STORY SUMMARY: Being reborn into a Japanese story was bad enough. Being reborn as the twin sister to a certain notorious mass murderer, was another thing entirely. Told in a series of drabbles. Warning: Mild incest themes.

Rating: T (Subject to change)

GENERAL DISCLAIMER: It's not my sandbox. I'm just playing in it.

AN: ….*awkward silence* hahahaha—ah.. please don't kill me. Obviously I took a little bit of a hiatus *cough cough* about a month and a half long…but as any college goer knows…the essays always start piling up towards the beginning of spring. So until my work load chills out, updates probably won't be as often as before. However, I will try not to make you wait so long between chapters again. Thank you guys so much for your continued patience, all of your support really means the world to me :)

Destroy She Said

Chapter Nineteen : Fallout

Another cluster of school children—ages five to twelve—avoided eye contact as they quickened their pace to escape the panting, barefooted girl currently stretched out on a park bench with the paint all peeled off. Too bad, that disgrace of a human being was me. I hadn't realized that I'd forgotten any kind of footwear until the seventeenth pebble got lodged in my sole. I knew the exact number because shortly thereafter, when the pain finally registered, I'd managed to hobble over to the nearest seating apparatus and examine the damage. I had heaps of fun counting each individual puncture-wound as I picked out pieces of microscopic gravel from underneath my skin. With each flick, I cursed Light Yagami's name to the deepest recesses of hell.

To answer the question that was surely on everyone's mind—no I was not angry. Somewhere on the dead sprint between my house and the residential reserve park (located roughly two miles away), I'd moved beyond that to something far more disturbing. The fact that my left eyelid had developed a nasty twitch was a pretty clear indication. This symptom had only ever occurred once before; although that was in a previous life. Back when my temper had matched my hair color.

Burning—fiery—red.

Prior to today, I'd always assumed the reincarnation thing had mellowed me out some; mostly because I hardly ever truly lost my lid anymore. But apparently, while I might have swapped a head of ginger for brunette, something else had stuck around. I imagined, the deadly vibes I was currently sending out into the universe were exactly what were scaring off the dubious pedestrians.

Tossing my head back, I eyeballed the sky. No longer was it the fair blue from this afternoon—instead dark, coiling clouds were drifting inland from the east. A storm was approaching. The perfect analogy for my mood then. I began knotting my fingers through my scalp and pulled. The dull ache helped focus my sporadic thoughts.

Light had kissed me. And not on the cheek or forehead or any other socially acceptable region either. Nope, it definitely hadn't been the sort of kiss a brother was meant to give a sister. And his eyes—he had seared me with his intensity.

'What the-what the actually fuck?!' When choosing my cuss words, I didn't usually gravitate towards the BIG "eff" too often, but given the circumstances—I decided it was warranted. Along with the many others that flocked to the forefront of my brain whenever Light's stupid face materialized among them.

Why? Why had he done that? Was it a power play? A form of manipulation? A method to catch me off guard? Well, congratulations, Light. You succeeded. No, more likely than anything it went deeper than that. I had to think about this logically. That…that person…whoever he was operating as—whether that be Light or Kira—he had an agenda. That kiss (not even a kiss, I assured myself), that peck had been a play to throw me off the scent. He had a reason. Light always had a reason, and rationally speaking, it likely extended well beyond myself. For all I knew, which wasn't much, I was just a small, insignificant piece of a much larger puzzle.

And if I was being a hundred-percent honest with myself, I was somewhat at fault for the startling direction this afternoon's events had taken. I shouldn't have invaded his space. For heaven's sake, I had been practically petting him! But that had been the only way I knew how to chip at Brother's mask. Light had always responded well when I initiated contact in the past—I'd seen touching as a way to speak his language. And it had worked…until it backfired.

I should've expected him to retaliate. Instead, I'd just sat there dumbfounded as Light once again tore the rug right out from under my heels, leaving me dizzy and confounded. And also, very, very pissed. So yeah, I was partly to blame. I could own up to it. However, that didn't make me any less furious. The plan was still on. I was going to keep him alive whether he wanted me involved or not—but my twin had better have one hell of an apology to deliver first.

oooo

"What happened to your lip, onii-chan?" Sayu asked around bites of sweet-fried spinach. My ears perked up.

"Oh, it's a little embarrassing actually. I was walking with a book this morning and somehow managed to hit my door."

"Wow." Sayu chortled. "What a klutz. That doesn't sound anything like you."

"That looks painful, dear. I'll fetch you some ointment after supper." Sachiko added worriedly.

Meanwhile, I glowered at the tabletop. Oh, please. He was lucky not to have a busted nose.

"No need to fret. I didn't hit it too hard—I'm sure it'll heal alright."

There was a break in conversation as everybody chewed and then—

"Minori-chan, you've been quiet all evening. Are you feeling sick again?"

Yeah. Sick of hearing Light's dumb, do-gooder voice. But because I couldn't say that, I ground out a curt, "I'm fine," instead.

"How do you like the dumplings? Sayu helped me batter them today."

Inwardly, I huffed. Mom and Sayu were so obviously walking on egg shells around me, it was almost painful. I'd arrived back home soggy and shivering—and overall pitiful looking. (Though the grey, sloshy backdrop certainly didn't help) The upside to the sudden downpour was that the rain had washed away any blood that had leaked out from my reopened injury. Of course, Sachiko had immediately peppered me with a million questions: where had I gone, did I have any idea how worried she'd been, and why in god's name wasn't I wearing shoes…the usual.

Expertly, I'd avoided the tougher inquiries with vague, diluted answers and scampered upstairs to dry off. (Whether or not I rushed past Light's door out of fear of him emerging was beside the point). Only after I hid my damaged feet beneath layers of band-aids and two pairs of wooly socks did I totter back downstairs. Walking, as it turned out, was a whole lot more difficult when I didn't have icy rainwater numbing them.

So far, dinner was proving to be an awkward affair…what with the women sharing uncertain glances every ten seconds and my flat out refusal to even look in Light's general direction.

"They're great." I mumbled, shoving another huge portion into my mouth.

My sister smiled uneasily, and patted my arm from across the table. Which was another thing: why I had to sit next to Light, I had no idea. I'd originally been aiming for Soichiro's vacant seat, stationed at the very end of the table, but it was missing. Suddenly, I wished Dad had been able to make it home for supper after all. At least then, the occasional bouts of silence would've been more or less expected.

"Are you sure you're okay, nee-chan. You usually only eat aggressively when you're upset."

I could feel a vein forming on my temple.

"Like I said, I'm fine. I'm just really—" chew, chew, swallow, "really enjoying these dumplings." At the rate I was going, it was no surprise how quickly I ran out of food; and when that happened I carelessly stretched out my chopsticks and began blatantly stealing large portions from Brother. "Really, really, really, good," I annunciated between every bite. Mom and Sayu watched frozen and wide eyed while Light stared blankly down at his rapidly diminishing food supply. New plan: I was going to starve him out. He couldn't kill people or steal anyone's first kisses if he was dead, now could he? (First kisses, of course, being a loose term). I had a whole other lifetime to account for.

"Minor—" Light began.

I dropped my utensils and shot to my feet. "I'm done now. Thanks for the food," and marched off. So maybe I was still a little upset.

On the way into the foyer I heard Sayu finally say, "Light-sama, I think Minori's mad at you."

Next came the cackling. "Girly doesn't even know the half of it." Ryuk gloated.

I was out of earshot before I could make out Light's reply.

AN: A reader recently mentioned several spelling and grammar mistakes that she'd stumbled upon, though she never mentioned specifically where they were. As I've mentioned in the past, I edit my own writing and often make heaps of mistakes. For this reason, if/when you do find any, please feel free to report them. Thank you! And as always, please leave a comment!

PS: Also, L may very well be making his debut next chapter... ;) no promises, but.. maybe. I know it's something alot of you have been looking forward to.