Fast Changes
Death Note
AU! Everything middle of Chapter 53 and up Did Not Happen (Like That).
Spoilers up to Chapter 53
Part 2 of Road Not Taken

When his father started screaming about a monster, it took all of Raito's self-control to not leap out of the helicopter, dragging Ryuuzaki behind him. Somehow, he gritted his teeth and waited for those on the ground to help their leader.

Mogi-san's sudden shout was even more concerning. His father was understandably stressed, possibly hallucinating from the excitement and his earlier wound - but Mogi-san? Obviously, there was something there. As Mogi brought the notebook Higuchi claimed was how he killed people over to the 'copter, eyes wild, Raito looked around uncertainly for anything unusual. Other than his father, now being supported by two masked men who were probably Aizawa and Matsuda and looking shaken but well, everything seemed as normal as such a large-scale assembly of police cars could.

Ryuuzaki's sharp inhalation on taking the notebook alone would have confirmed it, much less his following words, and Raito leaned over his shoulder to grab the book.

"Ryuuzaki, it it true? Let me see that."

The moment his hands touched the book, information flooded his mind. More than information - images, feelings. A mini TV in a bag of chips thrown out with the trash, just a minor expense in Kira's all-consuming quest. Names, rows of names, columns of names. More faces than he could stand, flooding past, each with a name attached, some with times, some with methods, some with detailed instructions.

He realized he was screaming just a moment too late to stop it.

Him, standing alone in front of his high school, looking down at black notebook laying on the ground. An FBI agent's badge, a distraught young woman's ID. The young woman herself turning to leave, with less than twenty four hours 'til her death.

Hatred. Criminals made the world unsafe; standard justice could not keep up with them, could not punish them properly. People who tried to stop real justice from being dispensed.

Rivalry. Disdain. Bloodlust.

Kira came flooding back into the mind of Yagami Raito. His fingers trembled on the notebook. It was true - he had been Kira. He could be again.

He had to speak. He was losing himself into the feelings that felt only too easy. And yet - they were wrong. "Ryuuzaki!"

"A... are you all ri-" Ryuuzaki began, watching him carefully.

"Ryuuzaki - quickly." Raito ground out, before Kira could stop himself. "Do something. Something I won't anticipate. Please!"

Large round eyes blinked at him.

Just as he felt himself crumbling and his eyes closed in defeat, something soft and warm moved against his lips.

Ryuuzaki. Kissing him.

The sweet taste drove Kira back in shock, and Raito took advantage of the retreat, locking mental bars around the feelings, the images, even as the gentle kiss continued. It wasn't surprising at all that Ryuuzaki's mouth tasted of sugar and tea.

At Watari's polite cough, Ryuuzaki pulled back. "Was that unexpected enough, Yagami-kun?" His voice was flatly neutral.

Raito took a moment to breathe, to steel himself against the information he had regained. Finally he answered. "Yes. Thank you." Then he leaned out the door of the helicopter and threw up everything he had eaten over the past day.

Long fingers caught his peripheral vision as the reached around to pull his hair out of his face, and between heaves, Raito found the ability to be darkly amused. He lost it again in a moment, but eventually, the nausea subsided, and with the Death Note gripped tightly in one hand, Yagami Raito straightened up and wiped his mouth on the handkerchief Watari silently handed him, then looked L straight in the eyes.

The eyes that stared back at him were flat for a moment, then widened with apparent sadness. "I didn't know I was that bad," Ryuuzaki complained.

Raito let himself laugh. It would probably be the last time Ryuuzaki said anything casual to him.

Holding up the Death Note, he quieted, then spoke. "You were right, Ryuuzaki." He took a very deep breath. "I was Kira."