Law and Right

Warnings for this chapter: Angst, fluff, WIP.
SPOILERS: All manga, all anime, L's true name.

Important names
Kenshin -- a name meaning "modest truth," Soichiro's alias.

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Law and Right

Chapter 21: Suspicious

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The days and weeks slid past, 22, 23, 24, 25 days since Near's confinement began. There had been two more sightings of Ryuk on traffic cams since then, and each time accidents had occurred. The death toll was swiftly approaching 10,000 and it would only take a week or two to get there at the current rate.

In that time, Mello had made contact. A simple letter, delivered by the man himself. It was dropped in the building lobby and he was gone before anyone reached the ground floor.

The letter was carefully examined, and led to a good, solid lead. They had missed a suspiciously high streak of death amongst sports professionals. Specifically, baseball players.

The names were put into a file, along with the close relatives and significant others. It was cross referenced with all the other files and turned up nothing. Until, that was, Matsuda took a little while to look at the data.

"The connection," Matsuda announced with a mountain of smugness, "is the NHN anchor, Kiyomi Takada. She is known to have a sympathetic view of Kira, and her boyfriend is a baseball player who indirectly benefits from all these deaths. Each one of them has somehow hindered his goals this season, and they all died in freak accidents," he smirked.

"That is very good work, Matsuda-san!" Ryuzaki said brightly. "It's very possible that this anchor is a solid connection. We should bring her in for questioning as soon as possible."

"The only problem," Soichiro replied slowly, "is her high profile. People will notice if she goes missing. It would be best if we could put her under surveillance quietly."

"Then we will start with her home," and Ryuzaki turned to his computer, delivering orders to Watari to arrange the surveillance.

Another long week passed, and nothing turned up. The death toll reached 10,000 ahead of schedule. Takada was watched with as much consistency as possible, and there wasn't a bit of suspicious activity. Every move she made was simple, clean, and entirely candid. Including the sex with her baseball boyfriend.

Light had to leave the room when those particular activities were going on. He did, however, manage to escape any fresh panic attacks because of it. That, he decided, was a pretty good sign.

One evening, when he and Ryuzaki were settling down in bed, they spent a bit of time being closer than usual. Kissing, shy touches to bare flesh, but entirely above the belt. It left him feeling warm and a bit like he were floating up in the clouds, and the sleep that followed it was peaceful.

Waking the next morning with his bare chest pressed to Ryuzaki's bare back wasn't half bad, either. He scattered kisses on those pale shoulders to wake the other, and they both found themselves in a better mood for the intimacy. It quickly became a habit.

On the 30th day of confinement, Near was released.

"Are you satisfied that I am not Kira?" Near asked as he returned to the main floor, frowning at the dust that had settled on his dice fortress. He began dismantling it and replacing the dice in their boxes.

"You should not have to ask that question, Near," Ryuzaki replied simply, his hands in his pockets as he watched his potential heir.

Decide

The word haunted him in that moment, and his mind wandered. He moved to his seat, drew his legs up and considered as he looked in on Takada's empty apartment. It was, he had decided, a red herring. A very clever one. Clever enough to fool them all, and who was capable of such a feat? As his monitor powered down, went black, Ryuzaki was able to see a vague reflection of Near in the screen.

But it just didn't fit. He sighed to himself and filled Near in on Mello's information.

"And what did your surveillance turn up?" Near asked when Ryuzaki had finished.

"Nothing conclusive, but it is unlikely that she knew of the cameras, and even more unlikely that she is Kira," Ryuzaki replied.

"Have you tracked Mello down yet?" Near asked without skipping a beat.

There was a long silence. "Yes. He is being monitored carefully."

Near curled his finger in a bit of hair. "I see. Have you ruled him out?"

"No," Ryuzaki replied swiftly. "In fact, he's looking more and more like Kira as the days pass."

That was news to Light, but he said nothing, watching the exchange over a cup of coffee. He folded his legs, relaxing where he sat and let his gaze travel to the rest of the task force, hard at work assembling data, working new angles as soon as they came to light.

Light returned his gaze to Near, narrowed his eyes in thought and let his mind wander a wispy thread of thought. "Ryuzaki," he spoke up a moment later, when Ryuzaki was in the middle of detailing the surveillance setup for Takada's apartment.

A bit miffed at being interrupted, Ryuzaki frowned at him. "Yes, Toshio-kun?"

"It is possible for Kira to be... Kira without a Shinigami possessing them," Light said.

"Yes," Ryuzaki said slowly. They'd already been over that.

"All Kira needs to do is pass the orders on to the proxy, who would retain ownership of the Death Note and thusly be the one haunted by a Shinigami. Additionally, the Shinigami does not have to remain with the human it haunts constantly. It is permitted to leave for relatively short periods of time," Light looked at Ryuzaki again.

"Toshio-kun, we've spoken of all this before," Ryuzaki responded.

Light frowned, sipped his coffee again. "We have not cleared anyone of innocence. Not Takada, not Near, not myself, nor you, nor anyone at all. The only way we can discover the truth is to follow the Shinigami. Eventually, Ryuk has to return to the person who owns the Death Note."

"Are you accusing me of being Kira?" Near asked dryly.

"I am saying that none of us have been proven innocent," Light replied firmly. "If you have someone you would trust with your life outside this building, then it's entirely possible that you are Kira. It's true for all of us."

The taskforce had fallen silent, paying attention to the conversation now.

"That is a very good point, Toshio-kun," Ryuzaki replied quietly, pressing his thumb to his lips. "Even I cannot be cleared of suspicion, and if the Kira is really as smart as we believe, then he certainly would have taken this into consideration. We must assume that whoever is Kira, is not the one writing the names in the Death Note."

"Then how will we prosecute?" Near frowned, tugging at his hair.

"We will gather evidence," Ryuzaki replied firmly. "We will interrogate, and we will prove the truth."

The expression on Near's face was carefully blank as he returned his attention to his dice.

Two months later, there had been no more Ryuk sightings anywhere in Japan, so far as they could tell. The taunting had ended, and it was an unsettling thing. Light was relieved that he didn't need to speak his thoughts aloud. He could see the nagging suspicion he felt mirrored in Ryuzaki's eyes.

It was an early Sunday evening and they had gone up to the roof, standing under those cherry trees and considering the skyline in silence. Their hands were curled together, savoring the warmth of each other, the confidence in one another. They were not Kira, neither one of them was, and they had no doubts about it. The case was finally beginning to solidify, but it was leading in directions that were making Ryuzaki restless.

For the first time, Light was in the position of comforter, providing reassurance that they were taking the proper path.

"I would like... to try going out for another walk," Light began at length. "With company, of course."

"With Kenshin-san?" Ryuzaki asked softly, turning his gaze to Light, smiling a little when he nodded. "All right. Whenever you want to go."

"Thank you," Light said softly, leaning in for a soft kiss.

"The majority of graduates from the orphanage are homosexual," Near announced his presence with that tidbit, slowly making his way across the roof to them, lowering to the ground a few feet away, curling a finger in his hair.

"Is that so?" Ryuzaki asked, turning to gaze at Near. "I never was too interested in that statistic."

"You have to consider all the angles," Near replied easily, tugging on his hair slightly. "Mello and Matt are in a relationship. I've traced the shop they're getting Mello's chocolate from and have confirmed Matt going in to receive and pay for the shipment. He's been tailed back to their current hideout."

"And Matt didn't make the tail?" Ryuzaki raised an eyebrow, pulling away from Light, stepping closer to Near.

"Not to my knowledge. The base is under surveillance now, if you wish to confirm," Near shrugged lightly. "There have been no sightings of the shinigami yet."

"I see. Thank you," Ryuzaki replied.

A camera's shutter flickered once more, capturing another image, another moment that would be locked away in film for eternity.

"Of course. I want to catch Kira as much as you do," Near explained.

"And why do you think that Mello is Kira?" Light asked easily. "I understand he's something of a loose cannon, but that alone isn't reason for suspicion."

"His true name was on the test scores," Near replied flatly.

"Wouldn't that imply you more than it does him?" Light put his hands on his hips.

"Only if he isn't attempting to make it look that way," Near tugged at his hair again. "If he is, in fact, Kira, he would be trying to throw suspicion onto me, which has been done successfully so far."

"Assuming that you are not Kira," Ryuzaki provided.

"Assuming so," Near agreed.

“We will keep a close eye on the hideout, but make no moves until we have seen the shinigami,” Ryuzaki decided.

“Very well,” Near rose to go inside once more.

That night, Light began going out for an evening walk with his father every day. He suffered a few panic attacks over the next week, but nothing too bad, and each day he grew calmer on the streets, more confident in his own safety.

Until he met Mello.

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A/N: Yay! Two chapters in one day, and I've finally decided for certain on what the outcome will be. Please remember, ALL manga are considered spoiled in this fic, and that means anything and everything included in volume 13: How To Read is fair game for my wicked little mind to play with!

I hope you're all enjoying! I hope to finish this fic within the week. Unless, of course, I decide on another plot extension. I still haven't decided for sure if I'll be including an citrus in this.