Author's Note: Alright, we're moving into the story and timeline. I will add: I'm keeping most of the canon, just adding little adjustments here and there to make it flow better.

Thanks to UmiNight Angel Neko and Guest for your reviews! I like how you guys are reading my mind because I totally had this chapter written before either of your reviews. That makes me feel great. I'm glad we're this in sync. You're amazing. I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts!

Chapter 7

January 8, 2004

It's so nice to have a journal on days like this. Sometimes it's so lonely here, and I don't know how to handle it. I love opening these leather covers and seeing L's entry. I love being able to write out my every thought and feeling without fear of discovery.

I don't care what he says, by the way. I never once doubted he was a flawed human being who could lie, cheat, and steal. He's still my hero. He's still everything that I want to be. If I can accomplish a tenth—even a hundredth—of what he has, I can leave behind some real, tangible good in this world. I wouldn't see myself as a hero, either. But maybe someone else would. Maybe it would inspire them to do the same. Maybe that's all it takes.

Maybe.

Maybe it's still not enough. Light closed his textbook, tossed out the bag of potato chips containing his miniature TV, and walked over to his bed. He dug around in the brown paper bag sitting near his pillow and pulled out the porn magazine he had bought on his way home. Maybe L will see right through this and assume I know about the cameras and the bugs in my room. He flopped down on his bed and flipped the book open, pretending to carefully examine each page. Maybe I need to seal the deal with something more vulnerable. Light closed the book and laughed.

"Man, these covers mislead you all the time." he mumbled to himself, loud enough for the bugs to pick up. Given the situation, it's safer if I just assume that I'm the prime suspect and the only one being watched. He slid the magazine behind an encyclopedia on his bookshelf. I have to make it look real. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Eva. He waited for her response and guilt suddenly crept up on him. Was this wrong? Was he using her? The knock on his window interrupted his thoughts and he stood to let her into his room. He quickly forgot his guilt when he saw her. All he felt was love.

"Alright, so what's the big emergency at eleven-thirty-four at night, Yagami?" Eva chastised. "Some of us need our solid 16 hours of sleep per day." Light smiled at her stupid joke as he watched her make her way across his room and straight to his bed. He grabbed a notebook and a pencil.

"I need you to make a bucket list, and I'm going to help you do all of those things." It was an honest admission. The cameras may have been rolling, but Light definitely wasn't acting. Eva stared back at him with wide eyes. She parted her lips for a moment and tilted her head at him, as if his words would suddenly make sense to her if she saw him from a different angle.

"What?" she finally asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm serious." She laughed at him. "Really, I am." Light defended.

"I think you should be more worried about finding a girlfriend than all of the things that I want to do." Eva said dismissively.

"I'm not worried about that." Light replied.

"Really? It's been quite a while since you've been on a date." Eva hummed at him. Her smile widened when she noticed his face twitch with discomfort.

"Quite a while is still better than never." Light retorted. Eva blushed.

"That's hardly a fair comparison."

"Then what's been holding you back from dating?" he challenged.

"My tumor gets a little jealous and overprotective." Eva joked. "I don't know, you're always at school or out somewhere where you can meet new people. I've just been stuck at home. The only guy taking me out is my dad."

"Go out with me." Light suddenly offered. It was a bold move, one that was met with an incredulous laugh from Eva.

"Keep your pity, Make-A-Wish Foundation date away from me."

"Make-A-Wish Foundation?" Light asked.

"It's an American organization that makes dreams come true for kids with terminal illnesses." Eva explained. Light thought for a moment, furrowing his brow and tapping his chin with his index finger.

"So…you're saying a date with me would be a dream come true?" he teased.

"Wow!" Eva exclaimed. "I don't think this room is big enough for the three of us!" Light suddenly froze and glanced at Ryuk. The god of death exchanged a nervous look with him.

"The three of us?" Light asked.

"Me, you, and your ego." Eva clarified. Ryuk laughed, amused by her jab. Light laughed with relief.

"Alright, wait here." He quickly left the room, rushed down the stairs, and plucked a pink rose from the vase in the hallway. Light took the stairs two at a time to return to his room and locked the door behind him. He dropped to his knees in front of Eva, who watched him carefully from his bed. He held out the rose for her. "Eva Reyes, you would make me the happiest man in the world if you would be so kind as to allow me to go on a date with you, the most intelligent, passionate, and beautiful woman that I have ever met." He watched her stunned face carefully and smiled when he saw a blush creep across her cheeks. "C'mon. I'm a pretty nice guy once you get to know me." Eva laughed at his joke and nodded, taking the flower.

"You don't have to do this for me, Light."

"I know, I'm not doing it for you."

"Then why?"

"I already told you why. I meant it." Light smiled and sat next to her, wrapping his arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and gently ran her fingers across the smooth, pink petals of the rose.

"Yes, I will grace you with my presence on a date." Eva finally spoke up after a moment of silence. This time Light scoffed at her ego.

"You're so merciful."

"I know. I'm such a people pleaser. When do you want to go on this date?"

"How about the day after our entrance exam for To-Oh?" Light suggested.

"That sounds perfect. I might cry the entire time because I might still be heartbroken over my poor performance on the exam, but other than that it should be fun." Eva smiled up at Light.

"I'll do my best to comfort you." There was a small pause in the conversation and Light smirked. "I mean, I can't say it'll be successful because I have no idea what it's like to not be the best at literally everything all the time, but I'll try to lower myself down to your status and empathize."

"Dick." Eva said through fits of giggles.

"Why don't you just sleep in here tonight?" he finally suggested.

"Yea, I really don't want to crawl through that window again. It's too cold out there." Eva agreed. As if on cue, she yawned.

L watched Eva crawl in between Light's bedsheets and doze off. He caught a small smile on Soichiro Yagami's face out of the corner of his eye. When the chief noticed him staring, he made no effort to hide his emotions as he usually did.

"I don't approve." Soichiro clarified through what he perceived to be the judgmental silence. "Of him sneaking Eva into his room, I mean." he quickly added, catching Liliana's gaze. "I don't approve of a lot of what we've seen tonight. Light's secretive behavior, his porn collection, it's all a bit worrisome." The smile crept back onto his lips. "But where it really counts…how he treats Eva...well, I'm happy he's becoming the man that he is." L turned his eyes to Liliana when she let out a small chuckle.

"I had a feeling they were sneaking into each other's rooms. But it never worried me because it was Light." The two parents exchanged a comforting smile. "I've always wanted Eva to find the same love that I have with her father. Light definitely fits the bill." Liliana paused for a moment to think and then shrugged. "Minus the Kira investigation, of course." L returned to the monitor to observe the sleeping girl once again. She looked so peaceful. There was something so innocent and pure about her.

"I wasn't aware of her diagnosis." L suddenly spoke up, running his thumb across his chapped, bottom lip. "What's the prognosis?"

"Stage 4 cancer with minimal treatment efficacy. Less than five percent of patients in comparable conditions survive past approximately 10 years." Liliana replied. She bit her bottom lip as she watched her daughter through the surveillance cameras. She had said the words to family and friends at least a hundred time. They were second nature now, but they hurt no less. In fact, every repetition renewed and drilled the panic and anxiety down deeper into her.

"That's unfortunate." L mumbled, never taking his eyes off the girl.

January 17, 2004

I made a friend! At least I think I did. It was the most exhilarating thing! I've been at home for so long, out of school for so long, I had almost forgotten how fun it is to meet new people! To just sit down next to a stranger and talk to them. To find out common interests. I really missed it.

I wish I would have caught his name. It was so loud in the room after the test was over. I asked him, but I didn't hear his response, and Light was in such a rush to leave. I've never known that boy to rush anything. He's always so calm and collected. I wonder what was up with him.

I'll have to find my new friend if we both get into To-Oh. It shouldn't be too hard.

Student 162 was very unique.

"Are you sure you want to go? You know you could just wait another year before going to college." Ben tried to reason with his daughter. Eva huffed at him.

"Dad!"

"Lots of kids take gap years!" he argued.

"Not in Japan!" Eva argued back as she packed her bag and wrapped a scarf snuggly around herself. "Besides, I'm already registered for this entrance exam, Light is already downstairs, and I already spent hours upon hours upon hours studying for it." She stopped her routine for a moment, checking to make sure she had everything that she needed. When all items were accounted for, she pulled on her jacket and turned to her dad, flashing him a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. I promise." Ben nodded begrudgingly and escorted her down the stairs.

"Hi Mr. Reyes." Light greeted politely.

"Hey Light. Make sure you keep an eye on Eva. Her fatigue and nausea have been especially bad this week. She's been getting dizzy a lot, too. I don't want her falling or fainting." Ben was all business.

"Daaad!" Eva whined at her father's oversharing of her every symptom.

"I'll escort her every step of the way." Light assured him, holding out his arm for Eva to grab.

"Be safe and good luck!" Liliana said with a smile, planting a kiss on Eva's forehead and giving Light a quick hug. "We'll all go out to dinner to celebrate once you guys come back."

"Sounds good! Thanks mom!"

"Thanks, Mrs. Reyes." Eva quickly pulled Light out of her house before her parents could change their mind about letting her go to the exam. "Have your symptoms really been that bad?" Light asked.

"A little. They have me on new medicine that causes some muscle weakness, so sometimes it's really hard to walk. It's pretty rare though." Eva admitted. She hated disclosing the details of her ailment to Light. He always worried about them. She knew it kept him up at night. She would often get emails from him at two or three in the morning about certain exercises or home remedies she could try for her nausea. It was sweet that he cared so much, but Eva worried about him, too. And between the two of them worrying about each other worrying about each other, the stress would kill them before cancer or sleep deprivation could. "Are you nervous?" Eva finally asked when they were situated on the train.

"About what?"

"What do you think? The test!" she said with a laugh. It was like he was off in his own little world. "What other big stuff is going on in your life?" Light laughed at her question.

"No, I'm not nervous."

"I am. I'm a wreck. I kept having this nightmare last night that I fell asleep and slept through the whole test and failed! It was terrible."

"I'm sure you'll do great." Light smiled and wrapped an arm around her. She gratefully retreated into his warmth for the remainder of the train ride and tried to settle her nerves.

"R's…R's…where are the R's…?" Eva hummed to herself as she glanced around the room. It was buzzing with motion. Students scrambled to put away their bags and take their seats.

"Right here." Light said, guiding her over to a row of seats. He frowned when he noticed where her seat was. She was practically on the other side of the room from him. Even worse, she was behind him, so he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her. Even worse still, she didn't have an aisle seat to easily make it to the bathroom. The final straw was the guy who did have the aisle seat looked like a total freak. Light turned up his nose at the student. Who dresses like that for an entrance exam? Light's eyes traced over the guy's worn out, old tennis shoes. The backs of which were flattened, as if he never untied the laces, but simply forced his feet in. The shoes were firmly planted on the ground beneath him. The student's feet were not in them. Light's lip turned up in disgust. The student was sitting in this chair with his knees up to his face, and his bare feet on the chair. He's not even wearing socks…. If the heavily worn blue jeans and plain, white long sleeve t-shirt weren't enough of an indicator, Light could tell this student didn't care about appearances whatsoever from his shaggy, unkempt black hair, the dark bags under his eyes, and the sharp slouch of his posture. He really didn't feel comfortable with Eva sitting next to this guy. "Hey." Light finally called out, approaching the freak. The freak looked up at him with those large, panda-esque eyes. "She's assigned to the seat next to you, but she'll have to get up a few times during the exam. She gets really nauseous." Light motioned at Eva, who seemed to be just as intrigued by the freak's appearance. The freak stared at Light for a moment, then turned to Eva and addressed her directly. That bothered Light greatly.

"Would you like to trade seats with me? I don't need to get up during the exam." the freak said in a low, monotone voice.

"Really? That would be wonderful!" Eva replied excitedly. Light glared at him. "Thank you so much!" Eva said as he scooted down one chair.

"Here, give me your doctor's note and your bag. I'll take these up to the proctor for you." Light said to Eva, deciding to ignore the freak that was now getting on his nerves.

"Thanks, Light!" Eva smiled at him.

"Nausea? Are you that nervous?" Light heard the freak ask Eva as he turned to walk away.

"Yep. Its physician certified that I'm a wreck about this exam." he heard Eva joke with a laugh. There were a few more lines of conversation between them, and if the proctor hadn't asked for silence a few moments later, Light would have dwelled on them a lot more, slowly building up a jealous rage in the pit of his stomach. As petty as it was, Light thoroughly enjoyed it when the proctor's eyes shot up and a scowl appeared on his face.

"Student 162! Sit properly!" Light glanced over his shoulder and smirked at the sight of the freak awkwardly readjusting himself in the midst of a verbal beating. Yes, it was petty, but he could afford to be a little petty once in a while.