Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note, I do own Death Note manga, does that count?

Chapter 23

The Truth

Noriko stared blankly up at the darkened ceiling of the hotel room, contemplating what her father had said in answer to her question about why he would never show up when Light was around.

"It's not Light," he had said. "It's the one you can't see."

She had been so confused by the statement that she had tried getting more information from him, but he refused to talk about it anymore, telling her that she would know soon enough. It had her on edge now, her father was gone and the entire hotel room was quiet, she was tempted to go into the other room and curl up on the sofa there. The rest of the detectives had left for the night and she knew that Ryuzaki would be out there sitting in his usual armchair, his knees pulled into his chest and nibbling at the tip of his thumb while he stared at the laptop he had set on the table before him.

"It's the one I can't see," she mumbled to herself. "What is that supposed to mean? Is there someone following Light... No that can't be right, because then why would dad still not show up even when Light comes here."

She inhaled a deep, long breath before releasing it slowly and scooting off the edge of the bed. She was in a pair of long pajama pants, black with pink stripes and a black t-shirt with her hair pulled into a messy ponytail. Grabbing a blanket from the edge of the bed and wrapping it around herself before going to her door and opening it quietly, she saw what she had expected. Ryuzaki in the same armchair as usual with his toes hanging over the edge of the chair and thumb brought up to his lips.

Hesitating for a moment, she stepped out of the room and walked over to the couch that was to Ryuzaki's right. She sat down in a position similar to his, but she rested her head on her knees and stared at the monitor he was looking at. There was currently what looked like a time line of the past several months on the display.

"Can I ask you a question, as long as I'm not bothering you, of course," Noriko asked, a little quieter and shyly than she had meant to sound.

Ryuzaki, who had yet to look at her, took a quick glance at her from the corner of his narrowed eyes. "If I can ask you something in return."

"I suppose that's fair," Noriko answered. She snuggled further into the soft beige blanket she had wrapped around her. "I was just wondering, um, could you explain to me why it is that you suspect Light?"

A little surprised by the question, for it hadn't been what he was expecting, Ryuzaki dropped his hand from his lips and looked at her fully. Her eyes were downcast and she was studying the grains on the wooden table in the darkened living room while unconsciously chewing at her bottom lip. "Why?" he asked, letting his curiosity get the better of him. She was so dead set on proving Light wasn't Kira, but here she was asking for the reasons he was suspected. He wanted to understand her question, what would make her want to know, did she doubt him in some way, or did she think knowing would help her prove his innocence?

"Because...I want to know why he's suspected by one of the greatest detectives in the world of being a killer. I want to understand how you can say that the man I love is a monster, I need to know..." she trailed off for a moment before turning her bright green eyes up to meet Ryuzaki's dark, blank gaze. "I need to know if he is Kira."

The surprise must have been evident in the slight widening of his dark eyes because Noriko looked away as if ashamed of herself, her green eyes focusing instead on her feet that were covered by the blanket.

"You know what, never mind," she said quietly, beginning to stand from her spot.

"Kira was playing with us," Ryuzaki began.

Noriko looked over at him, a little unsure of what to do so she sank back down on the couch.

"It was obvious almost from the beginning that Kira had access to police information, it was just never flaunted. Until I stepped into the picture. I created a problem for Kira, I was easily able to see a pattern in the times of the killings and the way the information was being made public. The times clearly showed this person was a student, of course this information wasn't immediately available to the public, but only to those on the task force or with access to the information of the task force members."

"Is that when you had the F.B.I come to Japan," Noriko asked, interrupting the detective.

"Yes," he replied as he gazed at her with his dark eyes, his annoyance at having been interrupted clear in his tone.

Noriko couldn't help but to want to shrink away from that gaze at the moment, it had a much different effect when you were in a dark room than it did in a coffee shop. When it was clear she wouldn't be asking yet another question, Ryuzaki continued.

"That is when I asked for help from the F.B.I, which I see may have been a bad idea," the last part was added as an afterthought. "Anyhow, they were able to quickly narrow down the list of suspects. It was quite clear that asking the F.B.I may have been a waste. Until they died."

Noriko shivered a little, it was like he wasn't talking to her, but more like he was talking to himself, as if he was recapping the events of the past several months. Having seen her shiver, he leaned forward slightly.

"Watari, could you bring us some tea please," Ryuzaki asked.

"Yes, of course, just a moment," Watari's response came just a moment later.

That was when Noriko's empty stomach decided to make itself known and grumbled loudly.

"Some cake and something for Ms. Mori to eat as well," Ryuzaki added taking a look over at Noriko, who was pouting slightly with a red face.

There was an answering chuckle and then nothing.

"Can't you just call me Noriko, the Ms Mori stuff is annoying," she said. "You didn't call me that before."

"Yes, of course," he answered dismissively.

Noriko frowned at him but he wasn't paying attention to her. "So how exactly did the deaths of the F.B.I agents lead you to suspecting Light, that is when you started suspecting him isn't it?"

"Hmm, yes..."

That was where everything got intriguing and was almost too much for Noriko to handle. She got lost in the details of the deaths of the agents and then there was the e-mail that they had all received with the name and picture of each agent in Japan. An envelope that Raye Penber had been carrying while boarding a subway train, but didn't have when he exited and collapsed, though he had tried to reach for something still in the train, or someone.

Noriko listened intently and looked over the several things that he showed her on the laptop. She drank the tea that Watari had brought them and ate the food he had brought her, not even paying attention to what it was or how it tasted. It didn't matter to her anyways, she wanted to know everything she could about the Kira investigation. Near the end of Ryuzaki's reasoning though she wasn't so sure she should have asked.

She was sitting cross legged on the couch now, the blanket forgotten underneath her while she sipped at the hot tea in her hands and stared at the images on the laptop. It was a picture of Naomi Misora, the woman she had seen Light with the day of her disappearance. The more she thought over things and the more dates that were thrown out the more unsure she was.

"You're thinking about something," Ryuzaki observed, watching her as she looked up at him and blinked as if she had forgotten for a moment where she was.

"Yes," she answered, a small frown crossing her features and she looked away again.

"Would you mind telling me," he asked.

She sighed and let her eyes flicker up to him once again. "It's just that..well, the dates."

A thin black eyebrow raised in her direction, but Ryuzaki never said anything.

"I couldn't be sure, I don't exactly keep a diary or anything but..." she trailed off again, a pained look passing through her eyes. "It seems like some of the dates were around the times when Light was either edgier around me, or he would give me excuses for why I couldn't come over. He wanted to study or I should rest because of my leg after my encounter with Katsuo. It's a little unnerving and then there's..."

"Yes," Ryuzaki asked, pressing for just what made her look like she was going to hyperventilate.

"Her," Noriko said quietly, her eyes flicking to the laptop and the picture of the pretty dark haired woman who hadn't been seen in months.

"Naomi Misora," Ryuzaki asked. "What about her?" He was trying to sound uninterested, like whatever she had to say didn't matter, but he knew he had failed for he had seen her flinch at the tone in his voice.

"I saw her," she whispered, tearing her eyes away from the picture on the laptop

"When?"

Noriko flinched again. "The day she disappeared, she was...she was with Light."

Ryuzaki didn't say anything, but his thumb was raised and he started biting on the digit distractedly as he stared at the picture on the screen. Once he was sure he could speak without sounding overly hopeful, or even excited, he took a breath and continued. "Is that why you were so upset the day you ran into Watari, the day her disappearance was in the papers?"

Noriko nodded. "Yes, because I realized the day she disappeared that she had been with Light and no one had seen her after that. She was also acting..strange."

"Strange?"

"Yeah, they had been talking. I wasn't following them or anything, really.. I was at the park near the police station, it was the first snow of the season and I always walk around in the first snow," she sounded far away as she spoke. It was like she was placing herself back in that day. "I was sitting on a bench, my eyes were closed and I was just remembering a picnic that Light, my dad and I had there when we were just kids. I heard talking, a man and a woman, I thought I recognized one of the voices, the man's. I realized as they got closer, on the opposite side of the fence, that it was Light. I remember thinking the worst at that point, being paranoid that he was cheating on me," she let out a bitter laugh. "But I caught bits and pieces of the conversation and it was quite obvious that wasn't what was going on. I couldn't hear much at first until I ducked back in to the park and walked along the wall. The woman, uh, Ms Misora was thanking Light for his help, after that it sounded like she was leaving, but Light called after her. He said something I didn't catch and I heard her say something about a task force. That's where I got confused, I didn't know what he was talking about, he wasn't in any task force, that's when..." Noriko trailed off suddenly remembering the strange laughter she had heard, she hesitated not sure she should include the part that made her sound crazy, but it was too late, Ryuzaki had noticed her hesitation and the dawning realization in her eyes.

"Is there something else," he asked casually, well as casually as a detective thinking he's found what he's been looking for can.

"Well...Promise you won't think I'm crazy?" Noriko asked before sighing when he raised a brow at her and she was sure a corner of his lips twitched slightly.

"Promise," he said as he raised his tea to his lips to hide the small smirk that was pulling at his lips, it may have been a serious conversation but the look on her face was priceless.

"Good enough," she grumbled. "Ok, well, I heard laughter."

"Laughter?" Ryuzaki asked.

"I said don't think I'm crazy, so stop looking at me like that you, you, freak."

"Original," she heard him mutter in response.

"It was weird though," she said, her face going thoughtful again as she tilted her head back to look up at the ceiling. "There was no one around, at first I could have sworn it was right behind me. It was a scary sort of laugh, mocking, empty. Anyways, it was right behind me, I was scared and turned around but no one was there, no one was even in the park. I heard it again, this time near Light, I actually thought it was Light, but again there was no one around him aside from Naomi Misora, who when I looked over at her, was digging for something in her purse that she handed to Light. Light wrote something down and then looked at his watch, she asked him a question but when he responded her facial expression changed and she turned around and walked off," she paused for a moment and a shiver went down her spine when she remembered the look in Light's eyes and the weird smile on his face. It was something she had seen on several occasions over the past few months and it was disorienting, it was the same smile he wore in the dreams where it was implied that he was Kira.

"And that was the last time you saw her?"

"Yes. I read about it in the paper a few days later. That she had been engaged to one of the F.B.I agents who had been killed and that she had disappeared on the day I saw her with Light, that's when I ran into Watari. I was confused, I started thinking things that made no sense, but did all at the same time. Like it was obvious that something was wrong, but at the same time I just couldn't stomach the ideas that were running through my head."

"What ideas," Ryuzaki asked, his dark eyes scrutinizing her since she seemed like she wanted to run away.

"I...I started to think that Light was Kira, that it made sense because all those F.B.I agents died not long after we ran into the agent on the bus, and he had shown his I.D to Light. Then that woman disappeared after talking to him and the look on her face that day it... it was like she was a totally different person in the span of seconds," she spoke quickly as if she wasn't sure that it was ok to say what she was saying, or that she should be ashamed of herself for thinking the way she had. "Not to mention he had been acting so strange recently, I was scared and it all seemed to make sense. So I called him, had him meet me for coffee and brought it up then. It was one of the hardest things ever, telling him I thought he was Kira, actually I didn't even have to spit that part out, he caught on to what I was implying. He was ok with it though, laughed about it, saying he could understand but that I was over thinking things, he had just been concentrating on studying, like I should have been doing and that there was something else too but he wouldn't tell me. So we walked to his house-"

"That was the day he proposed," Ryuzaki cut in.

Noriko glared at having been interrupted, she rather liked telling that part of the story. "Yes, that was the day he proposed."

"I see," Ryuzaki mused. "But you've never seen Light do anything out of the ordinary?"

Noriko shook her head. "No, aside from acting a little strange, he was the same as always."

"Regardless, of what you thought then, what do you think now? Is Light-kun Kira?"

"No," she replied automatically.

"I see."

"I think I'm going to bed," Noriko said and started to unfold herself from the couch.

"I'm not done, I have a question for you, remember?"

Making a slight grunting noise, Noriko settled back into the couch. "What," she asked grumpily.

"Shinigami."

"What about them," Noriko replied carefully, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Light reacted a bit oddly, don't you think, he nearly broke your skin." He motioned towards Noriko's hand that she reflexively brought to her chest, the nail marks where still visible in her skin. "He seemed tense, you on the other hand seemed to realize something then, something that frightened you. What?"

Shifting uncomfortably and looking away from Ryuzaki, Noriko didn't know what to do, she couldn't just tell him she believed in Shinigami and that a good source, her dead father, had told her they exist.

"You'll think I'm crazy," she mumbled quietly.

"Please, tell me. I think I'd like to understand your reaction."

"What if I told you Shinigami exist."

"Do you have proof?"

"Of course not, they're Death Gods, they don't exactly make themselves known. Besides, I've never seen one except for in dreams. You were in some too, before I even met you."

"How do you know they exist," Ryuzaki asked.

"Umm, well that's the interesting part...My dad told me," she admitted, shifting her eyes away from him.

"Suppose they do exist, what was it that frightened you earlier?"

"Light's reaction, it surprised me. I knew about the existence of Shinigami and trust me I'm very open minded about things like that, kind of have to be," she said, mostly to herself before shaking her head. "His reaction... it was like he was angry and I didn't understand why, unless-"

"He believes in the existence of such creatures as well," Ryuzaki cut in.

"Are you going to let me talk, you did ask me the question after all," Noriko snapped.

"Yes, yes of course."

"It was also the mention of the eyes, do you remember that," Noriko asked and continued when she saw the minute nod Ryuzaki gave her. "Ok, well, my dad told me that Shinigami have the ability to see the names and life spans of humans. That was what I didn't understand, this isn't exactly common knowledge. Humans aren't supposed to know these things, but Light's response to the mention of eyes and Shinigami scared me. He shouldn't know anything about those things, I shouldn't know about those things, but being haunted by your dead dad is also a little weird too," Noriko's eyes widened when she realized what she had said. "Oh crap," she mumbled, "I don't suppose you can ignore that last part?"

"Your father haunts you," Ryuzaki repeated slowly.

"Well...yeah."

"Interesting."

"That's it?" Noriko asked, a bit surprised he didn't seem too interested like he had said.

He shrugged. "If I'm supposed to believe in things such as Shinigami, ghosts don't seem like much of a stretch."

"True."

"Light's reaction to the Kira message, does that make your belief in his innocence change?"

Noriko frowned. "I don't know. It just made the things I used to think come swarming back. It makes it very difficult to not see why you suspect Light. Makes it seem like there are no other options, but I'm sure you understand, why I need to believe there are."

"I do. I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

"Don't be, I would have wormed my way in some how. I wanted to know what was going on, I didn't want to be left out, and most of all, I want to be among the first to know when Kira is captured," Noriko replied.

"And if it's Light," Ryuzaki asked.

Noriko's smile faded and she seemed to deflate slightly. "I don't want to think about that. I can't think about that... I'm not feeling very well, I need to take my meds and get to bed."

"Good night, Noriko."

"Night Ryuzaki," she said as she stood and made her way back to her room.

The next few weeks Noriko spent being fairly quiet and sitting a little apart from the task force as they had their meetings and discussed the Kira case. She found herself sitting either cross legged on the floor against the wall or perched in a chair with her knees drawn into her chest, just like Ryuzaki. She didn't talk much unless someone asked her a question or she had something that might be beneficial to say, which wasn't often.

Light noticed her behavior as did Ryuzaki, but Ryuzaki never commented on it. He knew she was beginning to suspect Light again, he wasn't entirely sure of her reasons aside from his reaction to the mention of eyes and Shinigami on the Kira message. He suspected that the information he had given her regarding the deaths of the F.B.I agents hadn't helped her believe in Light's innocence either, but there was something more than that, he just didn't know what.

Light had on several occasions asked Noriko why she was so withdrawn, she would always reply that she didn't want to interfere with the investigation, but that she wanted to be on top of the latest developments and to help however she could. He didn't believe her. He would catch her watching him as if she was waiting for something, what, he didn't know.

She was also pulling away from him more. He knew it had started the night the Kira message had been played, he remembered his over reaction and the fact that he had squeezed her hand a little harder than was necessary. A part of him wasn't sure what to make of that, she had no way of knowing that he had reacted that way because he knew what the second Kira was talking about, unless she knew it too, which was impossible in his mind. He figured it would seem like he was just surprised by the new information. He was beginning to wonder though, her pulling away made no sense unless she was beginning to believe he was Kira again.

"I'll go," Noriko spoke up from the back of the room. She was leaning against the wall a few feet from the couch and two chairs in the spacious and modern living area of the hotel they had moved to just a few days before.

The task force was discussing the most recent tape from the second Kira. A diary had been included with the tape, it was dated last year but it was clearly meant to be a message to Kira for this year. There were three places mentioned and all three were gong to be investigated. Aoyama and Shibuya were two, they were popular hang outs for people in their age range. Then there was the Tokyo dome, on the day that a game was scheduled to be played. Noriko was volunteering to go to Aoyama, there were going to be extra cameras set up as well as a number of plain clothed police officers.

"Yeah, I'll go too. I'll fit right in in Aoyama," Matsuda chirped happily. He turned to grin at Noriko, she smiled back, but the smile was empty, something no one seemed to catch but Light.

"I'll go with Matsuda, but Noriko is staying here," Light said.

"Light.." Mr Yagami spoke up.

"Don't worry about it, dad, I go to Aoyama and Shibuya sometimes. I'll fit right in, besides the only person the second Kira is interested in is Kira."

"So why can't I go," Noriko asked.

"It's too dangerous," Light replied.

"Didn't you just say-"

"Noriko, he's right," Mr Yagami cut in. "Even though the second Kira is only looking for Kira, they can still kill with only a face. It's too risky."

"Not exactly," Noriko mumbled, knowing full well that the only reason a face was needed was so that the name of the person could be seen. Her name couldn't be seen if what her dad had told her about her necklace was true. "I'm not Kira, so I have nothing to worry about. Unless of course Kira is either Matsuda or Light." Her eyes flicked up to Light briefly.

"Yeah, and neither one of us is Kira, so it should be fine," Matsuda replied.

"No. I don't want to have Noriko anywhere near where this second Kira could be," Light argued.

"Fine," Noriko said, pushing herself up from the ground and stalking off down the hall. The sound of a door slamming was heard a moment after she disappeared from view.

"It seems Light-kun may have over reacted," Ryuzaki drawled, staring after Noriko.

"Over reacted? I'm trying to protect her, you know like a good fiance should, but instead she's pushing me away because you're making her think I'm Kira," Light replied, the angry edge in his voice hard to ignore.

"I'm not making her think anything she didn't already believe," Ryuzaki said quietly when Light walked passed him.

Light hesitated and thought about decking the detective, but thought better of it seeing as how the room was full of police officers and he doubted it would help him look less like Kira. Instead, he walked to the door that he knew Noriko had slammed and walked in without knocking.

Noriko didn't bother to look up, she was laying across the large bed, her hands folded behind her head as she gazed up at the ceiling.

"What was that about, Noriko," Light asked, he closed her door and walked to her bed.

"What," she asked refusing to look at him when he sat on the edge of her bed and looked down at her.

"I'm only trying to protect you, Noriko," Light sighed.

"From what, Light, what harm can going to a shopping district do? Especially, if I'm with you and Matsuda and surrounded by a bunch of cops. Unless there's something you're not telling me."

"What is that supposed to mean," Light asked angrily.

"It means I think you're keeping something from me and I want to know what," she answered.

"I'm not keeping anything from you, Noriko. You should stop listening to whatever Ryuzaki's telling you, I'm not Kira."

"I never said you were," Noriko replied.

"No, but you implied that the only way you would be in danger is if Matsuda or I were Kira, meaning me. Matsuda was never a suspect, I was, and still am. Do you really believe Ryuzaki, Noriko?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know," Light repeated.

Noriko bit at her lip and turned her head away, even though she hadn't been looking at Light to begin with, she could see the expression on his face, anger and hurt.

"This is ridiculous, Light. I don't know what to think anymore. I can see why Ryuzaki would suspect you and even you have to agree that some of the information is hard to ignore. It's hard for me, Light, to think you might be the Kira that we're looking for."

"I'm not Kira," Light replied. "And you aren't looking for anyone. You're not a member of the task force Noriko, you shouldn't even be here."

"I may not be a member of it Light, but I will help in anyway I can. It's not like I have anything else to do when I can't even go out," Noriko said bitterly.

"This was your choice."

"Yes, it was."

"You can change your mind you know. We can talk to my dad about getting an apartment."

"No," Noriko replied quicker than she had meant to.

"Whatever you think, Noriko, you need to figure out on your own. I love you and wish you had more trust in me," Light said as he stood and left her room.

Noriko sighed and winced after the door to her room clicked shut.

The twenty-second came and went and Noriko and Light barely talked to each other during the week and a half that had passed. She rarely left her room, let alone talked to anyone. Her eyes grew less bright and bags began to form under them from the sleep she wasn't getting. She was irritable and would snap at anyone who tried to talk to her anytime she left her room for food or something to drink. Light would usually avoid her, he was obviously not happy with her and it was weighing down on her heavily, just like her thoughts.

Not only did having Light angry at her make it hard to eat, sleep, and function in general. Having a part of her mind contemplating the possibility of him being Kira didn't help. She withdrew more into herself than she already had. Soon she hardly realized when they changed hotels on a weekly basis and she hardly noticed the concerned stares she would get as her already thin frame, that had begun to gain back the weight she had lost while in the hospital began to shrink again. Light had tried talking to her once but had given up when he knew she wasn't listening to him, she wasn't listening to anyone, she was in her own world and nothing would get her out of it.

There were times she would sit in a corner, away from the eyes of the task force and listen to them as they talked and discussed the case. Apparently, nothing suspicious had happened in Aoyama on the twenty-second and it was now the twenty-fifth, the day Light and Matsuda would be going to Shibuya.

"Ryuzaki, we have intercepted a video that was sent to Sakura T.V. It was post marked the twenty-third," she heard the familiar voice of Watari say over the laptop that she knew was assembled behind Ryuzaki.

The surprised remarks didn't reach her ears, instead she listened intently as Watari relayed the message to the team over the computer.

"I'd like to start out by thanking the police for their help. I have found Kira," the distorted voice of the second Kira rang in Noriko's ears.

'Found him?! But that would mean that it would have had to be in Aoyama on the twenty-second. That means it couldn't have been Light, he was never away from the group he was with, he never did anything suspicious. He can't be Kira,' Noriko thought, standing up from the floor in the dark hallway and walking back to her room, shutting the door quietly behind herself.

She laid in bed with the television turned on but didn't pay attention to what was on. Her mind was elsewhere.

"You can always go to him you know," her father said as he appeared and sat on the bed beside her.

"He hates me, and I don't even blame him. I've been horrible. How could I ever think he was Kira, I'm his fiancé for crying out loud. I should have been there to support him through this, he's had no one to talk to, no one to confide in. How could I dad," Noriko said, tears glistening in her bright green eyes that she quickly wiped away.

"You should go and see him, talk to him. I'm sure he'll understand, Noriko," her father said.

"I don't deserve it."

"Go to him, Noriko."

"I can't get out of here without being seen," Noriko replied.

"Let me take care of that," he replied with a smile.

"How?"

"Don't worry about that, get dressed, I'll be waiting for you outside," he told her before he faded away and disappeared.

Noriko sat frozen for a moment, not sure if she should really leave the hotel, but decided that since she was only going to see Light it couldn't hurt. She might hear about it later, but that was later. Jumping up from the bed, Noriko grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a shirt without bothering to look at what they were and ran into the bathroom to change and brush out her hair before pulling it into a ponytail. Once dressed in her jeans and what turned out to be one of her favorite shirts, a black long sleeved shirt that laced up the back like a corset, she grabbed her black boots and shoved her feet into them before quietly opening the door and poking her head around the corner. She couldn't see anything since there was a small walkway that divided the hall where there were two bedrooms from the living area and the main doorway.

Walking as quietly as she could, she looked around the wall to see that Ryuzaki and Mr Yagami were busy looking over some documents. She eyed the door that was only a few more feet from where she stood. If either one turned around while she tried to open it she was done for. That was when the television in the room suddenly turned on and the volume went up so loud, Noriko cringed. While Ryuzaki and Mr Yagami had their backs to her and their attention on the television, Noriko slipped out the door, breathing a sigh of relief as she shut it behind her.

Not wanting to take her chances of being caught, she bolted down the hall and followed the signs that pointed her to the elevators. She walked hurriedly through the lobby and practically started running once she was out on the street, afraid that Mr Yagami or Watari would pull up next to her at any second.

"That was fun," her father giggled, suddenly appearing right in front of her.

She stopped abruptly with a little squeak of surprise before sighing and continuing on. Light's house was somewhat close, it would take her about thirty minutes to get there on foot, which was her only option since she hadn't grabbed her purse and had no money anyways.

"So what did you do to distract Watari," Noriko asked curiously.

"Well the t.v was more of a distraction then I had thought it would be and he ended up coming over to help them with that after he finally got the cats to stop singing."

"Cats?"

"On his computer."

"Uh, right," Noriko said, not at all understanding what he meant and figuring she probably didn't want to.

"The internet can be quite useful," he chirped.

"Oh, yeah, it can," Noriko answered. 'He must have found some web page with singing cats,' she thought.

"So where are we going?"

"To Light's remember?"

"Oh, right. So let's go then," he said cheerily.

"You're coming too," she asked.

"Well of course, I can't let my precious daughter walk around alone at night."

"Uh huh. But you never show yourself around him, why now?"

"No reason really, now stop dawdling lets go."

"Dawdling? Who says dawdling," Noriko mumbled as she followed after the shape of her father who was happily walking down the street.

"This was a bad idea," Noriko said once they reached the gate to the Yagami household and turned away.

"What are you talking about, it was a great idea, don't be a chicken," her father replied.

"I'm not a chicken," she snapped, pouting slightly.

"Then get in there."

"But what if he's mad at me," she whined.

"He won't be mad at you, Noriko."

"You sound awfully sure of that."

"Of course."

"Why?"

"Because I know everything."

"Right."

"I do. It's a gift all fathers have."

"Uh huh, I'm going in just so you'll shut up."

"That's mean, Nori," her father pouted behind her.

Stepping up to the door, Noriko pushed the doorbell button and waited. Sayu opened the door and looked a little surprised to Noriko standing there. "Oh, hey Noriko, you haven't been over in awhile."

"Yeah, I had to move in with my grandmother and she lives kind of far, not to mention the whole healing thing is taking some time," she replied.

"Um, are you here to see Light?"

"Yeah, is he home?"

"He's in his room," she replied a little hesitantly.

"Is it ok if I go see him," Noriko asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah I guess."

"Alright, I won't be long, ok?"

"Ok, I'll tell mom you're here too."

"Ok, thanks Sayu," Noriko said as she walked in and headed up the stairs to Light's room.

As she walked up the stairs a strange feeling began to wash over her and she began to absently twist the ring on the third finger of her left hand. She felt like she had run the whole way there, her legs felt wobbly and she was breathing too heavy.

She stood before Light's door and cocked her head to the side when she heard voices on the other side of the door. Light's she recognized, but there was another voice, a female voice she didn't know. Her father was standing beside her looking straight at the door, it was almost like he was looking at something beyond it.

"It'll be alright, Noriko, I will protect you," her father assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She almost jumped when she realized she could feel his hand. Usually if she tried to touch him, her hand would pass through him. But now she could feel the weight, the warmth of his hand as he lightly squeezed her shoulder.

He reached out and turned the knob of the door. The door swung open slowly and Noriko continued to spin and fiddle with the ring on her finger as four different shapes appeared before her.

"Oh my god," she breathed. She stared not at the two people kneeling on the floor, but the two beings that stood on opposite sides of the room.

"Noriko," Light asked uncertainly, his head snapping up. He looked at her in surprise, his door had been locked, he had locked a few minutes ago and he had no idea how she had opened it without him noticing.

"Ryuk," Noriko whispered, her green eyes landing on the familiar looking Shinigami that stood behind Light.

Ryuk's red lips twisted into a smile and he chuckled in delighy. "Well Light, it looks like things just got really interesting."

Light looked from Noriko to Ryuk and back to Noriko. "You can see him?" he asked.

Noriko shook her head. "You were in my dreams, you're not real. You can't be real," she spluttered as she took a step back.

"Noriko..." Light stood from where he had been crouched next to a scantily clad blond girl.

"Don't come near me, Light... Just don't. And her, she has one too. A Shinigami. What is she to you Light, why were you so close to her, why is there..." She shook her head again as her hands dropped to her sides. There was thunk as the ring she had been twisting on her finger slowly fell to the floor as she quickly turned and fled the Yagami house.

"Noriko," she heard Light call after her, but she didn't stop. She didn't look back and she was pretty sure she had yet to breathe.

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