Okay...let's continue, shall we?

Unfinished Business

Chapter Two

Light and Seraphina arrived at the house within fifteen minutes. Throughout the walk, the woman had made note of every street they turned onto and upon arrival, was able to name off Light's address. It was a curious thing, but considering he was under her suspicious nature, he wasn't all too surprised about it. Either she was a very good actress or she wasn't working with L, of which, it appeared to be the latter.

Upon entry, Light was relieved that his mother was busy in the kitchen and that neither Sayu nor his father were home yet. He removed his jacket and Seraphina removed her trench coat, revealing a long sleeved turquoise t-shirt underneath it. She did not, however, put away her bag. It wasn't uncommon for a woman to do, but with the way she was holding onto the black satchel, something vital had to be inside. "Light, you home?" Sachiko called.

"Yeah, it's me. I brought a friend home so we can study so please don't bother us until dinner's ready." He informed her. Light doubted Sayu would be gone for much, and he didn't know if his father would come home. Nevertheless, it was important that his mother didn't question Seraphina's presence.

"All right, dear." She replied as Light led Seraphin up the steps.

He led her to the bathroom, which was thankfully next door to his room. "Why don't you take a shower and get cleaned up. After you get dressed, I'll treat your injuries in my room." He stated, pointing in its direction. Seraphina, distrustful still, simply nodded. She was about to head in, satchel included, but Light stopped her. "Not to seem intrusive, but if you have anything important in there and it gets soaked, it could be ruined." This annoyed Seraphina, however, she did take heed to his words.

She hung the satchel on the knob of the outside door; giving Light the evil eyes before promptly shutting the door. Light turned and walked away to retrieve the first aid kit. He wasn't stupid; she was more than likely going to wait out a few minutes before starting the shower, and she was probably going to wait through the running water, just to see if he came flying back at the door. Luckily, Light had an advantage where she did not.

Grabbing the box and entering his room, Light found Ryuk hovering in front of the windows, having awaited the teen's arrival. "What do you have that for, Light? You're not normally one for saving people." The Shinigami pointed out, seeming amused.

Light smirked. "An enigma of sorts." He replied, opening the container to see what he had available. A can of disinfectant spray, a few rolls of gauze, and some aloe ointment for burns. Hardly anything useful for extreme circumstances, meaning Light would have to improvise somehow...

And he had just the way. "Ryuk, there's a batch of apples in it for you if you do me a quick favor." He informed the shinigami, making him him smile widely at Light. "There's a woman in the bathroom. Let me know when she gets into her shower." He ordered him. Ryuk didn't need time to think over the deal. He quickly left to observe the woman so he could obtain his precious fruits.

Light left his room after that, heading down to the kitchen where his mother was working. He asked her if he and his friend- Sara could have the bowl of apples down there for a snack. His mother complied to the request, and Light left with the bowl of apples in his hands. He retrieved a towel from the closet before heading into the room. Ryuk was waiting for him there, seeming rather amused.

"That woman's taking her shower. Interesting thing." He commented; a raw smirk on his face. Light just handed him the bowl of apples, to which, Ryuk began to properly devour. For Ryuk to call her interesting meant his saw something that Light didn't, only making him begin to suspect her less. However, in order to be sure, he left his room; creeping down the hallway quietly in order to reach his target: Seraphina's satchel.

Once there, Light quietly opened the bag and saw something even more peculiar: manila folders. Labeled files that were all filled, with what, Light was going to find out. He stole one of the files, shut the satchel and crept back to his room. Once there, Ryuk had already finished the last apple and was now looking on in interest at the object Light was carrying.

Sitting on his bed, Light opened the envelope and found the exact thing he had suspected before: a murder case file. However, it wasn't on the Kira investigation, or on anything that happened in Tokyo. The file in his hands was on the death of a family in Hokkaido. A mother, father, and their four children, ages: six, seven, ten and twelve, were all murdered in their homes. The mother died quickly of a heart attack, thankfully, but her family wasn't so lucky. The father was bound and beaten, forced to watch his own children being dismembered and dissected before he himself was sliced at repeatedly until his face was unrecognizable and he was left to die.

A truly brutal family homicide, but what was strange was that the father was a family man, and when he wasn't at the office, he was at home with his family. Nowhere else. As an added bonus, the mother's heart attack was said to be a natural cause of death, but the woman didn't have a history of heart problems in her family. The father was obviously the target in this case, but why?

Light's thought process was broken when someone cleared their throat. Looking up, he noticed Seraphina standing in his doorway with her arms crossed as she spoke. "Digging into someone's life isn't exactly polite as you put yourself out to be." She stated, scowling at him as she entered- shutting the door behind her.

The teen mentally cursed at himself for not noticing the water had turned off, but his embarrassed smile betrayed those feelings. "Gomenasai, Seraphina, but I couldn't help but wonder why you didn't want to go to a police station or hospital when you've clearly been assaulted." He stated. It wasn't a lie, he did want to learn why she was resistant on going, and the reason was just half of why. He excused himself after that, handing Seraphina back her case file before grabbing the now-empty bowl and bringing it to the bathroom.

He filled it with water and returned; finding Seraphina sitting on his bed and waiting patiently. Light shut the door behind him; setting the bowl on his nightstand and placing the towel and first aid kit next to it. Soaking the towel, the brunette met her gaze. "Assuming your assailant was following you, I can understand why hospitalization doesn't suit you. But I must ask, Detective Reyes, why haven't you approached the police on the matter?" Light asked her.

A small smirk appeared on her face and her eyes allowed a glint of pride to cross them, if only briefly. "Clearly, you're no imbecile." She commented, briefly. "And to answer your question, Light," said teen's eyes widened a fraction when Seraphina removed her shirt. She was wearing a gray sports bra underneath it, and it became apparent why she preferred to cover herself. Seraphina's torso and arms were ridden with scars and had gashes that were in the process of healing. Her arms had wounds that could only relate to an animal biting her and having yanked out the limb. The bruising, from what Light could see, was made by a pair strong hands that must have made it hard to escape from.

Her smirk morphed into a smile at seeing the teen's concern. "The police are idiots. Not only would they be unable to connect the cases I have, but they'd never be able to protect me, also. If someone were to help me on this, they'd have to have an extremely high IQ level." She stated firmly, shutting her eyes.

Once done, Ryuk had begun laughing. Light didn't pry the shinigami for the time being; instead, he began treating the woman's injuries. There wasn't much he could do with the tools at his disposal, but he went on, anyways. First cleaning her injuries with the water, spraying them with the disinfectant spray before properly bandaging them. He apologized for not having much on hand, but Seraphina simply shook her head. "It's an effort made; that on its own merits deserves thanks." She said.

Light couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips. He was doing the right thing, true; it better she got some form of help for her injuries, and it was a good thing he offered to help. Still, he didn't think this was enough to say he helped her. She was running away earlier and she was handling a murder investigation. Which is why he continued questioning her. "Mind my asking, Detective Reyes, but may I take a look at your other files?" Her eyebrow was raised as he re-wrapped her right arm. "I don't mean to seem any more intrusive than I have been, but I like to test my intelligence. If the police can't see your point, then maybe I can." He challenged.

Seraphina stared at him for awhile before she lowered her head; a light fit of laughter rising from her lungs. "Ah Kami, you sound like a teenage version of my fiance." She stated, chuckling still as Light finished bandaging her.

"Am I to take that as a compliment?" He questioned; getting off of his bed and letting her put her shirt back on.

Once done, she replied: "Depends on if you can pick up anything from my case, I suppose. He's immensely smarter than me and has made it a habit to steal my cases to prove it." She stated, smirking.

Light chuckled at this. "No offense, but your fiance sounds like a dick."

"He is," she replied, "to most people, anyways. After getting to know him, I realized that he is indeed a kind person, but only to a select crowd. Being a detective and consultant for the law, he doesn't trust people any more easily than I do. In fact, he's even more paranoid." She explained briefly before picking her satchel up (which was left on the floor beside her) and handing it to Light.

Light took the bag and began to look through the files among them. The case, he soon found, wasn't limited to Japan. In fact, half the files were from around the world. Either or both parents of the household would be carved at to the point they were unrecognizable, if the other spouse wasn't touched, he or she died of a heart attack, any children they had would be dismembered or dissected so long as they were older than four years. Ages two through four would die of heart attacks leaving the infants untouched. If anything, they were cared for and rocked back to sleep before the assailants left.

Including the case file Light had read, there were exactly nine files in Seraphina's care. The first incident took place in Alaska, of all places, the second in the big apple. The third was led south to Brazil, and the fourth stretched all the way to Germany. The fifth appeared in Russia and the sixth led to Thailand. The final and most recent three, went from Hokkaido, to Osaka, and finally, here in Tokyo. Clearly, Seraphina followed where the cases took her, which made it easier for Light to understand her presence in the city and accept that she simply bumped into him. Besides, even if there was a sliver of doubt, she was way too comfortable in order to be trying to spy on him.

Content with his findings, Light soon handed Seraphina back her files. "There all clearly connected, and the parents are most definitely the targets. It's a well thought out strategy, meaning a cult is heading it. The parents are a personal factor they believe wronged them and they make an example of them. Considering the fact they harm these children in such a way, it's more than likely they were children themselves when this wrong occurred. The heart attacks are a bit odd, considering there's no clear way on how these people enforced it on them, but it almost seems like mercy. Letting the babies live is simply out of the fact that they're too young. With the care put into it, harming an innocent that young would be their ultimate sin and would betray what they stand for."

The woman seemed stunned for a moment but her smirk soon returned. "Now you sound exactly like him." Light smirked at this also.

"Light! Is your friend Sara staying for dinner?" His mother called up.

Glancing once, Seraphina simply shrugged at which Light yelled back: "Yeah, we'll be at this for awhile." The woman simply rolled her eyes before picking up the first file from Alaska and going into detail on the natives there and discussing her theories on why they couldn't tell a group of outsiders murdered the family and not notice them.

I said it last chapter and I'll say it here, too. If Light is OOC in any way, please tell me! I am only just starting with this series and this is the first fic with Light actually in it. Also, feel free to comment on Ryuk, if you feel the need. I want this to be accurate to the characters, so if there's a problem, please let me know.

~ K. Fang-sama