FreeWeirdGal: I'm wondering the same thing... Might as well keep it up on writing to figure out how L gets interested. :)

Fiare and Shadow Fox 2013: Thanks a bunch! :D Fiare, I'm looking forward to reading more on your fic, once I'm home from work.

Insane Shadow Pancake: You might be surprised at how interesting and cute of a couple they'd be...BUT, that may not happen! It could go this way, or another way with someone else. As I said, it's just unclear and too soon to tell who she'll be with! And yeah, I'm into the suspense a little more over the romance and fluff too. Because crazy, suspenseful, action, emotional, and even scary stuff—that's what I write best! I gotta write excitement and drama. I often get bored and lose interest if I just center too much on cuteness and lovey dovey stuff.

I've started to set things up for the most challenging part to the Kira-Light AMV, making mini-clips out of the anime footage. Watched up to episode 29. I've watched the anime from the beginning before, by the way, and I was a bit disappointed that the part in the manga of Light's first attempt to kill Mello (with the U.S. president giving him a troop of men) wasn't in there. I wanted to feature that part in the next Death Note AMV, but oh well. The anime is still pretty good though!

Updating on the story will continue to be slow. It depends on how much energy and brain power I have for writing, and on how busy I'll be at work.

Chapter 11: Because it's Necessary

A wheezy laugh came from Ryuk as he leaned forward and listened to just about everything that was going on around Marianne, as close as he could without the risk of falling into the viewing hole. His big round eyes gleamed in sinister amusement as his toothy grin stretched from one ear to the other.

Humans were so hilarious! They were all capable of being so deceitful! Not a single one of them could really be pure of heart. That was just a myth, and a joke—a false hope they'd strive to live by. Just when they seem so nice to others, their true selves was what he could see once they were alone. Some humans were much more interesting when alone.

The current owner of the Death Note he released into that world, the girl Ryuk was still very interested in getting to know, seemed to only want it for herself—but she was going out of her way to keeping Light Yagami close by as the notebook was just beside her on that bed. It was laying out in the open for anyone to touch, and he had seen Light touch it more than once.

Marianne seemed to want the same for the kid's father and this Shuichi Aizawa, to have for company. Even if all the stuff about her life were true, she wasn't telling the entire truth. She was telling them enough to have them around to help her—somewhat. He couldn't understand what she was aiming for exactly, but he guessed she was afraid of being alone right now.

This human was a challenge to figure out. While observing her, she kept Ryuk thinking and wondering what was going to happen next, what she would do once they all left. He also remained curious about when she would start looking through the rules he wrote down. Some of his writing was in English, the only language she seemed to understand to what he had observed.

They're all trying so hard to help her get in touch with somebody. Looks like she's taking them for a bit of a ride. Ryuk chuckled. He had to wonder why it was difficult to use those little devices called cell phones to call a family member or friend. HAHA, would it really be worth a try with that laptop thing Shuichi Aizawa had mentioned earlier?! Not that he understood human technology, but nothing they made was without its limits. Their fancy toys and things would eventually break and wear down, fall apart.

And what about this L? Did Marianne really think he would be able to help them all out? Would she see her family again? Oh this was getting really good! The suspense of it all!

Something like this was just the thing Ryuk needed to escape this wasteland.

As much of a bummer it was to have to wait four more days to go to her, to have her to tell him her big secret—as well as eat a juicy apple or two, or three-at least he wasn't so bored now. His mind had become more active since he saw her appear, and she made him forget about the lazy bums who slept or gambled without really giving a damn about anything. He was rather occupied, and wanted to keep watching. The moping and loathing he was doing had gone away.

The others never got tired of the same old mundane stuff, unlike Ryuk, for the past five years. He cheated once in a while at their games. The insane pranks he did to give them a hard time lasted only for so long. For as long as he could remember existing, Ryuk liked to stir things up, and watch to see how they would react! After he came back from the human world for the first time... The more he time he spent back in the Shinigami Realm (Mu being another name for this barren and dry landscape), the more he realized staying here was meaningless once many Shinigami began to see him as predictable.

No, he would not miss this lame place where no one really lived, or had anything worthy of looking forward to other than scoring another big pile of dirty old coins during another card or dice game.

The first day of the five day wait was coming to an end as the sun on this side of the human world was setting. Marianne would have to be left alone eventually. Watching Light, Soichiro Yagami, Gen Suki, and Aizawa tend to her every need as she kept and felt stuff behind their backs was still amusing, yes, but he was also anticipating on what she would do once these people all had to go to their homes.

Soichiro Yagami had just come into the room to ask Marianne for identification, for whoever this Deputy Pallantine human was. Ryuk chuckled again, remembering that she still hadn't given them her full last name, this being deliberate. I'm betting she won't be revealing much to them, not anytime soon.

Wouldn't that be even more exciting, if her family and friends were in danger?

" 'ey, Ryuk! Is that you laughing back there?" shouted Genju, one among several Shinigami that liked to gamble a lot.

He chose to ignore him, because he knew the scrawny crab-like Shinigami would never understand why he found humans so fun and so interesting. The same went for most of his kind. These beings Shinigami preyed on were in fact more than just mere prey. They lived much more complex lives than the rest of the creatures that lived. They made cities, invented sports, and did similar things Ryuk had done.

Although it didn't really matter to Ryuk on how the other Shinigami saw humans, other than a source to extend their life-spans. He just wanted out.

Marianne looked to Mr. Yagami. "What's going on?" She asked that question when she already knew. The officer of the Maryland State police can't find a file on me? Is that it? Because I never lived in this world. I was never born in it... Inwardly she sighed, hoping it wasn't anyone from the Calvert County Sheriff's Office. Those cops weren't real cops; they were bullies who sought the truth through getting a rise out of whoever it was they accused. Then they'd see them try to do something stupid and catch them in the act.

During a time when her dad was so falsely accused of sexual harassment, they automatically took the side of a young delusional woman who was cutting herself. They assumed wrong by thinking Dad was some old sick man who was only liked his job to steal opportunities to grope at women. Their investigation during the open file case was very sloppy, and they even tampered with evidence to get what they wanted...

Although, she really didn't want to start thinking about the horrible and crazy-as-hell events from years ago (in which would infuriate Light to the core, no doubt, if she talked about that), because she mainly had to pay attention to what was happening now.

Light's father was starting to look tired as he replied to her. "No one in Maryland has reported you, or your family, missing."

"What?" Light's expression of shock, and the slight raising of his voice startled Marianne a bit.

At least the head pain was suppressed most of the way. Every now and then, she'd feel a minor amount of pain. It didn't cause much more than a little annoyance, in contrast to all the stress and tension she was feeling.

There was a lot of incoming stress and nervousness, but she channeled and suppressed it to lie again, because she knew she had to. She needed to keep herself safe from any circumstance that may lead to her own full name being written into the Death Note. Showing them any ID with her entire first name would defeat that purpose! No, she just couldn't take that risk. "H-How can that be? My family is well respected and liked in the Southern Maryland community, I told you. Someone has to notice we're not around."

She saw Light stand up rather quickly. He was looking between her and his father, looking both upset and serious about this.

"I don't understand it myself, but I fear that if someone, more likely a group, is behind this—"

"They may not want anyone to be found," Light finished.

Marianne tensed at this, thinking that would be so scary if a group had attacked and taken her away from her world, in addition to people she knew—then damn! She would be in so much more trouble than ever!

No, no, stop, STOP! Can't think like that.

"What we have to ask ourselves is, why would such people do this if they didn't know who the Markham family is, or who their friends are?" Light's hands clenched into fists. He looked really bothered and stressed about this, in addition to how seriously determined he was.

"I don't even know people who would do this," Marianne said to them. She felt as if the stress and scary thoughts were trying to take up all the oxygen from her lungs. "This is so freakin' crazy..." There no getting over how so utterly mind boggling to know the world of Death Note existed, that she was in the same room with Light and his dad-not anytime soon. Worrying more about her parents and friends from her world than she originally had wouldn't do her any good. She knew this.

"There's really no time to lose." Mr. Yagami looked at her with such concern and seriousness. His words had such an urgency to them. He stepped closer and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps if we give our new ally some ID or a photo of yourself, Mari, then she will be able to tell us something."

L. I just have to meet L, as soon as possible, Marianne reminded herself. There likely wasn't going to be any complete sense of safety or security until her own massive problems would hold L's interest. Until then, she'd just have to keep doing what she was doing—no matter how much it would hurt them and herself.

She nodded a bit to Mr. Yagami, and explained to him, "I don't have a driver's license. Otherwise I wouldn't be riding the bus. I had a library card, but I misplaced it. I don't have any pictures of myself, or my family. They're at home. I only have a few friend photos, but they're not in my contacts. I'm sorry." She looked and felt so genuinely sorry. She was so sure saying everything to them wasn't going to really help keep her safe... but why was she finding it hard to have any relief in that?

The library card, that had her handwritten version of her full name on the back, was in her big dark blue wallet. The old driver's permit was too, but she just could not risk it. The chances of her dying sometime later, she believed, would be absolute. As much as she appreciated the kindness and devotion from everyone she met, there would always be this inner wall she'd put up to keep the whole truth and her paranoia confined, sealed within an invisible wall she had built.

"Do you have credit cards," Light was prompt to ask, "anything at all that might have your personal information on it?"

There were a few things with her personal information on it, and they all had her full name on them. "I don't have credit cards, or debit cards even. My mom does."

"I'll need to take your picture then, Mari," Mr. Yagami informed, and got out his phone, but not after showing her a silent, solemn I'm sorry look in his brown eyes.

"If my photo will help find the people I care about, then do it. I can't do nothing anyway," Marianne told him, then watched as he took her picture with his phone. Her dignity wasn't something she wasn't worried about really. Surviving and not ending up killed was way more important.

Light was looking at her as he stood there, picking at his very intelligent brain for something he might have missed as his gaze became sharper as he focused on her. Why else would he be looking at her like that? Was he getting suspicious of her, or was he just trying to think about who would have gone after her, and/or her loved ones? Was he thinking of both? Marianne averted her gaze, unable to keep eye contact with him.

"I'll be right back," Mr. Yagami said, and left the room.

Light asked her, "What can you tell me about your mother's credit card information? If you don't have any personal information, then it would help a lot if you told us that. Along with your address." He made sure to keep his voice leveled and calm. It was like he was trying not to stress her out worse than she already was. He looked so willing to see to it that whoever was responsible for her condition would be found, but he held no intentions of pressuring her through anything.

Marianne secretly had a deep appreciation for him being like this. She was already on her way to not let him turn into a corrupt and ultimately deceptive sociopath. Perhaps I'm already paying him back. He saved me, so I had just saved him, didn't I? All she really had to worry about was finding a way back, right?

Then, with all this commotion and her current thoughts swirling around her, a most horrible thought broke through from under all the stressful and paranoid thoughts. What if my family really is somewhere in this world? Would I have to choose between them?

Would she have to choose between who lives and who dies if they were all in danger?

AUGH, NO! Stop it, brain! If I start to overreact I'll NEVER stop! With a quick and hard mental shove, she broke away from that bad, scary thought. There's no way to know for sure if my family really is in Death Note Earth, she attempted to reason with herself. If they were around, then she would know about that, very soon. She felt very sure of this.

The sooner I meet with L, the freakin' better... I'm getting way too freaking paranoid.

"I-I know Mom only uses debit cards. The bank company provider is PNC... You know my mom's whole name, right? You saw it on my phone, Light-kun."

"Linda Markham?" He sat back down next to her, nodding. "All right... What is your home address?" His arm went around her shoulders, a gesture of comfort, applying the reassurance that everything was going to eventually be all right.

Marianne really did want to try and be good friends with him. She really did mean a lot of what she told him, now that he wasn't going to be corrupted by the damn Death Note's evil powers. Things were just going to be so hard to be honest up until the point in which she could speak with L.

It was going to be just as hard after that, she knew it, to which was why she had to see L as soon as possible.

"Thirty-sixty Peace Boulevard, down Broomes Island. Around Saint Leonard," she told him. That's where I live. If there is a St. Leonard, anyway. Lying about her home address wasn't really necessary. It wouldn't matter to Light where she lived, if he were Kira. All he needed to know was her whole name—to which she wasn't going to give willingly.

But he's not Kira! He's not going to be! Because he's not going to use the Death Note to play God...

"That should be enough," Light assured.

Mr. Yagami came back, and Marianne listened as Light repeated everything she just said.

"Yes. All right. I'll tell the deputy now," said Mr. Yagami. He left again, then asked Aizawa to be put on the phone again. He said that in Japanese, but she knew that's what he was doing because Aizawa had given him the cell phone, before going into the room.

Light stood up and moved to the table and chair the laptop was on. As Marianne peered at the screen with her good left eye—her right being near-sighted—she could see the black, red, and gold Maryland flag on the screen, along with white capital text that read "Maryland State Police" in a thin, dark, and horizontal banner.

"Let's try to contact someone on Facebook," Light suggested, rolled the table closer to them. "I'll change the language on screen to English for you."

"Thanks." There it was again, that heart-sinking feeling of heartache. Marianne knew there was a very slim to no chance of getting in touch with her Aunt Laura, Aunt Sandy, or her grandmother. The odds were against them all, for it was overall very unlikely they were in this world.

Aizawa came in, and stood there frowning at her. "How are you holding up?"

"Barely keeping it together," she admitted to him. "I'm hoping nothing else goes wrong."

"Yeah." He nodded, his expression so grim. "That goes for all of us."

Yet all but everything has gone wrong for me, and I've never been on the computers in this reality.

She looked to Light, then the laptop screen. Everything was in English as Light typed in Marianne's cell phone number. Then she slowly told Light the password she would use to log in to Facebook.

A sign up screen came up, underneath a dark blue message box that read, "Username and password not found."

Light sighed heavily in frustration. With all his dedication and might, he was trying to reach someone who probably-hopefully--wasn't there, in this world that had death gods and lethal, nasty notebooks. "Trying again..."

Aizawa came closer to them to see what was wrong. "Username not found?" From what Marianne could see, this irked him.

"Your password again, please?" Light asked Marianne, who gave it again. She logged in with a lengthy and complicated password no one would be able to guess easily.

They received the same error message.

Marianne was certain her "frustrated" response sounded convincing enough. It felt wrong to her to channel her emotions to mislead, but better safe plan could she come up with? All this internal scrambling to keep her name off so much as a single piece of the Death Note was going to wear her out and bring back another splitting headache by end of this day. She just knew it. "I have to make a new account? And fill up the friends and family lists again? Those crazy bastards!"

Light's expression had a very demanding question to it, What the hell is going on here?! "What about email? Do you have anyone you could reach that way?"

"Hold on," Aizawa countered. "If someone had hacked into a computer at the Markham residence, they could have messed around with her email too... Give it a try anyway. We'll see what happens."

Light curtly nodded, his focus laser-like. "Right. Mari-san, what website do I need to go to?"

"Hotmail-dot-com," Marianne answered. She would've caused them to act suspicious if she didn't tell him. As they were on the MSN Hotmail login screen, she gave him her email address, and a different password. For most things that required her to login with an account, she used the same complicated password she used to get on Facebook. Yet, for her email, she used a different one.

An error message above the login text boxes appeared, just as she would expect.

I hate this. So much...

"They've really thought this through," Light said. He was mostly not happy about this, but Marianne could detect that he was intrigued too. "They clearly don't want to be followed." He pressed his lips together as he seemed to go quiet. Marianne guessed that he was going into more thought processes.

"I think we really will need L," Marianne said, in a quiet voice.

Aizawa looked at her, bewildered. "L? Who's that?"

There was this constant, awful pit she could feel in her stomach, but she was trying to ignore it as she looked back at him. "I guess you never heard of that detective either. Light-kun and Mr. Yagami sure haven't... He's a sort of famous detective who's really good at cracking the hard cases around the world."

"We'll likely need all the help we can get at this point," Light said. "This case might be too big for any one task force to solve."

Mr. Yagami came back and as usual, between him and Aizawa, they made sure the door remained closed. "I've left Deputy Pallantine up to the task of looking up the names on Mari's phone." He walked over and gave that back to her. "She also knows of a man in the FBI who may be of some help, a man named Ray Penber."

Marianne blinked, but suppressed most of the surprise she actually felt. Whoa, Raye Penber! If I hadn't claimed ownership, Light would've eventually killed him. "The FBI too? Well, I think my situation's right up their alley..."

Mr. Yagami looked to everyone. "Any luck with Facebook?" He looked to Marianne, who slowly shook her head.

"They made sure to hack into her email too," Light informed. "It's no good. We can't reach anyone." She felt his hand on her shoulder. She didn't need to see him to know he was so concerned.

She could barely look at anyone in the eye as she felt so bad for everyone. This was so depressing, and sad. She was not happy with herself for having to hide. "...Thank you for trying. I really want to do more to help right now—but I can't." Her voice had shrunk significantly on those last three words. Even though she felt so guilty and afraid, she still channeled what she felt into something that would direct them away from anything she may believe would risk her safety. She felt rotten for each time she did so—but what else could she do to make all of this right?! There was no other plan, nothing fool-proof, nothing safer.

Doesn't mean I'll quit feeling like shit about it anytime soon.

"Mari, don't be so hard on yourself." Mr. Yagami said this a bit sternly as he moved to sit by her on the other side of the bed, like before. What else he told her was very calm, as he put an arm around her. His maternal instincts were likely kicking in as he added, "We all understand how you feel, but regretting your past actions and trying to force yourself to remember something won't help anyone."

Marianne felt she had to nod in agreement to that sentiment. She somewhat agreed with him on that. Still can't remember how or why I'm here, but I have to wait for the memory to come back... I hate having amnesia.

She could hear Aizawa's confidence in his assuring words. "Things look bleak and difficult now, but we've got a bit of luck on our side, with Pallantine. She's going out of our way to do what she can. She even has a connection with the FBI. It may take a little time, but we'll get these animals. You'll see, Mari-san." He moved to stand in front of her. "You'll see your family again. We will find them. That's a promise."

But Raye Penber wouldn't know a thing about traveling in between worlds now, would he?! SIGH... Although, if his fiancée Naomi knows how to get in contact with Watari...

That was a definite possibility, a fifty-fifty chance. Yeah, that was lucky, for Aizawa and Mr. Yagami to get in touch with someone who knew Raye.

"R-Right. Perhaps there is a bit of hope yet," Marianne admitted, but didn't voice her thoughts. I hope Raye comes over here. Even better, if Naomi comes with him...

She wasn't sure if they would come over to Japan, at least not just yet, but it was a possibility to cling onto, to hopefully get in touch with L very fast. I think I could tell Naomi everything, as long as Light or anyone he knows aren't there...

"I think those guys are worse than animals though," Marianne added, a tone of loathing to her voice.

"They really are..." As she looked to Light, he looked like he agreed with her, and that he had something to tell her. "Mari-san. You may feel like you're helpless, but you're not. I don't believe that. You've done a lot on your part. Please don't think any less of yourself... What you can't remember will have to come back eventually, but until then, you have to give yourself time to recover. Let your wound heal."

The guilt felt so heavy and overbearing towards these very nice people, but she was too damn scared to give into it—because of Light, who was sitting there next to her. As much as she liked him as he was now, being much nicer than he originally would have been, there was still a chance he could end up as Kira if she wasn't careful enough.

Even if she chose to spill the whole truth now, and warned Light about testing the notebook, how would she KNOW he wouldn't go ahead and do it anyway? She didn't, and couldn't let herself imagine a worst case scenario in which she would die, or become an asset until the day came he had no use for her.

Damn you, Ryuk!

As her eyes moistened, she felt Mr. Yagami one-arm hug her, briefly. "This hasn't been a good day for any of us, I know...but as long as we don't lose hope, we can look onward to setting things right."

"I'll call up my partner to look up something on this L. Is this detective even real?" asked Aizawa.

"I'm really sure he is," Marianne told him. She knew the tears were coming, but her voice was calm and confident enough. "I'm sure the Los Angeles Times, or any California newspaper or media, will have something on the BB Murder case I read some about."

"And what does 'BB' stand for?"

"Beyond Birthday," replied Mr. Yagami. "The alias of a vicious serial killer, from what she said... While we stay in touch with Pallantine, we could ask her to contact her FBI friend about Naomi Misora, another FBI agent who worked with him on that case."

Aizawa was attentive and ready to go do something from what Marianne noticed about his posture. "I'll see about finding an article or two about it."

She noticed Light checking his watch. "Dad, are you going to have someone sit outside the room soon?"

"That's what I'm about to do, yes," he said. "And I think it's time we head home soon. Before your mother and Sayu start to worry." Mr. Yagami looked at her, and paused a moment. "You'll need some new clothes, and shoes."

Marianne began opening the Kleenex box as she replied, "Yeah. I suppose so, and you'll need to know my sizes..." She thought about the writing tablet and pencil that was on the table, near Aizawa's laptop. "I'll write them down for you."

Aizawa began to turn the laptop around to face him, but stopped at a half turn. "We're done using the internet then, right? I'll have to return this."

"Yeah. Go ahead," she said to him before pulling out a tissue, and blowing her nose. "...Is there a trash can around here somewhere?"

Aizawa looked around the room and carried over a small trash bin she hadn't noticed before, and placed it by the end of her hospital bed.

Then he eventually left, after telling her to get well soon, and that he'd see her sometime tomorrow. Mr. Yagami stood up and called NPA headquarters for a police officer as Marianne picked up the writing tablet, and retreived a pen from her purse. Light moved the table back to where it had been, and then returned to sit down beside her. "The medicine Dr. Suki gave you seems to be working pretty good. You haven't winced once since then."

"Mhm. Just a little throb of pain every now and then. Will have to wait a while if it gets unbearable again," Marianne said. She talked as she took her time writing a list of the clothing and shoes sizes that would fit her comfortably. "Probably won't have to worry about not waking back up, 'cause I don't think I'll be able to sleep much..." She found that too true. Surely, it was going to be one miserable and long night. She wasn't looking forward to it, and she didn't want to even think about it.

"I probably won't either," he admitted. "There's no ignoring how insane and scary it's been."

"Got that right." It couldn't have been scarier. As Marianne was nearly done, she paused and thought about adding a few things; a Ziploc plastic bag, a hair brush, her own toothbrush, and a small backpack. With those things in mind, she wrote them under a separate list she underlined and titled, "Other Important Items." The backpack would be something to store the Death Note in. It would very much remain in there, and hidden as she was going to stay at...wherever the hell she was going to stay.

She wasn't sure, but felt nervous at the thought of it being decided for her to go into witness protection. Honestly, Marianne didn't believe she'd be up for that. Staying with a friend of the NPA's she probably wouldn't recognize in a secure location someplace far from here might be to her advantage. Or, she might end up staying with L. He knew how not to be found, after all, and probably wouldn't have a problem having her under his protection... Right?

What about Light, Mr. Yagami, and Aizawa though? As it would be far easier to keep the murder notebook at a distance from Light to hang onto them again, a part of her wouldn't mind seeing them frequently.

"Light had been paying attention to what she was jotting down, for he quirked, "A Ziploc bag...?"

"I'll need something to keep my headphones in good condition. Don't want the soft covering to wear off... The plastic case I had for them is in my canvas bag," Marianne stated simply. To which got left behind... Probably for the best, because Death Note manga volume eight is in there, too. Man, that would've gone very badly if he happened to see it before I woke up...

No, she wasn't going to be thinking out that scary scenario. She didn't want to make herself freak out or feel uneasy.

Marianne glanced to him. "So, is there a spare Ziploc from your place I could use?"

"I'm sure my mother won't mind... And I think there's this old backpack my younger sister might still have." He paused and frowned a little in thought. "Unless that got thrown away."

"Thanks, Light-kun." She felt a ghost of a smile come to her lips.

His tone was relaxed, casual, and caring. "Hey, it's no problem... Anything else?"

Marianne slowly peeled the yellow lined paper off the tablet. "That's about all I can think of."

A curt nod came from Light as he took the paper and held onto it. With his other hand, he pulled out his phone, from his school jacket pocket. "I have math homework, and entrance exams to study for. Sometime after that... since we'll both be up late, would it help you cope through the night if I called?"

The offer she felt was very thoughtful and sweet of him to give. It was comforting to befriend him, sure-but at the same time she was unsure about him. In fact, she was feeling a bit of dread, and couldn't help it.

"I know I wouldn't be okay about being alone, if I were in your situation." He paused a beat. "Or maybe you won't be, because I just remembered. This teacher of mine might visit later, because he felt bad about not being able to see you. He had a family emergency to go to."

This brought on a small sympathetic frown from her. "Oh, no. I hope it's not really, really bad."

"I hope the same. He didn't really say what it was; only that he had to go see his sister..." He looked a bit sad for a second, before looking back to her. "In case he may not come, I could call. If you want. I can't give you my dad's number, because calling his phone's for emergencies only. And I don't know Aizawa's number."

I feel terrible enough. Damn it, you're going to make me cry more...

She believed she knew why he was giving her this offer, but she had to ask anyway. As she asked Light the following question, she refused to feel the guilt this time. "Why? In case I feel scared or lonely?" That might have come off as a bit defensive, but Marianne couldn't afford to let herself care.

"Well, yeah. I believe you might be... Because today's events been really overwhelming for all of us, especially you. It's not anything one person can endure alone." The look on his face seemed to ask, Wouldn't you? "Sure, the guard will be here, but he'll have to look out for anyone suspicious more than engage into conversation. Right?"

She knew he was just being there for her, and feeling bad for her, the same as his father and Aizawa-and especially because he saw her panicking quite a lot when she first woke up in this hospital room. However, if she wanted, no, needed to stick with the safe plan... she would have to keep herself from getting too close to him. Right?

But would it be such a bad thing to have someone supportive to talk to? Gah, he can read me like a book, but he's only trying to help me.

He doesn't understand all that I'm going through. Not really. He can't.

"What about Dr. Suki, then? She'd be around," Marianne pointed out. "It wouldn't be all that lonely."

"Yeah, true, she'd be here at least for some of the night. There would be some nurses and doctors who might do night shifts..." Light relented. "You might not see or hear from me for quite a while though. I could come visit you a little while tomorrow after school, if you have to stay here a while longer, but then I might have to be home for dinner then have cram school."

Oh come on. It's not like I'll end up talking about the Death Note to him over the phone, or anything like that. I know better than that!

Light continued, "If you can wait until then, it's fine." He didn't seem very bothered by that, only concerned. "I just don't want leave without knowing you'll be okay. It's only right as a friend to make sure."

Ryuk chuckled. Why does she hesitate? What is she hiding? Something tells me she's still a bit scared of him. Her odd behavior around him, when it was just the two of them, was something he would have to ask Marianne when he wouldn't have to wait anymore.

Around the kid's father and that Aizawa guy, she had expressed no fear towards them. Light looked like an ordinary human adolescent to Ryuk. He just could not begin to guess at it. He had to wonder again if she recognized him from somewhere-or was it just out of fright from seeing a stranger.

Nah, the latter couldn't be the case! She warmed right up to Light's dad and Aizawa rather quickly, and he couldn't really see tell of a reaction of her knowing them, even when Ryuk squinted his eyes. And Light seemed as harmless as those two older guys, and his own name didn't really sound intimidating to him.

For whatever the reason, Light is part of her secret.

As he continued to watch these humans, he secretly hoped that Marianne would be left alone. She'd bring her guard down then, unaware of his presence...