I would like to mention first that my usual quotation for talking on the TV will also apply to computers. Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or Persona 4.

"This note shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the ground of (arrives in) the human world."

Chapter 3: Dealings

At Junes, L and the Inaba team sat and listened over the computer as the newly formed "Kira Investigation Team" went over the daily reports. "Twenty-one people claiming to be Kira?," Yosuke said, "What's your betting all of those are prank calls? There's no way Kira would contact the police directly." L started chewing his thumb. "I believe you're right Yosuke, but knowing the police they won't want to rule anything out." An investigator at the NPA headquarters came over the speakers with the victim reports. "We were able to confirm that all of the heart attack victims' identities were publicly available prior to their deaths. And regarding L's request, we have investigated the time of death for each of the victims, and have found that they fell between the hours of four pm and two am on weekdays. At least sixty percent of these occurred between eight pm and twelve am. Weekends and holidays are the exception with deaths on those days being more spread out."

"Huh," Labrys said when she heard this, "Pretty telling wouldn't you say?" L nodded and spoke into the mic. "Given that information, I believe our suspect may be a student, one who has a very naive concept of justice. It's possible he may even possess a god-complex of some kind. I would suggest you re-examine any notions you may have previously had regarding Kira possibly being a student. Naturally this is mere speculation for now, but we must be open to all possibilities if we are to find and arrest Kira as soon as possible. Now then, please continue your report." Light overheard his father talking. "Very well then. Does anyone have anything else to say?" The next voice to speak was very familiar to Light. "Uh, yeah Chief..."

"That sounds like Matsuda," Light said, "One of the people working directly under my Dad." Matsuda continued to speak. "Now I'm not saying this to condone Kira our anything, but ever since this got started, we've been seeing a vast decrease in the number of violent crimes in both Japan and around the world." Judging from the groans that followed, no one liked that statement. "This Matsuda sounds like a real idiot," L said. Light chuckled. "Yeah, he can come off as such." "Well," came Soichiro's voice, "I suppose that's to be expected. So then, this concludes the meeting." L started talking into the mic again. "Thank you everyone, I now feel we are one step closer to catching Kira. Now then, I have one additional request for the teams investigating the victims. I would like to know how their identities were made available to the public. Specifically I would like to know if photos of the victims were made public. That is all."

L switched of the camera. "Why do you want to know if the victims' photos were made public?," Yukiko asked. L picked up the cup of hot chocolate he had ordered and gently sipped it. "We have earlier deduced that Kira needs to know his victim's name before he can kill them. This was noted by Narukami when he discovered that criminals whose names were never made public or who's names were misspelled in the media were not targeted. Now I want to know if Kira needs to know what his victim looks like. During my challenge to Kira, I never had to show my face or reveal my true name, and he was unable to kill me. That is what made me think that Kira at least needs to know of his victim before he can kill them." He took another sip.

Koreyoshi Kitamura, the Deputy Director of the NPA, was walking home after receiving the report from Soichiro. He was an over-the-hill man, tall but rather corpulent. He still much of his gray hair, though his hairline had receded almost to the back of his head. His green eyes resembled his son Kisuke's, and he had a similar pair of glasses on. He wore his usual business suit which was colored dark blue. As soon as he got home, he knocked on the door and then entered. Kisuke was there to greet him. "Hey Dad, welcome home." "Thank you," Kitamura said, "I trust everything's been going well in school." Kisuke nodded. He was still embarrassed that he was always coming in second to Light, even thought Light's father worked under Kitamura.

Ryuk watched as the Kitamura family sat around the dinner table eating. Earlier Kisuke had expressed his confidence that he had a major advantage over the authorities. "So Dad," Kisuke said, "I hear the NPA has a new case they're working on." Kitamura nodded. "The head of the investigation team is Soichiro Yagami. I believe his son Light is in your class at school. Speaking of which, you shouldn't be so negative about always being behind him. Given the boy's achievements that actually speaks quite well of your own abilities." Ryuk chuckled at this. Kitamura took another bite of his nagiri and continued. "Anyway, Soichiro is supposed to give to me daily reports as the investigation continues." 'That's just what I wanted to hear,' Kisuke thought.

After dinner he headed up to his room with Ryuk following. As Kisuke started working at his computer, Ryuk munched on another apple. "So Daddy's a policeman. This must be why you were so confident earlier." Kisuke nodded. "Of course Dad isn't on the investigation team itself, but the head of the team answers directly to him. And now that I know Dad has to receive daily reports..." He quickly brought up a series of files. "I can hack into his files and keep tabs on the investigation. Since we're on a home network it will be difficult to trace." Ryuk took a look at the files and chuckled. "Looks like they're already suspecting a student to be the culprit. Guess you're in trouble Kisuke."

Kisuke thought himself. Opening the Death Note, he took another look at the rules Ryuk had written down. "If the cause of death is written within forty seconds of writing the name it will happen, and then I'll have another six minutes and forty seconds to write out details of the death." Ryuk nodded. "That sounds about right." "So then," Kisuke said as he got out a pen, "If I were to write the cause of death as 'heart attack', I could then control the victim's actions any way I wanted. That would even include time of death." He brought up a list of prison inmates. "Looks like I'll be able to provide you with more entertainment Ryuk." Ryuk chuckled and watched with interest.

"No way," Chie said, "Another twenty-three victims? That's the second day in a row this has happened." The Inaba team was going over the latest reports on the Kira investigation. It seemed Kira had switched up his pace, killing one criminal on the hour, every hour. Chie face-palmed. "There goes our student theory." "I don't know," Kanji said, "Anyone can skip two days of school, regardless if they're a delinquent or an honor student." L finished the pastry he had been eating. "That's hardly the point here Kanji. Ask yourself, why every hour? And why only use prison inmates that are sure to get discovered quickly?" Yu narrowed his eyes. "Seems Kira can control when his victims die."

L nodded. "I believe that is the case. It would appear Kira has some sort of supernatural or ESP-like ability that let's him control when his victims die." Light put a hand to his chin. "L, don't you think the timing of this new pace is a little strange?" "I do," L said as he bit into a pastry, "Almost immediately after we began suspecting Kira might be a student, the pacing of the killings changed, as if to contradict that theory." Teddie crossed his arms. "That can't be coincidence. This only proves Kira can somehow access top secret police information." L started chewing his thumb. "I'm afraid you may be right Teddie. I believe Kira is challenging me directly. The fact that he is somehow able to access our reports cannot be ignored. It may be time for some additional support."

Kisuke walked home from school a few days later, Ryuk flying right behind him. "I knew it was a good idea to leave a bunch of criminals from the prison system alive for these situations," Kisuke said, "By now I'm thinking L will be suspecting that Kira has access to police information." Ryuk looked confused. "But won't that make you even more suspicious than when the police suspected Kira was a student?" "Maybe," Kisuke said, "But my real goal in all this is to get close to L so I can kill him. So to that end, I plan on having the police do all the dirty work for me. You see Ryuk, there are very few people in the human world who actually trust each other. I mean think about it, could you trust someone whose name and face you didn't even know?"

"I see your point," Ryuk said with a nod, "So the whole thing with letting L know that you can access top secret information regarding the case was just a means to an end." Kisuke nodded. "And once L finds that out, he'll be obligated to investigate the police to find the source of the leak. And once he starts doing that, the police will get angry and start to investigate him. On the surface it will seem like L and the police are working together, when in reality they'll be secretly at each others throats." Ryuk chuckled. "You continue to interest me Kisuke. If things keep going they way you predict, you could have L's name and face in a matter of months." Kisuke smiled. "That's what I'm hoping."

Back in Inaba, an FBI courier had just dropped off a series of documents to the Inaba Investigation Team. Light looked over the list of names, people within the NPA who had access to top secret information regarding the Kira case. He wasn't surprised to see his father's name among the files. "Well," L said, "I think it goes without saying that we can rule out one person from our list of people of interest." He nodded to Light. Just then, Watari came in over the computer. "L. The FBI agents have arrived in Japan four days ago and are ready to receive their assignments." "Good work Watari," L said into the mic, "I will begin sending the assignments within the hour."

As L turned his attention to his coffee, which he had added a great deal of sugar to, Naoto and Kanji approached. "We have a problem," Naoto said, "The investigators assigned to the victims and media team have resigned. We got word a half-hour ago." Yosuke seemed surprised. "Why did they do that?" Naoto looked at him. "It seems L was right when he thought the victims had their photos broadcast to the media prior to their deaths." Yu lowered his head. "I guess I can't blame them. I mean, here we are sitting around with our names and faces hidden from Kira, but the police have their identities exposed to the public. Anyone with a computer could find out who they are."

Light rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'd imagine Dad is none to happy about this. But at the same time it's a double-edged sword." L looked at him. "How do you mean?" Light put a hand to his mouth. "Well, put yourself in Kira's shoes for a second. Right now, the one he wants to get rid of most is you L. After all, you practically humiliated him during that media stunt, and you're the biggest threat to his goals. This is why he let it slip that he can spy on our investigation. He's counting on the fact that we will investigate the police." L gasped. "And he's expecting the police to investigate me in return, tricking them into doing all his dirty work."

Light nodded. "While it is true that police leaving the investigation means we're down in man-power, it also means there are fewer people who can access our files." Labrys got it. "And that can also potentially make our job easier, since if Kira stops reacting to our investigation, we'll know where the leak is coming from." L smiled. "We can narrow down the number of investigators to a handful of individuals that are the least likely to be Kira, and when that happens..." He took a sip from his coffee. "We can begin the second phase of our operation." Yu nodded and took a look at the files, discarding the ones for the police that had resigned. "Other than the investigators on the team, the only other members of the NPA who have access to our reports are Director Kanichi Takimura and Deputy Director Koreyoshi Kitamura."

"Since we're still sure that Kira is a student," Yukiko said, "I think we should focus more on their family members than the men themselves." L nodded. "That seems like the best course of action." He brought up a file from his computer. "Right now I have commissioned twelve FBI agents to assist us in investigation the police to see if we cannot locate Kira. One, the lead agent, will monitor the situation from a secure location, one will be in contact with me at all times, and the other ten will work with each of you." He printed out the files and handed one to each team member. Light looked at the file he had been given and smirked. 'So it's him, huh? How ironic.' On the file was the name "Raye Penber".

Kisuke was walking home from school later that night, juggling an apple in one hand. "I'm surprised you haven't gone for this yet Ryuk." Ryuk remained silent, and seemed to be looking back at something. Curious, Kisuke looked over his shoulder and saw the silhouette of someone following him. The person must have noticed, because they ducked behind a nearby building. "How long has he been there?," Kisuke asked. "Since yesterday," Ryuk said, "Of course I know he can't see me. But since I'm always behind you, it feels like he's looking right at me, and it creeps me out." Kisuke continued walking nonchalantly, but his brow was furrowed.

After entering his room, he peered out the curtain. 'Things are going faster than I thought they would. Too fast in my opinion. I didn't think L would be this quick in suspecting the police. I shouldn't look like anything more than an ordinary high school student, but I can't take any chances. Come to think of it, how did L pull this off? He'd need a lot of man-power and resources for this sort of thing.' "Hey Kisuke," Ryuk said, "I think now would a good time to tell you something interesting. There's a difference, you see, between shinigami and humans who possess a Death Note. Or to be more precise, there are two differences. First off, shinigami can extend their lives when they kill humans by taking their life-spans. For example, say a person was to live until they where sixty, and a shinigami wrote down that they were to die at forty. Now the remaining twenty years are added to the shinigami's life-span."

Kisuke seemed interested. "But that sort of thing won't work with a human who has a Death Note?" Ryuk nodded. "No matter how many names you write, your life-span will never increase. But as long as a shinigami doesn't slack off and writes a name down every once in a while, it doesn't matter if we're shot in the head or stabbed in the heart. We simply won't die. That is the first difference between us." "Wow," Kisuke said, "That is interesting. Out of all the legends about shinigami, that's one I've never heard about." Ryuk chuckled. "Well if you thought that was interesting, then what I'm about to say next will interest you even more. The second difference between us has less to do with lengthening lives and more with shortening them."

Kisuke sat down and listened intently. "You see," Ryuk said, "Shinigami are able to know a human's name just by looking at their face. We know the second we look at them. That's because through a shinigami's eyes, a human's name and life-span appears above their head. Now if I convert the numbers above your head to human time, I could tell you exactly how much longer you have to live. But I would never do that, nor am I allowed to tell you the names of other humans you don't know. Thanks to our eyes, a shinigami never has to worry that he can't kill a human because he doesn't know their name, and we always know exactly how much time we're getting for ourselves."

"I take it all this is going somewhere," Kisuke said. Ryuk chuckled. "You're right of course. Because in the case of the second difference there is a way for you to gain the eyes of a shinigami. You see, when a shinigami drops a Death Note and a human picks it up, they have access to a deal that has been with us since ancient times. The price for gaining the eyes of a shinigami is simple... Half of your remaining life-span." Kisuke closed his eyes. "Really? So if I had fifty more years to live, it'd be down to twenty-five. If it's only a year, it's down to six months. And since you've just said you're not allowed to tell me the names of people it means I can't borrow these powers. I'd have to pay them." Ryuk nodded."So I'll ask again. Give me half of your remaining life-span, and I will give you my eyes. What do you say?" Kisuke considered it. "If I agree to this, it would only make the Death Note easier to use..."

Next chapter: Pursuit

"The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, i.e. a god of death."

What will Kisuke's answer be? Read and review.