XXXVI – Let's Make a Deal

"Alright, let's start with the tip line reports," the chief of the National Police opened the topic of their meeting.

"Yes, sir!" someone immediately stood up. "Up to this point, we've received 3029 responses about the murders via telephone or e-mail. Most of these had been curious citizens or prank calls, but there are fourteen people who claim to either know Kira, or who have seen him. All fourteen accounts were followed up then and carefully documented; however, nobody could provide any information that wasn't already publicly available. And lastly, this week there were an additional twenty-one people who called in claiming to be Kira," one of the attendants of the meeting summarized as he kept his eyes on the numbers printed before him. He spoke loudly and clearly, trying to be as objective as possible, but he couldn't completely hold back a small sigh towards the end. In his mind, it made no sense for people to claim being a mass murderer wanted in every country across the globe. It was simply irrational!

Yagami cough in his fist. Aizawa, the one who was summarizing the report, continued. "We didn't want to rule anything out, so we followed the standard procedure and traded files for all twenty-one of them." As he listened, Yagami felt the same way. Obviously, Kira was not going to simply surrender. It was clear by then for everyone that their criminal or group of criminals had a target to reach before considering the option of surrendering themselves to the police.

"Uh-huh…" the chief nodded shortly. "Alright, onto the victim reports."

"Yes, sir!" another stood up as Aizawa immediately took his seat. "Upon further investigation, we have confirmed that information on the heart-attack victim was in fact publicly available in Japan immediately prior to their deaths." The man glanced towards the laptop set on a table in the back of the room. "Also, concerning L's request that we investigate the time of death for each victim, we found that most of them occurred between the hours of 4 pm. and 2 am. on the week days, local time, with 68% occurring between 8 pm. and 12 am. Weekends and holidays appear to be the exception of this rule, as the times of death vary much more widely than during the week. Also, during the past week, the times of death appear to be scattered around between random hours, varying between 8 am. and 3 am., sometimes 4 am. Yesterday, the times of death began to resemble the patterns observed during the weekends, but with a delay from the usual start a little over 8 am. to an unusual 11 a.m. start."

'That information is extremely relevant for us,' the robotic voice of L said through the speakers of the laptop. 'I'd suggest that, given the times of death, our suspect could very well be a student.' The assumption immediately drew Yagami's attention. 'Based on the fact that Kira's only killing criminals, I think it's safe to assume that he's driven by a very idealistic notion of justice. It's highly possible he may even be inspired to be some sort of god figure. Could even be an individual with a very challenged sense of right and wrong. Of course, this is merely speculation at this point, but still I recommend you re-examine any assumptions you've made as to whether or not our suspect could be a student. We must consider every possibility – only that is the short switch to finding and arresting Kira. Please, continue with your report.'

The chief suddenly found himself the center of attention again as he shook off the worry from his mind. "Uh, right. Does anyone else have something they'd like to add?"

One of the youngest policemen raised his hand with doubt. "Uh, yes, sir…!"

"What is it, Matsuda?" the chief asked him, sounding more like an annoyed teacher for a moment.

"Um…" he began, standing up, "Well, I'm not saying this as to support Kira, or to confirm the murders, but…" Matsuda lowered his eyes. "In the last few days, throughout the world, but especially here, in Japan, we've observed a dramatic decrease in the number of violent crimes committed." The moment he was done, everyone around him began whispering and murmuring, all frowning at each other.

"Well, I suppose it makes sense," Yagami tried to overcome the tensioned moment, "We've suspected something like that would happen. Anything else?"

Matsuda sat down. "No…"

"Well, that about sums up our report for today," the chief said with a sigh. "L?"

'Thank you, everyone. I feel we are one step closer to finding Kira. Before I go, I'm afraid I have one additional request to make,' L addressed the policemen through the speakers. 'This is directed to the teams investigating the victims, TV news and the internet. I would like you to go back and take a close look at the exact way in which the victims' identities were made public. Be as thorough as possible. In particular, I want to know if the photos of the victims were made available to the public in Japan. I'll leave it to you.'

In the meantime, someone was knocking hard on the chief's door. The doorbell was ringing constantly in a very annoying way. Caterina and Light were just beginning to plan their moves in order for Caterina to take over the family fortune in secret and without drawing much attention. As usual, Sayu ran to answer the door.

"Coming, coming! Just a moment!" she called as the bell kept ringing. When she eventually reached the door, two men in black suits and with ridiculously dark sunglasses stepped inside.

"We had been sent to escort miss Amadeo," one of them spoke firmly, nearly knocking Sayu off her feet.

"Hey! Wait up! Who are you? Who sent you?" the girl began calling.

Ryuk drew the teenagers' attention. 'That's interesting… Two escorts! Do you really need them?'

"What escorts?" Light eyed her suspiciously. "I don't want my father's name stained."

Caterina fumed. "Don't give me that look! I didn't call them!" Annoyed, she stood up from the chair at his desk and left Light to hide the notebook. Caterina walked out of the room and looked down. "Enough of this. I left clear instructions not to be followed. What does this even mean?"

The two stood at the end of the stairs, straight and still like statues. "We had been sent by Mr. Ooi to escort-"

Caterina rolled her eyes. "I already figured that. A phone call would have done it in a way that doesn't scare the life out of people. Can't I visit someone for more than an hour? Get out! Wait for me at the door. Move it!"

The two seemed to be looking at each other. Eventually, they obeyed, but only after giving her a time limit. "Five minutes, miss."

"This is ridiculous," she mumbled. Sighing, she returned into Light's room and gathered her phone and her gun. "What do we do now?"

Light was still eyeing her strangely. "I will manage the police and you, your tutor's gorillas. I don't want scenes like this one ever happening again in my house. My father is the chief of the National Police Force - I can't afford the risk!"

Caterina nodded. "Alright, I get it! Well, if it bothers you so much, you can always try to pretend we never even met. Hopefully, my father's enemies will forget about your existence as well, Kira."

"Are you threatening me?!" Kira asked through his teeth, aware they could be easily overheard.

"Not me, sweetheart. Them." Just as she was about to leave, Light caught her wrist.

"You will keep quiet about me," he demanded.

"Here's your new deadline. Make up your mind by midnight. I already said I'm with you, but this can't work if it's one-sided. I need help too, dear. For a wannabe genius, you're acting like an idiot. Get the hell out of my way before they drag me out like a convict!" Pushing him away, Caterina made her way down the stairs in a rush and threw Sayu a smile.

"…Who are you?" the girl fearfully asked.

"Don't worry, you've got nothing to fear. My tutor is a bit… overprotective," she tried to reassure her as she put her shoes on and grabbed her coat. "I will take care of this, alright? Bye!"

Confused and still a little scared, Sayu looked towards Light. Her brother was leaning against the frame of his door. "What was that just now?"

Sighing deeply, Light frowned. "I wish I knew. Don't tell father about this yet, I need to get the details first."

"So you want me to cover her up?! The last time you tried that you nearly died. Hell no!"

"Watch it," Light warned her. "He won't be too happy to hear you talking like that. Leave the matter to me. I'll handle it better than you."

"Light?" their mother called. "Aren't you and your girlfriend hungry?"

"She left already, mom!" Sayu called back. "You owe me for this one," she whispered towards Light.

"Math again?" he raised an eyebrow, well aware of his sister's very basic level of understanding anything involving numbers.

Looking away, she eventually nodded. "…I have another test next week. I did what you said and I think I kind of get it… a little. Well, I tried! For real, this time! But I'm not sure, you know?"

Meanwhile, Caterina was sitting in the back of the car, glaring at the bodyguards and refusing to answer her phone. Eventually, one of them answered his, talking to the secretary.

"She wants to speak with you," the man addressed her.

"No," came the short answer.

"She refused." The man sighed as he listened to the secretary. He looked at Caterina over his shoulder, but she kept glaring. "Don't make this hard on all of us. Answer her questions."

"No," the teenager repeated for the tenth time during the short drive. "No! Whatever she asks, the answer is no." Annoyed, she spun her pointer around.

Sighing, the bodyguard shook his head and turned to look ahead. "What are we gonna tell him when we get back?" he asked the driver.

His colleague seemed to have no emotional response. "Exactly what happened." He seemed confident there will be no negative consequences.

"What about the house?" the bodyguard in the passenger seat asked again.

"The usual," the other replied on the same flat tone.

Caterina leaned forward and leaned with her elbows over the shoulders of the driver's seat. "Are you dead, or nuts?"

The driver took a sudden turn, trying to make her lose balance. "Off," he commanded.

Suddenly, Caterina had her hands around the man's neck. "No. What are you going to do about it? Mm…?" she hummed.

"I apologize, I can't allow this to go any further," the other bodyguard said as he pressed a nerve on the girl's wrist, numbing her hand and her arm up to the elbow. "Please."

Sighing, Caterina seemed to draw back. She unwrapped her fingers from the driver's neck, only to snap back at the second bodyguard and almost stabbing his hand with the knife she had on her. Its blade was shorter than her fingers, but looked sharp enough to cause some damage.

Acting almost instinctively, the bodyguard caught her fist and stopped her. Shocked, he looked at the teenager with wide, brown eyes.

Pouting, Caterina eventually leaned back into her seat. "You can let go now."

"Same here," the man said. He was trying to take her knife away from her.

"I have a gun, anyway. May it stab you in your side."

The driver parked in the back of the hotel. "I don't get paid enough for this bullshit, I swear…" he growled under his breath as he stopped the engine and took off.

"You can always quit; you know?" Caterina suggested. "Go on a vacation, move someplace exotic, get with a woman of a different race, maybe get a smoke… Just to relax, if you know what I mean."

The other bodyguard sighed as he took off as well and opened the door of the car for her. "May I suggest not to-?"

"No," Carterina repeated the only answer she seemed to had programmed into her mind that evening. Her mouth was smiling brighter than her mother used to, but her eyes were glaring flaming arrows. "Last time I checked, you were paid to ensure I'm safe, not to suggest anything. So…" She pretended to be zipping his lips, throwing away the imaginary key. "Shall we? The devil forbid we let this wannabe emperor wait for too long."

After they looked at each other – the driver just about to burst with anger and his partner obviously overwhelmed by the situation – the three of them eventually walked inside the building. Caterina walked proudly, but she was very aware of her situation.

Declaring war against her legal tutor now was unnecessary and more to her disadvantage rather than his. Although very offended by his radical action, she kept thinking of a way in which she could reach a compromise. The Italian was stressed mostly because she had never met the man before her father's death – naturally, negotiating sensitive matters with a suspicious stranger was not her favorite way to pass some time.

Once the trio reached a certain door, looking just like every other on the corridor, the bodyguards stopped and took their place on each side of the door. Caterina stopped as well, for a moment. "What? Are you guard dogs or something?"

The younger bodyguard sighed and knocked on the door for her. He opened it and invited her in without a word and without looking inside.

Rolling her eyes, Caterina stepped inside confidently. She saw Mr. Ooi for the first time in person, standing by a tall window and smoking a cigar. His bald head reminded her of a giant egg, but it seemed to fit his even more gigantic body. The Italian guessed she would probably feel like a five year old if she dared approach him.

"Where were you last night?" he asked on a calm, even tone.

Caterina couldn't tell if he was really interested or if he was trying to reach a different topic. "At a friend. What was that ridiculous force demonstration this morning?"

"I ask, you answer," he quickly clarified. "Your father mentioned that several months ago. Your friend is the son of the National Police Chief, that Yagami. He was against this relationship of yours and I am, too. Do you know why?"

She frowned. Since when her father so open about her love life? "My father kept to himself. I doubt he discussed my problems with you, sir."

"So you don't. First, he is from the lower social class of people who will eventually need to get a job, work for us, on what salary we pay them so they can give us the money back every time they pay their bills. Take it from men who saw it happen – he wants your father's fortune. That includes at least the money, but he may be after the notoriety, the businesses and the connections as well."

With an indifferent little smirk, she shrugged. "So? He's got the brain to make it double."

The man uncrossed his arms from his chest and shrugged. "It will leave you in the same posture of Anastasia." Before she could protest, Ooi continued. "You will lose all trust from your father's partners if word gets out you're dating the son of the most despised policeman in the country. He can't get rid of that title, even if you two were to marry."

After a moment, Caterina nodded. "He can always swear loyalty. If he kisses the ring of one of Padre's closest associates, he can stand a chance."

"No one will accept him around," Ooi assured her. "The Chinese man is already seen as a joke, but not even he would accept your friend."

Caterina sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why? Do you think he's weak? Do you take him for the typical nerd, following rules and conventions like his hero does? Do you think he's some sort of angel, fallen off the wall of some church?"

"He cannot be trusted. Remember this – that young man is only using you. All men do, women too occasionally. Take the advice and end your little game while you can." The man put out his cigar and looked at her through his glasses. His small eyes were waiting to see a change in Caterina, but she only chuckled.

"...You don't know me. He could be the devil – I would still follow him. He's exciting, always surprising – he's the only guy I can't read. His mind is sharp like a newly cut diamond. His blood burns with passion, with that cocktail of ambition, recklessness, and a dose of madness." Caterina raised his eyebrows and smirked. "He's the closest to how I've always imagined Padre at our age."

Frowning, Ooi interrupted her. "What is this goal he is so determined to reach?"

"His own empire – my man wants to rule the world and change it by his vision," she quickly answered. "I didn't question Padre for his methods and I won't question him. I don't care if he is evil as long as he's good to me. He is free to step over whoever he wants, as long as we share the throne."

Ooi threw her a faint, ironic smile. "You will both go down in flames. If it's the devil you want so badly, you have my permission… but you won't waste the fortune on this teenage rebellion of yours."

Caterina grinned. "Seriously? Well, then…" she shrugged. "I am taking my accounts and moving on my own. Mr. Ooi, I'd say it was a pleasure, but I'm rather disappointed. Please, enjoy your last months."

The man gritted his teeth. "Don't you dare threaten me…"

Caterina waved her hand playfully. "Perhaps it would be a good idea to see a cardiologist. Bye-bye now!" Turning around, she walked out with her hands forward, pushing the door open and nearly hitting one of the bodyguards with it. She went straight to her room and began packing the few things she had left.

By the time she was done, so were Light and Sayu with her homework. Ryuk was bored out of his mind, laying in Light's bed and holding his head with one hand. Light threw him a short glance before and he immediately remembered all of those jokes in the online social media, the ones labeled 'Paint me like one of your French girls'. He hid his laughter with a sneeze, turning away from Sayu for a moment.

"Bless you!" she immediately said.

"Thanks… So, do you think you're ready to try a few on your own now?" he asked, trying to get her focus back. His little sister was usually easily distracted, which was most probably why she didn't get math in class.

"I guess so…" But before she even had the time to pick up a pen, the doorbell rang and Sayu jumped up from the chair as if it was on fire. "Sounds like dad's home! He's home really early today!" she giggled, running off.

"Hey…!" Light could only watch her as she left. "Why don't you at least try the last problem by yourself?"

"I will, but…" she smiled over her shoulder, "Maybe after dinner!"

Light sighed as he heard his sister already downstairs. "Yeah, right!" It wasn't the first time he heard that excuse and it probably won't be the last. They both knew Sayu will play too tired to study after dinner. Somehow, she was never too tired to sit on the phone with her girl friends for hours or watch some of her drama series.

As soon as Sayu was out of the room, Ryuk sat up. 'Helping your sister with her homework? You sure are relaxed…'

In return, Light smiled. "Of course. If the police tried to come after me, I'm pretty confident I have something that will give me the advantage. Besides, it's good to know my sister won't say something uncomfortable that would ruin our dinner." Stepping out of his room, he greeted his father as the man was taking off his shoes. "Hey, glad you could join us for dinner. Are you hungry, dad?"

"Yea… It's been a long day," the man answered on a tired voice. He followed his son to the table, feeling just how tired he really was only when he sat down. After a few moments of silence, he decided to use the opportunity and catch up a little. "So, Light, how are your studies going?"

"Everything's okay, I guess," Light answered, trying to look tired.

Sayu was quite energetic, on the other hand. "Whatever! He's the top of his class! My big brother's a genius," she hurried up and spoiled him in front of their parents. Of course she would. It was to her advantage to keep her 'genius big brother' on her side.

Light knew. He only believed his mother when she claimed she was proud of him. His mother had no reason to brag about him, no interest to keep him by her side. But then, he noticed his father a little… absent-minded. "Is everything okay, dad? You look tired."

"Yea," the man agreed. "I'm not able to talk much about it, but this case that I'm working on now is really tough. There are many fake leads and the evidence is scarce. It takes a lot of time for little progress, and there's always the pressure of working on a murder case…" He sighed. The sooner they solved the case, the less people would die, but it wasn't simple to do so.

While Light was going to his room after dinner, Caterina was just leaving the hotel. She was furious, frustrated, and… confused. No, disoriented, rather. She had no idea who to call or where to go. The Italian looked through her phone, thinking who she might call and ask for such a favor. The King was definitely out of the equation – last time they spoke, he was going to try his luck on the American dream. Then, there was Namikawa – but she refused to see him while her father was alive. Then… Well, then there was her last ray of hope.

Biting her lip to blood, she finally stepped over her pride and crushed her ego, pressing the green button. It rang once, twice, until a squeaky voice yelled at the other end of the line. 'Misa-Misa here~!'

Rolling her eyes and already feeling a headache coming, she breathed in and asked for what she needed. "Misa, just the person I've been missing lately…"

'You missed me? Really-really missed me?!' she gasped.

"Of course… Now if you don't mind me asking, there are no hot strippers in overly-sexualized cartoon character costumes over at your place, are there?"

Caterina could hear Misa hyperventilating at the other end of the line as she walked down the street. 'N-no, why do you ask? Are you coming over with-?'

"To come over? Of course, if you insist!" Caterina cut her off with a grin.

'But I didn't ask you to, though Misa won't kick you out if-!'

"Wonderful, my dear – just what I wanted to hear. I'll take a cab now, write down the number please. It's very important for later, darling." Caterina dictated her the series of the cab before getting in. "I'll be there in three minutes. Four, actually, if you count the time I'll be wasting with the elevator. Please don't greet me in a racy lacy outfit – that kind of welcoming is best kept for lovers only."

The cab driver was looking at her through the rear-view mirror. Caterina threw him a glare and fanned him with her hand. "Drive! Come on, start the engine and go. Straight forward, for now. I'll tell you as we go."

Confused, Misa listened to the tone that came once Caterina had hung up. Were they even friends? The Italians sure had strange ways to show their friendship. Grinning widely, she jumped from her bed, put on some tiny shorts and pulled a bit at her pigtails to make them tight again. Lying in bed could really ruin a perfectly symmetrical hairdo.

Before she even had time to clean up, the doorbell rang and she ran to open up. "Just a moment~!"

Caterina was just walking into the building when she saw someone with a gun in their hand leaning against Misa's door. The young woman took out her gun from her bag quietly, as she neared the oppressor.

Misa unlocked the door. The sound of the lock echoed through the otherwise empty hallway. Caterina had her gun pointed at the stranger as Misa opened the door wide, nearly jumping on the man with the hood hanging low over his eyes.

"Misa, down!" the Italian yelled, but the robber already caught Misa by the arm.

With her hand twisted and a gun to her temple, the blond was just about to cry. "What's this? Misa doesn't want to die! I'll give you money, just please don't hurt Misa or Katy!"

"Katy?" Caterina raised an eyebrow.

Panicked, the man's hand began to shake. "Stay back! I'll kill her, I swear! I-I'm not a murderer, but I will! I swear to god I'll blow her fucking brains out!"

"Please don't do it, Mr. Robber. You don't really want to, right?" Misa plead.

Already used to tense situations, Caterina could recognize the other one was an amateur. "Put the gun down and nobody's getting hurt."

"No!" he protested. "You let me walk out of here and step out of the way, or I'll kill you both!"

Misa froze, while Caterina rolled her eyes. She shot and the bullet stopped in the wall behind them, a few inches from the man's head. "Put your toy down, big boy. The next one's aimed at your left eye. You're a filthy piece of garbage for doing this, do you know? You're going nowhere before the police comes and arrests you. Now put the fucking gun down!"

Taking advantage of the man's shock, Misa slipped from his grip and ran inside her apartment. Uncovered and shaking, the man put his hands up and let the gun fall on the ground. Caterina smirked. It sounded like plastic.

Up in his room, Kira was smirking as well. He had just found a gold mine.

Author's Notes:

Chapter proofread by the beta AbandonedSock, as always.

Also, thanks to xLonelyDreamerx, here's another chapter. So, the review rule is valid again. You may not realize it, but it does help me a lot to receive some sort of feedback. Follows and Favorites are very welcomed, but reviews are loved. I'll be waiting to hear from you soon.