Death Note
AU! Everything from the middle of 53 and up Did Not Happen (Like That).
Spoilers... eh. To be safe, say through 56-57. Yes, even though they didn't happen.
Part 4 of Road Not Taken
KIRA, SECOND KIRA CAUGHT AND CONVICTED!
Every newspaper spread the story; a man and a woman, names unknown, tried in private hearings and convicted of being Kira and the second Kira. They reported that the woman, the second Kira, had been sentenced to the gentle punishment of life imprisonment in exchange for her help in catching the Yotsuba Kira. The man, Kira himself, received no such leniency. The day of his execution would not be far, it was promised. On the television, every news station vowed to be the first to bring their viewers the identities of the unknown pair.
On the Internet, rumour abounded. Most claimed the woman was the model Amane Misa, known to have a connection to Yotsuba, whereabouts currently unknown, and once before missing at the time when the Kira killings ceased. The identity of the man was highly speculated, but only a very careful few proposed Misamisa's boyfriend as Kira.
In his home, Yagami Souichirou forbade the television to be turned to a news channel. The Asahi Shimbun was thrown away as soon as it was delivered.
He knew. His wife and daughter did not, but suspected; how could they help it? Raito was missing, had been for months, and now Yagami-san had quit the investigation at the moment of triumph. Sayu spent hours laying in her brother's bed, doing the math he'd helped her on so much. Sachiko hid her grief and kept house, and avoided her friends' gossip about the identities of the killers.
In the now abandoned Kira Investigation headquarters, L watched the news religiously. His part was fulfilled; he had found Kira, identified him, and brought him down. His eventual success could be attributed as much or more to the criminal's own sense of honor and justice reasserting itself as to L's unorthodox methods, but that didn't lessen the gratitude of the international leaders who had hired him.
With no one to watch him, he lounged comfortably on the floor, the glow of his monitors feeding him the information that was his staple diet, moreso than food and drink. He'd been invited to the trial; it should have surprised no one when Watari had shown, cloaked once more in trenchcoat and a fedora pulled low, carrying a laptop. All the information he'd demanded as part-payment was being given to him.
He knew the day. He knew the time.
Now he only had to decide what to do with the information.
