\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Wow it almost been 4 months since my last update. I bet some of you thought you'd heard the last of me, well fear not I will get the fic done one way or another. To make up in part for my terrible update time this chapter is over twice as long as any previous chapter! 12k words! So whilst you've had to wait a long time to get this I hope you can see have been pretty busy working away at this.

This is also the first chapter where I've had real time batering as I go. So a massive thanks to Believe Bridesmaid, who I've been in almost daily msn chat to just get this chapter perfect. She's also batered all the other chapters and they'll be going up over the next few days. We've also got a few more projects in the pipeline and possibly some opportunities for outside input if anyone is up for that?

29/07/08 - was so rushed to get this up i forgot to do this earlier but I'd like to thank all those who took the time to review the last chaper. i'm also, after being told off by my beta replying to everyone who reviews from now on. however i will refuse to answer any speculative questions regarding the plot, cos i've got to get my kicks out of this some way haven't i?

so Thanks to:

dragontwister G. L. Ash lovova Shadow-L-Chan Xhadow Kiss and Lady Rosina

I shan't delay you any longer, please enjoy and let me know what you think.

Hilda

xxx

"In Spain today a prisoner's rights group marched through Madrid calling for greater protection for the country's remaining convicts. The protests were prompted by the latest in the new series of mass Kira-killings last week when over four thousand inmates, mostly from the country's north eastern prisons died from heart attacks. The man responsible is local government official and Kira supporter Perico de los Palotes, who released their information onto a pro-Kira website. Rita la Pollera, march organiser and mother of one of last week's victims, an 18 year old drug dealer, had this to say to reporters…"

"The Greek pharmaceutical company Pharmakon, has filed for bankruptcy today, after the Kira caused death of the managing director, Giorgos Tade following corruption charges last week. Two thousand job losses are expected with in Greece and many more in the company's international offices and plants. For the effects on the Greek stock exchange we now go to…"

"An unprecedented legal decision took place in the House of Lords today. The Law Lords have ruled that 'Kira' is a legitimate 'murder weapon'. This ruling applies in such cases where the defendant has made deliberate and calculated efforts to ensure their victim is accused of an uncommitted crime or had a previous criminal action inflated to warrant Kira's punishment. Lady Justice, Anne Other for the opposition has described the decision as 'foolish and rushed'. Whilst Lord Punter has said this is a 'Landmark decision of great achievement'. They both join me now from our Westminster studio. Lord Punter isn't this decision long overdue? Of course I refer to the case of 'the man on the Clapham Omnibus' which last week…"

"I think it is fair to say that this is a decision we have all been anticipating, but it needed to go through all the correct legal procedures before we…"

"Correct legal procedures?! I think not, this monumental decision was dashed through the Lords without any careful thought or planning. This government is once again yielding to press and public hysteria and making bad judgements."

"So Lady Other you don't believe in the prosecution of those who mislead Kira into killing perfectly innocent people? Should Sarah Smith not stand trial for accusing her school teacher husband John of paedophilia based not on evidence but because it was cheaper than divorce?"

"I cannot comment on specific cases, but in such instances I can see why we do need to carefully rethink how we handle false accusations like this. I am merely concerned that we have not thought through the implications of this legislation. For example in America last week, where very similar procedures are already in place, a policeman was accused of the murder of a suspect because he arrested him. They say the victim, a serial rapist wouldn't have died if officer Doe hadn't arrested him! Since the officer deliberately arrested him, John Doe now finds himself up for the death penalty, most probably administered by the same weapon, Kira.

I'm not saying we should let those who manipulate Kira should not be punished for their heinous acts, all I'm saying is that we must protect everyone from Kira, the police, public and criminals alike. The prevention of such cases must fall directly to those from whom Kira receives his information the police and the press, both must ensure the accuracy of their reports lest they cause any unnecessary deaths."

L didn't like working with the world news on, it was so demoralising, sapping the strength and the energy from the team until they worked in silence. It was hard to watch Kira murder, Kira corrupt and Kira destroy when you knew that the one thing keeping the world's hope alive was almost a complete lie. Out there, all across the world, people got up in the morning and got on with life because they knew that the great detective L and the best of the Japanese police were working tirelessly to protect them. What they didn't know was what that really meant; seven men and a teenage boy.

No, he didn't like watching the news, because everyday it reminded him that yesterday he had failed and people had suffered because of him.

In a typical case the knowledge that L was on the scene was usually enough to halt a murder spree or at least slow it down. The criminal suddenly worried a lot about the evidence being left behind and changed things, which in itself was usually enough evidence to catch them soon after.

That was of course, back in the days when 'L' meant something. L had meant justice, integrity and action. It meant that criminals should look out, take heed and be very, very quiet.

Now…

… there was a phrase circulating the English speaking countries, 'when L arrests Kira' which was roughly the equivalent of 'when pigs fly'.

But he would, he bloody well would, he'd get him somehow.

He had to!

But Kira could be anyone, anywhere, maybe even the other side of the world?

Or the thickness of a wall away.

Ryuzaki wasn't the only one who liked to play with double sided mirrors.

However, unlike the other one this mirror had an automatic cutoff and a carefully placed 'emergency exit' light to ensure that Kira's side of the mirror was always darker and the 'mirror' therefore, always a mirror. Ryuzaki stared at it a lot Kira noticed, when he was stressed, as though he too had been suckered into the belief that 'L knew all' and was desperately seeking the answers in his eyes.

'You're lost, L and soon, you're going to die.'

"The Filipino president, JuandelaCruz, officially announced the deaths of over six and a half thousand prisoners killed in the most active phase of Kira's new reign of terror. The victims mostly came from high security facilities and it is still unknown how information about them was leaked to Kira. President de la Cruz pledged to increase his country's contribution to the reward being offered to the person or forces responsible for the stopping Kira. The amount on offer currently stands at…"

It was just under two months since they had first moved into the new investigation headquarters with such hope and optimism… well not that much of either, but certainly more than they had now anyway. A lot had happened and none of it good.

For a start Kira had gotten a lot faster.

In the darkest, deepest parts of his heart, Light might have once acknowledged a certain sympathy for Kira and his methods, but now he knew… no, everyone knew, … surely even Kira himself had to know this was madness! The numbers involved were just ridiculous! Experts were estimating that Kira was very close to the thirty thousand mark, but Light considering himself the expert knew Kira had passed that some days ago. 30,000 people! How did someone do that anyway?

A lot of the Kira supporters had quietly shut-up, leaving only the most fanatical who hailed the divine retribution, singing Kira's praises from on high…or something like that whilst conveniently forgetting Kira's mistakes or even more sinister, accepting them. "Kira punished them; therefore they must have done something wrong." And the child victims "were obviously going grow up to be bad people." Presumably killing them before they did anything wrong was more time efficient.

Around the world there was a very uncomfortable, unspoken acknowledgement that Kira 'wasn't … you know…very…well that is to say…um…whilst I accept crime rates have gone down and all that…well, this Kira chap isn't…very…nice.'

Very few were prepared to speak out against him and even less to do it publicly. That was despite Kira apparently sticking to his word of only killing criminals (or people mistaken for criminals or people who got on the wrong sort of list). It was because Kira could, that people stayed away, you never knew if your comment would just be a bit too strong or catch Kira in a bad mood.

But of course there were always some, Light thought with a smile, prepared to give it a go.

"So Professor, your latest book is out this week. 'The Kira Delusion' that's quite a controversial title! Don't you think it's a bit risky to do something like this now?"

"Risky indeed, but no, I had to write this book, somethings things just have to be said. What I and many other prominent thinkers have been stunned by is the global acceptance of this concept of Kira."

"You deny what is happening in prisons all over the world? Are you saying that the prison guards are 'delusional'? "

"No, of course not. The delusion I refer to is not over the deaths of criminals world wide, unfortunately that is an undeniable fact. The delusion is 'Kira', the god, not the process. Within weeks of these terrible murders starting fanatics and cults have been springing up everywhere claiming to know 'the true word of Kira' or that Kira speaks to them at night or Kira's 'healed them'. And those are just the ones that are mad, there are many more who are just cashing in on people's gullibility, take the preacher for example, who claims that if you send him a donation he'll pray to Kira for you and redeem you of your crimes."

It had also been two months since his and Ryuzaki's rather large falling out, the bruises and injured prides of which had taken many weeks to heal.

They still hadn't exactly made up even now. He wanted to of course, but Ryuzaki was so uncooprative, often claiming Light had said and done things that he certainly didn't remember doing and then hitting him for these imaginary grievances.

It didn't help that his father was doing everything in his power to stop them from being within a 3 ft radius of one another. Watari was in on it too, having shown Yagami-san footage of their 'interactions'.

Soichiro hadn't yet said anything directly but had made quite pointed remarks to Ryuzaki that he should allow Light to visit his girlfriend, what with him being a young teenager and all, in fact why not give him a night off, let him enjoy a romantic evening with his pretty girlfriend, alone, without adult supervision, to do teenage boy sort of things. He'd even offered, if Light was feeling bored, to go home and fetch him some books or magazines or something. 'Erk! How does he know about my porn?' Light wasn't sure how he felt about his dad's reactions all he knew was that it was getting very annoying.

Just the other night, as they were getting ready for bed, whilst arguing over some email had been allegedly sent by/to Ryuzaki to/from Light another fight had started. Being tired, it wasn't a proper fight and soon changed into general shoving and then into playful wrestling and ended with Light being held under L on the detective's bed.

Ryuzaki had stopped tickling Light's feet when a shift of the other's legs had brought their faces close together. Ryuzaki was crouched over him, sitting on his stomach, staring down and the flushed, smiling boy reclined against his pillows with hair swept around him. He slowly leaned in toward the boy, who sat up slightly.

Just as their lips were about to meet L's phone rang. Both made frustrated noises and glared at the blinking security camera over looking the bed.

"I thought I turned that off." He said before answering the phone.

"Yes Watari…yes…yes… I know…really?...fine I'll be there in a minute." He sighed and shut off the phone; Light had sat up and moved to the other side of the bed. "There is apparently an emergency requiring my immediate attention…um…will you wait for me?"

"No point. Good night Ryuzaki-san." He said with a huff and left the room without looking back at the detective.

It seemed as though everyone and fate itself was determined to keep them apart.

"Perico de los Palotes has just been found dead." L relayed the message he'd just received from the Spanish authorities to the team. Light paused, pen in hand to look at him.

"Isn't he that Spanish Kira supporter who had all those people killed?" asked Matsuda, who was currently on stapler duty.

"Yes, although Kira didn't seem too fond of him - he died of a heart attack."

"Odd." said his father. "It's not like Kira to go around killing his supporters, and its not as though the guy cheated. Like that Austrian guy who hid the details of his ex-wife in the prison lists."

"Ryuzaki, didn't you once tell me you thought Kira controlled the head of the FBI before killing him? Kira made him give the details of the 12 FBI agents away so they could all be killed. Is this perhaps the same tactic?" Light suggested, allowing the worry to be heard in his tone.

"Yes, well done Yagami-kun." droned L in a deadpan voice. "I suspect Kira is either blackmailing or 'controlling' minor officials and prison guards in order to perpetrate more… efficient judgements." He paused and bit his thumb nail. "This is worrying, since there is very little that can be done to prevent it. We are particularly vulnerable to such an attack ourselves. Or you are gentlemen, since none of you would ever be able to reveal my identity, and those that can… well lets just say they are very few and far between and unlikely to come to Kira's attention.

Never the less, this is a very important issue, Mogi-san if you've completed the last task I set for you I would like you to investigate 'controlled' victims..."…."

'I'm useless here and everyone knows it. I have no idea what Light-kun is going on about these days. I can only just about follow his instructions and even then I mess up so much it's just easier for him to do it. Although, Misa appreciates me… I think.'

Light was staring out of the window, his mind meandering around the banks of confusion and inspiration. The computer system was slowly restarting, a casualty of his latest programming efforts that had seen blue screens and data loss all around. L had claimed that this was just another attempt to delay the Kira investigation whence Light had replied claiming that "Your mum's an attempt to delay the Kira investigation!" Yes, after weeks of petty fighting and point scoring they had descended to that level of pointless bickering.

He looked back at the data … there was a pattern here but what did it mean? Ok, what did he know?

'1. Criminals announced on the 9 o'clock NHN and Sakura TV news programs are killed (regardless of how atrocious the crime committed was)

2. They die in the order in which they were announced.

3. Those reported on NHN first, then any criminals they didn't report die in the order that Sakura TV announced them. Therefore Kira watches NHN first, then he watches Sakura TV.

However, with the 6 o'clock news, the 'worst criminals', the murderers, the rapists and the gangsters, are killed first. The rest, the thieves, the yobs and the vandals, then die a few hours later in the order they were originally announced in, but with gaps of a few minutes in the space left by a 'bad criminal'.'

But that only applies in Japan or at least for anyone who makes the Japanese news, if the names can't be found on a Japanese site then only the 'real criminals' die – does Kira really hate Japan?

'No, that wouldn't make sense….

If there are still two Kiras active now…then this…maybe. Yeah… Ok we have 'Good Kira' and 'Bastard Kira'. Good-Kira kills all the real criminals at 6, then Bastard-Kira comes along later and kills everyone else not knowing Good-Kira got in there before him. But while Good-Kira is killing the bad criminals from all over the world, Bastard-Kira beats him to the 9 o'clock news and kills everyone… as long as he doesn't have too look to hard for them.

Hang on, why I'm I calling one of them 'Good-Kira'?

"The World Bank is putting emergency funds in place for countries struggling to cope with the recent dramatic increases in Kira activities. For more information and full analysis of the troubling market conditions we now got to our financial reporter…"

"Damnit!" The Blue Screen of Death once again loomed down upon Light. He was so sure that this time it would work but when the network had failed the main processor had dumped all the data at once on the router which had thrown up bizarre system cache related errors. There was just too much data and his new system was obviously far too ambitious. 'Oh well, it's another late night I guess…'

But he didn't mind, anything was better than thinking too much…

…like how he was very good at English but not so good at French. Things like that weren't nice to think about when the FBI's victim report was open on his screen… and that French news report

…apparently Kira misread a news article off a French website and killed the victim not the rapist … an odd use of prepositions and an irregular verb were to blame.

Well those network cables weren't going to untangle themselves…

'One lead is all I need. Just some little mistake and I can hunt him down, but I just can't find it.' It was impossible with this many victims to look intently at each to see if one just happened to have only been reported in one country or had any connection to one of his suspects. L only clung to the idea that Kira still had to be Japanese because the thought of expanding the amount of potential suspects by that much was just too depressing to contemplate. Kira had to be Japanese and he had to be Light Yagami, although why he was so sure of this he didn't know anymore.

What he wouldn't give to feel the certainty of his conviction like he had only a few months ago? Right after Amane's arrest, after they got the first physical evidence of a link between a Kira and a suspect there had been a period of about three days where he knew with complete certainty that the case was over. All they would need is for Light to slip up, kill Amane or go on the run and that would be it: Case Solved. Of course there would be the small matter of extracting the Kira method from one of the perpetrators, but that wasn't something L had considered would be a long process, he was very used to dealing with such things.

In those three days his victory had been assured, he had out-smarted and out-manoeuvred that cocky bastard and everything had fallen into place. But then it all went wrong. Why? What happened in those three days?

No, wait, it was after then when it really went bad…a couple of days later… Light went all funny and Kira started killing again but faster… what happened? What changed?

L's mind slipped from its concentrated state for it had become quite distracted.

There, to his right was a rather attractive bottom emerging from a bank of computers. He does love those tight trousers doesn't he? And so it seems do I. Light was on his hands and needs waist deep in a tangle of cables under the desk. Muffled grunts and swearing could be heard as the owner of the delightfully toned buttocks grappled with a particularly tricky Ethernet cable. "Ewww Ryuzaki its disgusting down here! How the hell did so many sweat wrappers end up in this mess?"

"I couldn't possibly speculate Yagami-kun." But I think a close inspection is defiantly in order.

Ryuzaki hopped down of his chain in order to 'assist' Light with his difficult task that now seemed similar to untangling a Mobius strip. "So how is the project going, Yagami-kun?" he asked as he handed the boy an extension lead, taking care to accidentally catch the end on Light's shirt and so sliding it up slightly. An expletive was all he received as a reply, but it gave him an excuse to lean in closer, in a purely helpful sort of way, placing his hand as he did so, on the exposed skin, to support himself of course.

A loud and aggrieved cough alerted him to the presence of a loud and aggrieved police officer behind him. The man's expression quite clearly sent the message 'that in the interest of professionalism and normal business practises I am restraining myself from kicking your head in, but should you fail to desist I may be forced to change my position on that course of action.'

Ryuzaki carefully removed the offending hand and made of show of dusting off the affected area before quickly shuffling back to the safety of his seat.

'This is too big for me. I thought we could really do something, but this is getting mental… and my family wants me to get out whilst I still can. I'm sorry Ukita, but I don't think I can do this for much longer.'

Misa-Misa was having the time of her life. Every few nights her beloved boyfriend was sneaking out of Ryuga's clutches and visiting her in her rooms. The first time he had said the evil pervert Ryuga had come on to him and he needed to de-gay himself. Misa's knight had then made love to her with such intensity and passion that she would have sworn he'd been doing it for years. He knew her body so well, what she liked and how she liked it, she couldn't believe such a perfect boyfriend had tuned out to be such a perfect lover.

Ryuzaki wasn't having the time of his life. The Kira case was going nowhere, his reputation was in tatters and he had a sexy, attractive young man about whom he was having sexy, attractive urges, yet with whom he could do nothing with…or to…or on as the case may be.

Also he was out of cake.

Apparently the bakery hadn't received Watari's order – an email glitch, and with things as they were he didn't dare send the old man out unnecessarily. Things were getting difficult, L had to acknowledge that. It felt as though Kira was closing in and although he didn't know why Kira's lust for death had so dramatically increased he felt sure it was down to him at least in part.

How could he think about the boy when his inaction condemned thousands to die? Dusky daydreams about warm kisses whilst hearts were untimely stilled. Covert cuddling and sneaky hand-holding despite the fresh graves and grieving families, how dare he? Never before had L felt such a weight of responsibility, even the worst serial killers were limited to a handful of people a day. How, when they caught Kira, would L ever be able to forgive himself for all those victims he couldn't save?

But, still, even having said all that, was it so wrong to take a little comfort when things were hard?

After a week of very late nights Ryuzaki had finally taken pity of the boy and dragged him off to bed. Light was leaning on him, half asleep, arm around his shoulder as he led them down their corridor. Ryuzaki opened his door and squeezed them through. Light, having sighted a bed, disengaged from the detective, shuffling towards it. Upon reaching it and with minor preamble he changed from the vertical to the horizontal in a graceless bellyflop.

"Ne, Light-kun you can't sleep there, this is my room and you haven't taken your shoes off or… exfoliated yet! You know you'll regret that in the morning and spend all day bitching about it." A vague noise emerged from the pile of covers in which Light's head was buried. He crawled up onto the bed and over towards the sleeper. "Come on Light… Watari's going to call in a minute… and then you'll have to go." He said as he poked him repeatedly. Giving up, he sat back against the pillows and ruffled the soft caramel hair before carefully tugging the boy closer. Light responded with a grunt, wrapped his arm around Ryuzaki's waist and snuggled up with his chest as a new pillow.

"Hey…Watari's gonna…" he said before trailing off. He was tired too, he wouldn't arrest Kira tonight…so what was the harm in… he needed this! Was it so wrong to take a little comfort when you were so alone?

"Aren't we going to stop them?" In the control room Watari and Soichiro were …not exactly spying… of course not… they were, they agreed, in a very real sense, preventing dangerous or undesirable occurrences from slowing the Kira investigation…ok, they were spying but they weren't going to admit to that.

Part of Yagami Soichiro was raving madly inside his skull. 'How dare that freak molest my perfect, handsome and above all, very heterosexual son!?' It called for death! To beat that pervert black and blue! Lock away his son in a cage made of Playboy magazines! His faultless, manly son was obviously not a homo! Four gorgeous girlfriends, no obvious interest in musical theatre and great sporting ability – all the signs were there! Even if… well he did have to admit that when he'd seen his son looking at girly magazines he had been very relieved under all the embarrassment, but that just showed how good at hiding stuff his son was.

'But he's never brought any of those girls home, never goes to their homes.' The other part of Yagami Soichiro, the part he used at work, didn't rave. After years of practise it had no opinion, it observed, took note and came to conclusions. It was the part of him that allowed detective Yagami to become the man he was, to treat the murders of small children and Yakuza bosses with the same clinical dispassion and energy. This part observed the smiles and blushes between his two 'suspects' and how they talked together, worked together and fought together. Now as he stared up at feed from camera #153 this part, the Detective, saw Suspect A stroke Suspect B's face. Suspect B lent upward and began to kiss Suspect A, who wrapped both arms around and pulled to other on top of him. The detective could see no signs of coercion or intimidation, both were well above the age of consent and neither had taken any intoxicating substances, and so the Detective had to conclude that Suspect B was probably happy with his current situation.

"Don't these boys deserve a little brake?" Watari was also unsure as to what to make of the young master's new 'interest'. He well remembered a time, for it was not so long ago, when such things were illegal and thought to arise from a mental defect. In fact it was only four years ago that the age of consent was equalised in his home country. Yet despite being born into a time that would hand out prison sentences for such 'crimes', a public school and Oxbridge education had, shall we say, broadened Quillish's mind when it came to certain 'lifestyles'. However when it came to L, the dear boy and the son he'd never have, Wammy held quite different opinions. He'd been the young genius's main career and companion almost since he'd found him as a boy in run down orphanage. Wammy had always aimed to give the prodigy a somewhat normal social life, but L had never been interested and in some cases very uncooperative. He tried though and did his best to accommodate him and alleviate some of the issues caused by his regressed social skills.

L sometimes seemed almost too innocent. Wammy recalled one night when he'd been summoned by the panicked investigator because something was happening 'down there' a short lecture on wet dreams and the 'wonderful world of puberty' later and all was well. However Quillish often worried about the young man who had got the rest of his sex ed from the rape cases he worked on, and it seemed as though years of such detective work had had that undesirable effect, when the young detective never showed an interest in finding someone special. They'd had other talks on how 'sex wasn't just for bad men', and he'd arranged little dates between him and pretty lady genii but he'd never seemed that keen. 'And now I know why.'

That wasn't the main worry for Watari. Wammy always wished for L's happiness, and if that was gained through canoodlingcannonading with the other boys then who was he to judge? For Watari this recent development was troubling for different reasons; the suspect/investigator impartiality was shot to pieces – this was completely unprofessional! Then there was the strong possibility that this was all part of the young Kira's plans, and maybe the next time he took his eyes off them a love stuck L would be handing over his criminal database or lying dead on the floor. Still if L thought it was safe…

"I thought we agreed we had to stop this."

"I know, but they've been working so hard lately, Yagami-san. This case is very stressful and tiring and this is there way of coping and getting through it together."

"But I thought stopping them was our 'way of coping'."

"You're right but…" he sighed. On screen Yagami-kun was pushing L's shirt up and L's hands were wondering far to close the others trousers. "…Oh what the heck, lets turn on the sprinklers!"

On the screen the now soggy affair was called to a halt and each returned to getting ready for bed in their own rooms.

The idea was simple, the process it turned out, was not. In theory, as Light had previously suggested, anything that one might want to know about the activities of the Kiras could be found from the data already collated.

If of course, one knew what one was looking for, but they didn't. Did Kira have a strict moral code? Did Kira always target one type of crime? Did Kira have any biases or bigotries? All of which would be useful to know! Hell if they could work out Kira's schedule then they could probably guess at what sort of job he had.

However everything was inextricably confused and complicated by the apparent existence of multiple Kiras. It was assumed that there were probably only two currently active Kiras, (and if L's theory was to be believed then two other inactive Kiras remained at large.) but their justification for such an assumption was pretty weak, in fact Aizawa claimed that the sudden rapid acceleration was more likely due to other Kiras emerging than the originals becoming more murderous. The team were divided on which scenario they preferred, an ever growing army of psychic killers or facing one Kira who could calmly slaughter two thousand people in a few hours.

Light's suspected that his theory of a Good-Kira and Bastard-Kira was correct but could currently do little to prove it. Now if only his damn programme would work!

His idea went like this: 'About ; 'about each victim, I know a few variables (TOD, crime, time of announcement, length of criminal history etc) as well as other factors more about the person (age, sex, race, religion, class, education etc) but I have no idea how they might correlate.' Perhaps Kira hated rich people who committed violent crimes? Or maybe Kira was lenient on the young, so severity of crimes committed by victims would decrease with age. Or he might think all poor, uneducated men were thugs so would kill them for any crime no matter how evil? Kira might even suffer from pogonophobia and kill anyone with a beard!

It was impossible to tell what might correlate, or of what might be the answer. So therein arose his programme, for it relied of the ability of the human mind to spot pattern and meaning in a way no computer can possibly emulate. It would, when it worked, pick two random factors or variables and produce a simple graph; this graph would then be displayed on one of the four computers manned by a detective. The detective would then rate the graph on correlation and meaning, a zero for a chaotic graph that perhaps showed colour of victim's shirt in photographs against victim numbers and a ten for a straight line graph showing severity of crime against victim numbers. The rating was stored and then used to generate the next set of graphs. In this way Light hoped to have any bit of important information that it was possible to abstract from the data in a matter of days, weeks for anything a bit weirder.

However there was one thing, beyond simply writing the programme halting his progress.

Two different and independently minded Kiras increased the complexity a hundred fold.

He just couldn't do it unless he could analyse them separately.

If there was some way in which he could conclusively say who killed who, the he could do it.

But he couldn't… well…

No he might… but if that worked what did it mean?

Over the last few weeks the identities of 'Good-Kira' and 'Bastard-Kira' had solidified in his mind. He could no longer deny it, but the way that 'Bastard-Kira' operated revolted Light to the extreme, he killed pregnant women for fuck's sake! Seventeen year olds of crashed their dad's car in to trees, twenty year olds arrested for drunk exam celebrations, anti-war protesters who chained themselves to government offices were just the tip of a very evil iceberg. That man was a menace and it wasn't even on just the extreme cases on which they differed, it was on their whole concepts of justice and what was 'bad'. A careless driver who knocks down a kid is careless and does deserve some punishment, but isn't actually 'bad', or not in the same way that a rapist is.

'Good-Kira' however… well the name itself gave it away.

Light and the other Kira… when he didn't make mistakes … seemed to have quite similar… well, very similar opinions about crime. Almost identical it would seem, especially before…before his confinecomfine-

But obviously a few parallel thoughts on justice didn't mean all that much… and nowadays with all the mass killings, (even if they were the worst criminals) and with the mistakes, any rational person, who truly understood law and crime, would come to a similar conclusion.

Really it meant nothing and besides it probably wouldn't even work.

But we have to solve this! What, Wwhat if by worrying about some completely meaningless implications to my own guilt, I'm holding up the investigation? Even if it does work, the team will just be so pleased they wontwon't ask how I did it. L will… no L trusts me…somewhat.

Damn it! I'm going to do it!

So Light spent the rest of the afternoon designing a data filter that he hoped would separate out the Japanese victims of the two Kiras. Straight in went 'violent rape', 'child abuse' and 'pre-meditated murder without extenuating circumstances' then any sort of 'serial killer or gangster' after that it got a bit trickier, 'armed robbery' but if no one got hurt? 'Drug dealers?' and 'addicts' were they that bad? Or did it depend more on the drug involved? Prostitution, whilst illegal tended not to be the woman's occupation of choice so it seemed hardly fair to punish with death.

Once he had the filter constructed it took another hour or so to get the system to accept it and begin to work. Then he was faced with the choice. On screen was a button that said Run. He sighed, took a deep breath and clicked on it. After a few tense minutes the computer stopped processing and outputted the data. A new button was high-lighted Compare. This too was clicked upon. The list of the first Kira victims up until Sakura TV appeared next to the list of criminals announced in the same period but run through the filter. A number materialised on screen.

87 percent accuracy. Light gasped and quickly brought up the names that did not feature on both lists. On the filtered list were criminals with names unknown or photos not shown, and on the other list were victims that L had already suggested were killed under pressure. With this he made some adjustments in the filter and recalculated.

96.3 percent. Oh god, I'm going to be sick. This proves it, L's been right all along…

"Hey everybody look! Yagami-kun's finally done it!" Aizawa, walking behind him had just spotted what was on the screen.

"Let me see that." L almost leaped across the room in his excitement to see if he'd finally got his lead.

"Oh wow, well done Light-kun. 96 percent huh?" Matsuda slapped him on the back.

"Does it work on the rest of the data?" At Mogi's request Light started clicking away and the team collectively held their breath as the mouse came to hover over the Run button.

"83 percent huh? That's to be expected isn't it with that other Kira messing things up. Well I think that proves it Ryuzaki, the old Kira and the new Kira are the same, my son is innocent!" His dad actually had his arm round him as he beamed with pride.

"That is still to be seen." His father glowered at the detective. "but I guess it does seem rather unlikely now, well done Yagami-kun!" L said as he sent him an affectionate smile.

Oh goody

"Well come on then Yagami-kun, now you've got it working set up that system of yours and we'll have a proper go at it tomorrow." Said Aizawa who was also smiling at him.

"Yeh! With this I bet I'll be no time at all until we catch Kira!" A few of the others joined in with Matsuda's cheer.

But who will we catch?

Then the computer, after working so well all afternoon seemed to sense the imbalance in the universe, promptly crashed.

Although that might have had something to do with him surreptitiously pulling out a cable or two.

What the hell was happening to this timeline! He turned his back for two minutes and those two were hoping into bed or sneaking into broom closets! Never mind purging the world of crime and controlling the investigation, it was protecting his younger self that was the hard work. 'I don't get it – I'm not gay!' and it wasn't as though this time was that much different either.

'The chain! Don't tell me that the only thing keeping Ryuzaki and I from making wild animalistic love with each other was that damn chain!' Then again, being permanently attached to someone is probably totally unconducive to attraction. No space, no freedom, driving each other up the wall, showering, farting and taking a crap in front of the other certainly removed any passion from the atmosphere. So was that it? With the freedom to pick your nose in privacy love may bloom…well not if he could help it!

Over the last 2 months Light had been waging a constant battle against the lustful teenage hormones of his younger self. His first course of action was to seek unknowing allies in the form of his father and the old man. Watari must be going senile or did he really think that it was just his good luck that the screens would just happen to flick to the right camera as soon as the boys found themselves alone? Sometimes a little bit of prompting was needed, such as causing the sprinkler light to flash and catch they eye at just the right moment.

If his allies were busy, then the young lovers might find certain doors were oh so inconveniently locked, an occupied shower that the other approached immediately turned scalding, romantic cake by candlelight instantly set off fire alarms and occasionally those elevator door shut too fast. One was left behind, whilst the other was taken on a slow ride to the top of the building then being left to walk off his lust descending 23 stories due to sudden lift malfunction. Once when his younger self was forcefully rammed up against the fridge and was just about to be slobbered upon, a few mouse clicks on his part resulted in a gush if ice cubes from the abused appliance into the face of the aggressor.

Well he would admit it; he was a bit of a bastard.

That was of course without the emails and personal appearances he put in…that made him a full- on dickhead. Oh, he would never get tired of spying L on his lonesome, turning up, making some derogatory comment or physically assaulting him then slipping out just as his younger self arrived. He was surprised L still felt frisky after all those groin based injuries and deprecation he received. Perhaps it was time to really turn things up?

Beep beep beep

Kiss "Misa sweety" kiss "Do you remember what I need you to do for me?"

Giggle, stroke "Yup! Don't worry Lighty can count on his Misa-Misa!" kiss Light looked down at the semi naked woman writhing on his crotch. 'Oh dear! Gothic-Lolita lingerie has a lot to answer for.' Misa was not so much as wearing the … 'garments' as she was standing next to them. It, being the rather small amount of lace held together with shear force of will as far as Light could ascertain, was red, very red. With red lacy stockings, red fluffy shoes and something up top that was presumably meant to be a bra but seemed not to fit the form nor the purpose that was suggested by the word 'bra'.

"Here, slip on your (red) silk gown. Now remember L doesn't know I've been sneaking off to come see you, so I'm going to pretend I haven't been and remember, I'm very good at acting. But..."

"If we show L just how much we love each other he'll have to let us stay together!"

Kiss "Yes! Well done! And what else?"

"I must be careful not to mention when you come and see me, 'cos other wise he'll stop you from coming."

Kiss "Perfect! You were always perfect my beautiful Misa."

L was sitting, crouched in a… No L was leading the Kira investigation, it was Ryuzaki who was hiding in a spare room and …had something in his eye. Both eyes in fact because they were watering like anything. 'Of course he would…isn't he always telling me how much he hates me and how ugly I am…' he felt foolish, how could he have missed it? He was a detective for crying out loud!

It had been Yagami-san who had forced them to go visit Misa. He'd been hinting for weeks that they ought to, "Light would enjoy it"……

'Oh!oh! Did he know?'

Had he been trying to warn Ryuzaki this whole time? Was it not his homophobia speaking but his concern? Yagami-san already knew his son was a four-timer …

'I bet they all knew… they were just trying to help, but I couldn't see that.'

Amane-san was beautiful, lovely and bouncy in all the right places. and Ryuzaki was…not.

They had brought cake and pop with them for the 'date'. Light had been grumpy, apparently he was half way through analysing some new data, so he hadn't been pleased when his father had forcefully thrown them from the work room. He stopped stomping however when Ryuzaki had took his hand and smiled at him and they'd walked together upstairs. But then Watari had arrived with the tea things to escort them to Misa's room and ensure they didn't 'get lost' along the way. Misa's room was softly lit with candles and romantic music: that only caused the two of them to snigger. Misa's knowledge of romantic music apparently began and ended with any song that had 'love' in the title. As they sat down Misa announced herself.

Ryuzaki's mouth had fallen open and in the shock his cupcake slid between his fingers and squelched on the floor. She'd stood there like a Gothic Aphrodite, the shear force of her sexuality hitting him like a…like a … an incomparable force that knocked the metaphors right out of him. He'd seen naked women before of course (typically the sort with chalk outlines round them) but this one seemed somehow… more naked even though she was, apparently, adequately dressed. In a vision of red she'd strutted over to them, using every modelling trick she knew and a few of those usually confined to the casting couch. It was only when she settled herself upon her equally stunned boyfriend that Ryuzaki had remembered his existence or noticed that Misa had apparently been speaking to them. Misa wobbled and Light reached to support her unsure of where was polite to place his hands and ending up with handfuls of lithe young woman.

"Oh Lighty!! It's been soon long, and why did you bring him with you this time? How are we supposed to have our fun with that pervert hanging around?" Misa's hand fiddled with Light's top button as the other coyly played with his fringe offset by a few covert moves of her hips that had Light stammering as he desperately tried to find her eyes more fascinating than her cleavage and failing miserably.

"I'm surprised you came back so soon after what we got up to last time! He he he!!"

"uh-erk!" apparently Misa had just rubbed something interesting.

"Of course hanging around with that freak must be so terrible, I shouldn't really be surprised."

"Myah!"

"Such an icky thing isn't he, can't blame you for sneaking off again at any opportunity. Don't worry Lighty! ! Misa-Misa will cheer you up!" She leaned forward making her point by submerging her boyfriend's face in boob.

"Mmf." Hands raised to push the model away found themselves distracted and lost by her bum.

That was it! He couldn't take it anymore and shaking Ryuzaki stumbled to his feet. She looked up at him and her gaze pinned him to the wall. She smiled widely, "Don't look so grossed out Ryuga! I know you don't get out much, but really! This is what it looks like when two people are in love so maybe you'll understand now 'Light is mine'. He he!" His fingers slipped as they scrambled at the door handle but he managed to open it.

"Ryu!" Light had managed to free his face and was attempting to stand up against the model's best efforts. "Misa! Get off me!" he stumbled and they both collapsed to the floor behind the sofa.

"Oh Lighty YesYyes!"

Slipping out the door Ryuzaki lurched blindly along the corridor to the stairwell and down a few flights to he came upon the room he was now in.

.

.

.

.

It was another disused bedroom, barren and dusty now darkening as grey and dreary evening settled. Tape and wires hung from gaps in the celling, boxes, paint tins and the odd screwdriver were pilled up in a corner. He stepped into the room and glanced around at yet another waste of space and disorder before flipping the light switch. Nothing happened.

And that was it, after a frustrating day in a frustrating month, after that thing upstairs, it was the broken light switch that reduced the great detective L to this, to tears. He shook as he slumped down the wall, behind his knees his hands couldn't stop the deluge that flowed freely down his face. And inside he screamed. Why does nothing work? It's just a damn light, why can't it work? A light, Light.

He wasn't sure quite how long he sat there for as the room darkened slowly, lit only from the traffic below. He calmed down after a while and now sat resting up against the glass starring down at the world, watching the patterns of red and white lights on the roads and the people that traversed them. How carefree they are, how do they cope? Doesn't Kira scare them or do they cheer for him?

Or do they wait for me? Do any of them still think I can do this? Justice aside, I'm useless. All I'm good for is money, rhetoric and pointless accusations. Light is the one doing most for this case…

… am I even L anymore?

Footsteps approached, the door opened and Light stood there with a sad smile on his face.

"Hey Ryu. Why are you sitting in the dark?"

He flipped the switch.

And light filled the room.

"How was I Lighty?" Misa stood demure and unsure. She'd done everything her knight had asked of her but he'd wriggled away and ran after the freak.

Had his plan gone wrong? Had she messed up?

"My dear, you were perfect." Light, for all his years of knowing the model, had never understood her propensity for self doubt and meekness when it came to certain issues. It was something he'd always found initiating in her and women in general; the idea that they should seek approval for their every action.

It was why they would never succeed and why he could use them as he pleased.

Misa knew she was a beautiful, attractive and talented woman, yet seemed in constant need to be reminded of the fact by those around her. Light on the other hand knew how perfect he was but didn't feel the need to ask the world if they agreed, instead, he told them. Arrogance some might call it and of course he had to be careful not to go too far, but it worked. Tell people you're good and they'll believe you, ask them and they'll have to think about it and will find you lacking. Misa could be so sexy, so commanding and powerful, have anyone she liked (him included) worshipping her, if only there wasn't to be found in her eyes a little girl desperately seeking your approval.

The room, now beautifully lit, turned the world outside to nothing but inky blackness. "When there's too much light we are blind to everything else." L whispered to himself. He'd ignored Light, not sure of what he wanted to say, or if he trusted himself not to say too much should he start. So Light crossed the room and carefully sat down next to him.

"Umm…" Light stammered and then paused. Ryuzaki wasn't looking at him, but was trying to face his own reflection in the black mirror. Light sighed and then carefully went to grasp the detective's left hand, who after a moments resistance surrendered and allowed the fingers to thread between his own. Neither said anything but let the silence to reign, just watching the darkened clouds gather outside.

After a while and when L could be sure the last trace of redness would be gone from his eyes he spoke.

"Yagami-kun, are you Kira?" It wasn't what Light had been expecting and it threw him a little, but he paused and though about his answer and with only a slight unease replied.

"I … don't know." L turned with genuine surprise to gaze at the young man, but their hands remained clasped.

"You don't know? Well that's new. How so?"

"I guess I …dunno,donno but it seems like I think like Kira… and well you were always pretty convinced I was." And then with a sudden rushed energy he went on.

"It's the programme! Everyone thinks I'm amazing for figuring it out but really all I did was decide who I'd kill if I was Kira and the whole thing just popped out. If you add up everyone who I'd punish you get almost exactly the victim list for the first Kira! But I swear Ryu…I wouldn't…" He stopped, as though worried that armed police officers might burst into the room.

"Oh." Said Ryuzaki. "Your moral code matches Kira's huh?" Hehe turned back to the window. "Suppose"suppose I'd better arrest you then."

"I guess." Said Light equally despondent.

"But but you ought to have noticenoticed by now that I haven't Light-kun." He sighed. "It it was a nice theory I guess, that moral code thing, when you look at it from far away, but when you start to work with it you realise it's utter bollocks. Don't look at me like that, do you remember that test I made you take a while back, well I took it too. It seems we have quite similar opinions about crime. So then I got a few more samples and realised that most people have quite similar opinions on crime. However much I tried to narrow it down and find your justice unique, I couldn't do it. From the results its only possible to tell you're younger than 40, middle class, educated and probably male. You're not unique in any way in your opinions."

"Only probably huh?" Light said with a slight smile on his face.

"In fact, I'm coming to the conclusion that Light-kun is probably not Kira, although the chances of him at one point having been Kira or used by Kira still hovers around 25 percent and 35 percent respectively."

"Really, that low?" He gave L's hand a little squeeze who too now smiled slightly

"Though I guess I do wish that Yagami-kun was Kira sometimes." He said. "Yagami-Kira would be a good Kira I think." He wouldn't kill like this, mass, pointless, waves of death.

We would dance together in a waltz of lies and treachery, with none of this senseless vulgar march of destruction. Kira no longer cares for his dream of winningwining over the hearts and minds of the populous, or creating a just and free society. He doesn't even seem to care about me anymore. No longer do we exchange move and counter move, bluffs and charges. Now he bulldozes right over me, L is nothing more than a joke to him. The world's greatest detective could do no more than stare blindly after Kira as he vanished so completely you wondered if he'd ever been there in the first place.

Light broke through his reverie.

"This room is depressing. Let's go." They stood and walked toward the door, Ryuzaki not sure why he was following but reluctant to let go nonetheless.

They arrived on the roof and L wondered quite how this was supposed to be an improvement of downstairs. Though lighter now, night was setting in, the grungy grey rain clouds that had stuck around all day now pilled up in to storm clouds that squatted over the sky ominously. The air was humid and dirty, polluted to the brim and the wind! It whipped about, howling round the building with every promise to get colder and faster. It was not surprising then that L choose to remain in the relative shelter of the doordoor way rather than follow Light out onon to the deck. Light instead decided to run out and laughed, as he did so his hair and clothes were ripping up and around him.

.

.

"Oh god Ryuzaki. Look its amazing!" For some reason the detective remained huddled in the door way rather than come out here and just feel it. The wind that rushed around him was full of life, the air electric and those dark and rolling storm clouds just screamed excitement. The gust of energy that rushed around his feet and blow the hair from his face filled him to the brim with some unspeakable desire to just be, exist for the moment and revel in the somethingness of the atmosphere. He spun around, experiencing a great feeling of power and life as all around him nature danced around him ready to release itself in one moment to the world.

"Ryuzaki! Come out here! It's great!" he called again

.

.

No way! He was cold enough as it was and he wasn't going to prance about on a roof when it was clearly about to rain. "No thankyou Yagami-kun, I'll stay-" He he was right it did start to rain. Although rain hardly seemed like a suitable word. In one instant the whole world was just wet, as though the water had decided not to bother with the whole falling part of the deal. His view of Light was now blurred by the rain's seemingly difficult task of making things wetter. It It pelted down, bucket sized rain drops smashing into the roof with brick like force. Light gave a scream of laughter but instead of running back toward the door instead spun faster cackling with almost manic glee.

.

.

It was marvellous, his hair rammed against his head, clothes now twice as heavy but feeling so, so so powerful. He stopped his spinning and sighted L standing horror stuck in the doordoor way. Slipping and skidding over there Light grabbed the shocked detective and dragged him free of the doorway and on to the roof.

"Ahhh! Let me go! Let me go Light!" The the detective struggled and flailed against him but Light held firm, wrapping his arm around his shoulders then forcing their mouths together. Ryuzaki froze in his arms for a moment but then melted into the kiss and slipped his arms around Light's waist, the fridged cold of the rain brilliantly counterpointed but the searing heat of the other's body sending delightful shivers up his spine.

The kiss ended and they stood apart a little.

Then Light took his sodden sleeve and flicked a few drops of water on to Ryuzaki's face. And under a rain that could not have made things any wetter the absurdity of Light's action broke something inside of him and he started laughing. After everything that had brought him down, this lifted him and set him free and once he started he couldn't stop, doubling up in side-splitting, frenzied laughter, the tension washed away like the water off the roof. What did anything matter when for a moment they could just be? He grabbed Light's hands and together they span in circles, joking and shoving, happy just existing.

Suddenly a bolt if lightning smashed through the sky and the thunder pounded against the eardrums almost together and seemingly very close. Both yelped and jumped in close together before once again bursting out in to laughter.

"Come on Light. Lets head inside, it's dangerous out here!"

"No way, you wimp! Ha ha this is great!" And and with that the younger man grabbed him flipped him over his shoulder and began spinning him again. Another flash and boom followed, closer still and Ryuzaki yelped.

"Hey you! What are you so scared of?" Light brought him close and stood there gazing into his eyes before leaning in to kiss him. Another flash and the world turned white for an instant.

But!

There, over Light's shoulder, standing by the helicopter platform, looking down on him with a terrible shining smile and deep red eyes, dry and menacing in the midst of all the rain, was Light?

Another flash and nothing stood by the tower.

A very angry Watari and Soichiro stood waiting for them back inside the building. The looks on their faces enough to make them immediately break their clasped hands and stand like naughty school boys, dripping and shivering they stood apart a little and waited for the yelling to begin.

And it did. It started with a "Of all the silly things you've…" from Watari in his quiet and most livid voice and included words like, "hypothermia, electrocution, slip and fall." Whence it moved on to words like "duty, obligation and responsibility." And finishing with, "reputation, honer and integrity.". Soichiro warmed up with the popular "I didn't raise you to…" which he followed with a "what will your mother think?" before he settled on disorganised rant of the "disgusting, homo and faggot" type.

Light's face was burning with embarrassment and a combination of shame and indignation. L slouched, hands crammed into pockets trying to look his normal disinterested self, only shivering slightly. Wasn't he affected by this? L never seemed that bothered about what other people thought of him, but surely this tirade should have broken through his stony facade. For him though, the good child, such anger from his father was a terrifying experience, not quite on the same level as his fake execution, but very similar to the fear and terror of waiting for his fathers reaction to Light having shoved his 6 year old sister down the stairs and braking her arm.

However along with all the emotions directed inward, Light had a strong feeling of shame for his father. I knew he was a little conservative, but is this really how he feels? How does he survive as a police officer if this is what he really thinks? Doesn't he know about Mogi? Even Light had heard about Mogi, Matsuda had told him a one of his father's work parties, quite high up in the LGBT Police Association apparently and always attended the Pride marches.

He didn't want to listen to his father and couldn't bear to even look at him so followed the normal trick of just staring past one shoulder and letting his mind fall blank. Maybe it was better this way? Although Light hadn't really decided what he felt about the thing between L and him, there were only so many times his father could get mad about it, so might as well get it over with. It wasn't as though his father hadn't had the time to get used to the idea, or that his son was going to stop just because he'd told him to. Light was often mistakenly thought of as an obedient son, but this was not the case, it was just that his parents has so far made sensible demands of him and ones that he was prepared to listen to.

That will change though, when they find out that I'm Kira.

What ever Ryuzaki said it didn't change the fact that it was Light's very specific preferences that could be used to work the 'Kira hunting' programme. There seemed to be nothing he could do, each day he would work tirelessly to convict himself of the world's greatest murder. Perhaps this was L's real plan; sit sulking all day in order to force Light to gather evidence against himself just for something to do.

Or maybe L was right? Light knew in his heart that he couldn't actually, really, be Kira, it just had to be a mistake, and the only way to prove that was to find out who was Kira. If they were able to catch someone else the guilt would be removed, Light would be innocent. Catching Kira was going to be a long and arduous process, the data analysis had only just started today and only in a week or so would they have anything sensible to work with.

Part of his father's speech then seemed to permeate his thoughts. "…you never take account of anyone else's views" account, accountant… wasn't there an accountant killed today by Kira? Suspected embezzlement, yeh Wanabe Jirou, pretty high up in Akihabara International.

Wasn't there that other guy too? A senior accountant for the Bank of Tokyo - killed last week.

They were Bastard-Kira's weren't they? Well I certainly wouldn't kill anyone for banking crimes.

Oh! And another from Ginza Plc! No, wait, he was an investment banker not an accountant. I thought I was on to something. And then his eyes just staring past his father's shoulder alighted on his collar…white collar crimes, ….city bosses committing fraud, receptionists stealing, breach of contracts, board men and office juniors… corporate crime…there's been a whole lot of that about recently hasn't there… and they're all being punished… by Bastard-Kira!

That's it!

He spun suddenly to L startling his father and Watari. "Ryuzaki! I think I've got it, Kira has made a mistake!"

"What!?" Gasped L but Light was already running, he reached the lift and slapped the call button, opening the lift doors. L didn't hesitate and flew after him, slipping in just behind as the doors shut and the angry yells of the older men echoed around them. "Get back here! We weren't finished with you yet."

As the lift descended Light excitedly explained his tantalising theory. "Its not many, one or two a week but they're definitely not the work of the old Kira, and when you take into consideration new Kira's far fewer murders, the killing of business men becomes far more proportionally significant.. Kira has a grudge against white collar crimes!" L was silent, partially because he wouldn't have got a word in edgewise with Light in this hyperactive state but mostly because his brain was boiling. What did this mean? Why had new Kira taken such a vendetta against the corporate world?

The elevator doors dinged open and Light ran to the computer, knocking a shocked Aizawa off his chair and began typing furiously.

"Yagami-kun! What in the…why are you guys soaked?"

"Quite Aizawa-san!" said L as he too force the policeman out of the way and positioned himself in front of the computer. Graphs started appearing on screen, numbers started rushing by on a second monitor. "Look I was right! See these trends here, business related deaths are increasing way beyond any other type, 15 percent growth month on month!"

"What? Why would Kira do that?" said Matsuda as he rushed over to take a look.

"I don't know, maybe Kira is an aggrieved business man, got laid off or fired." Suggested the rather peeved Aizawa.

"Why's it increasing though? You'd think if you had a grudge you'd be angriest at the start not slowly hate it more." Asked Matsuda.

"Yes and the rate's increasing gradually but regularly, even if you did hate it more you wouldn't always hate it exactly 15 percent more each… why so habitual? Kira would only want to do that if…"

"…He was trying to hide it from us!" Finished L.

"Of course, the police would notice right away if all business criminals were targeted." Said Light as he turned to Ryuzaki.

"Then if he doesn't want us to know, it is not his sudden distaste for white collar crime he's trying to hide…"started L

"…he must have an ulterior motive, some how Kira is benefiting from this." Concluded Light.

"but how? Why would anyone want to do this deliberately? The economy has gone haywire, the news keeps talking about recession." Said Matsuda.

"That's the other Kira's work, no a few well placed deaths might be propelling Kira up the career ladder. It would certainly bring new meaning to the phrase 'waiting for dead men's shoes.'" Mogi added finally joining in the conversation.

"No, this feels bigger than that; it may even be affecting the whole banking industry. Yagami-kun bring up the financial times site please." Light typed in the URL and L pressed enter and then leaned round him to take over the mouse. It took them around ten minutes to find what they were looking for, during which time Watari and Soichiro had made it downstairs and had the situation explained to them by Aizawa.

It was big, even bigger than L had suggested. Not just concerning banks but instead a huge multinational conglomerate with interests in almost any conceivable market area– Yotsuba corporation.

They were everywhere. Up until a week or so ago Yotsuba had been enjoying massive growth with vast profits, and even now with the market in recession with stocks falling, Yotsuba was still miles ahead of their competitors, in graceful belt-tightening rather than the free fall losses and insolvency facing the competition.

It became all that more conclusive when Light started checking off deaths against companies and effects on the market. Every one left Yotsuba better off, every one was an advantage.

And it was then whilst Light and L were hogging the creative spotlight that Matsuda made his greatest contribution to the case.

"Hey Light-kun what about Aihara Miki?"

"Don't be so stupid Matsuda! It says right there she died in a house fire." But Light just acting on the name had already typed it in and pressed enter.

"Oh" said Light. It seemed that around the time of Aihara's death Yotsuba's stock had taken a sudden jump. A bit of research later and… "She was head of marketing at Industrial Illusions, she was due to announce a whole new product range the day before she died. All the files and documents were lost in the fire, because of this the company had to delay the launch of a new technology that would have directly rivalled Yotsuba's VDU and electronics divisions."

Silence filled the investigation room as each man chose to privately contemplate the implications of that information.

"Kira … is perhaps… not so restricted ….to heart attacks." Said L quite clearly shaken.

"Oh my god!" Matsuda gasped as he tried to imagine the possibilities.

"Good lord! Kira could have been killing secretly for months now. Light quickly! Look for more possible victims."

"And what do you want me to search for dad? People who've died in the last year!"

"Well I think we can assume that the methods must be accidental or natural."

"Why? There's no reason to think it's limited to that! For all we know anything's possible, catching bubonic plague, struck by meteor or maybe even being raped to death by a troupe of rabid gorillas!"

"Yagami-kun don't be silly. I understand it is now going to be a lot more difficult to unpick Kira's moves now that any death is possibly a victim, but what you forget is that tonight we have uncovered a substantial lead on this case." Said L and a suddenly much more relaxed voice.

"You're right! We've finally cracked it!" Cried Matsuda as he gave a little victory dance.

"We could probably even get a warrant on this information, couldn't we chief?" Said Mogi, grinning.

"Definitely, we can pull their records. Get all information on meetings and accounts." Replied Yagami.

"We're really getting somewhere aren't we? Ha ha it's back to that old policing chestnut "follow the money", and this time Kira is at the end of the trail." Declared a psyched Aizawa.

"Yes, gentlemen I believe it may not be too long until we're able to shut Kira down as they say." Said a smiling Watari.

"Kira's making mistakes. These deaths are not random; they're linked to him and him alone. Watari, we're going to need some help with this one, call in Weddy and Aiba." Said L, and for the first time in months actually sounding happy whilst working. "Now everyone, we've made a lot of progress tonight but we should probably…" He looked around at the excited and eager faces around him. "Fine if you want to stay, then start looking for more victims, you four" he gestured vaguely to the police officers "dig through the obituaries and the financial magazines then maybe we'll have to try hospital and governmental records. Watari, bring everyone a highly caffeinated beverage of choice and a slice of the Special Cake. This is a celebration!" The team moved away to their specific tasks, except… I almost forgot. "Yagami-kun!" The team paused and turned to the boy who'd been silent for some minutes. "well…Well done! Your achievements here tonight, no all your work has been of an exemplary level and your dedication…"

"Woo! Go Light-kun." Yelled Matsuda as he punched the air.

Aizawa clapped him on the back and said "Good work Yagami-kun!"; that was chorused and cheered by the others.

His father placed a hand upon his shoulder, "I'm very proud of you son." He said sounding very much as though he meant it and also very, very, releived.

Watari arrived then with the celebratory cake, a double layered chocolate affair liberally coated in sprinkles and curly icing, and began handing out slices on little plates.

Matsuda then cleared his throat and started in an awkward and stilted voice, "um, Ryuzaki…and er Light-kun are you aware that you're um…holding hands?" the whole room stilled into a self-conscious, uncomfortable moment. "Oh" whispered Light as he looked down and noticed that indeed he was holding L's hand.

"Ah" said L "ummm opps" he slowly and carefully removed his hand from Lights's. No one spoke and no one knew quite what to say as the tension slowly built. Each man desperately rung him brain for anything to say or do to somehow break the worsening silence and the social inadequacy. Someone carefully placed the cake plate down but the clatter rang loud in the echoing room.

Finally after what seemed like hours Yagami-san caved and began to speak with an angry but carefully measured voice "Fine, go on then if you must!"

And with that L leaned across and kissed Light on the mouth.

After a few modest seconds Light blushed and turned away. To which L growled in annoyance, grabbed the back of his head and brought him back for a proper full on snog. Matsuda after a moment made a decision and whooped loudly "Go L!". Aizawa, Mogi and Watari sent concerned glances to Soichiro who was glaring death at a patch of carpet near his feet. Light, now even more embarrassed, attempted to extricate himself from L's clutches but instead, through leaning further and further back, over balanced his chair and ended up dragging the startled detective and a half eaten slice of cake with him on his short and painful trip to the floor.

The team together laughed at L's perplexed and disorientated expression and then even more so when they realised that Light's pained expression was not due to the fall but instead the result of L's knee colliding with his groin. L joined them upon seeing Light's face contort into a look of abject horror when he realised his pristine hair had been involved with a fatal collision with a chocolate based sponge desert and Light just sat their and pouted, wiping the chocolatey gue off his head.

In monitor #73 L yelped as he was slapped with a hand full of cake. He grabbed Light around the middle and wrestled him back to the ground and began to smear the cream further into the soft brown hair as the rest of the room cheered him on. #67 showed from a better angle Light twisting out of the hold and getting ready with another slice of cake before in #71 a skillful swipe from Watari stopped the projectile from entering the foray. A handkerchief was produced and the older man attempted to clean the worst off his employer's face. #65 displayed Yagami-san hoisting his son to his feet and frog marching him off toward the bathroom. The remaining policemen all moved towards the computers still talking excitedly about the progress made. Web pages were loaded, programmes were run and names were found, all as a slightly sticky detective barked orders at them.

And all watched, far away in the parasitic control room, by Kira.

"And so it begins." Kira reached over to his right and pulled out the notebook, putting pen to paper.

The shinigami watched on, more unnerved, more worried and more alarmed by what he had just witnessed in the last ten minutes than by anything else he had experienced in his existence. Ryuk didn't speak, didn't eat his apple, didn't even reveal himself in the room, for, top of he list of things that unnerved, worried and alarmed him was that persistent red glow in Kira's eyes that would no longer fade.

… My god that was long! what do you all prefer, shorter more frequent updates or longer less frequent updates? although it won't make that much difference cos the next chaper will be done when it gets to the next plot point, but do you think i made the chapter unessecerly long with all that pointless whitering or did you appreachiate all the references and the geo-political angle?

as a test lets play 'Spot the gag!' over the last few chapeters there has been a reacuring joke aimed at the multi-lingual... even by bata didn't see it but if you spotted it tell me and they'll be prizes! there's also a reference to a famouse book that came out recently that will be the title of the next chapter, get either of those and your prize will be an exclusive preview to the bonus chapter a week before anyone else sees it... he he.

I won't say much other than I promise the next instalment will be a little sooner than last time. Also just a reminder that any review is greatly appreciated and will defiantly motivate me to start writing as soon as possible.