The Flaw

Suggested Listening: September by Daughtry

Part 2

~Kira~

An odd feeling flooded through Mello the moment he had taken the notebook out of Near's hands. If asked, Mello knew that he wouldn't have been able to properly explain it. Just a feeling, like something moving through him, and yet it was also more than that...

Mello didn't concentrate on that though, instead intrigued by the words on the cover. Death Note.

"Matt come take a look at this!" he was aware that Near was looking at the book from beside him, but it was enough just to have possession of it.

The front cover held directions, a 'How to Use' page. Mello stared wide eyed at the writing. "The human whose name is written in this note shall...die?" he muttered softly. What the hell was it? L wouldn't play around concerning the investigation, Mello knew that much; and he wouldn't place false formation that was so obviously so, but it couldn't really work... could it?

And if it did, what case was it connected to, surely not a normal one. Wait, Mello thought to himself, was L letting them work on the-

"That notebook is a clue to the Kira case. I'm sure that at least two of you have worked at least that much out by now."

"Does it work?" Near questioned, fingers silently caressing the back cover. Mello didn't care what Near did so long as he could hold the notebook. It was almost as though Mello were being compelled to hold it, to read it.

"Yes." was L's only answer. He didn't need to say anything more; that was Kira's murder weapon, it was self explanatory.

L had asked for their assistance in the Kira case. Mello couldn't help the wide smile that tugged at his lips. He was excited; it was the case of the century perhaps of all of history and he was going to be working on it. Even if Mello had to share his time with L, and experience of the case, with Near it was well worth it.

They had done cases for L before but never with him.

L reached out a hand not too long later and plucked the notebook from Mello's hands; he didn't resist in the slightest.

"I believe it is time for the three of you to eat. Rest well tonight as you all have a lot of catching up to do in the morning." L told them in monotone, his hands being free and pushing away the not even half eaten ice cream.

Mello frowned, he had always heard that L was largely into sweets, and from that it didn't seem normal for the detective to push something like that away, unfinished. But it was merely conjecture on how much L loved sweets, so I was possible he had reached his limit for the day or something like that.

It wasn't something Mello would ask the detective either.

Watari gently urged them to leave the elder detective alone as requested, but Mello didn't budge as he waited for Matt, who slowly moved from his spot by the wall.

"Would you like to look it over quickly before you leave?" L asked Matt, but the gamer shook his head no and easily sidestepped the outstretched notebook. Mello gaped. How could Matt even think of denying L?

But he didn't think anything more on it as the smell of something chocolaty filled the air. "Hurry up Matt!" he growled, tugging on the gamers arm and led him away.

Their dinner had been exquisite and very tasty, nothing like the food of Wammys. It wasn't to say that Wammys House didn't provide well for its children, the children vying for their place as the next L, but sometimes things change was nice.

The same food choices day in and day out got old rather quick.

"What else did it say on the inside cover?" Matt asked him later, as they sat on their separate beds in the room they would be sharing. Mello was hardly surprised that Matt had known there was something more written on it.

As Mello explained the other few 'rules' he had been able to scan, he couldn't help but wonder just why exactly Matt hadn't wanted to touch the notebook. It was more than ignoring L; it was about the book itself. Mello paused mid sentence and suddenly wondered if it had anything to do with the things they didn't talk about. But what could Matt's past have to do with a black notebook, that part didn't make sense.

"Mello?"

Having realized he'd paused for longer than expected he waved it away with a fake yawn, as though being tired made him scatterbrained. Matt eyed him in a disbelieving way but didn't say anything on the matter.

For that Mello was grateful, he didn't want to explain to Matt what he had actually been thinking. Mello would have, if asked, though he was certain Matt wouldn't have appreciated it. No Wammy kid did, not when it was about their past.

"It's been a long few days, we should sleep." Mello said tiredly; he really was tired, though he would have liked to stay awake longer and discuss the case with Matt. The redhead eyed him for a long moment before nodding his head, game turned off for the moment.

"'Night then." Matt called softly as he shut his light off and rolled over, safely under the covers. Mello wasn't sure, but it seemed as though he had offended Matt somewhere along the way, though he couldn't find anything he'd done to do so.

He frowned, lips pressed into a thin line. Matt wasn't usually like that, so easily bothered by things, so something must be on his mind. Something more than the case. But they were too old for Mello to simply go lie down beside him and cling to Matt until they either fell asleep or Matt spilled his thoughts; that had stopped when Mello had turned ten.

That was when Matt had started to have secrets.

Mello sighed softly and shut his own light, crawling under the covers and facing towards Matt. How had his thoughts drifted so far so fast? Wasn't he supposed to be thinking about the case, and L?

Mello bit his lip gently and forced his eyes shut. He needed rest, and that was it. Rest...and to get another look at that black notebook.

.

.

.

Matt hadn't been in the room when Mello had awoken that morning, nor had Mello seen him in the time it had taken the blond to get ready. Mello wasn't worried, of course not, but he did wonder where his friend was. Mello was... used to having him around. That was all.

So Mello was a little surprised to suddenly collide with the absent redhead the moment he opened the door.

"Matt, what the hell?" it had almost been as though the redhead had been standing there the entire time; but he couldn't have been as there was no reason for Matt to be in the hallway like that, or alone.

"You took a while to get up." Matt smirked at him, smoky breath reaching out.

Ah, Mello thought, that was probably the reason Matt hadn't been there. Despite Matt's most recent liking for those disgusting cancer sticks called cigarettes, Mello doubted Matt wanted to be caught with them in L's building.

Which was a shame, as Near was partially allergic to them.

"Have you eaten yet?" he asked Matt, who shook his head.

"L was waiting for you to get up first." Matt commented dryly and Mello felt his face flush.

They had been waiting on him? L had been waiting on him? Mello wasn't sure if he should feel mortified or pleased. He finally settled for something in the middle of the two emotions when he stepped into the same computer room as before to see L and Near seated and discussing something, Near's fingers gently touching the top of the notebook. There was something decidedly wrong with that scene, though Mello couldn't tell what.

"I see Mello finally decided to join us." Near commented, his voice being the only thing to acknowledge Mello's presence. Matt placed a hand on Mello's arm and the blond tensed, stopping himself from rushing over to the albino.

He hated Near. The brat could never mind his own business.

"Now that Mello is here I will have Watari bring breakfast and then I will tell you the terms of everyone being on the investigation." L commented, hand brushing across a stack of sugar cubes though never once putting one into his mouth. Mello didn't like how L had said 'terms' as though whatever it was was non negotiable.

Watari came in hardly five minutes after they had seated themselves. L had moved to the couch in the middle of the room, where Near sat beside him leaving Mello and Matt to sit together on the opposite cough with the coffee table in the middle. He hate how alike Near and L were, how much of a suck up the albino was.

Mello had to wonder if L would choose Near simply because of how similar they were, and it irritated him because he didn't want to change to become L. He wanted to be Mello and have the title of L. He was his own person and not a copy.

Not for the first time Mello thought that he understood just a little bit of what Beyond Birthday might have felt all those years ago when he had challenged L. Though what Beyond had done was definitely wrong and had landed him in jail to be picked off by Kira he had done it because of Wammys and because of L.

"Eat as I explain things to you." L ordered softly. Mello frowned as he took the plate of odd looking food into his lap. It was definitely not what he was used to but it would do. Food was food when one was hungry.

"For the duration of the case the thereof you will be here in this building with me unless there is a need of you to go outside." L said as he drank his tea black with no sugar or cream. Mello winced; he would only drink it if there was at least one sugar and a tablespoon of milk. It tasted awful otherwise, bitter and overpowering.

"You will also keep up with your studies as well. For however long you had left in Wammys is however long you will be required to do so. Though with the four of us I do not believe it will be necessary. Expect to return to Wammys before all of your eighteenth birthdays."

Mello was taken aback by the sheer confidence L had that they would solve the case, despite the supernatural element to it. Though Mello supposed it was L so he had a right to be confident.

"For the next few days the three of you will familiarize yourself with the case as well as the contents of the notebook, after that you will begin to search along side me." L stated, just as blandly as he had started as he stirred his spoon through the inky tea.

"Things will go quickly after I finish reading the rules over, I will recite them for you and Matt." Near stated, holding the notebook up to his eyes in his odd copycat like way.

"No fucking way you will. Matt and I can read perfectly fine on our own, you can read it all you like but we wont learn anything if we have to listen to you drone on." Mello snarled, standing up and nearly knocking his plate to the ground, the only thing saving it had been Matt's quick gaming reflexes.

"Both of you please calm down and enjoy the meal Watari has provided. Mello and Matt will do their own separate research and Near will not bother them." L stated it as a fact, as though he never expected any of them to voice a protest against it, or disobey the command. And Mello wouldn't, he adored the mysterious detective.

All the children of Wammys did, and though Mello was hardly a child at seventeen years old, none of his affections had dwindled since meeting the raven haired man the night before. Mello sneered at Near, who almost smugly held the notebook, but sat back down. And as if being defiant Mello took a large bite of pancake and shoved it into his mouth.

Beside him, Matt shook his head, and from that Mello knew it was going to be a long, very long, case.

-End Part 2-

AN: yea I know, more boring stuff, but things will pick up quickly.

Also I have a new oneshot out on my other accounts called 'Like Gasoline' if anyone wants to check it out. :P