A/N: The intricate story of Death Note is about to take some rather strange twists. What twists you ask? You'll find out soon enough.

Disclaimer: I do not own the brilliance that is Death Note. If I did, well, through reading this I'm pretty sure you get the idea of what Death Note would be like if I owned it.

Warnings: None for this chapter aside from it not being as long as my previous chapters.

Chapter 7

The Birth of Kira Part 4

When Crystal regained conciousness a few minutes after passing out, she had to resist the urge to scream in frustration. The predicament she was in REALLY warranted a good childish tirade of some sort. It's bad enough that she passed out in the middle of class while reciting lines to Macbeth, but did she really need to be carried out of the room bridal style, by Light Yagami no less? After all, her pride had been slapped at least twice by this guy already. First in his show of abandoning her to the principal and then when he beat her by one point on the nationwide exam.

This was the third strike against him at this point and while Crystal desperately wanted to throw a horrible tantrum, she decided against it, mainly because she was still seeing red and that took precedence in her thoughts.

"This is becoming troublesome," she thought, blinking wearily as Light carried her down the stairs. The infirmary was in the building next door. That meant she would have to spend another five minutes in his arms.

Most girls would give away half an organ just for the chance to be in Light's arms, but Crystal was not one of them. Sure, the guy was somewhat attractive. Seriously, it's not as if she's blind, but other than that little detail, Crystal couldn't fathom the appeal of the young man. Sure he was smart, but he was also arrogant, childish, and insufferably indifferent to everything.

Crystal didn't know Light well or anything, but she'd observed him enough to at least gather that much about his personality.

Well, if she put it that way, he sort of reminded her of L...

On second thought, no. That'd be giving Light Yagami way too much credit.

She didn't outright dislike Light, but she wasn't one of his fangirls either. She could admire his intellect and looks, but aside from that she really couldn't understand why all her female acquaintances thought he was so charming. In fact, charming would be the last word she'd used to describe him.

But again, being cradled in the arms of such a guy wasn't Crystal's main concern. The thoughts pricked the back of her mind, but her world was still shrouded in red, a fact that was beginning to shake the foundations of her composure.

Light hadn't noticed that she'd awoken yet. She glanced up at him, seeing letters above his head, probably in the form of his name, but Crystal still couldn't right her vision enough to be sure. At least she wasn't seeing numbers too though. That was a relief.

Blinking again Crystal tried moving, alerting Light that she'd regained conciousness. He stared down at her, his brown eyes widening slightly.

"Looks like you're awake," he began, smirking a bit. "You gave everyone a scare back there."

Crystal was barely listening to him. Her gaze darted in all directions as she tried to discern exactly where she was. They were going down a flight of stairs.

"Light-chan."

Light cringed a bit. "Makano, must you call me that?"

Crystal wasn't concerned with how he felt. She didn't feel comfortable being held this way, especially not by her intellectual rival.

"Would you mind putting me down?"

"I don't think that would be the best idea for you right now," Light stated, forcing a chuckle out of his mouth as he continued down the stairs. Crystal detested the false nature of the sound.

"I'll be just fine," she told him firmly as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Put me down."

He finally stopped moving, a small frown tugging at his lips. "Makano, I highly doubt you'll be able to walk..."

Crystal slapped her hand over Light's mouth to stop him from saying anything else. She didn't register the look of pure rage that briefly flashed in the young man's eyes. Even if she had, she wouldn't have hesitated to slap her hand over his mouth.

Because unlike everyone else, Crystal didn't think Light Yagami was perfect.

Right now she was thinking that he talked too much for his own good.

"Put. Me. Down. Now."

Having emphasized each word as a separate sentence as well as given Light the death glare to end all death glares, Crystal was fairly surprised when he decided to comply to her request...

And by comply, I mean drop the poor girl on the cold tile floor.

Light knew as soon as it happened that he shouldn't have simply dropped her, but the girl was just so...infuriating.

Crystal slowly rose to her feet, ignoring the pain in her backside as she did. "Well, that's one way to do it."

"My apologies, it's just..." Light trailed off and almost blushed in frustration. He'd never had trouble explaining his actions before, but now he was having a hard time coming up with an excuse for his behavior.

"It's just that you don't like being put in your place?" Crystal offered, placing a hand on her hip.

Light ignored the jibe. "No, it's just a little frustrating to be treated so poorly after I saved you from busting your head on the floor."

Crystal turned her gaze away, the pounding in her head returning at full force. "Yes, I suppose that was inconsiderate of me. Still, that's no reason to drop me in my current condition."

Light bowed his head in the traditional fashion. "Again, I apologize."

"Whatever," she replied nonchalantly, taking a step away from him and then another. It was obvious to Crystal that the apology wasn't all that sincere, but again, more important things were weighing on her mind.

"Everyone loses their temper from time to time Light-chan. You shouldn't beat yourself..."

Light inwardly groaned when he noted Crystal's body swaying again. With a roll of his eyes he moved to catch her.

"See, I told you this would happen," Light chided, inwardly cringing at the sound of Ryuk's laughter. He'd hardly stopped the entire time since Crystal fell unconscious in class. Of course, Light had a pretty good idea as to why the Shinigami found this situation so entertaining.

He gently shook Crystal's limp form. "Makano?"

Crystal moaned, opening her eyes to meet Light's. His eyes widened again upon seeing them.

"When we were talking before her eyes were completely bloodshot, but now her eyes look normal, almost as if the whole thing never happened."

Crystal stared up at him, noticing the change in her world. Everything looked normal again, save for Light's eyes. They still looked slightly crimson to her.

"I'm worse off than I thought," she whispered, smiling a bit. "I don't like relying on others but..." for a moment she trailed off, not wanting to admit that she desperately needed help.

"But what?"

Crystal sighed. "Well, I'm too weak to make it to the infirmary on my own and since you're the only one around I'm pretty much out of options. It's a pity really. I don't particularly like you."

The smile was still on her face and while such a comment would normally feel like a slap to Light's pride, he found it strangely comical. He actually laughed a little.

Crystal raised an eyebrow. "Most people would be offended Light-chan."

"I'm not most people," he replied, moving to pick her up again. "Besides, I don't particularly like you either."

Light was about to lift her from the floor bridal style once more, but Crystal managed to surprise him...yet again.

"You mind carrying me on your back instead?" she asked, seemingly nonchalant, but Light caught the glimmer of dismay in her sea green eyes.

"I see, she doesn't care if a guy looks at her in an obscene way, but she can't stand for a guy to touch her in a way that makes her uncomfortable." Light observed.

"Sure, that's fine," he told her, backing off a bit. "Do you think you can climb on my back?"

"I'm sure I can manage that much," she told him as he turned his back to her. After a few seconds he felt her arms around his neck. Her grip was a little tighter than necessary.

"By the way Light-chan," she murmured in a flat monotone, "if you attempt to drop me the way you did before, I will strangle you."

He decided not to dignify her half-baked threat with a response, instead maneuvering his body so he could properly distribute her weight across his back. After a few seconds he stood upright, bringing Crystal along with him.

"There, are you comfortable?"

When Crystal didn't answer, Light slowly inclined his gaze back. He let out a sigh. She had passed out once again.

Ryuk started laughing once Light started walking again. "Hehehe, she's quite entertaining. I would have never thought anyone could match you in retorts."

Light tried to ignore the Shinigami as he stepped outside, but Ryuk continued to yammer on despite this.

"Say, maybe you should make her your girlfriend or something." The Shinigami chuckled loudly while flying in front of the young genius. "Doesn't a god need a goddess by his side?" He was snickering again before he could finish the sentence.

A raised eyebrow was the only outward response Light gave, but inside he was wishing for a way to keep Ryuk from talking. It was bad enough that he kept laughing like a maniac, but now he was making suggestions for him to make...that girl...a part of his plan to rule over the new world? Such suggestions were not only suspicious but outrageously stupid.

He did not want nor need a woman by his side, especially one as infuriating as Crystal Makano. No, he'd definitely take a pass on that.

However, that didn't mean that Crystal couldn't be useful to him. On the other hand, she could be detrimental to his plan. It was clear that when he wrote a name in the notebook, it affected her. He had no idea how, but he had a feeling Ryuk did. Before the day's end he was going to find out exactly what was going on with the troublesome troublemaker.

"If she becomes a problem..." he thought, arriving at the building where the infirmary was located. "I may have to kill her... No wait...is that the right thing to do in this situation? Makano may be annoying and dimwitted, but she isn't guilty of any crimes...well she could have a drug addiction but that's still just speculation on my part. Besides that, what would have been the point of protecting her if I was just going to kill her off later?"

Light decided that he would wait to make any decision regarding Crystal's life. He needed to learn more about her first, figure out why the notebook was effecting her this way, and then see if he could use her for his purpose. Based on his previous interactions with the girl, doing so wasn't going to be easy.

The young man smirked, a carnal gleam in his eye. "That will be an intriguing challenge."

Later

"Heart attacks you say?"

"Yes sir."

David Makano sat on a caramel colored, leather couch with his right foot resting over his left knee. He wore a black leather jacket, a black t-shirt, black jeans that were slightly baggy, and black tennis shoes. Around his neck he wore a dog-tag necklace, the dog-tag itself serving as a secret locket that held a small picture of his entire family. He didn't wear it much at home, but in the depths of the drug world, he was never without it. Wearing the dog-tag locket reminded him of his purpose for being immersed in this dangerous profession. While doing this gave him surges of adrenaline and kept him busy, his true reason for being on this path was for his family.

"That's why...no matter what Crystal says..." he let the thought trail off, choosing instead to meet the gazes of the three subordinates kneeling before him.

"So the punks that were with Takuo the night he attacked my sister died of heart attacks the second you confronted them."

The one in the middle lowered his head, practically pressing it to the floor. "Yes sir. That's how it happened. We fled the scene as soon as we confirmed their deaths."

David's honey colored gaze narrowed toward the floor as he began to contemplate. "There have been multiple news reports about this sort of thing too. In the last few days, at least sixty people have died from massive heart attacks and all of the victims were either criminals or alleged criminals."

With a soft groan he planted his right foot onto the floor. "It's always been our goal to keep the police off our trail," he began, eyeing his three subordinates while wishing the rest of his team were around to hear what he was about to say. He hated repeating himself. Still...for something like this it was necessary.

"However, now it's absolutely imperative that we're not caught by any means," he continued. "These heart attacks are not just coincidence. That much I'm absolutely sure of. There's a murderer out there executing criminals. If the police catch us there's no doubt in my mind that we'll die along with them."

The three men rose to their feet, all of them stating they would send the news out to the other operatives. After this David allowed them to leave. He needed to think about what needed to happen next. A big order for cocaine had just come in the day before, one that had to be fulfilled within the next few days. He would have help from his mother as usual and everything should turn out fine.

However, with this new murderer on the loose, killing without leaving any traces...his occupation had become ten times more dangerous. One mistake could cost him everything. He had to be careful.

When situations like this arose, David would normally wonder if he could breach the subject of asking Crystal to join him again, but this time his mind wouldn't let him go that far. Crystal wasn't one to make mistakes in her skills in deduction, but even with that...if he threw himself into the lion's den, he didn't want to drag Crystal down with him. Taking his mother and possibly his father would be more than enough to keep him company in the underworld.

Rising to his feet he took a moment to simply stare down at his feet, Crystal's words echoing in his head.

The future is hope David...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. Hope is the future and the future is hope. One cannot exist without the other. What is it that you hope to gain in the end?

With a loud snarl he kicked over the coffee table in front of him. The sound of wood crashing into the concrete floor resonated in his ears, echoing into the empty cavern of the underground base he'd constructed, practically by himself.

Deep down inside, he knew that if he went forward with his latest order that he might get caught and that would lead to his death. Unfortunately, if he didn't, he'd be doomed to the same fate.

Because his latest client was a corrupt police officer and he wouldn't hesitate to sell David out. He had catered to this client for a while, not because he had meant to take on a police officer as a client, but because he'd been tricked into it. The officer was supposed to be on an undercover mission to arrest David with multiple charges of illegal drug distribution as well as one murder charge, trailing back all the way back to the days his family lived in Paris. David had no idea that the police had managed to track him down so quickly. He was just grateful that they hadn't connected the dots up until this point.

But now...

He took out a baseball bat from the corner of the room, smashing it into the remaining wooden furniture in the room, which consisted of a few chairs and another table. All the while he screamed, snarling curses toward the heavens.

The truth was that he had no hope for his future anymore. Anger wouldn't allow him to accept it, but deep inside he understood what his life had come down to. Everything he'd done, everything he'd aimed to achieve by taking over the drug cartel was rendered meaningless in an instant. His sister had been right all along. He should have walked away from all this before that fateful night in Paris, the night she saw him kill a man.

David screamed and slammed the bat down on the shattered remains of the table in front of him, enraged by the memory. On that night, his entire world changed, he changed. He could never go back to being the caring brother he'd been to his adoptive sister, especially when his emotions churned and became a mutilated mess of feelings he fought endlessly to ignore.

He was in love with his sister and hated himself for it. He couldn't turn back from the life he had chosen and the one person that could save him was the one person he refused to put in harm's way, no matter the reason.

The thoughts made David angrier, because he knew that if he chose to leave Crystal out of the mess he was in, she could end up alone, without anyone to take care of her. David knew she could handle herself fairly well, but even so...she needed someone to look out for her.

"Then for that reason...I have to keep at this and simply avoid being caught," he thought, slowing his frenzied movements throughout the room. "I'll fulfill this last order and then I can stop. I can live at home for a while, maybe find a decent job until the police catch this guy. That's my only option."

The sudden ringing of his cell phone forced him to stop his destructive tirade. The bangs of his dirty blonde hair hung over his eyes, throughly hiding the fear reflected in the amber orbs. The ringtone echoed in the cold, dark room for a few seconds as he took shallow breaths to calm himself.

After another second he answered it, concealing his despair with a cheerful greeting. "Yo! David Makano here!"

"Good afternoon, my name is Erika Tomoi. I'm the registered nurse at Daikoku Private Academy..."

"Is Crystal alright?" David cut in, lines creasing his forehead. Crystal hadn't been feeling well the last few days. She hid it well enough, but David had still noticed. "What happened to her?"

"The young man that brought her in told me she passed out in the middle of class," Ms. Tomoi stated. "She's resting now, but I thought someone should pick her up. I called the emergency number in Crystal's file. I thought it was her father's number, but you don't sound like you're much older than she is."

"You assume correctly," David replied cordially. "I'm her older brother. I'll come pick her up. What room is the infirmary?"

A/N: Yeah...that's an odd place to end the chapter, but I really didn't have a choice. What I have planned next is better suited for the next chapter, hence the abrupt and kind of weird ending. And while on this note, let me say that it will be a while before I update this story again. So in the meantime, because I'm feeling nice today, I will recommend some stories by other author's that I found interesting. Some will be for the Death Note category and others will be for other anime. So let's get the recommendations underway!

Jizen Keiji

By: Timekeeper101

LxOC. She is haunted by her past; he's just bored. Both have secrets. Both have reasons to be left alone... But loneliness is hard to deal with when you don't give someone else a chance. Rated M to be safe. Kind of OOC-ish. REWRITE PENDING!

Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Angst - L - Chapters: 100 - Words: 404,165 - Reviews: 880 - Favs: 259 - Follows: 73 - Updated: Apr 13, 2009 - Published: Jul 30, 2008 - Status: Complete - id: 4436466

The above story is awesome! And as far as I've read (which at this time is up to chapter 21) there's nothing in the story that really warrants the M rating except for some mild language and mild suggestive themes. From what I've read so far it's rated M just to be safe as the above summary stated. Go read it! It's AMAZING!

Gods of Many Faces

By: Starfire Eld

"I know how Kira kills" These are not words that Seto Kaiba wants to say, nor what L expects to hear. But with the rise of an old enemy, Seto doesn't have a choice. He will have to regroup with old allies (perhaps friends) and join the battle against Kira to save the world - and protect those that he realizes he can't live without. Rated T for some violence and language.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Adventure/Suspense - Seto K., Isis I., L - Chapters: 8 - Words: 21,730 - Reviews: 28 - Favs: 15 - Follows: 18 - Updated: Dec 3, 2013 - Published: Nov 4, 2013 - id: 9821177

The above story is a fabulous crossover between Death Note and Yu-Gi-Oh. And if you like both categories then you'll love this story. It's awesome!

Guardian Angel

By: Getsunohimesama

Everyone has a story, but don't usually get to tell it after death. Or after a quick trip to the Shadow Realm...My name is Amane Bakura and this is my tale. Sequel to "My Brother's Keeper".

Rated: Fiction T - English - Family/Adventure - R. Bakura, Yami Bakura, Amane B. - Chapters: 8 - Words: 35,958 - Reviews: 55 - Favs: 5 - Follows: 8 - Updated: Feb 8 - Published: Nov 14, 2013 - id: 9846656

The above story has nothing to do with Death Note, but if you like Yu-Gi-Oh then this is a good story for you to follow. It is a sequel to another story this author wrote, which is basically just a really extensive, well-written one-shot. The main character is a spirit though, so it kind of ties in with the Death Note theme I have going here. XD

There are also a bunch of other stories by me and other author's on my profile. If you feel up to it, go take a look. Thanks for reading. And I love feedback like L loves sugar, so feel free to leave a review. Constructive criticism is welcome. Have a beautiful day!