Light awoke nauseous and dizzy and weak. Warm morning sunlight came at a slant though the window and alighted gently on his face. He was in something like a storage building that had been remodeled into a very small, yet cozy and livable house. Light lay on a queen-sized mattress in a loft which overlooked a kitchenette and a tiny great room where on a cream-colored love suede love seat sat a tall brunette reading The Phantom of the Opera in the original French. The young lady was probably in her early twenties and obviously not Japanese. Light guessed she was European, but he felt too sick to say anything to her. The foreigner's bright hazel eyes scanned the pages of the novel line by line until she gracefully untied a red ribbon from her hair and used it to mark the page before closing the book. She began climbing the ladder to the loft at the same time Light decided to try sitting up.
"Who are you?" Light asked weakly in Japanese. He hadn't quite recovered from Kira's attack on him.
The young brunette looked confused and asked, "Parle vou France?"
"I don't speak French," Light said in English, "Please tell me you speak English."
"Oh, yes, English," the woman replied also in English, "My name is Francesca. I came to Japan from France to film my latest music video, and yesterday afternoon some psycho in a white mask chloroformed me! He tossed you in here last night and locked us both in. I didn't know what else to do, so I brought you up here so you could rest."
"Thank you for that, Francesca," Light answered, "I'm Light Yagami, and I think the man in the white mask you saw is probably a dangerous serial killer known as Kira. He's been murdering people with physical or mental disabilities and kidnapping those with physical or mental talents. I was helping with the investigation when I was attacked."
"Well, we're not dead," observed Francesca as she sat on the edge of the mattress next to Light's knees, "so what do you think he wants with us?"
Accompanied by a background of white noise, an intercom clicked on just before Light could answer Francesca's question. A voice disguised by a voice changer announced in English, "Greetings, specimens, and congratulations!"
"'Specimens?'" Light repeated under his breath.
"You have been chosen for a most ambitious project with the goal of eliminating genetic disease, a project for the betterment of the human race," the disguised voice continued, "I am your breeder, Dr. Ijimeru, but you might know me better as the notorious Kira. You have each been paired with a mate with whom you are genetically compatible. Your task is to produce with your mate disease-free offspring. On your kitchenette counter is a red spiral notebook and a pen. In this notebook, you are to keep a journal of your mating habits as well as lists of anything you might need or want concerning your survival, hobbies, day-to-day lives, and/or the project. If you choose not to cooperate, you will be promptly terminated. If you try to escape, the alarms on the windows and doors will alert the dogs, and you will be promptly terminated. If you have any questions, write them into your notebooks and place the notebook through the mail slot on the front door of your habitat."
"Mon Deiu!" Francesca shrieked, "He's insane!"
"We've got to get out of here," Light agreed.
~~~~~~~Death Note~~~~~~~Like Minds~~~~~~~
Yousha dared not breathe until the last pawn was in its place on the chess board. The whole team had been investigating most of the night and slept through breakfast. L made the mistake of dozing off on the couch in the common area, and Yousha's mischievous nature compelled her to play some prank on him. "Hey," she had whispered, "is Ryuzaki sleeping?" He'd only been asleep a few minutes before Yousha set a chessboard on his back as he lay in his peculiar way on the couch.
"Matsuda!" Yousha called in a stage whisper as Matsuda crossed toward the kitchen, "Come play chess with me before he wakes up!"
How could Matsuda resist? An evil grin crept across his face, and he quietly pulled a chair over. "Best two of three," Matsuda whispered.
"Loser has to kiss Light Yagami right on the lips," Yousha suggested.
Matsuda thought about that for a moment. How good could Yousha possibly be at this game? "You're on!" he agreed.
The first game ended with Yousha checkmating Matsuda, but Matsuda was sure Yousha let him win the second game. "Ah, man," Matsuda whispered dismally as Yousha moved her king's bishop.
Yousha giggled quietly, "Check—"
"KYAAAAAA! LIGHT IS MISSING!" a shrill screech interrupted Yousha's declaration of checkmate and startled L awake, causing the board and chess pieces to leap into the air and scatter all over the floor.
"What happened!" L demanded.
"It's back," Yousha fumed, "the Misa."
L looked around at the chess pieces strewn all over the couch and the floor. "What's all this?" he wondered, but the only answer he received was a suspicious smile.
The clacking of Misa Amane's heels called the trio's attention. "Didn't you three hear me!" she screeched, "My Light is MISSING!"
"Hooray!" Matsuda cheered, realizing that meant his bet with Yousha was off, but then realizing the context, he corrected himself, "I mean, that's awful!"
The group ignored Matsuda as Misa explained, "He stopped texting me at about ten last night, and I haven't heard from him since!"
"Kira," L didn't hesitate to accuse.
"NOOOOOO!" Misa squawked, but Yousha wasn't listening.
'Kira got Light, kidnapped him,' Yousha thought, 'He's so close to the team, to me, to L! My profile of this Kira isn't complete enough to be useful, but I'm running out of time here.' She could feel her already weak heart throbbing. She heard her own pulse in her ears, felt it in her throat. 'Is this Kira or my heart condition?' she questioned her own mind. Her eyes suddenly clouded over, and Yousha Sorano collapsed, the caged pearl which hung from her neck rolling to the left side of her chest.
~~~~~~~Death Note~~~~~~~Like Minds~~~~~~~
"How do we get out of here, Light?" Francesca fretted, about to panic. Light felt too dizzy to respond. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the previous day.
"I don't know," Light answered, "I'm feeling really light-headed."
Kind-hearted Francesca immediately climbed down the loft's ladder and made Light a sandwich. As he finished it, she sat by his knees. He thanked her and promised he'd figure out how to escape Dr. Ijimeru's "project."
"D'Marques and Yagami," the voice on the intercom spoke, but this time with less white noise. Light guessed that meant this was to be a private conversation. "What do you know of L?" Dr. Ijimeru asked in a sinister, yet strangely soothing tone, "I know you've met him. You're helping with the investigation into the Kira case. There's no point denying those facts."
"I don't know his real name either, if that's what you want," Light hissed.
"Any information would do," Dr. Ijimeru's still disguised voice told him.
"I barely know anything at all," Light answered, "He's very secretive."
"I know your face and your name, Light Yagami," Dr. Ijimeru reminded him, "I'd cooperate if I were you."
~~~~~~~Death Note~~~~~~~Like Minds~~~~~~~
Watari had scooped Yousha up from the cold floor and laid her gently on the couch in the common room. The young psychologist was still unconscious, but she had a pulse. She was breathing.
'She's been out for half an hour,' L remembered as he stood over her, staring at Yousha with an expression of both curiosity and concern. He shuffled over to the closet and produced from it a small clean warm yellow blanket. He shuffled back to Yousha and draped the blanket over her so that it barely covered her shoulders. Curling himself into a seat on the couch next to Yousha's head, being careful not to sit on her raven black hair, L felt compelled to keep watching her.
'In the three days since we met, you haven't acted like any Kira suspect I've ever encountered,' L thought about Yousha, 'If you're Kira, and you only need a face to kill, why have you left me alive? And unless you have a partner, you couldn't be responsible for Light-kun's disappearance. You haven't left headquarters since you arrived (broke in, rather). The probability that you, Yousha-san, are Kira is decreasing every day. I like that.' L ever so gently tucked a lock of Yousha's silky hair behind her ear. 'You do many annoying things, Yousha-san,' he thought, 'but you have thus far never been unkind to me.'
Yousha opened her chocolate, bespectacled eyes with a groan. Lifting her head just to look into L's face was a challenge, as was rolling onto her side. "Not Kira," Yousha whispered weakly to L, "You're safe." She laid her head back down onto a couch pillow and nuzzled against L's hip as he sat beside her in his unusual way. In her weak fist, Yousha gathered some of the fabric of L's pant-leg. "You're safe," she whispered again as she fell asleep with the precious folds of L's pant leg in her grasp.
L smiled for the first time in a long while. He was pleased that Yousha was concerned about his safety, though he wasn't sure why that would please him. L very carefully freed his pant-leg from Yousha's hand and shuffled toward the kitchen where Mr. Yagami, Matsuda, and Misa waited.
"How's Yousha?" Matsuda asked worriedly.
"She'll be fine," L replied, "Her heart condition must have acted up."
"Any news about Light?" Mr. Yagami and Misa asked in near unison.
"No," L answered sadly, "but here's what we know so far. This Kira has access to the medical records of hundreds of thousands of people. He never kills very many at a time, and each of his victims die about two hours and two minutes apart. He only kills people with physical or mental defects, only kidnaps people with physical or mental talents, and on every third Wednesday (which would be today) kills three by murder/suicide, the murderer killing a married couple with a young child before killing himself, always leaving the child alive. Other than an unusually high body count on Wednesdays, the murders appear random. (Either they are random or I just haven't noticed the pattern.)
"Kira probably also has access to hundreds of thousands of academic records and physical fitness test scores, which is how he's finding kidnapping victims. Light is Japan's most brilliant student and an athlete, which made him an irresistible target for Kira. I'm not sure what Kira could be planning for those he kidnaps, but I don't think he plans to kill them, at least not yet."
"Something happened on the third Wednesday that stressed Kira to the point of breaking," a faint voice added from the kitchen doorway.
"YOUSHA!" the group shouted when they noticed Yousha Sorano leaning on the doorframe.
"YOUSHA!" screeched Misa, "Misa is SO SORRY! Misa was angry because Misa thought you stole Light from Misa, so Misa wished at 11:11 that you would die, but Misa didn't think anything like this would happen!"
"I forgive you, Misa," Yousha laughed weakly, finding a seat among the group, "but we have to worry about Kira right now." L stared suspiciously at Misa as Yousha continued, "My profile isn't very complete, but we don't have time for me to sit around. A major stressor happened in Kira's life on a Wednesday, and his compulsion to kill more on Wednesdays is his mind's attempt to cope with this major event. The unusual circumstances surrounding the repetitive Kira murders on every third Wednesday tell us that Kira is, in a way, reliving his stressor. Perhaps three weeks after some milestone in life, such as a birthday, Kira's own parents were the victims in a similar murder/suicide."
"The married couples Kira murders are his only physically and mentally normal victims," added L.
"And usually," Mr. Yagami offered, "they are interracial couples."
"Kira's parents might've been an interracial couple also," suggested Yousha, "And his victimology suggests Kira is also a perfectionist. He's killing even those with slight birth defects. Kira might also have obsessive compulsive disorder."
"OCD?" Mr. Yagami asked, "What makes you suspect that, Yousha?"
"Ryuzaki hasn't seen it, but I saw a definite pattern. On days with even numbered dates, Kira kills an odd number equal to eleven plus the last digit occurring in the date. On days with odd numbered dates, the body count is equal to an even number equal to eleven plus the last digit in the date. Every Wednesday, the pattern changes to twenty-one plus the last digit, except on every third Wednesday, when the pattern is as Ryuzaki noted," Yousha replied with a weak sigh, "Misa, could you get me an aspirin, please?" Misa leaped from the table. Helping Yousha was the same as helping Light right now. "I can't guess at his profession, but I'm certain his job would have something to do with genetics, possibly an animal breeder of some kind," Yousha told them as Misa returned with aspirin and a glass of water, "I'm sorry I didn't have time to complete the profile, but with Light captured, I felt our time was limited."
"So we're looking for an obsessive compulsive perfectionist with a career having to do with predicting the outcomes of certain combinations of genes?" L summarized.
"He might also have delusions of grandeur," Yousha added, "probably due to the god-like power Kira has over death."
"Sounds like we might have another Hitler on our hands," L said grimly, "Thank you, Yousha-san. Your profile will be very helpful, however incomplete you think it to be. Please, go rest and recover, Yousha-san." (Yousha heard the note of worry in L's voice when he asked her to go and rest.)
'There's only one person I know who might fit this profile,' Yousha thought as she climbed the stairs, assisted by faithful Watari, 'He's a veterinarian who breeds grey hounds, and many of Kira's latest victims have been pet owners. What happened to you, Icarus?'