Disclaimer: Death Note is owned by Tsugumi Ooba, Takeshi Obata and whoever else owns it. I in no way claim it as my own; I just like to abuse the characters more than Kagura Sohma likes Kyo Sohma. Any new characters are mine and any other new stuff is mine. I make no profit off of this silly fanfic and I don't intend any harm from it. No sue me, plz?
A/N: This chapter has a lot of Nyoko in it and a lot of new stuff. I hope you like what I've added. And, in case you end up wondering after reading it, the scenes with Nyoko doing her job do forward the plot due to a decision she makes after her experience. So it's not just useless filler.
Also, that survey I told you about asked who I'd have voice my main OCs if my fic were an anime.
For Nyoko, I chose Wendee Lee who voiced Faye Valentine on the Cowboy Bebop dub. I would say, for Nyoko, she'd sound like she did on Cowboy Bebop, only softer and a bit more refined. That would be Nyoko's voice.
As for Kuro, I'd choose Crispin Freeman who voiced Togusa on the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex dub. His voice would be like that, only deeper with kind of a gruff edge to it.
As for the newer OC, Yuki Miyamoto, I chose Kirsten Bishop who voiced Zoicite on the Sailor Moon dub. I imagine her voice to be like that, only in a softer manner and not so mean, like Zoicite is.
Of course, if you want to imagine them a different way, go ahead. It's always best when left up to the reader on how to imagine those kinds of things. I just thought you might like to know my choices.
Just so you know, NIES stands for National Institute for Environmental Studies which is in Japan. (It's mentioned in this chapter.)
My explanation: Musiko loves meat and hates tree-huggers.
Angel of Death I: In The Cards
by KuroShinigami13
Chapter Ten - Four of Clubs (Responsibility)
Death Note
How to Use It
- The person in possession of the Death Note is possessed by a god of death, its original owner, until they die.
Musiko now stood outside of a warehouse in the light of the moon, hiding behind the rear end of a police car and taking a megaphone from a police officer.
"Kenichi Imamura, I am Musiko," she said into the megaphone. "I'll be your negotiator today."
Standing beside her, Yuki Miyamoto, her good friend and boss, groaned, her hand to her face.
She was a petite woman of five foot one with dainty features, her short brown hair ending just above her shoulders, her bangs ending a couple of inches below her eyes. As far as looks went, she was very cute, a few freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, resting under emerald green eyes. Yuki was usually mousy, though her temper was vicious, but she seemed to relax somewhat around certain people, Musiko being one of them.
Yuki knew Musiko tended not to take intense situations as seriously as others, but the negotiator's calm, care-free manner during such situations never failed to exasperate the nervous, high-strung Yuki.
From the window of the warehouse, a hostage stood with a gun to his back, answering with what Kenichi Imamura ordered him to say.
"His demands are the same; he wants a helicopter and his girlfriend, Sakura Ogawa, on the roof in five hours!" the frightened man managed to shout from the second story window.
"I see," Musiko muttered before holding up the megaphone and replying. "That's all well and good, except for the part about his girlfriend being dead."
Sighing, she decided on the direct approach.
"How can we be sure that the other five hostages have not been harmed, Mr. Imamura?" she asked him as she remained behind one of the many police vehicles surrounding the building. "The only way we can meet your demands is for myself to enter the warehouse to negotiate with you face-to-face."
The hostage jumped a little as a gun pushed into his back.
"He will only let you in if all of the police and their vehicles leave the area," the man gave his captor's instructions, poked by the gun at his back once more. "Also, you must be unarmed."
"Yeah, that's what I thought he'd say," muttered the negotiator, looking over to the petite woman beside her. "Why am I on this, Yuki? I normally handle the more intelligent criminals."
"Sorry, kiddo, but no other negotiator would handle this emotional time bomb," the thirty-one year old Yuki replied, patting her friend's shoulder sympathetically.
Musiko smirked, "So now that I'm taking less cases, I get the unwanted jobs..."
Suddenly, her phone went off, playing her ring tone for Near - Lost Angel by Day After Tomorrow - and she pulled it out of her pocket, answering.
"Near, this is a really bad time," she complained to her white-haired caller, almost laughing at how horrible his timing really was.
"I see," Near replied in his ever calm tone. "What have I caught you during this time?"
"I'm negotiating with a very unstable man who wants a helicopter and his dead girlfriend, whom he murdered himself, on the roof in five hours," she explained the sordid affair, sighing dramatically. "Now, what is it you were calling about?"
Near's finger immediately stopped twirling around his strand of hair once Musiko explained her circumstances. He hadn't quite expected her to be in such a problematic situation and, from the tone of her voice and her choice of words, Musiko hadn't expected to be either.
"I was calling to make sure you were alright," he offered, almost flatly by the slightly lowered tone of his voice. "As I understand it, you aren't."
"That would be a correct assessment," Musiko's alto voice replied, sighing deeply. "I wish you hadn't caught me at a bad time and I really have to go now."
"I understand," returned the white-haired man as his finger began twirling once more. "Call me immediately after the situation is under control."
"Got it; I'll do that," Musiko answered Near. "Later."
Turning off her phone, Musiko put it away and took the megaphone from Yuki.
"Forgive me for the slight delay, Mr. Imamura," she apologized almost professionally, thinking quickly. "I'll have the all the police and their vehicles leave--"
"What are you doing?!" Yuki whispered as loudly as possible. "You can't go in there with no back-up!"
"--and I will then come to the door, unarmed and carrying my cell phone in my right pocket," concluded the negotiator, ignoring Yuki's protests.
"Is this agreeable to you, Mr. Imamura?" she inquired, shoving Yuki away from grabbing the megaphone.
The hostage replied, "He agrees!"
"Good," Musiko muttered, facing Yuki. "Get these police officers and all the vehicles out of here. There's only one way to deal with someone that's unstable."
"And how is that?" Yuki asked, half afraid to know the answer, her hair billowing in the wind as her green eyes bore holes into Musiko's gaze.
Musiko stared back just as deeply, answering, "By being just as unstable."
Yuki's jaw opened and closed repeatedly, but she found nothing to retort with, Musiko laughing at her floundering facial expression.
"Get these guys and cars out of here," the negotiator ordered before smiling confidently. "Hide the cars and stay two doors down to the left. Kenichi Imamura will come to you."
"So, Ryuuzaki... Now that you've had the chance to talk to my son, is he cleared as a suspect?" the Chief inquired of the detective with a hopeful countenance.
"When I say I suspect him, you should know it's very minor," asserted the young detective. "We've gone over this, but I'll explain it again..."
"Not long ago, Kira killed twelve FBI agents who'd come to Japan to assist us," he went over the information, looking over to Light. "They were instructed to follow people connected to the Japanese police. One of these agents, Raye Penber, exhibited unusual behavior before he died."
"I understand, and I was one of the people Raye Penber was investigating before he died," Light said, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his seat. "It only makes sense that I'd be a suspect."
Looking to L, he amended his statement, "No, to be more precise, there's no one else you could suspect."
"I find Light's deductive powers quite impressive," L commented, watching the younger man. "He's always quick and to-the-point."
"Ryuuga... I'd like to help with the investigation," Light finally admitted, keeping his gaze locked with L. "My father has erased any doubts I might have had regarding your true identity... Also, I'd like nothing more than to catch Kira so I can prove once and for all that I'm not him."
Soichiro interjected weakly, "No, Light. This is a time in your life when you should be studying to become a police officer. It won't be too late to join us once you are done."
Sitting upright, Light replied, "Come on, Dad; what are you talking about? Who knows how many years that'll take... Besides, don't you remember our promise... that if something ever happened to you, I would find Kira and make sure he gets executed?"
'I refuse to believe that my son could turn out to be Kira,' Soichiro thought after hearing his son's words.
Meanwhile, L had his own thoughts about Light Yagami.
'This doesn't seem like an act to me,' he thought, watching Light closely. 'Or, if it is, it's too cheesy.'
"Light, listen to me," said the Chief, Light looking up at him, intently listening. "Kira is pure evil. We can all agree on that. But recently I've started thinking of this whole situation in a different way. What is truly evil is the power to kill people and any person who has come to possess this kind of power is cursed."
"No matter how you use it," Soichiro assured his song, "no true happiness can be obtained like that; not by killing other people."
"I think you're absolutely right," L concurred with the Superintendent's statements. "If Kira is just a normal person who somehow obtained this awful power, I would say that he's cursed..."
"Ryuuzaki," the Chief said with a sigh, "I'm sorry for all this trouble, but I'll be back at work as soon as the doctors let me out of here."
A nurse then entered the room, looking at Light and Ryuuga.
"Excuse me. Visiting hours are over ten minutes ago," the woman stressed.
Outside, in the dark of the night, L and Light walked out of the hospital, L heading to the car waiting for him.
"Ryuuga," Light said, catching the detective's attention, "what would it take to get you to believe that I'm not Kira? ...Please; isn't there something?"
"If you aren't Kira, it won't be necessary; let things run their course and the truth will be revealed," L answered reassuringly.
"I can't take this anymore!" the younger man argued. "Put yourself in my position! How do you think it feels to be accused of being Kira?"
L looked away, thinking that notion over; he recalled clearly the earlier accusation made by the brunette that he could have been Kira as far as Light knew.
His gaze returned to Light, "It was one of the worst feelings ever."
"What if you were to lock me up for a month in a place with no TV or any other kind of access to the outside world and keep a constant watch over me?" Light suggested, seemingly desperate to be cleared as a suspect.
'Would any normal person be willing to go to such extreme measures to clear their name?' pondered the detective.
"That's no good," L answered the brunette. "I can't do anything that would deprive you of basic human rights. And furthermore, it's complete nonsense for the investigator to take suggestions from his suspect."
"I understand," Light said in feigned defeat as L got into his car, Watari closing his door behind him.
"Don't worry so much. Be patient; it'll become apparent to us if you're not Kira," the raven-haired detective advised his suspect as he looked out his window. "And listening to that conversation between you and your father, I was almost convinced you might not be him."
"Light, please take good care of Mr. Yagami," L added his request, sitting back in his seat.
Light leaned down, looking into the window, "One more thing... I know I agreed to help with the investigation, but I don't think I'll be able to do much until my father is healthy again."
"Yes, of course," conceded the detective as the car began to drive off. "Well then..."
Now that all the police were gone, Nyoko stood before the warehouse like a lone soldier, Kuro standing behind her as always.
"Do you think it wise to refrain from using the note, Mistress?" the Shinigami questioned, gazing up at the warehouse warily.
"I told you, Kuro; I'll only use the note at the opportune moment," she replied, staring up at the warehouse as well. "I'll use it as soon as possible."
"You do understand that I am supposed to enforce the use of the note now that I am here, do you not?" his gruff voice asked her, his gaze trailing down from the building and resting on the back of her head of raven locks.
Nyoko sighed softly, remembering Kuro explaining what could happen to him should he fail to follow rules.
"Yes, I remember you telling me that before and I understand the consequence for you," the negotiator told him, closing her eyes as the wind whipped past her. "When you told me that, you also said you were willing to take a risk. Have you changed your mind, Kuro? I'll understand if you have."
"No, I have not, Mistress," Kuro answered her inquiry truthfully, the tips of his claws toying with the tips of her hair, unbeknownst to Nyoko.
"I see," said the woman before him, smiling lightly. "I am also very grateful for all you've done and continue to do for me, Kuro."
Kuro tilted his head slightly, pondering aloud, "Do you think the Great god of death knows of what I've done?"
"The powers that enforce the rules you have to follow have either chosen to allow me to keep the note, regardless of the rule, or those powers haven't found out yet," she reasoned aloud. "I don't know which is true..."
"I see," he replied, tail slightly wagging with hope that the Great god of death would never find out or had, for some reason, overlooked his treason.
"I haven't used the note yet; that much is true," Musiko said in summation, looking up at the warehouse. "But I promise you that I will use it against all other Kiras... and once I have all the known notes, one side of me will win and we'll see what I decide."
Now inside the warehouse, Musiko stood before six hostages with gags in their mouths, ropes around their wrists and ankles as they sat on the floor.
"I see that they're safe and reasonably well, given the circumstances," she assessed, the woman on the far right of the hostage line-up looking at her as if she were mad.
Turning to face their tormentors, she looked at Kenichi Imamura and his two lackeys she had no names for. By the look in their eyes, however, she knew the two lackeys were just as crazy as their leader.
"Now, about your helicopter; I'll have to give my boss a call so she can get it set up and over here within five hours," Musiko began the negotiation process, hands to her hips. "As for Miss Sakura Ogawa, she's staying safe in the building two doors down on the left for now."
"What?" Kenichi asked, rubbing his blood-shot eyes which had likely not shut in sleep for days.
"Why didn't you bring her?!" he shouted, enraged and waving his gun at Musiko.
Musiko lifted her hands up in a submissive gesture, saying, "Hey, hey; it's not my fault. She said she didn't want to come and that she didn't approve of you taking hostages, or at least that if you had to take hostages, she doesn't approve of taking more than one."
"She... doesn't?" he asked with a confused tone, scratching his stubble as he rubbed the side of his gun to the side of his head.
"Yeah, that's what she said," the negotiator replied, taking in his every movement and every look passing through his eyes.
'He's buying it,' she assessed from his expression. 'Just a little more...'
Suddenly, he waved his two friends toward the hostages, commanding loudly, "Let five of them go!"
"But, Ken, do you--?" one began to ask, cut off by the barrel of Kenichi's gun in his face.
"I said let them go!" Kenichi snarled like a rabid dog, his friend scrambling over to the third man and helping him untie five hostages.
Once they were all untied, they stood like deer caught in headlights, Kenichi growling at them.
"Go! Get out! Now!" he shouted at the five, the two women, two boys and one girl hurriedly leaving the warehouse.
Musiko inwardly sighed with relief, thinking to herself, 'Now I've got to get Imamura to go after that Ogawa ghost girl two doors down...'
"Mr. Imamura? No one said you had to stay here while your girlfriend is just two doors down," she offered, gesturing with one hand to each of his friends. "Leave Tweedledee and Tweedledum in charge here and I'll call for two helicopters - one for you and your girlfriend and one for your two friends... I mean, you shouldn't keep a woman waiting since we're all pretty temperamental about things like that."
Kenichi paced around, rubbing his temples and thinking over her words.
He then turned on her, stalking up to her with his gun in her face.
"How do I know this isn't a trap?"
"Well, for one thing, if it were a trap, I would have lied and said your girlfriend wanted you to release all the hostages," she reasoned smoothly, nose twitching away from the barrel of his gun. "It would be pretty stupid of me to leave one hostage behind to get killed if I screwed up and pissed you off. Plus, telling you exactly where your girlfriend is is like offering you a way to escape, even if that left your friends stuck here with me and a hostage."
Slowly, he backed away and began pacing once more, thinking over every word she said in his unstable mind as carefully as possible.
"Hey! Why are you so calm about this, huh?" one of Kenichi's friends asked Musiko, their leader stopping in his pacing path to look at her.
"My job as a negotiator pretty much involves doing this kind of thing on a daily basis," replied the raven-haired woman, shrugging it off. "I get guns in my face almost every day of my life... It's hard to look scared after a couple of years of being a negotiator."
Kenichi pistol-whipped the lackey that asked her the question.
"Idiot!" he shouted in his rage, although he'd actually knocked the lackey unconscious.
"Er... Yeah, I think you knocked him out," Musiko commented, trying to keep from laughing.
'God... Now the criminal is taking out the bad guys,' she thought, thoroughly amused and looking up from the lackey to Kenichi.
"Shit, man," the other lackey complained of the ordeal, watching Kenichi closely.
"You," Kenichi growled out, hand running through his medium length black hair as he waved his pistol at his friend with his orders. "Stay here."
With that, he took off and left the warehouse, presumably to meet his girlfriend.
Musiko looked at the remaining lackey, then the one on the floor.
Looking back to the conscious one, she asked, gesturing to the other, "May I see if he's really alright?"
"Whatever, bitch," he allowed, pointing his gun at her as he held it with both hands to steady his shaking aim.
She walked over cautiously, making sure to keep her back to the one who was conscious. She then checked the fallen lackey's pulse, finding him to be alive. Seconds later, she moved upward slightly, but her leg came out behind her, hitting the standing lackey's hands hard enough to cause him to toss the gun in the air.
Standing fully in one swift, fluid motion, she turned around and caught the gun in one hand as she kicked the man in the stomach, knocking him backward into a window and consequently causing it to shatter. She shielded her face as the glass flew all around them, a few large shards slicing into her arms which protected her face effectively, the glass not lodging very deeply.
Quickly, she trained her newfound gun on the lackey with one hand, but he looked to be passed out, shards of glass in random parts of his body.
'Should I take out the shards myself?' she pondered, glancing at her bloody arms before reasoning with herself calmly. 'I'm no doctor, so I think I'd better wait until I can get a medic in here...'
Remaining cautious, she backed away toward the remaining hostage, keeping the criminal in sight with her gun trained on him. With her free hand, she slipped out a knife from her bra, cutting the man's ropes from his wrists and ankles, said man removing his gag with his regained freedom of movement.
"Come on," she instructed, standing upright. "I've gotta get you out of here before Sleeping Beauty wakes up."
The man stood, although he was limping, and, with a last check on the lackey, she helped the man to the stairs. In the process, however, she had to face away from the criminal for a few moments, watching as the hostage made it past two flights of stairs.
In those few moments, Kuro shouted to her, "He's awake!"
Turning around quickly, Musiko took aim at the lackey just as he aimed unsteadily at her, both guns going off. Kuro had no time to react, Musiko's bullet striking the criminal expertly in the heart, while the criminal's bullet struck her in the left shoulder. The force of the hit threw Musiko back slightly, but just enough so that she stumbled, consequently falling down the staircase.
Kuro hurriedly went down the stairs to her where she had landed two flights down, back to the wall and legs bent to the side.
"Mistress!" he called to her, fear pervading his tone, Musiko looking up at him and grimacing from pain.
"I didn't break anything on my fall at least," she spoke, laughing lightly at her own horrible joke, though her voice was strained. "I've got to... I'll just..."
Pulling up one of the upper bones on the collar she always wore which L had given her, she sighed heavily.
"I don't think Yuki will... come back over here," she told Kuro, smiling at her thought, though it looked more like another grimace. "She's probably wrapped up in arresting Kenichi..."
Even as she held her bleeding shoulder tightly, placing pressure on the wound, Musiko managed to pull out her phone, waiting patiently for her expected call.
L's phone suddenly rang, his ring tone for Nyoko - Please, Forgive Me by Garnet Crow - going off.
Quickly, he flipped the phone open, calling Musiko back.
Musiko's phone rang suddenly through the uncomfortable silence of the warehouse, Utada Hikaru's First Love playing as her ring tone for L, the wounded negotiator answering it.
"There was a minute delay," she joked into the phone, laughing breathlessly. "I could have been dead by now."
"Now is not the time for jokes, Musiko," L replied, a worried tone in his stern voice. "What's wrong?"
"Uh... I got shot," she replied from the other end of the line, laughing. "I also... fell down two flights of stairs... I'm so clumsy when people shoot at me... Plus, the criminal fell on a window earlier... and I have shards stuck in my arms... and they went deeper on my fall... Just... Just my luck, you know?"
She laughed, though it faded into what sounded like dry heaves.
Her voice turning somber, she added, "I think I'm going to die, L..."
"Musiko!" he shouted in return, worriedly standing from his seat.
He looked to Watari who had used a computer to find the negotiator's whereabouts via the tracking chip in her collar, L commanding, "Send an ambulance to her location now!"
"Yes, sir," Watari replied, also concerned for the woman and picking up a phone to dial for an ambulance as instructed.
L then paced away, shouting into his cell phone, "Musiko!"
"What the... the hell do you want, y-yelling at me like I'm deaf?" she groaned out. "Just so you know... my hearing is fine."
"Try... Try to remain calm," L said in a louder tone than he meant to, lacking his usual calm demeanor.
Musiko huffed, pointing out in an almost whine, "You're the... the one who's yelling..."
Silence passed between them for a bit, only her labored breaths keeping him certain she was awake.
And then her small, broken voice asked, "Am I... going to die, L?"
"I don't make promises I can't keep to you, Nyoko, but the ambulance is on its way," he assured the negotiator, attempting to be as helpful and comforting as possible and yet realistic at the same time.
She sighed, muttering, "That's... really reassuring, L..."
And then, to L's dismay, the line went dead.
Sighing at L's stupidity, Musiko dialed Near's number.
"Are you alright?" came Near's voice as soon as he picked up.
"Funny you should ask that," she replied without her usual good humor, the woman scowling deeply.
On the other end of the line, Near could tell she was hurt by her heavy breaths and weak voice.
"I got shards of glass in my arms... then I got shot... and fell down two flights of stairs," she explained to him the lengthy process which led to her current status. "The shards went in deeper and... I'm bleeding more than... than the accumulated hearts of the NIES."
He could hardly believe she'd waste her breath to make a joke considering the severity of her situation, but the gesture at least assured him she wasn't panicking as of yet.
"Given the situation, that's not very humorous, Nyoko," Near replied, clearly unamused, his thumb and forefinger pulling at a strand of his snow white hair. "Have you called for an ambulance?"
"No, I'm too... stupid... to dial the emergency number," she quipped bitterly, rolling her dark blue eyes. "L called them for me... They're supposedly... on their way."
"You called L first?" he asked in disbelief, finger twirling his strand of hair in jerky movements.
She sighed, "Yeah... He gave me an emergency collar and it contacted him..."
Musiko then went off topic, saying, "You know... I should have passed out... by now."
"According to the amount of blood loss you're likely having from the descriptions of your wounds, I'd say that's a fair assessment," he replied, frowning to himself.
"L's not very... comforting... that's why I called you," Musiko managed to say. "Except... you're not being so comforting... either."
"What did L do this time?" asked Near with a sigh.
Musiko chuckled through deep breaths, answering, "I asked him if... I was going to die... and he said he doesn't make promises he can't keep to me... but that the ambulance was... on its w-- Oh, god... I'm really going to die..."
"I may not have a medical degree, but the fact that you haven't passed out by now is not only amazing, but likely a good sign," he replied as reassuringly as possible, attempting to be comforting as she seemed to desire of him.
"Thanks... I hear the medics, though, so... I have to go. Bye," she said, hanging up and slipping her phone back into her pocket.
Amazingly, as soon as it was safely tucked away, she lost the fight for consciousness, the medics finding her moments later.
