A/N: Enjoy Light Without The Dark! This story updates on Wednesdays.


Rin was holding her breath. It unquestionably wouldn't fit, she was sure of it. She hadn't worn this skirt since last fall and she hadn't exactly been careful with her diet since then. Overeating? No, but not so healthy.

She may have stopped for fast food once or twice on her way back from the glassworks shop.

Or every day for a whole a week.

If she'd known she was going to meet Light she wouldn't have done it, but she did and now she was positive of her failure even as Mei complained, "You don't gain weight, dummy. Even if you do it goes to the right places."

That was decidedly untrue; her chest was completely average and really that was the best that could be said for all of her. Normal.

Mei didn't agree, but in general, they argued over everything so Rin didn't take her backhanded compliments to heart. It was safer that way. God forbid she let it go to her head; she could end up acting like those made-up girls who'd knocked her down.

Still, for the first time in a long while she was hoping to look her best. Unfortunately, that amounted to lip gloss and nothing else. She wouldn't let Mei near her with makeup and she wasn't confident in her own abilities.

In any case, the school was very strict about things like that. All students were expected to present a wholesome image and raccoon eyes were forbidden.

She wondered when the last time she'd been on a date was, thought it must have been during her first year of middle school. She hadn't been particularly fond of the boy, and she regretted the whole thing later on, but it was expected. Everyone was off in pairs then, of course, she needed to do the same.

As it turned out one of her friends had a crush on him, though Rin hadn't been aware, and rumors of backstabbing spread quick as fire.

After that, Rin put all her focus on study. By then it was time to start exam prep anyway and it made sense, she was aiming for Hana's, but the truth was she didn't want to deal schoolmates anymore.

How could someone you'd been friends with since early childhood misjudge you that way? How could she be blamed for something she didn't know anything about?

Back then it was a terrible mystery and she'd spent more than one night crying over the lost friendship, but she understood now.

That girl knew where the blame lay. She hadn't told the boy she liked him, hadn't given hints to Rin either. There was no one else at fault, but she didn't want to accept her mistakes. Her anger was really directed at herself, yet taken out on Rin.

It was that way for so many people. Upset with their own actions, or lack thereof, they vented on bystanders and all too often those actions went unacknowledged.

That friendship was thoroughly destroyed and so was any hope of another close relationship for Rin. Everyone was held at arm's length, regardless of how long she'd known them.

Her mother said she was born with a 'consistent soul', a person who disliked change and resented it when others forced it on her. When it came to that middle school friendship she accepted the new reality, but then endeavored to keep herself from having to deal with that kind of situation again.

She supposed it was true and that was why this whole Yagami deal was so surprising. It was a huge departure from the usual routine. All her life she'd avoided things like this, but here she was obsessing over how she should dress to meet perhaps the biggest disturbance in her life thus far.


Casual. But neat. Put together without looking formal.

Why was this so hard?

Getting dressed had never been so distressing! Wanting to look a certain way was more difficult than he'd imagined it would be. But it mattered. This would be his second meeting with Rin, the first planned one, and he couldn't risk messing it up from the start.

"Onii-chan," Sayu flashed double thumbs-up as he made for the front door. "Go get 'em!"

Almost against his will, his younger sister's encouragement calmed his nerves. He wasn't sure what it was, maybe the thousand-watt smile that'd never seemed so sincere, but as he stepped into winter air he thought this 'date' might not go so terribly wrong.

It wasn't far to their meeting spot, a point about halfway between Hana's and his home. The park wasn't quite deserted, a few haggard mothers stood in a group; they'd been convinced by hyperactive children to brave the chill for ten minutes.

They all knew it would be longer than that.

Rin had yet to arrive, but he was early by design. The last thing he wanted was to make her wait and this gave him an opportunity to calm down; cool air cleared his whirling mind and standing still slowed the wild thumping of his heart.

Everything about this was a first for him. It wasn't that he'd never dated before, but it was all so contrived. He supposed he did have a measure of interest in those girls, but it was hardly worth mentioning and nothing like what he felt now.

It made him wonder what the difference was.

Why was Rin different?

He still hadn't found an answer when she came into view and all thoughts became a vague haze immediately upon realizing she had a dimple in her right cheek. He could hardly think beyond a greeting.

He had an obscure sense of what she wore, a typical winter date outfit if there ever was one, but really he didn't notice the clothes she'd agonized over for so long.

Hours. It took hours to figure out what she should wear because even though she'd had something picked out it suddenly looked absolutely hideous and had to be redone last minute. Now she sported a stylishly short pleated black skirt, white knee-high socks, and dressy maroon blouse along with a jacket that was not-quite-warm-enough-but-looked-good.

It would have stung a little if she'd realized Light didn't notice any of it.


Walking together was unexpectedly wonderful, yet also incredibly disconcerting. It was different than the first time, when they were going to and from the convenience store. Now they were surrounded by other people, other couples out on dates, and Rin would have thought they all had their own things to be thinking or speaking of, but she felt positive she'd caught snippets of hurried, whispered conversation about them.

She was being oversensitive, right? That had to be it. She was just self-conscious and...

"Is it just me or are people looking at us?"

It was hard not to miss a step when Light leaned down to speak softly in her ear, but she didn't. Her feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

"I don't think it's just you," she hissed back, face turning pink with embarrassment. Was her skirt caught up in the back?

As if he'd read her mind his hand was suddenly, almost inappropriately, running down her back and sliding along her waist; nothing was amiss though and so Rin snuck a peak in a shop window, checked their reflections for anything out-of-place, but again there was no call for alarm.

With a shrug Light silently dismissed the issue and she decided to let it go too. She didn't want to spend their very first date worrying about what other people might be thinking. For all she knew this would be the only date.

It was a pessimistic idea that wouldn't leave her. The thought she might mess up, make a fool of herself, remained in the back of her mind. Light was someone of impeccable character and Rin liked to think she held herself to high standards too, but it was hard to judge yourself that way.

Maybe he wouldn't see her as someone he wanted to keep spending time with.

For now, he was holding open the door of a cafe, paying for their drinks and snacks, pulling out a chair for her, and all Rin could think was that she was falling too hard too fast for Yagami, Light.

In her defense, Light was having similar thoughts about her. He'd thought he would enjoy being in her company, wouldn't have asked her out if he didn't, but this was excessive. He kept wanting to touch her. Putting his arm around her waist was suspect at this stage, he'd had an excuse, but anything more would be going too far.

So they sat, quietly eating their separate slices of artisan cakes and silently trying to figure out what their choices meant personality wise.

Light thought Rin's white cake with a cherry-strawberry cream filling might hint at something beyond total innocence, and Rin thought Light's dark chocolate on chocolate gave off a feeling of sophistication, elegance?, and maturity.

They both figured they were reading too much into the situation.

There was a tension, a long moment where neither knew what to say, but it wasn't awkward. Instead, their hands were driven closer together, inching their way across the table until fingers were barely brushing.

It was somehow intimate, in a way neither had ever before experienced.

Also slightly embarrassing, though Light didn't blush as Rin did.


It was as they were leaving the cafe that It happened. It would make the news for the next week as people tried to piece together exactly what happened and how. It would lead to investigations that couldn't find answers and It was out of this world.

Rin saw It happening first, when Light was closer to the ground and tying her shoe in a gesture so sweet she thought she might get toothache. It was a boy, about their age, running full force down the sidewalk across the street. He had a terrified look on his face, kept throwing horrified glances over his shoulder, knocked into people as if he didn't see them.

"Light," it came out as more of an urgent whisper than she intended. "Light!"

He'd fixed her laces by then, stood quickly and turned to see what she was pointing at.

He saw what she saw, but she didn't see what he saw, and he knew that immediately. Rin saw the boy, a schoolmate he realized, but if she'd seen the other thing, the thing chasing him, she wouldn't have been so calm.

His logical mind kicked into overdrive. The first priority was Rin, but he could tell that thing had a target, one target, and yet it wasn't trying to catch the boy. It was only following him. Scaring him purposely.

And then said boy ran straight into the road, Rin screamed, and Light just managed to grab her in time, pulling her into himself so she didn't see the bloody splatter that became of the body.