Hi. Been awhile, huh. Maybe not though, if you just started reading it all (Congrats to you!) and for everyone else, uh, sorry for the wait. . . though I'm not really sorry, shit, I still wrote it. So… Commence!

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Light kept his eyes on his ceiling as he had been doing for the last 4 hours. He was bombarded with hugs and love and questions from his mother as soon as he and his father arrived at home. Not an hour later, when Sayu got back from school, he received the same responses from her. Then with less than another hour, his mother had completed dinner and he and his sister were called into the dining room.

So now, some 9 hours after getting home following months of being confined in the investigation tower, barely seeing more than 4 rooms of it, and 4 hours after finally, finally getting some alone time… he was doing the exact same thing he had done before finding the Death Note so many months ago: Nothing.

Yes. Nothing.

Unless staring at the blank ceiling while attempting and constantly failing to find a solution to many a problem and letting the mind slip into blankness counts as an activity, Light found himself doing absolutely nothing. He needed a solution that only he could come up with.

. . . but he couldn't.

"Uggggggh," he groaned aloud, smacking his hands over his face. He dragged his fingers down his pouting face to put pressure on his eyelids.

"Um," he heard a small voice come from the direction of his door, "Is this a bad time?" the voice continued with a hint of amusement.

"Hey, Sayu," Light greeted without looking up. He was much too frustrated to feel embarrassed.

He heard her footsteps trot toward his bed. There went his solace.

"Boy trouble?" she asked, sitting on his bed.

His eyes opened and he sat up to stare at her in a dulled shock. He wasn't sure why he was still surprised when people knew. Apparently everyone knew. Great. Just fucking great.

He must have been wearing a 'how did you know' look, because Sayu answered, "I overheard dad telling mom."

Great. Even his mother. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Look, Light, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but do you really think staring at the ceiling is going to get you anywhere?" she asked, meeting his eyes.

Obviously. Light sighed and conceded, "I don't really know what to do, Sayu, it's not as simple as me liking someone."

"Well, that alone is pretty impressive," she interjected, grinning.

He suppressed a blush, "Yeah, yeah," he waved off, "but it really is much more complex."

"Yeah, yeah," she mimicked, "but it was you who made it difficult isn't it?"

Ah. Good job Sayu. "I can't just un-difficult the situation."

"Does he trust you?" She asked, abruptly.

"Eh," he hesitated, "no, probably not." Not that he should, given the whole Kira thing.

"Do you trust him?"

"Eh," he repeated in a higher pitch. L was often predictable; he had known that he would tap his dad's car among other previous scenarios, but trust? "No, not really." Maybe a little?

Sayu gave him a dumbfounded look as she stated, "That doesn't sound like a healthy relationship, Light."

"Complex," he mumbled, reminding her why this situation was upsetting.

Sayu nodded, thinking. "Okay, let's try this," she crossed her legs and faced him on the bed as she continued, "If you were seriously injured, would you trust him to save you?"

"Yes," he answered immediately, "but," he added, "I wouldn't be surprised if he were the one that got me injured."

"Would you be mad?"

"No, why would I be mad?"

"Oh wow, Light, are you a masochist?" Sayu sweat dropped.

"No, Sayu," he rejected firmly. "I just, feel like it wouldn't be uncalled for; he'd have a reason."

"Light. . . what exactly did you do to this guy?"

"That's classified."

Sayu thought for a moment before leaning in and whispering, "Are you Kira?"

. . . What was that?

. . . Had she asked that question?

"Run that by me again," Light requested, his eyes narrowing slightly at Sayu's (*cough*correct*cough*) hypothesis.

Without missing a beat, Sayu repeated, "Are you Kira?"

. . . So . . . he had heard her correctly? That seemed . . . strangely accurate and a bit out of nowhere.

After a few seconds of trying to remember L's university debut code-name, Light gathered his words and proceeded calmly, "Exactly how does my friendship with Ryuuga have anything to do with being Kira?"

She continued innocently, "I just have suspected it, is all. Is Ryuuga the famous detective L?"

Hot. Damn. Since when did Sayu never miss a beat?

"That's quite a story you've envisioned," Light retorted, scoffing.

"Yeah, but it's a true story, isn't it?" She asked, grinning sweetly.

. . . Well, yes.

. . . But no!

"That's ridiculous, Sayu," Light stated plainly, looking off to the side.

"Is it?" She pouted.

"Of course."

"Okay, fine, sure. But hear me out, K?" she asked, shifting her weight back and forth excitedly.

He sighed, "Fine."

"Okay!" She clapped her hands together and began, "Well, the heart attacks started happening to the bad people when you were still in high school. You seemed pretty normal, but just a little off, I guess, like, you ate a lot of apples and chips and didn't help me as much with math as you normally did."

Light began to feel a bit nervous.

"Anyway," she continued on, "Before you started college, a lot of bad people started dying, and I mean a LOT. You know, like you had a lot of free time or something. But then, when you started college, the bad people started dying more when you didn't have class, but that only happened for like, a week or two or something…" she paused, trying to recollect the information.

Light was beginning to feel extremely nervous. When did Sayu become so observant?

"Oh! And the guy, Ryuuga, you didn't seem to like him much on stage, but then you hung out with him twice or three times or something; I heard you guys played tennis and then went out for lunch. And then you disappeared for a long time and I heard that Ryuuga stopped going to class," she explained.

Oh dear.

"In conclusion: Ryuuga is L and you are Kira," she finished, smiling her proud smile.

. . . What exactly was he supposed to say to that? It wasn't perfect, but it sure wasn't wrong.

He must have stayed silent for too long, because Sayu's smile morphed into an impish grin, "I knew it!"

"What?! I didn't say anything!" he rejected.

"Yeah, which means you told me everything!" she then squealed and clapped her hands, "This is so exciting! You're in love with L! THE L!"

. . . But being Kira is an okay trade off?

"Sayu," Light sighed, rubbing his temple, "Do you realize what accusing me of being Kira is accusing me of?"

"Yeah, yeah, killing bad people and probably some innocents to throw off your trail," she brushed off.

. . . Well . . . Okay.

"You're in love with L!"

"Please stop saying that," he groaned, falling back onto the bed. He put his hands over his face and groaned again.

"So adorable," Sayu snickered.

"Quick question: when did you get so observant?" Light whined from behind his hands.

She laughed and pulled his hands apart, "I'm very smart Light; math is my only downfall!"

"Well, then you tell me what I should do, if you're so brilliant," Light teased, pushing her off.

"Okay," she agreed immediately, "So he obviously knows already, right?"

Light's eyes widened, "I don't think so."

Great, now he was back to thinking about that dreamt up scenario where maybe L knew and was using Light to use Misa and L knew all along and just didn't seem to care or didn't have the emotions to care or just hated Light for being Kira or just didn't like guys or thought that guys who liked guys were sick or—

"Light!" Sayu yelled, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Huh, what?" he asked, brought back to reality.

"Jeez, you were looking hysterical."

"Yeah, well, boy trouble," he said sarcastically.

"But he must know, Light, why else would he keep you? He just doesn't have evidence right?"

Oh. She meant the whole Kira thing, not the whole in love with L thing. . . oh.

Light cleared his throat, embarrassed for his misunderstanding, "Oh, right, exactly."

Sayu raised her eyebrow but let it slide, "My question: is the evidence convicting?"

"Is that not what evidence would become?" he asked.

"Not necessarily. Would it hold up in court? Could it even be taken to court? From listening to the news, it seems unlikely that it's normal evidence. The second Kira even mentioned shinigami, so unless that's code for something, then supernatural evidence means nothing, yeah?" she explained, running her fingers through her hair to untangle it.

Light began to smooth his hair out as well. Sayu had a point. Telling the world that shinigami do exist and that Kira was using one of their killing devises —notebook didn't quite hold the ominous tone he was going for—and that the second Kira had another means of gathering information that only shinigami had didn't sound like a good idea. That sounded like mass hysteria (which was not what he wanted). But then, it also sounded fictional (like a manga or anime or movie…) and that was not something that people would accept as a conclusion to the Kira uprising.

L might just tell the world that Kira had accomplished what he had intended to do and was now gone or something. After all, L just wanted to win.

"He could still kill me," Light reasoned aloud. "I mean, he's L—er, assuming that you're right and that he's L," he corrected, "means he can pretty much do whatever he wants; he's kind of above the law."

"He is not above the law; do you really think he, Mr. Justice, would let himself do that?"

"If he had evidence that he found reliable, maybe."

"Do you really think he wants you dead? Kira was his most involved and probably only supernatural case. Doesn't L like a challenge? And you, Light, are his only real companion. I bet you're the only equal he has," Sayu questioned.

"I don't know," Light admitted.

"Maybe it's worth finding out," she stated quietly, fully aware of the possible outcomes: Light could be killed, put into captivity, or—the most hopeful—allowed by L to work alongside him. But, of course, Light would probably never be allowed the freedoms he used to have. The question was, did Light want those freedoms if he couldn't have L? L was more likely to accept the Light that admitted he was Kira, it was doubtful that L would accept the Kira that pretended to be Light.

"You know," he said softly, after a few moments of shared silence, "I think it might be."

Sayu, after hearing those words, spoken by the boy she grew up with, the boy who had never before actually cared about anyone, jumped up and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so happy for you!" she cried, tears getting on his shirt.

He chuckled quietly and hugged her back, "Thank you, Sayu."

After they chatted a little longer about how he should go about confessing two equally important (to Light) secrets, Sayu stood up and walked to the door. Roughly one hour alone with Sayu had been much more productive than the four hours alone with his own thoughts.

"Light," she said again, waiting.

"Hm?" he asked from where he was now standing next to the bed.

"I'm really proud of you, you know. It takes courage to tell someone that you like them, especially in your case. So, um," she hesitated, feeling a little awkward, "I, um, I'm proud of you for coming clean to L about Kira." She smiled and left the room.

"Thank you, Sayu," he repeated, returning a genuine smile before she shut the door.

"OOH! One more thing!" she exclaimed just before she shut the door behind her.

He raised his eyebrows and said, "Yes?"

Sayu looked down the hall and whispered loudly with excitement clear in her tone, "Misa-Misa is the second Kira, am I right?"

Hot. Damn. That girl really hadn't missed much.

"Thank you, Sayu!" he sarcastically remarked, not answering her question. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and stated, "You may leave now."

Sayu giggled as she shut the door, "I knew it!"

He let out a breath and rolled his eyes: Sayu was much more perceptive than he'd ever known. He really needed to stop underestimating others. Regardless of how unaware he'd been before, Sayu had really helped him today. Short of knowing everything (though she damn near did) the two siblings together had devised a whole plan to set in motion. Light just needed to adapt to the situations as they changed (which he had little doubt that he could achieve) and begin (which…would be worse).

Since he knew there would be no Kira activity, he had a week now to wait. He planned to enjoy this week as it could be his last with freedom . . . or just his last ever.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

And that's chapter 3. Yep.

Chapter 4 (I intend) will not include Light's week, but will get the confession plans in motion (yay progress). I love all of ya'll's reactions to Misa in the first chapter; I must say I find it surprising that no one asked me to kill her off anyway, so good on you for being humane (unless you still thought it, then shame on you, go think about your thoughts).

~Aia~

Ps. I would love to give ya'll an excerpt of chapter 4, but that would mean I'd have to have some of chapter 4 written already and you all know clear well that I do not.