did Naomi approach the bus driver?

I quickly make my way through the lot and see a middle-aged man standing in front of a bus. I had contacted him and requested to meet him. He doesn't know that I'm a detective though.

"Oh, hello, you must be Niiro," The bus driver greets me with a friendly smile and holds out his hand. I shake it.

"Yeah, that's me. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the bus-jacking?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Can you describe what happened?"

The bus driver quickly explains to me that at a bus stop, a shady looking man had boarded. As soon as they had begun moving, the man had pulled out a gun from his pocket. There had been an immediate panic.

After that, he requested that Space-Land had been called, and he demanded all their money be brought to him, or else he would kill all the passengers.

As they moved towards Space-Land, the man would wave his gun around and guard his hostages. After a few rounds, he got mad at a kid. When he came back to the front though, he turned around and started shouting about a man in the back. Another man in the back of the bus had shouted for them all to get down. The criminal had emptied his gun at his hallucination.

The criminal then demanded that he get off the bus, the driver had pulled them to a stop, and he had jumped out of the bus, where he was hit by a car.

I pull out a picture of Raye and show it to the bus-driver, "Is this the man who told you to duck?"

"You can't easily forget someone like that," the man chuckled, and I pulled out a picture of Naomi.

"What about this woman?"

The bus driver took the picture from me and examined it, "Yeah, actually, she was asking about him too. Wanted to know I could remember any of the other passengers …" He shook his head, "Can't remember for the life of me."

"Thank you very much. You've been a great help," I say, smiling as I take the photo from him.

On my way out of the place I turn off the hidden microphone I had on me.

Tong!

Fire … It's so hot … It hurts … Make it stop.

Tong!

Mommy … Mommy wake up. We have to get out of here. It hurts.

Tong!

Please … Wake up. You need to wake up!

Tong!

The fire! It's going to burn us!

Tong!

Mommy?

Tong!

Mommy!

Tong!

I jerk awake, panting like a dog. I'm all sweaty and jittery. With shaking hands, I rub my eyes and look around. Damn … I fell asleep while working again. I take the laptop off my lap and move it to the coffee table before standing up and heading towards the main kitchen.

Kind of how they have those huge kitchens in the basement of hotels; we have one here. Every suite also has one, but there's a large one down here. The fridge is mainly filled with sweet foods and fruit, but that's not what I need right now.

I flick on the coffee machine and wait for a new pot to be made.

Why do I keep dreaming about that night? It's behind me; I shouldn't have to relive it over and over again in my sleep. Could this be one of the reasons that I'm slowly becoming an insomniac too? It seems childish, but it's far more terrifying when you've had to live that nightmare.

You know that it's real.

My father caused it … and the coward ran – killed himself after that, left me all alone.

Tears roll down my face unchecked as I pour myself a cup and sit down at one of the stools next to the island in the middle of the room. I stare down into my cup, hair shadowing my face.

That bastard … what could have possibly gone through his mind?

I know that I should probably blame Vile for my mother's death. He twisted the strings for his own personal goals, to keep himself occupied; he didn't care if she died. He's a Shinigami, so he doesn't care about human lives, he only cares about himself.

My father … oh, he was too stupid to realize that a Shinigami can't be trusted. He was a fool. I can't find it in myself to forgive him. He doesn't deserve that much from me.

"Niiro?" a voice interrupts my thoughts, and I slowly look up from where I had been staring into my drink. I see L standing in the doorway, blinking owlishly at me. Not trusting my own voice, I just look down at the mug again.

The detective enters the room and takes a seat on the opposite side of the Island. "Are you alright? You left the room so quickly," he asks, bringing his thumb to his mouth.

"Not really," I say quietly.

"What are you thinking right now?"

"That Panda-Face should mind his own business," he doesn't reply, just stares at me, right through me. It's like he's staring into my soul, and it feels weird, uncomfortable. "My parents," I give a small sigh.

"What about them?"

"I keep having a recurring dream … about the night my Mother was murdered." The detective blinks at me, and if he had eyebrows they probably would have been raised. Of course he read what he could on me when he found out my identity. That must have included the death of my parents, and the cause of their deaths. On the official documents, her death was from a car wreck. She wasn't murdered.

I know better than that though.

"This causes you … much pain," Ryuzaki says. I just nod.

"And then my Father …" I grit my teeth, "The bastard had to go and kill himself and leave me alone." I look down at my mug and then take a sip.

I'm sure that the scrawny detective was able to sense some of the inner turmoil within me, because he just stares at me for a few minutes as I calmed down before saying, "You shouldn't dwell on the past. It's unhealthy. You need to look to the future instead. The past is behind you."

I look up at him and smile lightly, "And since when did you become the philosopher?"

"I was told that many years ago by someone very important to me."

If Naomi went looking for the bus driver … That would have probably meant that she came to the conclusion that Kira can kill in other ways. Raye probably told her about the bus-jacking.

The criminal must have somehow touched a part of the Death Note, maybe just a shred of it. When he turned around he saw Kira's Shinigami. Shot at it. Jumped off the bus where he was hit by a car.

Raye Penbar. He was trailing Light at that time. Light must have been on the bus to Space-Land. He might have 'dropped' the shred of the Death Note. Maybe he pretended to plan to take on the criminal? Penbar was an FBI agent, so he was in situations like that often, and would morally object to the plan. Light could come up with excuses not to trust him … Penbar would show him his FBI ID.

Where should I start?

Firstly, I'm not focusing on Penbar, but I should go back to him later. I'm focusing on Naomi at the moment. If she had come to a similar conclusion, she would want to see the Task Force. She wasn't an agent at the time … just a civilian.

Police Station, she would go there.

The people she would talk to would be the guys behind the desk. I should talk to them.

"Do you know why you're here?" I ask through the microphone. I have the two people that were at the desk during December and January sitting in chairs where I can see them. They can only hear my voice.

"Not really," one of the people say.

"I need to know if you saw this woman at one point," I say, and the computer should show them a picture of Naomi.

"Uh, yeah, she came in asking for the Japanese Task Force."

I give a grin. Perfect.

"Also, did you happen to see Light Yagami the same day?"

"Yeah."

"Explain to me what happened."

The desk men quickly explain how she had come in demanding to speak with the Task Force, and that she had vital information for the Case. Light walked in during the middle of this. He was dropping off a change of clothes for his father. When he heard that Naomi had information, he was kind and complimented her. He said that his father was leading the Task Force and that as soon as he called back, she could talk to him.

They proceeded to leave the building together.

"What was the date?" I ask.

"Uh, January 1, I think."

That's the day that I met with L …

I repeatedly hit my head against the table in front of me. Where to go next …

I can't think properly.

I'm not hungry … I had a good sleep. Now what?

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea," Light says to me as I continued to hit my head against the coffee table.

"Why … not?"

"You're going to hurt your head," Light laughs softly, coming over to my spot. He stops me from hitting my head again. "Why are you hitting your head?"

"I can't think dammit!" I shout a little loudly. The other members of the Task Force glance over at me, some of them amused and some of them annoyed.

Ryuzaki gets up from where he's sitting and snatches my cup of coffee that was sitting abandoned on the table. "Hey, that's mine!" I say to him, but he just leaves the room with it. After a minute or two he comes back in with a new steaming mug.

"Try it," he says and holds it out to me. I take the mug and eye it curiously. It looks kind of normal. A bit lighter than usual … I swirl it around and my eyes widen as white particles float around.

"You filled it with sugar!" I growl at him.

"Just try it," he says in his normal deadpan.

"Fine," I grumble, and bring it up to my lips. I take a sip …

Shivers travel up and down my spine, and I swear that my eyes grow to twice their size. "Whoa," I look down at the innocent looking cup. "That sure gives you energy … No wonder you like sugar so much!" I laugh. Ryuzaki just studies me as I pause.

"Wait a moment … I got it!"

Omake

"I think she fell asleep," Light said, turning back to look at the girl at the couch.

"I'm surprised that she even made it that long," Light's long time enemy, L, commented.

The girl in question, Kurai, or at the moment, Niiro, had collapsed due to sheer exhaustion. She'd slumped back, her head over the back and laptop still on her legs. She was snoring lightly, and it really didn't look comfortable.

"Well we've all been working ourselves to the bone; it's no surprise that we're losing sleep," Light said, closing his eyes to rant about the sleep cycles of the Task Force, "I mean look at you, you're just … hey, wait a moment, what are you doing?"

L had stopped paying attention to his suspect and instead had crossed the room to the couch where Kurai had fallen asleep on. He scooped her up in his arms before heading for the stairs.

"What does it look like?" L rolled his eyes.

"Yeah … well, isn't she my girlfriend?"

"Light, just shut up and get back to work."

A/N: Hmm, that second scene really reminded me of this weekend's Doctor Who episode ("Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS") where the Doctor is panicking and he sort of yells at Clara "I look at you every single day and yet I don't know a single thing about you." That was a good episode ... And I really really like Clara. She's awesome. I also loved "Hide", though that one really creeped the fuck out of me.

The Omake is kind of what I imagined what would have happened before that second scene. :)

Also, on Kurai's father. She has a whole lot of emotional turmoil in regards to him, and she hardly even knows what to think, even a year later. The case has been a major distraction for her, but in a good way. Also, I've mentioned this before: there's a lot more to that story than I've been letting on, and I'll cover that later in a different story in the same AUniverse.

- DW