Justice and Vengeance
Author: Qaddafi the Ripper
Summary: AU: Light misses running into Misora Naomi, and she is able to tell L what she knows about Kira. Working together, can Naomi and L catch Light?
Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Ooba and Obata.

Part 6: Deal

"Could there be another Death Note in the human world?" L asked through the speaker, using the same terminology that Ryuk used. Light stiffened but said nothing. Almost two weeks he'd been here, and he hadn't said anything except that he wasn't guilty. Naomi hoped he was going through a lot of mental torture, because he deserved it.

Ryuk didn't answer either, but he did chuckle longer than he usually did. After a few minutes, L flipped off the speaker. "So?" Naomi prompted when he didn't say anything right away. "Does that mean there is another Death Note, or there isn't?"

L considered before answering, "There should be another note. We will work under that assumption." He glanced over at the Death Note lying nearby on the table. "What is certain is that this Kira is more powerful than Yagami-kun. This one can kill just knowing a person's face." Naomi nodded; they had already established that fact. "But this new Kira does have something we can use against him."

"What's that?" she inquired eagerly.

"This Kira looks up to the first Kira. He said that Kira was on a divine mission and he would do anything to help Kira. Which means this Kira won't stop until he gets a message from the first Kira," L explained. He reached for his plate and took a bite of the pie on it. Naomi was amazed at how much junk food L went through, and even more amazed by the fact that he was still skinny after all those sweets.

"Surely you don't intent to let him talk to the new Kira," she said with a frown. L still hadn't made a move to hand Light over to the authorities for a trial, and that was beginning to worry Naomi. True, with this added difficulty, she knew they might need Light, but she still wanted him dead as soon as possible.

L took another forkful of pie before replying. "Probably not," he said. She looked at him sharply, but he continued calmly. "However, this new Kira does not know who the first Kira is, and we can use that against him. We'll have the first Kira tell the second Kira that he isn't captured at all." He finished the pie and didn't bother explaining further. It wasn't until the whole team was assembled again that Naomi figured out what L was planning. They would make their own tape, claim that it was from the first Kira who would say he wasn't captured, and send it to Sakura TV. It would have to be convincing enough that this second Kira would believe it, but it would be enough so long as the second Kira didn't kill more innocent people.

Two days later, a day before the second Kira had demanded some sort of response from the police, Sakura TV aired their own Kira video. Naomi watched the video and saw it was of much higher quality than the other Kira videos, and felt obscurely proud of that, even though Matsuda had been the one to make the video. The message on the video was pure deception by L. "I am the real Kira," the video stated. Mogi had read the voice over, but Naomi couldn't recognize his voice after it had gone through recording equipment. "This is a message to the Kira of a few days ago. Do not kill innocent people using my name. Do not kill police officers using my name. I only kill criminals." That first part had been the most important part of the message, to keep civilians safe, and themselves safe. "As you can see from this message, I have not been captured. If you want to know why I have not punished any criminals in two weeks, come find me and I will tell you face to face."

The message went on to repeat a few points, but that was the most important part. If the second Kira was at all intelligent, he would ask for proof that the first Kira was free. And that was the only part of the plan that Naomi couldn't guess. How could they pass off a fake Kira to another person with a Death Note? She hoped L had something planned.

Their own Kira message made the public more confused than they had been before, but that couldn't be helped. Maybe, when this whole crazy case was put to rest, they'd be able to tell the public what had really happened, or some of it anyway. Naomi was surprised at first by how willing Sakura TV was to work with them, but the station's ratings had gone way up because of it. And the ratings went up even more when the second Kira sent a reply to their fake Kira message.

"I would love to meet Kira-san face to face," the video said. Even with the deliberately bad recording, Naomi could tell the second Kira sounded eager. "We can confirm each other's identities with our shinigami," the video added. And with the video had come a diary excerpt, detailing a month's activities. The team went over the page carefully, and found three locations and dates: the twenty-second in Aoyama, the twenty-sixth in Shibuya, and the thirtieth at the Tokyo Dome. But there were extras clues too. It was doubtful that the second Kira meant the Tokyo Dome, since he mentioned seeing a god of death in that entry. Naomi latched onto the Aoyama date firmly, since the diary mentioned exchanging notes. This second Kira might act like an idiot, but wasn't that stupid. The second Kira assumed only the first Kira knew about the existence of the Death Notes, and so felt secure enough to use the word 'note' as a hint. But they did have the Death Note, and they did know.

"We should have all three of these locations checked on the days mentioned," Aizawa said. "It could be any, and we can't afford to take any chances."

"I'm sure it's Aoyama," Naomi stated with confidence.

L picked up a piece of chocolate out of the large box which was already two-thirds empty. "It is likely Aoyama," he agreed, "but we should still check all three. The hard part is that we do not have a god of death to show the second Kira." That effectively stopped all conversations, although Matsuda made a few outrageous suggestions. After almost an hour of arguing and discarding plans, Naomi was beginning to get a headache. Surely there was something they could do to catch the second Kira without giving away that the first Kira was captured. She was taken by complete surprise when L flipped the switch that would allow him to talk to Light. "Yagami-kun," he said into the speaker. "We need your god of death."

Light straightened and frowned. "Are you trying to trick me into a confession?" he asked coldly.

"No," L assured him. "We haven't told you this yet, but there's another Kira loose." Light started at that news, gaping for a brief moment. "And this second Kira worships the first Kira. If we bait a trap properly, we'll be able to catch this second Kira," he explained, and waited for Light's response. Naomi watched in confusion, trying to guess what L had in mind.

It was clear that Light was thinking hard too, with a severe frown on his face. "You're trying to trick me again," he accused. "I am not Kira, so I can't be the bait for your trap." Naomi gasped. So that had been what L was planning! How could he? How could he even think of letting Light free, even for an hour under supervision?

"I am not trying to trick you," L countered calmly. "I am making a deal with you. However bad you were, this second Kira is worse, and I want him captured as soon as possible. Here is the deal, Yagami-kun: if you act as bait for the second Kira, I will do what I can to get you a lighter sentence."

Naomi stumbled backwards, her face ashen. He couldn't be doing this! How dare he offer Raye's murderer a deal like this? "Ryuuzaki," she protested. "You can't do this!" He didn't even look at her, his eyes riveted to the screen showing Light's face. "I won't let you make a deal with him!" she yelled, shaking with anger.

"This deal won't help Yagami-kun much," L told her quietly. The speaker was off, so Light couldn't hear them speak as he considered the offer. "The best he can hope for is a life sentence."

She glared at him longer, then whirled around and stalked over to the far side of the room. Tears slipped down her cheeks. How could he do this? She thought she could trust L to help her get revenge for Raye. A life sentence wasn't good enough for her. She wanted Light dead. Only then could she feel satisfied.

While her back was turned, she heard Light reply. "All right," he said, very quietly. "I'll help." At that, she turned to look at the television. Light was hunched over within his restraints, for the first time looking defeated. Agreeing to help meant all but admitting that he was Kira, and Naomi had harbored a faint hope that Light would have proved stubborn. But he had agreed, and now he wouldn't be punished as she wanted him to be.

How could things turn this badly, this quickly?

She spent the next few days wandering around the hotel room listlessly. L tried to talk to her a few times, but she always turned her back on him and walked away. She was still angry at him, and the last thing she wanted to hear was him attempting to justify his plans, and his deal with Light. But she did have the chance to think, and realized that, in one thing, L was totally right. They did need to catch the second Kira, even more desperately than the first. That fact, she could not deny. So when a group was organized to go to Aoyama, she insisted on going with. L perked up at her decision, but she left without talking to him. She was going to make sure Light didn't cause any trouble.

Light had gotten pale and thin over the weeks of his confinement, but was still handsome when they let him out. They had checked him multiple times, and knew that he had no scraps of the Death Note on his person, not even the piece he'd sewn into his wallet. Matsuda was coming with too, along with a group of plain clothes officers. Together, they looked like a group of young friends on a day out together. Other officers and monitoring equipment was spread all over Aoyama, so they couldn't possibly miss anything. Light kept obediently in the middle of their little group, but he acted calm and composed the entire time, to Naomi's extreme annoyance. Ryuk casually flew above the group, making it impossible to tell which one of them he was following.

Nothing dangerous happened the entire day, nor did anyone seem to react to Light, or even Ryuk. It was immensely frustrating, and got worse when nothing happened at Shibuya or Tokyo Dome in the next few days. Naomi was close to injuring someone physically. They had made a deal with Light, and for what? There was no sign of the second Kira anywhere! She was close to her breaking point when a third message from the second Kira reached Sakura TV.

The video was unbelievable! The second Kira thanked Sakura TV for helping him find the first Kira, and apologized again for causing trouble. And that was all the video said, no other clues! She started pacing the room when L interrupted her thoughts. "Let's let Yagami-kun go home for a few days," he said.

Naomi whirled and stared at him, feeling completely betrayed. He was letting Light go? Now? "Why?" Aizawa was the one who managed to stutter out.

"It is clear that the second Kira knows who the first Kira is," L explained between bites of cake. "If he goes to find Yagami-kun, and discovers he is missing, our deception will be discovered. So we let Yagami-kun stay at home where the second Kira can find him. Once the second Kira does, we can capture him there, and reclaim Yagami-kun."

Aizawa, Matsuda, and Mogi considered the idea while Naomi continued to fume. Even if L planned on capturing Light again, she still didn't like the idea of letting him go. She was beginning to think she would never find vengeance for Raye.

"That could work," Aizawa said slowly. "We'll have to be very careful. We don't want the rest of the Yagami family to be in danger, and we don't want to let either Kira escape."

"We're also not sure how the second Kira kills with just a face," Mogi added. "We'll have to be sure our faces are covered."

Matsuda jumped to his feet and pumped his arms in excitement. "Finally!" he cheered. "A stake out to catch one Kira with the other Kira!"

"This is nothing to be excited about, Matsuda-san," L said sharply, and Matsuda wilted. "Yagami-san, may we use your house to catch the second Kira?" he asked. Yagami didn't move, and hadn't moved in days. Naomi wasn't sure he was alive anymore. When minutes went past without a reply, L finally decided to use the Yagami house anyway.

The Yagami house looked the same on the outside as it did before, but the inside was clearly different. There was a tension that was easy to see through the surveillance cameras that had been set up again. Sachiko walked around in a daze, and Sayu moped. They didn't know exactly what was going on, but they knew that neither Yagami nor Light had been home in weeks, and now Light was home under police observation. Light was to stay inside his room except to go to the bathroom. Naomi, Matsuda, Aizawa, and Mogi took shifts in twos staying inside the Yagami house, hidden from view, and hiding a short distance away in a covered car with Watari. When a cute girl rang the bell a few days after the latest Kira video, Aizawa and Mogi were hiding out in the upstairs of the house. Naomi and Matsuda lurked in the nearby car with Watari. All five were fully armed and wore face-concealing helmets.

The girl, who introduced herself as Amane Misa, a name Naomi vaguely recognized, asked to see Light, the group went into alert positions. Naomi turned on her radio so she could hear the conversation in Light's room. At first there was just the sound of people moving around, sitting down, and pulling things out. "What do you want?" Light finally asked, sounding tense.

Another long silence followed, before Light made a soft sound. Naomi frowned, and wished she could see what was going on in that room, but only L was monitoring the cameras back at the hotel. A moment later, L's voice came across the radio, saying that the girl had pulled out a Death Note. Mogi called for backup as she heard Light's door crashing across the listening devices. So it seemed Misa was the second Kira. Naomi, Matsuda, and Watari rushed into the house and up the stairs, the whole time Naomi fearing what might have happened to Aizawa and Mogi. But when they reached Light's room, the situation was under control.

Mogi was restraining Light, while Aizawa held Misa down on the floor, his grip firm despite her bare legs and short skirt. A Death Note lay discarded on the floor between the two teens, the kanji for 'Matsuda' already written in. Matsuda saw, and gulped in terror. "Don't worry," Naomi said. "It would only work if your full name was written down." He waited another few seconds, giving the full forty seconds needed for killing with the Death Note, before relaxing when he saw he was still alive.

Naomi picked up the Death Note, and turned to see a second reaper hovering behind Misa. This reaper was frowning, and looked concerned, but did nothing. Naomi smirked in triumph. "Thought you'd kill us off before we caught you again?" she asked Light. He glared up at her. "Too bad you don't know who all of us are, or you might have succeeded. And too bad you didn't think that L would bug your room a second time." He had been clever enough the first time the room had been bugged. While he hadn't acted it, Naomi guessed he must have been desperate to find some way to escape, leading him to write names into Misa's Death Note. But L had seen it, and Light hadn't written fast enough to kill anyone. He was beaten now, along with the second Kira, and Naomi finally felt satisfaction.

As long as both Kira's couldn't kill anymore, she supposed she was satisfied with how things turned out. The couldn't kill anymore people, and, in the end, that was what mattered the most. They had been stopped. Raye could now rest in peace.

Notes:

I don't know why Rem says that Misa is pure, what with the way she casually kills off innocent people. I liked Rem, though, at least until chapter 63 which I won't explain because of spoilers.

Light doesn't have the piece of the Death Note in his watch. Actually, he doesn't even have that watch, since he never got into university in this version.

Light wrote down Mastuda's name because he knows Matsuda, and knows Matsuda is on the investigation team. He saw Naomi, but doesn't know her name. He was waiting for Misa to see them, so she could write the other names down.

Finally, why hasn't Light renounced his claim on his Death Note? He is fairly sure that it's in the hands of L, or someone working for L, based on the fact that all the investigators can clearly see and talk to Ryuk. If he gave it up, it would become the possession of the person holding it, which would be L or another invesigator. That would in no way help him get out of his situation.

And Ryuk is rarely helpful, even when bribed with apples, to which Light does not have access while held prisoner. (I'm kinda assuming that L or one of the investigators is feeding Ryuk apples, otherwise he'd be doing handstands.)

We're not quite done yet, there's still an epilogue to go, which should be up by Wednesday.