Author's Note: It's been a while since I updated, but I figured I may as well upload this completed chapter, even though nobody's reading this. Sorry if anyone's grossly OOC or anything, and please read, review and enoy ~ ^_^
Chapter 2
"Made any progress?" L asked, peering over Katherine's shoulder at her laptop's screen.
"Quite a bit actually." Katherine smiled brightly, "I've managed to find 17 accidents with varying degrees of irony, the earlier ones being more subtle and the more recent ones are a tad more outlandish and unbelievable."
"Interesting…is there anything else similar between cases you noticed?" He asked, still leaning a little close for Katherine to be fully comfortable with.
"Um…well…there's one thing…most of the cases were convicted criminals who'd been released, either because they'd served their sentences or lack of evidence." Katherine paused, "Except these four…"
"Hn?" He scanned the cases she was referring to, "Oh, yes, those four girls…clean records, respectable students…that's strange…I found three cases like these four that didn't fit the killer's usual pattern. Either the killer is split in their motivation, or the larger set of murders is in place to cover the smaller set."
"Whoever it is, they don't seem to have the noblest of intentions." Katherine commented, "I mean, look at some of these deaths. No good person would go to all that trouble for justice. So, it seems reasonable that this person is working out of some warped emotion of some kind…and since all pre-meditated murder is born of hate…we have to find some common ground between the victims other than the fact some are convicted criminals and the rest are teenage girls."
There was a knock at the door and a voice oozing with a grin spoke, "Was that a theory I heard being worked out?"
"The door's open, Yagami-san." Katherine called, matching his grin as she explained what she and L had just been talking about.
"Interesting." Light paused, and came up with this little nugget of genius, "Perhaps the killer has dual motives. The first ones are all convicts before the student…perhaps this person is working for supposed justice, and suffered a lapse of judgement about this girl…and after that, every so often, they'd sneak in a student."
"Very good, Light." L tried to hand Light a sugar cube, but after earning himself a strange look, ate it himself and rested his chin on Katherine's shoulder while he explained, "From now on, we will work under the assumption that the killer is working with a sense of justice for the most part, but has spells of selfishness aimed at students. Now, Light, I want you to take over my laptop as researcher, can you find out about the schools those girls went to? And Kit Kat, I need you to find out about the areas where the convicted criminals were reported."
"What're you going to do?" Katherine frowned, "You'd better not be planning on just sitting around doing nothing." She paused for a minute, blushing at how forward she'd been, "I mean, we need your genius on this."
"Oh, don't worry." L moved from the sofa to sit on the coffee table, knees tucked up by his chin as usual, "I'll be processing the information you turn up, so you don't have to worry about piecing it all together. Everyone clear?"
Light and Katherine both nodded with determination and began their work, L starting a stack of sugar cubes to pass the time.
Ami sat at her desk, the light from her desk lamp all that was dispelling the darkness and lighting up her smirk. Once she'd gotten past the first couple of deaths, it was all too easy for her to mess with the world, and nobody suspected a thing. They were still under the impression these were all just somewhat amusing accidents, which was the beauty of it all. She got her kicks, while everybody else scratched their heads as to how anything like this could possibly happen in reality.
"I never knew you humans were so much fun." Ryuk grinned, although it always looked like he was grinning so he could've been trying to glare for all Ami knew.
"Quiet." Ami glared fiercely at Ryuk, then turned back to the blank page she was staring down at and tapping her pen on.
"Why? Nobody else can hear me, so what does it matter?" Ryuk replied, more out of curiosity than anything.
"I need to concentrate." Ami responded, not even bothering to turn this time, "It's difficult to think of deservedly ironic deaths."
"Why don't you pick off another of your rivals then? You've had a couple of kills since the last." He suggested, now peering over Ami's shoulder in case she wrote anything.
"You really are stupid, Ryuk." Ami scalded, jabbing him sharply in the side, "If I have my rival's deaths too close, they'll start standing out more, and then the variety of victims will be broken, which is how murder is identified. I didn't watch all those murder mystery movies for nothing."
"So all those convicts were just to give a false lead?" Ryuk asked. Ami didn't usually talk to him much, too busy with family, homework or on her computer to need to talk to him at all other than to ask about the occasional rule of the Death Note. He'd already listed half the rules for her at her demand, and without so much as thanks. Still, she provided some entertaining deaths, and the Shinigami world had become so boring. It was decidedly worth her bad manners.
"No. Those are a side-quest that conveniently disguises the deaths of my rivals." Ami's smirk widened, "My first aim when I started using this power was to punish those who weren't being punished as they should be, those who have committed crimes but haven't paid enough for them. But somewhere along the line, I got a little sidetracked with my rivalry with Misaki Watanabe. She was stealing my popularity after only a few days, and admittedly, I let my hatred cloud my judgement in that one. But I recovered. I covered it up with convicts, and eventually saw it as a gift. Now I can further my goal of achieving perfection by eliminating my competition." She sighed happily, "And then I can become the treasure of Kanto."
"I see. Putting your own motives above justice." Ryuk commented.
She stopped tapping, dropping her pen and turning sharply and sternly to Ryuk, "Are you implying that I don't have the right to use this power as I see fit?"
"Not at all." Ryuk's smirk was conveyed better by his tone than his face, "It's just most humans wouldn't have the guts for this sort of work."
"Well, I'm not most humans." Ami replied, as if this sentence spoke for itself.
"What makes you so special?" Ryuk retorted, laughing at how insolent Ami was in the face of a Shinigami. Most humans would've been too terrified to speak a word against him, let alone openly disrespect him, "You picked up the Death Note by chance, anyone of those students could've taken it."
"Ahh, you may think that. But Fate and luck work in mysterious ways." She picked her pen back up, "I have a theory that I was given this power because they knew I would use it to its maximum potential."
"They?" He would've raised an eyebrow if he'd had any.
"The forces controlling Fate, of course." Ami smiled and laughed in a horrifically adorable way.
"So, what do you have to report?" L asked after an hour of sitting on the table stacking sugar cubes, "Anything unusual?"
"Some of the convicts were only reported in Japan, the rest were worldwide reports, so we can narrow it down to Japan." Katherine responded, "And they were all pretty serious crimes."
"I can narrow it down even further." Light grinned, obviously proud he'd done a good job, "All the students are from schools in or near Kanto."
"It seems quite conclusive, but we have to be certain…" L sat thinking for a while in complete silence, then concluded, "We need to present our findings to the NPA as soon as possible. Then, we'll make a worldwide TV broadcast exclusively in Kanto."
"Why?" Light frowned.
"Wait, how can it be worldwide if it's only on in Kanto?" Katherine's frown matched Light's.
"Even if we're sure we're right, the NPA may not be so sure. So at least this way we can prove there's a case, and that our killer is working where we think they're working." L said, then added, "And you'll see, Kit Kat."
"I've been meaning to ask." Light said, sounding a little apprehensive, "Why do you call Bennett-san Kit Kat?"
"It comes from two traditional nicknames for people named Katherine, Kitty and Kat. I thought I'd be original and use both at the same time." L explained, shrugging, "And I gave her a Kit Kat on the day we met. She needed it. Trust me on that."
"I-I'll go get us some doughnuts." Katherine stood, smiling but really needed some time alone to calm down, "I know this place that does the best jam you'll ever taste."
Light looked at Katherine in a curious way, "I'll come with you. Wouldn't want anything bad to-"
"It's ok. Kit Kat can defend herself if need be." L said, a sentence that sounded oddly forceful despite sounding bored, "Do you still have that pepper spray?"
Katherine nodded, grabbing a bag from a side table, "I never leave home without it." She left hastily, leaving Light confused.
"What…was that about?" He asked, trying to figure out what made Katherine act so strangely.
On the way back from buying doughnuts, Katherine was feeling decidedly more positive. Nobody was intentionally making her remember, so everything would be fine. The investigation was going smoothly enough, and she found it oddly exhilarating working out a murder case, even if people were dying…
She paused by the grocer's as she saw a familiar face buying a bag of large apples. She smiled and waved, calling out to her friend, "Hayashi-san!"
Ami looked up to see Katherine racing towards her. She faultered, then smiled back, "Bennett-san, what a nice coincidence to see you."
"Did you find the owner of that notebook?" Katherine asked, eager for an update on that situation, "What did they write?"
"Huh?" Ami frowned, having completely forgotten for a moment, "Oh, right. It didn't have anything written in it, and nobody's said anything." She smiled, making some kind of cute half-giggle, "Guess I get to keep it then."
"So…" Katherine shuffled nervously from foot to foot, trying to conjure up a topic for conversation. Maybe if she talked about enough interesting things, she could make friends with Ami, "…you heard about all those weird accidents?"
"Yes. I didn't think much of them, just unfortunate that something so tragic actually has a little twist of comedy in it." Ami sighed, "I feel guilty for finding the funny side in them, but it's undeniably there."
"Well, um…I had a tiny theory about it." Katherine admitted awkwardly, "I just find the irony of them all a little odd…so I thought maybe it's not as accidental as it seems."
This caught Ami's interest, "Really? I never would've thought of it like that."
"Like I said, it's just a theory, I could be wrong." Katherine laughed, still nervous, "In fact, I probably am, ignore me." She'd already said too much for her own good. Honestly, if she let herself slip up like that once more soon someone would find out about the investigation who shouldn't.
"That's a shame…well, I hope someone can figure out how these accidents are happening and stop them." Ami smiled brightly, taking an apple from the bag she'd paid for and swallowing a bite, "It's just awful hearing about all these people dying, don't you think?"
Katherine nodded, suddenly stern and serious, "I'll do everything I can to stop this."
Ami laughed, a light, soft sound like a small bell, "Good luck with that, Bennett-san." She turned to go, looking over her shoulder to wave and say, "Hope I see you later."
Katherine smiled, waving back, stunned at how nice Ami was being. Most of the girls at her school ignored her since she was always so quiet and shy. But Ami…Ami was different. She was kind, funny, the best friend Katherine could've hoped for. Maybe there really was such a thing as Fate.