Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

----Extra Chapter----

---- Return----

Lira stared worriedly at the child running aimlessly around the garden. She have always loved children but Hikari just had so much energy stored in her body, Lira had to admit that taking care of the child was more troublesome than before and that she is already getting a little old. She had been married with her husband, Gakuto and her company is running steadily, if not, getting more successful each year.

She never thought that she would like to have children with Gakuto, though. She never thought they were that compatible to be able to make children. Yes, he was a gentleman who cares about her needs and understands what she feels just by the smallest frown upon her face, but something that even she could not point out was missing, leaving a big, gaping hole in their relationship. She never thought she'd meet someone who could understand her better than her first love. Other than him.

Right after she got married, Lira had decided to cut her communication lines with everyone she knew from Wammy House. She had asked kindly for Near to leave her alone. She would never want to go back to that wretched place where she lost everything that's important to her. No, she wanted to completely forget everything that happened there and start anew with her family. Near understood after her explanation and agreed that he will leave her alone unless she was badly needed. Lira had wished that that day would never come.

"Mama!" Hikari threw her arms open as she deliberately jumped into her mother's lap. Lira just smiled and began combing her daughter's hair, gathering them into two ponytails on each side of her head. Hikari was the reason Lira never wanted the day when Near would need her to ever come. She does not want her daughter to be exposed to the harsh world of criminals and unsolved cases. As much as possible, she wanted to paint a perfect world for her daughter so that she may never know of the cruelty of humans in the outside world.

It was a normal day at the company as Lira sat behind her desk at the president's office, her secretary coming over occasionally to give her some reports or ask her to sign some documents. Besides that, Lira checked into some stuff in her computer, editing something here and there. She completely halted her activities in the computer, however, when she felt a glitch. She froze in her seat, staring as the monitor blinked at her mockingly. Her system has been hacked. How could someone get through the perfect firewall she made for her company herself? Nobody had ever thought of that kind of firewall before and she doesn't like the idea of somebody being better than her. That was something she had picked up from him.

Just as suddenly as her monitor had flickered, an image started bouncing around her screen. Lira Valentine. She cringed at seeing her maiden name bouncing around her monitor enthusiastically. Reacting quickly, she picked up the phone and called all the departments, confirming the damage herself. She fired up upon hearing that all the departments are also suffering from the same fate and quickly ordered to cut any outside connections in the system and prepare backups of all the files to prepare for the worse. She knew her company would suffer if the connections are severed even for just a minute but the damage has already been done by some freak bastard who was probably born to piss out people just for the fun of it. She was about to slide out of her seat just to see how much damage had been done but her screen flickered once again to display a message that hurt her eyes because of too much color. It looks so much like a digital hostage letter more than anything else.

Hisashiburi,

I'm sure you're in tenterhooks just seeing you system this messed up. Don't worry; if you abide by my conditions, you can have your system in full working conditions by the end of this day, with no damage on it's memory whatsoever. I must admit that it took about ten people to break into your system. You're impressive, as always. I'll be dropping by sometime later to discuss my conditions. Have a nice day.

Lira had to control her urge to stick her foot in the monitor after reading that very arrogant message sent to her by that ass of a hacker. How could she easily agree on his conditions when he disabled the company's connections? And he's going to drop by, he said. That's great; she could just strangle him to death the moment he steps inside her office and get all these anger over with. However, something in the message was amiss. She re-read it again and there she found it. Hisashiburi. Being familiar with the language it was from she had completely understood it. She probably missed it at the first reading because it's in roman letters, just like the rest of the stupid message. It's been a while. It might be a coincidence or maybe, her past has caught up with her once again.

Moments later, her secretary was knocking once again on her office door, saying that someone wanted to meet her and that the visitor was claiming that he had pre-arranged a meeting with her but refuses to say his name, saying that she would know who it was immediately. Lira was quite befuddled by this but agreed to meet the visitor, anyway. He might be the bastard of a hacker who does not know who he is playing with. The door was held open by her secretary and in entered Lira's fateful visitor.

She could not mistake him. The white hair and clothes that looked more like a pair of pajamas than a proper working attire and the clumsy way of walking. He's grown so much since she last saw him. He was definitely taller and looked more like an adolescent than a little kid. He's growing quite slowly for a boy already in his twenties.

"It's been a while, mom," The visitor greeted, sitting himself on the leather couch without being asked to do so.

"Near," Lira addressed the visitor, sitting herself opposite him. "I don't think that you visiting here is good news," she continued.

"I came here to rescue your system," Near said, throwing a disc at Lira, which the latter caught.

"What's this?" the woman asked, staring at the disc blankly.

"That's the program to get through your firewall. I had to find the best people in Silicon Valley to write that. I think it will help in strengthening your firewall after what happened," the man opposite her explained.

"You mean you – " Lira was at loss for words, knowing how much this man went through just to break into her system.

"Yes, I was the one who did this and sent you that message. I need to get your attention; otherwise you might not want to speak to me. I guess I took it too far," Near shrugged.

"Yes you did! Do you know how much money would be lost if we don't get the system working immediately?" Lira almost shouted.

"The people I hired are taking care of the transactions as we speak. I have diverted the transactions to pass through us while we do our little, uh, for lack of a better word, negotiation. I'll send them immediately after you agree to my conditions," the man continued, now shuffling some cards that he took out of his pocket.

"Let's hear it then," Lira said, fearing the worse.

"I need you to work for me again," he replied simply.

"And why would I do that?" Lira raised an eyebrow and folded her arms on her chest.

"You would save Japan's foundations if you do this for me."

"Can't anyone else do it?"

"You're the only one who can, I'm afraid."

"Ok, let's say I agreed. But what about my company? What about my family?"

"I will send someone capable enough to manage this company while you're away."

"Near, why me?"

"L trusted you. So do I," Lira flinched at the mention of his name, the single letter that changed her.

"But – " whatever Lira was going to say was cut off by Near.

"You've got to choose whether to save this company or not. I promise, after this, I won't bother you again," Lira paused for a while before giving away her answer. The company is also important for her. How could she drop it? Her family is also important for her. Without the company, her family will surely suffer the results too. Hikari will suffer too. After much thinking, she drew a deep breath and gave her answer.

"When am I starting?"

That night, Lira had a hard time explaining everything to Gakuto. Tonight will also be her departure and she will be taking a flight back to Japan with Near. He understood everything and comforted her saying that he will definitely take care of everything while she is away. That's one of the things she absolutely loves about him. He's very understanding and loves her so much. After Hikari had gone to bed, Lira kissed Gakuto goodbye and went out into the night to go back to the place where her worst memories lay sleeping to haunt her once more.

MYDEADLYLOVER: I just had to get this out of my head since the idea has been stuck there since the last chapter. I had a really big urge to push Lira further into misery. That's how bad I am.