Heyy, sorry last chap wasn't much of a cliffhanger…

I had got out of the infirmary later that day. I still wore a thin bandage around my neck, until the bite mark healed. It would disappear quickly.

I was heading back to my room, when I saw a familiar someone in the middle of the empty hall.

"Ryuk!" I gasped, running forward and hugging him.

"Oh, Ryuk! Where were you?! You ditched me for more that three months! I haven't seen you in ages!!!!"

"I've been…occupied," he said. "Can you get off me now?"

"Sure," I said, letting go of my choke hold. "Where exactly were you?"

"I dropped my Note," he grinned. It looked somewhat comical on his over wide mouth.

"Again?" I asked, laughing.

"Yup. Smart kid that found it though. Pretty interesting, following him."

"Who is it?" I asked eagerly.

"Can't tell," he replied, grinning maddeningly.

"Awwwwh!" I whined, still grinning.

"I'll be behind him, it'll be easy to guess," Ryuk replied.

"You mean you won't stay?" I asked sadly.

"No, I can't. I have to follow the human who has my notebook."
"But I have your notebook!!!" I cried. I didn't want him to leave—he'd just come back!

"No…you have your mother's. But I'll be around."

"He goes to this school, doesn't he?" I asked, getting the idea as I said it.

"Like I said…you're pretty smart—for a human," he said, then left, chuckling.

"Bye, Ryuk," I called.

"See you around, Lilith."

I kept walking. Then, just outside my door, Louis was standing, shifting from foot to foot, looking a little harassed.

"Ryuzaki?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Lilith!" he said, quickly walking up to me. He leaned forward and went on quietly and urgently. "There have been some…problems. Nothing I can't handle. But I'm on a case. The Kira case."

"What?" I shrieked. I'd heard about it—a person passing judgement on the evil, who also happened to kill those who followed him. He could kill a person without ever coming in contact with them, by means of a heart attack. "You can't! You'll be killed! No!"

"I'll be fine. I think. At least I'm 36% sure. But, for you to be safe, I need you to use a code name…not Lilith. To keep you safe."

"Oh! So that's why Mello and Matt and Near…and even you! I get it now…okay, I'll be…Leslie?"

"Okay… that'll work. I kind of like Leslie. But it isn't nearly as nice as Lilith."

"Thanks, Ryuzaki," I grinned. "I'm going to sleep now. Long night. I'm tired."

"Yes," he said, a slight frown creasing his brow, "You should rest up. Good morning."

"Morning." I walked into my room. Then I stopped.

"Oh, sorry, am I in the wrong room?" I asked, feeling foolish.

There, in my room, or what I had thought was my room, a girl was sprawled on the second bed that had been empty in my room. She had shaggy black hair with blue highlights. She was wearing a striped black and red striped shirt and ripped jeans, and she had on a big pair of black combat boots. She was wearing a pair of chunky black headphones, with her feet propped up on the end of the bedframe. She was pulling herself up into a sitting position and lowering her headphones around her neck.

"You're Lilith," she said.

"No…my name is Leslie. Who are you?" I asked wonderingly, just remembering my new name. Then I realized how stupid that was since I already knew. Then I thought how smart it had been to tell Aderyn Luna Sumihane that I didn't know who she was.

"Aderyn," she replied. "Your roommate. Huh. They told me you were Lilith."

I could hear some sort of heavy metal coming from her headphones.

"Nice to meet you," I managed at last.

"I guess you're a vamp?" she asked. I nodded.

"I'm not," she went on. "Apparently they think I'm smart or something. Whatever." And with that, she returned to her music. I went to bed.

When the sun went down and I got up, Aderyn was still sleeping. I thought about how much I'd learned. I'd learned Louis loved me, and I loved him. I'd learned to control most of my visions; I only got really strong ones now. I thought about what I hadn't learned. I hadn't learned why Headmaster insisted that I have a glass of blood every morning—there it was on the table next to my bed. Other students didn't get it. Why me? They all had things called Blood Tablets. Hmm…

I got ready, then woke up Aderyn. She muttered and rolled over. Oh well—the cleaning lady would wake her in a minute anyway.

I went out into the hall, right at the same time as Louis. "Hey, Ryuzaki," I said.

"Hi Leslie," he replied with a conspirational grin. I returned it.

As we walked to class we chatted absently about teachers. Matt, Mello and Near fell into step with us. I noticed that Near and Mello were on opposite ends of the line.

"Hey, Leslie," Matt said, grinning. I smiled back and said, "Matt. And Mello, and Near. Hi."

"Hi," said Mello and Near at the same time. Mello glared at Near, across Matt and me and Louis. Near looked evenly back, across Louis then me and Matt.

"So uh…how does everyone know…about Leslie?"

"I told everyone to call you that. Assuming you never told anyone your story…" Louis was saying. I shook my head. "Good," he went on. "The new story is you were raised in Wammy House without ever knowing your parents. Recently, however, the orphanage found them and they told us your name was Leslie. The teachers will all call you Leslie now. And your last name is going to be Yokogari, which actually means 'side kick', which I thought was interesting…so, Leslie Yokogari, time for class."

We were now in front of the school building.

"Leslie?" asked Hanabusa from behind me. I whirled around angrily. I growled, curling my upper lip.

"Leaving," he said. "I just thought your name—"

"LEAVE!" I said loudly. He scampered off.

"Sorry you had to see that," I said to the four boys who now seemed my permanent entourage.

"It's fine," said Near calmly. "Mello also has an uncontrollable temper."

"Ugh," said Mello, most likely inaudibly to the humans of the group, but loud enough for me.

We walked into the class. I looked around.

It didn't take me long to spot him. Ryuk was standing behind a tall boy with light brown hair. Light Yagami.

Ryuk looked at me and grinned. I saw Light raise an eyebrow, although no one else would be looking for it and would have missed it. Ryuk just said, "She's pretty for a human…"

"Nice cover up," I mouthed. Ryuk noticed. The side of his mouth facing away from Light twitched up. I knew what he was thinking: This should be interesting…henh henh henh…