A/N: The first scene is recognisable (I do not own it). I made myself not watch the episode just so everything would be from memory to try and make it less 'exact'. Enjoy! x


Susanoo's Stratagem - 7

When a human dies, a Death Note owner with the eyes of a God of Death can no longer see the deceased human's life span and name in photos and videos.

All she could hear was the chatter of all the new students around her. Hikari was sitting on the opposite side of the large hall from Raito, a few rows from the front. She hated being around large groups of people ever since she obtained the eyes. The characters of everyone's names and the numbers of how long they had to live just swam around her, making her feel dizzy. She held onto her head and closed her eyes, waiting for the feeling to pass.

"Are you okay?" A girl beside her asked, touching her shoulder.

"I'm fine." Hikari gave a strained smile. Suzuki Kyoto, she gasped when she saw how long the girl had to live, only three more days.

Upon hearing Raito get called up, she turned back to the front and clapped loudly, like everyone else but when a second person was called she stopped instantly, her eyes narrowing. Walking up behind her boyfriend was Ryuuga. Apparently he was sticking to the first alias he introduced himself as, for university. Hikari leaned forward as she looked at the name above his head. She recognised the letters from the English alphabet and also noticed that the name was different from both names he had previously used. Could it be?

Once again she clapped, along with everyone else, as the guys made their way back to their seats. She saw them turning towards each other and assumed they were whispering. No matter how much she strained her ears, there was no way for her to hear them. She was just too far away. If only there was some sort of shinigami deal to enhance her hearing.

As the whole hall was dismissed, Hikari walked over to Ankh and Ryuk, who were at the back, and they went outside to wait for Raito. Her mouth started to get sore as she smiled at everyone who passed her and her foot started to tap impatiently all on its own. Finally he exited the building and when he spotted her, he started to smirk. Hikari realised the reason because following him was Ryuuga.

"Hikari, this is Ryuuga. He was the other student representative." Raito placed an arm around his girlfriend and pulled her in to kiss her cheek.

She held out her hand. "Ryuuga, it is ni-"

"Hello Hikari." Ryuuga shook her hand while interrupting her. "You don't have your glasses on, are you wearing contacts instead?"

She leaned back into Raito as Ryuuga stepped forward to inspect her eyes. Hikari also felt Raito's grip on her shoulder tighten and she tried her best not to cry out as his knuckles continued to whiten.

"I wasn't aware you already knew each other." He seethed, trying to keep the friendly smile on his face.

"Yes, we've even been on a date." Ryuuga stated with complete seriousness.

"It wasn-"

"It was. I bought her food and everything."

Hikari hung her head in defeat. It was pointless. This Ryuuga guy just didn't know when to shut up and he appeared to be enjoying it. She was glad when Raito's hand left her shoulder but looked up suddenly when she heard it connect with Ryuuga's face. She stared in horror, when Ryuuga kicked the underside of Raito's chin, sending him backwards until he connected with the wall. People stopped to look at what was happening, the crowd wasn't that big but large enough to gain other people's attention.

"Oh no, Raito!" Hikari ran to him and checked his wound. His chin was already starting to bruise and looking back at Ryuuga she saw the beginnings of a black eye. Ryuk was no help because he just laughed at the scene before him.

"Hikari, would you like to have lunch with me again?" Ryuuga asked from behind her. "There is something we need to discuss and I believe I owe you an apology."

"It's not me you should apologise to!"

Ryuuga walked passed Hikari and looked at Raito. "I'm sorry Raito. Can I take your girlfriend out?"

"No." He shoved Ryuuga out of the way and grabbed her hand, dragging her away from Ryuuga.

"You should share Raito." Ryuuga started walking beside Hikari not letting them get away. "Selfishness will never get you far in life."

"Maybe he's right." Hikari spoke up, causing Raito to stop and glare at her. "Ryuuga said he wanted to talk to me, it might be important."

"It is very important."

"Would you shut up Ryuuga?" Raito yelled at him, losing his cool. "I don't like this, but if you think it is a good idea then go have lunch with him."

He pulled her close to him and gently kissed her. Hikari opened her mouth for him when his tongue asked for entrance. The kiss turned quite heated and definitely not appropriate for public display. Ryuuga stood there, staring and not able to take his eyes away. He started to cough and shift his feet, showing how uncomfortable he was. Raito whispered something into her ear which Ryuuga couldn't hear, before he started walking away. Hikari turned and looked at him.

"Were you watching the whole time?" She asked when she saw his eyes on her. Ryuuga finally found the decency to look away and purposefully ignored her question. "What a pervert!"

"I am not a pervert."

A limousine parked beside them and the door opened to reveal the elder man from the first time, the one who called Ryuuga, Ryuuzaki. Hikari was the last to enter the spacious vehicle, sitting next to Ryuuga while the elderly man sat opposite them. She looked at him instead of the guy beside her, who started complaining about his eye. Ankh was sitting next to the elder man and it took a lot of effort to not stare at him and start laughing. Holding her large handbag close, she felt around inside it and turned her cell phone on silent, so that there wouldn't be any interruptions.

"Raito has a nice right hook." Ryuuga stated, wincing every time he touched his eye.

Hikari rolled her eyes and turned towards him, noticing that even in the vehicle he sat weirdly. "Let me have a look at it."

Ryuuga complied and let her hold his face as she stared at the black eye. She started to poke and prod the purple stain near his eye, which caused him to flinch and groan in pain a few times. Hikari ignored his protests for her to let go but it was still a couple more minutes until she did as he asked. The bruise looked deathly against his pale skin.

"I'm sure you'll survive. You're a big boy now."

They arrived at the same bakery where they first met. As soon as they got out the limousine, it drove off leaving the two of them alone. Ryuuga bought the same cakes that they had last time, even the cookie which Hikari would give to Ankh later, and also got them some drinks. Instead of sitting outside like they had the previous time, he walked to a back booth. There was no one in the shop so being overheard wouldn't be a problem.

"I am L."

Hikari spat out the sip she had just drank from her juice all over the detective in front of her. His revelation surprised her immensely and she saw him use a napkin to dab his face dry. She looked back up to his real name and smiled at the similarity she saw. Figures, the best alias would be an upfront one. He started eating his dessert and began talking with his mouth full.

"There had only been a three percent chance that you were Kira, but now that has gone up to eight." He pulled out four photos from his pocket and placed them on the table in front of her. "These people have been Kira's latest victims."

Looking at the photographs, she couldn't help but smile. Only one of the people shown to her was actually dead. The other three had names and life spans above their heads, indicating that they were actually alive.

"L, I'm not Kira." Hikari picked up the photo of the guy who was dead. "When did these people die?"

"A couple of days ago." L stared at her without blinking, trying to pick up any signal that would confirm his suspicions. "How are you able to kill?"

"I'm not Kira. Do the families know about these deaths?"

"Yes, they were the first to be notified when we found them."

What a little liar. "I don't know what else to say. I really hope you catch Kira."

"At the ages eight, eleven and fifteen, three different people you knew died of heart attacks." He took away the photos and carried on eating his delectable cake. "I guarantee you had a part in each of those freak incidents."

She shook her head. "My cousin was one of them." Hikari was glad that she wasn't attached to a heart monitor because it was beating like crazy. This was bound to come up but she had to keep convincing herself that it had nothing to do with Kira. She was innocent, to an extent. "I can assure you that it was just a tragic coincidence that I was anywhere near them. I had a babysitter when I was really young, though I don't exactly remember much from then but I heard she had committed suicide. Do you think I had a part of that as well?"

L smiled. Partly surprised that she had brought up the babysitter, which was a detail he was going to just leave out. "Anything is possible, even for someone at the age of five."

"Are you speaking from experience L? I'm surprised someone at your age would even remember anything from when they were five."

"How long have you and Raito been in a relationship for?" L asked, deliberately changing the subject. He noticed her gentle smile at the mention of the other guy.

"Almost five months now." She pointed her fork at him. "L… which one of us do you really suspect?"

"I suspect both of you." He started to bite his thumbnail after finishing his cake. "How is everything going between you two?"

"If I needed a relationship counsellor, I would pay for one." Hikari finished the last of her juice. "But… if you really want to know…"

"I do."

"Everything is great."

"Are you going to eat that cookie?" He pointed to the bag containing the item.

"I was going to save it for later."

L grabbed the cookie from her side of the table and took a bite out of it. She tried not to laugh at the sound of Ankh whimpering. "Hypothetically speaking, if you were Kira, why would you kill so many criminals?" Crumbs flew from his mouth as he spoke.

"I suppose, if I was Kira, to kill so many criminals… I would have something against them." Hikari avoided his eyes, hoping that she wasn't giving too much away.

"What are you studying at To-Oh?"

"Criminal law." She cursed internally as soon as she said it. L grinned smugly and then she realised it was the better choice to tell the truth because he probably had already done a background check on her. Being a student at To-Oh most likely was just a cover for him.

"So would you say that you have something against criminals?"

"No, well yes… but not like that!" She stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "Damn it! I am not Kira!"

Hikari successfully gained all of the attention of everyone who was in the bakery and quietly sat back down apologising. She was sure if L's smile got any bigger his face would crack open due to the lack of use of the expression.

"Make that twelve percent now." He was practically gloating.

"Unless you have any hard evidence that I'm Kira, I'm leaving." When L didn't say anything and just stared at her, Hikari got up and left.

After she was sure he wasn't following her, she pulled out her cell phone and saw there were twenty missed calls, all from Raito. What could he have possibly wanted?

As Hikari rang him, he picked up before the first tone even finished. "Seriously Raito, twenty?"

"Where are you?"

Of course he would ignore her first question. "I'm just walking home. Don't worry, nothing happened between me and L. I don't have much money left on my phone. I'll call you when I get home."

"No! Meet me at the park."

"Uh, okay." Hikari spoke to the dead tone, since he hung up as soon as he finished speaking. "That was strange."

"Let's just go to the park, see what he wants." Ankh suggested and they turned around to walk in the direction they came from. A limousine with tinted windows passed them.