Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note.

Chapter 29

Blossom

Noriko blinked her eyes open and looked around herself in confusion. She was in Reiji's bedroom... in his bed... alone. How she had gotten there was a complete mystery to her, she remembered that she hadn't felt well the night before and after coming home early from work the previous night she had eaten dinner before going to bed. She knew she had had a nightmare that seemed to last forever. She could still recall the mixture of emotions and the pain she was in when she, at one point, was hovering over herself screaming and crying as she writhed around in her bed. The memory of it seemed distant, but very real, which for her nightmares wasn't unusual, but thinking about it sent shivers down her spine.

Sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she looked over at the clock and her eyes widened when she realized it was almost one in the afternoon.

"Why'd he let me sleep so late?" She grumbled as she stood up shakily. Her confusion grew when she noted that she wasn't in the same pajamas she was sure she had put on last night. She was positive she had been wearing her favorite pajamas she had retrieved from the hotel the week before. Black and pink striped cotton bottoms with a black tank top that had pink lace straps. Now she was in a pair of black yoga pants that reached her knees and a black t-shirt. She knew the clothes were hers, but they seemed to fit a little looser than they had the last time she had worn them.

Shaking her head and figuring she was just that tired last night that she had put on different clothes than she thought, she walked to the door of Reiji's room on unsteady legs. This also confused her, she had felt fine last night aside from a small fever, so why did her legs feel as if she hadn't walked in days?

Blowing this off as a side effect of having stayed in bed far too long, she opened the door and slowly walked into the living room, squinting at the sudden brightness of the sun that was beating in through the windows.

"Why didn't you wake me up, it's one in the afternoon?" Noriko asked upon seeing a figure on the couch.

"Noriko, you're awake?"

Noriko stopped abruptly and let her eyes focus on the figure sitting on the couch. "Lisa? What are you doing here and where's Reiji?"

"Mr Namikawa's at work, I'm just here to look after you," Lisa replied slowly, in a tone that implied she should already know all this.

"It's Saturday, why is he at work, and since when do I need a babysitter, I'm going to be eighteen in a few days and it's not like I've ever needed one in the past. On top of that, if he went to work, why didn't he wake me? Was there an emergency meeting or something," she asked, flopping into an armchair.

"It's not Saturday. It's Monday, the twelfth. You've been really sick, Noriko, don't you remember?" Lisa asked worriedly as she gazed at Noriko.

"Ha, funny Lisa. If it were the twelfth than I slept for what...eight days straight and I'm eighteen already, yeah right."

"No really. Check my phone if you don't believe me, Noriko. It's the twelfth... are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. It's you who's gone crazy," Noriko retorted. She reached for Lisa's phone that was on the coffee table in front of them and pushed a button to make the phone light up. "This is some kind of joke right," Noriko asked after staring wide eyed at the phone in her hands. "That's just not possible."

"It's not a joke, Noriko. Do you remember anything?"

"Ummm... Sort of..."

She remembered waking up in Reiji's bed that Friday morning and having a brief conversation with her dad about her 'coming of age.' She knew she went to work and that as the day wore on she could feel her muscles grow feverish and tired as her head began to pound fiercely. She trudged on, ignoring the pain to the best of her ability until she collapsed as she was walking with Lisa to get some tea from the break room. After that everything got hazy. A part of her mind knew that someone had lifted her from Lisa's arms, since she had caught her before she could hit the ground, and had placed her on a rather comfortable couch and covered her with a blanket. There was also bits and pieces of someone carrying her aching and spent body through the building before setting her gently into a soft, cool leather seat. The drive was where things got even fuzzier, she knew that she was in Reiji's car, but that was about all she could register at the time.

When they had gotten back to his house she knew she had somehow managed to get to her own room and even take a quick shower before pulling on her favorite pajamas. What happened after that was all a blur of so many different feelings and sensations that her stomach turned violently as she tried to remember why she couldn't remember the last several days.

"I passed out at work..."

"Yeah and since then you've been pretty out of it. You had us pretty scared. You just wouldn't stop screaming sometimes. Plus you were so pale and you had such a high fever... Even the doctor didn't know what was wrong, but he knew you were in some kind of pain. He gave us sedatives to give to you to keep you from thrashing around too much, he was afraid you might hurt yourself. You also wouldn't sleep well unless you were with Mr Namikawa, that's why you were in his room. You seemed more at ease when he was around, we've been afraid to leave you alone though so I've been staying here. Your fever broke yesterday and you slept peacefully for the first time in the last week," Lisa explained to her.

Noriko finally seemed to notice that the older girl's eyes were shadow by bruises that told her she hadn't been sleeping enough, there was a strange, unrecognizable look in her eyes. She couldn't pinpoint the meaning behind the look, but for some reason Noriko felt as if she had sprouted wings and cat ears as Lisa stared at her.

"Oh..." Noriko said as she blinked several times to let the brief explanation sink in.

"You've been asleep for awhile, are you hungry, thirsty?"

Noriko nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think I'm going to go take a shower and change. I need to let this sink in for a minute or two."

"Ok. I'll make some food and tea. I'll also call Mr Namikawa, he'd like to hear you're up. I've never seen him worried about someone else like that before. He's been pretty different since you showed up, you know. We'll talk about it later though, go clean up, you look like hell," Lisa teased, smiling at Noriko and rising from the sofa.

"I'm sure I do," Noriko replied absently, standing as well and heading back to her room.

Without paying much attention to what she was doing, she grabbed some clean clothes, underwear and a bra, wide legged red yoga pants and a red and white striped tank top, from the dresser and walked into her bathroom. She didn't glance in the mirror once as she turned on the hot water and undressed before stepping under the stream of refreshingly hot water.

She let the hot water massage her stiff muscles, now fully aware of the reasons why they were so stiff. Her body went through the motions of washing her hair and body without much thought. When she finished, a thick fog of steam had settled over the bathroom. She dried off slowly as the bathroom cooled, when she looked at her reflection in the full length mirror she gasped in surprise and dropped the towel in her hands.

There was no doubt that the reflection belonged to her, but there were several things that Noriko found to be wrong with the girl staring back at her. For starters her body seemed leaner, the muscles in her arms, legs and even stomach were tauter than they had ever been. She had always been fairly skinny with more of a tomboyish build, but she had never cared for working out and was content with her body as it was, so this was a bit of a surprise. Her hips looked curvier than she remembered, more womanly than her tomboyish figure had ever allowed.

Even her face seemed different somehow, more womanly, but still innocent, with a slight glow to the skin. She thought she understood why Lisa had been looking at her so strangely earlier. To herself she was barely recognizable, everyone else must have noticed the changes too; They were anything but subtle. Especially when her eyes focused on something she hadn't noticed yet in the foggy mirror.

"Oh my God," she gasped as she turned to the side to make sure she was seeing things right.

She was. Protruding from her under both shoulder blades were a set of shimmering silvery, gray wings. The feathers that made up both appendages glistened in the bright bathroom lights, sending rainbows of color on to the walls.

"Noriko, are you alright? Food's done."

Noriko nearly fell over at the sudden sound of Lisa's worried voice. Her head snapped to the door. "I'm fine, I'll be right out."

"Ok." Lisa replied hesitantly.

Looking back into the mirror, Noriko's breath hitched in her throat. The two silvery wings were gone.

"What the..."

"They aren't always visible and don't worry, normal humans can't see them," another voice said from the other side of the door.

Noriko threw her clothes on and bolted from the bathroom, crashing into her dad in the process. She let out a small cry and wheeled backwards, falling right on to her butt. She blinked up at her dad in confusion, he simply sighed and shook his head at her clumsiness.

"Why are you so solid now? Normally I can't touch you, but you can touch me. Now I can touch you? What the hell is going on dad? Why do I have wings? Why do I look so different... and curvy? Where'd the curves come from?"

"Calm down, Noriko," Kiyoshi soothed, patting his daughter on the head. "There will be plenty of time to explain things later, right now your friend is waiting for you. Don't worry she won't see the wings, they're only visible at certain times or when you want them to be, even then the only way she would be able to see them is if she were dying or already dead."

"Ok fine, but I want some good explanations, I can't remember a damn thing about the last week," she said as she shoved herself up from the floor and walked to the kitchen.

"That would be the sedatives," she heard her dad say while she walked away.

Lisa was already sitting at the table waiting for her, a bowl of rice and some vegetable and tofu stir fry in front of her. Noriko's mouth started watering the second the delicious scent wafted into her nose. Her step quickened and she plopped into the chair across from Lisa, staring at the food with a smile.

"I know how much you like your vegetables and tofu, so here you go, dig in," Lisa told her.

"Ok," Noriko replied more than willing to oblige, she muttered a quick thanks and started eating everything she could. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I had already eaten, besides I think you'll be able to finish this on your own," Lisa said jokingly as Noriko continued to stuff her face with rice and veggies.

"I didn't think it was possible to be this hungry. So what did I miss exactly?" She asked after swallowing a mouthful of rice and reaching for more.

"Nothing much really. I've been doing what work I could from here and Mr Namikawa goes in everyday as usual. The only thing that's changed is that those Kira killings have stopped, they stopped on the first, but no one really noticed until the weekend. Hasn't been a single questionable heart attack death since then," Lisa replied with a shrug.

Noriko froze, the chopsticks that were just in front of her mouth shaking slightly, causing some of the food to fall back on to her plate. "Since the first?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's weird, they just stopped. No one knows why either, the police say that they haven't caught Kira so they don't understand what's going on. Even L's been silent on the whole thing."

"Weird," Noriko mumbled dazedly as she took another bit of her food.

'So the first was the night that I saw Light and Mr Yagami with Watari. That's when the killings stopped, the day Light was taken into custody. L has to have found proof that Light is Kira, otherwise the killings wouldn't have stopped.' She thought.

"Did I get any personal calls at all," Noriko asked suddenly.

"Um, I don't think so. Your phone is in the living room, but I've been taking all your calls. No one's left any messages," Lisa answered.

"Oh, ok," Noriko replied as she stared down at her food.

'What's going on? Does he have proof or not? If he or Watari haven't called, then I almost don't think so, but... The killings have stopped. I know he is Kira, and I know Light well, he wouldn't stop unless he was caught... Still, something doesn't seem right about all this,' she thought as she solemnly picked at her food and chewed on her bottom lip.

She gasped quietly when a strange realization struck her, she could feel a dark presence, something cold and definitely inhuman, that was somewhere in the city. It's exact location was a mystery to her, but she knew what it was immediately. A shinigami. She could sense a shinigami.

"Noriko, are you alright?" Lisa asked, noticing Noriko gasp and the way her eyes widened before turning to gaze out the window as if she were searching for something only she could see.

"Yeah," she answered, her voice was distant, distracted as she gazed out into the daylight. "It's just strange. There's only one," she said quietly.

"One what?" Lisa asked, watching Noriko curiously, afraid the fever had somehow damaged her friend's mental faculties.

"Oh, uh, just talking to myself sorry," Noriko said with a chuckle and a shake of her head before she went back to eating.

'I know there were two of them, so why can I only sense one? I need to talk to my dad, he might know what's going on. Whether or not he'll tell me is another thing,' Noriko mused. 'It is strange though, when I saw the two shinigami with Light and that girl, I distinctly remember feeling like there was evil there, but I don't sense any danger at the moment. I wonder why that is...'

"So I've missed a whole week of work, huh? Bet you're happy we'll get to go back tomorrow," Noriko commented to Lisa.

"You're only going back if you can convince Mr Namikawa you're really ok. I told you he was really worried, it was kind of weird. He's always struck me as the type who didn't care much about others, but only cared about furthering his own career. Basically, if it didn't benefit him somehow, Mr Namikawa usually didn't care what happened. Then you came along and he's suddenly got feelings, well here anyways, he's fairly normal at the office."

"Really? He's always seemed so kind and giving to me."

"Somehow I think it's only to you, Noriko. He's a good man, don't get me wrong and I like working for him, but he doesn't tend to go out of his way for his employees. More like he's easily annoyed by stupidity and can't stand poorly done work, so he tends to push them hard and expects nothing less than perfection from them. Of course he treats his employees well and we get holiday parties and what not, but it's different with you. He lets you live with him without complaint for crying out loud, and he treats you to dinner often and you even sleep in the same bed."

Noriko blushed furiously. "Hey, I was unconscious! Wasn't I?"

Lisa smirked. "Mostly."

"What did I do?" Noriko asked quickly. "Please tell me I didn't like beg or cry or something?"

"No, I was just teasing you. You had a nightmare and I guess he didn't want to leave you alone, his bed is bigger than yours so he took you into his room with him I guess. I wasn't here for that, I just know that after that you wouldn't sleep without screaming and tossing around unless he was there. You would calm down when I sat with you, but not to the same degree when Mr Namikawa did," Lisa's face lit up with a big smile and her eyes glinted in the light.

"What?" Noriko asked cautiously, scared by the look in the girl's eyes.

"Oh nothing...I just think it's cute. You denied liking him and now you won't sleep unless you're in the same bed."

Noriko groaned dramatically and leaned her head back onto the chair. "I was sick and sedated."

"I don't care."

"Figures," Noriko grumbled grumpily.

The next several hours were spent in the living room, watching the news or talking. Noriko silently wished she could talk to her dad soon, but knew that would have to wait for a little while.

"I'm going to get some hot tea, want some?" Lisa asked as she uncurled her long legs form the sofa and stood up.

"Please," Noriko replied as she turned her attention to the television.

It seemed Lisa had been right about the Kira killings, they had stopped on the first. For eleven days now not a single criminal had died of a heart attack, or in any suspicious way for that matter. Lisa returned after a few moments with a tray that she set on the coffee table. The tray held a black teapot and two black tea cups. After pouring some of the delicious smelling tea into the cups, she handed one to Noriko and took the other for herself.

"What kind of tea is this," Noriko asked as she sniffed at the liquid, it smelled faintly of flowers.

"It's a white rose tea, it's my favorite. I brought some from home, I just can't live without this stuff."

"It smells amazing," Noriko said as she sipped at the beverage. "It's good too."

"Mmhmm," Lisa hummed as she enjoyed her tea and watched the news that had just returned from a commercial break.

It was at that moment that the door leading into the house from the garage opened and Reiji walked in. He shrugged out of his blazer and hung it over a chair in the dining room before making his way into the living room.

"Oh, hello Mr Namikawa, I hope it wasn't too bad of a Monday without me there," Lisa said as she looked up from her tea and smiled.

"It wasn't the best day ever, but don't worry, there's plenty of work for you to do when you return," he replied, Lisa groaned and her smile turned to a frown as his words set in. "It's good to see you awake, how are you feeling, Noriko?" He asked, walking up behind the chair she was huddled in and pressing a hand to her cheek.

"Fine," she squeaked, having been a little surprised by the contact especially when she saw Lisa's grin that she was trying to hide behind her teacup. "I'm fine, I don't exactly remember what happened, but I'm sorry for inconveniencing you and Lisa."

"I'm just glad you're alright," he said as he leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

Noriko nearly choked on the tea she was in the process of sipping, and even Lisa was barely able to control the giggles that threatened to consume her at the look on Noriko's face.

"If you ladies will excuse I have a few things I need to do, I'll be in my office," Reiji said as he strolled from the room leaving Noriko as bright red as a tomato and Lisa gasping for breath through the giggles she was still trying to contain.

"Not a word," Noriko demanded as she turned her still red face to Lisa.

"Oh, you're so not getting out of this that easy. He likes you, and you definitely like him. After that, you can't deny it. Your face was priceless," Lisa said finally succumbing to the giggles and laughing happily at Noriko.

"I guess I never told you. We're technically dating," Noriko replied smugly, going back to sipping her tea and watching the t.v..

"You didn't tell me, since when?" Lisa asked eagerly.

"We went on a date the day after that museum thing."

"What happened?"

"We had dinner."

"You're impossible," Lisa sighed exasperatedly.

"Sorry, but there's not much to tell after that. Nothing juicy to report I'm afraid. I'm going to get a muffin, want anything?" Noriko asked, setting her cup on the table and standing from the chair.

"No, I'm fine," Lisa replied, pouting.

Sighing and shaking her head, Noriko made her way to the kitchen and grabbed a banana nut muffin from a platter on the counter and set it on a small plate. Since she liked the treat, Reiji had asked his housekeepers to keep fresh ones around for her to eat, so every few days a platter of muffins and cookies showed up on the counter. Picking at the muffin, she made her way back to the living room, glancing up in time to see a very familiar blond haired girl smiling at her from the television set.

She dropped the plate in her hands and froze, unable to do anything else, she stared at the screen. The plate clattered loudly to the floor, scaring Lisa who looked at her worriedly as her face paled and her hands started to shake in front of her.

"Noriko," Lisa asked in concern, getting up and stepping towards the shaking girl.

She wasn't listening though, her mind was back to the moment the door to Light's room had swung open and she had seen him leaning over her. Had seen the two shinigami, the one that floated above Light and the one that had stood protectively behind her. Her head was suddenly swimming and she felt as if she were going to be sick when she felt the sense of evil and danger that emanated from within the room. It was then she realized the reason for the lack of danger she sensed from the shinigami in the area.

It wasn't the shinigami that were the threats to her or anyone else. It was the the two people who possessed them. Meaning Light and her, they had been threats, they were the reason she had felt a sense of danger in the room.

Noriko stumbled forward, clasping a hand over her mouth as she ran down the hall to her room. Throwing her door open, she ran into her bathroom, slamming the door behind her before leaning over the sink. She heaved for several minutes, but was glad she didn't actually vomit.

'If the danger was coming from them and not the shinigami then what does that mean? I can't sense any danger now, all I sense is the shinigami. If I can't sense any danger, does that mean that Light and that girl are... No, that can't be right. L would never...He wouldn't...Would he...' Her thoughts flew so quickly through her head they made her dizzy and she had to shut her eyes to stop the room from spinning.

It took a few more minutes to calm herself down and stop her stomach for trying to spill its contents. After splashing her face with cool water and drying off, she opened the door to her bathroom, she wasn't surprised to see that both Lisa and Reiji were there. Se had heard them talking and they had even knocked on the door, but she had ignored them.

"Are you alright?" Lisa asked as she rushed towards her.

"I'm fine. I swear," she reiterated when she saw the doubt in Lisa's eyes. "It just surprised me is all. Who was that girl?"

Lisa looked at her, confused by her meaning.

"The blond girl that was on the news," Noriko clarified.

"Oh, Misa Amane?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, who is she? Why was she on the news?" Noriko asked.

Reiji had yet to say anything, he just watched the two as they talked.

"She's a model and actress. I guess her manager was arrested on drug charges like two weeks ago or something. Apparently Misa Misa as she likes to be called, hasn't been seen since then and everyone's wondering why. Why?" Lisa asked curious about why it seemed to matter all.

"That was the girl that was with Light that night before I ran into Reiji and wound up working at Yotsuba. It was just a little bit of a shock was all, I never expected to see her again, especially on the television. I had no idea who she was at the time," Noriko explained.

"Oh, yeah that must have been a little surprising to see her face plastered on the television set," Lisa replied.

"A little. Sorry to have worried you both," Noriko said as she smiled at Lisa and Reiji. "But I really am fine. I promise. On that note, will I get to go to work tomorrow? I'm probably really far behind with so much stuff I'd like to try and get caught up."

"We'll see how you feel in the morning, until then you should just relax and rest," Reiji spoke up.

"Ok," she agreed with a smile.

The following morning, after several reassurances that she was fine, Noriko finally convinced Reiji to let her go to work, promising that if she felt ill at all she would stop working and go home. She even pointed out that she was well rested since her nightmares had apparently taken a night off and she had gotten somewhere around nine hours of undisturbed sleep. He couldn't argue with that fact since Noriko had slept in his bed with him after he had carried her there when she had past out on the couch after dinner. She had slept soundly, hardly moving at all, but she had snored a little, something he found amusing to tease her about until she had stomped from his room to get ready for work.

Looking at herself in the mirror was still strange, she turned her face from side to side and kept turning around to see her whole body in the mirror. If she had thought it was obvious yesterday that she had become a woman and now possessed a much leaner, agile looking body, it was even more obvious now that she was dressed. She had decided on wearing smoky gray slacks and a silky black shirt under a vest that matched the slacks and pair of shiny black heels. There was no doubt now that she had changed, the outfit seemed to show off every curve she had gained to a degree that she almost felt a little too exposed even though hardly any skin was showing. Given that she had been in pajamas and baggier clothes the changes hadn't been all that noticeable, but there was no ignoring them now.

She turned to look at her back in the mirror, she hadn't seen the wings since the day before, but her father had also told her a little earlier that under normal circumstances they would remain hidden unless she was in need of them. It had yet to be explained to her why that was, but she figured that was going to be up to her to learn on her own.

After brushing out her hair and pulling some of the crown section back and pinning down, she ran some texturizer through it and sprayed it with hairspray. She applied a light coat of foundation and blush, a quick coat of mascara and a small dab of red lip gloss before turning and walking out of the bathroom. Walking in heels seemed so much easier to her all of a sudden and she seemed to be carrying herself with an unusual grace as she made her way to the kitchen where Reiji was waiting for her.

He looked up at her and even she could notice the subtle appreciation in his as she came towards him. His eyes wandered over her body, taking note of the way her hips swayed as she walked and the way her steps were so sure and confident.

Noriko blushed a little and turned her face away from his when he brought his eyes up to meet her own. She knew today was going to be interesting, she had been gone for a week now and she looked like a completely different person. It worried her a little, what she was going to say to explain her sudden transformation into a woman.

Turned out that her worries were misplaced, apparently no one paid much attention to her and few had noticed she had been gone. Of course Lisa noticed and made a comment that whatever cold Noriko had had she would be happy to have. A few others noticed, but for the most part said nothing to her, but she caught the glances from the corner of her eyes and sighed repeatedly.

Even though Lisa worried over her frequently, Noriko felt perfectly fine. She had slept well the night before, and didn't feel the least bit tired or sick. The amount of work she had to catch up on was a little overwhelming, but she worked diligently, running papers to different departments, getting her schedule on track with what Lisa had done for her, and confirming appointments.

By the end of the day, her little desk that was set up behind Lisa's was clean and neat, all her paperwork had been filed or delivered and she was now back on track and up to date. A lot of that was thanks to Lisa who had somehow managed to get most of her work done for her while still doing most of her own.

Lisa had to take Noriko home that night since it seemed one of Reiji's meetings as running late and it would most likely be several hours before he was going to be able to escape. The two girls stopped for dinner at a small, cozy cafe, both were fairly tired from the long day and talked little as they ate. Once Noriko was back at Reiji's she threw on her pajamas and wound up in the living room watching television.

She mainly watched the news, wanting to see if there had been any new information on the Kira case, it seemed there wasn't. Crime rates had begun to rise again in the absence of the mass murderer, but were still nowhere near what they had been before Kira had started to create his own world.

"You can stop staring at me now, I know you're there, dad," Noriko called over her shoulder, her eyes still focused on the television.

"You could sense me, huh? Very good," her dad said with a grin as he walked out of the shadows near the windows to sit besides Noriko on the couch.

Noriko shrugged. "It's a little weird still, being able to sense you and the shinigami. You've been hovering around all day, at first it was a little hard to push to the back of my mind."

"It takes some getting used to," he agreed.

"Yeah, so I'm curious. Why have the killings stopped, I can still sense a shinigami, but no danger."

"The danger wasn't from the shinigami itself."

"I already figured that, that's why I'm confused. The danger was Light and that Misa girl, but I can't sense that like I did when I saw them together," Noriko replied.

"That would be because they are no longer a threat," her father stated.

"Huh? That makes no sense, how could they no longer be a threat?"

"Do you remember me telling you about the Death Notes?"

She nodded and looked up at him, waiting for further explanation.

"Do you remember me saying that they could be given up by the human using them?"

She thought for a moment before her brows drew together and she nodded slowly.

"They have given up ownership of the notebooks that were in their possession," he explained.

"So...Now they aren't a threat? Seems a little too easy," Noriko mused. "And not like Light, he must have been cornered, he wouldn't give up easily."

"You may be right, but right now he doesn't pose any threat to anyone. Don't worry too much Noriko, relax while you can, this isn't over yet," her father replied with a smile before patting her on the head and disappearing as the door to the garage opened.

Noriko turned her head towards the sound of the door for a moment before turning back to watching the news, she squeaked and jumped when her father's face popped up right in front of her.

"He's being a gentleman, right? You're my little girl and if he-"

"Dad," Noriko hissed through clenched teeth. "You're such a pain, now go away."

Her father pouted at her. "Fine, fine, but I'm only concerned about my precious little girl and her-"

"Don't go there," Noriko warned quietly, waving him away. "How was the meeting?" Noriko asked , turning when she heard footsteps coming in her direction.

"A waste of my time. Not a single decision was made," Reiji replied, taking a delicate sip from the glass in his hand that judging by the smell contained some sort of alcohol.

"Sorry to hear that," Noriko said with a smile.

"No matter, it's over for now and I plan on enjoying what's left of my evening. As I recall, you don't know how to play shogi."

"Nope," Noriko answered, shaking her head.

"Would you like to learn?"

"Sure."

Noriko listened as the game was explained and the rules told to her. It was a little confusing, but she managed to grasp the concept and they played a few games. She lost every single one, quickly.

"You know, I'm glad I'm a good loser otherwise the fact that I just lost every game would be a little annoying," Noriko chuckled as they finished up the last game and she sunk back into her chair. "Anyways, I'm going to get a cup of lavender tea, would you like anything?"

"No, thank you," Reiji replied.

"Will you be sleeping in your own room tonight, or mine?" He asked when she returned, sipping the hot tea in her hands delicately.

She coughed a little and turned a light shade of red. "I'll have you know it was never my intention to sleep in your bed. I was sick and sedated, I don't even remember most of the time I was sick. Plus, last night you could have easily placed me in my own room, but you didn't."

"No, I didn't. I suppose that means you're capable of sleeping alone then?" He asked, a smile pulling at his lips as he leaned back and folded his arms over his chest.

"Of course, adult, remember?" She retorted stubbornly, even though a part of her really wasn't comfortable with the idea of being alone. It made her afraid that the nightmares would come back.

"So you'll be sleeping alone then?"

"You're enjoying this."

"Perhaps."

Noriko snorted. "I'm more than capable of sleeping on my own."

"I wasn't implying that you weren't. I was just curious."

"I'll be sleeping in my room. I wouldn't want to inconvenience you with my snoring," Noriko replied.

"I think it's quite cute actually," Reiji stated.

"I'm going to bed," Noriko grumbled as she drifted down the hall to her room.

"Good night Noriko," he called after her.

She grunted in reply and disappeared into her doorway. She slept fairly well, her nightmares didn't haunt her, but the worry over the fact they would kept her tossing and turning often.

Work was done for the day and Noriko was spinning idly in Lisa's desk chair as she sucked on her bottom lip boredly. Lisa had left over an hour earlier, leaving Noriko to wait for Reiji to finish yet another meeting that was running late. It was times like these she wished she had a car of her own, relying on Reiji or Lisa to get her home was a bit frustrating sometimes.

She used her right foot to turn the chair to and fro as she stared at the ceiling, she had set a rhythmic pattern that was almost relaxing. This continued for several minutes until her foot paused and hung in midair, the chair twirled in a full circle before coming to a quick stop when Noriko slammed her foot down on the ground and bolted upright.

She turned to the window behind Lisa's desk and stared intently out into the oncoming twilight, her eyes darting around the city that was sprawled out for miles around the tall building.

"What was that," she whispered to herself, her eyes continued floating around the city.

A strange sensation had settled in the pit of her stomach, it had been sudden and almost imperceptible but there was some sort of shift in the atmosphere. She could feel a sense of danger again, it was stifling at first, making it hard to breathe, but it faded slightly as she adjust and relaxed to try and pinpoint the location the feeling was coming from. A frown settled over her face when she could only tell it was from somewhere in the east, but that was all. It didn't feel close, she could tell that much as well.

She jumped slightly when the door to the office opened and Reiji walked in, looking rather tired and irritated. They left soon after, both too caught up in their own thoughts to talk much.

She slept alone again that night, but it was anything but a peaceful sleep.

Her nightmares returned with more intensity than they had had ever before.

She was hunched over Watari's dead body, tears streaming down her face as she turned the man onto his back and folded his hands over his chest. There was a small noise behind her and she turned quickly, standing up and holding her chin high as she watched Light stalk towards her. It went unnoticed by her at first, because it seemed so natural, but a pair of delicate, silvery wings that arced out of her back were open partially, shielding the elderly man's body from Light's eyes. Her eyes narrowed as he neared her and he lifted an open notebook up for her to see.

As the open pages came into view, her heart suddenly skipped a beat. The page was full of names, names she recognized. Reiji, Mido, and most of Yotsuba's high ranking officials were all listed, so was Lisa. It was the names at the very bottom that caught her attention though.

Quillish Wammy, and underneath the name that she somehow knew was Watari's real name was another.

L Lawliet

Suddenly, her heart felt as if it were being squeezed in a vice grip, it missed another beat and she instinctively grasped at her chest, forced to expel most of the oxygen from her lungs. The feeling was so intense and painful that she dropped to her knees, her wings protectively closing around her as she gasped for air.

Though the pain in her chest was nearly enough to blind her, she stood up defiantly and ran from the room. Her feet moved with an unnatural speed and grace as she flew through a dimly lit hallway and into an adjoining room.

Light had somehow beat her to the room, and was standing beside an unknowing L who was staring at a dark computer monitor, his hands grasping his knees so tightly his knuckles were white. The fork that was still dangling from his long fingers suddenly dropped. In the time it took for the fork to fall to the ground, Noriko was beside L as his body tilted sideways and he fell from the chair he was seated in.

She caught him before he could hit the ground and leaned him against her chest, her wings stretching out around them to create a sort of barrier. A pain wracked scream tore through her throat as she touched him, she could feel every erratic beat of his heart reflected in her own. Holding him tighter, she looked down into his eyes that were still alert despite the pain she knew he was in.

"I...was...right.." he managed to say.

Noriko nodded and hunched over his body as the pain in her own increased, she could feel the airways tightening, cutting off all of L's oxygen, she could feel everything he felt, but it seemed to affect her more than him. It was then that something in her mind clicked. She had been too late to save him, but she was able to take the pain away from him. How she did this she didn't know, she just knew that she was.

Another cry of pain tore through her lips and she squeezed her eyes shut as L's heart pounded ferociously in his chest as it struggled to pump blood and oxygen to his body, but was unable to. Noriko could feel L's muscles relaxing slowly as his heart began to grow weaker until finally it stopped altogether.

"...Thank you..." He exhaled quietly as his final breath left his lips.

Noriko's sobs echoed through the silent room as she held L to her, the pain was gone now, replaced by a strange light sensation similar to floating. Gently pacing L's body on to the ground of the large workroom, Noriko stood up slowly, her head bowed into her chest and her silvery wings still around her. She lowered her wings and allowed them to fold over her back, her head rose slightly and she peered at Light from beneath a curtain of bangs. Her eyes were cold and full of anger and angst as tears silent spilled from them. Their color darkened from a bright green to a deep gray with flecks of black whirling around their depths.

"So do you see now?" Light asked arrogantly as he smiled at her.

"I see you're nothing more than a murderer. A murderer that must be dealt with, and it seems I'm the only one who can do it," Noriko replied, her voice was quiet but it carried throughout the whole room as did the threat it contained.

"I had a feeling you might not see things my way," Light sighed before he grinned at her again. "Which is why I have already decided how you would die."

"You can't kill me with your precious notebook, it has no effect on me."

"I already know that, but this does," Light replied as he dropped the black book and pulled a gun from a holster at his sides.

Noriko's eyes widened as he raised the barrel of the gun at her and tightened his finger around the trigger.

"The notebook may not be able to kill you, but you're still only human so a bullet should," he said before his finger pulled the trigger back.

Her body tensed and she brought her arms over her face as her wings encircled her. She knew it would do no good as she heard the whizzing of the bullet as it closed in on her. She closed her eyes in preparation for the blow she knew was coming.

A hand was suddenly on her shoulder, shaking her and her eyes flew open. She gasped when she realized she was back in Reiji's house in her bed as the man sat on the bed beside her, watching her as she took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Are you alright," he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, nodding her head.

"Then I'm going back to bed," he said bluntly as he stood from beside her and walked towards the door.

Noriko blinked after him a little hurt by the comment, he had never been so straight forward before. He paused as he reached her door and looked back at her.

"Are you staying here, alone?"

It took her a moment to register the words before she threw the sheets off of herself and bounded after the long haired man.

She was up before Reiji, unable to get much sleep after the vivid nightmare. She showered and dressed before going to the kitchen for some hot tea and a muffin. As she picked at the muffin she flicked on the television and watched the news. She managed to catch the end of the weather and right after that the faces of several men appeared on the screen. A few looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place them.

It was when a woman appeared, seated behind the news desk and began to talk that she realized they were all criminals. It seemed that beyond that they had another thing in common. They had all died of heart attacks the previous night and it was thought that Kira had returned from his absence to punish criminals once again.

Noriko's eyes widened and she stopped chewing the bit of muffin that was in her mouth as she stared at the screen as the woman talked. The woman's voice faded away and was replaced by Noriko's racing thoughts.

'The danger I felt yesterday, someone has a Death Note. Is it Light again, or that girl? I don't think so. Only because one of the men that was killed, was only suspected, there was no proof that he committed a crime. Light never killed anyone who wasn't proven guilty, well aside from anyone he though was a threat, but that's different.'

When Reiji walked into the room she managed to swallow and take a swig of tea before greeting him.

"Morning."

"Good morning, you were up early," he replied.

"Couldn't get much sleep after the dream, so I thought I'd grab a bite to eat and watch the news," she answered.

"Anything interesting?"

"It seems that Kira is killing again, but I kind of think this isn't the original Kira."

"What makes you say that?"

"Probably the fact that I spent too much time hanging out with detectives and I'm too suspicious. Other than that though, it would be that one of the men killed wasn't actually convicted of committing the murder he was accused of, he was only a suspect. I know that Kira has, in the past, killed people who weren't criminals, but that was to protect himself, aside from that, he always killed people when there was evidence against them," Noriko explained.

"You've put a lot of thought into this," he commented. "You seem certain that it's a different Kira, not just suspicious."

She nearly choked on the tea she was sipping, she hadn't really thought before speaking and she had made it sound more like she was certain, because she was. "Um, well I wouldn't say that, its just that like I said I hung out with a lot of detectives and cops... and I tend to over thing things."

"Your theory sounds perfectly plausible though."

She shrugged. "Yeah, but it's also weird that there was a two week break in the killings. I wonder why?" She mused.

The entire day at work Noriko was uneasy and fidgety, she could sense the evil presence again, only much closer than it had been the day before. Her behavior didn't go unnoticed, Lisa noticed the way Noriko would glance around as if she were expecting someone to pop out at her at any moment and the way her smiles seemed too fake. It wasn't until the end of the day when Noriko had gotten a phone call from the president of the company, Reiji was in a meeting and his calls where going to her phone for the time being, and she seemed to grow even more uneasy as she quickly scribbled something down her black planner. Once she had hung up the phone, she just stared at the page she had written on for a moment, until Lisa tapped her on the shoulder.

She squealed and whirled around to see Lisa looking at her like she had lost her mind. "Oh, sorry."

"Are you alright? You've been acting weird all day and what was with the phone call?" Lisa asked.

"Oh, it was the president of the company, he wanted to talk to Reiji, but since he's in a meeting and his phone's off, he called me instead. He just seemed weird, like he was really nervous about something. I don't really know him so maybe that's normal, but anyways he wants Reiji to attend an emergency meeting tomorrow night."

"What's wrong with that?"

Noriko shook her head and frowned. "Nothing, I'm just over thinking things and stressing myself out."

"Ok. Well-Oh, Mr Namikawa, you're meeting's over already?" Lisa said as the man walked into the office.

"Yes. Any calls?"

"Actually, yes," Noriko answered before going on to tell him about the meeting he had for the following night.

"I see, I don't suppose you can take Noriko home tomorrow could you Lisa?"

"Of course. We could have a girls night out actually, it would be fun. If you don't mind of course," Lisa replied.

"Why would I mind? Noriko is free to do what she'd like," Reiji replied smoothly.

"Sounds fun," Noriko said with a smile as Lisa looked pleadingly at her.

"Great," Lisa chirped. "Too bad you're not twenty yet, but oh well, we can still have plenty of fun."

It wasn't long after that the three of them prepared to leave together for the day. Noriko was still ill at ease as they stepped into the elevator and it only grew more intense as they descended towards the underground parking area. She began fidgeting again, her fists clenched and unclenched, she chewed at her bottom lip and constantly shifted position. The sense of danger only increased as they neared the garage. She was so distracted by it that Lisa had to nudge her to get her to leave the elevator when the doors finally slid open to release them. Walking a few steps behind Reiji and Lisa, she was the first to hear the doors to one of the other three elevators slowly slide open. The clicking of her heels slowed before she stopped altogether and stared straight ahead of her as the air around her grew cold. She could hear the sound of footsteps behind her, they were quick and confident, but it was another sound that caused her breath to hitch in her throat. It was barely noticeable, a human's ears would never pick up on the subtle stir of air, a quiet whistling sound that was caused as the air passed by something other than person who was walking towards her, getting closer every second she was unable to turn around.

"Noriko, what are you doing?" Lisa called from a few yards ahead as she turned around to see Noriko frozen to her spot, her fists clenched at her sides.

Reiji stopped walking a few steps ahead of her and turned back just as Noriko slowly turned her head, and then her whole body towards the approaching footsteps.

A gasp escaped her throat as she took a few steps backwards, Noriko stared wide eyed and mouth agape at, not Higuchi who was smirking at her, but the creature behind him that was watching her with its strange bright eyes.

"This girl-" the shinigami began.

'He can't know I can see her,' Noriko thought as she gathered her resolve and courage and lifted her chin proudly. She heard the air behind her groan as it was suddenly disturbed by the two wings that had unfurled from her back to open wide behind her. She stared defiantly at the shinigami, who now seemed stunned to the point of speechlessness, there was also a hint of fear in its eyes too, before shifting her gaze to Higuchi. She eyed him with a look of disgust for a moment until she turned on her heel and stalked gracefully away. By the look on his face he was irritated by the way the shinigami behind him had reacted. He wasn't able to see the wings that had sprouted from Noriko's back, nor did he feel the shift of energy around her that had frightened the shinigami, but didn't bother him at all.

"What about her?" Higuchi grunted once the three people were out of ear shot.

"It was like she could see me."

"That's impossible."

The shinigami gave no response, knowing full well it wasn't, but also knowing that Noriko was a threat to her. Her priority was to do as Light had asked so that Misa would be saved, if she gave away the girl she knew that she wouldn't be able to save Misa. The girl was dangerous and entirely capable of ending her life if she really wanted to. That just didn't suit her plans, she would leave her be, after all it seemed her problem was more with Higuchi than it was with herself, and that was fine by her. She didn't care what befell the human.

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