AN-Okay, let me start by saying that I have pretty much gotten this story line worked out. That's why I'm confident in my ability to write three stories at once, because this one is planned, and the other two are pretty much the same story from two opposing viewpoints. I'd also appreciate it if people wouldn't try to guess my plot...it kind of bugs me, and I'm not sure why. That being said, here is more devious Light for your enjoyment, and the next installment is coming soon. Thank you for reading! -Kani

If there was something that Light hated it was not knowing when something would happen. Pieces were in place, but he had no control over the situation. He knew what Rem's decision would be, but he didn't know when she would figure it out. Granted, Rem was a lot smarter than Ryuk had been…it shouldn't take…

He sat up as the Shinigami drifted through this floor. They regarded each other quietly for a moment, him leaning on his headboard, the death god hovering over his floor. She spoke quietly.

"Your mother is very perceptive."

"What do you mean?"

"Her soul is sensitive…she is uneasy in my presence, even though she does not know I am there."

"Her side of the family has always claimed to be… well-tuned for lack of a better word."

The Shinigami hissed out a breath, something that could have been a sigh. "You want me to kill your father."

Light didn't answer, staring at her. She nodded slowly to herself, looking around the room. The set of pictures Misa drew to demonstrate the power of the eyes was taped up on his desk, more as a reference than any kind of keepsake. She'd signed it for him, and his mother found it adorable that he would keep something so trivial. Rem looked at it fondly now, and Light felt his insides turn. Could he really be less sensitive than a creature whose only purpose was to kill?

Apparently.

"I don't know what you have planned, but I gave up trying to understand you a while ago, Light Yagami. I assume that if your father manages to turn the case on Misa again, she will be caught?"

"I barely managed to keep them off of her last time, Rem." The lie rolled easily from his tongue, just like all the others, and likely the thousands more that would follow before his death.

"And she will die if she is captured."

"It's almost a certainty. L would not show mercy to Kira." Irony. Bittersweet Irony.

"Protect her." Rem fixed her eyes on his again, and Light inwardly growled. Really, this sentimentality was getting on his nerves.

"What do you mean?"

"I will kill Soichiro if you promise to make sure that the case does not return to Misa. She cannot fall under suspicion again. Promise it."

"No. I will try, but I will not promise it." Rem smiled at him.

"You could gamble with the best of us Shinigami, Light."

"Be that as it may, I see no point in making the promise. You would not trust me anyway."

"True. You're very good at this game."

"It's not a game. That's why I'm winning."

Rem chuckled. "I could always kill you instead, Light."

"To what purpose? If I die, the investigation would only turn to her anyway, and without me, she's lost. She'll give up…maybe even turn herself in." Rem just nodded, cutting him off with a wave of her skeletal hand.

"I understand the logic…I also have the luxury of knowing that I'm well-trapped. Still…the idea of killing you appeals to me."

"At this point, no matter when or how I die, Misa would fall. She'd be the only suspect, and L would break her in a matter of days."

"Yes, I know." Rem drifted down through his floor again without another word. Light sighed to himself. He hoped she had the sense to wait until they were in the investigation room...

Still, it was safer to head downstairs. If she decided to kill him tonight, he needed to have witnesses.

XXXX

Rem had her share of common sense apparently. When Soichiro's chair slid back across the floor as he crumpled and missed it, the entire team was present.

"Yagami-san?!" It was L who reached him first, being closest, but it was Light who reacted with the most panic.

"Dad!"

As a loving son should, of course.

He shoved L out the way, falling to his knees and pulling his father to sit up.

"Dad, what's wrong, what's going…Dad? Dad?! Oh God, it's Kira!" Someone was pulling him away, and he fought, slipping into terror like a well-tailored costume. He never needed to rehearse...he had a gift for manipulation in all its forms, acting included.

"Light, stop it!"

"But he killed my father! He knows, he knows who we are, we're going to die! DAD!"

Matsuda locked his arms around Light's chest in an unforgiving hold, and between breaths Light mentally cursed him for trying to be the hero…he was going to bruise.

He was half-drug, half-carried away from his father's corpse, and he saw L pick himself up carefully. The slight narrowing of his eyes told Light that he didn't approve of this, not at all, but fuck him. It worked didn't it?

Yes, because Aizawa was turning his eyes from the Chief's body to his computer screen, wondering why, searching for a clue…

Yes, his eyes widened…HA! Victory.

"Where's the Shinigami?" Light clawed his way out Matsuda's restraint, glad to give him a scratch or two in return for the marks on his ribs. "Where's Rem?"

He was already out the door, searching for a sign, anything…He turned the corner and found it. The pile of bone sand that was a shinigami corpse. Sticking out of the top was a black corner. His mind raced for moment…Hide it or bring it back?

XXXX

L watched Light dash out the door and his instinctive paranoia kicked in. He'd done well, up until then, but that was too planned…why would he suddenly run off and leave his Father's body? He followed, stepping out into the hall and glancing both ways. Light was no where to be seen. He bit at his thumb harshly as he stepped back inside. His eyes fell on the killer notebook on the table, and he bit even harder. It had no master, now that Soichiro was dead.

Was it worth it?

Possibly. Better than allowing an alternative. He stepped over and brushed his fingers over the cover in passing, claiming ownership of the notebook.

"Ryuuzaki…" L pulled his eyes from the door to glance at the man.

"Yes Aizawa-san?"

"The Chief was reviewing Misa's files." L frowned and came to stand next to him, mentally apologizing to the old investigator at their feet. He was right, the old case files and security clips were up on Soichiro's screen.

"Something must have happened…something to bring his suspicion of Misa back."

"Of Misa?" Light's voice in the door, numb with shock. L turned and his eyes fell instantly on the black book in his hands. Light held it up, his voice a pained monotone. "She killed him…I don't know why. They're both dead."

Light tossed the notebook on the table next to the other.

That's two of the four currently on the human world. The others are Ryuk's…his personal note, and the note belonging to Misa. When L captures her, that notebook would come into my possession as well.

Light moved to sit at his father's side, staring blankly into his face. Someone had closed his eyes while Light was gone. The room fell quiet as the panic dissipated…if Kira were to kill the others, he'd have done it by now. Light stared into his father's face, and felt a twinge of regret…just once, just as he had when he first decided to kill to protect Kira's name and work. While their deaths were necessary, that didn't make it easier to do. Still, with a final apology, he shoved it aside, as he had before, and as he would do each and every time he murdered someone.

Justice was a hard ideal to live by.

L watched the interaction objectively. The rest of the team, Matsuda especially, was in various stages of grief. Light looked for all the world to be heartbroken…L knew better. He felt that strange flash of anger and paranoia again at the youth's tactics. He'd murdered his own father to secure his future. If L had ever doubted, it was a distant memory. The lengths to which Kira would go surprised him, though they shouldn't. L didn't like to be surprised. Of course, now that Soichiro was dead, he could follow Light's logic flawlessly. With the discovery of Soichiro's suspicions, L would have no choice but to re-open Misa's case, and pursue her again.

Something told him that Light intended for her to be caught this time, however.

Pity…she was a bright person. It was hard to imagine her as a murderer…no, never mind. After seeing the way she worshiped Light, and her support of Kira, it wasn't. Considering the two were the same person, he could very easily see Misa killing.

Killing in the name of Love…

The Irony of it left a bad taste in his mouth. Still…the corpse of a man he respected lay cooling on his office floor and that needed tending to.

"Move him to the couch. I'll call Watari for a stretcher."

The rest would have to wait for a while.