The disclaimer has handed off its job to me, afraid for its own safety given how quickly it was killed off in the first chapter. I have put it into a witness protection program. So long as no one with the Shinigami eyes is after it, it will be nigh-impossible to kill it via Death Note, the series of which does not belong to me by the way.

Just in case you hadn't quite gotten that yet.

-The NPA Headquarters, one week later-

"Man! Those reporters outside aren't giving up!"

"Of course they aren't Aizawa, they haven't for the last two or three days, what makes you think they'd stop now?"

"Well you'd think that after the tenth or so time we tell them we're doing all we can, but can't give them specific details on the case, they'd maybe give it rest!"

"You would think. This 'Fates' group is really starting to tick me off..."

"Gah! I don't get it! This clearly has reached news worthy levels of attention! We're not getting anywhere on this case, so why haven't we called in some sort of help by now, or even tried?!"

"Why don't you ask the chief? He would be the one in charge of that."

Soichiro Yagami was already not having the best of days, and it did not improve at all when Ukita and Mogi came marching through his door.

"Sir!" Mogi began, "With all due respect, we can't just ignore those reporters forever! They aren't going to quit! Why haven't we just told them we don't know anything?"

"And why haven't we called in any help by now?" Ukita continued, "We've been doing our best but we can't figure out anything about these guys! They haven't left a trace, even when we've had officers stationed right nearby when a death happened! Surely we could call in some foreign help, or maybe hire one of those private detectives to at least assist us!"

Soichiro listened to them both with a stony expression on his face. To think only a few days ago he had brushed this entire case off. But the "accidental" deaths, as well as the occasional heart attack, hadn't stopped, and it was clear by this point that someone was behind them. The entire department was barely working on anything BUT this case now. Except that whoever was doing this hadn't been leaving any trace of their actions...

Before the two could go any further, the police chief cut them off. "Mogi, Ukita, I assure you, if I had a choice in the matter I would have called in some manner of help by now."

The two lower officers looked at each other, slightly confused. "What do you mean, if you had a choice in the matter?" Ukita asked.

Soichiro laid his arms on his desk and bowed his head. This was not going to be a fun conversation. "First, the reporters. We aren't saying anything because the director of the NPA has determined that it would be best if we kept news of this inside the country. If news gets out that Japan can't prevent its own prisoners from being killed, we could have major trouble on our hands with the rest of the world. However, if things stay as they are, the frenzy over these criminals will eventually die down. While we can't stop people from leaving the country or talking about this "Fates" group, we can keep publicity down as much as possible by not giving any information to the media. I've been instructed to make sure this department provides as little information as possible to any reporters, and yes, before you ask I have already told the ones outside this."

"As for why we can't call in any help, it's partially tied into the reasons we can't tell the media anything. If we involve any other agencies, we run the risk of this becoming worldwide news- the bigger this gets, the more attention it gets. However, there's another piece of reasoning to this." He paused, observing his two subordinates' reactions. They were hanging on his every word. Good, they were paying attention.

"The Fates are still only a small phenomenon right now, not much more than a heavily discussed rumor." Soichiro continued. "If we let slip that we haven't got an inkling who they are, and have no leads on how to find them, we may very well cause a nationwide panic. I assume you can guess why we would prefer that not happen. People are already somewhat scared- sure, the Fates may only be killing criminals right now, but what assurance do we have that they'll stay that way? From what we know there doesn't seem to be a limit to their ability to kill and make it look like an accident, or even natural death."

Mogi and Ukita nodded, understanding the reasoning now. However, Ukita wasn't satisfied. "Chief, I understand why we can't ask another country for help on this, but why can't we call in a private detective? If we need to stop this before it gets any bigger, wouldn't it be better to call in an expert instead of floundering on our own? One person wouldn't draw that much attention."

Soichiro stood up and looked out his window. "Up until a few hours ago, I was considering the same thing. But no. We can't. In fact, that would almost be worse than just telling the entire country about our complete lack of information."

Ukita was aghast at this, while Mogi just seemed slightly confused. "W-wha? Worse?! But that doesn't make any sense! How would it be worse?!"

The older man sighed, turning back to face the two. "Think about it for a moment. Let's use the world's top detective, 'L', for an example- does his involvement keep a case quiet?" The police chief shook his head. "No. Whenever he becomes involved on a case, the entire thing becomes some sort of national phenomenon. I don't doubt that most of the people in this department have heard of most every case he's solved within the past ten years. Am I wrong?" Mogi shook his head, while Ukita looked down and grit his teeth. The chief was right, and he knew it.

Soichiro didn't stop. "L may be secretive in terms of appearance, but in terms of the cases he solves? The entire country will be talking of nothing else if that man gets involved. We could try to keep his involvement secret, but I don't trust that we actually can. There are many people in this department, and even one having loose lips could cause the exact situation I just described. Unfortunately, it's much the same for most of the "top detectives", if on a lesser scale. Hence why we can't bring anyone else in."

The police chief moved between his two subordinates and moved out the door, still talking. "However, after some thinking, I've decided that even if we were able to guarantee secrecy of a private detective's involvement, I wouldn't do it."

"You wouldn't? Why?" Mogi asked, following with Ukita behind their boss.

"Before I tell you, I think the entire department needs to understand what I just went over with you two. Don't worry, you'll understand my reasoning by the end of it."

-Twenty minutes later-

In a rather impromptu assembly, all officers of the NPA that worked in the building and were currently working on this case were gathered in front of Soichiro. The room was rather crowded, as unfortunately even the department's largest room was not meant to comfortably hold this many people at once.

"...and that's it. Any questions?" Soichiro finished.

The room erupted in noise.

"How are we supposed to catch them on our own?! This case is hopeless!"

"I was waiting it out until we enlisted a detective! What are we supposed to do now?!"

"What is the director thinking?! We can't keep this sort of case from leaking to the public no matter how hard we try!"

"I want off this case! The department has worked on nothing besides it for days and we've gotten nowhere!"

"The Fates are untraceable! They can probably kill us too if they want to! I don't wanna die!"

Soichiro slammed his hands down on the desk closest to him. "ENOUGH! Listen up!"

The room quieted. The police chief immediately took advantage of this silence as he knew it would not last long. "Everyone- even if we COULD enlist help, by this point I have decided that I no longer would! If we are doing our jobs correctly, we should not need outside assistance! Yes, the world has taken to calling in 'L', or any number of other detectives, when a case is too difficult to solve. But if we called a detective in for every hard case we ever faced, the police department would fall into ruin! Have you all forgotten that catching criminals, especially the craftier, sneakier ones, is our job?"

A small pause allowed the words to sink in before the Soichiro continued. "When you joined this department you agreed to risk your life in the name of the general public and the law. Just because you're not in the field doesn't mean you get to take a pass on that part of the job description!"

Now the police chief looked over the entirety of the building's employees, an intense glare frozen upon his features, as if daring someone to contradict him. "We are here to protect this country and everything it stands for. If I can't count on all of you to get it together and do your jobs, even in the face of danger, you can leave. Those of you who want to help me catch this Fates group and keep them from killing anyone else, danger or not, stay. Anyone?"

No one moved. A minute passed, and still everyone remained, some with their heads bowed in shame, and some looking as if they wanted to leave, but were unwilling to be the only one to do so. The room remained full.

Someone's voice echoed from the back of the room. "Yeah! The chief is right!"

"There are no perfect crimes! The Fates will have to slip up, and we'll be right there to cuff them when they do!" another joined in.

"Yeah! What they said!"

Soon the noise level of the assembled crowd grew in volume, until it became an outright roar of confidence and approval.

Soichiro smiled. He hadn't really wanted to fire anyone, but he needed them to realize this was the NPA's problem, and they couldn't just pass it on to someone else because they thought it was too hard to solve. Now it turned out he wouldn't have too anyways. He was proud of his department. "Alright then. Let's catch these guys."

-The Yagami Household-

While a mother prepared dinner and a small girl struggled with her homework, Light Yagami sat at his desk, researching every known prisoner death within the past week and a half. There was finally enough data to make a few conclusions about this whole "Fates" debacle. His whirring thoughts were practically audible as he switched through browser tabs at a rate most people would use to surf TV channels.

'Only a couple of deaths not from death row outside of Japan... none of them by heart attack or by "accident". They could be trying to throw off anyone looking for them by seeming to be inactive anywhere else, but if they were that smart they wouldn't have made their actions here so obvious.' Meaning he could probably narrow the culprit's location down to somewhere in Japan. This was just as well, given that he was still in high school and didn't really have the resources to go country touring, especially if he didn't want to seem suspicious to his family, or the police for that matter. It was as if it was simply meant to be.

'Right now they only seem to be killing about three or four at random times of the day. Does that make their limit four people per day? No, the seven they killed the day this first started contradicts that. This is probably some sort of self imposed limit... how stupid.' A power able to kill the guilty via untraceable means and they were barely using it? That was practically a crime all on its own. Targeting criminals indicated well intentioned goals, or Light would never have considered finding and joining these "Fates". But they obviously weren't using their ability to its fullest potential- even if seven was the limit, they could nearly double their effectiveness by simply reaching that each day. Were they being hesitant, or did too many kills per day have some sort of detrimental effect? Light filed away that question for when he met them. And speaking of "them"...

'The "Fates", huh?' Light mentally analyzed the populace given moniker. There were the obvious connotations to the word that would shape how the public would come to view them, and it had a nice ring to it, but something seemed... off, about calling them that... ah.

'I'm not sure I believe that this is multiple people...' That was why the name seemed strange. Although, he wasn't quite sure WHY he didn't think it was a group... regardless of how they were doing this, there was no real reason to believe that even a possibly supernatural ability to kill could not be shared. In fact, he practically needed it to be sharable if he wanted the same ability. So why couldn't he shake the feeling this was a single person...?

Perhaps it was just wishful thinking. If these deaths weren't supernaturally or otherwise abnormally assisted, it would HAVE to be more than one person, as there would be no way to travel so far between prisons in the timespan some of the deaths had taken place in. That would make his potential ability to help any such group very limited, if they didn't kill him upon meeting him. He also would have basically wasted a lot of time, because if the method of execution wasn't something he could use to enact justice himself, this entire endeavor would be functionally pointless- not to mention he would have jeopardized his safety immensely by going along with the plans of only slightly less than common criminals.

However, if it was the inverse possibility- that this was all the work of just one person, their source of power would have to be supernatural, for the exact same reason. THAT would be much easier to take control of and exploit, especially if the individual was a woman. He could probably charm her, regardless of age, if that was the case, and if so he probably wouldn't even need to gain the power for himself- he could just have her start following his plan instead, if he went about things in just the right way.

Light shook his head. That sounded entirely too villainous to his liking. Sure, he could usually manipulate women, that didn't mean it should be the first thing that came to mind. He'd be happy to go along with their plan as long as it made sense. Besides, this was all entirely speculation, based on no real logic. It was probably irrelevant until he actually found them anyways, so he moved on.

'Given the accidents that have occurred, they probably have some way to control living things, people included if the two who died by knife were any indica-'

"Light!" A whirling ball of sister interrupted Light's thought process as she ran in through the open bedroom door. "Could you help me with my homework? I don't get this..."

"Huh? Oh, sure, Sayu. Just give me a minute to finish up here." Light said, closing his laptop. Hmm, the door had been left open? That had been rather reckless of him. This little... project was taking up perhaps a bit TOO much of his attention if he'd gotten so careless.

"UNCATCHABLE 'FATES' CRIME GROUP ON THE RISE!"

"THREE JAPANESE CRIMINALS DEAD IN FREAK ACCIDENT! THE WORK OF 'FATE'?!"

"POLICE REFUSE TO GIVE FURTHER INFORMATION ON RECENT PRISONER DEATHS!"

"'ACCIDENTAL' DEATHS! A GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY?!"

Misa looked over today's headlines with a somewhat amused, somewhat pleased expression, though if anyone were in front of her, they would be able to see her eyes contained a small glint of hurt. Rem read the paper from over her shoulder, wondering how the girl was reacting on the inside. She didn't have to wait long to find out, since Misa began thinking out loud as soon as she finished the article she was reading.

"So, they think I'm a group, and they're calling me the 'Fates'... well, those who don't think it's secretly the government killing off it's own prisoners, at least." Misa rolled the name around on her tongue. The 'Fates', huh? It was a nice name. The English word made the title sound exotic. Though, according to her limited knowledge of English, it didn't really fit since she was only one person...

She looked over her shoulder to smile at the Shinigami perched behind the couch "Hey Rem, what do you think of the name they gave me? Do you like it?"

Even after spending a week and a half with her, Rem was not sure what to think of Misa Amane. She certainly wasn't stupid, of that the Shinigami was sure. So why did this girl keep asking her these sorts of questions...?

"I have no real opinion, Misa. I do not particularly think of any names as 'good' or 'bad'. Surely you have noticed by now that I am not the type of being who has 'opinions' all that often. There is not much use for them for a god of death."

Misa's smile was not dampened by this. "Sure you do! You had an opinion on my plan when I started this, right?"

"That was because it directly concerned your safety, not-"

"And you have an opinion on foods, too! You don't like them that much- and we'll have to find something to change that- but that IS an opinion!"

Rem slowly shook her head. This girl... "Well, I cannot say it fits very well. 'Fates' is a plural English word, referring to a group if used as a noun, and although I am with you, you are the only one carrying out killings at the moment."

Misa grinned brightly. She knew if she just kept at it she could get Rem to talk with her. From their discussion last week, it seemed the vast majority of Shinigami were rather apathetic to... well, everything, but stuff on Earth especially. Rem was barely an exception, and only that because she cared about Misa- in the aspect of caring about anything else in the human world, she was much like most every other Shinigami. This did not sit well with the teen model, who was very sociable, and would prefer to spend hours talking to someone than spending them all on her own. Her life had been lonely ever since her parents died, but then Rem had showed up, and said she would never leave Misa's side... it was perfect.

However, no matter how delighted Misa was by this aspect of the Death Note, if Rem was going to be by her side all the time, especially as a friend (as the teen model already thought of her as), she needed to be a little more talkative and a little less stoic (or, well, less quiet at least). Thus, Misa had taken to breaking the Shinigami out of what she thought of as a "shell", hopefully introducing her to some good things about Earth along the way. She'd already ordered up dozens of different fruits this week via room service, and had Rem try them to see if she would change her opinion on Earth food. Nothing yet, but she was sure Rem would find something to like eventually.

Setting her train of thought back on track, Misa turned fully around on the couch to face the Shinigami and continued. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Okay, sure, it doesn't make total sense, but the word itself is pretty nice sounding. And how about if it was made singular? That would be just "Fate", right? Do you think that would suit me?"

Rem stared for a moment before giving what seemed to be her version of a shrug. "I suppose so, Misa. It seems like a fine name."

Misa hopped off the couch, satisfied with that answer and intent on ordering a snack and new fruit for Rem to try before researching any more criminals. "I wish they wouldn't say I'm the criminal though. I mean, I'm killing criminals, and ones that were definitely guilty at that. Shouldn't this be considered some kind of public service or something instead? It's kind of mean to say I'm the bad guy here." A small pout formed on the girl's face before it was replaced by a small smile.

"Ah, well, I'm sure they'll come around sooner or later. It's not like I'm killing any good people, so they'll see what I'm doing is right soon enough."

-Two hours later-

Misa yawned. Tomorrow she had another modeling appointment, and she really needed to get some sleep, but she needed to finish off some more criminals first. Scanning the prisoner list she'd looked up, Misa couldn't help but feel incredibly bored. It would be so much easier if she could just kill these people without looking up their crimes first... but it couldn't be helped. At least writing down the ways they were going to die was pretty fun, though perhaps she needed to tone it down a bit. The last one, which had involved a lightning strike, was perhaps a bit too grandiose.

Finally satisfied with the evidence of the mens' collective guilt, Misa smiled widely as she wrote down the names, time, and cause of death for four more prisoners over in Osaka. Their deaths were slated for tomorrow, at four in the morning. This was the most satisfying part of the whole thing- knowing that she had just made the world a better place.

Misa's thoughts drifted to the name she had been given by the public as she turned out the lights and headed for bed. According to the small bit of side research she'd done, the English word was the equivalent to destiny- events out of anyone's control that worked in mysterious ways, with an outcome that no one knew but "Fate" itself. It also referred to three sisters from Greek mythology, who both spun and cut the threads of people's lives when it was their time to die. All in all, a fitting pseudonym indeed.

Misa collapsed into the bed, Rem standing at "rest" just outside the door. One final thought drifted by as she fell into sleep.

'Well then, world... I guess I really am... Fate.'

AN: Oh, Soichiro. You still think this case is small enough for the NPA to handle on its own. No amount of inspiring/reprimanding speeches is going to change that you're out of your league. You fool...

I was originally going to call the "Fates" by some Japanese name, but there are so many different ways to say "Fate" in Japanese that I had no idea which one was proper to use. "Unmei" seems to be used the most, but there's a good 6 other ways, and given that the original name was taken from English I went with this. Since there isn't much to change when you say the word with a Japanese accent, "Fates" remains the name. If you're wondering why it isn't "Kira", you may want to consider that the nature of the killings is different. Here, deaths seem to be all over Japan (and ONLY the country of Japan), but only happen at a rate of three or four per day. The public is under the impression a group is doing this, and still doesn't think it's something supernatural because the death count isn't impossible for a widespread group, unlike Kira's which were impossible for anything short of a "godlike" power. Thus, the general public's impression is rather different, and so is the name given.

So in case you didn't notice even after reading the above paragraph, things are a bit different here... Light's killings couldn't be hidden from the world because he killed everywhere, and upwards of at least 50 (as a lower boundary) at a time. Misa? She's only killing in Japan, and at a much smaller rate. She is being a little less cautious, but the smaller scale seems to be working in her favor- the news of her killings is containable, thus the NPA director wants to keep such information from reaching the world at large, and consequently L doesn't get called in... yet. Hehehe...

I am somewhat unsure of the degree of familiarity the NPA has with L. Was the Interpol meeting the first time they had worked with him? Had L solved cases in tandem with them before? If so, please tell me in a review and I will make the appropriate corrections. Actually, even if I got nothing wrong, review anyways. Please? I could really use the motivation. :)