Disclaimer: I don't own death note.

Chapter 29

Indebted

It was late at night by the time Yumi had finished her hopeless search through the entire Kanto region of Japan, and she was late for work.

Yumi had a job, of corse she did, she had to pay for food somehow, and her apartment which she no longer owned, had cost something too.

Hunting down death notes didn't pay the bills, and if she didn't then she would have been out on the streets long ago.

She worked for minimum wage at a gas station convenience store.

It was an easy job to maintain, and every few days she would get a day off which she used to find another job to help with bills.

Yumi didn't own a car, so she was walking to work in the middle of the night with her hand in her bag and her silver bracelet jingling against the metal buckle that held the strap to the purse, when she was startled by a noise behind her, she knew what it was, but it still surprised her.

It was the roar of a motorcycle, well several motorcycles, coming from behind her.

She had reached the front entrance of the store by the time the motorcyclists had caught up to her.

"Hey, girlie." said the leader of the group as he cut the engine right next to her.

"How bout having some fun with me tonight?" he asked, Yumi wasn't impressed with his approach, all she really noticed was how much she wanted a motorcycle.

"My name's Takuro Shibuimaru, that's Shibutaku for short. Heh heh... come on girlie, how about it?" he asked, his teeth were huge, Yumi couldn't help but notice.

"I... don't think so..." she said, this guy was asking for it. Yumi knew his type and got ready to fight him off, she did have a gun on her if she needed it, and she'd been practicing her Capoeira over the past two years.

"She doesn't think so, dude!" one of the other men said.

"Aw, come on!" Shibuimaru said.

He grabbed her without waiting for an answer, and held her hands while another gang member tried to undo her pants.

She was about to kick his nose through his brain when she felt it, the red aura of a death note, then another pulsed to life around Shibuimaru.

The grip on her wrists slackened just enough to slip out, she took a wild guess at how he would die and ran across the street.

"Hey, girlie! I got wheels, remember?" he called as Shibuimaru kick started his bike and chased her across the street.

Yumi ran blindly, she could tell what was coming and wanted to clear the street before it happened, she had just reached the other side when there was a loud crash from behind her.

She turned back to see the wreckage of the bike on the street as a large truck drove away.

The red aura was gone.

Dang, Yumi thought as she turned back to the store.

The aura was gone and a crowed had formed so there wasn't much of a chance of her finding the owner, but now she at least knew they were close enough to commute past the store.

She told the owner that she wanted a day off, and because the owner felt sorry for her over the attack he let her have one.

Now I owe them, Yumi thought as she walked down the dark streets, I owe the owner for saving my life.

Dang, how am I going to fix this one?

She followed Sam down a few streets and into an abandoned building, from the front it looked like it should be condemned but the people who were going to knock it down stopped halfway through for a lunch break and lost interest in the job.

Of course this made Yumi nervous about going in, but Sam said it would be fine and Yumi decided it was worth a place to stay for a few days.

Inside looked much better then on the outside, it seemed warm and comfortable and there were several people inside.

Of course these people would have made Yumi feel better if they didn't all have guns. Yumi hesitated in the doorway, unsure of wether or not she should enter. Sam walked right in and motioned for her to follow.

Yumi didn't trust him, and she wasn't sure if these people would hurt her or not, but she followed his lead.

"Who's this, Sam?" one of the larger men asked, he was intimidating, with a nice suit and a stubble beard that lined his cheeks and chin but didn't really cover any of his face, he was bald and quite a bit taller then Yumi.

"Street hacker." Sam answered, he seemed calm but Yumi could tell these men made him nervous. "I think she could help." he finished.

Yumi blinked, she wasn't sure she approved of the term "street hacker" but she didn't mention it.

"You can help us?" the man asked skeptically.

"Um... of course I can..." Yumi knew it was bad to promise her help when she wasn't even sure what they needed help with, but she sensed it would be even worse to not answer at all.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Yumi..." she wasn't sure if giving her name was a good idea, but it wasn't a real name anyway, so it couldn't hurt.

"I'm Rod Ross." he said.

Yumi had heard that name before, but where? It sounded so familiar but she just couldn't recall why.

She hesitated while she thought about it, but then realized it was rude not to answer.

"Nice to–" Rod Ross! The name clicked in at last, and Yumi gulped audibly, this was bad, Rod Ross was a big mafia boss, he was well known but so powerful in the crime world that the police still couldn't take him down.

Who was Sam? If he knew Ross, then that made him either a mafia member or someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was most likely the former.

What had Yumi gotten herself into?!

She took a deep breath and said calmly to the waiting group, "Nice to meet you." she held out her hand and Ross shook it, this was bad.

"So, your gonna help us then?" it seemed like he was asking, but she had no choice.

"I'll do what I can." Yumi said, she just hoped it would be enough to be useful for more then target practice.

"Good, then welcome aboard." Ross said, it sounded ominous to Yumi, but it could have been the situation.

______________________________________________________________________________

author's note:sorry this one's short, I think it was a good idea to bring up the same mafia that Mello winds up in. And that guy, Sam, is the guy who gets blown up in the helicopter later, Sam is an alias that he changes for one reason or another during the gap. I just felt like using him for this. Thanks for reading and reviewing!