Satellite

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Despite what all of you might be thinking, I do not own Death Note. I know, shocking...

Even though I have other obligations story-wise, this idea was screaming for me to write it down, and the voices in my head have a rather impressive lung capacity. So, hopefully my first little foray into this fandom is worth the time I sacrificed to write it.

As much thanks as is humanly possible to breeeliss for Beta Reading this tripe. You are the absolute best, madam!

He was dead. Raye was dead. Deceased, no longer drawing breath, departed, heaven-bound. Gone.

The news itself was something Naomi could have broken to her and still remain strong. The realization of just what those words meant, however, was much more devastating when it finally managed to sink in. She was sitting on the bed – 'their bed,' her thoughts instinctively reminded her – staring wide-eyed at her lap, mouth agape, and not moving a muscle. Her obsidian hair hung limply over her face, obscuring it from anybody who might have been there to observe her in her grief. She hadn't even showered in the three days since her fiancé's death had been reported, as she was too flummoxed to do much of anything at all. She hadn't eaten anything, and had barely had anything to drink either.

In short, she was a wreck.

Despite it all, she hadn't cried. Not a single tear had been shed, and this had her bamboozled. After all, the man she had, and still, loved was dead. Surely that would be enough for any man or woman to let loose the floodgates and bawl their eyes out. Naomi, on the other hand, was resolutely stone-faced, though not by choice. The only thought swimming in the battered remains of her mind that wasn't solely ruminating on the fact that Raye was gone was pondering why she couldn't cry, and then she was getting angry at herself for not being able to spare even a single moment to properly grieve over her fiancé.

'Why?' That was the quandary that simply refused to leave her head. It had become a mantra, and was steadily increasing in volume, almost morphing into an internal scream. 'Everything was perfect… We were going to start a family… It was just what he-… Just what we wanted…'

The percussive nature of the pounding rain that hit the pavement with a steady, rhythmic splattering that served as the only bit of solace in the otherwise bleak and miserable frame of mind Naomi was in. In her current state, she couldn't feel much of anything beyond the throbbing in her chest that signified how heartbroken she was, and made it apparent on a physical level. It was almost like a dream; almost like she was floating in a euphoric wonderland despite the pain. Otherworldly was probably the best summation of the bizarre feeling.

In truth, she'd felt the dull, blistering blow that the information regarding Raye's passing had struck her with, but as she sat here, still flummoxed and nearly catatonic as a result, she felt the cold blade of acknowledgement and recognition start to slice away inside her head. 'He's dead… Never to return… Gone forever…'

"Shut up!" She spoke for the first time in days. Her voice came out broken and warbled as a result of her far too dry throat, and she had a coughing fit afterwards from the force of the scream. Once it subsided, she cleared her throat and deigned to get up to go to the mini-fridge and grab a bottle of chilled water. Naomi parted her lips and drank several large mouthfuls of the sacred beverage, enjoying the feel of the cold liquid as it moistened her cracked lips, and satisfied her parched throat and mouth. Her thirst temporarily sated, Naomi turned back to the bed, but before flopping right back down upon it for another vigil of unspecified length, she opted to walk around the bed and sank into the chair that was directly adjacent to it.

The same chair that Raye always sat in after coming back from tailing that Kira suspect.

'Kira suspect…'

Naomi had finally found something to distract herself with. Her back almost instantly hunched over again as she grasped her chin in contemplation, and her inner voices ceased their tormenting of her for the first time in hours. 'He dies after he was tailing a Kira suspect? There's no way that's a coincidence.'

Her inner logician was taking over, and she now stood up and started to pace, which was a telltale sign that she was thinking hard about some topic or other. 'He'd been following that… kid, I think he described him as… yeah, a kid.' She stepped over a piece of broken glass that had once held her drink before she dropped it upon hearing the news of Raye's passing. She didn't even notice it, and it was a good thing that she was wearing her boots; otherwise she might have pierced her foot on the jagged shards. 'So, he followed this kid for weeks, and then the busjacking incident happened. Didn't he say…? He showed someone on the bus his ID badge. Whoever that person was, they had to be Kira.'

At last she was getting somewhere. The only major problem still in her way was that Kanto was rather packed with people, and singling out who had been on the exact same bus as her dead fiancé was practically impossible. But, seeing as he had been shadowing a person who the great and mighty L believed could be the killer, the finger of justice seemed to point squarely at this unnamed teenager.

'But how could he luck out so much? The odds of him getting the name of Raye in that scenario were incalculably low. How could he have he known he'd get the-'

Like lightning setting the dead night sky alight, the answer came to her in a blinding flash, with the thunder of her rationalizing it following shortly thereafter. 'Kira planned that all to the most insignificant detail. But that could only be possible if he could…. Maybe…' Ignoring the thunderstorm that was raging out there, Naomi yanked the sliding door open and stepped out into the whipping wind and the torrential deluge. The rain always seemed to calm her, and here she needed absolute clarity, or else the puzzle would forever remain unsolved in her head.

'The only way that's possible is if…' Her face showed signs of a 'Eureka!' moment, but it was obscured by her hair whirring around her head.

'It's only possible if he can kill somebody through more methods than just heart attacks.'

Her hazel eyes showed a flicker of life in them for the first time in three days as she drew that conclusion. It seemed to show off the vitality and drive that even before then had long since vacated her body and mind. 'So, that would have to mean that he controlled the hijacker…. If I remember correctly, Raye said he was a noted bank robber, so he probably would've been on the news. Kira most likely saw him on there, and that's where the idea came to use him. He also died when a car hit him inexplicably, so that adds evidence to my theory…'

She was onto something, and she knew she needed to share this information with the police, and by extension, L. Despite knowing that there was a chance that L had already reached a similar conclusion, Naomi knew that she had to at least make an attempt to pass the information along. Even if he had made the connection between this death and the robber's and formulated the same theory, she recalled that L preferred to play things very close to the chest, and likely wouldn't have shared the information with them, at least not until he could prove it, or he was convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Recalling the one time that she had encountered L, she fully admitted to herself that he didn't seem to live up to the mystique that surrounded the sleuth. Of course, with hindsight being the most efficient form of sight, Naomi knew that nobody who operated in the manner that L did could be… 'Normal.' Truthfully, no-one who operated solely from the shadows, never revealing anything about themselves, and only taking on cases that caught their interest could be anything but eccentric.

Even still, the sight of the man behind the mask was a bit disappointing, or it would have been if she were one to engage in idle idolatry. A pallid, emaciated young man that looked so out of place amongst other human beings was far below the expectations of most people. The fact that he attempted to embrace her so inexplicably pointed towards a severe lack of understanding of even the most basic norms and niceties of human social interaction. Again, nobody who operated as L did was likely to be all that socially inclined.

The strangest thing was, the odd, misplaced looking young man had never indicated that he was the renowned detective. All of this deduction was purely in Naomi's head.

Either way, she had uncovered something that could potentially break the case, and the information had to be spread as quickly as possible. Looking up into the storm, she spoke her thoughts aloud, her voice resounding loudly even against the howling wind and beating rain.

"I'll get you, Kira. I'll get you if it's the last thing I do."

The upturned collar of her leather jacket served as a good measure to keep her face hidden. Naomi sighed as she kept her head pointed downwards, but she maintained a silent watch over the rest of the passengers riding in the same subway car as her. Even if the odds of Kira materializing out of thin air to kill her were ludicrously low, she was still a woman riding a subway alone.

It had been three days since she had theorized that Kira was capable of far more than what the common folk knew, and the New Year had begun. She had planned to go out and do some investigating the day after, but exhaustion had caught up with her after three days of not sleeping. Then, upon awakening, she had done some research into the death of the bank robber, further confirming her thesis, and she had recalled that when the information of her fiancé's departure had been delivered to her, she had also heard that every single one of the F.B.I. agents working in Japan had all mysteriously dropped dead. 'It's almost like that bastard is gift wrapping all this evidence for me,' thought Naomi wryly.

But she needed to focus on the task at hand. She had stepped onto the underground train with the express purpose of reaching the police station and attempting to disseminate her speculations to the chief of police, whereupon the information would spread to L. Or, so she hoped. In reality, the knowledge reaching L was a long and shaky shot, but she wouldn't be able to rest until he had been informed of what she believed to be true. Otherwise, she subconsciously knew that she would slip back into her practical catatonia without some kind of thought or motivation to feverishly grasp at and pursue.

The sudden lack of a rumbling sound stirred her from her retreat into her innermost refuge, and she looked at the stop and made to depart the train. Stepping onto the platform, she briefly looked around for the stairwell that would lead her back up to the streets and on her way to her destination. So great was her haste that she took the steps two at a time and didn't bother with grabbing the safety rail. After practically no time at all, she was out the door, and into the streets. The grey clouds above her signaled some sort of precipitation, and the roads and sidewalks were still peppered with puddles from the massive rainstorm that had taken place three nights prior.

'Tch, the one time I could use an umbrella…' Shoving her internal grumbling down, Naomi stopped to recall the exact directions to the police station. Thanking whatever form of deity may or may not have existed either above or below for the map that conveniently highlighted what block she was in, she worked out that she needed to go east and keep true for ten blocks, and then due north for another eight. Placing her hands inside of her pockets to protect her gloved flesh from the harsh cold of Japanese winters, she trudged along in her intended direction. The pitch black sweater she wore was a fantastic insulator, and its efforts were bolstered by the jacket. Her jeans, though a bit faded and thin, were adequate enough to keep the bite of the frigid air to a minimum degree of discomfort.

She strode on through the grime that floated on the surface of the numerous puddles strewn throughout the streets, occasionally causing splashes with her leather boots to appease and amuse some inner, childish part of her, and after reaching the point where she needed to turn left, kept walking at a much brisker pace than before. Thought the streets were far from bustling, she occasionally felt herself bump into somebody whose pace was much more torpid than hers, and offered nothing more than a quick word of apology as she sped past them, not even stopping as she asked for their forgiveness. She couldn't stop for any reason short of death; she was so close to achieving her goal, and her mind was consumed by thoughts solely devoted to that motivation. Naomi needed to spread the word; it was all she had left.

The receptionists were beyond useless.

"For the fifth time, I need to speak with someone on the Task Force in person. Just leaving a message for you to relay isn't good enough."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I can call to see if they've returned one more time, but that's really as much as I can do."

Naomi growled under her breath in irritation. "Fine, thank you."

While the hapless and ineffectual man rang up the Task Force's headquarters yet again, Naomi, turned her head to the right, and noticed that the sky had cleared up. 'Figures. As soon as I get a theory that could be helpful, I have to deal with people that are clueless and don't get how important it is.'

The sound of the building's doors opening stirred her from her internal griping, and she saw a young man stroll into the station bearing a paper bag of some sort. His brown hair was mildly mussed from the light wind that gently blew outside, and his knuckles on his right hand were pink from being exposed to the elements. As he neared the desk where the receptionists lay, one of them greeted him.

"Oh, hello, Light. What brings you here?"

"I'm just bringing a change of clothes for my father, Mr…" He leaned in to scrutinize the man's chest for a nametag. "Ishida."

"Oh, and here I was hoping that you had come to help us solve the Mystery of Kira once and for all," the recently named Ishida chuckled.

"I'm waiting to swoop in this Thursday, so don't tell my father. I want to surprise him," Light countered with a good-natured laugh of his own, as well as an amiable smile.

The other receptionist looked up from his desk at Naomi. "I apologize deeply, ma'am; they're still not there, and it could be all day before they get back. If you want, I could let them know that you stopped by, as I'm sure they'll take any information they can get."

"That won't work," Naomi replied, exasperation slipping into her tone as she began to repeat herself yet again. "I need to explain to them in person, otherwise my news won't get across properly."

"Excuse me, Miss," the young man addressed her. "My father is actually head of the Kira Task Force, so I'm sure I could pass whatever it is that you need to tell him personally.

"Really?" He seemed to be sincere, judging by the look in his eyes.

"It would be my pleasure."

"Thank you." Naomi straight-up bowed in reverence due to her immense gratitude. "…Um, not to be rude, but have you any idea when you might next get a chance to talk to him?"

"Well, like Mr. Takahashi told you, it could be some time before he's available for even a phone call. If it's not too forward of me to ask, would you want to take a walk around town and see if he's back after that?"

'Barely a week of being single and somebody's asking me out again. Don't I feel desirable…' Her mind sure loved to crack dark jokes in the most heart-wrenching ways possible. 'Eh, might as well.'

"Alright, sure," she replied, a small, grateful smile decorating her face.

Something about the teenager was off.

Oh, he was certainly affable, and he certainly seemed invested in every word that came out of her mouth. But therein lay the uneasiness that had settled over her.

It was as if he was literally pumping her for information.

There was no indication that he was asking these questions out of simple curiosity. Rather, it seemed like he had a vested interest in hearing her theories. Maybe even a personal stake in them.

'Then again, it's my fault for being so haphazard with telling him my theories. But something about him seems false. I'm glad I used that alias.'

At first, it had seemed to be a true interest is what she was saying, as well as just small talk to make their walk less awkward. But as she gave away more and more of her speculations, he appeared more shaken and unsettled. So, when he had asked for her name, she had given him the alias Shoko Maki. Admittedly, she would have fed him a false name regardless, especially after what happened to Raye, but Naomi felt deep down that the only reason she was alive was because of her dishonesty.

"I think I should be getting back to the station now," she said after a fairly prolonged silence between the two where Light had lagged behind her, seemingly lost in thought.

"Yeah, that seems smart. After hearing everything about what you've inferred and figured out, I think this needs to be shared with my father as soon as possible." He moved to join her when she made to do a 180 and start heading back.

"Uh, not to be rude, but I'd kind of like to go back myself. I feel like this is something I should do alone." 'And you set off all sorts of alarms on my suspicion meter.'

"I have business there too. Is walking with me there so bad?" His smile and sheepish brushing back of his hair appeared to be an indication that he was just joking, but Naomi still felt something was not right.

"Sure, I guess that's no problem."

They trudged along the path they had just walked upon, with Light lagging a smidgen behind Naomi, which served to further unnerve her. She chanced a glance back and saw him just standing still, and he had the look of someone who was pondering something.

"Is everything alright?" Hey, she had to inquire; curiosity was something Naomi indulged in quite frequently.

"It's nothing." There was that smile again. It was like he used that as a weapon to diffuse any awkwardness and put people at ease. It didn't quite work, however.

Naomi simply turned and kept on her melancholy and determined way, but before she had gone more than ten steps, she heard Light's feet slapping the pavement as he called out to her.

"Hey, wait!"

Taken aback, she slowed herself to a full stop and stared at the teenager running to catch up with her.

"Yes?" she asked expectantly.

"There's really no point to you going back to ask to see someone from the Task Force; they won't let you in."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you find it odd that there wasn't a single member at headquarters?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose it was kind of strange, but I didn't…"

"The Task Force is operating under complete secrecy, especially after the leak. No-one knows who the members are, and the people at the front desk aren't allowed to let anybody see or even contact anyone on the Kira Force. It has to be a complete secret to the general public."

'Oh, really?' "Then how do you know anything about it?"

Light's eyes went wide at that armor piercing question, and Naomi smirked internally as he calmly scrambled to conjure up a response to her rather astute question. It seemed he found one as he slapped a hand to his forehead and undressed the sidewalk with his eyes.

"Ah, I guess you leave me no choice but to come out and say it." He turned his head up at that time, and his expression had reverted back to his confident, standard one of neutrality that seemed tailor-made for putting people at ease. "I'm a member of the Task Force."

Naomi was stunned at that. "You?" 'There's no way they'd let a high schooler get involved in something this high profile. I should probably play along just to see where he's going, though.' Her earlier suspicions were becoming more justified as this encounter stretched onward.

"Yes; they brought me in because I've helped them with less major cases from time to time, and L saw no problem with it." Nothing in his body language indicated that he was telling anything but the truth, as he said these words while looking Naomi dead in the eye, but the words themselves just didn't seem to add up. Why would he be so upfront with her now? Secrecy aside, why would he bother trying to prevent her from going to try to meet the rest of the team… 'He's stalling.'

"Moreover, because you seem to be so on top of things, I would like to extend an invitation to join the Task Force."

He had a knack for flabbergasting her, it seemed. "Me? And how do you have the ability to do that?"

"Yes, you; just from talking with you here these past few minutes, I can see that you're a sharp individual, and we could use all the help we can get. And regarding getting you a spot on the team, all it would take is a recommendation from a current member, approval from L, and a valid form of identification. There's a bit more to it than that, of course, but I'm certain that you would be made a member with no hassle."

"I don't know…" In truth, she was more disturbed by the fact that he had asked for a legal form of I.D. The simple fact that showing his badge was what got Raye killed made her adamant about refusing to use her real name if at all possible. 'Could he know that I gave him an alias…?' Though she didn't exactly have any evidence to prove that he did in fact know of her deception, she wasn't going to risk it. Light seemed eager to sway her, however.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I don't know what I was thinking asking you so suddenly. I guess I got a little carried away there," he said sheepishly.

'Reverse psychology? Clever boy…' "No problem, Light. I'm honestly a little flattered that you're willing to give me a shot so soon."

"Even still, I'm sure you have plans and obligations that come before something like this."

She swallowed hard before she spoke her response. "I… really don't. Since Raye died, all of my plans were shot down in flames. With him gone, I really don't have anything left." Even though she was playing him to a certain degree, her emotional responses required no amount of acting skill to pull off convincingly. 'I could be a fantastic method actor.'

"But you're still young and beautiful. I don't see why you'd want to gamble with your life like this," he attempted to coax her.

"Damn it, no! I wanna catch that bastard Kira more than anybody, and with Raye gone that's all I have left. Please, let me talk to L so I can let him know what I've concluded!"

"Are you sure you that this is what you want?"

"More than anything." Her voice clearly conveyed her steadfast resolution. 'Even if I'm right about this kid having a greater agenda than he claims, it still couldn't hurt to give this a shot.'

"Well, like I said before, all I would need from you right now is a valid form of identification.

"Oh." Naomi briefly looked at the ground in an attempt to appear as embarrassed as she could. "You see, I don't have any on me. I took the subway, and I didn't see the need to bring it along. I'm so, so sorry, Light."

"I-it's alright." She could have sworn she heard an angry growl in those words somewhere, but when she glanced up at him, he had a reassuring smile on his face. "Maybe you could give me your number so we can arrange a meeting where you can bring it along?"

'Now he's asking for my number? This kid's got balls.'

"Okay, sure."

Naomi gave him her number, and made to move away from the teenager. When she had put a decent amount of distance between him and herself, she chanced a peek behind her, and she saw that he had an expression of angry and perhaps even murderous rage painting his face, but that faded almost instantaneously when a man in a suit and an afro walked up to Light and started speaking to him. She directed her eyes back to the road, but was startled by something wet hitting her head. Naomi looked skyward as she saw that it had begun snowing, and she held out her palm to try to catch a flake or two. Funnily enough one landed dead center in the palm of her hand, while another slipped through her fingers.

Shutting the door behind her, Naomi went over the events of her day as she threw her coat onto the chair nearest to the bed and sank into its parallel. The past few hours had been eventful to say the least, and now that she was safely back in her hotel room she was finally able to reconcile and evaluate them.

'I probably should've given him a fake number, but on the off chance he wasn't feeding me a load of bullshit, it couldn't hurt to have some form of contact related to the Task Force.' She closed her eyes and leaned her head over the back of her chair out of exhaustion, due to the fact that she had spent a large portion of her day walking. 'Even still, I think I'll go back to the police station tomorrow and see if he was being honest or not.'

Her reverie was unfortunately disturbed by the high pitched beeping that emitted from her cell phone. Grumbling all the while, she rose from her oh so comfortable chair and strode over to other chair to fish the cellular device from her jacket's pocket. Upon retrieving it and flipping it open, Naomi saw that the number was unlisted, which was puzzling.

'Here I thought Light was eager to see me again. Almost makes me feel pretty again.'

Pressing the green button that signified her acceptance of the call, she brought the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked, her inflection conveying her confusion at this unpredictable event.

"Hello, Naomi Misora."

She gasped in disbelief. It was that voice. That familiar, monotonous, synthesized voice. The same voice that had instructed her during the case in Los Angeles where she had proven her worth and had become much more notable at the office. The voice that she had never thought that she would hear again.

"L?"