It was hot—too hot. Part of him knew that this wasn't real, but the other part of him was floating somewhere off in an endless expanse of blue.

He couldn't quite figure out who he was supposed to be in this dream. It was…muddled. He was in more than one place at once, and watching each place at the same time. He hated dreams. Control did not exist within them. He could only be dragged from one place to the next, always falling, always drifting.

He could feel her shoulder under his hand—which one? Whose shoulder? One moment, he was sitting on the edge of the fountain, her pale hair pooling over his legs as she leaned in close to him, his hand slipping off the side and into the water as she pressed her cool lips to his. The next moment he was laying on a hard bed, eyes opening to see the other her standing on the balcony with her raven hair freed from its usual headdress, stirring in a rare evening breeze, her side of the bed cold, as though she hadn't been laying there for very long.

He was standing with her on the balcony, wrapping his hands around her waist from behind, and she put her hands on top of his and whispered to him:

"Do you miss her?"

He was already in that dark room with the other her, her body pressed against his and her hair twined into his hand.

"Of course I do."

She was something different, then, her body smooth and metallic under his hands, her blue eyes looking up at him with fear as her wings folded up tightly behind her, as though she could hide them. Her eyes had pupils like a snake's and he could see her fangs in her mouth as she covered it up with one hand, tears squeezing out of her eyes, horrified at losing control of herself, of changing in front of him.

"Are you afraid of me?"

Her hand twined into his as though it was meant to be there, talons and all—he could not remember such an intense sense of…of belonging, ever before in his life. It was as if she were part of him, a piece he had been missing of himself, or perhaps he was a piece missing from her.

"Never. I could never be afraid of you."

He dropped his head into her dark hair, the cool desert night curling around them. He felt her hips settled back against his, her head lean back into the crook of his neck and shoulder.

"She was a part of me in a strange way that I can't explain."

She breathed out, curling her hands around his, holding them against her waist.

"I think…I can,"she whispered.

And the dream twisted.

The world became a whirlwind of words and images and blurs all spinning around him. He didn't know who was saying what, or what was going on. Was he speaking? Were they? What were his dreams trying to tell him?

"You wouldn't love me if you knew what I was."

"I don't think Duos was ever your ka."

"I wish I could tell you."

"No, that's not right. Duos is my ka—that's the only monster I could summon without a diadhank."

"I wish I could tell you everything. This stain won't leave me."

"The ka of others can be summoned without a channel if their original holder gives the spirit up to another."

"I don't understand what you're saying—what stain?"

"What are you saying?"

"It hurts—it's like a disease spreading through me, through my soul. I can't stop it. It's Death."

"I'm saying Duos wasn't your ka."

"It's trying to make me forget you. It's trying to make

"Duos was your mother's ka. She left it to you to protect you. I found out a few weeks ago when I was looking at the tablets—Duos was never your ka."

"I'll never, ever forget you. And you won't forget me either. I won't let that happen."

"If Duos wasn't my ka—"

"No, please, you can't. You can't take this on yourself."

"Think about it…who did you meet…who wasn't human…that made you feel as though you were missing pieces of each other."

"If it's to save you, I'll do anything. I'll even take on Death."

"You're saying that—"

"Please, no, I can't live with myself if you're hurt because of me—!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Duos wasn't your ka…"

"Kisara was."

Seto gasped, the air filling his lungs so rapidly that he felt he was getting punched down the throat. He heard a gasp, a tangle of limbs and fabric scrambling to their feet.

"Seto, breathe, it's okay, I'm here. I'm here."

Her hand—on his chest, rubbing in soft, gentle circles. She felt warm. For a moment, Seto couldn't remember whose hand it was—he reached for it anyway, untangling his arm from the covers and pressing it on top of hers, just so he could feel something solid. After a few deep breaths, he managed to roll his head across the pillow. There were things dancing around his head, dizzy things, things he couldn't put into words. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't get his tongue to move.

"Sh, sh, it's okay," Ishizu said. "It's all right."

She leaned over him, her hair in curtains around her face. He frowned, squinting. Was he imagining it, or were those tears in the corners of her eyes? He reached up with his other hand to try and brush them away briefly, and she blinked with surprise.

He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his brain. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, his tongue finally responded.

"Ishizu," he mumbled. "You…all right?"

Ishizu actually laughed, and she brought her other hand up to the one that he still had hovering by her face, pressing it to her cheek.

"I'm better now that you're awake," she said.

Seto actually felt a half smile growing sleepily at the edge of his lips. Her cheek was warm under his hand, and he felt a single tear dribble down over his fingers.

"I'm…sorry for snapping at you," he mumbled. "I was trying to apologize…before."

Ishizu laughed, more tears rolling out of her eyes.

"You, apologize?" she teased. "But no, Seto…it's all right. I'm the one that should be apologizing…I overstepped…"

He shook his head. He had to close his eyes when she shifted her head and the light broke past her hair—it was too bright.

"We can both fucking apologize then," he said. "I don't give a damn."

Her chuckle was enough to bring a sarcastic smile to his face.

"Glad to see you're back to yourself right away."

"When am I ever not myself?"

He opened his eyes again to find her shifting down onto her knees beside the bed, so that she could be sitting closer to him. He ran his thumb over her cheek as his smile faded, his thoughts turning to other things.

"That girl…Mariko…"

"She's alive," Ishizu said, her fingers tracing his knuckles against her face. "I got there in time."

He twisted his head on the pillow to try and see her better, frowning.

"How did you know…to come?"

Ishizu's eyes dropped to the floor, their blue depths going out of focus. Her lips parted and her face seemed to grow…distant. As though she were somewhere else.

"I don't…quite know what happened," she whispered. "But I…I heard her, Seto. I heard Kisara, in my head. She told me that…that you needed me."

Seto felt his heart catch in his throat, the thrumming drilling up into his head. Kisara. His dreams haunted him once again, swirling and twisting around his brain. He groaned.

"Seto? Seto what's wrong?"

Ishizu leaned forward, her hair washing against his face, eyes wide with nerves. He tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"I'm fine," he said. "I promise. Don't make that face."

"I'm not making any face," Ishizu said.

She was definitely making a face—the "you'd better not fucking die on me" face—but he was too tired to call her out on it. Besides he thought…he thought he had something more important to say. He swallowed thickly, trying to get his tongue to form the words.

"Listen, Ishizu," he said. "I don't know why I can't summon—but I know who my ka is."

"Considering you said 'who' I think I can guess…it's Kisara, isn't it? The Blue Eyes White Dragon."

He snorted.

"It's obvious in hindsight, isn't it?" he said.

"It does explain a few things."

She actually laughed a little, but the tensity in her tone made him think that she realized he wasn't done talking.

"I had a dream," he said. "I remembered—something. A conversation I think I had with her."

Ishizu tilted her head, waiting. His hand was still pressed against her face, and he didn't try to move it. The sensation was…comforting. Somehow grounding.

"She said something about… 'becoming Death'," he said. "There was a stain that she couldn't get rid of…it was spreading through her. Killing her."

Ishizu sucked in a breath.

"Death magic," she said. "Yugi said that Kisara might have been involved in the first Death War somehow, didn't he?"

Seto nodded, feeling his chest tighten up.

"But somehow, I think I may have done something to save her," he said. "Or someone else did…I don't know. What's important is that…"

He shook his head again, trying to clear it, feeling as though he were wading through molasses. A rush of irritation overtook him—why couldn't he get a hold of himself?

"I think Kisara knows—I think she knows something about the Shinigami. Becoming Death—the way she said it—"

"You think she might have answers," Ishizu whispered.

Seto stared up at the ceiling. He nodded after a beat.

"I think she might be the piece we need to end all this," he whispered.

He closed his eyes.

"And I can't summon her."

. . .

She looked kind of drunk, almost, Light thought as he sat back in his chair.

Amane Misa smiled back at him, her gaze not quite on him somehow. She was certainly a brighter thing than he had first given her credit for, that was for sure—she had found him without much trouble, without drawing any attention to herself. He at the very least, had to give her that.

Why did she feel so wrong to him, though?

Maybe it was just nerves, as much as he didn't want to admit it. He had enough on his plate for one day, what with Bakura fucking up the task force and letting them in on the little secret of the supernatural aspect of the case, the threat of this new person "Yugi" potentially being able to notice that Light was Kira, this new girl showing up on his doorstep, and of course, the Shinigami behind Misa, which seemed to be glaring at him. At least Bakura had left as soon as she had showed up at his house.

"So how about showing me your Shinigami?" she piped up, folding her hands in her lap.

Oh, right…she couldn't see Ryuk's stupid face yet. Wasn't like she was missing out on anything.

"Yeah sure," he said, rising from his seat. "Turn around for a minute, will you?"

Without even a pipe of complaint, she spun her chair around, that same stupid smile on her face. He found himself shuddering for no reason—what was wrong with him? Why did she feel so…off? He felt like she was the kind of person that if he turned around, he wouldn't be able to remember she was there. Like she could disappear or something, sneak up on him without being noticed or sensed.

He reached into his wallet to retrieve the tiny piece of Death Note he kept there. He tapped the page briefly to the tip of her fingers hanging off the side of the chair and replaced the page in his wallet.

"All right, you can turn around…"

She popped the chair back around, making it spin almost a little too far like an excited child. She had to catch herself quickly, though, and briefly her head lolled back, eyes unfocusing like she was getting really dizzy. After a beat, she returned to herself and focused her gaze on Ryuk.

"Oh wow! You look a lot different from Rem," she said. "Nice to meet you!"

"Same," Ryuk said in that lazy tone of his.

Light started to open his mouth in order to ask another question of Misa, but suddenly her eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together.

"Oh! That reminds me! Do you know how to kill a Shinigami?"

Light felt like he had just gotten punched in the gut. For a moment, words wouldn't respond to him—he felt ridiculous, and anger rose up in his chest. He was so tired, all of his carefully laid plans and plots being unraveled at the touch of a button. Even this girl kept throwing him for a loop!

"Is that possible?" he said, forcing his words to remain steady.

"Yeah! Rem told me," she said. "I think, basically, what you have to do is make them fall in love with a human."

He rose one eyebrow.

"And how do you do that?"

She hummed, lacing her fingers under her chin and looking up into the middle distance.

"Well, I guess there's a few more steps to it than that," she said. "See, you have to get a Shinigami to kill someone in order to extend another human's life. Like! If someone's going to get stabbed, and in order to save them, they write the name of the guy with the knife down to save the victim."

Light frowned, eyes narrowing. He leaned back on to his hands against his bed. The original irritation was gone, replaced only by a faint intrigue.

"Interesting," he said. "Why does that cause their deaths? They're still gaining the life from the one they killed, aren't they?"

The Shinigami called Rem rumbled softly, and Light's eyes flicked to them. Was the Shinigami really glaring at him, or was it just the way their face looked, the way that Ryuk was always grinning no matter what? He felt a tingle run over his arms, like he was about to get his throat ripped out.

"It's because, human," the Shinigami said in a hoarse, sandpaper voice, "we are meant to take lives. Not extend them. To protect a human is to give what remains of your life to that human instead. It's against our very nature."

"Shinigami take lives, not protect them," Light repeated.

Why did something about that spark a memory in him? Was it something that had been said during the task force meeting today? L had explained a lot of things about the other dimensions and magic, and had mentioned something that Light remembered from Bakura—ka summoning.

"Ka creatures are meant to protect," was what he remembered hearing.

"Shinigami take lives…and ka protect them…" he thought aloud, in an undertone. What does that mean, I wonder?

Misa's eyes lit up suddenly.

"Ka? You already know about ka, too?"

His gaze flashed down to Misa, his heart jumped. She even knew about that?

"Of course," he said, shrugging. "What do you know about it?"

"I have one!" she said, eyes bright. "Do you want to meet her? I can call her to me right now for you if you'd like."

She already knows how to summon?

"I would appreciate that," he said, giving her a bland smile.

Misa jumped to her feet, clapping her hands again.

"Enyo? Are you here? Light wants to meet you!"

Already on a first name basis, are we…?

This day really couldn't get any better, could it? Misa waited for a few moments, looking up towards the ceiling. She looked dizzy again, and he saw her legs buckle slightly. He stood up to support her waist, guiding her back into the chair.

Then the woman appeared, sliding through the wall like Bakura.

She was tall, much taller than light, with a thin, bony face painted in a pale make-up white like a geisha. A huge, flowing red kimono swirled around her body and obscured the shape of her body, only her pale hands visible at the very tips of her voluminous sleeves. The headdress she wore looked as though it had to be at least twenty pounds of gold and dangling bits, pulling her dark hair into an intricate pile atop her head—the light made the black look red in places, as though her hair were stained with the remnants of blood.

She looks more like a god of death than the Shinigami do, Light though, noting the scythe carved with skulls heads that rested in one of her palms.

She smiled widely, red lips pulling across her face.

"My dearest Misa, you called?" she said, her voice a strange combination of a Japanese accent and something else, Russian, perhaps.

Misa jumped in her seat, quickly looking over her shoulder.

"Oh, there you are! I didn't hear you come in! Enyo-chan, this is Light! Light, this is Enyo!"

The woman's red eyes slid over to Light, and once again Light felt an unnatural chill. Was this the reason he had felt like something was wrong about Misa? Because this was what her soul creature looked like? He almost wasn't surprised a girl with this in her soul had become a second Kira.

"So you've already learned to summon your ka?" Light said, fascinated in spite of himself. Besides L's magician with the ridiculous hat and those jokes L called the Madolche, he had yet to meet a ka creature in person. She radiated a sort of presence that made L's hair stand on end—this was certainly a creature with power.

"I guess so," Misa said. "Enyo found me first, though."

Light blinked once, trying not to let his face show any emotion. Enyo had found Misa? If he believed what Yugi and L had explained earlier, not to mention Bakura's somewhat unhelpful instruction, it was a process of deep meditation and understanding of oneself before you could even get a hint of your ka. They didn't just…show up on their own. But perhaps he didn't know enough yet…he could certainly believe that this ominous woman was Misa's ka.

Enyo swept over to Misa's side, her robes swooshing silkily.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Enyo said, her voice a purr. "Dearest Misa has been so desperate to find you…I'm so happy that you've finally been united."

Light only inclined his head, leaning forward on his hands. The woman made him…uncomfortable, he realized. He couldn't control her. And, if Misa did have a ka, it would make getting rid of her later all the more difficult.

His gaze flickered in response to a small movement, and he let himself glance in Rem's direction.

The shinigami seemed to…shift a little bit towards Enyo. Or no. No, wait, Rem was…moving behind Misa, putting their hands on the chair behind her, one eye trained on Enyo.

That's a protective sort of motion, Light thought. As though Rem doesn't want Enyo anywhere near Misa. Why is that?

He couldn't pursue that train of thought because Misa slid forward in her seat to grab Light's hands, pigtails bouncing around her face.

"I'm so glad everyone's meeting each other now," Misa said, smiling. "Does that mean you'll use me, Light? I want to be helpful!"

Light put on his best smile, curling his hands around Misa's.

"Of course," he said. "You've already been so helpful. I'm glad you're here."

She was easy to manipulate, he thought, seeing her entire face light up and her eyes sparkle with happiness.

"Okay!" she said with a laugh. "Well then here's my one condition!"

Light's jaw clenched. What now? Where did she get off thinking she got to make conditions at this point? He had both Death Notes now—if she crossed him, he could just kill her. In fact, he had enough death magic on him now to probably make her die right now if he wanted. Did she know about the death magic? That was another thing he needed to know.

"Now that we're together, I want at least one date a week," Misa said.

Was she delusional? Did he have to explain everything to her? He tried to smile, squeezing her hands softly.

"Misa, listen. We have to be careful about this. I don't know if you've realized, but I'm already a suspect for Kira."

Misa's eyes widened and her mouth dropped into an 'o.'

"L is that good?" she whispered.

"Unfortunately." He winced softly. This was all getting too annoying. "But in exchange for that, I have a chance to be close to L—which means potentially a chance for you to see him and get his name."

"But…" Misa said, waiting for Light to keep talking.

"If I suddenly start hanging out with you, right after the Kira tapes sent to the news saying that you've 'found Kira'…that will get suspicious."

Misa's eyes actually watered up, and she leaned forward, pressing her hands harder into Light's.

"Then you mean…you don't want to be seen with me?"

"That's not it…listen." He sighed, lifting one hand away to rub his temple. "I do need to keep seeing you occasionally for this to work."

"Yay!" she said, throwing her hands in the air. God, she was like a child.

"But in order for that not to stand out, I'll have to spend time with other girls as well," Light said.

Misa's arms froze midair. Slowly, slowly, she brought them down back to her lap—he could see her knuckles going white, shaking in her lap.

"No," she said.

"Misa—"

"I won't let you go around with other girls," she said, eyes flashing. "If I see that, I'll kill them."

Light could have sworn Enyo laughed, but it was hidden in the swoosh of her sleeve as she turned her scythe up as though to inspect it.

"I thought you said you'd do what I say," Light said.

"You with other girls is different!"

Light stood up to take her shoulders—again he felt that sudden jolt in his head. Like something was wrong. It was the surreal feeling one got in a dream, when you saw something that didn't belong where it did, like a fish on a train, but your brain in the dream didn't quite realize that it wasn't supposed to be there. Trapping you in a place between understanding that it was wrong and accepting it was there.

"Listen, Misa-chan," he said, trying to sound soothing. "We have to do this for the greater good, don't we? We're trying to make the world a better place."

Misa shuddered softly under his touch, her eyes briefly half-closing. She put her hands on top of his.

"But Light is more important to me than the rest of the world," she said.

Light's hands tightened around her shoulders. He tried to swallow the knot of anger in his throat, but he was at the end of his limit. The words were tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"I have both Death Notes now," he said through a half clenched jaw. "I could kill you right now if you won't do what I say."

As soon as the words were gone, he realized that he may have made a mistake—her ka was right there. It could respond badly if he threatened its human partner. He almost expected to see a scythe at his neck in a second.

But it wasn't Enyo that reacted.

It was Rem.

"I will not let you do that, Yagami Light," Rem's scratchy voice rumbled. He could actually hear the anger that rolled under the surface of that thick voice.

Both his and Misa's eyes snapped up to the otherwise impassive shinigami face.

"If you kill this girl, I will write your name in my Death Note and kill you."

Light could barely figure out how to respond. Enyo just stood there, a white, teeth-bared smiled on her face, eyes wide as though this were the funniest thing she had ever seen. Rem didn't break Light's gaze. The single visible orange eye leered out at him. He felt that same, wrong chill run down his back, looking into Rem's eye.

"I know her lifespan," Rem said. "If she dies before that time is up, I'll know you did it. If I see you try to do it, I'll kill you before you can."

Light swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. He ran his tongue over his lips briefly.

"That would kill you," he said, trying to keep his voice even. "Misa just explained that."

Rem didn't respond, didn't drop their gaze. It was almost as though they were saying "does it look like I give two fucks?"

Light wasn't sure how long the stare down was going to last.

"Liiiight," his mother called up the stairs, causing him to jump and swear in spite of himself. "The trains are going to stop running soon; shouldn't you walk your friend to the station?"

Fuck, was it that late already?

"Right," he called back, trying to get his voice under control. "We'll be down in a second."

He flicked his eyes back to Misa, to those bright eyes still staring at him with the same obsessive spark of love as ever—as though he hadn't just threatened to kill her. She didn't even look scared, she just smiled at him. Of course, why would she have to be scared? Her shinigami had just said that they would protect her from everything.

Light's eyes dragged back up to Rem's. Their yellow eye didn't even blink.

Ka protect and shinigami destroy, he thought. You are breaking the rules, Rem.

. . .

As though he needed more problems to deal with tonight, Bakura was sitting crosslegged on his bed when Light returned to his room.

"And what do you want?" Light said, trying to keep the snap out of his tone. He was so close—so close to breaking. Nothing was going according to plan.

Bakura just laughed.

"What? I've been here the whole time."

"You've—what?"

"You asked me before I could just 'disappear, like Ryuk, or something'," Bakura said with a grin. "So I did. You're welcome."

Light ground his teeth—so Bakura could just disappear from his own sight as well? He didn't like that…did he know where his Death Note was hidden, then? Had he been watching when Light put it back into its hiding place? If so…how was he still alive? He still couldn't believe he hadn't just been stabbed in his sleep.

Why haven't you just taken it from me? He thought.

"And?" he said, raising an eyebrow. He spun his chair towards him and settled heavily into it. "Did you find it interesting?"

Bakura hummed softly.

"A little," he said.

His eyes narrowed to slits, a smile growing over his face as though he had just bit into something incredibly delicious.

"She was fascinating, wasn't she?" Bakura said. "Your new little bitch."

Light blinked with surprise, his arm sliding off the side of his chair.

"Excuse me?"

He didn't seem the type to be attracted to people's appearances, if his reactions to Light's porn magazines were any indicator. He sincerely doubted this reaction to Misa was anything attraction-related. But then…why?

"You like blondes, then?" he said, sarcastic.

Bakura laughed.

"No, no. Humans don't hold any interest for me."

He grinned, his eyes going out of focus.

"But you know…I never got to see what happened to shadow-less humans after I started that war…she looks so sick and weak doesn't she? It's beautiful."

Shadow-less humans? What did that mean?

But after that, Bakura just chuckled, and disappeared from sight. Leaving Light to wonder if he was truly gone or not.

. . .

A/N: hey there~~~~~ so this story is kind of slowing down a bit? I think all the action scenes I've been doing have worn me out haha XD anyway, I'm sure it's about to pick up again soon so don't worry! At least I got this chapter out at a semi reasonable pace~! If all things run smoothly, I should see you next Wednesday (although, I wouldn't hold your breath ^^; sorry I'm such a flake haha). Hope you all have a great day!