Title: Enemy of the State

Author: hyperRme

Summary: The Shinigami are a notorious gang who kill criminals in the most mysterious ways. L is determined to take them down even if it means going undercover as a member and unintentionally falling in love with their leader.

Genre: Romance/Drama

Rated: Mature

Pairing: L X Raito

Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Obha and Takeshi Obata. I am neither one.

Warnings: Guy on guy romance, rape, death, kidnappings, etc.

Thank you so much for the reviews! They were awesome! I'm glad the story is well received so far!

Epiphany – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Now we all deserve to die
Even you Mrs. Lovett...even I
Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief
For the rest of us death will be a relief
We all deserve to die.

Light curled up tighter at the sound of footsteps outside of his holding cell. He held on to his legs and hid his head between his chest and his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed they wouldn't enter. The footsteps got louder, louder, louder… then they got softer as his kidnapper walked right past his cell door. With a sigh of relief, Light released his legs. He stood up slowly, hissing at the pain shooting up his right leg. He looked down at the bandage to see blood soaking through.

He cursed and tried to remember what his mother told him about wounds. The only problem was that he couldn't remember his mother. He could recall a fuzzy outline of a short woman with a kind face and he could just barely remember her smelling of faint flower perfume and dish soap. Other than that he could remember nothing else about her.

The door flung open and Light was temporarily blinded. A rough hand grabbed his hair and pulled. Light contained his yelp. "Guess what, brat?" the man asked, his voice rough from smoking. He smelt strongly of cigarettes. "I said guess what?" he yelled with a shake of his hair.

"W-what?" Light's voice cracked.

"Today is your two year anniversary," the man grinned, pulling Light out of his cell. "Isn't that exciting? We've never kept a kid around longer than we've kept you. Must be cause you're so entertaining."

Has it really only been two years, Light wondered in amazement. It seemed as if it were more like two decades since he's been in this hell hole. The days were boring and scary and the nights were long. He developed insomnia within the first week from fear.

The man pulled him down a hallway and into a dark room that Light had never been in before. This room was different. It was not cold and it didn't have a musky smell. It had carpet and it was fairly warm. It didn't have a smell at all and Light never realized how nice it was to not have to smell anything.

The man pushed him forward and Light stumbled a bit. He was caught by one of his kidnappers. He tried to yank his arms out of his grasping hands but he couldn't. "Light, Light, Light..." the kidnapper said. Light looked up. It was number one, the head kidnapper. He didn't know their names so he labeled them kidnapper one, two, and three. Number one was scary and cold; number two was a bumbling fool who often gave him extra food and talked with him like another human being; and number three didn't talk often but he was very good with manhandling.

"Today is your two year anniversary with us, did you know that?" Light nodded. "You've grown into quite a good looking young man, I must say. How old are you again? Fifteen, correct?" He nodded once more. "As a… congratulations present, if you will, we've decided to give you this room."

As if on cue, the lights flickered on. He almost gasped but held it in. They were watching him after all. The carpet was soft beige and the walls were a stainless white. There was a nearly empty bookshelf and a large soft bed. Light gaped at the sight of warm blankets and pillows.

"You like it?" Number one asked. Light nodded dumbly. "It's all yours…" He could almost hear the 'but' that was dying to come out of the kidnapper's lips but it didn't. "Go on, take a look around."

Light walked cautiously to the bookshelf. It only had about ten books and it was quite empty but he didn't care. The books looked fascinating although he couldn't remember if he had read them or not. He then made his way to the bed and sat on it. He almost released a content sigh. The bed was softer than it looked!

Suddenly a strong force knocked him on his back. Number one was straddling him. Light struggled, trying to get out of his position between the bed and his kidnapper. Number one grabbed his wrists and held them above his head. "Don't you think I should get some sort of thank you for this beautiful room?" Light cursed and struggled harder. "I wouldn't do that if I were you…" he said. Light froze. He was right. The kidnapper was getting turned on by this.

"P-please don't…" he whispered.

"What was that? Mr. Ice Princess is begging? Saying please? HA! This is great! Guys, guys, come here!" Light's eyes widened. No, no, this can't be happening! He tried to get his wrists out but the grip was too strong. He brought his knee up swiftly, catching Number one in his balls. He howled and Light squirmed from underneath him and jumped off the bed. He made all of five steps before Number three caught him by the back of his dirty shirt. He was tossed carelessly on the sheets and was quickly topped.

"Get off! Please!"

The men grinned at each other and Light could swear tears were pouring down his face.

"Hello, Mr. Blue Gummy Bear."

"Good day, Mr. Red Gummy Bear."

"Beautiful weather, isn't it, Mr. Blue Gummy Bear?"

"Why yes it is, Mr. Red-"

"L?"

The world famous detective turned around slowly in his chair, "Yes, Watari?" He popped a gummy bear in his mouth to hide his embarrassment.

"Have you read this morning's newspaper?" the elder man asked.

L nodded, "Yes, four arsonists, three rapists, three murderers, two robbers and a kidnapper." He held up the newspaper, pointing to the headline: "Another Kira Attack Last Night"

"Have Near and Mello arrived?"

"Yes, they're putting their bags in their rooms now."

"Please escort them downstairs when they are done, Watari."

"Yes, L," Watari answered with a short bow and left the room. He chuckled quietly when he heard L wonder where Mr. Red Gummy Bear went. For the best detective in the world, he could be quite the airhead.

L stared at the article for a long time, as if he expected the Shinigami's location to just appear out of nowhere. It would be nice, he thought, and definitely less time consuming. But there would be no challenge, and to L, the challenge is the best part about being a detective. He hasn't had a good challenge in a while. Not since the great massacre in Bolivia a nineteen months ago.

In this case, the victims were dropping like flies, without ever being touched or harmed. They would suddenly clutch their chest, cry out, and collapse. L was at a loss. What could he possibly do when there was little to no evidence? He concluded, based on the times of death and victims, that Kira was somewhere between the ages of fourteen and forty-five because any other age wouldn't be able to continuous kill between the hours of midnight and three in the morning. Also, with Kira's goal being to rid the world of criminals, the chance of Kira being a teenager is quite high. Older people, who have more wisdom, know that a criminal free world is impossible. However, L thought as he gazed at a picture of Kira's supporters, more and more elderly were beginning to follow the Shinigami.

L sighed and ate another gummy bear. This case was going to be the death of him.

There was a soft knock on the door and L spun his chair around. Watari opened the door and let in two young teenagers, Near and Mello. Near was small for his age. He looked like he was ten, especially since he's never seen without some kind of toy, when he was really sixteen. He often wore white pyjamas and, with his albino skin and hair, L constantly worried about losing him in a snow storm.

Mello was a year older than Near and was average height for his age. He was often mistaken for a girl until he opened his mouth and let out a long strand of curse words in a deep tenor voice. He wore leather 99 percent of the time and had a habit of carrying chocolate wherever he went.

Both of these boys were the smartest L had on his team.

They nodded at him as they entered the room, silently taking in the clutter of sweets and newspaper articles. L stood up and walked toward them. "Did you come to a conclusion?"

Mello crossed his arms, not looking pleased. "Yeah, yeah, we're taking up the offer."

"Together?"

"If we must," Near said. Mello shot him a dirty glare.

"Good. While I'm undercover, I expect you two to do exactly what Watari says and not to fight. We cannot make it seem as if L has two personalities."

"How long will you be undercover?" Near asked.

"I'm not sure. I believe somewhere around three months. I am not sure how the Shinigami treat their newcomers. Or if they take any new comers at all."

"What about that Raye guy? He's a spy there."

"Yes, but I'm not coming to them as a follower. I'm coming as a criminal."

Mello raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going as Beyond."

"Are you crazy?" Mello yelled, pointing a finger at him. "You'll be killed!"

"I hate to agree but Mello is right. They will kill you at first sight."

"You forget Beyond is a known L hater. He is also one of the very few criminals who know what I look like. If they are smart, they'll keep me close."

Light kept to his promise and not once in three days has Teru come to his bed. Yes, he was feeling irritated and stressed, but his will power felt stronger than ever. Sex was not the answer to frustration, he reminded himself as he clutched tightly onto a stress ball. Sex was not the answer.

His stress had been through the roof lately, with demanding followers, nosy reporters, and, to top it all off, L has taken the case. It was a great shock and a humongous ego booster. L, the number one detective in the world, has chosen him. At the same time, it angered him that L didn't see that his view of dealing with criminals was flawed. Jail is nothing more than a little kid being told to sit in the corner for five minutes. Will he listen? Yes. Will the kid continue to do wrong afterwards? Yes.

Teru, on the other hand, was sweating bullets. He was terrified by the thought of the number one detective on their case. "He'll find us out for sure!" he had cried. "Fucking shit, we'll be thrown in jail and the rest of the criminals will fucking kill us. They were on our hit list so now we'll be on theirs!"

It took a good punch in the jaw to get him to shut it.

Takada and Light both knew of L's cases in the past. The man really knew how to pull a blind side and take down his man. But only Light seemed confident that he could pull them away from L's careful eyes. The others were very worried. Misa and Takada talked about getting more members of Shinigami to increase the brain power but Teru and Light shot them down. Teru talked about strategies to confuse L, most of which included taking time away from killing and spending his time doing other things. Light told him off rather quickly. Matt seemed indifferent to it all. He said that he trusted Light's judgment but he noticed how the gamer would flinch or tense whenever the topic of L was brought up. He also noticed how Raye did not seem as worried as the rest. In fact he seemed… hopeful? Almost as if he wanted L to find them. The percentage of Raye being a spy went up greatly.

Lately, he's been spending an incredibly large amount of time rereading the rules in the Death Note. There had to be some sort of loophole that he could use to kill the detective. But he couldn't find any. The best he got was the small signature line on the back of the front cover. "Sign here to make the Shinigami Eye Deal" it read. Light had looked the Shinigami Eye Deal under the rules. "Trade half of your life span in order to see a person's name and life span above their head" He decided that no matter how useful having those eyes would be, he would never trade half of his life span. He wanted to spend a long time with his family once he caught the kidnappers and found his family. Until then, he would have to find out L's name and face the old fashion way.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could feel a nasty migraine coming along. He and his gang were all bunched up at the small kitchen table. Honestly, he thought, this table could only fit four people. Why didn't they have the meeting in the living room? Teru and Misa were having a screaming match while Matt and Raye tried to blend in with the background. Kiyomi looked nervously at him. "Light-sama?"

Light slowly turned his head toward hers, his chin resting on his hand. "Yes?"

She mumbled quietly, her voice drowning under Misa's and Teru's escalating bicker. "What was that? Speak up?" he all but growled out, his headache pounding harder.

"I offered a man a position in Shinigami," she said softly, twisting her hands together.

"You did what?" Light hissed. The whole room quieted down at the tone of their leader's voice. They looked nervously at Kiyomi, not daring to look at Light the wrong way.

"Please hear me out, Light-sama…"

"You went against my orders! I told you I want no more members!"

"But Light-sama…!"

"It'll be easier for L to catch us! It'll be easier for us to make stupid mistakes if we don't keep a good eye on this new guy! We don't need any more members!"

"B-but…"

He slammed a hand down on the table, "I will hear no more of this. Get out. All of you. Before I decide to kill every one of you."

They all sped out of the room, except Matt who simply walked with his face in his game console. Light slummed down in his chair. His migraine was pounding fiercely. How could she? She disobeyed him. Did she not know of the consequences? Was he too lenient of a ruler? He punched the table again. How was he supposed to rule the world when he couldn't keep five young adults in line? This wasn't according to plan. Five people were all ready too many. He couldn't trust any of them at all. None of them. They were all criminals who deserved to die. Kiyomi sabotaged a news anchor to take her spot. Matt was a hacker who caused chaos in governments all over the globe. Teru physically assaulted many people who looked at him oddly. Misa stole money to jumpstart her modeling career. And Raye… he was a spy. He deserved death more than anyone else in his book.

Light stood up abruptly in his chair and stormed out of the house. His neighbors were sitting on their front step, going over the notes for their science test. They didn't wave at him and Light didn't notice. His walk through the campus was like a giant blur. He couldn't remember how the leaves crunched loudly under his feet or how the cold air ruffled his hair and made his cheeks red or how he was nearly trampled over by a bunch of guys playing football. His mind was clouded over by rage.

The next thing he remembered was standing at the gap between the police station and the bakery. He then felt the cold air, saw the hair in his eyes, and noticed he had bits of leaves stuck to his shoe laces. He walked in. There was nobody there. He had never been the only one there before. No, he thought as he squint his eyes a bit. There was a man staring at the wall. He held no marker or paint. He had wild black hair and eyes that contrasted against his pale skin. He had nothing on but a white sweater and jeans.

Light stopped and stared at this man. He had never seen him before. The man looked over at him and gave a short nod before returning his gaze to the wall. Light stopped next to him and faced the wall. And so they stood, side by side, reading the words on the wall in complete silence.

Kiyomi was in the living room when he returned later that night. She sat on the couch with her back straight and her hands folded on her lap. She was nervous but tried her hardest not to show it. Light took in a deep breath and sat on the armchair across from her.

They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes. Light was waiting for her to begin and Kiyomi was too scared to start. "You had an idea…?" he offered.

She jumped, "Y-yes. Yesterday a man came up to me after I had left the news studio. He was really creepy looking so I tried my best to get around him but he was threatening to blackmail me if I didn't listen. He said he knows I'm a Shinigami and would go to the police. I said he didn't have proof and he said that he did. Then he told me that he could help us. Of course, I just thought this man wanted to join our group because he was a hobo and had nowhere else to go but then… he told me he's Beyond Birthday."

Light's eyes widened and he straightened his back. "Beyond Birthday? That crazy murderer who challenged L in Los Angeles?"

"I knew his guy had to be him because the case was kept very quiet, even in the media world. I only heard about him because I overheard my boss talking about him."

"Yes, I remember you telling me about him a while ago. The only one who ever got close to beating L is Beyond. He could be very valuable."

"That's what I thought when we met," Kiyomi said. She stopped twisting her hands and sat up taller. "He said he would help us take down L."

"What's the catch?"

"Cake and lots of it."

"Cake? That's it? There's got to be more."

Kiyomi shook her head, "That's all he said."

"Well, if that's what Beyond wants then that's what he'll get. Did you get a way to contact him?"

Kiyomi reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper. She handed it to him, "He said it was for you only. I haven't read it. I'm guessing that's how to get in touch with him."

Light stood up, "Good work, Kiyomi. This is very beneficial. We'll talk more in the morning. Good night."

She gave him a short wave and walked toward the kitchen with an empty coffee mug in her hand. Light walked slowly up the stairs, careful not to make any noise that would alert Teru and his dog like ears, and softly shut his bedroom door. Luckily Teru was not all ready in there, waiting for him.

He looked at the paper in his hand. His time staring at the wall made him realize that maybe he did need help facing L. Light knew he could take down L. How could L possibly catch a murderer who was never at the crime scene? It's impossible! He's perfectly safe. But this was L. L is the greatest detective in the world. Light studied his past cases many times. L could find clues in ways Light never thought possible. This man was smart and cunning. Even though Light felt as if he could take him on, he worried about what would happen if he failed.

Light closed his eyes and remembered the wall. He thought of the little space between the police station and the bakery. He thought of all the people who had written on the wall and who prayed that Kira would serve justice. He remembered the little girl, the young boy, the middle aged man, and the old woman. They, among many others, were counting on him to kill criminals. They were the innocent who had wrong things done to them. They didn't deserve what had happened to them. Light understood that. He knew just as much as they did how cruel criminals could be. That's why they had to die. And that's why Light could not fail. If L did manage to catch him, the innocent people would be devastated. So if this Beyond Birthday could really help them avoid L, then Light will accept him into the gang.

He sighed loudly and pulled out his Death Note and his fake one. He hit the power button on his computer and the monitor lit up. He tapped his pen on the desk as the computer loaded. Finally, his red wallpaper showed up and he opened up the police database. He enjoyed hacking into the database. The files were neat and organized which made his life a whole lot easier. It even had a search bar. The database had two main files: 'Alive' and 'Deceased'. He found it pointless to open the 'Deceased' folder for obvious reasons and clicked on the 'Alive' file. There opened another two sub files: 'In Jail' and 'At Large'. Clicking on the 'In Jail' folder, he searched for names he had seen on the wall. As he skimmed through the names, he was glad to see the archive smaller than yesterday. It thrilled him greatly when the names that had been in the file did not appear the next time he checked.

He killed those who had their name written on the wall and a couple of extras because he could. Moving from the 'In Jail' folder to the 'At Large', Light skimmed through more hideous mug shots and surveillance camera photos. He looked hard for the faces that haunted him but they weren't there. Giving a disappointed sigh, he focused on the criminals his people wanted gone.

He finished around three in the morning. He reread the list and was shocked he had killed so many. "Guess I'm more stressed than I first thought…" he mumbled, putting away the two notebooks. He closed the laptop with a sound 'click' and stared out the window. It was a quiet night. With midterms around the corner, the parties have stopped for the time being. It was nice to have it so quiet, he thought.

Getting up from his chair, he flicked off the lights and flopped ungracefully on his bed. He lay on his stomach for a while until he remembered he forgot to get undressed. Deciding he didn't care, he flipped on to his back and stared at the ceiling.

It was too quiet. Growling he turned on to his side then to his other side after a few minutes of sleepless torture. Finally, Light sat up and leaned against the headboard.

"I thought I was over this…" His insomnia almost went away a year after he had escaped from the kidnappers. It's almost only because he has trouble sleeping before two in the morning and has a bad habit of waking up between seven and seven thirty. Other than that, he slept peacefully. Although once in a while, it would strike again and leave him up for the whole night, if not a couple of nights in a row. He found a pattern of insomnia cases when he had something that was bothering him or if his room was too hot or too cold.

He knew that letting a new member join wasn't a smart idea but they might really need this Beyond Birthday guy. He could help them greatly. He would probably be a better Shinigami than the current members. Misa and Takada were their spokeswomen, Matt helped him hack past the toughest of security walls, Teru was a good spy and did a hell of a lot of dirty work. Light wasn't the best hacker, he would never sit in a bar all night to watch a suspect, and he couldn't get the attention that Misa and Takada drew in. But if there was one guy who didn't do a single thing it was Raye. Honestly, Light couldn't remember a single thing that Raye had done other than being a servant boy to them and fetching their laundry or groceries.

Light wanted to lie down and try to force himself to sleep but he knew in the end it would be futile. Sleep did not come easily to him when his insomnia kicked in. He got up instead and made a trip downstairs for a mug of hot chocolate. He waited for the water to boil, hoping that no one would hear him. The last thing he needed right now was company. When the tea kettle began to screech, he quickly grabbed it and poured the water over the hot chocolate mix. He rummaged through the refrigerator and pulled out the half and half. He added the creamer and stirred his drink with a spoon. He sat down in the living room with his mug in both hands. He took a small sip and smiled. There was something about hot chocolate that interested him so much. He normally disliked sweets but hot chocolate was perfect. He suspected he drank it often when he was younger. He had a vision of his blurry but sweet mother handing him a mug of hot chocolate when he was upset or cold. She would smile at him and pat his head and he would grin back up at her and thank her.

He wondered if his family remembered him. And if they did, were they searching for him or had they given up? Or were they dead? If they ever met back up, what wouldthey think of Light's lifestyle now? He imaged them to be Kira followers. After all, their son was kidnapped so they probably prayed to Kira every night for him to give them justice for their pain and loss.

He drowned the rest of his hot chocolate and carefully placed the mug in the sink. Tip toeing upstairs, Light reluctantly crawled back into bed. Suddenly, he had an idea. A perfectly wonderful idea that was so simple, it was genius. With a plan forming in his head, he felt the weight of the world fall from his shoulders and his eyelids begin to drop.

Chapter two complete! Was it enjoyable? Hopefully not too confusing.

Big news: I just found the script of the American version of the Death Note movie online. Oh god, it's… it's… weird. I feel as if the manga Death Note didn't exist and they had come up with the movie, it would be okay but the fact that they had a beautiful plot to follow and they didn't really pisses me off.

SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW THE MOVIE IS DON'T READ. JUST SKIP STRAIGHT TO THE LAST PARAGRAPH

They changed the whole Yagami family or as they are now called the Murray family. Sayu is Sarah, Soichirro is Sean, Sachiko is called both Linda and Laura (because they can't seem to remember what her name is) and Light is now Luke. WTF? Light is freaking English, why did they change it? Oh, and Linda/Laura is dead. Yeah, she was killed off a couple of years ago which provides a reason for revenge for Luke. There is no Misa, there is no Ryuk. Luke wants to be a lawyer and works in a fish market in Queens, New York. He has a girlfriend named Sophia.

There are some parts that come from the manga and the Japanese live action movie. Such as the bus with Raye Penber (now Ray Roe and the bus scene wasn't exactly the same) and the mini TV and Death Note scrap in potato chip bag (that made me happy, I will admit) and from the movie there is his girlfriend getting held hostage with the person holding her hostage is all like "ADMIT YOUR KIRA FOOL" like that. On another positive note, L is L, Watari is Watari, and Lind L. Taylor is still Lind L. Taylor.

Also: L AND LUKE NEVER MEET!!! WTF?!?! Well, no that's a lie. They do meet for three seconds. Here's their entire conversation:

L: You okay?

Luke: Yeah… do I know you?

L: No… but I know you. –eats out of a potato chip bag-

Yup. That's the extent of their meeting. But L had the potato chip bag like in the movie which I thought was funny.

Oh another important thing! They consider the Death Note to be completely evil and every time Luke holds it and gets mad, the Death Note feeds off of his anger and makes him evil. You know the whole red hair, small pupil, super evil look on his face Kira-Light? In contrast to the normal innocent Light you see in the beginning of the series and when he's chained to L? Then he'll kill the people, become normal again and be like "What did I just do?!?!" It's super weird.

Luckily, it's a first draft so hopefully they'll make some better changes? Like keeping Light's name?

Back to spoiler free! Please review and I'll update faster than I did last time!