Before I start, let me say I do not own "Death Note" or "Naruto". These characters solely belong to Masashi Kishimoto, sugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Duh.

. . .

Fact of the Day: A sleepy Sasuke is a senseless Sasuke

. . .

Sasuke's on his third cup of coffee by the time To-Oh University opens up and his shift at the library begins. He tips back the plastic cup and swallows a mouthful of bitter liquid, blinking despairingly. Nap. He needs a nap.

As he makes it up a flight of stairs, his legs start to shake.

Bwuh.

Sasuke doesn't fight the scowl that crawls its way onto his face because really, he should have known something was up when the King smiled at him like some sort of sociopathic cat. He doesn't smile unless he wants people to know that their imminent doom is coming and feeds off of their fear.

He growls inaudible expletives into his coffee. Stepping off the staircase and rounding a corner just in time to spot Sata lurking in corner of his eye like a virgin ghost.

Sasuke chokes on his coffee in alarm. "Fuck!" his curse come out in an explosion of bubbles and spilt coffee. Soaking his only clean shirt.

Sasuke rolls his eyes heavenwards. This was just unacceptable.

"Ah! Ah! I'm sorry Senpai!"

Sata comes to his aid in a flurry of emotions. Hands fluttering around in a way that resembles a flustered octopus.

Sasuke slaps the limbs away with an eye twitch. His perpetual scowl expanding into an expression one of a homicidal wet cat. Nothing new but nothing pleasant either.

A nervous laugh bubbles itself out of Sata's throat. The younger boy shoves his hands into his pockets to keep them at bay.

"S-Sorry Senpai! I-I have a clean shirt you can borrow but it might be too small for you - "

Sasuke holds up a twitching hand.

"Hn."

Sata shoots him a baffled look and faintly asks. "…What?"

"No." Sasuke says virtuously, which is quite an achievement because his chest is currently smoking up a storm and his body feels like a strong breeze could knock him over. "Just…" he makes a shoo-ing motion and glowers meaningfully.

"Yeah, I should just…"

Sata scampers away with his tail in-between his legs, and Sasuke tries not to think about how long his little fan must have been skulking outside the library for. And he really tries to not dwell on how low in energy he must be to not have even sensed Sata's presence.

Sasuke can count on one hand the amount of times somebody's been able to sneak up on him.

Well, whatever. He's too tired to give a damn at this point. Right now the only thing to think about is his job.

King said the owner of the rogue Death Note belonging to the equally rogue Shinigami was supposed to be at To-Oh University this year. It wasn't hard to forge the right documentation to get 'transferred' into the school, and it wasn't hard to apply for a job here to keep up appearances of being human. He's been at this school for over four months and so far Sasuke hasn't caught hair-nor-hide of a floating shitty modern art piece on campus. So far Sasuke's had to spend countless nights, spanning over a month into the new near overworking. He's had to call in backup numerous times to get a working hand in reaping souls, which was a blow to his ego but Sasuke knows when to admit defeat. And Sasuke knows he's running out of patience to catch this homicidal maniac Kira. When Sasuke get's his hands on him he's not even gonna sharpen his katana so it'll make the beheading that much painful -

Sasuke closes his eyes and counts to ten, reigning in the KI he had unconsciously been releasing. Get a grip on yourself. The quicker you calm down the quicker this job will be over.

Being a Shinigami wasn't his idea of spending the afterlife, or to be more precise, the stage between life and death. The redemption part, as the King had told him.

Although, being in the Black Ops Reaper Squad was a conundrum to him 'redeeming' his soul. As the whole point of it was to track down people overusing Death Notes along with rogue Shinigami and ridding them of this world. In other words, BORS kill humans. The irony.

A Black Ops Reaper Agent's job is to kill the human being who begins to overuse a Death Note before their soul stains, there's no stopping it once it begins. It's like a bacteria and the antibiotic is death. If they don't kill them their soul taints so much it begins to mutate and ends up becoming a warped version of a Shinigami. Something beyond redemption. Well, killing more than a hundred people a week would do that to a soul, Sasuke supposes.

Now, Sasuke isn't a squeamish guy, but chopping off heads overnight can ruins one's mood.

"Perk of the job, my ass, Hidan." Not even trying to reign in his Killer Intent anymore as he unlocks the Staff Door to the library.

When Sasuke became a Shinigami and joined the Black Ops Reaper Squad, it was a startling and unwanted surprise to find out the Jashinist was his Captain.

"Fucking hell?" Hidan had sworn upon seeing Sasuke. The astonishment, along with dread, was equally mirrored. "The weasel went and procreated?"

Sasuke was - and still is - fairly certain he doesn't want to know.

Of course, Hidan is still a Jashinist, he prays and makes sacrifices (breaking rules Sasuke is certain he would have gotten shoved to hell for if the King wasn't such a sadistic bastard). Sasuke's damned well sure Hidan was made captain just to spite him. Because, if it wasn't clear before, it's helluva clear now, the world is out to get him.

His life is one big entire cosmic joke. It's a fricken' joy!

And Danzo started it.

"Goddamn Danzo." Sasuke kicks the door closed behind him emphatically. Slapping his half-empty coffee cup on the table and starts to wake the library up. Turning on lights, computers, unlocking the doors, and soon enough he settles into the routine he's become familiar with since last year.

Done, Sasuke scrubbed a hand through his hair and settled back behind the counter in the Comfy Chair. A viciously smug smirk played his lips. This chair was considered a throne among the staff, as it's the only one that supports every area of back and buttocks.

This was probably, most likely, the only good thing going for Sasuke today.

At that thought, he looked down at his pale blue buttoned up shirt donning a remarkably large murky brown stain. How did it get that big?

Sasuke scowled and wondered if he could get through today without anybody noticing.

Heh. No.

He rubs the palm of his hands into his eyes, far too comfortable and tired to get up to try and wash the stain out. And it is a stain. Very much a stain. No use in trying when it's already there for life.

…Since when did he become such a pessimist?

Oh, wait, he knows. It was when Itachi wiped out their entire clan then tricked him into killing him in some sort of sacrificial 'redemption' (he's sensing a theme here with damaged Uchiha's and redemption) thing then revealed that he wasn't some crazy homicidal lunatic that woke up one morning and thought 'let's kill the Clan!' without thinking that, well, maybe, probably, that this is a Bad Idea. Sasuke almost felt bad for him. Almost.

He did kill people. A lot, of people. Not that Sasuke can talk though. But still!

...Okay, maybe he has some unresolved issues. Maybe. Probably.

At least he knows where he gets the pessimism from, and nobody cam blame him for it.

Leaning forwards Sasuke sniffs at the stain, humming at the smell of bitter coffee.

It was then that his momentary stature of peace was mercilessly skewered like a kebab.

"Eugh, who smells like shitty coffee?" The sharp, crude, tone of his boss had Sasuke twisting around with a growl threatening to burst.

Fujita. Ayame. 29. Average intelligence. Bleached blonde. Busty. Pain in the rear. Always late and treats him like he's her little annoying brother and Sasuke hates it. It adds fuel to the fire for him needing to finish this job quickly - because he's pretty sure one more pat on the head like he's some sort of pet dog will cause somebody's head to go flying. Not metaphorically, but literally.

He's become disturbingly adept at beheading.

Semantics.

Ayame slides up to where Sasuke's sitting - bending over, Sasuke can hear her leather pants strain - and takes a big whiff.

She weeps.

"Hot damn, you reek!"

"Hn."

"Still with that 'hngh' huh?" Ayame asked, as she settled herself in. Putting her motorcycle helmet away and dropping down on the other seat. Staring in envy at his claim of the Comfy Chair.

It makes Sasuke's insides fill with glee.

"Well, then. If you're not gonna talk then I may as well will." Ayame rests her elbows on the counter and perches her head in her hands. Manicured nails glinting in light of the room.

"The other's aren't coming until nine when your classes begin so it's just you and me!" She says brightly.

Ah.

"So, you know my American friend Tina right? That bitch?"

"Hn." Because Sasuke isn't quite sure what else to say to that.

"Well, that bit – "

He blocks her rant out with the practiced ease of being teammates with a loud blonde and irritating pink thing.

Reaching for his half-emptied cup of coffee, Sasuke glances at the woman who's projecting all sorts of insults about somebody he's confident he has never met before, and strangely enough it reminds him of Sakura ranting about 'Ino Pig'.

It makes Sasuke scowl at the motionless library before him.