Chapter 1:

"A New Serial Killer In Town"

When the first victim was found it was labeled as a simple homicide case, but when it became apparent that there was a serial killer on the loose after more victims were discovered with the same method of murder, the media began to erupt into a frenzy.

Light had followed the serial killings on the nightly news closely as did the Kira Task Force, but nothing of the case pointed to Kira being the culprit. Everyone agreed it wasn't Kira's modus operandi. None of the victims died from a heart attack.

But it still provided a good distraction from the lack of progress with the Kira Case, much like a new and exciting television program or reality show. It was all the others could talk about.

"There's a new serial killer in town hoarding in on Kira's turf," Matsuda said. It was a bold statement, but nonetheless true—from the task force's perspective.

Light thought otherwise. Kira didn't have a "turf", the world was his killing grounds—anyone who sought to undermine a peaceful world, criminals and the like, was his to judge. He wasn't killing people for the fun of it, it was to cleanse the world of evil—the "evil" this killer was perpetuating.

Soichiro Yagami switched off the television. The task force, all except Mogi, were gathered together for one of their daily briefings in Light's apartment—the Kira Task Force headquarters—a small enforcement operation centre for the sole purpose of catching Kira. He slammed the controller down on the coffee table in front him. It grabbed everyone's attention.

"We're here to hunt down Kira, not to become allured with another killer, Matsuda," he said. Soichiro had a gruff, authoritative tone that made him the unofficial leader of the task force. The former chief of the National Police Agency in Japan, he had the respect of the others, who were all former police officers of the NPA, now solely dedicated to the task force.

"Sorry, Chief," Matsuda said, "but you do have to admit that this must really tick off Kira. He hasn't been able to catch this new serial killer since the killings a couple of weeks ago. It kind of undermines his cause and credibility."

"Matsuda, will you stop it. Are you here to catch Kira or emphasize with him?" Soichiro said.

Ide spoke up. "No, I get where Matsuda is coming from," he said. Ide was a strict cop with strong moral values. When Soichiro stormed into the Sakura Television studio to get video tapes for L, Ide was there with an army of officers to help Soichiro escape Kira's killer eyes. "This has got to be eating at Kira. And it plays in our favour. Kira might slip up trying to catch this guy."

Aizawa mused audibly. "Ide could be right," he said, stroking his thin beard. "Still, this serial killer has nothing to do with the Kira Case, however. He's bold, I'll give him that. As if to say: Catch me of you can. He's left no clues of any kind at the crime scenes. What if he's challenging Kira?"

Soichiro cocked an eyebrow. "That's a good theory, Aizawa," he said. "I still say this isn't our purview, but your theory has merit. We may need to look at these killings, they may very well be a challenge to Kira. And if so, then he needs to be stopped."

"You mean, get his name and face out there for Kira to see?" Matsuda put in.

Soichiro frowned. "I'd never be party to such a thing, Matsuda. I won't justify handing him over to Kira. This killer must be found and judged in the courts properly."

Light listened closely. He vowed to find and punish this killer swiftly. He had been following the case and had made his own notes secretly. And yet, he found no correlation between the victims other than the method of murder: their throats were all cut. The victims had no association whatsoever and none had any criminal records or even a misdemeanour.

"This isn't our case, but I did find something odd about the killings," Aizawa mentioned, bringing out a notepad and flipping over some papers. "The media is calling him "the Samurai", because he can kill and slip out quickly. What a ridiculous name just because he cuts his victims throats. I'd call him the Throat Slasher or something like that." He cleared is throat. "Anyway, I've complied a list of the victims and there does seem to be a pattern." He told them his findings.

Light turned a sharp eye to Aizawa. Aizawa told them what he found.

There were a list of names on Aizawa's notepad, Light saw. The victims were killed reciprocally: male, female, male, female, and so on—totalling twelve people.

"Nice catch, Aizawa," Light said.

Light then noticed something else after scanning Aizawa's list. "May I see your list of names, Aizawa? Are all the victim's names spelled out here correctly?"

Aizawa eyed him suspiciously. "Yes," he said, his voice levelling with an even tone. "Why?"

Aizawa handed him the notepad and Light turned around in his chair, picked up a standard red tipped pen, turned back, and then went through the list. He then circled twelve times.

"Here," Light said, handing the notepad back. "I believe the case is now our purview. The media sees a correlation between the victims because each of their throats have been cut, but I believe there is a hidden message and I think it's for Kira."

Everyone looked at the notebook. And there was a moment of aghast amongst them.

"Holy crap!" Matsuda said.

The first letter to each first name was circled. Twelve circles: twelve letters. There was a pattern. And it repeated three times: K-I-R-A. As Light suspected, it was indeed a challenge to Kira.

Now the killer had Light's undivided attention.

Light's father looked at him. "Light, this is…How did you see this?"

"Amazing!" Matsuda said. "Well, Light is extremely smart. He did help solve that Fraud Case for the NPA a year or so back with clues none of us saw. So, does this mean the killing pattern will begin again with someone new with the first name (or Kanji) with the letter of K?"

Soichiro looked flabbergasted. "This will help immensely and now we can take over with this new information and a connection between 'the Samurai' and the Kira Case."

"No necessarily, Dad," Light said. "The NPA have been told not to work with us by Kira and they have jurisdiction in this case. Even with this seemingly new breakthrough, the NPA investigators may just see this as a quintessence. What is the NPA going to do? Round up everyone in Japan with a first name that begins with K? And they'd want to keep this information as quiet as possible from the media, so not to start a panic. The killer may just begin killing at random if he can't continue his pattern. Still, this information can provide us with a good psychological profile on him, he has OCD. I can work with that. However, maybe NPA already knows this?"

"And they're not telling us because they have been told not to work with us by Kira," Matsuda said, repeating Light's previous disclosure. "Good point, Light."

"I'll ask my contact at the NPA if they have this information," Ide said, getting out his phone. "He can be discrete. He's helped me out before."

Light looked at Aizawa. Aizawa suspected Light in being Kira and if he was getting discrete information from a contact at the NPA, Light wanted to know about it—if it was about Kira.

"Best to hold off on that right now," Light said. "Maybe we can find out what his next move will be," Light added. "We need to find out where all the victims died. If we've found this correlation, then there may be something else we can use to catch 'the Samurai' ourselves."

They worked all night, but found nothing else that connected the victims other than what Light had discovered and Aizawa's pattern of gender change-up between killings. As the sun crept up and dawn broached the morning sky, the task force members were all exhausted, and falling asleep. Light decided it was time to call it a day.

They went their separate ways.

Misa had come home early in the morning, an actress sometimes kept odd hours, with Mogi her manager, and she had crashed in the bedroom as the task force worked all night.

Light shut the door after his father left. He needed to get some sleep, he noticed dark circles under his eyes after looking in a mirror, his clothes disheveled. Coffee and tea could only rejuvenate the body for so long until natural instinct and biology was forced to take over.

Light leaned back against the door as Misa suddenly emerged from the bedroom. She wore a sexy black mesh negligee with flower white embroidery. It was new, he had certainly not purchased it for her. Light's eyes widened and his heart pumped out reversed adrenaline, stimulated—he hadn't seen what she was wearing to bed—but then yawned.

Misa was a sexy girl, but she wasn't the best partner for him. She only became connected to him when she injected herself into his affairs. She was a minion, nothing more.

"Come to bed, Light," she said, "you look exhausted."

"I can't sleep, not after what we've learned tonight." And Light told her everything. "We spent the whole night looking at each of the victims, but we didn't find anything new."

He sighed irked.

"You sound frustrated, but I can help you relax," Misa said, with a smile. "It might help take your mind of your troubles and then you look can at things with a new perspective. It does for me."

Light's brow rose underneath his hair. Misa had a diverse portfolio of relaxing techniques, including devices he didn't care for. But she was good. The problem was, he always fell asleep afterwards. He needed to stay awake right now and hunt down "the Samurai" and make him pay with methods only he could employ—with the Death Note.

Light questioned the killer's motive. The moment Kira learned of his identity, he'd die. He knew this. So, there had to be another reason for the killings and other than the secret message. Why challenge Kira, what did "the Samurai" have to gain?

Misa approached him seductively.

Obviously she was the one that wanted to "relax". She was feeling the "itch".

He was a man, and she was sexy, but something about having coitus with his subordinate was unbefitting of Kira. Nonetheless, that didn't stop her from making her move.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, she had to reach despite being shorter, and leaned up to kiss him. He reciprocated without regret. They pressed their lips together and they exchanged saliva. Light admitted, it had been…a while, and he began to feel the "itch".

He reached down and went to engage—when suddenly he felt a sharp prick on the back of his neck. He pushed her away. Misa had some sort of small device in her hand with an ejectable needle, tiny enough to be unnoticed. He hadn't seen her gripping anything before because he was more focused on what she was wearing.

There was no blood, but within seconds he began to feel whatever she had ejected him work.

"Misa!" he said, and then he collapsed.

The last thing he remembered before he succumb to the darkness was a wicked smile on her face as she stood over him like a femme fatale.

To be continued...