Disclaimer: Ofc I don't own Death Note or any of it's characters. I do however own Angelina as she is a character of my own making, thank you very much.

She wasn't usually the clumsy type. At least not when it came to walking on a reasonably flat surface. But tonight seemed to be an exception.

Tonight, on the eve of the 31'st of July, to be exact, she was on her way back to her small one-room apartment from, what had turned out to be, a mock seans at an acquaintance place. As she decided to leave early, receiving somewhat hostile glances from some of the gathered people, she told herself that this would be the last time she got dragged into something completely meaningless, by a bunch of people who had no clue what they were talking about, only playing dress-up make-believe. She had been instantly suspicious when she'd been informed that there was a dress code. A dress code. For a seans!? Give me a break!

She huffed in exasperation as she trotted along in her black high heeled boots through the posh little neighborhood She turned up on Insist street, enjoying the view of the rather large houses in the dimming light of the summer evening, with their perfectly maintained gardens, her messenger-bag bouncing lively against her hip with each step. Her feet were aching already and she could feel the blisters growing larger by the minute. Reason number one to why she'd never worn these shoes before after she'd bought them on a whim. Stupid whim. They were also quite impractical for walking at a regular speed in. No wonder all the women in horror movies whom wore high heels got themselves killed. It was actually impossible to outrun anyone in heels...

A sudden chill, like an ice-cold drop of water hitting her neck and trickling down her spine, caused her to almost gasp out loud. The sudden feeling that something was not right made her stumble. Her right boot caught in a dent on the pavement and sent her sprawling to the ground with a surprised yelp, scattering the insides of her bag all around her.

"Crap" she muttered to herself as she got back into a slightly less embarrassing posture and examined her scraped knee as best she could in the diminishing light. Only some skin scraped off and no blood. Good. It stung like hell though, as scrapes often did, and she dreaded standing in the shower later, having hot water and soap running over it.

"Well. That's what you get for dressing up for a seans." she growled and started to shove the scattered contents of her bag back where they belonged. "A fake, fucking seans!" Even her best tarot card deck was scattered around and she counted carefully to make sure all the cards were there as she picked them up. 19, 20, 21... Only 21 cards.

Sigh...

She scanned the ground around her carefully and at last her eyes landed on a darker square close to the garden gate she had just been passing. She leaned over to pick up the last card, but as she put her hand to it, it moved.

No. that was ridiculous It couldn't have moved on it's own. Her brain was protesting what her gut told her was right. As she had put her hand on the card it had, with her hand on top of it, slid away. Further towards the gate.

You put your hand on it and the pressure from your body made it slide away. It's simple physics, nothing more. Her brain railed at her. But another part of her refused to acknowledge it as simple physics. The card was warm. As they always got warm when she read them. The friction from the pavement on the card caused heat. Again girl. Simple physics!

No! It's telling me something.

The birds that had been singing and thrilling in the summer evening had all gone quiet. Or perhaps it was just that she couldn't hear them anymore thanks to the buzzing sound in her head. She crouched in front of the gate, the card laying just in front of her toes, pointing towards the large house beyond the neatly kept front garden. Slowly she turned the card over and as her eyes and brain registered which it was, her stomach knotted and her heart pounded three times faster than before. XV. The Devil. Reversed. She glanced up at the quiet house, the buzzing in her ears growing slightly louder. Again the rational part of her brain tried to rein in her emotions and speculations flying around like angry bees. The best known meaning for the devil card in reverse was True Evil. But that didn't mean anything right now. Her brain argued. Who around here would be the evil one? There's no one here, to begin with, and I highly doubt that the devil himself is prancing around in a neighborhood in Hollywood just like that. Not to mention that he doesn't exist in the first place! The card could be showing her a more severe form of her own frustration at the current evening!

True enough, she thought. But that didn't explain why every fiber in her being wanted her to hightail it out of there.

Her breath coming in short, quick pants she snatched up the last card and tried as fast as possible, without running – which was still impossible in her current shoes, to get away from the house that now thoroughly creeped her out.

Her knee ached and she knew it would be a lovely black-blueish color in the morning.

Stupid, damn, crap boots! She raged silently to herself as she limped around the corner and up another street, finally away from the ominous feeling that the house itself was watching her rigid back as she hurried away.

Two street lamps further down, she stopped, inhaling deeply. Her legs were shaking. From the pain in her knee, she told herself, but another part of her knew it was from the intense and sudden onslaught of adrenaline that's been raging through her body after she turned up the devil card.

She leaned with one hand on the street lamp, feeling calmer as she stood in the bright yellow light, when suddenly a hand came down heavily on her shoulder and she screamed in surprise, or maybe shock and fear, she wasn't really sure herself. Swiftly she spun around to face whoever it was that had snuck up on a lone young woman late in the evening and almost gave another shout of surprise.

"Forgive me, miss. I didn't mean to startle you." the young man drawled in a low monotonous voice, muffled slightly by the thumb pressed lightly to his lips, his other hand currently being tucked deep into his jeans pocket. "You looked as if you were in distress so I thought perhaps I should at least offer you some help."

She blinked rapidly, not knowing how to respond or, for some reason, how to even form words to communicate with. The person in front of her did not look like the typical good Samaritan, if you know what I mean. He was lanky and, she suspected, tall, although his hunched back and slouched shoulders made him appear shorter. Still, he was taller than her... Most people are, her inner voice teased her. She hardly noticed the remark as the rest of her brain was preoccupied with taking in the young mans appearance and trying to figure out the reason why he was out stalking the quiet neighborhood on his own at this time at night. Surely there was a highly logical explanation Right?

But tonight her usually sharp mind was not interested in logic it seemed. Her heart was racing again and her throat was dry. Her eyes kept blinking, although not as rapidly as before. A typical sign of the girls confusion to anyone who knew her. The man tilted his head to the side, eying her with a strange open eyed stare that made her feel very self conscious The devil card kept popping up into her mind and she simply could not rein in the thoughts that it could have been warning her about this person. Everything about him seemed odd and out of place. Perhaps he was a drug addict, the thought passing swiftly in her head. He had black bags under his eyes, suggesting lack of sleep or drug abuse. His jet black hair was an unruly mess hanging low over his eyes and accentuating the pallor of his skin. He was skinny, or lanky was indeed a better word for it, which could also be a sign of drug use, and it made his long sleeved white t-shirt sag on him as if it was several sizes to big.

The young man took his thumb away from his mouth and shoved also that hand deep into one of the pockets of his baggy jeans. Still staring at her. His eyes could rival those of an owl.

Obviously he was waiting for some kind of response. And those eyes greatly unnerved her.

With a cough she finally found her voice again. "Nope. No distress here!" she croaked. Apparently she'd only found half of her voice, she thought dryly. He shot his head forward and stared at her even more intently and she instinctively took a small step back and swallowed down the excess saliva that had been building up in her mouth. To moisten up her dry throat of course! She wasn't scared of this weak looking guy. Keep telling yourself that and maybe even I will believe it... in a hundred years or so.

Trust me, Honey, I could probably kick his scrawny ass. He looks really weak and with that build I doubt he has Any kind of balance. She argued back.

I suppose... compared to Your great balance in those dangerous, leg-breaking high heels, am I right? Mentally she kicked herself and forced the voice to shut up and stop diffusing whatever self-esteem she might have had and turned her focus back to the person in question.

"Really," she said, raising a hand in front of herself. The other lodged in a firm grasp around the strap of her messenger-bag. "I'm fine. I'm just heading home, it's not f-..." she snapped her mouth shut as warning bells started ringing in her head. What was she doing!? Almost telling this strange, creepy looking guy that she lived nearby? It was like a recipe for a murderous disaster! "It's no big deal." she finished lamely, eyes darting to the ground, avoiding his.

"Are you sure?" his voice was strange. There was no real emotion in it but a strange kind of... well, interest, perhaps. She glanced at him and caught him staring at her knee, having bent over slightly further to get a better look at the scrape. "ICouldWalkYouHomeYouCanLeanOnMeIfYouNeedToOrYouCouldTakeOfThoseScaryLookingShoesAndICouldCarryYou." It wasn't as if he said all this in one quick gushing breath. It was more like a long string of words without spaces or punctuations and she stared at him in alarm. What was with this guy? His strange, out of the blue, awful suggestion ignited that special little spark in her called anger. A feeling she was unfortunately very well acquainted to.

"What!?" she blurted out, the feeling very badly hidden, probably not hidden at all and showing clear on her face actually. "Do you seriously think that I would allow some strange, drug addicted insomniac that I don't know, to walk me home in the middle of the night!? Or even tell him where I live?" she glared at him and his surprised expression, or at least she assumed that was what it was. His eyes were just so big he looked as if he was constantly flabbergasted by everything and anything. "Do I look crazy to you!?"

He tilted his head to the side and looked up at the sky in obvious thought before he responded. A response that somewhat threw her off. "No. No and no not particularly." he extended a hand, inviting her to a customary greeting between two civilized people. "I'm Rue Ryuzaki." The young, black haired man put on his most innocent looking face, causing a frown filled with suspicion to appear on her face as she eyed the gesture warily. Was he trying something by grabbing a hold on her? "Knowing each others names is a step towards getting to know one another better, and I was hoping that you would allow me to walk you home if that was the case."

Huh? Possible scenarios ran through her head but she decided against all of them. If he'd looked different she would never have done what she was about to do. But as it was she couldn't deny that he was just So Skinny! There was no way she would loose in a fight with this guy. Despite her heels! Yes, he was a guy and thereby heavier than her. He was taller, another point in his favor, but she was still certain that all she had to do was shove, perhaps shove hard but none the less, he'd go down as a house built of cards. And so she did the thing that would throw her future into disarray. She would have known, had she only bothered to read her own fortune. Well, it was too late to start now.

"Angelina Allgood." she took his cold, dry hand in hers and was almost immediately knocked out by a sudden and intense pain behind her eyes.

first chapter done, and second is close behind. Feel free to review and if there is any concern with grammar or DN-universe faults, please let me know and I will fixto the best of my abilities. :) Thank you!