Author's note: Alas I have no doubt confused everyone to no end

Author's note: Alas I have no doubt confused everyone to no end. Just when some of you were getting the story too… So sad. Ah well, that's life for you. XD

Oh and good news! I finally got the thirteenth volume of Death Note so I don't have to guess on dates and stuff. (Before this I just re-read the manga a million time to find a random hints to get dates right, sometimes I didn't even get those and just had to make the dates up. For example I knew that Light picked up the notebook in fall but I had no idea it was in November. Lucky guess.)

Thank you reviewers and others who support my random writing sprees. A.K.A my stories. You guys are what keep me going!

P.S. Sorry for the long wait, summer what can I say? If you want something done ask a busy man. I now know exactly what that means. Plus I got grabbed by the editing monster.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, and I never will.

(Naomi- three weeks prior)

Naomi hadn't known how long she had been dead when she decided to ask the spirits for help in her quest to find her fiancé. It was well known by the general public that the spirits held all the official documents for immigration and importation from the mortal realm. Where else to look for Raye but there?

Spirits were known for their reclusive behavior, distancing themselves from all mortal creatures; dead or alive were avoided at all costs. It was also said that they possessed the power to use magic and change form, of course that could have all been market place gossip. But now she was going to find out for herself.

Inside her apartment room she spared one last glance on the lavender décor. If the gossip was correct she may never see this room ever again. She never again would walk into this room happy and content from her work in the heart of the city, never again would she collapse on her couch in utter exhaustion. Still, for Raye, it was all worth it in the end. Even if she failed it would be worth it, to know she had at least tried…

Taking a deep breath she opened the door towards the hallway, jutting up her chin she started to stride down the hallway with all the confidence she could fake. A dark mop of hair jutted itself out from a door way, the girl looked up and rubbed her chocolate eyes.

"Where you going Naomi? It's insane to be up at… three a.m. Do you have a boy friend or something?" the girl sounded tired.

"Something like that…" Naomi sighed and stared down at her feet. How was she going to explain what she was doing? What she was doing was far more insane than being up too early.

"Nn what ever, just don't be too loud when you get back. Some people enjoy sleep you know." Naomi smiled at the young girl's response, and even waved before the door was slammed shut again. Then turned back towards the end of the hallway, and continued her slow decent to the street below.

All the while she thought of what might have happened to Raye, had he gotten lost? Was he in some other city looking for her as well? Did he know that she too was dead? The questions spun her mind into a tangled mess of anxiety and hope. But somewhere deep down she knew something was terribly wrong.

Outside the crowded streets had thinned due to the early hours but still looked difficult to navigate. Pulling up her jacket to cover her face she began to work her way through the mob of people moving towards the center of the city, no one else headed towards the distant landscape of trees and forest. Only she dared to look to the spirit's realm for answers.

Soon the mob of people dwindled into a small stream then she found herself alone at the edge of the road, staring towards the expanse of forest in front of her. Dark greens grew into shadows in the night's glow, the leaves and branches swung ominously in an unseen breeze.

Thinking of Raye she stepped onto the green moss and carefully made her way towards the first of the trees, the multitude of buildings and sky scrapers shrank behind her as the darkness consumed the path. Tripping on several roots and stones she muttered curses to herself as she went deeper and deeper into the woods. If she had looked she would have noticed the bizarre color of the trees almost blue in the starless night. In some ways she would have considered it quite beautiful if not for her fear of the shadows. The trees and shadows seemed to watch and whisper about her, the hair stood on the back of her next as a branch waved in by her neck without the help of a breeze.

Then without warning a hand clamped onto her shoulder with surprising strength. Naomi gasped and flinched away from the contact.

"You're awfully loud you know, it's kind of annoying to listen to your tripping through the forest." Naomi shuddered as she looked at the figure who spoke. The being or whatever it was had a clear male voice but looked hardly human with winged shoulders and arms the color of smoke, dark hair cascaded down his back and ended at his hips, a small earring sparkled in the small amount of moonlight. He was at least six foot' four and towered above Naomi, his hand was pale with three sleek feathers; it rested lightly on her shoulder.

"What are you?" Asked Naomi struggling to get out the stammered words. The winged creature just stared at her in confusion, his head tilted to the side, blue eyes glinting in humor.

"Ouch, I'd prefer 'who' instead of 'what' you know. Some people are just so inconsiderate." The creature's form suddenly began to shrink and the wings drew back into the skin, the hair back into the head until it was a short and cropped. The brilliant blue eyes were closed in concentration, his lips curled into a content smile. The figure shrunk to be only a few inches taller than Naomi herself and the pale skin grew to a sun kissed tan. Slowly but surely the hair became a dull chestnut color he opened his eyes which now were a surprisingly clear chocolate color. He laughed at her dumbstruck expression, only his voice had remained the same.

"How did you do that?!" exclaimed Naomi still staring at the spirit in shock. The brown haired youth shrugged.

"It's nothing particularly special; humans aren't too hard to pull off. As long as you don't skip some of the major detaisl you're okay." His brown eyes examined her with curiosity. Naomi took a step back and bumped into a tall oak trunk, the brown haired youth quirked an eyebrow at her retreat.

"That's not exactly what I meant…" said Naomi in a voice that she hoped sounded brave. The boy's brow furrowed in thought then cleared as if suddenly finding his answer. Suddenly he was leaning on the tree trunk next to her fingering her dark hair with a rueful smile on his face. She swiftly backed away from him again.

"You mean the ability to change form? Well, it's not as difficult as it looks; really. It's all an illusion; I'm just as much of a shape shifter as you are." He laughed at her disbelieving expression, "How to explain it… This is a little tricky; I've never really had to put this into words before. You see, I'm not bound to a physical body like you are, instead I have the ability to change what I look like, and it's the only way to converse with you humans… You look confused." The spirit finished his explanation with an exasperated sigh, Naomi was more than confused. Her head was reeling with this new information, and almost all of it had gone over her head.

"But enough about me; how about you? Why are you here?" He poked her just below her collar bone.

"I'm looking for someone…"She muttered softly.

"Well, I can't help you there. You'll have to be a little bit more specific." Answered the spirit putting his tanned hands on his hips.

"My fiancé actually, he came through the gates only a few weeks before I did. But I haven't seen him anywhere. He would've looked for me I know it! I just I need to know he's okay…" The panic entered her voice as she pictured her fiancé as she had last seen him, exhausted and stressed with the new case and the hijacked bus. The spirit's head jerked up and he backed up from her with a cry of rage. The kindly brown eyes darkened to a pitiless charcoal.

"Oh no, you're one of those people! Damn I knew it! I just KNEW it! This is because of my karma isn't it! Holy crap it's finally caught up to me, damn, damn, DAMN!" The spirit cursed and buried his face in one of his hands, which began to lose its tanned beauty beneath what looked like glossy black fur. Naomi stood transfixed staring at the spirit's transformation as he continued to lament.

"Great, let me guess you are going to get me to show you where your husband's paper work is. Do you know how long this will take?! Only the brave of heart dare to search through the years of paper work stacked up in there! And they only do it because they're insane!" The deity had now grown obsidian talons and fangs along with dark fur that trailed up into his ink black hair. His voice no longer sounded clear but strained and husky but undeniably the same voice.

"Please I need to find him! If I don't, I… I can't… live with the fact that I could've helped! If I hadn't talked to that clever bastard then maybe he'd still be avenged, maybe it wouldn't have been for nothing. You have to help me!" Naomi pleaded tears beginning to spill out her eyes. The wolf man was near complete in his transformation his eyes mere slits in the darkness. He crouched near the trees glaring at her, white fangs bared.

"Are you sure he didn't run off with your best friend or something? You humans have a habit of doing stuff like that." He laughed at his own statement; but Naomi refused to leave and curled her fists. Where only moments before the being had treated her warmly, he had become hostile and cold with only one request. She began shaking in fear as she saw the newly formed muscles beneath the surface of his skin. The strength in his eyes was undeniable she wouldn't survive even one swipe of those claws.

Swallowing her fear she took a step forward and stammered out her next words, "If you do this for me then I will be forever in your debt. I've heard that spirits can't go back to Earth, I know that I can. You must want something from there, everyone I know seems too. Why should you be any different?" The spirit turned towards her, and rocked back onto his heels. The fur slowly receded back into its original position, swaying down his back in thick locks. The ears became pointed once more and his eyes lost their cold vigor and softened. He looked at her with such a strong amount of pity that she almost regretted what she had said.

The truth was she hardly knew anything about spirits, much less if they did go to the human world or not. It was never really of much interest to her, but now she had obviously revealed more than she meant to in the bluff. But he didn't appear to doubt her as his gaze grew even more intense.

"You would do that; you would bind yourself to a spirit?" He straightened up and approached her with a hesitant expression. "If you make a promise to a spirit it cannot be broken. Promises are shackles for us; they are not taken lightly. You may never again be truly free." He reached out towards her arm then stopped, looking back up into her eyes and nodded once to himself.

"I suppose I will help you then, to find your dear lover. It should be interesting I think." He held out a pale hand out towards Naomi, she hesitantly took it and felt herself being whisked deeper into the shadows.

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(Raito- Present)

There were times when Raito wondered what had happened to his infamous intelligence. That glorious device that had landed him into college with a 4.0; and got him through six years worth of murder. Sure it caused a few problems now and then; but it still was worth having. In fact Raito prided himself on his I.Q. as one of his only redeeming qualities; probably the only redeeming quality if he wanted to think about it. And after two thousand five hundred sixty three years of living in hell you think he'd be even more knowledgeable. Hell he thought he would be.

So why couldn't he think like a genius? Where were the scheming plans when he really needed them?! His intelligence and his sanity both seemed to have decided to ride off into sunset leaving him in the dust. DAMN THEM BOTH TO HELL!

Luckily for Raito intelligence wasn't exactly needed in his life as a ghost. Normally that is. In fact he hadn't even thought about it until now.

But he had questions needing answering. Who felt the need to screw with his life? (It was obvious that someone was if you added up all the crap that kept happening) Why did L keep stalking him? When was he going to be able to think straight again?!

Not only that but something was coming up, something was going to happen soon. Something bad. Very bad. And here he was stuck like a mac downloading Sims, stuck thinking about L. To hell with L, Raito had his own problems. Or at least he thought he should.

"Stop that! You do not care about L! L can go to hell and stay there! You have your own problems! One thing at a time Raito, one thing at a time! And L is not on that list!" Raito lapsed into silence, waiting for the answer to come to him.

And waiting…

And… Oh crap there was that damn detective again.

"Focus Raito, just stay focused. And goddammit stop talking to yourself before someone calls the men it white jackets! Who cares about some insomniac who happens to be a closet pervert, you don't! No of course you don't! Nobody cares about that bastard, certainly not you! Hell, you don't even care about yourself! Just take a deep breath, and cleanse your mind of all annoying insomniac detectives with the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet for a first name! I mean what the hell were his parents taking anyway?! L?! Even my parents weren't that… Stop it!" Raito took a deep breath and let it out. His eyes closed lightly as he tried to concentrate on what he was supposed to be thinking about. Unfortunately it didn't work.

"Damn, damn, damn! This is what you are good at Yagami! Use your head and think like a man!" Raito squeezed his eyes shut and recapped the previous events.

He had a heart attack. Nothing new, but still annoying. After that he had miraculously survived and made it to the hospital where he was roomed with his own father. Also annoying. After that he had left the hospital and stole the majority of his old death note leaving Light with only fragments.

But during his original life Misa had attacked the media only a few days after Soichiro's heart attack. That must have been it.

"Misa! That was it. Oh great, Misa. Just what I need." Raito felt like banging his head against the table he was currently sitting at.

After leaving L stranded at the coffee shop he had walked around a park for a little while… alright he waited for L to leave then once again went inside the coffee shop pick pocketing the occasional customer for the money that would allow him to buy coffee.

It's not as if he had anything better to do, Raito's life revolved around the point that nobody cared what the hell he did. But so much freedom was disconcerting at times. Alright it was hell of creepy, not that he would admit that to anyone.

"To hell with Misa, why should I even bother saving her worthless ass this time? It's not my problem she's an idiot. Certainly not my problem if she gets caught in the act. You know what, I'm not going. Nope. I'm just gonna sit here and drink my coffee and laugh when she does get caught. I will laugh." Raito nodded his head once confirming his decision.

But then again, if he didn't go Light and Misa would most likely team up. In fact Light would be sure to hide Misa's notebook in a place no one would dream of. He'd have a lot more trouble tracking it down after that. Besides if he didn't then all those people would die, and there he would be drinking some cold coffee.

Not only that but he might have to deal with the detective again if he didn't, after all he'd have to use his resources to keep an eye on Light. And who knows what he'd say then, he could just envision the conversation,

'Hi L, guess what? I'm Light Yagami six years in the future, oh and dead. Did I mention I'm dead? Funny how that happens. I also was Kira and I killed you, you were right the whole time. Isn't that wonderful?'

That conversation was not one he wanted to have anytime soon, so that left one option. Stop Light and Misa by obtaining and burning their death notes while he still had the chance. And to set the base work for that he'd need those tapes from Sakura in L's capable (if not pale) hands.

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Ukita sped down the highway, desperate to reach the television station and shut off the broadcast. Kira, what the hell was the bastard doing?! Black mailing the police, killing off news anchors, it was high time the man was put away for good.

The tension in his black car grew to the point where he could practically scream.

Just ten minutes ago he had left the investigation headquarters. Everyone had been just as nervous and stressed as him, even L had lost his normal monotone and had been chewing off every hang nail he had. If Kira's broadcast continued then the police would have hell to pay.

Ukita ground his teeth together counting down the seconds till he would reach the station. He could see the brightly lit driveway ahead, only a minute and he could stop it. Or at least that's how it would have panned out if not for a loud thumping noise.

"Haven't you heard of breaks asshole?!" the shout came from right in front of his car. Ukita sat for a moment trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"I just got out of the hospital! Aren't you even going to apologize for practically running me over?!" A pale hand slammed down onto the hood of his car causing Ukita to jump out of his seat after fumbling with his seat belt.

Yanking open the door hastily he ran out to the front of the car to find a young man leaning on the hood of his car trying to pull himself up. It was no wonder he hadn't seen him, the man was dressed only in black.

"Staring at me is not going to get rid of me. Just thought you'd like to know." With one final push the man managed to get upright. Ukita could only stare at the man with shock, how had he gotten there?

"How... How did you get there?!" Stammered the detective.

"I walked. Mind lending a hand? If we want to get there before more police men die we'll have to book it. In fact, if you hadn't just about ran me over I think I might have made it in time. Might. What?"

"I know you from somewhere." Ukita pointed a finger at the pale stranger. He knew that voice. Not well, but he certainly knew it from somewhere.

"Oh for god's sake, yes, you do. But unfortunately this is my hell, not yours. So considering that, why don't you get in that blasted car and start being useful before I shoot myself." The man left Ukita standing, confused, at the front of the car while he opened the drivers seat door and jumped inside.

"What are you doing?!" Ukita hurriedly opened up the drivers door again. Today did not seem to be his day.

"Nathanial." Said the man coolly, his red brown eyes glinting at some inside joke.

"What?" Ukita felt his forehead wrinkle in confused frustration, he'd been so close to stopping the broadcast and now he had an unwanted hitch hiker. The said hitch hiker dusted off his jacket and gripped the steering wheel loosely.

"The name you can call me is Nathanial. No, it's not my real name, but it does the job." Nathanial breathed out slowly before starting the ignition. His hand stalled over the clutch before he moved it into drive.

"What's your real name then?" asked Ukita.

"Am I really going to have to leave you here? Or are you going to quit asking useless questions and get your ass in the car?" Ukita rushed to the other side of the car fumbling with his seat belt, sweat dripped down his face. He heard an exasperated sigh from across from him. As soon as his seatbelt clicked in place the car lurched forward.

"Oh don't look so frightened officer; it's not as if I'm about to crash. Of course this is my first time driving in about five hundred years; I used to be a fan of grand theft auto. You should try it some time. The trick is not getting caught." The man laughed at Ukita's seasick expression.

The auburn haired man clutched the wheel with a fierce excitement and a hungry look, "I forgot how fun driving was! I've missed this; I need to get another car." He let out a cry of triumph as he narrowly avoided hitting a car.

Nathanial abruptly jerked his hand causing the vehicle to nearly swerve into a pole, before Ukita could comment the car was in reverse and racing down the freeway. Ukita felt his eyes widen in horror as the speedometer twitched a little past one hundred.

"Grand theft auto?" asked Ukita hesitantly, his voice cracking with panic as he watched the barely missed obstacles flying by. He needed to get this lunatic out the car and safely store him away in a prison cell, a nice padded cell.

"Very entertaining." The red haired man smiled reassuringly before glancing back at the road. He abruptly slammed on the breaks and swore.

Ukita's head slammed forward into the dash board, he groaned and rubbed his forehead as he glared at the man opposite him.

"What the hell was that?!" Ukita felt a surprisingly strong urge to strangle the hitch hiker with all his strength.

"I forgot that you're incredibly stupid and will most likely kill yourself if we go to the front entrance (And to be honest we may have missed the exit). Can't trust anyone to do something intelligent can you? Leave them the option of saving their ass or run straight into the lion's den what do they do?"

"Um."

"It's unbelievably irritating, you see this is why I never should have bothered. You watch, it's going to flog me with a crowbar some day, this unconditional selfishness."

"Er."

"For once I wish that maybe I could have cared more about other people. Then I wouldn't be in this mess. Well, maybe I would…. But really somebody would've killed me much sooner."

"Killed you?"

The younger man stopped his ranting and looked over at Ukita. He closed his eyes and hit his head against the driver's wheel.

"I forget that people can hear me now, sometimes its nice being ignored. You, drive." He pulled the keys out of the ignition and dangled them in front of Ukita's hand.

"You mean I get my car back?"

"Yup."

Ukita reached for the keys in unspoken relief, he could finally get this freak out of his car and get those tapes back.

"On one condition." Nathanial yanked the keys back with a smirk.

Ukita glowered and mentally cursed the stranger, what did he want now.

"You have to cover your face when you go to the front entrance. This is for your safety, well actually no it's so I can save my own ass. But still, it's a win-win situation; you live I get to be hero-of-the-day. Everybody's happy!" Nathanial beamed down at him as if he were some hungry child receiving a life time supply of food. Damn him. Ukita shut his eyes in frustration and hit his head against the dash board.

"Isn't that interesting? I never figured you to be a masochist, stubborn, stupid, head strong, but masochist…" Ukita head snapped to the left as he saw Nathanial not in the driver's seat but leaning casually outside the window. How had he managed to get out of the car so fast?

"It's called talent, practice, and boredom. It makes a man excel in practically anything." Raising up his hand Nathanial gave a little wave and stepped back from the car and started jogging off towards the television station.

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Raito pushed his hair out of his eyes, once again questioning what in the world he was doing here. He didn't even like Misa, or L, or Watari, or anyone. Even his own father was in the category of people he didn't like. And yet, here he was; once again trying to save their asses.

Of course there was always the second less desirable option, being romantic. He shuddered as he thought of trying to seduce Misa who would most likely lead to a lot of pain. And the other candidates weren't much better in that regard.

Let's see there was the talkative-miss-Takada who sighed at his every word, (although considering how he must look right now she might just pull out the pepper-spray instead) then there was the magnificent-Mikami who worshipped him as a god. (Then again he might also pull out the pepper spray and then proceed to kick him in the shins)

This was why romance was a last ditch effort. It was stupid, pointless, and most importantly of all it was painful. Both physically and mentally.

He had seen hearts torn in half; twisted into submission while the owner looked up in gratitude. With a smile he had stolen their lives away from them like the little thief he constantly praised himself for being. It would be so easy to slip back into those shoes, to once more take hold of his puppet's strings and force them to dance.

But Raito didn't want to be a god anymore; he only wanted to be human.

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Demegawa smirked at the computer screen in front of him, his mood escalating to a new high. Beside him his workers continued monitoring the screens showing the Kira tape's progress. It was like a gift from god. Hell, it probably was a gift from the gods.

When Kira had first shown up Demegawa knew his ship had come in, everyone wanted to hear about what the psychopath was up to. He was like a celebrity, only better, you didn't have to deal with this guy in person. All you had to do was just talk about a few horrible deaths and bang, you had a hit! But even that got boring after a while, so when four tapes arrived in a manila folder addressed to him he was practically praising Kira's name.

The man even martyred Sakura by holding them hostage and threatening to kill them. God bless the man, god bless him and his holy powers of destruction. He couldn't have made Sakura look any better. And with the ratings he'd pull in, no one would ever doubt Sakura again.

"Freeze scumbag!" The doors burst open and a sweaty teenager stepped inside. Or at least he looked like a teenager, auburn hair clung to his forehead and his eyes seemed almost red in the lighting.

"Turn off the broadcast before I bash your head in." wheezed out the youth before hunching over in the door way. He wore a dark trench coat that accentuated his pale skin.

"Do you really want brain damage? Or will you be sensible and turn off the dammed tape?" said the youth while panting and muttering something about air conditioning vents.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Demegawa, fairly sure that the youth couldn't be police.

"That depends; I am your judge, your lawyer, and possibly your executioner. But like I said it really all depends on what you do next." The youth straightened up and took a step towards the television director. Demegawa felt himself move backwards.

"There's nothing I can do! We're all being held hostage by Kira if we stop now we'll be killed!" shouted Demegawa afraid of the steely contempt in the intruder's eyes.

"Are your excuses normally so flimsy?" asked the auburn haired teen closing the distance between them his pale hands outstretched in what looked like a peace offering.

"Uh today's video just finished…" said one of the employees by the screen. The younger man's head whipped towards the worker and then back to Demegawa.

"Oh goodie, then you can hand over all the tapes to me oh and the package too. That would be nice." The man shoved his hand forward with an open palm, waiting. Arrogant bastard!

"But we'll be killed if we do that! Kira will kill all of us!" The man didn't look amused in the least and sighed in exasperation.

"Why do negotiations always end in violence?" He asked the ceiling.

"What do you mean-" Before Demegawa could finish a fist slammed into his face sending him to the ground.

"You know I really don't care whether you die or not, after all who would miss you?" The auburn haired youth kicked him in the stomach and laughed. "But I'd rather see you die right now than later… unless… you hand over those tapes."

"What do you think you're doing, you're crazy, you can't threaten me like this!" screamed the director.

"Oh yes I can! I'm insane remember? I can do anything I want. And right now I want those tapes." The hand was held out again the pale youth smirked down with the same steely contempt as before.

"Don't kill me! I'll get you the tapes just don't kill me." Huffed out Demegawa grasping for the table, the young man stepped back giving him room to stand up and feel his bruised face.

Producing four tapes and the envelope Demegawa handed them to the youth who placed them carefully in his coat but his left hand still remained upturned.

"I'd like the copies as well." He said his voice sounding faintly frustrated. Seeing no action from Demegawa he closed his fist and raised it again.

"Fine! Fine! I'm getting them right now. You're insane, you're totally insane!" screamed Demegawa riffling through the bag for the copies.

"I know, believe me I know."

Author's note: Mwahahaha cliff hanger! (Actually it was just getting two long, I had to split it up)

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