A/N: And now we bring about the second chapter, which I promise is more interesting and intricate than the first. So, now we take you back in time, to a month before the first chapter. I hope all of you will enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Death Note.

Warnings: This is my first time writing for Death Note so please go easy on me if you choose to review.

Chapter 2

David and the Light

One month earlier

7:23 a.m.

"Aaaaah! Not again! DAVID!"

David Makano let out a content sigh as his adoptive sister's shouts carried down the stairs of the apartment. Slyly grinning he placed the porcelain white coffee mug he was sipping tea out of down on the chestnut wooden table he was sitting at. Crossing his feet at the ankle, he inclined his gaze toward the stairway, listening for the relentless pounding of his younger sister's feet as she came rushing down the stairs, most likely with her metal brush in hand, threatening to pound him with it for his latest attempt to prank her.

He laughed softly to himself, thinking that this particular attempt was his most ingenious yet. There was absolutely no way for her to escape from it this time. For once, he would get the upper hand.

"DAVID!"

Chuckling a bit more loudly he took another sip of his tea, closing his eyes as he answered, "Yes..."

His voice trailed off when he felt the distinct sensation of a gooey substance being poured onto his head of dirty blonde hair. He cringed upon noting that the gooey substance had made its path down his face, dripping on the table, and staining the wood in a black color he hoped he wouldn't see when he opened his amber-colored eyes. More than that he hoped the sound of that same substance dripping into his tea was just his overactive imagination. If it wasn't, his morning was officially ruined.

"There," came his sister's somewhat cheerful voice, though it lacked its usual warmth. "Be sure to tell me how much fun you have getting that motor oil out of your hair. I imagine it'll be difficult."

David let out a sigh, opening one of his eyes to gaze at the girl next to him. Though irritated that his, "motor oil in the shampoo bottle scheme," failed miserably, he was more concerned with the uncharacteristic blank stare she was sporting. Almost instantly his countenance of mild irritation slipped into concern for the girl as she sat down in the chair next to him. In the same motion she poured the rest of the motor oil shampoo into his tea before snatching the uneaten toast that was resting on a plate nearby, thankfully untouched by the oil. He scowled again. This was definitely a bad sign that she had shifted into one of her "moods."

He figured he should try to distract her from whatever was going on in her head. "Aww, how did you figure it out sis?"

The girl took a bite of the toast, unceremoniously shifting her position in the chair so she was sitting with her knees tucked toward her chest. "Did you take the time to read the label on the shampoo?" she began, talking and chewing at the same time. "It reads, tantalizing peppermint chocolate. If you had taken the time to read the label you'd know that I always take a minute to smell the shampoo before using it in my hair. It reminds me of him."

David fought the urge to roll his eyes. "So she's thinking about him again, eh? Good grief, you'd think after ten years she'd give it a rest..."

"Anyway brother, since I take the time to smell my shampoo almost every morning," she continued, cutting into his thoughts, "I've memorized the exact scent." She took another bite of the toast. "Of course, with how strong motor oil smells, I didn't need to check the shampoo bottle to know you had tampered with it. I could smell the stuff the second I opened the bathroom door."

David groaned, rising up from the table to get a dishcloth to wipe his face with. "You always have an answer for everything, don't you?" Sighing he opened the drawer near the kitchen sink. After taking a moment to wipe his face he tilted his gaze toward the window, staring out at the clouds as they rolled by. "So, what excuse are you going to give the teachers for being late again?"

The girl shrugged. "Simple." Barely smiling she peered over at her brother. "I'll tell them you put motor oil in my shampoo and that it took me an extra hour to get ready this morning because of it."

"Don't you think you're pushing it a little with the hour thing?" David asked, turning on the faucet.

The girl shook her head after a few seconds of contemplation, carefully analyzing him as he wiped his face with the wet rag. "Nope. It's the truth. Because you put motor oil in my shampoo, I had to spend an hour typing in all the codes to the safe in my room where I keep my reserve stash of shampoo and other things." With a slight sigh she added, "It's a very extensive process."

"I don't doubt it."

The smile on her face faded, falling into a sad frown. "David..."

He could tell from the tone where this conversation was headed. "Don't start...this isn't the best time to..."

"What you've done is wrong David," she cut in, keeping her expression and tone of voice as neutral as possible. Even her eyes, those sea green eyes normally so full of childish innocence, were now laden with a type of maturity more befitting of a woman nearing her eighties and not a girl who had just turned seventeen a few weeks earlier.

Sometimes it amazed David, how fast her moods could shift, how fast she could switch between being one person and another.

He often wondered if she had a split personality...

One brought about because of him...

And his ideals of justice.

Such ideals were a bother to David now. In the past he appreciated the naivety of his sister and the friend she had been influenced by during her years at the orphanage, but at this point in his life...

"What kind of future can you gain from this lifestyle?"

David didn't answer, instead he turned the faucet on again, hoping to drown out the sound of her voice.

For the last few years he had worked his way up the drug cartel with their mother assisting him when she could, mostly when it came to keeping it all secret from his father. He was the same as his sister in many ways despite the lack of biological connection. His ideals were bound on the belief that justice would always prevail. It seemed like a hypocritical view in David's eyes, especially when his father had run away from prison after being convicted of murder. He didn't try to appeal the conviction, even knowing that it was false, because he was disappointed by the fact the system placed him in jail for no reason. As a result he ignored his chances to leave prison legally and instead busted out, instantly placing a price on his head.

David couldn't believe in what society called "justice" after learning the story of how his parents met. Most police weren't concerned about justice, but money. All that's needed is a face to go along with the crime, a made-up motive, and corrupted evidence. For these reasons, David didn't believe in the police, or in systems. The people running them were hypocritical, money grubbing liars who couldn't begin to understand what it meant to survive in the harsh world everyone else lived in.

Idealistic idiots...that's all they were to him.

But his sister was a big supporter of the police, no, more like she was a supporter of detectives. She was a big fan of Sherlock Holmes, having read all the books, and had seen every movie or television program to date about the series. She said it was another thing that reminded her of her friend and the orphanage.

Her deductive reasoning wasn't quite on par with the friend who held precedence in so many of her thoughts, but she was still brilliant. She hardly ever attended classes, but she studied relentlessly and passed each test with perfect scores unless fatigued or going through a cashew withdraws. In the latter case, David usually got a good laugh out of it since it was the only thing that broke her cheerful mask of composure. Though too easy to satisfy him, stealing and hiding the cans of cashews was the only prank that worked on the girl.

But in the tense silence that followed her words, he knew there'd be no chance for laughter. He could feel it in her gaze and in how she spoke to him.

Tossing the wet rag into the sink he let out the breath he'd been holding. "You say the word "future" as if it really means something, but tell me...what is the future?"

No answer.

"The future holds the seconds that make up the next moment in time," David continued, narrowing his gaze on the clouds outside. "The future can be as little as one second from now, so tell me sis," he turned to face her, a sad look in his amber eyes, "What can one hope for in a single second?"

Her gaze didn't waver. "Do you want a vague or specific answer?"

David scoffed in annoyance. "Specifics would be great..."

"Very well then. Let me present a scenario for you," she cut in for perhaps the tenth time that morning. "It's two in the morning. You're out in the street, running for you life because a greedy mad-man who holds more power and resources than your little mafia gang is after you. You were both armed, but in trying to defend yourself you've run out of bullets. Having never been in such a situation, your aim is off, but his is not. Let's add in that you've been shot multiple times in different areas on your body, none that are life threatening but enough to hinder movement, decreasing the speed of your sprint ten-fold . You're bleeding profusely, stumbling down different alleyways, trying to escape from him before coming to a dead-end."

David stiffened, seeing the situation clearly in his head. "What's your point?"

"The point is for you to answer a question for me," she answered, almost as if she were talking to an especially slow child. "Tell me, what would you want to happen?"

"I'd hope to escape..."

"Exactly." She peered at him with a slight glare reflected in her aqua colored eyes. "Your hope for the future would be to escape, to live. If you thought escape was impossible and knew you were going to die, I'm certain you'd wish you could tell me and our parents that you love us. Maybe you'd still hope for a miracle, for someone to save you from your demise. And if in theory, the future is nothing more but a few seconds ahead in time, then I'd say your wishes fill up those time slots, wouldn't you?"

David blinked in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It means that the future is hope David," she stated bluntly, her eyes like a blazing fire now. "Without hope there's nothing to look forward to. Without hope there's no point in walking ahead. In hindsight my dear brother, without hope there is no future, regardless of time." Unfolding her legs she rises up from the table, reaching for her school bag as she moves toward the door. "Hope is the future and the future is hope. One cannot exist without the other. So, I suppose I should rephrase my question from earlier." With a final glare she asks, "What is it that you hope to gain in the end?"

The young man didn't answer, only stared down at his shaking hands.

The girl opened the door. "You should think about that before going off to sell drugs again." Glancing back she added, "By the way, tell Mom and Dad I'll be home a little late tonight. Most likely I'll have detention for being tardy to class again." Without another word she slammed it shut behind her, walking leisurely down the long hallway toward the elevator.

Back inside the apartment, David unclenched his hands, willing the shaking to stop.

His sister was right he knew, but he was in too deep now. There was no turning back, not anymore.

And he had the sinking feeling that what he couldn't turn back from was the vivid scenario his sister painted in his mind.

"Ms. Makano, that's the tenth time this month." Mr. Tomoshi held out a small piece of paper, a detention slip just as she expected. After all, this particular teacher loves singling her out, making her out as more of a weirdo than the other students already perceived her to be, not that the girl really cared in the end. She wasn't all that interested in making friends in this place. She'd love to have more of them, but in the end she realizes that she operates best on her own.

Though normally armed with a cheerful disposition, the girl was definitely off-setting to others in terms of her intellect as well as some of the general creepy aura that seemed to surround her despite the usually sunny attitude. Of course today, the poor girl is sporting the doom and gloom look, giving the students around her the clue that she better be left alone for the time being. In other words, today was not a good day for teasing, homework copying, or kiss-up worshiping. No, she definitely wasn't in the mood for any of those today.

And to make matters worse, the teacher immediately demanded she'd go to the principal's office, shouting, "I've had enough of your tardiness Ms. Makano! Having perfect scores will not excuse you!"

She really wasn't in the mood for this.

With eerie calmness she pointed in a diagonal angle behind her. "Sir, not to be rude, but wasn't Mr. Yagami late yesterday? I don't see you making a fuss about him and he makes perfect grades too."

The entire class gasped, but the girl wasn't paying attention to that, she simply kept pointing at one Light Yagami without even glancing back to see his expression. It didn't matter to her anyway, he was just a face of a student in most of her classes. Nothing more, nothing less.

If she had looked back, she would have noticed Light's eyebrow rise just a touch, barely hinting at his irritation for the antics of the strange girl who didn't have the sense to ever be on time. At one time he may have seen her as his rival, but after her displays of continuous tardiness, he saw no point in regarding her as such. Aside from perfect grades, the girl was a total spazz and just plain weird.

"One tardy is excusable Ms. Makano but you've been tardy nearly every day for the four months you've attended this school," Mr. Tomoshi stated angrily. "In all honesty it's because of your grades that you haven't been suspended for multiple offenses."

The girl tilted her head of chestnut curls in inquiry. "Mr. Tomoshi, this is philosophy class, correct?"

Mr. Tomoshi, with his receding hair-line and beady eyes simply blinked in confusion. "Yes, it is..."

"And yesterday we, as a class, were speaking on the terms of justice and fairness, right?"

"Yes..."

"Then please explain why a student such as myself gets pardon simply for having better grades than another student." Placing her hands on her hips she added, "I fail to see how that's fair. Furthermore, the fact that you haven't punished me severely and didn't give Mr. Yagami detention yesterday because of our perfect grades is an obstruction of justice." With an added flair of finality she rolled her eyes. "Sorry if these statements come across rudely sir, but that's simple logic. You can't really call yourself a professor of philosophy if you can't understand something as simple as the rules of fairness."

Some of the other students snickered.

Mr. Tomoshi's face turned beet red in response to this. "MS. MAKANO!"

Said student just breathed out a sigh. "Must you yell? I can hear you just fine Mr. Tomoshi. After all, I'm standing right in front of you..."

"WHY YOU LITTLE..."

"Mr. Tomoshi."

The girl didn't turn around, but she knew whose voice that was. Mentally she sighed again.

"I hate to say this, but I'm afraid Ms. Makano is correct," Light Yagami stated, that ever diplomatic air present in his voice as he spoke. "It is unfair for the two of us to receive special treatment just because of our grades. We're all students here so we all have to abide by the same rules. I've noticed that for most of the students, a tardy is almost always an automatic detention for the day. However, for students with higher grades, more chances are given out to correct their behavior..." he trailed off for a second, a smirk barely tugging at the corners of his lips, "thus the reason Ms. Makano has been able to abuse those chances until now."

She only shrugged, not bothering to look back at Light. "It was rather convenient while it lasted, but I can't in good conscience keep allowing you to pardon me simply because of my intellect. Rules are rules teach."

Mr. Tomoshi looked absolutely livid. "Fine then...both of you can go to the principal's office then and both of you can request detention for the week."

The girl shrugged again, already gathering up her things from the top of her desk. "Fine by me. I've got nothing better to do after school."

Light didn't look fazed by the predicament either. "My apologies Mr. Tomoshi. Maybe I can reform Ms. Makano during our time in detention."

"Sorry Yagami, but you'd have an easier time training a seal how to belly dance."

For one reason or another the classroom erupted with laughter. Ms. Makano wasn't sure if it was because of the vivid imagery of the metaphor, or that she said it without any trace of her usual sunny bravado, or if it was the uncharacteristic deadpanned expression that simultaneously surfaced on Light Yagami's handsome face. Whatever the case, she didn't really care.

Though most likely, it was Light's reaction that caused the busting of the guts in that classroom.

Once out in the hall, the girl stretched her arms above her head, yawning in slight boredom. Now seemed like a good time to start with the bravado again. She hated brooding and acting like a sarcastic know it all, but waking up on the wrong side of the bed does things to people.

One: Unwanted thoughts creep into the subconscious as the person regains conciousness

Two: A sense of dread for having to get out of bed surfaces.

Three: The general idea of "life sucks" enters the brain.

Four: All a person really wants is to slip back into the abyss of a dreamless sleep.

Five: All of the above makes for a bad mood which makes for a worse day.

And as an added bonus, she didn't sleep for a long time the night before. She'd been up for most of it actually, pacing the floor for no reason, wondering why she had this foreboding sense of dread lingering in her chest. It almost felt like indigestion honestly, but with the added bonus of a cold sweat that just wouldn't go away.

Easy to say that the five things listed above are therefore doubled because of this added fact.

Then there was the disagreement with her brother this morning...she honestly didn't want to think about it. Dealing with him on any level was frustrating these days. His stubbornness was her most formidable foe.

"Training a seal how to belly dance, huh?" Light suddenly asked, breaking into her line of thought. "Colorful imagery."

"I guess," was the answer she gave him. She'd forgotten that they were going to the principal's office together. "The chances of you reforming me are actually slimmer though."

"Is that so?"

"Yep." Glancing back she added, "To reform something there has to be something wrong with it." In the next second she broke out a giant smile. "And there's nothing wrong with me."

Light stared down at her, seemingly charmed by her antics, but deep down he was thinking that if there was nothing wrong with her, there was nothing right with her either.

For one thing, her curly chestnut locks were an awful mess of tangles, she had a pimple right on the apple of her right cheek, light bags under her eyes, (clearly from staying up all night, hyped up on some type of drug because there's no other way she could be so absurdly lively every single day aside from withdrawal moments, which she obviously had to be suffering from today), her posture, (when sitting anyway) was absolutely atrocious, and worst of all her...

Light honestly didn't want to think about it, but his mind had to go there. May his male hormones be cursed for all eternity for betraying him in this way, but worst of all, the thing he detested most about this girl was the absolute perfection of her bust area.

Light Yagami was never the type to focus on the women around him or care for their emotions concerning him. Most women were too frivolous, too stupid, or too fan-girlish to hold his interest, causing him to feel no attraction whatsoever, even if they were quote on quote "drop dead gorgeous". With girls literally throwing themselves at him, (something most guys his age would be happy about), Light was running away from and not chasing after women. At this point in his life, he's not interested in women or the overly complicated emotions that caused them to throw out all reason and sanity.

While he loved them dearly, dealing with his mother and sister alone was enough to stall him from dating one of his devoted fan-girls.

But this girl was the polar opposite of most girls he knew to an extent. Sure she was clumsy, too cheerful at times, completely tomboyish yet obnoxiously girly when it came to certain things, and the sound of her voice aggravated him half the time. Unfortunately, she happened to be brilliant (like him), hold a strong sense of justice, (like him), levelheaded in any and all arguments (like him), fairly attractive, (mainly due to what he rather not think about), and above all else, she was just as bored with life as he was...

Well...to an extent since her personality seems to change with the day. Truthfully, his reluctant attraction toward this girl flipped flopped like her emotions tended to do. He was almost certain that she was either bi-polar or had split-personalities. The second choice seemed more likely, but he could never be sure and on most occasions he didn't think about it.

"Cashews?"

Light shook himself from his thoughts, blinking at the small can of cashews she held out to him as they continued to walk down the hall with a wide smile on her face.

With her personality flip-flopping the way it does, Light mentally concluded that she must be nuts...if the cashew addiction was any indicator.

"No thank you."

"Suit yourself." Throwing her head back she tossed half the contents of the can into her mouth. For half a second Light worried she might start choking from the sheer amount she poured into her mouth, but he held on to his composure as she heartily chewed the snack, her smile widening even more as she swallowed.

"Aaaah, nothing like salty cashews in the morning!"

Light kept silent, mentally shaking his head in disappointment. "I could never consider her as a rival. The boredom continues then..."

"Hey, Light-chan."

The young Yagami's brain suddenly came to a screeching halt. Strangely enough, he could seriously almost hear the sound of tires scratching across the pavement in his head.

The girl in front of him continued down the hall, completely oblivious to the state she'd left her companion in.

"What did she just call me?" He mentally screamed, before picking up the pace a bit so he was walking directly behind her. "Excuse me, Ms. Makano, isn't that too informal...and the wrong honorific? We're not exactly friends..."

"Eh, oh, that doesn't matter Light-chan," she replied, not bating an eye as the two of them approached the door to the principal's office. "Yagami-kun or Mr. Yagami just sounds a little too blah for me. I'd rather call people by their first name anyway. I wasn't born in Japan, so simply calling people by their last name...it feels a little cold, don't you think?"

Light didn't allow his curiosity to surface at the news of finding out she was actually a foreigner, instead he said, "You've lived here long enough to know the customs, correct? You speak perfect Japanese."

"And I've heard you speak perfect English in class Light-chan," she answered. "It doesn't mean you know the customs of the English any more than I know the customs of the Japanese. It just means that we know the language."

Light had to fight to keep himself from screaming in aggravation. "Ms. Makano, please stop calling me that. It's rude."

"Rude is genuine." She stopped at the door, smirking at him. "I don't like to be fake, even though it's a necessary evil most of the time."

Light smirked falsely at her, the statement ringing in his mind as he opened the door for her. Though intrigued, he decided it was time to ditch her.

Without waiting for a response from the office staff when they entered the room, Light called out, (in a perfectly polite inside voice), "Excuse me. My humblest apologies for being a bother, but Mr. Tomoshi requested that I escort Ms. Makano here to the principal's office. I believe they need to discuss her pending suspension."

The girl began to protest but Light stopped her, saying, "Now, now Ms. Makano, you know the rules. Being tardy ten times within a single month are a cause for suspension, or a month's worth of detention."

She tried speaking again, but Light stopped her once more, gently pushing her toward the principal's personal office door as he stepped out to open his door. With Light being the straight A, perfect student he was, the entire office staff believed his little lie and never questioned whether Mr. Tomoshi had also dubbed for him to be sentenced to the same fate as Ms. Makano.

"Good acting," was all she could think as he waved, turning away from her with an almost devilish smirk on his face. "Sorry for your predicament Crystal. I hope to see you in class tomorrow if you haven't been suspended."

Sea green eyes narrowed on the retreating figure. "Superb acting. I only wish I could pull that off."

The principal sat down in his seat, folding his aging hands together so he could rest his chin atop them. "So Ms. Makano, I hear you've been tardy quite a bit this month."

Crystal Makano, the adoptive daughter of Yotaru and Olivia Makano sighed heavily in response. "I hope telling him about the shampoo incident will work out in my favor. If it doesn't, I'm beating David up with my brush when I get back this evening."

A/N: And that's the second chapter everyone. So, what did you all think? Mainly, did I depict Light okay? (I did just finish the anime, so his character is still fresh on my mind, but you never know, I could have messed up somewhere.) Anyway, thanks for reading and please continue to read. The next chapter will start the major conflict and from there, well, who knows what will happen.