Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note.

Chapter 20

Living Arrangements

Noriko was in her hospital bed watching a news program that was on television with a rather bored look. Light had left the room a little while before and she was left alone with absolutely nothing to do.

The door creaked open and she looked over curiously to see who was coming in. To her surprise it was Watari followed by Ryuga who slouched in after him.

"Hello Noriko," Watari greeted warmly.

"Hi Watari," Noriko answered back with a smile.

Ryuga walked over to one of the chairs and situated himself so that he was sitting with his feet on the chair and his knees near his chin and gazed at her through his dark eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear about what happened, I hope you're feeling better," Watari asked.

"Getting there," Noriko replied. "Sorry I had to leave so quickly the other day, but I'm assuming you know the reasons now."

"Yes, don't worry about it dear, I actually came by to see if, well..." the old man trailed off and looked over at Ryuga who glanced at him with a blank face.

Noriko watched the man as he sighed and turned back to her. "Well to be honest Ryuga and I haven't been very truthful with you," he begun.

"Is that so," Noriko asked, raising a thin eyebrow in interest.

"Yes, you see Ryuga isn't a normal student.." Watari seemed to be having a little trouble finding the right words to use.

"If he's not a student then who is he? L?" Noriko asked somewhat sarcastically, all the while wondering how Watari or Ryuga would respond.

"Actually, I am," Ryuga stated.

"Really," Noriko replied.

"You don't seemed surprised," Ryuga observed.

Noriko shrugged. "I think it would take more than that to surprise me right now."

"What if I told you I was investigating Light as possibly being Kira," he asked.

"I would want to know why you suspect him, and what it has to do with me," she answered coolly.

"Would you want to know if Light was Kira," L asked.

"Of course, I'm supposed to be marrying him, if he's lying to me then I would want to know," she replied, somewhat heatedly.

"What would you do if he was," L asked curiously.

Noriko frowned at him. "You sound certain he's Kira, do you have any proof?"

"I'm not here to discuss the case with you, I was here to offer you my help," L said.

"Your help," Noriko asked incredulously. "What would I possibly need your help for, you were trying to use me, correct? So wouldn't you be wanting my help?"

A small smile actually crept onto L's lips as he watched Noriko, it actually unnerved her a little bit and she fidgeted under his gaze.

"What he is trying to say, Noriko, is that in positions like ours it's a good idea to help those who are in need of it and we would like to offer you a place to stay," Watari said.

"In other words," Noriko said looking over to L with angry eyes. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I may not be your enemy, but you think Light is and this would clearly piss him off, so you're hoping he does something drastic, right?"

"You're pretty perceptive," L said to her as he chewed on his thumb.

Noriko rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, the arrangements have already been made and I don't have much of a choice."

L didn't respond, just stared at her.

Watari sighed. "I'm sorry Noriko, but it would be for your protection."

"If I agree then I want to help with the case since I'm guessing I won't be allowed to do much else," Noriko glared at L who had raised a finger in the air to interrupt her. "You're listening whether you want to or not" she snapped at him. "I want to prove that Light isn't Kira, but if he some how is then I want to know. You can use me that way and you know it," Noriko finished.

"It would be quite beneficial to us," L mused.

"Yes it would. If I help you it would basically allow you to use me as you were trying to do in the first place."

"And you don't mind being used," L asked.

"Normally it would really piss me off, but I'm agreeing to this because I want to see for myself why you suspect Light, I think that's fair seeing as how you've been trying to use me from the beginning," Noriko answered.

L shrugged and looked over to Watari.

"I suppose it's settled then," the old man said with a kind smile.

"It would seem so. So, uh, when I can I go," she asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid it's going to be about another week before the hospital will be releasing you and I also have some preparations to make as well. I wasn't lying when I said we move around a lot," Watari replied.

Noriko groaned. "I think I might go crazy if I have to stay in this room much longer."

"At least the psychiatric ward isn't far," L said to her.

"Yeah, maybe you should pop in and say hello," Noriko grumbled.

L raised a thin eyebrow at her grumblings but didn't say anything.

"Well dear, I believe that visiting hours are about over, get some rest. It would also be preferred if this wasn't mentioned to anyone," Watari said.

"Ok, my mouth is shut," Noriko replied.

"That's a miracle," L mumbled over the tip of his thumb that was propped on his lower lip.

"Shut up Ryuga, L, whatever," Noriko snapped.

"Call me Ryuga," L said.

"I just did," Noriko mumbled.

Ryuga stood up from the chair and followed along after Watari as the older man headed for the door, he paused when he reached the door and turned back to Noriko.

"Can you bake," Ryuga asked.

Noriko blinked at him, but nodded. "Yeah, kind of."

"Good. In exchange for allowing you to help with the Kira case you have to bake for me," Ryuga stated.

"Seriously," Noriko asked incredulously.

"I think it's fair," he replied with a shrug.

"No it isn't, I've seen the amount of sugar you eat, that totally isn't fair," she cried.

"Did I mention there's a one percent chance that you're Kira," Ryuga asked.

"Oh, I'm so gonna kill you," Noriko growled at his antics.

"Two percent."

Ryuga didn't have time to move aside as a pillow collided with his face before plopping onto the sterile tile floor of the hospital room.

"Three p-"

"Get out," Noriko yelled.

A small grin pulled at the corners of Ryuga's mouth as he walked out of the hospital room shutting the door behind himself. He found the expressions on Noriko's face as well as her reactions quite amusing, he only hoped she wouldn't prove to be too much of a distraction.

"When can I leave? Tomorrow I'll have been here for two weeks and it's really starting to get annoying," Noriko whined.

"No more than another week Ms. Mori," the elderly male doctor assured her with a smile that reminded her of Watari.

Noriko groaned. "But I'm fine," she said.

"You may think so, but we just want to be sure. Your blood pressure is still a little low, and you're still a bit more sluggish than you should be. Just be patient, you'll be out of here soon," the doctor said.

"Alright," Noriko sighed.

Once the doctor left, Noriko turned the television on and waited for Light to stop by. He was currently still in class, but he would always stop by afterwards before heading home.

So to kill the time Noriko turned on the television and flipped through the channels for a few hours until her door creaked open and Light walked in. She flashed him a smile, happy that she now had company other than the television.

"Hey Light," she greeted happily.

"Hey," he answered as he set his bag down on the tile floor and stepped up to give Noriko a kiss before sitting down beside her bed.

"I should be able to get out of here soon, no more than a week," Noriko said.

"That's good, have you made up your mind to come and stay with me and my family, I think my dad would even rent us an apartment," Light replied.

"Uh, well..."

"Noriko," Light said slowly, like he was scolding a child.

"I kind of already have another place already lined up," Noriko replied as she scratched at her head and scrunched her face up slightly.

"Where," Light asked suspiciously.

Noriko chuckled nervously. "It's kind of a surprise."

Light raised a brown eyebrow at her and she fidgeted under his gaze and smiled uncertainly.

"A surprise," he asked.

"Yup, a surprise," Noriko answered quickly.

"Somehow I don't like the sound of this," Light sighed.

"Neither do I," Noriko sighed under her breath.

"What?"

"Uh, nothing," Noriko replied with a smile.

Light looked at her and shook his head.

"So how was class," she asked.

Light shrugged. "Alright I guess, a lot of talking about nothing I didn't already know."

"Figures," Noriko teased.

"It's nice to see you're back to normal," Light commented dryly.

"I like picking on you, it's fun. Besides I have way too much time on my hands right now and I'm bored," Noriko groaned dramatically.

"I know, but you'll be out of here soon."

"That's good to know, but you're going to be busy with school while I sit around doing nothing."

"I thought you were offered a job with the Yotsuba corporation," Light said.

"Yeah, but I don't know if I'll be able to take it," Noriko replied.

"Why not?"

"I somehow don't think I'll be up for it, at least not right away. I'm still going to need to take it easy and rest for awhile," Noriko answered.

'More like I'll be busy trying to prove you aren't Kira, and baking cakes,' she thought grumpily. 'Some twisted housewife I make.'

"You should definitely focus on yourself for a little while," Light agreed.

'Uh huh...' she thought.

"What about you? Will we be able to see each other much?"

"On the weekends at least, school will start getting pretty busy for me soon."

Noriko frowned. "Yeah, I figured as much. I'm surprised you find the time to stop in and see me everyday as it is."

"I'll make time though, so don't worry about it," he assured her.

"Good, you had better," she said with a smile.

The next hour was spent in casual conversation before Light decided it was time for him to stop in to see his dad before returning home. He had homework and classes in the morning, but he assured Noriko that he would try to stop in tomorrow afternoon.

With nothing to do yet again, Noriko began flipping through the stations. It was almost six and she figured that there might be something on that would entertain her for awhile.

"Huh."

As she was flipping through the channels she had passed by Sakura T.V., a station she usually avoided seeing as how most of the shows were utter nonsense. This time however she found herself going back to the station to see a man sitting before a television set that had a banner that read 'A Message From Kira, Four terrifying Videos' across it.

"Probably just more gibberish," she mumbled to herself, but kept the channel tuned to Sakura T.V.

"At exactly 5:59 PM we will be airing a video sent to us by Kira. As per Kira's instructions we have not viewed this video, but it contains a message to people all over the world," the man on the screen handed a tape to a young woman who disappeared off screen. " It is now 5:59 pm and we will begin the broadcast."

The signal became distorted and garbled and four letters written in English script appeared on the screen. They read KIRA.

A fuzzy, mechanical sounding voice crackled through the speakers, "I am Kira. If this video is being aired at precisely 5:59 pm on April the eighteenth then it is now 5:59 and 38, 39, 40 seconds... Please switch to Taiyo T.V, the news anchor, Mr Kazuhiko Hibima, will die of a heart attack at precisely 6:00 pm."

Noriko changed the channel and the second Taiyo T.V came into to view a male news anchor that was sitting between two females at a long, wooden desk suddenly gripped his chest and fell forward.

"No way," Noriko whispered, her eyes wide as she turned back to Sakura T.V.

"Mr. Hibima has constantly referred to Kira as evil in his broadcasts. This is his punishment," the distorted voice said when she switched back. "However, one demonstration alone does not serve as proof that I am Kira. So I will present you with another. The next target is a commentator who has also repeatedly condemned me. He is supposed to be appearing live on air now on channel 24 in the Kanto region."

Pressing the numbers into the remote, Noriko was becoming impatient as the channel took a few moments to appear. As it did so she saw that a rather large man had slumped back in his seat and people were gathering around the immobile man.

"This can't be happening," Noriko said in disbelief as she stared at the image on the screen.

She numbly pushed the buttons that would return her to Sakura T.V., unsure just how any of this was possible. She knew that Kira supposedly needed only a name and a face to kill but how could he control the time of death, that made no sense. It just wasn't possible in her mind. On top of that the people who had just been killed had done nothing more than voice their opinions that Kira was evil, they themselves had done no harm to anyone. They were innocent as far as she was concerned. It seemed a little odd that Kira would kill innocent people, there had only been the incident with Lind L. Taylor when Kira had killed someone that was threatening his position. Even that was different though that had seemed to be more like an act of passion, this was just plain murder in Noriko's head. Then again so were the killings being carried out by Kira, but there was a difference between innocent people and people who had done something wrong and deserved punishment. It still shouldn't be left up to a single person to rid the world of the people they deem evil, it just wasn't right.

The voice went on to say that Kira was a lover of justice and didn't think of the police as enemies, but that they were his allies against evil. Kira continued on to say that his goal was to create a just society that was free of evil and that if the police were to join and not attempt to capture him then no innocent people would die. A long winded speech ensued about how Kira planned on bringing about this new world and what was expected of the people and police.

"This is insane," Noriko breathed. "The police won't cooperate, they can't."

After a few more minutes of listening to the garbled voice, Noriko changed the channel and was confronted with yet another terrifying sight: A news crew had been set up in front of the Sakura T.V building and there was a man lying in front of the glass doors, he wasn't moving and from the looks of it he was dead. Paramedics arrived shortly after and the body of the man was carted away.

Noriko continued to watch the news broadcast that was live in front of the television building. The woman reporter was recapping what had happened on Sakura T.V and informing everyone to remain calm. There were sounds of screeching tires and a few screams as a large armored bus crashed through the glass doors of Sakura T.V.

She was able to catch a brief glimpse of legs stepping out of the bus before the person disappeared from view. Nothing else seemed to happen and everything went quiet. A police car pulled up just outside and two officers stepped from the vehicle and began to walk towards the building that was still broadcasting Kira's message.

They had only taken a few short steps when they both suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground.

Noriko pushed herself up in the bed and stared at the screen, she blinked her eyes a few times to try and be sure she was really seeing what she was seeing. The image on the screen started to move erratically as the camera crew decided it was no longer safe to be so close to the building and moved away.

The frightened voice of the female news caster informed the viewers that the broadcast from Sakura T.V, had been stopped but that the person who had entered the the station using the bus was still trapped inside.

Noriko tuned out the rest of the news casters words as she stared at the screen unable to fully comprehend everything she had witnessed. Five people had just been killed. Five, right before her eyes and the watchful eyes of millions of other people.

"Shinigami," she whispered blankly suddenly remembering that her father said the terrifying creatures could kill with just a name and face.

"Yes that's right," a grim voice said.

Blinking several times to return herself back to reality Noriko looked over to her left to see that her father was standing beside her bed and was watching the television with a frown and furrowed brow.

"So it's true, a shinigami is doing this? But why," she asked.

Her father shook his head. "No, it's not a shinigami doing this. This is the work of someone less frightening than a shinigami."

"Who, or what? No human can do what I just saw. It's impossible," Noriko argued.

"It isn't actually," her father replied.

"Then how," she asked.

"It's difficult to explain. But what you just saw, was indeed done by a human."

Noriko gaped at her father. "How is that possible? I don't understand."

"Just know that it is, there are things in this world, Noriko, that you don't need to understand right now. This is one of them," her father answered.

"That's just ridiculous," she said loudly. "You tell me shinigami exist, but this isn't being done by a shinigami, which just makes no sense. You also told me not to take off this necklace because it protects me from shinigami, but if this isn't being done by a shinigami then why should it matter?"

"Calm down Noriko. A shinigami isn't the one killing these people, someone else is. Someone who has been given the power of a shinigami. It's a power that no one should have, but it seems something has happened and now a very dangerous power has fallen into the hands of someone who wishes to use it for their own goals."

"Did Light do this," she asked seriously.

Her father frowned and she could see he was thinking of whether or not to answer and how to answer, finally he sighed and shook his head. "No."

Noriko let out a sigh of relief and laid back against the pillows, "That's good."

A brief flicker of emotion passed over Kiyoshi's face, but was gone as quickly as it had come and went unnoticed by Noriko as she stared up at the ceiling.

Light sat at his desk his cheek on his knuckles as he smirked at the broadcast of the self proclaimed Kira.

"I wonder if I can use this person," he said to the shinigami beside.

"This just got interesting," the shinigami, Ryuk, the same one Noriko had seen in her dreams replied.

"I think it's safe to say this person has the eyes, and I may be able to get them to help me get rid of L. Once L's out of the picture there will be no one to stop me, and Noriko will be safe too. I didn't even have to do anything to get rid of her stepdad, of course she nearly died, but at least she's still alive. I took care of her mother so now she has only me, and I'm all she'll ever need," Light said, a cold glint in his eyes as a proud smile spread across his face distorting his usually handsome visage into something far more sinister and frightening.

The strange looking shinigami chuckled at Light's back all the while thinking he had found some very interesting humans.

"This fake Kira is ruining the real Kira's image with the things he's been doing. Sending tapes to Sakura T.V and threatening to kill police chiefs. I can't let him run around for too long. The ideal situation right now would be for me to join the task force looking for Kira. That way I can stay on top of all what the fake Kira and L are both doing. I just need to figure out how to get in to contact with the fake Kira without giving out my name or showing my face," Light said as he paced his room in thought.

"I'd like your son to join the task force Mr Yagami, I think his deductive and reasoning skills may be of use to us," L said as he stuffed a strawberry in his mouth and began chewing.

The elder Yagami sighed. "If my son agrees then I see no reason why he shouldn't help."

"What about Ms. Mori," L asked as he dangled his fork between his thumb and forefingers just before his mouth, another red strawberry stuck to it.

Mr. Yagami blinked at L in confusion. "What about her?"

"Hmm," L said as he swallowed the strawberry and looked over to Mr Yagami. "How do you think she'll feel about your son helping in the investigation? He'll have very little time to spend with her, and given her current situation I would think she would want to be near him at all times."

"Noriko is very understanding, I don't think it'll be a problem," Mr Yagami answered.

"Well that's good," L replied.

Mr Yagami frowned at the young man that was huddled on the couch to his right and poking at a piece of strawberry shortcake. He was suspicious as to why he would have brought Noriko into the conversation, L was tricky and he wasn't sure he fully trusted his motives. After all he only wanted his son to join the task force so he could prove he was Kira. He wondered what interest he had in Noriko.

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