"Light, we have a visitor," spoke Ryuk. He was unsettled by the girl's ability to see him, but he was also amused by her behavior. Humans could be so entertaining.

Light turned around to face the girl. He was surprised to see her pointing an arrow at him.

"You're Kagome Higurashi, are you not?" He asked her calmly, hands still in his pockets.

Kagome was surprised, but she did not lower her bow. "How do you know my name?"

He smiled arrogantly. "Everyone knows your name. You're that girl who missed most of junior high due to strange illness and somehow still managed to make it into high school. And now, you're that strange girl that speaks to no one and has managed to do so well in school that your marks are almost as good as my own."

Again, Kagome was surprised. She knew that her "illnesses" in junior high had been no secret but had had no idea that people had talked about her so much. She also hadn't realized that her behavior these last three years could even be considered strange compared to her reputation from junior high. I guess that's what happens when you spend all of your time trying not to think or interact with anyone.

But none of that really mattered. She wouldn't let her reputation distract her from her true purpose in this alley. She raised her chin and steadied her hold on her bow. This was the moment of truth.

"And you're Kira, are you not?"

Light's eyes widened in shock. No...she can't know. There's no way that she could know. We've never spoken before today, and I'm positive that she had no idea I even existed before now. She's that strange quiet girl who seems to be lost in her own world with no cares for what's going on around her. It has to be a lucky guess.

He calmed himself down and spoke in a rational manner. "Kira? Really? I'm sorry, Miss Higurashi, but that is simply untrue. My father is the lead detective on the Kira case, and that is my only connection to that killer."

Ryuk laughed at Light's boldness. His ability to lie his way out of any situation always amazed him.

But the girl did not lower her weapon. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked over to Ryuk. "Then why do you travel with a shinigami?"

Light's eyes widened in surprise once more. He said nothing in return.

Ryuk started to laugh. Kagome turned her head slightly in his direction and spoke directly to him. "Shinigami, why do you travel with this boy if not to aid him in his quest as Kira?"

Ryuk laughed again and turned to Light, who was clearly on edge. "Light, she's a priestess. That's why she can see me."

"A priestess?" he asked.

"Yes...and not just any priestess. The priestess who destroyed the Shikon no Tama." Ryuk laughed again.

Light hated it when Ryuk laughed like that. It never meant anything good for him. "But that makes no sense. The Shikon no Tama was destroyed centuries ago."

Ryuk nodded in agreement. "Yes….very interesting."

Kagome simply watched their discussion. It mattered not to her that the shinigami knew who she was. She wasn't really all that surprised, either. She supposed that to a creature like him, that knowledge would probably be commonplace by this point. Afterall, it may have only been three years for her since the Jewel was destroyed, but it had been half a millennia for the rest of humanity.

Light flashed his arrogant smile once more. "No matter," he spoke, as he pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket. Ryuk laughed again, but this time in a gleefully anticipatory manner. "It's been nice speaking with you, Miss Higurashi, but the time has come to end this conversation. And I cannot allow you to simply walk away knowing my secret. Unfortunately for you, I know that a priestess cannot in good conscience shoot another human with her sacred arrow, no matter how evil she may presume that person to be."

Kagome gritted her teeth. He was right. She had no problem purifying a demon, or even this shinigami, but she could not shoot her arrow at this boy. He needed to be handled by the police. What the hell was I thinking? What did I think I was going to accomplish by coming here? Was I just too excited by the prospect of another adventure? Was I lured by my desires to seek out the unordinary? Was I trying to bring back some remnant of my past life through the well?

Light watched her with delight. He scribbled something down on the paper and put it back into his pocket. He then looked at his watch. "Also, unfortunately for you, I only need a name and a face to be able to stop you from meddling in my affairs again. Because you are indeed correct, Miss Higurashi. I am Kira."

Kagome gasped. Oh no...Kira can kill without having to even be anywhere near the person! And I'm standing right in front of him. What is he doing staring at his watch? What's about to happen...am I about to die?

Light watched the seconds tick by. Ryuk laughed, giddy with the anticipation.

Thirty...twenty...ten…five...four…three...two...one…

He looked up at the girl. Shock and confusion gripped him. The priestess still stood holding her weapon aimed at his heart.

"...wh...what?"

Ryuk began to laugh again. The same laugh as before.

Light looked to him, silently begging him for an answer.

Ryuk laughed and simply said, "you cannot kill her. At least not using the death note."

"What? What are you talking about?" Light was frantic now. She knew his secret, and he could not kill her. What was he going to do?

"You cannot write down a time of death for a human that exists past their predestined moment of death. The death note will not work in that way," Ryuk explained.

None of this made any sense to Light. "What are you talking about? She isn't dead today. I used today's date. It should have worked."

Ryuk simply laughed harder. Oh this is far too entertaining.

Light was growing angry. Kagome watched, grateful to be alive but with absolutely no idea what had happened to spare her life. Or if that luck would even hold.

Light finally spoke. He turned to Ryuk and said, "you can see her death date, can't you? What is it?"

Ryuk smiled and answered, "according to the date above her head, this woman died five hundred years ago."

Kagome felt as if she had been hit by a sack of bricks. She completely forgot about Kira, the shinigami, the alleyway, and frankly, all of Tokyo. Her thoughts took her back to the well and to Inuyasha and the past. She barely dared to comprehend the thoughts that were forming in her mind. The pain from the past three years started to eat at the edges of her psyche, an internal conflict brewing. If...if I died five hundred years ago...that has to mean….no….no, it's too much...too much to hope. But, if...no, don't even think it, Kagome. Don't do that to yourself. But I have to! If I died five hundred years ago, then that means that I made it back through the well! And if I've already made it through at some point before...then, I should be able to make it work now! It doesn't make any sense, but it's the only thing that makes sense...I can go back...I can get back to Inuyasha!

Kagome took another look at Light and Ryuk. If she left now, she was essentially allowing Kira to continue with his unending campaign of murder. But, if she didn't go try, she may lose her opportunity forever. She had never thought that she would have a chance like this in a million years, and she would be damned if she let herself ignore it.

Taking one last glance at the pair, Kagome tucked her bow and arrow under her arm and ran faster than she ever had before towards her family's shrine.

She reached the shrine in record time. Kagome ran up the long stone staircase and towards the little house that held the well. She threw open the door and ran to the stone edge. She shouted at the Bone-Eater's Well, "open up and take me back! I know that you've taken me back before, so take me back now! One last time! Take me back to Inuyasha!" That familiar light that she had dreamed of for three years now came up out of the well. Kagome smiled a true smile for the first time since her arrival back to Tokyo. It worked. She hopped onto the edge of the well and jumped in.

She had done it. She would see him again. She was going home.