Death Note: Diary of a Shinigami Chapter 9: Confrontation, a death note fanfic

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry this took so long, but here is another installment of Death Note: Diary of a Shinegami. What shall unfold in today's chapter? Well, I've summoned the chapter, so read to find out. (Yes, that was a YGOTAS reference.)

Disclaimer: I do not own the brilliance that is Death Note.

Warnings: There'll be some time skips and this chapter ended up being over 8,000 words. Don't ask me how it happened. I don't know. I guess I was inspired.

Chapter 9

Confrontation

Saturday evening~5:22 p.m.

Crystal had only been awake for a few minutes when the doorbell rang. Her headache had returned, though by now she was beginning to adjust to the pain. At the very least, it didn't feel like someone was drilling holes into her skull anymore. However, recovering from her latest nightmare about what had to be the Shinigami realm proved to be another issue altogether.

"These dreams are all too vivid." She thought, working around the pain thinking brought her. "My subconscious mind is either trying to tell me something or..."

Crystal didn't get another second to proccess the thought as the door to her room swung open. In the doorway, wearing a small tattered blue cardigan over a clean white t-shirt and jeans, stood five year old Nagisa Miagi. She was a very cute little girl with wavy ringlets of ebony locks and the brightest hazel eyes Crystal had ever seen. Despite the hand life had dealt to her at such a young age, Nagisa behaved like any ordinary girl would except that she was a little more well-versed and mannered.

Unfortunately for Ms. Makano, neither of those traits were kicking in right now.

"Hi Crysta-chan!"

Crystal felt the impulse to burry her head in her pillows while screaming at the horror that was babysitting, but ignored it in favor of smiling at the girl. "Hey Nagisa."

"You look really bad." Nagisa stated bluntly, tilting her head a bit in concern. "Did Uncle Davy take your cashews again?"

"I wish these headaches had just been from cashew withdrawal," Crystal thought offhandedly before shaking her head. "Nah, I've just been working too hard at school." She cringed as soon as the words left her mouth. That was probably one of the worst excuses she could tell to anyone that knew her. Even a five year old would know she was lying through her teeth.

"Come on Crysta-chan! Don't try to protect him!" Nagisa exclaimed, holding her fists up to her chest. "If you want, I can beat him up for you."

Crystal let out a small laugh as she sat up in bed. "David's actually been very kind to me recently, so don't worry. I'm just really tired today, that's all."

Nagisa didn't look wholly convinced but after a few seconds she smiled and nodded her head. "Okay."

"Now, you go into the kitchen and get something to eat from Mom," Crystal ordered while playfully pinching one of Nagisa's cheeks. "Give me at least ten minutes to wake up good, alright."

"Awww, let gooooo!" The girl whined, her giggles betraying her.

Crystal thought it over for a second. "Only if you promise to be a good girl."

"I promise! I promise! Please Crysta!"

"Alright fine," the teen replied, releasing her loose grip on Nagisa's cheek. The little girl stormed out of the room, rubbing her face the whole time. As soon as she left, David entered, looking sheepish.

"I think you enjoy the 'big sister' role a bit too much."

Crytal rolled her eyes and planted her sock clad feet to the floor, her mood shifting from 'big sister' mode to serious 'I'm going to interrogate my big brother' mode.

"David, how did Mrs. Miagi look today?" She asked him sternly, narrowing her gaze on his.

Looking toward her desk littered with her giant Bible and notebooks he answered, "Not good. She's been using more heavily than I initially thought. Something has to be done about it soon. At the very least I need to fire her, but to do so without getting her off the drugs will do more harm than good."

"Right, because there's a little girl caught in the middle of it," Crystal agreed, rising to her feet. The room swayed a bit, but Crystal was able to gather her bearings before David could leap into action. Her fainting spell at school and a day of inactivity had worried him and their parents considerably, but the brilliant teen couldn't allow David to focus on her condition right now. The issue of Nagisa's mother was far more pressing, for more than one reason.

"You'll need to make a plan on how to deal with this fast," she told him simply, moving to her dresser. Opening it she pulled out a long-sleeved light blue t-shirt and a pair of dark wash jeans. She would change into them once David was out of the room. As it stood, she'd been wearing her school uniform as pajamas for a whole twenty-four hours.

"I know," David answered, frowning as his thoughts reminded him of the shipment of cocaine he had to deliver to that police officer. Normally he would let Mrs. Miagi or one of his other contacts make the delivery, but this time he would have to take it himself. The situation was becoming too dangerous for him to leave anything to chance.

Once more the thought to ask Crystal for help entered his mind, but he quickly dismissed it.

That is, until Crystal spoke again.

"Do you need any assistance in reference to the cartel or Mrs. Miagi? I'm sure my intellect could be of substantial use to you."

David instantly clenched his hands into fists. He hated it when she spoke like that, spoke like him.

"No," he replied, albeit stiffly. "I have everything under control, Crystal." Exhaling a soft breath he turned to the door. "Mom's making enchiladas for dinner tonight. If you want any you'll have to keep Nagisa occupied while the two of us cook."

"Can't Dad do it?" Crystal asked, her voice a flat monotone.

"He's stuck in evening traffic," David told her, forcing himself to act cheerful as he reached for the handle of her door. "You'll have to make do little sis." With that said he left the room, closing her door behind him.

Once he was gone, Crystal let out a long sigh. "I see. So he knows about the heart attacks killing criminals and he's made the conclusion that they're not natural occurences. He wouldn't have refused my offer otherwise. Sometimes I forget how clever my brother can be."

With slow movements, Crystal sat back down on her bed, the clothes she planned to wear now laying in a knotted pile next to her. Reaching down she started pulling off her knee-socks.

"Still, that alone wouldn't have been enough to stop him from asking me at the very least, not unless he was worried about getting caught."

Crystal's head was starting to pound relentlessly once again, but the seventeen year-old forced herself not to focus on it. One of two things had to happen in order to ensure her family's safety from this unknown killer.

One: Help David out of whatever dire situation he'd gotten himself into then force him to shut down his drug cartel for good.

Two: Find the man or woman using her Death Note, get it back, and destory it.

Neither option was going to be an easy task, especially given that time wasn't on Crystal's side. If David had figured out that the heart attacks were killings then it was more than likely that police around the world had figured it out too. Sooner or later they would get involved. Regardless of who's dying, the person hanging on to her notebook is committing mass homocide and no law enforcement is going to stand back and let it happen without taking investigative measures. It'll happen and when it does, her quest to track down the killer wielding her notebook like a sword would become vastly more complicated. With David having problems within his cartel too, pulling all this off without a hitch is going to be difficult. One mistake on her part or David's for that matter would end in death.

To make matters worse, Crystal's general reasoning skills were suffering tremendously thanks to these headaches and nightmares, all of which started right after she lost her Death Note.

There was a connection there. Crystal knew that much. She just couldn't decipher why. The dreams too...what did any of them really mean?

Pulling the long-sleeved t-shirt over her head, Crystal stood up from her bed and glanced at the full-length mirror in the corner. She was definitely a trainwreck by all appearances and right now she didn't have a spare second to make a plan. Nagisa was waiting.

Nagisa...if something wasn't done about this killer and Mrs. Miagi's new habit of using the drugs she was supposed to be selling got her into trouble...Nagisa could lose her mother.

More importantly, if David was somehow caught, their mother and father would most likely go down with him. All of them would die.

Crystal resolved that she would have to become a criminal herself as she left the comfort of her bedroom. Nagisa plowed into her right away, begging her to let her braid her hair and finish teaching her the basics of addition and subtraction. The litle girl loved learning, loved her mother, loved the whole Makano family, and Crystal was prepared to die protecting the things she and Nagisa both loved. After all, if not for her hesitance to destory the notebook and her clumsiness she would have never lost the Death Note to begin with.

However...in the back of her mind, as Nagisa dragged her to the sofa where she had her little notebook and color pencils spread out, Crystal couldn't help but wonder why she didn't feel that this killer was entirely wrong for using her Death Note this way.

Perhaps it was because...at one point she had intended to do the same.

Two days later

ICPO Japan Headquarters

Monday

2:15 p.m.

"There are fifty-two deaths that we're aware of and that's just in the last week."

"Every single one of them involved a heart attack."

"They were all criminals who were either being held in prison or wanted by police for outstanding crimes and I think it's safe to say there are other criminals deaths who aren't accounted for."

Soichiro Yagami of the NPA frowned as he entered into the dimly lit conference room of the ICPO headquarters. As he approached his chair he listened intently to American representative, Andrew Wright, give his testimony on the recent widespread heart attacks. The other representatives had been discussing the deaths and whether or not they were part of a new airborne pathogen or if the deaths were elaborate murders. Neither explanation sounded reasonable, but given the circumstances there's not much else it could be classified as. If the chief were going to choose one of the two scenarios, he would have to go with the possibility that the deaths were murders. After all, if it were an airborne pathogen, then criminals wouldn't be the only ones dying of heart attacks at such a quick rate, civilians would be too.

"If that is the case, then the death toll could be over one hundred."

Murmurs of concern filtered through the room. Chief Yagami ignored it, opting to take his seat next to his associate, a younger man by the name of Touta Matsuda. He was a good detective, albeit a naïve and somewhat idiotic one, but a good one nonetheless. At the very least, Matsuda was good at easing the tension around any dire situation...though half the time it was to his own detriment.

"Good morning chief," he whispered, his brown eyes briefly locking on his superiror. "They started the meeting without you."

Soichiro nodded. "That's alright. I had to take an urgent call from headquarters."

He would have explained to Matsuda what the call was about, (because we all know he would have asked), but before he could say anything, another reperesentative spoke. This one was from England.

"At any rate, these were criminals who were probably facing execution sooner or later. Perhaps we shouldn't..."

"Why should it matter whether it's a criminal or someone innocent," the American representative angrily cut in. "Last time I checked, murder was still murder."

The Englishmen shrugged in indifference, a scoff falling from his lips simultaneously. "It's still too early to consider these deaths as homocides."

"Then how did all of these men have heart attacks at the exact same time!?" The American representative violently rose to his feet, clear frustration in his tone. "That's not coincidence! It's murder!"

"Do you think it's possible to simultaneously kill all these people in different locations?"

Another representative of the United States chimed in. "We're treating this as an elabroate murder plot that's been carried out by a large organization."

"If it is a large organization," another English representative began, "then I'm not alone in suspecting the FBI or CIA."

"I dare you to say that again!"

A plump Dutch man about fifty years of age decided to address the room before it turned into a repeat of the American Revolution. "Now, now! This is not the time to be joking around! We need to confirm that these are indeed homocides and not coincidences."

"How?" The English representative asked. "The autopsy results show that in all of these cases the victims died of a sudden heart attack."

"And investigating a series of heart attacks is pointless." Another man stated, clearly irritated by the whole spectacle. "I don't see what else we can learn."

"Exactly! If these people had been shot or stabbed we'd at least have something to go on."

Another soft chorus of murmurs filtered through the room before the American representative rose his voice to speak over everyone.

"If that's the case then we have no choice but to bring in L."

The room suddenly fell silent as the senior memebers of the ICPO quietly contemplated this move. None of them seemed sure, but it was clear to Soichiro that there wasn't any other angle to attack this problem in. They simply didn't have the means to catch this killer...if that was indeed what was happening.

"Uh, chief?"

Soichiro turned toward Matsuda. The younger man was leaning his head toward him.

"Um, who's this L guy they're talking about?"

The older man narrowed his gaze on him. "That's right. I forgot that this is your first time at this conference." Sighing, Soichiro turned his gaze toward the rows of representatives sitting below him. "We don't know L's real name or whereabouts. In fact, we still don't know what he even looks like. However, he has managed to solve every case he's ever taken on and he's tackled some of the greatest mysteries this world has ever known. He hides in the shadows but he's the best of the best. He's our last resort, our trump card."

Matsuda's head was spinning by the time the chief had finished, but he nodded anyway.

Some of the representatives were clearly wary of L, saying that he was arrogant and only took on cases he was personally interested it. Another man stated that no one could even contact him.

And then, to the surprise of everyone, a new voice echoed through the tense air of the room.

"L is already on the move."

After the words were spoken, the room quieted and the sound of the newcomer's footsteps against the stage floor could be heard. If possible, the tension in the air thickened with each step he took until his silhouette appeared from arround the curtain. Soichiro and Matsuda, along with the rest of the representatives watched the mysterious man clad entirely in black make his way toward center stage. Soichiro noted that the man was carrying a silver briefcase along with him.

"Gentlemen," he began formerly, "L has already begun his investigation of these incidents."

A chorus of questions followed the man's words, but it was clear to the chief that the man was pointedly ignoring the queries to get to the heart of the matter.

"Chief, who's that."

Soichiro once more turned to Matsuda. "That man is the only known person who can contact L. Nobody knows his true identity either."

The mysterious man let the idle chatter go on for a few more seconds before requesting everyone's silence. When the room quieted, the man spoke once more.

"L would now like to address the delegates."

With that said, the mysterious man set a laptop on the small table in front of him. Upon opening it, everyone could see the trademark insignia of a calligraphy style L on the screen. That same L appeared on the big monitor behind the man, illuminating the dark room.

"Greetings to all of you at the ICPO," a mechanical voice began after a minute had passed. "I am L."

At an indisclosed location within Japan, the detective no one had ever seen sat before his computer screen, speaking into a microphone that altered his voice. Long before this moment he had crafted and set into motion a grand scheme to pinpoint where this killer lived. Seeing that the first deaths had started in the Canto region of Japan, L figured it was the best place to start.

Informing the ICPO of these things was the only loose end remaining.

Meanwhile, as the ICPO operatives were discussing the details of the killer with L, Light Yagami traveled to a small abandoned house on the outskirts of a poor neighborhood a couple districts away from his own. The day before, while his younger sister Sayu was begging him for help on some math homework, Ryuk conveniently decided to offer some information.

Those who touch the Death Note will be able to see and hear the Shinigami attached to it.

Since Sayu was in the room, Light couldn't outwardly react to Ryuk's idea of a prank. Instead he helped his sister with quadratic formulas while continually glancing at the desk drawer where he had hidden the notebook.

This experience led Light to realize two things. The first was that he needed to take precautionary measures to keep the Death Note from being touched by anyone other than him. For that end he had come to this small decrepit house with the Death Note, a bottle of rubbing alchohol, some electrical wires, and a box of matches.

The second thing he had realized was that Ryuk was more devious than he had originally anticipated. Light had never trusted the Shinigami, but he never considered that the creature would withold information from him purposely either. He didn't believe Ryuk had any reason to do so. After all, he was providing the Shinigami with excellent entertainment during his stay in the human world.

Clearly Light had miscalculated somewhat. It was a small blow to his pride to be bested by such a loathsome creature; however, Ryuk's prank had given him incentive to question some of his past statements and explanations just to be sure he wasn't pulling another trick on him.

It wasn't until he saw Crystal in class that he remembered the poor explanation Ryuk had given to explain why he'd given the Death Note to a four year-old child. Ryuk was constantly bored but even he would have had enough sense not to place a book of death into the hands of a child, especially as a means of entertainment.

"Let's say he was telling the truth," Light mused silently while opening the door to the dilapidated house. "There should have been some repercussions to his actions. These gods of death have to follow some sort of code of conduct, one that strictly forbids what Ryuk did. Crystal may have never written a name in the Death Note, but any other child probably would have. In a lot of cases they probably would have written their own names and if that were to happen the every day man would know every detail about the Death Note or at the very least the government would know. However, if that were the case, the police would have already made a statement regarding it. Perhaps to avoid public panic they would label it as missing evidence from a miscellaneous case, but none of those things have happened. As it stands, the police have yet to make any statement on the killings.

Based on these facts, Light knew Ryuk had to have lied about his reason for giving Crystal the notebook. He would have to question the Shinigami further at a later time. From what he noted of the girl today, the notebook wasn't affecting her as severely. For now, she wasn't an immediate threat to his plans. He could afford to put her involvement in this on the backburner. Figuring out how to properly hide his Death Note away from his family was vastly more important to him right now.

Because if any of them were to find the notebook at this point in the game...he would have to kill them all.

Three days later

Thursday

4:57 p.m.

"Five days...it's been five days since Mrs. Miagi dropped Nagisa off. She should have been back three days ago at the latest, now all of this just looks suspicious. David and Mom know what's going on of course, but Dad has absolutely no clue and if he were to find out now..."

Crystal let out a yelp as Nagisa roughly tugged at her hair. The younger girl had been trying in vain to braid the tangled mess that was Crystal's dark curly locks for the last hour with absolutely no success.

"Nagisa-chan, not so rough," Crystal gently chided, her head beginning to pound again as she shifted her weight on the carpeted floor.

"Opps, I'm sorry," Nagisa amended, watching the teen as she folded her legs underneath her. Now sitting cross-legged, Crystal set her gaze on the television. The five o'clock news would be airing shortly which meant that there would be more reports on the mass killings of criminals. Crystal had been paying closer attention to the news recently, but today she would be paying even closer attention, hoping and praying the entire time that Mrs. Miagi wasn't on Kira's list of murders for the day.

"There's been no word on Mrs. Miagi in the news or from David's contacts within the cartel so far." Crystal mused, falling silent as Nagisa started on her hair again. "All we know right now is that the cocaine was delivered on schedule. Not a trace of the substance was missing from the shipment. That in itself is strange. Mrs. Miagi just started using. In the last two shipments she took a couple ounces from each one. She wouldn't be able to break this new habit easily, especially when the high is new to her. At this point it's doubtful that Kira knows anything about her either...still the chance is there..."

Crystal frowned, her gaze narrowing on the news anchor as he began to discuss the most recent deaths instigated by this new murderer. "Kira is the name the people have chosen for the person using my Death Note. Had I used the Death Note for this purpose, would they have given me the same name? Would I have even gone this far?"

"Crystal, quit making that face." David suddenly chirped from the kitchen where he was making dinner. "You don't want to worry mom and dad again, do you?"

"Of course I don't," Crystal answered, turning her head slightly so she could meet her brother's gaze. "But I'm concerned about..."

"Yeah, yeah I know," David cut in while glancing at Nagisa. "But looking like that won't help the situation we're in. Besides that, Mom and Dad both had to work longer hours today. The last thing they need is to see you looking like that when they get home."

With a huff, Crystal fixed her gaze on the T.V. once more. "I suppose you have a point. Even so..." she trailed off as Nagisa yanked at her hair again.

"Even so nothing sis," David answered as his hand hovered over the knife block. His eyes scanned the different knives before he deciding on a santaku knife. After withdrawing it, he turned to the vegatables resting on the cutting board.

"Will this man called Kira end up killing me? Will this be the last meal I prepare for my family?"

Shaking his head, the older brother begins to chop the vegetables in a steady rhythm. The knife gleams in the light and for a split second he imagines a small streak of blood there. His hand pauses as his mind travels back in time to the night of the first and only murder he committed with his own hands, the murder his sister witnessed.

For a few seconds he stood completely still behind the kitchen counter with a look of deep regret etched into his features. Despite his better judgment he had left Nagisa's mother in charge of the last shipment of cocaine to that corrupt police officer. He would have chosen someone else to do the job, would have gone himself but...

Kira happened.

Over the last week many of David's associates and subordinates had fallen to Kira. It didn't matter that they hadn't been captured by police for their recent activities under his direction. No...they were killed because of past crimes in which the charges had either been dropped or they had been released early.

Nagisa's mother and a handful of others including himself and his own mother were the only remaining factions. Those without previous records for Kira to find were still alive and couldn't be killed as long as they weren't caught.

But even that was a slippery slope because of the corrupt officer. It was only a matter of time. David had intended this shipment to be the last, but the officer would request another shipment, even in this situation. There was no risk to the man, no possible way for the threat of Kira to reach him.

As much as he hated admitting it to himself, he would need to make arrangements for Crystal and Nagisa in the event that the entire cartel fell to the will of Kira.

Across the city in a quiet neighborhood, the killer known as Kira sits at his computer desk, clicking through the online forums. On the screen were multiple posts of people calling out for their savior to wipe the world clean of crimminal activity.

"Hey Ryuk, you should check this out."

The Shinigami glanced over his shoulder, peering at the brunette curiously with its red eyes before slowly creeping over to stand by the teen. Leaning forward he appraised the screen with mild interest.

"Websites like this are popping up everywhere lately." Light stated, the light of the screen reflecting from his eyes." With a click of the mouse he closed the forum and opened up another.

Ryuk's eyes skimmed the page. "The legend of Kira the savior. Hmm, sounds pretty cool. Is this about you?"

"Yeah, I think they've taken the name Kira from the English word Killer." Light mused, a look of slight disappointment etched in his features. "Can't say I'm too happy about that, but it looks like that's the name they've decided to give me." With a few more clicks the user of the Death Note pulled up one website after another. "When I search the word Kira, I'm pulling up tons of sites just like this one. The media hasn't picked up on it. They're still calling this a succession of unexplained deaths among the world's most hardened criminals."

The boy's lips lifted into a bright smile, but despite his expression and the excitement dripping from his voice, the brown eyes that continued to reflect the screen's artificial light were empty and cold.

"But the people of the world can already sense that there's something happening. They know there's someone out there passing righteous judgement."

"Oh?"

"Yes." Light thought. "The people have heard me. They have recognized their new god."

Unbeknownst to the high school genuis, his greatest enemy was near, preparing for his first move against what was to be Kira's prosperous reign as god of the new world.

The man known as Detective L stood quietly in a dark room, the only light was emanating from the screen of his PC. Two external speakers were connected to the machine, along with a keyboard and a mouse. Lowering himself to the bamboo floor, he curled one leg underneath him and raised the other until it was parallel to his chest. With a slow movement he folded his left arm, allowing his elbow to rest on the raised knee while simultaneously pressing his thumb against his lips.

"The probablility that Kira is in the Canto reigon is very high, roughly seventy-five percent, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he will fall for this ploy. Right now, I am not in the position to guess this person's character, whether they are male or female, or if they're another one of my successors gone rogue. Furthermore, I can only speculate how Kira kills. I am still unconvinced that he can kill without being present in some form or another, but should Kira be a prideful sort, I'll know within the next few minutes."

L lifted his right hand to press the Enter key on the keyboard. Watari, still wearing his trench coat, mask, and hat appeared on the screen.

"Watari, you may now proceed with the broadcast." L began, narrowing his gaze. "Everything is ready."

With a nod, Watari's image disappeared from the screen, replacing it with the news. In mere seconds, his plan would be in motion.

And if all went well, Kira would reveal himself.

A part of me understands your reasoning completely. In your place, I doubt I could have found a better answer. The rational side of me knows that this was the quickest and most effective way to narrow down Kira's location, but somehow none of that matters. I keep asking why. How could you do what you did? Even if Lind L. Talyor was on death row already...even if it was to hunt down Kira...how could you throw away someone's life as if it was nothing. Aren't human beings worth more than that? You and Kira should both be ashamed of yourselves for treating this as if it were a harmless game. It isn't. It's so much more than that now.

Crystal Makano started her journal entry with these words two hours after the broadcast from ICPO headquarters ended.

Two minutes before the broadcast began, Crystal had been inwardly begging for Nagisa to stop asking questions.

"Crysta-chan, why has mama not come back to get me yet?" The girl had questioned, yanking on her hair once again. She still couldn't braid the stubborn locks and by that point, Crystal had started growing weary. Her headache had gotten worse and once more, Mrs. Miagi's name hadn't appeared on the news. While this was good news on its own, the fact remained that no one who knew Mrs. Miagi could find her. She had disappeared, leaving her daughter in the care of two drug dealers, a convicted murderer who was oblivious to the drug dealing, and a brilliant teenage girl suffering from a brain cell killing virus called Migraine.

"I don't know." Crystal replied.

"Does Uncle Davy know?"

Crystal groaned. "He might, but..." She trailed off, noticing suddenly that David had left the kitchen. She glanced around for a couple seconds before shifting her attention back to the little girl.

"Don't worry, Nagisa. I'm sure your mother will be on her way soon."

"That's what you said yesterday!"

Crystal tried to keep calm, Nagisa's whining was bordering on annoying, but it was to be expected. Unfortuantely, even with all of her intellect, Crystal was running out of excuses. To make matters worse, Nagisa was smarter than the average five year old. She could read between the lines. She knew something had to be wrong with her mom and from what Crystal was gathering by the look on the girl's round face, it was obvious she was tired of being lied to.

"Nagisa..."

The teen started to give an answer. She started to come up with a believable lie that would keep Nagisa occupied for however much longer it took for David and their mother to find Hinata Miagi, but before she could begin to say the words, she heard a man state his name...

And then call himself L.

Crystal jumped up from the floor, bumping her shin against the coffee table as she did.

"Gah! Ouch! Of all the...ugh!"

"Crsta..."

The older girl didn't respond. She continued to bounce on her foot for a bit, rubbing her shin with her right hand while straining to keep her gaze on the T.V. With her left hand she began reach for the remote on the coffee table to turn up the volume.

At the same moment, David returned. "Hey, what's with all the commotion in here?"

"Shut up David!"

David blinked, watching his sister with confusion mirrored in his eyes as she pressed the volume up button with the kind of vigor she normally reserved for eating her cashews. Briefly he glanced at Nagisa. She had shifted her gaze to the floor.

With slow strides he walked into the living room. After kneeling down to her level, he patted Nagisa's head.

"Hey, it's okay," David whispered softly. "Crystal's just on her period."

Crystal would give David a black eye later for the comment, but for that moment she was too preoccupied with watching the ICPO's live broadcast.

"This man..." Her eyes drifted to the name tag sitting on the desk below him. "Lind L. Taylor...he's not...that's not...him but..."

A horrible feeling of dread twisted in Crystal's stomach. "David, get Nagisa out of the room."

Normally David would have jokingly protested, stating something about how she should ask nicely, but he could tell from the look on her face that the broadcast was going to consist of something no child ever needs to see.

"Of course she noticed." He thought, rising from his knelt position. He held out his hand toward Nagisa. "How about I put some cartoons on for you in the other room. Sound good?"

Nagisa briefly glanced at Crystal before taking David's hand. "Okay."

As David escorted Nagisa out, Crystal took a seat on the couch. Her legs were shaking.

"L, is it you that's doing this? Are you really sending in a proxy? More than likely this man is a criminal. You wouldn't send in a proxy that was innocent. He's probably a man whose execution was scheduled for today but...even so..."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Crystal waited for the man to speak again.

"Criminals around the world are being murdered by a serial killer," He began, looking composed, unafraid. "I consider this crime to be the most atrocious act in history."

"L, if this plan of yours is what I think it is, then how is this any better than what Kira has done...what I would have done? Isn't it all wrong regardless of our intentions?"

"Hey..."

Crystal barely glanced at her brother as he took a seat next to her.

"I will not rest until the person or person's responsible are brought to justice," Taylor continued. "Kira must be stopped. I will hunt you down. I will find you."

Crystal let out a shuddering breath. "I'm willing to bet that Kira is thinking there's no way for L to find him. I'm sure he sees L as a fool."

David didn't answer.

"If L is getting involved, then this situation is far worse than either of us thought," Crystal stated even though the two of them had never truly discussed the deaths before that moment. It didn't matter. Crystal knew her brother. He had connected the dots a while ago, just as everyone else had.

The only difference between her and them was that she knew why it was happening. It was her fault.

"Kira can't be convicted unless the police find the Death Note and under no circumstances can I let that happen," Crystal decided, holding on to herself more tightly. "I can't let someone else pay for my mistake. I should have destroyed the Death Note long before now. It's because I wanted to use the notebook for this purpose that Kira has gotten his hands on it. And now I can see, I can clearly see that building a utopia through this method won't work. It can't work. All it will do is instill fear and hatred in people."

Crystal was shaken out of her thoughts by the gentle touch of David's hand against her shoulder. With a sharp inhale she met his gaze. He was frowning.

"Stop that."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

The girl shifted her eyes to the T.V. again.

"You're acting as if this is all your fault," David muttered after a few seconds. "Don't try to deny it. I can see it in your face."

Crystal decided not to reply for the time being. Taylor was speaking again anyhow.

"Kira, I have a pretty good idea of what your motivation might be and I can guess what you hope to achieve. However, what you are doing right now is evil."

"That'll do it," Crystal thought, her heart beginning to pound in her chest. "If I had been Kira and this same scenario occured, I would have been tempted to kill this man, but wouldn't have because I know L. L would have never worn a suit or sat up straight, and above all else, he would have never presented himself to the public. To me it's obvious that this is a trap. Even so, maybe I would have heeded the warning in this speech. Maybe I would have stopped upon learning the price to be paid for using the Death Note. Because L was my dearest friend at the orphanage, I would have seen that the end does not justify the means.

But Kira won't see any of that because to him...this man is L and right now he's sitting at that desk with a smug look of superiority on his face. If Kira is the type of person L thinks he is, then Taylor will die.

But for what purpose?"

In the following forty seconds, Crystal distantly heard the sound of rustling paper and the sharp point of a pen forcefully digging into her flesh. She wasn't sure how she could hear or feel these things, and it didn't concern her at that moment. All she knew for certain was that someone was writing in her Death Note. When she closed her eyes, she saw the big bold letters of Taylor's name written diagonally across the page.

Exhaling a shaky breath, Crystal opened her eyes. She was unaware of the fact that tears were beginning to leak out from them. David's grip tightened on her shoulder as he watched her. She didn't notice. She was consumed with grief as she waited for the last couple of seconds to draw to a close. Distantly she could hear someone counting them down.

Five, four, three, two, one...

A horrible sound permeated through Taylor's throat before he gripped at his chest. Crystal stared, unable to look away as the man's eyes rolled to the back of his head. His body slumped against the desk with a resounding thud that would echo through the core of her soul for hours on end.

Two men carried Taylor's body away. Once they were gone, a calligraphy styled L appeared on the screen. Crystal had expected it.

"He better have a good excuse for using a stand in," David whispered bitterly as his sister rose from the couch to go to the kitchen. The chopped vegetables lay on the cutting board, untouched. Without a word, Crystal opened the fridge and withdrew a glass pan of raw chicken marinating in soy sauce.

"Crystal, aren't you going to listen to what L has to say?"

"I can't," she answered mentally, placing a stick of butter on the counter next to the pan. Turning away from the television she lowered herself to the floor cabinets where the family kept the pots and pans.

Even though she said she wouldn't listen, Crystal found herself pausing in her movements once L's distorted voice began to filter out of the speakers.

"I had to test this just in case, but I never thought it would actually happen."

Crystal leaned back against the island behind her. "Is that your excuse for it?"

"Kira, it seems that you can kill people without having to be there in person," L continued, "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't just witnessed it."

"Even though I understand the reasoning, I wish you would have taken more time to find a better way to handle this, L."

Crystal knew it was a naïve thought to have. In his place, she wouldn't have been able to come up with anything better. This plan...this option was the only way to go about finding where Kira was. She had known from the start that things would have to escalate to this point, but she had clung to the belief that she could find Kira first. Had the migraines not been a factor, she probably would have. She had the clear advantage in terms of information. She knew Kira was a student at Daikoku Private Academy, that he took night classes periodically, and she knew the tool he used to kill.

For a brief moment she had considered making an attempt to make contact with L in order to tell him these facts, but quickly tossed the idea.

"Listen to me Kira, if you did, indeed, kill Lind L Taylor, the man who you just saw die on the television, I should tell you that he was an inmate whose execution was scheduled for today. That was not me."

Crystal closed her eyes. This news wasn't a surprise to her.

"The police arrested him in absolute secrecy, so you wouldn't have heard about him on T.V. or through the internet. It appears that not even you have access to information about these types of criminals. But I assure you. L is real. I do exist. Now, try to kill me! What's wrong? Come on! Right now! Kill me!"

Tears slid down Crystal's cheeks as she listened to L shout at the owner of her notebook. She was glad that the Death Note had its limits. For now, L was safe from Kira.

But how long would that last?

"What's the matter? Can't you do it?"

"No, he can't. Kira can't touch you. Thank God."

"So it seems taht you can't kill me after all. There are some people that you can't kill. You've given me a useful hint."

Crystal slowly lifted herself from the floor, picking up the pan she had selected with her. Placing it on the stove's eye, she turned the knob to a medium setting.

"He's talking as if this is all just a game. The L I knew at Wammy's House wasn't like that...was he?"

Suddenly Crystal wasn't sure anymore.

"To return the favor, I'll tell you something I think you'll find interesting. Although this was announced as a worldwide broadcast, the truth is, we are only broadcasting in the Canto reigon of Japan."

"Just as I thought." Keeping her gaze down, Crystal turned toward the television and lifted her hands to the knobs on the top drawer of the kitchen island. A sigh escaped her as she opened the drawer. The silverware shined dully inside.

"This whole thing was set up just so L could narrow down where Kira is. I don't need to listen to the rest of the broadcast to know what he intends to do next. He'll continue to investigate, using whatever means neccessary until he finds the truth and once he finds it...Kira will be executed."

Once more Crystal considered making an attempt to make contact with L in order to tell him what she knew, and again she tossed the idea. This was her burden to carry, her responsibility to end the nightmare before it truly began. To give L the information would be to put him on the front lines of war while simultaneously delivering a death sentence to Kira.

Perhaps she was being too compassionate towards the man (or woman) threatening the lives of her family, but she considered the threat as the outcome of her unwillingness to let go of the notebook. In addition, she owed Kira a debt for saving her from Takuo's gang as well as for intervening when her mother was trapped in a daycare hostage situation. Was sparing a killer from being killed justice? Was L wrong in doing what he did when Lind L. Taylor was going to die anyway?

Crystal didn't have the answer to either question. In situations like this, there was no right answer.

Even so, she still felt as if she'd been betrayed. Her image of L was somewhat distorted in her mind's eye. Logically speaking, L made the best decision he could, but to Crystal it still felt wrong.

Ten minutes after the broadcast ended, Crystal and David's parents walked through the door, bringing in beverages and extra groceries. Crystal finished up dinner with her father stepping in to help when she requested it. Mrs. Makano graded papers from the reclining chair while David and Nagisa played card games on the couch. After dinner was finished, the family spent thirty minutes eating at the dinner table, talking about their days, avoiding the topic of the broadcast and the absence of Nagisa's mother, and then everyone went to their respective rooms with Nagisa following Crystal to her room. The little girl usually begged Crystal for a story, but tonight she was unusually quiet and fell right asleep as soon as she was tucked under the covers.

After Nagisa fell asleep, Crystal took a seat at her desk and opened her journal. In pen she began to write the entry. She didn't bother to write in French tonight. Instead she wrote in English, her native language.

The dreams I wrote to you about are far too vivid for me to think they are dreams anymore. I see horrible things. I see a realm where the Shinigami live. They rot and decay as dry winds blow, sending the dust of old carcasses billowing into the air. During the broadcast I felt Kira's pen carving letters across my chest in a ruthless rhythm of hatred. For the first time in my life, I can't decipher what any of this means. I only know that there are horrible events to come.

You are in Japan now just as I am. When I first decided to devote my life to God, I prayed daily for you. I prayed to see you again someday. Over time, I stopped making that prayer. I shifted my focus to my family, only thinking of you when writing these entries. Now we're both in the same country. The probability that we'll meet again because of Kira is low, but somehow I know I'll see you soon. I wish it weren't under these circumstances. I wish that it didn't take this drastic situation to bring us together again.

And after today, I almost hope that we don't come face to face at all. It's dangerous for you, for my family...and I don't want any of you to die.

I'm afraid of what will happen if I don't get my Death Note back. I couldn't bear to lose my parents or David, L. You know as well as I do that Kira will kill them if David's cartel falls to ruin and because of the situation with Mrs. Miagi, time is not on my side.

I know you don't believe in God or any higher power, but please, pray for them. Pray for God to keep them safe until I can secure their safety.

Until we meet again. Goodnight.

~Crystal Makano

A/N: Thanks for reading everybody. That's the end of this chapter. It was long overdo, but hopefully in the near future I can update a bit more quickly. Things are certainly heating up. L is on the move, and Crystal is slowly but surely running out of time. What will happen next? You'll have to read the next chapter to find out. Feel free to leave a review should you feel so inclined. Have a great day!