"Two little girls, on their way home from Sunday school, were solemnly discussing the lesson. "Do you believe there is a devil?" asked one. "No," said the other promptly. "It's like Santa Claus: it's your father." –Nebelspalter

-o-

Shika clicked through her list of missed calls. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Chihiro. Dad. It wasn't her fault that he was calling so much, and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of answering. As if she was going to give him a single dime. She sat at her fortress of computers and pulled up all the information she had found on Naomi Misora. As of yet, no one had searched for her name in the northern districts of the city, and she wasn't sure if that was good or suspicious. Shika pulled up a collection of files that she had borrowed from the police's database, and went over the details of the case again.

Disappeared without a trace…such a strange way to go. Surely, she was dead. How could there be no body? Where had she gone? Shika stared at the pixelated picture of Misora on her screen, resting her chin on her hand. It was the same stock picture she had seen in physical form at the hotel room some days previously, and again she was struck by the solemn, almost sorrowful gaze that Misora directed at the camera. Who had she been? Was her death related to that of Ray Penber's? What a lovely woman, Shika thought. What a terribly sad end.

Shika's phone rang, and she answered it robotically, only realizing her mistake after she had the phone to her ear. "…Hello?"

"Sweetie, you picked up!"

A cold drip of anger burned from her chest down to her hands. Her breathing picked up almost immediately, as did her posture as she became suddenly alert. "What do you want."

"Not even a hello from my own daughter? Such a serious college student you've become!" Her father laughed. "How is school, honey?"

Shika had to restrain herself from audibly grinding her teeth. "You didn't answer my question. What do you want?"

"I can't call just to say hello? We never talk anymore. Can't I check in? Do you have a job? A boyfriend, maybe?"

"Father!" The truth was that he never called her unless he wanted something. He couldn't care less who she dated or where she worked. Shika leaned forward, pressing the phone against her cheek. "Tell me what you want, or I'm hanging up right now."

"Oh, so serious. Well, I, ah…I seem to have run into some financial troubles, and..."

Shika bristled and nearly jumped to her feet, knocking back her chair as she shouted into the receiver. "No! And you wonder why I never pick up my phone! All you ever want is money. Like hell I would give you anything!"

"I don't need much! Just enough to hold out!"

"That's not my problem." Shika snarled. "Don't call me again unless you have something worth saying."

"I can't go empty-handed any more!" Her father pleaded. "I'm in real trouble this time. Please, darling. Anything would help."

A flare of rage burned with a sudden ferocity in her chest. "Stay away from me!" She whirled and threw the phone against the wall, effectively breaking it in half with a brisk crack. "Despicable bastard!"

-o-

Spring had arrived in full, and was hovering on the cusp of summer. The breeze was still too chill, and the sun not quite warm enough, but warming even so. A distinct scent of spring was carried in the air, and along with it, a considerable amount of allergens. Shika was left alone during the day, as Chihiro had refused to come to class. Allegedly, her allergies were too unsightly to fathom. It happened every year, and Shika had long since become accustomed to her friend's quirks.

She climbed the dim steps of the main building and tried the door to the roof. To her relief, it was unlocked. About half the time, management locked the roof for security reasons, but almost no one went up there anyway. The sun was mostly covered by dim, gray clouds, but it was warmer and quieter than under the trees of the quad. The trees below, which had boasted the beautiful cherry blossoms earlier in the year, had begun to turn green. She set her book bag down next to the door, turned around, and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Ah!" Shika gasped and dropped back a step. Ryuuzaki was sitting up against the wall behind her, curiously observing her. "Ryuuzaki!"

"What a surprise," He commented. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"You could have said something," Shika let out a relieved breath and approached him. "What are you doing up here?"

He looked out at the sky, smeared with clouds. "I came for some fresh air. I find it helps me think."

Shika sat down next to him and crossed her legs. "I see. I almost forgot that you come to school. Do you come to think about the Kira case?"

"Sometimes." He rested his head on his arms, over his knees. "The case, amongst other things." He mumbled.

Shika looked up as well, but saw nothing except the sky. "Ryuuzaki, do you have a cell phone number that isn't blocked?"

"Yes, why?"

"Can I have it?"

Ryuuzaki glanced at her. "I suppose I don't see why not."

Shika blushed. "It's not what you think. It's just to be safe." She sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Just in case something happens to me…you'd probably be the first person I'd call."

"I see. Thank you. Although I wonder, are you anticipating a situation to occur in which you will have to contact the task force?"

"Oh, well…I just want to be careful." She made a beckoning motion, and L handed over his cell so she could enter her number in his contacts. "It's better to be safe than sorry. I don't have my phone on me right now, so you'll have to write it on my arm." She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a pen. "Here."

Ryuuzaki took the pen firmly between two fingers, and stopped. "How would this be done, normally?"

Shika pushed up her sleeve and held out her forearm to him, wrist up. "Just write the number here. I'll put it in my phone once I get a new one."

He gingerly put a hand on her arm to hold her steady while he wrote the number down. "I take it your old phone has been damaged in some way, if you need a new one."

"Oh," Shika grimaced. "Yeah, sorry. I…broke it. Someone I was talking with made me really angry, so I threw it against the wall."

"Hm. Yes, that's reasonable." Whether he was being sarcastic or not, it was entirely impossible to tell. He took his cell back from her, and handed over her pen. "If you feel that you are in danger, however, I urge you to contact the police."

"You are the police." Shika pulled her sleeve down and looked at Ryuuzaki. Recently, she had been keeping an eye out for that modestly sad look that would sometimes overtake his features. She found herself interested in spotting his expressions, especially pleased ones. They were rare occurrences, and every time she caught one, it reminded her of catching fireflies as a child: a small, glowing piece of the world that faded as quickly as it had appeared, and if she didn't notice it, then it would go unnoticed forever.

"Is…something the matter?" Ryuuzaki spoke, and drew her attention to the fact that he had been observing her in return.

"O-oh." Shika felt a significant amount of heat rush up her neck, although there was no reason for her to be flustered. She hadn't been gawking. She had just been…staring with great interest. "It's not important. I just like looking at your face."

The instant the words left her lips, Shika let out a tiny gasp and put her fingers over her mouth. A briefly startled expression came over Ryuuzaki's face, which melted into a mildly abashed smile. He rubbed the back of his neck shyly. Shika couldn't possibly stop blushing, but kept watching him, because his smile was her favorite countenance of his.

"Sorry," She patted her cheek, smiling. "That came out a bit wrong."

"It's quite all right. It's a little flattering." He added in a mumble.

Above them, the clouds had transitioned from their mild gray to a more foreboding, overcast charcoal. The beginnings of a drizzle flicked across the roof, but it was light enough to ignore; only the faintest drops of water appeared, so light that it could almost be chalked up to the imagination. Shika looked at the number on her arm again, labeled with Ryuuzaki's name, and committed it to memory. Rubbing her thumb over the skin, she murmured, "Ryuuzaki, why do you think Kira kills criminals? And…I don't mean what your theories about it are. What's the reason you've picked out? The one you believe the most, I mean."

Ryuuzaki put a fingertip to his lips. "Mm, I believe Kira is doing it out of a misplaced sense of justice. The killings of the criminals…well, it's all very similar to a god complex, or some other mental deviance." He added lightly, in a sigh, at the end. "Yes…that's the most logical path of reasoning. More importantly, it's what my intuition says is correct."

At that, Shika blinked and turned her head his way. "Your intuition?" She couldn't stop a smile from pulling onto her face. "That doesn't sound much like you."

"No?" He thought about it. "Any decision you make which contains even a trace of doubt is automatically flawed. The only way to be correct in everything you do is to trust your intuition one hundred percent."

Shika grinned uncertainly and raised an eyebrow. "Ryuuzaki, that logic is totally flawed. What if you make a bad choice just because you, personally, think it's right?"

"That cannot happen." He replied matter-of-factly. "If you do something without a single doubt in your mind, it will not be unsatisfactory. Therefore, any outcome you didn't want is a result of that doubt, even if it's just one percent of your total resolve."

Shika hummed, frowning, and set her chin in her hand. Something about the concept was still a bit skewed, but she couldn't place what it was, and she supposed it did make sense. "I suppose that does make sense."

The campus turned white in a split-second of confusion before a burst of thunder erupted above them. Shika flinched sharply. Before she could think of anything to say, the faint drizzle turned into a sudden downpour. Bustling to grab up her book bag before it got soaked, she threw open the door and stopped.

"Ryuuzaki!" She turned to see him still sitting against the wall, staring up into the rain. It was like he hadn't even noticed it had begun. Shika stepped inside the building and poked her head out the doorway to call out to the detective. "Ryuuzaki, it's pouring. Let's go."

His eyes slid to her with a faded, dim interest. "Yes," He agreed faintly. "It's time to leave."

Putting his hands in his pockets, he walked unhurriedly to where she was standing inside the doorway. By the time he sidled in and Shika closed the door behind him, he was drenched. They stood face-to-face in the narrow, dim stairway, hair plastered to foreheads and clothes sticking uncomfortably. It was very quiet, but for the faint ticking sounds of water hitting the floor and their damp clothes squishing when they moved.

Shika sighed and leaned back against the wall. Ryuuzaki pulled out his phone to check a message he had received, and she took the opportunity to watch for a reaction. Only, there wasn't one. She was simply looking at his face. In particular, she was looking at the tiny pearls of water caught in his eyelashes, and the needle-thin tendrils of black hair stuck to his cheeks. A rivulet of water leaked down his pale jaw to drip off his chin. "You…" She started quietly.

Ryuuzaki glanced up. "Hm? Ah, Aizawa has let me know that we have received a response from the second Kira. We should go there immediately to discuss this with the rest of the task force."

"Oh." Shika pulled her hair to one side of her neck. "Of course. I'll meet you there. I'm going to stop at my apartment for dry clothes first, if that's all right."

"That's fine." He put his phone back in his pocket, and they started down the staircase to exit the building through the main entrance. Outside, the rain still poured down upon the quad, stamping the old cherry blossoms into the concrete and making the trees quiver and shake. Several unfortunate students ran between buildings with jackets and books held over damp heads, and Shika was about to be one of them.

"I'll think about what you said," She interrupted their observance of the campus. "About intuition-based decisions. It was very interesting. Thank you for the conversation."

"I'm glad you think so. We can discuss it at length some time, if you would like." He suggested it with almost a forced nonchalance.

Shika smiled at him. "Sure. Any time, Ryuuzaki." She bent forward at the waist to claw her hoodie off over her head, and tugged the T-shirt underneath back down to hide her briefly exposed hip. She folded the garment and jammed it into her bag to keep it dry for later. "I'll meet you at the hotel room in a few minutes."

"Do you need a ride? Watari can drive you, as well."

"No, my apartment is just off campus, so I'll be fine." She pushed open the building's glass door and set off at a jog. Back out in the rain, she waved back at the door.

-o-

Shika stumbled into her apartment, shivering and soaked to the bone, and thinking she should have just taken a ride from Ryuuzaki after all. Leaving wet footprints, she padded into her room and changed into dry clothes. As she was taking her hoodie back out of her bag, someone knocked on the door to the apartment.

"Go away, Chihiro!" She called. The knock came again, insistently. Frowning, Shika marched back into the living room, past the smashed remains of her cell phone. "Chihiro, I have to go to work, I don't have time…"

She hauled open the door and froze. Chihiro was not on the other side. Instead, a towering brute of a man with a shaved scalp leaned against the doorframe. A tattoo of a tiger climbed furiously up his neck. He leered at her with the grin of a wolf that had caught the rabbit. "Hey."

Too horrified to say anything, Shika whirled and ran back into her apartment. He was behind her, heavy feet thumping on the floor with confident patience. "Don't make this hard for us, kiddo." He called to her.

"Crap, crap…" Shika panted, looking around for a weapon. Her knives were in the wash. Cursing her laziness, she made a lunge for the fire escape. She had just thrown open window when a heavy black boot stomped upon her fingers, pinning them to the frame. Shika cried out and dropped to her knees, holding her wrist desperately. The bones were crushed against the wood, utterly useless.

A second man, using her hand as a stepping-stone, clambered into the house. Cornrows raced back his head and ended in a mane of dreadlocks. Putting a cigarette to his mouth, he looked down at her with eyes covered by shades. "This is the kid?"

"Without a doubt." Tattoo replied.

"Huh." Shades blew a plume of smoke in her face. "She's kinda cute."

Shika seethed, baring her teeth, but inside she was panicking. This had been exactly what she had feared. Quite literally, it was this situation that caused her sleeping problems. Her night terrors.

"What do you want?" Despite her best intentions, her voice shook fearfully.

"We don't want anything." Circling around, Tattoo analyzed her kitchen with the bland disinterest of someone who saw lots of unfamiliar kitchens. He rummaged through her drawers. "Don't take it personally. It's just business." From her cupboard, he removed a rolling pin.

Shika scrambled backwards with one hand, the other cradled to her chest. "Wait, don't—!"

Tattoo tossed the rolling pin to Shades, who promptly cracked it against her head, knocking her unconscious in one blow.

-o-

-This chapter was a lot longer than I had anticipated…

-This is the beginning of the true split from the canon plot of Death Note, but it will be cycling back into it soon. This and the next few chapters are essential for Shika's character development.

-The beginnings of hinting at fluff…

-Thanks so much for all of the amazing reviews for last chapter and the ones before it! Someone in particular left a very lengthy review, which I reread every now and then because it was so great. You know who you are!

-Sorry for the long wait on last chapter, but I should be getting them out more frequently now, since I have finished my exams and have some more free time.