Up until L and Light actually meet, I'm following the basic storyline. And I'm also copying some of the important conversations. So...yeah.
Disclaimer-The wonderful characters in this do not belong to me, the belong to the...*sniffle* the person that created them. *sob*
*11 Years Later*
"Hey baby! Why don't you come and have a little fun with us!"
"Please, I don't want any trouble."
I looked up from the magazine I was reading. There were a group of men outside the store. A woman was held against one of their chests, a bar on her throat keeping her there.
One of the men, the leader, began ripping up her pants.
"Please, somebody! Help me!"
I could do nothing but watch in horror.
The man, having success with undoing her pants, pulled them down, underwear included.
"OOOOHHHH baby, we got ourselves a hot one!" Another man shouted. The woman struggled, but was held in place even tighter. Someone grabbed her shirt and started ripping.
I dropped the magazine and backed away, horrified at what had just been displayed before my eyes. I ran. Going home would be risky. Father would still be in a bad mood for another hour. Nothing to be done about that, unfortunately. I pulled out his phone and called Sayu.
"Hello?"
"I'm coming home. Could you distract Father while I sneak upstairs?"
Sayu was the only one father actually cared about. He called her 'the perfect child'. Sayu he loved, Mom he liked when he was sober, and me he hated.
"Of course. For how long?"
"As long as you can."
"Okay. Bye, Light."
time time time time time
Creeping in the back doorway, careful not to make a sound, I tip-toed to my room, laying the results of the exams on the table for Mom to find.
When I passed Father's room, I heard him explaining Sayu's homework to her.
My deal with him was that if I didn't talk to Sayu, and I was the highest in my class, he wouldn't beat me as often, and he'd leave Mom alone. It was better than on the daily basis I used to live with.
I shut the door slowly, cringing at the loud squeak it made. I paused, but the talking in the other room continued on.
I dropped my backpack on my bed and pulled my homework out. I had to ace everything I did. Or else.
night night night night night
A screech in the night woke me up. I shot out of bed and grabbed the knife I kept in my bedside drawer for protection. It was possible that Father had gotten drunk enough to forget our agreement. But there was no one in my room, and the door was still shut.
I heard a gasp from the other side of the wall, from Dad's room.
And then he started talking.
"A shinigami. A God of Death, huh? Well, I'm not surprised In fact, Ryuk, I've been waiting for you."
He then lowered his voice, and I only caught snatches of it.
"Real...didn't take me long...of it's power...what I'm gonna do...prepared myself...Ryuk...shinigami has come...take my soul, right?...all I want and I won't be punished?...God...New world..."
I raised the knife again, defensively. Father had stopped talking to himself, and there were now footsteps coming from that direction.
My door opened. Mom limped in. I hastily lowered the knife and hid it behind my back.
"Why are you awake at this ungodly hour, Light?" She asked quietly.
"I should be asking you the same question."
She chuckled. I helped her over to the bed.
Her limp was unintentionally my fault. When I was younger, Father had threatened to shoot Mom if I ran away. I'd stayed longer than I should have at the orphanage. I should have stayed just long enough to get treatment, and then leave. But Ryuzaki...he drew me in and kept me there. I finally realized the danger Mom was in and came home. But before I left, I gave him a present.
I hope he got adopted by a good family. He deserves it.
"I saw your grades. They were wonderful, darling, higher than you've ever scored before. I'm so proud of you."
Mom never picked favorites between Sayu and I. She loved us equally in different ways. That was one of the things I appreciated so much about her.
"Thanks Mom."
"I just came by to congratulate you and say goodnight. I love you, darling."
"I love you too, Mom." I helped her out the door, and off she limped to her room.
nextday nextday nextday nextday
The next day I hurried off to school as fast as possible, hoping Father wouldn't see me. After last night, I was scared to be anywhere near him.
I was taking notes of the Teacher's long, boring speech. It was occupying my hands, and keeping my mind busy.
"Light Yagami. What are you writing?" The teacher interrupted himself.
"Copying your speech, sir."
"May I see it, then?"
I brought my notebook to the front of the class, and handed it to him. After glancing thumbing through it, he waved me back to my seat.
An hour or so later, he dismissed class.
I trudged home to do my chores and get my homework done before Father came home and I had to leave.
"Hey Light, do you wanna go over to Mitchell's house and hang?"
"No thanks, I'm busy today." I said, trying to be as polite as possible.
"Gotcha. Laters, man."
la la la la la la
"Hey Light, what's going on? Why is your door locked?" Sayu questioned. I stood up from my desk, abandoning my homework, to get the door for her.
"Actually, you were just turning it the wrong way." I smiled.
Sayu laughed as well.
I frowned. If Father came home while Sayu was in here...
"What wrong, Light? Are you okay?"
"It's nothing. So, what's the problem?"
"Math. I'm, like, the only one that doesn't get this stuff!"
I chuckled.
"Again?"
Sayu pouted.
"Of course I'll help. But if you hear Father coming home, you need to go. Understood?"
She nodded energetically.
"Understood."
meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile
There was a platform down in the center of the room with raised levels of seat and chairs surrounding it. All of those chairs were filled.
Over the loudspeaker, the crackly voices and arguments droned on.
"...over fifty heart attacks, all to criminals who were either being held in prison, or were wanted by police for various crimes. We're assuming that there are other criminal's deaths who have been unaccounted for. In which case, the death toll could be over one hundred."
There was silence in the crowd.
"Ah, Chief Yagami." Matsuda acknowledged the older man's arrival.
"Yes. Sorry. I had to take an urgent call from back home."
The conversation resumed.
"At any rate, these were criminals who were probably facing execution sooner or later. Perhaps we should-" He was cut off.
"Why should it matter if it's criminals or someone innocent? Last time I checked, murder is still murder!"
"It's still too early to consider these as a homicide."
"But then how do all these people have heart attacks at the same time? That's not coincidence, it's murder!"
"You think it's possible to simultaneously kill all these people at different locations?"
"We're considering this as a murder plot that being carried out as a large part of an organization."
"If it is a large organization, I'm suspecting the FBI or the CIA."
This comment angered quite a few in the crowd. They all continued shouting.
"I dare you to say that again!"
"Calm down, this is not the time to be joking around! We need to confirm that these are homicides and not coincidences!"
"Well, in that case, we have no choice but to bring in L."
The room silenced.
"You're kidding, we don't even know how to contact him!"
"L is already on."
Once more, the room silenced. A man walked out onto the main platform. His footsteps echoed.
"Gentlemen, L has already begun his investigation on these incidents." The man in the hat and trench coat announced.
"Please be silent. L would now like to address you all."
He pulled open a laptop with the letter L on it.
L spoke.
"Greetings to all of you who have come here. I am L. The difficulty in this case is it's unprecedented scope. Make no mistake, we're witnessing an atrocious case of mass murder, one that is unforgivable. This case can not be solved without the full cooperation of the ICPO. And as all of the police organizations we represent throughout the world, you need to make the decision to fully support the investigation at this meeting. Also, we require additional cooperation from Japan's international police agency."
"What? Why Japan in particular?" Matsuda and Chief Yagami asked, jumping up.
"Part of the guilty parties individually targeting Japanese criminals, so there's a strong possibility that they're Japanese, or at least hiding in Japan. "
"What is all this based on?" Chief Yagami questioned.
"Why Japan? I think I'll be able to provide you with proof of it after I directly confront Kira."
"A direct confrontation?"
"At any rate, I would like to set up the investigation headquarters in Japan."
endmeeting endmeeting endmeeting
After being dismissed from the meeting, Matsuda and I parted ways, each towards our own house. Light kept himself out of my way like a smart child, which was strange because he was unusually dumb. He probably cheated to get all those A's or something.
I settled in on my bed, ignoring Ryuk. I flipped on the TV.
Twenty minutes into my soap opera, something happens.
"We apologize for interrupting this program. We are now bringing you a live worldwide message from the ICPO meeting."
"What the hell?" I muttered. Ryuk leaned in towards the screen a bit more than normal.
A man with dark hair and a long, taunt face appeared on screen.
"I'm the head of an international police task force, which includes members of all known nations. I am Lind L. Taylor, otherwise known as L."
"Is it really that easy?" I asked myself as I grabbed the Death Note and a pen.
"Criminals around the world are being murdered by a serial killer. I consider this crime to be the most atrocious act in history. I will not rest until the person or people responsible are brought to justice. Kira, I will hunt you down, I will find you."
Ryuk started talking, but I once more ignored him.
"Kira, I've got a pretty good idea of what your motivation might be, and I can guess what you hope to achieve. However, what you're doing right now is evil."
I snorted.
"Evil? Yeah right, Lind."
I wrote down his name, taking my good time to do it.
Forty seconds later, the man on the screen shuddered. He yelped before slumping over on the chair.
I laughed and laughed and laughed, mocking the dead man for his stupidity.
Until the screen changed to a letter L.
"I had to test this just in case, but I never thought it would actually happen."
Damnit, wasn't that the direct confrontation and test?
"Kira, it seems you can kill people without having to be there in person. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't just witnessed it. Listen to me, Kira. If you didn't kill Lind L. Taylor, the man you just saw die on television, I should tell you that he's an inmate, who's execution was scheduled for today. It was not me."
"What?" I stuttered.
"The police arrested him in absolute secrecy, so you wouldn't have heard about him on TV or through the internet. It appears that not even you have access to information about these types of criminals. "
Ryuk laughed. "He gotcha there."
I was too shocked to move. I hadn't been put on that case…and no one had run this through me first.
"But I assure you, L is real, I do exist. Now, try to kill me. What's wrong, hurry up. Right now, you and me. I can't wait for it, do it already, I haven't got all day. Come on, Kira, kill me! Can't you do it?"
A moment's pause.
"Well, Kira, it seems that you can't kill me after all. So there are some people you can't kill. You've given me a useful hint. Let me return the favor. I'll tell you something that I think you'll find interesting. Although this was announced as a world wide broadcast, the truth is, we are only broadcasting it in the Konto region of Japan. I had planned to broadcast this message around the world until we found you, but it looks like that won't be necessary. I now know where you are."
Ryuk wouldn't shut up. He was laughing at me. Endlessly laughing.
"We decided to broadcast in Konto first because of it's large population, and luckily, we found you. To be completely honest with you, I never really expected that things would go this well, but it won't be too long now till I'll be able to sentence you to death. Naturally, I'm very interested to know how you're able to commit these murders without being present. But, I don't mind waiting a little bit longer. You'll answer all of my questions when I catch you. Let's meet again soon, Kira."
The TV went blank.
And I was furious.
"LIGHT!"
The boy slowly slid inside the room.
"Yes, Father?"
I grabbed him by the collar and smashed him to the ground.
I knew he never fought back because of his fear for my wife, his Mother.
But that just made it all the sweeter.
So Chief Yagami is Kira.
Yay plot twists?