Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note, if I did I could stop typing this at the top of every chapter I write.

Chapter 30

Meetings of Death

-October 8th-

In the four months that had past Noriko had become nearly unrecognizable. Not just her appearance had changed, but her personality and attitude seemed to have changed as well, at least that was how it appeared to those who didn't know her as well as Reiji and Lisa now did. She had become quieter, more observant and thoughtful and somehow she seemed colder too.

She took her usual spot leaning against Reiji's shoulder as she balanced herself on the arm of the leather chair he was sitting in at the the large octagonal meeting table that including her and Reiji, nine people were positioned around. The room was large, with light wooden floors and sleek, shiny dark wood walls.

Reiji was dressed in a black business suit, white shirt and light colored tie, while Noriko was in a knee length black skirt that hugged her hips before flaring out elegantly to flutter around her knees. She wore a matching black blazer over a collared red shirt, a necklace hung around her neck, it was a diamond and ruby necklace in an s shape that had been a gift from Reiji, something that was frequent now that it was well known, even if ignored, that the two were involved. Her shiny red, platform heels clicked quietly together as she sighed and repositioned herself.

"You could always get a chair," Reiji suggested quietly.

"Why, I'll be asked to get tea in a minute anyway and besides, this is much more fun," she replied, flashing him a smile before turning her attention to Takeshi Ooi, Yotsuba's V.P of VT enterprises as he cleared his throat and began the meeting they had all come to attend.

"It seems that we are all here. Let's begin this week's meeting. For the further advancement of Yotsuba group, to make this company the largest in the world...Who should we kill?"

'Always straight to the point,' Noriko thought blandly, staring at the bespectacled bald man, who was leaning forward slightly, his hands clasped together before him on the desk.

"Do we really need to kill someone every week," Mido asked from his chair that was almost directly across from her and Reiji.

Noriko folded her arms over her chest and shifted her attention back to Ooi who was the first to speak. "Don't be soft, Mido, remember we have a connection to Kira."

"Those who lose their nerve will be eliminated by Kira," Masahiko Kida, a tall, thin man with sharp features and glasses said with a slight grin.

"I'm not being a coward, Kida," Mido shot back.

"Well..It wouldn't really be hard to figure out which one of us has a connection to Kira, if you put a little thought into it," Reiji commented.

"I wouldn't do that however, if you value your lives that is," Noriko put in."But I think Mido may be right," Noriko cut in before anyone else had a chance to speak. All eyes turned to her, several weren't pleased with her presence at their meetings. After all she hadn't been invited, she had figured everything out on her own and then barged in to one of the meetings. To say she was angry wouldn't even begin to explain how she had felt, but she had had to swallow her anger and act like a woman who desired nothing more than wealth, regardless of how it was acquired. The only one who hadn't completely bought her act was Reiji, he knew her well enough to know she didn't desire money or power, she barely spent much of her salary as it was. He had never questioned her about her reasons for joining in on the meetings, he figured he had an idea already, but as long as she didn't jeopardize herself, or him, he would leave her be.

"And why do you say that?" Eiichi Takahashi, another Yotsuba vice president asked. He was a short, stocky man with dark brown hair and a mustache.

"The deaths of the business people that would benefit the company are all concentrated on the weekends, someone is bound to notice sooner or later, I did. That's why I'm here, remember? I saw the trend after the meetings started, and the stock started rising, of course the only reason I knew about the meetings and the rise in stock was because of my position as Reiji's assistant, but still, it's not impossible to think someone else would notice," she replied snidely.

"She may be right," Kida said as he leaned forward in his chair to shuffle through some of the papers in front of him. "We may want to try to scatter the deaths throughout the week to make it less obvious."

"The police don't know that Kira can kill in other ways besides heart attacks though, is that really necessary," Reiji asked.

"The police don't know, which is exactly why we should keep it a secret," Kida replied.

"If you concentrate the deaths on the weekends, heart attacks or not, it's likely that L would notice. He's the world's greatest detective for a reason," Noriko stated.

"You make it sound like you know him," Higuchi snorted.

Noriko's lips twitched slightly. "Of course not."

"Anyways, shouldn't we get on with this," Arayoshi Hatori cut in, he was the company's V.P of marketing and not all that bright, Noriko also knew he wasn't that fond of partaking in the weekly meetings and was worried he would do something rash during one of them.

"Yes, back to what we were discussing," Ooi started up again.

Noriko rolled her eyes and stood from her perch on the chair, smoothing out her skirt as she did so. "Tea?" She asked with a quick glance around the room.

"If you didn't want to be a part of the meetings, you shouldn't have barged into one," Higuchi said to her, a grin pulling at his lips.

"I'm still fairly new here, I don't know much about the company's rivals. Besides, even if I did give you a name, whether it was beneficial or not, you wouldn't listen to me and you know it. " she replied bitterly. "And who would get the tea, none of you would belittle yourselves enough to do that. Plus, I know how the task force thinks, I knew three of the people on it, remember? That's only a fraction of the people who were working the case, but they were influential."

"But you're protecting them, wouldn't it be best to let Kira kill them?" Higuchi asked.

"They're innocent, the real Kira wouldn't kill them," she snapped.

"Here we go with that far fetched idea of hers again," Hatori complained.

"It's really not that much of a stretch, I mean when you look at the killings in the past several months, they're not as...What?" Mido asked when several sets of annoyed eyes turned to him in annoyance. "Sorry."

Noriko smiled at Mido for sticking up for her and even put a hand on his shoulder for a moment as she walked passed him to get to the door so she could go and get tea for everyone. She glanced briefly at the shinigami that was hovering behind Higuchi, eying the group of people with a look of disgust.

'She's as disgusted as I am,' Noriko thought as she left the room.

"If you have something to say, shinigami, then say it," Noriko said quietly. She was setting up a tray to take back to the meeting room and could sense the shinigami hovering behind her, watching carefully and deciding whether to speak or not. She decided to speak.

"My name is Rem. Why do you participate in those meetings?" She asked.

Noriko sighed as she arranged nine cups on the tray and turned to fill a large decanter with hot water and tea leaves. "It's the only way to keep an eye on Higuchi and protect Reiji and the others. I can sense that you're not a danger to them, it's him that is. Why did you give the Death Note to a man like that?"

"It was a request," she replied, hovering the center of the brightly lit, white tiled break room.

"From Light?"

"Yes."

"Figured as much, he has a plan to get the notebook back doesn't he?" Noriko asked, still not bothering to look at the shinigami that was watching her.

"I don't know what he is planning, but he agreed to save Misa, she currently has no memories of what she did while she possessed the notebook, and she was in danger of being discovered by L. With his life on the line should something happen to her, he asked me to give the notebook to someone who would use it selfishly, but still have that person kill the criminals."

"I see. He was planning on someone's selfishness to get them caught in the end, if only criminals died it wouldn't be all that easy to track them, but a selfish, greedy person would use the notebook for personal gain. That is where the leads start to come in, find out who the deaths benefit and narrow it down from there. That would allow him to get his hands on the notebook again. It's likely that now that suspicion has been taken off him, even though L isn't likely to pass over the fact that these Kira killings are different, Light is back with the task force. I don't know why you're telling me this, but it makes no difference. I will stop Higuchi, I will stop Light and I will stop Misa, " Noriko informed the shinigami certainly. She carefully pulled the tray off the counter and grasped it with both hands as she made her way down the deserted halls to the meeting room.

"Who the hell are you?!" She heard Hatori shouting as she rounded the corner to the meeting room's entryway.

"Oh no," she mumbled as she saw a very familiar dark haired man fall back onto his butt as he stared up at Hatori and the quieter, Suguru Shimura. "Matsui?" she asked. Taking a step closer, she stared at the back of the man's head and silently hoped that he was carrying the I.D that had his alias on it.

"Noriko, you know him?" Hatori barked at her.

"Well, it's been awhile, but he helped me out a lot during the ordeal with my step father," she replied, not quite lying, but not quite telling the truth, she blinked down at the stunned Matsuda who didn't seem to immediately recognize her.

"N-Noriko?" He asked cautiously.

"Yep. What's up Matsui, what are you doing here," she asked casually, while silently trying to find a way to keep the man alive.

"Ummm, well you see I work for Yoshida productions now and I'm an agent for Misa Misa," he said quickly. Seeing that he needed to do something more, he hurriedly dug out his wallet and a card and held it up for Hatori and Shimura to see.

"Oh, that doesn't explain why you're here though," she said, still staring at him. "Actually just explain that to them, I need to set this tray down before I drop it," she said before brushing past him and into the meeting room, Mido took the tray from her hands, seeing that she was having a hard time keeping it steady.

"You know him," he asked.

"Yeah, and thanks, that thing was heavy," Noriko replied, shaking her hands out. 'Misa Misa, the girl Light was supposed to 'save', why is he her manager? Is it all some sort of set up? But why would L send him in here to spy?...He wouldn't, stupid Matsuda...' She thought.

"What should we do, do you think he over heard anything?" Takahashi asked, his voice was high pitched and worried.

"Lower your voice, it's not like we were discussing anything important," Kida replied calmly.

"He says he's here to promote Misa Amane," Hatori called from the doorway.

"It can't hurt to hear his pitch," Reiji commented after getting a worried glance from Noriko now that Matsuda was being dragged into a smaller room for questioning.

"Hatori, Shimura, take him to another room. We might as well hear what he has to say," Ooi ordered. "Ms Mori, go with them, you seem to know him he might tell you if he over heard anything. I hope you understand the gravity of the situation?"

"Of course," she replied as she looked out the door that Matsuda had been taken through. "If it comes down to it I have no problem having him killed, I like my current position and a little bug won't jeopardize that."

"She's a little scary sometimes, isn't she," Mido remarked after she left the room.

"If we're found out, she goes down with us and she knows that. It seems her instincts when it comes to self preservation are quite high," Kida replied.

Noriko leaned into the two toned, white and black couch she was on beside Matsuda as he nervously talked about Misa Amane and presented different references and pictures of the girl. She snorted and rolled her eyes when he started talking about how beautiful she was in person.

"Jealous, Mori," Hatori asked.

"Not at all, just surprised that the spineless Matsui I knew is actually working as an agent for a modeling company," she retorted.

'Matsui' looked slightly offended and turned to look at Noriko just as his phone began to ring. She glanced up to Shimura and Hatori who were eying the phone and Matsuda suspiciously. Before Matsuda could reach for the phone, she snatched it off the table and answered it, holding it a little away from her ear.

"Hello?" She asked.

"This isn't Matsui, don't tell me the bum had to switch phone services again," a male voice drawled from the other end.

Noriko's lips twitched into a smile, even though the voice sounded boyish and more like a skater or surfer, she knew who it was. "No, no of course not. He's just an idiot and forgot it at my place, who is this anyway, you sound familiar?"

"It's Asahi, who's this?"

"Oh hey Asahi, it's Noriko, remember me?" She chirped girlishly, Hatori and Shimura exchanged a quick glance before turning back to Noriko.

"Weren't you and Matsui good friends? What's he doing over at your place, his wallet in trouble again?"

"You know him, the man's wallet is always in trouble, he came to ask me for some cash. I gave him a few bucks, it was all I had on me," she replied, there was a short pause on the other end as she assumed L was telling whoever was listening that Matsuda was in trouble.

"So you're home alone then?"

"I'm actually on my way out with a few friends, why what's up?" She replied.

"I was thinking we could get together for a few drinks, you know and hang out."

Noriko bit her lip to keep from laughing, knowing that she was talking to L, who sounded like a teenage skater was just too funny in her head.

"Sorry Asahi, but maybe another time," she replied with a light hearted laugh. "I've gotta go, but I'll tell Matsui you called when I see him."

"Yeah that would be cool, thanks Nori-san," L chimed over the other end before hanging up, she could here the surprised gasps and a shout as the call ended.

'Light must have been there,' she thought, setting the phone back down on the table.

"Asahi called," she said as she looked over Matsuda and leaned back into the couch after setting his phone down on the table.

"Uh, thanks," he replied with a slight blush and rubbing at his neck.

"Yeah sure," she answered disinterestedly. "So shouldn't we have him call Amane?"

"Yeah, give her a call and have her-"

Hatori was cut off when Matsuda's phone rang again. Noriko picked it up and with a single glance at the name, handed the phone to Matsuda. "Speak of the devil and she calls," she replied bitterly.

"You don't seem to like this Misa girl much," Shimura commented.

"Should I? She makes a living posing in front of a camera, how much brains does that require? Women like her give the rest of us a bad image," she replied.

"Has she always been so scary?" Hatori leaned over and asked.

Matsuda swallowed and nodded before chuckling when Noriko turned to stare at him with a raised brow. She grunted as she shoved herself off the couch and made to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going," Hatori asked her.

She turned around to eye him coolly. "Back to Reiji, you three don't really interest me. Besides, that little girl is on her way here isn't she, shouldn't you be going to meet her?"

All three men watched her turn away, her hips swaying in the skirt she wore as she left.

"Well?" Higuchi asked impatiently the second she walked back into the meeting room.

She raised an eyebrow at him before ignoring him completely and walking to Reiji's chair where he was still sitting. Reclaiming her perch on the arm of the chair and folding her arms over her chest, she leaned back and looked around at the seven men who were all waiting for her answer. "What?" She snapped.

"Did he hear anything?" Mido asked.

"I don't think so, and he couldn't have been there long since he wasn't there when I went to get tea. Anyways, that little model should be here soon," she said, the acid in her tone didn't go unnoticed and Reiji placed a hand on her leg, neither caring that the gesture was noticed by everyone in the room.

Noriko was glad that the little blond in the skimpy pink outfit didn't seem to recognize her when she arrived in the meeting room, ushered in by Matsuda, Hatori and Shimura.

"She is pretty cute in person," Takahashi mused.

"Don't we have bigger problems," Kida stated.

"Hey Matsu, since this is Yotsuba I was given the green light for some special treatment," Misa piped cheerily as she turned to wink at the confused man.

"Huh?"

"Why don't we go to Misa's large place and have a party with tons of models from the agency," she asked in a voice that made Noriko want to wretch. "Oh and she can come to, I don't mind, she's kinda pretty maybe we can get her an agent too," Misa chirped, glancing over at Noriko with a huge smile.

Noriko clenched her teeth together and turned her head away from the blond while several of the meeting's members muttered to each other. It wasn't long before several of them voiced their desire to go, including Reiji.

"Excuse me," Noriko asked a little louder than she had meant to and turned her head to stare down at him.

"I think someone's jealous, Namikawa, maybe you shouldn't go," Ooi commented dryly from their right.

"Nonsense, it's an opportunity to get to know Ms Amane and her manager. Being that I'm in sales, if we're to use her in our commercials, I should go as well," he replied.

Noriko turned away, trying not to seem overly upset, to most of the men here she was just Reiji's assistant, and she was beneath them. "I'm afraid I have to decline the invitation, Lisa and I have plans in the morning. Besides, I'd only be in the way of the fun," she replied with a forced smile, standing from the armrest.

"Are you sure you don't want to go Noriko, we haven't talked in such a long time," Matsuda asked.

"Noriko?" Misa asked, turning to blink at the green eyed girl. "Wait, is she Light's-"

"You don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?" Noriko cut in angrily.

"Uh, what did I do," Misa asked in confusion, pouting at Matsuda who was chuckling nervously and scratching at his neck.

There were murmurs of confusion around the meeting table, wondering how it was that the two girls knew each other. Reiji could be heard saying something to Ooi, who made a simple 'oh' in reply.

"Are you serious?" Noriko snapped. All she could do was stare at the girl in disbelief.

"She's definitely not Light's type, Misa Misa is Light's type, right Matsu," Misa asked cheekily.

Noriko set her jaw as Matsuda gulped and stepped towards her, she was eying Misa like a cat eying a mouse. The girl was aggravating, but Noriko knew she had to watch what she said and did. No one was aware that she knew this girl had at one point been the second Kira, even the girl herself apparently didn't know that according to Rem. It needed to appear to be a fight between two jealous women, and that was fine by her if she could punch the smirk off the blond's face.

"Noriko, calm down," he began.

"Screw you, Matsu," she mocked. "And either get the little witch out of my sight or you'll be out of a job because when I'm done with her. She won't have any teeth, let alone a heartbeat."

"Oh, she's kinda scary. No wonder Light dumped her," Misa giggled to herself, putting a hand over her painted lips like a teenager who had just given away someone else's secret.

"Noriko, I know-"

"He didn't dump me, or don't you remember me giving him the engagement ring back after I caught him with you," Noriko growled pointedly.

"Oh yeah, I love that ring, it's so pretty," Misa replied thoughtfully.

That was enough for Noriko, the thought that Light had given her engagement ring to this airheaded girl, threw her over the edge. Whether he was Kira or not didn't matter at the moment, it was all about the fact that she had loved him and he had loved her, and that ring was their symbol of love. A part of her was always going to love Light, the Light he had been before he became some twisted version of himself and began trying to create a new world.

Noriko flew at Misa, clasping her hand around the girl's thin throat and shoving her into a wall. "He gave you the ring?" She asked through clenched.

"Noriko," Reiji said calmly from behind her as he laid a hand on her shoulder. He was the only one brave enough to go near her.

"Did he," Noriko half-shouted in Misa's face.

"N-No, he won't let Misa wear it. He always has it with him, and he always gets mad at me when I try to put it on."

Pulling her hand from Misa's neck with a disgusted grunt, Noriko swatted Reiji's hand away and stalked from the room.

"Noriko," Matsuda called after her. "I should see if she's alright."

He ran into the hall and was able to catch Noriko before she boarded the elevator.

"What Matsuda?" She snapped heatedly.

"Uh, are you ok? I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. So L's finally catching on to the fact that Kira has something to do with Yotsuba, huh?"

"Yeah, it was Light who noticed," he replied, before swallowing when she glared at him for saying Light's name. "Uh, sorry."

"No problem, just be careful," she said as she noticed that Kida, Mido, Shimura and Reiji were all walking out of the meeting room. "It was nice to see you again Matsui, but if I see that Misa girl I might throttle her."

"I understand. See ya later, Noriko," he replied with a smile before he walked towards the oncoming group to find Misa.

Noticing that Reiji was breaking away from the group of men, Noriko waited for him by the elevator.

"Are you alright," he asked.

"I'll be fine. I didn't mean to snap like that, it was the thought of her with the ring, it really pissed me off."

"I understand. I'm going to have to go with everyone, will you be ok?"

"Of course. I'll probably be in bed when you get home, Lisa is supposed to be over early."

"I'll ride down with you, it'll give us a moment to ourselves," he said to her as the doors behind Noriko slid open.

"I'd like that," she replied with a smile as they entered the elevator. "I have to stop and get my purse, I left it on your desk."

The two made the quick trip to the thirtieth floor and to Reiji's office where Noriko's purse sat on his desk with her car keys. She retrieved them and turned around to see that Reiji was standing very close to her. He lifted a hand to brush across her cheek before burying his fingers in her hair and pulling her towards him. She couldn't help but to smile into the kiss as she set her bag back down beside her so that her hands were free to wrap around his neck. His free hand was placed on the small of her back to pull her to him and deepen the kiss for a moment before he sighed when his phone began to ring.

"They're waiting for you. Go enjoy yourself, just behave," she said with a light laugh.

"I'll see you when I get home," he replied as he dug his phone from his pocket, kissing her one last time before answering the phone and heading for the door.

"Noriko."

"Hmm," she mumbled as she rolled onto her back and blinked her eyes open to stare up at Reiji who was seated on the bed beside her. With a single look at him she could tell something was wrong, she pushed herself up on her elbows and focused on him. "What happened?"

"We need to talk, why don't you get up and we'll discuss this in the living room."

"Reiji, what's going on," she asked as he stood from the bed.

"Matsui fell off Misa Amane's balcony about an hour ago," he replied.

Noriko's eyes widened. "What?"

"We'll talk in the living room Noriko, I'd like another drink," he said before turning to leave.

Tossing the sheets off herself, she stood up, grabbed her dark blue silk robe from where she had tossed it on one of the two plush chairs in Reiji's room, she threw it on over her pale blue nightgown and hurried after Reiji.

She found him in the living room, an open bottle of sake on the table and two sake cups before him. She raised a brow at the second cup as she took a seat in the arm chair beside the couch.

"So Matsui, is he dead?" She asked worriedly.

"It seems that way. We won't know for sure until tomorrow, if it's in the papers, which since he was Misa Amane's manager I'm sure it will be," Reiji replied as he poured two cups of sake and held one out to her.

She was about to protest, but thought better of it and accepted it. "Yeah probably," she replied as she lifted her glass in thanks before swallowing the liquor. There was a slight burn in her throat, but it wasn't unpleasant, it was actually quite nice and warmed her body.

"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"I didn't think so," she said as she leaned forward to refill his cup and then her own.

"When you first introduced us at the hotel, you introduced him as Matsuda, a temporary bodyguard. Given the situation you were in I assumed he was also with the N.P.A, would I be right?" He asked.

Noriko nodded. "Yes, he worked for the N.P.A. His name is Matsuda, Matsui is a nickname. I don't really know how he got into managing Misa Amane though, that one is beyond me."

"Did he have any connections to the task force that is looking for Kira?"

She frowned, she didn't know what good lying would do at this point and she trusted Reiji. "He did, but I don't know if he still does, or did anyway. Matsuda was never very bright as I'm sure you've noticed."

"I had, is there anything else?"

Noriko shook her head before drinking the second glass of sake, she hated lying, but she couldn't tell him the truth. That she knew who each of the Kira's were, that she knew L, it would put her, and him, in danger if anyone knew.

"Why don't we go to bed, you must be tired and you have to be up early to go to Okinawa," Reiji said as he set his sake cup down and stood from the couch.

She nodded and set her own cup down before rising from the arm chair, she was a little surprised that even the small amount of sake she had had seemed to have been enough to make her body a bit numb. Her and Reiji walked down the hall to his room, she hadn't slept in her own room since her dreams had started back up after her birthday in June.

She got into the large bed while Reiji went into the bathroom to change.

-October 12th-

"There's an emergency meeting tonight, it's not necessary for you to go. It's about Eraldo Coil, he apparently contacted Mido this afternoon," Reiji said to Noriko who was currently sitting on the edge of his desk, staring out the window.

"That's the detective Kida found to find L, right? Didn't he go through a lot of trouble to not give himself away?" She asked.

"Apparently Coil is just as good as we expected."

"I suppose it was to be expected, he's supposed to better at finding people than even L. Anyways, Lisa's probably waiting for me so we can go to dinner. I'll see you when you get home," she said as she stepped off his desk, gave him a quick peck on the cheek and left the large office.

'Depending on what happens tonight I may have to call Watari, I can't risk L being found. If this Coil guy is as good as he appears he may just find L, and I can't allow that,' Noriko thought as she walked from the room.

-October 14th-

Noriko was delivering several documents throughout the building, her shiny dark silver heels clicking on the marble floors as she walked. She was wearing black slacks and a silky dark gray top that tied around the middle. She sighed when she finally dropped off the final packet to the marketing division and turned to make her way back to her and Lisa's office. She stopped abruptly when she overheard a part of a conversation between two of the department's employees.

"..apparently he was in an accident last night. It was on the news and then I heard that his wife called and confirmed it."

"I can't believe it, Hatori's dead?" Someone else asked.

'What?!' Noriko thought as her eyes widened in surprise. 'Hatori's dead?'

Turning away from the conversation she made her way back to the sales division and through the double doors to her and Lisa's office.

"Hey, did you hear?" Lisa asked quietly, a serious look on her face.

Noriko ignored her and headed towards Reiji's office door.

"Wait, Noriko, Mr Ooi and-"

Continuing to ignore Lisa's protests, Noriko opened the door and stepped inside without hesitation. Ooi and Mido turned to look at her as she entered, her heels clicking on the floor as she walked towards where Reiji had risen from his desk to stare at her.

"Is it true?" She asked as she came to a stop by Reiji's desk, she looked at him and only him as she asked.

"What are talking about Noriko?" Reiji asked.

"Hatori. Is it true, is he dead?"

"Yes. It was necessary," Ooi replied with little emotion, but a hint of annoyance.

"Was it really an accident?"

The three men exchanged quick glances and never answered her. She looked between the three and figured she had her answer. "So it wasn't." It wasn't a question.

"Now really isn't the time Noriko," Reiji said.

"He had a family, a wife, kids. What the hell made it necessary to kill him?" Noriko asked angrily.

"That's enough Noriko," Reiji said calmly as he grabbed her by the elbow and began to pull her towards the door. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off, we'll talk about this later."

"I don't need the rest of the day off," she argued as she was led out of his office.

"I'm not asking you to take it off," he replied. "I'm telling you."

"Fine. I apologize for interrupting your meeting. Please excuse me," she said stiffly as she turned away from him after her elbow was released and stalked to her desk to get her purse and keys.

"Noriko, what happened?" Lisa asked in concern after Reiji had returned to his office.

"Nothing you need to worry over Lisa. We just had a slight disagreement and I over reacted. I'm leaving for the day, I'll have my phone if anyone needs anything," she said before quickly leaving the office leaving Lisa to stare after her in confusion.

When she reached her car, she threw her purse on the passenger seat and climbed in, slamming the door behind her. She hit the steering wheel with the palms of her hands before hunching over to rest her forehead on the cool, hard leather.

"I can't do a damn thing and that little outburst could cause a lot of trouble for me. What the hell was I thinking," she scolded herself as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I couldn't even save Hatori, how am I supposed to save anyone else?"

She knew that there was nothing she could have done for Hatori. She had no way of knowing that Higuchi was going to write his name, and without even knowing that, there was no way for her to be around him to even try to save him.

It worried her though, that Higuchi would so easily kill off his own co-workers, not that she was all that surprised. Higuchi was scum and he would do anything for the wealth and status he continuously claimed he didn't want. She knew that if her outburst reached him there was a chance it would put her in danger, having her name written down didn't bother her, it was what would happen when she didn't die.

Raising her head and shoving her keys in the ignition, Noriko drove out of the garage with nowhere in in particular in mind to go. When she stopped nearly an hour later, she was parked in the lot to the same small park her and Light had played in when they were kids. The same park she somehow seemed to wind up whenever something was on her mind. She pulled her keys from the ignition and grabbed her purse.

For what seemed like hours she walked blankly around the park wondering how it was she was supposed to protect people when she didn't even know how to in the first place. She felt useless and horrible for allowing the killings to continue, but she didn't know what else to do. She knew the current Kira was Higuchi, but there was no way to prove it without the Death Note, even then she didn't know if that would be enough. The only way to be sure the Death Note was real would be to use it, but that just wasn't an option. A part of her almost figured L would find a way to use it, most likely on a criminal, but he'd want to know if it were real. If all the mysterious deaths really were all because of a notebook.

Sitting in one of the swings, she stared up at the sky, watching as the birds twittered and frolicked in the air. After a few minutes of this she got up with a sigh and headed back to her car. She had left her cell phone on the seat, not wanting to talk to anyone and to be left alone and by the looks of it leaving it was a good idea. There was a little red light flashing in the upper right corner telling her she had at least one voice message.

There were three. Two from Lisa asking if she really was alright and to call her back when she got the messages. The other was from Reiji simply asking for her to call him when she could.

She grunted as she deleted the last message before pushing a few buttons and calling Lisa back. It was almost five and she would be off soon and since Noriko was in no hurry to go home she figured she'd invite Lisa to dinner.

Not even an hour later, Noriko met Lisa in Shibuya and the two walked around for awhile before deciding to eat at a popular Italian restaurant. Lisa steered clear of bringing up Reiji throughout dinner, something Noriko was grateful for, she didn't know how she'd responded if questioned too much.

By the time she returned home it was nearing nine o'clock and Reiji's car was nowhere to be seen. She figured he was out with Mido and some of the others, after checking her voice mail again, she learned she had assumed correctly.

With nothing better to do, she wound up going to bed earlier than usual, but found that she was extremely tired. She was asleep not long after her head touched the feather pillow and didn't even wake up when Reiji came home several hours later.

The following morning, she was dressed, in all black, and out of the house before Reiji had even gotten in the shower. She went for coffee and a bite to eat at a little breakfast cafe before going to the Yotsuba building. She got to the elevator just as Lisa was, the red head yawned before seeing Noriko and smiled brightly.

"Where's Mr Namikawa, don't you two usually come in together?" Lisa asked.

"Usually, but I was up early so I got some coffee and breakfast. If he's not here already, he will be soon."

"You're still mad at him?"

"Not really. More like mad at myself for overreacting, it wasn't my place."

"Have you talked to him, I'm sure he'd understand."

Noriko shook her head as they got on the elevator. "No, I haven't seen him yet. He wasn't home when I went to bed and I left before he even woke up."

"You'll be fine. Ready to start our Friday?" Lisa asked with a smile as they left the elevator and walked to their office.

"Not really. There was a lot I didn't get done yesterday."

Over the next eight hours Noriko couldn't be found in the same place for more than a five minute time period. To say she was busy was an understatement. She was swamped. Lunch was a day old muffin she got from one of the break rooms and ate as she ran different reports to every possible floor of the building. When five rolled around she said goodbye to Lisa who was done for the day and flopped into her desk chair and folded her arms over her desk before letting her head drop onto them with a groan. She yawned and kicked off her black pumps, after resting for a few minutes she sighed and flipped through the papers that were still on her desk. Once everything was in order, she set them aside to be dealt with later and put her head back over her arms.

She was on the verge of sleep when a hand was placed on her shoulder. She gasped and snapped her head up to see Reiji looking down at her.

"Oh, sorry, I'm a little tired," Noriko said before turning away and covering her mouth to hide another yawn.

"It was a rather long day," he agreed. "Unfortunately, it's not over just yet."

"Is everyone ready?"

He nodded and held out a hand to help her up from her desk, which she gratefully took. She linked her arm with his as they headed for the door before realizing something was wrong.

"Did you get taller?" She asked in confusion, only to have him laugh at her in response.

"No, you got shorter," he replied.

"Huh," she said before glancing down and realizing she was barefoot. "Shut up," she grumbled as she jogged back to her desk to get her shoes.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Noriko said a few minutes later as they rode alone on the elevator to the nineteenth floor. "I was a little surprised."

"I understand that, but you need to understand how dangerous of a situation we are in. You need to choose your words carefully and not let your emotions get in the way."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Noriko had to resist the urge to roll her eyes when Ooi opened the meeting with his usual blunt question of who they should kill this week.

"First, we should discuss a few things. Hatori's death to begin with," he said a moment later.

"Frankly, I'm relieved," Reiji commented arrogantly, which earned him a slight glare from Noriko who really would have liked to smack him, but didn't.

"You're relieved that your comrade is dead? What's wrong with you Namikawa," Takahashi asked.

"It was necessary for Kira to show what would happen to any of us if we try to leave these meetings. I was hoping for this ever since Tuesday, when Hatori said he wanted out," Reiji replied.

"He wanted out?" Noriko asked, she had been unaware of that.

"Yes, he had a little meltdown in the middle of the meeting," he answered.

"Oh, in that case I agree with you. It was necessary," Noriko said with a shrug. Trying to keep up the calm, cold exterior she'd built up around this group of men.

"You two are perfect for each other," Takahashi mumbled loudly.

"I believe the meaning behind Hatori's death is clear. Everyone should keep that in mind," Ooi said. "Moving on, we've received a report from Coil."

Noriko read over one of the packets in front of her and Reiji, listening to the conversation that was going on around her. It seemed Coil had no solid facts on L and his whereabouts, everything was speculation. Until the end anyways. That was where he mentioned that L shouldn't be taken lightly and with the concentration of killings that benefited Yotsuba occurring on Fridays and Saturdays, it may be noticed by L if the trend continued.

"You have to be impressed," Mido said. "For Coil to figure out exactly what we were doing. We should spread the killings out throughout the week."

"Didn't I suggest that last time," Noriko asked before rolling her eyes at the annoyed looks she got from Ooi and Higuchi. "If Coil could figure all this out just from figuring out his client was Kida and then investigating Yotsuba, it's safe to say L would do the same, right?"

"We've been very careful about how we've done things. There is no way anyone can figure out that we're connected to Kira," Higuchi replied.

"Coil did, I did and I'm not even a detective. Just because the killings aren't heart attacks doesn't make them completely invisible. When you keep in mind that the stock and profits are-"

Noriko was cut off when Higuchi decided to talk over her. "Even if someone noticed that, there is nothing to link us to the deaths."

"What she's saying is that even though the police and L may not know that it is possible to kill by means other than a heart attack, it would be wise to keep in mind that Yotsuba is benefiting greatly from them. Someone may notice this. She's simply saying to be more careful," Reiji explained.

"Exactly," Noriko replied snappily.

"According to Coil the police have withdrawn from the investigation and L alone is hunting Kira. If we get rid of L then we have nothing to worry about," Kida put in.

"That is true. It may still be best to spread the killings out over the week though. It's better to be safe for now," Mido said.

"Hey, wouldn't it be ok for Kira to just say who he is? The rules for killing are a little unclear, if he explained them himself we would understand all of this better. We'll all follow Kira for the rest of our lives, none of us would betray him now."

"Shimura's right on one thing, Hatori's death ensures that none of us will ever betray Kira," Reiji said.

"It would cause too many problems. If we all knew who Kira was, you could guarantee that at least one of us would be asking him to kill so and so," Kida explained.

"Plus we'd never be able to go against Kira, he would be like a dictator," Mido added.

"Aren't we getting off topic?" Noriko asked Reiji. "I'm tired and want to go home, can't we decide who to kill already?"

"Be patient Noriko," he replied.

She sighed and went back to listening to the conversation, it wasn't long before she tuned everyone out and was lost in her own sleepy little world. A ringing noise brought her back to reality and she looked over to see Reiji taking his phone from his coat pocket. She furrowed a brow when she saw the number was restricted, but paid it no mind as he answered it.

It was hard to cover her surprise when she overheard the garbled voice on the other end proclaiming to be L. She tried to remain disinterested as she listened to the conversation between Reiji and L, who she had a sneaking suspicion was actually Light. The way he spoke, which wasn't as monotonous and disinterested as L, gave him away.

The last thing she heard was 'L' telling Reiji to protect her and keep her safe and that they would talk again soon. Reiji's eyes cornered over to Noriko briefly before he faked saying goodbye to a subordinate and hung up the phone.

"What was that about Namikawa?" Ooi asked.

"It seems one of my subordinates screwed up again and Monday is going to be a pain for Noriko, who'll be fixing it."

"Huh? Why me?"

"Because you gave him the wrong documents."

"Oh," she replied lamely.

"Anyways, lets get back on topic. About the deaths of the E.L.F members and Zenzai, why don't we do this? We give Coil one month to locate L. If in that time period he doesn't find L, then we simply space the deaths out over a period of a few days and kill them. If he does find L then we can just continue the way we are now," Reiji said.

"In other words, focus on finding L for now?" Noriko asked.

"It's not a bad idea," Mido spoke up. "If we can find L there will be no one in our way, but we should act carefully until then."

Both Ooi and Higuchi gave their agreement as well as everyone else sitting around the table.

"The one month wait isn't set in stone," Reiji continued. "If in a month L isn't dead, we'll start the killings again, just more carefully."

"So we'll give Coil one month then?" Ooi asked as he glanced around.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Then this meeting is adjourned," he finished.

"Thank god, I'm so tired," Noriko complained as she rose from the chair and stretched. "So are you finished for the day or are meeting me at home?" She asked Reiji as they left the room.

"Impressive Light-kun. You not only managed to put a stop to the killings for the time being, but you put Nori-san's life in danger at the same time," Ryuzaki said from behind his thumb that was propped up on his lips.

"What are you talking about?" Light replied.

"You just told him that Nori-san-"

"Stop calling her that," Light snapped.

"Has a connection to L. Whom they want to kill," Ryuzaki finished, ignoring Light's outburst.

"Unless Namikawa is Kira, which is doubtful. He seems too smart do something like call these meetings, he'd probably work alone if he were Kira. I doubt she's in any danger."

"We are currently unaware of their relationship. We know she works with him and as I'm sure you overheard, lives with him as well. Beyond that it's unclear how deep their relationship goes."

"Judging by how she was acting towards him when I was there I'd say they're definitely an item," Matsuda said.

When Light turned to glare at him and Ryuzaki simply stared at him, he chuckled and rubbed at his neck.

"Anyway the killings have been put on hold and we may be able to get information from Namikawa, Nori-san as well since she overheard the conversation. The way the others reacted to her input during the meeting leads me to believe that she isn't welcome at them, it also seems like she wasn't originally included," Ryuzaki stated.

"Yeah, she did make that comment about how she had noticed the rise in profits," Matsuda replied. "But I still don't understand why she would want to be a part of the meetings?"

"Once she found out, she probably had no choice. And knowing Noriko, she's probably trying to figure out who Kira is on her own," Light said. "She was so dead set on finding him before even though the circumstances were a little different I doubt she'd change her mind."

"In which case, shouldn't we get in touch with her and see what she knows?" Matsuda asked.

"That's not a bad idea and I'd really like to see her again, she's changed so much," Light replied.

"Somehow I don't think Nori-san wants to see you again Light-kun, she wasn't too happy with you the last time you met after all," L commented, purposely drawing out his nickname for Noriko just to irritate Light.

"It was a misunderstanding Ryuzaki, you know that already. I only want to know she's okay and happy, is that so wrong?"

"Not at all. I'm just worried that she may try to harm Light-kun, after all she did attack Misa. Too bad we didn't have the cameras installed yet," Ryuzaki mumbled to himself thoughtfully.

"She wouldn't do that," Light replied.

"Hmm, if Light-kun says so."

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