Author's Note: Alright! So, I got a really interesting question about the title of the story in my PM and I wanted to address it. I titled this fanfic "Apples to Oranges" for the obvious reason of the differences in Light and Eva's world views. They both share the same goals, but their methodologies for getting there are so different that it's like comparing apples to oranges. The other reason I titled it that was because (as we all know) Death Note is ripe with religious allegory. I really wanted to see if I could successfully introduce the idea of a Virgin Mary/Eve figure since we have so much reference to the original sin (which is also why I named her Eva—Eve would have probably been a bit too on the nose). So, this is where my inner art history nerd came out: during the renaissance when Madonna and Child paintings were really popular, oranges were commonly regarded as another fruit that was associated with the Tree of Knowledge, but soon became a symbol of redemption rather than sin because it was often seen in relation to Mary as her overcoming Eve's fall and Jesus redeeming Adam's sins. Art history is super fun. So that's where the title came from, and those are the elements I'm going to try and introduce into this story. Hopefully it's successful!

Thank you for your reviews! I really appreciate them! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 2

Light laid in bed, covering himself as much as he could with the blanket. Only a small opening at the top of his head allowed for adequate amounts of air to keep him functioning. He wanted his eyes to be covered. He couldn't fall asleep, but he dare not glance around the dark and threatening room. Every creak and bump forced him to twitch with discomfort. His heart raced. He hadn't slept in four days. He had lost weight—noticeable weight. At this rate, he would drive himself mad before any devil came to claim his soul. A knock on the window startled him. His heart nearly leaped up out of his throat. Light slowly turned his head, peeking over the covers. Just an empty room. That's all. He was losing his mind. Another knock on the window—harder this time. He jumped with each tap. He was suddenly so aware of every movement in his quiet room. Every wisp of wind, every rustle of his curtains, every uncertain beat of his heart. He wasn't sure when he had sat up, but he had. He stared at the window, trying to force down his fear. The vibration of his cellphone under his pillow undid his hard work. His heart skipped a beat and quickly reached for it, checking the message. The bright glow of the screen nearly blinded him. He tried to adjust his eyes.

"You up? I knocked." he read out loud. His voice broke. It was pathetic. Hearing the fear in him returned some strength to his body. Light sent a quick text back and with one swift movement, rushed to the window, swung the curtains open and pulled up the glass. The cold, early December air greeted him, as did Eva's surprised face. She pulled herself through her window and into his.

"Sorry to bother you so late." she whispered.

"It's no problem. I was up anyways." he replied nonchalantly. He was so happy to see her. He was so happy she was with him. He chuckled at himself—at his previous behavior. It all seemed to silly now that he was with Eva. What was he so afraid of? What did he think was going to happen to him? He had been gifted—blessed even—with the means to do something truly wonderful. He could fix the world. He could renew it. He could save it. He could save her. Light watched Eva walk to his bed and plop down. Her back was turned to him, but he could tell she was upset. He could always tell. She ran her fingers across his pillow.

"Can I sleep in here with you tonight?" It was an innocent request she had made countless times in the past when her nightmares would get particularly bad. Light felt stupid. He had been so terrified of a demon he had invented in his head. Eva's tear stained face reminded him of the real demons that had harmed her. Ones that she had chosen to forgive. He would not forgive them. He would punish them.

"Of course." He slipped under the covers with her, holding her tiny body against his. She was so warm. The feeling of her slender arms around him brought him more comfort than anything he could imagine.

"Thanks, Light. I love you." Eva whispered before burying her face in his chest. He knew she meant love in a platonic sense. She had said it to him several times in the past. But, sometimes, Light liked to pretend that it was something more, just as he did now. He closed his eyes and let the smell of her shampoo fill his lungs.

"I love you, too, Eva." He whispered back, and for the first time in four days, Light slept soundly in her embrace.

Light's face twitched in response to the delicate fingers grazing it. He opened his eyes and smiled. Eva always looked beautiful, but something about her looked particularly beautiful this morning. Her lips pushed out into a pout and her brow pulled together, drawing a single crease above the bridge of her nose. She ran her thumb under his eyes.

"Hey…." she whispered, letting her hand rest on his cheek. "You have bags under your eyes."

"Yea." Light admitted. "I haven't really been sleeping the last couple of days." Eva sat up, running a hand through her black hair, trying to smooth out her bedhead. Light didn't care. It looked gorgeous.

"You need to sleep, Yagami." she chastised him. "Don't work so hard."

"I'll try." Light assured her with a smile. She returned the sentiment.

"Thanks for letting me crash here last night."

"Anytime." He stroked her bare arm. "Are the nightmares getting any better?" She nodded.

"A little."

"Good." Light sat up and kissed her forehead. "I have to get ready to school. Same time today for homework?"

"Yea." They lingered on his bed for a moment. Getting up and going their separate ways was never easy, especially after nights when they'd hold each other. The minutes on the clock ticked away and Light finally forced himself out of the warmth of the sheets and her vicinity. The winter air chilled him. It was an unfortunate reminder of the distance between them that only he noticed. No…maybe that wasn't right. Maybe Eva noticed it, too. Light helped her back through the window and into her room. If he could just work up the courage to tell her. He had never been scared of rejection before. Or perhaps he had never really cared if he would be rejected. No other girl had meant that much to him. It may have been momentarily embarrassing, sure. It would have been nothing compared to being rejected by Eva. It would devastate him. Maybe even enough to write his own name in the Death Note. He immediately rejected the idea. Eva was his best friend, and he would show her that there was more between them. It was undeniable, right?

Light hardly recognized the voice that left his mouth. Was that him screaming? He had never been so terrified in his entire life. The demon was real. It was real. He was right to be terrified. It had come for his soul and he was going to pay the price for his sins. Eva…. If only he could have told her how much he loved her. If only he could have just a little bit more time. The demon's shadowy figure towered over him. Its eyes glowed, nearly bulging out of its head. A crooked smile played across its massive jaw, revealing sharp teeth. Even in the dark, Light could see the stitches that seemed to hold its neck to its torso. It held up a claw and pointed at him.

"Why are you so surprised to see me? I'm Ryuk, the Shinigami who dropped that notebook. The way you were acting just now, I can tell you know it isn't just any old notebook…right?"

"S-shinigami?" Light stuttered out. A god of death? This was far worse than a demon. He swallowed his fear and stood, steadying himself with the support of his desk chair. The shock of Ryuk's arrival had sent him tumbling down onto his back, but he couldn't quite remember when or how. It was just as unfamiliar as the scream that left him. "I'm not surprised to see you, Ryuk. In fact, I've been waiting for you."

"Really?"

"Gee…a personal visit from a god of death…how kind of you." Light picked up the notebook, savoring what would most likely be his last few moments of life. "Not that I doubted this was a god of death's notebook, but seeing things with my own eyes like this only makes me more certain of my actions." He opened up the notebook for Ryuk to see, and saw a twisted smile grow across the god's face. A dry chuckle left his menacing lips as he grabbed the notebook from Light's hands.

"This is amazing. Gotta say, I'm impressed. I've heard of Death Notes getting down to the human world a few times before, but no one's ever written this many names in just five days." Ryuk moved his eyes from the notebook and met Light's gaze. "Most people would be too scared."

"I'm ready for anything, Ryuk." Light assured him. It was a lie. Light would have given anything to walk away with his life. "I used the notebook knowing it belonged to a god of death and now the god of death is here. What happens to me now? …you take my soul or something?"

"Huh?" A wisp of wind shuffled the curtains, throwing a bit of light onto Ryuk's face, illuminating what seemed to be genuine surprise. "What's that? Some fantasy you humans came up with? I'm not going to do anything to you." Nothing? "The moment a Death Note lands in the human world, it belongs to the human world. So, it's yours now."

"Mine…?"

"If you don't want it, give It to another human. When you do, I'll just have to erase all your memories of the notebook." A loud knock on the window interrupted their chat. Light jumped. "Expecting someone? Other than a god of death?" Ryuk mocked.

"I-it's my friend." Light didn't want to let Eva in. He didn't want her to see this creature. He didn't want to put her in harm's way. She knocked again.

"You can let your friend in. Since you've used what was my notebook, you're the only one who can see me. Nobody else can hear me either, of course. The Death Note is the bond between Light the human and Ryuk the god of death."

"The bond…?" Would this thing be following him around? Another knock interrupted him. He quickly shuffled to the window and opened the curtains. Eva's concerned face stared back at him. He let her in.

"Light! I was so worried about you! I heard you scream and I called and texted but you didn't answer! Are you okay?" She cupped his face in her hands Light forced a smile.

"Yea, I'm fine. I just fell." Relief washed over her face and she hugged him. Ryuk's laugh still made him tense. "H-hey…I have a few things to do before we study today. Can we do it an hour later?"

"Yea, of course." Eva answered. She pulled away and looked up at him, her nose and brow scrunching with concern. "Are you sure you're okay? You look…worried."

"Yea, I'm fine. I think the lack of sleep is just catching up with me." he explained.

"Okay…. Just text me when you're ready."

"I will." Light led her to the window, she stopped and gave him one more doleful look.

"You'd tell me if something was wrong…right?" Light shouldn't have been surprised by her ability to pick up on every shift in his mood. They had certainly spent enough time together. He smiled at her, genuinely this time. He was happy to have someone that cared so deeply about him.

"Yea, I would." he assured her. A cute smile appeared on her lips.

"Okay!" She trusted him. Maybe she shouldn't have. Light closed the window and the curtain behind her, returning his attention to Ryuk.

"Is that your girlfriend?" the god asked. "She seems too good for you." he stated plainly with a chuckle. Light ignored him.

"So, there's really no price to pay for using the Death Note?" Light asked.

"Well, not exactly. There is the terror and torment that only humans who use it have experienced, and, when you die, I'll be the one writing your name in my Death Note. But don't think that any human who's used the Death Note can go to heaven or to hell." Neither heaven…nor hell. Light suddenly noticed Ryuk was hovering over him, and he took a step back. "That's all. You'll find out about that after you die." Neither heaven, nor hell. Light smirked.

"I think…that's enough for me to understand. There's neither a heaven nor a hell, is there, Ryuk?"

"You really are impressive, Light. I thought all humans believed in heaven or hell." Ryuk's smile deepened. "But it's as you said. Heaven and hell don't exist. In the afterlife, whatever you've done in your life, you will still go to the same place. Death is equal. All humans will surely die. After death, their destination is nothingness."

"O-okay…one more question." Light pressed his luck. "Why did you choose me?"

"Huh?" Ryuk began to laugh again. Those dry, raspy laughs. "Don't flatter yourself. All I did was drop the notebook. That's all. You thought I chose you? 'Cause you're so smart or something? It just happened to land somewhere around here, and you just happened to pick it up. That's why I wrote the instructions in English, it's the most popular language in your world."

"Then why did you drop it?!" Light demanded, annoyed by the god's nonchalant attitude. "Don't tell me it was by mistake after you went and wrote all those instructions.

"Why did I drop it?" Ryuk repeated. His smile grew. His shark like teeth poked out from under his lips. "Because I was bored." Bored? "It might be a weird thing for a god of death to say, but I just didn't feel like I was really alive…. Actually, gods of death these days don't have a lot to do. All they do is nap, or gamble. If they see you scribbling humans' names in your Death Note, they say, 'what're you working so hard for,' and laugh at you." Ryuk pointed a single, sharp, claw-like finger at Light. "When we're in our realm, killing people in the human world isn't any fun. I can't kill other gods of death by writing their names in the notebook. It's more fun to be down here, is how I figured it. I was sick of It all."

"I was sick of it all, too." Light admitted. "Of course, I didn't believe it at first, but that notebook has a power that makes anybody want to try using it, at least once." Light kicked out his desk chair, taking a seat on it. "I admit, it's been giving me nightmares, and I've hardly slept the last five days. I've lost a lot of weight. Still, I'm on a mission. So, I've been writing down the names of the world's most brutal criminals. All the data I need is in my room. Twenty-four-seven news cycles on the TV plus al the records on the internet." Ryuk picked up the Death Note again and flipped through it.

"But you only specified the cause of death for the guy who got hit by a truck, nobody else, how come? Can't be bothered?"

"If you don't specify the cause of death, they all die from a heart attack." Light explained gleefully. "That's the best thing about the Death Note, Ryuk. I've already covered the most vicious criminals. So, now, the level of atrocity is coming down, and every single one of them will die of a heart attack. Even a fool is going to notice that somebody is knocking down the bad guys." Light stood and walked over to his balcony, opening the curtains and letting the setting sun spill into the room. "I'm going to make the whole world acknowledge my existence. They'll all recognize that someone is passing down righteous judgement on them! Then nobody will commit crimes anymore. The world will start to become a better place, and while people who obviously deserve to be punished are dying of heart attacks, I'll gradually be killing off immoral people and people who harass others through illness and accidents." Light glanced at the USB on his desk. The one with the names and faces of Eva's attacker and her immunologist. "Even that will eventually be noticed by the masses. They'll realize they'll die if they don't change their ways. I'll make this world inhabited by only kind and good people." Light stared out into the street and down at the passing people.

"But if you do that, the only bastard left will be you." Bastard? Light turned to face Ryuk. "What are you talking about? I'm a straight-a student, a model teenager, thought to be one of Japan's best and brightest, and I…I will reign over the new world." Ryuk laughed again. A god. A righteous god. A just god.