A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I love getting feedback and I am happy people like the story so far! I was mostly synchronizing up the time lines in the first chapter. The story will take an angsty turn when a series of events leave Kagome at a loss. In addition, I would like to have an editor, PM me if you are interested. Here is the next chapter!
*Updated on 2/16/11
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or Inuyasha.
A Strawberry for Your Secret
Chapter Two
After the night she found Inuyasha on the sidewalk, everything changed. Her anger exploded from her and she didn't have the strength to hold back. She ran. She ran from Light, who watched as Inuyasha was crushed into the sidewalk with Kagome's fury. She fled the scene, not looking to see if Inuyasha followed. She was panting by the time she pushed her front door open. Her mother popped her head out of the kitchen, immediately moving to Kagome with a worried expression. Kagome shrugged her off and darted up into her room, proceeding to stuff her backpack with clothing and books. Her window flew open, causing Kagome to jump and let out a small squeal. Inuyasha sat on the window, glaring holes into her skull. Kagome clenched her jaw and threw her backpack over her shoulder without a word, slamming her door in his face. She went back with Inuyasha that night without a word to anyone. Afraid Light might seek answers, Kagome ran away into the past.
The following months went by in a blur. Kagome spent most of the winter in Feudal Japan, missing another few weeks of school. She spent most of her time in with Inuyasha, studying in between battles and traveling, going home for supplies and a bath, only to return to the past the following day. Her grades hovered a little above average, and with enough effort on her exams, Kagome could pass.
A few weeks after Light saw Inuyasha, she went back to her own time to take some exams. The moment Kagome arrived Souta bombarded her with news of Kira. Supposedly, this man was killing off all the criminals in the world without lifting a finger. What is this world coming to? There was endless talk of Kira. The internet exploded with sites praising this mass murderer, calling him a God. Sure, crime rates had dropped, but not allowing anyone a second chance peeved Kagome. She hoped that the detectives would find this warped human with a god-complex the size of Japan, and kick his ass.
Kagome hugged her little brother, mumbling that he watched too much T.V. to her mother as she went up to her room. She drew herself a bath and submerged herself below the hot, soothing liquid. It had been a while since she had shampoo and some soap. The battles were becoming more frequent, and Naraku had begun to pump out multiple reincarnations. Kagome sighed as she lathered the creamy shampoo into her scalp and dipped back under the water's surface. The steam of the bathroom had Kagome in a lethargic daze. Her head rested on the back of the tub as she gazed at the white, popcorn ceiling lost in thought. She heard her mother for her through the thick wood of the bathroom door, telling her supper was done whenever she was ready. The thought of her mother's delicious home cooked meals jolted Kagome out of her reverie. She quickly changed and donned a towel, wrapping it around her thick, black locks as she left the warmth of the bathroom. Kagome shuffled downstairs, settling down at the table opposite her mom as her eyes gazed at the feast in front of her. "Ikadakimasu!" she said sweetly, with a small bow and a smile firmly planted on her lips.
Kagome had just begun to tear into her dinner when her brother burst into the kitchen, "Mom! Kira just killed someone on T.V.!"
Her mother sighed and pushed away from the table, accompanying Souta to the living room, where the T.V. blared. Kagome leaned back in her chair, curiosity over the new mass murderer outweighing her hunger; she left the table to join her family in the living room. She plopped onto the sofa next to her mother and watched the showdown between a man claiming to be the great detective, L, and Kira.
Now why the hell would he show himself like that? Is he asking to be killed? Kagome's thoughts screamed at the stupidity.
Then it clicked. There is no way L would show his face. He had solved some of the worst and seemingly impossible cases around the world. He was a genius. Showing his face would ultimately mean his death. Kira would be an idiot if he fell for this.
Her mother and Souta sat in silence, watching the screen with wide, unblinking eyes. Her mother's face pinched with worry as she watched the television. Kagome could hear Gramps whistling a tune outside while he locked up the shrine, completely oblivious of the world around him. Kagome frowned and pushed off the sofa with a sigh, she had seen enough. As Kagome started padding over to the stairs, 'L' collapsed. She whipped her head to look at the TV. No way, her thoughts raced.
"Is that man really dead?" her mother gasped, with a delicate white hand clasping her mouth. The screen switched from the studio where the man was being dragged out of frame, to a white background with the letter 'L' written in an elegant, black font. A robotic voice filtered through the TV, sending chills down Kagome's spine.
L was provoking Kira, knowing that without a real name and a face, Kira could not kill him. L revealed that this broadcast was only being shown in certain regions at separate times in order to pinpoint his location. L had successfully deduced where Kira was and how he killed in a matter of seconds. Damn he's good, Kagome chuckled to herself. The detective's plan had worked, but that meant that Kira was in Japan and in the Tokyo area no less. With a quiet sigh, Kagome crept up the stairs, retreating to her room in hopes of catching up in her studies.
As she swung her door open, she caught a glimpse of the white hair hanyou. Inuyasha sat in her window, his face unreadable and placid as he watched her. She plopped on her bed, belly first and hugged a pillow to her face. "You could learn to use the door and not scare me like that," she mumbled into the soft fabric.
"Sounds like that Kira stuff you were telling us is getting pretty bad," he said softly, ignoring her complaints. She shifted her head to look at him and nodded, eyes sliding to the math book on the end table. She wouldn't be able to focus with Inuyasha mutely staring at her.
"Did you come to annoy me to death and drag me back or what?" Her abrupt question stung. She had been different lately. Her eyes were always clouded with thought, and he could tell that her double life was becoming harder on her. She was continuously torn between two different eras, and she hadn't brought herself to choose which one she belonged in. He knew the final battle was close, and he had a feeling that churned deep in his gut, warning him that something bad was going to happen. The pit of his stomach bubbled with anxiety as he thought about it. When she left a few days before the feeling grew worse, and he couldn't stand it anymore. He had to make sure she was okay.
His long pause made her uneasy, she sat up, legs crossed and waited for him to say something. His eyes held secrets; the milky gold was swarming with things left unsaid. He shook his head, his silvery hair shimmered with his movements, "I have a bad feeling Kagome, like something is going to go wrong," his eyes fell from hers; he placed one of his clawed hands on his stomach. "I just wanted to make sure everything was okay here."
She smiled, feeling a little guilty for her harsh question, "It's usually me getting those feelings, and you never believe me." He scoffed and turned his gaze outside her window. He sat there for the rest of the night in silence. She eventually dozed off, sitting on the desk with her head resting one of her thick school textbooks. He scooped her up from the chair, laid her on the bed and covered her with a blanket. Inuyasha pounced off her roof, perching in the Sacred Tree, only to disappear into the past just before sunrise.
Kagome awoke with a start; her eyes scanned the small, tidy room for Inuyasha. He left, she sighed noting the blanket with a sleepy smile. She was just happy that they didn't fight this time. At least she could go to school and not worry about Inuyasha trying to sniff her out. One glance at the clock had Kagome scrambling out of bed, oh crap! I'm going to be late!
She made it to school; her friends swarmed her, hugging Kagome and filling her in on the latest gossip. She heard one of them mention Light and froze. Light. She recalled the last time she saw him, her nerves made her stomach turn. He was in her class so she couldn't avoid him entirely. She sat at her desk waiting, nervously playing with the sleeve of her uniform. Light walked in before the first bell, striding across the classroom and tossing a glance at her. His eyes widening slightly as he found Kagome's. She attempted a sheepish smile and waved, he nodded his head in her direction sat in his usual spot by the window.
While happy that Light didn't seem to be mad at her, she tentatively shifted her gaze to the frightening monster that followed Light. Since she sat in the back of the room, neither Light or the demon noticed her intense scrutiny. It resembled a demon that she would run into in Feudal Japan with Inuyasha, not at her school hovering next to Light. She knew that no one else was able to see this extremely tall, distorted figure lurking in Light's shadow. It was invisible to the rest of the world, but not to a miko. The monster was gray, head to toe, and had wild patches on fur on the shoulders of his skintight shirt. His yellow eyes and constant grin were what scared Kagome the most. She wasn't sure if Light saw the figure until she saw him mumbling under his breath. What is going on? Had he lost his mind? It took a lot of effort for her to focus and keep her eyes from the figure hovering next to Light.
She stayed for that week, making up exams and attempting to catch up with her work. By Friday, Kagome thought her brain would explode. He rubbed her temples as she plucked up her stuffed yellow satchel and padded to the well house. There wasn't any time to dwell on the monster in her era because the final battle with Naraku was fast approaching. After yet another battle, Kagome's eyes flicked to her group of friends as she sat by the small, crackling fire. Shippo was already asleep, his body nuzzled next to her. She could feel his short, even breaths against her arm. Sango was leaning on Kirara, attempting to sleep. She spent most of her days in quiet contemplation, worrying over the fate of her younger brother, Kohaku. Miroku tried his hardest to lighten the mood of the group but even Miroku could not deny the horrible darkness that began to settle in their minds. The air was heavy, thick with worry and anticipation.
She looked at Inuyasha, knowing his thoughts were with Kikyo. He sat away from the group, legs crossed and Tessaiga on his lap. Kagome had watched, tears brimming over her eyes, while he held Kikyo's body. They all watched helplessly, as she died in his arms. Inuyasha kissed her one last time and Kagome broke into pieces for the last time. Inuyasha's constant far-away look just enforced her decision to let her hopeless love for Inuyasha go. She knew that she was sent here for this task. Fate chose her to bring the jewel back to its rightful place and destroy it forever. The well was open so long as the jewel remained, after it was destroyed, she had no idea what to expect. Kagome hoped for the best, but expected the worse. Her powers had grown immensely, but not in time to save Kikyo, and definitely not enough to force the well to remain open. Either way, Kagome was going to lose.
While resting in the village after a series of battles with Naraku's many incarnations, Kagome was able to speak to Kaede of the monster following Light. The old woman sat in the same hut that Kagome was brought to the day she crawled out of the well. Lady Kaede's face was wrinkled, her gray hair pulled back, a patch over her right eye, and she wore the same miko garb Kikyo wore. Kaede hadn't changed in the 4 years Kagome had known her.
"Child, I believe you speak of a Death God, a shinigami." The old priestess was perplexed. She had only seen one in her lifetime. It was rare for any human or miko to see one. Kaede continued, "Shinigami tend to avoid the human realm, for every time a God of Death steps foot in the human world, there is wide spread disaster."
Kagome shivered. She took the newfound information with her into her own era. A quick search online revealed endless sketches, websites, and articles that were full of information. I travel back in time 500 years through a well, she laughed, so I don't think this is too far of a stretch. All the sketches looked different; none of them resembled Light's shinigami. Since she had only seen the Death God, she didn't have much information to go by; she would have to speak with it. I need to draw its attention.
The moment Ryuk saw her with the half-demon; he knew there was something different about the girl. The flow of time is different for her and her aura pulsed with the powers of a priestess. Since he has been a shinigami, Ryuk has never seen numbers like this floating over someone's head. He was curious about Kagome.
One boring, normal day he noticed her blatantly staring at him during one of the classes she shared with Light. Ryuk blinked, and decided to saunter over closer to her, curiosity getting the best of him. Light paid no mind to Ryuk shifting about the room; he had learned to tune him out while he was at school to avoid looking suspicious. He was under constant surveillance now a days, so Light was on a tight leash. She continued to acknowledge his presence as he drew near with a slight nod of her head. Her eyes slid down to the paper underneath her fingers, 'I need to talk to you, follow me home'. He stared, eyes wide, at the message and then to the young woman for a while, contemplating what to do. After she knew that she had gotten his attention, she ignored him completely, her eyes turned back to the board. He shifted around the room some more and finally came back beside Light. He was particularly interested as to why she could see him and why her numbers were all funny.
"Light-o, I have special shinigami things to do this afternoon, so I'll find you when I'm done," Ryuk said in a bored, uninterested tone. He was twisting his head and hopping around on one of his legs, his body contorting into impossible shapes. "How much longer until I get an apple, I can barely handle this torture." Light shrugged slightly, gave a small smirk, and continued with his work. When the bell sounded, Light packed up his work and left the classroom, not looking back to see if Ryuk was following. Ryuk drifted lazily out of the building and found her waiting outside the entrance of the school. She remained silent and oblivious as she walked home, with a shinigami on her heels.
She walked into her home, went straight upstairs and locked her door. As she turned around, she remembered Kaede's warning of Death Gods only causing destruction. Kagome could find no better explanation for the appearance of Kira. As she looked at the creature in front of her, she shivered, feeling its dark aura.
"Yo," he said, his huge grin widening further. His yellow, bulging eyes looked at her expectantly. He sat on her bed, his legs twitching and head tilting to the side like a puppy. Maybe she has apples…
"What the hell are you," she demanded in a strong voice, her eyes not leaving his.
He was amazed that she held no fear of him. "I'll tell you, Miko, if you give me an apple." She looked at him, perplexed by his odd demands. Kagome left her room, snagging a few apples off the table and dashing upstairs. To Ryuk's delight, she returned with a few apples and tossed one his way. Oh, how I've missed you, he stared at the apple adoringly.
She waited. He finished the apple in the blink of an eye, his mouth still full as he mumbled, "I'm a shinigami, Death God, the name's Ryuk." He sighed happily, tapping his stomach with his hands.
"I was right," she sighed and slumped into her desk chair, "Why you are here, Ryuk, and what are you doing with Light?"
Ryuk eyed the apples again, receiving another; Ryuk was so easy to please. "I dropped my Death Note, and Light picked it up." Her face twisted into a look of confusion once again, Ryuk carried on, "That night with the half-demon, I saw you, your time is all funny," he said pointing a finger above her head.
"You know Inuyasha?" her voice full of disbelief.
"Well, I've been around for a while, and he was pretty popular back in the day. You know that though don't you, Kagome?" She continued to stare, tossing him an apple, forcing him to continue. She didn't have to ask any questions, he knew what she wanted to know. "If you write a person's name in the Death Note, that person will die within 40 seconds of writing their name. I can see everyone's name and life span above his or her heads. Light cannot, but you probably figured this out already."
Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. Ryuk had just spilled it all to her for a few apples. He is obviously not on anyone's side, she thought. "Are you going to tell him about our meeting?" She worried. Light might be her friend, but after hearing he has the ability to kill by just writing down a name, she didn't know what to think anymore.
"If I want to live, I would not harm a miko." He said this as she tossed him her last apple. "I've witnessed the powers of a miko before, and I don't wish to ever again. If I recall, you are one of the world's last and most powerful mikos. So, no, Light will not learn of our meeting." He licked his fingers after he demolished the apple, "It is up to you, Kagome. Do what you wish with this information." Ryuk waved, his wings growing out of his back with a sickening sound, and he flew threw her ceiling, disappearing.
She couldn't breathe.
L sat on his chair, knees bent up to his chest, his dark eyes scanning the 8 computer screens in front of him. The cameras placed in the Yagami household were displayed, streaming live, on the computer screens. The team made their base in a large hotel, across from the police headquarters. This investigation was the first to challenge L in quite some time; he smirked as he stabbed the cake in front of him. He had been watching Light Yagami for a week straight. Everything was going as planned for L, except that criminals were still dying and Light wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. L brought the fork to his mouth and chewed while he thought. Something is missing and L was hell bent on figuring it out. He had finally narrowed down the police for to 5 men that were willing to risk their lives for justice.
He looked over at the police chief sitting next to him. Soichiro looked at L with hope in his eyes, "Is my son cleared?" L played with the fork in front of him, "Less than 3 percent." L said in a quiet, bored voice.
"Does that mean you will take out the cameras?" Light's father wanted his family cleared so desperately. He refused to believe his son could be Kira. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. His head was pounding. A week of non-stop work investigating his own son as well as the murders taking place on a daily basis had left him exhausted.
"Yes." As reluctantly as L was to remove the cameras, he secretly had the FBI following those working on the Kira case. L kept this from the rest of the team, but was glad to know that if anything unusual happened, he would find out.
"Go home to your family, Yagami-sama, you need some rest."
With that, L unwrapped a sucker and popped it in his mouth. Mmmm, strawberry, he thought to himself as hopped out of his chair. Everyone stared at him as he did since he had barely moved from that spot for a week. He shrugged, put both hands in his pockets, and slumped off towards his room. His black hair bounced around his face as he walked. It was unkempt but it framed his pale face perfectly.
His mind raced as he ambled down the hallway, popping the sucker out of his mouth and sighing. If he didn't get any leads soon he would have to do something drastic. Desperate times call for desperate measures. He might even have to reveal himself to Light. Only time will tell, he thought to himself. He went into his room, which hadn't really been touched since they made base in the hotel. He could tell the tide was about to turn and figured he would need some sleep.
As he lay there, waiting for sleep to claim him, his mind wandered to his past, before the orphanage was built, when it was just him and Watari. He remembered his first and only friend bouncing around him with pure delight. L stood there, unsure of himself, but happy as she grabbed his hand and they ran to the playground. Watari looked on, smiling as he watched the bubbly little girl drag L along, forcing him to play. It was one of the only times he can remember smiling. Her face danced behind his eyes as he drifted to sleep. What was her name again….Ka…g…
Light was getting annoyed by the heavy surveillance. He knew the Death Note would come with consequences, so he adapted and evolved as more and more challenges were thrown at him. He wasn't a genius for nothing. The cameras and wiretaps still littered his house, not allowing the slightest chance for anyone to breathe without L seeing them. The day that Ryuk said he had to leave Light for a while made him curious. Usually shinigami don't wander far from their Death Notes, so he wondered what could be so important.
While walking home from school that day, someone seemingly appeared out of nowhere and walked next to him, keeping in step with Light. Confused, he looked to his right at the man next to him, "Uh…Hi, do I know you?" Light asked nervously, catching the stranger's scarlet red eyes. Light had stopped walking and stared at the mysterious, slumped figure in front of him.
The stranger smiled, shifting so that his lips were inches from Light's ear. A raspy, low voice whispered, "Hello, Kira."
