Author's Notes;;
Shannara810;; -Takes a bow- Why…thank you! :D

Chapter Twenty-One:

The walk into Headquarters was silent and I watched as Dellidublly noticed everyone in masks. Ryuk was in the middle of the room and I watched the new Shinigami's reaction, "R-Ryuk…what are you doing here? Did you drop your Death Note again?"

The lanky-bodied Shinigami only laughed in response, "Oh, no Dellidublly…I'm here because I'm not too fond of what Armonia's been up to."

"Y-you're helping the humans?" Obviously Dellidublly was too shocked to process this information and he made to take off.

Light lunged at him, grabbing Dellidublly's other Death Note and tearing off the cover before anyone realized what had happened and the Shinigami sank back to the floor, a look of absolute horror on his face. "You're not going anywhere..." Light said, tossing the remains of the Death Note into the trash. "Not when your only Death Note is owned by us." He took the remaining Death Note from me and touched each member of the task force with it so they would be able to see Dellidublly.

"How were you able to see me? That's the first you've touched the Death Note." Alas, it appeared this Shinigami was smarter than we'd given him credit for.

"I don't need to touch a Death Note to see its Shinigami," Light answered smugly and handed it back to me once everyone in the room could see Dellidublly. I pocketed it once more and took a seat, biting my nails out of habit. "Now…Dellidublly, how many Shinigami has Armonia sent into the Human World?"

Ryuk cackled, "I'd tell him if I were you, he's killed a Shinigami before…" Light took off his mask, finally, safe behind the ward of his bracelet and Ryuk added, "It's in your best interest if you'd like to stay alive."

"Three…there are three of us in total. Myself, Shidoh and Meadra." I nodded, trying to remember what they looked like and failing. My memories of my time in Mu were fuzzy, at best, and then Dellidublly was speaking again due to the look of death Light was giving him. "We were all given the same instructions…come to the Human World, find a human and let them find the Death Note. Have them start killing…and we were told to go to Japan because that was where the Kira incident took place when Ryuk dropped his Death Note originally."

Apparently the threat of death was enough to make Dellidublly talk and I was thankful to Ryuk for exploiting this weakness to our benefit and made a note to get him apples later. "Oh…" I said, looking over at Matsuda and pulling him out of the room. "I have an appointment with that troublesome caretaker, could you meet with him and give him this…" I handed him an envelope with cash in it, "and make sure you get all copies of the picture as well as the film and camera he took it on. That was the agreement we'd made." I went back inside while Matsuda got into his regular car, apparently not bothering to question me about it which I was grateful for.

They'd waited for me before resuming their questioning of Dellidublly, which was nice of them, and Light asked, "Do you know where the others are? Do you know if they have even contacted any humans yet?"

"No…we separated when we got here." He was obviously frightened and still wondering who we were that he couldn't read our names and how we knew so much about the Shinigami World. He also probably wondered about Ryuk's words that Light had killed a Shinigami. They were technically true but…

My own thought process cut itself off and I pulled Aizawa out of the room this time. "What happened to Rem's remains?" He told me they'd been sent to some museum and I said, "Get them back…I have use of them." He nodded and headed upstairs to make some calls and, once again, I went back into the room. It was the four of us at that point. Light, myself, Ryuk and Dellidublly. "Alright…" I turned to Light, "It looks like we need to do some more digging to find the others with Death Notes." I turned to Dellidublly, "Since you're stuck with us and I won't destroy this note book in the fear you might run back to Mu and tell Armonia about us, I'm afraid you're going to be under Ryuk's watch. Ryuk," I turned to the ever-smiling apple lover. "Can you handle watching him when he's not hovering behind me? I'd much appreciate if he didn't hover around me all the time. Show him around," I said and pulled Light out of the room by the hand.

"You've had some ideas," he said right away as we reached the elevator and took it to our floor. When we got into our living room he sat on the sofa and pulled me next to him.

"Yes…" I said, "I have. Matsui is out getting that picture and Aihara is collecting the remains of the Shinigami whose demise you wrought." His eyes widened at the use of the old alias' and I said, "We need protection…we need a good defense and a good offense." I took Light's new cell-phone and dialed Mogi, "Moji…when you come back make sure you're wearing a mask. Aside from that, how is your daughter?" He sounded surprised I had asked and told me the party had went well. "Then I will see you tomorrow morning. Just to warn you…our workload has increased. We moved on Kihiko and the Shinigami killed him…there are two more Kira's in Japan that we need to locate…" I hung up and handed Light back his phone before turning to address him once more.

"Sam…" he said and I smiled slightly, "You want to get more bracelets made? And maybe a weapon…" I nodded and laid down on the couch, resting my head in his lap and he spoke once more, running his fingers through my hair. "Two more Kira's…we'll find them. But what should we do about the Shinigami? They aren't really threats on their own, it's Armonia we have to worry about. Dellidublly, Shidoh and Meadra aren't exactly high ranking Shinigami. If we take out Armonia they should go back to their old lifestyle and they can vote for a new king…" He stopped and I shifted so I could look up at him, "What if…Kihiko only killed those three that had the traces of chlorine. It's like he wanted us to find him…to stop him. The others must have killed every other victim so far."

"That would make sense, Leon. Even though we now have that angle to pursue I still feel rather lost." He moved my head gently to the seat as he got up and crossed to the laptop in the room, keying it back to life with a whirring sound and bringing up what we knew of the killings so far.

"Here…so far the killings done by the other two are more along the lines of how I originally worked. This means they've probably figured out that they can manipulate people before death and alter the cause of death as well. I think we need to broaden our search to more than just heart attacks…and I also think that these two might be working together."

I got up and headed back towards him and looked over his shoulder at the monitor. "Why do you think that?"

He put in a search for recent deaths due to accidents and suicides and I noticed there had been an alarming rate of both lately. "Well, I think that answers that question…if they are working together at least one of them has the eyes, we need to be prepared for that eventuality. Let me see…" he did a few more fruitless searches and then, "Ah…Takada Kiyomi…her beliefs, if I recall correctly, match with the things I stood for when I was Kira."

"You dated her." It wasn't a question; I merely said it and knew it to be true. I wasn't jealous because he had never cared for her, but I looked at what he was reading. "Her career has flourished since Kira's return. She's been able to 'predict' where and when people would die and has been using it to advance her career to anchor-woman on NHN."

"Yes…we were so concerned with Kihiko we didn't look for anyone else. I think she has a Death Note, and I think she's working with the other person as well." I nodded and headed back toward the couch, "We should arrange surveillance of her place."

I thought a moment then said, "Such a public figure…it's strange we didn't notice her earlier. We get that station here, do we not?" Light looked at me and nodded, obviously just as confounded as I was. "Why didn't we notice this Takada announcing where and when victims would die?"

"Perhaps," he said, coming back over to the couch, "I mean, I remember seeing the show once but it's not such a reliable station."

"More reliable than Sakura Television…" I mused.

"We've been busy?" he suggested and I leaned against him once more. "We have had a lot on our minds lately; it's no small wonder if we've been a bit distracted. Nobody is perfect, Sam, and hey…we finally noticed which means we can do something about it."

I nodded and pulled him towards the bed, "I think we'll deal with this tomorrow…we'll set up cameras at Takada's place while she's at work, and we'll tap into her phone conversations." I smiled as I sat on the edge of the bed, "But right now I think I'd rather take you up on your previous offer…it still hurts."

When I woke up the next morning I was fairly certain I was sorer than when I'd gone to bed, but rough sex tended to do that to the body and I got up slowly. I noticed Light was already up and he was on the computer with the sound off, running past shows of Takada's on the computer and obviously trying to get a feel for her. "Hey…" I said, kissing his cheek. "Learn anything useful?"

He leaned back and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, my hands draped lazily across his chest. "She's extremely confident these past few months, but before then whenever she had to go on the air she was an utter ball of nerves. But her Kira killing predictions have skyrocketed both her ratings and her confidence…but I think her confidence comes from that fact that she's the one killing these people."

"Good…" I said, "Nice work. Now let's go shower and get some food." He followed me to the bathroom and halfway through the shower I was out again and over the toilet. "Make…it…stop…" I said, eyes stinging with tears from vomiting as he held my hair out of the way. "I shivered and turned into his embrace, "I want it to go away…this whole morning sickness thing."

"I know," he said in a hushed voice, rocking me gently. He placed a kiss on my forehead and I eventually stopped shivering. "It'll go away eventually, right? I mean…it doesn't last the whole nine months."

"No…it doesn't. It will go away," I replied and gave a light smile. "It's just the waiting for it to go away that's the annoying part."

He laughed and helped me to stand once more, pulling me back toward the shower as he flushed the toilet. "I'm just glad we've got a hotel standard plumbing system." I rolled my eyes and we headed out of the bathroom twenty minutes later. "Do you think we could visit my mom and Sayu-chan again today?"

"Sure," I said, feeling slightly uneasy mostly because I wasn't sure if I was ready to have that 'family' feeling again. It wasn't something I was accustomed to and I wasn't sure I would ever really feel comfortable with them, and I really wanted to. "Do you want to call first or should we just surprise them?"

"Let's surprise them and head over for lunch." I nodded before leading the way downstairs after we'd gotten dressed. Everyone was, once again, wearing masks and the two Shinigami were down there as well. Matsuda came over to me and handed me an envelope that had the film, camera and pictures of Light and I at the graveyard and I thanked him before sitting in front of my computer. "Sam," I heard from my right and looked at Light, "Who do you want on camera duty?"

"We'll ask Mello and Matt, they will make fast work of it with the least amount of cameras." The others gave us curious looks which I could see through their eyes. They were wearing clown masks, their eyes were visible through the small holes but the rest of their faces were obscured, but there were two small holes beneath the nose and one where the mouth was for the sake of breathing.

I called Matt, trusting that he would tell Mello, and told him about the task and texted him the address to Takada's place and he said he'd do it while he was more awake. I didn't bother saying good-bye or apologizing for waking him, I just hung up and let him get back to sleep. I wasn't a fan of certain people when they didn't get enough sleep, and Matt was one of them, and Mello was another. Matt just got cranky, but Mello was hyper and wouldn't shut up. A third person I didn't like without enough sleep was Light, because it seemed to dull his abilities. Finally I got up and said, "Leon…let's go up and see the doctor…" He nodded and together we made our way up to that floor.

When she opened the door she looked surprised to see us, but our view of her was limited considering the mask over her features. "Ryuuzaki…Leon, I'm glad you came I've been meaning to ask you…" she gestured to the mask, "Is this really necessary?"

"I'm afraid so…it's a matter of your safety; believe me when I say that you must wear it all the time." She led us further into the room and I added, "The reason he and I aren't wearing them is because we have other safety precautions. Kira kills because, when he looks at a person, he can see their name above their heads but he has to be able to see their face. Hence the masks. Leon and I have other protections against this, but they are very difficult to come by." I turned to Light, "I'll have to ask Aihara how his venture went concerning that."

We passed the time with meaningless small talk and I informed her we would be leaving for dinner around six-thirty and, with any luck, we would be able to take off the masks at least for a little while then. She asked if I would come back for more ultrasounds and I told her the next day would be better and she didn't argue. Finally, we were in the car with Mogi and he was driving Light and I to his mother's house once more. Ryuk was keeping an eye on Dellidublly, but I was making sure Aizawa kept an eye on both of them just in case. Near, too, was watching them always from the control rooml.

We pulled up and I told Mogi to come and pick us up around five, that way we would have plenty of time for Light to spend with his family, and he left as we approached the door. I knocked lightly and when the door swung open Mrs. Yagami smiled warmly at us. "Well, isn't this another nice surprise! Come on in, you're just in time for lunch." Of course we were, we'd timed it that way, but I didn't say that. I wondered briefly at her term of 'another' before I found out what she was talking about. Sayu was sitting at the kitchen table and someone else was sitting and chatting with her. The blonde turned her head to view the newcomers and both Light and I froze as her eyes widened and then she screamed at the top of her lungs and threw herself at Light.

A//N

Hmmmmm

I've noticed how much longer Tainted Starlight is getting compared to Twisted Midnight.