Just a Game Store

I don't own Death Note or any of its characters

Ran tapped her finger tips on the counter, her eyes locked onto one particular customer. Her chin rested lazily on her palm as her narrowed eyes followed the every movement of the customer. He had been in the store for the last 10 minutes, skimming the shelves, reading the spines of countless games and occasionally pulling one out to study the cover. It was not any of those things that bothered Ran, however. What truly bothered her was that he was smoking in the store. Not only was it against the law* but his actions were also driving other customers away. Ran would have thought it to be obvious that you are not supposed to smoke in a public building, especially where there are young kids that constantly file in, looking at and trying the newest games. Ran saw it as a terribly irresponsible thing to do. As an employee, she would have to speak up and request that he stop smoking immediately.

Ran drew back her tapping hand and lifted her head from her palm as she realized that the smoker was making his way towards the counter she was currently manning. He approached her and set two games on the glass countertop before digging his gloved hand into his pocket, pulling out his wallet.

Ran blinked as she approached the chance to examine the man's choice of attire. Being a game store clerk, she had seen some pretty wacky clothes ranging from rainbow dash sweaters to cookie monster track pants. She couldn't exactly say that his fashion sense was strange, it was mostly unique. After all, she had never seen someone to wear goggles and gloves paired with a fuzzy vest and stripes. Ran mentally shook herself back to reality as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Uh, there's no smoking indoors, sir." Ran spoke as she slid the games closer to her.

"I didn't see a sign anywhere." He remarked. Despite his words, he took the cigarette out of his mouth and pressed it to the counter, extinguishing it.

Ran looked down at the dead cigarette surrounded by gray ashes with displeasure.

"Now I have to clean that." She muttered before proceeding with the checkout.

Her fingers punched keys on the computer's keyboard at a remarkable speed as she used her free hand to scan the two items. As she did so, the man slightly leaned on the counter, his blue** eyes catching sight of Ran's white nametag that was pinned to the left side of her chest. Her ridiculous boss forced all of her employees to where one on account of her even more ridiculous assistant manager who ran the store that Ran worked in. The assistant manager believed that all game store workers should reveal their name to the customers as a kind gesture (in which their boss agreed to) and what better way to do so than to have a nametag stabbed above your boob.

"Ran...that's a pretty weird name." The customer stated.

He had unknowingly triggered a pulse of anger in her but Ran struggled to keep her polite composure towards a valued customer.

"Yes, well it's all based on personal preference. Your total comes to $85.95; will that be cash or debit?" The customer pulled out money from his wallet and placed it on the counter which clearly answered her question.

Ran eyed him at from the corner of her eye as she opened the cash register and jammed the money in it.

"I didn't know employees here had to where nametags. It's kind of unusual." He spoke, still leaning on the countertop.

"It's a mandatory feature." Ran stated, obviously annoyed by his trivial chatting. The customer chuckled slightly.

"You get easily annoyed, don't you?" He said with a grin as he accepted his change and grabbed onto the games.

"No, it's just that you're an extremely annoying person that I've only known for 5 minutes." Was what she desperately wanted to say as a cheeky comeback but that action would get her in huge trouble with her boss. Ran curled her lips into a forced, cheerful smile as she spoke in a fake, sweet voice.

"Have a nice day. Please come again." She hoped that he would take that as a hint to leave, not only because she didn't want to talk to him anymore but also because if they did continue to chat, she might allow a rude remark to slip from her tongue which would not result well.

Luckily, the customer shoved the games into his vest-pocket and pushed out the door. Ran's eyes remained glued to his back as he made his way down the busy street until he had completely blended with the rest of the crowd.

"Hm..." Ran returned herself to her previous position as her wondering gaze darted from area to area out of boredom. It finally landed on the crumpled cigarette that lay extinguished in a small surrounding of grey ashes. Ran crinkled her nose at the sight of the vile object dirtying the clear glass of the counter that she had only just cleaned half an hour ago. She stared burning holes through the cigarette, contemplating on how to dispose of it. Finally, she slowly brought her hand towards it and clenched it between her index and thumb. Ran brought the cigarette towards the trash bin and tossed it in before using her sleeve to carefully dust off the remains.

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"You sure you're okay to lock up, Ran? I mean, your house is the farther one." Terry asked, a concerned expression consuming her face.

Ran gave her friend and co-worker a reassuring smile as she waved her off.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Terry. Seriously, you worry too much." Ran said as she hopped over the counter, landing with a stumble. Terry bit her lip before letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, see you tomorrow." Terry spoke, exiting the building after some hesitation.

Ran waited until her friend was out of sight before she began to secure and lock everything. Once the store was completely locked up, Ran tested the doors one last time by pulling on the handle, firmly. Everything was set, which meant she could finally go home.

As a chilling gust flew past her, Ran shivered and buttoned up the last couple of buttons on her black coat. She shoved her icy hands into her pockets and began walking down the street in the direction of her apartment building. As she was walking, Ran shot a glance up at the dark, star-scattered sky that enveloped the entire area in a moonlit night. Despite the chilly weather of an upcoming winter, it was a fairly nice night. As risky as it was for an 18 year-old girl to be walking alone at night, Ran actually preferred the isolation and absence of other people. The street that she walked home on was never populated at night-time which made it that more peaceful and quiet. A small smile slid onto her face as she continued her trek, eyes still attached to the dark sky.

Her peace was shattered into a million pieces as the sudden sound of what seemed to be a video game, infiltrated her eardrums. Her eyes darted to the source in somewhat of a hostile manner. The source had managed to catch her off guard for a moment. It was the customer from earlier, sitting on one of the street benches, glued to a hand-held gaming system. Of course, there was a cigarette in his mouth as well that let off streams of gray smoke in the air. He was mostly shrouded in the darkness of the late hour other than the light from the small screen illuminating his features.

Ran blinked before thoughtlessly approaching him, her expression soon changing to a stern one. For some reason, Ran just didn't know how to mind her own business.

"You know, it's pretty dangerous to be outside alone at night." She spoke from behind him.

There was a long pause that stretched between them until he finally peeled his attention from his game and glanced back at Ran. He held his gaze on her for a moment before allowing it to fall back to the small screen.

"Well, between the both of us, I think you're the one that's more at risk." He said. Despite having his face turned away from Ran, she could hear the grin in his voice. Ran narrowed her eyes at his comment but instead, chose to ignore it.

"So what are you even doing out here, anyway?" She asked, suddenly being struck by a strange curiosity.

"Sorry, I was taught not to talk to strangers." He joked, thumbs still bolting from button to button.

"Ch, well then." She scoffed, the curiosity being replaced by an itching annoyance.

She wasn't even sure why she was wasting her time talking to some random smoker who may or may not be some sort of creeper or drug addict (in Ran's mind, everyone she didn't know fell into one of those categories). Ran shoved her hands deeper into her pockets as she started down the street, away from the bench. Once she was a fair distance away, Ran glanced back to see whether the stranger was still there or not. As she expected, he had not budged. She whipped her head back around and continued walking, shooting glances over her hunched shoulder only to see each time that he had not moved.

"Doesn't this guy have anything better to do?" Ran questioned herself. It was odd to see someone alone, playing on a hand-held at such a late hour. There was no way that he could be old enough to already be on his own. But then again, Ran was only 18 and she lived alone, but her circumstances were different. Ran sent one last glance towards him before she rounded the corner, cutting herself off from him completely.

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Matt focused on his video game as the girl, Ran began walking away. As minutes ticked by, Ran had gained a fair distance but Matt couldn't shake the constant feeling of eyes darting back at him. It was most likely the girl though he couldn't quite grasp why she continuously shot glances at him. It wasn't as if they legitimately knew each other, so why worry about him? She didn't even know his name. Matt decided not to gaze back at her considering that if he did so it would only result in awkward eye contact which was not too fun. In order to avoid that awkwardness, he would just simply pretend that the game store employee was a non-existent figment of his imagination until she left sight range. Matt slowly drew his eyes in the direction that Ran had walked once he was certain (or at least, mostly certain) that she was gone. Luckily for him, she was nowhere in sight. A short wave of relief washed over him as Matt contently returned to rescuing princess Zelda from danger.

Just as he had managed to fully indulge in the game; his phone went off in his pocket, sending disturbing vibrations onto his leg. Matt paused and set his portable console onto his lap as she pulled out his vibrating phone. The caller ID read: "Mello" in vibrant, orange letters. A small sigh escaped his mouth as he pressed "talk" and held the phone up to his ear.

The reason he was not exactly content with the fact that his only friend was calling him was because of the reason he was being called. Mello was not the type to call someone just to say hello or see how they're doing. The only reason Mello ever calls Matt is if he has troublesome task set for him to complete.

"Yeah?" Matt "greeted" as he un-paused his video game and proceeded to play it with his free hand.

"Matt, I have a job for you." Mello stated, straight to the point.

"Yeah, I'm doing fine, thanks for asking." Matt spoke, sarcasm apparent in his tone.

"Come to the Mafia base within an hour. I'll tell you the details then." Speaking those final words, Mello ended the call, ignoring Matt's sarcasm.

Matt sighed once again as he too, ended the call and slid the phone back into his pocket along with his video game. Matt stood from the cold bench and made his way to his parked car. He opened the door and sat inside, starting it up.

"The Mafia base, huh? I can probably make it there within half an hour." Matt thought aloud, more as a challenge for himself as a small smirk curled his lips.

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"You're late." Mello stated as Matt stepped down the concrete stairs into the unwelcoming lounge.

"I got pulled over for speeding." Matt spoke, almost solemnly.

Matt dragged himself towards where Mello sat, passing a few other members that where either typing away at a computer, drinking or enjoying the company of a woman. Matt dropped next to Mello with a sigh.

"So what's this job you have for me?" He asked.

"...A kidnapping." Mello stated.

Matt's nonchalant expression never wavering as Mello continued. It wasn't as if Matt had never kidnapped anyone before, of course he didn't exactly enjoy it but the request left him unfazed.

"I've managed to find and track down who it is you'll be kidnapping. She's a talented hacker who can hack into almost every system. I think it will be very beneficial to have her apart of the Mafia...of course, I wouldn't expect her to come quietly so that's where you come in." Mello paused for a moment to take a bite of his chocolate bar. "Do you follow?"

"So I'm supposed to bring her to the base and then you handle things from there, right?" Matt confirmed as he let out a loud huff of breath. "She better be cute." He muttered to himself, slouching himself in a more relaxed and comfortable posture.

Mello held out a glossy photo towards Matt between his index and middle finger.

"This is her picture. It's not very good but it was the only one I could find that at least showed most of her face. She's pretty good at keeping her identity concealed." Matt took the photo and further examined the face of the girl.

He found himself to feel slightly surprised upon realizing some very similar features that this girl and the worker from the game shop shared. Out of all the people, could this infamous hacker truly have been that outrageous tomboy? Though, since the photo did not show her entire face and was a little on the blurry side, there was still no way to tell for sure. There was still a small chance for her to be a cute, beautiful supermodel.

Matt listened intently as Mello shared the rest of the information that he had managed to dig up which, truthfully was not much. It merely consisted of where she worked and what general hours. Unfortunately for Matt, Mello's information only further justified his theory of this hacker turning out to be that clerk. Matt hung his head as he muttered his agreement, unenthusiastically.

"Right, I'll get on it tomorrow night."

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"Oh, Ran, you'll never guess what happened in the book I'm reading!" Terry exclaimed in sickening glee as she approached her friend who was currently replacing a poster.

"What happened?" She breathed, clearly used to Terry's obsession over romance.

"Taylor finally broke up with William! It was about time, now there's a chance that Taylor and Trevor can be a thing." Terry beamed, hugging said novel close to her chest with a large grin forever glued to her face.

"That's great, Terry." Ran spoke, sarcasm coating her words.

Terry's chocolate eyes peered through the thick lenses of her glasses as she frowned. "Gee, thanks for caring, Ran. It may not matter to you but I take shipping very seriously and to me, this was great news."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry to say this but I really don't care about Taylor's love life. She's just a fictional character from a corny romance novel. If it were manga, then I might've cared a little." Ran stated as she straightened the new poster she had just finished displaying. Ran had been told before that she had OCD and under certain circumstances, she couldn't exactly deny it.

Every inch of her apartment was in perfect order and alignment. Her bed was always neatly made with exactly three decorative pillows to top it off. Her home was always squeaky clean no matter what, mostly because of the fact that she was an insane clean freak who couldn't even stand a speck of dust landing on her pristine floors.

"Well whatever. Hey now that I think about it, you remember that smoker guy you were helping yesterday? Wasn't he kind of cute?" Terry's signature smile made its return as she leaned on the wall, the book still clamped tightly in her arms.

"Okay, I know you want a boyfriend and all but I had no idea you were actually desperate." Ran scoffed as she turned on her heel and stalked back to the abandoned counter.

"Hey, what do you mean "desperate"? I'm not desperate; I was just speaking my mind. Jeez, what kind of friend are you?" Terry whined, her smile soon dropping suit.

"One of a kind." Ran answered, simply as she hopped over the counter.

Instead of landing swiftly on her feet, however, Ran fell flat on her belly, causing a loud thump to echo through the store. Her face burned from the searing pain that the rug had brought her as her limbs went numb for a moment, allowing the pain to settle and disappear. "Ow..." She muttered as she shamefully peeled herself from the floor and dusted off the clinging dirt and other fluffs from her clothes.

"Are you okay?" Terry asked, clearly stifling a burst of laughter that was dying to escape.

"Fine." Ran sighed at her utter failure to hop over the counter in a badass way. It always happened, unfortunately. No matter how hard or how many times she tried, Ran just could never hop over that counter without stumbling or falling. The laughter that Terry had attempted to hold back, slipped out the moment it was given a chance. Terry burst into a fit of laughter, obviously finding enjoyment out of Ran's pain and misery.

"What kind of friend am I? What kind of friend are you?" Ran scoffed, a look of displeasure folding over her face.

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Ran slowly sauntered down the darkened sidewalk as she mentally made note of what she would plan to do for her day off tomorrow.

"Hmm, seeing a movie with Terry sounds fun...or maybe if I went out and bought myself a new hoodie, that would be a nice gift to me. Oh, maybe—" Ran's thoughts received an interruption as an uneasy feeling punched her stomach, causing little butterflies to flitter in her gut.

She slowly dragged her head to glance behind her when suddenly a dark figure dashed from the alley beside her. The figure quickly threw one arm around her torso, restricting any further movement while with the other, covered her mouth and nose with a cloth. Ran's reaction was delayed by her shock but once her mind was slapped back into reality she struggled and flailed under the man's hold in a desperate attempt to escape. Just as she took a gasp of air, she immediately regretted it. The cloth was soaked in a drug that infiltrated her nose. Upon inhaling it, Ran's tense and shaken body fell limp, the man letting go to allow her body to fall to the ground. The man's thin lips twisted into a sinister grin of pleasure as he let out a cackle.

"That was easier than I thought. It's a good thing this chick walks alone at night everyday or this woulda' been a hell of a lot harder." He spoke, directing his comment towards his accomplice who still stood, shrouded by the shadowy alley.

"Yeah, with this, we were able to avoid following her and stuff. It was a lot easier." Matt exhaled a puff of smoke as he stalked towards the girl that lay limp on the walkway. He examined her for a short period of time, wondering how to get her in the car without violating her. He may have been a part of the Mafia but he was no pervert. One thing that both he and Mello shared was a certain respect for women, meaning even if given the chance they would not intentionally "grope" a girl. But on the other hand, how was he supposed to pick her up without accidentally touching her thighs, hips, chest, torso or crotch? Sometimes, kidnapping a girl was tough.

Matt finally stepped over Ran and decided to turn her over onto her back with her shoulders. Once turned over, Matt awkwardly slid his hand under her knees and scooped her (or at least attempted to scoop her) into his arms. Unfortunately, she was slightly heavier than he had expected, causing a great struggle for him to get her from the ground and into his arms. Matt let out a grunt as he finally hoisted Ran from the cold floor, feeling a sense of victory that one would feel after completing a very hard boss battle that took a million tries to beat. He shuffled towards his vehicle with Jack trailing closely behind him. Jack opened the back door, allowing Matt to slide Ran onto the seat. As Matt stretched out his already "overworked" muscles, Jack applied a blind fold, a.k.a his tie since Matt was too lazy to find something else to use before they had left.

Matt sat in the driver's seat and started up the car with Jack following suit. He drove down the road down the way to the Mafia base. The entire drive was blanketed in a thick silence with Jack occasionally throwing glances at the passed out passenger. By the time they had reached to base, Matt had managed to go through two cigarettes, leaving him with only on for the next day. The two exited the car. Once they were out, Jack opened the back and threw Ran over his shoulder. A wave of relief washed over Matt for the fact that he would not be burdened with carrying her himself. He threw his cigarette onto the dirt and stomped on it in order to put it out. There was no frigging way he would ever put out a cigarette on his car, besides video games, Matt's car was equivalent to one's significant other. Extinguishing a lit cigarette on his vehicle would be like stabbing your own child with a toothpick.

Matt went on ahead into the base, not bothering to wait or Jack and headed towards the lounge where he was sure to find Mello. As he started down the hall he could pick up on Jack who seemed to be lagging behind him, most likely because he was burdened with carrying Ran on his shoulder.

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Ran could feel a heavy grogginess weighing on her head as she lazily peeled her eyes open. She could only see darkness, was she in some sort of dark room? It had only just then occurred to her that she was wearing a blindfold. Ran lowly and wearily pulled it off, allowing it to drop to the concrete floor. There was no need for her to squint her eyes since wherever she was, was lit by very dim lighting. It took a long while for her to process the fact that she was not in a familiar place...or the fact that she was upside down, thrown over some man's shoulder. A musky scent of cigarette smoke and alcohol was all she could pick up on as she slowly lifted her neck and glanced around before turning her head to get a look at the man holding her. He was rather tall and sported a white suit and blonde hair. Those features were the only things she could see from her angle, however.

Finally it had tuned in that this man must have been the figure that attacked her while she was walking home...and he had taken her to an unfamiliar place...and god knows what else he might of done to her. Many thoughts had emotions rushed into Ran's head all at once causing her inner strength to turn into complete turmoil. The only thought that seemed the least important at the moment was the same reoccurring one that continued to pop up every couple of cycles that her mental tornado circled around.

"I have to escape."

Ran's dark eyes warily glanced up at her assailant with fear taking over them completely. Luckily he had not noticed that she was awake yet which provided her with the perfect opportunity to get away. On top of that, her hands were unbound and free.

Finally building up as much courage as she could conjure at the moment, Ran sent a stone-hard punch to the back of the man's head, holding none of her strength back in the process. He let out a loud "Gah!" of pain and surprise as he began falling to the floor. Once Ran felt his grip loosen, she jumped back and landed a powerful blow to his ribs before bolting in the opposite direction. Just as she had turned and began her sprint of escape, another figure stood before her. With her adrenaline pumping harder than a stereo, Ran didn't bother to take in the figure's appearance and instead, kneed him right in the balls with enough force to send a man to his knees in pain. Sure enough, her attack had worked just as it was supposed to and the figure dropped to the ground, clutching his crotch.

As soon as the two obstacles were out of the way, she darted down the concrete hall at her fastest speed. Ran probably would have been able to escape if not for another person shoving a metallic object to her head as she rounded the corner. Judging by the sound of the weapon cocking, she could only identify it...as a gun.

A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the first ever chapter of this story and I hope you will enjoy all the chapters to come please review and tell me what you think of this story so far.

*It is against the law right? I can't remember :\

**Yeah, sorry to all the people that prefer Matt with red hair and green eyes, it's just I wanted to stick to the official colouring of the anime so I really hope it doesn't bother anyone too much

Anyways, thanks for reading