Trigger warning: reference to bulimia

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

Clara x ? Poll on profile.

Note: This story is going on hiatus. I'm writing a lot of Hetalia stuff right now, and just don't have enough time to work on this. I'll probably come back to it after my other DN fic, AFATECS, is finished.

She stares at me. Then she steps forward, lifts me by my shirt, and slams me into the wall. I don't fight her. I deserve every punch. Besides I couldn't fight her if I wanted to. She's actually really athletic. My nose starts to bleed; Gah! I think it's broken!

Best birthday ever right?

She's stopped beating me up, and is now crying in the corner. I should probably try to talk to her.

"What would you have done, if it was the other way around?" I ask as gently as I can.

"I would have... done the same thing."

She glances up at me."Sorry that this is the worst birthday ever."

I press my nails into the palm of my hand. "It's my fault that we're here. I shouldn't have snapped."

"Hey, it's not your fault that some creepy psycho decided to shoot two random people."

"After we're done here, I promise that we'll go see him get justice," I yell, my eyes burning at the thought of my mother hearing that I was dead.

"Let's wait awhile, okay? I don't want to see my family right now," Aurelia says."So you gotta tell me, what alternate universe did you pick?"

Uh-oh. She's not going to like this..."Um...I just said Death Note without really thinking."

"Right, you totally didn't think about it," she says, rolling her eyes.

"Totes mc goats," I fire back. "Now want to get out of this closet? No? Wait! I knew it! You're in love with the cleaning supplies!"

I pick up a mop and start to kiss it before turning it up side down and ruffling its "hair."

She laughs and says,"You know that's the mop they use to clean up after a kid has an 'accident.'"

"Bleaugh!" I spit out all over the mop. "Honey, why didn't you tell me you weren't clean? I feel so betrayed!" I cry out as I throw the mop across the closet.

"You won't think that's a funny joke in five years, Clara!" Aurelia hoots.

"Keep it down!" said Akane as she drifted through a wall.

"AHHH!" shrieks Aurelia. "What is it? What is that thing?"

"This is the Shinigami, Akane, that I told you about. Say hello to her," I tell Aurelia.

"It's a pleasure I'm sure," Akane brushes me off. "I'm here with your new clothes and identities. I also bring a gift from the King."

Silently, we change into our clothes, traditional Japanese school girl uniforms. Sorry, but I don't think that they're cute. I don't really feel like myself. I notice that we both have scars where the bullets hit us. Aurelia has one right over her heart, and I have two in my right shoulder, one right where a t-shirt normally ends on my left arm, one in my left hand, and one high up in my right thigh. Damn, he was a bad shot.

After we change Akane gives us both passports. I'm not Clara Tracy anymore; my new alias is Chika Tsukino. Aurelia Young is will now be called Ami Yukimura. At least that's what Akane tells us. I don't speak or read Japanese. I think Aurelia is learning Korean, but she only knows a few simple words. And that wouldn't be helpful anyways.

"Now, it is time for the gifts," Akane murmurs. "There are three options. The first is that the Shinigami King will raise your intelligence to be equal the smartest person in this world. Don't ask me who that is because I can't tell you. The second is that the Shinigami King will raise your athletic ability to be equally to the most physically fit person in this world. Same goes to that person; I can't tell you who they are either. Finally you can choose to have a death note of your own. Remember, the two of you can't choose the same gift."

I respond, "hmmm.. Well the intelligence gift is a no brainier. I want that one, Ami, but you should choose between the other two."

She slowly meets my eyes. "I actually really understand and relate to Light; if our world had a Kira then we would still be alive. Clar-Chika can we be on his side?"

"No. I will not join either L or Kira because they both put too much on the line to get what they want. Kira starts out with good intentions, but he ends up hurting innocent people, like Naomi Misora. L crosses the line when he plays with Kira, using a criminal as a disposable way to get to Light. I don't want to be like either of them, or the man in the theater. Life is precious and should not be disposed of lightly."

Aurelia is silent. Then she speaks,"I'll take the athleticism. You're right Chika. We won't be like L or Light. In this world of chaos we will be..."

"Justice," we finish together.

Whoah...that was cool. Suddenly my head burns like it's being stretched. I guess I must be getting my gift from Akane, but wait a second, it's not just my head that's changing, it's my whole body. Even my vision is morphing into something new. The mop across the room looks almost like a cartoon. No, it looks animated. I turn to Aurelia. She's an anime character. She's an anime character. We both squeal in delight.

I think Akane is trying to smile. That looks seriously creepy. Whoah! Aurelia guurrl damn you look fine. Since when could girls be so buff and sexy all at once? I wait. I guess I feel slightly smater, but I still feel like me, the dorky fan girl who makes mistakes in grammar. At least my nose is back to normal. Oh... Akane is trying to tell us something."Also you may choose to share one aspect of the other person's gift."

"Oh Clara the Great and Powerful, I choose to have your multilingual skills," Aurelia chants like a zombie.

"Oh Aurelia the Buff and Sexy, I will grant you this power if I may have your skills in tennis," I copy her in a low monotone.

"You have yourself a deal," she giggles breaking our ritual like chant.

"You now have your powers," Akane says.

"That's it?" I ask. "I thought that I wouldn't be such a fat fan girl anymore."

"Hey!" Aurelia says. "Fan girls are awesome, and we're not dumb. You definitely aren't fat, you're a stick! You need to put on some muscle."

"Okay, Okay, but how are we going to pay for groceries? Can anyone else see you, Akane? Where are we going to stay? Who is going to be our guardian? When in the story are we going to start?"

Akane is trying smile again with horrible results. "Here are two debit cards; one for each of you. Each of them have 666 million American dollars on them. They can transfer to any type of currency from major countries. The Shinigami King will replenish them from time to time. No one else can see me. You will stay in the penthouse suite at the top floor of the Imperial Hotel. You can just tell anyone that Akane is your guardian. You can attend this school whenever you feel like it. This is Light's high school. You may not reveal future events or give information regarding the case to anyone who doesn't already know this information unless you can think of a way to justify your conclusion using logic. Light has just picked up the Death Note."

Aurelia turns to me. "Should we try to stop him?"

"Probably, but that be kind of boring. We should at least introduce ourselves though," I reply.

We stuff our bloody clothes and our shiny new skull themed debit cards into our backpacks. I glance around. I still have my iPhone and iPad. I check to see if I still have screen shots of the manga timeline page from the Death Note wiki. I've still got them. I also have all 37 episodes of Death Note from the iTunes Store and the soundtrack. I sing my bag over my shoulders. I look over at Aurelia. The only thing that she has left to mush into her bag is a Just Dance game. She gives me a perfect smile. Then we run out of the closet into a courtyard filled with sunlight. I watch as a young man stuffs something into his bag. I assume he is Light. I walk over to him and tap him on the shoulder.

"Hello sir. I am Chika Tsukino, and this is my friend Ami Yukimura. We were wondering if you could tell us how to get to the Imperial Hotel." It's remarkable how natural switching languages feels.

He smiles at me, and for once I know it's not a fake. "My name is Light Yagami, but you can just call me Light."

Aurelia cuts in and says, "in that case you can call us Ami and Chika."

Light laughs and tells us where we should go. I notice a black notebook sticking out of his bag. I can't read the shimmering letters on its cover, but I know what they say. Light notices my stare and pushes the notebook deeper into the bag. I meet his gaze. We could stop this right now. No one would have to die... No. This whole thing happened for a reason. I can't save everyone, but I will bring them justice. I should decide who I want to save... I could make a list. He's still staring at me. I need to snap out of this.

"Well Light, thank you so much for telling us where to go!" I flute out in my most chipper voice.

His face relaxes, but he doesn't move his eyes from mine. "I'm glad I could help you. I hope we see each other again."

Aurelia is tugging me away. "Me too!" I call over my shoulder. Soon he's just a dot in the distance.

I may have the greatest mind in the universe, but I haven't had it for very long. Light has had his way longer. I definitely don't want to be perceived as a threat by him. I also don't want L to suspect me of being Kira, but I do want to find a way into the task force. Whew! I can't think straight when I'm walking fast, and man is Aurelia hard to keep up with!

Aurelia is practically skipping "Come on Clara!" she shrieks in Kaixana, a language from Brazil that only one old man speaks anymore. She pulls me along behind her. Jeez she can walk fast. "We gotta go check out our very own penthouse!"

And decide thousands of people's fates.

Awhile Later

After checking out the penthouse (jumping on all of the beds and drinking all of the beer in the fridge), Aurelia and I went shopping. And when I say we went shopping, I mean we bought about everything from every girly store in Japan. I had the good sense to buy us some hoodies and men's pants. I even bought a fake beard. I thought I looked pretty sexy in it, but Aurelia made me take it off. I agreed to go get a makeover if we could go to what is the Japanese equivalent of a Game Stop and buy a copy of every game and gaming system. Then the torture began. We both got full body waxes. Argh! The pain was not worth it. I look even more like a vampire.

Then we had our hair done. I'm got blond highlights, which helped make the green tint less noticeable. Aurelia got her whole head died black. She looks kind of stunning. Her eyes seem almost black, but when you look closer the blue in them is striking. She really pulls it off. We had our nails done; we both got French nails.

I bought us both huge sunglasses, ski masks, and scarfs. It would probably be important to hide our faces later. Then Aurelia took me underwear shopping. She got us some stuff that made Victoria's Secret look like my grandma's swimsuit. Then we had Akane forge us each a license and bought a two Harely Davidsons.

When we got back Akane had me buy a dozen pears from room service. I was so zonked that I didn't even try to steal any from her.

I think about all of this as I lay on the king sized bed. I feel real sick all of a sudden.

I make a mad dash for the toilet. I make it just in time; I lose everything that I ate that day. My stomach clenches. Why does this happen to me? I thought I was past this! I'm still trying to get sick even when there's nothing left in my stomach. It's probably just the stress, shock, and trauma of dying. I won't get sick tomorrow. I won't.

I walk out of the bathroom, knowing I look like crap. Aurelia is out there; "Hey Clara, I think you should take this room. It's way too pink for me! Hey...are you okay?"

"Yeah; thanks for your concern though," I answer. She knows that I always push people away from me.

"Kay then. Goodnight."

I fall asleep without even turning the off the light.

At about 11:00pm

I wake up in a cold sweat. I hadn't slept well. Nightmares of dying are rarely a problem for me, but I guess that's changed here. I stretch and climb out of the bed. I tiptoe over to Aurelia's room. I can hear her crying softly. I want to go in and comfort her, but how can I after I pushed her away?

I should make that list. I grab a pen and paper. I have a photographic memory, and the screen shots of the timeline, and the anime, so I could figure out when people will die. I would work with that and what I knew from the manga and anime to determine the earliest day Light could kill them. Hm... Who should I save first? I should list them in chronological order.

1. Beyond Birthday 12/31/03 (23 days rule)

2. Naomi Misora 01/1/04

3. Hirokazu Ukita 04/18/04

4. Quillsh Wammy (Watari) 11/5/04

5. L Lawliet (L) 11/5/04

6. Tierry Morre (Aiber) 11/5/04 (disease doesn't apply to the 23 day rule)

7. Merrie Kenwood (Wedy) 12/18/04 (23 days rule)

8. Mihael Keehl (Mello) 11/11/09

9. Soichiro Yagami 11/11/09

10. Mail Jeevas (Matt) 01/26/2010

11. Misa Amane 02/14/11

Huh. Eleven people. How many thousands was I sentencing? I mean if I save the first five, then hopefully I won't have to worry over the last six. I skipped so many people. There are people who I would like to save, like Raye Penber. But they had to die in order to catch Kira. Then there were people who I didn't write down because I didn't like them, such as Kiyomi Takada. Truth be told I didn't really admire and respect or want to work with anyone on this list, save Naomi. But I was going to save all of them anyways.

This list is dangerous; I should burn it. No, I'll need it for future reference. My memory doesn't work well when I'm stressed or in pain. I'll stick it in my bra. Hopefully even L won't look there. Seriously, he better not.

I don't think that there's anything I can do until the ICPO meeting. In the meantime, I should try to get closer to Light. I guess I could go get Aurelia a birthday cake for next week. There's no way I'm going back to sleep after that nightmare. I glance at the clock; it reads 11:58 PM, November 23, 2003. It's strange to have my birthday on a different day, but I'll get used to it.

Hmm... Maybe this is the worst birthday ever, but at least it isn't the most boring birthday ever.

AN: Sup. Here's remastered Chapter 2. I'm starting school again soon, and I'm really busy with a Hetalia fic right now, so this story is going on hiatus. Sorry. I'd like to thank the academy and MizuLawliet and OnepieceZoroOc for favoriting/following.

MizuLawliet: Thank you very much. Here's the next chappy!

candyisyummy83: Awww... Shucks. I appreciate the kind words. I think you're missing out on some great fics though. You should check out Story of the Century by WhiteLadyDragon. I cried.

Thank you all so much for reading my story!