The first thing that went through Sukiro's head after spotting Ryuzaki was how unfortunate it was that she wouldn't be able to kill the guy without increasing his suspicion of her. He didn't know how lucky a trash of a human being he was, and Sukiro suddenly hated Ryuzaki even more. Although after a moment of silence, while everyone seemed to be taking in what was going on, Sukiro also realized the hit she would have received if Ryuzaki hadn't interfered.
"Common Usui, don't tell me that weakling is too much for you," One of his friends called, breaking the silence, and making the rest break into laughter.
"Yeah, Usui. Didn't you say you were Kira? Common, prove it now!"
Usui gritted his teeth in fury as he was still restrained by Ryuzaki. Ryuzaki, on the other hand, didn't seem the least touched by what Usui's friends had said. Probably because he was certain that Usui wasn't Kira.
"Morons," Usui said through gritted teeth. Sukiro wondered why he hadn't tried harder to release himself from Ryuzaki's hold. If anything, Usui looked like a really strong and dangerous guy to Sukiro. And he definitely didn't look like someone who liked to be humiliated. To her, it didn't seem that Ryuzaki was putting much strength into restraining Usui. It didn't make sense.
"Pathetic," one of Usui's friend said with contempt and left. The others followed shortly, giving nothing more than a glance at their restrained friend. Ryuzaki didn't react in any way to what was going on. If anything, he seemed bored.
"Please let me go," Usui muttered, his head hanging in defeat. All the while, Sukiro stood frozen, watching in disbelief the scene before her.
Ryuzaki immediately released his hold on Usui, resulting in him falling forward. Never had Sukiro seen a man the size of Usui look so defeated. A smile of satisfaction creeped into Sukiro's lips. When Usui lifted his head and locked eyes with Sukiro, however, the smile was completely gone.
Usui didn't mutter one single word, but the threat was more than clear in his eyes. If there was something Sukiro recognized without any difficulty was the presence of hatred. And Usui seemed to hate Sukiro with his life at that moment, although she couldn't understand why. She had done nothing but watch. It was despicable how human beings always seemed to hold it against the weaker. Pathetic.
It wasn't until then that Sukiro realized Ryuzaki had his eyes on her, too. She felt her cheeks heat up, and suddenly worried that she had somehow given away her thoughts. What did Ryuzaki think about her at that moment? Was he less suspicious of her since she hadn't killed Usui? Or did he think it unlikely since it would have only increased his suspicion?
Without saying a word, Sukiro swirled around and began running. She didn't know who she was running away from, Ryuzaki or Usui, nor did she know who was more dangerous to her. All she knew was that she wanted to see neither of them. She wanted to be within the safe confines of her room and have no one bother her for the rest of the day.
When Sukiro arrived to her house, she went directly into her room and locked herself inside. She closed her curtains and turned off the light, making her room go nearly completely dark. She then allowed herself to drop the the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, feeling better now that she was completely alone, only accompanied by the darkness of her room. And Yuuko, of course. Although she had completely ignored her presence until that moment.
"Are you okay?" Yuuko asked, sounding surprisingly concerned of her human partner. She surprised herself, too, at her own question. She hadn't realized it, but she was beginning to take a liking of Sukiro. No, more than just a liking. In a way, Yuuko felt inclined to protect such a small and fragile being.
"I don't know what's happening to me," Sukiro muttered. "At this rate, Ryuzaki will find out that I'm the Third Kira in no time. And I will be executed."
"I won't let that happen," Yuuko said suddenly, surprising Sukiro.
"What?"
"I will kill whoever tries to do that to you. I know Ryuzaki's real name. If it ever comes to it, I will have no trouble killing him."
"Why?" Sukiro asked, looking at her Shinigami. Was she being serious? She had once made it clear that she was only an spectator. She had even said she found her slow death entertaining. It didn't make sense to Sukiro.
"Let's just say my life would be boring if you were to be killed," Yuuko said simply.
"Thank you, Yuuko," Sukiro smiled at her partner, making Yuuko feel happy. It was strange, Yuuko had never experienced happiness before. Everything at the Shinigami world was dull. Happiness was unknown, as well as pain. Only boredom was familiar to them.
"Well, as long as Ryuzaki doesn't find my death note, there should be no way for him to find out about me. And if he does find out about the existence of a death note, I only have to forfeit ownership of the death note before he gets a hold of it, right?"
"Correct," Yuuko nodded, although she wasn't eager of that happening. It was better than Sukiro's execution, though.
"Will you be writing people's names down on the death note tonight?" Yuuko wondered, and Sukiro nodded.
Just then, the sound of the doorbell filled Sukiro's room, a sound that was mostly unfamiliar in her house. No one ever visited neither her mother nor her. They both shared that in common, how neither of them was in any way social or had many friends. As a matter of fact, the only friend Sukiro appeared to have at the moment was Yuuko.
"Sukiro!" Sukiro's mother called from downstairs. "A friend from Ta-Ho came to visit you!"
Sukiro and Yuuko looked at each other.
When Sukiro ran down to the living room, she froze in absolute horror. Crouched over her couch was no one less than Ryuzaki, and across from him sat her smiling mother. When they heard her arrive, they both looked over at Sukiro.
"Sukiro, your friend, Ryuzaki, says he came over to work on a class project you two have," Her mother announced happily. "I'll let you two work, although you can't stay too late, I'm afraid. Are you two very far behind with your project?"
Sukiro couldn't believe her ears. A class project. With Ryuzaki. As if that would ever happen.
"Not at all," Ryuzaki assured. "It won't be long. Thank you for attending me."
"I'll make you two some tea. Are you by any chance hungry, Ryuzaki?" Sukiro's mother asked, making Sukiro sigh.
"I don't think he is," Sukiro said at the same time Ryuzaki asked "Do you have something sweet by any chance?"
Sukiro threw him a glare, which he completely ignored.
"I think we have some cake left in the kitchen. I'll go see, you can both wait for me upstairs," She said and winked at Sukiro. At that moment, Sukiro hated her. Though she had to admit it would be definitely better to speak with Ryuzaki in private, however scary and nerve-wrecking the thought of it was.
When they were finally in her room, Sukiro found her legs shaking a little. She only hoped Ryuzaki hadn't noticed at all, which he didn't seem to have. That, or he was good at ignoring things. For some reason, Sukiro couldn't help feeling weird to have a guy in her room. She never even had a girl over, let alone a guy. And him being the detective that could potentially bring her to her execution only made things worse.
"Your mother is a very nice woman," Ryuzaki commented as he sat, no crouched, on Sukiro's bed. She, on the other hand, stayed with her back against the door, as far away from Ryuzaki as possible.
"Why did you follow me home?" She asked. Her legs were still shaking, and she hated how hard it was for her at the moment to keep her cool.
Ryuzaki pulled out an English book from his bag. "You dropped your book when you ran away. Thought you would be needed it as there is English homework for the next day."
Sukiro didn't move. "Why didn't you tell that to my mom, then, instead of making up a terrible lie?"
"I didn't think it was terrible. It was actually pretty good, considering I got exactly what I wanted."
"Which was?"
"That's an interesting bookshelf you've got there," Ryuzaki stood up and walked toward the bookshelf, making Sukiro's stomach drop. Had he figured it out? She couldn't see how. Did he know about the death note already?
He pulled out a random book then opened it, gave it a quick skim and put it back in its place. He then proceeded to pull out another book, this one dangerously close to the actual death note.
"You better do something Sukiro," Yuuko warned, eyeing Ryuzaki with wary eyes.
That's when Sukiro moved quickly to where Ryuzaki was standing and snatched the book from his hands, leaving them in the same position they had been when holding the book.
"I don't remember giving you permission to start nosing into my stuff," Sukiro snapped at Ryuzaki and placed the book back into its place. She stood between the bookshelf and Ryuzaki, and instinctively to protect the death note she attempted to push Ryuzaki back, away from it. However, just when her hand made contact with his torso, Ryuzaki seized her wrist and puller her toward him, leaving her standing uncomfortably close to him, his eyes scrutinizing hers as calmly as always.