XXIII – Rebirth


Exactly thirteen months after the warning given to humanity, the Dragon was reclaiming the insular country. In truth, it was turning into an obsession. Japan may not have the glorious monuments of the Roman Empire, the fantastic paintings of the Renaissance, or the tastiest recipes of pasta, but from an economic point of view – it could easily become the most shining stone on his crown. The only disadvantage would be the country's ridiculous military force – though his native Italy wasn't any more proud with its armies either.

The Snake was dead, or so the Dragon had been informed. Unlike Vincent, the remains of the Snake were never found and presented to the man. Caterina believed he had simply burned to a crisp and she could be right because there were six or seven skeletons unidentified by the legists. Yet, the Dragon refused to believe it.

Returning to the capital, the Dragon had contacted Misa. A surprising move that Caterina despised, but he wanted the blonde to advertise for a few of his companies. She had become quite popular in the past year, and after her parents had been murdered, the girl was left vulnerable. Caterina understood, but never openly agreed. The man offered Misa an apartment and a contract with a manager he knew. Misa was going to make her debut as a singer in October.

The investigation of Anastasia's disappearance had been sabotaged. Many corrupted officers had been caught, but unfortunately, it was a minute too late. All information regarding the Dragon and all of his aliases had been permanently erased from the database of the police the moment the first officers had been caught.

Light continued to volunteer on some minor cases every now and then. His father was ensuring his access to these kinds of investigations, mostly cases of theft. The Chief had made up his mind to not let his son on anything big again. The greater the case, the more dangerous it proved to be. Yet, there were plenty of minor cases for his son to use as experience. Vandalism, theft, street fights – light crimes.

Caterina also started school while taking private classes of Japanese in parallel. She had been quick to spark the interest of many in the institution of both sexes. Questions were asked all around from her origins to her morality, but the girl seemed to be enjoying the attention. Much was rumored about her, but not much was known for certain.

Everything seemed to be returning to a state of balance… One afternoon in November, Caterina texted Light during class. His eyes must have become distant, because the teacher noticed him not paying much attention.

"Yagami? Are you still with us?" the slender man called, raising a pair of bored eyebrows at the student. Light sat up in his seat. "Can you please translate the following sentence into English?"

With a sigh, he looked down on his textbook, stood up and began translating aloud. "Follow the teachings of God and receive his blessings; and so it shall be that the seas will again become bountiful, and the raging storms will subside."

The teacher nodded and Light sat back down. The lecture was a bore and gladly, the last one of the day. As soon as the teacher began to read again, he looked at his phone and read a simple 'Tea after school?' from Caterina's newest number. Light had lost count how many she had changed it over the past year. Over twenty, for certain. Almost every call had been from a different number.

In his head, the Voice was anything but excited for Caterina's company. Her father may have paid him for some information, money which he would keep in an emergency fund, but he began to feel like the girl was playing him too much. He didn't want to waste his time and energy on her – and why would he?! Light knew he could have any girl he wished. Besides, life with Caterina would be hell.

'I'll pass,' he texted her back. As expected, he didn't receive a reply. Silence was enough for the Voice to understand he had managed to offend the red-haired girl.

Soon enough, the bell rang. He gathered his things, put his bag over his shoulder, and headed towards the main stairway. Everyone was going to push forward in a desperate attempt to leave the building as if it was on fire or worse. He decided to wait for a few minutes until the crowd would become more airy and the stairway more spacious. There were a few accidents that could result in one's death that the Voice was imagining, which really didn't help Light calm his mind at all.

He eventually made it to the ground floor and decided to play it nice and let a girl to his right walk out first. He stepped aside in a quiet invitation.

"I'll pass," Caterina mumbled and looked down at her phone. She was texting someone, inserting many emoticons and throwing half smiles at the inanimate messages of the other.

"Excuse me?" Light asked, just to make sure.

"I'm waiting for someone," she said in a plain voice, raising her eyebrows as if to ask him why was he still there.

"Really? Is it your girl clique?" the student asked on a mocking tone.

Caterina rolled her eyes and smiled. "Someone who won't 'pass' me. Now please, stop trying to look important. If you don't want me, I'll find a billion who do."

Light leaned on his elbow over her, catching the auburn-haired girl in a corner. "Question is… Can you find someone you will want, as well?" Though smirking, he was boiling with rage. "Don't forget, I know you."

Then, Caterina did the unthinkable and caught Light's red tie with her both hands, tightening it around his neck. "Careful, darling. If you knew me, you would know I'm not an option. Never was, and never will be."

Light chuckled, feeling the tie slowly strangling him. He stepped aside and out the main door, loosening his tie a few meters away. The girl had managed to oppose him – enough to spark his interest. Though if that was the game she wanted to play, the teenager was willing to beat her at it.

Just out of curiosity though, he entered a nearby shop and pretended to be looking around. His hands were going through the pages of some magazine, while his eyes stayed on the road. Who was this one that Caterina had already found as his replacement…? Someone less brilliant, for certain. He was the top student of his school. Anyone else must have been below him. The thought gave him hope, but he still needed to see his competitor.

In the mean time, Caterina was wrinkling her little nose in impatience and restlessness. How dare he – imposing his superiority in public! And the other one – where in the name of her father's God was he?!

A moment later, the boy walked up to her. "Hi! I'm sorry for-"

"You're late." The girl's accusation seemed to discourage him on the spot. A clear sign of weakness in her eyes.

"I was-"

"Stop excusing yourself. Someone had already managed to ruin my day. So, how do you plan on making it better?"

"Well, I was thinking… maybe we could go to the park?" he suggested, already feeling rejected in a very nasty way.

"And do what…?" Caterina asked, already walking ahead and having the boy hurry after her.

"Um… We could… feed the ducks?"

"Save it for your retirement. How about some tea and a movie afterwards?" the girl asked, passing by a few small stores.

"Well, uh… yes, I think that's great! But I'm not sure I have enough…" he mumbled, scratching the back of his head and grinning apologetically. Light observed him from afar. His palms were sweaty, he was having trouble finding his words and obviously annoying the life out of Caterina. Light thought about her for a moment. Did he love her? Did he hate her? Perhaps both.

With an eye roll and the upright palm which she used to shush her butler, Caterina shook her head, sighed and walked away. Light smirked. He knew the other student. Intelligent, but emotional. He probably had a chance to fight with Light for the best score in school if he hadn't panicked whenever he saw the subjects. He was also quite bad at public speaking. In other words, intelligent but by no means a competitor. He was too weak for Caterina.

As he walked home, Light began to think that perhaps, the girl liked it as it was. Maybe she wanted someone to dominate her, to dare her, to make her uncomfortable and force her to push her limits. Or perhaps she had no idea what she wanted… But one thing was for certain. Both of them had a few things in common, among which the black-and-white view of the world and big dreams of changing it according to their beliefs.

Caterina took a cab to her hotel. She paid the driver, then took the elevator to the top floor. Surprisingly, her father was in the gym on the same floor. The entire level had only one apartment, a gym, and a pool. It must have been expensive, but it wasn't like they were in danger of bankruptcy anytime soon.

"Home so soon?" her father asked while pulling himself up in one hand. He had weights hanging from his ankles, making the effort even more intense. The man was covered in sweat. Caterina could see his veins pulsing from afar.

"Yea…" she sighed. "I'll be back in a bit." She walked out of the gym and into her room, leaving her bag and getting into a pair of leggings and a sports bra. She had just turned seventeen in the summer and had to get used to wearing bras. A drag, really… but a necessary drag of society and fashion.

When she returned, her father was lifting himself using his other arm. He seemed to be having some more trouble than before. Caterina began stretching. "Is it a good idea?" she asked. "Is your arm fully recovered?"

The man let himself fall on his feet and untied the weights from around his ankles. "It has to be. Three months are more than enough."

"You're still sore… Am I right? A bullet wound isn't a cat scratch, Padre."

Had it come from somebody else, the man would have responded in a violent manner. But because it was his daughter who was worrying about him, he sighed and continued working out. "It should be, by now. But let's leave this matter for later. How did your day go?"

The girl took a few moments to reply, finding her balance and standing on her hands. "It went fine…"

"Calling me out for hiding the truth implies that you didn't," her father replied casually.

"Alright, it went pretty bad. Not horribly, but bad. Light is acting like an ass again, so I tried to go out with another guy." She stood straight again, then flipped back on her feet and fell back into a bridge. "He's not an idiot, but he babbles. He's poor, doesn't know what he wants, and doesn't take what he wants. Unattractive."

The man smirked and put his legs over the horizontal pole. Bending his knees, he let himself hang for a few moments before doing a few abs. "That is closer to the truth."

"Hmm…" the girl responded, standing up and going on the running machine. "I think I hate him, Padre."

He chuckled. "Keep him around and observe. It may all be a game, like those you enjoyed playing with every boy who tried to approach you in the past year."

"But this is different. It annoys me!" she whined. "I care what he thinks, and it's driving me nuts!" In all her rage, Caterine began running so fast she was having a hard time complaining and breathing at once.

"Men will often do that. I did it. He does it, too." The man was back at doing his abs, keeping silent count of them.

"You? And did you care about the girl?" Caterina asked between gasps.

"Not even once… No. There was one time," the Dragon corrected himself. "There was a woman I wanted, but could not have. I was young, perhaps around your age."

"How was she?" his daughter asked, finally slowing down the running machine.

"Beautiful, independent, and a little nuts. You see, men, like me, like a woman who is unpredictable, who ruins our plans, who slips through our fingers. But they are rare… So rare, I had spent my whole life trying to find a second one like her." The man had a smirk on his face. "And I think there is a chance I found her, eventually…"

"Is that so?" the girl asked, but her father just chuckled. "You're not going to answer me, are you?"

"No… This is for you to figure out. Your homework for tomorrow." Once he had his feet on the ground, the Dragon went to the punching bag and cracked his wrists and fingers before starting to hit it stronger and stronger.

"You're full of sweat, with your arm in pain, yet you never seem to pant…" Caterina noted. "How do you even do that?!"

"Practice, my love. Practice and discipline," he answered casually.

The next day, Light sat in class, once again bored out of his mind. There was really nothing to do but listen to some lecture that would have made more sense if the teacher had simply given them a bibliography to read instead. He was trying not to look too distracted as he stared outside the window. Earlier that day, he saw Caterina talking to yet another student from their school. Light didn't know this one personally, but he saw him around most of the time.

He competed with Light in the unofficial game for the 'most loved' title. He challenged Light at tennis a couple of times, managing to end one tie match and several defeats. He was more of a social type – intelligent, but not really motivated to get the top scores. A year back, he barely passed three of his classes… Yet, if Light considered his grades were because he refused to hand in projects and homework on time, but he still managed to pass, it was an admirable performance. Sort of… The top student had no thought of trying anything alike, not even for the experience of it, but he knew from others it was difficult to pass when in his situation.

The main reason this one threatened Light as a possible competitor was his attitude. He was even more shameless than Light, openly flirting and dropping inappropriate jokes. He pranked the principle earlier that day just to earn a laugh from Caterina, openly confronting and crushing authority. To Light, this spelled war.

But then, something fell just outside the window. 'A notebook?' the Voice asked inside Light's thoughts. Immediately, he thought somebody must have thrown it from a window or from the rooftop – there were students who skipped classes usually went for a smoke and a nap – but the trajectory would have been different. This notebook fell straight to the ground, apparently out of… nowhere.

When the classes ended, Light looked for the black-covered notebook. He found it in the grass, exactly where he thought it would be. Looking around, he picked it up with curiosity and amusement.

"Death Note?" he read its cover aloud, chuckling. "As in… a notebook of death?"

'Open it! Look through it. How odd…!' the Voice immediately replied. Through Light's eyes, it read loudly in his thoughts, 'The person whose name is written in this notebook shall die.'

Light was quick to discard it, thinking it no different from a chain letter. Yet, the Voice convinced him otherwise. 'Take it! Just in case… What would you do if it fell in the wrong hands? Perhaps it's not true, but what if it is? You will have a mass murderer free on the streets. How do you even prove such thing?'

After a few moments of debating with his darker self, he turned back and took it. Light put the notebook in his bag and went home like nothing happened. He exchanged a few words with his mother, blocked a comment or two from his younger sister, then went to his room to examine his finding.

Caterina went home as well, but this time she had the strangest smile on her lips. She tried to hide it, but it just kept resurfacing on her face like oil through water. Her father noticed, though he only returned to their home at sunset.

"His name is Shin…" she answered the man's question as they ate together. "He's a bit of an idiot, actually. He put a toy snake in the principle's car and he freaked out so bad, he crashed his car into a tree."

"An intelligent idiot, I hope?" her father intervened.

"Hmm, I think so. If he's not interested in something, he doesn't even try. On subjects he likes, he's unbeatable. On others, he barely passes the year. But I talked to him and he doesn't seem to be an imbecile."

"That is no guarantee, my love. True, an intelligent person will be able to pass for a fool when the situation demands this. On the other hand, many fools try to appear intelligent and fail miserably. But there are a few right in the middle that can appear intelligent at first – those who know their only chance to impress is working on their acting skills." The man looked quickly over the heads of the other people at the hotel's restaurant. He did not see anything suspicious, so he turned his attention back on his daughter.

Even if she despised being wrong, her unreadable expression seemed to hint that her father's words had reached their target. She was reconsidering her first impression of Shin, going over every small detail she had previously chosen to ignore.

"He is unpredictable…" she mumbled after a short moment of silence. "And just like Light, I have a difficult time 'reading' him."

"Does he have the same personality switches?" her father asked.

"No. Rather, he only lets me see what he wants me to see, which may not always be the truth."

The man nodded. Following the death of Anastasia, the two left had been growing even closer to each other. They shared most of what happened every day – an opportunity for the Dragon to advise and warn his daughter. He kept her as far away from his world as possible, but he wanted her to become used to his style of thinking and acting. In his opinion, precaution and sharp observation were key in keeping any group under control.

"What about Misa?" Caterina asked. Surprisingly, after the blonde had lost her parents, the two had began to show signs of tolerance towards each other. "Have you heard anything from her since the last time?"

The Dragon responded with a small smirk. "You know very well she will do anything to avoid me. She keeps in touch with you more than she does with me."

"With me and Diego," the girl corrected her father and smiled. "They get along, don't they?"

With a nod, her father agreed. The driver had that calm and sometimes goofy attitude that made him very easy to like. It was exactly what a childish girl like Misa needed after such an unfortunate event. Pitying her, Diego secretly asked the Dragon to serve Misa whenever he or Caterina did not need him.

After a few moments, Caterina pushed her half full plate to the side. "…I can't eat anymore."

The man noticed, but decided not to worry about it. Caterina had been eating less than usual for the past week, but her father thought she simply wasn't hungry. Everybody knew it was some kind of fashion in schools for students to eat together, hungry or not. "Very well. What do you want for dessert?"

A quick glance down helped her make up her mind. "Cherries will do. Sour, if possible." She glanced up to see him watching the waiter. Her father seemed a little impatient, but the girl was glad he didn't catch her staring at her thighs. When she stood, it wasn't that obvious, but when she sat, her thighs expanded a little bit. She could no longer sit with her knees touching and a small space between her thighs, not since five or six months ago. It always reminded her of her mother. Was that why women prefer skirts and dresses? To hide how fat their thighs become with puberty?

That evening, she went to take a shower and stared at herself in disgust. Although she ate half as much as she wanted, her lower abdomen still looked fat and bloated. Poking and pinching it, it didn't feel like fat. It was a little hard, like a muscle… And it hurt. Sharp pains had been bothering her for the past two days, but they were easy to ignore before. Now though, it felt like someone was stabbing her lower abdomen, her back was numb, she felt like she was about to puke, and her head was starting to ache. Her chest was unusually sensitive too, so much that she began to hate even her favorite bras. They were all too uncomfortable, too tight, too… something.

The girl put on a very soft tee, the only thing that was kind of comfortable, and went to lay in bed. Even her underarms ached, but she didn't have any red spots from shaving. Sighing, Caterina turned on the TV and tried to find something worth watching and distracting. It hurt so bad, she curled up between pillows, holding her knees close. She had an idea of what might be happening, but still hoped it wasn't it.

Laying in bed, Light stared at the ceiling. The Voice was convinced the notebook could be used for their common dream, though Light didn't really agree. Murder is always murder, no matter the circumstances. But what about self-defense? What about defending someone else, an innocent? With his first test that afternoon, Light realized the Death Note was real. It couldn't have just been a coincidence, right? The criminal died just forty seconds after he had written his name down. Reports an hour later said it was clearly a heart attack, confirmed by the legists. No, the Death Note had to be real. It was the only plausible explanation.

The lights were off and the house, quiet. His family must have already went to bed and in a way, so did he – except Light couldn't sleep. Was he a criminal…? Was he turning into the mass murderer loose on the streets the Voice warned him about? Serial killers often had a profile of the victim, they all had something in common. For him, they would all be criminals. But… didn't that make him the worst of them all?

'But if not me… then who?' the Voice began in his thoughts again. 'Who else would use it for good?' In truth, history books were full of leaders applying the capital punishment. It had been so used and accepted, it seemed only natural to eliminate murderers from society in order to guarantee safety for everyone else.

On the other hand, history was hardly ever fair – and anyone who had paid attention in class knew it was the winners and survivors who wrote these books. Politics and money could influence history so much, future generations would be left defending the mass murderers and condemning the victims – torturers turned into heroes… It was what happened every time. Well, at least for the past two thousand years that one could still find in books. The public assassination of an emperor, the execution of a royal couple, the blame that fell on a child unfortunate enough to be born at the wrong time… Nowadays, it was the same.

Hours after the Dragon had slaughtered so many people, he was glorified in the press and the media as some dark knight of humanity, some hero of our time. All he did was say those he killed had lived their lives in corruption, manipulating the masses for their own good. What the people couldn't see was that the Dragon was doing exactly the same thing. Just like in the past, under the rule of a much too powerful emperor. No trial, no chance for forgiveness. They all burned on their way to the afterlife simply because one man in the entire world was pissed off.

Sitting up, Light looked over to his desk where he had left the notebook open, his mechanical pencil resting between the pages. He could… couldn't he? Who would even suspect such a way of taking lives? He knew the man's names – one of them had to be true. He could simply write all of those he had been using. Or not, he could write the name that owned the yacht. That was most likely the real name of the Dragon.

Sitting up, the Voice seemed to agree. He bent over his desk, picked up his pencil, then set it back down. What about Caterina? The teenager sighed and covered his face with his both hands. The girl probably never killed anyone. Threatening and manipulating into getting small favors wasn't a crime – not really. But if she was to be left alone, who knows what she could do? They were too alike…

For once, the Voice was quiet and seemed to be analyzing the situation. Light wished the Voice would just tell him something, give him a reason… but it didn't. Caterina wasn't that much like him, she was more alike to the Voice in Light's thoughts. If he was to put her in hot water, leave her alive with her heart broken over her beloved father, how dangerous could she be…? Then, there were the many servants and connections of the Dragon. Caterina would take over in an instant. The second she wiped her tears, her plan for revenge would begin.

That second, a cold chill went down his spine. There were few female killers, but those who were, they barely showed remorse. Women, if they ever turned to crime, were much more precise. They knew who they wanted dead and they knew how to do it.

'Kill her too,' was the first thing he heard from the Voice in the past ten minutes. Light refused before he could even put the thought into words. 'No… Not yet,' the Voice agreed. 'Not yet… Think.' That moment, even if he didn't want to envision it, Light was aware one day he will die. Or perhaps someone will catch him and put him on the death row. If that happened, and if he managed to keep Caterina close until that moment, then she would continue his work.

It was a men-ruled world. Nobody would suspect a woman to continue his work, so she would have that advantage. The girl was arrogant, but not stupid. She was pretty intelligent and with lots of power at her fingertips. With the death of her father, she would be left with her part of the world. It was a really nice set of opportunities. Life had dealt her some of the best cards. Yes… Both Light and the Voice could envision it. If he kept her close enough, she could take over when he fell.

Looking outside the window, Light decided he would spare the two. He would have more chances to succeed with Caterina on his side, she was valuable. Her father was rotten to the core, but Light had to tolerate him. The man had a very risky lifestyle, he surely won't be alive for much longer. When that happened, he may even have a chance of taking over through Caterina… There were many opportunities Light didn't want to miss – neither side of him.


Author's Notes:

Chapter proofread by Eat4Fun - as usual. And also the first of the third part. The only reason I keep all parts in one story is that I have no idea for a good title for each - in case you haven't already noticed the parts don't have titles. This one will probably last until another important character (or more) will die.

About Anastasia, I thought it would be obvious she wouldn't survive for long in the story. She was a nice touch of light in all this darkness, but I could not see her following her husband and Caterina after the butler's betrayal. She can still appear in memories. As for Vincent, his ghost might make an entrance. I've been thinking of some relatives, since the Dragon did spare many when he gave the warning - but that's no promise. I will take note of your preferences, lilrilakkuma. As you've probably noticed, the remains of the Snake had not been found yet. I'm not saying he's still alive, but he hasn't been confirmed as dead either.

Since I'm giving away a few things here, let me assure you, Jupiter's Bull, Caterina isn't in this story to outwit L. That's not her role. She is not a ship for L either, nor Near or Mello, so it wouldn't make much sense for her to magically guess Light is Kira. Suppose Caterina does figure out Light is Kira - it doesn't help the story much. And she's not at that lovesick level that would make her into Kira's marionette (at least for now), so even if she knew, Caterina wouldn't help him. But that doesn't stop some thoughts of Light to go down that road and consider it a real possibility. And Caterina has no idea how close to death she really is.

Well, until next time, I'm glad to see you are still reading and I'll be waiting for more reviews. Follow, favorite, message me - I don't mind it at all.